CH 137

[Exploring Vortigern Castle!]

“By the way, Yuri-san, please be sure not to ask Pendragon her age. She’s started to be conscious about it lately…”

“For real?”

I continued running around ‘Vortigern Castle’ with Alice.

Built by a prankster who also happened to be a mage, the castle was filled with monsters that would pop out of nowhere and traps everywhere, making it a major pain to explore.

But they weren’t gonna stop me.

“–Ngg!”

In the next moment, my legs jumped on their own.

A moment later, the floor where I had been collapsed, revealing a large hole so deep the bottom wasn’t visible.

“Whew, that was close. Thanks, Maa-kun. You saved me.”

“Ng–!”

I thanked my partner possessing my boots.

With Maa-kun having the floor traps covered, I could just focus on what was in front of me, and if something came flying, I’d use ‘Arms Barrier’ to summon a shield to block it.

Incidentally, quite a few monsters attacked from above, but…

“Be gone—Dark Spell: ‘Darkness Breaker’, x7!”

[Gugaaaaaaaaaaa?!]

Seven black lasers flashed upwards.

With that, Alice who was on my back reduced the monsters to ashes in an instant.

“Leave the above to me, Yuri-san. I’ve felt much better now, thanks to you.”

“Sure thing!”

Talk about reliable. I’d expect no less from a senior in the gaming world.

In this way, the three of us made our way through the trap-filled castle.

◆◆◇◆

“We finally made it~.”

Dozens of minutes later. After passing through the maze-like passages–taking a break and eating some treats along the way–we’d finally arrived in front of a big door that appeared to lead to the boss room.

“We’ve made it, yes… but we didn’t run into Merlin and your two companions.”

“Yeah, wonder where they are.”

Should I just go ahead and challenge the boss with Alice?

But, Merlin aside, I’d feel bad leaving Crutteruo and Yario who’d followed me as my disciples from the fun.

But as I was thinking…

“Hehehe… when you’re in a maze, put your right hand against the wall as you go, and you’ll eventually reach the goal. This is called Right-Hand Rule…☆”

“And when exactly are we going to reach the goal?! With all these traps, my HP is gonna run out before long?!”

“Whimper~… Monsters just appear out of nowhere too. I’m sick of this castle–…!”

From another passage leading to this place, three ragged people showed up.

Seemed like they had had a hard time dealing with the traps, unlike us. Still, they made it here. Top players sure were impressive.

“Heya, guys. Looks like you’ve been through a lot.”

“My, Yuri-chan and Alice-chan! I’m so glad to see you made it here just fine! …No, too fine?”

“Yup, all thanks to Alice.”

It wasn’t just a flattery, I meant it.

While it had taken me my all to carry Alice on my back, that turned out to be the best way to explore the castle.

With the super frail magician around, we had all of our sides completely covered and could react instantly to traps and monsters. That was how we’d gotten here almost unscathed.

I mostly played solo, but maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea to party up with others once in a while.

“Okay. Since everyone’s here, let’s split up into our respective sides, the ‘Goddess’ side’ and the ‘Demon King’s side’, and vie for the right to challenge the boss… or so I’d like to say, but…” I put Alice down and pointed toward the large door with my thumb, “why don’t we work together and kick that shitty castle lord’s ass to pay back all he’s done to us?”

At my words, the three who had suffered from innumerable traps nodded vigorously.

Okay, that settled it. The secret area’s hidden boss, we were gonna beat you fair and square!