We should be fine as long as we are with this person. That's what Waldo's soldiers thought.
Waldo felt afraid, but his trust kept taking his mind off it and making it go away. Having faith in friends, he tried to teach this to the soldiers who were following him.
As a result, when they encountered orcs and goblins on their way, there was no more death among soldiers. That was because they were no longer afraid. They believe Waldo's word that they would survive as long as they worked together and trusted each other. From the beginning, the first floor was not as dangerous as the second floor. The copper and iron ranks, which were the lowest in the Explorers' Guild, could get past the first floor. But because of the rumors about the anomalies in this dungeon, they became afraid and helpless. Waldo's words had dispelled that sense of helplessness.
Waldo told Allen that he should only help in battle when things got bad. So, Allen didn't help them much after that. In front of Waldo, Allen and Arthur chatter, they talking about one of hero a thousand years ago.
"At that time, hero Allen managed to chop off the face of the demon lord until he pulled out the demon's eyes!"
"COOL! Then how did he defeat him? The demon lord can't die, right?"
"About that, the hero has a wife! is wife is a very pretty elf named Ingrid who is also a high-class caster. The elf's amnis took away the demon lord's immortality!"
After leaving the room, Allen finally became more open. He no longer looked gloomy. His face was shining, and his mouth was wide open as he talked to Arthur. Waldo didn't expect the boy, who didn't want to speak at all, to have such an expression.
Because Arthur had hurt his leg and his hand, Waldo took over carrying Lavinia. He walked in the middle, and Arthur and Allen were talking together like close friends in front of him.
"Allen, when we get back outside, want to come to my house? I will introduce you to my sister. Unfortunately, she doesn't have any friends because she should take care of our house all day. She would be happy if you came," said Arthur.
Hearing that, Allen was happy, he wanted to go to Arthur's house and meet new people, but he didn't want to leave his mother. He preferred to live with his mother in this dungeon.
"No, thank you," Allen replied with a small smile.
"I see, maybe next time."
Allen wanted to say there was no next time, but he remained silent. Because after this, he might never see Arthur and Waldo again..
"Yes, next time," in his little heart, he did not want to give up. Even if he wasn't going to go outside, to the human world, at least once in a while, maybe he could meet Arthur inside the dungeon.
"Hey! Do you hear a sound?" the soldier walking in front suddenly said that. Waldo then quickened his pace and tried to hear it too.
"Right, it's the sound of someone fighting! Maybe we're close to lord Mathias's party!"
Everyone ran, and after a few turns, they could see many soldiers gathered behind the entrance of a chamber. It was the same as the room of the herd of orcs they had earlier found, except that the door was bigger. The door was open, and many soldiers were standing there. It looked like they had just arrived as well.
"That's the other force! But it seems the number of soldiers is getting less. Could it be we did not arrive last?"
"We are... I am certain that every commander is present. There must be a lot of people who died in their first fight, thank goodness we have Allen on our side," said Waldo.
"But why did they just stand there?" asked Arthur.
Strangely, the soldiers looked at something while standing in front of the door, like something held their attention.
The sounds of fighting in the room, like bangs and sometimes the sound of swords, were getting louder.
"Excuse us, let us through," Waldo tried to see what they saw too. Arthur and Allen followed behind.
Waldo and Arthur made their way out of the crowd and are now inside the chamber.
Inside, they saw Leofric fighting with a large female Orc. They were clashing weapons with very fast movements. Like the other soldiers, Waldo and Arthur were also stunned by the speed of Leofric and the monster's movements.
"So this is… the power of a luminite-ranked human," said Waldo, amazed.
Luminite was the rank after palladium and titanium, the highest rank in the explorers' guild. Leofric is not join explorer's guild, but people who had seen Leofric fight said over and over that he was stronger than a titianium-ranked.
"Where's Allen? He should see this too," Arthur said that while looking behind.
Behind him, it turned out that Allen couldn't get in. He might have the power to shift them, but Allen felt bad for the others. Arthur, who saw Allen being squeeze, stretched out his hand and pulled Allen out.
"Look Allen. It's His Highness, Prince Leofric."
"!!!"
Allen's expression when he saw the fight was rather strange to Arthur. He was surprise but not amazed—more like scared mixed with anxious.
'Why is he looking at them like that? Is that what he looks like when he's amazed?' Arthur thought confusedly.
Of course, it wasn't. It wasn't Allen's face of amazement. It was Allen's face of shock and surprise that the orc that Leofric was fighting with was his mother.
He hadn't thought about it before, but now he was starting to realize it. He understood at least the basic thing that happened now, that is: humans and monsters hate each other. If these humans meet their mother, who is a monster, they will definitely attack her too.
Then Allen heard that Leofric was a strong person. When he saw Leofric fight his mother, he knew that Leofric was very strong, even stronger than his mother. Also, just fighting Leofric was too much for his mother, but the four people behind him and the hundred soldiers nearby still had done nothing.
In front of him, Allen knew that his mother was really in trouble. He could see that his mother's left hand was broke, which was strange because Queen Orcs are suppose to be able to heal themselves. Because of this, he was afraid that his mother would lose against that man.
His anxiety made his body sweat, and his breath was heavy, and then unconsciously, he started calling his mother.
"MOTHEER!!!!!"
Hearing that, the soldiers immediately looked at Allen, as well as Arthur and Waldo.
'Mother? What did he say?' thought Arthur.
As soon as he shouted that, Queen Orc look at Allen...
Then Leofric launched his attack, he pierced the Queen Orc's body with his lance. At that moment, Queen Orc also break Leofric's hand.
Queen Orc then fell…
Seeing his mother fell, Allen went straight to her.
"MOTHER!!!"
"ALLEN! WHERE ARE YOU GOING?!!" Arthur called him out, but he didn't listen.
Maurice grabbed Allen's hand before he could reach the Queen Orc.
"Hey kid, what are you doing?"
"LET GO," Allen said with a sharp and angry face.
Seeing Allen's angry red eyes, Maurice suddenly felt something stab his heart that made him unconsciously let go of Allen's hand.
"That kid, who exactly is he?"
After reaching Queen Orc's body, Allen looked at the large hole in his mother's body.
"Mother! Why aren't you regenerating?!" shouted Allen. He usually saw her healed quickly because he had seen his mother get hurt a lot, but her blood was flowing freely now.
With her remaining strength, Queen Orc warned Allen.
"Listen, damn kid. You need to get out of here as soon as possible! Hurry up and leave!"
"NO! NO! NO! I don't want to!" Allen cried, not wanting to leave Queen Orc.
"Y-You should obey me, you really have to go!" forced Queen Orc. But of course, Allen didn't want to listen. He had just been hesitating to choose life out with Lavinia or his mother. When he saw his mother lying helpless, there was no way he would leave her. Even if his mother forced him, he didn't want to leave her there.
"I DON'T WANT TO! I DON'T WANT TO!"
Queen Orc ran out of her voice, unable to speak anymore.
"Mother?"
"Mom?"
Allen cried, calling his mother many times, but she didn't answer anymore. There was no longer any sign of life in her.