Chapter 346: The True Nature of the Giant Magic Stone
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 346: The True Nature of the Giant Magic Stone
“Ugh… Bleegh! Ack! I’m dying… I’m gonna die…”
The next morning. As we headed out to face the 3rd Floor’s Floor Boss, I saw three corpses lying in the plaza.
No, wait. Seeing them writhe and retch, they seemed to be alive, but they looked like they could drop dead at any moment.
“Hey, Guwon! Heading out now?”
And there, in front of them, was Alicia, waving as she approached me with a wide grin that reminded me of a wild beast.
I think this every time I see her, but she’s the type who never dwells on the past.
To think she’d greet me with such a cheerful smile today after how we left things yesterday.
Then again, come to think of it, she did the same thing last time. She beat the crap out of me, and yet when we met yesterday, she greeted me as if nothing had ever happened.
But that’s not what’s important right now.
“Uh… yeah, but… are those three okay?”
Normally, I’d be on guard just seeing Alicia—with her suspected preference for women—approaching my party. But the trio’s condition was so dire that I forgot all about that and found myself asking after them first.
“Hm? Oh, them? Tsk. Kids these days have no grit. None at all. Stop whining and get up! He became an adventurer after you, and he’s already heading for the 4th Floor. How long are you going to mope around after just one day of hunting on the 3rd?!”
I’d asked if they were okay, but Alicia just started laying into them instead.
Man, Alicia is way more ruthless than she looks.
No, wait. Of course, she already looks ruthless, but I mean she’s even more so than that first impression.
This is beyond some demon drill instructor.
On top of that, hearing her talk, it sounded like I was the reason they were in this state, which made me feel guilty even though I hadn’t done anything wrong.
So that’s why they were giving me such resentful looks yesterday.
For the record, they weren’t looking at me that way now.
They didn’t even seem to have the energy to. Their eyes looked completely unfocused.
“Hey, comparing them to me is a bit much, don’t you think? I’m a Saint, you know. A Saint.”
Since Alicia was arguably the first person in this world to experience the power of a Saint, I thought that argument would work on her. Apparently not.
“What are you talking about! People can do anything if they set their minds to it!”
“Ah, right…”
Kanna, Serena, Amy. I did all I could.
The only thing left for me to do is pray for your souls. Forgive me for being so powerless.
“Anyway, are you guys heading off to take on the 3rd Floor’s Floor Boss now?”
“Oh, yeah. Why?”
“Then how about we go with you part of the way?”
“With you?”
“Don’t give me that look. I’m not saying we’ll tag along the whole way. I’m well aware they’re not strong enough to face the Floor Boss. I just have to take them out for training anyway, so I figured we could travel together for a bit.”
Seriously? How could she say that after seeing the look on my face?
My expression wasn’t saying they’d get in the way.
I mean, at their level they’d be nothing but a hindrance, but that’s beside the point. Just look at them.
Are they in any state to enter the dungeon? Just let them rest.
“No, we’re good. Who knows what could happen if we traveled with them in that condition.”
“Tch. Figured as much. Guess I’ll have to train them even harder…”
Alicia clicked her tongue as if she hadn’t expected anything else and muttered something terrifying under her breath.
The way the trio’s bodies trembled on the ground was definitely not my imagination.
Neither was the resentful look on Kanna’s face as she lay pressed against the ground, staring our way.
“A-Anyway, I’m leaving!”
I had a strong feeling that continuing this conversation with Alicia would only earn me more of the trio’s resentment, so I quickly wrapped things up and headed out.
“Oh, right. See you later.”
When later?! Don’t tell me on the 4th Floor! You’re not planning to drag their corpses all the way there, are you?!
I quietly offered another prayer for the trio’s souls.
The journey to the 3rd Floor’s Floor Boss was much smoother than last time.
Last time, we had to proceed cautiously, keeping an eye out for any stranded adventurers, which inevitably slowed us down. But without that restriction, we cut through the labyrinth at a speed that could only be described as a blitz.
The fact that we’d already traveled part of the way also helped.
And it wasn’t just a matter of feeling like we were moving faster because the path was familiar.
For me, any path I’d taken was recorded on my map system.
Being able to press on without constantly stopping to check a map was a huge advantage.
Finally, there was the fact that while we were defeating 3rd Floor monsters with ease, our own levels were actually lower than theirs.
Sara and I were able to raise our job levels at a remarkable pace. Sara’s growth was particularly frightening, since she could also raise her base level through hunting.
I even felt a strange sense of foreboding that if she kept growing at this rate, the day would soon come when her attacks would start to hurt me again.
In any case, thanks to all this, not just our travel speed but our hunting speed increased as well, and we reached the Floor Boss’s location in just a few days.
“So that’s the 3rd Floor’s Floor Boss.”
“Mm. A troublesome foe that uses its massive size to launch powerful area-of-effect attacks. Not that it matters to us, of course. This is also a good place to get a little preview before facing the large monsters of the 5th Floor.”
“Huh? Here? What about the 4th Floor?”
“The 4th Floor is a particularly unusual place, even for the dungeon. It would be difficult to expect such an experience there.”
A special place… Sounds like more trouble.
Well, that’s a problem for later. First, I have to deal with this thing in front of me.
Just as Diana said, it was enormous—so big that I could see it clearly from a distance even though it was crouched down. And its silhouette was humanoid.
Covered in pure white fur, it looked like a yeti.
We’d encountered a few yetis on our way here, but this one was incomparably larger.
It truly reminded me of the giant humanoid monsters from the 5th Floor, like the ogres.
“Alright, so like we planned, I’ll draw its aggro first, and Sara and Diana will attack?”
“Mm. Let us proceed.”
Once Diana gave her assent, I approached the Floor Boss.
I could have drawn its aggro just by using Saint’s Wave, but with a body that big, all of its attacks would be area-of-effect.
It would be best to start the fight after luring it away from the others.
Besides, even if it’s a Floor Boss, a yeti is still a yeti. The basic strategy for fighting it shouldn’t be too different from a normal one.
And from fighting the regular yetis, I’d learned that I was a particularly good matchup against them.
Why? Because yetis attack with their bare hands.
Every single one of their attacks is physical.
For me, there’s no better opponent.
“Uwoooooo!”
As I got closer, the Floor Boss noticed me and rose to its feet with a monstrous roar.
I watched the yeti calmly and activated my Saint’s Sincerity.
“Hwoooong!”
I raised both arms and blocked the massive, heavy fist coming for me. The yeti, despite being the attacker, let out a strange cry.
Then it began to swing its fists and feet even more furiously.
Just as I thought. Only its size was similar; it was nothing like the monsters on the 5th Floor.
Each of its attacks was huge and sluggish, just as you’d expect from its size.
I could have dodged them easily enough, but I deliberately blocked every single one with my body.
Why else would I have used my Saint’s Sincerity?
The beast flinched and shuddered with every blow it landed on me, until finally, after who-knows-how-many attacks, it collapsed to its knees.
“What, you finish fast? Pissed your pants already?”
“Kuuuuu…”
I even dropped my guard and spread my arms wide to taunt it, but the beast seemed to be in no condition to care.
The attacker takes the damage. That’s the beauty of being a reflect-damage dealer.
Well, it’s not like I was dealing damage, exactly.
And as the beast crouched there pathetically, trembling, arrows of wind flew in from a distance, punching holes in its body.
True to its title as a Floor Boss, even Sara couldn’t finish it with a single arrow, but at this rate, its defeat was only a matter of time.
Diana must have thought so too, because she canceled the attack spell she’d been preparing with a grand incantation.
Looks like she plans on letting Sara and me have all the experience points.
Not only that, Diana closed her eyes and stood perfectly still, as if meditating.
What’s she doing?
There’s no way Diana would let her guard down like that against a Floor Boss.
She seems to be up to something… but, oh well. Doesn’t matter.
I turned back to the Floor Boss and started laying into it with my fists and feet.
“Kuworrrrrgh!”
In the end, under the combined assault from Sara and me, the beast fell without putting up much of a fight.
Its final death throes were a violent rampage that left the ground around it completely cratered, but since the others were a safe distance away, no one was harmed.
“Hmph!”
The moment the beast fell, Diana, who had been standing still with her eyes closed, snapped them open and came running toward us.
“Hup!”
Ah, she tripped.
That’s what you get for trying to run on snow when you’re so clumsy.
“Diana, are you okay?!”
“Ugh… You! Give me a piggyback ride!”
She’d fallen on soft snow, so it probably didn’t hurt much. The embarrassment must have been the bigger factor.
Diana shot to her feet, brushed the snow from her robes, and glared at me as she yelled.
You’re the one who fell, why are you looking at me like that?
“Yes, yes. And where to, milady?”
As I lifted Diana onto my back, she reached over my shoulder and pointed toward the spot where the Floor Boss had been crouching before the fight.
“There! Head over there!”
I followed the great Archmage’s command and headed where her finger pointed, but it was just a dead end blocked by a wall of pure white ice.
“Here?”
“Hmmmm…”
Instead of answering, Diana stared at the ice wall and hummed thoughtfully.
“Ah, I see. You there. Apologies, but would you retrieve the Magic Stone first?”
With that, she slid off my back and closed her eyes to concentrate once more.
Diana getting off my back so easily…
Seeing her so completely focused on the potential clue before her, I felt a pang of loneliness.
I’ll have to hug Silvia later to fill this void.
With that resolution in mind, I walked back to the Floor Boss and carved out its Magic Stone.
The moment I did, Diana’s eyes snapped open again, and her face lit up with a brilliant smile.
Cute. Is this what they mean when they say a woman at work is attractive?
No, maybe that’s not quite it.
In any case, Diana nodded once as if certain, then created an unprecedentedly massive fireball and began to melt the ice wall.
The ice wall began to melt rapidly before the fireball even touched it, but Diana advanced the spell with great care.
As if to avoid accidentally damaging whatever was inside.
Not that there was much mystery as to what that “whatever” was.
After her delicate work, just as expected, a giant Magic Stone like the one we’d seen before was revealed inside the ice wall.
“As expected! My hypothesis was correct!”
Right. Seeing her so happy makes me happy, too.
Well, it’s not like this is just her problem, either.
My objective was different from Diana’s—she was investigating for the sake of pure magical research—but I was just as curious about the secret of the Magic Stone.
To be more precise, I was more curious about the secret of the dungeon than the stone itself.
What in the world did the Goddess send me here for?
The clue might lie within that giant Magic Stone.
Though that’s just my speculation, of course.
“You! You! Give me a hand!”
Diana shouted, reaching her hands up as if she wanted to touch the giant Magic Stone herself.
It’s a bit high up.
Even I could barely reach it by stretching my arm all the way.
I lifted Diana up and set her on my shoulders.
“Mm!”
Looking satisfied, Diana patted my head before reaching for the giant Magic Stone.
I was satisfied, too. Her soft thighs were pressed against my cheek.
“Hmm… Hm?! Th-This is…! It can’t be! No, but there’s no way…!”
While I was savoring the sensation against my cheek, Diana, who had been standing still for a while with her hand on the giant Magic Stone and her eyes closed, suddenly let out a bewildered cry.