Chapter 46
“Don’t worry! I won’t give the enemies a single opening!”
Darren shouted aggressively, swinging his axe once again. At his words, Rena responded in her usual haughty tone.
“Who said I was worried about you? Geez.”
“……”
And I simply watched the scene blankly while sipping down my mana recovery potion.
‘Hmm, are they… getting along better?’
They were still bickering like usual, but something about it felt different.
Maybe it was the atmosphere — like the calm after a storm. Sometimes people do become closer after a fight.
Still, it was curious.
‘Anyway, no time for distractions.’
This was a heated battle — idle thoughts were a luxury.
I fired a fireball toward the bouncing mushrooms.
One of the mushrooms got hit, and flames leapt from it, spreading to the others.
‘Hehe, fireballs are AoE attacks, after all.’
The range wasn’t huge, but it was perfect for dealing with a group of enemies in a dungeon like this.
“Grilled mushrooms for lunch today, huh? Kekeke.”
Even in the heat of battle, Darren was still cracking lame jokes.
“Ugh, seriously.”
Rena shook her head in disbelief — but still threw a punch at a flaming mushroom.
The mushroom popped with a boom and vanished. In its place, a small magic stone dropped to the ground.
That meant these mushrooms weren’t just mushrooms — they were magical creatures.
“Ooh, Rena! That was awesome! Then I can’t fall behind!”
I praised Rena and launched a scatter shot at another mushroom.
Six magic bullets hit it in succession, and another mushroom vanished, leaving behind another magic stone.
And this time, something else dropped too.
‘Oh, money.’
I had no idea how a mushroom could drop coins, but there they were — a few coins lying on the ground alongside the magic stone.
This was why dungeon crawling was great: monsters often dropped pretty useful loot.
And, there was another benefit—
[Level Up!]
Lv. 18 → Lv. 19
Combat Power +40!
Total Combat Power: 1,885 (Equipment Bonus +1,425)
Because the fights were tough, each monster gave a hefty chunk of experience.
At this rate, level 20, even 25, didn’t feel too far away.
‘Dungeons are the best for leveling up.’
If this game world worked like a real game and restored HP and MP with each level-up, I’d be using way fewer mana potions.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. I had no choice but to keep chugging potions to maintain my spells during battle.
‘Honestly, might as well hook these up to an IV drip.’
At least they tasted decent. If they were bitter and astringent, this would be torture.
“Ugh, that bear’s gonna thaw soon!”
Darren shouted while dealing with the mushrooms.
The freeze spell had a time limit. And the more it was used, the more resistant the enemy became, reducing the freeze duration.
We needed to deal with these weaker mushrooms quickly and team up on the thorn bear. But there were still too many mushrooms around — no wonder he was frustrated.
“Urgh, these things are endless.”
Rena gritted her teeth and began kicking at high speed.
Her kicks were so fast, it was hard to follow them with the eye.
Luckily, the fire I’d set earlier kept dealing damage, and one by one, the mushrooms were falling to her kicks and my magic bullets.
Once we were done with the mushrooms, it was time for the terrifying bear.
“The thorns seem to be coated in poison. Be careful, everyone!”
Darren wiped the blood from a cut on his cheek.
Thankfully, it wasn’t a deep wound — Leo’s healing magic quickly began to close it.
And then, the ice encasing the bear finally melted — it started moving again.
“Why is this thing so damn fast?”
Rena muttered, watching the thorn bear swing its front paws wildly, giving no room to counterattack.
People usually think of bears as clumsy, but in the wild, they’re clever and quick.
And this one was a magical creature with unnatural powers — far more dangerous than a normal bear.
“Alright, I’ll try freezing it again.”
I didn’t know how long it would last, but it might give us a brief opening.
I aimed at its front limbs and fired a freeze shot.
The bear froze again — but only its two front paws.
“Hmm, looks like it developed resistance to freezing.”
“Still, it actually froze like that…?”
In games, resistance usually just shortens the freeze duration, not this partial freezing nonsense!
As I grumbled, Rena gave me a toothy grin and charged toward the bear.
“Well, it helped anyway.”
With its toxic claws and deadly paw attacks blocked, its belly was now exposed.
Rena’s fearsome punch slammed straight into the bear’s solar plexus(?).
‘Oof… That looked painful.’
The bear roared in agony, its eyes glowing red.
It must have hurt like hell.
But sympathy was wasted on magical monsters — this wasn’t a cute teddy bear.
So, I began firing mana bullets straight into the same spot — again and again.
The bear, unable to endure the pain, began moving rapidly using its unfrozen hind legs.
It was going for a body slam, using its massive size and weight.
And judging by the direction—it was headed for me.
“Where do you think you’re going! I’m your opponent!”
Darren, true to his role as the tank, drew its aggro with a powerful taunt.
Rena and I followed up with attacks.
And so, with a final pained cry, the thorn bear vanished into thin air.
“Huff, huff…”
“We got it…”
Everyone collapsed to the ground.
Problem was — this wasn’t the end, just the beginning.
I pulled out a mana potion from my inventory, chugged it, and handed two more to Rena and Leo.
“You guys drink too. That last fight used a lot of mana.”
“Thank you, Lady Elaine.”
Leo blushed slightly and took the potion with both hands, sipping it politely.
And as for Rena—
“……”
She mumbled something, but it was too quiet to hear.
“Huh? What did you say?”
“…Said thanks.”
When I cupped my ear and asked again, she repeated it—still barely audible.
“What? Speak up a bit.”
“Ah, I said THANK YOU!”
Her face bright red, she shouted and immediately chugged the potion.
I blinked in surprise.
Rena… just thanked me.
I felt like my smile could lift me off the ground.
Not just because of the words — but because she was trying to be honest and accept help. That made me happy.
Leo, meanwhile, started coughing, choking on the potion.
And that made Rena’s face even redder — if it wasn’t so dark in the dungeon, she might have bolted out of embarrassment.
But since she couldn’t stray more than 5 meters from my spell’s radius, she stayed put.
“Hey, what about me?”
Darren looked up at me from where he leaned on his axe, stabbed into the ground.
“…You didn’t use any mana, remember? Geez.”
Still, I couldn’t ignore someone who had done his best to keep us safe on the frontlines.
I tossed him an HP potion from my inventory.
“Here, take this.”
“Ooh, thanks!”
He poured the potion straight into his mouth.
The small wounds on his body began healing rapidly.
Not all of them, though — the deep gash from the thorn bear’s claws remained.
The bear’s poison was slowing his recovery, so even an HP potion wasn’t enough.
“…Here, this too.”
If left untreated, the wound might worsen.
I pulled out an antidote and tossed it to him.
This wasn’t a drink — it was a topical potion to pour over the wound.
“Ahh, thanks. That was really hurting.”
Darren pulled the cork off with his teeth.
With a satisfying pop, he spat out the cork and poured the antidote onto his injury.
“Ugh, stings…”
He winced in pain.
Just watching made me wince too.
Even a tiny cut can burn like crazy with disinfectant.
“Hmm, I think that should take care of the poison. Let me finish healing it.”
Leo closed his eyes and used a healing spell.
The wound that had been bleeding moments ago began to close up.
It’d still take a while to heal completely, but this was enough for combat.
“Alright, let’s move on, shall we?”
Darren rested his axe on his shoulder and looked toward Ferdia.
She had been standing there, seemingly impressed by the earlier battle, but snapped back to her senses and resumed guiding us.
“Ah, right. From that big rock, take a right. But… you guys are insanely strong. Is that what divine blessing looks like or something?”
At her compliment, Leo’s red eyes sparkled as he pumped his fist.
“Y-Yes! The Hagion Hero Squad’s strength is the best on the continent! Especially Lady Elaine—!”
“Okay, okay, save the Elaine fanclub talk for later. So it’s to the right from that rock?”
Darren cut off Leo’s rave and began walking toward the path Ferdia indicated.
I was actually grateful to him for stopping Leo from launching into another fangirl(?) speech about me.
Just as I was about to follow Darren—
“Um, aren’t you going to pick this up?”
Adrian pointed to the ground with a look of disbelief.
There lay a pile of items dropped by the monsters.
