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A little further ahead was the next room. The enemy there was called a Flesh Eater, a C-Rank magic beast similar to a carnivorous plant with tentacle vines. In fact, the flowers blooming on it were red, even though they were supposed to be blue. It was probably a subspecies, too.

“Do you want to try defeating it? It’s a C-Rank subspecies, though.” I asked Mika if she thought she could bring it down.
“Well, I’ll give it a try. I’m getting a bit more serious than with the previous ones,” she said, readied her bow and shot 10 arrows. She also utilized skills again. However, while the opponent was on the verge of death, it hadn’t been defeated. “Eh~, can’t you collapse already? One more, then.”

Mika fired a single arrow, causing the Flesh Eater to expire. Three C-Rank magic cores emerged from it. I collected everything from the magic beast in an instant.

“You’re so fast at collecting. I can’t even follow you with my eyes,” my beloved girlfriend told me.

We moved on. Apparently, this dungeon didn’t block the way we came from, even if we progressed further.

What a generous design.

The enemy in the next room was called a Rose Snake¹, a B-Rank magic beast. As its name suggested, it was a snake with a rose the size of a rafflesia² blooming on its head, and its trunk was covered in thorns.

Huh? Should I have used something different than a rafflesia as comparison?

Anyway, its head was about the same size as that enormous rose. The torso’s size corresponded to the head, making it quite big. Furthermore, usually, the rose should have been of a deep crimson color, like my hair, but this one was bright red.

What was it called again, the Rose of Versailles³, I think?

“This time, please leave it to me, Mika.”
“Yeah, I will.”

I entered a state where my surroundings seemed to “slow down”.

It’s a bit chuuni-ish⁴, but let’s call it the “Zone” from now on.

When I activated the Zone, the snake’s and Mika’s movements became quite slow… No, it looked to me as if they had stopped completely.

As I am now, I can do whatever I want to Mika, but I won’t! …It’s the truth, you know.

I took out the Painful Sword and slashed four times at the snake. That was probably overkill, but I did so for caution’s sake. Then I released the Zone. The Rose Snake collapsed with a thud.

“…What was that, just now?” Mika asked.
“I chopped it into about 4 pieces.” I replied.

Mika only reacted with a shrug. I collected the snake’s two magic cores and its materials. At this point, I noticed something. The next room after this one would likely be the boss stage. There was a huge gate in front of me. I had been distracted by the Rose Snake and never noticed it.

Eh, is it already over? That’s boring.

“Is that the end already?” Mika also wondered.

How dull. Isn’t there anything else?

Thinking that, I tried to survey my surroundings.

…

Found it. There’s a strange place.

Only the floor appeared man-made in this dungeon, while the walls and ceiling looked like those of an ordinary cave, but there was a small gap⁵ in the right-side wall of this room, shining purple. On a closer look, I found several purple-colored bricks under the glowing spot.

Huh, that kinda looks like a hidden path.

I relayed as much to Mika, who was about to head back.

“Oh, awesome! You’re right! Let’s try going in there!” she exclaimed.

We stood in front of the spot and tried to peek into the gap. The way seemed to continue past it. I struck the wall, causing it to collapse. A road made from purple-colored bricks spread out in front of our eyes. Out of caution, I pulled out the Magic Absorption Sword and filled it with 1000 MP, just in case.

“Mika, stay on guard.”
“Yeah.”

We moved on, finally arriving at another room. At that moment, a message flowed into my head.

This place is totally like a video game!

Incidentally, there was currently a turtle in front of us. Moreover, a miniature forest was growing on top of its shell.

This was a Forest Turtle, an S-Rank magic beast. However, this individual was likely what was commonly referred to as a deteriorated specimen. They were deteriorated variants of magic beasts, with their strength, size and dropped magic cores inferior to those of ordinary specimens. Nevertheless, they had the strength of magic beasts, or even subspecies, of the preceding rank. Materials from them might or might not be inferior, but judging from its appearance, this one’s materials didn’t seem to be inferior.

Well, you can’t get as many parts as you would from a true Forest Turtle.

The message in my head continued.

TL notes:
I honestly like this dungeons forest/wood and flowers motif and how it reflects in the enemies. This, of course, also extends to the boss, who we won’t meet for a few more chapters.

1. The original is ローズドスネーク (roozudo suneeku). Technically, it would be “Rosed Snake”. I guess the author wanted to use rose like an adjective, describing the snake being partway transformed into a rose, but that doesn’t really work well in English.
2. Often used as monsters in video games, but the flower exists in reality, too. It’s also known as the “stinking corpse lily”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafflesia
3. The original is ベルサイユの薔薇. This seems to refer to a manga series. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rose_of_Versailles
4. The original expression is 中二病/厨二病 (lit. “second middle school year disease”). It is often translated as “8th grader’s syndrome”, though the Japanese pronunciation “chuunibyou” has become pretty well known, too. Another possible translation would be “Edgelord”, though I think it doesn’t have exactly the same meaning. I used an abbreviation of the Japanese here.
5. The original is スキマ (sukima) which might either be “skimmer” or a shortened version of スキマティク (“schematic”). Neither of those fit for describing a gap (which context tells us it is), so it might be a typo.