There's Always Someone Stronger

Elza set me down on the ground, deflecting fragments of the shattered monster with her mace in one hand.

"Whoa."

My feet sank into the dry sand and I nearly lost my balance, but I steadied myself by gripping Elza's shoulder.

The aerial experience had been a first, and the view from up there was completely different from on the ground.

Not that I'd had any chance to enjoy it, and I'd prefer to avoid finding myself in that situation again.

The Giant Centipede's massive body hit the ground with a delay, and the sand rippled like waves.

I covered my face to keep sand out of my mouth.

"Did we get it?"

I lowered my arm and checked where the monster had fallen.

The whole thing was too large to see, but it was clear from the outside that Alexia's magic had detonated inside it.

The area near its head had been blown away, and cracks and holes riddled its body.

An obviously fatal wound.

It was slowly turning to ash, starting from the head.

The entire thing disappearing was going to take a while.

"Those insect-type monsters are always a pain."

The moment Alexia said that, the Giant Centipede's massive body moved.

Its remaining legs flailed independently, making for unnatural movements, but it began crawling forward nonetheless.

"It's still alive after that?!"

"No, it's dead. It just keeps moving even after death."

"Is that even fair?"

Elza's words left me stunned.

It might as well be cheating.

"Don't worry. It's like a final thrashing."

Alexia drew a short blade and struck it against her battle-axe, making a ringing sound.

Reacting to the noise, the Giant Centipede's corpse changed course toward us.

About a third of its body had already started disintegrating, but it showed no sign of slowing down.

"H-hey. Is it really okay to lure it over here?"

"Don't worry. It'd be worse if it thrashed around randomly. Its bodily fluids are highly toxic, and I'd rather not get doused."

Saying that, Alexia raised her battle-axe.

Perhaps from heating it with magic, the tip had turned bright red.

The sleeve portions of the soldier's uniform she wore couldn't withstand the heat and burned away.

Her arms were exposed up to the upper arm.

Yet Alexia herself seemed completely unaffected.

Mages really did outrageous things.

She slowly lifted the battle-axe, now so hot that the air around it shimmered, with both hands.

A wave of heat brushed my cheek when it moved.

"Hot!"

Then she swung it down, timing it to meet the oncoming centipede remains.

The battle-axe cut through the centipede like a knife through heated butter, cleaving it clean in two.

By the time the axe hit the ground, the Giant Centipede had completely vanished.

"That's settled."

Alexia tossed her heated battle-axe onto the ground to let it cool and wiped the sweat from her brow.

Then she brushed ash, presumably remnants of her burned clothes, from her shoulders and hair.

"Good work. Sorry for leaving it all to you."

"It's fine. Big targets like that are my specialty as a mage."

"Made it easy for the rest of us."

"Azu. Speaking of which."

"Yes?"

Alexia approached Azu.

"The spell you saw versus my spell just now. Which was stronger?"

"Um… Well. I thought I was going to die back then and was so desperate I had my eyes closed and…"

"If that were true, you should be able to say it while looking me in the eye, right?"

"Azu-chan. Once Alexia-chan gets like this, she won't let up, so you'd better just tell her."

"Mmm."

Azu wore a conflicted expression as she looked over at me.

Yohane nodded in reply.

Alexia was pleased when praised, but she'd hate empty flattery.

"Just to be clear, your spell was really powerful, Alexia-san! It's just that the spell back then was truly incredible… It blew the entire ceiling of the underground cavern away. The surrounding earth melted too."

"Meaning?"

"The spell back then was more amazing. But your spell was still incredible. You killed it in one hit!"

"I don't need consolation. Still, it must have been an exceptional mage who enchanted that gem. For the residual effect alone to melt the ground…"

"I paid a lot of gold coins to have the spell sealed into that gemstone…"

Alexia looked a bit frustrated but said, "I've still got a ways to go," and moved on.

Orleans had completely passed out; we decided to carry her on our backs until she woke up.

When we opened the treasure chest on this floor to see what we'd get, it turned out to be a massive amethyst.

One intricately carved to replicate that Giant Centipede.

It was as tall as Orleans or Azu.

"This is… treasure, but…"

"I-I don't want that thing!"

Finn shuddered, hugging her arms as she backed away.

"This is purely for selling. I wouldn't want it decorating my house either, but a big amethyst like this will find some eccentric collector willing to pay."

Worst case, we could break it up. The value would drop, but selling the pieces wouldn't be hard.

I struggled to fit it into my item bag. It was so big that it barely fit through the opening.

Once it was inside, the bag's magic would handle the rest.

We climbed the stairs and moved on to the next floor, where the environment changed completely once again.

"… A garden?"

From a desert with nothing but sand, we'd come to a place overflowing with greenery.

Yet it lacked the chaos of a jungle; there was clearly a cultivated feel to it.

That was why "garden" came to mind.

If you scaled up the garden Lady Anatia tended significantly, it might look something like this.

Even paths to walk along had been neatly arranged.

"This is clearly different from everything before."

"Oh. You're awake."

"Yes. Thank you, sir."

I gently set the awakened Orleans down.

She surveyed her surroundings with curiosity.

"However, the taste is rather poor."

"What do you mean?"

"Every plant here is poisonous."

We'd thought we were surrounded by beautiful plants, but according to Orleans, every single one of them was highly toxic.

Sure enough, on closer inspection, I could see monkshood and lily of the valley.

Getting too close without realizing would be dangerous.