Chapter 70: Lola Of The Maniacal Floor III & IV (2/2)

I’ll kill the『seedlings』that she brought forth.

<Lola Of The Maniacal Floor IV>

The number of stone coffins there was overwhelming. They were lined up as far as the eye could see. One hundred, two hundred, no, thousands. There were more than ten thousand of them.

In the distance, I saw the enemy and a woman.

I took off my shoes and bent over, hiding in the shadows of the stone coffins as I proceeded forward.

I wiped the blood and grease off the hunting knife using my poncho. The blade was nicked and chipped, and it was in bad condition. I re-gripped it in my right hand, and then took out and held the karambit in my left.

It's the endgame. Don't mess up, don't be impatient, but move quickly.

『Souya-san, please listen to this piece of advice』

A message from Yukikaze was displayed on my glasses.

『Your current location has been relayed to the party. Please hold off on fighting. It’s dangerous』

The closer I got, the louder my heart beat.

In a corner of the graveyard, there was a round, open space.

The first thing that popped into my head was that it looked like an operating room.

Freshly torn robes and underwear, accessories and a staff were strewn all over the ground. Scattered among them were broken tools and aged equipment. The ground was littered with blood stains.

I saw Rana's white skin.

She was naked, and she had been placed on top of a bed that looked like a birthing table. All of her arms and legs had been extended.

She appeared to be sleeping.

Her face was peaceful, as if she was having a good dream.

I didn't even notice that the horrifying Lola was hovering next to her head.

Be it medicine or magic, she had the means of taking away people’s ability to resist.

Lola was staring at Rana's body with eyes filled with darkness. Her long claw trailed across Rana’s skin.

The tip of her claw touched a protrusion.

Ahh, a soft cry escaped.

My clenched back teeth made a gravelly sound.

Not yet.

Endure it.

Just a little more, and I’ll be able to move completely into her blind-spot.

I’ll decide it with a single blow.

I have to finish her off in one blow. I definitely won’t let her get away.

Otou-san’s hunch was right.

The monster who has been deceiving adventurers for over 30 years, no, for a much longer time, hasn’t noticed my presence.

Behind and diagonally to her left. There’s where I’m moving towards.

A little more, just a little more and I’ll reach it.

Just a……

……little more.

I noticed a half-open stone coffin.

I couldn’t help looking inside it.

Inside it was the upper body of an elf. She had been ruined and fiddled with extensively, was withered and shriveled until she was only skin and bones, and had been strangled to death.

Seeing a hallucination of Rana’s future, I dashed out of the shadows, filled with rage and the intent to kill.

I kept my body low, as low as possible, and ran as fast as I could.

With a single blow,

I’ll kill you.

A large amount of blood splattered about.

A splash of red landed on Rana’s cheek.

「Urg, gah」

Lola, who had turned around, had stabbed one claw through my left shoulder.

I’ve messed up the final moves for checkmate.

I’ve put up a lackluster showing right at the very end. I failed to keep my presence hidden even though I knew I should have. But even so, this is good enough.

「……I know……」

I deliberately stepped forward and made her claw sink to its base into my flesh. I heard myself screaming loudly.

I stabbed Lola’s arm with the karambit and dug its blade into her flesh. The hooked claw-shaped blade wouldn’t be dislodged easily. We had each sealed one of the other’s arms. We had each sealed the other’s escape.

「I know a person who is chasing you」

She swung her free claw at me.

When I blocked it with my hunting knife, the claw bit midway into its blade.

「He’s a terrifyingly strong adventurer. He’s a person who would have obtained glory if he didn’t chase you. He’s heading here right now」

Lola howled, spewing her bad breath at me.

I swung my head and head-butted her.

I whipped her struggling body about. We crashed into the bed and Rana’s body tumbled to the ground. She didn’t seem to have been injured by the fall. Relieved, I fought Lola.

We had both lost our biggest strength, which was stealth. Our weapons were also far from deadly. It was going to be an extremely long and drawn-out fight.

The hunting knife broke.

I swung it regardless. I hit using its handle and slashed at Lola with its broken blade.

She was cutting my body to ribbons with her claw.

Her claw is sharp, but if I stick this close and limit the speed of her swings, it doesn’t have enough power behind it to cut my body or limbs in two.

I only need to block attacks that will kill me instantly. I’ll give you as much of my flesh and blood as you want.

Even now, they’re heading here. Just by playing for time, I’ll win. No, so long as Rana is saved even if the worst comes to worst, it’s a huge victory for me.

But.

I heard a wet sound as I felt something being stuck into my abdomen.

A tail-like tentacle had extended from Lola's body and thrust itself into my abdomen. I was attacked by intense drowsiness. Exhaustion washed over me and my vision flickered. I felt the sweet temptation to relax and go to paradise.

I bit my lip.

Even that pain felt distant.

Not yet.

I took out a pen-type syringe from the opened mini・pod. It was a needle-less syringe and would inject the drug through pressure. I pressed it against my neck and thumbed the switch.

「tsu」

Cold liquid was pumped into my hot body. My body temperature went crazy and my body trembled.

It was a powerful drug.

It numbed pain for a short while, erased fatigue, and improved concentration. If used regularly, the user would become an invalid. I had prepared it as an emergency measure in case of serious injury.

My heartbeat drummed even louder, but pain and fatigue disappeared so completely that it was almost creepy.

I awakened.

The claw approaching me looked unduly slow.

My mind had awakened, but I couldn’t move my body properly. What I could do, was make the claw pierce through my right shoulder.

The pain felt distant.

I plunged the broken hunting knife in, twisted, and gouged.

I screamed.

Lola's body was lighter than I had expected. We collided with a nearby stone coffin. However, I was flung about by whatever energy it was that made her body float.

A jostling, rough and tumble fight continued to unfold.

I blacked out from time to time from the blows I was taking to my head. Blood flowed endlessly from the wounds on my shoulders.

Lola.

You want to survive, right?

I don’t.

Killing you is enough for me.

Saving her is enough for me. Other than that, I don’t need anything else.

For that reason, you’ve lost.

I rolled together with Lola across the ground. The broken-off blade of the hunting knife was next to me. I clenched it between my teeth, and drove it into Lola’s neck.

While holding her in a hot, tight embrace, I slid the blade deeper.

A scream loud enough to numb my eardrums rang out.

Just like this,

Like, thi……

My body had reached its limits. I only now noticed that I was completely drenched in my own blood. My spirit was fired up, but the thing connecting my mind and my body had snapped.

I couldn’t move.

I couldn’t move my body no matter what I did.

The effects of the drug were also gone. The reason for that was simple. I had likely lost too much blood.

The blade had only made a shallow cut on Lola’s neck, and the wound was far from fatal.

This is as far as I go

I don't think it's a shame.

I think I did well, all things considered.

I'm sorry, I murmured.

I closed my eyes.

The faces of the party members I had met in the alternate world flashed across my mind. The daily life I enjoyed, the sweet encounters and warmth, the short but memorable days of adventuring.

That night I swung my friend’s sword for the sake of his fame.

The mornings I found those girls beside me when I woke up.

The night I met a tiny god.

Lola pulled her claw out from my right shoulder violently.

In my final moments, I’ll at least stare death in the face like a man.

I looked straight ahead and spoke.

「Can I say one last thing?」

She raised the claw.

「For the likes of me to cause you so much damage, you sure don't amount to much」

The claw that had been swung downwards pierced into my forehead.

A dull sound resonated through my bones.

「I’ve finally found you」

Otou-san pulled out the sword. Lola's cry sounded like a pitiful plea.

The return slash flew right above Lola’s shoulders.

「Hey, that’s not all you amount to, right?」

Otou-san stabbed Lola.

He stabbed her again and again.

「That’s not all you amount to, right?!」

He badgered the monster that had breathed her last long ago.

I got a glimpse of his long-standing feelings.

I felt the pure rage of youth.

Through his sword, he directed it, slammed it against the corpse. Eventually, the blood-soaked longsword broke under its owner’s power.

After looking befuddled for a second, Otou-san returned to his usual self.

The face of the father of adventurers came back.

I saw my party members approaching from afar.

「Souya, well done. I thank you from the bottom of my heart」

「Otou-san, sorry, but, I’m leaving, the rest to you」

I let go of the consciousness that I had been barely holding on to.

With my wounds, only the gods know if I can leave the dungeon alive.

[1] Obviously, this is real book written by a real person. It’s a book with all sorts of diagrams of Earth and the universe. I’m not sure if this is the exact diagram author is referring to as I can’t find a diagram that has a name that matches up perfectly, but this is what I think Souya saw.

[2] Phantasmagoria: a sequence of real or imaginary images like that seen in a dream or created by the imagination. As I’m sure you know, Japanese have a strong belief in the “life passing before one’s eyes in the moment before death”. There isn’t a direct equivalent term, but this is the one the author chose. Which actually isn’t bad, the meaning is really close. Yes, it was in “English”.

Did you need to take a breath at the end of all that? I did, because I was holding my breath through a lot of it. And, I don’t know if you noticed, but author purposely used a lot of lines from Irvin’s death there when he showed up.

By the way, anyone keeping track of how many times Souya has said his goodbyes in his head already? Lol it’s more than a few. But the way he absolutely doesn’t value his life is becoming more and more obvious, isn’t it? This is what I love about this author’s style. Eventually, things are written clear as day, but when you go back, you’ll see tons of hints leading up to this.

Well well well. What’s a piece of history from the modern world doing in the dungeon? In English, no less! And why is there an area inside the dungeon that is registered as a restricted area in which the usage of the pulse scan is forbidden in the A.I’s programming? Why is an A.I’s core the key to opening a secret passage in the dungeon? And why did Makina know what to do with the key? Muhahaha, the plot deepens. Did you think that the constant mentioning of relics from the various different ancient civilizations inside the dungeon were just for flavor? I don’t blame you one whit if you did, but like I said, almost nothing is done for no reason in this story.

I’ll mention again that Souya was really inspired by Otou-san’s display of skill. That’s the pinnacle he was referring to near the end of III.

Phew, how’s that for dungeon crawling? And as you’ve probably guessed, its the end of this dungeon run. Lots of things to tie up though, so a four chapter arc to clear things up is next. Stay tuned!