My eyes were all glare and my nose were flaring. I was incensed. I was angered. I was infuriated!
"How dare you do that to my goddess?!" I roared before diving in to join the fray.
"The only one allowed to touch her is me!" I threw a kick that found true the scaly face of the wyvern. It went reeling backward.
Wait, I just said something amazing, did I not?
"…" you're that stunned, Minerva?!
"That's an incredible claim if I heard one." Said Edelweiss as she removed her glasses. She deactivated her ability.
"He's just as perverted as he can go. I can't believe it." Elisha muttered, disgruntled.
"…" Say something, Gisselle.
Ahem… W-well, anyway, let's teach this lizard a lesson.
"He's pretty tough, huh." As expected of a fantasy monster. Those scales are not only for show, eh. It was already back on it's feet.
"…"
"Huheh?!" I yelped.
I jolted. What the hell, Gisselle?! This was the very first time someone had sneaked out to me without even making a sound.
"A-ahem… W-what is it?" I asked, my voice trembled. I was shocked. How could I not be?! She sneaked on to me, you know? She moved under my nose without me noticing!
"…want me to lend a hand?" She uttered in a monotone.
Ah, so she wanted to help, huh. Well, I guess that was not a bad idea. I nodded to her.
"Alright then. But no sneaking around like that, okay? I may accidentally hurt you if you do."
"…" She cocked her head to the side, confused. Then seemingly understanding what I just said, she nodded her head. Slowly…
"Alright then. Tell me whenever I was in your line of fire, got it? I don't wanna be frozen to death."
She nodded timidly. Hey, she did get what I just said, did she? Now, I'm starting to worry.
"Here I go!"
I rushed towards the monster. It gave out a loud roar before confronting me with its claws.
"I already saw that attack. That won't do anything!" I nimbly jumped to the side, then rolled low to the ground to avoid its sweeping tail. I used to wall to gain foothold as I leaped mid-air, throwing a full roundhouse kick to its exposed head.
Its jaws slammed to the floor, creating a small crevice by the impact. But that didn't do much damage as expected.
"Tsk."
I jumped back to gain distance. As I did, the wyvern flapped its wide wings and floated in the air. It inhaled exaggeratingly, puffing its thoat with air... or rather mana?
"Hey, that's bad, ain't it?!"
"Take cover. It's going to use its flame breath again! A bigger one this time!" Edelweiss shouted from behind.
"Get behind me! I'll make us a shield!" Elisha bellowed, prompting Minerva, who had come to her senses, and Edelweiss to go and take refugee behind her.
"Gleren, come!" Edelweiss urge.
It's true that Elisha's shield would be able to stand such attack. But hey, I haven't still made this lizard pay for what it did to Minerva. Hide behind? Take cover? Nah, who do you think I am?
"Time to take it in style!"
I whipped my hand to the front, gathering mana from the air. I closed my eyes, feeling the heat that the wyvern had been building to release.
"Frying is cheating. Go back down." I twisted my hand and abruptly closed my fist. "Shadow Manipulation: Shadow Slash."
As I did, it happened. The wyvern's wings were suddenly tattered into pieces. Bringing the monster back to the ground with a loud thud. I did a good job, if I say so myself. But there was a fatal mistake that I purposefully ignore. The impending flame breath that the wyvern was still holding on.
The wyvern was brought down by the gravity but it stubbornly got up to its feet using its forelimbs as a support. Then the beast opened its mouth. Its orifice showed its lined up sharp fangs. Then, the temperature raised as the heat was released from the monster's mouth. The torrent of flame rushed to me—like a wave ready to swallow me whole.
"Gleren!" Minerva called in panic.
I turned my eyes to her and smile. I raised my hand to reassure her. But her eyes only grew wider as the flame rushed nearer to where I stand. Seeing Minerva's panic expression was a bonus in itself. I'm glad I joined this team, really.
But hey, as I said before, I left that fatal mistake on purpose. The reason?
"Freeze."
I have Gisselle with me.
Gisselle took the pen she was using when she was listing my nonsense about the dungeon and enveloped it with ice; making it her handmade wand. That's amazing, but let me ask myself, why did she have to make a wand when she can just cast her magic with her bare hands?! Am I missing something here? Like some canonical magical girl event? Am I?!
Gisselle, now holding a staff made solely with ice—and uh, a pen stood right behind me, then pointing the head of her prop to the rushing flame, she muttered undemonstratively; "Ballad of Ice: Winter Breeze."
A cold wind rushed before me. My eyes widened and my brain went on vacation.
Hey, a little bit of an information… I was actually called the skill specialist in our division. The reason for that? I knew exactly how to utilize skill on its highest proficiency. But today, I'd have to doubt my position as a specialist.
I honest thought, and really, I believed that Gisselle would erect an ice wall to cover me. To my chagrin—and yep, the reason for my newfound anxiety the girl went on and freeze the freaking flame. Yep! The freaking flames! Was that even possible?! Oh, yes it was possible and she actually made it happen.
My eyes, still wide, was trained on the frozen flame, hanging on the mid-air. How?
I meet the wyvern's line of sight; the poor beast was just as confused as I am. If the guy had arms, I could imagine it holding its head in bafflement.
Then a moment had passed, and the frozen flame—or can I still call it flame when it was utterly frozen or shall I go ahead and call it an ice? Whatever it had become, the attack that the wyvern was so proud of fell on the dungeon's floor and shattered. Splatter was the fragments of ice—not even a trace of a flame can be seen.
I shifted my eyes to Gisselle. Slowly like a rusty valve. I saw the girl puffed her chest with her face unchanging in expression. Scary…
My face paled. This was the second… nope. Fourth time that I was this scared of someone. Imagine getting caught by that ice… Nothing would be left of me. I'd be a literal ice cubes if I was caught in her spell…
"G-Gisselle… next time, please tell me when you use your ability, okay?" so that I could steer away as far as I could…
The girl only looked me in the eyes and then tilted her head to the side innocently. Aw, come on!
I shifted my eyes back to the wyvern. The dude was more scared of Gisselle than any of us.
"Alright! Time to finish this off and go home!"
I rushed again to the front, acting as the vanguard. This time, I wasn't alone. Minerva already recovered from the attack that she received earlier. I went to the right and Minerva took the left. Straight to the pincer attack, I drove low while Minerva acted as a bait.
"Martial Arts; Third Form! Implosion!"
I held my palms directly to the beast, sending a shockwave directly to its belly. The monster let out a deafening roar by the impact and went winding back. But he was strong and tough. I can't imagine that one strike to take him down. My ability? Nah, I'll keep them at bay this time around.
"Minerva, it's on you!" I yelled and the girl suddenly shoot out from the side.
"Thanks for the pass!"
Minerva solidified her fist hit her ability and pummeled the wyvern in the face. Then coating her long legs with iron, she went and dance with her especially. Minerva did a handstand before throwing a kickback like a horse. With those strong legs, I could only hear the roar of the wyvern as a wail. But still, that wasn't enough. We can't take the monster down with such halfhearted assault.
I was reluctant to do this. I really was. Heck, I was even debating to myself if I should call out to her or not. But if I didn't, then I need to use my ability to end this fight. If I could, I'd like to refrain from using my ability as much as possible. Call for Elisha? Yeah, no. Her shield won't do anything to those scales. Then, how about Dell? Nope. What's the point of this dungeon dive if we rely too much to our senior?
I was really… Really reluctant to ask for her. But, sure, let's go for it!
"Gisselle! It's you turn!"
"…" She nodded her head as she raised her staff. Say something, girl!
"Minerva! Stay away from the wyvern! And I mean it! Away!"
Minerva leaped off the ground, leaving another kick to the monster's scaly body before going straight behind Gisselle.
Gisselle pointed her handmade staff to the wyvern. Her blue eyes glinted, but her expression remained.
"Song of Ice: Glacier."
She was detached, sure. But I can say this without a doubt. Gisselle was one of the strongest ability holders I've ever encounter. She was too strong that it was actually really scary.
The temperature dropped to sub-zero, prompting us to hold ourselves in an embrace. The atmosphere was freezing, and I could see the mana particle froze and drop like marbles.
The wyvern, couldn't even do anything to resist. It only let out a single shriek before finally turning into an ice sculpture—together with the ground where it stood.
That's all it took—the battle with the 50th floor boss ended.
"Uwaa~" talk about overkill!" Minerva sang as she went and touched the work of art.
"My, how I'd love to take this with me and put it as a décor to my mansion." Elisha said, following Minerva to the frozen beast.
"Te-he-he. I would love to see the higher-ups face when they see this." Edelweiss covered her mouth as she lightly giggled.
Hey… am I the only one who found this situation odd? Oh, well. I guess that's all there is to it huh.
"Maybe we could just leave it here?" I suggested. "We could make it as our commemorative statue."
All eyes trained on me. Then with a sound agreement, they raised their arms in the air and shouted in unison.
"Agreed!"
"…"
Don't just follow their lead and something Gisselle…
With that, we successfully completed our fist time dungeon dive without (?) any trouble. Man, this day was quite exhausting. And scary. Especially that Gisselle.
We went directly to the magic circle and teleported back to the school ground. A valuable experience we had. An unforgettably cold one.