ALL NOVEL Chapter 125
125. Infiltration! Ash Dungeon!
Night fell, and I went to pick up Raize from her house and summoned the Warp Slime.
When we arrived at the entrance of the Ash Dungeon on time, Fran and Laura were waiting there.
“Good evening, Onii-san!”
“You two are early. Thank you for staying up late, Fran.”
“I’m sleepy, but if I don’t come, Onee-chan will get lost!”
Laura stood up from a rock nearby and faced me.
“You said earlier, ‘I’ve come to free you.’ But I have no intention of being saved by someone like you, nor am I in any trouble.”
“What’s with the sudden…”
“…If you truly intend to free me, prove it with your strength. I’ll be relying on you inside the dungeon, Alcus.”
With that, Laura walked towards the dungeon entrance.
Did she just call me by my name…? I think that’s the first time.
While I was puzzled, Fran came up and whispered in my ear.
“Despite how she acts, Onee-chan acknowledges you guys. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have woken up at this hour.”
I was surprised. I thought her tone meant she was picking a fight.
Laura can be misunderstood because of her choice of words and stiff expressions, but she’s not a bad person.
Thinking that, the tension that had been gripping me seemed to ease. I smiled at Fran.
“We’re heading in.”
“Alright. Take care, Onii-san!”
The three of us entered the Ash Dungeon, which gaped open like a nocturnal beast.
“Now that we’ve entered, what next? Should I lead the way?”
“If you lead, it’ll be a disaster. This is my specialty, so leave it to me!”
I summoned as many slimes as I could and had them explore the dungeon.
“Slimes? Really?”
“My skill allows me to summon slimes. Of course, I have other abilities too, but this makes exploring the dungeon easier.”
“What!? You have even more now!?”
Raize exclaimed in surprise at the countless slimes moving around her feet.
Oh right, she didn’t know I could now summon 100 slimes. Compared to before, the number of slimes has drastically increased.
Not only are there many slimes, but each one’s level is quite high, so they won’t lose to the shallow floor monsters.
The slimes fight enemies and report when they find stairs. We progressed to the lower layers without doing much ourselves.
By the time we descended the stairs, slimes ahead had already found the stairs to the next floor, making it feel like a maze with a known goal.
In less than an hour, we had descended about 20 layers.
“Who knew dungeon crawling could be this easy.”
At the 22nd layer, Raize, seemingly bored, remarked.
Even though we had to fight some monsters here, it was still much easier than previous attempts.
We were in far better condition than when we reached the 25th layer last time. At this pace, reaching the 43rd layer seemed achievable.
“These slimes are amazing. Even the exploration team couldn’t progress this smoothly.”
Laura commented, cutting down approaching monsters with her sword.
But we couldn’t let our guard down. Soon, we’d face our first major challenge.
After some time, we descended three layers in 20 minutes.
We reached the 25th layer.
“ROOOAAAR!!”
“It’s here! Just as I thought!”
The 25th layer’s floor boss, the Minotaur. Its massive body was unchanged from that day.
Its roar echoed through the dungeon, shaking the walls violently.
“That thing won’t go down easily! Be on guard, both of you!”
“I don’t need you to tell me that! Stay back!”
Laura gripped her sword tightly and charged at the Minotaur alone.
“Wait! Don’t go alone!”
“Hold on, Raize!”
Stopping the raging Raize, I watched Laura.
Her sword gleamed white. That bird-like movement—it’s that!
“
Laura leaped high, raising her sword skyward, then swung down with full force.
The dungeon shook with a force greater than the Minotaur’s roar, and a fierce tremor reverberated.
As Laura’s sword slash flew toward the Minotaur, a vertical gash appeared on its body.
The gash widened, and as the white light expanded, it consumed the Minotaur’s body.
“ROOOAAAR!!”
The light exploded, and the Minotaur fell backward with a scream.
“No way… Is this real…”
I was shocked. Not because I couldn’t believe my eyes, but because I reaffirmed Laura’s greatness.
This is the top of the exploration team. Laura Hansten.
As we were overwhelmed by her strength, Laura sheathed her sword and walked towards us.
“Let’s rest for a bit ahead.”
“Rest? There are still monsters below, right?”
Laura’s suggestion seemed odd to me.
“You haven’t been past here, have you? Follow me. I’ll show you why this is called the ‘Ash’ Dungeon.”
With that, Laura walked towards the stairs leading down.