Uuma-senpai

The black wolf and the saintess walked through the dungeon together. They were attacked by golems several times along the way, but each time, the saintess either dodged and counterattacked easily, or the black wolf blocked the attacks aimed at her while she finished them off.

It wasn't just multi-armed variant golems with bows and arrows—spike-covered, turtle-like golems attacked them too… but from the saintess's perspective, they weren't much different from ordinary golems, posing no real problem.

There weren't just golems either; there were traps as well.

The saintess fell into a pitfall trap and was saved by the black wolf grabbing her collar in its mouth. There were also times when swords stabbed into the black wolf when it tried to open a door.

Incidentally, the wolf that had been pierced by swords seemed completely unfazed, without any trace of a wound.

When the saintess offered to cast [Healing] on it, it responded with a puzzled, "Why? I'm not injured, and I'm not tired either."

… It had looked like the swords completely pierced through it, though.

As this went on, the entire floor became visible through [Mapping]… There were almost no paths left to explore. As a last resort, they were about to consider breaking through a wall when—

They found a golem sitting defenselessly in front of a wall. At first glance, it appeared to be an ordinary golem… however, this was the most unusual variant the saintess had ever seen.

"Gururu, garu, gaou."

"Mu? … Gurururu, goaarga, gururu."

A golem speaking the wolf's language.

It wasn't randomly imitating barking—it was clearly having a conversation with the black wolf. Either way, since it was wolf language, the saintess had no idea what they were saying.

After a while of growl-like conversation, the wolf turned to face the saintess.

"Garuru, gururuu?"

"Eh?"

"Oops, human speech, right. Umm, what's your, name?"

"Huh, oh, yes, it's Alka."

Asked by the black wolf, the saintess answered honestly.

"Let me introduce you. Your senpai, Uuma. Uuma, your junior, Alka. Get along."

"Eh? Senpai?"

"… I'm Uuma. Your senpai as a follower. If possible, I'd like you to leave quickly."

That was human speech. The sound came out with a strange voice quality, but it was unmistakably a self-introduction. She felt it somewhat resembled the village chief's voice.

"… Um, you're a golem, right?"

"Is it that surprising for a golem to talk? Rin talks too, so I don't think it should be strange."

"Rin?"

"My, name. Call me boss, Ke… Uuma."

So the black wolf's name was Rin. The saintess engraved Rin's name in her heart.

"Oi, Alka. This is a request from your senpai — could you leave for today?"

"I cannot do that. I… only have until today."

"I see, that's unfortunate… Oi, boss. I'm going to defeat this one, so please don't interfere."

The golem Uuma slowly stood up, its back still against the wall.

"Wait, what do you mean?"

"What do you think? You're an adventurer who came to capture the dungeon, and I'm… unlike that boss over there, I'm a dungeon monster, so isn't it obvious?"

Uuma answered with a very human-like shrug of its shoulders. Even though it was a golem. However, if it were a dungeon monster, fighting to protect the dungeon was only natural.

"There's research showing that monsters with intelligence aren't bound to dungeons and can survive even if the Dungeon Core is destroyed. Wouldn't that be more convenient for you, Uuma-san?"

"No, it wouldn't. My job is to protect the Dungeon Core."

So it was a boss? But was it okay for a boss to leave the boss room and wander around?

"You've probably noticed, but the only way to get past this floor is to kill me — though I'll be fighting using my underlings… Rin, please don't interfere anymore? The arrows and traps should have already finished things."

"Hmph, indeed. Uuma, and Alka, are weak. So, I'll protect, both of you. Because I'm, your boss!"

"Huh?"

"Um?"

Apparently Uuma didn't understand what Rin meant either. It tilted its head along with the saintess.

"… Then, don't stop me from repelling Alka."

"Refused. I'll protect."

"… Then could you stop her from going any deeper?"

"Hmm? No. I promised, after all."

Giving up on communicating with Rin, Uuma addressed the saintess directly.

"It's pointless to go on. What you're looking for isn't beyond here. I've taken care of it."

"… That's a lie, isn't it?"

The saintess muttered.

"… A lie? What's your basis for that? I'm not lying."

"I have a skill called [Eyes of Truth] that can discern lies. Right now, you're bright red, you know?"

"I see… So, what will you do?"

Clang! The saintess's battle hammer was stopped by a black tail.

Uuma hadn't budged an inch. Was it that confident, or did it know Rin would stop her?

"… Rin, don't interfere."

"Interfere? With what?"

"The conversation's been going nowhere for a while now. Oi, Alka. Won't you back down? I won't let you advance unless you kill me."

"Boss? Given the situation, is that alright?"

"Can't be helped. If it's between, fellow followers, can't be helped. Uuma, I'll eat you."

The next moment, Uuma was eaten by Rin with a chomp… What happened to protecting?

"… Protect?"

"It's fine, Uuma can, revive endlessly, too."

With a rumble, the wall behind where Uuma had been collapsed. Beyond it lay the path forward.