Chapter 43 – Tower of Trials ④ - Strawberry Lilies

The next day.

「Hey, hey, Suzu~」

「What’s going on?」

「Yesterday, I entered a place called the Tower of Trials」

「The Tower of Trials~ It’s a pretty hard place to get to~」

「Un? … I don’t think it was a problem if you’re careful… ?」

「That’s only Aya」

「Eeh! ?」

「So? How did it go?」

「About that~ I made it to the 14th floor, you know?」

「…………… Ha?」

「Like I said――」

「I can hear you! !」

「Hiyai! ?」

「Oh, okay, okay. I’m sorry. I’m sorry」

Ayane is patted on the head as you would do to a child.

「I’m already in high school, remember?」

「That’s not the point! I tried to challenge the Tower of Trials, but I died on the 3rd floor」

「3rd floor? You mean the 13th floor?」

「Yes, the 3rd floor. There’s a lot of talk about how difficult the Tower of Trials is. The people on the front lines said that the highest floor is only 8」

「Ho ~e…」

「… You definitely don’t get it」

「Oh, yes! I’ve evolved too!」

「Is that so? I’ve only recently been able to evolve mine, so we’re matching!」

「Un! I became a Dragonborn, but what did you become, Suzu?」

「Dragonborn… ?」

「Eh? Un?」

「Ayane」

「Y- Yes! ?」

It’s been a while since I heard the name Ayane from Suzu’s mouth. Maybe since elementary school? And I don’t have time to think about that…

「Dragonborn don’t appear in the evolutionary path no matter how you do it! ! I can’t speak for others either, but how did you manage to do that! ?」

「Uhiyaaa! ? ! ?」

Suzu POV

Of course I’m not really angry. On the contrary, I’m worried.

She always does something that makes me feel on edge.

But that’s only a minor detail.

My concern is that Ayane will be contacted by other players.

… No, I said it a little too softly.

It’s about other players targeting her… That’s it.

It’s easy for a rare race to be targeted, whether it’s for recruiting to a party or for PKing out of envy… I’ve become a rare race too…

Ayane is a beautiful girl… She’s a loli.

That alone would be enough to be targeted, but a Dragonborn…

「I’ll protect you for the rest of your life! ! !」

「Haiiii! ?」

「Really! Such a pretty girl――… 」

All of her classmates sighed as she started again.

―――――

――

…

… Yes. You don’t have to tell me, okay?

Ha~~~~~~~…… I wonder if the skinship is a little intense… I don’t know.

… Today I will start at the 15th floor. Honestly, I’ve had enough of monsters and want to go home.

A girl standing in front of a black stairs was exhausted.

I was exhausted, but I had no choice but to go up the stairs.

I felt eyes on me as I went up, so I walked faster… I was scared.

And I felt a bit uncomfortable on the stairs, but I didn’t care and continued up.

After going up, I arrived at the 15th floor.

I saw a clear blue sky with no clouds, and when I looked down, the floor was an octagon with a radius of about 50 meters.

「Ah…」

I realized what the discomfort was.

The stairs I had taken before were completely white. But this time, the stairs I climbed were completely black. How could I not have noticed it when it was so obvious…?

That’s when it happened…

In front of me――about 30 meters away――a reddish-black magic circle appeared.

A black wolf slowly emerges from it.

――15 meters long.

「So…… Big…」

――――Three red eyes staring at me, salivating.

―――A body that absorbs light instead of reflecting it… No, armor.

――And red crystals sticking out of its body in places.

―The claws are 50 centimeters long and sharply honed.

「《Appraisal》」

▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲

【Name】Hellwolf King LV. 75

【Weakness】？？？

【Weakness Attribute】？？？

【Description】 A Hellwolf Boss. The difficulty of defeating it is incredibly high, and it is said that one of them can destroy an entire country. The black armor it wears has excellent magic and physical defenses, and it is unlikely to be damaged by simple attacks.

HP:？？？

MP:？？？

STR:？？？

▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼

《Appraisal LV. 8→9》

The weakness and attribute weakness which cannot be seen as usual. And HP.

「I’m used to it, but I think I might lose this time… I mean, that’s the one from the recipe!」

I’ve been feeling very intimidated since earlier. The chilly air prickled and tingled against my skin. This might be really hard…

But I need the materials from this one to make the Dragon God’s Secret Sword・Darkness…

――Wait for me, Dragon God’s Secret Sword! !