Maou no Hajimekata Volume 2 Chapter 20 part1

Translator: DarkHeartedAlchemist

Chapter 20: Let's Step into the Dungeon of Instant Death, Part 1

「It's all right, Aur.」

Tatsuki said while keeping her fish-like lower body in the water. Apparently she came to pay Aur a visit when he was visiting the coast at the east end of the continent of Rafanis to test a certain thing.

「As long as you're here, I will protect you!」

「Yeah. I'm counting on you, the Sea Goddess Tatsuki.」

Aur praises Tatsuki and gives her a nice head pat. Normally speaking the God's name out loud was said to empower them, but it looked like in Tatsuki's case head pats were much more effective.

「Allow me to connect you now, my lord.」

「Yes, go on ahead.」

Misha, the Goddess of Fortune who controls the boundaries separating all things stands on the beach's shore and rolls up the sleeves of her kimono.

「The feet standing at the water's edge. Take a step ahead and you will drown.」

She began chanting some kind of spell, but there was no sounds or light effects typical for normal magic.

「Now. Go beyond me, take three steps and look back.」

Aur did as he was told, taking three steps forward into the sea and then looking back at Misha.

「As dependable as ever.」

Looking back, he was already near the beach on a different continent. It was the same coast where Aur has arrived with Lilu and the others on their ship. The change of space was so fluid that even Aur did not noticed when it exactly happened.
「Be careful not to be swept off by the waves.」

Tatsuki issues a warning while swimming offshore.

「You don't even have to take a single step to feel it.」

It was such an evident change that no words were need. Everyone present could feel with their skin that the atmosphere on the whole continent has changed into a godly one so dense that it made breathing difficult.

「The mountain is …」

Unexpectedly, Hoseli gasped while looking far into the distance.

「The mountain, it's gone. An eternal mountain, princess's mountain is…!」

Normally, Sakuya's mountain, the sacred volcano could be seen from anywhere on the continent. That mountain, beautiful and majestic, has been wiped out from the Yamato landscape.

「Princess……!」

「Wait, Hoseli!」

Aur grabs Hoseli by the arm as she tried to split away from the rest of the group to go towards where the volcano once was.

「But Lord Aur!」

「Stay calm. I'm sure Sakuya is safe.」

Thanks to his words, Hoseli calms down a little bit.

「Really? But why? How can you be so sure?」

「Because she is not someone who would bite the dust so easily. Besides, take a good look.」

Aur points to the surrounding scenery.

「Everything except the volcano itself has been left intact.」

That might have been the case, but Hoseli does not remember the landscape of whole Yamato. Aur, however, made sure to memorize every part of it. He even made a detailed map himself.

「If something as huge as that volcano got obliterated, the surroundings would surely be filled wit remaining debris like earth or sand. But it doesn't look like there's anything of the sort here. Don't you think it's strange?」

「That…surely, it is strange.」

Not to mention that Sakuya's volcano was literally the highest mountain in all of Yamato, so if it got destroyed everyone should be able to tell even if they were not familiar with the scenery.

「Did it got moved then?」

「How would you even accomplish something like that?」

Mari tilts her head to the side in wonder while Zana immediately brushes her suggestion off as impossible.

「Maybe that's exactly what happened.」

「Huh!?」

But Aur's support of Mari's idea left her dumbfounded.

「All of the modifications to my Dungeon here were made by Sofia. If she is almighty and omnipotent now, moving an entire mountain wouldn't be a problem to her at all.」

「But why would she do that? What would she gain by such a move?」

Eldav asked a very good question.

「Sakuya's volcano was right above the dragon vein, which made an inexhaustible amount of power flow into it, and that was the source of her strength. Even if it was destroyed, it would be restored in no time. However, the volcano itself has already been taken over by Sofia, who made it a part of her body.」

「That means…!」

Hoseli opened her eyes which shone with a newfound hope.

「Yes, that is very probable. And it also serves as proof that Sakuya herself is safe.」

「Thank Goodness……」

For Hoseli, Sakuya was not just a simple lord. They have spend so much time with each other that it would be more accurate to call her Hoseli's older sister or mother figure. That's why when she realized that she might still be alive, she shed tears of joy.

However, something in Aur's words made Mari feel uncomfortable. Sure, he meant every word he said, but it still felt strange. She couldn't pinpoint what it was exactly, but what she knew for sure that it was totally unlike him to say such positive things.

「That's great and all, but…what are we going to do now? Making even a single step on this God-blessed land might be potentially fatal for us, after all.」

Zana asked while she grimaced at the sound her wet boots were making.

「Let's check underwater first. Tatsuki, you take the lead.」

「Leave it to me!」

And with that Tatsuki jumped and dove underwater. Next, Aur used the Water Breathing on himself and everyone around him and they followed after her.

「Wow, amazing!」

Mari utters at the breathtaking underwater sight she doesn't usually see. The sea was full of amusing flora and fauna, with colorful flowers and flocks of peculiar fish. T was like a whole new world normally hidden from prying eyes, now waiting to be discovered. And among all of them, Tatsuki looked like a Sea Princess.

Then she reached for one of the fish swimming next to her and devoured it whole, leaving not even a single bone behind. Seeing that, Mari changed her mind in a flash. She is not a princess, but a Tyrant who sees every living being as her snack.

After a while in the sea, they finally saw an artificial square entrance carved into the rocky surface.

「This is……」

「Tatsuki's special Dungeon entrance.」

It is an underwater corridor that Tatsuki once used to go from the sea to the Dungeon. It hadn't been used since she was stationed in the Sofia Dungeon, but apparently it was still left intact. So that is going to be their infiltration point: they will use the passage from which they themselves were invaded the very first time.

「From here we can keep moving underground and head straight for the Forest Dungeon.」

「But isn't that exactly in the middle of the enemy territory?」

Zana was obviously reluctant to this whole endeavor. Sure, they were able to go this far with Tatsuki's blessing, but it won't change the fact that as soon as they will leave the water they will be within the area of the Sun God's influence.

「Exactly. Which is why we are going to do this.」

Aur touches the mark on Zana's chest with his finger, and in reaction, ice bursts from her palm, covering the entire room with an icy wall decorated with a complex pattern.

「What did you do …!?」

「Through the curse That has tied you with me was able to activate your icy powers remotely. Rest assured, I have no intention of using it more than it is absolutely necessary.」

The he could have simply ask her to do it instead of placing this bizarre mark on her skin. Everyone take notes: when dealing with other people, communicating your intentions clearly is a crucial part of having a successful social life.

「This is another Dungeon inside the Dungeon. That is my territory, a space where I am the same as God.」

「But you are not an actual God, Aur.」

Rames, who has been listening silently all this time finally decided to speak.

「Did you forget? I am the priest who is blessed by the Goddess of Fortune, who can freely manipulate any boundary in existence. And on the subject of me not being a God…」

The floor rises and Aur emerges from the water.

「Here, in my Dungeon, I might as well be.」

However, no one came to attack them, and the Sun God's oppressive aura has been completely removed from the room.

「Uwaaah, so chilly! Aur, if you have d such an amazing trick up your sleeve, couldn't you just used the boundary to push the water away from us? That way we could have simply walk here without getting ourselves wet.」

「Don't be unreasonable. Think how much magic power will be consumed to push away such a huge amount of seawater. Also, if I did that, the area around us would stop being regarded as a sea, prompting the Sun God to attack us.」

Aur refutes the complaints of Mari, who was trying to dry her skirt by squeezing it as hard as she could.

「But you know…」

Mari looks around and smirks.

「Now that I look more closely, I get why you chose such a method. Everyone's looking so naughty.」

Beautiful girls, each of them equally beautiful as the rest are all soaked and their clothes are sticking to their skin, making them that much sexier.

「So that was your aim?!」

「No, you fool. If I wanted to see your bodies I would have just ordered you to show them to me.」

Aur replied to Zana, who tried to cover herself up with her hands.

「What's wrong, Rchan? Are you okay? Did you get a stomachache?」

「Y-You idiot! Don't look at me!」

When Mari tried to talk to Rames who crawled on her knees, only for her to shout back at her with red face. Her already thin outfit sticks to her so much that she looks like she was basically naked.

「I said don't look!」

Aur retreated to the center of the room, dodging the fireballs that were being flung his way.

「Good thinking, Rames. Make yourself useful and use that flames of yours to dry us so we could change our clothes.」

Ignoring Rames' outrage, Aur takes a spare change of clothes from a leather bag at his waist.

「Why aren't those clothes wet at all?」

Mari asks while receiving her new clothes from Aur. The bag in which Aur was holding those clothes was tied with nothing more than a simple string that could not prevent the inside of the bag from flooding even if it wanted to and yet it did.

「This bag is connected to my dungeon.」

「It is?」

Lilu looked into the bag and winked a few times.

「It sure is convenient, the power of Goddess of Fortune …」

Before she began changing, Zana briefly froze in place and looked at Aur.

「Turn away.」

「I would have done so even without you asking.」

Aur murmured and turned towards the wall of the room, but…

「On the other hand, maybe I should have a look…」
「Beat it, you perverted old prick!」

「I fail to see the problem here. Except for Rames, I saw you all naked numerous times.」

「Shut up! This time is different!」

Zana launched a barrage of kicks towards Aur, and he simply accepts them without flinching. Mari watched it for a while with a smile before she switched her attention back to Rames.

「Done changing, Rchan? You good?」

That's right, even Zana completely forgot that even when she's acting like an embarrassed with her wet clothes girl right now, Rames was initially a man.

「Like hell I am!」

The Rames screams while crouching and covering herself.

「I refuse to do it while he can see me! Give me a screen! Or a tent!」

Zana and Eldav tried not to laugh, but ultimately failed.

「We don't have time for this! Change your clothes, now!」

「Lord Aur, I am done chang…」

Before she could finish her sentence, Hoseli readied her two swords, because her keen eyes saw that the enemy was approaching them from the other side of the corridor.

Chapter end