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"Hey, hey!! Spelld, who can't use the Divine Strike Art! It's your turn to go out and find food today!!"
The clamor from the grey rocks, reflecting the red light, jumped and pierced the ears of the blue-eyed girl. She tried hard to keep her eyes open, but was soon overcome by a deeper sense of exhaustion.
A head of deep blue hair was permeated and dyed by the red light, the edges of the strands gilded with a green halo.
—Roxy.
A large magic robe covered her body. Her cuteness was completely concealed by the oversized fabric. At a glance, she looked like a child wearing an adult's clothes.
But Roxy's features did not look childish. Her nose and mouth were small and delicate, and her eyes held a sense of aloofness and indifference that was uniquely Roxy's. Her thin lips were turned down in distress, and her small, palm-sized face looked filthy.
She tried hard to keep her eyes wide open, but failed. She drowsily narrowed her eyes. It seemed she was about to fall asleep again.
It was like the time, two years ago, when she was writing a letter to Allen in Shirone. She had stayed up for several nights, repeatedly deliberating over her words, crossing them out, and rewriting them many times. In the end, she had decided to start the letter with 'Dear Allen,' looking like a complete airhead.
She couldn't sleep at night, and she couldn't wake up during the day. She was excited when she wrote, but she couldn't stop herself from writing.
She was a girl in love.
But now, at the core of the "Composite Dungeon," in a life-or-death situation, Roxy could not take out a letter and write to Allen.
If she were to write something...
...it would be a suicide note.
The dream... was it a lie...? But how could it be true...? I shouldn't have been so naive as to agree to join that adventurer's temporary team. I should have gone to Roa to find Allen right away...
She tried hard to keep her eyes open, looking ahead.
Before her was a shallow cave in the side of a mountain. Roxy was at the very back, by the cave wall. Clumps of rocks were scattered all over the entrance, illuminated by a red light. The light did not shine down from the top of the cave like sunlight. Instead, it came from the bottom of the cave, crawling in inch by inch along the rocks on the ground in a bizarre way.
Light and shadow were cast all over the ground, making Roxy's shadow very long.
The things in her sight were distorted. It was an optical illusion caused by the air being heated by the high temperature.
Drip.
A drop of sweat fell on the ground. Roxy reached out with her sleeve to wipe the sweat from her forehead and looked to her side.
The ground was a little damp.
—The ice she had made with magic had all melted.
It was too hot.
Roxy was not injured. Her exhaustion was not from blood loss.
It was not from overexertion either...
—It was her body's self-regulating mechanism in the face of danger.
At this very moment, every cell in her body was urging her to fall asleep.
Her blood vessels and pores were expanding. The diameter of her blood vessels increased, and her blood flow surged. This reduced the blood supply to her brain. Her brain automatically adjusted, reducing its activity, which resulted in an overwhelming sleepiness.
But her subconscious will to live kept arousing Roxy.
Hold on. I can't sleep. Even if someone finds me passed out, no one will expend the energy to carry me and climb up.
They no longer had any sense of solidarity...
I'll gradually lose consciousness in my sleep and die.
I can't die.
The bookmark made of leaves from Red Dragon's Jaw is still in the book. If I could give it to Allen myself... would he show that embarrassed yet composed expression of his...?
It's been over two years...
Is his hair longer now...?
Are his eyes sharper now...?
Has his swordsmanship improved...?
Has his face, his expression, changed?
Sylphy's letters always said Allen was growing taller.
Does he still squint and smile like he did in the dream, charming girls?
That won't do...
How much mana do I have left?
I have to squeeze out a little more...
"...Winter Goddess..."
"...I pray that you descend from the sky..."
"By the wave of my staff... let all things be frozen..."
"Frost... Nova!"
Crack, crack!
Ice spread from Roxy's feet, forming a small, low-temperature field around her. Thanks to this, Roxy jolted awake from the alternating heat and cold.
A thin layer of ice on the ground rapidly evaporated, rising into a cloud of mist.
Roxy shook her head hard, feeling her dwindling mana. She still clenched her fists, her expression determined as she encouraged herself.
Hold on! Escape!
I have to see Allen again. He's waiting for me. And Sylphy, and Rudy.
They are all in the north.
I have to go back to Asura.
How can I be trapped here?
"Hey! You brat, Spelld! Didn't you hear me call you? Are you dead or something?"
A warrior adventurer, in leather armor and covered in sweat, pushed aside the mist and walked in. The cool air from Roxy's Frost Nova, however, gave him a moment of relief from the heat.
But it was only for a moment.
His face grew grim.
Roxy looked up at him. Her expression was serious, and because of her perpetually pursed lips, her solemn words sounded cold.
"I'm not of the Spelld race. Please stop calling me that on purpose. You know I'm of the Migurd race. I told you at the beginning that my hair only looks green from the reflection of the fire..."
The adventurer's expression twisted. He growled furiously, "What difference does it make? I don't care what kind of demon you are! If it weren't for you! How would we be in this situation!?"
Roxy took a deep breath, her face showing an expression of anxiety and anger. She said quickly and angrily.
"I did what I was supposed to. I froze the ground where the 'Ghost Blade Secret Sword' was. But your information was completely wrong. The effect of the 'secret sword' is not what you said it was. You adventurers didn't even get all the information! Most importantly, you didn't even..."
"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!!"
"Shut up!!"
The adventurer's powerless rage erupted. He kicked the side of the mountain, a blast of battle aura erupted, and a huge crack appeared in the stone wall.
He fiercely turned to look at Roxy. Her expression froze, and she quickly assessed her surroundings. The muscles in her body tensed.
The man in front of her was a Saint-rank Sword God Style swordsman. He was also the one who initiated the 'Ghost Blade Secret Sword' subjugation plan.
He was stronger than Allen... he could use the Sword of Light...
Roxy, whose face was pale, had not yet received Allen's letter. She was nervous. The adventurer, however, was in a frenzy.
The two of them stared at each other for a moment. The cool mist continuously slapped the adventurer's face, making his frenzy gradually fade.
After a long moment, the adventurer's eyes cleared. He grunted and, dropping his posture of drawing his sword, he looked Roxy up and down. He then looked at the noticeably cooler cave, and shifted his gaze.
"How much mana do you have left?"
Roxy froze.
"H-half."
"Half?"
Roxy said nothing. The adventurer looked at Roxy deeply, then turned and walked towards the entrance of the cave.
"Hunting prey, finding food. Let's not waste our breath. It's not going to change anything."
The mouth of the molten cave was misty from the clash of hot and cold air from Roxy's magic, forming a white curtain.
He reached out to push aside the 'curtain' and was about to walk out, but he stopped.
He looked back at Roxy, was silent for a moment, then spoke.
"...It was my idea to find you. It's true that the information about the 'Ghost Blade Secret Sword' was incomplete, but you have to know that time is running out. We no longer have the luxury of time. If we don't try, the camp will be besieged by more and more monsters. To leave the 'Main Island,' we have to try to kill the Lord-rank monster."
He looked at the magic staff in Roxy's hand. He didn't know if he was making excuses for himself, or trying to convince himself that there was still hope.
"You want to go home. I want to go home. Everyone wants to go home. This wasn't my decision alone; it was everyone's decision. The subjugation plan was hasty, but it was a desperate choice."
He pursed his lips and mumbled, "...I admit I'm too weak. If we had a powerful swordsman to work with you, there might have been a chance. Now, the most urgent thing is to go out and see if there are any new adventurers who have been shipwrecked. Maybe we can find..."
In Roxy's dazed gaze, he pushed aside the mist curtain before him and walked out. "...a glimmer of hope. But we can only do this now. You have no mana, and my swordsmanship, to be honest..."
"Careful!!" A sudden cry of alarm was his response.
The adventurer's pupils contracted violently. Right outside the cave, the mist curtain vanished.
A huge, bloody maw was waiting outside the molten cave. Its circle of fangs had pieces of rotten pink meat hanging from them.
"Mana! Let all things freeze!!"
The magic fluctuations of a shortened chant had already begun to flicker, but the fangs were already at his face.
It was too late!!
Swish!!! The wind of a blade pierced the air!
Battle aura exploded at the mouth of the molten cave! The Sword of Light flashed past!
Slash!!!! Green blood splattered everywhere. Thump, a huge head, one meter in diameter, of a B-rank monster, the 'Volcano Giant Worm,' was severed.
The monster was dead.
Roxy and the adventurer, however, were both stunned.
The former watched as the latter's lips parted, wanting to say something, but in the end, he couldn't utter a word.
And the latter's expression was dazed. He looked at the blade in his hand, which was his livelihood. His lips trembled, his face was pale. He looked up.
He looked at Roxy, whose face was equally pale, and murmured.
"I just wanted to go home... why..."
But Roxy could no longer hear the rest of his words.
Buzz!! A sudden, immense wind pressure tore through the air! It slammed into her face and eardrums, making her instantly deaf. And in her vision, she saw Allen's face, right in front of her.
He was smiling at her.
This was a hallucination before death.
The next instant! The ground split apart, shattering the hallucination!
The adventurer's suddenly contorted face was reflected in her eyes! It was slammed into the wall of the molten cave!
His bones and body were twisted! Then, smack! It exploded into a spray of blood! His bones, flesh, internal organs, and blood were twisted into a black and purple pulp, which splattered onto the cave wall!
He was completely unrecognizable.
The Sword Saint died so 'simply.'
Roxy subconsciously touched her body. It was still intact. The near-death experience made her feel a terrible dryness in her throat and her legs were weak. At the same time, a hot gust of air rushed towards her.
The 'daylight' grew brighter. Roxy instinctively looked up at the sky. The clouds in the circle of the volcano's crater still lingered, and she could faintly see rain falling from the sky. But before it could reach Roxy's face, it was evaporated by the heat from the volcano's crater.
The sky was clouds. There was no 'daylight.' So where did the light come from?
The molten cave was completely leveled.
It was as if a three-meter-wide sword from the sky had sliced it vertically. The cut was less than half a meter from Roxy's feet.
So close, so close.
And to her left, the bottom of the crater, which was hundreds of meters in diameter, was a churning lake of dark red magma. It gave off a searing light and heat. From within the volcanic walls, faint whimpers and cries of humans were heard, along with the almost invisible light of barrier spells.
The people's location was only a few dozen meters from the magma at the bottom of the dungeon.
This was a difficult journey.
At this moment, above the magma, in her eyes.
A gloomy shadow stood in the red mana vortex.
A skeleton monster looked up.
Its green ghostly fire flickered in its eyes.
It held a 'secret sword' that was glowing green.
—The S-rank dungeon Lord-rank monster, the 'Ghost Blade Secret Sword' Idazlidd.
A long-eared swordsman who had once killed over a thousand demons. He was a ghost monster now. Killing a Sword Saint, dozens of meters away, was easier than crushing a mosquito.
This was his domain.
A blade, without permission, could not be drawn.
At this point, the reason for the failure of the subjugation was clear.
Because...
The person who drew the blade died too quickly.
So quickly that Roxy's Frost Nova, which she had cast with a high mana output to provide cover, was utterly useless.
The person who was supposed to be providing cover was dead.
So her providing cover was just setting off fireworks on a corpse.
"It worked!!"
"As expected of Mr. Allen!!!"
A huge golden arc of electricity pierced the sky and the sea. The illusory, real thunder vanished without a trace.
The sky had another hole in it.
The adventurers on the boat quickly used the light from the hole in the sky to determine their direction and adjusted the ship's course.
Crackling, crackling. Allen retracted his flashing finger. He leaned against the railing. Although cheers rose and fell around him, he just looked at the broken railing on his hand with an impassive expression.
"Mr. Allen, do you want some mushroom bread?"
Leuf came to Allen's side.
The latter frowned and turned to him.
"Is the ship sailing normally?"
Leuf saw that Allen wasn't eating. He laughed and threw the bread into the basket behind him. "The current is against us. We can't see the direction. We've been going in circles for a while. We're still sailing against the wind."
"I think it will take another two days and one night to get out of the range of this composite dungeon. Once we're out, it'll be fast. We'll be back on land in about one day."
Allen was silent, then spoke.
"What time is it now?"
Leuf looked up at the sky. He seemed to be in a good mood.
"It's evening. Mr. Allen, it's evening. We've been sailing for a whole day."
"...Mm."
"You really don't want to eat some mushroom bread? It tastes pretty good."
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