It was self-evident that he was Esperanza's colleague from the world 13 years later. Just knowing about the existence and content of the quest was proof of that. Unless Cyrus had eyes that could see through others' status windows. But she knew well from long experience that he had no such ability.
However, Cyrus as a person could not be trusted. His track record was too certain to trust him just because he was a ga friend. Cyrus looked at Esperanza pleadingly, but Esperanza didn't even give him a glance.
"Esperanza-nim, your being here is all my fault. Since you're suffering hardships you didn't want due to my carelessness, I can apologize to you as many tis as needed."
Apologies that could be filled with words. They have no aning now.
"Do you have proof?"
"I do. And this proof is also the reason I had to co here."
Cyrus put his hand into thin air. Cider's eyes narrowed. 'Inventory'. He sotis wanted to thoroughly dissect and examine what kind of structure those so-called magicians possessed.
He couldn't do that to Esperanza, but that bear was fair ga.
However, even Cider, who had been dismissing Cyrus with such thoughts, couldn't help but widen his eyes the next mont.
It was large and curved like a beast's fang or claw. Though its identity was unknown, a faint golden light emanated from its smooth body.
It was a very intuitive na.
"It's the Golden Claw."
"...That is?"
"Yes. Esperanza-nim."
Cyrus answered obediently. Had Cyrus obtained the Golden Claw? Had he stolen it from Daria? Then with just that, if she just held that in her hand, she could return ho according to the quest completion conditions?
Her trembling gaze quietly looked up at Cider. He was a little pale. Esperanza hesitated, then tightly grasped his hand. Cold fingertips burrowed between Esperanza's fingers.
It didn't need to be right now. Whether completing the quest by holding that or using the Return Ticket to go ho.
Cyrus, still standing tall in the distance, tightened his grip on the hand holding the Golden Claw when Esperanza's gaze turned to him again.
"The Golden Claw has been explained as sothing that can eliminate dungeons, but it's actually sothing that can create dungeons. You probably already know that dungeons aren't naturally occurring disasters. But that's not a sufficient explanation either. More precisely, the Golden Claw is..."
Cyrus took a step closer. Esperanza tightened her grip on the hand holding the gun. Ready to lift and fire at any mont.
"A spaceti machine. More precisely, it's just a component of one."
At those words, Cyrus took another step closer, and Cider tightened his grip on the hand holding Esperanza's. His gaze was fixed on the body of the Golden Claw. As if he would smash it.
"A spaceti machine... If you have that, you can return, can't you? Why didn't you go back?"
"Because I knew Esperanza-nim was still in this ti period. And using this to return is practically impossible. This is the Golden Claw brought from 13 years later, from 1850. And this..."
For the first ti, a troubled light appeared on Cyrus's expressionless face. He slowly lifted the Golden Claw. With the sharp side facing inward so Esperanza wouldn't feel threatened.
"It's broken."
Ah.
Ah...
"It's not a lie. Would you like to see for yourself?"
Just as Cyrus was about to take another slow step closer, Cider urgently shouted.
"Stop!"
But Cyrus took that step, and unfortunately that spot was exactly where Esperanza and Cider had diligently set traps last night. When impact was applied, the trap released magic power.
It was a minimal amount. Not enough magic power to threaten a person's body. It was rely ant to alert the receivers attached to weapons that there was an intruder at this location. However, the Golden Claw reacted to that small amount of magic power.
"...Oh no."
Cyrus let out a sigh. The Golden Claw vibrated and glowed on its own. Space split open, and monsters began pouring from the sky.
A window appeared before Esperanza's eyes a beat too late.
[Dungeon Occurrence!]
Type: Forest
Grade: B
Danger Level: A
Hunter, we wish you luck!
"...It's a dungeon. Being broken didn't an it wouldn't work."
Cider muttered blankly while looking at the sky. Looking distracted, Esperanza quickly pulled him toward her.
"This is quite a large dungeon. What if the mansion is inside the dungeon too? Should we use it as a base camp? But..."
Long fingers tapped her cheek as if waking her up. Life had returned to her dazed eyes. He asked as if he wasn't worried about the suddenly appeared dungeon at all.
"Are you thinking about not getting caught at this point?"
"No, the people at Mabelwood and Pinent House were people I'd never see again. Whatever they said had nothing to do with ."
Both of them knew it wasn't a complete answer. But Cider didn't point it out.
"Right, it would be sad if people you know died or got hurt."
"Let
check first."
Esperanza raised her gun toward the sky and released magic power in a long stream. Bright blue magic power pierced through the sky. Before reaching the mansion, the magic power left a trajectory as if hitting a barrier.
"...Thank goodness."
"There are private hos on the other side."
"Ugh, why are you only saying that now!"
Esperanza bounced out and released magic power in the opposite direction. Fortunately, the dungeon's scale wasn't that large, as it stopped at the forest's edge without extending to the residential area.
"We're saved."
"It's not entirely good news. A dungeon with A-level danger being this small ans the level of monsters coming out is extraordinary."
Cyrus, who had been watching alongside them, said. A large sword was now in his hand. Just as Esperanza's gun was gigantic compared to conventional ones, so was his sword.
"Esperanza-nim, I'll take the opposite side."
The laboratory to be used as base camp was in the east of the forest. If Cyrus took the west, it would beco much easier. He could sufficiently handle half of this large forest alone.
Even though it was B-grade, a dungeon with A-level danger would be difficult for Esperanza to clear alone. Cider was certainly a combat asset, but she would still have to handle the boss battle alone. It was true that having Cyrus had lowered the difficulty considerably. Though if he hadn't been there, this dungeon wouldn't have occurred in the first place!
"I never thought I'd use these weapons like this."
After confirming Cyrus was heading west, Cider pressed the control board. Then all the top floor windows of the laboratory opened at once and three cannon-like weapons appeared. Of course, their power was incomparable to re cannons.
"I'll go scout and co back."
"Wait."
While Esperanza held her gun and stayed alert to the surroundings, Cider attached wings to Esperanza's back. She tested moving the wings, which had been reduced to about half their original size.
Good.
Esperanza, who glanced at her spread wings, couldn't hide her embarrassnt as she blurted out.
"I'm not worried about you."
At those words, Cider smiled broadly.
"Is that so? I'm worried about you though."
"...Absolutely don't do anything strange and just stay inside the laboratory. I'll be back soon."
It was a dungeon with no ti limit. Even with Cyrus taking half, it would easily take seven or eight hours.
'That ans if I did it alone, at least fourteen hours...'
This is why dungeon solo play isn't fit for humans. I've been doing crazy things all along. But Esperanza was soone who felt exhilaration from such crazy things. Holding a gun in one hand, a smile had already ford on her face as she flew up to tree height.
Her head was complicated anyway, so this worked out well. It's a forest with no people, so let's run wild to our heart's content. Doing so should help sort things out.
??????°??☆????°??????
Wings slightly longer than arm's length were faster than a Hunter's legs. Stepping on trees, she traversed to the opposite side of the forest in an instant.
"Wow, it's really fast."
She had never reached such speeds before, so even she was bewildered. But she couldn't lose control over her body because of that. Esperanza, who had stopped in mid-air, looked down below. Then she dove down into the middle of a monster horde as if falling.
Armored monsters surrounded Esperanza. Faces with only hide showed yellowed teeth. Monster soldiers with scrawny limbs and rusty swords were very quick and trendously strong. They were unaffected even when injured.
'Were these called draugr?'
They weren't monsters she had encountered often. Moreover, being outnumbered, Esperanza was quickly pushed into a defensive position.
A gun definitely won't work.
Thin twin swords appeared in the hand that had been holding the huge rifle. Almost simultaneously with gripping the swords, she kicked the monster behind her and used that montum to roll her body in the air and sever a neck. For this type of monster, instantly ending their life was the only way to subdue them. Since she had often hunted Hydra, which had similar strategies, Esperanza quickly moved skillfully.
[Combat Mode ON]
Combat Disabled 3
Status Abnormalities 0
Deaths 0
Combat disabled, not death.
'I need to burn them.'
She dropped flas on each severed head. Esperanza, who floated in the air stepping on pale faces dripping with fluid, threw her twin swords into her inventory and pulled out her gun again.
Being in the air was absolutely advantageous in combat. The draugr's swords had short range, while Esperanza's gun could pierce through enemies even at great distances.
The gun fired magic power in a long stream. With a bang, a tree with its trunk burst fell, and a draugr's neck was pierced.
[Combat Mode ON]
Combat Disabled 17
Status Abnormalities 0
Deaths 3
The destructive acts seed to pierce through the complicated worries in her head as well. After setting fire to burn all the draugr corpses, Esperanza exhaled and flew high into the sky.
The sky was safe only very briefly. Space tore open and strange birds sward in, chattering their beaks. Blood was already dripping from teeth sharp like those of predators. As if they had co over in the middle of feeding.
"Ugh, what are those things now?"
Even for Esperanza, who had played this ga for seven years, these were creatures she was seeing for the first ti. Still, it was a B-grade dungeon, so they probably weren't trendously threatening monsters.
Esperanza, who wasn't yet accustod to aerial combat, hid her body using trees as cover and shot up into the sky.
Bang, bang. Birds pierced by magic power scread "Gaaaaak" and crashed down. The strange birds with hawk wings paid no heed to their comrades' deaths and instantly snatched up the animals below them, stuffing them into their scrawny bellies.
The blood-stained beaks were eerie. Esperanza frowned and fired magic power deep into the open beak. When the magic power pierced the bird, it crashed down with creaking sounds.
[Combat Mode ON]
Combat Disabled 2
Status Abnormalities 0
Deaths 23
She finished burning the draugr heads that had remained disgustingly alive even after being severed. She had to be extrely careful not to let fire spread through the dry forest. anwhile, strange birds targeted her head several tis. Esperanza swung her gun barrel like a bat and threw the strange bird into the fire pit.
Caaaawk!
The screaming sound of burning alive echoed thunderously through the forest. Esperanza began fighting the strange birds in earnest.
Aerial combat was different from ground combat. Unlike ground battles where you basically only had to consider front, back, and both sides, in aerial combat you had to worry about up and down as well. She deflected claws pouring from above, stepped on and knocked down beaks rushing from below, and sniped birds from all four directions.
It was hectic, but exactly that much fun. It had been a really long ti since combat where she didn't need to worry about what was behind her. A confident smile ford on Esperanza's lips. Licking her dry lips, she enjoyed the standoff with the last strange bird.
[Combat Mode ON]
Combat Disabled 0
Status Abnormalities 0
Deaths 34
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