Chapter 149: It Looked Like It Was Moving

I lifted the floating Home Garden—our little farm—back into the sky, letting it rise above the vast grassland like a drifting island.

When I glanced upward, I noticed the yawning hole overhead had already begun to seal itself.

So this place repairs itself… on its own.

Amazing. Truly, dungeons are unbelievable creatures in their own right.

Still, I was grateful for the timing. Because—

Splatter, splatter, splatter.

“““Uu–aa–…”””

—because several zombies were still tumbling out of that hole like grotesque raindrops.

We had just managed to get through a floor that Shifa-san hated, and now this. If this kept up, she would never be able to lift her head again, literally or emotionally.

In fact, Shifa-san had been burying her face in Anii’s… abundantly gifted chest this entire time.

…Lucky.

“You pervert.”

“Eh—why!?”

For some reason, Anii glared daggers at me.

“You’ve been staring at my chest this whole time.”

“N-no! That’s a misunderstanding!”

Look, when I said I was jealous, it wasn’t because I wanted to get buried in Anii’s chest too…!

Well… okay, if you asked me if I wanted to or not, then… um…

“Oh? A misunderstanding, is it? Then what exactly were you looking at?”

“Ugh—l-look, more importantly! So this is the ninth floor!”

I loudly changed the subject, sweeping my gaze over the endless stretch of grassland.

The land was flat and open, with barely any obstacles. You could see ridiculously far in every direction.

Those animal-shaped things in the distance… monsters, probably? But judging from the bright, peaceful atmosphere here, I highly doubted any undead would appear on this floor.

“““Oo–aa–…”””

…Right. I forgot.

The zombies that had already fallen were still here.

“Sena, hurry up and take care of them.”

“Okaaaay.”

Sena dispatched the zombies with casual ease, and Sarassa-san promptly incinerated the remains with a flick of magic.

The hole above had finished sealing, so Shifa-san should finally be safe.

“Shifa-san, the zombies are gone now.”

“…Mm. Thank you.”

She raised her head, timid and pale, as if expecting another corpse to drop at any moment.

Even though the view stretched endlessly, I didn’t see a single shadow resembling other adventurers. Hardly anyone reached this deep, it seemed.

“I can spot some large monsters here and there.”

“Those look like Blood Elephants. And over there—Bigfoots, maybe? Farther ahead… that must be a herd of Battle Bisons.”

At a glance the place looked like a tranquil grassland, but this was still the ninth floor of a high-difficulty dungeon. Every creature here was a formidable threat.

And then—

The Battle Bison herd suddenly split apart, scattering left and right.

They bolted away at full speed, as if fleeing from something monstrous.

As I focused on the empty space they left behind, I saw several massive shapes charging from the far side.

“Humanoid?”

“No… too big. Those bisons are five meters tall, yet they look tiny next to them…”

“Wait—those things are HUGE!”

They ran on two legs, so at first I thought they might be a group of people.

But they were far too enormous.

The trembling of the ground reached us, and at last, we could make out their full forms.

“A—A group of giants!?”

“And someone’s being chased!”

Several small human figures were sprinting desperately ahead of the giants. If those were normal-sized people, then the giants pursuing them were ten meters tall—some even larger.

“They’re adventurers! Being chased by monsters!”

“We—we have to help them!”

I immediately drove the flying farm toward the rampaging giants.

Normally this would be suicide, but with our barrier, we’d be fine.

“The huge one in front… is that an Atlas…?”

I recognized the largest giant among them—towering even above the rest.

Atlas. A rank-A danger, notorious for causing the Stampede that attacked Arcel.

It seemed to be commanding the smaller giants—lower species, likely cyclopes.

“I’ll fire the lightning spell!”

Once we were close enough, Sarassa-san unleashed the charge she had been holding.

A thunderous explosion echoed across the plains. The blast struck Atlas directly in its right leg.

Atlas roared, collapsing with a violent crash that toppled the nearby giants with it.

The giants halted in confusion, giving the fleeing adventurers a chance to reach us.

A group of four.

And all of them were around our age—boys and girls, maybe mid-teens.

A well-featured blond boy. A white rabbit-eared girl. A small rogue-like boy. And the last—a tall knightly boy, wounded and being carried by the rabbit-eared girl.

How on earth was she running while carrying someone heavier than herself…?

While I gawked, they stared at us with equal astonishment.

“I didn’t think anyone else had reached this floor…”

“And they are quite young, yes?”

“Huh? How are you running like—wait, is the ground moving…?”

“Never mind that—hurry, this way!”

At my call, the four gathered themselves and dashed toward us, leaping onto the floating farmland.

“What is this soil…?”

“It’s so soft… is this a field?”

“Hey, didn’t this thing just move by itself earlier?”

“UGAAAAAAAH!!”

“““!? ”””

A cyclops lunged at us from the side.

“W-watch out!”

“Ah, don’t worry. The barrier will stop it.”

The cyclops’s massive fist slammed down—only to bounce off the shimmering barrier surrounding us.

“““……eh?”””