It's Dangerous Outside the Dungeon, Master

* * *

Evangeline and Lin Xue.

Their first clash was carried out with only their magic power raised to the maximum in an unprepared state.

Even so, the aftermath of the magical power was enough to damage unprepared ability users in the vicinity.

Bang-bang-!!!

The second impact was faster and stronger than that.

The attack of the precariously charged ‘Madness’ and the ‘Stacked Strong Strike’ that was monstrously gathered in just a moment.

The collision with an impact force that lightly surpassed the system’s evaluation occurred about five times in less than a second.

It was natural that they couldn’t withstand the aftermath and fell apart, since it was an attack that used all their strength.

Creak…!

‘As expected, she’s strong.’

Ptui!

‘Indeed, Evangeline…’

Having exhausted all the power gathered in an instant, it was time to gather strength again.

However, Evangeline, rotating her arm that was creaking from the impact, and Xue, who spat out blood from her burst lip, had no such intention.

Swoosh!

The two, who quickly recovered from the shock in a brief moment, closed in again.

Clang! Clang!

‘Now.’

Evangeline’s form twisted as she caught sight of Xue rapidly closing in on her with just two steps.

She irregularly took one step forward at the right moment, twisting her posture.

It was an action that would be appropriate for a normal human to fracture bones, but it was a simple matter for Evangeline, who was familiar with her body made of bones and magic power.

Swish-! Boom-!

Above her head, a red slash emitted from Xue’s fingertips passed by, drawing a staff line.

The sound of the wall behind being torn was heard, but Evangeline didn’t stop even after hearing that eerie sound.

‘Where do you think you’re going.’

Xue’s eyes flashed as she confirmed the sword drawing a straight line, and as she twisted her body and struck down with her elbow-

Clang!

-she retracted it.

Because she confirmed that the thrusting sword twisted at a right angle and rose again.

Spat-!

Xue leaped once to the side and then turned her body.

This was to dodge the blade energy that Evangeline sharply emitted to aim for her left leg even in that unstable state, while simultaneously attacking.

Boom!!

Thud!

Xue’s whirling kick strikes on Evangeline’s arm with her elbow raised at a right angle.

Not only the primary impact, but the secondary shock filled with magic power crumpled Evangeline’s gauntlet, but.

“Tch.”

Xue’s expression showed displeasure.

‘It was shallow.’

As expected, Evangeline’s posture was subtly tilted to the opposite side of where she received the impact, and her left arm was already protected by released magic power.

In that state, Evangeline, holding the sword with one hand, swung her right hand.

From behind her back, towards her head.

Boom!

Although she blocked it by striking with her fist clenched, Evangeline’s attack wasn’t easily stopped.

Clang! Boom!

Twice with one hand, once with both hands.

It came down from above, deflected, then reversed against the flow, and after swinging the magic-made left-hand sword once, she then grabbed the sword with both hands and thrust with force.

Along with joint movements impossible for humans, all these actions were accompanied by magic power, so it was not only grotesque but also an attack that could cause irreversible injuries if even one hit properly.

Of course, neither Xue nor Evangeline were resources that could be incapacitated by a single serious injury.

‘I’ll take the momentum.’

Xue’s eyes sharply rose, having long ago resolved to accept small injuries.

Huap-!

Xue suddenly lowered her body, taking advantage of the momentary gap created while constantly retreating.

Almost to the point of touching the ground.

Evangeline, who spotted her while swinging her sword from right to left, also turned her sword at a right angle to chase after her, but.

-Grrah-!!

Boom!!

Xue’s roar came before the sword fell.

With a roar filled with magic power, she made Evangeline falter for a moment, while at the same time stepping firmly to crumble the ground.

Immediately after, the red power that had been gathered in her left hand from some point burst forth.

Boooom!!

Although it erupted from her fist, it was worthy of being called artillery fire.

Both in physical force and firepower.

‘Dangerous.’

Evangeline, who witnessed the force exploding towards her face from the front, calmly stepped back half a step while losing balance and imbued her sword with magic power.

Multiple sword strikes wielded like a spider web in a short time.

Swish! Clang!

Xue’s attack was blocked by Evangeline’s magic power spread widely along the broad surface, and was scraped and distorted along the narrow surface.

“Take this…!”

Boom!!

But Xue’s attack wasn’t just that.

In the meantime, Xue had activated ‘Magic Overadaptation’ and leaped out, with five slashes from her fingertips rushing towards Evangeline’s abdomen.

-Clatter (This is good. As expected, fighting with you is fun).

“Don’t be ridiculous…!”

Evangeline commented like that on the frontal ambush, while reversely raising her sword diagonally.

The fight was reaching its climax.

* * *

‘A fight between a swordsman and a fist fighter, huh.’

In reality, it was a somewhat underhanded warrior who could handle anything besides swords, and a firepower maniac who could cover even medium range with slashes based on overflowing madness and blood-based magic power, although she was engaged in close combat due to her nature, but.

Anyway, on the surface, it looks like a fight between a swordsman and a fist fighter.

These are two professions that almost always appear as protagonists in any medium, and there’s always endless controversy about their superiority.

Of course, the wisest answer in such fights is always “it depends on the situation,” and the most prudent action is not to get involved in the fight at all, but.

Anyway, for now, it was the swordsman’s victory.

“Attention. Greet each other, you two.”

-Clack!

“Good work… Evangeline. Congratulations.”

-Clatter.

As can be seen from their attitudes in response to Ran’s command, Xue continued to advance without stopping with her unbreakable stamina and the power of madness that grew stronger as she fought, but Eve consistently and calmly cut down and fragmented that advancing force, creating situations to prevent the charging of madness.

As Xue’s power would grow stronger if the battle continued, she prevented the continuation of the battle situation by breaking the flow intermittently.

“Still as cunning as ever…”

-Clatter

Meanwhile, Eve built up her own strength and knocked Xue out momentarily with a single attack at the last moment.

Just before Xue’s ‘Madness’ was fully charged, right when she was about to lose her reason and pour out all her power.

『Stacked Strong Strike – During battle, can add an attack of +50% health and magic power to necessary attacks. Can increase up to 200%, but the limit of additional stacking is up to 10%.』

It was the power of this characteristic that had occupied the characteristic window instead of ‘Explosive Power’ at some point.

If it had been a real battle, Xue would have died there.

“Good work, both of you. The winner, Evangeline, will be promoted to elite rank, and we’ll talk separately later about what you want to gain from injuries.”

-Clack!

“Haah… Yes.”

It was somewhat expected, one might say.

As Xue herself admitted, Eve excels in ‘all aspects’.

Unless Xue had won in the escort battle she claimed was her specialty, once it came to this one-on-one battle, her chances weren’t very high.

Nevertheless, Xue did her best without giving up.

“Well done. Not giving up is one of the highest values.”

“Yeah… I know.”

-Grrr…

Xue closed her eyes and happily received the touch stroking her head and ears. Her face shows the frustration of defeat, but no excessive jealousy is visible.

The look in Eve’s eyes gazing down at her still shows no loss of favor.

From their perspective, this seems to have been a great ambition, but it doesn’t appear to be enough to harm their relationship.

Like friends who have built up deep years together.

“You two rest. Sonia? There’s no need to change positions necessarily. Let’s start here.”

“Yes, Master!”

I let Eve and Xue rest as they were.

The duration of the match was about 10 minutes. However, during that time, they truly gave it their all, so they must be in a state with almost no stamina or magic power left.

Even though Eve is undead and thus more free from the effects of stamina, her body isn’t invincible, so she’s still affected by magic power depletion.

Xue also has much better stamina than modern martial artists due to the influence of magic power, but she fought to the point where even her ‘Madness’ dissipated by the time she fainted and woke up after using up all her magic power, so the result isn’t much different.

“This is…”

“Here it is. Would you like half, Lady Sonia?”

“Ah, thank you, Lady Yuran.”

“Please call me Ran. As my lady’s disciple, you are someone I should serve.”

“My lady… Ah, I see. Lady Ran.”

“That sounds good.”

I instructed Ran and Sonia to draw the summoned beast promotion formation.

Sonia knows because I taught her, but Ran is drawing that formation quite naturally.

They say the knowledge of dungeon lords in the Western and Eastern continents isn’t very different, but she shouldn’t normally know this knowledge as she hasn’t yet attained a rank.

I wonder if it’s unexpectedly lax, or if it doesn’t matter if it’s exposed. It seems like it might be the latter, but I waited without pretending to know.

Clatter.

“You really make me feel embarrassed, Eve, even when it’s time for you to receive honors.”

-Clack.

“There’s no need to apologize. It’s just something I said. Thank you.”

-Clack!

In the meantime, Eve had somehow brewed coffee and handed it to me.

It was espresso.

Click.

What’s in front of me is a necromancy book from the demon realm.

Although the knowledge is in my head, this is my first time putting it into practice, so I’m verifying the knowledge by examining several spell books.

‘Still, the precision, safety, and knowledge are much better on this side.’

While the books contain the author’s own know-how, the knowledge in my head tells me that my knowledge is much safer and more stable.

Additionally, a premonition coming from somewhere was telling me that ‘there will be no failure’.

No further comparison was necessary.

“It’s ready, Master.”

Hearing Sonia’s words, I stood up and walked towards the two connected formations drawn on the floor.

Even a brief look was enough to see that there was nothing wrong.

‘I was a bit surprised when Eve killed it… but thanks to that, we can use it like this now.’

On the larger of the formations lay Tigris’s corpse, headless and with its chest pierced from behind.

Although it’s been nearly five days since death, the enormous body that hasn’t decayed at all looked like it could come back to life immediately if only the head and heart were restored to normal.

‘The performance is good. I wonder if it can be applied to food too.’

It was enough to make such idle thoughts come to mind.

It was the power of necromancy’s preservation magic and the shadow space.

After fitting the pre-preserved heart into the pierced part of the chest, I summoned my staff and called her.

“Eve.”

-Clack!

Eve, who had been waiting, responded once with a disciplined posture, then walked with leisurely steps and knelt on one knee inside the smaller formation.

It was that disciplined and stylish posture that initially made me suspect her of being a knight.

It’s a thought I’ve abandoned now.

The actual knights I’ve seen were far more delinquent, not to mention rude and stupid compared to her.

“I’m looking forward to seeing how your appearance will change.”

-Clatter.

Her gaze towards me emitted a soft light, returning an emotion meaning ‘look forward to it’.

Soon, such uncomfortable emotional transmissions from her will no longer be necessary, but I felt a bit regretful.

When conversation becomes possible, this feeling of our hearts being connected will become a little distant.

“Let’s begin.”

-Clack!

But now, worrying will only delay progress.

After all, there’s no possibility of stopping this here. That would be something I couldn’t do even to Xue, who fought with all her might.

“「Necromantic Sublimation」.”

Shaking off hesitation, I quickly initiated the magic operation along with the incantation.

Swoosh…!!

Black magic power was summoned from the two magic formations, grasping both bodies, and then the Arachne King’s body gradually turned black and began to melt.

The larger the power possessed, the slower the rate of consumption as a sacrifice.

“Eve.”

-Clatter.

Grasping the staff that I had magically adhered to the end of Eve’s magic formation so it wouldn’t fall off, I met eyes with Evangeline looking up at me.

From her, who was looking at me with unwavering eyes, I could only feel loyalty and goodwill towards me.

“I wonder what you’ll look like.”

-Clatter.

Is it because I’m about to elevate her further?

Or is it because she and I are connected by magic power?

Or perhaps because some worry still remains?

Maybe it’s because the sore spot that Tigris touched hasn’t healed yet.

“I think your eyes will be blue. Somehow, I can’t imagine you with any other color.”

-Clack.

“Will your hair color be black like mine? Or silver or some other natural color? Maybe even blonde.”

-Clatter-clatter.

“But, anyway…”

…An impulse welled up.

The one impulse that had been making my chest feel tight lately.

“Whatever the case, whatever form you take. I will place you by my side.”

-Clack.

Even as that impulse and the thoughts I’m expressing grow larger, ‘Nobility’ doesn’t stop me.

Is even this impulse of mine noble?

Or is my nobility not shaken by something of this degree?

Or is it that the people here are allowed to see my shaken appearance?

“You too will protect me forever. As long as you and I are alive.”

-Clatter!

Although I still don’t know the reason, I didn’t stop pouring out my heart.

“So.”

-Clack?

Reaching out to grasp her head and pull her towards me, I looked closely at her wavering gaze.

The sight of that gaze, which had always been calmly rippling, greatly disturbed, felt like throwing a stone into a calm lake.

With some refreshment, and along with an inexplicable sense of guilt, the impulse boils up even more.

“Always, try to approach me with all your might.”

-Clatter, clack…

I throw it into that lake.

That emotion that had been rising, noticing that she always took one step back.

“If you retreat from me any further, I won’t forgive you. Ever.”

There were still questions, but I gave the order to cover up such small doubts.

Conveying my possessiveness, reliant heart, and affection as they were.

“Yes, Master.”

The very next moment, her form was dyed in darkness.

“I will gladly do so.”

Grasping my hand holding the staff, she spoke to me.

“My lord. My master. My one and only ruler.”

With a refreshing smile.