Walking through the illuminated hallway connected to the main entrance of the bathhouse, Scaly and Verdell found themselves facing an increasing number of bath spirit, causing Verdell who had already been soaked by the first bath spirit to end up drenched from head to toe as the bath spirits seemingly had some grudge with him. Using all the mana they could muster to throw water on top of his head. Leaving Verdell silently questioning his own life and what he had done to offend these bath spirits.
Sure, he wasn't the cleanest of dwarfs after having spent the last few days inside the Swirling Sands Dungeon without any baths, but these damnable bath spirits were downright offensive in the way they used their water magic on him in a desperate attempt to help bathe him.
The worst part wasn't even the water, but the fact that a few of the bath spirits had somehow managed to get their hands on soap and were doing their best to try and clean his hair, something he had tried to stop, but ultimately ended up giving up on after seeing just how persistent these bath spirits were.
On the side, Scaly didn't pay much attention to the suffering of her companion and only noticed him becoming noticeably better smelling thanks to the hard work of the bath spirits. No longer smelling like one would expect an adventurer stuck inside a dungeon without any chance to wash up would smell, but instead carrying a relaxing floral scent with notes of different fruits mixed in.
Not what one would expect from an adventurer, as anyone who caught a whiff of the lovely scent would mistake it for some young noble lady in disguise passing through.
Of course, this thought wouldn't last long, as his appearance wasn't exactly something one would associate with a young noble lady in disguise. If anything, it would make their thoughts stop for a few seconds. Failing to comprehend why a dwarf like Verdell, who was so clearly a seasoned adventurer, would be treating himself like some young noble whose normally rough long hair had turned silky smooth under the care of the bath spirits.
"These damnable bath spirits… Were they kept in some young princess personal bath in the past or something?" Fully aware of what these bath spirits had done to him as he felt his silky-smooth hair that looked nothing like what it had done in the past, Verdell could not help silently cursing as he watched the bath spirit start working on cleaning up the clothes he was wearing.
As a seasoned adventurer, he had seen bath spirits in the past and was fully aware of their unique desire to help clean anyone they ran into, but… The behavior of a bath spirit was generally tied to the people they normally ran into and the behavior of these bath spirits were anything but ordinary, as their treatment was entirely in line with the bath spirits he had only heard about in the past that were entirely kept by young noble ladies. Learning only how to care for these young ladies.
Rustle~
And while Verdell was silently cursing the bath spirits, Scaly pushed through the cloth at the end of the hallway leading inside the bathhouse. Finding herself faced with a large open space contained entirely within the walls of the bathhouse filled with all kinds of baths and pools of water that were filled with bath spirits lazily moving around the water.
[Bath Spirit, lvl 3]
[Bath Spirit, lvl 1]
[Bath Spirit, lvl 4]
[Bath Spirit, lvl 2]
[Bath Spirit…]
[Bath Water Elemental, lvl 78]
But as her gaze wandered through the different bath spirits within the different pools of water, she soon enough spotted a far larger bath spirit that was aptly called a bath water elemental. Although not strong so to speak, it was far stronger than the bath spirit and immediately drew her to inspect this new bath-related spirit that had emerged.
[Bath Water Elemental, lvl 78]
[Description: The evolution of the simple bath spirit, the bath water elemental isn't different from the bath spirit outside of its far stronger water magic. Like many elementals, the bath water elemental is immune to physical damage and as a water elemental, water magic does little to nothing and in some cases even heal it instead of doing any damage. Harmless unless actively attacked. Hard to find outside legendary bathhouses of a widespread reputation and status.]
"…"
However, as she finished reading through the description of this newly emerged spirit, she couldn't help letting her excitement die down. Knowing this bath water elemental was unlikely to be worth much even if she ended up killing it. Instead of that, she felt far more interested in seeing Verdell having to suffer under this superior bath spirit. Wondering just what would happen to him after such a powerful bath elemental finished cleaning him.
Of course, the main reason for her lack of interest in killing off the bath water elemental also had to do with the fact that doing so would be far from simple. Even if she could make use of magic other than water magic, she had a feeling her lightning and ice magic wouldn't do much when it came to killing this bath water elemental made entirely out of water, while wind magic didn't seem that useful either.
Instead of that, she felt it would be a far better choice to not waste all her mana trying to kill this elemental and potentially land herself in a deadly situation with no mana to use.
"Whaaa-!? Don't!"
The reluctant screams of Verdell as the elemental spotted him and rushed over to aid its companions in cleaning up the dirty dwarf was entertaining in its own way, as Scaly found herself chuckling in her own head watching Verdell trying without success to free himself from the water tentacles conjured up by the water elemental as it used some kind of unique bath spirit magic to conjure up a soapy water bubble that soon enough swallowed Verdell and began thoroughly cleaning him along with the armor and clothes he had been wearing. Making the clothes he was wearing look brand new.
But fun as it was to watch Verdell being overwhelmed by the bath spirits under the lead of the bath elemental, her attention didn't linger on him for long as she soon enough spotted the outline of a rather unusual gate standing in the middle of the largest pool of water inside the bathhouse.
Unsurprisingly, this unusual door made her think about the exit the two of them had entered this bathhouse in search of and without hesitation, she began approaching it with Verdell following behind her. Having barely managed to free himself after the bath elemental and bath spirits deemed him clean enough to let go.
"That should be the exit out of this dungeon, looks like we were rather lucky. Not only is the exit here, but there aren't any powerful monsters around to guard it." Different from Scaly, who only suspected the unusual door to be the exit leading out of the Swirling Sands Dungeon that they had been searching for, Verdell instantly saw through it and determined that this was the exit they had been searching for.
Relived as this should have made her given how she would now be able to safely leave the Swirling Sands Dungeon, she couldn't help feeling a bit disappointed upon hearing how it was supposed to be guarded by some powerful monster that wasn't around.
The only monsters or rather spirits around were bath spirits that posed no threat along with bath water elementals that were essentially unkillable.
Maybe because of this, Scaly found herself slowing down a bit as she approached the door together with Verdell. Hoping that some powerful monsters would rush out to confront them at the last second before they left.
Bang! Crack~
And as if to answer her prayers, a loud sound of something heavy slamming into the roof of the bathhouse could be heard above them as the ceiling began cracking under the heavy impact. About to break at any second.
CRAAAACK-! RUUUMBLE~!
Splash~ Splash~ Splash~!
Following which the ceiling finally gave in and several figures fell from above alongside the stone that made up the ceiling into the deeper part of the large pool of water that the gate was situated inside. Forming a circular hole above, though Scaly and Verdell didn't have the time to care about this new skylight, as the two were focused entirely on the place where the figures falling from above had landed.
One filled with excitement over what kind of monster had decided to show itself before they had the time to leave, while the other was uneasy wondering what kind of monster had decided to jump them at the last second.
"Huh…? You are…"
But as the first figure poked his head out of the water, the identity of these mysterious monsters became clear, as it was none other than one of the adventurers from the adventurer group, they had run into earlier...