Ankoku Kishi Monogatari ~Yuusha wo Taosu Tameni Maou ni Shoukansaremashita~

Sahoko was starting to lose her cool.

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「How dare that shitty minotaur!! So he’s just been pretending to be docile all this time huh.」

Reiji seems to be extremely vexed at the news.

「Indeed but… I think it’s strange for Zuun to lie about that.
We found out that he wasn’t lying when we questioned him before while using Rino’s lie detector magic after all.」

I also felt that something was off regarding this matter since we knew that Zuun didn’t lie to us.
In fact, the treatment he received here was even more horrible compared to the humans who lived in this city so he should have no idea about how to get out of the 5th floor.
Plus, I don’t think he can lie to us in front of Rino’s magic.
Besides, I couldn’t find a reason for such a kind and gentle minotaur to do such a thing.
Despite only having known him for an extremely short period of time, I already regard him as our friend.

「Look at the facts, Chiyuki.
I don’t know what would’ve happened to Euria if we hadn’t come quickly to save her.
Since he told us not to leave this labyrinth, that means we only have to go down and go after that guy!!」 [TL : Haah, maybe this guy’s brain is located in his d1ck]

Reiji spoke confidently, flashing a daring smile on his face.
He couldn’t abandon a damsel in distress, and at the same time, he wanted us to go along with him.

「Then, do you know the way he took to go down to the floor below? I mean, we really have no leads about that.」

We, who had no idea as to how to get down to the floor below, had no choice but to stay on this floor till we could figure out a solution.
But, if we didn’t leave this place soon, the barrier might be erected again.
If that were to happen, it wouldn’t be just Euria that would be in trouble.
The rest of us would end up in a similarly dangerous situation too.

I felt bad for Euria, but everyone’s lives were far more important than that of a single person.
We should abandon her right now.

「That might have been true before, Chiyuki-san, but it seems we can go down to the floor below from the bottom of the lake.」

Nao, who stood by my side, spoke up.

「The bottom, of the lake?」

There’s a giant lake on the 5th floor.
Does it mean that we can go to the next floor from the bottom of that lake?

「Yes, no doubt about it.
My perception ability has recovered after all.
Rino-chan has also confirmed it that the water of that lake was flowing toward its bottom.」

「Nao-chan is right, Chiyuki-san.
I’ve confirmed that the lake’s water was flowing toward its bottom, and continued further below.」

I guess there’s no mistaking it if both Nao and Rino said so.
I looked over to Reiji.

「Then, I guess we’ve no choice but to save Euria.」 [TL : D1ck brain]

「Haah… It finally came to this huh… let’s go to save her then.
Can you two tell Shirone and co about this matter for us.」

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Euria’s attendants nodded expressionlessly as I instructed them so before proceeding to send them with teleportation magic.
Thus, this left me, Nao, Reiji, Rino, Sahoko alone on this floor.

「Let’s GO!!」

We started making our way towards the lake.

◆Black Haired Sage; Chiyuki

We arrived at the lake located just outside of Uz.

「So, the bottom of this lake will led us to the next floor, right?」

「Yesh, Chiyuki-san.
The water is flowing toward its bottom, falling even further down.」

Nao replied to my question.

It was the lake we’d visited during our previous picnic.

The 5th floor had similar brightness as it was above ground despite being underground.
This was thanks to the bright luminescence emanating from the giant crystal hanging down from the ceiling of this floor.

The lake’s water was clear and its surface sparkled like a sea of stars, reflecting the light of the artificial sun.
There’s no way a stagnant lake could have such clear water.
Seeing this place with my own eyes, I knew that the lake’s water was definitely flowing to another place.
The reason we didn’t investigate this important fact earlier was because I’d felt it was too risky to dive into the lake when Nao and Rino’s abilities were still sealed.

Rino, whose ability to control spirits was sealed before, hadn’t been able to fight underwater.
Thus, we still had yet to check inside of the lake.
We couldn’t act recklessly by forcing Rino just because we wanted to leave this place.

「Come forth, Kelpie-san.」

Rino summoned several Kelpies, a mid rank water spirit.

Following her command, the lake’s water swelled up, followed by the appearance of grey horse-like beings whose numbers equaled our own.

「Everyone, Let’s go.」

Reiji mounted a Kelpie to ride it, followed by the rest.
Once everyone was situated, the horse-like water spirit dove under the water.

The Kelpie was a terrifying spirit that would drag everyone who rode on its back into the depths of the water.
But, since we’d already cast magic that would allow us to breathe and act freely underwater, we didn’t have to worry about drowning.

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Following Rino’s orders, the Kelpies continued to five further towards the floor below.
The inside of the lake was bright thanks to the several spots of light that appeared every now and then.
There were also many fish we passed by that were swimming around freely in the lake.

Thinking about it now, they’ve served us a carp-like fish for our meal before.
That carp was in fact often eaten as an inland-type seafood by the people who lived in the inland area, so it wasn’t limited to this labyrinth.
They also had strong vitality and could even survive for a while after being hauled out of water.
The most popular way to eat them wasn’t to eat them as sashimi, but rather most recipes involved mincing their flesh and mixing it with vegetables and herbs.
Thanks to the varieties of the herbs used, it eliminates their earthy smell and tastes quite good.

My mind wandered a bit thinking about the fish as we advanced through the blue field, passing by the schools of fish swimming by once in a while.

「Everyone Halt!!」

Nao suddenly stopped everyone.

Realistically speaking, we shouldn’t be able to talk underwater water, but communication magic made it possible.

「Is something the matter, Nao-chan?」

Sahoko asked with an anxious voice.

「There’s something huge ahead of us.」

When I looked into the direction she was pointing at, I saw something huge was moving at the bottom of the lake.

「Woaaah, it’s giant turtle~」

Rino spoke cheerfully at seeing the form of the huge creature moving.

Just as she’d said, that huge thing was none other than a giant turtle.
And yet, the head that came out from its point-shaped shell was similar to that of a lion.
I could make out the lines of a huge tusk in its mouth.

It wasn’t just your normal everyday turtle.

「It isn’t a turtle, Rino-san.
It’s called Tarrasque.」

I declared it.

The thing Rino called a turtle was a Tarrasque, a dragon type demon beast.
We’d met a Tarrasque once before.

Normally, it lives in the jungle near Eldia kingdom, a large kingdom located south of the Holy Republic Lenaria.
We were the ones who’d subjugated that Tarrasque, but the one we’d brought down before was on land, while the one before us is underwater.

The Tarrasque was a ferocious and carnivorous demon beast.
It could enter the state of pseudo death and survive for a few hundred years without eating anything.
The Tarrasque before us might have just woken up from its sleep.
It seems that our presence woke it up from its slumber.

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The Tarrasque opened its mouth and before rushing towards us to attack.

But, it couldn’t catch us who rode on kelpies.
We scattered to dodge Tarrasque’s attack and then gathered again at one location.

The Tarrasque was really slow, and that fact didn’t change even in the water.

The Tarrasque would take quite a lot of time to change its course.

「Well, maybe we have to defeat it then.」

Reiji was looking at everyone’s face.

No one had a second opinion.

The Tarrasque was a kind of monster with an absurdly high defense.
It’s a demon beast that was born from the union between a mid rank fire spirit, Bonakon, and a Sea Dragon King of Blue Scale, inheriting both fire and water resistance.

We should be able to defeat it by using lightning element attacks, but that would mean we would get zapped too since we were underwater along with it.
In addition, its extremely tough shell invalidated almost all physical attacks.
It was the kind of opponent we could beat but it would take a long time to do so.That was why no one had a second opinion.

「Let me try.
Please protect everyone.」

I guess everything is up to me now.

I rode my Kelpie towards the Tarrasque to approach it while taking out six cards with runes inscribed on them from my bosom pocket.
These cards allowed me to use any kind of magic engraved on its surface.

The Tarrasque, which had finally changed its course, went towards me this time.

I ordered my Kelpie to dodge right just as the Tarrasque had almost reached us.
Before we dodged, I threw my cards into the Tarrasque’s mouth.
The cards sliced through the water and successfully entered the Tarrasque’s mouth.

「Now Reiji-kun! Attack the Tarrasque with your full power!!」

I shouted the instructions at Reiji.

「Roger that, Chiyuki!!」

Reiji’s light bullets rained down upon the Tarrasque without mercy.

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In response, the Tarraque pulled back its limbs and head back into its shell immediately.
All of the light bullets were repelled by the Tarrasque’s tough shell.

But this was all going according to my plan.

I invoked the card that was swallowed by the Tarrasque.

The magic cards can be activated from anywhere and anytime that I wanted and no barrier could interrupt this activation.

As I triggered the activation for the card, a small shock wave generated inside the lake with the Tarrasque at its center.
The Tarrasque that had previously pulled in its limbs and head into its shell was now floating upside down in its spot.

The cards that the Tarrasque has swallowed were loaded with hundreds of air bullets each.
Since the Tarrasque swallowed six of them, the inside of its body was destroyed by the sudden onslaught it couldn’t defend against.
Additionally, thanks to the Tarrasque being so kind as to hide in its shell, the violent bullets of air were limited to the inside of the Tarrasque’s shell without affecting us whatsoever.
Everything had gone according to my plan.

I hadn’t heard anything regarding this Tarrasque from the citizens of Uz.
More than likely, this Tarrasque had been sleeping at the bottom of this lake for a very long time, maybe hundreds of years.
It might’ve been placed in this place to kill anyone who tried to go to the floor below and it was probably why it woke up when we came to this place.

I’m sure that it was sleeping because it was hungry for a very long time.

「I wonder what became of its stomach now?」

I couldn’t help but laugh at the condition of the Tarrasque now.

「Splendid.」

Reiji came to my side.

「As expected of Chiyuki-san.」

「That turtle-san is no match for you.」

「That’s amazing, Chiyuki-san.
Now we can go to the next floor.」

Everyone offered their praise for me.

「Let’s get going.」

Having taken care of the obstacle, we continued towards the bottom of the lake, and then further below to the next floor.