—–At the Wanaruta City Ruins.
Lydia was taking a break from work today, so she was also able to come along with us.
「Ahh〜 it's been quite a while since we all went hunting together! Elder sis is so excited〜!」(Lydia Speaking)
Ohh〜 Lydia was raising her right hand in the air as she cheerfully shouted.
「Lydia is coming with us today, what do you guys think of going deeper into the dungeon?」
「I think that's a good idea, I think we've gotten quite used to the first level already♪」
「This is your first time coming here, will that be fine for you Lydia-san? The demons here are really scary you know.....?」
Claude raises her arms loosely and takes the pose of a ghost.
「Ahhahah, On that subject, I've heard about it from Zeph-kun you know? He told me that Claude-chan is scared of spirit type demons. That's so cuteee〜♪」
「Wha….! That's all in the past.....I'm not like that anymore, okay?!」
Claude gets defensive at the unexpected counter. But in the next moment she turns around to face me, and gives me this awkward smile.
「Ze〜ph〜Ku〜nn」
Oh yeah, when I was training with Lydia, she asked me quite a lot of questions about the hunting trips I had, I have a feeling that I answered most of her questions. I think that I may have said too many unnecessary details. Claude was scowling at me as the four of us continued on our way.
Milly was periodically casting Blue Wave in order to scout out any nearby enemies that were hiding. The two girls who were walking in front of us acting as vanguards had White Weapon enchanted to their weapons.
「Oh, is that it?」
It seems that Lydia spotted a Mist Race that was lurking in the shadows. The Mist Race which was discovered by Lydia, buoyantly floats into the air and tries to disappear from sight, it comes to approach us however…. Perhaps it was because the spirit had already been discovered, it could not completely meld itself into the background and we could still manage to see its diluted body as it continually shifted in and out of this state, just like that it came to attack us.
A demon like this whose main purpose is to disappear and attack from the shadows, has a tendency to be weak in terms of willpower, therefore, once they have been discovered, they will not use additional magic. To begin with their existence as a spirit in itself is quite unstable and there are not many monsters in this category who can use magic. Lydia and Claude stabs the monster, Milly casts Blue Gale whilst I cast a double White Sphere, using this combination attack, the Mist Race gets annihilated.
This time around our objective was to hunt in the second level up the dungeon, so we advanced straight ahead and exited the shopping district, we went up a big set of stairs which led to the center of the city. The area was considerably spacious and the stairway was really long, it would seem that the buildings are tall in this district.
After we climbed for about half a minute, I looked down towards the shopping district and I saw a superb view. I was so high up that I could see the whole area of the shopping district below us. The people who lived in this area certainly had a magnificent view.
Suddenly I heard a sound of ragged breathing beside me, when I looked to my side, Milly seemed to be out of breath. After all the stairs were steep, and we were at quite the height right now.
「Milly are you alright?」
「I'm…..Fi–….ne…..」
She was gasping for air with a "Haah, Haah", and she didn't look good to me at all. Lydia and Claude were both in front of us as they were scouting for any potential enemies ahead of us. That's because if we got attacked in this cramped space, it would be really bad.
「Hey, hold on to me」
I stretched my hands out to her and at first she looked really happy as she reached out to me, but then she suddenly withdrew her hands and shook her head.
「....Thank you, Zeph. But I want to do this alone with my own strength」
When I think about it, even when we were going up the mountain she was also like this.
「I understand. But don't push yourself too hard okay?」
「I know」
"Nihihi" she was letting out a strained smile whilst she answered me. Well, I suppose she isn't the type of girl who would just give up because of a little tiredness. Nevertheless, falling from this height will be a bad joke, so I stood on the behind her just in case.
「Zeph? Why are you going behind me? 」
「I was thinking that if you fell, I could catch you」
「....Don't look up, okay?」
Up…..? When I thought about what this meant and tried looking up, I saw Milly's fluttering skirt. Ah, so that's what she meant by don't look up…..
「H…..Hey! I told you not to look up didn't I?!」
「Oii, don't move around so much! Milly!」
Milly was holding down her skirt whilst kicking about, I was trying to get her to calm down but she lost her balance and fell towards me.
「Kyaah!? I….idiot! Don't touch me in such a weird place!」
「I'm telling you....the stupid one is you! Don't jump around so much in this kind of place! Milly!」
She was struggling to get free of me, and I was trying to suppress her violent movements but I couldn't really do it well.
「Wait! D….Don't fondle my breasts!」
Apparently…I seem to be touching her chest.
「...I'm not really fondling it, though?」
I was brushing my hands gently across Milly's breasts but in order to stabilize her balance as much as possible there was no other choice but for me to grab on to it.
「Hyaaaan!?」
Milly raises a shrill voice and her body which was held in my embrace sprang up. At that moment, I also lost my balance and I was tottering my way down the big staircase as I tried to steady myself, I caught myself on the railing, and I slid my body down as I let out a sigh of relief.
「Ah, I'm sorry Milly. I was messing around too much」
「….Bakaa, you need to be more careful….」
When I apologized to her sincerely, Milly's face was blushing a little bit. She was raving on a little while ago but now she was really calm, she was being quiet and meek like a docile sheep. Hearing Milly's shriek, both Claude and Lydia descended the stairs however, Milly just waved at them from a distance. She told them, "we are fine, we are coming up soon".
「Then, I think it's about time you got off me? Milly」
「Eh…..?Ahh, yeah」
I gently let Milly down but as I did this, I heard a cracking sound *Pishiri*. Not only that, the crackling sounds rang continuously and my body shook violently as I lost my balance.
「Kyaaaaahhh!?」
「Milly-chan! Zeph-kun!」
Lydia run down the stairway at an incredible speed and reaches her hand out to us.
「You can't! Lydia-san! You will fall down with them!」
Claude says this and pulls Lydia's hands back. That's a good judgment, if it was only Milly who fell with me I felt it was barely okay, but if I also had to protect Lydia from the fall damage, I don't have the confidence it will go so well. The staircase was crumbling down, I held on to Milly has I chanted teleport....However it didn't work.
Because the ground was not stabilised I could not concentrate properly, and it was not possible for me to invoke teleport. I tightly squeezed Milly towards my chest, and embraced her firmly with both my hands so as to never let go.
「Zeph-kuun!」
「Milly-chaann!」
Their two sorrowful yells were getting further and further away. And soon the sound of the wind drowned out the sound of their shouts.
「Spirits of the earth, protect this body with thine armor」
「Safe Protection!」
The moment I finished my incantation, my body thoroughly hit the ground and a ballistic impact travelled through my body. I felt the sensation of blood dripping down my head. Shit, it seems that I hit my head really hard….My consciousness is starting to blur. However I'm glad. Although Milly was unconscious, she didn't seem to be injured.
Although I tried to prop myself up, the hand which supported my body slipped and I hit my head on to the ground again. Crap, this isn't good, my leg won't move properly and my eyes are starting to go dark.
I need to rest…..my body...
My field of vision was really dark but just before I lost consciousness, I managed to see a dark shadow of some sort coming towards us.