Chapter 39 – Defense Specialized and Crystal Cave

「Well then… if there’s a safety area or not…」

Sally whispered.

Sally realized that she is starting to lose her concentration.

It is not strange if a fatal mistake would occur anytime.

And, the meaning of Sally who was in charge of reconnaissance having a mistake means the death of everyone.

「I need to do my best…」

*PechiPechi*, she slapped her cheeks, tries to regain her spirits and heighten her hearing.

「I hear a faint sound from the left. There isn’t any problem to the right」

The other two tried to hear it, but they couldn’t hear it at all, hidden by the sound of the ground shaking.

It seems like they could not act as a subst.i.tute for her.

「Let’s hurry, it would be bad if it appears on the right」

「Ahh, I got it」

「Un, let’s go!」

The three of them advanced to the right path with a fast pace.

The appearance of the snail wasn’t there, and they were able to advance deeper.

If they had advanced to the left, at that time, they would have been found by the snail.

Sally’s reconnaissance had barely not lost its effects.

Advancing for a while, the three ended up in a dead end.

However, it was not completely a bad thing.

「Something’s there!」

The place where Kasumi was pointing at was a large purple crystal.

And as if it was sealed within it, there was an old key and a cherry blossom shaped earring.

When the three approached it, that purple crystal had an HP Bar.

It means, it is possible to destroy it.

「It’s likely that we need the key… I think that we should take it…」

「Un, I think so too」

「Then… I’ll do it」

Kasumi drew her katana and made a stance.

「【Fourth of the Blades・Whirlwind】!」

She slashes twice upwards and twice downwards.

The high-speed consecutive attacks. .h.i.ts the crystal as if it was sucked into it.

The crystal was not able to endure those consecutive attacks, *Parin*, it broke together with the sound of a gla.s.s breaking.

Kasumi picks up the key and earring that fell to the ground and checked it.

「The key……it doesn’t have a description. The earring is just an equipment. It doesn’t seem like it has something to do on how to escape from here」

She said that, and let the other two check it.

「Un, it really seems so」

「The key… where should we use it?」

「Who knows…? For the meantime, this earring will be Kasumi’s」

Sally gave the earring to Kasumi.

After that, they talked for a while, and the key was also given to Kasumi.

「Well then… let’s continue exploring」

This place was a dead end, it doesn’t have a place to runaway to.

The three moved back to where they came from in a hurry.

And, what the three found after turning back and continue exploring for a while was a side hole near the ceiling.

That thing that was in the middle of the pathways was something that they did not see before.

It was natural for the three to think that there is something inside that.

「That, can we enter it?」

「U〜n……I think that we can’t reach it using【Leap】…」

【Leap】was not enough to enter that side hole placed 10 meters from the ground.

And when the three was thinking, that time.

「………wait, be quiet! …it came!」

Sally had heard the *GuchoGucho* sounds with her ears.

On top of that, it was coming from both sides.

「I was cautious to not get in the middle!」

They were not caught in the middle not once up until now, the chances of meeting them were slim from the start, and Sally had completely read their positions.

The sounds where the sounds of the ground shaking were coming from, she had guessed their distance from them using that, and she was able to choose the best pathway.

And right now, that crumbled for the first time.

She had read wrongly the movement of one snail.

「We can only enter through that hole…!」

「Sally, use【Leap】! I’ll do something about the rest!」

There was already no time on hearing what Kasumi was planning.

The snails have appeared from both sides.

「【Leap】!」

Sally prayed that they might have reached it, but it was really not enough, counting the weight of additional two people.

「【Third of the Blades・Lone Moon】!」

Kasumi’s body accelerated mid-air.

Being supported by the system, Kasumi’s body launched upwards.

Of course, pulling the two with her.

Kasumi’s body spins once in the air leaving the effect of the slash, and fell while advancing forward.

That was just exactly where the hole was.

The three plunged into the hole as if to roll in it. Sally immediately checked the snails below.

The snails tried to spurt out their sticky liquid, but it seems like it couldn’t reach them.

「Doesn’t seem like they have ways to come up… I think」

Sally was relieved, fell to the ground and leaned her back on the crystal wall.

「Haha… thank goodness it worked……」

「Thanks, Kasumi. We couldn’t reach it with just my【Leap】」

「Un! It was amazing!」

「The time of getting stiff when Lone Moon misses is very long, you know……if we couldn’t reach it, I wouldn’t have been able to move and we’d get defeated by the snails… it was also a gamble for me」

Her gamble paid off.

Thanks to that, the three were able to have their long awaited break.

The hole wasn’t large enough for the snail to enter.

「It’s also good to rest, but… would you like to take a glance ahead? There’s no guarantee that there would be no other monsters…」

「………I guess so. That should be good too. I have completely thought that there are only snail monsters here」

「Un, I also agree with that」

The three agreed.

The three stood up, and advanced through the hole.

The hole was connected to a circular hall.

It was about 5 meters away from the ground, and the room has six pathways.

Just looking from far away, one can tell that it was high enough for a snail to pa.s.s through.

And, about right ahead of the hole the three were in, there was a wall with a door.

Its size was 2 meters high.

It wasn’t a giant door for boss rooms up until now.

「Is that the exit?」

「Wait a second. 【Far Vision】! ………there is a keyhole. Most probably, the key earlier should be for that. I’m sure that there’s something in there」

「Then……you wanna go? There isn’t any sound of snails coming from the paths too」

「Really?」

「Are you sure?」

Being told by the two, Sally checked again with her ears.

She couldn’t hear the sounds coming from any pathways.

She listened carefully for several minutes, but in the end, she couldn’t her the sounds of the snails.

「It’s alright. I couldn’t hear anything」

「Then……let’s go」

「Un, let’s do that」

The three jumped down to the ground.

Maple and Kasumi trust Sally’s reconnaissance ability.

Sally have absolute confidence in her own ability.

And there was no mistake from the answer that she had using that ability.

There were no snails coming from the pathways, noーーthere was no monsters at all.

However, as a conclusion.

They should have really taken a break in the hole they were before.

They didn’t notice that their thinking had narrowed.

That’s right.

The three did not think that the environment would change as soon as they go down at all.

The crystal grew at a fast pace, blocking the hole.

And from all the pathways, they started to hear that sound.

That disgusting *GuchoGucho* sound.

「T-This is bad!」

「What should we do!」

「Let’s run for it! That’s all we can do!」

Maple was fully equipped right now.

However, they have no time to wait for her to remove her equipments. The snails had already started to crawl out of the pathways.

The distance to the door was 25 meters.

It was not a significant distance, but the three felt like it was so far away.

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