Episode 231
Deep Valley Abyss, Erebor231 ? Deep Valley Abyss, Erebor #1
“Hippolyte, warrior of Mars. Entering the deep valley of the abyss, Erebor-.”
Hippolyta lifted her finger and wrote on the side of the cave entrance the same words she had been muttering.
Chewing-.
The ends of the gauntlets, shimmering with a strange golden light, etch letters into the rock as if branding a criminal.
“Okay, that’s it. Let’s go in then.”
The entrance to the cliff was barely big enough for one person to squeeze through. Hippolyta threw herself into the darkness without hesitation.
Full, full-.
The metal plates protecting her chest and shoulders scraped against the wall, making a rather horrible sound, but she paid no attention to it and disappeared completely.
Now all that’s left are me, Antiope, and Elfriede.
Antiope and Elfriede were engaged in a silent war of nerves.
Although their relationship was originally cold, the situation felt even worse after Antiope licked her chest earlier.
Antiope said.
“Do you want to go first?”
Elfriede answers.
“You go first? You’re the vanguard, warrior. You have to hit with your body. Right?”
“You’re right, I’m in charge of the rear. You go in first. If I don’t protect you, the wizards won’t be able to do anything.”
Antiope soon came to my side and wrapped her arms around my waist.
“And before we go in, we have something to talk about. Just the two of us.”
“… .”
Elfriede’s expression was getting worse and worse.
Now that I think about it, Elfriede and Antiope had something in common in that they both enjoyed tormenting people, but they also had contrasting aspects.
If Elfriede is the class president-style girl who likes to nag and lecture, Antiope is the complete opposite, a bully who has tattoos and smokes cigarettes.
A guy who plays with a normal person is like oil and water that can never mix.
White skin and dark skin.
Wizard and warrior.
The head is similar in white and gray, but other than that, there are many parts that don’t match, as if they were reversed.
Didn’t my father tell me many times that people have the properties of the five elements and that some people are born incompatible with each other?
I used to think it was just pseudoscientific nonsense, but now that I look at it, it seems to have some truth to it.
“… .”
While I was lost in such thoughts, Elfriede’s face turned red as if she had something to say. I couldn’t help but feel utterly embarrassed.
Because when Elfriede blushed like that, it was the timing when a fireball would fly or a similarly vicious whipping-slap would be cast.
So now I’m watching them with a sense of tension wondering what will happen.
“Okay, fine. I’ll go in first.”
Elfriede entered the cave first, surprisingly calm.
He was probably angry, but he clearly held it in because he didn’t want to cause any further trouble.
Because she was now the ‘A’ who paid the 120 gold commission fee, but at the same time, she was also the ‘B’ who was trying to clear up the mistakes of her missing colleagues.
Come to think of it, even though Elfriede was a choleric woman, I don’t think I’ve ever seen her get angry at anyone other than me.
Swish, swish-.
The elf’s buttocks, hidden by his leather pants, disappeared into the darkness. Only then did Antiope remove her hands from around my waist and speak.
“I don’t like that girl.”
“But, in order to succeed in your mission, wouldn’t it be better to be on good terms? If you were suddenly hit in the back of the head with a fireball, even you wouldn’t be safe.”
“I just have a gut feeling. I feel like there’s something wrong with that elf.”
Antiope’s senses were actually quite sharp.
They suspected Paranoy and me of being similar to cultists and tried to kill us.
Of course, on the one hand, there was a side to it that was so radical and extreme that it even tried to get Luna, who had no connection to social relations, involved.
If Hippolyta was a rather generous older sister, Antiope was quite narrow-minded.
Antiope said.
“And my feeling is that you and that elf are not on good terms. What is your relationship? There are more women around you than you think? For a savage-.”
Ssuk-.
As his eyes slowly opened, the corners of his mouth began to rise slightly.
Having been bullied by the girls a lot, I quickly realized that this was just the beginning of their plan to harass and exploit me.
As soon as I reveal that I am not a god and our relationship becomes equal again, Antiope starts biting me and shaking me like an unleashed leopard.
Of course, I couldn’t just take it easy.
I won’t be trampled like this.
“Antiope, if you keep messing things up, I have a way out.”
“How? What kind of way? Are you going to punish me like last time and torment me here and there? I’m not as strict about chastity as my sister, but that was still a bit humiliating.”
At Antiope’s words, I remembered the time I touched her thigh and the space between them in the inn room. Now that I think about it, I don’t know what I did then.
It was as if there was a little Tinkerbell in her head, teasing and torturing Antiope.
“… That, that’s sorry. But you tried to kill me too. Wouldn’t that be more merciful than trying to kill me?”
“If you say so, I guess I have nothing else to say. Well, then, okay. If the god of the underworld is worried, then just stay quiet.”
Antiope was an uncontrollable babbler. She had never been near a lion tamer, but she felt like she had a little insight into their minds.
Then a voice was heard from inside the cave.
You guys too, come in quickly.
“Okay, sis-.”
Antiope, who had answered him dryly, continued speaking in a voice that only I could hear.
“Then, if you draw the same thing I drew last time, I’ll cooperate with you this time out of respect for your own sake. What do you think?”
“What do you want me to draw?”
“Those strange beasts. I could feel their power spreading through every nook and cranny of my body. They must be the beasts that live in the Black Wilderness, right? Gold-ranked beasts?”
Strange monster?
Gold rank demon?
When I hear the word strange monster, I can think of Pikachu and Charmander.
Antiope’s body was originally made up of figures of monsters she had defeated, including a two-headed dog and a giant ogre, and her power was absorbed by them.
Antiope probably thought that Pikachu and Charmander were powerful monsters similar to it. If they are similar, then they are similar. In fact, it is a red version of the Pokemon rather than a gold tier monster.
“Okay, that’s about it.”
“Yay-!”
Slurp-.
In response to my answer, Antiope took off the leather suit that was hanging over her clothes, revealing her back. Her back, which had been painted here and there, was now like a blank piece of paper.
“Draw it there. The back is the easiest place to absorb karma!”
It seems that the effects and performance differ depending on the area.
With that feeling, I drew a picture on Antiope’s back with my finger.
Swish.
“Ah-.”
“Why, why are you making that sound?”
“… You don’t know. Just get me a tattoo right now.”
“Yeah, well-.”
I didn’t draw Pikachu or Charmander, but simply put a lightning bolt symbol on her back. As the Z-like pattern ran down Antiope’s sturdy back, her body trembled.
“Ugh, ugh… .”
A very strange sound came out of his mouth, but I deliberately ignored it because I thought he was teasing me.
And so the painting was finally completed.
Much like the mark on Harry Potter’s forehead, Antiope now has a large lightning bolt tattooed on her back.
“It’s done.”
“What? Why did it end so quickly? I didn’t even draw a few strokes. Please redraw what I drew last time!”
“No, that was a bit-.”
Last time, I drew a bad picture to punish Antiope.
It would be okay if you had a drink, but it would be impossible to draw Pikachu and Charmander on a person’s body while sober.
If someone found out that I drew something like that on a pretty girl’s body, I’d definitely get a lot of hate. In that sense, the lightning bolt symbol had its own meaning.
This guy is a knight of Jupiter, the god of lightning, and he also has the mark of Harry Potter engraved on him, so he might be able to use magic.
“The lightning isn’t coming out!”
However, Antiope was not pleased with the tattoo she had on her back this time.
“Just rub your hands together. It’s like creating static electricity.”
“Static electricity? What is that?”
Antiope, who was puzzled, rubbed her palms together as I told her to. She thought, “She looks just like a raccoon washing its hands.”
“Oh, okay-.”
Phagejik-.
Just then, something similar to static electricity crackled again from Antiope’s hands.
“If I have this, I can become stronger. Ha-. Maybe, maybe even stronger than my sister-.”
Her mouth was wide open and her brown eyes were bloodshot, as if she was a little mad. Looking at her, I couldn’t help but wonder if I had done the right thing.
“Lightning Spear-, Ganrunga-. No, no, Wall Power Spear-. No, isn’t there a better name-.”
Antiope pulled out the javelin that was hanging at her waist and aimed it here and there.
The sight was just like a child receiving a present and opening the wrapping paper. That was exactly what I felt when I first learned about necromancy.
I said.
“If something goes well, you can draw extra sparks. So, make sure there are no accidents.”
“Yes, I understand-. Hassan. But-, aren’t you really the son of God? Like one of the countless children born to Jupiter?”
“If that were the case, I wouldn’t be here like this. I would have gotten something to eat.”
“I see. That’s strange. My grace isn’t something that just anyone can handle. Okay, well. Then I’ll go in first.”
Finally, it was Antiope who folded the window and entered the cave first.
Finally, I was left alone. I sighed and looked up at the sky, trying to catch my breath.
The blazing, scorching sun.
It looks like it won’t see the light of day for a while.
30 gold.
Contribution to Silver Tier.
It was said that establishing a treatment center was possible from Silver Tier and above.
Health center.
A large number of task points.
“Wait a minute-.”
I concretized the keywords I needed to obtain and drew them out in my head to build up my motivation. Then I also shrank into the darkness.
*
*
*
Thump, thump- hurruk-.
When I flicked the flint and lit the torch, I saw the inside of a narrow cave with no light.
The stalactites growing from bottom to top and top to bottom were so sharp that it felt like I was looking into the throat of a giant’s mouth.
Hippolyta, who was resting on a rock, speaks in a rather solemn tone.
“Don’t let the torch go out. You never know what might attack you in the darkness of the abyss. Elf, you said you were a wizard who could control fire?”
“More or less.”
“But your magical powers have their limits. Your fire magic will be used as a last resort. Most things will be resolved silently with the blades of me and Antiope.”
Hippolyta warned him repeatedly that he must never let the flame go out.
This is a deep, dark space.
Maintaining a light source was one of the most basic of adventurer’s basics.
“Then let’s follow the signs and proceed as planned.”
At Hippolyte’s words, the four of us stood in a diamond formation.
Hippolyte took the lead, I took the left, Elfriede took the right, and lastly Antiope took the rear.
It was a fairly stable formation, but I think the left side that I was in charge of had the biggest hole. Everyone would probably do at least one person’s share.
It’s been a long time since I took a bus.
So I tried to keep the torch lit all the time, or to be alert and listen for sounds.
But, inside the cave it was terribly quiet.
It was so quiet that it felt like there was nothing there but us, the only thing we could hear was the occasional sound of water dripping from somewhere.
Is this how it was originally?
While I was feeling puzzled, Antiope, who was guarding the rear, said:
“Sister, isn’t it too quiet?”
“In the abyss, it is more dangerous to start hearing something.”
“I know, but it seems too quiet. It would be normal if there were small animals living on the upper floors.”
“You are absolutely right.”
At the operational meeting last night, there was also talk about the ecology of this valley.
I told you that the upper levels of Manticore Valley are home to some pretty horrible critters, like small lizards, giant rats that nibble on corpses, and killer locusts, so you should get down to the lower levels as quickly as possible.
But unlike the story, the situation at the top is extremely quiet and still.
As the party leader, Hippolyte seemed unsure whether to be happy about this situation where she didn’t have to encounter any monsters, or to be wary.
At that very moment, Hippolyta’s armor shook violently with a creaking sound.
“There’s something over there, up ahead.”
At the end of her finger was something artificial, just as Hippolyte had said.
“tower…?”
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