Chapter 444 – The Holy Sword and the Arena (16)

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“Hey, guards! “

Rize shouted at the guards standing at the entrance of the dungeon.

“You’re having a lot of trouble, let’s have a drink at a time!”

The guards seemed hesitant at the unexpected favor. Toward the guards, Rize said cheerfully.

“It’s fine. Because the guild provides it for free! It’s okay if you don’t have to be burdened!”

Only then did the guards begin to gather around Rize one by one.

“Um, I’ll have a good drink.”

“Now that I live, there are days when I get something for free from the guild.”

A middle-aged guard with a full beard said with a shy smile.

“I wonder if it’s just a nuisance for nothing, but it’s not like all bad things happen.”

Rize replied with a bright smile on his face that said it was not at all.

“I don’t think it’s a nuisance! I was really surprised when the monsters attacked, but if the guards hadn’t come in time, I would have been in big trouble.”

The young guards in Lize’s official affairs seemed to have put strength on his shoulders of her.

“Haha. It’s for the safety of citizens, so we have to step up. Receptionists don’t have to worry about anything. From now on, we will thoroughly take responsibility for the safety of the guild. Next time another monster wave happens, sure, evil!”

“Like this stupid guy.”

The bearded guard slapped the young guard on the back of the head and said.

“Don’t be so ominous that the next wave will happen again, kid. Do you think you can beat a monster with your little stick? This is the law that the person who did it should continue to do it.”

The younger one pouted his lips, as if he didn’t like it, but Soo-yeop didn’t seem to care.

‘It’s not that I don’t have thoughts at all.’

Rize thought to yourself

A guard’s authority comes not from force, but from social consensus. Because the citizens of the city agreed to obey the control of the Bureau, the control of the guards only took effect.

In other words, the strength of the guards is not that great.

The bearded guard must be well aware of that fact, he said with a sigh.

“I don’t know what kind of mess this is because it was suddenly called. To face the monsters We can’t help it because we’re in the position to do as we’re told, but… Honestly, I can’t say I’m confident.”

“Haha. Still, the receptionist won’t have anything to worry about. If it is necessary, I will block it with my body.”

Whether or not the beard looked at it with pitiful eyes, the younger one was working hard, probably because he wanted to look good to Rize. Rize answered with a smile.

“Thank you. Of course, guilds also have their own boundaries with clan members, but it’s not perfect. With guards like this, our hearts are reassured!”

“Haha, I will definitely live up to your expectations.”

At Rise’s words, the young man’s shoulders were full of strength. Rize did that several more times before stepping back.

The fact that Rize made a pleasant sound while serving drinks was not just because she was bored. Rize had a clear purpose: to understand the atmosphere.

‘Also.’

The atmosphere at the end was distinctly different from that at the top.

‘Strange…’

It was clear that the Church had some scheming with the Administration.

But what’s the use of it if you get a backlash from the people on site?

The face of the guards and the dispatched priests of the church, who couldn’t understand why they were doing this. Of course morale cannot be high.

It was very clear that the leadership and the executive level had not even thought about the reaction on the spot.

Basically, it’s true that it’s a top-down job like the military, but it’s just a job that’s close to inertia.

If you have common sense, you will know that you will soon reach your limits. If something really happens, who’s to blame?

Anyway, Rize had no choice but to wait for now. It seems that there are things going on in their own way upstairs, but Rize has no authority to get involved in that.

For Rize, Eugene’s party has to come back.

‘When are you going to come back…’

Right before Rize sat so blankly at the reception desk and lost her thoughts, someone called for Rize.

“Is Rize right?”

“…Maid?”

“Yes! Hey maid!”

In front of Rize, there was a small maid whose head was barely touching at the reception counter.

While Rize was confused about what was going on, the maid spoke first.

“Is this the person in charge of Eugene-nim? When I asked, he told me to go this way.”

“Ah, yes. Right. What’s going on?”

The little maid said she was working where Eugene was staying.

“Do you know when Eugene will come back? I have something important to do!”

“Is it important?”

“Yes! I have to deliver a message, but the butler said it was very important!”

“Um… “

Putting aside the fact that the maid in front of her was small, Rize quickly calculated it.

‘It’s ambiguous…’

The place where Eugene’s party went now is an ambiguous place in terms of distance. It’s not far enough to go through a teleport point, but it’s a place where it’s difficult to send a message in one day.

He could have returned before arranging someone to deliver the message.

Rize explained that, but the little maid in front of her just kept her eyes wide open and didn’t say what to do.

“… Shouldn’t it be better to ask the butler whether to send someone?”

“Yes! I will!”

“Can I know what it is about? I’ll make sure to tell you right away when Eugene comes back.”

At those words, the maid rolled her eyes and said.

“Umm… So.”

“So?”

“‘It seems like Niel-sama’s inside is growing.’ He said he would understand if I just said that!”

“… ?”

Rize couldn’t understand what he was talking about.

# # #

“It really stinks in here.”

“…So don’t call it a smell when it’s not even a smell.”

I grumbled and moved into the cave.

It would be nice if it went back like this, but there was something I had to check.

Well, to be honest, the fact that the 2nd grader looked at me with a pitiful gaze had a certain share. More than anything, I needed to make sure that this guy’s nose was trustworthy.

If you’re trustworthy, so you can act like a detector for a goddess, I can share some of my secrets with you, but if not, you’d better keep your distance. This guy can’t catch the bell because his mouth his is right.

However, if this guy’s nose plays a role similar to that of a goddess, I also needed to find out why it was not detected by me but by him.

And more than anything, somehow I thought that it would not end this easily.

It’s a cave anyway.

As the terrain is terrain, we headed forward with proper formation.

In the vanguard, me and the second grader. Behind him is Yuri, and in the rear are Ariel and Lenny.

Leni’s light floated behind us. If a monster appears, you can blind it by increasing the output of the light.

I carefully explored the cave for a while, but I couldn’t find anything in particular.

“….It’s nothing special.”

“I know. Shall we take a break for a while?”

A small clearing appeared and we decided to take a moment to reorganize.

The cave is quite quiet. Even if you look carefully at the mini-map, it just shows the terrain. It doesn’t even look like a monster.

I tried to pay attention to my things just in case, but they are still soft.

“…”

Suddenly, I felt her gaze at her and followed the end, and Ariel was looking at my lower body her with intense eyes.

“Ariel? What did you ask me? Why are you looking at me so intently…”

“What, what?! But when did I see it! I’m just watching to see if it works!”

“Ji, calm down.”

“Hmm, hmm. Hmm!”

Ariel, for some reason, seemed slightly angry from earlier. She also seemed to be upset about something.

Because I really don’t know why Since when was she like that?

Yeah, since she gave her a sensitivity boost, she’s been on the lookout for something she doesn’t like. She did what she asked, so what’s she so dissatisfied about it?

“… !”

“Could it be that?!”

Come to think of it, Ariel has sensitivity enhancement. As much as she’s up for a sensitivity boost, she should’ve expected her sex drive her to go up too!

In other words, Ariel is that she is frustrated right now. So he gladed at my stuff to death!

“It’s strange.”

“Yes?!”

Yuri, who had come to my side before I knew it, said.

“What, what?”

Caught?! This guy is strangely quick-witted, so he may have made all sorts of guesses about Ariel’s behavior her now being a bit strange!

However, Yuri wasn’t talking about that, but rather he had a serious face.

“There is nothing to be there.”

“What should I have?”

“A bat or something.”

In a cave this deep, there must be traces of all kinds of creatures. Yuri spoke briefly.

“Because caves are good hiding places for wild animals. After all, monsters have the same basic behavior. But you can’t see a single ant here.”

“Isn’t it good for us if we don’t?”

Yuri shook his head at Lenny’s words.

“Something is unnatural.”

“…”

I’ve been thinking

Why are caves that are good for wild animals empty?

It could have been because it was a realm of great monsters. Either that or there is some artificial control.

“…For a moment.”

Ariel came and sniffed.

“I think you better be careful. It smells bad.”

“A bad smell? Then, is that plant-type monster in here?”

Ariel shook her head.

“No, it doesn’t seem like that. A plant-type monster would rather emit a pleasant scent. What I said is literal. It smells like rotating meat. It smells like rotating honey.”

“I’m nothing… Huh? Is it real?”

Yuri tilted her head and said.

We decided to explore a little further inside, but…

Still nothing special came out. Careful walking around the furnishings is just a fairly boring job.

Yuri, unable to bear the boredom, spoke to Ariel.

“But a good scent, why does it have to smell good? Isn’t it hypnotic no matter what?”

“There is no such thing as hypnosis.”

“Yes?”

“It’s called hypnosis to make it easier to understand, but it doesn’t actually work that way. A monster that can hypnotize creatures with intelligence, that’s not enough to call it a monster.”

“Then what?”

“Strictly speaking, it is not the kind of magic that interferes with the mind like hypnosis. Rather, it should be seen as an instinctive approach.”

“Instinctive?”

“Either it gives off the sweet scent you smelled earlier, or it smells appetizing.”

“Hehe…”

As I listened to the story of the two, I felt a strange sense of incongruity again.

Why didn’t I feel that way?

I could understand why the second grader was not affected by the enchanting gas. That helmet he’s wearing has air purifying abilities or something, so it must have gas purifying abilities.

But what about me? Why am I fine?

I didn’t feel anything like a sweet smell, let alone hypnotic.

Why did the kids get caught and I was fine?

“…!”

I got out of my mind The minimap was full of shiny red dots.

I lowered my voice and said.

“Quiet. You have to be careful from here. There is something in front of this.”

“Okay. I can feel it. The smell got thicker too. My nose is about to fall off.”

We were fully prepared and slowly, with the sound of our footsteps, moved forward.

– Ugh.

The sound of the air rumbling. Vibration that is regular but many objects vibrate at once.

I swallowed once and poked my head over the mouth.

“… !”

What was in front of me was a huge wasp nest.

But the proper expression was a wasp nest, but the reality was much, much more terrifying.

The wasp’s hive had such a terrible appearance that it was hard to come to my senses if I kept looking at it.

Even an ordinary wasp nest is quite repulsive, depending on your point of view. If there are holes all over the place, if trytrophobia is real, wouldn’t it make you panic just by looking at the wasp’s nest?

Even wasps and caterpillars wriggle and crawl inside.

However, this is within the permissible range. Anyway, it’s a natural look.

But what I see now is not an ordinary wasp nest.

The wasp’s nest is a mixture of terrible things, whether it be flesh or mucous membranes, and even blood vessels pulsate.

And inside are half-eaten carcasses of animals, caterpillars in metamorphosis, and bees wriggling their tentacles…

It looks like even Cthulhu would scream and run away.

I felt the thinking distracting me a bit. My mind refuses to face this hellish spectacle by thinking about it!

“Ooh, ooh…”

“Ahh…”

Yuri was covering his mouth as if he was disgusted. Lenny just closes her eyes and clings to me.

“…”

What about Ariel? I wondered if he was fine because there was no sound, but he was stiff as if he had passed out while standing.

What should I do?

It couldn’t have been like this for a while. It is dangerous to face a nest that eats away your mental power just by looking at it. Back to the entrance…

“Yaaaaap!”

“?!?!?!”

My God, did the second grader run out?!

Before I had time to say anything, he ran out and stepped forward as if to be eaten.

The wasps that turned around this way. However, the guys also stopped moving as if they were embarrassed.

“—-!”

“Did you really breathe fire?!”

Flames spewed from the mouth of the second bottle.

# # #

-Fuck!

“Ouch!”

The 2nd grader shrieked, clutching his head in my honey chestnut, but I didn’t care.

“You idiot! What if I use fire inside the cave! No, more than that, what are you going to do if things go wrong after you run out alone like that?!”

“Heeing…But…”

The second bottle protested while holding his head.

“Well, didn’t it happen because it ended well? It’s a rare good opportunity to team up…”

“…”

Certainly it was.

Although his flame show looked insane, his firepower his was unmatched. The bees rolled on the ground with their wings burning.

He burned the terrible wasps in one batch.

The bees had no choice but to crawl on the ground because they were completely roasted, or even if they were fine, their wings were burned. The bees that couldn’t fly were finished off as they were.

“Still, what is shameful is what is shameful.”

-Fuck!

“Ah! You hit me again!”

I let go of the second bottle that was holding my head and decided to take a look around.

“… !”

Looking carefully at the minimap, I was able to find something.

“What, what are you doing?”

“I’ll have to take this off.”

A wasp nest made of flesh that had been burned by the flames of the second grader. I started to break it with the scabbard on.

“What is going on?”

“It’s not over yet. It seems there is another road behind this.”

After peeling off the hive, I found a rectangular door behind it.

—————–

19 gold gifs are coming out after this

I received Lenny’s fan art…..

Anonymous Thank you always…