Arifureta Vol 10 Chapter 2 (1/2)

Meljeene Bottom Sea Ruin

Northwest, 300 kilometers away from【Sea Town, Elisen】.

It was the location of one of the Seven Great Dungeon, 【Meljeene Bottom Sea Ruin】, that the party once heard from Miledi Raisen.

However, the party didn’t have much time to listen to Miledi at that time, so she only told them that the “moon” must be accompanied by “Guryuu-en’s proof” without the detailed location.

And so, Hajime’s party only advanced through the vast ocean in accordance to the direction and distance they were told. However, they didn’t find anything when they searched the pointed location in the bottom of the sea during daytime. The party had thought they’d be able to find some kind of trace because it was a bottom sea ruin, but it seemed they were too naive.

The pointed location was rather shallow compared to the other place in circ.u.mference of 100 kilometers, so it must be the correct place… that was what Hajime thought.

Reluctantly, the party decided to stop the search and wait until night, when the moon has come out, as Miledi had told them. The current time was sunset. The sun was s.h.i.+ning in red with half of itself hidden beyond the horizon, brightening the world for the last time today. The sky and sea were dyed in orange while a straight road was produced by the reflection of the sun on the sea from over the horizon.

A beautiful spectacle of nature no matter whichever world it was. Hajime was watching the setting sun on the deck of the moored submarine. Abruptly, he thought of something unbelievable, which was whether it was possible to return to j.a.pan if he advances on the road of light leading towards the sun. He smiled wryly as he was thinking about something.

“Did something happen?”

Noticing the change in Hajime, Kaori called out to him.

Because she was taking a shower inboard a while ago, her hair was damp. No, not only Kaori. Yue, s.h.i.+a, and Tio had gone up to deck before he was aware of it. Everyone had taken the shower inside the sub that Hajime took pride in. Their flushed cheeks, the damp hair stuck on their cheeks, and nape, made their figures truly captivating. The water from the shower room was set to rain right from the ceiling, so it wasn’t a problem for the four of them to shower all at once.

Incidentally, the reason why Hajime was on the deck, looking at the sunset was because of the possibility of taken into the shower room if he was careless.

When the girls were about to take the shower, Tio invited Hajime which gained approval from Kaori, s.h.i.+a, and of course, Yue. Then, the four cut off the escape routes of Hajime’s refusal. Hajime, who will not embrace any other woman except Yue, had clearly said he won’t have a naked skin s.h.i.+p with other woman.

However, the girls ignored Hajime as they smiled. Leering at Yue who was blus.h.i.+ng while making a flirtatious smile, Kaori and Tio who were pinning Hajime from the sides, and while s.h.i.+a tried to put Hajime unconscious using Doryukken from behind. Feeling the impending danger of his body, Hajime seriously ran away and went to the deck… but, isn’t it a shame for a man to deny the placed meal before him?

Hajime thought that was a foolish question and shook his head, then he replied to Kaori.

“I am just recalling a little about j.a.pan. After all, the scene here isn’t that much different from there.”

“… I see. Yeah, it really is. It is just like the evening sun I have seen in the sea before… somehow it makes me feel nostalgic. Though not even half a year had pa.s.sed, eh.”

“That’s because the everyday here is too eventful.”

Having seated beside Hajime, Kaori was agreeing Hajime’s words while looking at the distance. She must be recalling the days she went through in j.a.pan.

Maybe because she felt the loneliness from the conversation of the two, Yue trotted her still flus.h.i.+ng body towards Hajime and sat on his lap. She entrusted her back to Hajime’s chest even though she must be feeling hot. Then, she began to watch Hajime right under his face.

Her eyes were obviously expressing she wanted them to let her join their conversation. Yue was feeling lonely, and at the same time she wanted to hear about Hajime’s hometown. Hajime, while inwardly knocked out by Yue’s cuteness, stretched Kaori’s cheek, who was sitting beside him, to scold her because a Hanya had appeared.

With only that, her mood became better which made Hajime felt complicated. Hajime thought, ‘Why would she do this much for someone who won’t accept her feelings…’ Though he thought of that, he won’t say it out loud. After all, it would be rude to her feelings if he did.

While he was stretching Kaori’s cheek, and at this time, s.h.i.+a drew closer to him from opposite Kaori with sparkling eyes. She was obviously signaling she wanted to be cared, too. With his empty other hand, he stroked s.h.i.+a’s rabbit ear. “Ehehe~,” s.h.i.+a made a relaxed smile.

His back was leaned to by Tio. She didn’t demand anything in particular, just quietly sitting back to back against him. However, he understood Tio was relaxed, and she entrusted her weight to him. It was slightly unexpected, since Hajime’s only thought was to throw her into the sea if she makes a perverted demand.

Then, maybe because she felt something from Hajime’s aura, Tio’s body shuddered and trembled for a moment while her breathing turned rough…

Hajime’s party cuddled close to each other above the vast sea. It would take a while until night time came, and the moon will begin to s.h.i.+ne. So to kill time, Hajime began to speak a little about his hometown.

Hajime’s story fascinated Yue and the other two while Kaori was supplementing him with a radiant smile. Time pa.s.sed swiftly as they enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere and the sun had completely gone down to the other side of the horizon, and the moon had began to s.h.i.+ne in its place.

Thinking it was about the time, Hajime took out the pendant which was the proof of having conquered 【Guryuu-en Great Volcano】 from his breast pocket. The design of the pendant was of a woman hanging a lantern and there was a hole on the lantern, becoming hollow.

Even while staying at Elisen, Hajime had taken out the pendant and held it towards the moon, and also supplied it with magic power, but there was no change in particular.

‘Just what should be done to the moon and pendant?’, was what he thought while tilting his head. For now, Hajime tried to hold the pendant towards the moon. The moon could be seen from hole of the lantern design.

He waited for a while, but there was no change. Hajime, not understanding what to do, sighed and began to try another method.

But at that time, change appeared in the pendant.

“Waah, the light is gathering in the lantern. It’s beautiful~.”

“It is… a mysterious sight. Even though the lantern part is actually hollow…”

s.h.i.+a was admiring the sight and Kaori, with s.h.i.+ning eyes, agreed with her.

Just as the two said, the lantern part was absorbing the moonlight and light began to acc.u.mulate inside it. In accordance to that, the hollow part was filled by the light. Also becoming interested in it, Yue and Tio watched the pendant Hajime held up.

“Even though I’ve also tried it last night…”

“Hmm, Master. It might be because it won’t do if it isn’t here, right?”

It might be just as Tio guessed. Before long, the lantern finished acc.u.mulating the light and the pendant was now clad in light. At the same time, a light shot straight from the lantern, pointing to a certain location on the sea’s surface.

“… What an exquisite production. Truly different from Miledi’s.”

“It is. It really is fantasy-like, even I’m rather impressed by it.”

“Guided by the moonlight,” it was such a romance-like thing which made not only Hajime, but also Yue and the rest raised voices of admiration. The impression gained by s.h.i.+a, just like Hajime and Yue, was strong as someone who had entered Miledi’s 【Miledi Great Dungeon】.

The party didn’t know how long the light would be released from the pendant’s lantern, so the submarine immediately sailed, lead by the light.

The sea at night was dark. Or maybe it would be better to say that everything was black. And even though the surface of the was still bright because of the moonlight, they were lead into the waters and thus everything instantly turned dark. The light released by the submarine and the pendant was the only thing cutting through the dark sea.

The light, pa.s.sing through the gla.s.s made from front crystal (a type of st.u.r.dy and transparent ore) in front of the submarine, was pointing at the bottom of the sea.

The location pointed was the rock wall zone of the bottom of the sea. Numerous distorted rock walls were joined to form a mountain range. It was a place the party had searched during the daytime but it resulted in nothing… but when the submarine approached the rock pointed by the pendant’s light, a tremor began to generated along with a strong rumbling sound.

The sound and tremor was caused by the rock wall that began to move. One of the rock’s part was split in two, opening to the right and left like a door. The dark road lead inside was as though it was inviting one to the netherworld.

“I see… so that’s why we can’t find it no matter how much we tried. How foolish of me to think we will be able to find it if we were lucky.”

“… There’s no helping it, but it was fun.”

“Yue is right. Don’t you think it was an amazing experience to sightsee the bottom of the sea of this different world?”

Hajime’s shoulders drooped as he understood the search they did during daytime was in vain, but it seemed Yue and Kaori quite enjoyed it.

Hajime moved the submarine and the party entered the crack. The pendant’s lantern still had around half of its acc.u.mulated light, but it had stopped releasing the light. Only the submarine’s light was s.h.i.+ning inside the dark sea now.

“Umm~, this one had thought this since hearing about the bottom sea ruin, but wouldn’t it be impossible for ordinary people to enter this labyrinth without this “submarine” thing?”

“… It’s impossible unless one using a strong barrier.”

“It will also be impossible if they can’t control the air, light, and water current at the same time, eh.”

“But, it is necessary to conquer 【Guryuu-en Great Volcano】 to come here, so I think people who are capable of conquering the Great Dungeon are able to enter.

“Maybe we are supposed to use Spatial magic.”

Entering deeper on the underwater road, Hajime’s party were considering other ways to conquer this dungeon without a submarine. They were impressed by the fantastic entrance, but indeed, once they thought about it normally, unless there were several top cla.s.s magic users, it was impossible to enter the dungeon. A troublesome point similar to the other Great Dungeons.

With caution, Hajime’s party watched the bottom sea through the front crystal.

And at that time,

FwwwOOOOooooosh~!!

“Uwoh!?”

“Nh!”

“Wawah!”

“Kyah!”

“What the—!?”

The side of the submarine suddenly received an impact and immediately, the submarine was thrown towards a direction. Just like the time they were thrown into the magma’s swift current, the submarine was turned around and around, but the party had already came up with a countermeasure for it. Using the gravity stone installed at the bottom of the submarine to increase the weight, the party stabilized the it.

“Uh, I don’t want to taste this twirling again~.”

s.h.i.+a’s face paled as she recalled the time they got swept underground of 【Guryuu-en Great Volcano】, and shook her head to stop recalling it.

“Didn’t we recover immediately? I already said it’ll be okay from now on. But more importantly, just where does this current led to…”

While smiling wryly at such a s.h.i.+a, Hajime observed the outside through front crystal. The Green Light stone’s light was circulating around the dark cave, letting him pictured the surrounding. From what he could see, the party seemed to have been swept by the current into a huge round cave.

While operating the submarine, Hajime’s party advanced by following the current. After a while, the “Farsight stone” installed in the stern caught innumerable objects s.h.i.+ning in reddish black.

“They seem to be approaching us… Well, they are most likely demonic beasts clad in reddish black magic power, huh.”

“… Shall we?”

When Hajime muttered, Yue, who was sitting by his side, was gathering magic power in her hand, and said in gangster-like tone, but she still looked cute.

“No, let’s use weapon here. I also want to confirm their effectiveness.”

Hajime operated the gimmick on the back of the submarine. Then, numerous pet-bottle sized torpedoes that had dyed Ancadi’s Oasis in red, was launched. Hajime thoroughly painted them so they looked like smiling mischievously sharks.

Because they were inside the swift current, the torpedoes’ propulsion could only move them to a small degree, and it resulted with them scattering like sea mines.

The submarine advanced ahead ,and before long, the numerous demonic beasts clad in reddish black magic power with appearance of flying fish entered the cl.u.s.ter of torpedoes.

BOOoOOoooOOoom!!!

Grand explosions generated in succession from behind the submarine and a large amount of bubbles wrapped the group of flying fish-lookalike. Afterwards, the bodies of flying fish-lookalike were tore apart by the impact and the flesh and blood were scattered from inside the appearing bubbles, looking like seaweed thrown into a swift current.

“Yup, it has more power than before. The improvement is a success.”

“Uwaah~, Hajime-san. Just now, there was something with eyes of a fish being swept outside.”

“s.h.i.+a, those art actually dead fishes.”

“Once again it makes me think the artifacts Hajime-kun made are a foul.”

From then on, Hajime’s party advanced while easily beating the flying fish-lookalike they frequently encountered.

They advanced without knowing how long it would be.

At that time they began to notice the sense of incompatibility of the unchanging scenery. Hajime’s party arrived at a place where the surrounding walls had been randomly destroyed. When they looked carefully, torn heads of flying fish-lookalike were placed between the rock walls with their hollow eyes looking at the sea.

“… Hmm, isn’t this the place we pa.s.sed before?”

“… Seems so. Are we going in circles?”

Apparently, Hajime’s party were going in circles in an annulus ring cave. They had thought the Great Dungeon was ahead of them so they advanced, but Hajime was doubtful that he had mistaken a road here, as if it was a normal bottom sea cave. Resultantly, the party now didn’t advance according to the laid road, and carefully searched the surrounding for any clues.

As a result,

“Ah, Hajime-kun. There’s one there too!”

“With this, it is the fifth place…”

The party discovered several place inside the cave that were carved with fifty centimeters long crest of Meljeene. The carved crest of Meljeene was of pentagram with lines connected to each five points and the center was carved with crescent moon-like design. It was similar to the five places in this annulus ring cave.

For a thorough examination, Hajime’s party approached the crest they first discovered. Because they were exposed to the swift current, Hajime took care in controlling the submarine.

“Well, there are five places with pentagram, so if the remaining light inside the pendant is used…”

Muttering, Hajime took out the pendant he wore on his neck and held it before the front crystal. Then, the pendant reacted and light was released straight from the lantern. Following that, the light touched the crest and the crest shone.

“It will be disastrous for people who come here using magic… if they didn’t notice this immediately, their magic power would be depleted.”

Just as Kaori said, this RPG-like method would be too cruel for people who somehow survived only by maintaining their magic. It might be because the objective was to make them reach their limit in a different sense than 【Guryuu-en Great Volcano】.

Afterwards, three more crest in their own location was poured with light from the lantern, and the party arrived before the last crest. The light collected inside the lantern decreased when it was released to light up the crest, and the remaining light had enough for only one more usage.

Hajime held up the pendant and poured the last crest with the light, finally, a way to advance from this annulus ring cave opened. With a rumbling sound, the wall of the cave split in two.

Not much happened as the party advanced into the interior, but the water was descending right to below. Then, the submarine was wrapped with floating feeling as it was falling down.

“Ohh?”

“Nh.”

“Hyah!?”

“Nuoh.”

“Hauu!”

Respectively the five of them raised different scream. Hajime was enduring the floating feeling between his groin. Then, the submarine hit the hard ground with a roaring sound. The severe impact was transmitted into the interior, and Kaori whose body wasn’t that strong raised a groan.

“Kh… Kaori, are you okay?”