Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? On the Side: Sword Oratoria, Vol. 2
Page 14
The carnage the Amazons left behind showed just how one-sided the battle had been. Decapitated monster heads littered the ground, and what was left of their bodies was embedded in the cliff face or in crystal pillars.
The girls made a beeline straight for Crystal Square, leaping and bounding over the remains of the tents and small shops that once lined the street.
“Where did they come from…is what I’d like to figure out…But finishing them off is more important.”
“Yes, I completely agree.”
“How the hell are the two of you so calm?! Get your asses moving!”
Riveria and Finn watched the monsters intently, studying their movements while Bors was on the verge of a breakdown beside them, yelling at the top of his lungs.
Aiz had arrived at Crystal Square, carrying Lefiya and Lulune over her shoulders. The many legs of the octopus monster followed close behind, each one of them howling and madly snapping in her direction. It was true that a great deal of the fiends in the square had been incinerated by Riveria’s magic, but the adventurers were still busy contending with the survivors. Many of them forgot to breathe the moment the hideous creature came into their line of sight.
The man-eating flowers that made up its legs were nearly twice as thick as the rest of their kin. They moved like flexible tree trunks as they advanced deeper into the square. Crimson veins bulged out of their greenish-yellow bodies as they thrashed about like they were overcome with rage or had gone insane.
In sharp contrast to the many layers of howls erupting from its crazed lower body, the brilliantly colored upper body appeared rather tranquil. Its face lacked eyes and a nose, but featured a slightly open mouth that looked large enough to swallow a human being whole. Waves of green hair flowed from the back of its head all the way down to its waist. It was the one thing on the creature’s body that could be considered beautiful.
The arms that emerged from its shoulders split into many tendrils at the elbow. They hung down loosely over the top of her numerous legs.
“Was another fetus responsible for creating that monster on the fiftieth floor…?” Lefiya whispered, her eyes glued to the beast as Aiz put her on the ground.
The creature was physically larger than the female-figured thing they’d encountered much deeper in the Dungeon because it had ingested several of the plant monsters. It was only about six meders tall, but thanks to its many legs, it took up an incredible amount of space. Even with its legs bent as it walked, the octopus monster was at least ten meders wide.
“We’re back!”
“Eww, that thing’s even more disgusting up close.”
The Amazonian twins arrived from overhead, landing in the square.
The last of the sparks from Riveria’s magic were fading away over the town. The octopus’s eyeless gaze fell on the reunited battle party.
“!”
It made its move.
Whoosh! All the heads at the ends of its legs looked up like a pack of wild dogs. They all charged at Aiz as one, obliterating anything standing in their path.
The blond knight passed Lulune’s unconscious body to Lefiya before running in the opposite direction. She was determined not to let the others gets dragged into the fight. Several pairs of fanged jaws clamped shut where she’d been standing a moment earlier. The creature continued its pursuit, destroying the twin crystals in the middle of the square in the process.
“It is focused on Aiz!”
“I wonder if it’s because of the wind surrounding her body.”
Riveria and Finn, staff and spear in hand respectively, analyzed the situation as they advanced.
However, Tiona and Tione got there first. Taking aim at two of the legs snapping at Aiz’s heels, they jumped in.
“Hi-yahh—!!”
“OOOOOOOooooOOOOOOOOO!”
Tiona drove Urga straight through the neck of the nearest flowered leg. The silver blade flashed as the head let out a dying cry.
Tiona had been given the title of Amazon because of her desire to cut down her enemies. She lived up to her name in full as her beloved Urga severed the head in one clean stroke. It was the same as in the earlier battle, despite the creature’s increasing girth. The end of the thick leg arced through the air.
“—!”
“That hurt!”
The now-headless limb was spewing blood high into the air, but that didn’t stop it from launching Tiona straight back, hitting her like a thick whip.
Blocking the attack with the flat part of Urga’s blade, Tiona rolled over her shoulder and jumped back to her feet.
“They’re a heck of a lot stronger! And they don’t die after losing their heads anymore!”
“They’re nothing more than legs now! Of course they’d keep kicking!”
Tione took a different approach from her sister’s wildly directed aggression, using: calm, precise strikes. Her Kukri flashed as she turned another one of the creature’s veiny extremities into cold cuts, yelled back to her sister, and dodged the other flailing limbs.
Tione saw that the leg she was working on had gone limp and used the window to press her advantage. However, the upper body also saw the opening and moved to defend.
Shifting its attention from Aiz, it launched its many tendrils toward the Amazonian warrior.
“Damn!”
Tione spun her body in midair, Kukri flashing as they deflected each of the stems one after the other. However, the next wave of vines came in from other angles, forcing Tione to retreat. She withdrew another knife from its sheath at her waist and flung it straight at the monster at point-blank range before jumping away.
The female figure raised a tendril to block the incoming white blade. She knocked it off course, but—Shing!—the tendril was lost.
“Riveria, I’m going ahead.”
“Understood—You, over there! Lend me that bow!”
“Y-yes, my lady!”
Finn charged into battle, severing one of the creature’s legs on his first pass. Riveria turned to an elf who happened to be among the adventurers still in Crystal Square.
No elf could refuse the order of a high elf. He carried a high-powered bow as a sub weapon, but surrendered it and his quiver of arrows to Riveria as soon as she rushed to his side.
Gracefully attaching the quiver to her belt, she withdrew one of the needlelike blue arrows in one swift motion. It was nocked and fired in the blink of an eye, followed quickly by a whole slew of them. Purposely burying them into the upper body’s tendrils, she focused on drawing its attention away from Finn’s attack, where the real damage was being inflicted.
Loki Familia’s second-in-command had grown up as a high elf in her home forest. During that time, archery had been one of her few hobbies, and her skill showed. The figure atop the creature bent backward, the monstrous legs flinching every time one of the heavy arrows hit its mark.
“Bors, we need more help! See that we get it!”
Finn called back to the group in the square using the time given to him by Riveria’s support. He moved as if he had eyes in the back of his head, avoiding the rain of arrows slicing into one leg after another. His small stature allowed him to weave through tight spaces as he removed several of the legs trying to catch up to Aiz.
Anytime one of the limbs came at them from above, he spun his spear like a hurricane to deflect it. Countless sparks flew from his weapon, lighting up his yellow hair as they fell around him.
“Ahh, I knew somethin’ was wrong in their heads…!”
Bors hunched over in the middle of the square, shouting to no one in particular as the battles raged around him. He wasn’t the only one left speechless by Loki Familia’s actions. Many of the adventurers fighting off the plants still in the square were dumbfounded that four people would face down an abomination like that on their own.
“…!”
Tiona, Tione, Riveria, and Finn launched their attacks in continuous waves, forcing the head to lose track of Aiz. The monster’s frustration
was apparent as it reluctantly turned its attention from the pursuit of the blond knight to intercepting the constant barrage of blades and arrows harassing it from all sides.
“Everyone…!”
Aiz had been dodging the jaws of the hungry appendages one after another as she led it away from Crystal Square. Naturally, she was curious as to where they had gone when she was momentarily freed from their pursuit. Turning around, she caught glimpses of all her allies putting themselves in harm’s way.
She had to help them. Setting her feet, she was a heartbeat away from diving into the fray—when a shadow fell over her from behind.
“!”
Aiz evaded the incoming blade at the last possible second.
Spinning around to face the new threat, she saw the mysterious woman’s red hair come into view.
“It’s you and me. I can’t go back like this…and I’m not letting you get away.”
“…!”
Aiz raised her gaze to meet the woman’s green left eye head-on.
Her opponent charged, attacking with such ferocity that it drove Aiz away from the square. Desperate in hand, Aiz matched her blow for blow.
She didn’t have time to assist the others in battle; her foe wouldn’t allow it. At the same time, there were many questions that still needed answering. This was her opportunity to get them.
“Aiz!”
She heard Tiona’s voice from behind her, but paid no heed.
She accepted the woman’s open invitation for a private duel and the pair left the square.
“Lefiya, do you remember the formation we practiced in our last session? Now is the time to use it.”
“U-understood!”
Riveria spoke as she approached Lefiya, who responded with a nod.
The two elves immediately took off in different directions, one to the front of the octopus monster and the other to the back.
“!!”
Aiz left Crystal Square at the same time the battle against the extremely large monster was ramping up.
The female figure was focusing all its attention on Finn and the two sisters. At the same time, adventurers who’d finished off the plant monsters in their area summoned up their courage and came together to join the fight.
Magic users formed ranks a good distance away from the beast and stronger adventurers made a wall in front of them to block its attacks—but sheer numbers meant nothing in this battle.
The colossal creature spread out its healthy legs, still more than ten, and flipped adventurers out of the way like they were nothing more than ants. Everyone was knocked off their feet or into the air.
“UwahhHHHH! Holy shit, that thing’ll kill us all!”
“Hey, get everyone on the edges out of here! We can’t cover them all!”
Debris and adventurers flying left and right, Bors’s yell barely made it through the typhoon of destruction. Tione yelled back to him to warn the other adventurers.
It had become a vortex.
Just like the currents that rage on the open seas, the many legs spun around and around, preventing anyone from getting into their surprisingly wide range. The moment any of them detected a hint of magical energy, it would lash out to attack the caster responsible. Any other adventurers who tried to protect the target magic user, including dwarves with their massive shields, were bowled over or tossed to the side.
Taking up position behind the creature didn’t help, either. Each of the legs extending from the female figure’s upper body acted independently, howling and lashing out in an unpredictable fashion. Even if a combatant made it past the leg’s attack, the arms of the vibrantly colored upper body would either grab them or run them through. Finn and the Amazonian twins were the only ones who could get close enough to attack.
“We’ll hack it away one piece at a time, eh?”
“GEHHHH!”
Urga flashed as Tiona severed yet another head from one of the monster’s limbs. Its scream of pain cut short, the echoes traveled through the air long after the head hit the ground and stopped rolling.
Tiona carried, by far, the most powerful and destructive weapon on the battlefield. Urga’s two blades had already claimed many heads. However, the only effect it was having on the titan was shortening its appendages. That did nothing to stop the relentless attacks of the figure on top. A few acrobatic spins allowed Tiona to pull back.
“The magic stone has to be in its upper body. Aiming for it seems to be our only option at this point…”
Finn picked up a short spear—dropped by a different adventurer—and hurled it at the creature’s upper body with all his strength. Unfortunately, the arms blocked it.
Finn watched the broken spear arc backward and sighed. The tendrils acted not only as a weapon to take out targets that got too close but also as a defensive steel wall. Ranged weapons were practically useless against their overwhelming numbers.
He couldn’t just charge in.
“Looks like we’ll have to rely on the elves after all.”
He glanced toward the other end of the square.
Riveria was standing with the lake behind her, magic staff in her grasp as she began to conjure.
“Proud warriors, marksmen of the forest.”
An ever-widening magic circle appeared at her feet.
Then another, and another jade magic circle stacked on top of the first at Riveria’s feet. Each one shone brilliantly, as if to make its presence known.
Other magic users watched in awe at the amount of magic energy.
“Take up your bows to face the marauders. Answer the call of your kin, and nock your arrows.”
“!!”
Swish! The giant beast spun around.
It immediately changed course and rampaged through the square to the source of the magic energy. Even Loki Familia’s finest warriors couldn’t keep it at bay. The remaining adventurers dived out of its path, the wall they were trying to make completely disbanded.
Riveria narrowed her eyes as she watched the massive creature advance on her position, but she didn’t stop casting.
“Bring forth the flames, torches of the forest. Release them, flaming arrows of the fairies.”
“!!”
Each of the monstrous legs howled as they prepared to jump at their target.
Then, when the distance between them dropped to twenty meders—Riveria retreated.
Launching herself like an arrow, the elf disappeared from in front of the octopus monster. Of course, the magic circles immediately dissipated, along with all the energy that had created them.
She had stopped in the middle of conjuring her spell to escape from the oncoming attack.
The legs followed Riveria to the side, snapping at her heels. But the feminine shape looked from side to side in disbelief, her hair swishing back and forth.
—“Fall like rain, burn the savages to ash.”
“?!”
The figure trembled.
A new, beautiful voice filled the air.
The octopus monster spun around and spotted a solitary shape on the west side of the square. It was an elf girl with a golden-yellow magic circle under her feet.
Riveria had been a decoy.
She had intentionally produced extra magic energy in order to mask Lefiya’s presence from the monster. That had bought the younger elf time to conjure her own spell.
A bait-and-switch strategy perfectly executed by two powerful magic users.
Since one elf was able to distract the monster, her ally didn’t need any support or defenders to conjure her spell. It was perfect teamwork.
Lefiya’s majestic voice rode the wind on top of the last of Riveria’s echoes and completed the enchantment.
“All forces, retreat!”
“Big one incomin’!”
Finn and Bors alerted the other adventurers to the danger and every one of them got out of the line of fire.
Lefiya took aim the moment that the only living thing left in the square was the monster itsel
f and unleashed her Magic.
“Fusillade Fallarica!!”
“AhhAAAHHHH!”
A hail of flaming arrows descended upon the octopus monster.
It was impossible to tell how many bolts were in each wave of the aerial inferno as the onslaught cut into the beast and its many now-headless legs. The upper body was being torn to shreds. Even its many tendrils were caught up in the explosions. The whole creature was being forced back, losing pieces of its body every moment.
The river of arrows continued to carve through the air for more than ten seconds. At least ten thousand of the magic projectiles turned the east end of the square, along with the monster, into a sea of flames. The sky over Rivira burned bright as spires of smoke rose above the island once again.
The female figure was trapped in a cage of fire as each of her legs ignited. An earsplitting scream filled the air as the ever-approaching inferno licked at its skin.
“Shall we press our advantage?”
“I will join you, General!”
“—Ready, set!!”
The moment Lefiya’s barrage was over became their signal to attack. Three warriors charged headlong toward the female figure.
Finn with his spear, Tione with her Kukri, and Tiona with Urga spinning high above her head jumped into the air over the monster.
An incredibly fast strike and multiple flashes of silver light overlapped into one destructive attack that slammed into the creature’s body.
But the assault didn’t stop there. The three upper-class adventurers worked in tandem, zipping around the burning monster with the force of a hurricane, blades flashing as they dismantled the beast even further. Several of the flower monsters were completely severed from the upper body and sent hurtling away.
“AAAHHHhhAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!” the female screamed out, its body writhing in pain. It leaned backward in a desperate attempt to get away from the attackers’ blades.
A heartbeat later, the vibrantly colored body broke away from its lower half.
“It’s running away!”
“Is that thing making a break for the lake?”
Already out of the main square, the fleeing creature tumbled its way down the sloping edge of the cliff.