Is it wrong to try to meet someone in a dungeon?

"Ugh, nausea!?... Damn it!?"

Welf clung to the last remaining "island" and suddenly broke through the water.

He took a deep breath and then exhaled the curses along with the water that was flowing back up from his throat.

The extent of the large cavity was truly alarming.

The water was churning and surging like a stormy sea, its volume noticeably reduced. The islands on the glacier were shattered into pieces, the battlefield where he and his companions had just fought completely transformed. Looking up, he saw only a huge skylight through the dome of tree roots, a desolate ruin remaining.

Under the astonishing power comparable to a meteorite, cracks appeared on all four sides of the massive cavity.

The already damaged dungeon collapsed even further, and countless crystal fragments rained down from the ceiling, creating ripples that spread across the water's surface.

"Huff, huff...!"

"This is utterly ridiculous...!"

Daphne, Chigusa, and Sakura clung to floating ice floes or tree root fragments, their faces emerging from the water.

Everyone suffered bruises, sprains, lacerations, and so on, without exception.

Some people even lost weapons such as broadswords or bows and arrows.

"Lady Cassandra...!"

“Ugh…!”

The shoreline also suffered from the disaster.

Cassandra shielded Lily and Haruhime, but was struck directly in the back by an ice block and collapsed. In the flooded surroundings, Lily's backpack was caught on a cluster of crystals.

The victorious formation built by the adventurers was utterly shattered.

"Fate...? What about fate!?"

Chigusa was the first to notice that there were not enough companions.

When Welf and the others managed to climb onto the few remaining ice floes—a large "island" completely upside down—she, having lost her bow and arrows, frequently looked around.

"No way... Fate—!?"

The girl screamed as if tearing silk, but received no response.

Unfortunately, Daphne saw it. She saw countless bubbles turning the water's surface red.

Her face was stiff; she stood frozen in place, realizing with dismay what was to come for the girl.

"Roar!!"

"That damned, stinky dragon...!"

At the same time, the two-headed dragon that had fallen into the lake surfaced.

Aisha, climbing onto the ice, cursed at the floor master whose eyes were still bloodshot.

The dragon's two heads showed no mercy as it pursued the adventurers whose battle lines had crumbled.

The left dragon head spewed out scorching flames.

「!?」

"Get out of the way!"

Azure Flame chased after the leaping and dodging adventurers, charging blindly and recklessly.

Several streaks of blue flame shot out without any careful aiming. Aisha jumped from one "island" to the next, while Daphne jumped into the water without hesitation.

The out-of-control water dragon continued to spew flames in all directions, intending to burn everything to ashes.

The crystal gradually melted, heat waves filled the air, and even the remaining air became increasingly thin.

The winged monsters were crying out. They tried to escape the flying sparks and flee into the labyrinthine area, but were struck by crystal blocks falling from the sky and plunged into a sea of ​​raging flames.

The adventurers clutched their throats, a chill running down their spines.

Trembling as the flames engulfed the dome's remains, creating a "cage of fire."

The 25th floor, the topmost level of the "Water City", emits a pale blue flame.

then.

A blue flame was fired at the northeastern lake shore where Lily and the others were staying.

"────"

As Lily helped the young healer up, she saw the approaching fire serpent.

Both she and Cassandra had their faces illuminated by the heat and froze instantly.

Can't hide.

ended.

Just as Lily and Cassandra were about to succumb to the azure light of death...

"!"

A shockwave struck the two girls in the back.

"What—"

"Haruhime is so cute!?"

Lily's eyes met those emerald green eyes that were watching them.

Cassandra cried out when she saw the delicate hands that were pushing them away with barely any strength.

In an instant, the Azure Flame passed right before their eyes, making it impossible for them to see the fox's figure anymore.

She was cruelly and mercilessly swallowed up by the turbid flames.

"Haruhime-sama────────────────!?"

A sea of ​​flames erupted on the shore.

Lily's screams were drowned out by the raging waves of karmic fire.

"—Haruhime..."

Aisha, who unfortunately witnessed that scene, murmured in a daze.

She arrived there as if drawn to the northeastern shore, and stood there motionless in front of the sea of ​​fire.

Even Lily, who was kneeling on both knees, or Cassandra, who was slumped on the ground, did not come into her view.

For the first time, she, a second-level adventurer, revealed a weakness.

But that's irrelevant now.

Because the two-headed dragon had already decided to destroy everything within the Great Hollow.

"Roar!!"

The raging flames flowed endlessly.

It unleashed its fury as fiercely as a natural disaster.

The barely surviving adventurers looked up at the dragon floor master, who was letting out a double roar.

"Is there no hope left...!"

Escaping the raging flames, Cherry Blossoms stood on the shallows, one hand gripping "Huang Gang" tightly.

Daphne, who had climbed out of the water and onto the shore, slammed her fist into the ground, displaying a rare display of agitation.

Sweating profusely, Welf's brows furrowed with bitterness as he stared at the dragon against a backdrop of azure flames.

As Chigusa watched her two friends disappear from sight, tears streamed down her face through her bangs that covered her eyes.

"...Fate──────! Haruhime────────!"

The turbulent emotions that disrupted his mind were transformed into a roar, and the cherry blossoms burned with grief and indignation.

What angered me was the extremely tyrannical floor owner, and myself, who had failed to protect anything.

A man who has lost his hometown and childhood friends is filled with despair and rage.

"Haruhime...you despicable bastard—!"

Aisha is the same.

Lily and Cassandra beside her hadn't been able to stand up yet; only she gritted her teeth and turned to look at the two-headed dragon.

The woman's fists trembled. But the warrior's instincts refused to let her grieve all day. She would never allow herself to show a vulnerable, tearful side, which could be seen as a form of self-abandonment.

Using anger to rewrite the sense of loss that left a gaping hole in her chest, the woman glared at the floor manager alone.

Cherry blossoms, and Aisha.

He and she refused to confront their despair, preparing to throw themselves into a battle where victory was impossible. Although they differed, they both had the two girls on their minds.

They transformed their feelings into a fighting spirit of "better to die than surrender," vowing to cut off the dragon's head even at the cost of their lives, and burning their bodies with karmic fire no less powerful than Azure Flame.

That was the fire of a courageous will.

and so……

"—[Descending from the heavens, unifying the earth]."

That "poem"...

"【-Grow bigger】."

Only they noticed it.

"──────"

Only men and women who had not lost their fighting spirit heard the "song" of two girls echoing from the depths of the roaring flames.

○

(That is—)

I saw cherry blossoms.

When everyone stopped moving and stood still.

Only he, who never gave up his fighting spirit until the very end, managed to capture "that".

They captured a "band of light" hidden in the azure firelight illuminating the floors, making the water surface appear faint and hazy.

They captured the "glowing" light that shaped the outline of Mars as it floated in mid-air.

(Sword)

Immediately afterwards.

Cherry blossoms rushed out.

"Blacksmith! Shoot! Aa ...

The impassioned appeals swayed Welf's hand.

Seeing the cherry blossoms rushing past the edge of his vision, he gripped the sword hilt with both hands, as if propelled by a sudden impulse and unwilling to admit defeat.

—Stop nagging and ordering me around. I trust you, you know.

It is precisely because Welf is used to arguing with Sakura and they can't stand each other that he can act so quickly.

He refused to admit it no matter what, but it was precisely because he was Sakura's "bad friend" that he was able to raise that "demon sword" and strike.

"Ice Eagle!!"

The ice cannon shot out.

The "Demon Sword" it unleashed created a forest of ice pillars in the lake, dispelling even the azure flames along the way, and pressed onward.

"Haa ...

"Amphispina" saw that as a major threat and spewed out a burst of red mist with maximum power from its right head.

The raging blizzard surged forward, fog billowed everywhere, and the colors of blue and red clashed fiercely.

The cracked "magic sword" made Welf narrow his eyes.

The ice cannon pierced through the thick fog, freezing part of the dragon's body. The aftershocks of the wind and snow made it squint its eyes, attempting to unleash a counterattack of fire from its other head.

The next moment...