49 â Midterm exam preparation â 2
âOkay, letâs take a short break⦠â¦.â
âMe tooâ¦â¦ For a momentâ¦â¦ Because it doesnât seem like theyâre chasing me anymoreâ¦â¦.â
Brunhild and Aria almost stopped on the floor, panting.
As if to protect them, I went back and looked around, and stopped only after confirming that there were no more monsters chasing me using presence detection magic.
âYes. I think itâs okay to rest. Itâs a reasonably spacious place. Letâs take a rest here.â
The two people who were barely holding on to my words with their last remaining strength eventually collapsed. Huh, huh, the sound of heavy breathing was heard. He took out some water from his backpack and handed it to me. The water bottle was half empty in one go.
Brünnhild, who was panting in silence for a while after drinking water, looked at me.
âNo, why donât you look tired? âAfter fighting the most out of all of us?â
The reason we ran away so quickly was because of the trap room. It is a trap room that embodies the unique geography of the dungeon, where a lot of mana accumulates and naturally a lot of monsters gather.
As I was going downhill, I saw an arrow drawn to the right at the two-way intersection I came across. I thought twice and went in the direction of the arrow, but it turned out to be a trap room.
If the archmage who created this dungeon or Professor Jaina had seen it, they would have giggled excitedly. Because the trick worked. It was an unlucky move.
And as soon as we entered the trap room, we encountered a frightening number of 6th Corps commanders. This is the centaur who returned after having his arm cut off by the Demon King and being beaten to dust on a rainy day.
It wasnât the main body, but a deteriorated version, so I thought I would have been able to do anything if I had fought alone, but since I had eyes to see and it was difficult to fight while protecting two people, I just took the two of them and ran away together.
In the meantime, I defeated everyone who blocked my path, so thatâs probably what Brunhild meant. I answered calmly while drinking water.
âI have to do this to get the top position for three years.â
âYes. âYou eat it all by yourself.â
âIt will happen even if you donât say anything.â
I put the water bottle, which I took about two sips of, into my backpack, took out a blanket that I had made cold with magic tools, and held it out. You can maintain body temperature with another blanket.
As soon as Brünnhild received the blanket, she spread it on the floor and lay down as if she was sleeping, while Arya carefully pulled up her skirt and sat with her knees together. It was a scene where the difference in personality between the two was clearly revealed.
âIsnât it difficult? âYou can relax.â
âOh, no. Are you okay.â
Aria, her face slightly red, smoothed the hem of her skirt again. Well, she had a long way where her underwear would be visible if she tried to sit more comfortably. Especially since her skirt was quite fluttery.
Brünnhild doesnât care about such things at all, so itâs amazing. She wasnât being overtly vulgar just because she was lying down comfortably, but she seemed to be in a roughly similar position to when she was sleeping.
â⦠â¦.â
After the conversation ended, both of them just took a breath in silence. In the meantime, I threw another blanket to keep warm and checked the remaining luggage.
âHow much further down do I have to go?â
Iâve been down for a little over 4 hours so far. The concept was to explore an unidentified dungeon that was discovered for the first time, but since I didnât even receive a map, I had no choice but to guess the remaining distance to the dungeon core by feel.
âHow far have we come?â
I suddenly felt a heavy lump behind my back. Brunhild approached me before I knew it, resting his chin on my shoulder and hugging me from behind. Aria was still sitting and resting.
âAbout half? âThey said it would take about 8 hours to break through, but we came down in about 4 hours, so it would be better to say we were neatly halfway there.â@@novelbin@@
ââ¦â¦ Do I have to go half way from here? âItâs so hard that Iâm going to die.â
Brünnhild poked my shoulder with his chin and grumbled.
Perhaps because she was a country girl who lived an ordinary life but was suddenly chosen by the Holy Sword, she felt like she still lacked much awareness as a warrior.
Something like that may be because I took care of all the battle events in the original that he had to experience to grow and awaken.
âBy the way, Mira. What on earth did you do? You donât seem to be pushed back by them at all. Rather, it felt overwhelming. No matter how deteriorated the plate isâ¦â¦.â
Aria couldnât finish her question and trailed off.
As I said, no matter how deteriorated the corps commander was, Brunhild and Aria struggled tremendously even though they only dealt with one corps commander. Unlike me.
âWell. âI just did it and it worked.â
Even with the original version, she couldnât say that she almost won the fight, so she answered appropriately. She playfully jeered, telling Brünnhild that if he didnât want to answer, he should say so honestly.
âUhm⦠â¦.â
âWhy?â
I asked back when I saw Aria making a slightly ambiguous expression. She looked like she was worried about something.
âNo. Itâs just that youâre so much more amazing than I expected. âI had no idea that he was this talented.â
Ariaâs expression as she said those words was so strange that if she were a perceptive person, she would have recognized it right away. It was unclear why this was happening. Is she doing this because she feels like she will never be able to take over her senior position?
âEven if you look at me like that, I canât hand over the top position to her. Sorry. âThere is something I said at the entrance ceremony, and I must keep it.â
ââ¦â¦ Yes?â
Ariaâs eyes widened.
âHuh?â
Wasnât it this way?
While I was confused, a natural smile appeared on Ariaâs face, who seemed to be trying to smile as kindly as usual.
âAh, yes. Right. Yes. I also have no desire to compromise on that. Sorry, I was cluelessâ¦â¦.â
âDonât bother Aria, Mira. I warned you. If youâre going to do that, do it to me. âWhere can that good boy be bullied?â
âWhy donât you stop bothering me too? What are you doing? âI heard itâs hot?â
Brünnhild was now almost riding on me. Her chin pressed against the top of my head, and I felt a squishy sensation near her neck. Aria was at a loss, not knowing what to do.
âGwae, itâs okay. Leona. Because I like quick-witted peopleâ¦â¦.â
âDid you hear? âI like you, Mira.â
âWhat are you saying? Donât say anything weird. âI donât have any skills.â
â⦠â¦.â
Brünnhildâs expression immediately changed to an expression of bewilderment. This is probably the first time Iâve heard that I have no skills since I got hold of the holy sword.
But what can we do? Thatâs true. Right now, he was having a hard time just catching a degraded corps commander, and in the end, I, who was worse than him, had to step in and help him.
Aria knew that her skills were not enough, so she wasted her time on the defensive, but this happened because Brünnhild, who had heard her holy sword, was consistent in her attacks.
Honestly, there were a few situations where it wouldnât have been strange if I hadnât stepped forward and been judged seriously injured and forcibly sent out of the dungeon. Iâm just a little tired, but itâs all thanks to me that I can stay here.
âNo, whatâ¦â¦ Itâs not that Iâm not that skilledâ¦â¦ Mira, Iâm confident I can beat everyone except you⦠â¦.â
Brünnhild also seemed to know this, and only grumbled timidly, unable to refute anything. Let me tease you a little more.
âAs soon as he came in here, he told me to trust him and took a step into the slime.â
âAh, okay! Stop! Stop!â
A body full of health pushed me hard. It seemed like I successfully remembered falling into a slime trap less than 10 seconds after we entered this dungeon.
Thanks to this, half of my stockings had melted so I had to take them off. If I hadnât taken it out quickly, all my other clothes would have melted.
After resting for about 30 minutes, we started moving again. Brunhild fought the corps commander with a very determined face. It was clearly evident in his movements that he had clenched his teeth.
Even so, it wasnât enough for me. Brünnhild came to brag to me after completely defeating a corps commander, but when he saw me watching, the battle had already ended and he looked dejected.
âDo you just want to be a hero?â
âItâs a no-brainer.â
It could have been a joke, seeing as he was smiling, but saying something like that, even as a joke, wasnât a particularly good sign. I also wondered if I had put too much effort into maintaining my position as chief.
âI think I need to instill confidence.â
There is no better way.
Anyway, our final goal is no longer the devil. Because there is a high possibility that the Demon King is also a possessor. If he was confirmed as possessed, there was no reason for him to fight or kill, shedding blood.
There is a high possibility that she was robbed of the initiative like Priscilla or Rosaria because she had to follow the original scenario.
I went down with that question in mind, and after a total journey of 9 hours, I was able to reach the last floor where the dungeon core was located. Brunhild gasped as she put the empty water bottle into her backpack.
ââ¦â¦ Wow, this is really difficult. Does this mean that this will be held for 3 days and 2 nights in the future?â
âI need to distribute my stamina more properly next time.â
Even considering that our groupâs difficulty level had skyrocketed, Brunhild and Ariaâs physical strength was almost at its limit. In particular, Brunhild, who had been struggling from the middle, was not surprised when it spread.
âWell done to you both. âIâll handle the last one.â
A knight whose entire body was covered in black armor was guarding the dungeon core. Black fog leaked out from the thick armor covering the entire body, covering the nearby area in black.
He was a Dullahan, the commander of the 1st Corps of the Demon Kingâs Army.
It must have sensed that a person was approaching and started walking towards us, dispersing its black mist. I also took out my eternity and walked in front of him.
âCould you please wait a moment?â
The moment I breathed mana into eternity, I heard the voice of an old man coming from somewhere. At the same time, the Dullahanâs figure stood tall. While we were panicking, someone appeared out of thin air.
She was a woman who looked like she was over 80. The old man held his magic wand like a real wand and smiled kindly.
âNow that youâve come this far, I think itâs pointless to fight any further. It wasnât a place that was created from the beginning with the assumption that we would end up here. So, why not put down your weapons first and think about it?â
ââ¦â¦ Who are you?â
I asked questions without letting my guard down. The old man smiled and answered.
âHe is said to be the archmage who created this dungeon. And⦠â¦.â
The old man, who had been hesitating slightly, narrowed his eyes slightly.
âThe crown prince is also the childâs teacher.â