ALL NOVEL Chapter 53
The Villainous Noble Who Kept Rewinding After Death: The Story Somehow Changed When I Committed Suicide
Chapter 53: Preparations
About twenty minutes after the men entered the boss room, the door finally opened.
“Did it really take you 20 minutes?”
Up until now, other adventurers had taken an average of about 10 minutes, but those guys seemed to have finished off the boss in double the time.
“Please don’t tell me someone died?”
I glanced around, half-expecting a body to be sprawled out, but fortunately, there were none.
As we entered the room, the door swung shut again, and a crab monster appeared before us.
It stood over 5 meters tall just from being upright, and I couldn’t even guess how massive it was with its legs extended.
Its claws were gigantic, and the other legs sported sharp points that looked like they could cause serious harm.
“Let’s do this as usual. Fiera will handle melee, and I’ll support with magic while dodging those leg attacks,” I said.
“Understood.”
Fiera dashed towards the enormous crab as soon as she finished hearing the plan, using her body enhancement skills.
The crab thrust its many legs at her like spears, trying to impale her, but it looked like she could see the future, dodging all of them effortlessly.
(Thought so yesterday too, but she’s really improved since the last time.)
Just like how I grew significantly from battling the Forest King, Fiera seemed to have climbed to another level from her fight against the Queen Bee.
“Looks like she won’t need my help after all.”
I had been poised to jump in if she got caught off guard, but she looked so composed that I could relax and watch.
“Alright then, I’ll do what I can! ‘Rock Sword!’”
I conjured four massive rock swords behind me and sent them flying toward the crab.
I aimed for the joints near its legs; though a crab’s body looks tough everywhere, the joints are softer since they need to move.
“Fiera!”
As the four rock swords impaled the crab’s leg joints, I signaled her.
Ducking under the crab’s leg attacks, Fiera jumped into the air and, with a clenched fist, struck the swords embedded in the crab’s joints.
The swords, which hadn’t pierced deep, sank in further with her strike, severing its leg at the root.
Enraged, the crab slammed its giant claws towards Fiera in midair, but before it could, I created a foothold underneath her, allowing her to kick off it and dodge.
I continued to create footholds, and she darted through the air and on the ground, cutting off the other three legs similarly.
Now balanced with only four legs left, the crab was staggering, barely holding itself up, and if it lost another leg, it would topple over.
But still, despite being in such a position, the crab followed the dungeon’s orders and tried to crush us with its huge claws.
“I’m impressed by your persistence, but it’s over now. ‘Rock Greatsword!’”
I crafted an even larger sword blade right beneath the crab, and Fiera jumped high, spinning to deliver a crushing heel drop.
With its legs diminished, the crab couldn’t withstand the impact and got skewered on the greatsword.
Despite its efforts to keep fighting until the end, being impaled by a massive sword was a bit too much, and the crab vanished, dropping a magic stone and items.
“Looks like it dropped something. Let’s see…”
I collected the magic stone and items that fell and quickly appraised what they were.
“Crab Costume (Hand). No special effects. When worn, it looks like a crab. What the heck…”
The item resembled gloves with crab claws attached, two of them for both hands. Just as I appraised, it turned out to have no abilities whatsoever—a perfect piece of trash gear.
“Alright. Fiera, I’m giving this to you.”
“I don’t want it. El can use it.”
“I don’t want it either. Besides, isn’t this the perfect gear for you, Fiera? Wouldn’t you want to fight in this?”
“It’s annoying.”
The poor crab costume ended up being shelved due to Fiera’s blunt remark.
(I’ll probably sell it later.)
Maybe there’s a brave soul out there collecting this kind of set, and I tucked it away in my magic bag with a prayer for it to reach someone.
After that, we headed down to the 11th floor, stepped into a teleportation magic circle, and finished our dungeon run for the day.
Two days had passed since defeating the boss on the 10th floor and enjoying a holiday. Today, we were back to tackle the dungeon.
After resting in an inn until noon yesterday, our craving for crab led us to a restaurant where we satiated our desires with crab hot pot.
Consequently, we were more motivated than usual for dungeon diving today and progressed at a faster pace than our previous attempts.
The monsters emerging from the 11th floor were sirens and mermen. The sirens had fish lower halves and bare upper bodies, whereas the mermen were men wearing fish headgear and wielding spears.
The sirens attacked from a distance with songs that buffed the mermen and cast sleep and charm on us. The mermen took advantage of their enhanced physical abilities granted by the sirens to attack with their spears.
The first time a siren showed up, Fiera strangely told me to close my eyes, and I ended up taking it out in the meantime.
The glimpse I caught of the siren was indeed beautiful; with a naked upper body, it was no wonder all the men would be captivated.
(But I really don’t want to be lumped in with the other guys…)
Even though I was following Fiera’s instructions and closing my eyes whenever a siren appeared, I sensed a monster behind me with my detection magic. Without hesitation, I cut it down with my sword.
That monster turned out to be a siren, and witnessing me kill it without mercy, Fiera looked relieved, and from then on, she allowed me to join the combat.
With that rhythm, we pushed through and reached the 15th floor in about two hours.
“Once we reach the teleportation magic room, let’s take a short break.”
“Got it.”
After exploring a bit of the 15th floor, we arrived at the room with the teleportation magic circle and stepped inside.
This area was the so-called safe zone, where monsters couldn’t enter.
Because of that, many adventurers would rest here before continuing their dungeon runs based on how fast they proceeded.
Once we entered, we found already two party teams resting, one of which was the harem party that had bothered us yesterday.
(Looks like they really pushed themselves to get here.)
The male member showed signs of wear, with his gear dented and dirty, and the female magician’s robe was full of holes and rips.
The other two weren’t unscathed either, both looking exhausted with cuts and fatigue.
However, seeing us enter, the male tried to put on a brave face and pretend he wasn’t tired, but it seemed his fatigue hadn’t miraculously disappeared, and he didn’t approach us.
(Hmm. It looks like we can take our time resting here.)
While observing the men, I noticed they began whispering among themselves, huddled together.
We didn’t particularly concern ourselves with that, and after resting for about 15 minutes, we left the teleportation magic room and resumed our dungeon exploration.
“Looks like they’re following us.”
“Yup. Totally obvious.”
It seemed their earlier discussions were about quietly trailing us to make their dungeon venture easier.
“Fiera, are you any good at acting?”
“I’ve never tried, but I’ll do my best.”
“Alright. From here on out, let’s take it a bit easy. Meanwhile, I’ll look for hidden rooms.”
“Got it.”
Fiera understood my succinct direction and nodded affirmatively before stepping ahead of me.
I left the oncoming enemies to Fiera, expanding the range of my detection magic and magical perception to search for any hidden rooms.
“Found one! Fiera, take the next path to the right, please.”
“Understood!”
Having located a hidden room, I subtly signaled Fiera while pretending to struggle against the monsters we encountered, heading towards the hidden room.