(MC POV)
I watched with mild amusement as the body of the giant, headless minotaur crashed onto the ground with a loud thud.
With its death, it also meant the completion of the dungeon since it was the final boss.
Tsuki and Lian Li high-fived each other, the two of them having grown quite close after experiencing multiple battles together.
They do say that battles fought together forge the strongest bonds, barely a few hours in and Tsuki and Lian Li were acting like they knew each other since a long time ago.
So far, the dungeon was just like how I designed without any changes to it, so I don't think we would come across any surprises this time.
Even so, Lian Li adapted to her role really quickly, to the point you wouldn't think it was her first dungeon dive.
That proves that her battle instincts are still ingrained within her and her memories might be buried somewhere deep inside her mind, meaning I just need to find it.
Putting that aside, we cleared most of the dungeon easily enough, they didn't even need my help for most of the encounters either.
Even the boss was cleared by the two of them, albeit with a little bit of defensive and offensive buffs from me.
I smiled when the two girls ran up to me with sparkling eyes.
"Aniue! We did it!"
"Master! Did you see me? Was I good?"
I couldn't help but reach out to pat their heads, "Yes, I was watching. Both of you did really well. Shall we go see the rewards?"
The three of us went towards the back of the hall where an ornate chest sat waiting for us to claim.
For this particular chest, I prepared a few stacks of real world money, a golden hairpin that would suit Lian Li and the storage ring that Tsuki had asked for.
Once again, the two girls insisted I open the chest with them so I held one side of the lid while they held the other, the three of us pushing open the lid at the same time.
Honestly, I was half expecting the contents of the chest to have changed, but I was disappointed this time.
"Woah! I didn't know you could get money in here!" Tsuki gasped, picking up one stack of the paper notes to inspect it.
There was about thirty thousand yen in there which I intended for the two girls to split between themselves. Quite a significant amount for a high school student even if I say so myself.
Lian Li picked up the two pieces of jewellery in the chest and showed them to me, "Master… What are these?"
I pretended to inspect them before smiling at her, "This one's a storage ring while this one is a hairpin that, when worn, keeps your hair clean. I suppose you can have the hairpin while Tsuki can take the storage ring."
"Then Aniue can have the money!" Tsuki suggested, pushing the stack of notes to me.
I shook my head, "I don't need that much, you two can share it between the two of you."
"But… For Master to receive nothing, that wouldn't sit well with us…" Lian Li protested.
Good thing I was prepared for this.
"In that case, let's just split the money three ways. I didn't do much in the last fight either and I'm happy just to see you two happy. Besides, I don't really need either of these anyway."
"Unnn… If Master says so…"
I passed the hairpin to Lian Li and the storage ring to Tsuki, the both of them receiving the items from me reverently as though afraid they would break it.
"Thank you Aniu-- What is that?" Tsuki gasped, looking at something behind me.
Curious, I turned back to see a giant black ball floating in the air behind us menacingly.
This was not something I made so that's a little worrying… Seems like something just had to change after all.
Not wanting to stay and find out what the ball was going to do, I turned back to the girls and gestured to the entrance, indicating we should leave.
I could teleport us out now but there's a chance one of my disciples have popped up here, so I'd like to inspect it first.
Both of them nodded to show they understood and we began moving out of the hallway.
Right as we reached the halfway mark, the ball spun around and a part of it split open to reveal a single iris, meaning this floating ball was actually a giant eyeball.
It's vision immediately locked on us and hundreds of tentacles sprouted out from around its body.
I've seen enough you-know-what to know where this is going.
I immediately tried to wipe it from existence, only to realise that the existence wipe did not work on it.
The tentacles rose into the air and shot towards us, looking like a giant black wave by the sheer number of it coming our way.
I swept my hands in front of me, summoning a wall of light that stopped the tentacles in its tracks.
"You girls need to go. Now," I ordered.
Lian Li shook her head, "We're staying to help, Master!"
Tsuki stood beside her, "Me too, Aniue! Let me help!"
"Not a chance. You see those tentacles? I'm not going to set myself up to get NTR-ed by some damned tentacles so you girls got to go."
Right as those words left my lips, the tentacles pulled back and slammed down on my shield, creating a crack on the surface.
"Master! The shield!"
"Yeah, like I said, not risking it."
I waved my hands over the two and teleported both of them out of the dungeon forcefully.
An inhuman shriek of rage was let loose by the monster, seemingly enraged that the girls had disappeared. Looks like this really is a pervert monster after all.
The tentacles slammed down on my shield again, creating an even bigger crack before finally breaking it on the next slam.
I reached out my hand, directing my concentration towards the area in front of the monster's eye.
"Just because you had the intention to rape my girls…"
There was a brilliant flash of light in the space in front of it, blinding the monster and burning its retinas, assuming it had any to begin with.
While it was reeling from the light blast, I clapped my hands together and caused all the atoms above its head to split.
I only managed to see the beginnings of an explosion before I wrapped myself in a shield, blocking all sights and sounds from the outside.
I felt the entire dimension vibrate from the explosion and I held the shield up until everything finally stopped moving.
Inscribing another defensive inscription on myself, I lowered the shield to reveal a giant crater below me and the monster floating above it, unharmed.
Huh… This thing can withstand a nuke.
It opened its eye again, glaring at me with obvious hate as tentacles sprouted out from its body.
Hmm… Maybe the shell is what makes it invincible and the eye is the weak point?
The monster thrusted its tentacles towards me, intent on impaling me with them.
I dodged through the onslaught of tentacles before summoning up an icicle lance that I used to pierce through its eyeball.
The monster let out a shriek that threatened to burst my eardrums before disintegrating into dust.
Guess the nuke really was overkill after all.
Still… This confirms that someone or something is messing with me right now and I have no idea who or why.
Let's just do a quick scan of the dungeon to see if there's any other changes before going back.
