Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, Vol. 5 (32 page)

An extremely powerful howl laced with magical energy.

At the same time, Bell set his feet and flung his arm forward.

A roar just as loud as the beast’s erupted from his mouth:

“FIREBOLT!!”

His feet plunged into the dirt beneath the grass.

The sheer power of the electric inferno blasting out of his arm forced his body backward.

His Firebolts intercepted the incoming howl, breaking it to pieces in midair.

“
”

The white sparkles shimmered marvelously as they were drawn up and into the burning lightning bolts. A deafening blast drowned out all other noise. The lightning bolts hit the Goliath in the mouth—and kept on going.

The Firebolt Magic vanished in an instant, leaving only a small sliver of the right side of the giant’s head still attached to its body. The beast didn’t even have time to roar in fear. Only a small piece of its right eye sat on a broken cheekbone as the floor boss staggered backward. Bell’s magic blast traveled all the way to the opposite wall, exploding on impact off in the distance.

He’d missed his target.

Bell had been aiming for the Goliath’s chest, but he was unable to control the blast at full power and had hit it in the head by accident.

Bell stood there with his arm still out, eyes wide as he watched the Goliath closely. Everyone around him gawked in awe at the attack that had so easily pierced the hide that they couldn’t crack.

No living thing could survive without its head.

We won
—came the hopeful voices of many adventurers. However.

A geyser of red specks shot out from the beast’s neck.

“?!”

The geyser grew into a volcano in the middle of the darkness. The adventurers watched in horror as the Goliath’s face began to regenerate. Despair took hold of their hearts as they watched a new bloodred eye wiggle freely without a socket.

The Goliath was still alive even after losing its head. It had withstood a fully charged, Argonaut-supported Firebolt using its otherworldly life force and recovery ability to survive.

Bell’s ace in the hole had failed.

The newly reformed left eye joined its partner in finding the white-haired boy standing in the middle of the grass. The two red orbs glared down at him with intense hatred.

“—Bell, run away!!”

Gone was Lyu’s calm demeanor. The Goliath unleashed yet another howl right on top of the boy as she screamed out to him.

The giant’s healing process was not yet complete—bits and pieces of muscle and fangs rained down on Bell. Argonaut had completely drained his Strength and Agility; he couldn’t get out of the way and took a direct hit.

Bell’s feet left the ground as his body was cut and sliced in midair along with the dirt. The next thing the boy’s eyes saw was the Goliath’s mountainous frame coming right for him.

The beast went after him, roaring at the top of its lungs. Lyu and Asfi could not reach him in time. The Goliath already had its massive arm cocked behind its back.

Unavoidable, instant death was on its way.

Time seemed to freeze for Bell as he waited for the giant’s fist to come down.

Then,
he
arrived.

“—”

A large man wielding a shield jumped in front of Bell.

Ouka arrived in time to place himself between Bell and the
Goliath at the last possible second. He braced his body against his shield to protect the boy from a direct hit. Bell saw the Goliath’s fingers momentarily bend inward as the fist swallowed Ouka and the shield whole in slow motion.

Blood shot out of the man’s mouth. Ouka’s body hit Bell’s with bone-shattering force. The shock of the impact traveled through the shield, through Ouka, and straight into him. The two of them were launched into the air, their eyes open to the brink.

“OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!”

More splatters of blood. A broken
Familia
emblem.

Their bodies spun through the air as the Goliath roared triumphantly behind them.

“Bell—”

A shocked Hestia watched the scene unfold from the supply base.

She immediately came out from behind the protective barrier and rushed down the hill.

“Mr. Bell—”

Lilly watched his limp body fly through the air, the weapon she was too late to give him still in her backpack. She immediately changed course and rushed toward the battlefield.

“Bell…”

Welf’s voice shook as the name of his friend came out of his mouth.

The sounds of battle around him seemed distant as a certain set of words popped into his head.

“Stop compromising allies for your pride.”

The words of a certain goddess cut into his mind like a sharp thorn through skin. They pierced his very soul.

Remorse and guilt flooded through him as his face morphed into something like that of a scolded child. He stood in place for only a moment before turning around to face the forest behind him.

“Damn it all!!”

Throwing his broadsword into the dirt, Welf took off into the eastern forest as fast as he could go.

“Ouka…!”

“Captain Ouka!”

Chigusa, her cheeks glistening with tears, and a mournful Mikoto arrived at the spot where their leader had slid to a stop. They embraced his broken and bloodied body. Ouka’s eyelids hung loosely over his closed eyes as the two girls worked together to move him out of danger.

“No—?!”

At the same time, Lyu rushed to Bell’s side and quickly scooped him into her arms. She carried him to a safe place like a merciful wind guiding a boat out of a storm.

“Mr. Cranell, Mr. Cranell! Answer me!”

Lyu set him down on the grass between the remains of the Central Tree and the supply base on the southern side of the eighteenth floor. The boy didn’t respond as he lay silently on his back.

“Why now of all times…!”

The elf threw her hood back as she rummaged through the item pouch attached to her waist. Her eyes filled with regret.

There were no high potions left. To say the boy was critically injured would be an understatement. A normal potion would have almost no effect. Most of Bell’s light armor, including his breastplate, was
shattered. His inner shirt and skin were torn to shreds by the shards of the beast’s fangs still sticking out of his body. A quick glance was all that Lyu needed to tell that his ribs were broken in several places.

Her eyes quivered as she looked at all of the boy’s wounds, each leaking fresh blood.

“Bell!”

“Goddess Hestia…”

Hestia was the first to arrive on the scene because the supply base was so close.

The color drained from the goddess’s face the moment she saw Bell’s horrific condition, and she plunged her hand into her own item pouch. But just like Lyu, the pupils of her eyes shrank when she realized she didn’t have any high potions, either. She had used her entire stock while assisting adventurers injured during the battle.

“Hood—no, elf-lady. How is he?!”

“Breathing, but his wounds are deep. I fear the bones in his arms and legs might also be…”

Hestia and Lyu kneeled on either side of the boy, who had taken a direct hit from a Level 5 howl.

The sounds of combat still sounded off in the distance, but a voice cut through the din.

“Lyon, get back here at once!”

It was Asfi’s scream. She was engaging the Goliath alone. Her eyes shot open as the beast prepared to fire another howl. She wrapped herself in her white cloak just before impact.

The shock-absorbent fabric of her own design withstood the blast, but the young woman’s thin body went flying.

“…Elf-lady, please go. Buy us as much time as you can.”

Hestia’s expression stiffened as Lyu watched Asfi climb back to her feet.

“Bell
will
wake up. And once he does, he
will
kill that monster.”

“But, Goddess Hestia…”

“You saw, didn’t you?! Bell can do it. Bell can finish that thing!”

Lyu was captivated by the absoluteness in Hestia’s eyes. “Understood,” she said with a curt nod.

Regaining her composure, the side of the elf’s face disappeared behind her hood as she raced back to the battlefield.

“…Open your eyes, Bell!”

With Lyu gone, Hestia was alone with him. She held the boy’s right hand and called out to him.

Bell’s eyes were hidden behind his white bangs, his mouth partially open. But he didn’t move.

“You can hear them, can’t you?! Everyone’s fighting against that scary monster!”

Lyu’s and Asfi’s shrill voices, the yells of other adventurers, the roars of the monsters, the Goliath’s howls—the noises came at them from every angle.

Hestia squeezed both of her hands around Bell’s limp fingers. A tragic chorus of weapon clashes and courageous battle cries filled the air.

“You can do it; you’re the only one who can! You’re the only one who can save them, Bell…!”

Her beloved family member was badly injured, yet she urged him to battle as her eyes welled up with tears.

Her voice became more and more desperate as she begged to see his ruby-red eyes open once again.

She took in a deep breath and yelled from the bottom of her lungs with all the power she could muster:

“Get up, Bell!!”