Chapter 210 - Reward for Clearing the Dungeon

Merdie defeated all the 5 knights.

She also received a lot of damage, but Seira would heal all her wounds right away. Thanks to her, Merdie wasn’t cowered by the knights and continued defeating each of them.

Sally and Lilia didn’t manage to attack the knights directly, but they acted as Merdie’s support by covering her blind spots and deflecting the knights' assaults.

Thanks to the trio backing her, Merdie managed to annihilate each of the knights possessing fire, water, wind, earth and lightning attributes respectively by herself.

Merdie had collapsed to the floor and was staring at the ceiling.

Seira recovered Merdie’s stamina, but she was thoroughly exhausted mentally because she had been pushing her concentration to the limit while fighting off Halt’s knights.

Nevertheless —

“I did it meow….I..I defeated those Bakemono with five attributes… meow…”

Merdie raised her right hand in the air and balled it into a fist. She was brimming with happiness.

She could feel her own progress.

“Thanks for the hard work, Merdie. Well done.”

“Halt. I’m super tired, meow.”

Halt’s voice resounded from the bracelet on Merdie’s right arm.

His training method might be harsh, but he would generously reward his comrades when they accomplished his drills.

Merdie was looking forward to that reward.

Halt met Merdie’s expectations.

“What do you want for a reward? Do you want another massage?”

“Meow?!”

By massage, Halt referred to his hand massage.

When he first did it, it was because he wanted to enjoy the sensation of Merdie’s paw pads. She really enjoyed the feeling on her palm, apparently.

She couldn’t forget the massage that Halt gave to her, so she tried doing it to herself, but she didn’t achieve the same comfortable feeling that he gave her.

There was also a time when she requested Luna to massage her. It was better than when she did it herself.

However, compared to Halt, it was far from enough.

I want Halt to massage me again.

That thought had been constantly on her mind since then.

However, for a beastkin woman, the act of offering her palm to the opposite sex clearly meant one thing — submission.

It was not something commonly done, even among spouses.

Merdie acknowledged that Halt was a powerful person, so if he required her to give him her hand, she would do so without any hesitation.

However, to do so by her own volition was something that went against the instinct of the beastkin, so she couldn’t do it no matter what.

“It’s okay even if it’s not a massage.”

“I want that hand massage, meow!”

Merdie’s desire to become more comfortable surpassed her instinct as a beastkin.

“Okay~! Let’s have your reward after we’re back at the mansion, alright. By the way, do you want to challenge the 12th floor?”

“N-no. Let’s call it quits for today, meow.”

“Yes, I’m actually afraid of moving on beyond here.”

“I also give up, meow.”

“Indeed.”

Seira, Sally, Lilia didn’t seem interested in moving forward, either.

“Got it. Great job, guys. Alright, I’ll teleport you guys back here.”

Halt said then he teleported the four of them back to the Master Room.

— * * * —

“Alright, I want you to challenge two more sets in the dungeon, but...is there anyone else who wants to go?”

He symphtatized a bit with Merdie’s group, so Halt decided to gather the next batch of challengers.

However, not a single person raised her hand.

That’s only natural.

Everyone had witnessed how the monsters surrounded, chased and cornered Merdie through the monitor.

Halt already expected this to happen.

“No challengers? If you clear a floor, I’ll give you a reward, you know?”

Halt tried to tempt his wives.

And that offer was very tempting for them, indeed.

If they didn’t see Merdie’s hardships during the battle then there was probably someone who would raise her hand in a heartbeat.

However, the cons were too heavy.

Nobody was about to raise their hand —

“A-ahm....I want to try it.”

“Eh!?”

Luna surprisingly raised her hand.

Even Halt, the person who made the proposal, was taken aback.

“I’ll get a reward if I clear a floor, right?”

“Y-yup, that’s right. But…Luna, are you sure about this?”

“Yes, I have a secret plan.”

She then beckoned to Halt and whispered in his ear when he came closer.

“Whoa, I get it now! Yeah, that fighting style is so like you, Luna. Seems like a good plan. It’s okay, you can try it.”

“Thank you. If ever the situation becomes dangerous…”

“Yup. I’ll definitely save you.”

“Luna, this dungeon is really the worst. Better reconsider it, meow.”

Merdie was slouching on a chair. She warned Luna.

However, Luna’s resolve remained unshaken.

“L-Luna, are you serious? If you’re really going to challenge it, then I’m going to help you.”

Youko offered to go with Luna to the dungeon, but Halt didn’t approve.

“Luna will challenge the 16th floor on her own.”

“Halt-sama, that’s too dangerous!!”

“R-right! Merdie already had a super hard time dealing with the 11th dungeon. Sorry to be blunt, but Luna can’t handle it.”

“Professor Tina, Youko, I’ll be fine.”

Luna’s face was brimming with self-confidence.

“I already heard about Luna’s plan. I also think it might work if she did that. Anyway, let’s have you do that. Luna, good luck.”

“Yes, I’ll do my best!”

Halt teleported Luna after hearing her words.

“S-she’s really on her own….”

Tina looked anxious as she stared at Luna’s figure in the monitor.

Luna was sent off to the 16th floor.

And the monster there was —

“O-Oy!! Aren’t those inferno wolves!?”

Elmia noticed the true nature of the monsters gathered around Luna as she stood alone on the floor.

“A-aren’t they the strongest among the wolf-type monsters? They’re S-ranked!!” (Leaffa)

“This is bad. Luna, hurry up and run!!” (Youko)

“L-Luna, run!!” (Mai and Mei)

Everyone was worried about Luna.

Luna’s voice echoed through the master room from her bracelet.

“Halt, please help me!”

“— Eh!?”

“W-what!?”

Hakua and Leaffa were perplexed because Luna had went out brimming with self-confidence, and yet she immediately asked to be rescued.

“I-I told you, she can’t handle it!! Master, hurry up and go to Luna!!”

Youko urged Halt to go to Luna’s rescue, but —

Halt didn’t move an inch.

That’s only natural.

He already knew that the Halt Luna was calling for wasn’t the person inside this room.

Something jumped out of Luna’s bracelet.

And that was Halt.

Five Halts surrounded Luna as if to protect her.

Luna then casted her magic on them.

“Max Power! Max Magic! Max Concentrate! Max Speed! Ultimate Guard!”

Different types of auxiliary magic flowed towards the five Halts.

Halt’s status was frozen because of the Evil God’s curse, so all those support magic won’t have any effect on him.

— The true Halt, that is.

The five Halts were all made out of Bunshin Magic.

It was a spell that fashioned the non-attribute knights into Halt’s figure.

And because Luna had leveled up, she could now cast auxiliary magic towards the magical spells created by other people.

Halt’s clones didn’t have the infinite magic possessed by the original body, but they could still wear magic suits when going to battles, so their fighting power wasn’t inferior to the original.

The attack power and speed as well as defense power of the clones of the strongest sage had been further elevated thanks to Luna.

The five Bakemono who already surpassed Halt when it came to fights that were mainly about physical strength were now protecting Luna.

“Can one of you protect me? The rest of the Halts, please annihilate all the monsters of this entire floor.”

“Okay! I’ll protect Luna.”

“Gotcha. I’ll hunt the monsters.

“Same here.”

“I’ll go to the left side.”

“Alright, then —”

“Let’s go for the kill!!” (All 5)

The four Bakemono were released into the 16th layer of the Dungeon Ruins.