n

nChapter 39 – Defense Specialized and Crystal Cave

n「Well then… if there’s a safety area or not…」

nSally whispered.

nSally realized that she is starting to lose her concentration.

nIt is not strange if a fatal mistake would occur anytime.

nAnd, the meaning of Sally who was in charge of reconnaissance having a mistake means the death of everyone.

n「I need to do my best…」

n*PechiPechi*, she slapped her cheeks, tries to regain her spirits and heighten her hearing.

n「I hear a faint sound from the left. There isn’t any problem to the right」

nThe other two tried to hear it, but they couldn’t hear it at all, hidden by the sound of the ground shaking.

nIt seems like they could not act as a subst.i.tute for her.

n「Let’s hurry, it would be bad if it appears on the right」

n「Ahh, I got it」

n「Un, let’s go!」

nThe three of them advanced to the right path with a fast pace.

nThe appearance of the snail wasn’t there, and they were able to advance deeper.

nIf they had advanced to the left, at that time, they would have been found by the snail.

nSally’s reconnaissance had barely not lost its effects.

nAdvancing for a while, the three ended up in a dead end.

nHowever, it was not completely a bad thing.

n「Something’s there!」

nThe place where Kasumi was pointing at was a large purple crystal.

nAnd as if it was sealed within it, there was an old key and a cherry blossom shaped earring.

nWhen the three approached it, that purple crystal had an HP Bar.

nIt means, it is possible to destroy it.

n「It’s likely that we need the key… I think that we should take it…」

n「Un, I think so too」

n「Then… I’ll do it」

nKasumi drew her katana and made a stance.

n「【Fourth of the Blades・Whirlwind】!」

nShe slashes twice upwards and twice downwards.

nThe high-speed consecutive attacks. .h.i.ts the crystal as if it was sucked into it.

nThe crystal was not able to endure those consecutive attacks, *Parin*, it broke together with the sound of a gla.s.s breaking.

nKasumi picks up the key and earring that fell to the ground and checked it.

n「The key……it doesn’t have a description. The earring is just an equipment. It doesn’t seem like it has something to do on how to escape from here」

nShe said that, and let the other two check it.

n「Un, it really seems so」

n「The key… where should we use it?」

n「Who knows…? For the meantime, this earring will be Kasumi’s」

nSally gave the earring to Kasumi.

nAfter that, they talked for a while, and the key was also given to Kasumi.

n「Well then… let’s continue exploring」

nThis place was a dead end, it doesn’t have a place to runaway to.

nThe three moved back to where they came from in a hurry.

nAnd, what the three found after turning back and continue exploring for a while was a side hole near the ceiling.

nThat thing that was in the middle of the pathways was something that they did not see before.

nIt was natural for the three to think that there is something inside that.

n「That, can we enter it?」

n「U〜n……I think that we can’t reach it using【Leap】…」

n【Leap】was n

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not enough to enter that side hole placed 10 meters from the ground.

nAnd when the three was thinking, that time.

n「………wait, be quiet! …it came!」

nSally had heard the *GuchoGucho* sounds with her ears.

nOn top of that, it was coming from both sides.

n「I was cautious to not get in the middle!」

nThey were not caught in the middle not once up until now, the chances of meeting them were slim from the start, and Sally had completely read their positions.

nThe sounds where the sounds of the ground shaking were coming from, she had guessed their distance from them using that, and she was able to choose the best pathway.

nAnd right now, that crumbled for the first time.

nShe had read wrongly the movement of one snail.

n「We can only enter through that hole…!」

n「Sally, use【Leap】! I’ll do something about the rest!」

nThere was already no time on hearing what Kasumi was planning.

nThe snails have appeared from both sides.

n「【Leap】!」

nSally prayed that they might have reached it, but it was really not enough, counting the weight of additional two people.

n「【Third of the Blades・Lone Moon】!」

nKasumi’s body accelerated mid-air.

nBeing supported by the system, Kasumi’s body launched upwards.

nOf course, pulling the two with her.

nKasumi’s body spins once in the air leaving the effect of the slash, and fell while advancing forward.

nThat was just exactly where the hole was.

nThe three plunged into the hole as if to roll in it. Sally immediately checked the snails below.

nThe snails tried to spurt out their sticky liquid, but it seems like it couldn’t reach them.

n「Doesn’t seem like they have ways to come up… I think」

nSally was relieved, fell to the ground and leaned her back on the crystal wall.

n「Haha… thank goodness it worked……」

n「Thanks, Kasumi. We couldn’t reach it with just my【Leap】」

n「Un! It was amazing!」

n「The time of getting stiff when Lone Moon misses is very long, you know……if we couldn’t reach it, I wouldn’t have been able to move and we’d get defeated by the snails… it was also a gamble for me」

nHer gamble paid off.

nThanks to that, the three were able to have their long awaited break.

nThe hole wasn’t large enough for the snail to enter.

n「It’s also good to rest, but… would you like to take a glance ahead? There’s no guarantee that there would be no other monsters…」

n「………I guess so. That should be good too. I have completely thought that there are only snail monsters here」

n「Un, I also agree with that」

nThe three agreed.

nThe three stood up, and advanced through the hole.

nThe hole was connected to a circular hall.

nIt was about 5 meters away from the ground, and the room has six pathways.

nJust looking from far away, one can tell that it was high enough for a snail to pa.s.s through.

nAnd, about right ahead of the hole the three were in, there was a wall with a door.

nIts size was 2 meters high.

nIt wasn’t a giant door for boss rooms up until now.

n「Is that the exit?」

n「Wait a second. 【Far Vision】! ………there is a keyhole. Most probably, the key earlier should be for that. I’m sure that there’s something in there」

n「Then……you wanna go? There isn’t any sound of snails coming from the paths too」

n「Really?」

n「Are you sure?」

nBeing told by the two, Sally checked again with her ears.

nShe couldn’t hear the sounds coming from any pathways.

nShe listened carefully for several minutes, but in the end, she couldn’t her the sounds of the snails.

n「It’s alright. I couldn’t hear anything」

n「Then……let’s go」

n「Un, let’s do that」

nThe three jumped down to the ground.

nMaple and Kasumi trust Sally’s reconnaissance ability.

nSally have absolute confidence in her own ability.

nAnd there was no mistake from the answer that she had using that ability.

nThere were no snails coming from the pathways, noーーthere was no monsters at all.

nHowever, as a conclusion.

nThey should have really taken a break in the hole they were before.

nThey didn’t notice that their thinking had narrowed.

nThat’s right.

nThe three did not think that the environment would change as soon as they go down at all.

nThe crystal grew at a fast pace, blocking the hole.

nAnd from all the pathways, they started to hear that sound.

nThat disgusting *GuchoGucho* sound.

n「T-This is bad!」

n「What should we do!」

n「Let’s run for it! That’s all we can do!」

nMaple was fully equipped right now.

nHowever, they have no time to wait for her to remove her equipments. The snails had already started to crawl out of the pathways.

nThe distance to the door was 25 meters.

nIt was not a significant distance, but the three felt like it was so far away.

n