Chapter 4-21 : Salamander’s Cave Ⅲ (part 2)

 

ーGata gata, goto goto, gata gata, goto goto!!

The black box was shaking more and more violently as the bad feelings in Iris and Kate’s hearts that got stronger.

They took one step, two steps, three steps back, trying to get away from the black box, but Nord was still looking at the box with an excited expression.

After a few moments, the top side of the box popped off and fell to the ground. Right after, the box stopped shaking, but red-glowing smoke came out of it.

Seeing that, Nord tilted his head.

「…Eh?」(Nord)

「Nord-san, are you sure everything is fine…?」(Iris)

Iris felt a bit relieved that the box didn’t explode as she expected, but the condition of the box clearly didn’t seem normal. They couldn’t feel safe yet.

「Hmm, I think it’s fine. Look. The amount of magical power is increasing as I expectedー no, it’s more than I expected, actually.」(Nord)

Nord showed the measuring artifact to Iris as he replied, but that wasn’t what Iris was concerned about.

「Not that! I mean that weird box is clearly broken! Red smoke is coming out of it!」(Iris)

「Ah, don’t worry. It won’t affect the human body… I think.」(Nord)

「”You think”…?」(Iris)

Iris and Kate looked at each other. They looked even more worried.

Seeing their worried faces, Nord immediately waved his hand and tried to correct his words.

「No, no. I mean… That smoke is just dense fire-attributed magical power. So dense that it becomes visible. People with very low resistance to magic may feel sick, but it has no effect on people like us.」(Nord)

People who have little magical power and never use magic will get dizzy and nauseous when they are suddenly exposed to air with a large amount of magical power. They may lose consciousness if they stay in a place with dense magical power for a long time.

However, it’s just temporary. It won’t leave any permanent bad effects on your body. Still, it would be very bad if you lost consciousness in a dangerous place.

「I see…」(Iris)

「If that’s the case, I think we’ll be fine.」(Kate)

「Yeah.」(Iris)

Knowing that they wouldn’t be affected by the smoke, Iris and Kate let out a sigh of relief.

Both of them had a fair amount of magical power and were used to being exposed to magical power since they lived with Sarasa.

「So… That box seems to be broken, but… Is everything gonna be alright?」(Iris)

「Well, it’s too bad that it’s broken but it did its job well until the end, so there’s no problem with this experiment.」(Nord)

「I’m not asking about the experiment though… Oh, well… So, can you tell us already what are you trying to do exactly?」(Iris)

After Iris asked that, Nord smirked and started explaining.

「Like I said earlier, I’m guessing that a high amount of magical power can trigger monsters to spawn. According to my previous experiments, my guess is most likely right, so I want to try to prove it.」(Nord)

After listening to Nord’s explanation, Iris and Kate looked at each other.

「I knew it… He’s trying to…」(Kate)

「Let’s hope it won’t happen…」(Iris)

While Iris and Kate were looking at each other’s worried faces, the river of lava began to shake, and then bubbles started coming out of it while making a “boko boko” noise.

「Oh? The density of the magical power in this area is suddenly dropping rapidly! There’s finally a reaction!」(Nord)

Nord made a big smile when he saw the number on the measuring artifact start to drop.

He looked so happy, but his happy face made Iris and Kate feel even more uneasy.

「Nord-san, I don’t know why you’re so happy but the situation doesn’t look very good!」(Iris)

Iris warned him, but he ignored her and kept staring at the river of lava.

A few seconds laterー

ーBwussshhh!!!

Something big came out of the river of lava.

Iris and Kate trembled the moment they saw it because it was very similar to the giant red-scaled lizard that they fought a while ago.

「Wooohoo! It’s a Salamander! I did it! My guess is right after all!!!」(Nord)

「Eehh!!?」(Iris)

「I knew it! Let’s get the hell out of here!」(Kate)

Iris and Kate quickly grabbed their bags and turned around.

「Nord-san!!」(Iris)

「Hurry up!」(Kate)

They were ready to escape but Nord was different.

Instead of grabbing his bag and running away, he dashed toward the lizard and landed a heavy uppercut on its jaw.

「Haa!!」(Nord)

「Are you kidding me!?」(Iris)

「He’s freaking crazy!!」(Kate)

His punch didn’t hurt the Salamander at all, but it made the lizard lose its balance.

「As I thought. A normal physical attack doesn’t work. Kaahh! It’s hot like hell!」(Nord)

Right after doing that crazy thing, Nord quickly turned around, grabbed his bag, and ran away while swaying his red hand, leaving Iris and Kate who were taken aback behind.

「Eh? Aa! Iris, let’s go!!」(Kate)

「Y, Yeah!」(Iris)

Kate, who immediately came to her senses, tapped Iris’ shoulder, and then the two started running after Nord.

They were Nord’s escort, so it was actually good that Nord was running in front of them so that they could protect him, but the enemy was one of the most dangerous monsters in the world.

Kate, who was running in front of Iris, turned her face around. She saw the Salamander, who had recovered from Nord’s attack, take a deep breath.

That action reminded her of the Salamander’s most powerful attack.

「We need to run faster! The flame breath is coming!」(Kate)

「Hiiiiiyyyyーー!」(Iris)

Knowing that the lizard was going to attack them with the breath attack, Iris ran faster. So fast that she was able to catch up with Nord.

「Kuuh!! Looks like I have to use it! Our debt will increase but we don’t have a choice!」(Kate)

Saying that, Kate took out a stone-like thing from her pocket and threw it to the ground.

It was an artifact that Sarasa lent them. An expensive one, actually. They didn’t have to pay for it if they didn’t use it, but thinking that they would be caught up in the Salamander’s Breath, Kate decided to use it.

ーKiiiiiiiiiiinn!!!

As the stone-like artifact hit the ground, thick translucent ice appeared along with a loud noise and blocked the passage.

Right after, the Salamander’s Breath came, but the ice blocked it.

The ice wall was dyed red as it blocked the fire but it completely prevented the heat from coming to Kate’s side.

However, Kate knew how powerful the Salamander’s Breath was.

No matter how thick the ice wall was, it couldn’t block Salamander’s most powerful attack for a long time.

There was no time to waste.

Kate turned her face forward and ran faster, trying to catch up with Iris and Nord.

 

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