「So the eighth floor is still a cave.」

「Didn’t Vihera say that it would be a cave down until the 10th floor?」

Rei responded to Elena’s murmurs as they walked through the cave like environment.

Elena nodded at Rei’s words, but that didn’t stop her from sighing as she looked around.

「However, doesn’t it feel gloomy walking through endless caves?」

「I understand your feelings, but since this is a dungeon, it can’t be helped.」

Rei smiled as he replied to Elena.

After all, the fact that she voiced her complaints meant that Elena had probably forgiven him.

(Everything is back to normal……for now at least.)

There had been a lot of awkward moments due to the incident with Vihera, so it was looking good that Rei was able to interact naturally with Elena again.

「Rei? What’s wrong?」

「No, it’s nothing. It’s close to noon, so I just want to have lunch……is there a good spot to take a break?」

「Give me a moment. ……Well, if we go down this passage, we’ll see a crossroads. If we turn right there, we’ll reach a dead end with a small room. If there aren’t any traps, we can have lunch there. ……What do you think?」

「Of course we’ll go there. Set.」

「Gururu~」

「Kyu!」

At Rei’s words, Set gave a cry to say he understood while Yellow, who was on Set’s back, also gave a short cry.

……However, just before reaching the crossroad, Set stopped.

Why did Set stop? Both Rei and Elena knew why. It was because Set had stopped in similar situations several times before.

That is to say……

「A trap, is it?」

「I guess so. I don’t know who……or what monster set it up. But, I’m getting sick of the timings of these traps.」

Rei gave a sigh while Elena frowned unpleasantly.

However, seeing that they would only be wasting time if they didn’t do anything, they turned to look at the crossroads.

First, they checked the ground. Unsurprisingly, the ground was the most likely place to be trapped. As adventurers would always walk along the ground, in a sense it was natural.

「……There it is.」

「Yes, no doubt. It’s hidden in an ingenious way, but I can still see it clearly.」

Rei looked at something that seemed like a switch while Elena nodded in agreement.

「Is there anything else?」

「Doesn’t look like it.」

「Then, do we just want to avoid that switch?」

「Yes. I would have liked to disarm the trap……」

「It’s a bit hard for us to do that since neither of us are thieves.」

Thanks to working with Byune the previous day, it was possible for them to discover traps on this floor to a certain extent. However, that was only discovering them, it was a different matter when it came to disarming them.

Rather, it was strange in the first place that Rei and Elena were able to learn the knack of finding traps after working with Byune for just a day.

Considering that, it was clear how much of an anomaly Rei and Elena were.

However, Set’s senses were even sharper than the both of them and he would sometimes find traps almost instinctively.

Either way, Rei and the others entered the right passage while moving slightly left of the centre of the crossroad to avoid triggering the switch.

「Kyukyu~」

「Guru~!」

Yellow probably was interested in the switch as he gave a cry and tried to fly off Set’s back. However, a brief cry from Set stopped Yellow.

「……Yellow, it’s good to be curious, but not now.」

「……Kyu~」

Seeing Elena, its master, say that with a sigh, Yellow gave a sad cry as he lay on Set’s back.

Yellow flapped his wings and waved its short tail dispiritedly.

While watching this somewhat heartwarming scene, they proceeded to the right, down the passageway. After continuing for about 20 minutes, they reached the small room at a dead end, matching their map.

They got there, but……

「Gururururu~」

「Well, that’s the room at the dead end, but this is also a dungeon, so it’s become a good place for monsters to rest?」

Set turned a sharp gaze towards the room while giving a cry. It wasn’t clear to Rei and Elena yet, but they could feel a number of signs from within the room.

「That’s true. However, I don’t think you would just ignore them right? If there are any abnormal species, they would be great enemies for you.」

Elena’s words seemed like she had just seen through Rei’s thoughts, but in reality, she had just given up before saying anything to Rei and given him her silent approval.

「Kyukyu, kyu?」

Yellow, sitting on Set’s back, seemed to have recovered slightly from their previous exchange. He turned to look at Rei and Elena with a small cry.

Rei lightly stroked Yellow’s head and spoke as he held his Death Scythe.

「Well, what kind of enemies do you think would be here.」

「Looking at it, the room seems quite large. As far as that’s concerned, it’s probably not Golems?」

As Elena said, the map only stated there was a room. However, in reality, it was just a space at a dead end with no door and, although monsters inside may have been able to hear Rei and Elena’s voices, there was no sign of anything jumping out from inside.

Mud Golems and Stone Golems were both Golem type monsters, so if they sensed the presence of people, they wouldn’t have any plans but to rush out……at least that was what Rei though.

(In that case, if it’s not Golems, but Wind Bats?)

Although he thought of a quick way to annihilate all enemies inside, he immediately rejected it. After all, there might be monsters in the room, but it wasn’t necessarily just monsters.

It wasn’t like they could hear any signs of battle though, so even if there were adventurers inside, they were probably already dead.

「……Well, there’s no point doing nothing. Elena, Set and I will dash into the room first. Follow right behind me so you can follow up if anything goes wrong.」

「I understand. I’ll protect your back.」

Elena nodded to show her understanding……she also had a small smile on her face knowing that she was being trusted.

She seemed to be happier about it than usual, possibly because of the incident with Vihera the day before.

Without noticing anything about Elena’s young maiden heart, Rei readied his Death Scythe, patted Set’s head……and then ran into the room.

Probably sensing danger, Yellow got off Set’s back to get out of the way as he silently watched Elena follow after Rei.

「Kyu~」

Yellow regretted that he wasn’t able to help its friends and beloved master due to its small body.

 

 

The moment he entered the room, Rei heard a ringing sound in his ears.

(What!?)

Rei immediately went on guard for an enemy attack, but the ringing disappeared in less than a second.

Re was worried about the ringing in his ears, but since he had suffered no further injuries, he just took a look around the room…….or rather, empty space.

It was dark inside and the walls and stalactites weren’t glowing like outside.

However, even in the darkness, Rei sensed something approaching and swung his Death Scythe to the side.

「Kikikiki-!」

At that moment, as he heard such a cry, Rei felt the blade of the Death Scythe slash through something. In less than a second, he heard something fall to the ground.

(The response from the slash was quite light. Considering that, it’s not a Golem. And, taking to account where I had to slash……)

At that moment, the figure of bats that Rei had fought several times before entered his mind.

「It’s Wind Bats! They’ll attack us in the dark!」

While shouting, Rei felt something approach him again as he swung the Death Scythe. It was the same light feeling as before as he cut through the object.

Rei gave ordered to Set without caring for what he had just struck.

「Set, King’s Awe! Use Fire Breath after that!」

He gave instructions to Set while swinging the Death Scythe. While searching for signs in surroundings as he fought, he could only sense monsters like Wind Bats aside from themselves. Knowing their abilities, he gave a quick order.

「Gurururururururu~!」

Following Rei’s orders, Set opened his beak without hesitation and gave a loud cry. At the same time, the Wind Bats attacking Rei all froze.

Not missing this moment, Set opened his beak a second time after using King’s Awe.

Roar-!

The next moment, Set spat out a breath of flame, turning his head and burning up a dozen or so Wind Bats that had been about to fall to the ground after freezing from King’s Awe.

The Wind Bats touched by the fire breath instantly burned up, even their bones and magic stones were turned to ashes as they fell to the ground.

(Damn, was it too powerful?)

Rei slapped himself in his mind as he saw the scene illuminated by Set’s Fire Breath.

However, what was done was done as he shouted at Set.

「Set! Reduce the power of Fire Breath a bit!」

「Gururururu~」

Set gave a cry at Rei’s voice and the strength of the flames coming from his beak dropped. ALthough it still had the power to burn the Wind Bats to death, it didn’t turn them to ashes. Like that, Set moved his head while spitting out fire, dropping several Wind Bats to the ground in a roasted state.

Seeing that, Rei and Elena also started to attack while making sure not to get in the way of Set’s wide area attack.

Whether it was Rei or Elena, the two of them had a wide range of attack methods using both skills and magic. The reason they didn’t held back on both as they swung their weapons was simply because there wasn’t enough room for both of them to do that while Set was also using a wide range attack.

「Haaaaaah-!」

Elena swung her sword whip with a cry, striking down multiple Wind Bats as her whip drew a complex path in the air with her magic power.

Most of them had their wings cut off and fell to the ground or had their bodies split open vertically or horizontally, splattering blood, flesh, and organs to the ground.

「Flying Slash!」

Next to Elena, Rei used Flying Slash to cut down multiple Wind Bats.

Although they didn’t use wide area attacks, from the outside, their methods of attack could still be considered as such.

In addition……

「Wind Hand!」

Wind tentacles stretched out from the Death Scythe’s shaft, entangling Wind Bats and Pulling them closer, where he split them in half with the Death Scythe’s blade.

Rei wondered how long the battle had lasted. It had been more than five minutes, but less than ten. In that short time, all the Wind Bats that had been nesting in the room had been killed.

「……Phew. It worked out somehow.」

「That’s true, but……wasn’t it a little overkill?」

「Really?」

Rei looked around at Elena’s words.

Looking at the ground with his eyes, that had since adjusted to the darkness, there were countless dead Wind Bats everywhere.

In particular, the Wind Bats roasted by Set’s Fire Breath had a fragrant scent.

「Gururu~」

The smell had probably stimulated his appetite. Set rubbed his face against Rei with a cry to ask for permission.

「Yeah, I understand. However, only eat the bodies, the eyes are materials.」

「Guru~」

「Kyu!」

Sensing that the fighting was over, Yellow flew in and gave a happy cry at Rei’s words.

Rei and Elena started collecting the various materials, magic stones, and proofs of subjugation before eating lunch with Set and Yellow, who had started a little earlier.

In the end, after being roasted by Set’s Fire Breath, it seemed the smell wasn’t enough to attract other monsters.

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