Chapter 44: Great Gruen Volcano

The faint sunlight that marked the beginning of a new day splashed through the glass windows of the inn's rooms.

The chirping of birds and the noisy group of people eating lunch in the inn's dining room echoed, unsettling some who were still asleep.

Oblivious to the noises, Shizuku left her personal room and went to the room across the hall.

Her body was still a little stiff and sore from all the training she had these ten long and hellish days; days when Yue didn't know the word «Mercy» during the training session.

But one thing was for sure; Shizuku could already notice the changes in her body. And if she looked at the parameters recorded on her «status plate», she would realize that she had progressed on a grand scale as far as statistics were concerned.

Although Yue had not taught Shizuku for so long, in those few days of torturing her disciple, she did her best and made sure to push her to the limit so that one day Shizuku could break that bar that limited her.

Shizuku's mentality to gain more strength and find her lost friend in this world was the main source of motivation for her to advance so much in such a short time.

However, unbeknownst to her, a small seed of staying together with Nader, Yue, Tio, and Yuki had awakened in her heart. So the other motivation to gain strength was them, who were strong... too scary for someone like her.

'But... She can't find a way to explain better? What does 'go boom and kaboom' mean?'. Shizuku grumbled in her mind.

Although Yue was an excellent teacher capable of making Shizuku raise her instincts, as well as, capable of making her raise her reactions to magical attacks to a whole different level, she was a lousy teacher when it came to explaining magical workings.

As the good teacher that Yue was, she had accepted Shizuku's request to teach her magic with her head held high. However, Yue explained things so poorly that Shizuku's brain cells burned out within minutes of the class start.

Nader seemed to understand her completely, though...

'Couple of weirdos...'. Pushing aside the thought that it was unfortunate she couldn't learn magic, she arrived in front of the door.

Just as she was about to knock on the door, the handle moved and with a creak, the door opened revealing the disheveled figure of a woman.

"..."

"..."

The two girls looked at each other for a few seconds with neutral expressions...

"Y-you! Who are you and what are you doing in Nader's room?!". Shizuku was startled and pointed her fingers at the woman in front of her.

"Mmm... Shizuku-nya. Are you that desperate to get your morning training?". Rubbing her eyes lazily with her delicate hands, Yue looked at Shizuku with a sleepy face.

"Y-Yue-san, is it really you?!". Shizuku's dazed eyes widened, and she looked Yue up and down.

Shizuku couldn't help but ask that question, after all, the woman in front of her was very different from the little friend she knew; the only similar parts were the golden hair, her crimson eyes, and finally her stoic expression that only melted when she was next to Nader.

But the main reason he could recognize her was because of Yue's characteristic voice.

"Fufu~ It's better you know...".

Hearing Shizuku's question, and as if by magic, Yue's laziness disappeared, and she bulged her two huge breasts as if she wanted to show them off proudly.

"...". Shizuku was speechless at the turn of events.

Her head was spinning in an attempt to find the missing pieces to put together and consequently get an answer to what could have happened to make Yue mature overnight.

It wasn't possible, was it? Since they were in a magical world...

"Oh, Shizuku. You can start packing all your things, as we will soon resume our journey to conquer the labyrinths".

As soon as Nader left the room, he exhibited a smile and greeted Shizuku as he fixed Yue's disheveled hair; a consequence of the sinful acts last night.

"O-oh, actually, my luggage is nothing but my sword." Nader's voice brought Shizuku out of her thoughts.

Although Shizuku was still quite embarrassed by what Nader said yesterday morning; something she couldn't get out of her mind, she still did her best to hide her blush in front of him and tried to act as normal as possible so that no one would notice.

However, to Yue's sharp eyes, Shizuku's little actions and new behavior with Nader did not go unnoticed at all.

But, instead of getting jealous, she sketched a small smile.

During these few times they trained together, Yue understood Shizuku better and knew that she really cared about them as much as she liked being with them.

That being said, Yue wouldn't mind Shizuku getting some well-deserved affection from Nader.

"Hey, what's with that look?" Shizuku said innocently as she looked at her friend's kind smile.

*squeal!

The three pairs of eyes turned towards the sound of the door opening.

From the next room, out stepped a beautiful woman dressed in her usual black kimono with floral decorations that perfectly hugged her voluptuous figure. She looked at everyone and gave them a friendly smile before a surprised expression painted her face.

"Hoho~ So little Yue has grown up? I'm so proud of you." Like a grandmother who has seen her granddaughter overcome life's turbulence, Tio joined in the conversation.

Yue simply snorted at the dragoness and found it more interesting to watch little Yuki who was still sleeping pleasantly on top of Nader's head, undeterred by the outside noise.

"ZzzzzzZzzzz…"

***

"You want us to defeat these monsters, Nader?" Tio cocked her head, a little confused as to why they stopped at this spot.

"This is the first time I've seen such damn big worms." Shizuku couldn't help but be surprised again as she looked at the scene below.

"... Didn't you say you wouldn't be surprised anymore after learning about the existence of a lizard with wings?" Yue had returned to her Loli form and was currently floating near Nader.

"..."

"Hey! Are you still remorseful about what I said? And leave my noble race out of this." Tio's voluptuous and graceful figure jerked at Yue's comment and instantly groaned.

Shizuku tried to hold back her laughter, however, the corners of her twitching lips gave her away, causing her to earn a glare from the two girls in the group.

As the group of girls joked with each other and ignored the huge desert worms roaring toward them, Nader looked over to where a mountain stood.

It had been a few minutes since they had left the inn.

And at that moment they were floating above the «Desert Gruen», where strong winds capable of uprooting a tree were scattering the sands everywhere. The only reason they were unaffected by the grueling heat and raging sandstorms was that a wind barrier erected by Yue surrounded the group.

In front of them, a few kilometers away, was a huge mountain.

It appeared to be about five kilometers in diameter at its base, as for its height, which looked like a dome shape possessed about three kilometers.

Said mountain that Nader was looking at that moment was the group's destination; one of the Seven Great Mazes known as the «Great Gruen Volcano».

However, Nader had sensed something strange inside the mountain... so Nader urged them to stay and observe.

Nader's heterochromatic eyes glowed and in the next instant, it seemed as if the mountain's mantle was pierced by the simple yet sharp gaze capable of revealing all that it contained and existed within its vast interior.

'Mmm... It's about to erupt. From what I've read in history books and according to Noint's memory fragments, this mountain had never shown signs of eruption before.'

Nader plunged into his thoughts. The only possibility he could find for there to be a sudden change in the mountain naturally was that someone had interrupted before they arrived.

He withdrew his gaze from the mountain and looked away.

Miles away, he could make out silhouettes flying at full speed in opposition to their current positions.

'Hm? Is it one of the demons of this world? To tell the truth, the physical structure of these so-called demons is more akin to that of the dark elves.'

He saw a tall, robust man in metal armor posing on top of a huge white dragon and surrounded by dragons similar to the previous one.

If it wasn't for the fact that Nader was quite powerful, he probably wouldn't even notice that the demon was fleeing to where the demons' territory possibly was.

Just as Nader intended to intervene with the fleeing demon...

*Booooom! *Booooom!

Huge explosions rumbled in the skies.

The shockwaves caused by the huge explosion generated a torrent of wind waves that swept across the sands of the base.

The blanket of smoke that covered much of the sky from the strong wind, instead of dispersing them, only swirled them into a gigantic mushroom shape.

Next, the yellowish and reddish colors of the flames were spat out by the huge mouth of the mountain.

Even Nader and his group, who were a few miles away from where the huge erupting mountain was located, could feel the suffocating air given off by the crackling lava.

"Oh, wow. Apparently, that guy has successfully cleared the dungeon and found a method to destroy the dungeon in his path." Nader pieced together what he put through, and his muttering was engulfed by the loud explosions accompanied by the tremors.

It didn't seem to matter to him that the dungeon had been shattered.

If he himself were in that demon's position and had enemies in this world who at any moment and with any opportunity that presented itself could become more powerful, he would also have taken the same action. After all, acting cautiously against enemies that could endanger one's life or the lives of one's loved ones did not mean being a coward.

"Nader... What now?, our destination is burning, so I'm afraid we'll have to find another maze unless we call the fire department." Shizuku commented as the volcano fire glowed in her expressionless eyes.

"..."

"..."

Though both Yue and Tio kept quiet, in their thoughts they agreed with her.

After a brief silence as if considering something, Nader shook his head and slowly pointed his finger forward, "No need."

Before the curious eyes of the girls who were fixed on him, wondering what he was going to do, time seemed to stagnate for a few seconds and the overall picture seemed to fail, producing a «Glitch» like effect.

Huge amounts of energy poured out of Nader's body and enveloped the huge mountain in its entirety.

And for the first time in a long time, Nader's face seemed to lose all blood, leaving him as pale as a ghost.

"Nader!" shouted Yue and Shizuku and, to the surprise of the boy in question, even Tio showed a worried expression as they approached him.

"It's nothing, I just abruptly depleted my energy reserve." Nader shook his head with a sincere smile and to prove his point, soon his face returned to normal.

However, he continued to throw an absurd amount of his energy toward the destroyed mountain.

The girls sighed in relief and turned their attention back to what was happening.

The atmosphere was trembling. A weight that could overwhelm anyone came off, surprising the girls, especially Tio, who until recently thought Nader wasn't that strong.

However, the surprise still awaited them...

"Stand back!".

Silence reigned for a few seconds and then a great change began; from small sands blown by the raging wind to huge volcanic eruptions, they seemed to rewind in time.

Accompanied by the «Glitch» effect, every single matter, both living and non-living that was within a radius of no less than ten kilometers receded until a few seconds later, the whole scene was as if nothing had happened.

"...".

After a few seconds of silence, Tio's normally calm and smiling expression collapsed to one of disbelief, and she looked at Nader, who was breathing heavily for a few seconds.

"What kind of magic is that?! Being able to go back in time... I've never heard of anyone being able to perform this feat."

"... Nader doesn't use magic." Yue puffed out her small chest with pride, as if what Nader had done was her accomplishment.

"Oh." The girls let out a sound of astonishment.

[You have learned the active skill «Rewind».]