Emily, Celeste, and I entered the Seren dungeon.

'Mmm,'

　I groaned as soon as I stepped in.
　You could say the air was stale.
　The air is ten times worse than that sticky air that sticks to your skin during the rainy season, or maybe even a hundred times worse.
　The air is stifling, it's hard to move, and it makes you want to run away from the place.

What's so unpleasant about dungeons?
No, it's not, or at least it wasn't like this here yesterday.
'This is the air of a dungeon when there are no monsters at all,'

　Emily replied with a straight face.

'This is the kind of air I get when the Dungeon Master is out.
Do you know?
'I've seen it happen a few times in Tellurium. I didn't understand it at first, so I ran away when the defeatist told me to.
Well, you did live in a dungeon, at the time.

　I look around, convinced.
　The air is heavy, but also.

'I don't see any monsters at all, is this also because of the dungeon master?
'Yes, sir, and as long as it's out, there won't be any other monsters.
We've got to take it down fast.

　Dungeon-master or not, the lack of monsters in this world is deadly.
　This is a world where everything, from all kinds of goods, to water and air, are dropped from monsters in dungeons.
　No monsters would mean that the primary industry would stop completely.


''Dungeon masters can move freely through all the tiers of ......, I think.
'Yes, I'm stuck in the dungeon, along with all the other monsters, but only the Dungeon Master is free to move between levels.
So we have to find him.

　I nodded to the two of them and walked away.
　We headed to the back of the dungeon, still in a combat stance.

　The first basement floor, there was nothing.
　The second basement floor was likewise empty.
　Then I stepped into the third basement floor.

''--!　I am.
Yes, sir.
It's choking me. ......

　Emily and Celeste both looked like they were having a hard time.
　That's no wonder, because as soon as they entered the third basement floor, they felt an intense pressure that they had never felt before.
　It's a strong, intimidating feeling that made me say that the one before was just a child's trick.

　I grabbed my gun back, nodded to the two of them, and moved on.
　They appeared from the other side.

　A black horse that seemed to be asserting its evilness, a huge body with two horns on top of its head.

''This is the dungeon master?
Bicorn ...... otherwise known as 'The Defiler of Innocence'
Bicorn... or whatever it is, let's do it.
Yes!
Yes, sir!

　First, Emily jumped out of the way.
　She carried a hammer on her petite 130-centimeter body and pounced on it, twirling it around in the air before shaking it off.

　The hammer hit the bicorn's head - and it was stopped just above the two horns, I thought.

'Emily!'

　The bicorn flicks off the hammer and tries to poke Emily's body with its horn.
　He fired a barrage of bullets to stop the movement, and Emily jumped back with the recoil of the hammer.

　She kicked the ground and dashed into it.
　With a familiar hand, she instantly refilled all the bullets with tracking rounds, thrusting her hands out horizontally and firing in rapid succession from side to side.

　Bicorn was puzzled for a moment.
　The dozen or so bullets scattered to the left and right were sucked into the bicorn in an arcing trajectory, like homing missiles.
　At the same time, they were fleshed out and kicked off.
　The tracked bullets collectively landed on one of the horns where the tracked bullets landed collectively, launching a reloaded fusion penetrating bullet into the corner.

　Ga.

'Doesn't work?　Is it a barrier or something?
There was no response at all.

　In Emily's case and mine, the attack on the bicorn's horn felt like it was being repelled by something invisible.

Let's just keep attacking. Celeste, cover me.
Okay.

　Celeste at the back of the line nodded and increased her magic power.
　She spread out her magic circle and unleashed her magic after a chant.

　Level 3 great magic, flames engulf the bicorn as it fills the cave.

　I don't think this is enough to defeat it, I and Emily jumped into the swirling flames.
　The bicorn wasn't down, it was onslaught against it.
　Emily slams her hammer down, and I fire bullets into her, while she fires bullets into the air.

"Yikes!
Emily!

　I quickly shot a recovery round at Emily, who was hit by a counterattack.
　She was gouged in the air by a corner, but when she landed, she was already healed.

'Thank you.'
Don't do anything rash.
Yes, sir!
'Never mind Celeste, just keep firing your magic!　You can't make a half-hearted attack on this thing!
Okay!

　The third wave of attacks.
　We took on the bicorn with everything we had.

　It was a gradual process, but it was manageable.
　There was some kind of invisible barrier around the bicorn, but after a certain amount of attacks, it would gradually weaken and the attacks would be more responsive.
　If you take a breath and attack again, the barrier will return to normal.

　Perhaps it's the type of barrier that can be broken by a saturation attack.

　If that's the case, if you push it all at once--

"...... ah.

　Out of the corner of my eye, I see Celeste lying on the ground.
　I ran over and shot a recovery bullet while holding her up.
　For most injuries, one shot is enough, but for overuse of magic, a few shots are not enough to recover.
　While holding her, I press the muzzle of my gun against her and fire a series of recovery shots.

"I'm sorry I'm dragging my feet ......
Don't worry about it. The last thing you want is to fall down on your ass.
What?
You don't have to hold on until you fall-- mmm.

　Emily was struggling because she took off to help Celeste.
　She grabs her gun back and gets Celeste back on her feet and back in the line of fire.
　I run up to Emily, who has been blown up against the wall.

'Are you okay, Emily?'
Something is wrong.
Is that funny?
That one.

　Emily pointed at the bicorn's feet.
　A strange magic circle spread out from the black horse's four legs.
　The magic circle spread out and took up most of the cave, as if it had been put out when.

''When did you put that thing out?''
I don't know. ......
What's wrong with .......

　Emily put her hand on the wall to get up, but there was a Nowboard where she had been.
　The effort she put into getting her body up activated the Nowboard.
　The status displayed there was.

---1/2---
Level: 22/40
HP C (-2)
MP F (-2)
Force C (-2)
Strength E (-2)
Intelligence F(-2)
Spirit F(-2)
Speed F (-2)
Dexterous F (-2)
Luck F(-2)
--------- ...

　His abilities had dropped across the board.
　Other than Emily's outstandingly high HP and strength, they had dropped to almost the lowest point in Emily's life.

'He who defiles purity ......'
-Oh!

　I huff at Emily's murmur.
　I see, this is the power of the bicorn, the power of this magic circle.

　A dungeon master with a debuff that lowers the power of the humans inside the magic circle.

''Is Yoda-san okay?''
Celeste.
Yeah!

　While Celeste is stranded in the inferno, I check my abilities on the Now board.

---1/2---
Level: 1/1
HP S
MP F(-2)
Power S
Strength F(-2)
Intelligence F(-2)
Spirit F(-2)
Speed C(-2)
Dexterous F(-2)
Luck F (-2)
--------- ...

　The ability to get up to S was unaffected, probably because S is just me (、、、、) and I'm far from the providence of this world.
　At the same time, the speed A, which I didn't raise to S, was firmly lowered by the bicorn.

　I'm down, but I can still fight.

"Emily, I'll take the front. Emily, I'm in front, you follow me.
Yes, sir.
Celeste--

　Calling out to them, I fire the recovery rounds early.

'Take cover, don't do anything rash.
Yeah.

　After saying that to the two of them, I jumped at the bicorn that came out of the flames.
　Perhaps because I began to be aware of the magic circle, I could vividly feel my body slowing down.

　The turnaround of the attacks became slower and it took a lot of time to reload the bullets.
　The attacks themselves were no longer hitting me, making it more of a struggle than it was earlier.

　Still, the power, the power hasn't gone down.
　It's still at S, so if I hit it, if I hit it and hit it all at once, I can defeat it.
　I thought so, but I couldn't see a way out of it.

　The battle became bogged down.

　　　　　☆ (side Celeste)

　There had never been anyone like that around Celeste before.
　No one had ever spoken to her like that, in fact, they often said the opposite.

　Don't fall down, do what you have to do.

　Worse, she once told me to tell me when I was going to be sick first, or to fall down after I got out of a busy period.

　I never thought that was wrong until now.
　Partly because my magic is unbalanced and flawed, and partly because of the fact that I'm involved in everyone's lives, which is garbage disposal.
　I've always thought that I shouldn't fall down, that I should do my best.

　But the man in front of me was different; he told me I didn't have to try my best.
　He even told me that if I tried too hard and fell down, it would be hard for me.

　I've never heard a man say that to me before, it struck me and I was strongly attracted to him.

I want to do my best for him ...... him.

　It's a contradiction, but an honest feeling.
　I want to push the envelope for the first man to tell me I don't have to work hard.

Power.

　Celeste exerted herself to the limit.

'All of me,'

　A magic circle of light pushed back the bicorn's magic circle.

　　　　　☆

Mr. Yoda!

　Just when I was beginning to think that I was going to be left in a bit of a bind - Emily shouted with great force.
　When I turned around to see what was going on, I saw Celeste, far behind me, chanting magic.

　Her appearance was unusual - her long, beautiful hair was on fire (...).

'Celeste!'
I'm coming!

　The moment Celeste said it, the magic burst forth.
　He quickly jumped back, distancing himself from the bicorn.
　The bicorn was engulfed in a swirling fireball, which was engulfed in flames.

　The magic circle on the ground faded at a tremendous rate.
　Celeste almost fell down with a wobbly .......

''Celeste!''
Mr. Yoda!

　Emily screams again, and something comes at me with great force.
　I quickly catch it - Emily's hammer.

　She throws it at me, and Celeste runs at it.

Emily runs to Celeste.

　You grit your teeth and suck in a breath.
　Gripping the hammer tighter than I expected, I plunge into the still burning bicorn and swing the hammer down.

　With the force of the S, I slam Emily's hammer down.

　From the tip of the hammer, I could feel the response of smashing the barrier into a thin layer of skin.

　Eventually, the flames went out and the black horse's body shattered into pieces.
　Only two horns were left behind.

　　　　　☆

　I come to Celeste, who is lying on the floor.
　She's being cared for by Emily, and she's terribly debilitated.
　The same as when I met her, but far more debilitated than that.

　The karma flames that burned through the bicorn, the magic beyond the limit - I could easily imagine it.

　I put the gun to her and shoot the recovery rounds like a syringe.

　One, two, three rounds .......
　Even though the magazine was empty, she still hadn't recovered, and after another set of shots, she finally recovered.
　It just goes to show how reckless I was.

　There are many things I want to say, but I held it together.

'Thank you Celeste, thanks to you I was able to take that guy down.
Will I help you?
Of course, I'm glad you're here.

　Celeste's eyes widened and tears spilled out of her eyes as they did.

'Dude, what's going on?'
That's the first time anyone's ever said that to me: ......
Yeah?

　I panicked a little bit, because I didn't think she was going to cry.
　I had to do something. I had to get her to stop.

　And then I panicked, and then I remembered something I'd picked up earlier.

"Oh, yeah, I wanted you to have this.
...... What's this?
What the bicorn left behind ...... would be a drop product.

　I held out the two horns of the bicorn I picked up earlier.
　It's two sizes smaller than the original, about the size of my finger.

"Is this ...... for me?
Yeah.
Oh, I've got two, and I'll give one to Emily.
No, that's two in one. And I think you deserve it more than you do.
Me?
Take it, so we can see.
......?

　Celeste takes the bicorn horn from my hand with a fox-pulled expression on her face and fearsomely takes it from my hand.

　The moment she takes it in her hand, her eyes widen in surprise.

'You understand--why are you crying again!

　I was in a panic as Celeste, holding the bicorn horn, was even more ragged and tearful than before.

　The bicorn horn, the bicorn horn.
　The ability is one that allows you to use level 1 magic unlimitedly just by having it.
　I gave it to Celeste, who can only use it at level 3, just in time for her to follow up on her daily routine, but for some reason, she cried terribly.

　Emily gently hugged Celeste like that.
　Celeste clung to Emily and sobbed.

　It looked like that, a big kid and a little mother.

　Really, what was wrong with her?

'Celeste. Mr. Yoda is in trouble, and I need to make sure I express my feelings right now.
Yes. ......

　Celeste looked up, wiped her tears with the back of her hand, and looked at me.
　And...

"Thank you.

　And he said it slowly, quietly, clearly.
　He said it to me.

　I'm blown away, thank you?
　So....

Yes, that's right. I'm crying tears of joy.
Oh, no, don't tell me!　Don't say that!

　Celeste tried to cover Emily's mouth in a big hurry - or even if she did after saying it.

　But yeah.
　If that's what you mean, I chuckled.

　There was a bit of a hiccup at the end, but I got to see a different side of Celeste.
　The defeat of the dungeon master was also a success.