"Protego!"
"Boom——"
The large stone club struck that seemingly fragile silver light membrane, but it miraculously held up, although Lupin's face turned pale, the continuous high-intensity use of magic had made his body difficult to bear——
God knows what he went through in the past hour, packs of big dogs, an entire nest of Spinybacked Orbweavers, two Acromantulas the size of small elephants, the Armored Goblins babbling incomprehensible words but fighting like rabid dogs...
During that time, he thought about resting, but the bridge seemed to disappear once its time was up, then the creatures that should have been waiting in the next cave instead appeared on the platform where he currently stood——
Of course, he could rest on the bridge... but he was sure that the bridge disappearing wouldn't care if he was on it.
As for how he knew, let's just say he was lucky to be only one step away from the platform during his experiment.
Now, a massive Armored Troll stood before him.
However, the Levitation Spell, greatly effective against ordinary trolls, was useless against this troll covered in heavy armor, since even if its wooden club floated up and struck its helmet-enclosed dumb head, apart from causing a seemingly ineffective stumble, it couldn't create any more effective consequences.
Tricky, very tricky.
Fortunately, the troll's movements were inherently slow, and coupled with its extremely heavy armor, it's astonishing that it could move at all; of course, it couldn't chase Lupin all over the place. Lupin planned to use this moment to take a brief rest and sort out the thoughts he hadn't had time to clear due to continuous fighting.
Based on his observations, this place shouldn't be the real world, although the five senses were similar to reality, the unreasonable aspects here couldn't be masked by the reasonable ones, like the monster corpses that disappear upon death, and monsters appearing before him out of thin air, with escalating difficulty in each level——
But for now, Lupin hadn't figured out how to leave this place, though he had his suspicions.
But, death...
Hmm... better to go with the flow, see how far he can progress, and take care of the giant troll before him first.
While dodging the troll's unwieldy attacks and clearing his thoughts, Lupin had already found a way to defeat the troll——
He raised his wand and swung, "Diffindo!"
The razor-sharp charm sliced through the air, targeting not the troll's thick armor, but the connections of that armor. The leather links, enchanted with magic, could withstand the troll's movements, naturally making them incredibly flexible; however, they couldn't resist the sharp spell——
Thus, "Clang——"
The heavy Iron Armor fell to the ground, revealing the earth-gray skin of the Mountain Troll beneath.
"Next——"
Lupin took a deep breath, raised his wand, "Wingardium Leviosa——"
The massive stone club wobbled and floated up, as Lupin forcefully pressed down his wand, it slammed into the troll's shoulder. After all, that head was still under the protection of a helmet, seemingly enchanted, resistent against even continuous blasts courses...
What followed was continually repetitive "physical labor," Lupin constantly manipulated the stone club, thanks to its weight exceeding that of wooden ones, this troll finally collapsed onto the ground, unable to bear it any longer. Seeing this, Lupin couldn't help but catch his breath, resting for a moment, he stepped onto the troll's shoulder——
"Confringo!"
"Poof——"
With a soft sound, the troll's body vanished like ash.
The exhausted Lupin, sore and achy, didn't pay attention to the rising bridge, choosing instead to rub his neck while standing still; after all, the next monsters would be dragged here, just not knowing what they would be...
Staring at the still empty center of the disc, Lupin took two steps back to sit at the edge, casually massaging his neck.
Time passed minute by minute, finally, the iron bridge submerged underground once more. What appeared before Lupin wasn't the expected two or more Armored Trolls, but a fully-equipped forest camp——
Yet, wasn't the appearance of a forest camp just a bit... off?
But at this time, Lupin's focus couldn't be bothered by the inexplicably off-feeling, but rather... a human camp meant there were people here – and where there are people, it means he could learn more information, making the truth of his previous guesses...
Before Lupin could think of his opening, the tent in the camp was lifted, and a black-robed Wizard emerged. Seeing Lupin, he was momentarily stunned.
"Hello..."
Lupin ignored opening remarks, ignored the Wizard's Dark Arts aura so thick a blind man could see it, and waved hello——
"Enemy attack!"
"Eh? I mean no harm, I just..."
"Surrender, Mudblood! Incendio!"
"!"
Seeing the raging flames heading for his forehead, Lupin instinctively dodged, but still tried to communicate, "Wait, wait, can't you understand me? How about French? German? Spanish..."
"Die, scum! Crucio!"
"I..."
Damn it.
Lupin was left swearing internally, now it seemed no matter what he said, the other side would greet him with curses and unsavory words sure to get censored. Even a clay figurine feels anger, combined with the other's ruthless Unforgivable Curses, Lupin wielded his wand——
"Expelliarm..."
"Avada Kedavra!"
The blinding green light shone unexpectedly, Lupin felt a chill down his back, and in the next moment, his consciousness faded into oblivion——
...
"Beep, beep——"
"Ugh..."
Lupin opened his eyes in a daze, staring at the blinding white light before him. He wanted to speak, but his dry and painful throat could only produce incomprehensible whimpers. Luckily, someone seemed to notice him, as a warm liquid with a hint of salinity poured into his mouth.
"Cough, cough..."
The man, having regained some strength, opened his eyes again, struggling to sit up, a gentle voice sounded in his ear——
"You're awake? Don't worry, surgery was successful, you're now a healthy girl."
"...?"