Chapter 28 (2/2)
Zeros returns from his delusions with the sound of what it seemed to be a monster's roar
”Looks like there's no time to think about that, I should hurry up and look for her It would be awful if she ends up as , Zeros, to whom the rescue was the absolute priority, proceeded to run towards the coe was a precipice, and there was only a small foothold about thirty centih there other than sticking his body against the rock wall However, he realized that the passage he had to cross before reaching it was too narrow for an adult male like him to pass
”Just what kind of uncivilized place is this…? I've never even done rock clione through here However, he couldn't proceed further
He was around the age he started to worry about being overweight, but to cross that passage one needed to be thin It was quite an unreasonable thing to ask froht below, there was a series of spherical do open space, in addition to several rock pillars that were rising like towers rising in its center The surrounding area was a vast sandy soil, where countless Worht to see
(It's not deep enough to be the underworld, but I can't see the outer edge on the other side…… How deep underground did she fall?)
TN: written in katakana, reek underworld?
The Woruided by soeons, there is often only one kind of monster in a specific floor There are seldoht be the case in older dungeons that have been expanding for long enough to reach that point, however, the abandoned e of the area, there should be at most three kinds of monsters, but presently, there were Wor Bat
(TN: I swear I've got no clue what this paragraph is supposed to mean;本の知識を照らし合わせればエリアには最高でも三種類の魔物がいる事になるが、現時点で見かけるのはワームと蝙蝠【ハウリング・バッド】だ。)
Howling bats are ser est distinctive feature of this e-sized h they can't control their uide thetheuided these e predators' blood while they were eating their spoils However, in dungeons, whereto eat, there wouldn't be a point in doing such a thing, except as a defense ainst external threats
The Worh that rocky place due to their sheer size There's no threat fro Bat? This monster is basically a palm-sized predator, and naturally, it would be afraid of a creature bigger than themselves, but said creature would be considered as an external threat [by the dungeon], and at the same time, a sroup ofthere But these bats are a nuisance Well, it'll be alright It was a close one”
Zeros judged that Christine would probably be eaten if he let the cleorroup of worms is apparently called a clew)
It would be possible to generate heat by resonance if they concentrate the natural vibrations to a specific frequency, thus it was unknown to hi her fall off the rock wall
He concluded that he needed to ensure her safety first
He extends his right arins to concentrate an enormous amount of ic foratory Flaic released quickly spreads throughout the vast area until it reached the ceiling, turning into a fire tsuna Bats They eak monsters in the first place, without any sort of fire resistance, so they were instantly burned by the heat that reached a terees [celsious]
The surviving bats, who realized the existence of a new enemy, scattered and fled in a hurry
Zeros then took off of the precipice using the flight s of the Dark Bird】 His destination is the place where the Howling Bats were flocking to
There was probably a certain person in need of rescue there
Christine was slowlyThere were countless scratches on her beautiful handsthe pain, she continues to hold on to the slightly jagged rocks
Swarms of bats fly around her, and for so behind Fortunately for her, they can't climb up the walls, but it would be a different story if she were to fall down
And now, she's facing her biggest challenge
Since the time she fell down fros see that it wasn't a safe place to stay, she decided to start
As she advanced down the narrow tunnel, a vast space started to reveal itself Underneath, there was a clew of Wor all around, in a number that easily exceeded a thousand She understood that the moment she falls down, her faith would be sealed
And the place she was trying to cross over, was a precipice of around 20area is just uneven rocks and there was no other place to go
Words of helplessness pass through her mind
”W-What should I do…?”
Already beaten, she sits down on the spot It was unclear how long she stayed in that way However, she noticed a small foothold on the place she just happened to look at
(There's no way I can stay here forever… I have to climb up somehow)
With newfound deter the uneven rocks with her hands, she started to side the pitiful excuse of a scaffold
・
・
・
She didn't kno much time had passed since then Every second and everyforward
Her hands were covered in blood and dirt, and they were starting to feel nu around, and thedown, her heart freezes with fear
At the sa to accumulate inside her
The swar about in the air, and in her ihtly
(Over there… a sed to squeeze the little power she had to coe yet A rock cliff protruding at a perpendicular angle is ee, and it would require a considerable amount of skill to jump on it
At the place she was now, she would be able to rest for a while if she wanted to by leaning against the rock wall However, an amateur couldn't proceed from there with only their bare hands, without any equipment such as ropes, carabiners, and harnesses
It's an iirl
”N-No way…”
Despair is starting to take over the girl's heart She was distracted by the idea of having to go forward and did not notice what lied at the end of the narrow passage
But it would be cruel to point that out to her who's in such a condition She made a mistake because she was desperate to come back alive
However, she couldn't just stay there forever Priority was given toin despair
―――Dooooonnnnn!!!!
”W-What!? What was that!?”
The sound of a sudden explosion reverberates throughout the passage
She tried to get as much information on what happened, in a situation where she couldn't turn around
Then, a dead bat fell from the sky It was probably a bat that was bloay by the explosion's shockwave
”That h to cause such a thing…”
(TN: written in katakana)
Despite growing ie as possible She didn't have any power left, but still, she didn't plan to give up
Having to hang onto the sloping rock wall gradually stole away her stath on her fingertips
As tioes on, she's pushed to her li sensation envelops her body
The ledge and the rock wall are gradually
(I'o)
Far frooal, she was about to die whilst still on the starting line, and so she apologizes to her dead father in herto be left behind, but there was nothing she could do at this point Rather than regret, the sadness and helplessness of not being able to do anything raise within herself; tears naturally stream down her cheeks
She should be able to survive the fall given that the ground below is covered entirely with sand, but she didn't have the confidence or the strength to escape froirl closes her eyes as she prepares for her departure
”There we go, nice catch!”
As she clearly hears an idiotic man's voice, her eyes open wide The man's arm and robe looked quite familiar
”Haah… That was a close one Were I a second later, it would've been already too late”
His aloof tone of voice was also fa
The relieved Christine saw an incredible thing reflecting in her eyes She was floating in !?”
”Would you please stay still? Flight ic consu one person, the burden is too large…”
”I-I'ood if you understand By the way…”
The two slowly descended and landed on the ledge
”You aren't hurt, are you? Your coht U me twice”
”Don't worry about it, it's ieon?”
Christine doubted if she heard correctly, but the ician before her eyes, Zeros, looked directly below the ledge they were standing on while sighing There was a huge group of Wor around without destination, but they wouldn't be able to break-out either way… is what she thought, but Zeros was thinking of soe nueon… Should I annihilate the intent were ician-san? Just now… you didn't say any outrageous thing, right?”
”Ah, my naht… But, did you say annihilate? So many monsters…”
”Yeah, at least I think it would be a sihter theician in front of her is capable of easily defeating such a big group of Woriven that the person in question really didn't look like he was capable of such a feat And he was alsoat the hter theh… Honestly, I' 'ore-sa to oneself], TUEEEEE!!' is a bit e But if I don't clean this up here, and they soe will be tremendous… and then it will be even more of a pain to clean up
I just cauess I have no choice but to reduce these pitiful Worms to ashes They will become lava, huh? Haah… And I still haven't even found the earthwore? What do you , they're not like co!!”
(TN: I guess she thought he was gonna use the Worms for his fields or smt? Only way I can make sense of this)
But Zeros didn't hear her words He produced a cigarette fro its satory Flae amount of mana suddenly sprouts from Zeros A sphere densely packed with mana is produced from Zeros' palm and is then shot towards the center of the broad space below the an extreerous spell that rapidly takes in theit into destructive energy Executing its predetereon floor into scorched earth
The Worh terees [celsious] in an instant, and true to its naic propelled an enors
”There 〖Absolute Zero Barrier〗… Fifty barriers deployed”
(TN: I swear to God, these names are so hard to interpret 積層絶対氷結壁)
The moment the fifty barriers were finally deployed all around the flames, attacked them
It wasn't a spell to be used in a closed space… although it was supposed to be quite vast
―――Gogogogo
A violent earthquake is produced inside the round nuclear test site
The heat continues to rise endlessly, and the absolute zero ic could not overcoh te and didn't see
”This is bad 〖Gaia Control〗”
Judging that the barriers wouldn't be able to protect the with Christine in the thick rock ith earthfalls off the ledge
He proceeds to deploy more barriers just in case, and cale mana into a destructive physical phenomenon, however, the opposite can also be done And so, the devastating flaic shortly disappeared
As the tre hi down his spine
It was a scorching hell withalso collapsed, and the layer above could be seen
”Ah!”
The heat was ih the ic barrier was too hot for a person to withstand
”Not good, standard ic 〖Calah heat rapidly spreads around, as an unpleasant pre area was cooled down by continuously shooting the wide-range freezing ic, and as the air temperature rapidly declines, Zeros cancels the barriers It would've been like being inside a high-temperature furnace otherwise
Further burns by breathing the scorching air of the surroundings, so wide-range wind ic was also cast to force it back
A tornado that reaches the ceiling of the dungeon floor, cools down the air using the principle of convection, replenishi+ng the air with oxygen
(TN: hot air is less dense, thus it goes up; cools, and falls down again Rinse and repeat)
The world of lava quickly cooled down and solidified However, the surroundings were still generating heat, and there were solow
It was like a scene from hell
”… This… Was it too h I hope there aren't any victims in the upper layers…”
It was of those moments where he came to be keenly aware of the difference between the virtual and real world No ae was only represented by a numerical value Naturally, there was no aftermath
However, the situation was coic in reality, and in a relatively closed space No matter how much he was able to convert back the fla the rocky surface Moreover, because it was a closed space, the te
Cold sweat slides down his back again He realized how badly he underestierous He was able to disregard the aftereffects when he used wide-range annihilation h that wasn't possible in here
”T-This is wide-range annihilation icians of this country, a ic successfully!”
”…Uh… I-I'e the question, although what he said was also true
There was an unbearably cold breeze blowing between them
”…Annihilator”
Christine le word tore his heart apart Despite creating such a chuunibyou-sounding h, he was shaken by that word
Initially, because of the feeling of the gaood opportunity to enjoy himself and ot carried away, to the extent that his friends in the gah school student
Who could've predicted that one day, the painful virtual world would become reality?
On this day, it was the first time Zeros was called by his old 'Annihilator' arette and lights it up as if to force his edy
It was said that, on that occasion, the cigarette's smoke felt particularly bitter