I cautiously climbed up the stairs and finally reached the top floor.
Although we rested on the way, we"ve been running for about five hours, so I should be completely exhausted, but I can continue probably because I"m a little excited.
I"ve never felt such heavy fatigue.
But it"s alright, I can still lift my legs.
“You arrived at a much faster pace than I expected. I"m worried about your physical strength, but you don"t have plans on resting, right?”
Well that"s…
After all, I haven"t seen Jaja and Nana for two days already.
I"m worried that I"m not attending the breastfeeding once a day, but what is it, I feel like crying…
“I think you understand even if I don"t say it, so it"s fine. As soon as you climb the stairs, go the other way. There should be no monsters other than Ruten on the top floor, but it"s better to be on guard. Since monsters aren"t restricted from coming up from downstairs.”
“I understand.”
As she said, we turned to go behind the stairs.
Light was shining from numerous small holes in the ceiling, the view was considerably brighter than the lower floors.
When we looked ahead, thankfully we could see the dim road even without the light hitting it.
“I don"t think it"s that far, but can you hear the sound of water? “
When I strained my ears, I could hear the sound of flowing water.
“Ah, I hear it. Do I just go straight?”
“I"m going to navigate. Go straight until the first fork, then take the right.”
“Roger that.”
When I looked at my father, he was paying attention to something behind me.
“What"s wrong?”
“No, it feels like there"s something there.”
“Eh?”
I also looked behind us.
At the end of the pa.s.sage that is the correct route, there were two glowing red dots.
“Hm?”
I strained my eyes.
The red dots were floating high above the ground, and sometimes swayed up and down.
“K-kunpei-kun. Father-in-law. I have a bad feeling, so slowly retreat.”
“What a coincidence Mik.u.ma, I also have that feeling.”
And such premonitions were prtty much correct.
“Kiiiiiiii!”
With a roar, it appeared.
“G-griffon…”
It"s huge!
Sharp claws, large wings and a head of an eagle that"s formed of rock.
A true Griffon was right there, with the lower body of a fluffy lion.
It was about 4 meters long?
It was too big to take in its entire body.
“It"s the dungeon boss! The rock griffon, ominous bird Ruten! Run away!”
“O-ooh”
“No, wait a second Kunpei.”
My dad stopped me from retreating.
As he stopped me with his right hand, his line of sight was only looking at Ruten.
“What is it, father… ah”
I realized immediately after following his line of sight.
“M-mik.u.ma.”
“What!?”
I heard Mik.u.ma"s panicked reply.
“A boss monster should be in a room with magic stones, right?”
“Yeah! Because their body is large, only the hall and its surroundings… ah, perhaps…”
It seems that Mik.u.ma has somehow guessed what happened.
“Ah, it"s probably just as your imagining.”
My father"s lips were quivering.
“That guy"s stuck and can"t free itself.”
Yes, the ominous bird, Ruten.
A huge griffon with a rocky body was shrinking its shoulders in a narrow pa.s.sage and desperately writhing around.
It was trying to move forward while twisting its body, but because of the rock-like body it had no flexibility and couldn"t advance at all.
Moreover, it seems that because it was trying to forcefully fit through the opening, it was completely stuck and it would be difficult to retreat as well..
“… its probably been a long time since someone last came to the top floor, so it tried to come out of the hall reflexively. It has no free will but it still takes beast-like actions. “
d.a.m.n, it really scared me!
Ah, I was really surprised!
“Kyun… kyun”
Don"t make puppy dog sounds…
Though it does seem more and more pitiful.
“Let"s move on for now.”
“ah…”
We ignored the boss, and advanced forward.
We followed Mik.u.ma"s, who pulled herself together, navigation and reached the river, and headed upstream.
It was around ten minutes, and we arrived at the destination.
“On the opposite side of this boulder, eh.”
“It"s unnatural no matter how you look at it. Did Aoi-chan place it here?”
A huge boulder was placed over the river.
The water flowed under the rock and there were crevices in the walls.
This can"t be natural.
“Well then, shall we climb?”
“Here we go.”
I looked for a place where I could hold on to on the protruding rock surface, then I looked for a foothold, and we started to climb slowly.
We climbed to the top, and saw the back of the rock that could not be seen before.
“Is that it?”
“Mik.u.ma, you were right on.”
“That"s good, there were two more candidates, though.”
Behind the boulder, there was a small wide s.p.a.ce that was a dead end.
However, if you focused your eyes, there was a slit-like crack, from which a pale light was leaking out.
My father and I slowly slid down the boulder and landed on the floor.
“Alright Kunpei, are you ready?
“Anytime.”
I clapped my cheeks to encourage myself.
Wait for me, Aoi, Jaja, Nana!
My father took the lead and entered the crack.
The ceiling was low and it was narrow, but it was just enough to be able to go through.
Eventually our vision was plunged into a pure white light and I squinted my eyes.
“Have we arrived?”
“Woah… the ceiling"s so high here.”
The eyes that got used to the light looked to the ground.
We could see the town we live in with one sweep of the eye, a magnificent view.
The clouds were near and the clear sky hurt my eyes.
A considerably narrow pa.s.sage ran along the surface of the rock and continued all the way to the peak.
“It"s the end if you slip, eh.”
“Don"t say that, it"s scary.”
My father"s grinning face relaxed me a bit.
As I walked along the path, I could hear something.
“Aoi…?”
I listened carefully and focused my attention.
“Mother! You blockhead!”
Aoi"s tearful and angry voice resounded.