The Most Beautiful in This Universe (4)
The Most Beautiful in This Universe (4)
Dungeon 25th floor. It was a floor she had given up on and fled when she was with Seoyun, but the party's determination to advance forward could not be stopped.
"35 degrees. 22 meters. Three."
"Descend, oh lightning."
Orion's ears perked up, and simultaneously, Raize's staff began to glow bluishly.
The most powerful calamity found in nature descends from the tip of the staff.
Skreeeek—?
A monster with its limbs grotesquely splayed reveals itself, and Raize's already completed magic flies forth and strikes it before that.
Even a monster that lightly surpasses human physical capabilities cannot avoid the speed of lightning.
KWA-RRRUMBLE! The thunder roars belatedly, and only ashes and a Magic Stone remained clattering where the monster had been.
Fwooosh...
Raize looked at the Magic Stone attached to the tip of her staff. She plucks out the stone that's starting to crack all over and looks at Dojin.
"It's used up."
"Here, replace it."
Raize, who inserted the Magic Stone Dojin handed over into the tip of her staff, physically felt the magical power emanating from the staff.
It wasn't that impressive a level. A stone that would be depleted after using magic once or twice. But put differently, it meant she could continue using magic as long as there were monsters.
'She's getting faster and faster....'
Raize swept her gaze over Dojin's back. At first, she didn't understand why he was doing this. But as time passed, she could understand Dojin's thinking.
The number of times she used magic today was more than the number of times she used magic in the past month, and the number of times she unleashed magic over a week was more than the number of times she used magic in an entire year.
Magic does not grow through repetition and mastery. That's what she had thought, but with this many repetitions, it couldn't be ignored.
'Even the Magic Tower would call this a waste of money, wouldn't they... this?'
The magical power a mage possesses has limits. Therefore, ordinary mages had a limit of using magic at most about five or six times a day.
Thus, mages researched how to cast more powerful and larger magic within that short number of times, or how to use it usefully.
They don't try to use magic in such a brute force manner like this. As Dojin put it, it's like spending hundreds of thousands of won on a single bullet.
I don't know what a bullet is, but even without being told, I could tell it was an absurdly expensive price.
"Ugh... Is there any way to reduce the sound from that? My ears feel stuffed."
"...Sorry."
"No, that's nothing for Raize to apologize for. What can be done about being born like this?"
Orion said so while fluttering her ears. Raize felt sorry seeing her like that, but since the most powerful magic she could produce was shooting lightning, there was no helping it.
"I gave you earplugs, didn't I?"
"You're telling the scout to wear earplugs now? Why don't you just suggest we all get ambushed and die together?"
"No, it's the same either way since you can't hear anything when they're stuffed...."
Dojin exchanged words like that with Orion. Raize watched that scene and let out a pfft chuckle.
Seeing the foreign-looking Dojin and the exotic-looking Elf bickering looked like watching a play.
Raize, who was giggling softly like that, felt something strange and looked back. Eunha was quietly watching the two. Raize tilted her head, looking at her.
"...Eunha?"
"—Ah, yes. What is it...?"
"No, you were just staring blankly, so I... And you can use casual speech. I use it too."
"I'm comfortable with this...."
Looking at Eunha nodding her head, bok, Raize said okay and turned her head away.
And then she recalled the expression she had just seen on the girl.
'It was strange somehow... as if....'
Yes, it was an expression like that of a frail woman abandoned by her lover. Of course, she knew that couldn't be the case.
Even when she asked the two, they both denied being lovers, and in reality, no such atmosphere was felt at all.
Then what was the expression Eunha showed? Something more primal.......
"Ah, wait a moment— Front. 30 meters. Rear 3 meters......?"
At that moment, Orion turned around with slight shock. Yes, there were often cases like this. Cases where a monster suddenly appeared from the empty space they had just passed through.
Indeed, the moment Orion's ears detected the monster, the monster's arm flew in, tracing a grotesque angle.
Raize fell backward in surprise and squeezed her eyes shut.
Pang!
"...Are you okay?"
Eunha, who had flicked away the arm with her fist, asked Raize. Feeling embarrassed about having fallen over in surprise, Raize dusted off her buttocks, tak tak, and got up.
"...I'm fine. Dojin, what should we do?"
"Orion, keep monitoring the surroundings. Raize, you prepare for anything coming from the front."
"Okay."
Upon hearing those words, Raize immediately completely ignored the monster loitering behind and entered her incantation.
Drawing in the natural magical power using the magical power contained in the Magic Stone as a starting point, she prepared her magic.
It was a task so difficult it felt like her brain nerves were crackling and burning. If she were disturbed even slightly, her nerves would snap.......
'Trust them.'
She trusted her party and immersed herself completely. In an extreme combat situation, sinking into one's own world alone required considerable concentration.
But she had done it numerous times.
Crackle. Electric sparks began to fly from the Magic Stone. An excessive current that could be terrifying was discharged from the tip of the staff.
As many times as she had used it—dozens, hundreds of times. A spell now too familiar.
'This is....'
But she realized a change had occurred in her magic. No, it wasn't the magic that had changed, but she herself.
'Right, if I do it like this.'
Without paying any attention to her surroundings, she immerses herself in her own world. The most important quality for a mage.
She was a genius.
If a genius is given sufficient time and experience, the genius will shatter the egg called the world time and again.
Yet another egg is shattered.
Breaking the shell called human limits, everything from head to toe evolves one step further.
KWA-RRRUMBLE!
"KYAAAH!?"
Orion, who was watching Dojin and Eunha deal with the monsters, screamed at the tremendous noise that came from right beside her. An excessive noise that made her ears go deaf momentarily. Why? There was still quite a while before any monster could approach.......
Feeling something strange, she turned around and saw a single streak of lightning scorching the space. A single spear piercing through the world.
"Congratulations."
"...Thank you."
Raize had leveled up.
Objectively speaking, it felt slightly late. Considering the number of monsters she had caught with the magic he provided, it was a number that would not have been enough even if she had leveled up much sooner.
"With this, everyone in our party has leveled up at least once."
"Is that so? Amazing."
"Don't other parties usually do that?"
"Hmmm... Actually, no."
Orion sipped her drink and opened her mouth. Perhaps because of the alcohol, stories she wouldn't normally tell came out on their own.
"Usually, everyone starts at the same point and hunts... no, trains together until they all level up. Cases where people with different levels form a party together like this aren't very common."
"What kind of cases are those?"
"Hiring mercenaries to obtain rare materials only available inside the dungeon, or an organization or group attaching an instructor to nurture talent... or, well, those kinds of things."
"Those kinds?"
"Yes, well. You know, those. Those fools who leveled up but don't know how to fight."
I could immediately tell who she was talking about.
The female adventurers often seen on the 1st floor of the Adventurer Guild. Wearing not combat attire, but blatant Bikini Armor meant to seduce men, parasitic hangers-on who seduce promising adventurers.
In such cases, it's said they mostly don't fight at all and just cling to men, sucking them dry. If they're lucky, they might level up, but leveling up without any accumulated experience leads to no growth whatsoever.
The first education Pion gave me when I went up to the 2nd floor was exactly that. Be careful of parasites. Fortunately, maybe because I'm always with girls, I've never experienced that kind of thing......
"Anyway, since this is an occasion to celebrate Raize's growth. Let's drink specially. Today's my treat."
"Oh my, is it really okay for you to do that?"
"Of course it's okay."
"Huhu, in that case..."
I didn't realize the meaning of her words at this moment. And a short while later, I couldn't help but be shocked seeing the barrel of alcohol the waiter brought.
"Ahaha, Elves have a constitution that doesn't get drunk easily on alcohol...."
She said that to intoxicate an Elf, a fairy of nature, with ingredients from nature, truly a mountain-like amount of grain is needed.
She, being an Elf, was naturally a monstrous heavy drinker, and to get such a heavy drinker drunk required a corresponding amount of money.
"I'll enjoy it."
With drowsy eyes, Orion began to scoop out and drink the alcohol inside the Orc barrel. I also followed along to some extent at first, but before long, I returned home half-unconscious, soaked in alcohol.
"Ugh... Mooool."
"...Here you go."
An unknown person hands over water. I dizzily accept the cup and start gulping it down bulkulk.
But my drunken body couldn't easily calm the intoxication. Hoo, hoo, I keep exhaling only rough breaths. Each time I exhaled, a strong smell of alcohol intoxicated my nose.
"...Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, I'm okaaaay..."
I was not fine at all. But since there's nothing more embarrassing than making a fool of oneself after drinking, I waved my hand around trying to prove I was okay.
"Ah..."
And soon, I collapsed onto the bed due to the dizziness that assaulted my head. My head hurts. The pillow or bed, made of who-knows-what, was too plushy.
I needed something to completely hold me in place. Waving my arm around to find it, I found something hard and pulled it strongly.
"Do, Dojin-ah?"
Fwoohoo—
There was something small and soft, but it didn't last long before something hard supported my head. I rubbed my head against it, seeking stability.
"Uh, hey... I want to go out."
"Where to... don't go..."
The hard pillow moved on its own. I wrapped my arms around the pillow and hugged it tightly. Only then did the pillow stop moving and stay quietly fixed.
With my head not moving and fixed in place, the headache finally started to lessen. I was still exhaling breaths, hoo, hoo, trying to fall asleep.
Swoosh— Something started stroking my head.
"...Dojin-ah, you. Why aren't you abandoning me?"
"Hng...?"
"I'm like this, with a meager chest, short stature, and nothing I know how to do... why?"
"You're noisy......"
A faint trembling continued to transmit from the pillow I was lying on. Frowning, I pressed down hard on the pillow. A small moan, hyat, echoed.
"Be quiet... don't move...... you're mine."
"...What value is there in something like me?"
"You're noisyyy... don't talk...... be quiet......"
With those words, I fell asleep. Even after falling asleep, the buzzing in my head didn't stop.
Chirp chirp, a bird sings. The morning sunlight shines brightly into my eyes, and the overflowing light quantity forces my eyes open.
My head hurts. I want to go back in time if I could and kill myself for how much I drank last night.
And the second thought that arose was.
'...Why is she here?'
I'm fucked.
Looking at Eunha pinned beneath me, I thought so.