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30. Wolf’s Hidden Village (3)

There is no absolute justice in war. It is a struggle for survival, and it is providence that the strong win and the weak are robbed.

「Doesn’t culture and civilization exist to change that?」

I couldn’t get that question out of my head.

The human species is unique and special. They are creatures that have built a “civilization” that clearly sets them apart from other beasts. Living in defiance of nature itself is what makes humans human.

And yet, the weak are about to be swallowed up by nature after having everything taken away from them. In this case, I don’t know what society, country, or king is for.

「Master, that thing at the front…」

「Yeah, let’s stop for now.」

With such thoughts in mind, I continuously moved forward with my invisible arms clearing the way ahead. We stopped for the first time on the fourth floor. There was sand under my feet, and beyond that was a blue water surface with waves. And beyond that was–

「The horizon, huh… As usual, anything is possible in an S-class dungeon…」

The entire floor was covered in water. The ceiling was high, the walls were far away, and the water overlapped with the ceiling in the far distance. Koe-san got down from my arm without saying anything, collected water with her palms and took a sip.

「It seems to be non-toxic fresh water. I think the quality of the water is the same as spring water aboveground.」

「I see. I thought my heart was going to stop.」

「What?」

I immediately activated [Seraph’s Grace] to negate any poison or curse. Koe-san’s survival instincts are somewhat weak, and she’s willing to drink poison if she knows it can be cured, so her actions sometimes surprises me.

Even though we don’t know what’s mixed with the water in the dungeon or what’s living in there.

「A lake as vast as the ocean, huh… “The Abyss Where Evil Comes From” was a very poisonous area. It seems to be as unpredictable as ever.」

Dungeons are sometimes described as “underground labyrinths”.

The rank starts from D class immediately after the occurrence, and is divided into C, B, A, and S class. Especially from A class onwards, sceneries begin to appear, and in the S class, the highest class, it is so diverse and insane that there are reports of people seeing the sky inside.

“The Farthest Ends of Blue”’ is probably a dungeon on the horizon. I don’t know who named it, but it’s an accurate name.

「Should we jump over with [Space Jump]?」

「Looks like that’s not going to happen.」

The water surface shook.

The once calm blue surface of the lake swelled, and monsters resembling sea snakes, the Sea Serpent, appeared one after another. And there were countless swarms of bees in the sky. They filled almost up to the ceiling. It would not be very efficient to find a gap in the space and jump.

As expected, if you want to cross a vast body of water–

「You go by “ship”.」

I fired Cocytus towards the water at my feet. The frozen water took the form of a small boat, and on top of it, a seat and reins were formed so that it could be straddled like a horse. The front was covered with a sharpened windbreak to protect against threats from the front.

「Watch your step.」

I led Koe-san by the hand and straddled the “ship” floating on the shore of the waves. The enemy was already in front of us, but I didn’t care about them.

「[Song of the Age of Gods], activate. Search for past magic.」

I chose the one I need from the many magics created throughout history.

「Storm Wind Magic, Aeolus.」

I clad the ship with [Vajra Barrier], and charged mana. The wind swirled behind the “ship”.

「–Go.」

The ship was shot in a straight line.

The ice arrow-like ship pierced straight through the enemy groups. Using wind magic as the driving force, it cut through the sea serpents and bees while splitting the surface of the water in two. The “ship” crossed the horizon in one breath at a speed that could only be generated from being on buoyant water.

「On a land floor, we’ll use [Great Ram], and if we’re on a water floor, we’ll use this [Argo] to penetrate without fighting. We’ll head to the depths in the quickest and shortest way.」

「Yes, master.」

13 minutes have passed since we entered the dungeon.

Current location, fourth floor.