Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? On the Side: Sword Oratoria, Vol. 4

by Fujino Omori, Kiyotaka Haimura

  Finn stood with his back to them as they rushed about. Once he’d received his second Durandal spear, he approached the bodies of the elf and dwarf still lying on the ground.

  “Riveria…Gareth…Is this the end?” He averted his eyes, having no desire to see his two friends splayed out like lifeless corpses.

  No, the only direction he looked now was forward, at the enemy in front of them.

  “If so, then rest. My story hasn’t finished.”

  Voice filled with ambition, with determination, he stepped forward.

  He would continue, even if it meant leaving them behind.

  “Forward!!” He turned around to issue the command to his companions, now that their preparations were complete.

  And then they were off, their hearts raging as they rushed that teeming mass of howling monsters.

  Twitch.

  The left hand of a certain dwarf trembled at the sound of those rushing feet.

  Five fat fingers dug into the ground before grasping it tight.

  “Damn cheeky little…prum!” Gareth pushed himself to his feet, a genuinely chagrined smile playing on his face.

  He turned to the elf next to him, her own hand stirring as she raised her gaze.

  “And what do you think you’re doing, elven wench? You think this is the time to be sleeping?!”

  “…Silence, you abominable dwarf.” Riveria drew her staff to her, chuckling with a bold audacity.

  They were back. They were leaking blood and at each other’s throats the same as when they’d first met, but they had returned.

  “Sir Gareth…Miss Riveria…!!” Raul cried out, tears threatening the corners of his eyes at the tenacity, the fortitude, the unbreakable bond the leaders of their familia shared.

  “My ax, boy!!” the dwarf bellowed, and the supporters were quick to toss the legendary warrior his Grand Ax. Then he dashed off after Finn and the others with a raging howl, completely undeterred by the wounds all over his body.

  “You all—protect me!” Riveria instructed as she readied her staff, her own body covered in lacerations. She was already summoning a jade-colored magic circle beneath her feet.

  “Roger!!” Raul and the other supporters responded in sync, quickly doing as they’d been told.

  There was a vivid flash. Her strongest spell began to take shape.

  Abandoning all unnecessary movement, the most powerful magic user in Orario focused solely on her chant.

  “…Well, I’ll be damned!” Tsubaki’s eye narrowed as she took in the sight of the reinvigorated Loki Familia. “Better be gettin’ your act together, too, old girl!” Right arm still dangling at her side, she readied her tachi in her left hand and dove headfirst into the throng.

  The final battle had begun.

  Light swirled around them in a raging vortex toward the ghastly vessel at its center.

  Two hundred meders. That was all that remained between them and the corrupted spirit still greedily devouring magic power, and they made a beeline toward her, weapons flashing.

  They moved like the wind. A thunderous howl rose up to meet them the moment they clashed with the massive army of monsters.

  “Aiz, save your strength! We’ll need you to land the finishing blow! The rest of you, protect her!”

  One strike.

  They were betting everything on a single strike.

  Finn knew that against an enemy like this, one that had countless methods of attack and defenses like a fortress, any chance they could finagle would be momentary at best.

  Aiz needed to save up her power, and he and the other first-tiers needed to get her next to that thing at all costs, even if it meant a few sacrifices along the way.

  They’d use every ounce of their power to cut a way through the teeming mass and guide Aiz toward the corrupted spirit.

  She nodded and activated her Airiel.

  “Awaken, Tempest!!”

  The flowing armor of wind quickly encircled her body.

  The rest of the party changed formation, moving Aiz and her winds of enchantment to the center and placing Finn at the head to form an arrowhead shape.

  A silver bolt to pierce the heart of that creature.

  “Lefiya, begin chanting something! Anything!” Finn shouted as Aiz began amassing her wind power.

  “Understood!”

  And then Finn himself began to chant.

  “Spear of magic, I offer my blood! Bore within this brow—” The ultrashort chant on his lips as he ran, his left hand was quickly dyed a deep bloodred as it amassed magic power.

  He closed his eyes and pressed his thumb, now a brilliant red, against his forehead like the sharpened point of his spear. The moment it touched, the glowing magic power rushed inside him.

  “Hell Finegas!”

  Finn’s emerald eyes burst open, now stained a murderous shade of crimson.

  “—Gggwwwwwwwwuuuuuuuuooo oooooGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!” The usually taciturn prum leader screamed with all the strength and savagery of a feral warrior.

  Hell Finegas was Finn’s spell for bolstering fighting spirit.

  It gave him a lust for battle, drawing out a bloodthirsty passion from deep within him while greatly boosting his abilities.

  At the same time, however, it greatly reduced his rational thought processes.

  —Finn was done giving orders.

  Aiz and the others realized that all too well the moment they saw their leader transform into that barbaric soldier.

  Everything now was to get Aiz to that spirit, which meant prioritizing abilities over orders.

  From here on out, each one of them would be giving their own commands.

  Tiona, Bete, and Lefiya silently adjusted their grips on their weapons. At the same time, Finn took back the Durandal spear he’d entrusted to Tione.

  He flung himself headlong into the oncoming monster swarm, his tiny frame looking even smaller next to the two long spears in his hands.

  All alone he rushed forward, away from the rest of the party, war cry straining his lungs.

  “HNNGHH!!”

  The slaughter began.

  Before the caterpillar at the front of the horde could even think of releasing its corrosive acid, the upper half of its body was forcefully wrested from its frame by the prum’s Durandal spear. Legs went flying, followed by a hail of fleshy chunks. The spear continued, hitting the monsters to its left, its right, behind it—all of them exploding and scattering in pulpy pops with that single swing of his spear.

  The prum hardly took notice of the carnage he’d created, moving fluidly into frenzied slashes of his two spears.

  “Wuuuuuuuuuuuuoooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrgggghhhh!!”

  The long silver pikes plowed through caterpillar after caterpillar. Finn’s scream shook the walls as acid sprayed and splattered. The relentless slashes dug deep into the caterpillars’ flesh, all the way to their cores, shattering their magic stones and sending clouds of ash dancing through the air.

  He destroyed every one of them in his path. Nothing could touch him. Not the caterpillar’s acid. Not the violas’ tentacles. He crawled the ground like a crazed beast, bypassing every incoming attack as he robbed the fiends of life with each flash of his spear.

  “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Finn like this…!” Tione murmured as she and the others witnessed the bloodbath occurring before them. Though this certainly wasn’t the first time they’d witnessed Finn’s berserker form, the inhuman butcher in front of them was so far removed from the leader they knew that they could only look on in awe, eyes trembling. Even the Sword Princess, still surrounded by her armor of wind, found the color draining from her face at the sheer power of their prum leader. In only a matter of seconds, a mountain of carcasses had formed in front of them.

  The lancer’s howl continued unbroken, his reddened eyes desperately craving, desperately lusting for blood.

  He single-handedly plowed his way through the teeming throng, the true point of their arrowhead formation, while
Tiona and the others took out any other monsters that drew near.

  “Ah-ha.”

  Still in the process of recharging, the spirit turned her gaze toward Finn and the group in their rapid approach and unleashed a flurry of thick tentacles.

  Bete and the other first-tiers fought them back in an effort to protect Aiz. Finn, on the other hand, neatly chopped three of them in half. The sound of it reverberated off the walls as the three fat whips recoiled and twitched. A look of disbelief crossed the spirit’s face.

  Braver had both a golden spear and a silver spear.

  In his right hand was his tried-and-true weapon of choice—the Fortia Spear. Often called the “Brave Fortia Spear,” it was a Superior weapon with a golden tip.

  In his left was the silver Durandal spear—Roland Spear. Armed with these two spears, Finn was a veritable whirlwind.

  “—But it all ends now,” the spirit said with pure scorn after her moment of surprise.

  The multicolored ring she’d been using to absorb the magic power closed, and she returned her two great flower buds to her lower half. Then she raised her arms, her gown shuddering with the movement.

  “Arise, flame—”

  Once more, the repulsively ethereal voice began to sing. Once more, she began casting her spell.

  “More magic?!” Tione cried out in alarm.

  “Shit!!” Bete immediately responded as the two of them watched the magic circle begin to form beneath the spirit’s feet, accompanied by a brilliant red light.

  There was still a good hundred meders left between them and the creature, and a wall of monsters yet blocked their path. There was no way they’d make it in time.

  In front of them, the spirit raised her armor of flower petals—ten colossal shields she kept stored behind her lower chassis. Aiz, Bete, and the others could only watch in despair as she began uttering the same protracted chant as before, her iron-wall-like defenses already in place.

  “Your envoy beseeches you, Salamander! Incarnate of fire! Queen of flame—!”

  The spell was finished before they knew it, magic light swelling up around her. The hearts of not only Aiz and the other first-tiers but Raul’s and the supporters’ in the back, as well, dropped into their guts.

  Then Finn jumped.

  Gripping his gold-tipped spear and grinding his teeth together, he hurled himself at the spirit, a prum cannonball.

  “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!”

  There was a brilliant flash of golden light as Braver shot forward.

  Then, with a flash of his red eyes, he launched his weapon. The Fortia Spear hurtled forward, puncturing the very air itself and transforming into a beam of light that rocketed straight toward the spirit.

  The distance between them might as well not have even existed considering the speed at which that spear traveled. It was to her in an instant.

  “Gngh!”

  The spear plunged into the spirit’s face just as she was about to release her spell.

  It sailed past the armor of flower petals so fast it was nothing but a single point as it dove straight into her open, chanting mouth.

  It was a direct hit. Passing all the way through her head, the golden tip of the spear protruded out the back near the lower half of her brain stem.

  The spirit bent backward from equal parts shock and awe—Finn had triggered an Ignis Fatuus.

  “?!”

  The unexpected impact left her faltering, unable to control the magic so close to release.

  And then she lost it. The massive net of magic power broke, spilling out unchecked, and she erupted in flames. The explosion was colossal. A giant blast, large enough to mask her entire body, detonated from inside her, and the crimson magic circle she’d summoned fizzled into nothingness.

  Aiz and the other first-tiers found themselves in stupefied awe as Raul and the other supporters behind them let out cries of joy.

  “NOW!!” Tione screamed, stepping in for Finn, and everyone took off.

  Bete and Tiona eliminated the remaining caterpillars and violas surrounding them, allowing the group to finally break through the teeming army.

  Fleshy chunks of meat flew around them as a path opened up straight to the spirit.

  “Please—give me strength! Elf Ring!!” Lefiya shouted, finishing up her Concurrent Casting the moment they ploughed through the monster obstacles.

  Her summon burst was ready. A small, golden magic circle formed around her running feet, waiting for her next command. In a constantly changing battle such as this, she needed to be ready for anything, so she simply held her breath, siphoning more and more power into the spell as she waited for the perfect time to release.

  She and the rest of the party upped their speed with the flaming spirit in their sights.

  “…”

  From within the rising smoke, the spirit swayed, her skin charred and blackened.

  A single tentacle rose, curling around the spear currently skewering her throat and tugged it out with a jerk. There was a snap as the spear was broken in two.

  The pieces of the gold-tipped spear dropped to the ground with a clatter, and then the spirit healed herself with an ignition of magic power. In only a matter of seconds, the gaping hole in her throat was filled with flesh. She smiled.

  Still scattering residual magic power from her auto-regeneration, she turned the golden pools of her eyes toward Finn and the others.

  “Pierce, spear of lightning! Your envoy beseeches thee, Tonitrus! Incarnate of thunder! Queen of lightning—!”

  A golden magic circle appeared in front of her eyes.

  “A short chant?!” Tiona cried out at the almost instantaneous spell.

  Short chants excelled when it came to pure speed, and considering this was a spirit they were dealing with, the power behind it would be nothing to balk at, either—not even comparable to the spells of a normal magic user.

  No, this was a spell that could stand up to even the best of the best, and the sight of that loaded magic gun made the eyes of every adventurer there—Finn and his Hell Finegas included—widen in terror.

  Brilliantly sparkling beams of lightning burst forth from the midair magic circle.

  Time itself seemed to stop as an electric glimmer seared the adventurers’ faces.

  “Thunder Ray!” the spirit screamed.

  The all-powerful spell, reserved for the spirits of the Ancient Times, enveloped Aiz and the others with a deafening roar.

  “—Shield me, cleansing chalice!”

  She had to stop it!

  The moment the words burst from her throat, Lefiya leaped in front of the others.

  The golden magic circle at her feet transformed into a circle of pure white, filled to the brim with the power to save the people she loved the most.

  Lefiya unleashed the ultrashort chant of her friend with a speed that surpassed that of her enemy’s.

  “Dio Grail!!”

  A snow-white, circular barrier surrounded them.

  Less than a second later, the two magic spells collided.

  “~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~gnh?!”

  Lefiya’s body began to sink, both hands tightly gripping her staff.

  The massive thunder attack pummeled the round barrier. Then, just like with Riveria’s spell earlier, there was a high-pitched screech, and a crack formed across its surface.

  It couldn’t take much more. Though the spirit’s current spell didn’t come close to the power behind the earlier protracted chant that had shattered Riveria’s Via Shilheim, it still contained incredible force. Lefiya let out a scream of anguish as the white fissure grew with every passing second.

  Aiz and the others could only watch as their fields of vision went white. The spirit’s magic—magic that could easily swallow them whole—was fully prepared to crush the spell of the tiny elf in front of them.

  Lefiya’s knees began to give; sparks flew as her barrier screamed.

  Then.

 
; “LEFIYA!!”

  “You can do iiiiiiiit—!”

  Two shadows ran past her, colliding with the barrier.

  It was Tione and Tiona. Durandal halberd and greatsword crossing, they slammed themselves against the white shield.

  They were supporting her Dio Grail in its attempt to hold back the lightning.

  “Tiona! Tione!” Aiz cried out as Lefiya’s eyes slammed shut.

  The two brave first-tier adventurers used their own bodies as shields, not even caring as their skin instantly scorched under the full brunt of the sparking electricity.

  Lefiya’s knees screamed at her, so close to giving out beneath her.

  Was this it, then? Was this the best she could do?

  “—I can do it, too,” she whispered as Aiz, Bete, and Finn stood behind her.

  In front of her were Tiona and Tione, blocking that omnipotent spear of thunder with their bodies.

  Her body ignited. Blood and magic churning, boiling, frothing within her, her azure eyes opened with an almost audible snap.

  “I CAN DO IT, TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!”

  The two spells neutralized each other.

  “!”

  Lefiya roared as light burst from the pure-white barrier, pushing back the incoming lightning and erupting in a giant explosion.

  They destroyed each other, spirit and elven magic rupturing in a brilliant light storm that sent shock waves rippling from the impact. Tiona and Tione went flying, and even Lefiya herself was sent straight back at an incredible speed.

  The other adventurers didn’t even look back as the three girls whizzed past them but pushed forward immediately.

  “NOW!!” Bete howled as the three dashed ahead, Finn with his spear and Aiz with her accumulated wind power.

  Tears pricked at Aiz’s eyes, her pupils trembling at the courage, at the sacrifice of her companions, but she stayed on target, nothing but that towering corrupted spirit in her sights as she shifted her grip on Desperate’s hilt. She was the Sword Princess.

  And only three of them remained.

  Only some fifty meders stood between them and the spirit.

  “—Harbinger of the end, white snow.”

  A clear, ringing tune rang out behind them.

  From the giant magic circle over two hundred meders away. Standing at the center of that flowerlike magic circle of jade was Riveria, her silvery-white staff, Magna Alf, primed and ready.