Ch 44: Guryen Volcano

A volcano.

This was the place the group was currently. The Great Dungeon of the Guryen Volcano. This volcano was located in the north of the Ancadi Duchy and was very dangerous.

Unlike the Orcus Dungeon, the Guryen Dungeon was not famous among mercenaries. This was because the Magic Beasts in this place didn't drop magic stones, so the mercenaries didn't see any gain here. In addition, this volcano was difficult to access.

Around the Volcano were several sandstorms and gigantic creatures that looked like worms. However, the group got through this easily.

As they passed through the sandstorms, they spotted an aging looking entrance.

"There is no wind here. It's like the spring."

"Hm? Really..."

Tio and Shia commented as they got out of the car. The others also agreed with Tio's observation. This place really was less hectic than the outside. They then moved toward the entrance. They approached it and saw a staircase leading down to some place. Something they noticed as they approached the stairs was....

"It's hot..."

"Yeah, that's pretty uncomfortable."

"Even though I feel comfortable here... I can't wait to feel in agony for heat."

"Don't worry Tio Then I'll throw you into the magma."

Shia and Sakura complained about the heat, but Tio who was a dragon had high heat resistance. Chloe and Rimuru had temperature resistance abilities and hadn't even noticed until the others commented.

"Well, since that's the case let's finish this Dungeon quickly."

"Yes!"

"Let's go."

"Come on!"

"Only if it's now."

Hajime encouraged and the others were also excited. Everyone entered the dungeon.

●●●

The interior of the Guryen Dungeon was quite different from Orcus.

The main change was the structure. Lava flowed through some holes in the wall and in some parts there were small puddles of lava. Some parts of the floor were traps that if stepped on would sink into the lava.

Monsters appeared from the walls or the lava and most of them had magma bodies. This was no big deal. However the worst thing was...

"That's hot. Haaaa..."

"Haaa... I can't take it anymore, Haaaa..."

Everyone was very hot. This heat was very strong and caused sweating and inattention. This made traps and monsters that attacked by surprise much more difficult.

Every now and then they would stop to rest and use ice magic to cool themselves down. Rimuru could protect them from the cold, but he didn't because of something Ciel said before they left Ancadi.

The group had already descended 5 floors and that's when Rimuru noticed something.

"Isn't that the Serene Stone over there?"

"Hm? Ah, that's right."

"Let's collect it then."

Rimuru pointed to a small stone glowing red on the wall. Hajime agreed with his words because the stone matched the description Randzi had told them. Yue told them to collect the stone and Rimuru then put the stone away in the infinity space.

After that they went down to the seventh floor. Along the way they found several other stones just like it, and continued dodging traps and killing monsters. In time they reached the room that descended to the eighth floor.

At this moment...

"Gruwaaaaaaar!"

A magic circle appeared on the floor and summoned a Magical Beast. It was a bull of made of stones that glowed so hot. He was twice the size of a normal bull and gave a loud roar as he appeared.

"Calamity."

Yue was closer and attacked with a black sphere that was made with gravity magic. The bull saw the attack coming and counterattacked with a fireball that came out of its mouth.

*KABOOOM*

The two attacks clashed and Yue's attack easily outweighed the bull's. The sphere hit the bull's head and destroyed it completely. After that the bull's body stopped glowing and did not move anymore.

"Is it... dead?"

"I think so."

"Hajime-san, we'd better make sure."

*PRACK*

Yue wondered if it was over and Hajime agreed. Shia was being cautious and pulled Doryucken, she crushed the rest of the Stone Bull easily to ensure its death.

"Yeah, that one was a little stronger than the flaming bats we faced before."

"Hm? Really..."

Tio agreed with Chloe's words and so did the group, they realized that it would probably get harder from now on. The group continued on their way. After that, just as they imagined the variation, quantity and strength of the monsters increased.

Five stories later

The monsters and traps had increased, but this was no problem for the group. The worst thing was the extreme heat that got worse the more they lay down.

"Haaa, haaa, it's hot..."

"Shia, don't pay attention and the heat will go away, don't pay attention to the sweat either. Look, what's that? It's just water, fufu."

"Rimuru-kun, Yue-san is acting strange..."

"Ah, Goushin-sama, Yue is going crazy! Her eyes are getting empty!"

Yue played with her sweat, and Chloe and Tio found this worrying. Rimuru found the effect the heat was having on the group funny and thought ("They're going crazy in the heat, aren't they Ciel-san?") However no one answered him.

("Oh, that's right...")

Rimuru realized something. Ever since they left the city he had been feeling a strange sensation. He was feeling... lonely. That's because ever since Rimuru had evolved into a demon lord, he had never been alone. Always having his trusted partner by his side. Yet now he didn't have her around and he felt pretty bad about it.

Rimuru realized that he might have to reevaluate how he thought about Ciel. For now he decided to hold Chloe's hand and Sakura's hand to get rid of the lonely feeling. They were confused by the sudden action, but they were not bothered. Rimuru also used an ice magic to relieve Sakura's heat.

This made her shiver as she didn't understand why she was suddenly cold, but she calmed down when she saw that Rimuru had done something.

The group stopped to rest. Rimuru and Yue created some giant blocks of ice and made a big igloo. The group was inside the igloo cooling themselves with ice water and resting.

"Aaaaaaah, I can finally breathe properly."

"Mhm, it's really cool."

"We just can't take too long. The igloo won't hold much in this heat."

"Really."

Chloe, Sakura, Yue and Rimuru spoke in this sequence. Everyone was enjoying the temporary cold. At this moment Tio called out to Hajime.

"Goushin-sama, I have a theory about this heat and the surprise traps. Maybe it's the concept of this Dungeon."

"Concept?"

Hajime asked confused by his words. Rimuru was quite interested in what Tio talked about and was listening to their conversation.

"Mhm, the purpose of the Dungeons is the whole defying God thing, right? So there must be various forms of testing. For example Orcus has high level Magic Beasts and the Rainsen Dungeon makes you stop relying on magic so much. Maybe the concept of this Dungeon is to not lose focus even in the worst conditions. That is, this hellish heat..."

"I see, I had never thought that the Dungeons were 'teaching' us."

Hajime and the others realized that Tio's remark made sense. They were impressed and remembered that even though she was a masochist, she was still quite wise.

"Exactly as Ciel-san said."

"Hm?"

The group was confused by Rimuru's words. Rimuru then told them about his conversation with Ciel before they left the city. Ciel told him that each of the Dungeons probably had different challenges.

"Why are you only telling this now?"

Hajime asked confused. Rimuru then explained.

"Ciel-san also said that if I help too much, you guys might end up failing the test. That's because the Dungeon will see in your memories if you have overcome the preset difficulties."

Rimuru said and everyone understood. He thought that even giving the hint that the heat was a test might count as a help. So he waited for someone else to figure it out on their own. This was also the reason for Rimuru not putting heat protection on the group members. Thinking that the heat was a 'test' if someone else overcame it for you, it wouldn't be considered overcoming a challenge.

"I see..."

"That changed how I view the Dungeons."

"Me too."

Everyone looked thoughtful. Hajime looked at Tio impressed, as she managed to come to the same conclusion as Ciel, who was probably the smartest being around. He absently looked at Tio's sweat that dripped down her neck and down the valley of her breasts. When he looked at this, he realized that his kimono was ill-fitting. This was probably because of sweat and Hajime's gaze was unconsciously drawn to the exposed part. Her breast, her nipple was exposed and Tio didn't notice.

Hajime couldn't take his eyes off that provocative part and no one noticed him looking. Tio used his fan to wiggle and Hajime could see 'them' wiggling. After that Tio's kimono fluffed up with the swaying of his body and Hajime averted his eyes in shame.

Hajime did not want to give in to the temptation that was Tio and looked at his beloved Yue. She was also very provocative. At the moment her shirt was unbuttoned and she was all sweaty, the sweat left several parts of her blouse transparent and Hajime couldn't take his eyes off her.

Yue noticed his gaze and slowly approached Hajime while licking her lips and giving him a provocative look.

"Yue-san!? We're inside a Dungeon! It's not the place or occasion!"

Shia scolded her and Yue reluctantly walked away. The others thought it was funny to see Yue being scolded by Shia who used to be the 'worthless rabbit'.

"I couldn't help it, Yue is too erotic."

"Hajime looking at me in silence, cute."

"Can you two just reflect a little bit!? Aren't you even a little guilty? First of all why doesn't Hajime-san look at me!? Even though I'm standing next to Yue-san and all sweaty... Look at my state!... my confidence has plummeted now. Uuuuuh..."

"I guess it's normal, since they love each other. I also want Goushin-sama to abuse me anytime. But for now I'll settle for him liking my breasts, kufufu."

Shia seemed to have forgotten the time, circumstance and place as well, this made her lose some of the credibility she passed on in scolding Yue. In addition she was disheartened that Hajime wouldn't look at her even though she was sweaty and in her see-through clothes.

Tio then let out a perverted statement clarifying that she had caught Hajime looking at her breasts, but she didn't seem to know how exposed her breasts were. Hajime was half embarrassed and Chloe and Sakura were consoling Shia, who had lost her confidence.

They rested some more and then continued their domination of the Dungeon.

●●●

The Great Guryen Dungeon probably had 50 floors. That's because the floor the group was currently on was the 50th and it was quite distinctive. This floor had very strong monsters, really a lot of lava, and the worst part was the heat. This heat was really extreme and if it was a normal person, they probably couldn't stand it, much less fight.

They were currently floating in the lava inside two boats. Hajime, Yue, and Tio were in a red boat coated with Assign Strength, which was an ability Hajime derived from Varja. Meanwhile Rimuru, Chloe, Sakura and Shia were in a blue boat that Rimuru coated with his absolute barrier.

The reason they were like this was because they took a shortcut.

A few floors after they rested inside the igloo, Hajime used mineral analysis on the serene stone just out of curiosity. He then discovered that this stone controlled the magma and lava of the Volcano.

Everyone in the group was surprised by the information, but didn't see much use in this information. They continued collecting the stones as they entered the dungeon.

Rimuru had the idea to send some golems possessed by smaller fire spirits ahead to facilitate the exploration. These golems/spirits were called the phoenix legion because of their appearance and were immune to any high temperature, so Rimuru thought they would be useful in this location. They didn't have a very developed consciousness and so Rimuru had to give very clear orders and stay in constant contact with them.

With the phoenix legion showing the way, they quickly reached the room that descended to the 20th floor, they found a whole wall of Serene Stone. They collected several, and after that they decided it was enough.

However, they collected too many stones and this made some parts of the flowing lava change. They had forgotten that the stones manipulated the lava and taking so many out of place caused the room to spiral out of control.

The floor they were on began to explode into lava, but Rimuru used powerful earth magic and contained the lava. Also the room they were in had a small waterfall of lava and collecting the rocks made the waterfall get out of control. The waterfall started splashing lava everywhere and Chloe used light magic to disintegrate the lava. Then they took out the source of the lava.

After they suppressed the lava, behind the waterfall they saw a large river of lava that the group didn't know where the end was.

Rimuru then released one of the phoenixes to explore the tunnel and after a while the phoenix transmitted the image of where the river ended and the group realized that that place was still inside the Dungeon, because the walls were artificial and there were some monsters emerging from them.

They all realized that they had accidentally found a shortcut and found themselves in the dilemma of which path to take, either the correct one or the shortcut.

Since this shortcut was inside the Dungeon itself, the group thought they wouldn't be reproached by the Dungeon and decided to take the shortcut. Then Hajime took two boats from his Treasure Chest. These boats were made by him and Rimuru before they came to the Dungeon. The boats were extremely heat resistant and just in case they were coated with defensive magics.

They went down to the end of the river and from the information the phoenixes collected, the place they arrived seemed to be the 50th floor. They were very attentive because this floor was very differentiated and had much stronger monsters. By 'differentiated' they meant that the floor of the floor was entirely covered by lava as if it was still the river they were on.

After some time of sailing, facing monsters and traps. Rimuru gave a warning...

"There is something ahead."

Rimuru said as they turned a 'corner' of the river. He detected something with magic perception, but he didn't know what it was because Rimuru didn't have Ciel with him at the moment, so he couldn't use his abilities that accurately.

"Tio, guide the boat. Yue and I will go on the attack."

"Okay, Goushin-sama, will you reward me with spankings afterwards?"

Tio agreed with Hajime and tilted his buttocks as he let out a perverted phrase that was ignored by everyone.

"It's coming."

"There!"

Rimuru warned them and Shia pointed at the magical Beast that was coming towards them.

"Eh? Isn't that a little weak for floor 50?"

Sakura asked confused. That's because the monster they saw was a Magma Bat. This monster was like a bat that spewed lava from its wings, but it was no threat since its speed of both movement and throwing speed were ridiculous. This monster could be found even on the second floor of the Dungeon.

"That's strange..."

"Yeah I think so too."

Rimuru and Sakura found it strange as the bat did not attack them but flew back to the narrow opening it came from. They followed it to the narrow opening and went through it. On the other side there was a big room with a big river of lava, and a really high ceiling that you couldn't even see the end of it. At the end of the room was a large closed door. This door was round and black, half of which seemed to be submerged in lava.

Hajime pointed Schlag at the bat and asked

"Should we kill it?"

"I don't see why not."

*DOPAN*

Hajime suggested killing the bat that was heading towards them and Rimuru who hadn't detected anything, then agreed. Hajime shot the bat that was attacking from above and tore it apart.

"Iiih."

"...."

At the moment the shot resounded, another noise could be heard. The noise of a bat, but that noise came from where the shot(which went through the other bat) hit. Rimuru and Hajime were startled as they had not detected anything and all turned in the direction of the noise.

"Iiih."

On the ceiling, two small orange dots could be seen, they were eyes. At this moment Hajime and Rimuru's detections beeped for the creature, but they were calm as it was just another bat. However...

"Iiih."

"Iiih."

"Iiiih."

More orange dots could be seen on the ceiling, more noises could be heard, and Hajime and Rimuru's detections beeped again. There were five bats, but...

"Iiih."

"Iiiiih."

"Iiiih, ih."

"Iiih."

"Iiiih."

"Iih, ihhh."

"Iiih."

"Iiiiih."

"Iiih."

"Iiih."

"Iiiiih."

"Iiiih, ih."

"Iiih."

"Iiiih."

"Iih, ihhh."

"Iiih."

"Iiiiih."

"Iiih."

"Iiiih."

...

Hajime and Rimuru's detections kept beeping. Dozens, hundreds, thousands, almost ten thousand and increasing. Everyone was staring at the ceiling that was filled with monsters with half frightened looks, for even if they could face them, seeing such a large amount of them gave a little fear.

"This really is the top floor..."

Rimuru made a sarcastic comment and the moment the bats heard it...

"""""""Iiiiiih!!""""""""

At the same time all the bats gave high-pitched screams and attacked the group.