V1.C21 Beach? Scared Crabs

The same day...

Orcus Labyrinth 65th floor…

Eri and Irene stood together and stared at the bridge in front of them. It was very similar to the one where Leo fell.

All of the students trained harder after the incident. At first, they were depressed to see someone die in front of them. The guy was also from Earth and strong enough to solo a behemoth.

Their eyes opened after the fact that they can die here, this is not some game where they would die and revive.

Death means… Death.

It traumatized them, some of them didn't pick up their weapon again. The Pope tried to persuade, but Aiko-sensei returned from the farm expedition and opposed him.

Only some of them were ready to come to Orcus Labyrinth again. Kouki group, Hajime Nagumo and Suzu were also present her3. There were nine students other than Eri and Irene. Meld watched them from behind.

The girls trained hard after the incident. They all had different motivations but they were determined to become strong.

The bridge was the only way to go to the next floor. All of them were stuck in their place after seeing the familiar bridge.

Suzu saw Eri's dazed state, she called out, "Eriri…"

Eri opened her eyes and her expression became determined. "I'm fine."

Kaori patted her shoulder, she could somehow relate to her. Even she was confused by it.

Irene looked back at everyone and said, "Let's move."

"Irene-san, Eri-san, please don't worry about it. This time I'll protect you," Kouki said with a bright smile.

Her eyes turned cold when she glared at Kouki. "Can you please stop addressing me so casually?

She knew what kind of human, Kouki was. He was a hypocrite, always trying to twist things from his own perspective.

Kouki was taken aback by her reply, he bowed. "I'm sorry for my disrespect."

Shizuku, with a helpless expression said, "Please forgive this idiot, he is just like this…"

Irene shook her head and showed a soft smile. "It's fine."

"Let's go~," Suzu said, trying to cheer up the mood.

They all advanced toward the bridge in heavy steps.

A chill ran through Hajime's body, he had felt death stare many times, but this time the malicious intent was on another level.

'Another Kaori fan?'

He was already bullied in the past, but now he mostly stayed with the Kaori's group, so nobody messed with him.

'I hope it's just my imagination.'

A certain figure glared at Hajime, his eyes were full of hatred. He smirked and kept walking.

Irene glanced at him, she could see his soul. It was nearly black. In her eyes, he was a lost cause. She already warned others about him.

'He will do something soon, I hope he doesn't go too far, or I will...'

A cold smile appeared on her face. They were her first friends she could open herself to, they understood her and never tried to take advantage of her. She was happy to be friends with them.

'I'll kill anyone who messes with them.'

A familiar magic circle appeared in front of her.

Everyone stopped seeing this. Just looking at it sent a shiver down their spine.

Irene gazed at it with calm eyes. "It's the behemoth."

"Y-You've gotta be kidding me… wasn't it killed?" Cold sweat ran down Kouki's cheek when he heard her.

"Seriously? Didn't he kill it?" Ryutarou screamed in panic.

No matter how much of a musclehead he was, he could say this thing was death itself for him.

More magic circles appeared behind them. Traum soldiers popped out in dozens every second from it.

"We are still not sure what causes monsters to spawn here, So stay sharp! We will retreat if you can't fight it now!" Meld shouted.

"We'll fight," Eri said, her eyes were full of hatred.

Irene supported her with a simple nod.

"Yeah, Get ready everyone, we will fight!"

Kouki also agreed and charged with his holy sword.

Thus, the revenge of two women against the behemoth began…

***

Leo packed up the stuff and entered the stairs with Yue trotting behind him childishly. After their conversation she became a bit more cheerful and a lot more clingy.

After crossing the dimly lit stairs, they finally saw the floor.

"Huh?"

"What the hell?"

A curse naturally escaped his mouth, the scene in front of them was too random.

An island surrounded by shallow river. The riverside contained sand just like a beach. Completing this scene were a forest after the beach and the glowstones in the wall painted the scene in a faint light, increasing this scene charm even further.

"There is water, water means bath… How about a rest on the beach?" he whispered.

She replied with a nod and stared at him with puppy eyes.

He sighed and lowered his back. "Hop on."

"Nn~"

He gripped her slender arms around his neck and jumped in the air and stepped on wind plates to reach the island.

Yue hopped off his back and ran over to the water. She turned back and showed a delicate smile.

"Come Leo!"

Seeing her smile, he also formed a soft smile. "Sure."

He undid the clothes covering his chest and lower body, leaving only an underwear.

Yue eyed his body with a predatory gaze while licking her lips. She looked at the shirt covering her body, without any hesitation took it off.

"Leo… look, am I beautiful?"

Leo gulped at her bare naked appearance, modest breast dotted with pink cherry nipples. He forced his gaze away to not gawk any further and covered her body with the shirt.

"Please have some dignity…"

Yue pouted her face with indignant eyes. "...Am I not your type?"

"No no no, it's not like that. It's just that..."

His words got interrupted by a sudden surge of water from the shallow river. Both of them watched as the water rose even further and a monster came out of it. It was what anyone from Earth would call 'Crab'.

Snap! Snap! With a loud noise the crab closed both its claws, trying to intimidate them. He silently named its species.

"...Yue."

"Leave it to me~"

With a slightly puffed chest she thrusted her right hand.

"Crimson Javelin"

She whispered and fire gathered before her hands and formed in a blazing fire spear. She hurled the spear at the incoming crab monster, blasting half of its body into rain of blood.

Leo shot an incredulous gaze at the small girl killing the monster without any effort.

'Power of a top-tier magician, I guess.'

Yue turned to him, her eyes brimming with anticipation.

He plopped his hand on her head and softly stroked her hair, making her squint her eyes with a smile.

He shook his head at her behaviour, he only stayed with her for a day at most but this girl already trusted him like she knew him for all her life.

'I can't betray this trust now, can I? But if this goes on I might end up spoiling her a bit too much.'

Snap! Snap! Snap! Snap! …

Yue opened her eyes, her brows drew together in a frown. Seeing the incoming party of crabs, she scowled, "...Destroy."

"O-Oi, let me kill them."

He turned back and faced the crabs.

'Analyze'

[Crab wannabe]

Strength: 750

Vitality: 1200

Defense: 1000

Agility: 650

Magic: 800

Magic Defense: 700

Skills: [Claw Arms] [Telepathy]

'Isn't telepathy amazing for a monster of 51th floor? I hope it's tasty.'

His lips formed a hungry smile, the crabs felt a chill down their carapace and their body began trembling in fear. One of them turned its body and eyed the other crabs and made some weird gestures while snapping its claws.

'Are they communicating with telepathy to create some plan against me?'

Just as he thought, his eyes widened when the crab monsters began escaping in all three directions except his. Some went for the forest, some hid in the water. Some started covering them with sand.

He was speechless along with Yue before letting out a hearty chuckle.

"...Can you believe it? I can scare away so many monsters with just a smile."

"...I can believe it... Even I was scared before," she said the last part in a feeble voice.

"Well, I'll try to hunt down as much as I can."

He leaped on one of the frightened crab's back and pounded his fist on the hard shell using new skill he obtained from scorpion.

[Steel Arms] (Active skill)

Allows the user to reinforce their arms and increase the power and strength of their punches

His fist without any resistance crushed the hard shell of crab until he saw the tender flesh under the shell. He equipped the giant sword and pierced more than two meters to end its life.

He tried to search for more but what greeted him was a calm silence. He shook his head and grabbed the leg of the now dead crab and dragged it back to Yue.