episode_0092

As I shifted my gaze to the end of the iron rod pulled out by Ropel’s hand, I could tell it was a weapon in the shape of a mace.

Seeing it clearly in a place like this, and moreover, with such a strong monster, it must certainly be an artifact, but what power does it possess?

Whatever it was, I prayed deep in my heart that it would surely be able to overcome this situation.

“H-hup… H-hup…!”

“Kieeeek…”

Perhaps flustered by his appearance as he lifted the artifact, the monster couldn’t approach easily.

However, Ropel’s hands on both arms had been bitten once each, and the state of his right arm seemed severe enough that the bone was directly exposed.

Furthermore, with one ankle twisted, his standing posture was awkward, making it difficult to maintain balance.

In the first place, since bright red blood was dripping onto the floor following his arm, the fact that he managed to pull out the artifact at all was close to a miracle.

He forced his two hands, which were trembling greatly from the pain, to steady themselves and steadfastly glared at the monster.

“Kieeeeek!”

At the end of the staring contest, the first one to move was the monster.

That guy straightened the claws on both arms sharply and swung them into the air.

And sharp slashes, like the sword energy of a sword ghost, flew forth.

“Hmph…!”

Ropel bit back his pain and stood the artifact up to completely overlap with the flying slash, blocking it.

Simultaneously, marks identical in shape to the monster’s claws were left on the dungeon wall behind him.

However, no injuries were inflicted upon Ropel’s body by that attack.

I could confirm just how powerful the monster’s strength was and how durable the artifact’s sturdiness was.

Subsequently, the monster tried unleashing slashes several more times from a distance, but they were all ineffective.

Understanding that this method was no longer working, the guy immediately dashed forward and instantly arrived right in front of Ropel.

At this moment, Ropel chose attack instead of defense. For some reason, the monster showed an opening by not attacking immediately upon appearing.

But then, he discovered it, the monster’s smile as it looked up at him and grinned.

Before he could realize something was wrong, the monster’s claws were swung with even faster speed.

The highly intelligent monster had intentionally provoked an attack to create an opening for Ropel.

Seeing the guy’s sharp claws aiming directly at his side, I thought to myself, ‘It’s over,’ inadvertently.

That area was completely defenseless now, without even armor, let alone being able to block it with a weapon.

Because it was clear that at that rate, the guy’s claws would directly tear apart Ropel’s insides and split his body in half.

However, something unbelievable happened soon after.

The guy’s claws, which had been aimed at Ropel’s side, stopped and could not advance further.

They had pierced his body, but soon, like a nail driven into a solid iron mass, they became stuck, unable to be pulled out or advance further.

In other words, not only did it fail to cleanly slice through his body, but it also left itself in a defenseless state.

Naturally, Ropel’s hand, which was swinging the artifact even in this situation, did not stop.

The monster also belatedly raised its other hand to try and defend against this.

But the guy’s hand didn’t move.

It was because I had temporarily bound the guy’s other hand with ropes created by squeezing out the little magic power I had left.

“Kiiyaaaak!!!”

The monster screeched as if enraged, frowning its remaining eye.

Soon after, Ropel’s incoming attack caused a dull thud to echo in the room, striking the monster’s skull.

The artifact, whose end was shaped like a mace, completely crushed the monster’s head along with its remaining intact eye.

“Kieeek! Kiik kiik! Kieeeeeeek!”

The attack was highly effective, and the guy began writhing in pain and letting out enormous roars.

Appearing to make a final struggle, it began wildly swinging its claws around in its unseen field of vision.

It was the same attack as the slashes it had unleashed from a distance at Ropel earlier.

Its thrashing was so violent that cracks appeared in various parts of the dungeon’s inner walls and the ceiling began to collapse.

However, Ropel, amidst this, didn’t distance himself but seized the moment to perfectly finish the guy off.

“Hyaap…!”

Just as the ceiling collapsed, my stake, which had been knocked out by the monster and embedded in the ceiling, fell.

And Ropel swung the artifact strongly, hitting that stake and striking the monster precisely in the chest.

The guy, who had been mindlessly attacking wildly in all directions, instinctively recognized the stake that suddenly flew in and brought both hands to its chest, but it was already too late.

“Kieek! Kieeeeeek!”

Along with that attack, the guy collapsed, clutching its chest.

But as if it hadn’t reached the heart yet, it was still struggling to pull out the stake deeply embedded in its chest.

And towards this, Ropel, in a gruesome state bleeding from his entire body, walked steadily towards the guy.

By the time he finally reached right in front of the guy, he was gripping the artifact with both hands and mercilessly brought it down towards the stake stuck in the guy’s chest.

One time, two times, three times, with each swing of the artifact by Ropel, the stake moved closer and closer to the guy’s heart.

“Ikiiiiiiek! Ieek! Kik, Kieeek!”

With both eyes injured and its vision completely gone, the guy, slowly sensing death, let out a tearing scream filled with terror for the first time.

Even with the monster’s desperate cries echoing through the once silent dungeon, Ropel paid no heed and did not stop his hand.

“Kiiiiiiik! Kik, Kek…! Kwaek…!”

Finally, with a sound like a trampled frog, the monster’s movements stopped.

Its breath had been completely cut off.

In other words, I had succeeded in completely defeating the guy.

However, there was no time to feel the relief, joy, or sense of accomplishment after defeating a formidable foe.

I didn’t even notice the guy’s corpse slowly turning into dust from its feet and disappearing.

“Ro… Ropel!”

Perhaps due to the release of tension, Ropel also immediately tried to collapse onto the floor.

I hurriedly ran over and supported his body, checking his condition.

“No… no…!”

“Ku… Kuheok…!”

Severe bleeding and fractures were visible throughout his body.

The state of both his arms was beyond description, broken bones protruded through the skin from his twisted foot, and blood was gushing endlessly from his side where the claws had been embedded.

He had likely been exploring the dungeon alone without proper equipment, already exhausted.

Furthermore, having moved excessively while already severely injured by the guy, his physical condition was truly at its worst.

“Why… why…! Why isn’t it healing…!”

I quickly cast healing magic on areas other than his arms, which couldn’t be reached by magic due to the guy’s saliva, but it was useless.

I had already consumed too much magic power, and his wounds were too deep to heal with the little threadbare magic I had left.

I tried to take out a low-grade potion, an item provided by the academy, but the bottle had broken inside my bag from the impact of the earlier fight.

“Ropel… Ropel…!”

“….”

The focus had long since disappeared from his eyes, and the little remaining vitality was also fading.

Even in that state, he was holding my trembling hand with his badly injured hand.

He vomited blood and smiled at me, despite being in a situation that must have been painful.

I knew this was all an act to reassure me.

“I’m sorry… because of me…!”

Seeing his state, regret and guilt washed over me.

If I had believed what he said and gathered more people or looked around more carefully,

Even if I hadn’t insisted on going into the room immediately, this wouldn’t have happened.

Must I simply stand by and watch as the life of my first friend and savior, who truly saw me for who I was, fades away?

No, it’s too early to give up.

First, I squeezed my bag, which was soaked from the broken potion, and dropped a few remaining drops of the potion onto his mouth and wounded areas.

Then, I tore my clothes to make bandages and wrapped his wounds, trying to stop the bleeding as much as possible.

In that state, carrying him on my back, I opened another door I had seen beyond the room and entered.

First, the core, which was likely located in the center of the dungeon, was my objective.

Considering its strength, that monster just now must have been the boss of this dungeon.

Moreover, there was an artifact, meaning the dungeon’s core was also likely nearby, and if I destroyed the core,

There might be a possibility for Ropel to move to the academy’s emergency room a little faster and preserve his life.

And second, the artifact was my objective.

There is no rule that a dungeon only has one artifact, so there might be something that can overcome this situation.

Artifacts come in various types, and naturally, there are some with healing-related effects.

The probability was slim, but right now, I wanted to try anything that had even a slight possibility of saving his life.

“I’ll save you, Ropel… Only you… I will definitely save you…!”

Leaving the collapsing room behind, I hurried into the next room.

. . .

While exploring the dungeon alone after parting ways with Lillith, I discovered something incredible.

To be exact, it was monster corpses and already disarmed traps.

In particular, the monster corpses had signs of being rummaged through, like by wild animals, with bones and intestines exposed.

Could there be something powerful, another monster?

Come to think of it, I hadn’t seen a single proper monster since arriving here.

Since the dungeon had strengthened its monsters along with unusual phenomena, it wouldn’t be strange for monsters to attack each other.

And assuming these traces might be the boss monster, the key to conquering the dungeon, I decided to actively follow the traces.

Thump! Thump! Crack! Crack!

As if my prediction wasn’t wrong, following the disarmed traps and damaged monster corpses, I heard enormous roars.

Simultaneously, I could also confirm strange sounds presumed to be from a monster.

I unconsciously swallowed and became tense.

“It’s okay, Mark, you can do it…!”

Recalling how I had personally dealt with the leader of the dark mages during the entrance ceremony, I calmed my trembling legs and advanced to the place where there was a giant door with elaborate decorations.

Perhaps due to the vibrations, the giant door was cracked and slightly broken, and I squeezed myself through the gap created by it.

“…Why is it so dark?”

No matter how much it was a dungeon, there were usually torches in places shaped like rooms, especially like this one.

But here, as if something had rampaged through, everything, including items that could be light sources, was broken and collapsed in various places, making it endlessly dark.

Because of the darkness that made it impossible to see even an inch ahead, I couldn’t bring myself to move, so I cast a basic minor spell to create a small spark.

This was because I had learned simple magic from Lillith, who was in the Department of Magic.

“Gah…!”

As soon as the light came on, I screamed.

That’s because a monster with a mouth shaped like a crocodile’s had appeared, jaws wide open!

It had a grotesque appearance with its two eyes crushed and its head distorted.

Moreover, perhaps due to the dungeon’s deformation, its movements were also strange, as it was looking up at me from the floor.

At the sudden appearance of the hideous monster’s form, I reflexively thrust out my sword.

It was a strike aimed precisely at the center of the guy’s chest.

Although it was an attack I unleashed without thinking, it likely went straight through the guy.

This was because when I swung the sword, it sliced cleanly as if cutting through empty air, without the feeling of getting caught or blocked by something like muscle or flesh.

Thus, a huge hole was created in the guy’s chest by my attack.

“Huh…? Did… I do it…?”

Then, the guy’s body immediately turned completely into dust and disappeared into the air.

Thinking for a moment that it had fallen too easily for a boss monster, my gaze was soon captivated by the object that appeared next.

Surprisingly, there was a strange-shaped water bottle placed where the guy had died.

“What… is this…?”

Ancient text was written on the water bottle.

Since ancient script was one of the basic major subjects, I could read simple words of this extent.

“El… elixir…? What…? If it’s elixir… is this an artifact…?!”

Elixir, in other words, a panacea, an enormous artifact that grants the user permanent power just by drinking it, had come into my hands…!