Chapter 465: Reversed Roles
Chapter 465: Reversed Roles
“If we fight that thing, won’t it make a lot of noise?”
For the time being, we stayed in the passage, looking down at the male ant as we began our strategy meeting.
Then again, it was just a monster from the 2.5th Layer.
Simply killing it wouldn’t be a problem, but the real issue was doing so without alerting anyone else.
I had already confirmed there were no other adventurers around when we came here, but the people from the Mage Association studying the giant Magic Stone in the Queen Ant’s chamber were a concern.
Diana could step in and ensure their silence, but if possible, I didn’t want to reveal the male ant’s existence to anyone.
“Hmm. I can block out the sound with magic, but the problem is the tremors.”
“Right. When a beast that size starts moving, the ground is going to shake.”
That thing had wings, just like the Queen Ant.
If it decided to use a jumping attack like the queen did… I didn’t even want to think about it.
“Alright. It seems the time has finally come for me to use my full power.”
I muttered in a dramatic tone as I slowly stretched my body.
“What are you planning to do?”
“Huh? Isn’t it obvious? I just have to kill it before it even has a chance to move. In other words, assassination.”
Heh heh heh. It seemed the time had finally come to use my Assassin job in actual combat.
Until now, I’d only ever used the job for all sorts of naughty things, but against a monster of this level, my Assassin skills would be more than enough to do the trick.
Besides, Assassin wasn’t my only job.
I would show them just how devastating a combination of Assassin, Martial Artist, and Saint could be.
The plan was simple.
First, I’d envelop my body in Saint’s Touch at maximum power, with no holding back.
Then, I’d use Stealth to approach it quietly without being detected and strike its weak spot using my Martial Artist skills.
The Assassin job has a passive skill that increases the damage multiplier when attacking a weak spot.
On top of that, I had another skill that increased weak spot damage, which I’d gained from neutering those wolfdogs a while back.
When those two combined, my attack on its weak spot would produce results that were, quite literally, beyond imagination.
And to think, I’d be attacking with a Martial Artist skill while cloaked in Saint’s Touch.
It was a fantastic combo. So good, it was almost scary.
Of course, even with all that, I wasn’t certain I could take down a creature of that size in a single blow.
That’s why I decided to coordinate with Sara. I used Stealth and silently circled around to the ant’s rear.
A genital strike… As a man, it was an act that made me feel a little sorry, but at least my opponent was an insect. Its basic anatomy was different from a mammal’s, so I could feel a little less guilty.
After closing the distance behind the stationary ant, I picked up a small stone from the ground and dropped it.
The instant the stone hit the ground, I channeled Saint’s Touch into my foot, leaped high into the air, flipped my body over, and kicked upwards.
The sound of the stone hitting the ground was too faint to even draw the ant’s aggro, but I was sure Sara heard it loud and clear.
This was the kind of perfect coordinated play that was only possible with her.
Even before my foot made contact with the creature’s weak spot, I was already certain of my success and shouted loudly.
“Somersault Kick!”
Now, how about it? Will you die in ecstasy? Or will you writhe in agony and die from shock?
Either way is fine by me.
I looked up, preparing for the moment the creature ejaculated.
Even though I was upside down in mid-air, I hadn’t leveled up for nothing!
With my current physical abilities, dodging a little spray like that would be…
BOOM!
…Something. I think I just heard an explosion come from my foot. It must be my imagination, right?
No, of course, I heard a scream, too. The terrible, final cry of the male ant.
But that wasn’t what was important to me right now.
It had burst. The part my foot had touched.
No matter how strong my attack was, for it to explode like a firecracker seemed a bit strange.
Come to think of it, I’d heard somewhere that male ants die immediately after mating.
How did they die again?
Eaten? No, that was spiders.
I’m pretty sure for ants… their genitals explode at the moment of ejaculation…
“Guwon! You did it!”
…Yeah. I know. Turns out I didn’t even need to hit it. This thing would have died just from being forced to ejaculate.
“Yeah. The Magic Stone is in its head, so could you dig it out for me?”
I said to Sara, feigning as much composure as I could.
The ant’s body was probably blocking their view of me.
I’ll calm myself down while they’re digging out the Magic Stone and the body disappears.
Even as I resolved to do so, I couldn’t stop a single tear from streaming down my cheek.
Dammit. Why do things always go so well before ending up like this…?
And so, we successfully obtained the ant’s penis.
I’ll skip the detailed explanation of the process it took to dig out the Magic Stone and for my mental state to recover.
Let’s just say that Leia’s breasts were very soft.
Oh, for the record, the penis that dropped was in perfect condition.
It had happened a few times before; even if the genitals were damaged before the kill, the dropped item would be perfectly intact.
Anyway, we inserted the penis into a nearby hole and headed for the 3.5th Layer. However, the moment we set foot there, we were immediately faced with another problem.
“Whoa! Ugh! Aaaah!”
“Kyaa! Oww…”
That’s right. The 3.5th Layer was an ice cave.
Not just the walls and ceiling, but the floor, too. Everything was ice.
To make matters worse, the terrain had changed abruptly in the middle of the descending passage. Caught off guard, we ended up sliding down like we were on a slide, landing hard on our butts and skidding all the way to the bottom.
“Hmm. I see. So this is the terrain. Indeed. Exploring this place will be quite an ordeal. Still, I do appreciate that there is light, unlike in the Kobold or Ant caves.”
Diana, the only one who hadn’t landed on her butt, calmly observed our surroundings.
How did that clumsy oaf manage not to fall, you ask? Simple. She was flying. The cheater.
“Couldn’t you have helped us out, too?”
“I would have, had I been able. But I’m afraid I didn’t have the time to gather enough mana to levitate this many people.”
…Fair enough. I get it. Even for the great Archmage, she was caught off guard while sliding and had to cast a spell in an instant. Just managing to save herself was impressive enough.
I understood completely, but hearing her say that while looking down on us from mid-air was still kind of annoying.
“But what should we do? We can’t even walk properly like this.”
“You’re right. For now, let’s go back up and…”
Dammit. We can’t go back up.
It felt like we had slid down a pretty long way.
The floor was so slippery it was hard to even stand on flat ground, and now we were supposed to climb back up an incline?
Maybe it would be possible if we climbed by stabbing our Magic Stone-gathering knives into the ice walls with both hands, but we didn’t have enough knives for everyone to have two.
“Diana, can you use magic to lift all of us to the layer above?”
“Hm? No, that’s impossible. I would run out of mana long before we got there.”
“N-No… Then what are we… what are we supposed to do…?” Leia muttered, adjusting the hem of her skirt that had ridden up when she fell.
Even so, the modified priestess uniform had a deep side slit that left her gorgeous legs on full display… No. This isn’t the time for that.
“It’s okay. I have an idea.”
I guess I have no choice. This is an emergency. Time to make a little sacrifice.
I took a bunch of my clothes out of my inventory. That’s right—the plain, coarse cloth clothes with no decorations.
“Clothes? What are you going to do with those all of a sudden?”
“Just watch.”
I layered several pieces of clothing, wrapped them around my feet, and slowly stood up.
“Alright. This should work.”
The coarse cloth clothes were useless for fashion and weren’t even that comfortable to wear, but their coarseness was a help this time.
With them under my feet, they created enough friction to keep me from slipping.
Well, it still felt like I might fall if I wasn’t careful, but for a temporary solution, it was pretty useful.
“Oh my. That’s amazing.”
“Heh heh. Right? Right?”
“Y-Yeah… it’s amazing. Wow. Guwon is so smart.”
“……”
“Wh-What’s with that look?”
“…Nothing. It’s nothing.”
“I-I praised you because you wanted me to!” Sara protested, her face turning bright red, as if she had a good idea what my silence meant.
“Uh, yeah. Thanks. It was cute.”
“C-Cute…?! Why are you suddenly calling me cute?!”
Because you looked adorable trying so hard to praise me so awkwardly.
But if I said that out loud, she’d probably get embarrassed and hit me again, so I kept my mouth shut.
“Alright, alright. Don’t just stand there, everyone wrap these around your feet.”
“Hmph…”
Sara shot me a glare, as if she was displeased with my attempt to brush it off, but she obediently took the clothes and wrapped them around her feet like I did.
Leia, Silvia, and Matilda also wrapped the clothes around their feet and were able to stand up.
“Kyaa! I-I’m sorry!”
Just as we were finally about to set off, Leia suddenly clung to my arm.
She stumbled into me, and her large breasts were crushed against me haphazardly.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t feel their texture because of my armor, but just being able to admire their squished shape with my own eyes was enough to make me feel grateful.
“No, no. Thank you. I’m very grate—Ugh.”
“Honestly, this idiot…”
Having spoken my true feelings, I was rewarded with another smash on the back from Sara. Leia, who had only lost her balance for a moment, quickly let go of my arm and regained her footing.
“A-Ahem! You there! Give me some of those clothes as well.”
Seeing Leia, Diana held her hand out to me.
It was obvious what she was thinking, but I decided to ask anyway.
“What? Why? You can fly, can’t you?”
“I cannot afford to waste mana indefinitely, can I?”
Well, she had a point. Though I suspected that wasn’t the only reason.
And the proof was…
“Whoa! Th-This is actually quite difficult to balance on…”
The moment Diana wrapped the clothes around her feet, she immediately fell into my arms.
Except, it wasn’t an act; she really almost fell.
She’s so clumsy.
“This is still the 3.5th Layer, you know. I’m telling you now, I can’t carry you on my back.”
I didn’t know what kind of monsters would appear yet, but based on the layer number alone, it was probably perfectly suited for our level.
Well, our party was much stronger than our levels suggested, so it probably wouldn’t be that difficult. Still, it wasn’t a place where we could let our guard down completely.
“I am aware.”
Diana replied, clinging to my arm as she slowly found her balance.
“Why don’t you just stick with Leia?”
“Wh-Wh-What are you talking about?! There is no need for that! It’s not cold, is it?!”
True. Despite being an ice cave, it wasn’t as cold as I expected.
Was it because, unlike the 3rd Layer, there was no wind?
It just felt a little cool, that’s all.
Well, even if it had been cold, Diana would have come prepared with something.
The moment she found out we were going somewhere cold, she had started desperately calling for Vanessa.
“No, that’s not the problem. It’s hard to keep your balance, right? I have to be in the front, so you can’t keep clinging to me. Silvia is also in the vanguard. Sara needs to shoot her bow, and Matilda has to guard the rear. The only one left is Leia.”
“That’s right! Yes! Okay! Come on, Diana. Over here!”
Leia looked absolutely thrilled.
Well, I could certainly understand how she felt.
Diana was warm, soft, smelled nice, and was pleasant to hold.
“N-No! My chest… my chest is…!”
To make a long story short, Diana had no choice but to be held in Leia’s arms once again.
We couldn’t afford to waste any more time.
The expression on Diana’s face, with Leia’s large breasts resting on top of her head, was the most pitiful thing I had ever seen.
Well, if you traced the cause back, it was my fault.
“Shall we go, then? Our first goal is to find the passage leading to the 3rd Layer. Let’s get out of here first, regroup where we can actually walk, and then come back.”
And so, our exploration of the 3.5th Layer finally began.