“You did it, Yuma!”
Akito and Rui rushed to Yuma (he), who had returned to his human form. Akito (he) thrust the Gae Bolg he was holding into the ground and slapped Yuma (he) on the shoulder with a beaming smile.
“Ouch, that hurts.”
“I knew you could do it! There’s no way you’d lose to that ape.”
Akito (he) laughed heartily, while Rui (he) chuckled wryly beside him.
“Sorry, Yuma (he). I said I’d support you, but I couldn’t even get close.”
“Ah, it’s fine. I didn’t expect the Great Ape to be that strong. I think it was the right call not to get close.”
Yuma (he) and the others took another look at the fallen Great Ape. Its head was gone, and the remaining body was crumbling into sand. The ability to generate such abnormal Superpower. If that had continued for a long time, he would have been killed without a doubt. Yuma (he) breathed a sigh of relief, glad to have overcome the crisis.
“Yuma (he) defeated it, so the Demon Ore should have dropped, right?”
Rui (he) agreed with Akito’s words, saying, “That’s right.” Once the Great Ape’s body had crumbled to a certain extent, they decided to search for the Demon Ore that should have dropped. They sifted through the large amount of sand, searching the ground. Having defeated an Abyssal Monsters, the Dungeon should start collapsing soon. They had to escape from here quickly. As he was thinking that, Akito’s voice, “Ah!” came from a distance.
“Could this be it!?”
Rushing over with Rui (he), Akito (he) showed them a ‘stone’ on the palm of his hand. It was purple, oval in shape. Fine lines ran across the entire surface, and there was a pattern like a plant relief. The same pattern that was on the powerful Magic Gem and Demon Ore. He thought that coming to the deepest level was the right decision after all. However, it had a rather poisonous look.
“It’s a rather creepy Demon Ore, isn’t it?”
To Rui’s comment, Akito (he) grimaced and replied, “Yeah, it is.” Yuma (he) took the purple Demon Ore and stared at it intently.
“It certainly looks bad, but there’s no doubt it’s a powerful Demon Ore. I have no choice but to swallow it.”
Yuma (he) wiped the Demon Ore with a tissue, took a plastic bottle from Rui (he), and swallowed the stone. After washing it down with water, the three of them watched anxiously to see what would happen. Then—
“Ugh!?”
“What’s wrong, Yuma (he)!”
Akito (he) and Rui (he) panicked at Yuma’s sudden distress. Yuma (he) stopped them with his hand and took a deep breath.
“I was surprised because it suddenly got so hot… but I’m okay now, it’s calmed down.”
Yuma (he) stroked his stomach and took repeated deep breaths. The last time he felt this much “heat” was when he ate the Demon Ore of the Deca Slime, who was the Black King. If he thought about it simply, does that mean it has about the same effect? As Yuma’s expectations grew, the ground began to shake slightly.
“Damn! The collapse is starting. We need to get out of here now!!”
Yuma (he) replied, “Yeah!” to Akito’s words, and the three of them decided to escape. They ran up the floors, looking around. As expected, there were no Monsters in sight. If you defeat the Labyrinth Guardian, the Monsters disappear. Yuma (he) and the others were relieved that it was the same in this Dungeon, but there was no time to spare. Since the Dungeon was collapsing from the lowest level, they had no choice but to head straight for the exit. Yuma (he) and the others continued to run, rushing through the floors. They had been exploring the Dungeon for three days, so they were quite exhausted. But they couldn’t afford to rest. No one knew what would happen if they got caught in the Dungeon’s collapse. Some scholars say that they would fall into a different dimensional “Hole” and never return. He didn’t know if that was true, but he had no intention of testing it himself.
“I’m tired! I’m going ahead on Gae Bolg.”
Yuma (he) grabbed Akito (he) by the shoulder as he tried to jump onto the spear.
“Wait a minute! That’s not fair, just you! Take us with you!!”
“Don’t be unreasonable! I can only take one person, and even then it consumes a huge amount of Magical Power.”
“Then I’ll ride with you. Rui (he) can run fast, so he’ll be fine, right?”
Rui (he), who had been asked, shook his head, “No, no.”
“I can only move fast for a short time. If I use it for too long, it puts a strain on me, and in the worst case, my legs will stop working.”
“I see…”
Yuma (he) made a face as if he had bitten into a bitter bug. Ignoring Yuma (he), Akito (he) said, “Well, see you later,” and straddled Gae Bolg. Yuma (he) jumped on him, shouting, “I won’t let you go!” and a big fight broke out. After much fuss, they ended up running all three of them, and twenty-eight hours later, they arrived at the Dungeon entrance. After climbing the stairs and entering the facility inside the dome, Akito (he), Rui (he), and Yuma (he) collapsed on the floor and couldn’t move.
“Ah~~~ I’m tired! I can’t stand up anymore! I’m hungry, my feet hurt…”
No one interrupted Akito (he) as he complained. Everyone was exhausted and unable to move. This state continued for nearly an hour, but Rui (he) stood up unsteadily.
“We can’t stay like this forever. We need to go soon.”
Akito (he) also said, “That’s right. We need to get some food first,” and braced himself to stand up. Yuma (he) followed, but everyone was staggering. They walked through the dome-shaped facility and somehow reached the entrance, where Akito (he) frowned.
“Looks like we have a lot of customers. This is troublesome at a time like this…”
Following Akito (he), who was grumbling, they went outside and understood the meaning of his words. A large number of people surrounded the facility. The number was not in the hundreds or two hundred, but in the thousands. Combat vehicles were lined up, and they were in a state of readiness for battle. Yuma (he) immediately understood what this group was.
“Terrorist Seekers… They followed us all the way here?”
Yuma (he) frowned. All three of them had used up their stamina and were not in a condition to fight. But these guys wouldn’t let them get away with it.
–Do I have to fight after all?
As Yuma (he) sighed deeply, Rui (he) pointed to the sky and said, “Look at that.” Yuma (he) raised his eyes and looked at the sky. There were dozens of Dragons in the sky. Some were red, some were golden, and some were even shining blue.
“There’s an Ancient Dragon, a Gold Dragon… even a Blue Dragon. Can they control Monsters of that level?”
Rui’s question was natural. Dragonkind are double-A-ranked Monsters. It was unthinkable that humans could control them. When Yuma (he) shifted his gaze to the Seekers, he saw several people holding shining staffs. They must be controlling the Monsters with those staffs. Furthermore, something was approaching from behind the armored vehicles with a thudding sound. Yuma (he) widened his eyes. It was a Monster similar to the Scorpion he had seen before. The giant Scorpion, clad in a black exoskeleton, was slowly approaching. There were five of them in sight alone. They might be bringing even more Monsters. Yuma (he) put strength into his wobbly legs and tried to step forward. But in front of Yuma (he), Akito (he) and Rui (he) jumped out.
“Hey, hey, Yuma (he), stay back. Rui (he) and I will take care of these guys.”
“But–“
As Yuma (he) tried to argue, Rui (he) patted him on the shoulder.
“It’s okay. We’ll finish this quickly.”
Rui (he) and Akito (he), with their weapons ready, began to walk forward, one step at a time.