Chapter 128 – It Was a Race!?

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“Wa-wait, you two!!”

I called out to Mette and Berdos, who were still running deeper into the dungeon.

They were both cutting down the skeletons as if they were mowing through a field.

“If you’re too fast, then Ymir and the others won’t be able to…! Huh!?”

When I turned around, I saw that Ymir and the dwarves were peeling off the stone materials from the walls and then putting them back on.

“Ah, don’t mind us! We’re checking the walls, just like you said! Oh, here it is.”

They had just found a black crystal that appeared to be a trap. They quickly took it and then followed after us.

“They’re incredibly fast too…”

I suppose there was no need to worry after all.

If anything, I should probably be more worried about myself…
I had to keep up with Mette and Berdos, while not letting Ymir and the others catch up to me.

However, a giant golem then appeared in front of Mette and Berdos, as if to block their path.

“Hmph. Berdos! It’s a golem!”
“I know! I’ll destroy the red stone inside… No, I’m supposed to leave it!”
“Aye! I will cut the red stone in half! Berdos, you hit the chest!”
“Argh!”

So saying, Berdos swung at the golem with the blunt side of his axe.

The rocks of the golem began to crumble.

And then Mette jumped inside.

“Haaahh!!”

As Mette swung her blade, the golem’s entire body collapsed.

Mette then turned around and caught the two pieces of red stone as they fell.

“Joshua! Take these!”
“Uh, aye.”

Mette tossed the severed Doll Stone to me, and I put them in storage.

She had cut it cleanly in half, just like Iria had done previously. Now I could use them to create golems.

After that, Mette and Berdos continued to defeat the skeletons and gather Doll Stones from golems.

Berdos muttered as he swung his axe.

“Hmm. However, there are no branching paths at all.”
“If anything, it’s convenient for me! As it’s easy to understand!”

Mette answered as she swung her sword.

As Berdos said, the dungeon was just a single path.
However, from the darkness up ahead, something was charging while swinging a blade.

“Th-that’s…”

While it was vague in the dim darkness, I saw a face that looked like a horrible oni from legend.

In front of this oni, the skeletons and golems faded away, as if they had never existed.

“A monster is coming!!”

Mette shouted.
Berdos also froze while holding his axe in the air.

As for me, I could not move either.

But now that my eyes had adjusted, and due to the oni looking straight at me, I finally realized that it wasn’t actually an oni.

“Th-that’s…Iria!”

She had only looked like an oni because it was dark.
It was just Iria, swinging her sword.

Once Iria was finished defeating the skeletons and golems, she sheathed her sword in front of me.

“Sir Joshua! I-I was so afraid!”

She said as she threw her arms around me.

“Uh, um. I was a little scared myself just now…”

At this, both Mette and Berdos nodded in silent agreement.

“By the way, why are you here?”
“The dungeon we went to before, it is quite small. But the dwarves peeled away some of the walls and found a passage leading to this place.”
“I see. So the two dungeons are connected then.”

I saw then that Melk and the dwarves were coming our way from behind Iria.

Melk then muttered under her breath.

“Iria calmed down. It is scary when Iria is in a bad mood.”
“Oh, but the place was so frightening…and without Sir Joshua, I could not bear it…”

Iria said as she looked up at me with teary eyes.

“S-sorry. But I am glad that it was you. I did not think that we would finish our work here so quickly.”

Even if it was just a straight path, there had been a tremendous number of skeletons and golems. It would have been very difficult for a party of humans. It would have likely taken hundreds of people days to complete. And there would be casualties as well.

But just then, Ymir’s voice rang from behind.

“Joshua! Come quick! It’s connected to a different area! There are stairs leading downwards!!”

When I turned to look, I saw that the wall had opened up, leading to another staircase.

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Seisan Mahoushi no Rakuraku Henkyou Kaitaku - Saikyou no Ajintachi to Howaito Kokka wo Kizukimasu!