The Darkness Was Comfortable for Me

Chapter 78: Garden Panther and Inside the Mist

“I am sorry for my party member. Come on, Rifreya, you apologize too.” (Hikaru)

“Don’t wanna. Insulting Hikaru… I can’t forgive that.” (Rifreya)

“He wasn’t insulting me or anything.” (Hikaru)

If we were to talk down every single one that came to mess with us, there would be no end to it. More so when she is even using her sword for it. What an unbelievable mad dog.

The world of explorers is technically the yakuza world. They may have a view of it being the end if you get looked down on, so Rifreya might have acted upon those sets of values though…

“Rifreya, I don’t mind you getting pissed when you yourself get mocked, but please don’t do that on my behalf. I don’t think much about it, and I have said this before, but being bronze and being an explorer beginner is true.” (Hikaru)

“If you say so, Hikaru, that’s fine then.” (Rifreya)

“What, you guys were going out?!”

The scary-looking explorer made a shocked expression.

Even his party members began to gather after seeing our exchange.

“E-Eeh~? So it really looks like that, huh? It does, huh?” (Rifreya)

“With how touchy you are with each other, of course it would look that way… But that Rifreya-chan that was rumored to have no interest in men…to think her type was flimsy guys like this.”

“That’s a misunderstanding. It is nothing like that. I am simply having Rifreya-san help me out in exploring for a limited time.” (Hikaru)

“Misunderstanding, you say… Hikaru, you are pretty terrible.” (Rifreya)

Rifreya wraps her arms around mine.

Well, she did say she liked me, and even if it was in the heat of the moment, those feelings of hers must be real.

I am using her while fully aware of this…

“But Rifreya-chan, I understand you wanting to explore together with your boyfriend, but isn’t the 3rd Floor too dangerous for that? One mistake and you can die, you know?”

Looks like he still can’t get away from the idea that Rifreya brought me here.

Well, I don’t mind him keeping that misunderstanding, but it is slowly turning into a pain.

“As I said, I am the one who asked her to bring me here. Of course, I am fully aware that this is life threatening.” (Hikaru)

“Even if that’s the case, the silver ranks have to be an example for the ones below. You may have your circumstances, but bringing a bronze rank to the 3rd Floor shouldn’t be done.”

I was surprised by what a reasonable thing the scary-looking guy was saying despite being that scary-looking.

It is true that you would want to say a word or two about a beginner brat like me sticking to the back of a princess.

“Geez, this is a pain. How about showing him a bit, Hikaru? To this blockhead.” (Rifreya)

“Huh? What do you mean by that?”

“That he is far stronger than me. If he is baggage, then there’s no way I would be able to come to the 3rd Floor alone.” (Rifreya)

“You are joking, right? Only a few handful of explorers can climb up to silver rank. You achieved that in just 1 year, Rifreya-chan, so saying this brat is stronger than you? That’s one ill sense of humour you got there.”

While I was listening to that exchange of theirs, something else bothered me.

We are in the 3rd Floor. It is not like we are in a safe haven or anything.

Even though they are speaking in a loud voice at a place like this, no monsters are approaching us.

It is not like the dungeon is crowded with monsters, but there’s enough monsters that you get into a battle every 1 minute of walking.

More so when there’s 2 parties here.

—It is coming.

—Watch out.

The Spirits were making noise.

I could certainly hear faint voices that were warning me.

“Rifreya! Something’s strange. Be careful of your surroundings. Full, come to my side! Quick!” (Hikaru)

Just like the name of Straying Big Mist Garden states, the whole floor is covered in deep mist, and you can only see 100 meters ahead of you.

One mistake and you could end up allowing a monster to approach you really close.

And the mist is denser than usual today.

The distance of our vision is lower than usual… No, can’t even call it half of it…

I hide Grapefull at my back, and try to get as close to the wall as possible.

“Oi! You all as well, don’t lower your guards! Something is coming!” (Hikaru)

“Huh?! What is a newbie brat saying all of a sudden?! We are veterans here, you know?! There’s only Ghouls showing up this close to the entrance!”

… It would be nice if that’s the case.

“…Hikaru? What’s the matter? Just like he said, there shouldn’t be any strong monsters showing up around here.” (Rifreya)

“The Spirits are raising a ruckus. It might be better to return to the 2nd Floor.” (Hikaru)

“…Hm? Wait-nya, wait-nyan. I hear footsteps-nya.” (Grapefull)

Grapefull’s ears twitched and she muttered this.

And then, her eyes opened wide.

“Garden Panther! It has come really close-nyan!” (Grapefull)

The next instant Grapefull shouted this…

A giant snow white something suddenly jumped out from the white mist, and it bit onto one of the members of the scary-looking explorer party.

“You idiots! Rifreya, let’s go!” (Hikaru)

“Y-Yes!” (Rifreya)

The Garden Panther is a giant feline wild beast, and it is bigger than the lion or tiger I saw at the zoo. It is most likely 4 meters in overall length.

The color is pure white, and it is expelling faint white steam from its back.

It must be hiding itself with that steam.

Contrary to its beautiful appearance, its face is fierce, and it has a mouth packed with fangs that could swallow a person whole.

The scary-looking explorer’s party member that got hit by the surprise attack still had the upper half of their body into its jaws, and was taken away in an instant. I can’t even begin to infer where the Garden Panther is after it has disappeared into the mist.

“[Dark Sense]! Over there!” (Hikaru)

Fortunately, Dark Sense still worked inside this mist.

The Garden Panther had already moved close to the outside of the effective range of the Dark Sense, but it was scraping it. Judging from the effective range of Dark Sense and the actual denseness of the mist, there’s only around 40 meters of vision in today’s 3rd Floor. Is this the mist that the Garden Panther made, or was today just coincidentally dense? I don’t know, but if we let it get away, we won’t be able to find it.

Unfortunately, the explorer that got bitten first has perished with that one attack, but I don’t plan on letting go of a monster that showed itself once.

I ran together with Rifreya.

It seems the Garden Panther has also noticed us. I can tell that it is lowering its posture in order to gather strength to jump.

“[Phantom Warrior]!” (Hikaru)

“[Summon: Night Bug]!” (Hikaru)

The Phantom Warrior noisily hits its shield with its sword as it approaches the Garden Panther.

The Night Bugs rush at it while making noise with their wings.

The panther increases its caution after the sudden increase in enemies.

After confirming that its attention was diverted from me, I hide in the darkness and approach it from a different direction.

That’s right, no matter how strong the enemy, what I do won’t change.

“Let’s do this, Rifreya!” (Hikaru)