Chapter 27
“Kweeeeeeeek!!!”
The passage between the dungeon’s third and fifth basement floors.
A man was racing through it at full speed,
cutting down the monsters that came at him without hesitation with his longsword.
“Out of the way!!”
Whoooosh—
His longsword swung diagonally.
Along the path of its blade, a monster that had spotted its prey leaped forward with its jaws wide open.
Slaash!
“Kyahhhhh——!!!”
The wolf-like monster’s body split in two.
The other monsters nearby saw their companion gruesomely cleaved in half and backed away in fear.
They’d realized their prey was no ordinary opponent.
“Awooooo———!”
A wolf-like monster howled, calling to its companions nearby.
Se-on recognized the meaning of the howl and clicked his tongue.
Looks like I’m going to lose a little time here.
“Grrr……”
The monsters that had gathered in the blink of an eye growled as they approached Se-on.
Se-on hesitated for a moment, but then charged forward again.
He didn’t have time to dawdle here.
[Adrenaline]
Bang!!
As Se-on used the skill, afterimages trailed behind him and he vanished from the monsters’ sight in an instant.
“Kyaaak—”
Slash.
The monster’s cry was cut short.
Its head had already been severed from its body.
One, two, three……
The heads of countless monsters soared like dazzling fireworks, and before long, fountains of blood filled the area.
At the center of it all stood Se-on, who had pushed himself too hard.
“Haa……”
Se-on leaned on his sword and panted, trying to catch his breath.
-Rustle
Suddenly, he heard something behind him.
“!?”
With a sharp turn, Se-on whipped his head around.
At the same time, his longsword swept toward the source of the sound in a swift upward arc.
Anything that appeared here out of nowhere had to be a monster.
“Aaaah!!! W-Wait!!”
“Huh?”
Fortunately, the blade swung off in another direction.
He couldn’t stop a sword he’d already swung.
“Haa…… Hh, huff…… Phew…… Honestly! I came to help you, and you’re trying to kill me?”
Wings flapped frantically.
The source of the presence was the dungeon harpy.
Se-on stared at the harpy for a moment, then turned away.
“Sorry. I’m in a bit of a hurry, so I have to go.”
Se-on needed to find Yubel as quickly as possible.
She could be in danger right now.
I’ll use Adrenaline to get there.
Just as he was about to use the skill again,
“Wait! You’re going to look for that mage, aren’t you?”
Se-on stopped dead in his tracks.
The dungeon harpy had brought him to a halt.
She’d hit exactly the mark, completely unexpectedly.
How did the harpy know?
“How……?”
“It’s obvious! Kyahaha! I told you not to go right! This is Behemoth’s walking path! You idiots!”
Behemoth.
Was that the dragon’s name?
The moment he heard it, Se-on felt his insides begin to boil.
“If you’re just going to make fun of me, I’ll be going. Every second counts right now.”
“And what can you do besides go there and get yourself killed?”
The harpy tilted her head and asked Se-on.
His expression hardened at her words.
It was a little harsh, but she was right.
Se-on wasn’t strong enough to take on a dragon right now.
Of course, Se-on knew that better than anyone.
Even so……
The only thing I can do is risk my life.
Just like Yubel did for me.
“You’ll just get yourself killed for nothing. You know that, right?”
“I know. But I’m still going. Yubel will be waiting for me.”
Pfft.
At Se-on’s unexpected answer, the dungeon harpy puffed out her cheeks until they looked ready to burst.
Then, unable to hold it in any longer, the harpy burst out laughing.
“Kyahahahaha!! You guys really are idiots!”
The dungeon harpy’s laughter filled the dungeon.
Even so, Se-on didn’t take offense.
He thought what he’d said was foolish, too.
Perhaps reading his expression, the harpy’s laughter died down.
Then the harpy hummed thoughtfully and began pondering something.
“Hmm, I like you! I know a way to rescue her safely. Want me to tell you?”
A way to rescue Yubel?
“Tell me! If there’s a way to save Yubel, I’ll do anything! Please!”
Se-on clung to the dungeon harpy as if she were his last hope.
His slightly hoarse voice made it clear just how desperate he was.
“Kyahah! I don’t need any money! I just want to give you a ‘special gift’!”
“A gift……?”
The dungeon harpy opened her bundle.
She took out a bottle that looked like a potion and held it out to him.
“Ta-da! Drink this and you’ll turn invisible for a little while! Drink it, sneak into Behemoth’s nest, and rescue that mage woman!”
“A potion that turns me invisible……”
Se-on reached out and accepted the potion.
The liquid inside looked clear, like water.
Could it really have that kind of power?
But that wasn’t much of a concern to Se-on.
Whether it was real or fake, he was still going to risk his life to save Yubel.
“Thank you. I’ll get going, then.”
“Kyahah! That’s right! Go save the princess who was captured by the evil dragon, Hero!”
Se-on nodded without a word, then ran back along the path Behemoth had taken.
However, this was a very big mistake.
There was a saying among adventurers: never accept anything from a dungeon harpy without thinking it through.
That was because dungeon harpies sometimes played tricks on their own merchandise.
In fact, the potion Se-on had received had an additional effect.
When its invisibility wore off, it would make him unable to control his violent impulses—an effect that could hurt the people around him.
“Yubel……! I’ll definitely save you!”
Se-on ran toward Yubel,
holding the clear, sloshing potion.
***
“I-I can’t eat any more……”
“Oh, why not? You look like you can still fit more in.”
“Ugh…… Uurp. Blegh.”
Yubel was helplessly crumbling beneath Behemoth’s cruel food torture.
Behemoth kept stuffing food into Yubel’s already tiny stomach until her little belly bulged out.
“Hehe. You look so lovely when you eat.”
This psycho dragon beamed every time I gagged while eating.
She has the same personality as that piece of trash from who knows where.
“Kyao!”
“Ugh, ah! Eva, I told you not to leave my side!”
Eva might be the only reason I was still alive.
The moment I let go of Eva, that dragon might crush me flat.
“Hehehe, the two of you look so lovely together. So what you said before was all a lie, wasn’t it? Well, if you’re carrying a life inside you, I suppose you didn’t mean it that way.”
What on earth was she talking about?
Was she saying I’d better not even think about escaping if I wanted to live?
Am I going to have to stay like this forever?
Yubel hugged Eva tightly and trembled.
“By the way, are your parents doing well? How did you end up here? Oh, but I’m happy, of course! I’m so lucky to have such a lovely child join our family.”
“My parents……?”
Did she mean my parents back in my hometown?
At Behemoth’s question, Yubel closed her eyes and began to reminisce.
Her memories of Earth were still vivid.
She remembered her father, who couldn’t abide injustice and had always lived honestly and diligently, and her mother’s face, always so kind when she…… welcomed me.
Yubel’s expression stiffened, as though she’d bitten down on a stone.
“Hmm, was that a sensitive subject? I’m sorry, dear. I suppose I’ve gotten bad at making conversation after talking to nothing but my child for so long.”
“Uurp, it’s okay……”
As Behemoth continued talking to her, Yubel found herself feeling a little puzzled.
What is this dragon’s deal?
Did she need a plaything to talk to?
Ha…… While I’m stuck here, the Hero’s probably going after Riella.
For a moment, Yubel imagined Riella being mercilessly ravaged by the Hero.
For some reason, her heart ached a little.
I’m sad.
Why does nothing ever go right?
I’m trying so hard.
Drip.
A single tear rolled down Yubel’s cheek.
Behemoth was so startled that she spilled the water she’d been drinking.
“Cough, cough! O-Oh, dear!? I-I’m sorry! I must have said something wrong! What a thoughtless mouth I have!”
Smack, smack.
Behemoth started slapping her own snout repeatedly.
“S-Sob, please don’t. I just suddenly got sad……”
“I-Is that so? Well, emotions do tend to run high at this stage. It was like that for me when I was pregnant, too……”
“……”
“……”
A heavy silence settled over the nest after Yubel suddenly burst into tears.
Behemoth waited for Yubel to calm down, sniffling as she did.
When Yubel seemed to have settled down a little, Behemoth cautiously broached what was on her mind.
“Um, do you perhaps dislike our child?”
“Pardon?”
“You’ve seemed rather gloomy since you came here…… I wondered if our child had done something wrong when the two of you conceived.”
Yubel thought carefully about what Behemoth meant.
Was she asking if I disliked Eva?
Well, I do like her, but……
Yubel lowered her head and looked at Eva.
Eva, who was being held hostage.
Ah, I guess it’s because I’m using Eva as a hostage right now.
Then it makes sense she’d ask if I dislike her.
“No, I like her, too. That’s why I have no choice but to do this.”
Taking a hostage is something you have to do to survive.
Yubel carefully explained her position.
At that, Behemoth’s eyes suddenly welled with tears.
She was so relieved to hear Yubel say she loved her child.
“Sob, thank you so much, dear……”
“Oh, sure.”
Yubel was dumbfounded.
She was thanking me even though I was holding her child hostage?
Could she be a huge masochist?
Come to think of it, I remember hearing somewhere that the stronger someone is, the more they like being bullied.
This dragon’s a total bitch.
Is that why she follows the Hero?
It seemed the Hero had taken advantage of this side of the dragon and used it as part of his trap.
The Hero was a psychopath, so manipulating a masochist should be easy for him.
Everything was starting to fall into place.
“Sniff, haa…… Oh, right. But how did you learn how to get pregnant? Our child doesn’t know much about that yet.”
“What?”
What are you talking about?
“How to get pregnant. Do you…… not know?”
It was a truly absurd question.
Why would she suddenly ask me that?
Well, I do know, of course.
Am I supposed to explain it to her now?
Since Yubel knew the answer, she tried to explain it slowly.
“Oh, um, well. The man’s…… penis goes into the woman’s…… well, anyway, you put it in, and move your hips……”
She’d meant to explain.
If only her face hadn’t started burning.
“Ugh, anyway! That’s how it happens! That’s how you have a baby!”
Yubel wiped the sweat from her forehead.
She felt refreshed.
She thought her explanation had been perfect.
Behemoth frowned after hearing Yubel’s perfect explanation.
It wasn’t simply because Yubel had explained it poorly.
What Yubel had described was the reproductive method of lowly, inferior creatures.
As a higher life-form, dragons had a somewhat special way of reproducing.
“Hmm, I think our dear child has it wrong. She’s still young, so maybe she got pregnant without knowing any better.”
“What?”
I’m wrong?
That can’t be right.
“Hehe, let me tell you how to get pregnant for my dear child’s sake. We have babies through kissing.”
Dragons made babies through kisses shared between those in love.
Dragons who disliked having the same reproductive method as lowly, inferior creatures had discovered a way to exchange their affections through their mouths instead.
They really were a species that loved being special.
However, Yubel didn’t believe her.
“Huh? Y-You’re lying, right? How am I supposed to believe that!”
“Now, now, you’re awfully suspicious, dear. I’m a dragon who’s lived several thousand years longer than you, so believe me.”
Behemoth looked Yubel straight in the eye.
Yubel couldn’t find a trace of a lie in Behemoth’s expression.
Is that so?
She had lived for several thousand years, so I guess that makes her believable.
Besides, it’s not like she’d gain anything by lying to me about this.
In the end, Yubel decided to believe Behemoth.
I see……
In this world, babies are made through kissing……
Ugh, I’ll have to be careful from now on……
And so, a new fact was added to Yubel’s knowledge.