episode_0168

168. 2nd layer (14)

“Did you all get enough rest?”

“””Yeah.”””

I quickly filled my stomach, replenished water, and got plenty of rest.

Maybe that’s why everyone’s answering voice was steady.

Even while we were all resting, Julie and I took turns approaching the altar to observe, but we didn’t find anything odd, like something popping out.

“Lauren.”

“Yeah.”

Lauren approaches me and takes the potion vials.

“Can you condense all the energy in one potion?”

“Ugh… It’s a little difficult. Just a moment.”

Lauren, who received the potion bottles from me, closes her eyes and concentrates.

Woohoo-

After trying that a few times, I realized that three was the limit.

“Okay. Let’s hit twice with one each of Freeze, Explosion, and Flame.”

Lauren focuses on my order and strengthens the potion bottles.

“Ms. Jury.”

“Ugh.”

“Are there any other precautions?”

“What?”

“Magina and things like that.”

“Um… Not really… I’ve only been to the middle level, so I’m careful about noise… I know there aren’t any special countermeasures for Magi.”

“Ah..”

Well, even Julie doesn’t know everything.

I’ve been relying on so many things these past few days of exploring that my expectations have gotten too high.

“Hey.”

“Yes?”

“Looking at it that way, I think I know more than other explorers. Look at me politely.”

“Huh..!”

Is it that obvious?

Julie playfully raised her fist and shook it, smiling faintly and apologizing.

“Sorry.”

“By the way, this is my first time seeing Lauren use spirit magic, so I’m curious too.”

“Yes?”

“You know. I just trained ignorantly.”

“Ah.”

Well, Lauren, who is of noble bloodline that can use spirit magic, only trains her body like an oddball.

Even if you ran away from home and came all the way to this city, you should know.

“And yet it’s like that.”

When he turned his head at Juri’s nod, he saw three potion vials floating naturally in the air, glowing and slowly rotating around Lauren.

As if a spirit or a living being were moving.

“As expected. Bloodlines cannot be ignored.”

“That’s right.”

Now that I’ve tried it a few times, I seem to be using it more skillfully.

With that, Lauren opens her eyes and grabs three potion bottles.

“Cain. I’m ready.”

“Then.. give the freezing potion to Juri.”

“Are you ordering me again?”

“Haha.”

Julie takes the freezing potion from Lauren and throws it across the passage.

WHEEK-!

Chaeng-grang-!

Kkwuddudduk!!!!!

Soon, the sound of a potion bottle breaking and an ice block forming could be heard from beyond.

“Lauren.”

“Yeah!”

And then Lauren’s throw.

Boohoo-!

Eeeeek!!!

Kwaaang!!!!

Wow, that sounds scary.

Juri’s power status was no joke, but a different dimension of cracking sound was heard, and an explosion could be heard from across the passage.

Even that’s a fire potion.

And then Lauren throws an explosive potion and hits them.

This time, the shock felt like the hallway was shaking.

Honestly, if it had been an ordinary tomb or altar, it would have been turned to dust.

“The smoke won’t clear.”

The black smoke blocking the end of the passage like a door did not disappear.

“Should we wait a little longer?”

“Hey, let’s go in once the dust clears.”

After waiting for a while for the dust to clear, we headed back to the altar.

*

*

*

“Is it true that there isn’t even a scratch on it?”

“Ugh..”

The space I re-entered was miserable.

The ground around the altar was badly cratered, but the altar itself was intact.

“Then, shall we try it like Claude said?”

Srrrrung-

At my muttering, Claude drew his sword.

“Wow.. but it really does look like a holy sword.”

“Shouldn’t we be giving them a separate blessing or something?”

“There are almost no priests who can use that anymore, so what can you expect? You just have to grind.”

“That’s right.”

The sword Claude was holding twitched slightly during the conversation between me and Julie, but I didn’t care.

I turned my head and looked at Sia.

“Um… Then, Sia.”

“Huh?”

“Give Claude all your blessings.”

“Huh?”

Sia looks puzzled at my words.

“You never know. Claude is a warrior, Sia is a saint. That could be it.”

“shi…shiret!!!”

What the heck, why are you reacting so violently?

“Huh? Sia, why??”

“But…but…!”

Sia, who was embarrassed, stared at his face for a moment, then blushed and screamed.

“The saint and the warrior are getting married! Seriously!! I’m going to marry Cain!!”

“Ugh…!”

“Pfft…!”

Claude snickered at Sia’s vehement rejection, and Julie, Lauren, and I burst into laughter.

But Sia’s reaction was so intense that I thought about it carefully.

“That’s right, Sia, to Claude before…”

“Nooo!!!”

“Oops!!!”

Before I can continue speaking, Sia grabs me and covers my mouth.

You’re still far from being able to shut my mouth, Sia.

I stuck out my tongue and slapped Sia’s palm dirty.

Churrup-!

“Gyaat!!!”

“When you were young, you always played warrior, and Claude told you to be a warrior, but you said you were a saint.”

“Ugh…..No way…”

I was made to be a porter or a thief or something like that, and these two roles were always fixed.

It was one of Sia’s cute actions when she tried to express her feelings to Claude indirectly rather than confessing to him.

And from the perspective of Sia, who I’m dating now, it’s a dark history.

That’s why the reaction was so intense.

Claude then seemed to remember the past and looked at Sia with a shitty expression.

“Both are bad!!”

It took some time to calm down the upset Sia.

*

*

*

“Whew… Recovery, healing, detoxification.”

Hooo-!!!!

Sia had never used all three of these protections at once before, so she didn’t know, but Claude’s body began to glow with rainbow colors.

and.

Woohoo!!!!!!

The energy began to gather around Claude’s sword.

“This…this?”

“Claude?”

“Hey, this sword is shaking so much?”

Woohoo- Woohoo-

Even without him saying anything, I could see the Holy Sword Replica shaking like crazy.

“Really? Hey, you know with your power?”

“Whew… Leave it to me.”

chuck-!

Claude took a deep breath, took a stance, and raised his sword above his head.

That blond, handsome guy looks like a real warrior.

And then.

Shhh!

Kwaaang!!!!

Kkieeek-

“Ugh…!”

Claude’s sword swung down and the altar split in two, and a chilling scream echoed around.

“Everyone, step back… Sia, keep using the antidote and the healing power on Claude!”

“Yeah…! Decode it!! Do it!!”

Claude’s posture almost collapsed at the scream that echoed as he swung his sword, but thanks to Sia’s protection, he was able to safely escape to the back.

So we ran back down the passage.

The screams continued for a long time.

“What altar is screaming…”

“You don’t think the altar is made of stone, do you?”

“Yes?”

Julie responded to my incredulous voice.

“It’s natural that human or animal bones and blood and such are used in ritual altars like that.”

“Then, that’s…”

“Well. The grudge that was tied to the altar…is it the same thing?”

Julie also scratched her head as if she had a headache after thinking about it for a while.

“But this is re-implemented in the labyrinth, so is resentment…also implemented?”

“There are also some wizards who claim that the labyrinth itself is a giant living organism. Well, isn’t that possible?”

“Well…well.”

It may not be the real thing, but it could be, since the holy sword also popped out.

After some time had passed, the smoke blocking the end of the passage disappeared and we entered again where the altar had been.

“Huh….”

And in front of the altar that was split in half, there is one intermediate magic stone.

A portal to the next level had appeared.

“Is it okay to go to the 3rd floor like this..? It feels like I’m eating too much?”

puck-!

“Ugh…! Why…Why are you doing that, Juri.”

“Hey, it’s just a short period of time, but honestly, would you have conquered it if the cat and I hadn’t given you the signal?”

“That’s right.”

Is that even a skill?

“Eyes.”

“neep-”

I looked down at Julie, who had pointed out my impertinent gaze, and after thinking for a moment, I spoke.

“Hey, Mr. Juri.”

“Yeah.”

“This is originally a 2-tier thing, right?”

“That’s right.”

I couldn’t see her expression because her eyes were still closed, but her tone of voice was as if she was asking me what was obvious.

“But the things that pop out or the phenomenon are 4 levels or higher.”

“Ugh.”

“So if I go over there, is it 3rd level? Or is it deep?”

“….Huh?”

And then she made a stupid sound to my subsequent questions.

And when I lifted my head slightly, I saw Julie’s face with an expression as if she had been taken by surprise.

“Doesn’t it feel awkward?”

“Really? That’s so creepy.”

“Write…”

Since we had encountered more than one unfamiliar phenomenon during this exploration, we were skeptical that the portal would take us to the third floor without a hitch.

“Just go back to the entrance and get back.”

“Yeah, that might be better.”

“Yes. The purpose of this exploration was to level up Lauren anyway.”

It was a series of unusual circumstances, but this time it seemed like Lauren’s level would rise.

When dealing with the armor modeled after the fountain and the warrior, Lauren’s contribution was the highest.

No matter how many tricks or tricks you use, the labyrinth will determine the contribution of the explorers who have been locked in the dungeon, so won’t Lauren be able to level up this time?

“Then, just in case, let’s go near the portal and kill some time.”

“Yeah.”

“Everyone, let’s pack our bags and go back.”

It didn’t take too long to destroy the altar, so we returned to the clearing where the fountain had been.

What was peculiar was that the corpses of the structures, armor, and things that had been thrown out by the fountain had all disappeared, perhaps due to the destruction of the altar.

It felt a bit awkward to set up base camp in the middle of a huge open space, so we pitched our tents near the passage, ate, and slept.

Sia and Lauren looked like they were expecting it, but today I was so busy with my thoughts that I couldn’t even think about having sex and fell asleep right away.