VIP Chapter 188: An Unforeseen Visitor (3k)
“Omnipotent Goddess, please grant us gentle spring waters to heal the burning pain…”
Healing magic for burns wasn’t uncommon, perhaps because fire-attribute monsters were quite prevalent within the dungeon.
But still…
“Tsk, can’t the effect be a little stronger? What kind of trash goddess came up with this slow and ineffective magic.”
The witch’s ancient magic burns – this seemed to bring them back to the very beginning, a problem Will had encountered.
The Goddess’s Blessing healing magic alone was not enough to completely cure it. Moving her arm slightly still caused a tearing pain in the wound.
“Forget it, I’ll check the monsters that dropped Moonlit Ice Extreme that I looted on the way back to see if there’s anything useful.”
Finding the healing results unsatisfactory, Shuna rotated her wrist, adjusting to the pain of moving her arm, though it still made her wince.
Then she looked at Will, who lay on a chair, draped in a simple witch’s robe, like a sleeping beauty waiting for a prince’s kiss.
“Let me take you back.”
As for that witch, by the time she woke up, they would have likely fled. Then they could see how the clever Will would deal with her.
However…
As Shuna walked towards Will, she sensed something was wrong.
Why?
Was her spirit also giving out?
The ground seemed to be shaking, more so than when she usually drank alcohol.
Her condition shouldn’t be this bad.
*Bang—*
It wasn’t until ice chunks from the dungeon’s “ceiling” fell from the sky right in front of her that Shuna realized something was amiss.
Wait… wait?
The dungeon, which was “unchanging” and solely for combat, suddenly began to shake violently.
“Huh?!”
Shuna, as an Adventurer with such vast experience, had never encountered “earthquakes” inside a dungeon…
Much less, looking at the ceiling above, where things were starting to collapse, and in the form of very large ice blocks.
“Tsk… How could this happen…”
Shuna started running.
And frantically analyzed in her mind.
The dungeon was collapsing. She ruled out that this area created by the witch was being dismantled by Clodell – that Clodell didn’t seem like a ruthless Dungeon Emperor.
Only one reason remained. No, Shuna didn’t have concrete evidence; this was likely just a guess.
This dungeon had been… “cleared.”
In the past, when a dungeon was cleared, it took a long time, at least half a day. By then, everyone would have surely withdrawn from the dungeon, and no one had ever seen what happened inside a dungeon after it was cleared.
But, it was possible… from the inside, a cleared dungeon would collapse.
However…
The biggest problem with this conjecture, in fact, was.
Who exactly cleared it?
Shuna remembered that after she left, no Adventuring Team had entered from the 51st floor anymore – entering from the 51st floor required a key, and not many teams possessed the key.
It took her and Liya less than half an hour from chatting to fighting.
How could anyone have fought from start to finish and even killed Clodell in half an hour? And not just defeated, but even waited for the dungeon to collapse.
Unless.
Shuna glanced back.
At Liya’s feet lay the table she had just used for combat, and next to it lay a pile of items she had prepared.
From the moment she entered, she had felt the flow of time here was a bit strange. Because Liya seemed to have accomplished far more than an hour’s worth of tasks within “one hour.”
One of the items was… a small hourglass. It stood upright, with sand constantly flowing downwards.
Huh?!
If that’s the case…
This isn’t good.
Shuna took a few steps, and around her, many fragments had already scattered on the ground like hailstones.
“Will! Little~ Will~. Will! You! Wake! Up! Stop sleeping, the situation is very bad right now.”
“Ugh… my body feels… so soft… and weak… especially around my waist…”
He opened his eyes and struggled to sit up on the chair.
“Mhm, it’s no wonder you’re weak.”
Shuna looked somewhat displeased at the “messy” liquid on Liya’s chair, though perhaps this wasn’t the time to think about it.
“Ugh… as expected… you won, Shuna? But it’s my first time seeing you this badly injured. Let me heal you…”
He raised his hand, just thinking of “healing magic,” but before he could utter it, a sharp pain made him frown.
“Ugh…”
Shuna pressed down on his hand, which was already halfway raised.
“Okay, it’s good you’re awake. It’s fine, the wounds can be treated later, there’s still time.”
“What about Liya—”
“Behind you, it’s fine, I knocked her out.”
Following the space Shuna made, Will saw that “Ancient Flame Staff · First Edition,” which he had brought, was in her hand.
“She still…”
Seeing that Liya had obtained that weapon, Will’s first thought was actually happiness.
However, even though he said that, even when Liya restrained him here, he didn’t seem to have ever been “angry.”
Despite all that had happened, he had eventually handed over the weapon to her properly.
Will stood up from the chair, attempting to walk on the ground, but…
!?
Pain.
A pain more intense than when he’d attempted to cast healing magic.
It wasn’t pain coming from actual “organs,” but pain originating from the “magic circuits,” which no one could clearly explain even now.
Nor was it a pain felt by a nerve, traveling along the spinal cord to his brain and being perceived.
It felt as if the magic circuits were directly stimulating his soul, causing pain.
It made him black out momentarily, just like when he was controlled by Liya, then his vision returned, but it flickered uncontrollably.
Could the witch’s blood have ultimately caused some irreversible rejection?
For normal blood transfusions, if the blood types were mismatched, he would have died twice over after four or five hours here.
It’s fine…
Stand up…
I’ll be fine if I stand up…
Will gritted his teeth. He still didn’t know what “very bad situation” Shuna was referring to. But he trusted Shuna; if Shuna deemed the situation bad, it must be an urgent matter.
So now he had to keep up with her and get out of here.
“!?
As soon as he took a step, his legs gave out.
Then…
He felt his body being supported by a warm shoulder.
The clothes on this shoulder seemed to be a bit scorched, and though he couldn’t see it, Will felt the somewhat worn fabric.
“If you can’t walk, I’ll carry you out. Hold on.”
With her uninjured and unwounded hand, Shuna re-wrapped the witch’s robe that had slipped off Will and then carried him over her shoulder.
“Th-Thank you.”
Will took a deep breath.
Leaning against Shuna’s shoulder, he slowly let his consciousness drift away.
“…”
Listening to Will’s breathing on her shoulder, Shuna felt for the first time that this guy could also be so unreliable.
“I just have to find a way to get him out. Since the dungeon has been cleared, we can just leave. The exit should appear by now, right?”
She looked at her ankle, which had been sprained while running, and her arm, which was half burned…
“You said this yourself, as a qualified support, you should consider all possible situations. Do your best to bring everyone… out of the dungeon safely.”
“So…”
Shuna raised her head and saw Liya, whom she had knocked unconscious on the ground.
The falling ice chunks were still relatively small now, only shattering a bit around her, not harming her.
“She’s… also a teammate.”
“Also a member of your ‘Shining Star’.”
“Ahaha, it was quite a fierce fight just now.”
“But it’s okay, we’re friends now after fighting.”
“Although I’m really unhappy about her stealing food. But at least I got to beat her up, so it’s even.”
Shuna, carrying Will, walked step by step towards Liya.
How strange.
Even though Will seemed quite thin in her eyes, so thin that he needed a lot of protection.
Now, carrying him on her back, he felt so heavy. Even though they were very close, it felt like they had walked for a very long time.
Especially when the ground was still shaking…
It made her wonder if her sense of balance had worsened.
“Hoo… hoo… almost there… Will, you have to hold on.”
“Whether it’s you, or you… no, our teammate, I will save everyone from here.”
Shuna reached out her hand, just…
Just a little more!
Then, she seemed to step on a fallen ice block, her foot slipped, not enough to make her fall comically, but her knee landed on the ground.
“Uh…”
It was fine for her, but she seemed to hear Will’s knee hit the ground with hers.
It was alright if she got injured, but Will couldn’t be hurt.
“It’s fine, there’s still time, get up first.”
Shuna supported herself on the ground, and as she tried to stand up, she looked up and saw a pair of slender hands, like those of a twelve-year-old child, held out to her.
“Huh?!”
Seeing her not react, those hands grabbed her wrist and pulled her up.
Although Liya felt a massive surge of “power enhancement magic” transmit from her palms for a moment.
“I’m telling you, after being injured by the witch’s ancient magic flames, don’t try to engage in strenuous activity. Don’t you know that a large amount of physical exertion in a short time will exponentially consume your magic circuits? Young people today, really have no common sense.”
Shuna was somewhat astonished.
Who else would appear in this dungeon at this time?
Looking up along the cuff of the clean, magician-like uniform…
Shuna saw that the person was wearing a large hat, similar to Liya’s hat…
The Witch.
She had already lifted Liya, who was lying flat on the ground… Ugh, with this action, her entire body was about to be consumed by the power-enhanced magic.
Then, her red demonic eyes turned to look at her.
And…
Will, who was on her back.
Author’s Note: Seemingly fainted last night and didn’t update.
