A Powerful Enemy Dungeon Attacks!

I was inside Kou’s dungeon.

As we waited in the front hall, a corridor from the enemy dungeon appeared.

Blazing red light burst out, so bright I couldn’t keep my eyes open.

“Gah—! What the hell is this!?”

“Master! The enemy is a flame dungeon!”

“Kyuiii~!”

I heard Liricia and Rāna, the Sacred White Dragon, shout.

Shielding my face with my arm, I squinted through the glare to look at the enemy.

A corridor about five meters wide had opened in the hall wall.

Inside it stood a packed line of blazing monsters.

A burning giant so tall its head nearly scraped the corridor ceiling—probably an Ifrit.

There were also salamanders, lizards wreathed in flame, and a larger dragon beyond them.

There were flame horses and flame birds too—the birds resembled the phoenix I’d fought long ago.

Maybe because there was a whole crowd of living infernos, the air itself looked like it was shimmering.

No—what was red wasn’t just light. Even stone and metal looked like they were glowing hot, which told me the enemy dungeon was running at a temperature that was no joke.

And at the head of that army of flame stood someone I knew all too well.

Her fiery red twin-tails writhed like a living blaze, and she crossed her arms to cover a slender, bare upper body.

Heat rolled off her torso—she was probably the source of the furnace-like pressure.

Her red eyes locked onto me in a glare.

“So it really was Alec’s dungeon.”

“Rubel!”

“Rubel-san!?”

The woman wrapped in flame was Rubel, the guildmaster.

When she flicked her twin-tails aside with one hand, crimson sparks scattered.

Her modest chest, momentarily exposed, trembled faintly.

“Rubel… you were a dungeon master?”

“Yeah. Something like that.”

“How did you find this place?”

“Hmph. If a dungeon over eight billion power suddenly appears in a forest near the Royal Capital, of course I’m coming to check it.”

“Wait—this dungeon’s numbers are that high?”

From the back hall, Kou answered.

“Power got added because Master cleared the tutorial. So Master alone is 8.1 billion, the wife is 50 million, Sophiecia-san is 20.2 million, Rāna-san is 7.77 million, and Teti-san is 5.”

“This dungeon core talks too much. You don’t just hand out numbers like candy.”

“Is it okay? Because… no, never mind. And the numbers change soon anyway. The wife gains three to seven million every night at midnight, and Sophiecia-san gains ten thousand every time she takes a bath.”

A lot of that raised questions, but Rubel was the priority.

I stared her down.

“So… Rubel. What are you going to do? I want you to keep quiet.”

Not only had she seen me as a dungeon master, she’d also seen Liricia and Sophiecia in angel form.

Rubel wore a belligerent grin as she scanned our group.

“Well now, what should I do? You look like a fun opponent I can finally go all-out against. How about this—if you beat me, I’ll keep your secret. Kukuku… and Edgar’s on your side too, huh.”

“Guildmaster, sorry. I owe Alec-san a debt I can’t repay.”

Edgar glared back with black eyes from under his hair, then—no idea where he pulled them from—wrapped a rope around his waist that had odd-shaped knives and talismans strung along it.

Rubel covered her mouth and laughed like she was amused. More than that, she was enjoying the situation.

“Relax, I’m just playing. You two fallen angels should step back. You’ll turn into roasted angels, you know?”

“Wh-what a horrible thing to say! I’ll protect Master!”

“And I can use grand-scale attribute-reduction magic!”

The two angels braced themselves, wings flaring with a loud whump, and glared at Rubel.

But Rubel didn’t lose her relaxed attitude.

“You think you can endure it? When I get serious, even my Ifrit and phoenix back there get burned.”

The towering Ifrit nodded solemnly, its flaming face bobbing.

Behind it, a burning bird trembled like it was afraid—maybe remembering Rubel at full power.

“How does an incarnation of fire get burned by fire…? That’s kind of monstrous.”

When I said that, she snorted loudly. Her well-shaped chest bounced with the motion.

“Hah! You’re the last person I want to hear that from… Hm? Why is there a child here? Evacuate her too.”

“Kyui!”

Rāna shook her head, white hair swaying, and glared right back at Rubel with fierce eyes.

I introduced her.

“She’s not just a kid. She’s a Sacred White Dragon. Her name is Rāna.”

“What!? A Sacred White Dragon…! …I see. Then I’ll back off.”

Rubel shrugged and walked to the side of the corridor.

There, she started putting on accessories—rings, bracelets, necklaces.

They seemed to grant fire resistance and fire sealing; with each piece she put on, the savage flames lessened until she returned to looking like a beautiful woman.

I mean, she was already beautiful in body, but the vibe she carried was terrifying.

Her sudden change made me tilt my head.

“Huh? You’re done already?”

“I’m not about to hurt a Sacred White Dragon… That Sacred-attribute dragon zombie—was it that one?”

“Yeah. It was huge, but it shrank once I used it as material.”

“So it was… Thank you for saving the world.”

“Huh?”

I could only stare, shocked by the sudden gratitude.

All I did was revive Rāna.

And it wasn’t like I was trying to save the world—I just made a dragon dungeon for my own sake…

Then Rāna ran straight toward Rubel.

When she reached the boundary line between our hall and their corridor, she thrust both hands out toward Rubel.

“Kyui! Kyukyuu~ kyukyui!”

She was desperately appealing to Rubel about something.

While fastening her accessories, Rubel looked at me with a troubled face.

“What is Rāna saying?”

“I don’t know either. Looks like she wants something.”

“What? You want something?”

“Kyui! Kyui!”

Rāna pleaded with her whole tiny body, making a small circle with both hands.

Watching that, Rubel went, “Ahh.”

When the flames finally vanished completely, she threw a cloak over her shoulders.

Then she returned to her group and pulled a round orb from a bag strapped to the back of a flame horse.

It was a small sphere about the size of her thumb, blood-red in color.

Holding up the red orb, she came back over.

“Is this what you want?”

“Kyuiiiiii~!”

Rāna’s blue eyes sparkled as she nodded.

Rubel rolled it across the floor at the boundary to pass it to Rāna.

If even a part of Rubel’s body entered our hall, the heat would probably explode outward.

Rāna immediately scooped it up and cradled it in both hands like it was precious.

I had a strong guess now.

Wasn’t that one of the jewels meant to be offered to a Sacred White Dragon?

“Are you sure, Rubel?”

“If it’s a jewel, it’s useless to me.”

“Rāna, say thank you properly, okay?”

“Kyukkyui~!”

Rāna bowed to Rubel. I didn’t understand the words, but the intent was clear.

With her gear on, Rubel turned back toward us.

“Alright. I’ll keep today’s events to myself.”

“So you had a jewel, Rubel…”

“Jewel orbs appear where the matching attribute is strongest. I’m fire, so the red one came to me.”

“I see. So if we look for places where each attribute is strongest, we can find the others too.”

“Five left, huh. Good luck.”

Rubel said that while looking at Rāna.

I shrugged and nodded.

“Still… I didn’t expect you to be a dungeon master.”

“There were hints. Even in a flame dungeon, there’s no way you’d conveniently find that many fire resistance and fire sealing items. Every time I helped my dungeon core, I had it make one for me.”

“Makes sense. I’m not that different.”

“And Alec—you should learn to compress your Holy Wave better. If you were going to fight me, you’d need to keep it contained to just the hall.”

“That’s the hard part… Got it. Thanks for the advice—I’ll practice.”

“See you.”

With a final confident smile, Rubel’s corridor shut.

The blazing dungeon light vanished, and for a moment the hall felt dim.

When I looked up at the ceiling, a pale blue light quietly illuminated the room.

The tension drained out of me, and I exhaled hard.

“Man… I got tired all at once. Thanks, everyone, for helping.”

“No… I’m sorry I couldn’t be of more help.” “I’ll take more baths and get stronger!”

Liricia and Sophiecia said that as they folded their wings away.

At the edge of the hall, Edgar spoke up.

He was already back to his usual self. The strange tools he’d wrapped around his waist were gone.

“I’m glad you’re safe. I’m heading back to investigating, then.”

“Yeah, Edgar—thanks. You helped a lot.”

“Call me anytime. Later.”

Edgar gave a casual wave and headed out through the corridor to the Royal Capital.

I looked down at Rāna beside me.

The girl stared seriously at the red orb in her hands.

“Rāna, that’s a jewel, right? I heard they’re supposed to be offered to an egg—what are you going to do?”

“Kyuu~… —Kyui!”

Suddenly, Rāna popped the jewel into her mouth and swallowed it whole.

I panicked and rushed over.

“H-hey, are you okay!? What if it gets stuck in your throat!?”

Even if it was only thumb-sized, for a five-year-old it was basically throat-sized.

Rāna’s small body started trembling.

I crouched down and shook her shoulders.

“Hey—did it actually get stuck—”

“Kyuiiiiii—!”

The moment Rāna screamed, her whole body flashed with a blazing red light.

It was so bright I had to cover my eyes.

“Are you okay!?”

“Iiiii~!”

Wrapped in red light, her body started growing—growing fast.

Then the light faded, and a girl with blue eyes and white hair was standing there.

But she looked about seven now. She was taller, with longer, more slender arms and legs.

She smiled brightly at me and Liricia.

“Rek, rek! —Rishya, rishya!”

“Oh—so you can talk now!”

“Rek! Kyui~! Rek, aiato! Rishya, ariato!”

Rāna hugged me while I was crouched.

She beamed and talked excitedly.

It was great that she could speak now, but her pronunciation was still childish, so I only understood about half.

Still, whenever she felt even a little understood, Rāna would grin and chirp “Kyui!” or “Kyai!”

After spending some time with Rāna, we headed back to the mansion to eat dinner.