Chapter Seven: The Divine Beast and the Holy Sword
THE next day, we stood before the dungeon. A steady stream of adventurers vanished into its depths. Evidently, news of its transformation had already spread.
“Let’s hope the final boss proves more challenging this time,” Embert said with a grin. He’d been in high spirits all morning. Hopefully, that was because of my sincere efforts to show my love. I’d taken the advice of my gal pals to heart, after all. “But don’t worry,” he chuckled. “No matter what sort of powerful monsters appear, I won’t let any of them lay a finger on you.”
For the past few minutes, his dazzling smile had been charming every lady adventurer in the vicinity. That said, he continued staring at me, oblivious to the squeals and giggles of delight. His gaze would probably burn a hole in my face before long.
Custode chuckled inside my arms. “He must be delighted that you fed him breakfast this morning.”
Per usual, Squishy rested on my shoulder. That aside, I’d used a sophisticated technique during this morning’s breakfast: feeding Embert fruit from a fork. As a result, he was still on cloud nine.
“Even in a shirt and trousers, your beauty is beyond measure,” Embert said.
Did he have to speak so loudly? But yes, I was wearing slim black trousers and a man’s white shirt. Embert wore a white shirt, light brown trousers, and darker brown boots.
How does he look so dazzling in such a simple outfit? I wondered. Could you tone down the flattery, considering how much you stand out?
Of course, now wasn’t the time to say this out loud. Shifting gears, I strode into the dungeon. Its transformation astonished me. The new dungeon differed from the old one in every conceivable way, starting with ambiance. At one point, we traversed a dense forest despite being underground. At another point, we navigated a dark expanse. Basically, the interior changed with each floor. Thanks to Custode, however, we effortlessly arrived at the thirtieth and final floor once again. The final boss waited beyond the door in front of us.
“At least the door is a normal size this time,” I said.
“What’s this?” Embert asked while opening the door. “It looks like someone made it here before us.”
He was observing a spot a few paces beyond the door. A magic artifact, which someone had clearly brought into the dungeon, sat there. The artifact—about the size of a child’s backpack—emitted a continuous flow of magic, creating a large cage. The cage entrapped what appeared to be the final boss. The creature had three pitch-black, snakelike heads. Furthermore, it had large, black, bat-like wings. Finally, its thick tail was reminiscent of a log. The creature was about as large as Custode at full size. A single one of its heads was taller than me.
“Why did the previous adventurers only imprison it?” I asked.
“Perhaps they weren’t confident in their ability to defeat it,” Embert responded.
Indeed, the creature emanated a formidable aura while sleeping inside the cage. According to Embert, the previous adventurers had fled upon realizing they were no match for the monster. Yet somehow, they’d still imprisoned it? Something felt off about that hypothesis. Regardless, defeating the creature now would solve the problem. As I approached it, however, I realized what had been bothering me.
“Hey, look at this,” I said.
A large magic circle had been drawn beneath the mana-formed cage. Embert squinted to analyze the circle better.
“This is a magic circle for teleportation,” he said.
“Seriously?” I asked. “Someone is trying to teleport this monster somewhere else?”
Why on earth would anyone do that? Pandemonium would ensue if this creature appeared in the middle of a city. It would probably go on a destructive rampage until someone defeated it. Only a handful of people could vanquish a boss of this caliber, regardless of how many adventurers resided in Bragioga. Currently, I didn’t know where the perpetrator planned to teleport this monster. Nevertheless, the person behind the devious plot was close at hand.
“The humans behind this are utterly corrupt,” Custode said.
I nodded in firm agreement. “Do we have any way of identifying the culprit?”
After examining the magic circle from various angles, Embert shook his head. “Unfortunately, we can’t identify them from this alone. I attempted to study the lingering mana, but this magic circle appears to have been drawn using a magic artifact.”
The perpetrator must have spent a great deal of money on this plot. It required two magic artifacts: one to draw a magic circle of this size and another to imprison an enormous monster. What was the culprit trying to achieve by spending so much money?
“They’re probably targeting the Founding Festival,” Embert growled.
That seemed like the correct answer. The person behind this trap was likely attempting to wreak havoc on the festival. Although I didn’t know their exact intentions, I couldn’t allow their plan to succeed. Defeating the monster would be our first step towards thwarting them. Typically, dungeon monsters spawned of their own accord, but final bosses were different. Once defeated, the final boss wouldn’t reappear until the dungeon transformed. Thus, I examined the monster through the cage, contemplating how to vanquish it as fast as possible. At that moment, something occurred to me.
“Custode,” I said.
“Yes?” the dragon responded.
“Is this creature a friend of yours, by any chance?”
“What are you on about?”
I frowned. “Sure, it might have three heads, but it sort of looks like a dragon, right?”
I’d seen a kaiju similar to this monster back on Earth. Had it been on television or in a movie? At any rate, two other kaiju had teamed up to fight an enemy like this three-headed creature.
“How dare you,” Custode replied with an indignant huff. “Use your eyes! This creature doesn’t even have hands! It’s obviously a snake!”
Um, hands?
I took a closer look at the monster, and sure enough, it didn’t have hands. While the creature did have legs, it had wings where hands should have been.
“I can’t believe you would compare me—a divine beast—to this lowly snake,” Custode continued. “When we return to the surface, I’ll have to educate you on the true nature of dragons.”
Apparently, he was very particular about monster classifications.
“Sorry, sorry,” I apologized.
I approached the cage-generating artifact. A magic barrier had been erected around the rather simple device. For someone of my skill, bypassing the barrier and turning off the device would be child’s play. At the same time, I needed to exercise caution. The monster could attack as soon as I turned off the device, after all. A moment later, however, my vigilance turned out to be unnecessary.
“I’ll vanquish this puny serpent in a single blow,” Custode declared. “Behold our difference in power!”
The little dragon was even more fired up than usual. Angering him had worked in our favor. Custode’s enthusiasm influenced Squishy as well. The slime vibrated atop my shoulder, appearing just as fired up.
“Alrighty, here we go,” I said.
I dispelled the magic barrier and turned off the device. The cage vanished, and the three-headed serpent woke from its slumber. The creature raised its heads slowly, golden eyes glinting as it focused on us.
It’s coming!
The creature lunged towards us at a speed unimaginable for its size. Even so, the battle ended before I could even brace myself. Squishy leapt forward with enough speed to rival the serpent. He devoured one of the creature’s wings, throwing it off balance. In a flash, Custode used his claws to decapitate one head after another. Although this happened right in front of me, I stood there openmouthed, unable to comprehend what had transpired. The battle had literally taken place in the blink of an eye.
“How do you like them apples?” Custode asked while puffing out his fluffy chest.
Without thinking, Embert and I applauded the tiny dragon, who looked pleased with himself.
“You do credit to divine beasts everywhere,” Embert said. “Honestly, I didn’t expect you to perform so brilliantly in your current form.
“And your coordination with Squishy was incredible,” I added. “Squishy is a slime, right? How was he able to lunge at that enormous creature without flinching?”
This battle had thrown my tier ranking of monsters out of whack. Despite being a slime, Squishy was close to S-tier. I had no words to describe him except “amazing.” In any case, Squishy bounced back towards me. Part of his body had expanded like a tray, and he carried something on top of it.
“What’s that?” I asked.
Squishy jumped into my arms and showed me what he was carrying. It was a stone too large to fit in one of my hands. It had wonderful coloring, shifting between green, red, and even purple.