by Fujino Omori
By exploding a Firebolt into the blade and then encasing the whole thing in light particles, he was able to infuse it with two mechanisms of attack, and at the same time to strengthen it.
As the heat of the flames focused on the blade, the Hestia Knife began to expand. The blade swelled to the width of a sword and the length of a dagger. It became hotter and brighter in proportion to the length of the charge, until crimson light filled the entire cavernous room. In the midst of this huge power output, a few flames escaped from Bell’s focus and danced off the knife in the form of sparks.
The blow he was preparing pushed his power to its limits and seemed certain to thunder with the sound of fire and decimate everything around it once it was released.
Bell had devised a completely absurd force-based combat technique. This deadly blow was expressly designed to defeat his greatest rival whenever they next met.
Yes. It was just like the eternal divine flame—
“—Goddess, I receive this from you.”
Bell raised the flame-and-light-clad knife in his right hand and looked at the monster standing before him.
Ring, ring.
As if to announce that the monster’s time was up, Bell’s chime rang out.
He was shaking.
What was that?
What was that?!
What could that be?!
He didn’t know. He had never seen anything like it.
Many times in the past, he had heard songs followed by bombardment. He had been burned by fire and frozen stiff by ice, struck by lightning and stripped of parts of his body.
But he had never seen anything like this.
Never this merciless light.
Never this flash of light and flame that seemed destined to destroy all and return all to ash.
He was utterly petrified. So petrified that his will to kill and his hatred evaporated.
Water!
He had to get into the water!
If he was in the water, the human wouldn’t be able to pursue him!
He turned away from the boy.
He left his anger and his pride and his humiliation behind him and was about to dive into the stream that his mother the Dungeon had provided for him.
“Hiyo!”
But before he could reach it, a blizzard of pure-white snow beat down from above and froze the stream as far as he could see.
“?!”
Standing astonished on the edge of the frozen river that he could no longer dive into, he looked up.
“Thought we’d let you escape, eh?”
A youth with red hair and a blue sword in his right hand was standing on top of a large crystal column, looking down on him. His other hand was on his hip.
“Sorry, but that guy is gonna kill you right here, right now. Got it?”
The human’s fearless smile made him crazy with anger. He roared, wanting to rampage as his desire to kill dictated.
But the footsteps approaching from behind would not allow that.
He held his breath and looked over his shoulder.
The boy with white hair was walking slowly toward him.
His rage vanished, and in its place the terror came again. The boy paced quietly toward him, repeatedly focusing that terrible light as he drew near.
It’s getting closer!! Closer!! Closer!!
The destruction that would tear him apart.
The human who would kill him.
The white rabbit with the deep-red light in his eyes.
“—Game on,” the boy announced, raising his blade of light and flame.
The boy’s walk turned to a run, then a sprint.
He was rushing at him as fast as lightning.
“U—UOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!”
The deadly blade was bearing down on him.
The white hair left a trace as it flew forward, sparks spilling from the knife and dancing in the air.
He howled with terror and swung his powerful, all-destroying arms.
But.
The boy flashed toward him with a speed that surpassed his strength.
“—”
The bell had chimed for sixty seconds.
The sacred letters carved into the blade threw off a brilliant light and released the roaring sound of fire.
“Argo Vesta!”
Just before it happened, as crimson and pure-white light filled the world, something occurred to him.
If I’m reborn…
I’ll never, ever go near a white rabbit again.
That was his final thought before his consciousness exploded into a million pieces.
“Argo Vesta.”
There was a thundering of flame and a flash of light, and then a tremendous shock.
That was all there was to the blow.
“—O, OO!!”
The exploding ball of flames swallowed up the death cries sputtering from the monster, and the crimson flash edged in white light flickered.
The flaming knife blow had caused the powerful explosion.
As Lilly and the others watched from above, their field of vision was filled first with white, then with red light. They threw their arms in front of their faces as the wave of heat and shock rolled toward them. Born in the space of an instant, the knife attack infused with electrical fire had generated a flare that incinerated all that it passed.
As color returned to the flickering landscape, the adventurers slowly raised their faces.
Two massive legs stood in the silent room, the upper body that once belonged to them now gone. A moment later, the legs, too, turned to ash and scattered into the air with a puff.
Bell stood with his right arm outstretched at the end of its swing, quietly looking down at his knife as he released the tension from his body. The divine blade had matured along with him, and it was as smooth and un-chipped as before the attack. The flame and light still lingering in it turned to smoke and drifted upward toward the ceiling.
“Mr. Be—”
“UOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHH!!”
Lilly’s and Haruhime’s emotional cries were drowned out by the deep bellows of joy coming from the elves and dwarves. Daphne and Cassandra desperately slapped their hands over their ears as Welf, Mikoto, and Aisha joined in the battle cry.
“Chigusa!”
“Ah…Ou…ka.”
All at once, the parasitic vines entangling the adventurers’ bodies disappeared.
The vines had met the same fate as their creator, transforming like the monster into a haze of ash. As a smile of recovery spread over Chigusa’s still-enfeebled face, Ouka broke into a grin and threw his arms around her.
The elves and dwarves, too, cried tears of joy as the monster’s wretched torment disappeared from their bodies.
“Mr. Bell!”
“Bell!”
The boy winced happily as Lilly, Welf, and the others jumped down from the hole in the wall and stumbled toward him. As he raised his hands to show that he had suffered no harm, he heard a splash.
The sound was coming from behind Bell, on the opposite side from the frozen stream.
“Uh…”
Surprised, Bell turned in the direction of the splash and smiled faintly.
A beautiful mermaid had popped her head and shoulders out of the water.
It was Mari, who had parted ways with Bell just before he saved the party.
“Thank you, Bell…I love you!”
The Xenos had delivered the boy to his companions, and now she blushed and smiled broadly. Then she touched her fingers to her petite lips like a precocious child and blew Bell a farewell kiss. As she waved, her lips silently formed the words See you later.
Only Bell could see her; she was hidden from view of the rest of the party. The boy smiled wryly and returned her wave with a tiny one of his own.
A moment later, the sound of Bell’s companions throwing their arms around him rang out, and a fishtail splashed the surface of th
e water.
As the voices of the adventurers chatting excitedly on land drifted toward her in a soft, gentle murmur, the mermaid smiled faintly and returned to the world of water.
EPILOGUE
GALE WIND’S NEWS
After defeating the enhanced species, our party left the lower levels together with Dormul, Luvis, and their companions.
We had suffered major damage and loss of our supplies, and therefore we took the shortest route to the Colossal Tree Labyrinth without making a single detour. From there we returned to the safety point of Rivira. The town’s residents made no fuss whatsoever over the armless Luvis and the other injured party members, as if seeing adventurers with irreparable injuries was just a part of daily life. We requested and received accommodation to treat the wounded here.
One full day has passed since my battle with the enhanced species.
“Are you…all right…?”
Our party has come to the inn to check on Luvis and the other wounded, who we’ve heard have made it past the most dangerous stage of their treatment.
“Sorry to worry you! It’s nothing life-threatening,” Luvis says, sitting up in bed. I can tell he is still exhausted, but he gives me a hearty smile. He’s sharing a large room built into a cave with a number of other adventurers, including other elves from Modi Familia and dwarves from Magni Familia, which Dormul belongs to. They’re all resting on beds or sheets spread on the floor. A boundary line has been drawn down the center of the room—evidence of the usual bad relations between the dwarves and the elves.
“Thank ye kindly. Yer kindness has warmed me heart and, well…yo-ho-ho?!”
Dormul blushes and bursts into laughter as he looks at Cassandra and Haruhime.
“I’m so glad you’re doing better,” the healer says.
“Are the other dwarves recovering all right?” Haruhime asks.
I glance over at Luvis, who has already changed into a spare set of battle clothes. No arm protrudes from the cuff of the short sleeve on the right side.
“I’m sorry we weren’t able to fix your arm…” I say.
As I had feared, there was no way to restore it. The severed limb that we recovered was already beginning to rot, and if we had attached it, it would probably have caused necrosis from the shoulder down. No healing item or magic has the power to reverse time and undo decay.
I was worried my apology might have sounded arrogant, but Luvis answers, “No, I was lucky.”
“Huh?” I say.
He brings his left hand to his right stump and shakes his head.
“I lost an arm, not my life.”
“…Mr. Luvis.”
“Don’t worry about me. This all happened because of my own carelessness.”
I follow Luvis’s eyes and see that several other bandaged elves are smiling, too. One female elf is missing a leg. I don’t know what to say.
“This is an adventurer’s life. This is the Dungeon,” Luvis says, drawing his thin eyebrows together.
“This is the price we pay in our quest for the unknown. It’s a reality we all must face.”
Like he says, the reality of being an adventurer is right here before my eyes. It’s not at all like a splendid fairy tale. It’s the hard truth of losing an arm or an eye or even your life.
Still—continuing the fight as long as you have your life is part of being an adventurer.
Seeing Luvis’s sudden smile helps me realize that.
“When we get back to the surface, I’ll go see Dian Cecht Familia and get them to make me the best prosthetic arm out there…Oh boy, it’ll drive our patron deity wild to hear we’re going into debt over that!”
Maybe because he’s imagining the moment he reveals the news, Luvis giggles. It’s a pleasant laugh, not in the least shadowed by bitterness.
The graceful elven youth looks up at me.
“Rabbit Foot…Bell Cranell. Thank you for rescuing us. I swear on the name of Luvis Lilix that one day I will repay this enormous debt…My deepest gratitude, comrade of the elves.”
He puts his hand on his chest and bows deeply. The other elves do the same, with smiles on their faces.
“…Hmph! Ye elves are too formal. Ye ought to do things more simply.”
Dormul, who had been watching my exchange with Luvis silently, approaches me with his companions.
“Thank ye, Hestia Familia and other adventurers. If ye find trouble in the future, we dwarves will help.”
We grin at each other, and then I grasp the massive hand Dormul has extended. Lilly, Welf, and the others shake hands with the other dwarves.
“Enough with these boring formalities! We’ve gotten through the worst; now I say it’s time for a few drinks!”
“M-Miss Aisha? What in the world are you talking about…?” Haruhime gasps.
“Thanks to that lumbering giant, our plans got all messed up and we had to give up the expedition halfway through. The least we can do is enjoy ourselves now!” Aisha answers smugly. The dwarves’ eyes sparkle at her suggestion, while the elves look astonished.
“Getting wounded people drunk, eh, Amazon?”
“We’re in!”
“Right, then, it’s a drinking party! We’ll drink this town dry!” Aisha says.
“Miss Aisha, this is absolutely not acceptable! The exorbitant prices of drinks in Rivira will be our ruin! At least wait until we’re back on the surface…!” Lilly shrieks.
“Stop being so stingy, Lilly! After all, we did bring back plenty of jewels from the lower levels!” Welf says.
“That’s a separate issue!! You think I’m going to let you waste my jewels on drinks?!”
“Back to the same old nonsense…” Daphne sighs, recalling a similar scene from the first day of the expedition. Cassandra laughs hollowly.
I smile wryly and sneak out of the large room. Maybe part of me wants to avoid getting pulled into the celebration, but mostly it’s that I want to tell the townsfolk who helped us out that Luvis and the others are on the mend.
Outside the cave-turned-inn, the eighteenth floor is bustling with midday activity. The chrysanthemum-like crystals on the ceiling are glowing with a soft sunlike light.
“Hey, Rabbit Foot! I heard you met up with quite the monster down there! Bad luck for your first expedition, I’d say!”
Bors, the head of Rivira, buttonholes me as soon as I step out of the inn. A smile on his unseemly face and a patch over one eye, he pounds me on the shoulder. His odd charm makes me smile back at his straightforward words in spite of myself.
“Tell me the whole story! I’ll pay for the drinks if you get the snacks,” he says.
“Uh, well, how about having a party with everyone, then…?”
“Right! Leave it to me!”
I make the suggestion thinking Aisha and the others will appreciate it, but just then we’re interrupted.
“Bors! Bors!”
An animal-person adventurer runs up to us.
“What’s all the fuss about?”
“…der.”
“What?”
“A murder! An adventurer has been killed outside of town!”
Both Bors and I stare in shock at the bearer of this news.
“Wait now, are you sure this isn’t the work of a monster?”
“No, a human! I saw the criminal!”
As the extremely upset animal person describes what they saw, I can’t hide my own distress.
Once again, death is close to me…A shiver runs down my neck, the blood drains from my face, and my stomach churns with an awful sound.
“Who is it you say you saw?” Bors asks, narrowing his eyes sharply.
The animal person hesitates for a minute, then goes white and speaks.
“Gale Wind…”
Huh?
I stand there like a statue, not comprehending what I just heard. The townsperson continues in a loud voice.
“It was the work of that blacklisted adventurer with a bounty on her head…Gale Wind!”
; Afterword
I’ve always loved the flaming-sword attacks in a certain classic manga.
And here we have the twelfth volume of the series, which begins a new storyline.
I initially planned to start this volume by jumping straight into the story of the tavern elf, but I couldn’t help wanting to see just how much our hero had grown since returning to his roots in the epilogue of Volume 11. I therefore rapidly changed my plans and took the liberty of writing a pure Dungeon book. From the perspective of the story as a whole, which is still a long way from over, it’s something of a detour, but I’m glad I took it.
As the author, the part of writing this volume that made me happiest is the fact that the characters have reached the stage where they are truly changing and growing. Of course, the structure of the storyline dictates how the various characters develop and grow to a certain extent, but in this volume the main character stepped away from my hand and took a great leap of his own. To borrow the language of the series, even the deities didn’t foresee his development. That seems like an appropriate way to put it. This strikes me as evidence that the characters are alive within the story and not at all controlled by my own plans. That’s what I want to believe. And to think that at the beginning they were so weak and helpless!
The downside of all this was the question of how to depict the reactions of the women in Bell’s life to his slightly excessive growth. In particular, it was quite hard to rein in the sexual attraction of the Amazon. In my first draft, she threw herself onto Bell without taking no for an answer, so I was in quite a panic to revise that. That was another time I realized that the characters are alive.
There were no intrigues or evil plots by the deities in this volume. It was unadulterated Dungeon, and in personal terms, I had a terrific time writing it. The characters were on a pure Dungeon adventure, encountering atrocious monsters and cute girls in this fantasy world. I struggled here and there, but all in all, I was very happy to return, along with the hero and his companions, to that initial state of enthusiasm.
