Chapter 651: Conquering the 4th Floor
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 651: Conquering the 4th Floor
After the kraken was grilled to a firm, springy texture, I struggled to pull myself out from between its curled-up tentacles and dug out the Magic Stone.
It’s a secret that I felt a pang of regret as I watched the deliciously grilled kraken’s massive body slowly vanish the moment I extracted the Magic Stone.
I mean, the smell was exactly like grilled octopus.
Anyway, after we dealt with the kraken, Diana, as expected, closed her eyes and began to concentrate, saying she would locate the giant Magic Stone.
To be honest, it’s pretty much a given that there’s a giant Magic Stone in every floor’s boss room, and since research on them is already underway on the upper floors, I didn’t think there was any real need to find one here.
But it seemed our dear Archmage didn’t see it that way.
Even if it was a foregone conclusion that one existed here, she apparently wanted to confirm it with her own two eyes.
For that reason, the rest of the party, minus Diana, gathered near the passage to the 5th Floor to take a short break.
“You went through a lot, Guwon.”
“Yeah… Since it ended up finishing like that, I can’t help but feel like it was all a waste of effort.”
“N-Not at all! We survived thanks to you!”
Once you defeat a Floor Boss, its habitat becomes one of the safest places in the Dungeon. Perhaps because we were resting in such a place, Silvia’s battlefield valor had vanished. She had reverted to her usual cute self, comforting me even as she shivered.
She was incredibly cute, but that alone wasn’t quite enough to soothe my wounded heart.
“Silvia. If you really want to comfort someone, shouldn’t you show your sincerity with your body, not just your words? Heh heh.”
“You sound like a pervert.”
Matilda retorted with a sigh in her voice, but I paid her no mind.
What’s wrong with a guy getting a little pervy with his own woman?!
“Now! Hurry and entrust that pitifully trembling body to me for some Silvia-therapy…!”
“What nonsense are you spouting? You reek of fish.”
This time, however, Sara cut me off before I could even finish.
“What?! You’re kidding me…! Leia! I don’t smell, do I?”
“Hee hee. No. You smell nice and reassuring, just like always.”
“No, I mean… heh heh. I did sweat a little, so maybe… Anyway, Sara! Stop messing with me! When you harvest a Magic Stone, all traces of the monster vanish except for the dropped items, so there’s no way a fishy smell could’ve stuck to me!”
“Then why did you ask Leia if you already knew that?”
“Well, the tentacles were a drop item, so I thought maybe their smell lingered… Anyway, cut it out! After I sacrificed my body to save you all from that horrible fate!”
“Okay, okay. I’m sorry. I said I’m sorry. You’re always pulling pranks yourself, so why are you getting so worked up about it today?”
“Nope. Too late for apologies. I’m not accepting it.”
“Uwaaah! P-Please don’t fight!”
As Sara and I continued to bicker playfully, Silvia suddenly cried out and threw herself into my arms.
Since she had been the one to start it all, she must have felt incredibly uncomfortable watching us squabble, even if it was just in jest.
“I-It’s Silvia-therapy!”
Did you really have to say it out loud yourself?
No, wait, do you even know what that means?
You just heard me say it and copied me without a clue, didn’t you?
Those thoughts flashed through my mind, but I decided to just hold Silvia close and enjoy the ‘Silvia-therapy,’ savoring the pleasant vibrations of her trembling body.
“Look at that satisfied face. This idiot is really…”
“Sara.”
“What?”
“Just because I’ve calmed down doesn’t mean I’ve forgiven you for that rude comment. You’re not off the hook yet.”
“What?! Don’t be so petty! Fine, what do you want me to do then?”
“Well…”
I put on a suggestive expression and deliberately lowered my gaze, looking past Silvia’s back—who was still clinging to me—down to my feet.
Then, I raised my eyes again and stared pointedly at Sara’s tightly sealed lips.
I was a little worried she wouldn’t get the hint, but thankfully, Sara seemed to understand perfectly. That’s Sara for you—she knows what I’m thinking so well, I sometimes suspect she can read minds.
“Y-You’re the ridiculous one…! You pretended to be angry on purpose! I’m not doing it! I refuse!”
“We’ll see about that later.”
“I’m serious, I won’t! Just you try and make me!”
“Alright everyone, what should we do now?” I asked, completely ignoring Sara’s beet-red protests and changing the subject.
“Huh? What do you mean? Aren’t we heading back now?”
Matilda immediately took the bait.
As the person having the hardest time adjusting to the 4th Floor, she must have gotten anxious when it looked like I wasn’t planning on heading back right away. Well, I was just grateful to her for conveniently breaking the flow of my conversation with Sara.
“Of course, we’ll head back soon, but I thought it might be a good idea to pop down to the 5th Floor for a moment. It seems like a waste to come all this way and not take a peek, you know? The 5th Floor is pretty different from the others. Getting a preview now will be helpful for the future.”
“…That’s certainly true.”
At my words, Matilda, who remembered seeing the 5th Floor with me before, nodded in agreement.
At first glance, the 5th Floor may look like a forest, similar to the 1st Floor, but everything—from the monsters to the trees and rocks—is supersized. It was the kind of place that would inevitably overwhelm anyone entering for the first time, making them feel like they’d shrunk to the size of a dwarf.
Of course, I was already used to it from games, so I wasn’t particularly overwhelmed when I first went down there.
You might ask why I was so flustered visiting other places for the first time if I was so used to it from games. Well, that’s a different story.
The 5th Floor is overwhelming primarily due to visual factors, whereas other places are difficult to adapt to because of tactile sensations—the heat of a desert, the cold of a snowfield, or living entirely underwater, like here.
In my original world, laws prevented virtual reality games from realistically implementing the sense of touch, so everything related to tactile sensations was bound to be a fresh experience for me. However, those VR games had no such restrictions on visual effects. That means for a place like the 5th Floor, where it’s just what you see that’s different, it’s entirely possible to get used to it through a game.
“See? It’s probably a good idea to let the others experience the 5th Floor, even just for a bit, right?”
“…Is it really that different?”
Seeing even Matilda react that way, Sara seemed to realize that the topic I’d brought up just to change the subject was actually serious. She stopped protesting, her red face fading, and asked with a serious expression.
“Very different. Imagine you suddenly shrank to the size of my palm. I doubt even you could maintain that cool expression of yours.”
“Is it that extreme? Hmm… I can’t quite picture it just from the description.”
Hearing me, Leia brought her hands to her chest and closed her eyes, as if trying to imagine it. She then opened them with a sigh, an anxious look on her face. So adorable.
“Still, there’s no need to worry. Besides you and Sara, the rest of us have experience on the 5th Floor. We veterans will lead the way. Right?”
“Y-Yes, hehe!”
“Y-Yes… I suppose…”
Both Silvia and Matilda gave incredibly anxious replies. I could let Silvia’s slide, since she was still clinging to me, but Matilda, why did you sound so unsure?
I shot Matilda a suspicious look, and she, sensing the meaning behind my gaze, became visibly flustered.
“W-Well, I couldn’t help it! Back then, I had to determine if you were truly the Goddess’s emissary, and since I couldn’t take my eyes off a certain man, my curse naturally…! On top of that, I was so focused on my mission, feeling that you’d be in danger if I messed up, that I had no time to pay attention to my surroundings!”
Matilda, you’re rambling.
In short, you’re saying this, right?
The whole time, you were stuck to my side monitoring me, and it was all you could do to suppress your ‘pink mode,’ so you never had a chance to get used to the 5th Floor.
And yet, you still managed to save me from a monster, didn’t you?
No, I mean, I am grateful that you were so determined to save me despite all that.
“You really have it rough.”
“I-If you understand, then…! Ugh!”
Then hurry up and break this curse!
That’s probably what she wanted to say, but she forced herself to stop. After all, asking me to break her curse was the same as asking me to have a ton of sex with her. Was she embarrassed? Or was she holding back because Sara and Leia were here? She didn’t need to be reserved about it. They both already knew her situation.
“It’s okay, it’s okay. Even if Matilda’s nervous, Diana, Silvia, and I are used to the 5th Floor. We’ll help you guys out until you get the hang of it. We could even stick right by your side for some one-on-one private tutoring…” I said, putting on a sly grin and a playful tone for the anxious Leia and Matilda.
“Says the guy who almost lost his ‘it’ on the 5th Floor. Why don’t you focus on protecting your own precious cargo?”
Of course, the fearless Sara wasn’t nervous in the slightest, which is why she was able to fire back at my joke like that.
“Of course I am! It’s the precious treasure you’re going to be sucking the moment we get back! I have to protect it!”
“Hey! I said I wouldn’t!”
“What?! You said you wouldn’t suck my feet! You’re not going to suck this either?! Are you serious!?”
“Y-Y-You idiot! What are you saying in front of everyone?!”
“You’re the one who brought up my ‘son’ first!”
“…E-Even so…!”
As I shamelessly spouted whatever came to mind, Sara found herself on the defensive for the first time in a while.
Hmph. How do you like that? This is the ‘shameless attack’ I learned directly from Vanessa!
Well, not that she ever actually taught me.
In any case, thanks to my squabbling with Sara, I could see the tension surrounding Leia and Matilda begin to ease.
“What are you two fighting about now?”
With perfect timing, Diana approached us, having finished her investigation of the giant Magic Stone. For some reason, though, she circled around to stand stealthily behind me.
Don’t tell me she’s being this cautious because she got burned the last time she jumped into one of our arguments?
“No, you have to hear this. Sara said she was going to take my son in her mouth—Mmph!”
“The 5th Floor! We were just saying we should go down to the 5th Floor to take a look around!”
Sara frantically shouted as she clamped a hand over my mouth, cutting me off mid-complaint.
Hey, and stop pinching my side with your other hand. It won’t work. Right now, I’m receiving Silvia-therapy, which makes me invinc—Kngh. Okay, seriously, stop.
“Hmm. A fine idea. I doubt a brief visit will be enough to get used to the 5th Floor, but it will certainly help you prepare mentally.”
Diana looked at Sara and replied nonchalantly. She must have heard the first part of my sentence, so she had to have grasped the situation. It was the perfect chance to get back at Sara for what happened the other day, yet she just let it go.
When you look at it like this, Sara is really the child of the party, and Diana is the adult.
I marveled inwardly as I patted Diana on the head.
“…What is this hand?”
“Hm? Good girl. There, there.”
“I am no child. In fact, compared to me, you are the… Hah! Why have you suddenly set this trap for me?!”
I wasn’t setting a trap.
Could you please not look at me like I just tricked you?