BATTLE OR ALIVE
Chapter 10: Great Dungeon II

As far as the eye can see there is only a Dungeon illuminated by the light of ‘Bright Crystal’ which is rather opaque.

There was no sound here and there, only silence, but in that silence there was only one sound that could be heard, the voice came from a large rock and there were two people who seemed to be resting there, it was Jell and Mai.

“Now it's 13th floor, huh?…”

Jell looked at the Dungeon ceiling and sighed. While sitting while leaning against a large rock, Mai was also lying there. No need to ask again, Mai used Jell as a pillow.

“Mai, can you move now .. My legs are tingling.”

“No.”

Accepting Mai's refusal, Jell with narrowed eyes pinched Mai's nose. Mai the “Uwaa uwa” was in pain and shocked looking at Jell with a little tear in the corner of her eye.

Mai's nose is red and she caresses it to relieve the pain. Instantly looked at Jell with an annoyed and angry face.

Jell who got that look immediately turned her face towards a large door leading to the next floor.

Jell and Mai are on the 13th floor. The monsters here were not too different from the ones on the surface earlier, but monsters at this level had more strength.

According to Jell, the monsters that were on the previous floors were weakly ranked, likely D-C level. Very different from here, the monsters here were more troublesome before, it was likely that they had a B level.

The monsters they had fought for the past two floors were some monsters, such as dogs with six legs, horned snakes, three-eyed birds, and legged fish.

All of those monsters were capable of controlling magic and had considerable difficulty. The most troublesome for them are, the three-eyed bird and the six-legged dog.

The three-eyed bird was able to see them from an extreme angle and its flying speed was also fast, but not as fast as Dark Bat. While the six-legged dog, has almost the same speed as a cheetah and he is able to cast fire magic.

But it's still on the 13th floor, and I don't know how far this will end.

***

Walking in the 13th floor dungeon, Jell and Mai decided to go straight to the 14th floor door, and as much as possible avoid the battle. From the overall atmosphere and scenery, the floor below the 10th floor, had a larger size and also many large stones and pillars of stone held high to the ceiling. For monsters like six-legged dogs and three-eyed birds this place does suit them.

The door was already visible and staying past the huge rock that was blocking the way, they jumped up and there was something there. In front was a monster, the monster they had fought earlier, it was a six-legged dog. He was seen just circling in front of the door and there was no one there. Like a watchdog guarding the gate. Jell who was looking at him recalled something on the previous floor. Remembering that, Jell immediately looked back and looked in all directions. Check around while hoping everything is fine, and Mai somehow calms Jell down.

“Jell just calm down, here does not seem to be the same as on the previous floor. I've put some detectors near this place .. If the dogs get close, then it will work immediately and I'll know that. So relax~”

Mai tells Jell of her participation, while putting forward Mai's thumbs up smug smile and the eyes and colors around her become sparkling. Looking at her, Jell could only sigh and pat Mai on the head. Mai who was excited because of the gift that Jell gave became even more excited.

“For which ... I am great, right?~”

“Iya yes... Just be careful if the item does not work, you will get a very heavy penalty, remember it.”

“Fufu... If the item works and saves us, you should kneel before me Jell!”

Jell was instantly silent and did not answer Mai's request. He ignored it with his usual face, and if it was shown to someone, then maybe he would be sad because his efforts were only in grades with ordinary faces by Jell. But since she is Mai, then she is fine. Mai who was upset by her reaction, immediately wanted to yell and nag at him, because she could not get it. Like a thirst for praise, Mai really whines about Jell's behavior towards her.

Yet instantaneously…

“Waugf! Waugf!”

Jell and Mai instantly sidetracked a voice, the voice was right on the rock on their back, it was a group of six-legged dogs. They surrounded each side of the rock and looked at Jell and Mai who were in the carry.

Jell could only be dumbfounded and smiled wryly towards this situation. [..If the dogs get close, then the tool will work immediately and I will know it. So calm~...] In her mind, Mai's words instantly rang in her head, and turned her gaze towards Mai.

Mai who was stared at by Jell was instantly startled and lifted up, feeling the gaze from Jell, she hid her face while her two fingers were in play, she said, show like a child who has made a mistake and by behaving like that he will be forgiven. But Jell wasn't. Jell looked at him with an annoyed face and sweat falling on his face.

The six-legged dog is getting more and more and it has reached 20 tail. They surrounded and surrounded Jell and Mai, the dogs no one came close and just tried to close the exit of the target, and docked each other, the dogs were not close, this resulted in the group of monsters that could not be penetrated anymore.

And immediately in that tense situation, one of the dogs that seemed to be the one barking the first time, immediately raised a howl and in that instant also all the dogs attacked Jell and Mai.

Like a robot that presses the “On” button, all six-legged dogs immediately run towards the two of them.

Jell and Mai panicked and lifted up with pale faces, yet this could not be allowed, Jell said in his mind.

“Mai run! Now!…”

“B-Baikk!”

Jell and Mai immediately ran towards the direction that was not surrounded by the dogs and ran as hard as they could. Precisely it was a sizable stone that was next to the large stone that the leader dog was standing on.

For Mai this was a not-so-dangerous situation, it was because she had a buff skill that could increase her speed. And that skill he could use at any time.

But he decided he wouldn't use it because he knew something more dangerous was going to happen, than the damn dog behind them. It was Jell, Jell did not have the buff skill to increase his speed.

So that he must continue to run as usual without the help of buffs that are not available in his Fighter job. Jell could have used the ‘Slow Watch’ skill that protected Olukoto at the time, but Jell had her own thoughts.

Jell and Mai continued to run towards the uncertain path, and there were definitely some instances where they were just circling around. Because these dogs have no sense, and will certainly continue to chase them even if they just circled around the same rock until the end.

And finally Jell and Mai unconsciously ran towards the 14th floor gate. Running with all their might and the dogs obediently continued to chase after them. These dogs were like chasing them not out of hunger, but they were chasing with a strong killing intent.

However, they were lucky because, there were no distractions on the 14th floor ) at the moment, and they arrived at one vast and sandy place. The area is like a football field, only that place has sand and other places are like ordinary scenery, only stone and earth.

Running on the sand and causing some dust to rise which made the dogs appear to be in pain as the dust got into their eyes. At this moment Jell decided to keep running away from them with all her might. For ordinary people, running from a six-legged dog is definitely impossible, because of their speed is the same as the cheetah.

But Jell and Mai can run away from them because of their abilities far beyond even the shadow of ordinary people. Therefore, running from the six-legged dog was nothing, and they could not catch up with them. It just becomes a clash of resilience.

Continuing to walk on the sand field, instantly the sand in front of them felt different from the previous sand. It felt like this sand had something strange, and Jell had yet to understand what it was.

And instantaneous…

“Kh! This quicksand, the sand has magic and they will suck whatever is around the sand. Mai beware!”

“Understanding!”

With a dazzling momentum, Jell and Mai immediately jumped towards the rear, by passing the rows of dogs that were too fast and resulting in their landing would be safe. Jell and Mai jumped and spun backflip and landed beautifully. Fascinated by Jell and Mai's behavior, the dogs do not look forward and in an instant they are trapped in the quicksand. The sand pulled them in and it was clear to the dogs that they would not survive.

Rebelled and fought back with all their might, but their efforts were futile and in less than 10 minutes, all the dogs were swallowed up by the quicksand. At the same time Jell and Mai looked at them and looked around. There is no more sand around here, there are only a few round places that have sand on it, of course it's mini quicksand.

Jell did not worry about it and they went to look for the 15th floor door.

***

“If totaled ... this will be the 18th gate, yes?”

“Nn~ however .. All the monsters here have started to get me excited and it's fun~!”

With his hands clenched and raised upwards plus a sparkling facial expression, Jell gave an annoyed expression and exhaled at his behavior on the 16th floor before they reached this floor.

Correct ... At that time .. Around yesterday.

...

The 16th floor, here was nothing different from the 14th floor. Lots of suction sand pitches and fewer big rocks what's more stone pillars.

“I know we're in a dungeon .. But, this is great isn't it? I never thought there was a sand field here.”

“Umu~..”

Jell and Mai were currently sitting resting on a boulder there, because of the huge stone steps on this floor, then getting a safe place to rest was extremely difficult. Jell who was looking around with a somewhat blank look, made an impression as if they were in Egypt, and Jell felt dejavu about their time on vacation to that beautiful country.

Mai looked at him and instantly rolled her head over Jell's shoulder, and they began to talk about the memories of time on Earth.

“So dejavu again?”

“Hm?”

Mai looked at him with a sweet smile and turned her gaze towards the scene Jell was looking at

“So remember when we and our family went to Egypt, right? But this cannot describe the country .. AkKHahAAa!!!…, if the big goddamn chest elf hadn't asked us to go to the dungeon, we would have gone on a date from yesterday and seen this kingdom hadn't we?! Damn big chest elf, he thought because of his fatty body it could make us tempted HAH!. Next time I'll hit both mountains, let him know that he can't do anything if he doesn't have it.”

“Haha... Don't mock him like that.”.

“Hah! Jell why are you defending him? Don't tell me you're also a member of that big-breasted cult?”

“NO OIII!!!…”

“Trus? … Don't tell me you turned your back on reality and took another path?"

“Not going, anyway I also feel it might just be a coincidence.”

“Cannot be not.”

“Damn... Just watch out for you big fucking chest elf, if you get close to Jell I'll kill you!!!…”

The sound of Mai's ridiculing screams echoed loudly that made the entire floor able to hear her clearly, her voice that was insulting to Yinn, echoing and it felt very embarrassing.

“Oi, do not shout ... We are hiding tau!”

“What~? even though I shouted “I've gone crazy!”no one is listening, right? … So don't worry, relax-relax..”.

“This person-!”

Jell was annoyed by Mai's behavior that grossly underestimated their condition, and while squeaking with her words. But Jell's worry was granted, after a while Mai shouted, suddenly there was a voice coming towards them, a voice that could be heard very noisy from a distance. Looking at the origin of the voice, Jell stood up and turned her gaze to the behind and what she saw made her shed sweat while smiling wryly.

It was a flying monster with a cross between a three-eyed bird and a Dark Bat, it was a BatBird. They call it that because of their looks. The combination of two types of flying monsters, bird-bodied but bat-skinned but the wings alone are hairy, reduced to smaller than Dark Bat, it has 3 eyes and of course has very large ears, which makes it look different from Dark Bat.

They amount to more than 10, about 14 individuals if calculated origin. They are fluffy but have teeth, they are fast like three-eyed birds, but they are not as agile as Dark Bat which has 4 wings. Moving at a speed beyond which they could fly from a distance towards where Jell and Mai were. 

Jell who saw their arrival instantly turned to look at Mai angrily. Mai who had shrugged her shoulders due to Jell's gaze, instantly turned her face. This time Mai completely dodged Jell's previous gaze. Jell who felt her overflowing emotions, directly held Mai's hand tightly and ran down the stone, and planned to run towards the 17th floor gate.

BatBird still chased them even though Jell and Mai had tried to get rid of them with dust from the sand, but they were more responsible than the two of them expected. Jell who felt the current condition would be difficult if left unchecked, immediately turned around and tried to dispel their movements. Using ‘Fire Stage’ skill to kill some of them.

Jell turned around, Mai was shocked to see him and was speechless frozen in place. Jell ran quickly and his condition has installed skill ‘Fire Stage ’. The BatBird were surprised by Jell's toughness and thought that Jell was underestimating them. Both are in combat-ready condition, Jell with his skill and BatBird with his skill as well. Creating a dazzling and truly courageous scene of sacrifice from Jell.

“Feel this!!!”

“SsYyYaAAhH!!! ”

Jell in a fast time, can kill one of the BatBird and continue the next attack towards the other BatBird. With incredible momentum, Jell could easily kill 3 tails. BatBird is more resilient than imagined, usually Jell is able to kill seven of them. Really troublesome, was what Jell was thinking at the moment. The damage is incredible and can not be avoided from Jell, but BatBird will not be as easy as it was defeated. With their skill, in that momentum also a burst of fire exploded between the BatBird entourage.

The special skill of BatBird is “Explosive”, a skill that uses their fire element to create an explosion from the flapping of their wings. And that's also the reason why these monsters are always in groups and rarely found on their own is, BatBird can't put up a great fight if they're alone. The blast will not hurt the enemy and will not even cause burns, and to cover their shortcomings, BatBird go in groups and do defense and attack with force simultaneously.

“Sial! –”

“Jell!!!”

Jell who was in the middle of the BatBird group, instantly quickly jumped up with momentum to avoid the explosion. However, the time given by BatBird is not much and has an impact on Jell who is running from the explosion.

“Aargh!”

Damage received Jell with a powerful explosion. Jell was thrown towards Mai and was able to stay and stand even though her right hand and right shoulder were burned. Her clothes burned and separated half of her that still covered Jell's body. And if you look at Jell like a fighter or something, with his clothes like that.

Jell sees the impact she's getting and squeaks while cursing because her new outfit is in disrepair by a fucking bird. Seeing his condition, Jell looked at BatBird with a face smiling fearlessly. Wiping the sweat on his forehead and Jell stood up holding his sword. Take the horses and with focus Jell will attack once again and make sure it is the final battle for Jell and BatBird, so did the seemingly spirited BatBird and started gliding from a height to attack Jell with their group.

“For here! ”

(Closing eyes .. empty mind .. the target is a group of flying monsters .. calm down and just focus on this momentum .. the final attack ..)

“Dragon Hell! ”

Jell shouted and used her disposition skill, ‘Dragon Hell’ is a high level skill with difficulty ‘S’. Removing mana throughout the body and creating a blaze of fire, the horses were ready to slash and instantly made a tremendous slash.

In an instant a dragon came out from Jell's sword strike, a dragon with a length of about 5 meters and a large size. A huge flame came from the dragon and from its breath, creating a scene of an immense and majestic fire dragon. The BatBird who saw the oddity seemed undaunted and kept going forward with their strength. Fighting fellow fire elements, creating a scene that for some people will feel that this incident only exists in fairy tales. “Battle of Fire Dragons and Firebirds”, worth mentioning as a legend that came true.

“DdDUUUarRRRrr......!!!!!”

A huge explosion occurred in both attacks, the Fire Dragons snatching the BatBird horde. And BatBird who also snatched the fire Dragon. Caused a tremendous fire explosion and threw down the rocks and suction piles around it. The protruding rocks were flattened and fused with the ground. The impact was also felt by Mai who was there and was a witness to the battle earlier, Mai was blown away due to the shock wave resulting from a large explosion.

The blast and the wave are complete, everything in the case becomes flat and the rocks at the site of the blast are hollow, 5x3 meters large and create hot coal. Separating the cloudy dust, the condition of Jell and BatBird can not be ascertained because of the dust.

“Jelll!”

Mai screamed hysterically and frantically, ran towards Jell and hit the pile of dust that was blocking. Jell could not be seen, and the ground at the scene of the explosion was too hot for his boots, but it was not an obstacle to ensure Jell's safety. The heat boiled in Mai's senses and still she was undaunted even though her movements were a bit slow due to her lack of sight, she could feel Jell's existence in front of her, but it was still difficult to reach her. In difficulty to see the person she loved, Mai was immediately shocked by the sound among the dust, the warm voice and her feelings can be felt by Mai, it was Jell's voice.

“No need to worry .. a-I'm fine ... only.”

Mai smiled widely because of her voice not to force it, and at once the dust disappeared from view simultaneously, in front of her was the shadow of someone standing with a look on her sword. Seeing that person was getting clearer and Mai smiled even wider as her tears welled up she shouted.

“Jell!!!”

Mai ran towards Jell, a hot footing she did not feel because she was so happy she saw Jell. Approaching him, Jell's face was smiling wryly with sweat piling up plus he was also exhausted. Jell who was shocked by Mai's appearance was immediately distracted and with a worried face he told Mai not to go into the hot hole, but Mai did not listen and still ran towards him.

Mai ran while crying and when she met Jell, she directly hugged him. Jell who was confused saw Mai's treatment, just kept quiet and worried about Mai who seemed to be tormented by the heat.

Jell told him to go upstairs first because the temperature inside the hole was very hot. (Additional, Jell and Mai are not too bothered by the heat from the hole, it is because the defense or “Diff” of their Status Plate has shown the maximum level.)

Jumping with all her might, while holding Mai in a position hugging the Princess, Jell and Mai out of the hole 3 meters. The temperature outside the hole was colder, and Jell felt very comfortable here. The reason Jell was holding Mai, was because Mai was unwilling to let go. So in order to move places Jell had to hug her.

Jell who arrived at the top immediately fell down with a sitting position. Mai remained hugging on her chest, and there was no sign she would let go any time soon. Mai firmly grasped the remaining portion of Jell's clothes and covered her face. The exhausted Jell and Mai's condition were like that, making her smile wryly and with her remaining exertion she rubbed Mai's head. Falling down again and supine, and also Mai kept her arms around him without any distress. Jell who felt uneasy asked her condition, and Mai did not answer her a word, giving up Jell let her and while looking at the sky dungeon.

***

It was one of the various troublesome things that Jell and Mai faced on the 16th floor, it was troublesome but she did not care about it. Jell's half-burned clothes were still on, it was because they were not thinking of bringing a change of clothes.

The situation was silent and Mai fell asleep, and of course Jell became a pillow. He fell asleep a moment after he got excited and it was quite strange for Jell. Dungeons were not noisy nor were they too silent, there were several times the sound of wind passing through the dungeon ceiling, and there were also a few sounds of monster roars. It could be said that this was a common thing within dungeons, what else did a dungon mysteriously appear in the middle of this forest. Jell was still lamenting the silence and looking around their place.

“It looks like the next gate is still far.”

Jell pondered while voicing the contents of her head, Mai did not reply because she was asleep. Jell who was tired of talking alone planned to check out some places around them, see if there was anything interesting, or a treasure here. So far, the treasure he had obtained was, a magic crystal weighing around 60 Kg. For ordinary humans to lift such a burden was only a monster, but due to their strength and status that already exceeded that of normal humans, then it could be an exception.

The price of one Kg magic crystal is about 10,000 – 100,000 Rumiah. And it was determined by the quality and amount of pure mana present in the magic crystal. With such a tempting price, it would not be strange if anyone had a magic crystal, then he would hide it and would not show it to someone, until he arrived at the pawnshop. And another reason, his friend is a criminal who is tempted by the price.

“We got this much.., fortunately we brought a special big bag equipped with magic to conquer this dungeon. If we don't buy it, maybe the amount won't be this much.”

Jell who was walking to keep watch, recalled about the magic crystals that were very expensive. And somehow he instantly smiled, “If we sell it, and the quality reaches the highest price .. It is certain we will become a rich man suddenly.” That's what he was thinking about earlier. Jell by calculating the future of the money, remembering the fact that is slightly loved. It was that many magic crystals that they could not take during the trip, it was in that because their bag capacity was already very full and there was no longer any place to add capacity.

“Hah.., very dear. If I had an item that could store items using space magic, I would definitely buy it. But is there a user in this world or are there artifacts that have space magic huh? I don't know much about this world. I wanted to go to the library to add information, but we were too busy with work at guild.”

Jell who was feeling pretentious was busy, she laughed and felt they were the guild's hope. Is his head this time.

Jell did not like greedy or arrogant attitudes, that was why she never showed off something to people while on earth. Even if he did, it was just a joke to add to the excitement. But for now mentioning Jell has those attitudes, it seems that they do.

***

Still monitoring, Jell arrives at a large sand field. It was the same size as the six-legged dog cemetery at that time. Jell walked over carefully to see if there was anything interesting in this sand. Jell held onto the sand and tried to use a bit of her knowledge of magic level measurements in an object.

From the predictions he did, it was confirmed that this sand was magic sand that had the effect of swallowing and reducing mana belonging to the target. “The suction sand in this world is more dangerous than earth.”, while grasping the sand of Jell comparing this world with his old world.

Reducing where the target belongs, it is indeed very dangerous. In this world not only energy or stamina is needed, “Mana” is one of them. Mana is the source of power and energy of a person. Not only humans, but all races, monsters, and also beasts had mana. And if there is a condition when it runs out, then it is in sure the strength of the person decreases by 50%. Therefore, if you drown in this quicksand then the chances of survival are only 10% - 1% only.

In Jell's devotional examining how dangerous quicksand is, it is instantly destroyed quickly. He felt a strong pressure from behind him, and upon turning his head there was nothing there. The pressure is from a large animal or monster, which has a power that is even more dangerous than the BatBird horde. Standing up and making sure what he felt earlier made him a little creepy, that kind of thing Jell could not miss because it would have an impact on their journey later.

Still didn't find anything Jell decided to leave the field. And once again went around to patrol.

***

“Ahh~, Where have you been? Mouh~ You know I worry about you loh~”

“Hm? Ah .. sorry, I'm out traveling to check out a little bit of the neighborhood.”

Jell comfortably patrolled and returned where they rested. There Mai was seen standing while looking over here and there, it seemed like she was looking for Jell.

After Jell told her everything she did earlier Mai immediately commented which made Jell a little surprised.

“Ehh..., If it's true that you met the creature, isn't he a resident creature in this sand?”

“Sand dwellers?”

“Yes! An example might be a giant worm.”

“Giant worm, huh? And if that's true, we must quickly find the 20th gate quickly so as not to face him.”

“Nn~!”

Mai nodded with Jell's opinion, and Jell confirmed that. They must find a way to the 20th gate if they do not want to face monsters that can live inside the quicksand that can also suck mana.

***