“Um~, Master and Yue’s annihilating force art fearful no matter how many times I has’t seen i.”
“Indeed~.”
While controlling the boat on the rapid current, Tio and Shia were praising them with awkward feeling. Shrugging his shoulders as he put out Metzelei and Orkan into “Treasure Box,” Hajime lightly touched the Yue’s cheek with his chest then returned to look at the front. Yue, after narrowing her eyes in happiness from being touched, returned to look at the surrounding with caution.
Hajme and Yue who casually took the chance to flirt made Shia exuded aura that expressed, Shia is lonely! Hold me!, which Tio took advantage of. Making slightly troubled expression after thinking it couldn’t be helped, Hajime lightly stroked Shia’s rabbit ear then pinched Tio’s cheek. Hajime was troubled such things could make the two raised joyed expressions.
Hajime’s party were considerably composed even though they were attacked by demonic beasts as they descended the rapid, magma’s sky road. However, as if to take down their composure, the descending magma up until now suddenly began to ascend.
After climbing several tens of meters with tremendous speed, they could see light ahead of them. It was the exit of the tunnel. However, the problematic thing was the magma was cut off for real this time.
“Hold on tight!”
With Hajime’s command, Yue and the girls once again clung to the small boat. Having ridden on the magma rapid’s speed, the small boat was thrown outside with tremendous momentum.
While having his dantian attacked by the feeling of being in mid-air, Hajime quickly confirmed the condition of the surrounding. The space Hajime’s party falling into was similar to the room where the last trial of «Raisen Great Dungeon» took place; a vast space.
However, it wasn’t spherical like the room in «Raisen Great Dungeon». It has distorted shape which made it impossible to completely understand how vast the space was, but it was at least more than three kilometers. Almost all part of the ground was filled with magma, but the boulders appeared in some places and created footholds. On the surrounding walls were protruding places and conversely, there were also shaved off places. In the air was as expected, numerous rivers of intersecting magmas, and disappearing below, into the ocean of magma.
Flare-like pillars of fire spouted from the boiling, scorching ocean. If there was something called boiler of hell, it must be looked like this. That was the impression Hajime’s party got.
However, the most noticeable thing was the small island in the center of the ocean of magma. The island was raised around 10 meters above the magma’s surface, an island or rock. If it was only that, then it would just become a foothold big enough for them, but the island was covered by dome of magma. The spherical magma was just like a small version of sun, but the thing in the middle of the island was enough to catch the attention of Hajime’s party.
“”O’ wind.””
The small boat turned over by the momentum was fixed by Tio in the air, then each of them returned to their own duty as they once again boarded the small boat. Yue used “Soar” to adjust the boat’s falling speed. The boat softly landed on the ocean of magma, and the party maximized their vigilance because this place was obviously different from the ones they had seen.
“… Is that the dwelling?”
Yue muttered as she took a look at the middle of the magma-domed island.
“From the depth, I think it is okay to think so… but, if it really is…”
“There should be the last guardian of some sort… right, Master?”
“We used something similar to shortcut, so is it too farfetched to say we have passed the test, Hajime-san?”
Hajime’s thought was confirmed by Tio, who was looking at the surrounding with sharp gaze, made her not to be thought as a perverted masochist if some small accidents were overlooked. Even seeing their tightened expression, Shia muttered optimist words while looking at a certain direction.
Tracing Shia’s gaze, Hajime could see a staircase beyond the large foothold. The staircase continued into the wall made him think that perhaps they would’ve come from that staircase if they used the proper route.
Even so, no matter how impossible it was for someone to use magma’s sky road, it was too much of an optimist to think the shortcut even passed through the last trial room. It’d be nice if it really is~, Shia said, but her cautious look expressed that even she couldn’t believe that.
It was correct for them to be cautious because immediately, bullet-like magma shot out from the magma flowing in the air.
“Hmph, leave it to this one!”
Tio shouted as she activated her magic, thus masses of flame shot out from the ocean of magma, countering magma approaching from above.
However, that attack was only the beginning signal. Immediately after Tio countered the incoming blazing masses and scattered them, more blazing masses were shot out from the ocean of magma like a machinegun.
“Tch, scatter!”
Judging they would only be a target on their current place, the small boat, Hajime told the other to scatter as he jumped towards the nearby foothold, abandoning the small boat. The numerous blazing masses crushed the small boat where Hajime’s party were before, thus it sunk into the ocean of magma.
With each of them in different foothold, Hajime’s party intercepted the incoming blazing masses. Though they easily intercepted those, Hajime’s party were irritated because it didn’t seem to ever end. They were also irritated the heat coming from the ocean of magma that the distorted air.
To break from this situation, at the same time Hajime finished reloading Donner-Schlag using gunspin, and aimed Schlag muzzle over his shoulder without turning around. Thus the elbow of his artificial arm was faced forward and fired to intercept the masses of magma in front, while Schlag rapid-fired to shoot down the masses of magma approaching Yue behind him.
His intention was completely read by Yue without a word. She immediately activated gravity magic using this chance.
“”Absolute Calamity.””
At the same time the name rang out, a black, swirling sphere appeared in the middle of Hajime’s party, pulling the incoming masses of magma one after another. The black, small star swallowed everything and used its supergravity to compress them.
With the room between the barrage of magma masses by Yue’s magic, Hajime used “Aerodynamic” to jump into the air, trying to reach the magma-domed middle island.
The most troublesome thing about the barrage that attacked Hajime’s party was the endlessness. This place was obviously the last trial of «Guryuu-en Great Volcano», but because there’s no visible enemy unlike the other dungeons he had been in, he didn’t know what to do to clear it. As such, Hajime thought of getting on the suspicious island.
While running in the air towards the middle island, Hajime used “Telepathy.”
“I am going to look around the middle island. Cover me.”
“Roger.”
The masses of magma outside of the range of Yue’s “Absolute Calamity” came to attack Hajime, but Tio intercepted those using numerous flame bullets from the ocean of magma. Shia didn’t expand Doryukken and used its shotgun mode to intercept. Yue, while maintaining “Absolute Calamity,” also intercept using numerous flame bullets from ocean of magma just like Tio.
With covering from Yue and the girls, Hajime approached straight towards the middle island, and he was about to do the last jump using “Aerodynamic.”
However, at that moment,
“ROOOOOOOOOOAAAAAR!!!”
“Kh!?”