The third floor was a forest stage, with giant trees densely interwoven.
However, the fourth floor was a complete change, becoming a marsh stage.
It was a maze of floating islands made of reeds and marshland, connected by a mesh of thin reed paths.
“Perhaps the enemies this time will attack from underwater!?”
Come to think of it, we in “Princess Harem” have almost no experience fighting aquatic magical beasts or aquatic monsters.
The closest we’ve come to water is barely letting off steam with wild antics in the large bath.
“The forest stage on the third floor was troublesome, but the marsh stage on the fourth floor seems even more so. Will the enemies attack from underwater this time?”
“What kind of enemies will appear? They’ve already deviated significantly from the lineup of beautiful girl monsters that were scheduled… We can’t rely on any prior information.”
In response to my question, Liliana, the person in charge of the “Marriage Proposal Dungeon” exploration, had a face best described as if she had bitten into a bitter gourd.
From Liliana’s reaction, it seems highly probable that the beautiful girl monsters appearing on the fourth floor will also be based on the party members.
Originally, if only I, as the suitor, had explored the dungeon by making a vow to the statue of the goddess, the scheduled beautiful girl monsters would have appeared.
However, in “Princess Harem,” I am the only male, and the number of accompanying girls is overwhelmingly high.
This is the result of that, I suppose.
Liliana’s explanation had also clearly stated that if there were female companions, beautiful girl monsters based on those women would appear.
So, what kind of beautiful girl monsters will appear?
As party members deeply connected to water, would it be Freya, known as the “Diva of the Calm Seas,” or Eria, who wields water magic?
Or perhaps Elise or Ain, who not only master water magic but also all four elemental magics?
Various thoughts swirled in my mind, causing me to ponder.
The transfer point to the fourth floor was a floating island made of reeds, with thin paths made of reeds and pools of water, which seemed to be bottomless bogs, intricately intertwined around it.
In this state, it would be difficult to move while maintaining a circle formation.
However, if we lined up in a single file, it seemed we would be easy targets for the enemy.
Are they trying to divide us and defeat us one by one?
Even with just the presence of water, our disadvantage is unavoidable…
I hesitated to move towards the entrance to the fifth floor, or rather, the location of the fourth-floor field boss.
The floating island we were on was difficult to stand firm on, with poor footing.
Although the floating islands were scattered, combat on the narrow paths would be extremely difficult.
The surprise element of enemies attacking from underwater is likely comparable to surprise attacks from treetops.
In the case of the third floor, attacks could have come from the ground or from the trees, but it turned out to be only from the trees.
In this case, in addition to surprise attacks, there’s also the possibility of being dragged underwater, or falling into the water due to indirect attacks on the reed foothold.
I don’t think it’s likely, but perhaps flying-type beautiful girl monsters might even attack from the sky.
Furthermore, the beautiful girl monsters we’ve encountered so far have been specialized in physical attacks, but should we also consider enemies that use magic attacks?
I consider various scenarios, but I won’t know until we actually fight.
However, this is a situation that demands caution.
After all, we are fighting on unfamiliar terrain…
Splash!
At that moment, there was a sound of water, as if something had jumped out of or into a pool of water behind us.
The party members’ gazes turned towards the direction of the water sound.
As the water surface swelled, a dripping wet beautiful girl leaped out.
Her wet blond hair sparkled in the sunlight, and her perfectly refined face had azure eyes that reminded me of a bright sky… no, this was Swan Hilda’s face.
Following the slender shoulders of the beautiful girl monster, who resembled Swan Hilda, who had leaped up with great force, her well-developed breasts were exposed.
This beautiful girl monster was completely naked, without any clothes on.
However, regarding the exposed breasts of the beautiful girl monster, they were merely formed and did not have areolas or nipples.
Next, her well-toned abdomen was visible, and in the next moment, instead of legs, a tail fin covered in iridescent scales appeared.
In other words, the beautiful girl monster on the fourth floor was a mermaid. By the way, there was a small hole where her genitals would be.
It was located where a pussy would be.
The beautiful girl monsters we had encountered so far had no vaginas, let alone holes.
The beautiful girl monster that jumped out of the water was lovely.
As we stared at her, she arched her back and thrust out the aforementioned hole.
Pew!
Then, while arched, she sprayed a mysterious liquid from the hole.
“Kyaaahhh!”
Freya, whom the sprayed liquid hit, screamed and collapsed the next moment.
When I rushed over, my diagnosis was that she had been affected by a paralyzing agent, so I healed her status abnormality.
In contrast, the mermaid who attacked Freya submerged herself back into the water.
It seems she is a beautiful girl monster that attacks using a hit-and-run tactic.
Meanwhile, Seira, who had witnessed the entire event, was frozen in shock.
Mariabel was shielding Seira by putting herself in front of her.
Splash!
The next moment, the mermaid, referred to above, who had leaped out of the water on the opposite side of the floating island, sprayed liquid again from the hole formed in her genitals.
This time the target was Sharon, but she dodged it quickly.
And the liquid that landed on the reeds caused them to melt.
It seems mermaids can spray various types of liquids.
Still, the sudden leap from the water surface and attack has a high degree of surprise and is troublesome.
“Freya, are you alright?!”
“Yes, thanks to Hal, my body’s numbness has left.”
“This beautiful girl monster seems to be a combination of an aquatic mermaid and Swan Hilda, but what should we call her?”
Regarding the naming matter, how about “Pee-Pee Little Girl (Swan Hilda),” in imitation of “Pee-Pee Boy?”
Eriza, who was smiling courteously, proposed a preposterous name.
At the same time, Shera, who was standing behind her, was visibly taken aback.
“I don’t want that!”
Swan Hilda adamantly rejected Eliza’s proposal.
“Swan Hilda, you don’t like your own name being part of the designation, do you?”
“Edele, that’s right~”
“Then… how about ‘Fucking Whore God (Barely Visible)’?”
“Lady Edele, you’re brilliant. The designation for that beautiful girl monster will be ‘Fucking Whore God (Barely Visible)’~”
“This is the worst! If this gets out to the Valkyries, my Elder Sister, I’ll be punished! And I hate the hellish re-education too!”
Swan Hilda, who had been given the designation “Fucking Whore God (Barely Visible)” proposed by Edele, finally collapsed with her head in her hands.
Then Swan Hilda began muttering to herself.
It seems that the ridiculous designation “Fucking Whore God (Barely Visible)” named by Edele would incur the wrath of the Valkyries.
“I’ll just annihilate it with my own hands and pretend such a monster never existed.”
Then Swan Hilda, standing up in a ghostly state, took out a shovel and put away the mass-produced longsword she wore at her hip.
Splash!
For the third time, “Fucking Whore God (Barely Visible)” leaped out of the water to attack.
“Barely Visible~~”
Moreover, “Fucking Whore God (Barely Visible),” which had attacked silently until now, let out a cry of “Barely Visible~~”.
Did it like Edele’s naming?
At that moment, Swan Hilda’s figure vanished.
Immediately after, she confronted “Fucking Whore God (Barely Visible)” which had leaped out of the water, and struck its head with her shovel.
“Die! My imitation! And I’m not a whore god!”
Crack!
The next moment, “Fucking Whore God (Barely Visible)” exploded spectacularly.
It seems that the drop item of “Fucking Whore God (Barely Visible)” was Gold Coins.
However, because Swan Hilda struck it down with her shovel, the Gold Coins sadly fell into the water.
Thus, Swan Hilda’s all-out heroic performance began.
We moved across the reed paths and floating islands, and our formation was, as expected, a single file. Swan Hilda, demonstrating the full extent of her Valkyrie abilities, caused the “Fucking Whore God (Barely Visible)” that surfaced from the water to explode like a mole in a whack-a-mole game.
Although some party members complained that they couldn’t retrieve the gold drop items, there were no other good solutions.
“““Barely Visible~~”””
Initially, “Fucking Whore God (Barely Visible)” appeared one by one, but soon they attacked in pairs, and finally, three at a time.
Since we were moving in a single file, Swan Hilda’s solo attacks were reaching their limit.
In truth, although Swan Hilda appeared to be sprinting on the reeds, she was actually moving through sky-soaring.
Otherwise, such an unreasonably high-speed movement wouldn’t have been possible.
However, Swan Hilda, the Valkyrie, was starting to get out of breath.
Her limit was likely approaching.
We had moved quite a distance from the first floating island where we landed via teleportation.
As even Swan Hilda was reaching her limit, I looked around for a place to rest, when in the middle of a particularly large lake, a “Fucking Whore God (Barely Visible)” was swimming leisurely.
However, its appearance was different from the “Fucking Whore God (Barely Visible)” we had encountered so far.
This was because the facial features were based on Edele, not Swan Hilda.
Furthermore, the scales of the “Fucking Whore God (Barely Visible)” that Swan Hilda had defeated so far had been iridescent, but this one’s scales were bright red.
This means it was likely the field boss of the fourth floor.
Currently, the entrance to the fifth floor was nowhere to be found, but it was probably designed to appear after defeating it.
“Swan Hilda, can you defeat it?”
“…Of course. I have the right to punish Edele, who gave me such a ridiculous name. So, first, I’ll deal with this Edele-like imitation!”
Muttering something ominous, Swan Hilda dashed across the water’s surface.
Swan Hilda struck the Edele-faced “Fucking Whore God (Barely Visible)” with her shovel, but it escaped by diving rapidly.
And its movement speed was three times faster than a normal “Fucking Whore God (Barely Visible)”.
On the other hand, Swan Hilda, who had been fighting continuously alone, was tired.
It seemed Swan Hilda needed to rest and regain her posture.
“Barely Visible~~”
Sensing Swan Hilda’s fatigue, the “Fucking Whore God (Barely Visible)” leaped up from a distance and taunted her.
As the distance was considerable, it didn’t spray liquid from its secret place, but it succeeded in accumulating Swan Hilda’s hatred.
“Don’t you dare look down on me! Edele’s imitation. You’ll pay for mocking me!”
Swan Hilda’s reckless attacks began in earnest, but the field boss was, as expected, cunning and experienced.
“Swan Hilda! Be calm yourself!!”
“I, I know!”
Seeing the stalemate in the battle, Edele called out to her, and Swan Hilda seemed to calm down.
Positioning herself in the center of the lake and standing on the water’s surface, Swan Hilda closed her eyes as if meditating.
Then, as she concentrated her mind, her shovel began to shine.
In other words, it was covered in Holy Aura.
The next moment, “Fucking Whore God (Barely Visible)” leaped out of the water again.
“Barely Visible~~”
“I am not exposed!”
Swan Hilda slashed the air with her shining shovel.
Simultaneously, a sword of light extended from the shovel, bisecting “Fucking Whore God (Barely Visible)” and causing it to explode.
And as expected, the field boss’s drop item was a gold ingot, or rather, a gold bar…
“Swan Hilda, if you drop the gold bar into the lake, you’re grounded!”
Furthermore, perhaps out of spite for her resembling “Fucking Whore God (Barely Visible)” being defeated, Edele gave a stern order.
“Edele…”
Despite her displeased expression, Swan Hilda chased after the falling gold bar.
However, she was too late, and it fell into the water.
Only Swan Hilda was left, with a stunned expression.
“I tried so hard, and you’re grounding me? It’s so unfair…”
The next moment, the lake’s water began to swirl.
As we braced ourselves, wondering what was happening, it seemed the water was draining rapidly.
Finally, the lakebed was revealed, and the dropped gold bar was safely recovered.
At the same time, the entrance to the fifth floor also appeared.
And we, without exerting ourselves, were transferred to the fifth floor.
Thank you for reading.
Episode 58-10 Praise for Ponpoko Elise and Swan Hilda’s Rage is scheduled for pre-publication at 0:00 on October 1st.
