The young human’s limbs swayed from side to side with the dwarf’s strides. Even now, the same dark smoke and putrid smell rose from his body. “Uug…ahh…” He was only moaning, now too weak to scream out in pain. The man’s light armor was almost gone, literally hanging by threads next to purple and black skin.
Every bit of color left Lefiya’s face when she saw her ally’s horrible condition.
“Huh, wait a second…That monster is attacking black rhinos?!”
Tiona looked over her shoulder and yelled at the top of her lungs.
The group had just passed an intersection. Large groups of black rhinos had emerged from both side paths and had the group of caterpillar monsters sandwiched in what should have been a death trap between walls of massive horns. However, the same purple liquid splashed over the attackers. The massive mouths of the caterpillar monsters then proceeded to swallow their assailants whole.
“Those monsters attack anything that moves, adventurers like us or other monsters, without hesitation.”
“Does that mean they’re not picky?”
“Hmm, I wonder. They don’t appear to have standards, but…I have a feeling that they prefer other monsters.”
Finn glanced over his shoulder and gave his opinion.
Tione looked down at the prum, his boyish blond hair waving as he ran. The Amazon quickly took a piece of tree bark out of the bag she was carrying.
“General, Cadmus Springs showed signs of a large-scale battle when we arrived. The Cadmus dragon had been turned to ash, drop items uncollected. This tree bark was in the same place.”
“I see…That settles it. These things are strong enough to kill Cadmus.”
Finn spoke as he took the tree bark from Tione and closely inspected it.
The piece of the tree had turned the same color as Raul’s skin and had the same stench as what was left of Tiona’s weapon. There was no question he had been exposed to the same liquid.
“A cannibal, of all things. Very fitting for a monster…”
“Coulda come up from a deeper level, or the Dungeon spat out a new breed of monster…I’m not wild about either of those.” Bete couldn’t hide his disgust as Gareth chimed in with his own theory about the beast’s origin.
Heavy footsteps raced through a seemingly endless hallway with no exit in sight.
“Finn, can they be beaten?”
Aiz spoke for the first time.
The battle party fell silent; only their footsteps and the distant echoes of the massacre behind them could be heard.
Aiz was toward the front of the group. She looked back at Finn, running in the middle, and waited for his response.
“Physical attacks inflicted damage. However, we lose a weapon for each hit, just like what happened to Tiona. We can’t fight like this.”
“…”
“Facing a swarm of them would be near impossible,” Finn continued. “Now, Magic, on the other hand…It might be difficult under these conditions, but if we can buy enough time for an incantation, a blast of powerful Magic could wipe them out…”
He fell silent.
Even before his mouth closed, every set of eyes went to one particular person in their party. Even Raul, with one foot in the grave, raised his head just enough to look at her.
This surge of attention hit Lefiya like a stone wall. “Huh? Whaa?” Her face jerked from side to side, looking at her allies.
“Company arriving from the front!”
Sure enough, flowing pale-green bodies could be seen at the other end of the hallway.
Finn started issuing orders as soon as Tiona sounded the alarm.
“Everyone, turn right into that hall, now!”
Changing direction, everyone took the last option available for escape.
This new hall was not wide enough for them to run side by side as a group. Shifting to a single-file line, the adventurers raced down this new path.
“Tione, how is your stock of weapons and items?”
“Er…ah! Nothing has been lost. With the exception of Tiona’s weapon, everything’s still here.”
“Good. Give Gareth and Bete some weapons. The room up ahead is a dead end. Take Raul to the very back and heal him with potions.”
The fifty-first floor of the Dungeon was as expansive as any city. However, their prum general didn’t need a map. He had already memorized every inch of it. Admiring her commander’s knowledge, Tione immediately followed his orders.
Finn’s group had lost all of its spare items and weapons the moment that Raul was hit by the corrosive liquid. Therefore, the Amazon took spare weapons and items out of the large backpack that Lefiya was carrying.
“Hey, what the hell ya want me to do with this?! They’re gonna melt anyway!”
Bete awkwardly took hold of a Kukri knife, a weapon he’d never used before, and snarled in frustration.
Finn licked the base of his thumb and held it at shoulder level.
“My thumb is shaking.—Most likely, they’re coming.”
The dead end came into view as Finn mumbled those meaningful words.
The group emerged into a square room with no other exit.
The moment everyone got inside, the walls on three sides—directly in front, as well as on the left and right—started cracking.
“!!”
The other adventurers turned pale.
All of them had far too much experience not to know what those cracks meant. Monsters were about to be born from the Dungeon wall.
Many of them. In moments, there wasn’t a flat surface on any of the walls in the room.
A monster party.
That was the term for when a large number of monsters was born in one place. They were about to be surrounded on three sides. This kind of event haunted the dreams of all adventurers, and it was one of the Dungeon’s craftier gimmicks.
As if the labyrinth itself had been planning it all along, the trap had been sprung.
“Bete, Gareth, Tiona! Protect those two at the back, and take down as many as you can! Aiz and I will face the new breed. —Attack!”
Finn issued commands as if he’d seen the trap coming.
Thanks to that, there was no confusion when his allies sprang into action, forming a protective wall around their injured supporter and engaging the enemy directly.
Their movements were refined, coordinated.
More than thirty black rhinos emerged from the walls, roaring as they stood for the first time. Pieces of the Dungeon wall flew through the air in every direction, shattering.
“Lefiya, stay behind us and start your spell. You are vital to this battle, so hurry.”
“…! Yes, sir!”
Lefiya understood the importance of her role and nodded to Finn before getting into position.
Her dark blue eyes clouded with doubt for a moment. The elf quickly shut them tight and shook her head from side to side. When they opened again, there was no sign of uncertainty.
Finn didn’t look at her as he walked up beside the blond human girl.
“Aiz.”
“I know.” Aiz nodded, making eye contact with the prum.
The entrance to the room started to shake in front of them. Suddenly, one feminine voice cut through the air:
“Awaken, Tempest.”
Her magic activated at the sound of her short spell.
“Airiel.”
Wind blew.
Air currents strong enough for the eye to see surrounded Aiz like the loose clothing of a dancer.
The girl’s shiny blond hair rode the currents, flowing in every direction.
Airiel.
Aiz’s one and only magic spell.
It had the ability to increase attacking power and speed, as well as protect its owner by generating wind. Her magic provided a skill boost, an enchantment.
Feeling the normally still air of the Dungeon coursing around her, Aiz unhooked the sword attached to her waist. Rather than removing it from its sheath, she held it out to her comman
der. “Finn.”
“A Durandal, huh…I’m not doubting you, but you think it will work?”
“Maybe…”
“Can’t count on that.”
Finn drily chuckled as he took Desperate from Aiz and handed her a spare longsword.
Aiz spun it around, twisting her wrists a few times before pointing it directly forward. That was the exact moment when the large, chariot-like body of the caterpillar monster appeared at the entrance to the room.
“—!!” The monster let out an earth-shattering shriek as it turned its eyeless face toward the two adventurers in its way.
The large slash in its chest was still leaking the purple liquid as it lumbered its sickening body forward. Black smoke emerged from the floor wherever the splatter happened to land.
It was the same monster that had destroyed Tiona’s weapon, the massive one.
“Don’t try to do too much if the wind doesn’t protect you. Remember, all you need to do is buy time for Lefiya, that’s it.”
“Yes.”
“I’d say good luck, but I don’t think you need it.”
More and more of the green caterpillars were piling into the room, like an avalanche of mucus.
Their body sizes came in a wide variety. The big one towered over everything, but some of the monsters were barely tall enough to look Finn in the eyes.
Tiona’s group had already engaged the black rhinos. Even amid the intense clashes of horns on metal, hyunn, the flick of Aiz’s sword cut through the din.
The wind shook.
“—I’m going ahead.”
She kicked off the floor.
The girl’s body disappeared in a deafening howl of wind.
The enchantment allowed her to move even faster than normal.
A veritable hurricane accompanied Aiz as she headed straight for the enemy monsters.
“!”
Only the largest of the group was able to react to this new threat in time.
It opened its massive jaws and spewed out a stream of the dark purple liquid at the oncoming attacker. However, the girl didn’t alter her path.
Aiz swung the blade into a wide, rising arc.
The wind shielded her, flicking the liquid harmlessly off to the side.
The previously unblockable attack had been wiped away by a silver streak.
“—”
Striking distance.
Slicing the frontline monsters while dodging oncoming streams of the corrosive liquid, Aiz halted their advance using the wind from her sword strikes to funnel the streams into one spot.
The lumps of flesh at the front of the caterpillar monsters slid into pieces. Protected by the layer of flowing wind, Aiz’s longsword didn’t succumb to the splatters of her enemies. The wind surrounding her body also shielded her from the backlash. Her enchantment provided her with a simultaneous attack and defense.
The girl’s golden eyes narrowed.
Her right arm was a blur, her blade tearing through everything in her path.
—Aiz Wallenstein.
The blond-haired, golden-eyed girl whose name was already known as that of one of the strongest adventurers around.
A female knight of the Labyrinth City, Orario, she was a top-class adventurer in every sense of the word.
Her title: Kenki, the Sword Princess.
“—?!”
A merciless series of slashes.
A mixture of blinding speed and deadly accuracy, she proceeded to cut down every monster with no hesitation.
The monsters who felt her blade let out a dying shriek as torrents of the marble-patterned liquid poured out of their wounds.
Suddenly, all the defeated monsters’ pale-green bodies started pulsing as if their nervous systems had lost control of the muscles in their bodies. Until, BANG!
“Incoming!”
“OOOOOOOOOOO?!”
Every dying caterpillar monster exploded, showering the area in an acid rain.
The forward adventurers managed to dodge the liquid, but the explosions caught Tiona’s group off guard. Luckily, they retreated just enough that their black rhino assailants inadvertently shielded them from the splash. The monsters yelled out in excruciating agony before collapsing to the ground.
“Well, well, these things turn into bombs after taking lethal damage.” Finn sighed before charging the caterpillar monsters himself.
His first opponent was a midsize monster. Its pile of an upper body leaned forward, stretching out its flat arms—its shape reminiscent of the body of a stingray—in an attempt to knock the prum off his feet. Finn used his small frame to easily dodge the attack.
Protective battle cloth tied around his waist swished outward as he ducked low and drew Aiz’s Desperate from its sheath. Then he jumped up, guiding the blade through his opponent.
“Good, this’ll work.”
Finn ignored the monster’s cries. Instead, his eyes were locked on the blade of the weapon as it split the beast in two.
Desperate’s silver blade was coated in the purple liquid and smoking like everything else that came in contact with the creature’s secret weapon. However, it was intact. Finn grinned, realizing that the blade truly was a “Superior.” Superiors were a class of weapon forged by High Smiths, giving it a unique characteristic or ability. Shifting his focus back to the battle, Loki Familia’s field general jumped into the fray.
Finn set his sights on the caterpillar monster’s vulnerable appendages. Two, three legs went flying.
Half of its balance gone, the wormy beast fell to the ground.
Even though Finn couldn’t keep up with Aiz and her magically enhanced state, he was still remarkably agile and extremely intelligent—not a single movement was wasted. His fighting style was the result of constantly having to defeat larger foes using technique and courage.
If they exploded on death, immobilizing them was a far better strategy. The prum zipped around the battlefield, completely focused on his mission.
“!”
Elsewhere, Aiz was speeding up.
Thanks to Airiel, she could deliver two slashes in the time it normally took to make one. Enemies were literally falling to pieces in her wake.
The monster’s Defense was no match for her magic-enhanced blade. With Aiz protected by a layer of constantly moving wind, the monsters were occasionally showered in their own acid by the air currents.
But more importantly, she was moving so fast that the monsters didn’t have time to line up an attack.
They lost track of her for a moment, flat arms outstretched after missing their target. Next thing the beasts knew, searing pain was boring into their bodies.
The blond girl was nothing more than a momentary shadow, too quick for any of them to follow.
“Aiz!”
“!”
Finn was charging in from the front of the largest monster of the swarm. Aiz quickly changed direction and they pincered the beast from two directions at once.
The prum went low, knocking the creature off balance, as Aiz came in high from behind.
Her blade made contact with the creature’s upper body, plunging deep and tearing through its insides until it hit something promising.
Her strike had broken the magic stone inside the beast. It instantly crumbled into a pile of ash.
“Stay with me, Raul!”
“Nah, it’s too late for me, Miss Tione. I’m a goner, doomed.”
“If that’s true, I’ll finish you off now! The general needs my help—I can’t be wasting time on a dead man!”
“No! Please don’t kill me…!”
Tione had been working hard, using every potion and antidote the group had to keep Raul alive. The young human was on his back, suddenly pleading with her as the Amazon nervously surveyed the battlefield.
At long last, the flood of monsters coming into the room seemed to be leveling off.
Aiz and Finn were holding the line, overpowering each individual monster, but the number of enemies wasn’t decrea
sing. It was too early to relax.
There was a limit to how long they could hold off the green avalanche. Their room would be overrun if they allowed the battle to continue.
“Proud warriors, marksmen of the forest. Take up your bows to face the marauders. Answer the call of your kin and nock your arrows.”
A good distance away from Aiz and Finn, Lefiya was in the middle of her spell.
Her eyes burned with a sense of purpose. Of course, there was a hint of fear. But her mind was focused on the words of a girl she admired.
—Save us if we get in trouble, okay?
She could not falter. They were depending on her; now was her time.
They were in trouble, and her magic was going to save them.
Her voice strong and steady, Lefiya knew what she had to do.
“Bring forth the flame, torches of the forest. Release them, flaming arrows of the fairies.”
A magic circle appeared at her feet, glowing stronger with each syllable of her spell.
There was more to a Status than basic abilities. Advanced Abilities were derived from it as well, like “Conjure.”
When an adventurer with high Magic ability ranked up, there was a chance they might unlock a new skill that dramatically increased their magic output. Magic strength, range, and Mind efficiency increased with the ability Conjure. The magic circle at Lefiya’s feet was proof of her skill as a mage, and of her Advanced Ability.
More and more rings forming complex designs emerged within her magic circle.
Lefiya’s beauty was illuminated by the pale golden light bursting forth from beneath her.
“Fall like rain, burn the savages to ash.”
Her spell complete, volatile magic energy coursed through her entire body.
Lefiya raised her head and called out to her allies:
“I’m ready!”
The whole room lit up at the same moment as her call. The only spot that was still shaded was a small circle around Tione and Raul behind her.
Making sure that Aiz, Finn, and the rest of her allies had time to retreat, the elf rose her staff high into the air and triggered her magic.
“Fusillade Fallarica!”
Countless flaming streaks rained down on their enemies.
Every monster in the room was pierced by many of the burning shots and caught fire. Their cries were drowned out by the deafening roar of the inferno that now encompassed the entire room. Arrows that missed their targets buried themselves deep in the walls and floor, creating a flaming fence to prevent their escape.
Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? On the Side: Sword Oratoria, Vol. 1 Page 5
