“We’ll Definitely Come Back to Save You!” — It’s Been Three Years Since I Was Left in the Most Difficult Dungeon, Isn’t It About Time for Help to Arrive...? - 52-53

Chapter 52: Intrusion and Gentle Persuasion

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Having come face to face with the gatekeeper of Niflheim, I felt the tension snap taut within me and quickly finished the incantation of the spell I had been preparing. During our travel time earlier, my magic power had mostly recovered. In this condition, I was confident I could fight at full strength without holding anything back.

“—Abyss Flare…!”

The searing flames surged with momentum, as if to burn away the disgrace of the past, and rudely swept through the mane of the Glacial Wolf. The attack looked like it would hit directly—but of course, things weren’t that simple. A wall of ice suddenly rose from the ground, shielding the beast and sapping the heat from my spell.

As the flames were smothered by the cracking ice, the one to move next was Glacial Wolf. It shattered the crumbling wall with a kick, leapt into the air, and summoned countless ice spears, which it unleashed all at once.

The edges of my robe were slashed, and a blade of ice grazed my cheek. I avoided the barrage by darting into the air, flicked mana from my fingertip to cause a small explosion, and used the recoil to adjust my flight path, landing carefully on the freezing ground.

“—Raging Crimson Ascension, Ira Crimson…!”

While keeping my distance as the top priority, I had already begun the chant for the next spell. Seizing the momentary gap in the enemy’s attacks, I unleashed a massive pillar of fire beneath Glacial Wolf’s feet.

Its silhouette—larger than a human—was engulfed in a vortex of flames, but I immediately realized it had vanished in an instant. A fake. The real body had already circled behind me and was lunging forward to drive its frost-encrusted fangs into me.

This fighting style… It really is the same as three years ago…!

I caught sight of Glacial Wolf’s sneak attack with my own eyes and converted the magic power I had been conserving into flame.

“—Abyss Flare…!”

Ice fangs clashed with a fireball head-on. Heat and cold collided, mixing into a fierce shockwave that repelled us both.

For now, we’re evenly matched… In that case—this is where the real fight begins…!

”Awooooooooo!!!”

Even without exchanging words, I knew we were thinking the same thing. I drew out magic power until my whole body screamed from the strain, weaving it into flames, while Glacial Wolf compressed its freezing energy with such force it seemed to chill the very air.

Just as we were about to unleash our ultimate attacks—a shadow calmly stepped in between us.

“—Hey. That’s enough, you two.”

“Athos…!? I-It’s dangerous! Get away…!”

Despite standing directly between the spells I was about to cast and Glacial Wolf’s deadly strike, Athos didn’t even break a sweat. Wearing his usual calm expression, he extended both hands toward our incoming attacks.

From his palms swirled the same black mist I had seen during the last battle. The moment our spells touched it, they vanished entirely, as if they had never existed in the first place. Both Glacial Wolf and I froze at once, stunned that our full-force attacks had been nullified by this unexpected intruder. Athos, after confirming no follow-up attacks were coming, lowered his hands and slowly walked toward Glacial Wolf.

Normally, such an action would be utterly unthinkable unless someone had a death wish—but seeing Athos glance briefly toward me with his usual expression that said “It’s okay,” I relaxed my grip on my staff and decided to watch how things would unfold.

“Grrrrrrrrrr…”

Glacial Wolf growled as if relishing the perfect prey now right in front of it. But Athos calmly reached out his hand toward the beast. Then Glacial Wolf raised its head—

“Kyawn! Huff, huff, huff…!”

—and suddenly let out an adorably cheerful sound, completely unlike its earlier roars. It nestled its head right into Athos’s hand, clearly delighted, and let him pet its entire body as much as he pleased.

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Chapter 53: A Chaotic Scene

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“There, there… See? It feels good when I scratch you right here, doesn’t it?”

“Wuff!”

Without even trying to resist Athos’s tickling, Glacial Wolf completely messed up its neatly groomed fur and continued rubbing against him affectionately.

“…He… He’s taming it… that Glacial Wolf… Even though we struggled so much the last time we were here…”

Three years ago, when we first challenged the Niflheim dungeon and fought this monster, it had been a complete disaster.

Glacial Wolf’s movements were purely fast and powerful. On top of that, its diverse techniques using ice boosted its strength even further, and we were completely helpless against it. If I remembered right, the only one who even managed to land a hit was Ripley.

But even that had just been a desperate kamikaze charge, abandoning defense entirely. In the end, it had only left a huge opening on Ripley’s defense, and we were forced to flee the dungeon while carrying Athos, who had been frozen solid while protecting Ripley. I had used up all our magic power, so we couldn’t even melt the ice with fire magic. I still remembered spending the whole night with just a small campfire to thaw him out.

“How could that same monster now be acting like this with Athos…?”

“Like I said earlier, I already made peace with the ones here. You don’t need to worry.”

“Y-You did say that, but… I thought it was just one of your jokes, Athos… I mean, come on, making peace with monsters? That’s just not possible…”

Exactly—under normal circumstances, that would be unthinkable. And yet, right now, monsters were gathering one after another around Athos. None of them tried to harm him; if anything, they looked more like stray cats playfully pawing at him.

“Well, I mean, yeah, even I think this situation is kind of weird—ow ow ow! Hey! Don’t chew on the bandages!”

He held down the bandages wrapped around his hand and shook off a small monster that had latched on.

“…Listen, you guys. This is Midi. She’s with me, got it? Don’t even think about attacking her, understand?”

“◎★●※○▼! (Aye aye, sir!)”

All the gathered monsters raised what seemed to be their hands and struck a pose in unison. …Had Athos secretly been planning world domination while I wasn’t looking?

“…So then, when Hel said earlier that she was a boss monster, that part might’ve been true too…?”

“Yes, it’s true. …Or wait, were you doubting me too? I don’t think you’ll find a more dignified boss monster than me, to be honest.”

“There’s no way a NEET like you could have dignity… If I had to say, maybe the only thing you’re good at is being annoying? That’s probably the only thing you can claim with confidence.”

“—Excuse me?”

“Alright, alright, cut it out, you two. …Anyway, no point in standing around here chatting. Let’s get moving.”

With small monsters clinging to him all over, Athos tugged on Hel and Lazuli’s ears as they bickered, pulling them along as he disappeared deeper into the dungeon.

Faced with a scene so chaotic, I was completely speechless. I stood there frozen in place, dumbfounded. And while I lingered like that, Athos slipped into the darkness without a moment’s hesitation. By the time I hurried after him, he had already vanished.

“Ah… Athos…? Where…?”

With the one person I relied on gone, all that remained was fear and anxiety at being left alone in the heart of Den of Calamity. It was as if my feet were sinking into a bottomless swamp.

“Woof!”

In that moment, my over-sensitized ears picked up a bark. The chill in the air turned the imagined cold into real shivers crawling up my back.

“…!”

I had been completely taken from behind. All I could do was glare into the glowing eyes in the darkness in a feeble attempt at resistance. Then, from within the shadows, a set of white teeth emerged and…

—Chomp!

“…Eh?”

With me in its jaws, Glacial Wolf took off running without a second of hesitation.

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