The Virgin Hero Who Fought in the Dungeon for 20 Years Returned to the Surface Only to Find the Population of the World Has Dropped Drastically, with a Male-to-Female Ratio of 1:1000 - 5

Chapter 5: Cerberus

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Cerberus.

The guardian dog of the underworld, bearing three heads and a massive serpent tail. Its mane was composed of countless snakes, and its size far exceeded that of a large truck when considering its overall height and dimensions. Of course, if Ryuuto was truly in the upper levels,then a monster this powerful shouldn’t be here. Despite the dungeon seeming like a lawless zone, it was actually a highly ordered space. The closer one was to the surface, the farther one was from the deepest levels, the less influence there was from the other world. Consequently, only weaker monsters appeared in the upper levels. 

“Wha-Wha-Wha….”

Haruka plopped down on the spot, landing on her rear. In her hand, there was a rod about 60 centimeters long with a cell phone attached to the end. Despite how treacherous her situation was, the camera lens was still pointed toward the Cerberus. Ryuuto cast a fleeting glance at Cerberus, growling about 30 meters away, then he turned her attention back to the phone Haruka was holding with her stick. 

“Hey, Haruka-san. I just want to ask you something. Is that phone of yours connected to the internet by any chance?”

“Ryu-Ryuuto-san! That’s not the main issue right now! We need to run-“

“Hmm… So this is connected to the internet, huh? Hooo… Interesting. Times are really moving forward… Oh? Is it recording? Peace! Peace!~”

“That’s not what’s important right now, Ryuuto-san! Behind you!”

But Ryuuto reacted faster than Haruka could scream. The central head of the Cerberus opened its massive jaws and spewed the hellish flames of the underworld. In an instant, the darkness disappeared, replaced by the infernal blaze, radiating tremendous heat. The fire scorched the cave floor. It was hot enough to obliterate a human entirely, leaving not even bones behind. As proof, the rock surface of the cave, scorched by the flames, turned red-hot and began to melt.

However, before the flames even roared, Ryuuto had already leapt over Cerberus’ head with Haruka in tow. He then landed on the opposite side of the massive cavern.

“Oh, what’s this? Am I on screen now? Uh, let’s see… What’s this? Whoa, what the heck? The letters just keep pouring in… I can’t even read them, they’re moving so fast… Jeez. Hey, Haruka. How do you stop this thing?”

Ignoring the Cerberus’ attack, Ryuuto instead focused on the flood of comments scrolling down the phone screen. It was an impossible feat, but it was made possible by Ryuuto’s powerful magic. There was a limit to what a human could do, especially while carrying an almost fully grown woman in tow. Haruka, though she looked light, she weighed just under 50 kilograms. In other words, it was akin to jumping several dozen meters into the air while carrying five 10 kilogram bags of rice. It wasn’t something any ordinary human could do. In fact, there were only a handful of explorers in the guild who could do this. 

“Awawawa….”

Still being carried by Ryuuto, Haruka couldn’t keep up with the sudden movement. Her ear canals couldn’t adjust yet and she grew dizzy. Ryuuto had effortlessly jumped to heights and distances impossible for ordinary people. Because of that, the centrifugal force Haruka had experienced for a moment exceeded that of a scary rollercoaster.

“Oh, she’s out cold.”

The weight of Haruka in his arms suddenly increased. It was proof she had lost consciousness. For Ryuuto, though, it was more convenient for her to play the role of a statue rather than moving around unpredictably.

Perhaps unsatisfied with having its deadly attack dodged, the Cerberus opened its jaws once again.

“What’s this? Still not giving up?”

Cerberus’s throat glowed with intense heat. This was the typical prelude to a breath attack for monsters of its kind. It fired successive searing fireballs, each about the size of an adult’s arms directly at Ryuuto, who had his back turned against the Cerberus.

“Man, you’re noisy. Can’t you see I’m in the middle of something?”

Ryuuto said while still holding Haruka securely in his right arm. He then drew a long sword, scabbard and all, with his left hand. He aimed the hilt at the Cerberus. Embedded in the hilt was a transparent blue jewel. When Ryuuto infused it with his energy, the gem glowed bright. The intense light emitted by the blue jewel nearly engulfed the cavern. 

“Magic—Absolute Zero.”

In an instant, a six-sided emblem resembling a snowflake emerged from the gem and floated in the air. The fireballs Cerberus had launched evaporated into white mist. Furthermore, a wave of freezing cold surged from the gem, engulfing the Cerberus. Unable to react in time, the monster stood frozen in place, encased in ice by the freezing magic. Within seconds, the fearsome guardian dog of the underworld was reduced to nothing more than an ice sculpture.

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