It had a different feel compared to the other floors. Was it because it was the lowest floor?
“There’s only… a door…”
““If there’s a door, that means the Boss is just on the other side, right? Right?””
““Sui will do her best and beat the Boss~!””
Instead of joining in the cheerful boasting, Fer silently pushed the door open with his paw.
Beyond the door was a dome-shaped cave that looked like someone had taken a giant ice-cream scoop and scooped out a hollow inside a rocky mountain.
“Woah, it’s super wide…”
Thump.
“Hm?”
“”Aruji~ the door closed…””
“What the… seriously?” Knowing it was probably useless, I tried the door anyway. It would not budge. “Oi, what should we do now, Fer?”
[8]
When there was no answer from Fer, I turned around and saw him glaring at a huge black rock. When I say huge, I mean it. The black rock rose like a tower in the middle of the vast cave.
“O-oi, what’s up with that rock?”
“Shut it.”
“?!!”
It was the first time Fer had ever been so curt with me. I mean, I know I often complain about Fer throwing me into battles and things, and he’s often thoughtless and kind of annoying… but this was really the first time he verbally snapped at me.
“”O-oi, Dora-chan, Sui, what do you think’s going on?””
“”No idea…””
“”Sui don’t know…”
Just what is going on…
“GugyaaaAAOOoouuuu…”
“Wh-what the…”
“”Geh, isn’t that a Black Dragon?””
“A Black Dragon?” I squinted my eyes and finally spotted an ominous lizard-like creature stepping around the black rock. Then, a horrible realisation struck me. “Fer is… acting wary, he is actually wary of this creature!!?
“”Bad news, Black Dragons are way stronger than Red Dragons,”” said Dora-chan
“Seriously?!” I admit, my voice went really high pitched for a moment. “H-how did you know that?”
“”Well, I tried hunting one before, but couldn’t win against it,”” said Dora-chan carelessly. “”I also heard they could cast insta-death spells, so, I didn’t want to push my luck too much. Hey, that Black Dragon could be the reason why you received that Nullifying Pendant thing, right?””
[5a]
I touched the pendant under my shirt. It was a one-use item, but having this pendant reassured me a lot despite the Blessings (small) from the Gods which I could neither see nor touch.
“Hey, this guy should be the Last Boss, right? What’s the plan?”
The Black Dragon had not advanced. It merely stood in the middle of the room, stomped its foot and roared again, as though taunting us.
““The plan is to fight it,”” came Dora-chan’s confident voice. ““There are more of us now than my last encounter.””
“”Sui will will work hard and fight~!””
Ah, so the strategy is to fight…
“Hm? Fer? I thought you’d be the first to-”
A loud crash, followed by an unpleasant splat, interrupted me.
The Black Dragon had just been… swatted away…
“… …”
We all stared at the Black Dragon’s twitching form flat against the wall.
“SHUT UP! WHY ARE YOU SO NOISY? IDIOT.”
A deep, powerful voice shook the room.
“Fuhahahahaha, this voice… there’s no doubt about it, it’s you! To stomp out a Black Dragon in one blow, you have gotten a lot stronger, you old geezer!”
“F-Fer?”
Me, Sui and Dora-chan couldn’t understand what was going on, we were completely taken aback.
“Nuu, this voice… to dare refer to me as geezer…”
Suddenly, the tower in the middle of the room moved. No, wait. A head, arms, tail and… those glittering scales…
“D-d-d-d-dragon…” I was so overwhelmed that I fell backwards.
Dora-chan slithered under my cloak. “”Th-that’s an… Ancient Dragon…””
“”Very, big, biiiig dragon~~””
Is this… ‘that guy’ mentioned by Demiurgos-sama?
“It’s been a long time, Fenrir. I do not expect us to meet in this place.”
“Fuhahah, how about we continue that fight from last time?”
“Guhahahaha! An excellent suggestion. I was just getting board sleeping the days away. How about a spar to exercise our bones, eh?”
The Ancient Dragon appeared extremely motivated. It was like looking at Fer, but a hundred times worse!
“H-hey,” I nudged Dora-chan. “I-if those two starts to fight, will we be okay?”
“”What do you think? Our safety depends on Fer’s barrier. He’s strong, but, that’s an Ancient Dragon…””
“… …”
[5b]
“Th-the door…”
“”Can’t be open, remember?””
“Th-then, what should we do?”
[9]
“”I don’t know?! Even I’m not dumb enough to get between those two!! Wait,””
“What? What?”
“”What if…””
“What? What’s the plan?”
“”What if you go and stop them?””
I made a sound that was closer to a kettle at boiling point. “You think I’m dumb, do you?!!”
“”Nope, nope, not at all. But think about it, you’re our master aren’t you? You can just order Fer not to fight…”