Introverted Archer 17

Test

17. Rational Lockdown!

When I called her name, she snorted through her nose.

"You know about me, huh? But seriously, move your hand already!"

Hand...? Come to think of it, I've been holding onto something soft for a while now...?

"...!?"

Looking towards my own hand, I realized I was holding onto her chest.

"S-Sorry!"

"Well, whatever. More importantly, what are you going to do? The Golden Slime got away!"

Golden Slime? Oh, right, the slime from earlier.

"It's just a golden slime, right? It's not that big of a deal..."

"You don't get it! Golden Slimes are rare monsters! Defeating them grants an immense amount of experience points!"

Is that so!?

I see. She collided with me while chasing after the Golden Slime.

"Hey, Eimu-kun!"

Hina called my name. I want to respond, but unfortunately, Mirai seems to be getting worked up.

"Take responsibility! I need to become stronger quickly!"

"Even if you say that, it already escaped... Oh, how about I'm using <Observer> to find it?"

"What's that?! A detection skill? I wouldn't have any trouble finding it with that!"

"Hey, Eimu-kun! There's a wall!"

Huh? A wall?

Finally moving my gaze to Hina, there, a wall had appeared.

The dungeon's wall was forming...? The place that was a path until just now was gradually turning into a wall.

When considering the path and ceiling as four sides, walls were growing from each side. What used to be a path now looked like a hole in the wall, and only Hina's upper body was visible.

"What!? Why is there suddenly a wall!"

"Uh-oh, the terrain has changed!"

Mirai hurriedly got up and tried to widen the hole with her hand. However, the hole gradually shrank and eventually closed completely.

"This is the worst! We can't go back to the exit!"

I also stood up and touched the wall that wasn't there a moment ago, undoubtedly the dungeon wall. It doesn't seem breakable.

Come to think of it, the dungeon's terrain changes every time we come. Maybe the terrain change just happened now?

"...Does that mean we can never go back?"

"No way! If time passes, a path to the exit might open up. Besides, maybe we can find another way out now that this wall appeared here."

Mirai looked around and immediately started walking through another route.

"You, are you a student? Don't leave my side. It's troublesome if you get injured."

"Isn't your way of talking different from when you were broadcasting? And, my real name is Mirei. Call me that in private."

Mirei, formerly Mirai, checked left and right at the fork and turned right.

"That way is a dead end."

"How do you know? Is it because of your detection skill? That joke isn't funny."

"I really know. If you turn right there, it will straighten for a while and then turn left, leading to a dead end. You can try if you want."

Looking at how I spoke, Mirei stared at me with suspicion.

"Who are you? If it's a skill, I think it goes beyond the realm of a student. Are you really not a student?"

"I'm a student. I couldn't do this kind of thing until a month ago... Also, my name is Eimu."

"Alright, Eimu. I'll trust you, so guide me. But if you lied, I won't let you off easily!"

She's quite rough. Well, it's better than not being trusted at all.

If things were ordinary, I would be enjoying dungeon conquest with Hina right now. But it feels heavy...

Sighing, I continued walking through the dungeon, searching for the way to the exit.

After a short walk, I sensed the presence of monsters ahead.

"Wait a moment, there's a monster."

I readied my bow as usual and set an arrow.

"What are you doing? It's useless to prepare from there."

"There's a point to it. See, like this."

I shot the arrow, and with the [Sure Hit] effect, it curved around the corner and hit the monster.

"This is my blessing. Now, let's go."

"Hmm, for a student, you seem a bit skilled."

We continued through the dungeon from there, searching for the route leading to the exit.

However...

"This one's also a dead end. Are they all like this?"

"Wait a moment! You've been going back and forth since earlier!"

"I'm doing that because going there would be pointless."

But this is a bit problematic.

I tried all the routes, but none led to the exit. In other words, we can't go back to the current exit.

Even if time passes, it's uncertain when a route to the exit will open.

"No good. We can't do anything about it."

"So basically... we're trapped!?"

I looked at Mirei's expression with a smiling face and nodded deeply.