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Emily, Celeste and I are going into Selen’s dungeon.
[Mu.]
The moment we step foot into the dungeon, I unconsciously let out a voice.
If I were to put it to words, the air around here feels stagnant.
The air surrounding the dungeon is as if during rainy seasons and people are soaking wet while waiting inside Haneda(airport?). It’s around 10 times, no 100 times worse than that.
The place is stuffy, making it hard to move around, it really makes you want to get out of this place as soon as possible.
[For a dungeon, is it suppose to be this disgusting?]
[That’s not true, just yesterday it wasn’t like this at all.]
[This air is due to the monsters not being in the dungeon at all.]
Emily seriously answered our questions.
[This is what happens when a Dungeon Master spawns in a dungeon.]
[You know about it?]
[Because in Teruru it happened quite a few times before. When it happened the first time, the subjugation team told me about me and asked me to escape immediately.]
[I see, since you were living in the dungeon before I came about.]
After being convinced, I looked around my surroundings, while also keeping in mind that the air around here is heavy.
[There’s literally no monsters around here. Is this also due to the Dungeon Master’s presence?]
[Yes desu, when it appears, no other monsters will spawn.]
[Then we have to quickly defeat it.]
I don’t care whether a Dungeon Master spawns or not, but if there’s no monster spawning, especially in this world, then it will be fatal to humans.
Everything, water and air, are all dropped by monsters in dungeons. This is the world I’m living.
If no monsters were to spawn, then the primary industry will cease as well, making everything else fall apart.
[Dungeon Master….If I’m not mistaken, it can move around any floors it likes.]
[Yes desu, though the same rule applies that it cannot go out of the dungeon, similar to every other monsters, but it can indeed traverse to other floors as it pleases.]
[So I guess the only way to find it is to search every nook and cranny.]
Both of them nodded, and we set off in search of the Dungeon master.
With a fighting attitude kept, we head further into the dungeon.
The first floor, nothing there.
Similar case with the second floor, there’s nothing here.
And now we reached the third floor.
[——! There it is]
[Yes, desu.]
[It’s hard to breath….]
Seems like Emily and Celeste are in pain.
Though it’s not like they’re the only ones feeling it, because the moment we step foot into the third floor, I can feel a strong pressure that I have never felt before.
Previously it was like child’s play, but now that we are right in front of it, I can feel a strong intimidation.
I grasped my gun, nodded at the two of them, and we approached it.
We appeared right beside of it.
With an insidiousness surrounding it–the monster, with a gigantic body and a horse for it’s head, coated in black, and has two horns growing on top of its head.
[So that’s the Dungeon Master.]
[It’s a bicorn…..also known as [The one who defiles purity].]
[It’s a bicorn eh—-for now let’s defeat it.]
[Yes!]
[Yes desu!]
First up is Emily, where she flew towards it.
The chibi 130cm tall girl, with a huge hammer—which did not fit her character—flew towards the monster, and in the middle of the air, she spun around and swung her hammer straight down towards the bicorn.
The hammer went directly for the Bicorn’s head—was what we thought, but the two horns above it completely nullified the damage being dealt.
[Emily !]
The Bicorn repelled the hammer, and tried to pierce Emily’s body.
I repeatedly fired at it to stop its movement. Taking that opportunity, Emily reacted and jumped away.
I kicked the ground, and dashed straight at it.
Using my fluent hands, I loaded all the Homing Bullets into the gun in a matter of second, stroked both my hands horizontally and fired with my right and left guns.
The bicorn was perplexed for a moment.
Because of the multiple bullets being scattered around with my gun, it became a Homing Missile, with all of the bullets drawing an arc towards the Bicorn while orbiting around it, as if being sucked into the Bicorn like a blackhole.
At the same time, it avoided the bullets, and jumped off.
It jumped towards a corner but the Homing bullets gathered together towards it, and penetrated it all at once.
But.
[It didn’t work? Is it using some kind of barrier?]
[There’s no response at all.]
When me or Emily attacked, the bicorn used its horns. It feels like there’s some sort of invisible barrier shielding it.
[Anyways, for now just continuously attack it. Celeste, please support us.]
[I understand.]
Celeste, who was at the end of a corner, nodded, and proceeded in using high level magic.
The magic circle expanded, and she released her magic after chanting.
It’s a Level 3, High leveled magic—a strong fire spell that swallowed the bicorn as if filling it inside its tummy.
I didn’t think that that would defeat it, thus Emily and I jumped into the whirlpool of flame.
As expected, the Bicorn wasn’t dead, and it could even react and deal a fierce blow to us.
Emily rapidly swung her hammer at it, while I repeatedly loaded my ammo at it.
[Kya!]
[Emily!]
I immediately fired a Healing Bullet on Emily who was being counter attack by the dungeon master.
When we were in midair I aimed at her side and shot, so even before we landed on the ground she was all healed up.
[Thank you desu.]
[Don’t push yourself okay.]
[Yes desu!]
[Also Celeste, don’t hold back and keep firing your magic! This monster won’t be fazed by just a measly attack!]
[I understand!]
We are now on the third wave of attack.
With all our strength, we challenged the Bicorn head-on.
Slowly but surely, there was a response.
Though there’s an invisible barrier surrounding the bicorn, but with the continuous strong attack that we dealt to the Bicorn, the barrier was gradually getting weaker, which means our attacks were effective.
After taking a breath of air, we went and attacked again, but the barrier returned to it’s original state.
Most probably, it’s a type of barrier that can be broken with a saturated attack.
If that’s the case, then if we hit it all at once—
[……Ah.]
At the corner of my eyes, I caught sight of Celeste seemingly wanting to faint.
I rushed towards her, and while embracing her I used the Healing Bullet on her.
Although one Healing Bullet is sufficient in healing an injury, for mana depletion from using too much magic takes several Healing bullets to completely heal up.
While embracing her, I pressed the muzzle and fired multiple shots of Healing Bullets on her.
[I’m sorry, I….seem to be a burden to you.]
[Don’t worry about it. It must’ve been hard for you to use your magic repetitively.]
[Eh?]
[Don’t need to work so hard till you faint—-Mu]
Emily was struggling hard with the boss while I was away from the battle to help Celeste.
I grab hold onto my gun, helped Celeste to stand up, then head back into the fight.
I then rushed towards Emily who was blown off into the wall.
[Are you alright Emily?]
[Something’s strange desu.]
[Strange?]
[That.]
Emily pointed at the feet of the Bicorn.
Beneath the four legged black horse was a weird magic circle being enlarged.
Since when did he activate it, I thought, as the magic circle enlarged till it occupied the entire cave ground.
[When the hell did it activate that?]
[I have no idea desu…Ah.]
[What’s wrong…..Mu.]
Emily stood up and staggered while using her hands to support herself on the wall, and over there was a Know-It-All board.
When I lift her up, she used her own strength to hold onto the wall, and accidentally activated the Know-It-All board.
There, her status was displayed on the screen.
―――１／２―――
Level: 22/40
HP: C (-2)
MP: F(-2)
Strength: C(-2)
Stamina: E(-2)
Intelligence: F(-2)
Mentality: F(-2)
Speed: F(-2)
Dexterity: F(-2)
Luck: F(-2)
―――――――――
All her stats decreased.
Besides her high HP and Strength, the rest was decreased to the point of reaching the minimum.
[The one who defiles purity…..]
[——!]
I was relieved when Emily murmured.
I see, so this is the Bicorn’s trump card, it’s this Magic Circle’s power.
Whoever is within this Magic Circle will get a status debuff besides the Dungeon Master.
[Are you alright Yoda-san?]
[Celeste.]
[Eeh!]
While Celeste is using Inferno, I went and confirm my status using the Know-It-All board.
―――１／２―――
Level: 1/1
HP: S
MP: F(-2)
Strength: S
Stamina: F(-2)
Intelligence: F(-2)
Mentality: F(-2)
Speed: C(-2)
Dexterity: F(-2)
Luck: F(-2)
―――――――――
Seems like any status that is at S would not be affected, most probably because besides me, nobody has a status of S, maybe I’m outside of this world’s calculation.
At the same time, my Speed which was originally at A was affected by the Bicorn’s debuff and dropped down to C.
Even though it dropped, I will continue to fight.
[Emily, I’ll go first. You’ll follow after me.]
[Yes desu.]
[Celestel—–]
While calling out to her, I quickly fired the Healing Bullet at her.
[I’m counting on you for support, don’t push yourself okay.]
[—–Un.]
After giving them orders, I jumped right into the whirlpool of flames where the Bicorn is in.
Even though this was my first time being affected by this magic circle, but I can already feel the effects it’s giving to my speed as it drastically dulled my speed.
Even my reload speed is taking longer than usual, and it takes longer to shoot too.
I sometimes got into a difficult situation as my attack has dulled and some attacks couldn’t connect.
But my Strength is still the same.
Since it’s at S, if it hits, it’s gonna deal tons of damage. So if I can just hit it once, I think I can defeat it.
While having such thoughts, I still can’t find an opening.
Thus, the fight became a stalemate.
☆ (Celeste’s Side)
At first, there was no one around Celeste to hang out with.
There was no opponent that could tell her off, but rather she was the one who say it to herself.
For her, she constantly tells herself to stay firm and not fall.
At worse she will tell herself to [Please tell me when I’m sick], or [Please only fall when I finish the job], along the lines.
She thought that she did the right thing until now.
Because she had a defective and unbalanced magic. Plus, she doesn’t want to burden people by not disposing of the garbage quick enough.
Thus she cannot fall right now, as she always thought that she has to work hard all the time.
But the guy in front of her told her otherwise, that it’s alright not to push herself.
It must’ve been hard to overwork yourself and fall, such words were told by that guy.
This was the first time someone told her off, which strongly struck her heart, and she was drawn into him.
[For his sake…..I want to work hard for his sake.]
Though she’s contradicting herself, it’s somehow different compared to before.
For the guy’s sake who told her that she doesn’t need to push herself, before she reaches her limit, she will do her best for him.
[My power.]
Celeste brought her strength to the limit.
[My all….]
With her bright magic circle, she pushed back the Bicorn’s magic circle.
☆
[Yoda-san!]
If this goes on it’s gonna end badly—was what I thought but for the first time, Emily shouted my name with a loud voice.
I was wondering what’s going on so I turned and look behind me, there, I saw Celeste who is far away casting a magic.
This isn’t something normal—The tall beauty’s long hair is burning up.
[Celeste!?]
[Here I go!]
The moment she said that, the magic burst.
I flew off quickly, while taking a distance from the Bicorn.
That Bicorn is being enveloped by flames, and was swallowed by a swirling fireball.
And the magic circle below fades tremendously.
Celeste then….fainted just like that.
[Celeste!]
[—-Yoda-san!]
Again Emily screamed my name loudly, and a huge shadow is flying towards me.
I subconsciously caught hold of it—-it was Emily’s hammer.
Emily, who threw her hammer, immediately rushed towards Celeste.
[——!]
I clenched my teeth, and took a deep breath.
For some reason I could hold the hammer firmly from what I thought, thus I firmly thrust it onto the burning Bicorn, hammering it down on it.
With my S powered Strength, I hit it with all my might using Emily’s hammer.
With the hammer striking at the invisible barrier, a cracking sound resided and it landed on the Bicorn.
Soon the flame was gone. The black horse broke and shattered there and then.
Only the two horns remained on the ground.
☆
As soon as I defeated it I rushed straight to Celeste.
Celeste, who was being gently held by Emily, had a really weak expression.
It’s similar from when I first met her, but this time it was even worse than usual.
By using her magic to burn the Bicorn, she overloaded her magic—and it’s easy to imagine the repercussions.
I aimed at her with my gun, and shoot her with multiple Healing bullets-like syringes.
One shot, two shots, three shots……
I shot her till my entire magazine was depleted, and after a set of magazine it finally cured her.
How much did she push herself, but I do understand her feelings.
Though I have a lot of things to say, I decided to keep it to myself.
[Thank you Celeste, it’s because of you that we can defeat the Dungeon Master.]
[Was I, helpful?]
[Of course, I’m glad that we brought you along.]
Celeste opened her eyes, and tears started flowing out of her eyes.
[Wh, what’s wrong?]
[It’s not like that, because this was the first time someone said that to me….]
[I, I see.]
I was slightly shocked, I just remembered that I picked up something just now.
[Oh right, this is for you.]
[…..This is?]
[It’s the remains of the Bicorn….It’s probably a drop item.]
The item that I gave her, was the pair of horns that the Bicorn had.
It’s size has been shrunk by half from it’s original size. It’s now the size of a finger.
[This is….for me?]
[Aah.]
[Aah, since there’s two of it why not give one to Emily.]
[No, only two of it together can it be complete as a set. I thought that you might need it more than us.]
[I need it more?]
[Please just accept it, you’ll know soon enough.]
[…..?]
Celeste took the horn of the Bicorn from my hand, while lamentably leaving the facial expression of a fox.
The moment she received it from my hands, her eyes were wide open.
[Seems like you know the reason why—-wait why are you crying again!?]
Celeste, who was holding the horns with both her hands, starting crying even harder and it made me even more flustered.
The bicorn’s horn, Bicorn Horn.
It’s ability—whoever has it can use Level 1 Magic unlimited times.
For Celeste, who could only use a Level 3 Magic, I thought that this was a good item for her as she can finally use other spells, but for some reason she started crying again.
To that, Emily is gently hugging her and comforting her.
Celeste firmly hugged Emily, and continued crying out loud.
It’s like a child and her mother, this was the kind of scene I’m watching right now.
Really, what’s going on.
[Celeste-san. Since Yoda-san is being troubled by it, so if you don’t let your true feelings out right now, it’s gonna be bad nanodesu.]
[Un…..]
Celeste lift her face up, and used both her hands to wipe off her tears, and stared at me.
And.
[Thank you.]
Slowly, softly, and firmly.
That was what she responded.
I was stunned for a moment, Thank you?
Wait, that means—-
[Yes desu, it’s tears of joy nanodesu—]
[Uwa, don’t, please don’t say it out loud! Anything but that!]
Celeste hurriedly close Emily’s mouth—-she’s already said it before you could close her mouth.
But, now I understand.
If that’s the case, I thought as I unconsciously let out a laugh.
In the end, there were some tough moments, but all in all, I say it was a success as we managed to defeat the Dungeon Master and I also got to see another side of Celeste.