Manowa

Chapter 83 - Let"s Camp

「Hoi . Do you know what this is?」

With a click Kazane fastened the clasp .

「Uwaa, this is the thing we always use as a futon, right?」

Sieg looked at the Indestructible Cloak that Kazane fastened for him and happily shook it . The texture was very good, with better material than any cloak he had ever seen .

「Yeah, that"s right . It"s useful for things like breath attacks and magic . Physical attacks can"t pierce it, so it"s also reasonably effective against them . I think it"s convenient that you can also camp and sleep at night without having to change anything . 」

And Kazane prepared an Indestructible Cloak for Tatsuyoshi-kun . She decided to have it equip it by stuffing it under the helmet .

「Umu . Today I"m in great form . 」

Zinray said . Although his appearance didn"t change much from the 10 year rejuvenation, it seemed the「Panacea Drop」was as effective as expected .

「Zinray-kun, why not test your youth a bit with your Onee-san?」

Louise said「come on」and Zinray replied「I"m fine . 」He could not make any more mistakes . However, Louise"s eyes had changed into aiming at prey, and it was unknown if Zinray could protect himself in the future .

◎ Rock Hold Cave 6th Layer - Afternoon

「Starting today I think we will stay overnight in the dungeon . I don"t want to feel as hurried as we were today to get here by this time . 」

Kazane said while looking at the clock displayed in the Window .

「It"s ok to not go and return, but you can"t make a cottage inside the dungeon, right?」

Kazane nodded at Yumika"s words .

「This place is quite narrow . 」

「Well, once we go beyond the tenth layer there will be plenty of s.p.a.cious locations where you can build, but there is also the possibility of monsters generating inside the cottage . 」

When Zinray said so, Yumika made a「uwaa」face .

The monster generation process was similar to summoning, and the generation points were random . Their security wasn"t guaranteed even if they were inside the cottage .

「What is usually done?」

「Because monsters don"t appear in discovered hidden rooms it"s common to rest there . 」

Louise answered Kazane"s question .

「Ah, that"s why discovered hidden rooms are marked on the dungeon map . 」

Yumika was examining the map as she listened .

「That"s right . When inside a hidden room only the entrance needs to be guarded . 」

「If I use Nurikabe-kun I could block the entrance as well . 」

「That is certainly so . Well, a guard should be posted anyway just in case . 」

「Ummm」

Sieg raised his hand and interrupted Kazane and the others" conversation .

「What is it, Sieg-sama?」

「I was just wondering why we aren"t using Hippo-kun to travel?」

「Because horses are unsuitable for travelling inside a dungeon … mm, but, wouldn"t there be no problem with those stone horses?」

Zinray made an「oh」face while he talked . Hippo-kun was certainly an inanimate object, so it wouldn"t be frightened by monsters and could push through without a road in places like the forest . It felt like there was no reason why they couldn"t ride it inside the dungeon .

「Well, that"s right . That certainly may have been a blind spot . Sieg, you noticed that well . 」

Sieg was embarra.s.sed when he was praised by Kazane . On the other side Tiara grumbled「if only I had said that . 」Tiara was starting to feel that recently her turn had been coming up less often than the days she had competed against Yumika .

「But I wonder if we should only use them for return trips . I"m uncertain about using them on roads we haven"t been down, since even though we haven"t encountered any so far there are traps, right?

「There are . Don"t ask me why there are . 」

「For now we"ll use them for the return trip and see their usability . 」

Everyone nodded at Kazane"s words, and they continued advancing .

They encountered 10 Worker Ants and 6 Dart Boars on the way and easily repelled them . They were not strong opponents for Kazane"s experienced party, and they quickly descended through the seventh, eighth, and ninth layer, and reached the tenth layer without pausing .

◎ Rock Hold Cave Tenth Layer - Evening

◎ Rock Hold Cave Tenth Layer - Evening

「Hmm . Will it be nighttime soon?」

The ceiling had the appearance of the sky, and Zinray muttered when he saw it turning darker .

「It seems like we can advance a bit further, but will everyone reach their limit soon?」

Kazane turned around and checked everyone"s condition . Louise, Zinray, and Yumika could go further, but Tiara and Sieg were sinking to the floor . They were also fatigued from their low ability and their lack of practice in dungeon conquering, but the main reason was that the constant pace was too hard on them .

「Well, it"s dangerous to look for a camping spot after dark . 」

「Then let"s go to a hidden room . Where is the nearest one, I wonder . 」

By the way, Kazane had not found any hidden rooms on the way here . They advanced using the dungeon map to find the shortest path, since her Intuition didn"t seem to work unless she had visited a location with her own feet .

「Oh, it looks like there"s a group already there . 」

「Oh?」

When they got close to the hidden room Kazane noticed there was another party ahead of them .

「It"s an unknown scent . They seem to have a female human with them, though . 」

「Well, they are fellow travelers . Don"t be rude to them . 」

「Eh? Why say such a thing?」

Kazane was not really the type to pick a fight, but Zinray seemed to be under the impression that she was dangerous . Perhaps it was due to the door washing incident?

And when Kazane and the others entered the hidden room, there were two Lizardman warriors, a female wizard, and a male healer .

「Oh, are you the rumored child that beat the Guardian Beast to death?」

「Is that false rumor still spreading!?」

Kazane"s eyes filled with tears and everyone laughed . The dialogue with the Lizardman warriors was more pleasant than she had imagined, and Kazane immediately warmed up to them . The Lizardman party was also surprised when Kazane blocked the entrance with Nurikabe-kun, but they thanked her for defending against monster invasion, though they would still take turns keeping watch .

And in the morning, Kazane and the others planned to advance deeper . The Lizardman party said they planned to explore this layer, so they made plans to meet up again on the surface and then parted in front of the hidden room .

「They seemed like considerably fine warriors . 」

Zinray watched the disappearing Lizardmen with regret, especially since they had completely opened up to each other last night by drinking alcohol together .

「Yeah, I"d say the Lizardmen have the temperament of Kansai people . 」

「Kan . . . sai? What is that?」

Yumika suppressed a laugh as Zinray tilted his head and spoke .

Kazane and the others advanced forward . They turned back at the 15th layer, then decided to stay overnight at the hidden room in the 10th layer before returning to the surface the next day . In the middle of heading back in the 10th layer Kazane abruptly stopped Hippo-kun .

「What"s wrong, Kazane?」

Yumika asked Kazane what she had sensed .

However, Kazane didn"t answer . She gazed sharply towards the end of the pa.s.sage, then pulled out Black Fang and said「prepare for battle」and made Hippo-kun run forward at full power .

And ahead of them were six of the pig-like monsters called Orcs, and among them was a Childstone possessor known as a Tyrant Orc .

「Kazane? Hey, is that…」

Kazane did not pay attention to Yumika"s sorrowful voice . No, she purposefully ignored it .

It was useless to be concerned with the woman"s corpse held in front of the Tyrant Orc"s abdomen now . Even if it was the woman they met yesterday . There was nothing to do but focus on the enemies before them, and Kazane flew forward while firmly biting her lip .

The subsequent battle ended terribly quickly . That was because everyone attacked with everything they had without any hesitation; Tiara especially put in a more intense effort than anyone imagined she could . It may have been because the female adventurer"s figure reminded her of when she was taken by the Ogres, or because it showed her a future that might have been . She manipulated the recently learned Flare Bird to the reckless limit and incinerated the Orcs .

And Kazane didn"t rely on her usual speed to settle this match . This time she would settle it with overwhelming force . She called Tatsuyoshi-kun and Yuuko-nee to forcibly pin down the looming Tyrant Orc .

The Tyrant Orc was panicked at being pinned down by not only the same-ranked Yuuko-nee, but the pet.i.te Tatsuyoshi-kun as well . But the henchman Orcs were on the brink of annihilation, and it couldn"t move as its spine was seized with fear by the severe glint in the eyes of the girl in front of it . That was due to Kazane"s pure unsuppressed bloodl.u.s.t and her Skill・Tiger Eye .

And without hesitation Kazane used Charge and Killing Leg and sent a flying kick at the head of the Tyrant Orc . It was truly a Childstone holder and ate the first attack without dying, but if one blow was not enough she only had to kick again . If it didn"t die from the second attack she merely had to fire a third one .

After the second kick, she was about to launch a third kick when a Levelup Window opened and Kazane noticed the monster was dead . A new skill was added to the skill list, but she didn"t pay attention to that right now .

After that Kazane and the others located the scattered remains of the other adventurers and buried them together .

「This is also a path traveled by adventurers . 」

「This is also a path traveled by adventurers . 」

Zinray said, but he crushed the emotions he was feeling and wore an expressionless face . Kazane and the others were wrapped with the aftertaste of unpleasant emotions as they stayed overnight in the hidden room in the tenth layer . They returned to the surface the next day .

On the way back Kazane handed the guild cards of the dead adventurers over to the administrator and observed his dreary face .

(I guess this person always has to think about such things)

With that feeling she was able to settle her own heart .

Name: Yuihama Kazane

Occupation: Magic Swordswoman

t.i.tle: Ogre Killer

Equipment: Staff 『White Blaze』, Two Handed Sword『Black Fang』, Silver Breastplate, Silver Gauntlets, Silver Sheep Clothes, Carapace Bull Trousers, Berserk Ogre Greaves, Indestructible Cloak, Mysterious Pouch, Crimson Saint Coffin, War Spirit Summoning Ring

Level : 25

Health: 85

Magic Power: 143+300

Strength: 42

Agility: 33

Endurance: 24

Wisdom : 43

Dexterity : 27

Spell : 『Fly』 『Torch』 『Fire』 『Heal』『Firestorm』

Skill : 『Warrior"s Memory』 『Night Vision』 『Crushing Blow』 『Dog’s Sense of Smell』 『Golem Maker: Lv2』 『Rush』 『Fire Principle: Third Chapter』 『Healing Principle: Second Chapter』 『Air Jump: Lv2』 『Killing Leg』 『Fear Voice』 『Invisible』 『Tiger Eye』 『Wall Walking』 『Intuition』 『Cheat Death』 『Nimble』『Charge』『Material Shield』『Information Link』

Yumika:「It"s good that we were able to save Tiara at that time . 」

Kazane:「Yeah . 」