"Yukito-sama, let's retreat for now!" Yuu-chan shouted while warning me.
I turned around and saw Hime already preparing herself beside Yuu-chan.
I focused my gaze again on what was in front of me, and it felt impossible for me to defeat it at this moment.
Trak, trak.
I stepped backward very slowly, trying to confuse the monster with what I was doing.
"Run!" I said.
Hearing that, the two of them immediately ran, followed by me behind them.
The monster knew we were going to escape, and it immediately chased after us with its massive body.
Its large footsteps repeatedly made the floor we were stepping on tremble.
Even so, that didn't make us want to stop running.
"Over there!" Hime shouted while pointing at a small hole on the right side of the wall on the 40th floor.
The hole was roughly human-sized, allowing us to hide inside it.
—
When we entered, our breaths were already ragged because we had just been running.
We didn't expect to struggle this much against a floor boss, to the point that we had to hide.
Inside this hole, there was an empty room shaped the same as the dungeon floors.
But there was nothing here. Just a square room with a torch lit on its wall.
"Are you two okay?" I asked.
"Don't ask me, Hime is probably more exhausted than she looks…" Yuu-chan said.
I turned to Hime and saw that she indeed looked more exhausted than the two of us.
She had just repeatedly attacked the monster, which must have drained her Mana and stamina.
The same went for Yuu-chan; since she attacked alongside Hime, she must also be tired.
——
(10 minutes ago…)
Finally, we arrived at the 40th floor, halfway to the final floor.
In the last five floors, we had started obtaining items slightly more valuable than what we had found before.
Just now, we got an iron shield that seemed somewhat valuable, maybe.
Because of that, there was no way we would stop exploring this dungeon.
"Yukito-san, as far as I remember, the boss on this floor should only be one, so it's your turn, right?" Hime asked.
"Yeah, yeah," I replied.
I admit, in the last five floors, we also had quite a hard time. Hime and Yuu-chan had to stand at the right distance to use their magic.
And during that, I had to distract the floor bosses until their magic was ready.
That part was the weakness.
I struggled to withstand the bosses using only my sword, which caused Hime and Yuu-chan's magic to repeatedly fail.
"Ah, right… Hime, you still have that box, right?" I asked.
All the items we obtained were always taken by Hime, and she would store them inside something like a storage space.
"You mean this?" Hime said while showing a hole on her side.
"This is an Alter Box, not everyone can use it. Its function is the same as a bag, to store items, but in an Alter Box, the capacity can be extremely large," she continued.
It looked like opening a portal to another dimension, and the way it worked wasn't complicated.
You just opened the portal and put an item inside.
Automatically, the name of the item would appear on the user's status screen. Hah… I wish I had an Alter Box like that too…
Dug, dug.
Once again, the floor shook.
The ceiling kept trembling, as if it wanted to collapse on top of us, even though it didn't.
And the tremor stopped again for the umpteenth time.
"Yukito-san, in front of you," Hime said quietly to me.
The two of them immediately prepared themselves to face the boss of the 40th floor.
And finally, it appeared.
But suddenly, I felt like my body was being sucked into it; my body trembled slightly when I saw its aura.
I didn't know why, but it seemed to disturb Hime and Yuu-chan as well.
The 40th-floor boss was different from the previous floor bosses.
Before, all the floor bosses had physical forms: some had large bodies, and some were small but extremely agile.
All of them could be attacked with magic or physical attacks, but I felt… the floor boss this time would be extremely difficult to defeat.
——
Its body looked like a ghost, and of course it floated. Its body was black, emitting black aura that intimidated us.
In its hand, it carried a scythe longer than its body.
On its face, it wore a mask where its eyes glowed bright purple.
Its body looked semi-transparent, but we still wanted to try attacking it.
I turned around and saw Yuu-chan's terrified expression.
Suddenly, Hime and I were shocked by what was happening to her.
"Yuu-chan! Calm down, what's wrong with you?" I asked, starting to panic a bit.
Behind us, that monster still hadn't moved at all, but that didn't make me feel safe.
Honestly, its appearance made me feel extremely uneasy.
A floating figure and a terrifyingly sharp scythe caused my mind to spiral, and I couldn't think clearly.
For some reason, I felt that the monster would never let us go if we tried to run.
Even though its movements looked slow, I knew that if it wanted to attack, its speed would make it impossible for me to see.
Hime tried using various kinds of magic she could cast.
However, the attacks didn't seem to hit the floor boss, and it stood there as if it hadn't been struck by anything.
"Yuu-chan, let's run first!" Hime said.
Yuu-chan finally snapped out of it, and we immediately ran as fast as we could to get out of the monster's sight.
But for some reason, suddenly my footsteps stopped while staring at the monster approaching me.
I felt my gaze go empty, and I couldn't think of anything at that moment. What was happening to me…
"Yukito-sama, let's retreat for now!" Yuu-chan shouted while warning me.
Yuu-chan also attacked the monster alongside Hime, hoping its movement could be slowed down even a little.
Hearing Yuu-chan's voice, I snapped out of it and ran ahead of them.
——
(Now—)
"Yuu-chan… rather than worrying about Hime, you should calm your mind first…" I said, trying to make her relax.
I knew both of them needed more time before they could fight the monster again.
But I didn't know what happened to Yuu-chan when we first encountered the monster.
"Yuu-chan…" Hime said.
From her voice, Hime must have been worried about Yuu-chan's condition right now.
"It's okay… I was just a little startled by that monster…" Yuu-chan replied.
I stood up and let them rest until their condition improved.
And it seemed likely that our adventure in the dungeon would stop at this floor for now.
I didn't want to force them to go deeper, which could put them in more danger.
Besides, the two of them were more valuable than a lump of Mithril, and I had to protect them.