Chapter 66

In the third layer of the forest, the Bugbears stopped attacking after we had eliminated about thirty percent of them, and only occasionally observed us from a distance. It seemed that they had completed their "ranking" and recognized us as superior.

The Bugbears have a certain level of intelligence, but even if we tried to persuade them not to waste their lives by fighting us, it wouldn't work because they don't understand our language. In the end, we had no choice but to fight.

After everyone had dried their clothes, I used the fireball created by Verlene to dry my equipment, which I had taken off.

"The monsters in the dungeon decay really quickly, don't they? They're already returning to the earth."

"In this layer, the power of the plant spirits is strong. The rate at which things decompose into the earth is hundreds of times faster than on the surface. If you leave organic equipment on the ground, it might decompose too."

I reinforce my body with leather armor, and I keep the defensive enhancements to a minimum, only reinforcing it with metal plates and armor where necessary. With enhancement magic, I don't need such heavy armor.

When a fire dragon sheds its skin, all the "scales" and "skin" are replaced, allowing us to obtain those materials. Thanks to this, part of my equipment is made from processed fire dragon skin. It's not the strongest material, but it's very durable and flexible, and it doesn't hinder my movements. The weakness is that it's vulnerable to water, but that can be mitigated with waterproofing.

Just as I was taking off my undershirt made of that leather and placing it on the ground, my master walked over and took care of my equipment for me.

"As Miraluka said, if you leave it on the ground, it might change. When you're wearing it, it's covered by magic, so it's fine."

"Yeah, thanks, Master. Did everyone else's equipment turn out okay?"

"We used a magic sheet that Ver gave us and placed the equipment on top of it."

"I should have done the same for you. With my power, I can weaken or control the influence of the surrounding spirits, but it's not good to dominate the spirits ahead of us just for the sake of it."

I had once gone with everyone to check the items we had obtained from the Bugbears, but when Master and Verlene returned, they tried to help me change. However, I'm not so clueless that I wouldn't point it out.

"...No, I don't need help, even if you're prepared to do so."

"Um... Master, if this is the flow, didn't you say that Dee would indulge in our care? It seems like he's rejecting us despite our long relationship?"

"It's not rejection. Dee is just shy, but he's actually happy that we're looking at him. See, his cheeks are twitching a little."

"T-this isn't because I'm happy; it's because I don't know what kind of face to make."

"Hmm... So it's not completely out of the question. Then, to be more efficient, we should help you."

"Dee, next, you need to take off the lower part. It's okay, you don't have to take everything off."

Ideally, I would take everything off to dry, but it feels like I'd be jumping into a pack of beautiful carnivores with my body wrapped in meat.

Just then, the effect of "Mental Defense" was wearing off, and before I could renew it, Master read my mind a little.

"Hehe... Dee, you said Ver is like a female cat."

"Mmm, is that a compliment, or a reference to an assertive woman?"

"I didn't say 'female cat.' But I was thinking about both Verlene and you."

"I don't mind being seen that way by you, Dee. Ver has a chance, so she needs to try harder."

"Hey, you two, if you just stand there, you're just getting in the way of Dee's changing. I think it's lazy to let us pick up gems while you play around."

"While saying that, Miraluka, you're taking advantage of us too."

"I, I'm just trying to pay attention... Dee, what are you looking at?"

Miraluka glared at me, but her face gradually turned red. I want to focus on drying my equipment, but with the fireball illuminating everything, it's hard not to stand out.

"...Really, why do you have such a body when you're usually just drinking? You're a woman's enemy."

"That's... Dee, is it okay to say it?"

"Well, with this group, it's fine. I constantly use enhancement magic to put a load on my muscles. If I don't, I gain weight quickly."

"You were using that trick... I thought Dee sometimes powered up. So, you were removing the load at those times? That's impressive."

Aileen sometimes puts weights on her wrists and ankles for training and forgets about them when taking on a mission, dropping them on the floor in front of the enemy and saying, "Oh, I forgot I had them on," which is enough to demoralize the enemy. It's one of her heroic tales, which she often shares with the guild members over drinks.

In my case, it's like living with invisible springs attached to my body, putting a load on me all the time. I'm always ready to release my limits when needed.

"I want to train my body like Dee. Then, I can break rocks with my bare hands and move quickly, like Father."

"Leave rock-breaking to Aileen. Yuma, you should focus on being a pure priest, not a monk."

"R-really...? I was thinking I should stop relying on Dee to carry me..."

"It's fine, Yuma. Dee is happy to carry you, thinking of you as a little sister."

"Little sister...? Do I look like Dee's little sister?"

"No, I'm the youngest, so I don't have any younger siblings. It's not good to call everyone younger than me a 'little sister.' But if I had a sister like Yuma, I might have had a more peaceful childhood."

We rarely talk about the past, but since reuniting with Master, I've had more opportunities to remember. It's rare for me to talk about such things, so everyone looks at me intently.

"...I should talk about the past more often. I don't know enough about everyone."

I've occasionally wondered about everyone's past.

Why did Miraluka want to join the demon lord slaying party? How did Aileen spend her time in the demon clan village? How did Cody hone his skills as a child? And how did Yuma convince her kind parents to join the demon lord slaying party?

I don't know much about Verlene or Master either. Still, adventuring together as a party makes me feel a sense of fate.

"You don't have to come so close to Dee if you're going to turn that red, you know?"

Cody, who had been watching from a distance, approached hesitantly. Perhaps it's unbecoming for the one in disguise to be the most embarrassed, but she walked over and looked at me directly.

"...Sigh. Looking at you makes me wonder if my disguise has any meaning."

"My clothes aren't dry yet, so I don't know how to react to such praise. Everyone, why don't you take a break and have a snack?"

"Using Dee's well-trained body as a snack, a drink wouldn't be bad."

"Yeah, I've already gathered the good stuff that fell. I cleaned it and put it in Ver's box, so you should check it out when we get back to the surface."

After drying her hair, Master tied her silver hair into two pigtails. Is it for better movement or a change of mood?

Leaving that aside, the situation has become educational, with everyone except the underage Yuma drinking and admiring me—feeling like I should just show off my muscles in a pose.

(Still... those two really said what they wanted to say.)

I want to change Aileen and Miraluka's "wimp" evaluation, but when I think about what specific actions I should take to show masculinity, they all seem impossible. I have to focus on the adventure for now.

◆◇◆

For example, what about occasionally fighting on the front line? It's not that difficult. As long as it's not an SSS-rank monster that can only be defeated by melee combat, I won't get hurt. However, my role is to support, so I should fulfill that role.

While thinking about this, we cleared the third layer. It took us about fifteen minutes, thanks to the Dragon Chimera opening the path. We couldn't go in a straight line, so we had to navigate through the forest and fly over gaps, and Cody helped us find the shortest route.

What I noticed is that the Bugbears seem to be afraid of something near the entrance to the fourth layer. Also, around the entrance, there are scattered stone equipment and other items that the Bugbears dropped—what does this mean?

"Dee, I can hear something. Something is coming from the fourth layer."

"Maybe they caught our scent. It seems the Bugbears were afraid of the monsters below and avoided getting too close..."

Is it a carnivorous beast or something else? The forest thins out, and the path to the lower layer, where the rock face is exposed, reveals something approaching with a voice that seems to come from the depths of the earth.

What appeared was a beastman, twice our size, with a pig-like face and a large body.

The difference between beastmen and beastmen is whether they engage in cultural activities. There are pigmen among the beastmen, but pig demons, despite the similar name, are treated very differently. Pig demons are the result of pigmen interbreeding with demons, while pigmen, like other beastmen, can have children with humans, their own kind, or other beastmen and form families.

The orcs in this dungeon are treated as monsters. They walk on two legs and wear minimal equipment, but they don't show any human-like intelligence.

"---BMOOOOOO!!!"

It's more like a roar from a pig-shaped demon. The orcs, armed with crude weapons made from fallen trees, open their mouths full of teeth, drool, and charge at us—except.

Miraluka, who was walking a bit behind, had already set up a magic circle. Her eyes, which hadn't seen such contempt in a long time, were cold.

"I'll exterminate them. I don't want to see such creatures driven by pure desire."

"Y-Yeah, everyone hates orcs."

Orcs, or humanoid demons, wear loincloths but are almost naked, which is understandably unpleasant for women. In our guild, the task of slaying subhuman monsters is usually assigned to men, though women can participate if they wish.

The orcs in the dungeon, who have been there for a thousand years, have unknown habits, but they ignored me and showed their desires for the other women. However, since they have a short time left, a moment of silence is appropriate.

"Even among the pigmen, there are wise ones called sages, but talking to them might get you bitten. Ah, I want to teach them the mercy and tolerance of the gods..."

"We can fight, but it's hard to exchange blows with something so animalistic. After all, I'm a maiden too."

"Let's stop them. 'Light Sword: Light Barrage'"

"BOOOOOO!"

Orcs have high regenerative abilities. Like the Dragon Chimera, their regenerative abilities are enhanced, so even Cody's attacks, which should incapacitate them in one hit, are healed by their chaotic regeneration, and they continue to charge.

"---It's complete. Next time, be reborn as a cuter creature."

Miraluka clenched her fist, and her magic flowed into the already set up magic circle, activating its effect.

---Wide-area extermination type, twelve-form destruction vibration array---

An invisible vibration generated from the edge of the magic circle ran through the orcs' bodies. Immediately, they disintegrated into sand and were destroyed—this is a forbidden magic circle that should never be used on humans.

All ten orcs were eliminated, and the aftereffects of the destruction shook the air for a while, but as it settled, Miraluka sighed.

"Orcs have enough intelligence to see women as women, so they need to be thoroughly exterminated."

Miraluka must really hate orcs. Even after exterminating them with a magic circle, she still seemed unsatisfied. Her cold eyes on the orc remains gave me a rare shiver—she must not be angered, absolutely not.

"Female knights say, 'Squeeze to death!' if captured by orcs, but it doesn't look like that's the case."

"That's probably an image from biased materials. Orcs are only interested in other species' females during breeding season."

"Dark elves keep orcs as pets, but Ver, you don't do that, right?"

"My subordinates include pigmen, but not pig demons. Pig demons, as you can see, don't listen to orders... Personally, I find no charm in pig demons."

"Still, it's reassuring to have Miraluka. It's tough to finish off monsters with strong regenerative abilities, so it's a relief."

"Yes, leave it to me. If the next layer is an orc nest, I'll exterminate everything without question. Dee, is that okay?"

"N-No... We don't want the entire layer to collapse, so just the orcs, please. Speaking of which, can't we use Miraluka's spatial magic to penetrate the rock below and go down?"

"I thought about that, but if you try to cut through the rock, it becomes too hard and takes too long to break. It might be different for all layers, but in the shallower layers, there are measures to prevent going down."

Dungeons often have pitfalls, but it seems impossible to go down that way. We should keep looking for easier ways to progress.

◆◇◆

By defeating the orcs, we were completely recognized as the leaders of the Bugbears in the third layer. We ordered them not to attack humans if they come, which they can understand. The Bugbears are more intelligent than pig demons.

As soon as we entered the fourth layer, it was, as expected, a pig demon festival, so Miraluka set up a wide-area magic circle and used the "destruction vibration array" to eliminate all the monsters in the layer. It took about fifteen minutes to set up the magic circle, but it's worth it to clear out A-rank level monsters that would be a challenge for adventurers.

The fourth layer was also covered in forest. Before activating the vibration array, we could hear pig demon voices from all directions, but it suddenly became quiet. Walking through the silent forest, we found gems and old coins that the pig demons had dropped.

"Phew... It's a bit draining on my magic. I thought about exterminating all the monsters in all the layers from here, but it's not very efficient."

"Don't overdo it. We're not tired at all, so it's better to share the fighting."

"Miraluka looks pretty exhausted. I'll carry Yuma, and you can rest on Dee's back until you recover."

"---I'm not that tired. Ah..."

Miraluka hurriedly spoke to Aileen, but she stumbled and was supported by Verlene nearby.

"The delicate disaster's delicacy comes from moments like this. When magic is drained, becoming a fragile maiden is somewhat inevitable."

"Dee can heal you, but do you have a potion to recover magic?"

"There's one that gradually recovers you in thirty minutes, but the immediate ones have a backlash and the ingredients are valuable, so we can't use them easily."

"---If you say that, I have no reason to refuse."

"I want Miraluka to conserve her strength for important times. This is part of helping each other as a party."

Cody smiled brightly, and although Miraluka looked reluctant, she got on my back instead of Yuma.

"---I can understand how Yuma felt when she said she wanted to train. Teach me some of your methods."

"Moderate training is good. Let's go to the magic circle on the sixth floor without letting our guard down."

"The next layer is a maze, so we need to be careful of traps. I can sense traps, so I'll lead the way."

Different members excel in different layers. I'm glad we came with seven people and hurried to the next layer.