Kai glanced at Irelia lying there, then looked toward the shooter.
Violet had passed out after using her skill, while the others were still safe.
"S-So that's it? It's over?" Kai was still a bit dazed and looked back at Irelia.
She was sleeping soundly, as if the battle just now had absolutely nothing to do with her.
"Pipi!" Pandora let out a sound. Kai finally calmed down and handed both weapons to Pandora.
Pandora stuffed them into her mouth and vanished just like that. Her tentacles shrank back and moved up to his hair.
"Ugh… My eye itches so bad…" Kai clutched his left eye. Blood was flowing more and more. He stood there quietly for a moment until the light in his left eye gradually faded and returned to normal.
After that, Kai hoisted Irelia onto his back and walked over to Violet to get some answers.
"…Don't come near me." Lily covered her eyes and backed away from Kai.
"?"
"K-Kai! Y-You're…! You didn't have to show off all your abs and your ripped body to m-m-me like that!" Kanna stammered, covering her eyes with both hands—but one hand was clearly peeking through the fingers.
"???"
"Um, Kai? Can you help me? I can't move my head." Aura said. Hearing that, Kai slung Aura over his shoulder too.
"Oh wow, you're way healthier now. Totally different from when I first met you."
"Alright, if you guys want to compliment my body, save it for later. Right now I want to ask Violet what the hell she just did." Kai said. This time the whole group fell silent.
Kai noticed the three of them weren't reacting and found it weird.
"…Why is everyone so quiet? Violet's right here, isn't she?"
Lily scratched her head at that and glanced at the unconscious girl.
"You mean this girl? You know her?"
"…Huh?"
Kai blinked, looked at Lily suspiciously, then turned to Kanna.
"S-Sorry… I don't know her either. Violet is a name I'm hearing for the first time."
"…Wait, you guys are serious?"
Then he looked at Aura.
"Kai, don't look at me like that. I have no idea who she is either."
…No fucking way? Could this be a side effect of an S-rank skill?
You've got to be kidding me? One use and it makes everyone completely forget her? Like Kamen Rider Zeronos? (Wait, who's Zeronos again?)
Seeing the situation spiraling way beyond imagination, he decided to just hoist Violet up too, making Aura grumble a little because now Violet was lying on her back.
"Lily, go check if the others are okay?"
"They're all fine except Baron. He's having really bad diarrhea."
"When did you check on them?"
Kai looked at Reito, who was also unconscious, while Abaric and Vakoth were groaning faintly.
Especially Baron—he looked way sicker, and quite a bit of his hair had fallen out. Poor guy.
"Can everyone stand up? Let's get out of here quick and report to the Adventurers' Guild. This damn place has no reward yet dares to call itself a dungeon, plus it's got a whole lab setup and crap. Just seal this place off already." Kai complained. Pandora on his head nodded in agreement.
"…" Abaric looked at Irelia with a raised eyebrow.
"What?"
"She… changed. Doesn't look anything like the person we were just fighting."
"Look at her eyes again, she's still Irelia! It's just… her body matches her actual age now!"
"The fuck you mean 'matches her age'?"
"Ugh, my armor's completely wrecked, weapons totally unusable, I almost died… I wonder if the advance payment she gave is enough…" Vakoth scratched his head.
"…Wait, you said she paid in advance?"
"Yeah. If not, I wouldn't have helped her. She paid pretty generously."
So unfair, damn it!
Kai then took off his glove and handed it back to Baron.
"…did you delete all the curses already?"
"Yeah."
"Next time pick a different curse. The diarrhea curse is seriously brutal…"
"Is that so—"
Before he could finish, Kai's leg suddenly felt funny.
Oh, leg cramp.
…
OH FU—
"KYAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" Kai collapsed, causing all three girls to fall with him.
"?!?" The whole group jolted and stared at Kai.
"PIPI?!?"
"OH SHIT OH SHIT OH SHIT OH SHIT, MEDIC! HELP ME HELP ME! PLEASE! OH MY GOD!!"
Lily blinked, staring at his calf twitching wildly.
It was just a leg cramp. Yeah, it hurts, but… dude? You got blasted into the sky and smashed around without complaining, yet a leg cramp makes you scream louder than a girl??
"Ugh… My face…" Aura mumbled while her butt was sticking up, face planted on the floor.
"Doctor! Please save him!!" Kanna was panicking hard. It was her first time seeing Kai act like this, so she treated it as life-or-death and started grabbing Lily's leg.
"It's just… leg cramp. It's not that serious…"
"Ummm, guys? Why does this place suddenly look like… you know? Collapsing?" Baron said, pointing upward.
"THIS SHIT IS THE WORST LEG CRAMP I EVER FELT! HOLY FUCK!!!!" Kai clutched his leg, rolling around. Pandora was crying and clinging to him.
"Huh… I think I should ask the Adventurers' Guild to review quests more seriously next time, and investigate everyone's background properly to prevent cases like Irelia and YOU, Vakoth."
"I needed the money."
"Guys… The dungeon is collapsing… We should get out…"
"Doctor!! Kai looks like he's about to die! His face is terrible!! I don't want… Wait, if I die together with him, that would be kinda romantic, right?"
"PIPI?!" Pandora panicked at Kanna's words.
"He's not gonna fucking die." Lily said, clearly annoyed.
"Something just fell on my head, it hurts." Aura's voice came even though her face was still smooshed against the floor.
"…guys"
And then the dungeon collapsed for some goddamn reason.
The end!
…
…
"…That's a familiar ceiling."
Kai opened his eyes, and those were his first words.
Of course it's familiar—it's the hospital, his favorite place that he always ends up visiting even though he has self-regeneration.
Kai sat up and noticed his left eye was bandaged. Then he looked around.
And saw Alice staring at him with a… hard-to-describe expression.
"Kai, how many times has this been?"
"…3?"
"Wow, three times already? Three hospital visits! What an achievement to celebrate! So what did you do this time?"
"…Well, went to a B-rank dungeon?"
"Mhm, and?"
"Alice, look, I went because I needed money, and I'm still not dead."
"Oh, sounds great. I just have one question."
Alice looked at him with deadly seriousness.
"Why are you the one with the lightest injuries? Just curious."
"…"
Kai looked around.
Aura was reading a book while her leg was bandaged—it seemed broken.
Abaric and Vakoth were wrapped head to toe, barely able to move.
Kanna looked truly pitiful, her face a bit bruised, arm bandaged because it was broken.
Violet and Irelia somehow looked perfectly fine for some reason. Ridiculous.
Reito and Baron… Holy hell, both were on ventilators, heart monitors beeping nonstop.
"…Well, we ran into a monster with a 20-meter-long dick. It seemed to prefer targeting guys' asses over girls, and we fought very bravely. I was hiding behind them, so I got hurt the least."
"Oh wow, you're pushing all the credit onto them so they get praised? How noble~"
"Isn't that right?"
And yeah… that's how the B-rank dungeon arc ended…