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Chapter 24: To The Top Floor
Anastasia dashes towards the fallen man as fast as she can.
The monster wolf turns to face Anastasia. But a white flame engulfs the monster wolf before it can regain its footing.
“Gau…!”
With a single, high-pitched scream, the monster wolf burns to the ground in a flash.
Anastasia touches the fallen man and casts a [healing] magic spell on him. The man loses a lot of blood and would have died if left alone, but his wounds heal quickly.
Anastasia examines the man and discovers him to be unconscious but breathing normally.
“Anastasia-san, your healing magic spell is amazing too.”
Brandt approaches Anastasia after burning the monster wolf with [White Fire].
The [Healing] magic spell is not particularly difficult, but there is a difference in ability. Because it boosts a person’s natural resistance, it takes a lot of skill to instantly close a large wound like Anastasia did.
“Brandt-senpai, thank you for defeating the monster wolf.”
Anastasia rushed out to heal the man despite the danger because she was confident Brandt would do something about the monster wolf.
Brandt, as expected, defeated the monster wolf.
He chose [White Fire] over [Demon Destruction] because he is accustomed to it and can use it quickly; it was both fast and powerful.
”You’re welcome. I’m glad I made it in time.”
Brandt smiled calmly.
Looking at him, Anastasia has a feeling that she is not alone.
If it had been the party of her last life, they wouldn’t have been able to do the same for her.
Anastasia feels so much lighter when she’s not alone and has someone to confide in.
As they were leaving the battle, the three men timidly called out to them.
“T-Thank you very much…”
They weren’t as badly hurt as the fallen man, but they were covered in wounds and blood as well.
“…I can heal you, if you’d like.”
“If you can, I’d like to…!”
Anastasia also used [Healing] on them to close the wounds.
It’s difficult to do this in the middle of a fight because she has to touch on the subject, but there are no enemies now, and the other side accepts it meekly, so it ends quickly.
“…Wow, that’s incredible…”
“The wound has healed, but you still lost blood, so take it easy.”
Anastasia warns the three men, who are looking at each other and moving their hands and feet emotionally.
“Hmm…Yes…!”
In the meantime, the fallen man awakens.
He leaps to his feet, looks around, and notices the burnt carcass of a monster wolf. He then notices Anastasia and Brandt and appears to have guessed.
“Did you guys help us…? I sorry… Thank you.”
The man thanked them, and when his companions informed him that Anastasia had also healed them, he bowed even lower.
“You literally saved our lives… We’d been to the top of this tower many times before, but the monsters this time were particularly vicious… This is the first time a monster has taken the initiative to kill us.”
Anastasia and Brandt exchange glances as they hear the man’s words.
They remember what Toni said in the Hunter’s Guild about the dungeons getting more difficult.
“I don’t have much to express my gratitude for, but… hey, you guys!”
The man calls his companions and starts dismembering the monster wolf carcass.
With great skill, the pelts and fangs are being removed. It appeared that even a charred monster wolf could still have fangs.
The magic stone were also extracted from the body and displayed in front of Anastasia and Brandt.
“Well, we’ll retreat through the emergency exit. Are you guys still going up? Be careful.”
With that, they left.
“… It looks like the difficulty levels are getting higher—I didn’t notice because we got here so easily.”
As he stuffs the monster wolf’s materials into the interdimensional bag, Brandt mutters.
—I also didn’t notice because I immediately destroyed them with [Demon Destruction], but it appears they’ve become even more vicious.
“So far, [Demon Destruction] has killed all of them. However, it doesn’t work on really strong monsters like dragons.”
“I’ve never heard of a dragon species in this dungeon. Something like that would almost certainly be found in a more advanced dungeon. However, you never know what will happen—let’s be cautious from now on.”
The two return to the upper floors after storing the materials.
They finish the tenth floor, and on the eleventh floor, they use [Demon Destruction] to easily kill the monsters and destroy the traps.
Finally, they arrive at the twelfth floor, which is considered the highest.
After climbing the stairs, there is only one large door in front of them. A reddish-black door with an ominous atmosphere stands in front of them.
“… I think there’s something going on.”
“Yeah, it’s as if a powerful monster is waiting for us when we open this door.”
Brandt is right; there is most likely a powerful monster lurking behind this door.
There was a powerful monster at the bottom of the dungeon in her previous life. Anastasia remembers that every time they were beaten, a demon would come and fight them.
“Do you have any magic left, Brandt-senpai?”
“Enough to repeat the process five times—what about Anastasia-san?”
“I’m fine as well.”
The [Demon Destruction] magic spell uses up a lot of magic power, but Anastasia has mastered the magic formula for capturing magical elements in her surroundings, so it doesn’t use up much magic power from her.
When capturing magical elements, [Trap Detection] and [Search Enemy] are also used, so Anastasia is still full of magic power.
Brandt isn’t as good as Anastasia at capturing magical elements, but he has a lot of magic power to start with.
“All right, then, let’s go!”
Brandt places his hand on the door with a nervous expression.
The door opens with a dull bang with a slight push.
The room is the size of a hallway on the inside. Then, as if in tandem with the door, a massive mass rose up in the back of the room.
“…No way, it’s really a dragon…”
Brandt’s voice is muffled, and his eyes widen in surprise.
A dragon with reddish-black scales stood there.
When it spreads its wings, it fills half the hall and exudes an intimidating presence.
The dragon opened its mouth wide when it recognized the intruder.
Roaaaaaaaaaar!!!