Chapter 54: Ten Path Exploration

Shion and the others arrived safely inside the Ten Path Cave, but they had to raise their guard before entering.

“It looks like Ghiad and his party are quite aggressive after all. We don’t even know what kind of traps they have inside. Let’s keep our eyes peeled”

“Those people earlier got beaten in such a bad way…”

‘They’re overdoing it. Those adventurer’s teeth were all torn up. As I thought, I hate Ghiad and his party’

What Shion encountered was a group of about ten adventurers returning to the royal capital from the cave area. Almost without exception, their front teeth were chipped, and in the worst cases, their back teeth were all chattering. They all warned him to be careful of the Great Sword of Annihilation.

Shion and the others proceed through the cave. There were bat corpses scattered about, and when they passed through, they found a pitch-black humanoid demon lying with its body separated from the rest of the body.

‘They’re ghouls. They sometimes turn into humans’

“I’m sure they’re the one who killed it”

“Let’s proceed with caution”

Considering that there might be someone hiding, Shion went deeper while paying attention to his surroundings. When he came out into the open, he checked the signs in front of the ten roads.

[There is a trap that will activate if you don’t go alone. Be careful - Valenciu Adventurer’s Guild]

Even though considering the amount of injured and dead in this cave, Shion tilted his head.

“I wonder when this sign was put up?”

“What’s that?”

“The humidity is much higher in the cave. The wood is too dry for that”

‘That’s strange. So, is it possible they wanted to divide and set us up?’

“Hmm——WATCH OUT!!!!”

Suddenly, Aria shouted. Something was falling from the ceiling of the cave. Both Shion and Haku reacted quickly and escaped from the scene to save themselves.

It fell to the ground with a heavy thud, a stuffed bear with its mouth sewn shut. The size of the bear was about one meter.

This one picks itself up and starts to move slowly.

“It’s not a monster, is it? It was clearly targeting Shion. Here’s payback!”

Aria attacks with ice magic. She manifests ice that resembles a dagger and sends about ten of them flying. All of them hit the stuffed animal and pierced it.

Soon, however, the ice blade melted, and the size of the stuffed animal recognizably increased.

It became twice bigger than before.

“Not working?”

‘…… I remember seeing it a long time ago. I think it was a kind of magic tool --- urghh, I can’t remember what kind ……’

“Try to remember, Haku!”

‘Ah! I remember now… yes, yes, yes, it absorbs magic and grows. When the limit is exceeded, it explodes, but if you leave it alone, it shrinks again and can be reused’

In short, it is a stuffed animal for magic training. As long as the magic is not too powerful, it will not reach the upper limit, so if you leave it alone before it explodes, it will shrink again and can be used at a later date.

“But this one’s moving. Does it have its own will?”

‘Hmmm……… I don’t remember it being able to move. It might be possible to move it with a magic stone or something’

Whatever it was, it seemed to be attacking them if they left it alone. Even now, it was approaching slowly, aiming for Shion. They started attacking based on Haku’s knowledge that it would swell faster if they hit it with the same type of magic. If you’ve got a lot of time, you’ll be able to take a look at the best way to get the most out of your time.

Haku can still use foxfire in his normal state, so he uses it to ignite the stuffed animal first. When he hears the sound of it burning, Shion goes in for extra damage.

As soon as the ground turned red, a pillar of fire erupted, heating even the ceiling. The stuffed animal grows in volume as it goes, and the distance between its head and the ceiling shrinks——— BOOM!!

The firepower seemed to be sufficient, and it exploded as intended.

‘As expected of Shion-san, you have such great firepower! Like Fire Demon!”

“Haku’s foxfire also packs a punch. And, isn’t it Himajin?[1] Hahaha”

“Both of you are amazing! Nice combination! Really!”

Even though there’s a vast difference in abilities, there’s no air of tension between them.

With the obstacles out of the way, they started discussing how to conquer the ten paths. First of all, some of the paths are barely passable for Shion’s height.

“Maybe it’s as big in the back as it is here, but Haku wouldn’t be able to get through”

‘There is also the option of destroying the entire wall, but that would consume a lot of energy’

“There are ten paths. I want to hurry up and capture them, so why don’t the three of us split up?”

“I think that’s a good idea”

It was agreed that the three of them would attack separately, and the one who met the witch would get the breast enlargement medicine.

Since they don’t know where the witch is, they’re discussing which hole they will take. They decided on the first three holes from the left to go in.

“After I cleared the 1st, I’ll go to 4th, and then 7th, and I’ll go to 10th too”

“Then, I will go to 2nd, 5th, 8th, and 10th”

‘I will go to 3rd, 6th, and 9th! I don’t think I can fit the 10th… I’m sorry for being so big’

Both Shion and Aria laughed out loud as Haku spoke in a tone that didn’t sound apologetic at all.

“Then, see you all later”

The cave is full of traps set by witches, so you have to be on your guard, but Shion still believes in Haku and Aria’s power. Reassured, he left the other holes to them and stepped into the depths of the first hole.

A little further on, the voices of his friends reached him from the entrance.

‘After we finish, let’s eat something delicious!!’

“If there’s a love potion, go get it while you’re in there!!”

Shion smiled and raised one hand in response.

[1]Kanji used for Fire Demon /// 火魔人 /// is pronounced similar to /// ひまじん /// which means “Loafer”