Are You Guys Going to Keep Doing This

I looked up to confirm, with my own eyes, the being flicking its tongue above my head.

Upper body: human.

Lower body: snake.

〈Dungeon’s Master〉

Medusa

Oh.

So this thing is Medusa.

A Gorgon-type boss who appeared during the Lagmor Mountain event.

The name carried weight, but since it was a boss that only showed up here, I had never actually seen it before.

As a result, it felt unfamiliar.

“Hm?”

Creak, crack.

Looking closer, I realized the sense of ‘unfamiliarity’ was not just my imagination.

Starting from my right foot, my body was becoming stone.

So this is what Petrification feels like.

“Damn it!”

A curse slipped out of me instinctively. I mean, who wouldn’t be shocked to see their foot turning to stone?

“D-Dmihtan, brother!”

When Serena saw my foot beginning to turn to stone, her flustered voice rang out.

Are you thinking of saving me?

Hurry, carry me on your back or, better yet, take care of that Dungeon Master over there!

Whether Serena understood my inner thoughts or not, she suddenly began drawing something like a triangle with her hands.

“Arch form!”

Arch.

What?

“Q-Quick, make your body into an arch! That way, even if you turn to stone, you’ll be easier to move!”

Arch form.

The optimal posture she mentioned earlier, to avoid breaking during ‘Petrification.’

Serena seemed to be referring to that.

“Rather than that, give me the antidote potion!”

Meanwhile, I heard Miriam’s voice.

Petrification Antidote Potion.

Right, I was carrying a bottle.

Snapping to my senses at Miriam’s words, I opened the potion bottle and poured the contents onto my ankle.

*Hissss.*

Immediately, a sizzling sound rose, and the petrified part of my body began to gradually return to normal.

“Ah, the arch form…”

Serena’s disappointed voice came. Is now really the time for that?

Sssssk.

All the while, the Dungeon Master, who had coiled itself on the ceiling, began slithering down onto a toppled pillar.

“Is this the Dungeon Master?!”

Barkal stared at the descending Medusa, raised his axe, and started to advance.

But the snakes converged from all directions.

We already knew these weren’t ordinary snakes from what we’d encountered so far.

Snakes with ‘Petrification Venom’ coating their fangs.

Knowing that, Barkal seemed a bit cautious with his movements…

“For the honor of Thrag! For the honor of Darsan!”

Is he insane?

Barkal stomped on the snakes and charged forward.

A few snakes bit at his feet in the process, but Barkal, unlike me, seemed unfazed.

Wait.

Looking closer, just as a snake’s fangs were about to touch him, Barkal pushed off the ground.

Impressive attention to detail; it seems Barkal has grown as well.

“E-Euagh!?”

And yet, petrification began creeping up Barkal’s leg.

That’s odd. I didn’t see Barkal get bitten by any snakes.

Thinking back, I hadn’t been bitten by a snake either.

Then why was this happening?

*〈Mortis warns you to beware the eyes.〉*

Suddenly, a message appeared. Mortis apparently wanted to give me another heads-up.

Taking her advice, I looked up at the ‘Medusa’ that had come down from the ceiling.

Those glaring eyes.

Just meeting their gaze, a sense of dread washed over me.

As expected—

“Aaaaaargh!”

My leg began to stiffen.

This must be what Mortis meant by ‘beware the eyes.’

But isn’t glaring at people and turning them to stone Medusa’s standard ability? That’s what the books I’ve read always said.

“Don’t look into the Dungeon Master’s eyes!”

Saying that, I splashed more ‘Petrification Antidote Potion’ on my feet and hid behind a giant fallen pillar in the corridor.

Serena and Miriam followed suit, hiding themselves as well.

“B-Brothers!”

But Barkal couldn’t follow.

Why?

We had distributed spare antidote potions to everyone.

“B-Barkal didn’t take the Petrification Antidote Potion!”

At Miriam’s panicked shout, I looked towards Barkal.

“Relying on potions is the act of the weak!”

There he goes again with his craziness.

You’re literally turning into stone right now!

“Arch form! Make yourself into an arch, brother Barkal!”

Serena, seeing Barkal turning to stone, kept yelling at him to use the arch form.

“If the end of my journey is to become stone—!”

Despite Serena’s worried cries, Barkal didn’t care in the slightest.

Instead, he raised his axe high, striking a ridiculous pose.

If he becomes a statue, it’ll be way too easy to break.

“I will be remembered with honor!”

“Please, use the arch form!”

“Honor… comes first…!”

Creak, crack.

In the end, Barkal’s entire body became stone.

“W-Waaaaah!”

Seeing this, Serena was deeply rattled.

“That’s such a fragile pose! I told you to use the arch form!”

That’s what rattles you?

“W-What do we do? If we go out there now, we’ll just end up like Barkal!”

I stared at Serena.

Don’t you have Liberas’s blessing? Shouldn’t that let you withstand Petrification?

As if she understood the point I was making, Serena shook her head.

“It’s not perfect.”

Saying this, Serena lifted her arm.

Tiny stone crumbs scattered from her raised right hand.

“Even with Lady Liberas’s blessing, I can’t block it entirely.”

“To be honest, that’s still amazing.”

A curse that can turn a massive barbarian to stone in an instant.

Yet the blessing allows her to resist it.

It’s nothing like the petty gripes from those blood-covered lunatic gods.

*〈Thrag furrows his brow.〉*

What? Did I say something wrong?

“T-Then how about this?”

While hiding behind the statue out of Medusa’s line of sight, Serena seemed to come up with a clever idea.

“I’ll… go first.”

You’ll lead?

“I’ll take all those stares with my body, so Dmihtan…”

While talking, Serena glanced once at Miriam, then shook her head side to side.

“Brother Dmihtan, you run behind me while I block for you.”

Just hearing that much, I understood what Serena was thinking.

With Liberas’s blessing, ‘Petrification’ would progress more slowly in Serena. She’d act as a shield, letting me follow right behind and attack the Dungeon Master.

Could it work?

I asked myself.

I’d never defeated a Dungeon Master one-on-one before. And in the ‘Dungeon God’ adventurer party, I was always in a supporting role, never at the forefront.

Could someone like me defeat the Dungeon Master, medusa, in a frontal assault?

“You can do it!”

Maybe sensing my anxiety, Serena offered reassurance.

Right.

No use worrying about what-ifs.

Leaving Barkal behind is not an option. Besides, why did he have to get so rigidly petrified? Now carrying him is going to be a pain.

*【Dullahan, summoning Chunsik.】*

“Priority is to kill the Dungeon Master first.”

I told Serena.

“If it gets too tough, then we use the antidote potion on Barkal.”

Nodding in understanding, Serena signaled she’d follow my plan.

― Understood. I, chunsik, will do whatever I can for Master.”

With some odd confidence, dullahan Chunsik muttered as he donned the ‘skeleton exoskeleton’.

It’s possible.

Definitely possible.

With that courage on my back, I spoke to Serena.

“I’m counting on you, Serena.”

“Yes!”

With determined eyes, Serena began to cast new blessings upon herself.

A body like a feather.

Blessing of Strength.

She coated herself with those, then readied herself to step out into Medusa’s line of sight.

“Just follow right behind me!”

Can a cleric really say something like that?

Even so, an incredible confidence rose from my dantian.

As long as I follow Serena, nothing will go wrong…

“Kyaaah!”

With full confidence, Serena threw herself out from behind the statue, and instantly, everything changed.

Serena fell.

She fell spectacularly.

“A snake! I tripped on a snake!”

Just as she said, a snake was tangled around her leg.

“A-Aaaah! Wait!”

Crack, creak.

Serena began turning to stone.

Even with Liberas’s blessing, the accumulated ‘curses’ were causing Petrification to spread quickly.

“A-Arch form!”

Even then, she dug her hands and feet into the ground and raised her hips high.

Just like Barkal, she became stone.

“What an insane woman.”

A curse slipped out unconsciously. I barely even realized I’d said it.

“W-What do we do now…?”

Miriam asked, and I just shook my head.

I didn’t know. I was just as flustered.

Just in case, I looked to Chunsik. Since Chunsik had lived far longer than I had, I hoped he might know at least a couple ways out of this.

― … I think we have to run for now, master.”

Even Chunsik, sticking his tongue out, seemed to have no answer.

—

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep