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Chapter 210: Back to the Catacombs (6)

Steadily making their way through the quiet catacombs, Shinto and the rest of the group were now headed for the Slera's den without any more delay.

"...phew. Thank god Renryth and Madam Ru came to us in the nick of time..." Raina sighed with a breath of relief. "If it wearn't for them coming... We might as well have just given up going back."

"...yeah," Shinto sighed. "We completely rerouted our paths since we were heading deeper into the unexplored areas... Which may have explained the growingly powerful enemies."

"Bah... We wouldn't have gone deeper if it wearn't for the argument between Rustly and Reru," Ethaniel scoffed. "I mean, all we needed to do was take a simple right at the first intersection and"

As Ethaniel was about to continue his sentence, his mouth quickly shut closed. "...oh? All we needed to do was take a simple 'right'? Jee. I wonder. Who. Suggested. THAT?" In the next moment, he began feeling a murderous aura from behind him.

"...u-uh," Ethaniel gulped slightly. "Well..."

"...good luck getting out of this one," Rustly uttered out as he leapt ahead of the group, quickly heading towards Madam Ru and Renryth who were upfront.

"H-Hey...! This is your fault too" Ethaniel's eyes shook as he then felt a pat on his back.

"Sorry, Ethan... But," Raina awkwardly laughed. "...maybe let's not challenge the guides ever again if we have no better idea?"

"Y-Yeah! Let's not do that again?" Kon whimpered.

"Raina... Kon..." Ethaniel muttered out as he noted that a sword was pointed at his back.

"Die," Reru stated without sympathy.

"Hey! Wait! Wait!" Ethaniel stumbled back in a dumbfounded manner. "Listen...! "

"DIE!" Reru shouted out in anger as he swung his sword at Ethaniel.

"How long till we get there?" Frey questioned in a tired tone whilst ignoring the ongoing struggle between Reru and Ethaniel from behind her. "Just thinking about all the leisure food I get to eat when I get back to town... Mmm! I want to head to Greld's straightaway! We can do that, right? After all... We're released from that instance dungeon message thingy or something."

"Well, yes... We can do that," Shinto nodded his head. "But... You know, we haven't gotten our rewards?"

"Huh? Rewards?" Frey blankly stared at Shinto for a few seconds as a realization came upon her. "Ah...! The rewards for clearing this dungeon?!"

"Yeah," Shinto nodded his head. He recalled that there was a message among the spam of divinity notifications that he had gotten previously. That specific message was related to that of 'reward for the dungeon clearance', much as most other dungeons.

"Oh right... There was something like that, huh?" Raina thought to herself. "I wonder what the rewards would be?" With the snowball of a situation they had experienced before, rewards were the least of the concerns. For one, they had already been given certain items when they fought against Sanke.

"...no idea," Shinto shrugged. "If anything... I just want a break from battle." Though what he had experienced for the past few days wasn't as bad as his solo days against certain dungeons or bosses, he still wanted to take things easy to prevent burnout again.

"A break, yeah!" Ethaniel shouted out from behind them. "Do you mind helping!? I'm at my limit and this guy really wants to kill me! Ack... Hey! Aren't you tired too?!"

"I wouldn't be this tired if it wasn't because of you!" Reru roared as his sword continued to manoeuvre around.

"..." Shinto turned back to watch the scene, seeing that Reru was one-sidedly backing Ethaniel to a corner, though somehow managing to also keep up with the pace of the group. "Nah, you can handle it just fine," after a long deep thought, Shinto averted his attention away from the sight.

"Hey! HEY!" Ethaniel cried out. "Don't- Ack!"

"You have time to avert your attention elsewhere, so I guess I'll pick up the slack," Reru stated as his movements became faster. "I won't stop until we reach the catacombs. I'll make you suffer!"

"Reru! The hell!" Ethaniel tirelessly fended off against the attacks with his sword. Though with every new strike he defended against, his movements became dull. "Give me a break will you?!"

"..." The entire group kept quiet throughout the journey.

"Ahem..." With a sigh, Shinto hurriedly walked up towards Madam Ru and Renryth. "It's been a few days since the entire incident happened... But, is there a rundown on the situation back at the den?"

"Ah... What happened after you left?" Renryth uttered out with a sigh. "...nothing much really. The Sleras celebrated that they were free from worry, the Farchu were free from the mind control and his majesty..."

"...what about the king?" Shinto raised his brow.

"We found him in front of the pedestal of where the pendant was originally at," Madam Ru stated. "Unconcious."

"...what?!" Frey cried out. "The king was knocked out unconscious?! By who? Wait... Was it Sanke?!"

"I guess it would've been him since he was the one who took the pendant," Raina stated. "Was the king harmed in any way?"

"...no," Renryth answered. "Well... Not in any physical way, but, his majesty has yet woken up. Perhaps it could've been due to Sanke or... Other reasons."

"It's definitely other reasons!" Rustly stated. "Sanke wouldn't directly harm-"

"...you were saying, Rustly?" Madam Ru asked. "What was this about Sanke?"

"...Sanke?" Hikari whispered over towards Shinto. "Was he the boss of this dungeon? Well... Instance dungeon if I recall what Frey mentioned."

"Yeah. The boss that we failed to kill," Shinto answered.

"W-What...? So... He's still alive?"

"No, not exactly... Well, I'm not too sure really," Shinto sighed. "The last I saw of him was within flames. He killed himself, or so I thought."

"...that's just...?" Hikari blinked in confusion.

"...well, there's that," Shinto answered. "I don't know much of the circumstance here. Since... Besides the whole 'this guy is bad and we have to help the people', I don't know anything else about these slimes. No information was mentioned in regards to the relation between Sanke and Rustly, or even how they knew to speak Arcos, to begin with."

"Hmm... So everything was kept in the dark?" Hikari asked. "If that's so... Then that might make the quest even harder..."

"Sigh... For time being, let's just head back to the den or even back to town to continue discussing this," Shinto calmly replied. "In any case... It seems we might be getting our answers regarding Sanke here. Or... I hope so."

"...what was this about Sanke?" Rustly repeated the question. "I-It's nothing... I'm just still... Caught up with his death, that's all..."

"Hmm... Is that really all there is to it?" Madam Ru pressed on the topic.

"...y-yes!" Rustly answered. "I wanted to save Sanke... Which is why I brought the humans. So... Seeing as how the efforts when fluke..."

"Madam Ru, give Rustly a break," Renryth stated. "Neither they nor the outsiders have gotten proper rest since that day."

"...sigh," Madam Ru sighed. "If that's the case then... I'll cut Rustly some slack. However," she turned to Rustly with an annoyed look. "Don't ever take a detour like that ever again, will you? Going all the way to the Bareth's plain like this and lowering my barrier distortion..."

"...what?" Renryth's eyes slightly shook. "Bareth plains... You went there?!"

"E-Eep!" Rustly slightly stumbled back. "R-Renryth... It's not what you're thinking..."

"You..." he frowned. "You heard the stories from us, didn't you? That place is as dangerous as it gets especially during the winter or when you stumble upon her ruins...Yet, you still went there? Nonetheless, bringing the entire group along? Unprepared for the cold?!"

"W-Well..."

"You brought Erith and Minister Yer along too..." Renryth frowned. "What is this all about? Were you just asking to be killed? Seeing as how you have the presence of Bareth on you... You didn't do that, did you?"

"N-No! Not at all!" Rustly cried out. "I-I wouldn't dare..."

"Hah... I'm growing with time..." Renryth sighed as he shook his head helplessly. "Why did you go there?"

"I was just..."

"Now, now Renryth," Madam Ru calmly stated. "Give Rustly a break. Even if it would be a small one."

"Hah... you're right," Renryth placed pressed his finger on the bridge of his nose. "Ugh... Let's just head back. Everyone's tired, and we've got some things to discuss after your rest."

"Y-Yeah..." Rustly muttered out. "Ahem... I can see the Slera's Den door from here. I'll go on ahead now..."

"Right..." Madam Ru seemingly nodded her head as she turned to look at the still in-combat Ethaniel and Reru. "You two, you can stop now. You can fight later when you've given the poor human a chance to get a breather."

"...we're already here?" Reru scoffed. "Hmph... Watch yourself, human."

"Hah... hah..." Ethaniel tiredly breathed out. "It's over...? Hah... I hate you..."

"Don't worry, I hate you too, so nothing special," Reru kept his sword away as he soon leapt forward over to the rest of the group.

As they reached towards the doors of the Slera's Den, the group noted that the original countless amounts of slimes that were originally on the outskirts were gone.

"...oh? Everyone's gone?" Raina questioned.

"With the curse gone," Madam Ru stated. "The cursed Slera's out here were allowed to go back in on the king's orders."

"...how long has it been since they last left the place?" Shinto questioned.

"Not too long actually," Renryth stated. "Since... It's only was recent since Sanke..."

"Enough talk!" Rustly cried out. "I'm heading in now," as his body jiggled, the doors of the Slera's Den opened wide. In the next moment, the group was greeted by the sight of a lively village with much more slime on the street than before.