Rough situations

Rugged stone of scales...

Its whole body is a dark brown with a tint of green like emerald.

This must be an Earth Dragon.

That mouth that has giant fangs feel like it could swallow everything.

It had plenty enough pressure to be called the king of monsters.

The moment I saw that, what I felt was elation.

"Wow…" (Makoto)

A dragon is here.

That dragon.

A shock that surpasses my coming to this parallel world ran through my whole body.

Aah, Isekais really are incredible…

I was probably watching in admiration for only around 2-3 seconds.

"Makoto!" (Lucy)

(Get a hold of yourself, Makoto!) (Noah)

The scream of Lucy and the rebuke of the Goddess overlapped.

I regain my senses.

Ohh... I am really weird to admire it.

The Hoodlums who also regained their senses raised screams and began to run away.

Face the Dragon

Escape from the Dragon ←

I let out a smile at the options RPG Player gave me.

(Don't ask for the impossible, man.) (Makoto)

Without hesitation, I hugged Lucy tightly and jumped off the waterfall.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHH?!" (Lucy)

We were swallowed inside the waterfall while listening to the screams of Lucy.

While we were swallowed by the violent water stream, I controlled the water in order to absorb the impact.

[Water Magic: Water Current].

The moment we crashed into the basin of the waterfall, I mitigated the impact into a soft hit.

The inside of the lake is deep, and we didn't get slammed into the ground.

We advance through the water just like that.

It is dark inside the lake so I couldn't see anything, but with [Night Vision] and [Detection], I search for monsters.

(There's a lot of monsters.) (Makoto)

As expected of the Mid Floor.

Just a quick look with Detection, I could tell that there's quite a lot of monsters.

(Let's get out of the lake first.) (Makoto)

Lucy who I have in my arms is going *glub glub*, but I ignore her for now and return to the shore.

◇◇

We got out to the shore, and hid ourselves in the shadow of a big rock.

Thanks to Stealth, monsters haven't noticed us.

"Hey! I heard nothing about suddenly jumping down!" (Lucy)

"Sorry about that but that's the safest option. Are you alright Lucy?"

"Yeah... Somehow."(Lucy)

"But... To think a dragon shows up..."

"Right!? Normally they reside on the lower floor"

"Yeah... Lucas-san also told me that."

"Dragon on the upper floor is unfair!"

"Right." (Makoto)

We sighed.

"What should we do from now on?" (Makoto)

"We return to the Upper Floor, right?" (Lucy)

"Yeah, but we don't know the path to return there." (Makoto)

"Eh? Isn't it okay to just return through the waterfall? With your magic." (Lucy)

"I can't go as far as climbing a waterfall…" (Makoto)

It took me my all just to mitigate the fall from the waterfall so that we won't get injured.

"Could it be that we are in a disastrous situation?" (Lucy)

"It might be a bit of a bad situation, yeah. But first, let's dry our clothes." (Makoto)

I cast the evaporation magic on Lucy and I.

If our bodies get cold, our movements dull, and our stamina gets sapped out.

The food we have on hand will only last for around 2 days, huh.

I wasn't planning on doing an expedition, so I didn't bring much.

"Let's search for a path that can lead us up." (Makoto)

"Even if you say that, the waterfall is going as far as my eye can see, you know." (Lucy)

"There's parts here and there where the waterfall is divided, so let's investigate while avoiding monsters." (Makoto)

But no matter how far we go, we could only see cliffs and waterfalls.

Half a day has already passed.

The reason why it doesn't feel so despairing is…

"Aah, it is quite the breathtaking sight." (Makoto)

Most likely thanks to this superb view.

"You know…" (Lucy)

Lucy says with a voice of amazement.

"This is something I thought at that time with the dragon as well but, you are a bit weird, Makoto." (Lucy)

"Really?" (Makoto)

"Yeah. Do you like dangerous things?" (Lucy)

Hmm, that's…I am beginning to feel like I can't deny that.

"You seem to be looking around restlessly and having fun even in a dungeon. You had your eyes glittering when facing that dragon from before." (Lucy)

"…I am sorry for that time." (Makoto)

"Also, in your world, there were a lot of rides that can fly in the sky, right? I heard about that from Fujiyan-san, you know. And yet, why were you so giddy with the Flying Ship?" (Lucy)

"That can't be helped. In my previous world there is called Air plane where can carry a 50 or 100 people or more... And in that world there's no ship that flying." (Makoto)

"It sounds amazing but... I don't get it."

"Well, something like that... But first, let's search to the way up."

◇◇

We got a bit tired, so we were taking a rest. At the time we were doing that, we met her.

"U-Uhm…are you adventurers?"

We were suddenly spoken to.

We are in a space at the back of a waterfall in this underground area, and Lucy and I were sleeping in shifts.

It was at the time when we were thinking about resuming our exploration.

"Hm?" (Lucy)

"…"

I also turn around.

The one who spoke to us was a girl.

But she had quite a beautiful face.

Her clothes were in tatters, with holes here and there, and her shoulders were exposed.

It looks like she had a bad time.

"Please help me… I will do anything you want to repay you…"

That girl asks for our help with a feeble voice.

She was approaching us with unsteady steps that felt like she could trip at any moment.

"Are you okay? Did you get separated from your allies?" (Lucy)

Lucy was about to walk to where she is with a worried expression.

I grabbed her tightly with my hand.

"Makoto? What's the matter?" (Lucy)

"…"

"Don't tell me you plan on demanding something from this worn-out girl." (Lucy)

Lucy shows an angered face.

"Think straight Lucy... There is no way a child with feeble clothes is lost in the midfloor of laberintos. That thing is a monster..."

"Huh?"(Lucy)

Hearing me that Lucy stop approach the monster.

"Tch"

The girl that was making a painful expression warped her face into a provoking one.

*Crack Crack Crack Crack Crack*

A lot of legs began to grow out from her lower half.

"An Arachne, huh." (Makoto)

"Kyaaaaaaa!" (Lucy)

Good thing I have a detection it's really a life saver.

Lucy, that's noisy.

"If you are scared of spiders, move to the back." (Makoto)

"That's not it. I was simply surprised. I am not scared!" (Lucy)

The Arachne attacks us yelling 'sha!' as she jumps.

[Water Magic: Ice Needle].

The needle stabbed the eye of the Arachne.

And run away in that area...

I use the spirit to borrow me some water and it leads us all to a different place...

Lucy and I were slammed into the underground lake while being caught in the magic I used.

"Puha! That was one violent way to run away." (Lucy)

"No, we didn't manage to run away completely." (Makoto)

It seems like the arachnes aren't good at swimming, so they don't go as far as swimming into the lake.

They are shooting web strings from the shore.

It would be bad if we were to get caught by those.

"Hey, aren't the other monsters gathering?" (Lucy)

"Right. We rampaged a bit too much." (Makoto)

At the shore, there's not only arachnes, but also orcs, cave wolves, and goblins.

"Lucy, don't bite your tongue!" (Makoto)

"Eh? Hieee!" (Lucy)

I use water magic to accelerate the water around us.

[Evade]!

*Splash!*

The giant mouth of a snake appeared right at the place where we were just a moment ago.

"S-Sea Serpent!" (Lucy)

"There's a whole lot of monsters inside the water too." (Makoto)

"There's harpies coming from above…" (Lucy)

There certainly are a number of harpies flying around above us.

Lucy's eyes were going a bit blank.

Oi oi, it is too soon to give up.

"Look. It doesn't seem like the monsters are getting along too well." (Makoto)

"Eh?" (Lucy)

The arachnes, orcs, and cave wolves were competing with each other.

Ah, the Sea Serpent dragged an orc in.

The pitiful 'Buhiii!' noise was erased by the sound of the waterfall.

"Makoto!", Lucy shouts.

"Kyahahahaha!"

A harpy attacked us from the back!

"I can see you!" (Makoto)

Thanks to my RPG Player skill, I have a 360° view.

With my dagger, I cut off the legs of the harpy that thought we hadn't noticed her and had our guards lowered.

"That was close…" (Makoto)

Even if I am calm thanks to Clear Mind, I was a bit agitated there.

(Makoto, are you okay?) (Noah)

"We are in a difficult situation but I'm fine Noah-sama..."

H-Hey, what should we do now…" (Lucy)

Lucy held my shoulder tightly.

Lucy can't fight because of fatigue and his mana is a bit drained...

The harpies above, the sea serpent underwater, the arachnes and the other monsters surrounding us.

There's nowhere to run.

This is the first time I have been surrounded by monsters to this extent.

[Clear Mind 99%].

Calm down.

(Makoto, you should be able to somehow manage to escape if you were alone, right?) (Noah)

That's quite the bad natured thing to say, Noah-sama.

But you also know that.

I will not abandon her...

A smirk appeared on my face.

The sea serpent attacks us again.

"Lucy, I will concentrate on evading, so I don't care where, eliminate the monsters from the shore." (Makoto)

"B-But if we get to the shore, you won't be able to use your water magic!" (Lucy)

Right.

I borrowed the power of the Spirits just a few moments ago, so I can't use it again so soon.

The moment we are at shore, I will become useless.

[Evade]!

I avoided the attack of the harpy, and cut her with my dagger.

With her wing injured, I could see her plunging into the lake.

There's no sign of the monsters reducing in numbers.

Rather, the number of arachnes has increased.

However, there's a whole lot of monsters at the shore fighting each other at their whim.

Aah, this is bad.

Really bad.

Run away alone

Don't abandon my comrade ←

Giving me such a messed up option!

"Lucy, don't give up!" (Makoto)

"O-Okay." (Lucy)

I held the hand of Lucy, and took a stance with my dagger once again.