Chapter 71: If Only He Were Always Like This
The dungeon known as the Old Iron Mine was not a particularly recommended area. It had far too many elements that adventurers disliked.
Naturally, the Outsiders, who prioritized either efficiency or entertainment above all else, had abandoned the place. Because of that, every business in the surrounding area had died out.
Popular dungeons usually had various facilities prepared inside them to make it easier to periodically eliminate the monsters that respawned there. However, this place had nothing of the sort.
Moreover, there was no record of anyone ever clearing the dungeon completely. It would not be an exaggeration to say that we were the first people to discover it and set foot inside.
“Modak, you can’t burn everything down in a fit of anger this time, okay? Promise Dad.”
“I know! Who do you think I am, some little kid?”
The man bent down and held out his pinky. Modak grumbled as he hooked his own finger around it.
Looking at him now, who would ever believe that child was actually a fire wolf as enormous as a mountain?
I had seen all sorts of things since becoming involved with the man, but whenever I encountered beings that surpassed common sense, my mind still went blank.
In particular, when Doridorphin and Geujajiki Jin appeared, beings who transcended humanity by an unfathomable degree, I had barely managed to keep myself from losing my mind.
“Hehe. What do you think, Aien?”
“I understand. I saw everything, so stop looking so proud of yourself. What’s so impressive about making him promise to follow a rule everyone else naturally obeys?”
“Even if everyone else does it, it’s something I never used to do. Of course I deserve praise! I’m different from everyone else! Hahaha! Ha!”
“You’re actually proud of that?!”
No matter how I looked at it, the man seemed to enjoy keeping unusual things around him.
These days, the Village Chief had become a fairly healthy old man through regular exercise. But when I first met him, he was so frail that simply standing while holding a spear seemed impressive.
Yet the man suddenly claimed he had seen some kind of potential in him and pulled him over to his side.
When he brought Mallang into our team, I wondered whether he had lost his mind.
Of course, Mallang was a kind monster capable of communicating quite well, so I accepted it without much opposition. Still, I never imagined he would accept Mallang as a regular combatant rather than as a pet or something similar.
As for Revinge, she had attached herself to him of her own accord, so she was an exception. The very existence of an elf named Revinge caused the man so much suffering that she definitely counted as an exception.
Even so, watching him say nothing but things Revinge liked to hear as he somehow tried to tame her and make her useful made me admire his mental strength.
“It looks like there’s no one here. We might be able to have the whole dungeon to ourselves.”
“Miss Lucy, we don’t know how long it’ll take to clear the dungeon. Don’t you have work today?”
“Well, I’m currently unemployed and living off the severance pay the Chairman gave me.”
The man and Miss Lucy exchanged faint smiles, as though they felt a strange sense of kinship.
Then the man turned toward the rest of us.
“Is anyone not ready?”
The Village Chief was absent because he supposedly had some other important business to handle. That meant we could leave as soon as I was ready.
Tsk. What in the world had the man ordered the Village Chief to do this time?
I should have gone with him instead of letting him leave alone. But the man had looked so serious at the time that I had been unable to insist.
“Let’s go in.”
“All right, let’s go!”
That mischievous smile again.
It probably was not something I should say about a man more than ten years older than me, but there was no better way to describe it. He had a somewhat childish side, so the expression suited him perfectly.
The man handed each of us a lantern before taking the lead, as always.
When we were at Haiang Gwe, Revinge had criticized him for doing this several times.
Why are you standing at the very front? Do you want to see me lose my mind?
She made such a fuss over him that it was as though she were watching a baby left alone by the water. Even I had grown sick of it.
Somehow, the man had managed to persuade her, so she no longer complained. However, Revinge, who had no means of attacking other than ranged attacks, still walked ahead of me and stuck closely behind him.
Just watching her made me feel frustrated and uneasy.
She had stubbornly insisted that this was the one thing she would never compromise on. If the man had not shouted at her in annoyance back then, I would have scolded her first.
“Five undead spotted ahead! They’re armed with some pretty good weapons! You’ll be in serious trouble if they cut you, Ingwang!”
“Please, just keep your mouth shut. It makes no sense for undead to be carrying torches. There’s a high chance the ones controlling them are lying in ambush! Everyone, stay alert and watch every direction! Revi! Don’t follow me. Stay here and intercept them! Unless you want me to beat you half to death! Do you understand?”
As always, the man made the first move.
He pulled out the chain that seemed to grow hotter every time he used it and drove it into the ground beneath one of the undead holding a torch.
Using it to move at high speed, he instantly arrived beneath the undead. He leaped into the air and drove his knee into its jaw.
A beat later, I charged in while observing the changes around him. I swung my sword at the neck of an undead that was about to attack the man.
Thud!
I had struck its neck with all my strength, but I failed to cut all the way through.
That left me completely exposed to the undead’s attack.
“It’s tougher than I expected!”
“Yeah!”
Crack! Crunch!
The man climbed onto the shoulders of the undead whose jaw he had shattered and pressed it down with his knee. Then he twisted his body, grabbed the head of the undead that had been about to attack me, and spun through the air.
As he landed on the ground, he twisted the undead’s neck and ripped its head clean off.
Ever since he learned that strange power called Flow, the man’s movements had clearly become smoother.
I had once allowed him to use it on me for practice. It was an extremely useful technique that allowed him to instantly get behind his opponent or make it difficult for them to move.
If I could learn it, I wanted to.
For now, however, I needed to focus on the battle.
Only one of the five had been completely destroyed. There had not been any ambush yet, but these creatures were tougher than expected.
It seemed I would have to use a skill.
“Certain Severance!”
The man always looked at me in disbelief and asked why I shouted the names of my techniques before using them. However, doing so made it much easier for me to concentrate.
Still, shouting the technique’s name told my opponent what I was about to use. I should probably prepare a different battle cry.
“Corrosion. Despair. Incomplete Gigantification. Weight Increase.”
The body of the undead whose neck I had cut began to swell and melt. It crashed into the ground and was crushed like a slime that had lost its core.
That seemed to be Miss Lucy’s magic.
Since we were still not accustomed to fighting together, we had ended up wasting our attacks on the same enemy.
“Oh my, I’m sorry.”
“It’s all right!”
“Mystic Light is ready! Everyone, close your eyes tightly!”
In the narrow mine passage, which was completely engulfed in darkness, Mallang announced that he was about to use a skill capable of illuminating a wide area as brightly as day.
Not understanding what was happening, I turned to look at Mallang.
The man forcibly pushed my head down, allowing me to survive the blinding flash of light without losing my eyesight.
“Kieeeek!”
That was the cry of a goblin.
Just as the man had predicted, there really had been an ambush.
But why had the sound come from so high above us?
I raised my head.
