Ch.10: Yue

"Shit! Why aren't you here?"

It had been 2 days since Hajime defeated the Claw Bear. After eating the bear and his statuses increasing there was no monster on this floor that could challenge him. So it was quick to proue he had mapped out 80% of the floor but he hadn't found any stairs that went up.

The only way he could find was the way down but, Hajime didn't have much interest in finishing the Dungeon so he wanted to go up but he couldn't find the way.

"A dead end, huh." -Sigh-

Hajime sighed as he agreed to follow the way down.

The stairs were well made and well lit.

He reached the next floor while giving a fearless smile.

After proceeding for a while.

Hajime felt something unpleasant to his left and jumped back. He pointed the light stone in the direction of this presence and there was a green lizard with yellow eyes and vertical pupils.

The lizard's eyes glowed and Hajime felt a pain in his shoulder.

He looked at his left shoulder and saw that his shoulder was petrified. He took some holy water from his wolfskin backpack and poured it over his shoulder. The petrification that was spreading receded until it was gone.

The lizard was about to make another attack, but Hajime stepped forward and threw a light grenade. The stunned lizard took a donner shot and died.

This floor was very dark. The floors above had always been very well lit with green stones. But this floor was totally dark. Hajime was using a green stone that he picked up on the other floor to light the way.

Hajime continued on his way and killed several magical beasts on the way he wanted to rest so he made a base inside the wall with Transmute.

"Time to eat."

He ate the basil, an owl that speared its paws like a rifle and a 6-legged black cat.

As he ate the pain coursed through his body. that meant that the monsters here were as strong or stronger than the clawed bear. Hajime finished eating and checked his status.

His status increased a little and he gained resistance to petrification, night vision and presence detection.

"It would have been nice to petrify things with your eyes.

He said disappointed.

Night vision was exactly what it said and presence detection detected living things within 10 meters of him even if he didn't look.

●●●

Hajime replenished his supplies. And easily passed that floor now that he had night vision and presence detection.

The floor that Hajime was on now had the floor covered in tar. Hajime analyzed this tar and found that it was highly flammable. So he had to be careful when using donner, or he would blow up the whole floor.

This tar also made it difficult to move around, so Hajime used several rocks for support or aerodynamics.

At that moment... -gachin-

A magical Beast with rows of teeth appeared beside Hajime it had a shape that could be described as a brown shark.

What? Why didn't the presence detection detect it? Hajime thought as he dodged the creature's bite.

"Tsk it doesn't matter if I can detect it or not! I will kill and devour you!"

The creature entered the tar like a shark in the sea and disappeared.

Hajime apparently lost his balance causing him to receive an attack from the shark. Of course it was a trap, he rolled over and shot the shark from above taking care that the shot didn't catch on the tar.

"Well let's see why I didn't detect it."

Hajime made a makeshift base ate his meat and looked at his statuses. They increased a little and he gained the Skill of concealing presence. And resistance to physical attacks.

"I see... Well let's continue."

●●●

Hajime continued his conquest of the Dungeon.

Things have been easier now that Hajime has Hide presence. He can just hide and kill the monsters with one shot now.

Of course, there have also been some difficult monsters. Like a monster that released paralyzing gas. Hajime only survived because he put a small bottle of ambrosia behind his molars for emergencies like that.

With that monster he gained resistance to poisons.

He also passed through some very complicated floors. Like one floor that was a big forest, this floor had so much humidity that it made Hajime uncomfortable and the monsters there were giant centipedes that were disgusting.

But it also had some monsters that Hajime found fun to fight. Like Treants, they were moving trees just like in the video games they used their branches to hit Hajime and threw fruits at high speed, after killing them Hajime ate some of these fruits and was thrilled with delicious taste and after that he became a crazy Treants hunter.

Before he knew it, he had descended 50 stories.

He found a giant door with two giant statues of creatures that looked like Cyclopses. These statues stood beside the door like guards.

"It's like Pandora's box. I wonder what's in there? Well no matter what it is I'm going to survive and go home. Anyone who gets in my way I will kill!

He spoke with a fearless smile on his face.

Hajime prepared his things and approached the door. The lock on the door had two spherical fittings with magic circles engraved on them.

"???"

"Strange... I've studied a bunch but I've never seen this magic formula before."

When Hajime realized that he was weak, he decided to expand his knowledge to compensate and studied various types of magic formulas. If he never heard of this one, it was a really rare magic formula.

"Could it be... ancient magic?"

He formulated some hypotheses and came to a conclusion.

"Well let's cross over with Transmutation like I've done so far."

Hajime started to use Transmutation on the door but then.

"Oooooooooooh!!!"

A scream ran through the entire room. Hajime leapt back and looked. The two statues were broken and out of them came 2 gigantic cyclops.

"Well that's a classic after all..."

It really was just like in the video games. Monsters coming out of statues just as the player was about to open the door was standard.

The other Cyclops also gave a shout

"Ooooooh-"

DOPAN

The sound of a gunshot resounded and the cyclops who was screaming fell hard to the ground. The other Cyclops looked at his perplexed friend and then faced Hajime.

"What? Did you think I was going to stand by and watch you guys scream?"

Hajime picked up donner and shot the still living Cyclops.

DOPAN DOPAN DOPAN DOPAN.

The Cyclops was shielding himself from the shots with his arms, but realized that he wasn't going to last long and went on the attack. He tried to punch Hajime, but Hajime deflected with divine step and shot the Cyclops in the head killing him.

Those cyclops were worthy of pity. They have probably been sealed up here for a while waiting for a challenger and when one finally arrived. The Cyclops couldn't even make his villain speech.

Hajime went to remove the meat from one of the Cyclops and saw something glowing inside the Cyclops' body. It was a sphere, he removed the sphere and realized that it fit perfectly into the lock of the door.

"Ahhh, so this is where it was."

He pulled out the flesh of the other cyclops and found another sphere glowing as well.

"Then I'll eat their meat, door first."

Hajime slotted the spheres into the door causing the ancient magic formulas to glow and unlock the door.

Hajime slowly opened the door while looking around. It was a large room that was completely empty with only a metal cube about ten feet high in the middle of the room. This cube was black with bright green details, but the most important detail was not that.

"An.... girl?"

Yes there was a girl trapped in the cube she had her body from the shoulder down buried in the cube. She had golden hair, a very white skin and looked to be around 14 years old.

Hajime didn't go into the room or come closer. He was afraid that it was another cliché and that when he entered the room, the door would close and the girl would give a mischievous laugh. He was about to close the door when he heard.

"Who..."

The girl spoke in a weak voice.

"Sorry to bother you. My mistake."

He spoke and began to close the door.

"W-w-wait! please help me!"

"No chance."

Hajime looked like a demon abandoning a poor little girl.

"Why? I won't do anything so please..."

The girl was desperate. She couldn't move her body,but lifted her face to plead with Hajime.

"Hey this is the bottom of the abyss. How could I free someone who is obviously sealed in here? It would be a disaster. There's nothing useful here then."

He opened the door and spoke to the girl.

Being turned down so coldly and directly the girl raised her voice as if she was about to cry.

"Wait... I'm not Bad! Wait I..."

Hajime ignored her pleas and started to close the door but before he could.

"I've been betrayed."

He stopped closing the door. He stood still....10...20 seconds the time passed and Hajime stood still with a bitter expression.

He had no reason to help her. Nor did he know why she was sealed up and he couldn't even prove if his words were true. But still Hajime started to approach her.

"Ah what the fuck am I doing..."

He sighed. He was shaken by his betrayed word. He should have left his past behind by now. In this place The "grudge" was a distraction and Hajime decided to leave it behind. But still he continued to approach the girl.

Why am I doing this? He asked himself several times. "Oh maybe he didn't go all the way," he muttered. Hajime was talking about his empathetic side, he sympathized with this girl who had suffered the same as him. This was proof that he hadn't turned completely into a monster.

Hajime arrived in front of the girl who was staring at him unblinking.

"You said you were betrayed? Is that the reason you are sealed up here? And why didn't they kill you instead of sealing you?"

"I'm from a special line of vampires. I was a princess and 300 years ago I was betrayed by my uncle who wanted to take the throne from me. I can regenerate even if I lose a limb or get my head blown off. I can also manipulate magic without using chanting or magic circles. So it's hard to kill me, that's why they sealed me up.

What an OP character! Hajime thought when he heard the girl's Skills.

"300 years hein... do all vampires live that long?"

"No, I'm special."

"Then that's it..."

Hajime sighed After hearing the girl's dramatic story.

"...Help me..."

"...."

They looked at each other for a while. Hajime scratched his head and put his hand on the cube

"Ah!"

As soon as she realized what that meant, she opened her eyes wide.

A crimson magic discharge was released by Hajime. And the stone was still standing.

"The resistance is great. But now I can do it!"

Hajime put almost all his magic power into the transmutation. The crimson light was getting stronger and the girl was still staring at Hajime, it was as if she didn't want to miss any second of this scene. Finally the stone gave way and the girl was released.

Hajime sat down on the floor tired and went to get a bottle of healing water. When he raised his hand the girl held it out and spoke.

"Thank you."

With these words of gratitude from the girl he realized that there was still something, even if small there was still a light in her heart.

Hajime gave a smile and shook the girl's hand back.

"Name, what is it?"

"Hajime, Nagumo Hajime. What's yours?"

The girl mumbled "Hajime" several times so as not to forget.

"Grant me one."

"Huh? You want me to give you a name? Did you forget yours or something?"

She shook her head in denial.

"I don't need my other name anymore. The name you give me will be enough."

"Even if you say that..."

Her eyes were gleaming with anticipation. And Hajime had no way to deny it anymore.

"How about Yue?"

"Yu-e?"

"It's... in my language it means moon. Her red eyes in that darkness reminded me of the moon. If you don't like it you can change..."

"Hmm from now on I'll be Yue, Thank you."

"Oh for now."

"???"

Hajime took the clawed bear skin from his backpack.

"Put that on. You can't stay naked forever."

"..."

When Yue realized she was completely naked her Cheeks turned red and she covered herself with the cloth as if it were a towel is she muttered with an annoyed look.

"Hajime, pervert."

"..."

He knew that nothing he said would improve his situation so he stayed quiet.

Hajime drank the ambrosia and then froze. He felt the presence of a gigantic monster on the ceiling of the room. This presence was not there two seconds ago.

The monster was shaped like a giant scorpion. It fell from the ceiling almost at the same moment Hajime felt its presence.

It attacked Yue with some giant darts that came out of its scales.

Hajime jumped up and caught Yue in his arms, standing in the path of the darts. He managed to dodge a few but 5 scaly darts got stuck in his back.

"Hugh!"

He spat blood as he used transmutation to protect them from further attacks.

Hei was in his arms and looked at him with a desperate look.

"Hajime!"

He drank some more ambrosia as he removed the scaly darts from his back.

"I'm fine."

He spoke as he put Yue on his shoulder and pulled donner.

"You can come! Try to kill me if you can!"

Hajime took a vial and put it in Yue's mouth.

"Umu?"

She felt confused at being forced to drink an unknown substance. But her eyes widened in surprise when she felt her vitality recovered.

"Hang on Yue!"

She held on to Hajime with all her strength.

Hajime jumped up and tried to shoot the scorpion's head but the scorpion's scales resisted easily.

"Tsk how troublesome."

The scorpion threw a purple liquid from its tail that flew towards Hajime, he dodged and the place where the liquid fell was melted. It was some kind of acid.

Yue was staring at Hajime and the unknown weapon in his hand.

Hajime tried to shoot the scorpion from various angles, but no shot pierced the hull. The scorpion launched regular attacks at Hajime but he deflected easily. They were at a stalemate.

"Gruaaaaaaaaaaaw!"

The scorpion let out a horrendous scream and the ground began to shake. The ground below Hajime began to give way but....

"Sorry, that's my specialty."

He used Transmute on the ground AND counterattacked the scorpion with shots.

DOPAN DOPAN

Yue realized that Hajime could also manipulate mana directly like her and muttered "similar". She was wondering what he was doing in this place, while totally ignoring the giant monster trying to kill them.

The scorpion's attacks became more constant, Hajime couldn't get close to it. If Hajime got close he would be able to pierce the scorpion's hoof but every time he tried the scorpion would throw darts of scales or that corrosive liquid at him.

Hajime made a risky move to get closer to the scorpion.

He made a barrier of earth to defend the scorpion's giant darts and the moment the scorpion lost sight of him because of the barrier he picked up the Body of a monster he was leaving to eat later and threw it aside. The scorpion that had bad eyesight thought that was Hajime and attacked him. When he saw that his plan worked Hajime attacked and managed to get close to the scorpion. He got close to its head and shot it but the scorpion put its paws in front to defend it lost one of its paws to the shot.

"Huiiiiii!"

The scorpion gave a cry of anger and pain as it turned around. The scorpion's tail split in three and began to attack Hajime.

Hajime clicked his tongue as he tried to dodge the scorpion's attacks, but one of the tails hit him sideways pushing him away.

"Kuh!"

Hajime threw a light grenade to keep the scorpion away.

"Damn I can't think of a good plan to kill that thing."

At that moment Yue finally realized that they were in a mortal battle and spoke with a confused expression.

"Why?"

"Oh?"

"Why don't you run away?

"What are you saying now? I didn't fall so far as to abandon you just because a slightly stronger enemy appeared."

The instant Hajime determined that saving Yue was his goal he also determined that he would do anything to fulfill it. He won't abandon her no matter how powerful her enemy is.

Hearing that Hajime would not abandon her Yue decided to give it his all as well.

"Hajime trust me."

-Mochu-

She spoke this and placed her fangs on Hajime's neck.

He was about to push her away but understood that that was what the words "trust me" meant and didn't.

-Gloup gloup-

She withdrew her fangs with an expression of ecstasy.

"Delicious."

She spoke as she stepped off Hajime's lap.

She turned to the scorpion that was staring at them with Rage and raised her hand.

"Blue sky."

After that a giant blue fireball appeared on top of the scorpion's head. And it quickly went downwards.

"Kyaaaaaau!"

The scorpion made a horrible noise and died. It did not die because of the fire, but because of the pressure of its head against the ground. Its shell remained intact showing its Great endurance.

Hajime thanked Yue and she was very happy about it.

Hajime analyzed the scorpion's hoof.

Azantium: hard metal hardness 10 (scale of 1 to 10) resistant to cold and heat.

"Wow, that's really good."

Hajime and Yue continued their conquest of the Dungeon.