『Blade of wind, slash my enemies.』

As the magic was cast, reality was altered as wind aspected magic power gathered around Elena.

『Air Cutter!』

With those words, the magic was completed and nearly 20 wind blades where shot out.

The invisible attack of the wind blades split the body of the approaching Mud Golem into multiple slices before it eventually lost all strength and collapsed to the ground.

All that remained was mud, containing some magic power, and a magic stone, buried in the mud.

「I see. Fire magic isn’t that useful, but wind magic seems to be okay.」

「Well, the problem was the water in the mud evaporating and just leaving dirt behind, so wind magic shouldn’t have any problems.」

Vihera nodded in agreement at Elena’s words.

Next to them, Byune immediately dug out the magic stone from the mud before handing it over to Rei.

「Mm.」

「Yeah, I understand.」

Along with those words, Rei took the Dagger of Flowing Water out of the Misty Ring. Washing the magic stone with water created from the dagger, he then stored the magic stone into the Misty Ring.

After that, he took out a barrel and filled it up with mud with help from the other four people before storing it away.

「……This is quite troublesome.」

Rei muttered with a sigh.

Washing the magic stone aside, it took about 10 minutes to move all the mud from the Mud Golem into a barrel.

They had already does this three times. It was certainly true, every time they killed a Mud Golem, they had to stop moving to collect the mud……it was a fact that it took time.

However……

「Considering how much time it takes to strip materials from monsters, I think this is quite short, no?」

「……I guess so.」

In fact, in terms of income, all the mud that made up the Mud Golem could be sold as alchemy materials, so it was true that nothing would go to waste, unlike ordinary monsters.

Of course, to bring back the mud, there was a corresponding weight, so it would normally be impossible to carry the mud back without a porter. In addition, a barrel like container would need to be prepared as well, so Mud Golems usually weren’t consider good prey for ordinary parties. If they were going to bring back all the mud from a Mud Golem, they might as well bring back more magic stones and other expensive materials instead, as it would earn them more money.

But, in this case, Rei had barrels stored inside the Misty Ring, so they didn’t have any issues bringing it back with them.

Because of that, an item box wasn’t necessarily a requirement to bring back the mud and magic stones of Mud Golems……if you had a magic pouch, like what Elena had, that would also work.

There was once a tough guy who used the fact that the transfer device could directly send people to the level they wanted to pull a cart with him. After killing Mud Golems and Stone Golems, he then collected all their materials.

After collecting all the materials from Mud Golem, Rei and the others continued their way through the sixth floor.

Occasionally, they would come across a trap. When Byune saw one, she would tell Rei and Elena about the trap and show them how to disarm it.

However, because Byune didn’t really speak, it was more like the way a master craftsman would teach their apprentice, by watching and remembering.

As they made their way through the cave like environment, Byune, who was walking at the front, reached out her hand and signaled them to stop.

「Is it another trap?」

「Mm!」

Byune gave a small nod at Vihera’s question and left Rei and the others behind as she crouched on the ground 5m ahead to disarm the trap.

The reason why Rei and Elena weren’t invited over to watch this time was probably because it was a dangerous trap.

In fact, as Rei looked over to where Byune was, he could see something like a thin spider thread about 20cm off the ground. The spider thread lead to a cave wall, up the wall, and to stalactites on the ceiling.

Seeing that, Rei could half guess what kind of trap Byune was currently disarming. Probably, if someone touched the thread, it would cause the overhanging stalactites to fall.

What made it worse was the trap trigger was spider thread. Thin and light. Since most adventurers exploring the dungeon would be wearing armour, they wouldn’t even notice if they touched the thread.

Even Vihera, who wore the least armour among them, would not have noticed if she touched the thread. The 20cm high thread would touch her shins, which were covered from her feet up. If it was Set, who was unarmoured, he might have felt it or spotted it with his sharp eyes beforehand.

「It’s a very nasty trap.」

「Ara~, you figured it out?」

Rei nodded at Vihera, who was looking at him with eyes wide in surprise.

「Hm? You know what kind of trap it is?」

Elena couldn’t tell what the trap was just by looking at it as she asked Rei.

「Yeah. Simply put, it’s a trap that drops stalactites from above. If a stalactite of that size fell on your head, anyone not expecting it would almost certainly die. ……It seemed like the danger of traps increased significantly from the sixth floor.」

「Well, a lot of people who are new to the sixth floor are either killed or seriously injured by these kinds of traps. I believe the guild is very careful about it, but there are still overconfident parties that make their way here.」

「So these are everywhere……mm?」

「Gururu~」

As Rei was about to say something, Set, who had been keeping an eye on the surroundings, gave a cry.

His line of sight was directed towards the end of the passage where Rei and others were.

「It looks like a new enemy has arrived. ……Is it a Mud Golem again?」

Muttering to himself, he immediately shook his head.

That was because he couldn’t hear the squelching footsteps he had heard many times before. While he hadn’t run into any yet, he couldn’t hear the thumping sound of Stone Golems either.

(So, is it a Wind Bat? No, since there is a trap set up here, it could possibly be something else.)

As he thought of that, Rei suddenly noticed something flying towards him and swung his Death Scythe on instinct.

At that moment, something invisible collided with the blade of the Death Scythe……before shattering.

Even so, he was able to grasp the identity of something he had struck on reflex because he had seen a similar attack just earlier.

「Wind blades?」

「Yes. Looks like it’s Wind Bats. Byune!」

「Mm!」

「Hey, Vihera?」

When Vihera called out to Byune, who was about to return to them, Byune gave a small nod, as if understanding something and stayed by the trap.

Seeing that, Elena asked what was going on. However, Vihera, who had a smile on her face, just stared down the passageway with a smile on her face without replying.

What were the two of them planning? It became clear when a huge bat with a wingspan of 1.5m silently appeared from the end of the passageway.

「Now!」

With Vihera’s shout, Byune, who had hidden herself near the trap, cut the thread before quickly running back to Rei’s group.

And, because the thread was cut, the trap was naturally triggered and the stalactites growing from the ceiling fell down. ……But not on Rei’s head, they fell on the Wind Bat’s head.

「Hey, they’re not going to come down on us are they?」

Rei asked as he watched a sharp stalactite slam into the ground after piercing through the Wind Bat.

Next to Rei, Set also gave a cry as he worriedly watched a large number of stalactites falling down.

「It will be fine. If it’s a trap of this type, its range isn’t that great. It will be a few meters radius around the place where the trap was. That’s why we needed to drag the Wind Bat over.」

Vihera replied as she looked over a the Wind Bats, crushed by stalactites, as if it were a matter of course.

Due to the fall of stalactites, there was now a small mountain of stalactites on the ground. In such a situation, of course, the Wind Bat had been completely crushed and no blood could be seen, let alone any part of the Wind Bat.

However, the people in their group were Rei, who had extraordinary physical ability and senses, Elena, who had inherited the magic stone of an Ancient Dragon, Set, a Griffon, Yellow, a Dragon although small, Byune, who had sharper sense than most after working as a thief, and Vihera, who was a combat fanatic and had trained her senses accordingly. All of them had sharp senses and could clearly smell the scent of blood drifting out from under the stalactites.

「If you have a thief in your party, you can use traps in the dungeon to attack monsters. It might not be as useful for Rei and Elena, since neither of you are thieves, but it never hurts to know.」

「It was certainly a learning experience. I never thought you could use traps against monsters.」

「Well, of course, you need a certain amount of experience to do this. At the very least, it would be impossible for amateurs like me, you, and Elena to do.」

「I know that much, in the first place, I don’t have any skills as a thief.」

「Ara~, that is a little surprising. I was expecting you retort back.」

All things considered……especially considering what had happened with Rei the night before, Vihera hadn’t expected that Elena would agree with her without a fuss. She had a surprised expression on her face.

However, Elena just gave a snort as she responded.

If it hadn’t been Vihera who was looking at her, someone else would have fallen in love with Elena as she scooped up the rolls in her blonde hair.

「That’s true, there are so many things I would like to say to you……so many things. However, that’s not the kind of thing we should be talking about in a dangerous place like a dungeon.」

Saying that, she stared sideways at Rei, who had involuntarily gave a sigh of relief, before speaking.

「I will be asking Rei to explain it to me after we leave the dungeon today, so you don’t have to worry about it for now.」

「Ara~, that’s right. ……It’s hard having a jealous lover.」

Rei turned look at Vihera, who smiled as she called out to Rei.

It’s your fault no matter how you look at it. Rei seemed to say with a look of protest.

However, Vihera didn’t seem to care about Rei’s look as she turned towards the stalactites piled up on the ground.

「What about the Wind Bat? Aside from its fangs, which is the proof of subjugation, and the magic stone, I think it would be difficult to get any other materials considering it was crushed by stalactites.」

「The materials were…….the wings and eyes?」

「Yes. But its head has definitely been crushed and wings torn.」

「……Well, that’s fine. I haven’t collected a Wind Bat’s magic stone, so it will do.」

Saying that, Rei went over to the pile of stalactites with Set. Even though the stalactites were huge, many of them had been crushed after hitting the ground and the individual pieces weren’t that large. There were also a few that had barely broken, but it wasn’t too difficult to shift them with Rei and Set’s strength.

「It doesn’t glow any more after breaking. ……No, that’s not right. It should have stopped glowing after falling from the ceiling.」

Rei muttered as he lifted a stalactite about the same height as himself.

The glow the stalactites had was gone and they had become ordinary stalactites after falling to the ground.

「Yeah. If they had continued to glow, there would be a few more adventurers who would come here. These stalactites glow like the walls, they stop glowing when they leave the dungeon. ……If the mystery could be unravelled, nights would become brighter in cities, towns and villages.」

Vihera replied with regret in her eyes as she looked at the stalactite Rei had lifted up.

As they heard those words, Rei and Set finally succeed in moving the stalactites that had fallen on the Wind Bat.

「Gurururu~」

Set gave a disappointed cry as he rolled a stalactite away with his feet.

The stalactites had fallen on the Wind Bat in such great numbers that the Wind Bat had been crushed beyond all recognition, there was hardly any part of it left intact.

As for parts that were still intact……only its fangs, the proof of subjugation, were intact from its head.

Rei reached out a tore the fangs straight off, a sight that the average person would frown at.

「The magic stone……is a loss.」

Rei sighed when he saw what was left of the magic stone, which had be shattered by the stalactites.

「That looks to be the case, doesn’t it? Well, I suppose we can just collect the fangs as proof of subjugation. ……Byune, how is it? Any signs of new monsters?」

「Mm!」

「Elena?」

「No problems here……rather, isn’t it pointless for me to keep watch if Byune is doing it?」

Vihera smiled meaningfully at Elena’s words.

「Well, you might be right. ……But, it’s just a coincidence that we are partying together with Byune, right? It would be better for you to get used to it. That aside, let’s move on.」

With Vihera’s words as a signal, Rei and the others continued making their way through the cave like dungeon floor.

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