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Tl: Sam

…

「Eeeeeh!?」 「Shachiken!?」 「He fell into the lava!!」 「Total wipeout unavoidable」 「Wait, is this for real?」 「Hey hey, that guy is dead」 「Tanakaaa! Are you seriously okay?」

Come to think of it, this dungeon formed in a volcanic area. It wouldn’t be surprising for there to be high-heat lava zones. Since it was covered in snow from the upper to middle levels, that completely slipped my mind.

Thanks to that, I ended up taking a full-on dive into lava.

“Pwah, the temperature is pretty high.”

「Eh?」 「Huh?」 「’Pwah’ my ass lol」 「He’s alive!」 「Wait, what’s happening?」

“Ah, sorry to startle you all. Um, this much heat is fine. I’ve trained for it.”

「I see」 「Wait, what does that even mean?」 「Human potential really is limitless, huh」 「He’s just normally relaxing in the lava lol」 「Lava isn’t a hot spring, you know」 「Lava bath lol」 「Amazing, the human body♡」

Sitting down on a convenient rock, I thought things over while taking a half-body bath in the lava. Phew, it’s moderately warm and really improves blood circulation.

Now then, what to do from here? Judging by the palpable magic essence concentration, this is probably the deep level. And among that, it’s safe to say it’s the innermost depths. To think I ended up all the way in the back when I had only planned to finish up in the middle level.

Well, landing on the very bottom floor could be considered lucky in a way. Because if I head back up from here, I won’t overlook any of the scattered explorers.

“For now, I’ll aim for the upper level. And while rescuing the other explorers along the way, my goal will be to escape this dungeon.”

「Roger」 「Good luck!」 「Curious about what happened to the other explorers」 「Well, Yuki-san and Yui-chan are there too, so that’s somewhat reassuring, but…」 「Still, this dungeon seems to have a high danger level, so it’s worrying」 「True that」 「First Attacks really are scary after all」

Having decided on my goal, I immediately started walking toward the upper level. Where I was now was a wide-open space drenched in lava. Looking around, I could see a path continuing upward in the distance. Let’s head up from there.

“Hm? This is…”

After walking for a bit, I found something. It was a small sphere floating in mid-air. It looked like condensed, boiling lava, and was about the size of a soccer ball.

Feeling considerable energy from that sphere, I had an idea of what it was.

“Isn’t this a dungeon core?”

The nucleus of a dungeon, the dungeon core. It could be considered the heart of the dungeon, and if it breaks, this dungeon will collapse.

“The fact that a dungeon core is here means I really did end up in the deepest part. Looks like I’d better hurry…”

「That dungeon core looks crazy hot」 「Wait, wouldn’t it be fine if he just broke this? lol」 「Idiot, if you break this, everyone gets buried alive」 「Shachiken might be fine even if buried alive, but the others won’t be…」 「By the way, there’s no dungeon boss, huh」 「Away from home?」 「Well, it’s better if it’s not around, right?」

Indeed, having a core without a boss present was unusual, but today’s objective wasn’t the boss. While the cat’s away, let’s make a quick retreat. Just as I thought that and began walking,

『GROOOOOOOAAAHHH!!』

From within the lava, unleashing a roar that shook the very atmosphere, a monster emerged. A massive dragon with scales of lava… this guy was a Lava Dragon.

「Uwoooooh!!」 「Freaked me out lol」 「What is this guy!?」 「Isn’t this guy a super rare monster?」 「First time seeing it」 「Looks way too strong」 「It’s an S-rank monster, after all, of course it’s strong」

The Lava Dragon drooled lava-like saliva from its mouth as it glared at me. Apparently, it was hungry. However, you aren’t the only hungry one here.

“I was just getting hungry myself. Time to procure some food.” 『GRRR… BAAAH!!』

The Lava Dragon snapped its massive jaws open and lunged to bite. Enormous fangs. If I took a bite from that, it wouldn’t end with just a little pain.

“Hup.”

I caught those fangs with my bare hands. The Lava Dragon’s body was as hot as lava, but well, this level of temperature was completely fine.

“Hmph…!” 『VAH!?』

Gripping the Lava Dragon’s fangs tightly, I lifted it up. And just like that, I slammed it against the rocky ground with all my might.

「Eep」 「Way too brutal lol」 「RIP」 「Lava Dragon-kun, you were a good guy…」

Thud! The ground shook, and the Lava Dragon grimaced in agony. However, its fighting spirit hadn’t faded yet; slowly raising its head, it gathered flames within its mouth.

“Dragon Breath, huh.”

Fiery breath is a dragon’s specialty. The Lava Dragon’s breath was probably far hotter than an ordinary dragon’s. Readying my sword, I met that breath attack head-on.

“Come.” 『GAAAAH!!』

A colossal storm of fire large enough to fill my entire field of vision rushed forward. A ferocious attack; for an ordinary human, not even their bones would remain.

Staring that attack down from the front, I drew my sword.

“Tanaka-Style Swordsmanship, Tachikaze.”

A slash sharp enough to cleave through even a storm severed the dragon’s breath in two. And that single blow also severed the neck of the Lava Dragon waiting behind it, bisecting it cleanly.

“Sorry, but I’m in a hurry.” 『Ga, a…?』

With an expression that seemed completely unable to comprehend having been cut down, the Lava Dragon collapsed.

「Uwoooooh!!」 「Shachiken is the strongest! Shachiken is the strongest!」 「Tanaka really is unbeatable after all!」 「As monstrously strong as ever lol」 「Who could even beat you!?」

Alright, with this, the obstacle was gone. I didn’t know whether this guy was the boss monster or not, but having other monsters of this caliber around would be dangerous. Let’s aim for the upper level as quickly as possible.

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