Act 2-33 - Night Watch

Chapter 33 : Night Watch

We were moving really carefully upon arriving at UG 4th floor.

In there was the area of a demon beast called ogre but, its rough skin and herculean power aside, it was quick on its feet too.

Even mid-rank adventurers couldn’t challenge it solo.

In addition… Several of the said ogres appeared right in front of us, in UG 4th floor of 《Romburgh Underground Ruin》.

We were no match for them even with our superior numbers.

And to think that a party of four or five was brave enough to dive until this floor which was infested with such a demon beast.

「… Ogre characteristic is their tremendous fighting spirit, in exchange, their mana is quite low. Ideally, we should cast curse on them to lower their physical strength. But, we’ve no time to idle around in this place.」

Childick explained the characteristic of ogre while hoisting his enchanted sword.

A green magic circle then appeared on the tip of Childick’s enchanted sword.

The wind then started whirling around the magic circle, the air was sucked into the magic circle, it would then spit out to the other side.

The magic he used just now was 《Airla》, a magic to purify the air in UG 4th floor.

Fundamentally, the miasma in the demon labyrinth became stronger the deeper we went in.

Especially the miasma from UG 4th floor and below, it was so strong that it would kill anyone who breathed it in for a few hours.

That’s why the existence of environmentalists to capture the deeper floors of the demon labyrinth became indispensable.

「There’s a demon beast in the right passage. Let’s avoid that passage.」

With 《Prognostication Short Sword; Gjallarhorn》 gripped in his hand, Heidar called out to Gamdon who was walking behind Childick who led our group.

Though Heidar’s combat skill was top notch, his real occupation was scout, and he was the number one scout in Romburgh city.

I was about to activate my 《Odo sense》 upon arriving at the crossroad but, Heidar’s accuracy and distance sensing was clearly far above mine.

As expected, having several first rate adventurers in the group was really reassuring.

The speed of our movement was faster and smoother since our group has each of the first rate specialized adventurers.

When we met several ogres at once, we avoided the path and took a detour, when we came upon an ogre, we baited it into a passage, surrounded it from all directions, and killed it as fast as possible.

I was really surprised at how well our advance was.

But, even after going this far, we’ve yet to catch up with the presence of the grey cult.

Since we got really exhausted after breaking through the demon labyrinth to UG 4th floor without resting in a single day, we decided to camp in one corner of UG 4th floor for four hours, taking turns with watch.

When it was Mani, Edda, and my turn, Childick was already fast asleep, replaced by Ciel who did his best to maintain his 《Airla》.

Since I couldn’t see the position of the sun from inside the demon labyrinth, I borrowed another adventurer’s pocket watch to see the time.

I slept in a sitting position, back leaning on the wall as I rubbed my sleepy eyes.

I took out a small bottle from my bosom pocket, and nibbled on the dried fruit in it.

A slightly numbing sensation running through my nose snapped me out from my drowsy state.

「Naive even during look out huh.」

Edda, who leaned on the wall facing the passage, scoffed at me.

I raised the small bottle and shook it in the air.

「This can keep you awake. The ripe kuraju fruit.」

In fact, the boiled down of Kuraju was the ingredients for paralysis poison but, its numbing effect weakens a lot when you dry it, and is just the right thing to keep you awake during lookout.

Though its color was light brown in dried state, its original color was bluish green.

「Want to take a bite?」

「No thanks, We Narc tribe have always been living in the savage land, the place where demon beasts were roaming around. We’re used to lookout jobs like this. But of course, not just our warrior, even our non-combatants aren’t foolish enough to fast asleep.」

Edda shook her head lightly as she said those words.

Seeing that, I truly thought that the reason why she has yet to open her heart to Mani was none other than her thorny tone.

「Dean… can I have some of that? I’m still sleepy since I have yet to take a proper rest after completing yesterday blacksmith’s commission.」

Mani who sat by my side spoke to me while covering her mouth with her hand.

「Well, the three of us are indeed responsible for keeping a lookout for that passage but, you can actually sleep longer. I mean, one person is actually enough for lookout. If something happens in the battle because you can’t move your body properly, I…」

「It’s okay. I mean… that Gamdon-san might blame us for that later if he knew that I’m sleeping throughout our lookout turn.」

I hung my head down upon hearing Mani’s remark.

… Yes, during the subjugation of the ogre, I gained Gamdon’s animosity since I opposed his idea of taking out the ogre’s battle bone.

The more brutal an ogre, the higher the selling price for its battle bone.

Even at the lowest, it wouldn’t go for less than 100k temis.

But, due to its huge frame and tough meat, it takes quite a long time to dismantle the ogre’s corpse.

… And since we’re literally racing against time, I said to Gamdon that we shouldn’t waste our time dismantling the ogre’s corpse.

And yet, he refused my suggestion.

And not only that, he who seems to be angered by my remark, he even grabbed me by my collar, lifted my body up as he abused me in front of so many people.

If not for Heidar’s timely intervention, Gamdon might have knocked me out, or had his dominant arm sliced off by Edda’s sword.

But then, in the end we’re still dismantling the ogre with the pretext of giving the chance for the other adventurers to take a short rest.

「… Sorry. I should’ve saw this coming considering Gamdon’s personality.」

I heaved a sigh, pressing my hand on my face.

「Nevertheless… every single one of those hostages must’ve wanted to be freed as soon as possible, right? The side of you that always cares for the other is what I love about you, Dean.」

「… T-Thanks.」

「Aah, are you embarrassed just now? your face become flushed red you know.」

Mani teased me upon looking at my flushed red face.

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「Y-You must be lying, like hell you can see my face in this dark place.」

「… Oi, stop flirting around in front of me. It’s painful for me to see you act like a couple.」

Edda who sat while leaning on the wall facing toward the passage said to me with a frown on her face.

「S-Sorry, Edda-san.」

Mani apologized to Edda before she went back to sit beside me.

And then, she took out the dried kuraju fruit from my bottle and popped it into her mouth.

「Uhhnn… ! It really work.」

Mani’s body shivered as she shut her eyes.

And then smiled as if she enjoyed the effect of the dried fruit.

Edda was looking at Mani with a slightly envious look on her face.

「DOn’t be shy, here, feel free to try.」

I received the small bottle back from Mani and offered it to Edda.

Though Edda straightened her back as if looking forward to the taste of my dried fruit, she stopped midway before leaning her back against the wall again, folding her arms and averting her face from us.

「… N-Narc’s warrior have no need for such things to keep them awake.」

「This topic again huh.」

「Such concern is unnecessary for me!」

《Demon Eater Sword; Beelzera》 was trembling non-stop when I’ve such an exchange with Edda.

『D-D-Dean! This mistress wants to try that kuraju fruit too! T-This mistress happened to hear that dried fruit tastes so sweet! Let-this-mistress-try!』

「E-Eh, it’s not delicious you know, I swear!」

I pinned down 《Demon Eater Sword; Beelzera》 to stop it’s shaking as I told that sad truth to Beelzebub.

Mani was smiling wryly while Edda didn’t even try to hide her disgust upon seeing our interaction.

Though I was the only one who could hear Beelzebub’s voice which was sent directly to my head, it seems the two of them guessed the content of our conversation from my reply.

Suddenly, I raised my face, looking at the other idle adventurers, and then looking back to Edda and Mani again.

… The grey cult should’ve been hiding somewhere on this floor along with the hostages.

The moment I woke up from my sleep might be the moment the battle began.

It should be safe if anyone was alert… but…

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TN: 12 to go…