Chapter 439 – Cursed Beast

So I loosened up a bit.

This thing was still very hostile, but not attacking.

If that was so, then maybe we could talk.

Perhaps it knew how much magic I could unleash.

Even so, I had to be ready to strike hard and fast.

This thing was probably going to attack me no matter what, and so our first real battle would begin.

I walked out to it, feeling Shiggy in my pouch.

She was asleep, so I wanted to get this over with in a way that wouldn’t wake her up.

I stopped about 20 paces in front of the beast…which was huge.

It was smaller than Timi as a dragon or the other duchesses, but the size of a great dragon.

The whole beast looked like it was covered in metal, however, when I looked closely, it was more like metal plates of armor.

「This is why both didn’t know what this was.」

At this close, the beast could see that I knew what it was made of. It knew that something that had magic inside but was covered in metal armor was an oddity. But it was a small difference. Unless you got to 20 paces away, you couldn’t see the difference.

It had probably spent much of its life armored in these plates.

「What are you doing here?」

「I will kill all you.」

「You think so? Are you cursed?」

「…….」

The beast shut its mouth. Even so, the fear and power it put out seemed to fade.

You could tell it wasn’t so hostile.

「If you’re cursed so you can’t converse, you don’t have to say anything. You can just listen to me for a bit if you wish.」

「……」

The beast just stayed silent. You could tell it was even less hostile.

Maybe the silence itself was a sign of this.

「Are those plates of armor part of that curse?」

「…」

「Is the person that cursed you that undead demon sealed in the depths of the dungeon?」

「…no…」

「So the person that created this dungeon was the one?」

「…」

「Hm. So as the protector of this place, you were cursed and shut in here…」

「…」

「Well, there’s a holy woman here that can release you from it.」

「….impossible…」

The beast’s words didn’t say anything about the curse…

Even so, you could tell the beast felt anguished by the curse.

Just speaking about the curse seemed to hurt the beast.

If we spoke more about it, even with a huge beast like this, it might die from the pain. It seemed the force stopping it was that strong.

「Why impossible? No, no answer needed. I wouldn’t want you to suffer or die.」

「…」

The beast was about to say something, but gave up.

It was clear that it was impossible for the beast to speak directly about the curse.

Some hell of a curse.

Seems the creator of this dungeon seemed like the type to cover every angle.

「If we were to try to release you from the spell, you’d die?」

「…」

The silence was an affirmation.

「Well, then just relax.」

「…you need to GO…」

Seems that it didn’t trust me.

But it was more obedient as it just stared at me.

The hostility from the beginning, however, was completely gone.

「Yureena! Come here… The cur…」

「I know. I heard everything.」

I didn’t speak so loudly to her, but our words seemed to echo through the cavern.

「Okay, please.」

Yureena approached the beast closely, and then stopped three paces ahead of it.

「Do you think you can release it?」

「Well, well…this is some difficult curse.」

「Difficult?」

「Of course it is.」

「So can you do something about it?」

「Sure, Alra. Take care of me, right?」

「Yeah.」

It was a very difficult curse, even for Yureena. Something like this would take a lot of time.

While this happened, I couldn’t rely on her for help with a battle.

And I would have to protect her if something happened.

「Of course, I was going to from the start.」

「Sure, I’ll leave that to you.」

As we spoke, Cruz came up to us.

Chel was riding on her shoulder.

「That’s a curse. I can feel really bad vibes from it.」

『Yeah…』

Since Chel was with her, I decided to ask,

「Are you able to unlock curses, Chel?」

『No.』

「I see.」

Chel was able to cure the curse in my knee, which was hit by that damn immortal killer arrow.

Chel was able to do that because it was cursed under the power of the death god, which Chel now had the power of.

I guess anything outside of that power was unreachable to Chel.

「Well, Cruz. Since you’re here, help protect Yureena.」

「Got it!」

We had Vi-Vi and Belda guarding, with Timi and Luka left.

And then Femm and Moofy, so I guess we’d be okay.

No real need to send Cruz back…she could stay here with me.

「Yureena, take off the curse. Cruz and I will defend you.」

『Alllra, alllllllra』

「Hm?」

『I can do a little』

Chel said, bouncing up and down on Cruz’ shoulder.