Chapter 102: Chapter 102: Miracle Cure

Translator: ShiroiKaze/Soyokaze Translations

Author’s Note: We once again jump a little bit in time.

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Another month has passed.

We’re arriving at floor 981. The Demon Lord and company are in the process of taking floor 990. We’ve gotten within 10 floors of them.

“At this rate it looks like it’s going to be quite the dead heat for this last leg.”

“We’re climbing at about double their pace, so… I guess we’ll just barely face off with them around floor 1000?”

“Then maybe we all should be pickin’ up the pace?”

“Going any faster than this is going to be putting a strain on Marle though…”

Five among us each have our own appropriate gifts.

But Marle doesn’t have any gifts. She’s climbed this high using her own individual effort alone.

“When you think about it that way… I can only hang my head.”

“Hard to really say what a human’s limits are, huh.”

“In a sense, Marle could be considered greater than any of us.”

“N-n-n-no, I am definitely not! Besides, I would just be baggage without all of you.”

“Your scouting and searching abilities are a lifeline for us. You should truly have more confidence in yourself.”

We lifted high the self-deprecating girl.

Well, if we lifted her any higher then she would fall down though.

“And so, Marle, time to put a little more effort in the scouting, yeah?”

“Fueee?!”

“Sis, are you a demon?”

“But we won’t be able to get past them at this rate. This is when we need to brace ourselves. Sorry, but we’re counting on you.”

But there is certainly some congestion here.

We are currently continuing our search with the golem pulling a rear car, filled with the fatigue recovering “World Tree’s Water”.

Just in case, we put teleport magic circles on the water jugs in the house too.

Plus, if we send the empty water jugs back, Bahamut is on standby at the house, where he’s supposed to refill them. He’s just eating our food, so this is the least he can do for us.

Also our equipment went through various changes.

We found appropriate armaments and the like from floor 920 through the next 60 floors, but we couldn’t find much better than what we already have, so it’s really just been modifications though.

First off, about Marielle’s “Devil’s Wailing Mask”… She herself seriously didn’t like it, so I’m holding on to it now.

I can’t release the curse yet, but I’ve taken the opportunity to add a few modifications.

Discussion about this has already been completed with Marielle.

Next up is Haster’s “Beast King’s Claws”. This weapon’s redeeming feature is, in exchange for not having much attack power, it is extremely sturdy. But I discovered that it was putting excessive strain on his wrists.

That’s when I decided to use the remains of the Water Vine Mantle to make gloves.

They’re enchanted with [Strength], so they have quite the shock buffering power to them.

Lastly, in regards to Alec, to compensate for his weak point I’ve prepared a different [Teleport] magic circle for him.

He has a huge blind spot when it comes to magic, so it was a thought in dealing with that.

However, I can only say that I honestly have no idea how effective it will be.

Though I told him to give him some peace of mind…

Also, about our house, with all the increasing teleport magic circles, a floor of extension has been added to the basement.

With the water, spare weapons, items, provisions, etc. each having their own teleport circles, it took up quite a bit of area.

~*~

“Ah…”

“Did you find something?”

“Yeah, just past this corner is a [Teleporter] trap.”

A teleporter trap is… Well, the same thing as during our trip to the hot springs. We’ve seen them countless times in this labyrinth.

It is limited in that it can’t activate if there isn’t enough space on the other end for the transferred object, but we’re 18,000 meters in the air. Space isn’t a problem.

Consequently, we have absolutely no idea whether the other end of the teleport is safe or not.

By the way, the Demon Lord has been [Teleported] to the outside wall of the trunk about three times, and suffered through 10,000 meter ropeless bungee jumps.

The vampire and lich, who can both fly, disappointingly did not die… By the way, the Demon Lord also got through the damn thing without a scratch.

Due to this event, a high altitude safety net was spread across the 100 meters surrounding the World Tree, the buildings in the area were removed, and it was a really big to-do.

“Where it goes… Is something we can’t really tell, huh”

“Nope.”

“Ignore it?”

“That would be wise.”

“But it’s kind of weird. Like it’s way too obvious… Or it kind of feels like it was purposely put in a place where it would stand out.”

Stand out…? I thought that [Teleport] could only be used as a trap, but…

“It’s possible that it’s not a trap, but a variation on a passageway?”

“Maybe?”

This is troubling… If it’s a standard teleporter that tosses you out of the labyrinth, then ignoring it is fine, but there’s a possibility that it’s not.

Since there is the possibility of it throwing us out of the labyrinth… Me, Haster, or Miss Levy could use [Flight] magic, so we would be fine even if that happens, but what to do.

Even if one of us went ahead to scout it out, there’s a possibility it will put us in a monster nest as a trap too.

“Hmmm…”

“When you think about it, the three members who can’t fly are Alec, Marle, and Marielle. Which means there are three of us who can, and if we hold on to each other when we’re teleported, then we’ll be fine even if we’re all thrown outside.”

“And if it’s all of us, then we’ll be fine even if it’s a monster’s nest?”

“We should able to deal with more than if one person goes ahead on reconnaissance.”

“Do we even need to know where it goes in the first place?”

“Well… Maybe we don’t, but maybe we do.”

“This is getting annoying; let’s just go already.”

A teleporter trap placed obviously just off of the main pathway.

There was no attempt at hiding it, so if it was on the main path then the Demon Lord’s group would probably have noticed it. Even if they did notice it, considered all the pain they’ve gone through by them, there’s a high possibility they would not have stepped on it.

Just like with the Devil’s Wailing Mask, an overlooked item could fall into our hands, so… Guess I should get behind muscle-brained Alec on this one?

“Sitting here and worrying over it probably is wasting our time. I’m putting my vote in taking a look, to make sure we have no regrets.”

“I guess so. Then in case we’re tossed outside, everyone pair up with someone who can fly. Ahh, Mari—“

“Haster, you’re pairing with Alec!”

“… Tsk.”

This guy really does like big boobs, doesn’t he?

“Marle, you’re with me. I can’t hold up someone who’s too heavy, after all.”

“How rude! I am not heavy.”

“It would really piss me off to be smothered by those lumps of fat!”

“They are light precisely because they are fat!”

“Yeah, yeah, then that means Marielle is with Miss Levy. Let’s get goiiing.”

Anyway the only ones I can calmly touch are Alec and Marle, so by process of elimination this is how the pairings were going to end up.

Haster and Alec had really disappointed looks on their faces… Honestly you two…

“That soft feeling every once in a while would… Uh, no, it’s nothing, never mind.”

“If Marle’s no good, then at least Miss Levy… Uh, never mind, nope.”

“Could it be you’re bored of me? Is this that “marriage fatigue” thing?!”

“No-not at all! I can do it any day any time with you, Yuuri! It’s all OK.”

“Not in front of us, ya’ll.”

“Yes, yes, let us be off you two.”

“For now Sir Alec and Mister Haster need some punishment.”

After Marle gave the stupid boys a flick to their foreheads, we stepped onto the magic circle.

Not that I don’t get how they feel, but still…

~*~

We were teleported to a pitch black hollow.

I immediately activated [Light Ball] and illuminated the area.

This kind of necessary magic with low consumption is my responsibility as the one with excessive magic power.

“There’s… Nothing here?”

“I’m not seeing any kind of traps or enemies.”

“A miss?”

“I’ll look a little more, just in case. Mary, keep a look out. And Yuuri, help me out.”

“Sure thing.”

Marle had the ceiling and the floor illuminated, tapped on things with wooden sticks, and crawled on the ground to search the area.

I joined in using [Sonar] to examine the structure of the floor and walls, then [Olfactory Enhancement] to find enemy smell—

“Ugh?!”

“What happened?! Did you find something?”

It was the first thing I noticed when sense of smell was enhanced, but… What is this stinky smell?

It’s kind of like a really rich grassy smell…?

“There’s a fierce grassy smell… The smell too thick; I can pinpoint its source.”

“The aroma of plants certainly is strong here. Strong enough that I can tell even without [Olfactory Enhancement].”

“Grassy smell… Ah, Yuuri, could that be it?”

Where Marle pointed there were traces of sap oozing down a wall. Below that, where the flowing sap must have settled, a solid substance was…

I hastily “Appraised” it to get an expert opinion.

—Miracle Cure “Elixer”

World Tree sap that has pooled and solidified. By being solidified and turned into pills, a richer effect is achieved.

It has the effect of healing any injury or illness.

“Uwhoa?!”

If I didn’t shout now, then when would I ever? After all, the legendary miracle cure, of all things, was sitting right here.

I told everyone the results of my appraisal, and gave instructions to gather all of it.

“Seriously…?”

“No way, this is…?!”

“I feel my purpose in life being shaken.”

If we brought this back with us, it’s valuable enough that we could probably buy a country with it you know? Well, our assets are already at the level of a country’s budget of course.

Since floor 900, we’ve been bringing legendary items one after the other back with us, and splitting them between us. So even Marle has some unbelievable wealth right now.

“We managed to collect… Three?”

“That’s plenty. With this, even a wound heavy enough to leave someone on deaths door can be healed in an instant. This will be a help in battle.”

“Who should carry it?”

Alec’s question made me a bit troubled.

Haster and I have “Immortality,” so we should be fine.

Which means… The front line?

“First, the ones of the front line who aren’t “Immortal,” Alec and Miss Levy. And then in the back, either Marielle or Marle, which would be safer?”

“I shall be quite fine. With this breastplate I will be able to avoid fatal wounds, and so long as I am alive I can heal myself with my own power.”

Her breastplate was something made using the appropriated debris of the living mail with [Time Stasis] cast on it.

With how it can completely block all physical interference, saying it has unmatched defensive powers would be no exaggeration.

Only, pancaked by the armor, the breasts sticking out the sides are… Kgh!

“Urggrr… Yeah, then Marle, you should take it. Be sure not to mistake the timing on using it.”

“I-is that really okay? Something this amazing…?”

“What might that growl just now have been about exactly?”

With the legendary class miracle cure in hand, she was in a clearly nervous state.

Now we can create a situation where we basically have a second, though single use, Marielle.

“There was value in taking a detour.”

“It was a detour of about one hour. If it means we get this miracle cure, then that’s fine.”

I silently go through simulations to calculate how obtaining this miracle cure will change our battle with the Demon Lord.

Unbreakable defensive power and unstoppable attack power… We’ll be challenging such an opponent, so I would prefer to have equivalent toughness on our side.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Plus there’s his two confidants and their protective living mail.

“It’s great if this medicine supplements our toughness rank though…”

“Yuuri?”

“Oh, just going through some simulations for the Demon Lord fight.”

“Do we have a chance?”

“Secret.”

I can’t firmly declare that we do. I can’t bring myself to say we don’t.

“If we can at least separate his allies. That’s all I will say.”

“Hum… Well, we can probably manage that depending on the situation.”

9 floors away.

It’s time that we need to prepare ourselves for what’s to come.

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Translator’s Note: Fighting begins next chapter!