Labyrinth Renovation – 011 | Sousaku – 創作

Episode 11: Countdown!　Boom!

Since it was unclear how destructive the explosion would be, we piled sandbags in the area that resembled a staircase landing.
By the way, the sandbags were filled with soil from the gardening section.
I don't know how effective it would be, but it might be worth doing.
If the explosion flames go through the door and cause a fire in the Hardware Store, it would be a real disaster.
The door is made of metal, and it looks pretty sturdy, so I'm sure it'll be fine……
I checked the clock on my phone. Six hours have passed since all preparations were completed.
Still no sound of an explosion.
An unintended explosion caused by static electricity or spontaneous combustion of the gasoline does not appear to have occurred yet.
Or rather, since I don't know what's going on on the other side, I will be quite stuck if it doesn't work out. A room filled only with flammable gases that have not exploded is too dangerous.

(……But, well, the die has been cast.)

It is more than 100 meters by stairs from this floor to the dragon room, and the stairs are diagonally up, so it is not directly below.
If there was a strong impact from an explosion, it would probably be fine. I think it will all be okay.
Well, if it doesn't work, then so be it.

"Uhh～, how much longer? Are you sure it's okay……? It's the Dragon King variant, you know? It's a Red Dragon, you know? I don't see how a liquid like that could be enough to take him down……"
"Don't worry, if we could at least weaken him, we could use your sword to finish him off……"

I'm starting to feel a bit uneasy too. In fact, can that thing defeat a dragon, one of the most powerful species among the inhabitants of a fantasy world? Although you won't know unless you try…… If only the Hardware Store sold large, heavy machinery…… An excavator, with some kind of pile bunker attached to it, would have been a fairly effective weapon.
……Well, an excavator can't go up the stairs in any case due to the limited space.

Then we waited for the explosion, even praying...... or rather, actually praying at that shrine from earlier.

Beep, beep, beep―― the timer in my phone went off.
This signaled that only 5 minutes remained.

"……It's about time. If this is a dud, I'm going to cry."
"Uhh～～～～! Lucnuvius-sama, Great Spirit-sama, I beg you! May it succeed! May it succeed! "

Fiona has long given in to the pressure and has already taken to the forbidden thing.

"Shall we count down, then? One minute left! "
"30 seconds! "
" "10! 9! 8! 7! 6! 5! 4! 3! 2! 1! Zero! " "

I counted together with Fiona. Loudly, as if to make the anxiety disappear.
Then, a little after zero――

Zuzun――
A distant, heavy sound.

"Was is…… a success…………? "
"Yeah…… Maybe? "

There were several sporadic occurrences of the same sound after that, but then it stopped.
What arrived was a distant, muffled sound, but the fact that the sound was generated suggests that some phenomenon must have occurred in no small degree.
Considering that this is a dungeon and the area is underground, the explosion should have been of a fair size…… I think.

"――Is the door okay? Does it seem like there's no danger of the ceiling collapsing either? "
"Mm-hmm. More importantly…… Did we beat him?"
"What was it? How did you call it? Labyrinth acclimatization? When you defeat something don't you get something like experience points and a 『Level Up! 』 right? "
"Something like that…… You won't really notice it right away, you know? You can tell when you wake up after a night's sleep, though. But if you beat a dragon, you might notice it immediately. But there's nothing."

So if we haven't noticed anything does it mean we didn’t beat him?
No, maybe it's just because we were not eligible for the experience gained from defeating him with such a remote and lame attack in the first place.
Let's keep a positive attitude.

"Shall I go take a look……? "
"Ah, no, not yet. On the other side, it will probably still be hell for a while. Don't ever open the door, okay? "
"Hmm, for how long? "
"Let's wait here for at least ten more days. This place seems to get oxygen from somewhere for some reason, but the other side of the door probably has zero oxygen right now. If you open the door, all the air in this room might get sucked in, and the backdraft could set the room on fire. We need to leave it alone until things settle down."
"I don't know what all that is, but I get it."
"Good."

The fact that oxygen seems to be supplied from somewhere despite the closed space is a mystery, to begin with, but let's just accept that it's a feature of this other world.
Otherwise, someday, even the oxygen concentration at this level will drop to the point where people will die.

The same thing applies to that snoring…… Ahem, to that 'breathing' dragon as he slept.
Even if he survived the shock of the explosion and the combustion caused by the gasoline, how long could he survive with an oxygen level close to zero?

That was my real intention in this operation.