Chapter 92 (1/2)
Author’s NoteIn the comment section there is a lot of messages pointing out that 「Flashback is too long!!!」 For which I am truly sorry.
The flashback will end at chapter 74. It might be hard to understand at the moment but there is a lot of foreshadowing and foreshadowing for foreshadowing going on. Foreshadowed events are still far away but please bear with me for a bit more.
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The floor that actually was a spring trap, forcibly flung me into the passageway that most likely was loaded with more traps.
Since it came to this, there is no choice. Even if I was thrown in here by a trap, going back would make no sense.
The die is cast (forcibly).
「Just who the hell is this 「Koumei」!!!」
「Holding a rich colored ornate fan, he is the mastermind behind countless schemes that made many people dance on the palm of his hand. If you just blame it on him in most cases, you won’t be wrong!」
「What is that? Is he a demon?!」
「Yes he is!!!」
The very moment we land on the ground, we break into the dash. This is already a conditioned reflex. If you halt, you will instantly be done in.
There was a time when I was under the illusion that since those are traps, it is okay to stop.
I was so green back then.
The place where we kicked the ground as if it were aiming for us was soon hit by a projectile resembling an enlarged toy arrow with a birdlime for an arrowhead instead of an actual onearrowhead.
Were you to get hit by this, you will be pulled by a thick rope into the pitfall smeared with grease.
Yea, it was really hard at that time. Even after falling into the pitfall, glue is not easy to get rid off. Unlike grease, it takes almost forever to scrub off, so I ended up jumping into the water spring and washing my whole body there.
And I got hit really hard because 「Now I won’t be able to use it for a while!!!」. That was almost the only time when I was actually at the wrong, so I obediently took the beating. After she hit me over 10 times, I retaliated by yelling 「How long are you going to keep hitting me, you damn washboard!!!」 and in the end, it went with the usual scenario.
By the way, the water in the spring was circulating, so most of it was replaced after 2 or 3 hours.
While being reminded of such bad memories, we pushed forward.
「Kuh, Ha, Aah!!!」
「Buh, Haa!!!」
Suddenly a lot of steps of various height appeared on the flat floor in front of us and blocked our route to hinder our progress.
However, I already was so used to this level of obstacles that this can not be called an obstacle anymore.
Run, run, run.
I’m running at full speed while avoiding the traps using my extraordinary physical prowess.
「Hu!」
By lowering my posture, I avoid wooden stakes coming from all possible directions.
700 meters remaining.
「Out of my way!!!」
Using the strong water torrent, the redhead deflects a ball of glue that was shot from a cannon that suddenly popped up in front of her.
600 meters remaining.
Strong gusts of wind are blowing at us with unpredictable timing.
「Horrah!!!」
If you try to forcibly go against the wind, the lost speed will make you a good target for the traps, so I breakthrough using dive rolls that I learned during PE class, in order to decrease my air resistance.
500 meters remaining.
From the overhead, we were yet again attacked by the birdlime arrows from before and also a suspended ceiling smeared with the same adhesive.
At the same time, spears with glue instead of spearheads came from left and right side.
「You owe me one!!!」
Saying that, the redhead created a thick wall of ice in the shape of a tunnel.
All traps in this dungeon including adhesive are quite strong.
Because of that, the spell that was loaded with high-grade magic power crumbled away after only a couple of seconds.
However, those couple of seconds are enough to escape outside the range of the traps.
400 meters remaining.
「Ugh, it is that annoying thing!!!」
「Invisible block!!!」
In my field of vision, a somewhat blurred area can be identified.
It is one of the several malicious traps that exist in this dungeon.
Transparent blocks made by fixating and solidifying magic power which were mixed-in among several other normal blocks that despite being made with magic, did not leak any magical presence.
For the redhead, her superior magical sense this time around worked against her. It appears that due to unwittingly having the grasp on the positions of normal transparent blocks, she was having trouble locating these types of special blocks.
To avoid blocks with no magical presence, you could only search for them by distinguishing a slight blur that resulted from the way they refracted light.
「I return my debt!」
Pouring magic power into the 「Heavy Feather Slapstick Sword」 changes the color of the blade to dully shining silver.
According to my will, the sword’s blade spreads wide.
「Sweep away magical aberrations, 「Magic Squall」」
By swinging the sword that turned into a huge fan, I create a gust of wind charged with magic power that scatters and disperses the magic power of transparent blocks.
「Even without your help, I could easily handle it myself!!」
「I can say the same!!!」
300 meters remaining.
「Nnooh!!! Uh.」
With the feeling of having my internal organs tightly grasped and shaken, gravity reversed. As if aiming for that, a giant fly swatter appears, intending to send us flying.
Above… And at the destination, a huge glue trap is set as if to catch a giant cockroach. We will end up like some kind of bugs on flypaper if we were to land there.
Of course, in order to avoid it, I make use of the fly swatter as a foothold and propel myself forward.
200 meters remaining.
To rob away our hard-won composure, a ridiculous amount of traps springs up at us.
Water pillars pop up here and there. From the left, right, above and from below bursts of wind are coming at us. The ground itself has changed into quicksand and a lot of magical blocks are planted to block our way.
「…!! …!! …!!」
Splashed with water, hearing killed by the wind, speed dampened by quicksand and concentration chipped away by corners of transparent block hitting our shoulders.
And the last remaining 10 meters.
As we step into this trap zone, the floor and the ceiling are coming closer like a press in an attempt to block our way.
「Tada.」 「Keeeeeeee!!!」
While avoiding all the traps, the redhead and I strangely lined up next to each other at the last ledge.
Putting strength into the leg that was forward, I leap over all of the remaining distance.
We jumped putting all of our strength into it.
A little more, just a little bit more and we will get out of this trap zone.
(Faster, faster, faster!!!)