The elevator doors opened, revealing a corridor.
I was at the front of the formation. Mirees was in the middle. Jushii brought up the rear.
Mirees wore a white coat over a white jacket and a black skirt.
At her waist, a black pouch and a self-defense knife. Hoh. Nice gear.
And a small metal rod. She held an elemental Relic — water.
"Hmm. There are some."
This floor had a few red dots scattered here and there.
I equipped my elixir-coated knife.
Spear-type weapons are unwieldy in narrow corridors and enclosed spaces. Whatever was here was probably zombies.
Sure enough, two zombies came from the front. I cut them down quickly.
The zombies were purified.
"That's — that's an amazing weapon."
"It's a special make, optimized for undead."
The only drawback — and the biggest one — was that coating it with elixir made it lose its edge.
Working my way through, I took down about four zombies and turned a corner normally, only to find the path ahead had collapsed.
"Whoa..."
"Um, Wof. It's collapsed."
The ceiling had come down, and the rubble completely blocked the way.
"Th-there's no getting through... Wh-why did you just... b- bark?"
"Woof?"
Well, this is a problem. Guess we have no choice but to take a detour.
We had no choice but to head in the opposite direction. Along the way, we were attacked by a zombie, but we took it down without any trouble.
We went down a set of stairs, walked along, and climbed another set. Then, around the corner ahead—everything had collapsed.
This place too, huh? I could see the floor above perfectly well.
"U-whoa..."
"Um, Wof. It's collapsed."
"W-w-we, we c-can't get through... W-why did you j-just bark?"
"Woof?"
Well, this is rough. There's no path forward.
I need to do something about this rubble... Oh, there's a gap right here.
"This looks like it might fit."
I crouched down and tried squeezing through, and it worked.
I got through. It meant going on all fours, but it worked.
Next, Miles crouched down and tried crawling through on all fours... and got stuck.
"Wh-what?!"
What got stuck was, um... her rear end.
Miles's rear was thoroughly caught on a piece of the rubble.
Or rather, wedged right in.
She apparently was the type who looked slimmer than she actually was, but that little trick didn't work on rubble.
"Oh, oh oh oh, it's terrible. Sir Wof, what should we do?"
Juicy was panicking, whining and whimpering. Calm down, calm down.
"Hmm. Milace."
"Y-yes. Um, um, I, I-I-I'm... Wh-what should I...?"
I just pushed.
"I-I-I-I-I-T HUUUURTS!!"
Then I tried pulling.
"M-my, my chest, my butt, it hurts, i-i-it huuurts!!"
This isn't working, huh.
"Hmmm..."
"Oh oh, woof. Sir Wof, let me try!"
"H-hey, why'd you bark just now...?"
"Wof?"
"Ow ow ow, ow ow owowow!?"
Juicy pushed and pulled with considerably more force. No, she was shaking her.
Milace let out a small scream, and there was a ripping sound.
"Oh."
With that momentum, she popped out toward my side, and at the same time her white coat tore spectacularly.
"Oh, oh, I'm so sorry!"
Juicy seemed to have realized it too. She offered her apology.
"N-n-no no no, f-for h-helping me, th-thank you very much."
Mires bowed toward the rubble—no, toward Juicy.
And then, looking vaguely embarrassed, she took off her sparking white coat.
Her skirt dropped right off.
"Hm?"
"Wh—wha—---!?"
Her surprisingly healthy lower body and panties were on full display.
"White."
The word slipped out before I could stop myself. They were white lace panties.
"Wha—ah—wha—wh-wh-wh-whaaa—kyaa!"
Mires tripped on a piece of rubble and her body started to tilt. I caught her in a flash.
I grabbed her left arm and wrapped my other hand around her right waist.
"Are you okay?"
"H-hyah—y-yes. Th-thank y-you v-very m-much..."
Mires's cheeks were flushed red. Clumsy moments are embarrassing, huh. I totally get it.
And she was in just her underwear, which made it even more humiliating.
Still, for someone so mousy, she's got a surprisingly good figure.
"Um, um, um—Lord Wof? Mires? Is everything okay?"
From the other side of the rubble, Juicy looked worried.
"Mires just almost tripped. Can you make it through, Juicy?"
She might get her chest and butt stuck too.
For a moment, I thought that if it were Mineha, she'd definitely get stuck.
"Um, um, Lord Wof. Mires, please step back."
"Juicy, what are you doing?"
We moved back as told.
"Um um, here I go! Devastating Exploding Abdominal Evisceration Crushing Tearing Punch!!!"
After shouting something ridiculous, the debris crumbled with a loud crash.
The path was clear now. Juicy was smiling and crushing a piece of rubble in one hand.
"Um um, let's go!"
"R-Right."
"R-Right."
"Um um, Mires, what about your skirt?"
"A-Ah, wh-wh-wh-what?! I forgot, wh-wh-what, wh-wh-what-do-I-do?!"
"Just wrap this around your waist for now."
I took off my jacket and handed it to her.
Mires took it and tied it around her waist. It was better than nothing.
At the very end of the passage ahead, there was the head researcher's room.
A nameplate was attached.
'Runierica Eldorado'
I had expected as much.
Of course, it was locked, but I erased it with Banish. And then I noticed.
The door to the room I'd rested in earlier.
Wouldn't using Banish have worked back then?
"......"
"Um, woof. Wof-sama?"
"W-why did you just bark?"
"Woof?"
"Ah, no, it's nothing."
I entered the room.
It was a simply built room with simple furnishings.
Everything was white, and there was only a desk, a bed, a closet, and a small shelf.
It didn't really feel like a woman's room.
But at the same time, it didn't feel like a research chamber either.
"Um, Wof-sama, is there a treasure in here?"
"There should be..."
"It, it looks like a pretty normal room, though..."
"Yeah, it does..."
It was probably pointless, but I used the Wheel of Fortune.
Then a blue light came from inside the desk drawer.
Wh-why? It hadn't reacted at all until now. And now, of all times... plus it was a blue light.
I opened the desk drawer. It wasn't locked.
Inside the drawer, there was a single small wooden box.
I picked up the box and opened it. Inside was a silver pocket watch. And a card.
Happy birthday. From your daughter... huh.
The blue light had come from this pocket watch.
I thought about it for a moment, then closed the lid and tucked the box into my pouch.
"Um, Wof. Is that treasure?"
"I-It doesn't really... look like... treasure..."
"It's treasure. Someone has to pass it on."
I didn't know if it meant anything. But I did it anyway.
'———Emergency code initiated———Emergency code initiated———'
It rang out without warning.
"Wh-wh-what?"
"What is it?"
"Wof?"
'———All personnel, evacuate immediately―――Repeat. All personnel, evacuate immediately. Confidential information can no longer be secured in this facility, and it will self-destruct in one hour.'
"Huh?"
Huh?
"S-S-Self-destruct?"
"W-Wof!? What's going on!?"
"What's going on?"
"Emergency code issued—emergency code issued—all personnel evacuate immediately—repeating. Repeating, all personnel evacuate immediately. Confidential information maintenance at this facility has been deemed impossible, and this facility will—in one hour—bzzzt—twenty minutes from now—krrk-krrk-krrk-krrk—ten minutes from now—krrk-krrk-krrk-bzzt-bzzt—five minutes from now—krrk-krrk-bzzt-bzzt—self-destruct in one minute. Countdown start. Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven."
"W-Wait!?"
"Wh-what, what, what?"
"Wof?"
What the hell is this!? What the hell is this!? A bug? Give me a break!
Escape quickly… No good. I won't make it in time—wait, that!
I pulled the forced teleportation stone from my pouch.
"Six. Five. Four. Three. Two."
I slammed it against the floor and shattered it.
The moment the stone broke, it gave off a pale green teleportation light, and our figures vanished.
"One. Zero. Ze—"
Something flared with an apocalyptic burst of light.
When I opened my eyes, we were on the first floor of the dungeon.
Juishi and Mires.
And Agaro. Nashises. Sweed and Dokkasu.
Sweed was grabbing Agaro by the collar and screaming at him.
For once, it looked like Agaro had done something.
Nashises yawned, and when she saw me, she pulled a warped white-and-purple knife from her coat and handed it to me. Dagaa. Still weak. I took it and thanked her.
"Come to think of it, I wonder what the treasure even was."
I gave a wry smile at Nashises's muttering.
After resting a bit, we all headed to the guild to file our report.
Along the way, we bought some change of clothes for Miiles and I got my jacket back.
At the guild, the guild master Alance handled our case.
The three survivors and Agaro explained the circumstances in detail.
At the mention of the Death Abstract, Alance's face went pale.
Then Agaro told him about that alert.
After defeating the Lich on the lowest floor and destroying the event generation device, we'd found a room.
That room was filled with devices and several zombies.
During the fight, when we accidentally destroyed a few of the devices, that alert went off.
So that's how it happened.
But that's totally the kind of thing Nashises would pull.
Alance held his head in his hands.
He had no idea how far the explosion would spread.
The destructive power was enough to wipe out an entire city, he figured.
They immediately decided to dispatch an investigation team to the 44th floor.
As punishment, Agaro was made to join them.
Once the report was over, we received our reward. 200,000 oro. I deposited it right away.
On top of that, I was also supposed to receive a separate payment from Agaro.
When I got home, the fatigue must have really caught up with me — I collapsed onto my bed and fell asleep.
And so, the second adventure of the makeshift party came to an end.
Now for the epilogue.
The next day.
The witch's house, second floor. Mounieka's room.