CH 289

Episode 289 – Desperate Return

“Man, that was crazy! What an overwhelming performance.” (Gelt)

“Forreal. I thought I could maybe show off a bit, but I ended up not doing anything.” (David)

“If you think about it, these three have managed to clear this far by themselves. Maybe my offer to help was unnecessary.” (Gelt)

As the Mask Queen faded to ashes and scattered, the mummies on the floor all rotted away. As I was collecting the drops scattered on the floor, I overheard Gelt and David’s conversation and quickly cut in to correct them.

“That’s not true! I got wounded really badly here last time. If I had to deal with those dog mummies and that bear mummy again, I would have gotten seriously injured again.” (Lewin)

“Gyaahaha! You really were in rough shape back then. Well, I’m glad to hear you say that we were able to be of some assistance.” (Gelt)

“Yes. You guys were really a great help! Thank you so much!” (Lewin)

“Alright then, we’ll be heading back now. It was fun, hearing all of your fresh stories. If we meet again in Landaust, I’ll be looking forward to it.”

“Yes. Gelt-san, really, thank you so much! I’ll someday repay this fav—” (Lewin)

I suddenly stopped myself when I remembered what Gelt had told me the other day.

“If I ever see someone in trouble in the Dungeon, I’ll help that person out in return!” (Lewin)

“Gyahaha! Please do. See you next time then! Make sure you get back alive.” (Gelt)

Raising one hand in farewell, Gelt and David went back to the 30th layer. I managed to get to know another great person in the Dungeon, just like Xenia. I made a promise to Gelt, and I wanted to follow their example and help others in the Dungeon without thinking about it in the context of profit and loss.

I was so touched by their kindness that I almost let my guard down, but we were still at the 29th layer. We had a long way to go before we could return home, so I braced myself and redoubled my efforts to avoid dragging Aruna and Rosalie down.

“We’ve overcome the biggest hurdle, but from here on, we still have to go through the harsh environment of the desert area. Let’s stay on our toes!”

“Right! There’s always a possibility that we’ll run into the Big Desert Mole again, so let’s stay focused.”

“Mhm… Sandstorms are tiring.” (Aruna)

Reminded of the desert area, Aruna looked like she had swallowed a bug. The high temperature and the gusting sandstorms… The fact that we had to go through that for the next 5 layers was certainly a depressing thought.

“If we can make it back to the 20th layer, we can find our tent and supplies we left there and take our time to rest. I know it’ll be tough, but let’s do our best.” (Lewin)

“I hope our supplies haven’t been stolen though.” (Aruna)

“―Phew. We managed to make it back without dying.” (Aruna)

“Even the familiar Elemental Golem was tough. It was a relief that we didn’t encounter the Big Desert Mole at least.” (Rosalie)

“More importantly, we didn’t have to struggle with the Mask Queen! If the three of us had taken it on alone, I think we probably would have been able to defeat her, but we definitely would have run out of strength along the way!” (Lewin)

After passing through the canyon area and making it back to the Safe Area on the 20th layer, we were all sharing our complaints. The desert area was twice as hard as I had imagined because my body wasn’t fully recovered, and the two of them had to work extra hard to support me, so they were also quite exhausted.

The desert area was starting to become a bit of a trauma for me, but at any rate, I was happy to have made it this far safely. We should be able to make our way back through the rest of the layers without any trouble― as long as the supplies that we left here hadn’t been stolen, as Aruna had commented earlier.

We gingerly made our way back to the place where our tent was set up and found that the tent we had used as a base was still intact. It’ll be nice if the things inside the tent are still there though…

“Ooh! It’s still there! Some of it is rotting, but the preserved food and water look fine!”

Rosalie, who was the first to enter the tent, peeked her head back out and gave us a quick update on the contents within. I was just glad that the supplies hadn’t been stolen.

Considering the time frame, I thought it would be safe to assume that the supplies had been stolen already. But I suppose the number of adventurers who could reach the 20th layer were fairly limited, so there weren’t any adventurers who would steal from the tent. Plus, the fact that the Dungeon monitors were always showing everything might have played a big factor.

Patting our chests in relief, we went in and relaxed in the tent for the time being. Since we had to completely rely on Arecales Fruits to maintain our hydration in the desert, the three of us greedily gulped down all of the water that we had stored in the tent.

When you were walking in the desert, you wouldn’t think that Arecales Fruits were that bad, but in reality, they were nasty in comparison to real water. Thinking that water had never tasted so good in my life, we rested at the Safe Area on the 20th layer to recover our strength as much as we could.