Chapter 18
Chapter 18
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 18
Chapter Title: Wise Dungeon Conquest (4)
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“Ice Age.”
Cold air erupted from Laura’s fingertips, freezing the entire interior of the dungeon in an instant.
Kkiiing.
The monsters positioned relatively closer up front transformed into rapidly frozen wolf meat, while those farther back, less affected, found their feet stuck to the cave floor, restricting their movements.
It was skill worthy of the academy’s top graduate—no wonder she earned that title.
“They’re all bound now, so just lop off their heads. Slave No. 2, deploy.”
Perhaps due to the backlash from casting such powerful magic, Laura, who could only twitch in place, gave the order.
In a normal situation, I would have followed her instructions and sliced the necks of the defenseless monsters.
The problem was.
“Um, miss? My feet are stuck too...?”
“Ah...”
Laura’s powerful ice magic didn’t discriminate between friend and foe.
Fortunately, I had mana wrapped around my body; otherwise, without any preparation, I would have been turned into an ice block for sure.
“Ah, damn... What do we do? This only lasts a minute.”
Laura frowned, seemingly realizing the gravity of the situation.
One minute...
Once the spell’s duration ended, I’d be able to move again.
But by then, those wolf monsters would be free to move as well.
I didn’t know the exact amount, but Laura must have consumed a substantial quantity of mana casting this spell.
A mage without mana is nothing more than dead weight, so when the spell binding both me and the monsters lifted simultaneously, our chances of victory would be slim.
We needed to settle this now, one way or another.
I racked my brain furiously in the short time available.
How could I escape this ice magic?
Ice.
The natural counter to ice is fire.
Fire...
Fire...?
I recalled how, after Rainy’s holy power surged through my body, I had ignited the Purifying Flame.
That Purifying Flame wasn’t just flame in appearance—it genuinely carried intense heat.
Rainy had even breathed it out like a dragon to toast some bread.
Ever since learning of my aptitude for holy power, I hadn’t neglected my training in it.
Thanks to that, I could at least coat my sword with a faint layer of holy power.
However, I had never yet ignited the Purifying Flame without Rainy’s help.
‘But I have to do it now.’
No other method to overcome this crisis came to my mind besides igniting the Purifying Flame.
With resolve, I closed my eyes and sensed the holy power within my body.
Typically, drawing out holy power requires prayer to the goddess.
But Rainy and I were unusual—we could draw it forth without prayer.
Wuuung.
The holy power dwelling within me resonated, and with eyes still shut, I gathered the scattered holy power throughout my body into one place.
The warm yet wild holy power resisted fiercely, refusing to obey my will.
Until now, I hadn’t forced it down oppressively; I’d simply utilized the portions that complied willingly.
But now, I needed as much as possible.
Thus, I forcibly dragged out the resisting holy power, even mobilizing the mana flowing through my body.
Wuuuung.
As the holy power and mana clashed inside me, the wild holy energy burst outward from my body.
Rainy, who couldn’t sense mana, had subdued purely resisting holy power through willpower alone, which was impressive.
How the hell did she do it?
“Wow, slave, what are you? Your holy power feels stronger than that archbishop we met.”
Laura, unable to twitch a finger, marveled purely at my holy power.
I felt a slight boost from her acknowledgment, but with the situation urgent, I focused on the holy power and didn’t reply.
I directed the subdued portion of holy power along the path Rainy had once channeled it through my body.
Upper body.
Lower body.
Back around to my fingertips.
“Ten seconds left!”
Laura announced the remaining spell duration, and I unleashed the hot energy gathering at my fingertips.
“Incendio!”
Chanting the incantation from that novel set in Britain, a pure white flame exploded outward from my body.
Chiiiik...
My frozen body melted completely under the Purifying Flame, and I gripped my sword anew, reveling in the sense of liberation.
“Five seconds!”
Laura urgently called out the remaining time.
Feeling the now stronger holy power, I coated my sword tip as I had practiced hundreds of times, then charged at the still-frozen monsters.
Terror flashed in the eyes of the monsters as they saw me rushing at them with a sword rippling with pure white energy.
Risking strain on my body, I unleashed near-superhuman movements, utilizing every muscle to slash and cleave the monsters.
Sraang.
Sraang.
Each swing severed the heads of two, and finally, I beheaded the last massive one.
The final beast was a bit tougher than the others, requiring two swings, but it ended up a headless ghost all the same.
“Wooow... Slave, you’re kinda badass?”
As I gazed contentedly at the monster heads rolling on the ground, Laura exclaimed from behind.
“Heh, right?”
I strode toward her with the swagger of a triumphant general.
Laura still couldn’t move due to the spell’s backlash, merely rolling her eyes around.
“So, miss, when can you move?”
We had defeated the wolf monster pack, but the dungeon conquest wasn’t over yet.
We needed to wrap this up as quickly as possible before dehydration set in.
At my question, Laura gave an awkward smile, avoiding my eyes.
“W-Well? Maybe an hour...?”
“What?”
What kind of inefficient magic was this?
Hanging a wide-area crowd control for one minute was undeniably cheat-level, but the cost was too steep.
“Why use a spell with such a huge backlash?”
“I-I didn’t know the backlash would be this bad...?”
“What? Isn’t it your spell?”
“I-It is, but it’s my first time using it...”
I couldn’t believe my ears.
She cast a spell she’d never tried before in a life-or-death crisis?
Was this gutsy or just plain stupid? Hard to tell.
Probably both applied to Laura.
“B-But! Normally, I don’t get chances to use large-scale spells like this because they’d bother people around!”
“...”
“You can chant and unleash awesome magic instantly, but sometimes you hold back because of others watching—that frustrated feeling, you get it?”
“No, I don’t...”
“So don’t look at me like I’m some crazy mage!”
“...”
There was a saying in this world that all mages were insane.
Charging into a life-threatening situation, treating it as a chance to test a spell without considering the aftermath—Laura fit the bill perfectly as a lunatic mage.
‘No choice.’
I sighed inwardly, knelt before her, and turned my back.
“W-What...?”
“I’ll carry you.”
“W-What?”
“We don’t have time to wait for you, miss. We need to push forward faster before we starve to death.”
With no telling when the dungeon’s end would appear, we couldn’t afford to wait an hour.
No sooner had I spoken than I hoisted Laura onto my back.
Maybe because she was an ice mage, but her body was cold.
If I didn’t know she was an ice mage, I’d worry she had some health issue.
“Hey, put me down!”
Ashamed at being carried, Laura wriggled on my back.
But no matter how much she thrashed, escaping me in her fully paralyzed state was impossible.
The more fiercely she resisted, the tighter I gripped her with my arms.
“Don’t you know time’s of the essence for you too, miss?”
“Even so, a mere Slave No. 2 touching his master’s body like this? And I’m a woman, you’re a man!”
“Should I leave you on the ground then? Can you resist if a monster shows up while you’re paralyzed?”
“T-That’s not...”
“So, bear with it even if it’s unpleasant. I don’t want to see you get hurt or go hungry.”
“...”
Hearing me out, Laura fell silent and ceased her unnecessary struggling.
Her paralysis easing slightly, she wiggled her fingers and even wrapped her arms firmly around my neck.
My sincere persuasion had worked, it seemed.
What a relief.
She was a customer bringing 5,000 gold—I couldn’t let her get injured or starve.
Clinging to my back like a cicada, Laura whined.
“Tch, you say you can’t stand seeing me starve, but you won’t feed me?”
“I offered food back then. You refused it, miss.”
“Those veggies don’t count as a meal!”
“Veggies can be a meal.”
“Not for humans—we’re not herbivores, and I’m not poor. Who eats just grass? A proper meal needs bread, cheese, and meat!”
“In the future, there might come a time when even with bread and meat available, people choose to eat only grass on purpose. Then grass will cost more than meat.”
“Huh? That doesn’t even make sense. I thought you were just orc-sized, slave, but your brain’s orc-sized too.”
An orc-sized brain? That hurt my feelings.
How could someone with a human heart spout such insults?
Laura was indeed the villainess.
Enduring Laura’s cruel grumbling, I proceeded smoothly through the dungeon.
Perhaps all the dungeon’s monsters had been mobilized in that last ambush, as no more attacks came midway.
After walking undisturbed for about thirty minutes.
A scene utterly unlike anything we’d seen so far unfolded before us.
“Ooh, the vibe changes from here.”
“The demonic energy’s thicker. Is this the boss room or something?”
As I poked and examined the bizarre architectural style.
“Below!”
Laura, nestled in my arms, shouted urgently.
I reflexively tried to leap away from the spot.
Unfortunately, a massive hole opening in the dungeon floor happened first.
“Ah...”
Once again, Laura and I plummeted.