Ch.257-14. Reina (3)

# -14. Reina (3)

I stood in the middle of a forest filled with lush trees.

The cool, clear air characteristic of forests stung my nostrils. It felt really good.

S-tier highest grade, and it’s a field-type dungeon…

“This should be fun.”

“Is it… always this disorienting?”

“Probably?”

Bellian’s complexion was noticeably poor, seemingly uncomfortable with the spatial transfer she was experiencing for the first time.

Still, after a few minutes, she showed signs of quick adaptation.

She was adjusting much faster than I expected.

Relieved, I focused my attention on the status window that appeared before my eyes.

[Welcome to the Forest of Misfortune.]

[Survive for 72 hours while avoiding the monsters here.]

[It won’t be easy.]

The mission was simpler than I’d anticipated.

However, in my experience, the simpler the mission, the harder it is to complete.

“So we just need to not die?”

“That’s right, from what we can see.”

“Is it ever different from what’s shown?”

“Not different exactly, but there are usually other options. For example… if we kill all the monsters that spawn, it would probably end before the 72 hours are up.”

Of course, that would be extremely difficult.

Not knowing how many monsters there would be or how strong they might be, taking it slow seemed the wiser approach.

Since I wasn’t today’s leader, I decided to hang back a bit.

Reina, as if responding to my expectations, took charge of the party.

“Everyone, the starting point is dangerous, so let’s move elsewhere. Have you found anything?”

She looked at one of the mages.

That mage had been drawing a magic circle on the ground since the moment we arrived, eyes closed in deep concentration.

Usually, such people possess detection-type skills or magic.

“If we head southeast, there’s a large mountain.”

“Everyone follow behind me.”

They all seemed to trust Reina deeply, as no one objected or defied her orders.

Of course, the fact that it was the right decision was also part of the reason.

Everyone in the party, including myself, followed her without complaint.

The dozens of monsters that appeared on our way to the mountain in the southeast were high-level, but not appropriate for an S-tier highest grade dungeon with a simple “don’t die” mission.

With help from me and Ally, even Bellian was able to survive against them.

“I’m doing great, aren’t I!?”

Bellian’s expression was even brighter than when we first gathered near the dungeon as she ran to me after decapitating a monster.

I gently stroked the head of my adorable daughter.

“Yeah, you did well.”

She closed her eyes tightly, delighting in my touch. Like mother, like daughter—she was unbearably cute.

Seeing this made me want to have a daughter for my third child too.

“But isn’t this too easy?”

“It’s often like this at the beginning. Though usually not quite this easy.”

Since it was rated S-tier highest grade in the mana measurement, there must be something more to it.

Something we don’t know about yet.

After walking for about two hours, we finally reached the entrance to the mountain mentioned earlier.

However… climbing this mountain would require more caution.

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this…”

I sought advice from an expert in this field.

“Do you think so too?”

-Growl.-

“I thought as much…”

Abyss shared my thoughts.

Unable to ignore this ominous feeling, I asked the party leader.

“Are we going up there?”

“Isn’t that the right move?”

“I mean, yes, but… I have a bad feeling.”

“So do I, but you’re here now. I think we’ll be fine.”

In a way, that might be the right judgment considering our current strength.

And since Ally didn’t object either… I followed her orders for now.

“Then let’s climb.”

***

We walked continuously.

We kept walking.

But the summit was nowhere in sight. The mountain was tall to begin with, but not this tall.

Finally, I drew my sword.

I filled it with Abyss and focused on the surrounding mana flows and their movements.

With mana moving erratically in all directions, I swung my sword toward where I sensed a large concentration of mana.

Abyss flew swiftly, cutting through the air.

-CLANG!!-

Something shattered with a loud noise.

As soon as that sound was heard, the surrounding landscape changed somehow.

And there was something even more important.

“Playing such trivial tricks… do you find this amusing?”

The source of the numerous mana signatures I had felt earlier revealed themselves before us.

Hundreds of dark elves surrounded us, their bowstrings drawn and aimed at us.

One dark elf with a particularly strong aura spoke to us.

“Die well. If you survive, I might even praise you.”

These guys didn’t seem to know what level their opponents were.

As they released their bowstrings, hundreds of arrows flew toward us.

Among them were arrows imbued with truly dangerous magic.

“Rather arrogant, aren’t they.”

It had been a while.

I activated [Mortal’s End] for the first time in nearly half a year.

The familiar pain in my heart and the massive pressure spreading around me.

Arrows fell like autumn leaves under that pressure. Some arrows sprayed poison, others exploded.

But we suffered no damage from these remnants.

“Ugh…! This is impossible…!”

Instead, they were the ones taking damage.

The bewildered dark elves, faced with this absurd situation, focused their attention on me.

I wasn’t kind enough to just stand there and take their unpleasant stares.

“Let’s go, Reina.”

Normally, we should have maintained formation and utilized teamwork, but that was the original plan.

Having realized that this approach was better, Reina and I simultaneously targeted one person.

The dark elf who appeared to be their leader—we charged toward him without looking back.

-Swoosh!!-

But his response was much better than expected.

“Such monsters…! Go to hell!!”

In that brief moment, he shouted and threw a book at us.

Reina instinctively swung her sword at the book.

But for some reason, the book didn’t tear in half with a single slash.

-Whiiiiing!!-

Instead, upon contact with the blade, the book emitted a strange light and released mana.

The light was so bright that I could barely see my surroundings.

At that moment, a massive amount of mana enveloped me and, just like before, and as that guy had said, I was transferred somewhere else.

But something felt unnatural.

“Where am I…”

My feet weren’t touching the ground, and I couldn’t properly control my body.

It felt like I was floating in the sky.

Sharp winds cut past me, and I continued falling downward.

But that wasn’t just a feeling.

I hurriedly opened my eyes and looked around.

“Ah…”

-SPLASH!!-

The moment I opened my eyes, I fell into some strange water—a river or perhaps the sea.

Fortunately, I could also hear Reina’s voice.

“Haa…! Haa…! Help…! Help me!”

Unable to swim, she flailed in the water, reaching out to me.

I grabbed her hand.

I’m not a great swimmer either, but I could at least save one person.

“Haa…! Haa… Blech!!”

Once we reached land, Reina spat out the water that had entered her mouth.

I patted her back.

-Pat! Pat!-

“Ha… where are we?”

“Looks like a cave?”

The rocks filling the surroundings and the occasional magic stones seemed to confirm that this was a cave.

A cave, huh… We’d been transferred to quite a troublesome place.

“Why… a cave of all places?”

It looked similar to ordinary dungeons, but the feeling was definitely different.

The chilly air swirled around us, and Reina, startled by the occasional sound of insect footsteps, clung tightly to me.

“Are you afraid of bugs?”

“I hate them…”

“But you handled those human bugs well back then?”

“I did…?”

She gave me a look that said, “What nonsense are you talking about?”

It seems either it wasn’t her, or my memory was off.

“Let’s find a place to rest first. We’ll catch colds otherwise.”

I found a secluded spot where monsters wouldn’t find us and started a fire.

-Whoosh!!-

The firewood blazed, providing us with warmth.

Reina gave me a strange look as I pulled out firewood, a lighter, and various odd items from my bag.

“Where did you get all that?”

“From this dungeon, earlier. And I always carry a lighter.”

“Do you smoke!? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you smoke!?”

“I don’t;;”

I explained the reason.

“Since I can’t use fire-attribute magic, I always keep this to start fires.”

“But… why are you taking off your clothes?”

“I don’t want to catch a cold.”

I took off my wet clothes and covered myself with a blanket.

Then I placed my clothes on a nearby rock near the campfire.

Reina stared at me intently before looking down at her own clothes and turning away with a flushed face.

She seemed to have just realized that her white clothes had become see-through.

“Did… did you see?”

“Yeah, nice underwear?”

When I jokingly said that, even her ears turned red.

I tossed her the blanket I was covering myself with and said:

“I won’t look, so take them off. You’ll catch a cold.”