CH 187

「Kyuikyui!!」

The deer with the parabolic antenna on its head squealed cutely and ran off with an extra skewered mushroom in its mouth.

「That F○king bastardddddd!!!!!」

「I was surprised!」

「Food resentment is terrifying!! I’ll break all your horns!!!!」

「Now, now… Calm down? We’ll find it again… Okay?」

「Gununu…!! Next time, remember…!!」

「In moderation?」

I’ve been busy today with Iris snapping at me and at it… But I was also a little angry that it took all the skewers with such a cute face…

「Come on! Let’s clean up and get out of here!」

「Muu… Okay…」

Thus, we departed for the next level.

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「I’m going to eat mushrooms when I get home…!」

「Ahaha…」

She’s still saying that, this girl…. About 2 hours have passed since then, and we are now on the 24th level.

The fresh-air forests that had not been replaced by anything in particular continued up to this point. Incidentally, we collected all of the Hell Matsutake that we found in various places. Iris seems to be planning to eat them when she gets back, but I won’t let her do it.

「Oh! I found the stairs!」

「Finally…!」

We descend the black staircase for the umpteenth time now. Then, the 25th level.

「It’s…… huge……」

Until the 24th level, forests were the first thing everyone imagined when trees were mentioned, but the trees of the 25th level are different in size. If an ordinary tree is about 5 meters tall, the trees on the 25th level must be at least 20 meters tall…. These trees are huge.

Iris was small, though, so she said that a regular tree and a giant tree are not different.

────Dosuuuun… Dosuuuun……!

「… Hey Ayane」

「… What?」

「… Is the forest huge, sa?」

「… Yeah」

「What about the monsters that live there…?」

「…」

「…」

「「…」」

「Guo? … Guooooooooo!!!!!!!」

What appeared in front of us was an Orc of about 18 meters? When our eyes met, the Orc roared.

「Guooo!!」

───Buuun!!!

A gold club is aimed at our feet, and it swings down at us. Needless to say, it was a gold club of about 5 meters in size. If such a thing were to swing down from such a height, we who are at the point of impact would be… I don’t even need to think about it…

───Dogooooooooooooonnn!!!!!

「Ugyaa!!?!!?」

「Umyuuu!?!??」

I managed to avoid it, but the aftermath was horrendous.

──Suta…

「Oh, that was close…! Is Iris okay?」

「Hmm? Iris…?」

「Ho-ya-nyau??」

「… What?」

「Wau…」

「Ah, Iris!!!」

After uttering a few words I don’t understand, Iris collapsed in the palm of my hand.

H-How did this happen…? Was it because she was swung around too much…? Because her soul was shaken inside the doll…?

「At any rate, in the inventory…」

I said this much and hesitated a bit. I made a promise to Iris. I hesitated to put her in my inventory because she said she would be outside forever. But that’s not the point now, so I put Iris in my inventory, feeling a little guilty.

「It’s a match, giant pig」

「Gugaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!」

Thus began the battle with the giant Orc