“Sir Geos won’t lose. Now that he’s back on his feet, he’s undefeatable!”
Milène must have believed in Geos’s strength with all her heart. That’s why she felt no fear, no matter what kind of monster he was facing.
Then, out of nowhere, Milène asked me a question.
“Sir Geos will defeat Viscount Holm, and we’ll make sure that you won’t get hunted down anymore. Once that’s done, you won’t need to dive into the dungeon, right? Do you have anywhere to go after that?”
“We’re not gonna give up dungeon diving,” I said.
“Why not? If it’s about money, we can help.”
If this were a fairy tale, this kind adult helping us out would’ve been the happy ending—but that ending wasn’t coming for us.
“Look at this.”
I opened my collar and showed Milène my chest.
“That’s... Wait, is that the Dungeon Curse?”
“Yes.”
“It can’t be!”
Milène knew the meaning of the black pattern engraved on my chest. She stared at it with a stunned expression.
“So that’s why you’ve been...”
“Right. Even if the lord stops chasing us, we’ll still have to keep dungeon diving.”
“Do you...still have time left?”
“A few months.”
“I see.”
Milène seemed a little relieved, then fell into deep thought. She was probably thinking of ways to help us. In the short time I’d known her, I’d already learned she was a truly kind soul.
Still, she and Geos were overwhelmingly powerful, so if they helped us, dungeon explorations would become tremendously easy. Should I get my hopes up here?
We kept walking and talking when Milène suddenly stopped. She stared down at a patch of ground.
“This is...” she muttered to herself, then chanted, “Earth Manipulation.”
She started digging, and to our surprise, a treasure chest appeared.
“I’ve been using a spell called Acoustic to guard against surprise attacks from below, but this is an unexpected find.”
She’d been scanning the earth with a sonar-like magic.
“A treasure chest!” said Shiro.
“Looks familiar,” followed Kuro.
It looked exactly like the metal chest we’d seen before. I checked for traps but felt no mana—neither did Shiro. It also didn’t have an indentation to set a crystal into. Can we just open it normally?
Milène told us to step back, then stretched out water magic like a whip. She wrapped the water whip around the chest’s lid and proceeded to freeze it. When she pulled on the ice, she was able to open the treasure chest from a distance—it was a pretty neat trick.
No trap went off, and the lid opened quietly. I crept closer and peered in to find yet another crystal inside—this time, it was black.
“A crystal?” said Milène.
“There’s lots of different colors!” said Shiro. “Like a red one you get by knocking out a white skeleton!” Shiro didn’t hesitate to give out our intel. It wasn’t a huge deal though; there apparently wasn’t a limit on how many people could receive the dungeon’s blessing.
In addition to the blue crystal we’d gotten from the metal golem, that made this the second crystal in our possession. There was no doubt these were items needed to clear the dungeon.
“This— Whoa!” I said.
“A black pillar!” said Shiro.
“The lord’s maaana?”
While we were examining the crystal, a tremendous burst of mana shot out in the distance. As Shiro and Kuro said, a black light that looked like the lord’s mana rose up like a pillar.
Is the battle between Geos and the lord over? Did the knight win?
We kept an eye out in the direction of the black pillar as we moved—
A raw howl tore through the air, and Milène cried out in shock.
“Myah!”
“Arf!”
Suddenly our surroundings grew thick with a strange presence that felt like it was stabbing at our skin. Black mana raged like a storm, blowing the women aside. As if to replace them, a huge black shadow descended before us: the lord, cloaked from head to toe in black mana.
He’d completely abandoned his humanity.
“It’s the lord...” I said.
“I don’t believe this...” Milène looked shocked. She was raving about Geos’s strength—did he lose?
His eyes, red like ripe winter cherries, were clearly focused on us—no, on Carolina, whom I’d been holding in my arms.
“Draaaaagon poooooower!”
Carolina’s body jerked right as the lord screamed. The mana inside her thrashed about before flooding out of her. It looked like the lord was sucking power from her, and she was losing mana at an alarming rate. The soup won’t even matter if this keeps up!
“You too! Offer me your power!”
“Ugh!” Our powers are getting drained too! This life absorption is on a whole different level! Carolina’s not gonna last! I can’t back down!
“Enough!” I said.
“Bah!”
My intermediate magic only made him flinch! Wait, I guess I managed to faze a monster that Geos’s attack barely had any effect on? Is it my dragon mana? Maybe dragon mana’s effective against other dragon mana? In that case, get a load of this!
“Aaaahhhh!” It’s just like when I fought Geos. I can tell how to use the red mana, like there’s something lurking inside me, teaching me! The power swelling up out of my chest and throat is definitely dragon mana! I can get the lord with this!
“Gaaaaa!” With a thunderous roar, crimson flames burst from my mouth and slammed into the lord’s face.
The lord let out an agonized groan, but even then, he didn’t stop.
“Agh!” Doesn’t he care that his head’s on fire?! I could tell my cheekbone was broken from his hit, but it regenerated instantly without holy magic and the pain eased. Is this the dragon mana’s power too?
Forget it, I need to focus on Carolina right now! Her mana won’t stop leaking out!
I can’t crash to the ground like this and hurt her either. I wanna shield her somehow, but I’m too small. Can I land somewh—
What the...?
I could feel red mana spurting from my back and spreading left and right. It felt like wings. And am I floating?
They don’t just feel like wings—I think they are wings. I don’t know how I’m floating with mana wings, but I can move however I want!
It reminded me of when I’d rescued Carolina before, except now, I had better control. I assumed that, back then, I hadn’t been able to control the wings too well and was just able to blast mana from my back to get a burst of speed. But now, I could develop a clear image of the wings in my mind, which must have been why I had better control.
I tightened my grip on Carolina and landed on my feet. Unlike before, I didn’t lose my balance. I absorbed the momentum and touched down safely.
Of course, the lord was already set to follow up with more attacks. He bent his legs and readied to pounce.
“I’ll devour you all! Then I’ll sacrifice the gir—”
“First Blade!”
Right before he moved, the lord’s body was cleaved straight down the middle. Geos stood behind him, his casual air gone and a hard look on his face. He was breathing heavily, still holding his sword in the follow-through of the downward swing.
“Seventh Blade!”
“G-Gaaaahhh!”
A shower of blade flashes tore through the lord, slicing him to pieces.
“Sorry... I let him get away earlier,” Geos apologized, still in a fighting stance.
The lord croaked weakly, but he wasn’t dead. Black mana oozed from the severed ends of his body, knotting together and snapping into place like toy blocks as he tried to regenerate.
How the hell are you supposed to defeat this thing?!