Chapter 67

Ch . 67: Reorganizing and Heading for the Bottom Floor

Parme, who had been rescued, covered her face and sobbed for a while, but with Lapis and Ange comforting her, she slowly started to calm down .

In the meantime, Klaus looked up again to check on her, but he was silenced by Anges iron fist, while Loren was busying himself burning any slimes that got close .

When Parme finally calmed down, Ange took out a thin blanket out of her bag and covered her, while Lapis checked on her injuries .

Since she had said earlier that she was already being eaten, Lapis had expected harsh injuries, but although the injuries werent light enough to take easily, they werent too serious either .

The injuries arent bad, but the state and the range is the problem . Loren, can I use >?

Lapis judged that if left alone, it would leave behind scars for sure .

As she asked Loren, thinking that a girl of her age with such scars all over her body was too pitiful, Loren simply nodded .

Its fine so go ahead and heal her .

You sure?

Lapis prepared to use her healing divine arts as soon as Loren approved .

A priests healing divine arts was a lifeline not only within the dungeon, but to adventurers in general .

Klaus was confused at Lorens decision to use one of the limited usages on Parme .

Well, it is a bad move considering our situation .

Parme had lost all her equipment and was more of a burden than anything .

So Loren knew that using divine arts on injuries that wasnt a threat to her life would be confusing to anyone .

Shes training to become an adventurer . She should be prepared to have scars on her body .

Could be . But its fine, I guess .

As Loren patted Klaus on the shoulder, telling him not to think of it too hard, he stopped arguing .

Next to them, Lapis was about to use > on Parme .

G . o . d of Knowledge, please heal her using the method you could find within that stupidly large amount of knowledge you possess .

Those arent the words of prayer, are they!?

Prayer isnt bound to specific forms .

When Lapis touched Parmes body along with a plausible explanation, the divine arts quickly displayed its effects, as the injuries from the slimes started healing .

Is it just me, or is the healing working really well somehow?

Those who believe will be saved .

Seeing Parmes injuries disappear and returning to healthy looking skin, Ange asked Lapis with swear running down her cheek, as if she were seeing something perplexing, but Lapis responded in a solemn tone .

So how is it, actually?

No idea . Dont ask me .

Although Klaus asked him, Loren had no way to answer .

He guessed that the basic specs of being a demon could have had something to do with the effectiveness of the divine arts, but for some reason he couldnt look past the fact that the prayer might have had something to do with it as well .

In any case, blonde rolls can move now so lets get moving . Nothing good will come out of staying here for too long .

I apologizefor the inconvenience .

Parme hung her head, the att . i . tude she had shown before entering the dungeon was nowhere to be seen .

Feeling that being ashamed the whole time wasnt good for the atmosphere, Loren tried poking some fun at her as a joke .

But are we going to pull her around with only a blanket around her?

I-Ill accept it .

Loren had said it expecting her to complain, but to his surprise, she had easily complied .

As Parmes face turned bright red, Loren became troubled as he didnt know what to do but help came from Lapis .

Ange and I could at least lend you underwear .

Its an emergency, so well go with the size that fits better .

Adventurers tried their best to pack as little as they could .

It was obvious since they would have to be moving constantly, so whenever they went exploring or on subjugation, they only took the absolute minimum of what they needed .

Even to them, extra underwear was essential, so Lapis and Ange carried around a few changes with them .

Some might wonder why they would do so in the limited s . p . a . ce in their bags, but the jobs of adventurers often got them injured as well as dirty .

From experience, adventurers knew that wearing dirty or contaminated clothes would worsen their injuries or cause illnesses .

Rarely did they have any room to take extra clothes, but always having extra underwear or underclothes, which constantly touched the skin, was the common understanding .

I brought an extra pair of boots, so Ill lend you those .

Magicians could often take more things since they didnt have heavy equipment to worry about .

Ange seemed to be so and brought an extra pair of boots, in case the pair she was wearing got ruined by a trap .

For the topmine is too big . Ange, yours seems like a perfect fit .

Grrr

The bottomHmm? Yours slips off, huh . I guess Ill lend mine then .

This doesnt make any sense!

For clothesLoren, lend her one of your shirts .

Here .

With the difference in height between Loren and Parme, his shirt reached down and easily covered her all the way down to the middle of her thighs .

I dont know how to thank everyoneIll repay this debt someday

Worry about that if we manage to get back to the surface . Its not certain we can get out of here yet .

Stopping Parme from bowing her head, Loren told her in a matter of fact way, not letting any emotion into his words .

If he somehow gave her some measure of hope, and that hope was to be crushed, the emotional drop would be a hard one .

So that was why he couldnt let her feel saved in a situation where they had no idea what would happen .

Parme, do you know what happened to the other members of your party?

Im sorry Master Klaus . My hands were full just trying to run away, and before I realized, I was caught inside the slimesso I dont know what happened to them .

When Parme told Klaus that she didnt know, although he looked disappointed for a moment, he immediately regained his composure and patted her on the head to try to comfort her .

Master Klaus

As Parmes cheeks turned red, Ange started coughing very loudly .

As Loren was watching the three of them, Lapis spread her map of the dungeon and walked up next to him .

Do you long for things like that?

Not even a bit . Doesnt suit me, and I dont want anything like that .

Sounds like you . By the way, are we going to go to the keeper on the ninth floor like this?

Parme joining them could be taken as an accident, but it just meant that they had another person they needed to protect, so Loren decided that it wouldnt have too much of an impact on them .

But in fact, they had to hurry harder than before to defeat the guardian on the tenth floor, so they could send Parme back to the surface .

Klaus and Ange, the two of you go ahead and protect Parme . Lapis and Ill take care of the enemies .

ButNo, youre right . Got it, leave her to us .

The first had to do something about the keeper guarding the exit of the ninth floor, and Klaus was about to argue when Loren said that the two of them will take care of it, but he quietly obeyed him, as if he had thought of something .

Impressed at how quick Klaus now was to understand, Loren lead Klaus and the others down the corridor with Lapis, who regained control of her limbs, walking next to him .

So, this is where the keeper is

A short time after they had rescued Parme .

The only monsters they encountered on the way were slimes, and by either burning or slipping pa . s . s them, the group managed to reach the area on the ninth floor where the keeper resided, but what awaited them wasnt a keeper blocking their way, but an unmoving stone doll with its hands and knees on the ground .

The doll, which wouldve been taller than Loren if it stood up, wasnt damaged at all, but for some reason it didnt show any signs of moving .

Is this the so-called keeper?

When Loren asked Klaus, who knew more about the dungeon than he did, he nodded .

Its a stone golem that the school made . But to see that it stopped functioning

This is supposed to be strong, right?

When Loren asked for confirmation, both Klaus, who was knowledgeable of the dungeon, and Lapis, who was knowledgeable in general, nodded at the same time .

Its not as strong as metal type golems, but stone golems are still powerful . But to be able to cause a breakdown like this

Lucky for us, but the problem is who did it .

They now didnt have to fight it to enter the tenth floor, but the problem was who or what was it that broke the golem .

After all, it was hard to think that whoever did it would be satisfied by doing this, which meant there was a high possibility that the being would already be in the tenth floor, which they were about to enter .

If that was the case, they would most likely face whoever it was down there .

Theres no damage on the golems surface . If I remember correctly, it had an auto repair ability, but if it took enough damage to cause a breakdown, it repaired itself to fast .

Klaus said as he examined the golem .

Then how did this guy stop like this?

For a fair method, Isnt there a divine art that could deal damage without inflicting wounds?

Are you talking about >? Thats one of the few attacking divine arts .

Klaus knew that if the golem was defeated by magic, there should be signs of burns or damage, but there wasnt so he thought of the possibility of divine arts .

Against his thought, Lapis immediately shook her head, denying the possibility .

> is indeed a divine art that inflicts just the impact to an opponent and barely leaves any wounds, it is but a beginner level divine art, so its power isnt much . Do you think it would be enough to defeat a stone golem?

Thats

The only people who might be able to do that would be a very high-ranking priest . Then what would such a priest be doing here? And why would he defeat the keeper?

No idea about that one .

There was too little information to make a judgment .

As Loren easily gave up, Lapis asked Klaus .

What other methods would there be if they werent fair?

I hope Im wrong, but theres a pa . s . sword that acts as a deactivation key for the golem and it changes every monthand of course the teachers know what it is . If you pay them enough, you might be able to get them to tell you what it is .

That was an obvious act of misconduct .

Which was why Klaus hoped he was wrong, but with the sight in front of him, he had to put it into consideration .

Either way, we need to go down .

Thats true .

Then lets hurry up and go . All of you, dont be surprised no matter what comes out .

On the other side of the unmoving golem, was a single door .

Judging from where it was, Loren guessed that it was the entrance to the tenth floor and signaled Lapis, who was standing next to him, and when she saw it, she walked up and turned the k . n . o . b . After confirming that it didnt open by pushing and pulling on it, she put her palm on the door and started muttering something .