Chapter 825: Auden
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 825: Auden
“Alright. I’ll leave it to you from here.”
While I was racking my brain over the situation, we had already entered the turtle’s den.
And then Miriel patted my shoulder, her eyes full of expectation.
She really doesn’t seem like a bad person.
No, if Diana and my suspicions are correct, she’s not actually a bad person.
It’s just that her objective itself makes her dangerous.
“Uh, yeah. …There’s no Floor Boss here either.”
The space, where the massive Magic Stone unique to this sub-layer was openly visible, was quite wide, unlike the narrow passages of the turtle’s den we’d seen so far.
And it was incredibly quiet.
How could there be absolutely nothing here to stall for time?
“This big sister just caught it a little while ago. It’ll take a few more days for it to reappear, won’t it?”
Alicia said it proudly, but for me, it was unwelcome news.
For now, I’ll just have to pretend to search.
They’ve already searched every nook and cranny and found nothing anyway. I can probably stall for a few days by pretending to search.
And in the meantime, I’ll find a way to exchange information with Diana.
Thinking that, I absentmindedly glanced at the map.
The moment my eyes landed on the map of our current location, I felt a cold sweat break out on my back without realizing it.
“Hey. Are you okay? What’s wrong?”
And of all people, it was Alicia, who was swaggering right in front of me, who caught my reaction first.
I’ll just try to gloss over it. Alicia was wearing an uncharacteristically worried expression, so if I played it right, I could probably fool her.
“No…”
“Oh, so it’s here?”
I tried to act as if nothing was wrong and move on, but it was already too late the moment Alicia noticed my strange reaction and spoke up.
Because my girls aren’t the only quick-witted ones here.
Lutia, the Rogue, who looked quick-witted from her appearance to her job, seemed to have immediately reached that conclusion after seeing my expression.
Damn it! This is why quick-witted people are…!
No, girls. Of course, I wasn’t talking about you, okay? I really like how quick-witted you are!
“Huh? But there’s nothing here…”
Alicia, who had naturally investigated this area as well, tried to deny it with a suspicious expression, but hoping Alicia would win against Lutia by doing nothing was probably too big a dream.
“Everyone, be careful!”
Since the male turtle’s existence here would be revealed sooner or later anyway, I decided to act a step ahead before the Arachne Clan members could react.
Since it’s come to this, there’s no need to hesitate!
I spread my arms, embraced Sara, Diana, Leia, and Silvia all at once, and pushed them back into the passage we had just come through.
At the same time, I imbued my feet with Saint’s Touch and kicked the floor with all my might.
Rumble.
And at that moment, the entire space began to shake as if an earthquake had struck.
The turtles in this den have a characteristic of camouflaging themselves as walls using their shells.
And the male turtle, the final boss, was camouflaging itself as the floor using its shell.
Yes. In other words, the entire floor of this room was the male turtle’s shell.
That was also why I was so surprised when I looked at the map.
We were clearly standing on the floor, but the map showed a much wider space stretching out below, and I was marked as floating in the middle of that vast space.
“Wha—!? Th-the floor?!”
Anyway, the creature camouflaged by my Saint’s Touch reacted, and as that massive creature tried to move, it wasn’t just the floor that vibrated.
The entire space shook, and stalactites hanging from the ceiling even turned into sharp spears, plummeting to the floor.
And, as expected, the male turtle’s actions didn’t stop at simply rising.
The creature, having risen, began to slowly rotate, and then its rotation gradually accelerated.
No. Of course, regular turtles attacked this way too, but seriously?
You’re doing that too? This massive body is spinning?
When the floor you’re standing on suddenly becomes unstable at an unexpected moment, even the most skilled adventurer is bound to lose their balance for a moment.
The Arachne Clan members were no exception; their stances broke, and they were crawling on the floor.
At least the Twin Mages seemed to be trying to regain their footing by using levitation magic, but even that wasn’t easy due to the stalactites constantly falling from the ceiling.
Since they were trying to cast mana-intensive levitation magic not just on themselves but on all their members, they naturally wouldn’t have the leeway to worry about the stalactites.
“Tahat!”
Still, the title of the world’s best veteran adventurer group was no empty boast; even with their stances broken by an unprecedented attack, the Arachne Clan made what seemed to be the best choice.
Alicia somehow plunged her thick greatsword into the tough male turtle’s back to regain her balance, and then threw Miriel and Lutia, one to each of the Twin Mages.
Miriel and Lutia, once thrown, safely clung to the Twin Mages and were able to float in the air with the power of levitation magic.
With the Twin Mages using levitation magic and Miriel and Lutia batting away the stalactites, the Arachne Clan was perfectly countering the male turtle’s rotation.
All except for one person: Alicia.
“Ugh!”
Alicia, with her greatsword plunged into the turtle’s back, was rotating with the turtle, enduring the falling stalactites with her entire body.
Of course, unlike the mages, she was sturdy, so getting hit by stalactites probably wouldn’t cause extreme damage, but the damage would still be accumulating.
But even we, who had taken refuge in the passage, weren’t in a relaxed enough situation to worry about Alicia.
That was because the male turtle wasn’t just rotating in place; it was clearly rotating while approaching us.
As its massive body scraped against the walls, deforming the terrain and pushing forward, the passage completely failed to serve as a refuge.
“Uuugh…!”
Silvia seemed to be trying to withstand the male turtle’s body, which was pushing in diagonally from below, by holding out her shield and bracing her feet against the wall, but naturally, Silvia alone couldn’t possibly stop that massive body.
Silvia’s feet were instantly driven into the wall up to her calves, and her shield, sparking furiously, looked like it would break at any moment.
Sara diligently shot arrows from behind, but the creature’s tough shell seemed to take little damage even from those.
After all, even ordinary turtles could easily ignore normal attacks that weren’t imbued with mana.
“I’m going in!”
And at that moment, I decided to climb onto the male turtle.
The reason this guy was rotating towards us in the first place was because it got hit by my Saint’s Touch and was targeting me.
If only I moved to the outside, my girls wouldn’t be in danger.
And the reason I used a Saint skill to hit the dormant male turtle and wake it up was to intentionally get hurt.
My girls might not like it, but the only way to stop the dungeon exploration here is for me to get injured.
Of course, a new element of uncertainty arose the moment I used a Saint skill on the male turtle.
Eventually, we’d have to defeat the male turtle, and then its Monster Penis would drop.
If the Arachne Clan just abandoned me after I got hurt and went to the next dungeon, that would be the end of it.
But I decided to trust my judgment and take a gamble.
Even if their intentions were impure, they weren’t so heartless or evil.
And most importantly, Alicia, who undoubtedly still liked me, wouldn’t just leave me behind if I got hurt.
Honestly, using the feelings of a woman I’d rejected weighed heavily on my conscience, but this wasn’t just talk; the fate of the world was truly at stake.
If everything went according to Miriel’s plan, they might just revive the Demon God.
Now wasn’t the time to be picky.
Well, the best-case scenario would be for me to put the dropped Monster Penis into my inventory before the Arachne Clan noticed and then play innocent, but there was almost no chance I could do something like that while injured.
“Wh-what?! Gu-Guwon-ssi?!”
“It’s because of the Saint skill!”
For those reasons, I immediately ran forward.
Of course, my girls were flustered and tried to stop me, but I briefly explained why and immediately dashed forward.
Since I was going to climb on anyway, maybe I should help Alicia too.
Thinking that, I immediately used Shadow Movement to move behind Alicia.
And though I immediately wrapped my arms around Alicia’s waist, Alicia, who was barely holding on, was startled by someone suddenly embracing her from behind and tried to attack me.
“Wha—who, who the hell are you?!”
“It’s me! Me!”
I quickly made my excuse, but with the fierce wind whipping past our ears, it was doubtful if Alicia heard me clearly.
This girl, she’s enduring this?
Moreover, the stalactites hitting our bodies felt like they were part of the male turtle’s attack, not just falling rocks; they were excessively painful.
“Relax your body!”
“H-huh?! Wha—?! How did you suddenly… no, relax… Wh-what are you trying to do?! At a time like this?!”
Fearing my voice wouldn’t be heard over the wind, I brought my mouth close to Alicia’s ear and said that, and for a moment, Alicia’s body swayed, and I felt her strength drain away.
Of course, she immediately tensed up again, no, even more than before.
No, seriously. What exactly are you thinking?
Does ‘relax your body’ always sound like that to you?! Is that really the impression I give?!
No, if it were my girls, who’ve experienced a lot, then maybe. But you’ve only been with me once, when you took my virginity!
“…I’m trying to help you, so relax and let go of your sword.”
Though I felt incredibly wronged, as Alicia said, I couldn’t say anything strange at a time like this, so I gritted my teeth and told her.
Then I reached out and firmly gripped the hilt of the sword Alicia was holding.
Simply put, my intention was to throw Alicia towards the passage where my girls were.
Just like Alicia had thrown Miriel and Lutia.
But at that moment, the turtle’s rotation stopped.
Yes. At that moment, when I was in an incredibly suspicious, close-contact position: one arm tightly wrapped around Alicia’s waist from behind, my other hand overlapping hers on the sword, and my mouth close to her ear.
Of all times, of all times, it had to be now! At least stop when Alicia had let go of the sword and I was in the throwing stance! Why now, of all times?!
“Guwon!”
And sure enough, our fiercely jealous Hero’s voice echoed throughout the entire space.
“No! It’s not like that! It’s a misunderstanding! I swear to the Goddess—”
“Behind you!”
I quickly made my excuses, but Sara wasn’t trying to say that.
Following Sara’s voice, I quickly turned around, and there, a turtle’s head, far larger than my own body, was looking down at us.
Ah, right. Of course. Since it had scraped away the passage wall to come in, it naturally would have secured enough space on the opposite side to stick its head out. Right.
“Damn it!”
The moment I saw that head, I hastily pushed Alicia away.
And at the same time, the turtle’s neck stretched out, lunging at me.
Of course, before that head could reach me, Sara’s mana-imbued arrow flew and struck it, but it seemed even Sara couldn’t imbue a hasty attack with a large amount of mana.
As a result, the arrow only dealt damage the turtle could withstand, and in the end, the turtle simply bit me with its mouth.
“Guwon-ssi!”
Our angel’s scream reached me from afar.
Though her voice tore at my heart, I also felt a little relieved.
No, because I was already agonizing over what excuse I’d make if they interrogated me after rescuing Alicia, asking why I didn’t just escape with Shadow Movement.
But now that I’ve gotten a chance to get hurt like this, isn’t it a relief?
In fact, the problem was that I wasn’t taking enough damage.
Hey. Bite a little harder. Do you really think that’ll leave a scratch?
Hmph. Me, I tell you. Being too sturdy is a problem too.