Waiting beyond the door was an intimidating aura, arising from a single existence――Cerberus.
It was just resting with its eyes closed in the middle of the room, not worrying about what was to come. It was kinda cute to see the three heads all snuggled up, but it had a huge body, about three meters long, and taller than me.
「――!!」
It was only natural that we couldn’t help but take a step back after seeing it.
Speaking of Cerberus, it’s like a monster that usually comes out near the end of a game.
Why did an end-game boss have to be there in the first place? Well, that’s obvious. We went to the lowest floor of the dungeon, where no one had gone before. It was a given we’d end up fighting something like that.
「Hiroki-san, I have a bad feeling about this… Of course, I know that Hiroki-san’s evasion is amazing.」 「U-umm… Anyway for now, I’ll keep going over there, so Lusha-san, when the Cerberus targets me, move carefully along the wall and go to that exit. If the Cerberus attacks you, run away quickly.」 「U-understood!」
Lusha was surprised at my instructions. I might have been the only one who ever tried to move on to the exit without defeating the Boss.
Adventurers usually think completing the dungeon and defeating the dungeon boss are the same thing.
「Alright, come at me!」 『Grrrr!』
When I provoked it, the cerberus got up and attacked me in a straight line.
The sharp fangs and pointed claws were terrifying. My legs trembled with fear, but I refused to run away.
The cerberus claws that I avoided pierced right through the ground. The power is enormous; a direct hit would kill me instantly.
In fact, that was true for a considerable percentage of adventurers, not just me.
*miss* *miss*
After I avoided Cerberus’ attack several times, Lusha reached the designated position. She immediately set up her bow and started shooting.
Despite a spray of arrows coming our way, none of them hit.
「Uhh, this time it will…!」
With another volley of arrows, two of them managed to hit their mark.
「Yesss!!」
Lusha shouted with delight, but her body was already drawing back the string for the next shot. Her flowing behavior radiated beauty even in the middle of battle.
The question was whether I could retain Cerberus’ attention. I drank the last monster potion, so even if it took a considerable number of Lusha’s arrows to bring it down, it should keep attacking me no matter what.
「Lusha-san.」 「Yes?」 「…If you become my partner, you may have to fight against strong enemies on the Demon Continent, or even be chased by the King along with me.」 「Uh, the King…?」 「But I wanted Lusha-san to become my partner, so please be my partner from now on!」
I felt like Lusha said something in the middle, but I ignored it and kept talking. Finally, I lifted my head.
「…………」
She was staring at the ground, herself. I couldn’t see her reaction, so I didn’t know what kind of face she was making. The silence dragged on, and I started to feel nervous that she suddenly disliked me.
However, that was just my own anxiety.
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「Please take care of me from now on, Hiroki.」 「Huh? Oh. Me too, Lusha.」
She showed me a superb smile when she looked up, and because she dropped the honorific from my name, I dropped it from hers as well. We shook hands on it and became a duo.