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TL: ALT
Chapter 238 – Blue Portal
In the basement of Shinjuku Station, a blue portal floated in the air.
The Blue Portal.
Shaina knew of its existence from the DungeonsGoPro chat.
Those who have been collared are not completely helpless.
Some are allowed relatively free movement, and even if they are not, they will sometimes pass by other explorers of the other world near the dungeon.
At such times, they send requests to exchange contact information via DGP chat when they see an opportunity.
In this way, a thin network of connections is established between the explorers of the other world as they wait for the right moment to strike.
This movement has not yet been noticed by the ‘masters.’
The DGP is set up so that no one other than the wearer can look in without their permission.
This is true even if ‘instructions’ are sent through the collar.
No matter how much you are the ‘master,’ you cannot look at the DGP screen without the person’s consent.
The DGP’s decision not to consider the ‘consent’ given by the collar’s coercive power to be real consent was a relief to the people of the other world.
Recently, a rumor circulated through this detailed secret communication network.
――If you jump into the blue portal that appears in the dungeon, you can escape.
At first, it seemed like a ridiculous rumor born out of desperation.
Recently, however, the number of people from the other world who have gone missing has actually increased.
At first, this was not made public, but now, even TV news reports cover the cases of people from the other world who have escaped.
Although there is speculation that it may be due to a malfunction in the collars, the specific circumstances of the escapes are not being reported at all, which is a strange situation.
Some of the participants in the communication network claimed to know someone who actually jumped into the blue portal and disappeared.
When Sakaki saw the blue portal, he said, “Man, that’s strange…”
And stopped.
There’s no time to lose――
Thinking this, her body moved naturally.
It was about twenty steps to the blue portal.
For a high-level explorer like Shaina, it would only be a matter of seconds.
“I made it in time!”
But the reality was cruel.
Sakaki and the others were also high-level explorers.
A few seconds was more than enough time for them to react to what had happened.
“Thunder Chain!”
“Agh!”
Sakaki’s Thunder Chain landed at the speed of lightning.
No matter how agile a high-level explorer might be, it was not a speed that a human could react to.
Even if they could react, once they are marked as a target by the lightning, they cannot dodge the pursuing lightning.
Shaina’s body, struck by the lightning, rolled to the floor of the dungeon.
She was only a few steps from the blue portal.
Shaina forced her body, immobilized by the lightning strike, to move and crawl across the floor to get closer to the blue portal.
Sakaki’s leather shoes stepped on her back.
“Gah!”
“What’s with the sudden running? Were you planning to run away? Huh?”
Sakaki said, spinning his shoes.
“Guh…”
“Number 1, do you know what this blue portal is?”
She wanted to say that she didn’t.
However, it was impossible to lie to her employer due to the restrictions of the collar.
However, she could simply keep quiet.
Even under Japanese law, it is not a crime not to answer a question unless the person asking is a police officer or in some other special situation.
That reminds me―Shaina thinks.
As long as jumping into the blue portal was “running away” for her, the restrictions of the collar should have prevented her from doing it.
That’s because the contract was to be an explorer; following the instructions in the Hecatonchires and escaping would be against Japanese law.
However, there was no hesitation or restriction in jumping into the blue portal in front of her.
“You know, don’t you? Come on, speak up. This is an ‘instruction’ regarding exploration.”
“Kuu, this blue portal…”
That blue portal is their last hope.
For her compatriots who have been forced into slavery by being fitted with collars.
There is no way she can tell that despicable man about them.
But the collars are a form of coercion.
Even if she resists, she will talk sooner or later.
If she knows anything about the abnormal phenomenon she encountered during her investigation, she should tell them, which is a legitimate instruction for an explorer.
That’s right if she bites her tongue off.
If she’s physically unable to speak, she won’t be able to reveal any secrets.
I’m sorry, Father, Mother. I can’t…
Shaina made up her mind and tried to push her teeth into her tongue…
Just as she was about to do so, it happened.
“Gooohh!”
A whirlwind.
There was no other way to describe it as it tore through the dungeon passage.
Shaina, who had been lying on the ground, was unharmed, but Sakaki and his companions were blown away by the wind and sent flying.
“W-what…?”
She looked up and turned her eyes to the windward side of the whirlwind.
The person who saved Shaina from her predicament with the gust of wind must be there…
Shaina had a hunch, but her expectations were greatly mistaken.
What was there was not a person.
“S-slime…?!”
It’s just slime.
It’s just slime, and it’s also much smaller than normal slime.
“W-what the hell is that slime? Damn it!”
Sakaki, who had just stood up, shot a lightning ball from his Thunder Chain at the slime.
However, the lightning ball was deflected by something invisible in front of the slime.
“W-what the…?”
The slime didn’t even pay attention to Sakaki. While bouncing around, it approached Shaina, who was still lying on the ground.
Just because it attacked Sakaki and the others didn’t mean that it was on Shaina’s side.
Especially when the opponent was a monster.
“D-don’t come near me!”
Shaina shouted involuntarily, but the slime didn’t hear her words.
The slime stopped bouncing around near Shaina.
Immediately, magic power erupted from the slime and enveloped Shaina’s body.
“H-healing magic…?”
It was also a very advanced and powerful magic that she had never seen before.
It was clearly too much for Shaina, who had not been injured enough to be called wounded.
The slime that had cast the healing magic on Shaina stood up to protect her from Sakaki and the others.
…Well, whether the word “stood up” was correct or not, that’s how it felt to Shaina, at least.
It was like when she was a princess, and the royal guard stood in front of the villains―no, it was even more reassuring than that.
“Damn it, what the hell is going on… you guys! Get rid of that slime!”
The stunned explorers begin to move at the sound of Sakaki’s voice.
However, the Hecatonchires who relied on Sakaki’s Thunder Chain are all in the vanguard except for Shaina.
Before they can close in on the slime, it unleashes another whirlwind.
Shaina, who saw the activation process up close, realized what the slime was doing.
“Chanting with Magic Language―and it’s said that half of the process is made up of unchanting words?!”
Even the court mages of their original world couldn’t do that.
The explorers of this world, who rely on the prefabricated skill system, probably can’t do it either.
Of course, the monsters in this world are also bound by the skill system.
“What the hell is that slime? We’re S-rank explorers, you know!”
Sakaki shouted, shielding his face from the gale that kept blowing as if it were natural.
Sakaki is barely clinging to the ground, but the other explorers have been blown to the back of the passage and are lying on the ground.
That’s when Shaina realized.
The slime had deliberately chosen a non-lethal spell.
“W-who in the world are you?”
A young man appeared from the blue portal in front of Shaina, who was stunned and muttering.
The slime stopped the storm and jumped happily onto the young man’s shoulder.
The young man said,
“Thank you, Atropos. Sorry, I got caught up with some weird Russian spy, so it took me a while to get back.”
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