Dungeon Exploration
I was a little startled.
Even though last time's dungeon was a ruin, there were still so many big buildings and roads packed together that I could see what kind of place this had been in the past. But here, it was so dark that I wasn't sure if any light even entered. How many people would think that a place where a Walker had just popped out and flailed its arm around was actually a hospital?
While the elf's eyes sparkled with excitement, Nemea and Leo just tilted their heads, clearly unable to understand a single word.
"Hospital, you say?"
"Um, I guess it's like the Saintess Village. A place where humans go when they're sick or injured."
"We belong to the same industry! But why did it turn into a den for these evil creatures?"
"Beats me. Humans don't have holy power."
Still, it was supposed to be a place where humans treated each other's wounds and illnesses, yet here it had been contaminated by a dungeon oozing poison, the only remaining human on earth.
Unlike my bitter smile, the elf was bursting with energy. Just like before, he blinked his sleepy eyes and frantically peered into the darkness beyond.
"They're really primitive. With just holy power, wounds heal instantly, but without it they had to chug bitter medicine, and if that didn't work, they'd cut open their bellies with a knife."
"Cut their bellies?!"
Nemea's eyes went wide.
She was so shocked she forgot to grope my butt. "Is this really true? Confirm it!"
I had no choice but to nod.
"I told you. Humans have no holy power. They open their own bellies and treat wounds by hand."
"...That's so cruel."
Leo, who had been ripping apart Walkers' flesh mere moments ago, sounded completely drained.
Seeing is believing. Even if he explained it perfectly, in their eyes it was just savage medicine from primitive people.
"Oh, but we don't grab people with their eyes wide open and cut their bellies. We properly anesthetize them so they don't feel a thing, then..."
"Interesting story, but not now! Come this way!"
"No, when did you go that far?"
The elf, unable to hold it back, pulled out a torch and urgently called for me.
"What if there's something? Be careful..."
"I'm saying there's something! So hurry up and get over here..."
"Really?"
We all headed to the elf, and he, unable to wait any longer, grabbed my hand and pointed at the door in front of us with his fingers.
"Here! Break this for me!"
"Th-there's something inside, isn't there?"
This looked like a treatment room.
The exact place where patients who came to see a doctor would show their wounds or lift their clothes, just like what had happened to me (the doctor was Nemea, of course).
But why was it locked?
I stepped forward a few steps from the door, set down my heavy equipment, and slowly raised the hammer.
"Ha!"
CRASH!
Because the lock had been corroded by poison for a long time, I struck with all my might. The lock shattered and clattered to the floor. Before I could feel even a flicker of "I did it on my first try!",
BOOM!
-WHOOSH!
"Really?! Ugh...!!"
"You let your guard down on purpose?! You filthy bastard! In a narrow space like this, you couldn't have missed!"
BAM-BAM-BAM!
The door burst open, and a Walker covered in thick poison slithered out. The broken door flew back with it, and I was flung backward.
The elf confidently drew his gun, but as expected—
The recoiling pouch swayed, but the bullets only vanished into the deep darkness behind the Walker.
Truly impressive shooting.
"Why? Why doesn't it hit?! It's this close!"
"Did you really miss?! No way, I thought you'd hit!"
"Iceman?!"
I sighed and hugged the hammer to my chest, ready for the impact, and crouched down in case I hit the ground.
But all my preparations were for nothing. I felt a floating sensation from my body, a warmth different from holy power, and the soft feeling on my cheek.
Leo had suddenly appeared in front of me, catching me in her arms before I could fly off.
"Leo's?"
"..."
She must have been right next to Nemea just seconds ago. How had she come all the way over here so quietly?
Even though she was taciturn, she could have made a show of it. Yet she looked down at me calmly, as if thanking me for doing something obvious was unnecessary.
She was a truly imposing woman.
"...I thought you were imposing again."
"What?"
"...It's nothing."
Leo shrugged her shoulders dejectedly again.
I was about to ask if I'd said something wrong when—
"Gah! You disgusting piece of shit!!"
-GRRR, GRAAAH!
A familiar flag shot past us like an arrow, and a lioness with glittering eyes leaped after it, jumping toward the Walker stuck with the flag on all fours.
PACH! CRUNCH, BANG!
"Die! Die! You worthless dog! You damned thing even the afterlife won't take! You filthy bitch who's already dead and gone! Your mom behind you is dying from your filth!"
Like a lioness on the savanna mounting a kill and tearing at the neck, Nemea clung to the flag and bit and clawed at the Walker's throat with her nails.
"Whoa, a Saintess Tribe member. Just as expected."
A proper Saintess who shows no mercy to heretics and evil beings!
"We'll join in too!"
"...Yeah."
"W-wait! I'm shooting!"
"It won't hit anyway! Just aim at the head!"
"What?!"
I thought Nemea could handle it alone, but since she was the most important person for us to survive and fight here, I hurried over to her side.
"Die! Die!"
"Leo's, press its head down with your foot and finish it in one strike."
"...Like this?"
"Yeah, exactly..."
"O-over there... I can shoot really well this time! Move! Move, I said!"
The elf yelled in pain, and the Walker—unlike the one we'd seen before—finally melted into ash and disappeared instead of just dissolving.
"Now that's two! Not many left!"
"How many? It seems like a small number."
"Poison-type dungeons are hard to navigate because the poison is thick, but the dungeon itself isn't that difficult. At most seven?"
"Ah."
While I was distracted, Nemea, full of holy power, patted my butt with a bright smile and said, "Don't worry. This is medical treatment. You know? Medical treatment... ♥"
"I don't know why you emphasize it like that, but of course."
Without a moment's hesitation, I used the hypnosis I'd cast on myself last time. While the elf and Leo weren't looking, I groped my own butt.
I couldn't say anything. I couldn't let them find out I wasn't actually hypnotized.
I laughed a lewd "Uhehehe" and casually looked around as if I didn't care while Nemea kneaded my butt.
Now that my eyes had adjusted to the darkness, I spotted a few silhouettes. "There are several blocked doors. Let's open them one by one and handle them quickly."
"...One at a time?"
"I don't know. Like last time, there might be one crawling along the corridor. Keep your guard up while we search... look, there's one over there too."
-KIEKIEKIEKIEK!!
The Walker was coming straight at us faster than I could finish speaking.
It had turned into a slime form, its whole body smeared with sticky poison so thick I could barely make out its shape. A scalpel poked out between its melted flesh lumps.
"Getting close to it might hurt us too..."
"Then this time it's finally my turn to shine!"
The elf shot me a displeased look, but he himself proudly jiggled his ample chest and fired his gun.
"Whoa..."
"You deliberately missed?"
"...Tough."
"Everyone, quiet!!"
As expected, the bullets vanished into the darkness, and the elf's face flushed bright red.
BANG!!
I had finally hit it.
Level Up!