After looking thoroughly from the second to the fifth underground floors, I still haven’t seen a single skull warrior.
I think the monsters here as a whole have gotten stronger. The only ones that appear are high rank ones like skull swordmasters and high orcs.
According to the dwarf guiding us, these normally appear on the thirtieth floor. If this is true, it means the whole balance of the Kokkoro Mine has collapsed.
“This isn’t good. I can’t rank up unless I beat skull warriors.”
“Proud friend, sometimes luck does not smile upon us. Let us not panic, and take a break to refresh our spirits.”
Sephilia is right, panic will get us nowhere.
It’s important to know when to stop. I can do a promotion quest anytime too, as long as I make a request.
“I see. How about we leave for today?”
“Yes. Today’s failure is worth more as an experience than a promotion.”
We say goodbye to the dwarf, and leave the mine.
On the way back, I remember the hidden passage I discovered last time.
I figured it would be dangerous without a swordsman and a priest, but this time I have Sephilia with me, so I can’t complain about lack of fighting power.
I tell her about the hidden passage, and she shows interest, so we’re going to take a look on the way back.
“Sorry for having you come along for this right after saying we were going home.”
“I don’t mind. I’m sure this isn’t sitting well with you.”
Sephilia is so nice. I’d be happy if I got to marry someone this nice.
She’s a little bit of an air-head, but she looks cool when she fights, her silver hair is beautiful, and her chest is big.
We reach that area, and I see the passage I disguised with earth magic.
I activate Grow, imagine the wall in front of me is a skull warrior, and punch it with all my strength.
The whole floor shakes, and the wall sealing the entrance is completely gone.
Now we’re going to walk through this passage together, so we also decide to fight together, because we don’t have a map.
I could fight by myself before because I could see the right routes on the map, but now fighting alone would be dangerous.
I propose that because I can’t let her be in danger.
She goes in front, and I behind her, as we walk through this passage that feels like a maze and map it.
“So you can map, friend.”
“I did a lot of field work in my previous job.”
“Wonderful. That means I can swing my sword without worrying.”
“I also feel more reassured with you here. It’d be hard to fight on my own while mapping.
Sometimes a canine mid rank monster called black hound appears, but Sephilia dispatches them.
Even these agile black hounds fall without any danger to her hands.
But Sephilia is still human. Even someone as strong as her has weak points.
As we walk, she steps on a magic circle. It shines, and four silver chains appear and bind her.
“Kuh, I can’t move.”
The chains are holding her four limbs.
Uoooooooooooooh!! What a wonderful sight.
The chains are binding her ample chest and emphasizing it even more.
“Excuse me, friend. It seems Sephilia here has committed the blunder of a lifetime.”
“No no, it happens to everyone.”
I break the chains with wind magic.
“I didn’t expect traps in a place like this. I should use Enemy Search to see if there are more.”
And when I do, I make a shocking discovery.
“I just saw something incredible.”
“Incredible?”
“There are a hundred traps around here.”
Normally, there are three or four traps in each floor at most. A hundred is just abnormal.
“That is a lot of traps. Can we avoid them?”
Sephilia says with a cool tone. Her serious face looks wonderful from the side.
“There is definitely something up ahead.”
We keep moving, and we find a huge natural underground lake. The surface of the water is shining with an emerald color.
So it was connected to this place…
After resting for thirty minutes, we move out again, and walk for about an hour until we see the ending point of our adventure.
It’s a wide circular space, about as big as the arena in town,
There’s a big, three meter high door on the back, and a giant magic beast guarding it.
It has three heads, a black body, and ferocious features. Strangely enough, it’s chained to the door.
I guess we could call it a gatekeeper. The length of the chains means we’ll be safe unless we attack, but the giant door is half open, and magic energy is leaking from it.
That explains the abnormality with the measuring device, is what my instincts as a mage tell me.
“I have never seen this type of black hound.”
“That’s called cerberus.”
“Houhou, that fur looks nice to the touch.”
Sephilia is moved by that cerberus.
“How about you face it then? I’ve fought one before, so you can have this one.”
A master rank like her should be able to beat it easily.
“No no, you can have this one, friend. I will watch and learn.”
“That makes me feel pressure.”
“Remember when I brought up the goblin dragon theory? If you keep it in mind, you won’t feel pressured.”
“Y-you’re calling back to that here!? By the way, what does that mean exactly?”
“The time will come when you understand.”
No, tell me now! If you know, tell me now!
We keep saying the other one should have it, so we decide to fight it together.
It comes at us, and we each dodge to one side.
I create a swamp under it, throwing off its center of gravity greatly, and Sephilia doesn’t miss the chance when its posture is off.
She gets ready to unsheathe and slash from the right, drops her posture, and approaches it with the explosive speed of a bullet. Her sword flashes from its front legs to its torso, and suffice to say, it has the power to take it down in one hit.
This perfectly timed combo successfully brings down the cerberus. Sephilia really is great.
I didn’t tell her anything, but she understood the situation perfectly and took it down.
“You really are great, Sephilia.”
“Thanks to your wonderful support.”
It’s nice to be praised. I don’t think I’ve ever fought alongside someone this way.
We go through the door, and see a large space.
This one’s rectangular, but not that much bigger than the previous arena. However, this is like a palace that brings the word sublime to my mind.
There are tiles on the floor with intricate reliefs carved, and thick pillars on all four corners.
This is definitely not a sight you see on a normal mine. It’s a false space created by magic.
Suffice to say, spatial magic is master rank.
We walk around in awe of this, when suddenly, we hear a girl’s voice.
“Kukuku, finally, the distress signal reached someone.”
We turn around, and the door we walked through disappears.
Instead, there’s a young girl sitting back on a throne.
She looks to be about ten years old, with pink hair, and what looks like deer antlers growing from her head.
“Hum, who are you?”
Sephilia and I react the same way, and the girl lets out an exasperated sigh.
“Good grief, young people nowadays are so ignorant. I am Albatross, the demon king.
The head of demons, and the symbol of the depths of despair for you humans.”
I feel like I can hear a bam sound effect, such is the smug face she has while saying that.
But the very next moment, Sephilia appears right in front of her, with her foot planted on the ground and her fist raised.
“Eh?”
The girl is surprised, with a foolish expression frozen on her face.
She plants her knuckles on the girl’s head, who lets out a small ‘aruh!?’ yell and stops moving.
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