Several days have passed, and over seven months have counted. Yuichi continues his exploration into the depth with his newly acquired companions.
Rewinding some past travels, Yuichi had entered the Icy Floor which was on the 51st floor to the 59th floor. Nothing particular happened during their time on that floor level, just another story of grinding for his redemption.
He's been gaining a lot of self-improvement and development on his status that his body is beginning to form some muscles and his magic is getting stronger, making it as most refined as possible whilst still stuck beneath the surface.
Throughout the months had passed, he picked up a pace on his exploration that for two months he had been able to explore 13 floors down below, which if he recalled how further he traveled the depth of the dungeon, he would be on the 60th floor with a new environment.
｢Floor 60th - Molten Floor｣
Yuichi looked around at the red foggy floor with his eyes peeled. It was another biome of the floor and this time it was about a molten and lava environment, the complete opposite of a cold and frosty ice environment.
He could feel the heat beneath his feet, it was blazing hot, and the air around them was definitely like a desert place that had nothing but scorching sand and dried land.
But Yuichi had formed some sort of resistance between two temperatures, whether it was hot or cold, his body wouldn't feel anything like it adapted simultaneously to the temperature itself.
'I could feel the muffled sensation of boiling, though, I don't feel like I'm getting hot.'
On the other hand, Ubaki could feel the heat on the floor. With her ragged clothes and thin skin, she would feel warm in her entire body, but she never showed any emotion that was complaining about that.
As if her emotion of feeling on her body about her surroundings has been suppressed for a long time.
In Lumiella's case, she was sweating all over the place. Her face was drowsy and ill, the lack of humidity and the hotness of the floor made her feel sick and all dried up.
Yuichi noticed the change in Lumiella's face and promptly opened his inventory, grabbing an item that had a form of ice and giving it to Lumiella.
"Here, take this chunk of ice we looted," Yuichi said sincerely.
Lumiella immediately grabbed the chunk of ice and instantly felt a little better than before with the coldness of the ice surging through her body from her palm, giving out a relieved face.
Surprisingly, the chunk of ice didn't melt as it was a special type of ice that Yuichi looted from the previous floor he had explored.
Yuichi had adapted a habit of looting whatever resources he could find anywhere in the dungeon, even with a little fragment of sample.
"Lumiella does prefer cold temperatures rather than warm temperatures," Ubaki said while watching Lumiella.
"It's because she's the type of mushroom that lives in a colder place. That's why she's feeling all tired when the temperature gets higher," Yuichi replied.
Yuichi grabs another item in his inventory and puts it on the top of the ice Lumiella is holding. It was a sweetener that came from a certain monster Yuichi had looted before.
Lumiella happily held the chunk of ice and licked the sweetener on the top of the ice as she was given a cold snack to enjoy in the hot environment of the floor they were on.
And then, they began to walk again and continued their journey on the 60th floor.
"Now that I think about it, Master, what type of temperature do you like the most?" Ubaki asked a question while walking.
"Huh? What type of temperature do I like the most? Hmm..." Yuichi pondered upon.
'Well, I do like hot summer days because of the beaches and cold treats. But I also enjoy snow on New Year's Eve... Now that I'm thinking about it, it does feel a little nostalgic...'
"I do like both of them depending on how each holiday would deliver my satisfaction. Summer is making me crave some icy foods like ice cream, but winter makes me go play a snowball fight."
"Ice cream...? Snowball fight...?" Ubaki was quite interested in those two subjects.
"Ah, well, ice cream is like what Lumiella's eating right now, though, it's not exactly an ice cream. Snowball fight is a fun battle using snow, throwing it at others, and hitting them. Well, of course, we are only doing it for fun and to make memories." Yuichi said.
"Interesting... I never knew people would use snow as a weapon to fight each other too."
"It's not like that... Snowball fight is just for fun, more like a tradition among children and young people to enjoy winter. You can also play in the snow by building things you like to build, like a snowman."
Ubaki gave a sense of crave. She looked at Lumiella and felt interested in trying out this new thing she had discovered– ice cream.
"Could I perhaps also try this 'ice cream' too?" Ubaki asked eagerly yet incredulously.
Yuichi scratches his cheeks and looks at Ubaki. "Sure, I can give you that..."
Making an ice cream requires sufficient ingredients to make such as milk, heavy cream, sugar, vanilla extract, and a pinch of salt. It also requires the right tools like a bowl and a whisk to mix the ingredients and put them in a freezer to cool them down.
But making an ice cream without those tools is impossible to produce. But with his innovative mind, a budget version of that sweet cold treat can be easily made by simply adding a sweet substance to a chunk of ice and serving it. It may also apply to snow.
This particular cold treat can commonly be known as "shaved ice dessert", but notably notice, the ice Lumiella is eating is not even shaved. Yuichi is confused about whether he should consider this as a shaved ice dessert or not.
Ubaki hadn't experienced tasting an ice cream before, or another thing to mention, she had never seen what a snowball fight looked like.
She was a slave in the first place and never had the freedom to do so. Even with that fact, there's no way she can know either of those two. It was anew to her.
Just thinking about that while making a replica of an ice cream, Yuichi felt a little frown and pity for her. He experienced those two things before with his friends, but Ubaki has not.
While they were walking a brisk, sudden, screech of a monster echoed in the dungeon and Yuichi with the other immediately alerted their senses.
Yuichi positions his body to be defensive and gazes into the dark cavern in front of them. A continuous sound of metal clanging and flesh splattering echoed through the walls.
'What in the world...?' Yuichi's thoughts were confused.
With threatening sounds that kept resonating within the dungeon, Yuichi finally took out his sword as it materialized in his hand and gripped its hilt.
Ubaki suit followed by taking out her rusty sword and instinctively went to Lumiella's side, protecting her. She was disciplined to do that by Yuichi when a danger came around to them.
'Something is coming close...' Yuichi drew his sword with his thoughts of apprehension.
Then, a roar burst throughout the floor that created a gust of wind, traveling towards the opposite direction of Yuichi's path.
The air was filled with sounds from a lion's roar, a goat's bleats, and a snake's hiss. This creature in the distance ran by, causing the ground to shake, while the flapping of wings stirred up a gust of wind.
It becomes louder and louder as it gets closer, slowly revealing itself from the shadow. Two sets of furry feet menacingly rushed on the ground, followed by a loud thud by two sets of cloven-hoofed feet.
It was no joke at all after seeing it. Yuichi immediately recognized this monster the moment it revealed its front body as it got closer and closer.
｢Chimera - Hostile｣
｢★★★ Level 60｣
｢Description: ???｣
'What the... fuck?!' Yuichi gave an exclaimed thought along with his paled face. Its sudden appearance gives Yuichi quite an exaggerated surprise.
Chimera is a mythical creature that existed in Greek mythology a long time ago. It's a famous boss monster that commonly exists in video games like RPG games, specifically in dungeon set games. It's also famous for appearing in different novels.
As the chimera gets its nearest position to Yuichi, it gives a monstrous look with a loud cry of fierce roar, flapping its two giant wings behind. It seems the chimera was somehow distraught over something.
With his instinct kicking in, Yuichi gripped the hilt of his sword and made a defensive stance, preparing to fight the chimera. But with the chimera charging at a fleeting speed, Yuichi's mental state couldn't stabilize as he was full of panic thoughts.
Should he attack it head-on? Should they run away? What should they do? Yuichi was conflicted and that is only slowing him down to the point that he began to take unprecedented apprehension.
But with such a rapid event to make a decision, Yuichi had an instinct choice to answer his conflicted concerns– fight it back without a proper plan.
He positioned his sword to the side and was about to swing it horizontally as he was about to perform an energy blade attack made from his wind attribute.
"G-Galeblade Art: Tem-" Yuichi stuttered but it came to a halt when all of a sudden a sound of metal screeches behind the chimera.
This metal was somehow deflected by the snake part of the chimera and bounced to the top, stabbing the hard rock ceiling of the dungeon.
It was a long rectangular metal that resembled a broken part of a double-edged sword, glowing in bright blue and cascading a powerful mana presence in those double-edged razor blades.
It is menacingly staying in the ceiling, emanating that blue mana energy. Yuichi gazed at it and he became distracted, immediately realizing that he had forgotten about the chimera charging at him.
Abruptly, it was followed by a loud sound of boom that the chimera screeches in pain behind.
A rapid pace of footsteps echoes and a shadow of a human figure moves beneath the giant chimera, moving in quick and agile. It was attacking the chimera in the flank that the figure's hand glowed in blue and created a gash onto the chimera in its feet.
The chimera continues to give loud screeches of pain. The figure was able to make four gashes onto the chimera's four legs so that the chimera was pinned down on the ground.
To avoid getting squashed, the figure moved quickly and stood in front of the chimera's face as if the figure was giving the chimera a final stare before succumbing to death.
It was a young woman in a white-black designed dress. She had pale skin and her hazy pink eyes followed suit to her vigilant pose.
It was no doubt. Yuichi had recognized those features before. Yes, he did recognize those eyes and her white dress. It was the person who saved him before. The person who let Yuichi have a second chance in his life.
The chimera struggled but was able to stand up from the ground. It roars in front of the young woman and ultimately charges in without hesitation, after all, monsters are hostile and would attack anyone.
But the young woman stood still as if she was not intimidated at all by the chimera's fierce roar of terror. Instead, she waited for the chimera to get near her.
Once the chimera was over 10 meters away from her, the young woman raised her hand and made a vertical swing action. The sharp metal above began to wiggle out from the rock ceiling and eject itself rapidly towards the chimera, traveling from the chimera's behind into its face.
The sharp metal landed on the ground, right beside Yuichi. Then, the chimera was split in half and flopped its split body to the ground, its gruesome blood spilled immediately.
The young woman fixed her stance and stood still, watching the body of the dead chimera with her pink eyes. She had defeated the chimera in a single sweep.