After laying down the boy who had become tired after crying, Alysia stood up to look at the situation of the people in the dungeon. The tears from the boy and the dirt from the dungeon that dirtied her chest were less than trivial at this point. She was already determined to defeat the boss of the bandits and free everyone here as soon as possible.
Looking around, everyone was either sitting on the box, leaning on the wall, or looking up in a daze while rolling around on the ground. Everyone looked so depressed it even put emo teens to shame.
However, there were still a few individuals staring at Alysia with fiery hope in their eyes.
They thought that Alysia might perhaps be the G.o.ddess and saviour whom they had been waiting for.
However, all of their heavy expectations did nothing but burden her. Furthermore, seeing her appearance, it’s not really a surprise that someone would mistake her for a G.o.ddess.
Anyhow, a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step, Alysia started by illuminating the dark cave which only had one lamp with an elementary light magic.
“Bring the light!”
“…!?”
“Wha, whoa…This is…!!”
Alysia put her hands in front of her chest, illuminating the whole dungeon with enough light. That spectacle looked mystical to everyone present.
Incidentally, Alysia used the light spell after confirming that people without night vision were present in the dungeon.
“Healing Barrier…there.”
Furthermore, Alysia even set up a healing barrier inside the dungeon. The barrier had the effect of healing everyone present inside the barrier in one breath.
The amount of mana used for this magic is dependent on the number of people under the effect of the barrier. Though it was but a meagre amount to her.
Alysia started speaking to the catkin man who was sitting on the ground. He was one of the four people who was brought to the dungeon together with Alysa.
“I’m gonna let you guys out of here. Everyone can just wait here. I’ll just go beat the big boss for a bit and come back.”
“You sure it’s alright? They managed to catch you earlier, didn’t they?”
“Well, I was just a bit careless…”
“I was really worried…really…”
Conveying his concern, the man looked down and went silent. Even though the dark cave was being illuminated by the light magic, it was still impossible to discern someone’s facial expression.
“Just don’t forget to come back…go, quick.”
“Hehe, got it. Go tell everyone else while you’re at it.”
Sensing ‘something’ under the pretence of his blunt speaking manner, a smile floated upon Alysia’s face as she walked out.
Looking at her back, the man muttered in a small voice.
“Are you…a vampire?”
“…So you realised?”
“Your fangs were completely shown when you smiled just now, you know?”
“Ah…It’s not like I’m trying to hide it, though.”
Activating her teleportation magic, she broke out of the dungeon and dashed through the cave with all her might.
The pa.s.sage was dark and narrow, almost like a cave.
She relied on her earlier memory of when she was being carried into the dungeon and her sensory magic to get through. And last but not least, her intuition.
She finally arrived at an intersection.
On her left was probably leading to the entrance Alysia was at before. On the other hand, she could feel the presence of more than ten people from her right.
Just when Alysia turned right, she immediately found a large wooden door hindering her path. Eager to slash and smash the door into pieces, she proceeded to grab the katana on her waist,
In her dream.
Her long life partner was in reality not there to be found.
“Fine! Edge of Gust Esoteric!” (TL: Wind Blade Revised)
This technique was originally developed to equip wind blades onto weapons, but Alysia revised it and used it on her own hand. Cladding her own hand with wind blades, she continued to pour down slashes on the poor door.
door broken
“The heck!?”
“Wha!?”
Blown away by the strong wind, the broken remnants of the door turned into deadly attacks which a.s.saulted the members of the room. The fragments finally stopped their attacks after rendering two of the bandits unconscious.
“b.a.s.t.a.r.d!! Didn’t we put this one in the dungeon earlier!?”
“I’m quite certain that we did…”
“Oh, I escaped.”
“Nani!?”
Annoyed by the loud squealing of the three grown men, Alysia teleported behind them and slashed her wind blade.
“No! I’m going to die…”
“I’m going to get into trouble if you really did die.”
Blood flowed onto the surface of their clothes. Alysia judged that their wounds were shallow.
Giving a slight glance at the unconscious three bandits behind her, Alysia focused her gaze on the interior of the room. Seeing that slight glance, the bandits flinched for a moment.
“My katana…no, have you seen my thing that resembles a black curved rod?”
“Who would tell a b.a.s.t.a.r.d like you!!”
Even though the man said so, Alysia didn’t miss the slight hesitation on the man’s face before he opened his mouth. And he was clearly trembling.
She honestly wanted to start interrogating them right here, but just by knowing that her katana was only taken by the bandits put her heart at ease.
“Well then, just tell me where your big boss is.”
“Do you think I’ll tell you?”
Their answers were nonetheless to cliche. They probably wouldn’t tell her anything like this.
Alysia then took a small breath and said.
“Blaze Storm. Open your mouth before I reach one from ten. Ten…”
Flame started to form around Alysia. Being lead by the wind, they gather together to form a whirlpool, with their force increasing by the second.
“Eight, seven…”
“Wai, wait! I’ll tell you!!”
“Thi, this way!! Come this way, please!”
One of the bandits panicked and continued to point his finger at the right side of the room interior.
Alysia never had the intention to unleash her firestorm in the first place and proceeded to disperse the remaining fire. She then started following the man. Although it was only a threat, the fact she was very close to turning each of them into charcoal hurt her conscience.
“He, here…”
“Right, thank you very much.”
Arriving at the last boss’s lair, Alysia gave the tour guide her thanks with a heartfelt smile on her face. It was the least she could do to ease the feeling of guilt from earlier. However, the guy’s face turned bright red immediately as he turned his face away. Looking at that, Alysia thought,
(Well…. Of course he’d be angry if someone threatened him and then said ‘thanks’ afterwards, right?)
Alysia unexpectedly turned out to be quite thickheaded like those cliché protagonists.
Finally, in front of her was a large expansive area which resembled a hall, in which the last boss seemed to be at.
“Is anyone home?”
“You…”
Towards her carefree att.i.tude, a guy who seemed to be the bandit boss responded from behind the desk where he was sitting at. When she looked closely, she realised that he was the guy who was standing across from her when she was being tied up.
“Well then, Let’s have a chat, shall we? Attacking the catkin village and even indiscriminately kidnapping the women and the children, just what are you planning to do, I wonder?”
“It’s none of your business, GTFO!! Otherwise…”
“Please don’t say that line!! I’ll faint, you know?”
The boss stopped mid-sentence and gulped down his word. Why? Because Alysia had rushed towards him and crushed his solar plexus with her fist which had been imbued with magic.
“Answer me. What were you planning to do?”
“Do…!”
“What?”
The boss said something but his voice was too quiet that she couldn’t hear it. The moment Alysia tried to ask him again,
“Do you think I’m gonna answer you with just that!?”
“Aah!?”
Alysia took a full fist to her right flank. Although it was too late, she regretted the fact that she hadn’t pinned both of his hands down.
She felt that some things were broken inside her body. Although she barely felt any pain at all, it seemed that quite a number of bones in her ribs were indeed broken. However, due to her high-tier self- healing (spontaneous recovery) ability, every single bit of her injuries were healed in the blink of an eye.
“If you want to know then you can get it over my dead body.”
“Understood. Then, I’ll just have to try!!”
Having invoked the wind blade (revised) spell, Alysia immediately aimed at the boss and fired her attack.
*Whoosh!