3 bar menu

The Sun Maiden Can Fall in Love Too – Part 02

“Mana Detection, max!”

Hikaru’s Mana Detection skill allowed him to see the intricate flows of magical energy, but it also put a heavy strain on his brain due to the sheer volume of information. He felt a sharp headache but endured it, examining the mana on the wall. By tracing the flow, he could understand the magic behind it, essentially reverse-engineering how Soaarunay sent her messages.

It was like tracing a phone call back to its source. He had never done this before because it was exhausting.

“Hah, haha…”

Sweat beaded on his forehead, and blood trickled from his nose.

“Hahaha! I get it now. I found you, Soaarunay!”

He pulled out a dagger he had acquired in the labyrinth, one that could cut through anything, and pressed the tip against the wall. The dagger precisely severed the magic circuit, created a new one, and reversed the direction of the message.

“Haaaaahhh!”

Hikaru wrote furiously, channeling all his frustration into the message for Soaarunay.

“You’re such a persistent schizo! I don’t care a bit about the Saak family, and I don’t think they’re impressive at all. If you’re so mad, come here yourself. You can’t, can you? That’s why all you can do is send these petty messages. Your technology is so far behind! This 7th floor is a disaster. The floor of the 6th floor has a hole, rubble is falling through the ceiling, and the wall is broken. If you can fix it, go ahead. This place can’t even auto-repair itself, can it? Will you crawl all the way here with your skinny insect legs to fix the wall? How many years will that take? Will you finish before you become an old hag? The Saak family’s technology is so pathetic. Get off your high horse, and admit it. You can’t even fix this labyrinth.”

Hikaru was breathing heavily. Soaarunay must be confused now. What was meant to be a one-way message system had been hacked, flipping the script.

“Now what?”

What to do? Even with Soaarunay served her own dish, the problem remained unchanged. The path to the 6th floor was blocked, and the stairs might be out of commission.

“If only I could fly… but that’s wishful thinking.”

Just then, the number “7” etched on the wall suddenly glowed brighter.

“Hmm? What’s that?”

Next came an ominous rumble.

“Let me go! Selyse fell! We have to help her!”

“W-Wait, Serika! What’s jumping down from here gonna accomplish?!”

“She fell because of my magic!”

After the chimera crystal exploded on the 6th floor, Serika spotted Selyse falling amidst a shower of rubble.

The floor collapsed over a wide area. Sara darted over. She had seen Selyse’s plunge and rushed to ensure Serika’s safety. Only a narrow strip of floor remained from the passage that led from the large cavern to the 5th floor, just wide enough for one person.

Leaning over the edge of the broken floor, Serika was taken aback by the intense brightness, as if she were gazing up at the sky. A gust of wind blowing out from the hole tousled her hair. Before processing the strange phenomenon, she searched for Selyse. Her friend was shrinking rapidly. Then, she was enveloped in a blue glow, falling straight into a cliff.

Under normal circumstances, it would’ve been a fatal drop. But Serika was certain Selyse was still alive. She just knew it. She believed it. She attempted to leap down herself, only to be restrained by Sara.

“I’ll use wind magic! I’m the only one who can do this!”

“Have you ever tried jumping from this height?! You can’t be sure you’ll be fine! Plus, you’re out of mana.”

“Ugh…”

Sara was right. It was madness to consider jumping from here.

“Then, what do we do?!”

“We’ll look for a path to the 7th floor. If there’s space beneath us, it’s gotta be the 7th floor.”

“Ah.”

Of course, that made sense. Serika realized she’d been in such a panic she hadn’t even considered it.

By then, the Beastmen and adventurers scattered around the cavern had gathered near the cracked floor.

“Careful!” Serika warned. “It might collapse some more.”

Suddenly, the ground started to give way with another rumble. A Beastman soldier was standing atop it. He leaped in panic, and his comrades grabbed him and pulled him to safety.

“So, there’s a 7th floor below us.”

While Serika and Sara went around the hole, Marius, leaning on Liza’s shoulder, approached from the other side.

“But you took down the chimera, right?” Gerhardt chimed in.

“We don’t have time for explanations!” Serika said. “Selyse fell down there, so we’re searching for her! You guys should head back up!”

“I don’t sense any malicious energy below.” Sophie joined Serika and Sara. “It’s unlikely more demon-type monsters will appear for now.”

“Liza, is that true?” Marius asked.

“Yes. The malevolent energy is nearly gone.”

“So, Selyse killed the chimera.”

Marius had pieced together that Selyse plummeted to the 7th floor alongside the Blue Flash.

Members of Azure Blade Nebula arrived, demanding to know what had happened to the magic sword and insisting it be returned immediately.

Marius stepped in to stop them. “We need to hold a service for our fallen comrade. If we leave her here, she might turn into an Undead. She was a cleric, and we don’t want her turning evil.”

It was said that clergy that become monsters were far more vicious than typical monsters.

“What I’m saying is: we can’t help you search the 7th floor.”

“No problem! We’ll return the magic sword once we find it! Sophie, Sara, let’s go!”

“Okay.”

“Let’s move.”

As the three remaining members of the Four Eastern Stars were about to head out, Gerhardt stopped them. “Wait. Take some Beastmen with you. Their sense of smell is unmatched, perfect for finding people.”

“That would be great!”

“Hold it right there! I’m coming with you.” Kinga appeared. “That monster was my prey, and you killed it without me!”

“Haha. You talk big, but you panicked the most when the passage got blocked by that girl’s magic.”

“What?! You think you’re hot shit just ‘cause you’re the leader of a nation?!”

“We’re in a hurry! If you want to come, then come!”

“Hey, wait!”

In addition to the Beastmen, a few members of Kinga Wolf decided to join them, though only about five. The exhausted mages were left behind. The men who had abandoned the mages were nowhere to be seen, but Serika didn’t have time to worry about them.

The group cut straight through the large cavern from the collapse site.

“That’s the passage to the 7th floor!”

Soon, they found a descending staircase below a wall marked with the number 6, leading to the 7th floor.

“Fuck. The 7th floor? Are there even worse monsters than that thing?”

Kinga was grumbling, but followed anyway. Reluctantly. The women in his group looked unhappy.

Serika led the group of more than ten people down the long, winding staircase. Then, they heard another rumble and the sound of something collapsing.

“It’s just up ahead!” Serika bolted. “No way!”

At the end of the winding staircase was a destroyed wall and a collapsed section of the stairs.

The collapse was more extensive than they had thought, affecting the area on the opposite side of the large cavern, directly below where Serika had used her magic.

Light from the 7th floor shone through a breach in the wall, but the stairs beyond were buried under rubble and debris. And that wasn’t the only problem.

“Wh-What’s going on?!”

A larger tremor shook the ground.

“Whoa! This is bad!”

“Help!”

The Beastmen started to panic, but Serika, calmly crouching down, saw it.

“What… What is that?!

She witnessed the cause of the tremor emerge.

A powerful quake dislodged more rubble from the collapsed wall, which fell near Selyse.

“Ugh…”

Selyse woke up, momentarily disoriented. An unfamiliar backpack was next to her, and the area around her was dim. She remembered falling and running into a dragon.

“Silver Face… Hikaru?!”

It was undoubtedly Silver Face who killed it. She had lost consciousness soon after, but he was definitely there.

But there was no time to recall the details. The ground shook violently. Rubble fell from the cliff, and dust rose in the air. She coughed.

“Wh-What is happening?”

Selyse looked up and saw a huge number “7” glowing on the wall. Below it, in large letters, it said: I will kill you.

The tremors intensified, but Selyse couldn’t look away from the wall. It cracked, and something started to emerge from it. It took a step forward, brushing away the debris.

“A Golem?! I’ve never seen one this huge!”

The Golem was so massive it made the chimera and dragon seem insignificant in comparison. A giant made of earth.

“Look who’s mad. That woman’s got a nasty personality, all right.”

“H-Hikaru?!”

Hikaru suddenly appeared next to her, as if he had materialized from thin air.

“Can you walk?” Hikaru asked.

“Y-Yeah.”

“Can you carry my stuff? If you can, great. If not, just leave it and run.”

“I can manage this much. What are you going to do?”

“Hmm?”

In front of them was the massive Golem, its face marked with the number “7” and the words “I will kill you.”

Even without fully understanding the situation, Selyse guessed who the “you” referred to—likely Silver Face.

Hikaru, however, seemed unconcerned. “What else am I going to do? I’m gonna destroy that Golem.”

He spoke casually, as if answering a question about the weather. His aura was completely different from his adventurer persona. There was no sense of enthusiasm, overconfidence, or arrogance, just a clear understanding that this was the natural course of action.

At that moment, Selyse felt her heart skip a beat.

She knew that Silver Face was actually the adventurer Hikaru, but she couldn’t reconcile the two images in her mind. Yet, she couldn’t deny it. Fuzzy as her memory was, he was the one who had killed the dragon.

And now, he claimed he would destroy a Golem that looked like it could’ve crushed the dragon between its fingers.

“Selyse, step back. If the cliff collapses, it’ll be dangerous over a wide area. I can’t protect you and fight at the same time.”

“O-Okay. G-Got it.”

Her heart pounded loudly in her chest. She found herself thinking that Hikaru—no, Silver Face—was the embodiment of strength. Facing a giant Golem alone was insane and reckless, but she didn’t stop him. She believed he could defeat it.

Hikaru extended his index finger toward empty air, making counting or pointing gestures. Selyse didn’t understand its significance.

Can he really… actually take down that Golem?

With a mix of doubt, anticipation, worry, and curiosity, her heart pounded even louder, raising her body temperature.