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Volume 1 Chapter 18-2: Variant

「hii…g-go away! S-stop following me please….」

I finally managed to corner her. However, what was strange was that despite not having a path to the left or right, she still had an open passageway behind her. If she tried to run, then she would still be able to stay away a little longer, but she acted as if there was an invisible wall down that path and would not proceed.

Either way it didn’t matter to me. I slowly drew my sword from its sheath.

「S…stop. Please stop…if you get any closer then…」

She looked at the items in her shaking hands and compared before slowly lifting the pouch in her right.

「I-I’ll throw this behind me.」

….What? If she threw it behind then I just had to cut her down, take Sakura-chan back, and easily pick it up.

I simply stepped forward again.

「St-! W-why why is it like…If I…if I only!…Just this much! I’ll be freed! Then I wouldn’t have to….」

….so she had special circumstances? I heard her desperate almost insane murmurs and could clearly see that she was in a bad situation.

Certainly I had thought it was strange. The person she was guarding and her high skill level didn’t add up. Of course I was sure that there were people who would partner up with someone they didn’t like for money.

However…looking at it from a higher vantage point I didn’t get that feeling. It wasn’t 『It can’t be helped, I’ll follow his orders』 it was more like 『I cannot disobey so I must follow orders』.

That was the mood and feeling I got.

…I guess I’ll try. First I’ll have her return Sakura and my pouch, then I can at least try and listen.

My standards for a villain was not simply doing a bad thing once.

There are people who do everything they can to live, save, and protect what they must…but at the very end they are forced to choose a villainous path.

It was not my intention to group those people in with the truly villainous. Of course even if I say that, it’s a impossible to speak to each of them one by one.

In the end it is all up to my personal judgment from what I have seen of them. That was the only unifying standard. I am prepared to take responsibility for my own decisions.

First was to negotiate for Sakura. I took one step forward to speak up and tell her but…

「HiIIIIiiiI! NO NO NoOOOOOO!」

before I could say anything Frey screamed in a strange voice.

Damn! I should’ve called out and told her I wouldn’t kill her before stepping forward. I’d broken through her control over her fear with that last step.

「Wait!」

My shout was useless since Frey threw Sakura behind her and fled into the corridor she had been refusing to run through.

I smacked my lips in irritation while picking up Sakura and felt the joys of reunion, but I had to chase after….hm? Do I actually have to chase her anymore?

It may have been in confusion, but she had left Sakura behind so I didn’t actually need to chase her anymore. Losing those magic stones was a bit hurtful, but with my team we should be able to earn that amount again. I was still curious about why Frey was forced to do such a thing, but I didn’t feel the need to chase after her and force her to tell me.

As I started to feel like it’d be fine to just watch Frey run away…something emerged.

So that…was why Frey refused to enter so adamantly.

I could see ahead of her the stairs to the 2nd floor…and in front of it a large body.

「Floor Boss….」

『Draco Mantis (?? Floor) Rank: Floor Boss』

Why? Why is the floor unknown? Why does it have the rank ‘Floor Boss’? This thing…could it be a Variant? A Floor Boss Variant!!??

Plus according to the explorers who came here before this boss was around the strength of one from the 10th floor. Then to have it be a variant as well…crap…I can’t see any vision of victory.

Frey was…there! She was running ragged towards the closest passageway that led away from the boss.

If she’s fast enough maybe she can make it there? We hadn’t defeated the higher level monsters down that path so I was certain it wouldn’t be safe, but at least it would be safer than fighting the boss.

As I thought that, the Floor Boss seemed to react to the intruder and began moving.

「……huge」

The Floor Boss was so large that every movement it made seemed bizarrely slow. At the very least I’d never seen a creature this large outside of books or manga.

Its body was covered in emerald scales and I could see that it was over 4 meters tall. Looking at its two thick back legs and hindquarters it seemed like a dinosaur, but what set it apart was the front legs.

The two front legs were very similar to that of a mantis. It had two scythe-like arms that were half as long as its body. Those scythes were covered in green scales as well, the interior of the arms and backs were covered in sharp spikes and the elbows had stake-like spines poking out of them.

The face was almost entirely that of a dragon with jaws filled to the brim with sharp fangs that looked dangerous.

It was when the Floor Boss appeared to give up pursuit of Frey who was moving with amazing speed due to her fear…

It seemed that she had noticed the irregularities with the Floor Boss…and now Frey Howe…had collapsed to the floor.

「Stupid! Don’t stop! Move! Run!」

I screamed, but she seemed to have completely broken down in terror as she cried and wailed like a child. Certainly when you looked at this creature you could understand why Tor and his group gave up immediately upon seeing it and escaped. Frey was surely in the same condition.

The Floor Boss’s head slowly turned to look at Frey.

「HIIIII!」

Frey let out a short screech, but still couldn’t rise to her feet. She probably wouldn’t be able to move unless someone hit her like Bakuu had done.

What! What! What should I do?

That thought echoed through my brain. Go save her? Stupid! That was as good as suicide. Even if Hotaru-san and Sistina were here we might not win…but this wasn’t an opponent I could even slow down.

Compared to its giant body, the Floor Boss moved smoothly and silently towards Frey. It wasn’t even 10 meters away. If I just kept watching then she would definitely die.

「AAHHHH! F***!!!」

I imagined the scene of Frey’s head flying off her shoulders and roared as I charged into the Floor Boss’s domain.