Chapter 391: A Demon God in the Dungeon?
Chapter 391: A Demon God in the Dungeon?
“Alright! This time, we’re going to the pond for real!”
After dealing with the school of fish, I hastily threw on the armor that had been stripped off me and shouted.
You think I’m a little too energetic for someone who just went through such a humiliating ordeal?
Of course I’m energetic! Think about where I was attacked!
Is there any man on earth who wouldn’t get a boost of energy after our angel caressed his little guy?
In fact, I was so energetic it felt like my son was about to burst right through my pants.
“Wait a minute! What have you been talking about? What pond?”
This time, it was Matilda who stopped my enthusiastic charge.
Ah, right. I guess I never explained it to her.
Leia wasn’t in the party back then either, so I suppose I should explain it once.
I briefly recounted what happened when I was stranded on the 1st floor, adding my own speculations for everyone to hear.
“What do you think?”
“Hmm. I, too, believe it is a distinct possibility. At the time, we were unaware of the existence of special sub-layers like the ant nest, so I paid it no mind. But thinking back on it now, the possibility seems quite high. It is impressive that you remembered something from so long ago.”
“Hmph. You may call me a genius.”
“Honestly, the moment you receive the slightest compliment, you get so full of yourself…”
Even as she said it, Diana gave me a soft, pretty glare that showed she wasn’t truly annoyed.
“Anyway, is everyone on board with investigating that pond?”
“W-Wait a moment. Surely you don’t mean we’re going to investigate it right now?”
“Huh? Why not?”
“Why not?! Do you have any idea how many days it took us to get here?! To go all the way back, then move to the 1st floor again… just how long are you planning on staying in the dungeon?!”
Ah, right. Since it was just the 1st floor, I figured it would be easy and not a problem, but it seemed Matilda saw things differently.
Unaccustomed to the mana flowing through the dungeon, Matilda was likely exhausted just from being inside it.
And it was true that it had taken a considerable amount of time to get here from the village on the 3rd floor.
It was a waste of time to spend days getting here only to take a brief look at the 4th floor and leave.
“Okay. I get it. Then let’s just explore the 4th floor this time and go to the 1st floor on our next expedition.”
“Eh? Th-That easily?”
“Hm? Why? Is there a problem?”
“N-No. I was just surprised that you’d concede so easily.”
“What in the world do you think I am? As the party leader, and as the clan leader, I accept valid opinions when they’re presented.”
Well, I guess I have no excuse if this is about my usual behavior.
And I can’t deny that I’ve been particularly mean to Matilda.
“Besides, you’re having a hard time, right? I can’t push you too hard.”
“Ah… y-you… How could you be so…”
No. I’m telling you, you fall in love way too fast.
“A-Ahem! Ahem! So, we’re exploring the 4th floor this time, right?”
“Sara. Your fake cough is so obvious. What, are you jealous?”
“Ow! That hurts! Don’t hit me! People resort to violence when they have nothing to say… ow!”
“Stop faking it, it doesn’t even hurt!”
No. I was half-joking, but it was half-seriously painful, you know?
Did you level up again just from that bit of hunting? The way your attacks are starting to do real damage again… The Hero job is seriously broken.
Not that I have any room to talk, since I’m the one who beat that broken Hero in a one-on-one duel.
“Alright. Shall we just keep walking this way?”
“Hmm. Let us do that. By the way, you did buy a map of the 4th floor from the Guild before we came, did you not?”
“Ah, yeah. Why?”
“Then proceed with caution, keeping the map in mind. I believe this immediate area should be fine, but…”
“Why? Is there a problem if we go further out?”
“Hmm. On this floor, one must also be mindful of the currents. Especially since there are those among us who cannot swim.”
I see. So in many ways, this floor was a class apart from the others.
And so, we decided to explore our surroundings cautiously.
The monsters were basically divided into fish-types and plant-types, and besides that, there was nothing particularly special.
I wasn’t yet confident in fighting while floating in the water, but as long as we were moving along the bottom like this, it didn’t seem like there would be any major problems.
This was especially true since my Saint skills worked perfectly on the fish-type monsters.
The slightly annoying parts were that it was hard to react when fish swarmed us from all directions, and that, with the exception of Diana, none of us could yet distinguish between normal plants and plant-type monsters.
Just like right now.
“Sara! Behind you!”
“Ugh! Kyaaah!”
While I was drawing the aggro of the fish attacking from the front, another school of fish suddenly ambushed us from behind.
Our current formation was me, Diana, the three who couldn’t swim, and Sara, in that order, to protect our non-swimmers.
Even if we were walking on the ground, there was bound to be a difference in movement speed between those who could swim and those who couldn’t in a pinch.
Moreover, Sara’s excellent hearing wasn’t very helpful underwater, so she, being preoccupied with attacking the fish I was aggroing, didn’t immediately notice the surprise attack from behind.
Fortunately, she managed to dodge to the side just before being hit, but where she ended up, that tentacle plant monster from before was waiting.
Watching the vines wrap around Sara’s body, I immediately activated Holy Ground Proclamation at its maximum range.
It wouldn’t draw the plant’s aggro, but it would pull the aggro of every single fish that had launched the surprise attack from the rear.
This would put our party members under the influence of Holy Ground Proclamation as well, but it should be fine for a moment.
Of course, since the effect would continue to stack unless I released it, it wasn’t a tactic I could use often. But in a situation like this, I had no choice.
The moment I thought I had drawn all the fishes’ aggro, I deactivated Holy Ground Proclamation and focused on hunting the monsters.
With my hands and feet clad in the Saint’s Sincerity and the sword swung by Silvia, who had painstakingly made her way over, we finally cleared out the monsters, and I rushed over to Sara.
“Sara!”
And there… was the sight of Sara, caught by the vines, half-naked and struggling to break free.
“Woooooooooah! Yes! Yes! That’s it! That’s exactly it! This is the kind of development I wanted! Good job! You’re a model tentacle, worthy of being in a textbook! Yes! Tentacles are at their best when they’re violating a beautiful woman!”
For the record, there was a reason I was rambling on instead of immediately rescuing Sara.
I knew from having experienced it myself that the vines of that tentacle plant didn’t do any damage.
At first, I thought I just couldn’t feel it because my defense was too high, but according to Diana, that wasn’t the case.
Apparently, it was a monster that stripped its victims completely naked before eating them whole, and until you were eaten, it dealt almost no damage.
Which meant I could enjoy the sight of a half-stripped Sara at my leisure.
Besides, my fists and feet couldn’t save Sara from those tentacles anyway.
I tried attacking the man-eating plant with my Saint’s Sincerity activated, but as expected, it had no effect.
If anything, it looked like I would get tangled in the vines myself, so I took a large step back and shouted.
“Ooooh! The breasts! You’re attacking the breasts! Wrapping them in a circle to make them pop out! You really know your fetishes! Yes! That’s it!”
And the reason I could spout all this nonsense without a care was that no one could hear me underwater anyway.
As long as I put on a plausible reaction, there would be no problem.
I looked at Diana and Silvia with a panicked expression and gestured wildly.
As if only Diana’s magic or Silvia’s sword could save Sara.
Of course, the words coming out of my mouth were a different story.
“Hey! Tentacle! For your information, Sara’s charm point is her ass! Try putting her in a pose that emphasizes her ass more! Bring out the full appeal of that firm butt!”
“…I thought it was suspicious how your pants have been bulging for a while now.”
“……Huh?”
A voice suddenly cut through my heated excitement from watching Sara get wrapped in tentacles, like a bucket of cold water being dumped on me.
Well, never mind the cold water, I was already underwater.
“What did you just say?”
“S-Save Sara, quickly!”
“My ears heard something entirely different just now.”
D-Dammit! How could I make such a rookie mistake!
For a guy who can control his erections at will to make a slip-up like this!
This is bad! This is really bad! This is the greatest crisis of Guwon’s life!
“N-No. I just figured since you couldn’t hear me anyway, all I needed to do was convey a sense of urgency with my gestures…”
“…Hoh. So, her ass, is it?”
“M-More importantly, Sara first…!”
“She is already saved.”
“H-Huh?”
I hurriedly turned back to Sara. The tentacles that had been wrapped around her had lost their strength and fallen to the floor.
Sara was gathering her fallen armor and clothes, her face beet red and her eyes slightly teary as she glared at me.
And a long trail of air bubbles connected her head to mine.
S-Since when…
“S-Sara! Calm down! Think about it! It was a compliment! Your ass is pret—.” “Y-Y-Y-You pervert! Hmph—…!”
Having hastily thrown on her clothes, Sara quickly approached me and slapped me across the face.
Due to the water resistance, it wasn’t so fast that I couldn’t block or dodge it, but I had a gut feeling that blocking or dodging it would only make things worse.
So I meekly took the blow to my cheek, but for some reason, Sara immediately collapsed on the spot.
Her head slipped out of the air bubble and she sank, so I couldn’t hear clearly, but that was a moan just now, wasn’t it?
…Huh? Whoops! I didn’t turn off Saint’s Sincerity!
“What have you done now?!”
“No. Wait! This time it was really a mistake! I just accidentally forgot to turn off Saint’s Sincerity!”
“What did you say?!”
“Wait. I know you’re angry, but we need to do something about Sara first. S-So for now, Diana, you and the others look somewhere else.”
“You intend to do it here?!”
“I-I won’t! But she’s still going to climax, right?! Or what, should we just leave her like this?! It’ll be over in a second!”
“W-Who says it’ll be over in a second!”
Sara had somehow gotten back up and stuck her face into the air bubble.
Though her legs were pressed together and trembling, her face was bright red, and her eyes were welling up with tears.
“No. Sara. This isn’t the time to act tough. I’ll apologize later, so for now, just hurry up and…”
“Guwon-ssi? What’s wrong?”
Just then, Leia, who had been in the back, came over, stuck her face in the air bubble, and tilted her head.
Even though she was doggy-paddling, she seemed to be the quickest of the three to get used to swimming.
Well, seeing an angel swim like that has a certain gap moe charm that’s cute, but… no! This is not the time for that!
“No. Leia. It’s just, I have some business to take care of. It’ll be over quickly, so just turn around for a…” “I-It won’t be quick! I’m not that easy a woman…!”
Why is she trying to act so tough in a situation like this?!
I mean, if someone called me a premature ejaculator, I’d probably react the same way even in this situation, but still!
“Aaaargh! This is getting complicated, so just be quiet for a second, Sara!”
“Hngh—…!”
Half-panicked, I unhesitatingly grabbed Sara’s breast.
I still hadn’t deactivated Saint’s Sincerity, and Sara, whose breast was now in my hand, collapsed to the ground again.
“There! You get the gist of the situation now, right?! Everyone, turn around!”
“Eh? Eeh?!”
“A-Are you serious?! You’re really going to do something like that here?!”
“What else can I do?! I have no choice!”
“U-Ughhh! Ughhhh!”
For some reason, Diana’s face turned even redder than Sara’s as she glared at me, before finally turning away with a look of resignation.
Then she made the still-confused Leia turn around as well.
She then dispelled the air bubble connecting us and created a new one connecting her head with Leia’s, Matilda’s, and Silvia’s, seeming to explain something.
At that, Silvia and Matilda, who had been walking towards us as if in slow motion, immediately turned their backs as well.