A Mad Dog Needs a Leash (3)

When Daisy opened her eyes, she found herself in strangely low spirits. She had no idea how much time had passed. All she knew was the chirping of insects in the grass and the crackle of a freshly stoked fire.

"You're awake?"

"Yes."

The potion had evidently done its work—her body felt noticeably lighter. She pushed herself up with effort and leaned her back against the cave wall. Ezra then lifted the combat ration he'd been simmering over the fire and handed it to her.

And with that motion, his entire upper body came into full view.

He had given her both his outer coat and his shirt, so he was bare from the waist up. The bonfire was small, and its flickering light only made his muscles stand out more—thick, solid, and sculpted to a perfect size and shape.

How to put it—a statue carved by a master, perhaps.

"Careful, it's hot. I'd rather not have to add another line to your medical certificate..."

It wasn't the first time she'd seen a man's bare torso, but she had never seen one quite this beautiful, and before she knew it, she was staring, utterly transfixed.

"Don't stare quite so blatantly."

"Ugh."

At that one barbed remark, Daisy came to her senses and tore her eyes away.

"Besides, you're wearing all my clothes, so you can look anytime you like. Hurry up and eat."

Flustered, she fumbled for a bowl and utensils and began her meal. As always, combat rations tasted like exactly what they were, but hunger made them go down easily enough.

Ezra, eating the same food, spoke up.

"It looks like we fell to the very bottom floor of this dungeon. Probably... you see."

That explains it. If they'd dropped only a floor or two, there was no way she'd have been injured this badly.

Daisy deliberated for a moment, then decided to look on the bright side.

"Well, that's convenient. Since we came down in one go, we might get to meet the dungeon master right away."

At her words, the Grand Duke laughed as though she'd said something utterly absurd.

"You're suggesting the two of us charge in right now?"

Daisy only gave him an exasperated look in return.

"You were planning to take it on alone anyway, weren't you? Whether the person guarding your back is one or ten, I doubt it makes any difference to you."

At her blunt observation, the Grand Duke opened his mouth, then closed it again. It was, in fact, the truth.

The gap between B-Rank and A-Rank monsters was far more staggering than people imagined. He knew that difference in power better than anyone—he had felt it with his own body. If he lost, it would mean humanity had no hope at all.

Which was exactly why he couldn't forgive himself for falling for that petty, childish poison just now. He had resistance to most venoms, but he'd let his guard down recently, his mental reserves drained from using his magic. Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined anyone would stoop to such a pathetic trick in the middle of resolving something this critical.

When he saw the Grand Duke's expression darken, Daisy cleared her throat—ahem—deliberately drawing his attention.

"Let's sleep for now and set out tomorrow, shall we? I think I can manage to move. I brewed that potion myself, so I trust its potency. A break like this will knit right back together in no time."

"I'd say it's better to rest a few more days and leave once the bone has fully healed."

"The sooner we clear this dungeon and get out, the better. Wouldn't you agree?"

She had a point.

It was astonishing she was even breathing, given how far she'd fallen.

He had administered emergency treatment, but there were things that still needed a proper examination by a physician or a healer. Waiting for a rescue team to reach this place would take a very long time—no, there was a real possibility a rescue team would never make it down here at all.

Well, imagine that. Someone actually exists who can save my life.

Feeling something indescribable, Ezra shot her a sideways glance and then nodded.

"Then we leave tomorrow morning."

By the time Daisy woke the next morning, Ezra was already up. At the sight of him still bare-chested, she quickly dropped her gaze and thrust his clothes at him.

"Take your clothes back."

"They were mine to begin with."

"That's why I'm telling you to take them."

Even in a situation like this, he wanted to trade quips. Honestly, was something wrong with his head?

When her expression soured, Ezra shrugged and accepted the clothes. As his firm muscles disappeared beneath the jacket, Daisy caught herself feeling faintly disappointed.

If I painted that and sold it, I could make an absolute fortune.

"Let's get moving."

And if it were only a painting, that relentlessly running mouth of his wouldn't be a problem at all.

Lost in a tangle of thoughts, Daisy followed behind the Grand Duke.

He drew a small compass from his coat. It was easy to lose your way inside a dungeon, so anyone attempting a conquest carried one as a matter of course—a compass that pointed toward the dungeon master, the core of the dungeon's magic.

Thanks to it, the two of them made slow but steady progress toward the chamber where the dungeon's master dwelt.

The road there was anything but lonely. The Grand Duke, apparently bursting with curiosity, peppered Daisy with question after question without pause.

At first she ignored him, but his questions came gushing like water from a broken dam, and in the end she had no choice but to answer. They were all such trivial things, too—had anyone else asked them, in any other circumstances, she'd have assumed the man was deluding himself into thinking she liked him.

"You're still so young. Why on earth would you volunteer for something this dangerous? Ludgar isn't the kind of man to act without reason. He would have pulled you out if you'd asked."

Why? Because of you, obviously.

"Were you hoping to make some grand achievement or other? Trust me, it's nothing special."

That remark actually carried a grain of credibility—because no one had made greater achievements than the Grand Duke himself.

After all this back-and-forth, Daisy came to realize that Ezra was a far more anxious man than she'd assumed. For someone who possessed strength greater than anyone alive, he was, in truth, quite the coward.

You really do have to see a person with your own eyes.

Thinking that made conversation with the Grand Duke considerably easier.

All the while, the two of them wound their way along the twisting paths. Since Daisy's leg hadn't fully knit, she stopped to rest at intervals, so it took them quite a while to reach the master's chamber.

Over those long days of travel, the Grand Duke never once ran out of words—his remarks were sharp, and sometimes so absurd they wrung laughter out of her despite everything.

At last, standing before the door of this dungeon's master, the Grand Duke turned back to Daisy.

"Wait here."

"You dragged me all the way here just to leave me behind? As you so kindly pointed out, Your Grace, I'm here to claim my share of the credit."

At her curt tone, the Grand Duke arched an eyebrow.

"Fine. Stand outside, and we'll call it a joint victory either way."

Daisy shook her head. This was finally the end of this interminable regression. She wanted to witness with her own eyes that final moment—the Grand Duke driving his blade through the dungeon master.

She lifted her chin and looked up at Ezra. Caught slightly off guard, he averted his eyes.

"I'm coming with you. Call me part of the vanguard."

"If you start crying in there because you're scared, I'm throwing you out."

With his grumbling voice in her ears, the two of them stepped inside.

And there, they came face to face with the mastermind behind everything—the dungeon's master.

From the waist up, it wore the form of a beautiful woman. Below that, something nightmarish hung instead of a body. A massive, tail-like mass of organic matter, fused from every manner of thing imaginable. Fragments of living creatures were scattered through it here and there—and among them, things that had unmistakably once belonged to human beings.

A cold shudder ran through Daisy's whole body at the mere sight of it. She turned her head toward Ezra.

The man who had been grinning and joking until this very moment stood staring straight ahead, his face frozen in an expression unlike his usual self.

But she could see his eyes glittering with a feverish light. The blue of his irises began to deepen with gold, and in what felt like the space of a breath, they had turned entirely yellow.

His mouth, pressed into a hard, flat line, began slowly to curve upward, drawing a soft arc.

He drew his sword from his subspace.

In an instant, a golden aura—twin to the yellow now blazing in his eyes—coiled up along the white blade.

Without a single word, Ezra shot forward.

Daisy shuddered at the spectacle unfolding before her. Sword in hand, the Grand Duke toyed with the A-Rank monster—the dungeon's master—as if it were a plaything.

Each time his blade moved, another chunk of that colossal body crumbled into nothing. His movements were elegant and dazzling, like a dance.

Before long, the dungeon master let out a final, dying shriek and collapsed to the floor.

The Grand Duke had taken a few wounds, but compared to the master—most of its massive body already gone—he was hardly touched.

Having witnessed his staggering prowess with her own eyes, Daisy found herself doubting it after all. Could this man truly have been killed, entangled in some ridiculous scheme?

He was human too, in the end. Perhaps he'd simply let his guard down and been outplayed.

Now it was a question that would never be answered.

At last, the Grand Duke severed the dungeon master's head. With a hideous scream, the colossal body crumbled away into nothing.

It's over.

Finally! This cursed, endless regression is over!

Tears spilled down Daisy's cheeks, swept along by the emotion surging up inside her. Dozens of regressions—all those deaths, all that agony—were finally at an end.

Ezra, having slain the dungeon master and cut the core free from its remains, turned and approached her.

"It's all finished, so let's head ba—no, wait. Why are you crying?"

He looked down at her, utterly baffled.

"If it scared you that badly, you should've just stayed outsi—huh..."

The Grand Duke's body abruptly went rigid mid-sentence. The voice that had never once stopped—except in the heat of battle—fell silent, and from his parted lips, dark crimson blood came streaming down.

"Your Grace?"

Startled, Daisy took a step toward him.

In that instant, runes swirled into the air above his body in a dizzying spiral.

Daisy stared at him, eyes wide with horror.

That energy.

The overwhelming power that, in every previous turn of the loop, had blown the entire dungeon apart.

The force she had witnessed only in this latest regression—it had belonged to the Grand Duke all along.

Before the thought could even finish forming, a tremendous light and heat swept through her entire body.

And beyond it—once again—came the familiar ceiling.