ch421-ch440 · 425-ch425

Chapter 425: Quetzalcoatl

"It's not even four yet. What do we do?"

And so, a little before four the next afternoon, we stood before the 'Gate to Floor 40.'

Ao-san's question: do we push into Floor 40 now?

It's starting to get dark, but we probably have another thirty minutes......

But the Floor 40 boss is a flier, so it might not come down for quite a while......

"We go."

That's Chiharu-san for you.

"I vote go too."

Yukiya-san as well.

"If we're following the plan, I'm on snake duty down below, yes?"

"The real question is what we do about its magic, isn't it."

The two joining in are raring to go.

We need to film this time too, so Soushi and I are on spectator duty.

Naturally, if it turns into a crisis, we step in.

The Floor 40 boss of this dungeon is predicted to be the Quetzalcoatl—a serpent with bird feathers.

When the 30s floors spawn snake monsters, this is the boss, apparently.

"It's true, no shield role is rough. Thin out the Sand Cobras as much as we can, secure some space, and after that it's just gritting our teeth and dodging, I suppose."

"If Kasumi shoots it down before it casts, there's no problem."

The key to this operation is whether Kasumi-san can shoot the Quetzalcoatl out of the sky.

If it so much as clips a wing......

"With Haruki-kun's skill we can come back whenever we like. If it gets dark, we go home. Shall we try it?"

Soushi and I exchange a look and shrug.

We won't have a part in this.

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"Here it comes! Natsuki-san, 【Dance】!"

Same as Floor 30: I enter Floor 40 as the fifth, then call in Soushi and Aikawa, who had moved over toward the new place.

About five minutes of thinning out Sand Cobras after the start, and—far more anticlimactically than expected—the Quetzalcoatl shows itself.

In the Chiba dungeon it was a valley floor between cliffs on both sides; here, both sides are sand dunes.

You could climb them easily enough, but Sand Cobras lie in wait in the sand.

Anyone without 【Presence Detection】 would have a hard time dashing up.

Anyway, the plan was to clear a space on the flat, sweeping the nearby area—and the boss arrived earlier than planned.

"【Dance・Let's】! Here we go~!"

We gather in front of the camera to refresh the buffs.

Not because "the camera matters even now!"—it's the rally point to get back inside Soushi's fujutsu range.

"【Aiming】【Javelin】!"

The Quetzalcoatl, apparently belligerent to a fault, doesn't hover the way the Manticore did—it comes straight down at us.

And Kasumi-san's thrown spear strikes.

A far sharper whistle through the air than at the Manticore fight.

Ao-san's buffs are riding on it this time.

The spear punches straight through one of the Quetzalcoatl's wings.

But the Quetzalcoatl has four wings.

Balancing on the remaining three, it stops gliding and tries to lift off.

"Chiharu!"

But the distance is closed.

Yukiya-san breaks into a run, Chiharu-san after him.

And then—Chiharu-san leaps off the back of Yukiya-san, who had stopped mid-run.

The sand ruins your footing, so she conquered that by using Yukiya-san as a stepping stone.

"HYAAAAH!"

So high!

The 【Sword Saint】 stats with three people's worth of buffs must have been beyond imagining—she closes right up to the Quetzalcoatl.

And one stroke.

Thump, thump, thump—the first thing down is the Quetzalcoatl.

It had been writhing, so the single 【Dimension Slash】 split it three ways, its body kicking up clouds of sand.

And a beat later, Chiharu-san touches down, light as a feather.

The moment she lands, a Sand Cobra erupts from the ground—also dispatched in one stroke.

Too strong. Lol.

"Yukiya, get back! It's not over!"

The Quetzalcoatl was in three pieces, but there's still presence in it.

Sensing it, Ao-san calls out.

Should I praise the vitality befitting a serpent—or was the 【Dimension Slash】 just too clean a cut?

Every piece keeps writhing and refuses to die, so in the end Yukiya-san wins it by crushing each piece with his hammer, one by one.

"I'm glad that ended without incident. Corpse retrieval, please."

Ao-san, coming to stop the camera, calls out to us.

Zero screen time for us, but no injuries—a good ending.

"Phew. That was tense."

Soushi lets out a breath.

The tension was real, yeah.

"Objective achieved! Yes—!"

Aikawa stretches.

Hey, hey—the adventure isn't over until you're home, you know?

"We can't bring all of it back, right? So—the wings, and then do we skin it or not?"

People will get suspicious.

"I think so, too. But I'd like to give the head to Dr. Amamiya."

"Mmm-mmm-mmm."

Huh?

The scorpion tail on Floor 30 was pretty big too—should we have picked one or the other?

"Let's just get everything into the base for now. Skinning it can wait until tomorrow. The way back looks like it'll leave us with time to spare anyway."

We could make it home in a day if we rushed, but that would be obviously unnatural.

For the alibi's sake, we have to take the slow road back.

"What are you saying? The real thing starts now. If the trip home is short, that just means more time to level up deeper in."

Eh? Going deeper?

The plan was to survey Floor 41 lightly tomorrow and head home......

"Ah, my level went up! Yes! Now I can learn skills!"

Oh? Has Aikawa finally unlocked her 【Idol】 skills?

"Anyway, let's move up to Floor 41. We're staying one night either way. We'll talk it over slowly there."

"Ah, before that, there's something I want to do......"

Set the trick in place, then on to Floor 41.

And that night, I dreamed of high school again......

What is this dream even for?

If I ever see her again, I should ask......