The Hidden Dungeon Only I Can Enter

Chapter 74: The Thief and the Phoenix

We were surprised to find out that it was Amr-san who fell off the roof. Layla-san rushed over to tend to him as he groaned in pain. He seemed to have taken substantial damage. His tattered clothes were rather strange; like it was burned rather than ripped.
Phan shouldn’t have any fire type skill.

「Be… careful… of her… summoned beast… uughh.」

His head slumped, like he ran out of strength, and stopped moving. Layla-san checked for his pulse and breathing.

「He’s okay. He’s just unconscious. Let’s let him rest here.」

She laid him down on the side and carried me like before. With one huge leap, we made it back to the rooftop. We already expected to see Phan but there was another unfamiliar opponent there. It was a bird shrouded in flames—a phoenix. It resembled a falcon with a body length of about a meter. What’s peculiar was its wings which were covered in flames. It must be a summoned beast. The first thing I did was check if there was anything unusual with Emma or if the cheetah already escaped. I was relieved to see they were still there.

「If you think we’ll just let you take Emma without a fight, think again.」

I glared at her slightly and she opened her mouth and burst into laughter.

「You can’t beat me. It’s simply impossible. Just back away. Then you won’t have to die.」

「Emma is my precious childhood friend. I’d rather die than abandon her.」

「My, my. You’ve got quite the spunk, kid. You’ll have to take her back by force, then.」

That was my intention from the start. I had about 4,000 LP at the moment, but not enough to destroy Phan’s【Summoning】skill. However, I had a lightning skill which she was weak against. I have a chance of winning. Let’s check the summoned beast’s skill.

Name: Phoenix
Level: 50
Skills: Flame Wings Flying Flaming Feathers

It wasn’t that high-levelled, but I had no idea if its skill would cause serious issues.

「Look out, Noir-kun! They’re going for you!」

「Whoa!」

Phan shot【Water Bullet】at me and I quickly jumped to the side. The elliptical-shaped water droplets shot passed where my face was a moment ago. I would surely shut my eyes if I got hit on the face and closing your eyes for a few seconds in the middle of a fight was extremely dangerous.

This is bad. I barely dodged her attack and was lying down when the Phoenix used its skill on me. With a flap of its wings, a number of feathers wrapped in flames came flying at me. I can’t move properly in this position. Though they were my enemies, I couldn’t help but be almost impressed at their combo.

「Haaaaa!」

But we had better combo. Layla-san struck all of them down with her high-speed punches.

「Nice one, Layla-san!」

「They’re barely even hot. That bird’s easy game.」

「I’m glad I have you to count on.」

I keep getting my butt saved by her. Together, I felt like we couldn’t lose and I could feel my energy welling up so I fired【Stone Bullets】at the Phoenix. As expected, they didn’t hit. It seemed like they wanted to end the fight soon— as they both came charging at us. With my hatchet, I deflected Phan’s dagger.

Come on! What’s wrong? You can’t save you precious childhood friend like this!

The difference between our weapons’ reach didn’t matter under her aggressive barrage of attacks. I suppose that was to be expected from someone with rank A Dagger skill.
I’m gonna get pushed back at this rate. While swinging the hatchet with my other hand, I used my free hand to strike【Purple Lightning】at her. Its range was short—only three meters— but more than enough in close combat.

「Ha… You!」

I missed, unfortunately, but her face stiffened as soon as she was my skill.

「You can use lightning type skills, huh? Damn it.」

「It was plain as day with my Appraisal that you’re scared of lightning.」

「You’re pissing me off! But—!」

She took on an air of composure, as if saying “you attacks don’t matter if you don’t hit me”. As a matter of fact, I was in a bit of a pickle since I couldn’t hit her. She moved nimbly, plus she seemed to guess what I was going to do by looking at my eyes.

「I got it. You can’t hit me from here, can you?」

「…Great job.」

She hit the mark. She stayed more than three meters away from me.

「Ahaha. Your friend seems to be having trouble as well.」

She was talking about Layla-san and the Phoenix. Her opponent kept firing flaming feathers at her from high above and she was struggling. She could dodge them easily but every time she leaped to counterattack, the Phoenix would fly even higher.

She didn’t fare well against flying type. I wanted us to switch opponents, but they wouldn’t let us. I’m sure they’re aware of our fighting styles by now.

「Layla-san, don’t jump. Just focus on dodging those feathers.」

「Got it.」

I can’t grant the Phoenix a skill if it’s too high up. And the skill I’m gonna give it is【Weight + 30kgs】. Thirty kilos is quite heavy. It wasn’t exactly a large bird so my guess was adding this much weight would be a grave issue to the bird. The LP required was only about 1000 so I granted it without hesitation.

「…..!」

The Phoenix flying steadily in the air suddenly flapped its wings desperately and started falling.

「What?! What are you doing, Phoenix?!」

「You can’t blame him. Anyone would lose his balance if his weight increased drastically all of a sudden.」

I ignored Phan who didn’t quite comprehend what happened, and I gave the cue to Layla-san.

「Now’s your chance.」

「You’re not getting away!」

The Phoenix was falling, and in contrast, Layla-san was soaring up. With a powerful uppercut, the Phoenix’s body burst like in some sort of an explosion.

「That girl’s a monster…」

Even Phan was shocked by Layla-san’s Magic Fists. I could see her lips twitching. I secretly shot【Stone Bullets】at her feet.

「Hm?!」

Aw, I was so close. But now that I made her lose her balance, it was my chance. With my hand outstretched, I moved closer to her.

「Just let yourself get shocked already.」

「I told you. I see through your skill’s limits.」

She took a huge step back, away from the range of my【Purple Lightning】. A sound countermeasure— that is, if I was going to use【Purple Lightning】. What I had, however, was something I created by using【Magic Fusion】to combine【Water Ball】and【Purple Lightning】. Therefore, it could be fired to a distance. Phan’s eyes grew wide, not expecting the attack to have such a range. Still, she barely managed to dodge— no, I grazed her.

「Uuhhh.. aaaaah…」

Her face was a mess as she screamed in anguish. It had this much effect with only a graze. If I actually hit her, she’d go down in one attack.

「Haa… screw you. When I was a kid, a lightning struck… shit… the memories from back then…」

「Then how about you rest for a bit?」

Layla-san struck her on the back, and her face looked terrible, as it became twisted from pain and fear.

「W-Wait a sec!」

「Sorry about this.」

Phan yelped as she was hit by a very powerful body blow. Her body warped incredibly, drool dripping from her mouth. Yeah, there’s no way she can withstand that.

Wait, this is not the time to be distracted by Phan’s contorted face. I scampered and picked up her dagger. The cheetah turned and was about to escape. I threw the dagger, aiming at the thigh of its hind leg. I hit the mark, not even a centimeter off— mostly because I hit him at the exact moment he was completely still, just before it took off. The cheetah collapsed on the roof. I do have【Throwing C】you know. Emma fell off its back and rolled over on the roof. I scurried to her, catching her, and held her in my arms.

「Hmmm… Noir…」

Her eyes were still closed. I felt happy my name came up in her sleep.
She didn’t have any external injuries so I thought it’d be best to let her sleep some more. I gently brought her down the roof. Layla-san tied the unconscious Phan tightly with a rope. It was too tight, in fact, that I doubted she would be able to escape.

I laid Emma down next to Amr-san who was still out cold before discussing our next move.