By Web Novel Written by Minkansukii ミンカンスキー
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「GYAHAHAHAHA！！」
「……..Uck?」
Inside the first small room on the 2nd Floor. The moment I entered I was greeted with a ghoulish laugh. Immediately facing my direction, the Giant Jack-O-Lantern’s eyes bounce gleefully at my presence.
Because it detected me, It doesn’t seem like I could make my sneak attack.
「GYAHA！」
「Ha!……」
The laughing pumpkin makes raise a sharp chuckle as something came flying out of its mouth.
So Fast.
I dodge to the side to avoid it at the last second. Striking the wall before fall to the floor, I looked at what it could be? It was a pumpkin seed about the size of a tennis ball.
This was also mention in the book, it’s “Seed Attack”!……
I skirt around the sides of the room, recalling the details left behind in the book. One of the Laughing Jack-O-Lantern’s strongest traits is its long range Seed Attack.
It can’t move very well on its own, but its range attack, can fire seeds at high speeds. By appearances, there’s no penetrating power behind its fired seed, but there’s enough energy to get a considerable knockback.
「GYAHAHA！ GYAHAHAHAHA！」
The Laughing Jack-O-Lantern bounced lightly, spinning on itself to face me, snickering as to mock me my while I struggled. I ran with all my might, evading the giant pumpkin’s line of fire.
Rotating like a turret gun, I put more effort in staying clear of receiving a direct hit. While the speed of revolution wasn’t quite as fast, it was enough to make me break a sweat.
But the longer this went on, my chances of winning would run out at this rate. So once I confirmed I had enough of a gap, I charged towards the Laughing Jack-O-Lantern.
「Hi~ya!」
「GYAHA！？」
I hacked my knife down the side of the giant pumpkin’s face. It went in quite well. It really did feel like carving a regular pumpkin.
Crying out in surprise the Laughing Jack-O-Lantern immediately rotates to face me. But the damage I did to it wasn’t as great as I thought.
「Fuck!……」
But because it was facing me directly now, I tried to evade to the side once more. Now that I closed the distance, it was easier to escape its line of sight by going around it. Because in circle, being closer to the center allows you to make more calculated movements.
But――
「Ugh!?」
I felt something grab a hold of my foot. Looking down in a hurry to see what caught me, there was vine extending from beneath the Giant Pumpkin’s base.
「GYAHAHAHA！」
The Laughing Jack-O-Lantern rotates slowly, chuckling as it stopped to face me. Aiming its mouth towards me, it shot at my chest.
「GYAHAAAA！！」
「Gah!!」
Almost as if something blunt had gouged me, a sharp intense pain wracked me. The moment it fired directly towards my chest, I twisted my body sideways to try and avoid it, only to take a critical hit to my side.
Trying hard not to think about the pain, I immediately stab my knife into the Jack-O-Lanterns mouth the moment it opened up to laugh at me..
「Damn, Screw you!……」
「GYAHAHA！ GYAHA！」
I struck that bastard’s face over and over, putting all of my resentment into each blow.
Two strikes, three strikes, four strikes…….
But just as I was about to strike it for the 5th time, it shot another seed from it’s mouth.
「Guh!…….」
I couldn’t breathe.
This time the pain was centered on my chest. It was a direct hit to my solar plexus. Writhing in agony, my hand had stopped in mid-strike.
This is bad, I can’t……….
I had almost blacked out from the excruciating pain, but my the ringing in my head alerted me to the severity of my situation. Having taken this much damage, there was no way I could counterattack. Even now, I’m barely holding onto my knife.
I can’t block, or attack I don’t think I can win…….I didn’t think it would be this strong…….
Regrets filled my mind, as I realized the gap of fighting an opponent 3 Levels above me, for the first time. Even though my desire to acquire a special item was high, it would have been better had I avoided this monster.
「GYAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAA！！」
Did it realize my spirit’s been broken?
The Jack-O-Lantern raised its laugh to ridicule me further.
Total Defeat.
Those two words resounded in my mind as I dazedly looked up. Towards my unsteady gaze, the Jack-O-Lantern poised it mouth to fire once again.
But before it could shoot it’s seed, it was interrupted by something else entirely.
「GYA！？ GYAHA！？」
The Giant Jack-O-Lantern’s body shook in surprise, not caring about me further it tried to turn around.
What, what’s going on?……
Bewildered by the Giant Jack-O-Lantern abrupt actions, all of a sudden I heard a familiar voice.
「SAINO, Don’t worry I’m here to save you! Hey Uglyface! Look at me you dumb pumpkin!」
「Se,Sensei!?……」
My eyes grew wide the moment I heard Harumachi-Sensei’s voice from behind the Laughing Jack-O-Lantern. Listening closely, I heard something burning. Out of my view, Sensei was searing the back of the Jack-O-Lantern with a torch.
「……..RRRgh! Ooryaahh!」
「GYAA！？」
Mustering all the strength I had left, grasping my knife with both hands I thrust it deep into the orange monsters body.
Distracted by Sensei’s relentless fiery attack and my deep strike, the Laughing Jack-O-Lantern cried out in surprise.
Pouring my whole body and soul into my blade, I carve into my enemy. Burrowing deeply into the Jack-O-Lantern’s forehead, and that’s when ――
「GYAHA……」
The Laughing Jack-O-Lantern cries out its’ death throes while bursting into particles of light. And almost immediately these particles of light are absorbed back into the labyrinth’s surroundings, disappearing without a trace.
All that was left, was the treasure chest, Sensei and myself. Sensei still held the torch in hand, but her body was trembling.
「Sensei…… Thank you for your help」
Laying on the ground, I stir myself to bow towards Sensei as I massaged the pain around my chest. I definitely couldn’t defeat it on my own. Our victory just now, was all due to Sensei’s assistance.
But Sensei wasn’t too thrilled with my response, rather she ran towards me with tears streaming.
「Saino, you……… YOU IDIOT!…….」
Its so soft and it feels warm.
I didn’t consciously realize it, but I could feel Sensei hugging me tightly as I could finally relax. Cradling me so strongly, with a tearful voice Sensei questioned me.
「WHY, why did you do something so dangerous?」
「…………. I don’t know what to say, this is a labyrinth, things happen」
「That’s not a good reason, you idiot……..」
After hearing my reply, Sensei tightened her hold over me embittered. Going with the flow of things I sighed while reflecting. I seemed to have worried her quite a lot. Having seen what struggles I went through, it’s obvious.
Sensei continues to harp on me and scold me for my actions, unrelenting while picking at my faults. But her embrace on me neither strengthened nor loosened during her tirade. Listening to her chastise me, I was lulled into thinking of various strange thoughts.
Could Sensei really…… I wonder if she has feelings for me?
Being held tightly and scolding that seemed to last forever. I don’t think this would be something a teacher would do just for a student. Sensei was deeply worried, she really cared about me.
That was how it felt.
「Are you listening to me, Saino? I’m really angry with you!…….」
「Yeah yeah, I’m listening」
Did she realize I wasn’t paying attention? Because she put a little more strength into her hold. I replied back to her, but in a way I was truly happy to be held tightly by Sensei. Even after that exchange Sensei continued to lecture me. And when 30 minutes had passed she released me.
◇◆◇◆◇
「……….Sigh」
After a long lecture. Sensei finally separated from me and almost immediately turned away from me. It was because her face was flushed and her eyes were red from crying. It a side of her never saw before.
………She’s kind of cute
Composing myself I take a deep breath, inhaling then exhaling. Since the battle had ended and the lecture was over. It was about time to finally open the treasure chest. This was the whole reason why I entered the 2nd Floor.
「Finally!」
Bending down over the chest, grasping the lid and opened it.
What the….. What is this?
Glittering silver, the item resembled a utensil. The rough size and shape was closer to a drinking glass. But that wasn’t right, because of the string that was clearly attached to the round bottom of the item. What’s more, the mouth of this cup spread out more towards the rim.
Looking within the chest I took out the note with the item details and began reading it to myself.
| “Bell of Sultry Dreams” When the bell is rung, the individual closest to the user will fall into a state of trance for 10 minutes. That individuals memories can be altered during this time as if nothing had happened. And that individual will never question the experience. Moreover the individual will dream about their trance-like experience on the night of the day the bell was used. Number of uses: 2 |
「……..Oh I see, so this was a bell」
Learning the metallic items true identity, I voiced my thoughts reflexively. Responding to my words Sensei curiously stares at me.
「………What are you holding? Saino went exploring for something like that? 」
「Uuuhh, well…….You see…….」
How should I answer this? Various thoughts swirled in my head, but in that moment of time I could not come up with an adequate response.
Even with this item, it would be impossible to have Sensei forget everything about this dungeon. And its not like I can compel her to keep it all a secret. I know this isn’t the kind of item for a situation like this and I sort of expected this.
But――
*Tangggg*…….
Pulling out my knife, I tap the “Bell of Sultry Dreams”
A high metallic ring resounds inside the small room and at that moment, the fiery light in Sensei’s eyes turned dull.
I don’t know if this was really the right thing to do, but I can’t stop now.
Only one thing came to mind when I did it. There was no way to confirm if this plan would work, but I went ahead with it because I couldn’t think of anything else. From the very beginning, this whole dungeon exploration was hopeless from the start. So I took a gamble.
「Sensei…..」
I approached Harumachi-Sensei while she was in a trance――
「I can’t hold back this feeling any longer, Sensei……I……I really like you!」
Whispering those words close to her, I embraced her strongly.
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Translated by: Kaimana Editor: NarK0Lepsi
Kai: So I know some readers may wonder why the magical item “Bell of Sultry Dreams” is different from the manga’s “Nightmare inducing Bell”.
The Kanji used in this webnovel uses Dream Demon/evil spirit or Nightmares (Incubus/Succubus). So the manga’s translation is not wrong, and it’s supported with visuals. But I think it’s hard to relate that when it comes to text. Since I have paint you a picture with words. I hope you understand my reasoning.
Narko: Yep, could’ve called it Erotic Dreams, Wet Dreams, my smartphone hypnotizing app, oh I’m sure the audience understands were I’m going.
On another note, audience people as a reminder offer your praise to Kai as he’s doing all the leg work here, I’m just the guy who pushes buttons, since Kuro’s away.
