Chapter 82: Avsdrakdu Ruins ④
The elevator doors opened, revealing a corridor.
I took the lead, with Miles-san in the middle and Juicy-san bringing up the rear.
Miles-san was wearing a white coat over a white top and a black skirt.
At her waist was a black pouch and a self-defense knife. I see—good equipment.
She also carried a small metal staff. She possessed a relic of the water attribute, 【Water】.
“Hm. There are some here.”
On this floor, red dots were scattered here and there.
I took out my Elixir Kukri Knife.
Spears are hard to use in narrow corridors and indoors.
And whatever was here was probably zombies anyway.
Sure enough, two zombies came at us from the front. I cut them down swiftly.
The zombies were purified.
“S-s-such an amazing weapon…”
“It’s a special make with an anti-undead effect.”
However, if it’s coated with elixir, it stops cutting properly.
That’s its one and greatest flaw.
We took down about four zombies like that, then turned a corner—only to find the way ahead collapsed.
“Uwaa…”
“Um, woof. It’s caved in.”
The ceiling had fallen, and the rubble completely blocked the passage.
“S-s-so, we c-can’t get through… w-why did you bark just now?”
“Woof?”
This is a problem. Looks like we’ll have to detour.
With no choice, we went back the other way. We were attacked by zombies along the way, but dealt with them easily.
Down the stairs, walk, then back up the stairs. And beyond the next corner—
Collapsed again.
This one too, huh. You could see the upper floor clearly.
“U-uaa…”
“Um, woof. It’s collapsed.”
“S-s-so, we c-can’t pass… w-why did you make a sound just now?”
“Woof?”
Damn it. There’s no path.
If we don’t do something about this rubble—oh, wait. There’s a gap here.
“This looks passable.”
I crouched down and tried crawling through. I made it.
Okay. Crawling on all fours works.
Next, Miles-san crouched down and tried to crawl through—
She got stuck.
“E-eh!?“
What got stuck was, um… her butt.
Miles-san’s rear was perfectly caught on part of the rubble.
No, it was wedged in there.
Seems she’s the type who looks slimmer in clothes, but that didn’t help against rubble.
“Um, um, this is bad. Wof-sama, what should we do?”
Juicy-san panicked and started barking anxiously. Calm down, calm down.
“Hmm. Miles-san?”
“H-h-yesh… u-um, w-w-what should I do…?”
For now, I tried pushing.
“I-it hurts, owowowow!!”
Then I tried pulling.
“O-ow—my chest, my butt—it hurts, it huuurts!!”
Yeah, that’s not working.
“Hmm…”
“Um, woof. Wof-sama, I’ll try!”
“E-eh? W-why did you bark just now…?”
“Waf?”
“H-hey—owowow, that hurts!!?”
Juicy-san pushed and pulled quite forcefully—no, she was shaking her.
Miles-san let out small screams, and then there was a ripping sound.
“Ah.”
At the same time Miles-san popped out to this side, her white coat tore apart spectacularly.
“Um, um, I’m so sorry!”
Juicy-san seemed to notice too and apologized.
“N-no, no… th-thank you very much for h-helping me…”
Miles-san bowed—toward the rubble, no, toward Juicy-san.
Then, looking a bit embarrassed, she took off her shredded white coat.
And then her skirt slipped down with a thump.
“Hm?”
“Eh—!?”
Her surprisingly healthy-looking lower body—and her underwear—were exposed.
“White.”
I muttered without thinking. White lace panties.
“E-eh, ah, eh—n-n-n—kyah!”
She stumbled on a piece of rubble and her body tilted. Instinctively, I caught her.
I grabbed her left arm and put my right hand around her waist.
“Are you okay?”
“H-hyan—y-yes. Th-thank you v-very much…”
Miles-san’s cheeks were bright red.
Messing up like that is embarrassing—I get it.
Especially when you’re down to just your underwear.
Still… for an introvert, she’s got a really good figure.
“Um, um… Wof-sama? Miles-san? Is something wrong?”
Juicy-san called out worriedly from the other side of the rubble.
“Miles-san just almost tripped. Juicy-san, can you get through?”
Her chest or butt might get stuck too.
For a moment, I thought that Mineha-san definitely would’ve gotten stuck.
“Um, Wof-sama. Miles-san. Please step back.”
“Juicy-san? What are you—?”
We did as she said and moved away.
“Um, um, here I go! My ultimate move—Explosive Pulverizing Abdominal Organ Extraction Crushing Tearing Fist!!!”
She shouted something ridiculous, and with a crashing sound, the rubble collapsed.
The path was now completely open.
Juicy-san smiled brightly, crushing a fragment of rubble in one hand.
“Um, um, let’s go!”
“Y-yes.”
“Y-yes.”
“Um, um, Miles-san. What about your skirt?”
“Ah—w-w-w—I f-forgot—w-what do I d-do—”
“For now, use this to cover yourself.”
I handed her the jacket I was wearing.
Miles-san accepted it and tied it around her waist. Better than nothing.
At the very end of the corridor ahead was the chief researcher’s room.
There was a nameplate.
“Lunierika Eldorado”
As expected.
The door was locked, of course, but I erased it with 【Vanish】.
And then I realized—
The door to the room where we’d taken a break earlier.
Wouldn’t it have been fine to use 【Vanish】 back then too?
“…………”
“Um, woof. Wof-sama?”
“W-why did you bark just now?”
“Waf?”
“Ah—no, it’s nothing.”
We entered the room.
It was simply furnished, with simple décor.
Everything was unified in white—just a desk, a bed, a closet, and a small shelf.
It didn’t really feel like a woman’s room.
But it didn’t feel like a laboratory either.
“Um, Wof-sama. Is there treasure here?”
“There should be…”
“It j-just looks like a n-normal r-room…”
“Yeah… it does.”
Thinking it was probably pointless, I used 【Wheel of Fortune】.
Then a blue light shone from inside one of the desk drawers.
W-why? It hadn’t reacted at all until now.
And why blue…?
I opened the desk drawer. It wasn’t locked.
Inside the drawer, there was only a single small wooden box.
When I picked up the box and opened it, there was a silver pocket watch inside. There was also a card.
“Happy Birthday. From your daughter…” huh.
The blue light was coming from this pocket watch.
I thought about it for a moment, then closed the lid and put the wooden box into my pouch.
“Um, Wof-sama. Is that the treasure?”
“I-it d-doesn’t really l-look like a t-treasure…”
“It is a treasure. There’s someone I need to give it to.”
I don’t know whether it truly has meaning or not. Even so, I—
“———Emergency code issued———Emergency code issued———”
It suddenly echoed throughout the area.
“W-w-w-what!?”
“What is that?”
“Waf?”
“———All personnel, evacuate immediately. I repeat, all personnel, evacuate immediately. It has been determined that maintaining classified information at this facility is no longer possible. This facility will self-destruct in one hour.”
“Huh?”
Huh?
“S-s-self-destruct?”
“Um, um, Wof-sama!?”
“What’s going on?”
“———Emergency code issued———Emergency code issued——————All personnel, evacuate immediately. I repeat, all personnel, evacuate immediately. It has been determined that maintaining classified information at this facility is no longer possible. This facility will… one h—beep—beep… twenty minutes… ggggg… ten minutes… gaaa—gaa—beep—beep… five minutes… ggg—beep—beep… one minute until self-destruction. Countdown start. Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven.”
“W-wait!?”
“E-eh, eh, eh?”
“Waf?”
What is this!? What the hell is this!? A bug!? Don’t mess with me!
We need to escape—no, we won’t make it—ah, that!
I pulled a Forced Teleport Stone out of my pouch.
“Six. Five. Four. Three. Two.”
I slammed it onto the floor, shattering it.
As the stone broke, it emitted a pale green teleportation light, and our figures vanished.
“One. Zero. Ze—”
Something flashed with annihilating brilliance.
When I opened my eyes, we were on the first floor of the dungeon.
Juicy-san and Miles-san were there.
And also Agaro-san, Narcissus-san, Seed-san, and Dokkas-san.
Swede-san was grabbing Agaro-san by the collar and shouting at him.
Looks like Agaro-san had messed up for once.
Narcissus-san yawned, then when she noticed me, she pulled a white-and-purple distorted knife from her bosom and handed it to me. Dagger. It was still weakened. I accepted it and thanked her.
“By the way, what was the treasure?” she muttered.
At that, I gave a wry smile.
After resting a little, we all went together to report to the guild.
On the way, we bought Miles-san some replacement clothes, and I got my jacket back.
At the guild, Guild Master Aranz-san handled our report.
The three survivors and Agaro-san explained the situation in detail.
When the topic of “Death Abstract” came up, Aranz-san’s face stiffened.
Then Agaro-san talked about the alert.
After defeating the lich on the lowest floor and destroying the event generation device, they found a room.
That room contained many devices and several zombies.
During the fight, they accidentally destroyed some of the devices, which triggered that alert.
So that’s what happened.
Still, it feels like something Narcissus-san would usually be responsible for…
Aranz-san held his head in his hands.
They didn’t know how large the explosion’s range was.
But the power was probably enough to erase an entire city.
It was immediately decided to dispatch an investigation team to the 44th floor.
As punishment, Agaro-san was forced to join them.
After the report was finished, we received our reward: 200,000 Oro. I deposited it right away.
On top of that, we were to receive additional compensation from Agaro-san separately.
When I got home, the fatigue hit me all at once, and I collapsed onto my bed and fell asleep.
And thus, the second adventure of the makeshift party came to an end.
And now, the epilogue.
The next day.
Second floor of the witch’s house. Munieka-san’s room.