A flying body press from the strongest creature alive—anyone caught beneath it would be utterly crushed.
“Fana-dono and Orion-dono are safe! They managed to escape into the air in that split second!”
Indeed, both Fana and Orion were hovering above the ground, having evaded being flattened by the Behemoth’s massive belly.
“But what about Anje-dono…?”
“Anje-oneechan will be fine. Look!”
From the spot where the Behemoth’s press had compacted the earth, a hundred meters away, the ground suddenly erupted. Amid a shower of flying soil and debris, Anje burst forth from beneath the earth. She stood up unscathed.
“Was she hiding underground all this time?!”
“Yeah… I think she just dug a hole in a hurry and slipped inside.”
Behemoth’s frustration grew, unable to get rid of the pesky flying insects. His nostrils flared, and tornadoes began to erupt one after another.
“How much time is left? About five minutes?”
“It’s been twenty minutes exactly, so there’s still ten left.”
“Ten whole minutes…?”
“When you’re desperate for something to end, time seems to crawl. Funny thing is, they don’t seem to mind at all.”
While Karen bit her nails in anxiety, Fana and Anje’s eyes burned with fierce determination, ready to face whatever came next.
“Hmm… is it okay if we attack from this side?”
“That’s totally fine! Just sitting around defending the whole time would be so boring!”
“W-wait, are you two out of your minds?!”
Orion’s face twisted in disbelief, but Fana and Anje ignored him completely, leaping straight at Behemoth.
Gakiiiiiin!!
“Hmm… it’s hard.”
Gaaaaan!!
“Yeah… definitely harder than the dungeon walls!”
Still, even against their blows, the Behemoth’s body which is far tougher than rock didn’t even flinch, not a single scratch appeared on his rugged hide.
“Then…”
“Let’s aim for the soft spots.”
Realizing that striking Behemoth’s body would be pointless, the two focused on his eyes.
For a creature of this immense size, the eyes were tiny, yet still far larger than a human’s. Fana and Anje struck together, launching an all-out assault on Behemoth’s eyes.
“—!?”
The behemoth blinked instinctively, shielding its eyes. But the two paid no mind and drove their full force into the strike.
The eyelids were thick—far thicker than a human’s. Even so, they were thinner than its rock-hard hide. The blow didn’t shatter its lids, but it did reach the eye balls beneath, thus inflicting real damage despite their protective barrier.
“OOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!?”
Behemoth let out a roar that shook the air. Perhaps it had been a long time since the strongest creature had felt real pain.
“Hmm… it’s hurt.”
“I’m going to crush its eyes completely!”
Fana and Anje prepared to follow up with another strike.
“W-well, impressive, indeed.”
“My disciples have quite the temper. But… honestly, that might have been a mistake.”
“Huh?”
Before they could react, the golem seemed to dissolve back into the soil. Then, Behemoth’s massive form—now thoroughly enraged—sank abruptly into the ground.
The earth itself had been liquefied by Behemoth’s soil magic. Then Behemoth vanished as if diving underwater.
After a brief, tense silence…
DOOOOOOOOOOOON!
Its massive body burst from the ground. Mouth wide open, it aimed to swallow all three of them whole. By sheer luck, they had been slightly off-center, and the trio barely managed to scramble out of the way.
Twisting his bulk in midair, Behemoth plunged headfirst back into the liquefied earth below.
“Ugh… this is bad.”
“We have no idea where he’s going to pop up next!”
“If that monster eats us, it’s all over!”
The three scrambled frantically, caught off-guard by Behemoth’s unpredictable assault.
“About five minutes left… come on, hang in there.”
“Thirty minutes have passed, so I’ve come to check in. Is everyone… eh? It’s awfully quiet. Where—where is Behemoth!?”
Randia stepped through the gate, only to realize that Behemoth’s massive form was nowhere in sight. He froze in surprise. Just then, three figures came hurtling toward him with astonishing speed.
“…Been waiting for you.”
“It’s dangerous to stay there!”
“Let us goooo—!”
“Huh?!”
Fana, Anje, and Orion barreled past, practically shoving Randia aside as they dove through the gate.
“W-what on earth—”
DOOOOOOOOOOOON!
“Huh?!”
Behemoth, in a blind rage, shot up from the ground. After a brief flight through the air, he came crashing down toward Randia, who stood frozen in shock.
“U-uwaaa—!?”
With a scream, Randia dove frantically through the gate just in time.
The scene shifted to the first-floor lobby of the tower at the dungeon’s inner entrance. Randia, having returned through the gate, immediately confronted Fana and the others, who had arrived before him.
“What on earth were you thinking?! I’ve never seen Behemoth this enraged before! And what was that attack?!”
“Fuu… we attacked its eyes, that’s why.”
“You attacked him?! I told you this was a thirty-minute endurance test! I’ve never had anyone deliberately provoke him like that!”
“Well… it would’ve been frustrating just taking hits without fighting back, right?”
“Normally, just surviving would be more than enough!?”
“…Just to be clear, I didn’t attack him myself, okay? I just got caught up in what they did. Still… that was way too close.”
Randia exhaled deeply, trying to steady himself.
“…Honestly, I even found myself shouting like a fool. But… three out of five candidates cleared the second trial, which has only a ten-percent pass rate. Looks like assembling examiners for the final test is going to be quite a headache.”
This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeineijiworks.wordpress.com.
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