"Oooohhh!"
Kara sat up, taking in large sacks of oxygen. She thought she had actually died after the domain exploded.
'I really need to come up with a better spell than [Radio Wave].'
"How are you?"
Ulva said, with her hand extended to the ogress. Kara took her hand with a grin. The girl now looked like how she did originally, only that her hair was black with stripes of white in a horizontal on her head, and her body had grown a bit taller.
"No problem. You good?"
The girl's hands were cold. Not very cold, but they were colder than usual. Kara was able to sense the mana flowing to her hands.
"Yep. Thanks for the help. Now I can do something useful."
"Something useful?"
The little girl ran off at the spectre, covering her blood red claws with ice from [Basic Ice Magic].
She unleashed a barrage of attacks on the spectre, so fast she was a blur. Both she and the spectre clashed and their attacks sent powerful winds out. The spectre threw her away, but she curved her body in a way that she managed to land on the pillar, before jumping back. She bit her palm, letting out droplets of blood.
"[Ulva Original Blood Ice Technique: Iced Blood Splash]!"
'I can now help you Big Siiiisss!!!!'
The blood droplets were frozen, then rained down on the spectre, not giving it any room for escape.
"Aaaagggghhhh!!!"
The spectre scram in pain, then Ulva grabbed the spectre's head and smashed it into the ground. She used her other hand to pierce it in the skull, completely killing it, before she stood back up, breathing heavily.
[Ulva has killed the Floor 2 Dungeon Boss, <<Black Spectre Krollo>>]
[Ulva has received the tile |SPECTRE KILLER|]
[Ulva has received one <<Special Item Box>>]
A spectre puffed up in front of the little girl and was replaced by a silver box.
As curious as she was, she opened it up and picked up a scythe. It had an obsidian black blade, with a skull joining it to a shaft made of hard black bones.
[The Party Member Ulva has received <<Krollo's Skull Scythe>>]
The skull began to vibrate violently in her hands. She couldn't hold it down and it ended up stabbing her palm.
"Eeeeaahhh!"
Pain surged through her veins as a black substance began to eat at her from the arm up.
"Ulva!?"
"Little one!"
They all ran towards the little girl. But when they got there, she just fell on her knees, holding her hand and panting heavily. They noticed that her hand now had a weird black symbol tattooed on it.
[<<Krollos' Skull Scythe>> has formed a blood pact with the Party Member Ulva]
[Dungeon Conquest: [Ground Floor/ Floor 1 (Completed by servants)]
[Second Floor (Completed by servants)]
---------------------------------
[Ulva has entered the 3rd Dungeon Floor]
[Aeri has entered the 3rd Dungeon Floor]
[Kara has entered the 3rd Dungeon Floor]
[Kawaii has entered the 3rd Dungeon Floor]
[Hyakkiyako has entered the 3rd Dungeon Floor]
The five looked around the place. There was basically nothing around. It was just one long dark path.
"Um, so we just proceed?"
Aeri asked.
"Are you sure, that's a good idea? This place could be riddled with traps and stuff."
Kara suggested.
"But what else can we do? It's not like we can go back up right now."
"True, but still… Let me activate a magic spell of mine."
"Huh? Why?"
"So that I can see traps coming."
"How?"
"My [Radio Wave] puts up a field of lightning fifteen meters wide around me, which also gives me absolute awareness in this field. Nothing happens without me knowing."
"You have something like that and aren't using it always, why?"
"I-I can't use it for long."
"Huh? What was that?"
Aeri brought her ears closer to the ogress.
"I-I can't use it for long. It drains too much out of me, mentally."
"Eh?"
"And I also won't be able to move in that state."
"You won't be able to move?"
"Yes, so you will have to carry me. Sorry to be a bother."
"Why can't you move?"
"It's just really hard to keep my concentration up and move, alright?"
"Fine, fine. Just create the spell already."
"Give me a moment."
She unwrapped her robes, revealing a light undergarment covering her chest. She breathed in, then spread out her hands. The tomb echoed with her chanting as her hands started to move about in weird arcs. Before long, a rune was formed in front of her. She opened her eyes and grabbed the rune in her left hand.
A blue wave spread on the ogress' skin, from the hand to the head to the feet. Although invisible to the average eye, a barrier of lightning had encased the trio.
‘Ok, I’m done.’
Aeri heard a voice in her head. She then picked up the ogress with her free hand.
“It’s going to be a pain in the ass fighting while holding you. So if a battle comes, I’ll try dropping you off somewhere safe. Other than that, the little kid will be protecting you.”
‘That bodes well with me, but she seems a bit down.’
This made Aeri look at Ulva. She was constantly pacing up and down in tiny steps with Kawaii in her hands. The Battle God shrugged and smiled.
"Hey little one. You've been awfully quiet. You want to sit on my shoulder?"
Ulva looked at Kawaii then nodded.
"Then get on."
She easily jumped on to the battle god's shoulder, and the Halfling marched forward.
The next hour was spent with Aeri running non-stop, avoiding all sorts of projectiles and enemies. If it were anyone else they would have died from pure exhaustion or the numerous lethal traps that came out of the strangest of places.
"Damn it! I thought you said the spell gave you absolute awareness."
Aeri fell on her knees, covered in weird substances and having poisoned daggers and spears sticking out. Her blood flowed from her open wounds which were slowly healing. She set down all those she carried and let out a heavy sigh.
"S-sorry! There was so much information coming in, I couldn't process it and I ended up being unable to do anything. The person who created this dungeon anticipated someone who could predict traps."
Kara apologized as she put back her coat, profusely rubbing her hands and bowing.
"Ah, forget about it. That swamp trap almost had me bad. I could have lost a leg."
Aeri grabbed a weird blade that was in her leg. It had a chain around its edge and smelled of gasoline. And there was that weird whirring sound it made as it cut into her leg earlier on. To stop it she squeezed her leg muscles to the point the blade simple couldn’t move anymore.
"I am so sorry! Please forgive me once again! Eek!"
Kara yelped when the weird blade fell right next to her.
“Yeah, yeah. Whatever. It’s not like this is the worst thing to have happened to me.”
"Um… you guys?"
Ulva tried to draw their attention to something, but their loud voices overshadowed hers.
"Then there was that thing with the magic crystals. Those could have just exploded and killed us all."
"S-sorry!"
"Then there the grand ice explosion. I think a shard or two got into my butt."
"S-sorry!"
"Would you two stop fighting already!?"
The two paused their argument and then looked at the dhampyr. It must have taken a lot for her to leave her comfort zone and scream at them.
"What is it?"
"Those orbs. What are they?"
Ulva pointed at the far end, where yellow orbs glowed. Aeri and Kara strained their eyes to see the item, and Kara took a step back after realizing what it was, whereas Aeri simply grinned uncomfortably.
"Ulva, those are not orbs."
[Dungeon Boss <<Mecha Minotaurus>> has spawned]
"W-what are they?"
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The whole tunnel began to tremble. A powerful dust wave came from the end of a tunnel, followed by a horrific sound.
"MOOOOOOOO!!!!"
As the orbs drew closer heavy quaking footsteps could be heard, their frequency only increasing by the second.
"It's a-"
The silver creature jumped out of the darkness and landed right in front of the girls. White steam puffed out of its nostrils, followed by the clinking and clanking of gears.
"A minotaur!? Father told me stories about these creatures! Ha! Now I can kill one!"
Aeri grew to her thirty feet tall form and jumped at the minotaur immediately with barely any consideration for her injuries. The bullheaded creature also jumped, its horns whirling around on its mechanical head like drills.
"An automaton?"
Kara immediately recognized it. The creature definitely wasn't a living being. Just an automaton made to look like a minotaur. The sheer size of the
"These guys are… M-madam Aeri! Be careful! It's not a living thing! It is an automaton!"
"Ha! Leave this to me!"
Aeri then delivered a powerful punch to the Minotaur's head, but her punch deflected off its head, leaving her in a state of shock, right before the minotaur's horn pierced her shoulder.. And it smashed her into the ground, shaking the entire tomb.
