CH 258

Recalling Barthez’s notes.

An A-rank monster, Death Knight. It is a skeleton-type undead monster, a powerful monster that wraps itself in sturdy magical armor and fights with powerful magical weapons. But that is not the only problem.

The Death Knight that appears on the eighth floor always wanders around with a large number of Blood Knights, so it requires multiple A-ranked parties to fight it head-on, according to Barthez’s notes.

For me, this guy is the biggest problem on this eighth floor. No matter how many [Turn Undead] I have, it’s not easy to deal with that many of them. I thought that if I encountered him, I would have to run away, and in the worst-case scenario, I would have to retreat into the [Holy Dimension] and wait for the Death Knight to disappear somewhere.

“But now is my chance…” (Rook)

I can’t see them, so I don’t know which group they are, but I’m grateful that they are attracting the Death Knight. While they are fighting, I will let myself pass quietly through here.

I’ll stay as close to the wall as I can and quickly avoid the area where the fighting is still going on.

Normally, I would help adventurers in trouble, but I’m not in that situation now. I had no choice.

We left the battle zone with a slight feeling of guilt.

I continued walking along the wall again and slept at night in the [Holy Dimension] the next day.

“[Turn Undead]” (Rook)

The monster, which was invisible but clearly reflected in the [Magi Location], was no longer reflected in the [Magi Location], and only a magic stone fell to the ground.

It was a B-rank monster called Phantom. It was a higher rank monster than the Ghost I had fought in the dungeon in Elem before, harder to see than a Ghost, and especially in this thick fog, it seemed to be the worst kind of monster.

“Well, it doesn’t really matter to me.” (Rook)

Like Ghosts, I don’t feel that much of a problem with [Magi Location], because I’m properly sensing them.

I really think Sacred Magic is full of cheats.

After a few days of going through the eighth floor in this order, I finally found the rift that leads to the ninth floor.

I finally made it to the ninth floor. I wanted to be soaked in the excitement, but in reality, the hard part starts from here.

“Well… time to go, I guess.” (Rook)

I focused my mind and went through the rift to the ninth floor.

“…Ugh.” (Rook)

The smell hits my nose at the same time furrows my eyebrows.

The view before me is green. But it is not the green of plants. The wilderness-like landscape that had continued from the sixth floor was still there, but there were several green swamps spreading out. A green mist-like substance was rising from the green swamps.

Even just standing there, the smell of the mist hit my nose and eyes, and little by little I felt more and more sore and sick.

“This is harder… much harder than I imagined.” (Rook)

I took out the holy water that Shion had made from the magic bag and doused my head with it, then soaked the rest of it into my mask.

Then, the poor physical condition I had until a while ago was alleviated, and I managed to recover to the extent that I could work.

“Phew…that should work, for now.” (Rook)

After calming down a bit, I recall Barthez’s notes, which I have read many times.

The ninth floor was a swamp of poison everywhere, and it was not an environment in which people could live. It was written in the notes. Therefore, Barthez and his party could not work for a long time and could not expand their search area, so they gave up their attack on this floor.

And while they were thinking of countermeasures against this poison, there was that thing, and they disappeared.

“…” (Rook)

I start walking to change my gloomy mood.

According to Barthez’s notes, there is one mysterious thing on this ninth floor.

In fact, there are “almost” no monsters on this ninth floor. The reason for this is that the slime that appears on every floor is also found here. In other words, they did not see any other monsters.

When you think about it, this dungeon seems to be well-designed. The lower levels have weaker monsters, and the deeper you go, the higher the monster level. It is as if the monsters are luring adventurers to deeper levels. And that eighth floor, if you think about it, is probably just trying to kill us. It’s a place like a lost forest, where we would normally get lost, lose our way back, and be killed by the Death Knight, like in a real-life survival game. And then there is this ninth floor. I feel that they are trying to make this place an environment where people can’t live, and they are trying to kill those they can’t beat physically by luring them into the poisonous swamp.

“Ugh… Sacred wind, surround him, [Holy Wind]!—Phew…” (Rook)

Wrapped in the pure wind, my body, which had been suffering, slowly returns to normal.

I can forcefully nullify this poison in this way, but those who enter this floor in large groups will have a hard time. Even if there was a way to deal with the poison, there would be a limit to the number of times it could be used, and if there were a large number of people, it would be difficult to deal with.

“I don’t know if there’s a magical tool or artifact that solves that sort of thing.” (Rook)

Thinking things over, I periodically used Holy Wind to keep myself in shape and continued walking through the poisonous swamp for a few hours. I find a strange response to [Magi Location].

“…?” (Rook)

As I cautiously walked in that direction, I spotted it on the other side of a rocky hill.

It was clearly a ruin. There were a few stone pillars like the ones in the temple we had seen in the Golden Dragon’s Nest, and a few crumbled stone pillars lying around. And in the center of it, there is a cobblestone square, and at the back, you can see a staircase leading underground.

And—

“What is that?” (Rook)

A huge lump of meat placed in the center of the cobblestone square… no, a lump of carrion. It is ten meters in size. It has skin, flesh, claws, a mysterious green liquid spreading on the cobblestones, and a huge rib-like thing peeking out from between the flesh. It is so decomposed that it hardly retains its original form anymore, and I don’t even know if it is bipedal or quadrupedal.

“…an Undead, huh?” (Rook)

Somehow, my inner senses were telling me,

It was the undead. That it was a monster.

I’m sure no one has ever been to this place in the first place. In other words, it’s hard to think of “a giant something that was defeated by someone and is now rotting there”.

“…” (Rook)

I look behind the mass of carrion.

There is a stone staircase leading underground, blatantly saying, “There’s something down here.”

“I have to do it.” (Rook)

Determined, I slowly approach the mass of carrion, trying not to make a sound.

I approach the mass of carrion slowly, and carefully, so as not to make a sound.

Moving closer and closer.

I don’t know what kind of monster it is, but the fact that it is here means that it is probably A- or S-rank. If it notices me, I may not be able to win depending on the situation.

The smell of carrion, worse than zombies, clings to my nose.

Sweat beads on my forehead despite the cold.

Step by step, I tread the ground and approach as Like I’m tying a noose on my neck tighter and tighter.

In my head, I keep asking myself, “Am I there yet?”, it is the only phrase that echoes in my head.

Almost to the range of the turned undead, almost there!

And when the mass of the carrion was about 20 meters away, I had a feeling that I could make it.

Alright!

—[Turn Undead]

I activate the magic. But it failed.

Only the magic power drains out.

—[Turn Undead]

Failure.

—[Turn Undead]

Failure.

Damn! I knew the success rate is too low for high-ranked monsters!

I continue to use magic while biting back the swearing that’s about to leak out.

—[Turn Undead]

—[Turn Undead]

—[Turn Undead]

—[Turn Undead]!

The next moment, a circle of light surrounded the mass of carrion.

“Alright!” (Rook)

I shouted unintentionally.

But the mass of carrion suddenly begins to move with a jerk, its paws clutch the ground, green liquid leaks from its flanks, its neck lifts up with a jerk, and a red light suspiciously illuminates the blank eye socket in the head at the end of it.

It was full of hatred, anger, and malice, and the moment my eyes met the light, I felt goosebumps all over my body and was almost overcome by the emotion of fear. The next moment, however, the circle of light shone and then slowly faded away, and at the same time, the bright red eyes disappeared as if losing their power, and the huge body of that carrion also lost its power and collapsed with a thud with a shudder on the ground.

“Haa…” (Rook)

The sight of it made me involuntarily fall to my knees, and I exhaled heavily.

“A dragon, huh…” (Rook)

I couldn’t tell because I was submerged in carrion, but this must be a dragon.

No, I should say it was a zombified dragon.

I wonder if it feels like “Zombie Dragon”.

I’ll have to give it a try, but I can’t imagine how I could win if I were to go head-to-head with it.

I’m really glad it didn’t notice me…

The first thing you need to do is to get a good look at the mass of carrion.

“Is this the boss of this dungeon?” (Rook)

It seems that every dungeon has a boss at the lowest level, and this seems to be the boss.

However, there is something that doesn’t quite add up.

“For now, I should strip off the materials…” (Rook)

However, since the whole body has rotted away, the only usable materials would be bones, claws, and magic stones.

I heard that a dragon’s whole body can be used as material, but that is not the case with the Zombie Dragon.

“I think I’ll purify it for the time being… To the impure, may your soul rest in peace, [Purification]!” (Rook)

I purified the hand of a Zombie Dragon that was nearby.

Then the carrion around the hand was purified and disappeared, leaving only the bones.

I try hitting it with my Mithril Alloy Cudgel.

“Yeah, dragon bones are really strong.” (Rook)

With this, I was able to obtain several claws that looked to be about 50 centimeters long and some hand bones.

After that, I spent about an hour purifying the head and chest area, trying to get materials, but I gave up on ribs and femur-like bones because they were too big, and I gave up on fangs because they were fixed to the skull so tightly that I couldn’t dismantle them.

If I had more time, I would have dismantled it more properly, but the sun has set and it would be problematic to devote too much time to this now.

“To a new world. Open the dimensional door, [Holy Dimension]!” (Rook)

I activate the Holy Dimension and return to my home.

A door opened into space and a white space appeared, and I saw Shion jump out from inside, but then he saw the remains of the Zombie Dragon lying on the ground beside me and he roared in surprise.

“Gyuuu!” (Shion)

“It’s okay. I already defeated it.” (Rook)

Saying that he carried the dragon zombie material into the white space.

I piled up the bones and claws next to the furs that made up my bed and closed off the door to the outside before lying down on the furs.

“Ha~, I’m tired~” (Rook)

“Kyu?” (Shion)

I sighed while stroking Shion and applying [Purification] and [Holy Wind] to the whole body.

I’m really tired today. I’m so exhausted… All I can say is that I’m tired.

Tomorrow I will finally go down to the end of that staircase.

There is probably “something” at the end of that staircase, and that should be the end of everything.

“I should go to bed to prepare for tomorrow. …No, I have to eat something first.” (Rook)

Even though I’m tired, my body won’t be able to hold it if I don’t eat properly.

The first thing to do is to get up and take out the dry food from the bag with the food in it.

“Shion is the dried fruit fine?” (Rook)

“Kyu.” (Shion)

I serve dried fruits to Shion, put dried meat for myself in my mouth, and fill two cups with water with [Water Drop].

I’d like to have at least a table, after all. A table the height of a tea table, which I don’t see in this world, would be nice. But then, wouldn’t it have to be custom-made?

“Alright. Shall we call Lizzy?” (Rook)

“Kyu!” (Shion)

I haven’t been able to call her since I started this expedition to clear the dungeon!

“Heed my call and show me the way [Summon Fairy].” (Rook)

As usual, a magic circle unfolded in exchange for the holy stone, and Lizzy appeared.

“Hello!” (Lizzy)

“Hey, hello!” (Rook)

“Kyu!” (Shion)

I was relieved and soothed by Lise, who smiled at me as usual.

We talked so much that I forgot that I was in a dungeon.

“Heh, so you defeated a bad dragon!” (Lizzy)

“I did. I used my most powerful magic to smash him to death!!” (Rook)

“Kyu!” (Shion)

Shion, who did not participate in the battle, is looking very proud, but is it my imagination?

Well, it’s okay.

“The bones lying right over there are my spoils.” (Rook)

“Oh my~!” (Lizzy)

“You can have it if you want. Oh, sorry! Fairies probably don’t even use dragon bones.” (Rook)

“What!?” (Lizzy)

“—Do you use them…?” (Rook)

I didn’t think there was a demand for dragon bones even in the fairy world. …It’s like, I don’t know, the image is different, or the image bugs me…

“I think the Queen will use it!” (Lizzy)

“Queen, you say…” (Rook)

For some reason, in my head, Lizzy was holding a whip and laughing loudly saying, “Ohohoho!”

…No, it’s most likely not that. Dangerous, dangerous.

Even so, the Queen, huh? how will they use these bones?

“Yeah, you can take whatever you want.” (Rook)

“Thank you!” (Lizzy)

While looking at Lise who was happily rummaging for dragon bones, I decided to ask her a few questions.

“I’m going to try to clear this dungeon tomorrow, could you please pray for me to succeed?” (Rook)

Then Lizzy turned around and said,

“Of course! Rook will be fine!” (Lizzy)

I felt my heart lighten at her words, and I murmured a small “Yes, thank you.”