episode_0240

249.

A sphere of magical energy repeatedly strikes the ground where the monster stood, causing it to flinch. Austi doesn’t miss the opportunity, drawing her dagger and climbing onto the dog-like monster’s back to slash at it.

“Too shallow! No, its hide is too thick!”

Austi jams a hidden weapon—a sturdy yet thin wire attached to a grappling hook—into the leather-like hide, spins around, and lands on another hidden weapon pre-planted in the wall. Then, she secures the wire’s end to the wall.

“Kwaaak!!!”

As if the wound, though not deep, has angered it, the monster starts to rampage. The wire attached to the weapon on its back swings wildly. Austi calmly plants more wired weapons into its body, timing them with Aries’s magical blasts.

However, it’s no mere straw man accepting attacks passively. Its body contorts in a way impossible for a canine skeleton, throwing Austi off its back.

“Kuhk!”

She slams into the wall, just like her own hidden weapons, her back arching from the impact.

“I’m alright, kyaak!”

Almost simultaneously, rocks and stones fly in all directions, showering Aries. Luckily, the larger fragments miss, but she takes a few hits from smaller ones. The reinforced magic she cast lessened the pain, but the impact was undeniable.

“Kuwuaang――!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

A roar, more like a deafening boom, shakes the very ground. Austi quickly recovers her composure and gathers the scattered weapons. Thirteen left. She doesn’t have many to spare. These weapons are, after all, optimized for humanoids and artificial humans. The larger the target, the less effective they are; considering its bizarre skeletal structure, the effectiveness is even further diminished. This is, without a doubt, the worst possible opponent.

*This kind of monster (demon) would be best handled by a hero,* Austi thinks, nimbly moving her aching body.

One, two, three. She launches the wired weapons again. These aren’t just ordinary wires; they’re crafted from special metals, magically refined, making them extremely difficult, nigh impossible, to break by force.

“Watch your right!”

Aries intently continues creating magical energy blasts, hindering the monster’s movements. The output is somewhat unstable due to Prim the dragon’s magic, but being the genius she is, Aries quickly adapts, gradually increasing the output to prevent the monster from reaching Austi. Without prior coordination, their teamwork is surprisingly effective, guiding the monster’s movements to facilitate Austi’s actions.

Its excessive size becomes its own shackle; it can only stomp its feet, scattering mud all around.

Ten. Eleven. She continues planting weapons in its hide and fastening them to the wall. With each wire secured, its movement noticeably slows.

And thirteen. The final weapon pierces its hide, drawing blood, and successfully almost immobilizes the monster. It snarls and writhes, but it remains fixed in place.

“Whew.”

Austi, after a long time in actual combat, takes a deep breath, returning to Aries’s side. Her skin glistens with sweat. With each ragged breath, her large breasts rise and fall.

“We should finish this. It’s only a temporary solution. And I want to recover my weapons.”

“But how? Even like this, getting close is dangerous, and since you’re out of weapons, how will we finish it?”

Austi crosses her arms, her ample bosom making its presence known. A dagger is in her right hand, but its short blade offers no clear way to end the monster’s life.

“With the dagger, there’s a way.”

“Isn’t that why you couldn’t kill it earlier?”

“…….”

Creating blade-like constructs with magic is theoretically possible, but shaping them is a different skill entirely. Aries could do it with practice, but whether she’ll have the time is another matter.

“You know, I just had an idea.”

“It doesn’t sound good, but go ahead.”

“This is, can be considered Prim’s home, right?”

“…She called it a dwelling. That’s close enough, I suppose.”

Aries hesitates before continuing.

“Then, this dog…could be Prim’s pet, right?”

“……What nonsense are you spouting?”

“Kongkong! Kreururut Kreuruk!”

The two-headed dog seems equally baffled, barking in agreement.

“Let me tell you, my sense says an hour is the maximum limit for restraint.”

Its mouth, drooling with the intent to devour, is ready to gulp down one human and one elf in a single bite, one head per person.

“If it comes to it, we have to do something.”

“…Unbelievable. I recommend we dispose of it here. Even if it’s a pet, in this starved state, I believe it’s better to let it rest peacefully.”

“But we don’t have the necessary weapon to make a decision.”

A loop. The conversation goes nowhere.

“Above all, I want to retrieve my weapons.”

“Kreurur….”

The weapons, scattered around, glisten. They bind the monster like stitches, but the creature’s wriggling loosens the wires.

“Don’t you have a taming skill?”

“Not at all. And taming this thing would require more than a simple skill.”

It’s an animal taming skill but without Erina’s assistance there’s no solution.

“Oh, for heaven’s sake, let’s just kill it already!”

“It’s all your fault.”

Austi pinches Aries’s cheek. A pained “Ow, ow” escapes her.

“I’ll buy you new weapons later, but let’s run for now.”

“……Expensive ones.”

They turn their backs on the monster and run. Though their stamina is depleted from the battle, a short rest has somewhat recovered them. They run, dodging the melting rock and mud caused by the monster’s corrosive paws. They keep running, not knowing how much further they need to go. More so running in the fear than the monster freeing itself they ran without a clue.

They were thinking of Erina while running, so they thought it wasn’t a waste of time.

Regardless, it’s too deep. The spiraling inward structure, far too huge to explore at human scale. The oppressive feeling of a cave is present too. Such a huge cave to be hardly noticeable.

As they run deeper, they start to see bone fragments. Bone graves, belonging to unknown animals buried in mud, their time of death unknown. They have no time to spare, so they continue to run. On the flip side this long road reassures them is not a looping road.

“Huff, huff….”

“Whew, whew….”

They ran for several minutes. Their stamina is more so low due to lack of oxygen.

“Hm?”

“What, Austi? Whew…. My goodness, running is tiring.”

“…I sense something.”

“Gasp. The restraint loosened?”

Austi shakes her head.

“If it could chase us with that size, it would’ve caught up by now. A presence like this…it’s human.”

“If it’s enemies, it will be bothersome.”

“If it’s known as a dragon’s dwelling, it’s likely grave robbers. They might have gotten to the elixir before us.”

“Ah. Capture and interrogate. Reluctantly, but it’s necessary. Right?”

Austi shakes her head again.

“You really need to work on your playful nature.”

“Hehe♡ Is the presence visible if we proceed on this path?”

“Maybe. I sense it, but it’s strange. It could be a simple hallucination.”

She doesn’t stop despite that. she doesn’t run, she quickly walks.

“I hope it’s not a demon.”

Without divine power, even with effort, such an opponent is unbeatable. To retreat after having come this far, would be the worst outcome. But in this strange sense, Austi and Aries arrive at the end.

“Wow. How many died here? No, how many creatures?”

Piles of bones lie everywhere. Among them are several skulls that are clearly not from humanoids. A mountain of bones, at least taller than their combined heights. Behind it, a magnificent, ornate gate, far larger and taller than the mountain of bones, stands majestically, its colors faded.

“We finally arrived? My goodness, I’m so tired. When will we be able to return?”

“It certainly was an arduous journey.”

With so many bones, every step they take towards the gate sends bones clattering at their feet.

“Wait. There’s a special barrier on the gate. The likely ones have ignored it.”

“Or they were the two-headed monster’s dinner.”

Aries chuckles.

“But for this genius mage♡, this kind of barrier is mere child’s play.”

Austi chooses to give up on her teasing and waits for Aries to dispel the barrier. Despite those boastful words, sweat beads roll down her face as Aries proceeds with the barrier removal.

The gate is protected by a seventeen-layered barrier, a complex puzzle-like structure. Aries doesn’t methodically dispel each layer; instead, she uses a rather brutal method: finding weaknesses and smashing through them.

Each layer’s removal makes an enormous sound.

When all the barriers are finally cleared, the gate opens by itself.

“There it is. Ahem.”

“…Good work.”

“……Huh?”

And then, the vast interior of a massive warehouse unfolds.