Chapter 48 (1/2)

Volume 1

Chapter 22 – The Hero terrorizes 2

When, without lowering my alertness, I quickly looked to confirm Minnalis’ situation, it seemed that she had already more or less finished up .

Having been slashed many times by a sword covered with magical poison, the Grey Garms lay on the ground groaning in anguish . The only one remaining was the 『Black Garm』, the leader of the pack, and even it was showing a weakened state .

It seemed she wasn’t negligent and didn’t change her way of fighting, prioritizing evasion and wounding the Garm little by little, letting the poison soak in .

「Kufufu, now now, dance, kufu, kufufu!!!」

「…No, so it wasn’t fighting cautiously but rather just torture, huh? Right, and she has been using 『Poison Demon of Phantom Flame』 too much . 」

It was probably the result of her fighting style, but it seemed that she became mana drunk from overdoing things .

It would seem that Minnalis had a constitution that made it easy for mana intoxication to occur . If she used 『Poison Demon of Phantom Flame』 too much and she would get completely consumed by the excitement of battle letting her reason fly off high into the clouds .

Even now she was completely consumed by the excitement of battle and her fighting spirit turned into outright sadism .

「Hey hey, hurry up and sing for me . I’m letting you die with a first-rate poison… Ah! Milord!! Why!?」

「It’s not likely to help, even if I say it, but cool your head a little . 」

Sighing loudly, I stabbed the Black Garm that had more or less stopped moving by now and nailed it to the ground .

「Theft is unfair! As an apology, I want a kiss, please . A kiss . A KISS!」

「Stop this silly talk, hurry up and cut off its neck already . I haven’t killed it yet but it’s bound to die soon . 」

「Uuuhh, I get it . 」

I used one hand to hold back Minnalis’ face, as she had jumped over here and I relaxed it when I felt her leaving .

The Grey Garms around us had already stopped breathing due to the poison .

Minnalis brought her sword up and decapitated the Black Garm putting an end to the fight .

「Here, an MP potion . 」

「Milord, mouth-to-mouth?」

「………」

「FUGU!! Ngu, Ngu . 」

I ignored the strange scenario created by Minnalis teasing me with upturned eyes and forced the potion bottle into her mouth making her drink it .

With this, after a few minutes, she would probably “Job Change” into a standard issue, usual, cool Minnalis . At the same time, she was gradually getting used to the mana intoxication itself, so that when the combat ended she would return to her normal self, once she recovered her MP .

「Puha, aah . It wasn’t mouth-to-mouth but this may be fine too . 」

「Aaah, yes, yes . You rest, since I’ll be doing the dismantling now . 」

Ignoring Minnalis after this, I quickly took out the newly unlocked Soul Sword 【Plump Squirrel’s Pouch Sword] from my sword belt . This Soul Sword’s appearance and feel didn’t exactly suggest the function of “Cutting” . The weapon didn’t even reach fifty centimeters in length even with the handle included and the part that should be the blade was fully covered in light-brown fur lacking any kind of edge . It seemed to lack any kind of core too, and it might’ve been more accurate to call it a flabby rod made of pelt .

Its effect was the so-called Item Box . Sacrifice 5% of your Maximum MP and storage without a limit became possible .

Most Soul Swords would disappear and reform within me after separating from my hand for a few minutes . However, this one wouldn’t do that, moreover, it could produce several copies of itself . It would even, as long as I allowed it, persist when held by others . And thus, Minnalis also sacrificed 5% of her maximum MP to wield a Soul Sword for personal use .

Once mana was poured into the 【Plump Squirrel’s Pouch Sword] the cylindrical blade would swell up like a balloon and its front part would open like a bell mouth .

I placed the Soul Sword suitably on its side and holding the carving knife bought from the Item Shop in one hand, consulting the memories of my first run, I removed the parts proving monster subjugation and other usable materials .

Monsters from a dungeon tended to be taken in by the dungeon shortly after death, so if the dismantling wasn’t done promptly they would end up disappearing .

Given that we suffered a pincer attack from multiple monster packs and had to expend some of our resources in the fight, it would be wasteful if that happened .

「I should hold onto this as well, just in case, huh . 」

The two pieces of the cursed weapon 『Greatsword of Fervent Grudge』, that was used by the High Sword Goblin before it broke in half, were also thrown inside the bag .

At the time I finished with all the work, the first monsters to be defeated in the fight were subsumed into the ground and sunk completely without a trace .

I returned to Minnalis and noticed she was mostly sobered up from the mana intoxication, her heightened arousal triggered by the very tense situation that blew away her reason had died down .

「Erm… My apologies, Milord . To have troubled you again…」

「I don’t mind, as despite the intoxication, your basic judgment in battle doesn’t seem to be affected . Although, as could be expected, fighting two packs at the same time was quite tiring . 」

Saying that, I sat down next to the rock that Minnalis sat on .

Originally, we were fighting the Grey Garms pack that had the Black Garm as their leader . I wanted Minnalis to experience battle in a place with many obstacles, so I chose a combat scene strewn with large rocks, however, as we were fighting, the Goblins happened to come out of a different entrance at just the right time .

The monsters in the dungeons were unlike the ones outside in that aspect, even if the packs were of completely different races, if there were humans present, then they will move together with the humans as the highest priority target . The monsters with good mutual compatibility would end up working together . And in this case, Goblins and Garms had relatively good compatibility .

Like that, the number of enemies doubled and it became a case of me spitting the two groups with Minnalis and confronting them separately .

「For the time being, shall we have a break to eat something? We’ll be going to the Dungeon Core room after noon to capture this dungeon . I’m starting to miss the sunlight already . 」

Having said that I took out some dried meat, hard black bread, and water from the 【Plump Squirrel’s Pouch Sword] . Although the luminous moss kept the place fairly well lit at all times regardless of time of day, the yearning for the warmth of the sunlight was, predictably, becoming stronger .

It seemed that it was something Minnalis had felt too in her brief time of being locked up in the deepest part of a prison and she made a very small nod .

I put the flask made of leather like cowhide to my lips and moistened my throat dry from all the moving around in battle . This water was obtained from the very first Soul Sword 【Water Spirit’s Droplet Blade] unlocked by experience points saved up after entering the dungeon .

This one didn’t have a blade, it was a Soul Sword that had nothing but a handle . It was a weapon that would conjure a thin blade of water created from either taking in water directly or taking in mana .

My maximum MP was low, so handling the weapon without a place with water would be unreasonable but put in mana and it would be possible to create drinking water . Thanks to this, the problem of water supply during travels was resolved easily .

After the two of us finished cleaning up the monsters, even though I didn’t expect any more immediate assaults, there wasn’t time to dawdle . Minnalis who had with her own body experienced the eight days of being inside a dungeon had also quickly finished up with her meal .

「Now then, from here on we’ll head towards the Boss Room . We have meticulously killed all the monsters in the dungeon already . 」