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Chapter 127




Chapter 127 – Her Her & Her (3)
The strange adventures of the three women were on cruise control afterwards.
“Rei!”
“Land of Ice.  Restrain my enemies.”
“Hoo-ooooohp.  Divine!   Eh-ee!  Boom!”
[Ggoo-ohhhhhhhhh!]
Glacia’s notoriety was well earned.  Not all Dungeons contained monsters like the large snake.  However, it was full of monsters over level 200.  These types of monsters rarely appeared in the human realm.
Even if Etna’s contribution was large in these battles, Sienna and Regina went through a significant amount of growth.  It had been only 1 week since they had teamed up with Etna, but Regina and Sienna had easily pushed past level 280.  Another 10 days passed before they pushed past level 290.  Currently, Sienna was level 295 and Regina was level 292.
[Kah¡¡¡¡¡¡ Kah-ha-ahhhhhhhhhh!]
“Hoo-ooh.  Let’s take a break.”
After a fierce battle that lasted an hour, they were finally able to kill the level 310 Ice Giant.  Etna stretched her arms as she yawned.  She declared a break.
“Yes, unni.”
“Agreed.  I need to recharge my magical energy.”
As soon as Etna’s words ended, Sienna and Regina fell to the Dungeon floor.  They leaned against each other as they sat.  Afterwards, Sienna’s stomach growled.
“We ate not too long ago.”
“W…we moved around too much.  Also, I’m in my growth period!”
Sienna’s cheeks turned red as she yelled out an excuse.  Then she checked her belongings.  She took out a long black stick.  Etna and Regina tilted their heads in confusion.
“Sienna, are you perhaps going to eat that?”
“Ominous energy.”
“The leg of an Ancient Kraken was sliced thinly, and it was dried into a jerky.  Do you want to give it a try?”
“Ancient Kraken······.”
“Brave girl.”
“It’s tasty.”
Why weren’t they willing to acknowledge this fact?
Sienna had such thoughts as she chewed on the jerky.  Roa had drained all the Demonic energy from the Ancient Kraken’s tentacle, and Artpe had used a specialized spell to dehydrate it.  It was a bit tough, but the meat wouldn’t go bad for 100 years.  It contained a lot of nutrients and Mana, so it was the ideal snack to consume within a Dungeon.
When Artpe made it, he seriously wondered if there would come a day when they would have to eat it.  Sienna was currently eating it to quell her hunger…..
“Heeeeee.  I miss oppa…….”
“A person becomes like this when one become involved with Artpe.  You should be aware of this information……”
“You don’t look like it, but you are capable of acting quite spoiled.”
Sienna’s level was increasing smoothly, but she hadn’t met Artpe in a very long time.  Her withdrawal symptoms were getting quite severe.
Still, she was hungry.  Her nose ran as she earnestly chewed on the Kraken’s tentacle.  Sienna looked pitiable and cute at the same time.  Regina was blankly staring at Sienna when she realized that something in her possession was vibrating.
“······communication arrived.  Caller is Artpe.”
“What!?”
Sienna moved at the speed of lightning as she snatched the communication device away from Regina.  Regina looked a little bit sad.  Sienna ignored her as she spoke into the communication device.
“Oppa, when are you coming!”
[I’ll be there in a day.  Did you find the ruin?]
“Hoo-oooooh.  I miss you.  Please get here quickly.”
[I see.  You haven’t found it yet.  All right.  I’ll get there as soon as possible.]
This was how the communication came to an end.  Sienna handed over the communication device to Regina.  She looked blankly at Sienna.  Regina didn’t say anything, but she kept slapping Sienna’s back.  Sienna finally realized that she had been selfish.
“I…I’m sorry.  It seems Rei also wanted to talk to him.”
“I deny it.  I deny Sienna too.”
“You are denying me!?”
“Deny.  Deny.”
“Wait a moment!  Hurts!  It hurts!”
“······I see.  Artpe will be here tomorrow?”
The friendship between Sienna and Regina deepened as they exchanged fists.  Etna quietly mumbled to herself as she raised her head.
“If I don’t find it fast…..”
“Ah.”
Sienna finally realized something.  If Artpe came here, he would come face to face with Etna.  Etna had declared something in the past.  She said she won’t cede the sculpture unless Artpe showed up.  If Artpe came here……
“I have to find it quickly before Artpe arrives!”
“You’ll come face to face with him eventually!”
“I know, but there is a difference if I find it first!  Even if it is Artpe, I cannot give up on that statue!  I’m sorry, but I cannot support your growth anymore!  I’m ending it right now!”
“Aht!  Unni!  Don’t go ahead of us!”
Etna was feeling desperate now, and Sienna was trying to delay her for a day.  The two of them  tossed and turned as they ran deeper into the Dungeon.  Regina let out a light sigh as she looked at them from the back.  She had no choice.  She followed after the two idiots.
“Uh? Look over there!”
It was the promised day.  In just a day, they had completed three Dungeons.(Regina and Sienna was only able to kill one monster.)  Sienna spoke animatedly.  Etna was racing across the frozen land towards the next Dungeon when she came to a halt.
She raised her head to see what was wrong, and her eyes widened a little bit.  A fog, which was heavy with moisture, was emanating from the land around them.
“Isn’t that steam?”
“Part of the ground is melting.”
At Regina’s supplementary words, the three of them look at each other.
“Is this perhaps…….”
“Does this mean spring is almost here······?”
The three of them felt an urgency.  It didn’t matter who had the rights to the Artifact.  Such a worry was secondary to actually finding the Artifact!  Their steps quickened, and the steam thickened the more steps they took!  At this point, they finally realized that something was wrong.
“Unni, is this perhaps······.”
“What is it?  I’m in a hurry!  If I don’t quickly find the ruin, part of this land will disappear!”
“I was thinking maybe the loss of land might be caused by unni……”
“······ehng?”
Etna stopped when she heard Sienna’s words.  She was right.  The steam was emanating from a widespread region, but if one had to point where it was the worst, it was near Etna’s body.
“Huh?  That’s strange.  I’m pretty sure the Winter Sprite’s Blessing is still active.”
“The Blessing is present.  I’m sure of it.  I used my search ability.  I found another hidden source of heat.”
Regina’s spell should have hidden the heat within Regina, but something was making the heat within Etna’s body boil.  It started melting the troublesome continent, which was made out of ice!
“This is…..   It isn’t a natural phenomena.  Maybe a spell was placed over the entirety of the continent of Glacia?”
“Maybe a spell was placed to protect the ruin when it was made.  However, the more important fact right now is……”
At this rate, the ruin was really going to disappear!  Regina quickly tried to overlap another blessing over Etna.  She also tried to cast debuffs that would weaken Etna’s energy.  However, she was unable to stop the deterioration of the land.
To make things worse, the ground split open, and an enormous Dragon shot up into the sky.
[Those that forcefully called forth spring!  Those that covet the winter!  I will punish you all!]
“I didn’t hear anything about this enemy from oppa!”
“Level······  Impossible to gauge.”
If Artpe was present, he would have told them that the Dragon’s level was 320.  It was basically the symbol of Glacia.  Artpe would have kindly explained to them that this old magical beast was called the Ice Dragon.  However, he wasn’t there right now.
“Oh my….  Even I will have to brace myself.”
Etna gulped when she saw the roaring Ice Dragon.  It was threatening those that had brought spring to this land.
Of course, she was over level 370, but she was in the human realm.  Moreover, she was forcefully suppressing her fire while she was in the continent of Glacia.  Her abilities were reduced by 20 percent.  If their attributes weren’t opposite of each other, she wouldn’t have been able to put up a fight against the Ice Dragon.
“I don’t think this Dragon can be fought with small numbers, unni!”
“It’ll be alright.  No…  It is not alright.  I cannot fight it with the Blessing around me.”
[Koo-hwahhhhhhh!]
“Unni!?”
Etna was in the midst of assessing her own power.  When none of the girls cowered in fear, the Ice Dragon became indignant.  It opened its mouth wide, and it let out an extremely cold breath.
“Yes, this won’t work.”
“Kyahhhhhk!  The groundddddddddd!”
Etna clicked her tongue, and she unraveled all the Blessings placed on her by Regina.  In a flash, an enormous amount of heat emanated around her!  When Etna’s eyes glared at the Dragon, an enormous wall of fire appeared to block the Dragon’s Breath.
As a consequence, the ground started melting uncontrollably.
“Ooh-ahhhhhhhhhhhhh! Unni, we are done!  The Ruin is ruined!”
“At the very least, it is better than dying!  Don’t worry!  I’ll will protect both of you!”
[Gyah-ho-ohhhhhhhhh!]
Boom!
The Ice Dragon realized that its enemy was formidable.  It didn’t hesitate as it rushed its enemy!
Several thousand ice crystals formed every time the Ice Dragon flapped its wings.  New ice coated the land once again.  It tried to freeze and break the bodies of its enemies!
“Preposterous!  Ice of that level can’t freeze my heart!  It can’t even harm a single strand of my hair!”
The fire possessed by the daughter of the Phoenix flooded outward in an instant.  Her body  was the epicenter as the ballooning ball of fire melted the ice in its entirety.  It created a large crater.  As if that wasn’t enough, the fire collided with the Ice Dragon, who had been flicking its tongue!
[Kyahhhhhhhhh!]
“Hoo hoo.  Is this all you got? If so, this is the end of the line for you!”
She raised her hand.  The Ice Dragon’s frost invaded her body as ice covered her hand.  In the next moment, her heat melted it, and the ice was turned into vapor.  The heat extended out from her hand.  It compressed to form a pillar of fire!
[Kyahhhhhhk, ke-hehhhhhh!]
The pillar of fire impacted inside the open mouth of the Ice Dragon.  The Ice Dragon had been about to use a second Ice Breath, and Etna easily cancelled it.  It must have hurt a lot.  The Ice Dragon stopped charging forward, and it started to stumble backwards.  Sienna and Etna used this opportunity to push through the steam.  They ran towards Etna.
“Unni, are you alright!?”
“It has a pretty powerful cold breath, but….  I’m fine!”
In truth, she wasn’t fine.  How long had it been since she had released the full extent of her fire?  She was having a hard time adjusting to it.
Still, the human realm and the ice was working in concert to suppress her fire, so she wasn’t satisfied with her output.  Moreover, the first Ice Breath and the thousands of ice crystals were starting to slow her down.
On the other hand, a portion of her enemy’s body had melted away, but when considered the size of its body, the damage was extremely minimal.  This was true when one considered the amount of Mana still gathered near its chest, wings and tail.  It seemed the Ice Dragon could freeze an entire country with plenty of power left over.
‘Tsk.  I could easily defeat it if we are in a different environment within the Demon realm……!’
It seemed she would have to prepare for the worst.  Whether she could find the ruin or not was no longer the problem.  Etna stood within the steam, which had been created when she clashed with the Ice Dragon.  She started to prepare the most powerful flame spell in her arsenal.
The Ice Dragon was also gathering the nearby cold air, and it was concentrating it near its wings.  It seemed the Ice Dragon was going to use its ace in the hole to finish Etna.
“Unni, I’ll help you!”
“No, you can’t do anything against it.  You should get away from here, Sienna.  You might be hurt from the aftershock.”
The Ice Dragon was a foe that was on a different level.  It couldn’t be compared to any of the monsters that had appeared within the Dungeons they had explored.  Moreover, it held the title of Field Boss.  It gave the Ice Dragon authority over the Mana and Record of this vast region!  It wasn’t a normal monster, since it was being supported by its own domain!
If the Demon King’s army had known a monster of this caliber was here, Etna wouldn’t have been allowed to travel here.  They probably would have sent another Demon to win over the Ice Dragon to their side.
‘No, I used my vacation time.  I forced myself here, so why am I thinking about the Demon King’s army?’
She scoffed at the thought she just had, and she started chanting her spell in earnest.  However, the sight in front of her cleared before she could progress any further in her spell.
“Hey!  You crazy…!  Cancel your spell!  Cancel it!”
“But······ Huh? Artpe!?”
Etna yelled out in surprise when she saw a man suddenly appear in front of her.  In the next moment, all the steam emanating from around her was gone.  Artpe use his magic.  He caused cold air to wash over the land.
Artpe was over level 300, and he possessed massive amount of Mana.  In a flash, a wide area was frozen once again.  It was as if the fight between Etna and the Ice Dragon never happened.  The region was unscathed.
[Mmm¡¡¡¡¡¡.]
At that moment, the Ice Dragon hummed.
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[I thank you for returning winter.]
“Alright.  I’ll challenge you fair and square in winter, so I want you to quietly go back to sleep!”
[Understood.]
The Ice Dragon nodded its head.  It acknowledged Artpe’s words, and it docilely sunk below.  Cold air coalesced where the Ice Dragon used to be.  A stairway heading downwards formed.  The girls were dumbfounded when they saw this.
It didn’t take them too long for them to realize that the Dragon’s true identity was the ruin.