Chapter 226: Chapter 226: Scenario Dungeon (2)

H&A had various companion characters, each with their own unique stories.

Although the contents varied, there were three common points.

Recruitment, Growth, Awakening.

These three.

Of course, Helena’s story also had these points.

The recruitment wasn’t much different from now. It was just about hunting cultists or monsters together and getting closer through that.

However, the awakening part had significantly changed from the game.

The reason was obvious. Originally, Helena was supposed to awaken as a saint in her third year at the earliest, but through various means, she became a saint in her first year.

So, the current Helena had awakened but hadn’t gone through proper growth.

This was a good opportunity to set her growth direction. That’s why I told her to try holding the mace.

The growth part of Helena’s story was about unlocking the instincts she had been suppressing and actively participating in battles.

Helena had outstanding talent in divine arts to the extent of being designated as a saint candidate from a young age.

So, naturally, both she and others focused on her as a typical rear-line priest… but her true talent lay in fighting as a frontline paladin.

But I didn’t expect it to be this much.

It had been a week since Helena started learning how to fight from Gilbert.

In just a week, Helena caught up to the level of most paladins with pure combat skills and became somewhat accustomed to using sacred armor.

In just a week.

“Are you taking me to the dungeon now?”

Helena, with her golden eyes sparkling, looked back at me. The sacred armor covering her whole body glittered, looking really cool.

At first, she fought decently, but the moment Helena deployed her sacred armor, her sparring partner was overwhelmed instantly.

Even though he lost, he looked at Helena with admiration and offered a prayer, nodding his head.

“Yes. As promised. We’ve been ready for a while, so as long as you and Gilbert are fine, we can go anytime.”

“Understood! Then I’ll go ask Uncle Gilbert about the schedule right away!”

Helena ran off excitedly like a puppy hearing about a walk.

She might actually wag her tail at this rate… No, she literally had a tail behind her and wagging it.

Lions are part of the cat family. Dogs wag their tails when they’re happy, but when do cats wag theirs…?

“Oh.”

Before a hunt, they wag when they’re excited.

The next morning.

With our group and Gilbert gathered, Iona spoke.

“Everyone, everyone. Did you pack your subspace pouches properly? And did you all go to the restroom?”

“Professor, this isn’t the academy.”

“I know! I just wanted to say it!”

Giggling, Iona gathered her magic. A dark red glow shimmered in the air.

Watching from a distance, Faye waved her hand.

“Don’t get hurt, and come back safely! And bring back something interesting if you find any!”

“There are many rare monsters in this dungeon, so I’ll bring back some byproducts.”

“Rare monsters?! What type? The mutant-heavy subspecies of greenskins? Or the drake species with small populations? Or perhaps… the unique types that are one of a kind?!”

“Maybe I’ll bring back all of them.”

“What? How?”

“Because there are chimeras.”

“…Junior. Could you bring at least one complete corpse without harvesting any byproducts?”

“For regular types, no problem. For special types, we’ll see.”

I shrugged my shoulders, and Faye ran over, grabbed my hand, and started jumping up and down.

“Thank you! I love you, Junior!”

I watched Faye’s alchemy pouch sway and then subtly looked away.

While Faye and I were focusing on what to do after clearing the dungeon, Gilbert and Helena were having a serious conversation about the dungeon itself, with stern expressions on their faces.

“Saintess Helena, the difficulty of any dungeon varies greatly depending on the monsters and their types… Scenario dungeons have always caused many casualties.”

“I understand, Uncle Gilbert. But I have become stronger, and the others are even more remarkable. Don’t worry, we’ll be fine.”

“That’s true. But it’s precisely when you’ve just become strong and start relying on those around you that mistakes happen often. Please, don’t let your guard down.”

Hmm. The atmosphere was quite serious.

I felt a bit embarrassed, considering I had been staring at Faye’s chest just before departure.

Or maybe Faye’s chest was as dangerous as the dungeon?

I quickly brushed off such silly thoughts. The rising magic around us suddenly stabilized, and Iona pointed her finger at us.

“Enough, enough! Faye, step back now that the teleportation preparations are complete! If you don’t, you might lose something.”

“Eek!”

Imagining herself becoming a casualty, Faye jumped back to her spot.

Iona giggled and extended her hand.

“You know it’s dangerous to resist, right? Alright, let’s go. One… two…”

Iona began the countdown. Faye, who had been excited about the chimera talk, stepped back, and Gilbert, who was giving Helena various warnings, also closed his mouth.

“Three!”

As soon as Iona shouted, a dark red magic light bright enough to fill my entire vision shot out. Following that, I felt a slight floating sensation.

When I opened my eyes again, the surroundings had completely changed.

Whoosh.

A dry wind brushed against my cheeks. I could taste the gritty sand in my mouth.

Before we knew it, we were standing in the middle of a desert.

“…Brother Yandel, is this the Sonia Desert?”

“Yes. Didn’t I tell you? It’s not far.”

A small desert area just south of Solaris, where the main church was located.

It was originally a lush green land, but it all burned down due to the breath of a dragon during the War of the Gods.

It hadn’t recovered naturally and had been left as a desert for 300 years.

Considering people were busy fighting or rebuilding, there weren’t many who would plant trees in an empty desert.

Despite the radiant power of the Righteous Radiance not reaching this far, the uselessly bright sun felt scorching.

As I shaded my eyes with my hand and looked around, Iris tugged at my sleeve and asked.

“Master, Master. No matter how much I look around, I see nothing.”

“Don’t worry. We came to the right place.”

I was comparing the background from the game to the actual landscape we saw earlier.

Thanks to that, I roughly figured out our location.

“Do you see that rock over there that looks like a turtle’s head?”

“Turtle’s head? Eek?!”

I quickly covered Iris’s mouth before she could mutter something and continued.

“If we dig in the sand near the mouth part of that rock, we should find it.”

“Is the dungeon underground? You knew about it?”

Elisha, who took Iris from me, patted her small back and tilted her head.

“Well… it was visible before. You know, the sand dunes in the desert move in the direction the wind blows.”

“Ah, I see. It used to be visible but got covered by the sand dunes.”

Elisha nodded as if she understood.

She probably thought there was prior information, but the environment changed.

Actually, it was the opposite.

A dungeon that had never been exposed would be revealed two years later as the sand dunes shift.

If the dungeon on the way to the main quest was an early-stage dungeon, this one was meant to be visited after Helena awakened as a saint in the mid-to-late stages.

Not only was it only visible at this time, but there were also reasons in terms of difficulty and content.

Now that we knew the location, we just needed to dig. Fortunately, we had many magicians, so it wasn’t too difficult.

“Eei!”

With Iris’s magic, the sand flew away, revealing a small cave inside.

The inside was brighter than expected. The cave was small, and there was a light source, the dungeon gate, inside.

Standing in front of the shimmering blue space, I turned to the group.

“Before we enter, let’s go over this quickly. The monsters inside are a chimera army created by alchemists who worship the Evil Gods. The goal is to exterminate these chimeras, right?”

“Yes. They have strong regenerative powers, so if you can’t kill them in one strike, crush the wounded areas or use poison or fire to slow their regeneration.”

“Correct. Fortunately, since they were created using the power of the Evil Gods, divine power will act like poison to them. You remembered well.”

I gently stroked Helena’s head as she smiled softly and nodded.

“Now, the most important thing in a scenario dungeon is whose will created the situation, and…”

“You said you only found a chimera army filling the valley from afar, right?”

“I know. But I couldn’t reveal it in the current situation.”

Yes. If I had, the Pope who sent the paladins would have caused a fuss, insisting on bringing them all here.

Understandably.

“The owner of this dungeon is Saint Clara from 300 years ago. And the scenario is… the salvation of a saint who met a lonely death.”

It was one of the painful histories of the Church of Righteous Radiance.