Chapter 43 - An Unexpected Battle
Suddenly, a loud noise echoed from deep within the cave.
"W-What happened? C-Could it be that the main force has attacked...?"
We all stood up in a panic.
Wait, huh, Paul-san? He's still sitting.
"There's no need to go. You'll only fall into the enemy's trap."
"Is it a sound meant to lure us out?"
The usually smiling Marcelo-san had a serious expression.
"I don't know about that, but that sound just now was a cave-in. It's likely something the enemy caused intentionally."
"How do you know the goblins did it?"
Beatrix was right. Our allies might have done it.
"I've never heard of a goblin den collapsing naturally. Those creatures dig their holes quite skillfully. Unless there's an earthquake, you don't even need to consider it. Furthermore, do you think our allies would collapse it?"
Everyone shook their heads. Wait, what?
"But could our allies be caught in it? If so, we have to go rescue them."
"There's no need to go. There are several veteran hunters with them. They'd sense the signs of a cave-in, so they won't be wiped out. We must secure this place until we know the enemy's next move. If this place is taken, those who are still alive will be killed too."
Paul-san remained unmoved by Beowulf's humanitarian concern.
Marcelo-san and Beatrix sat down beside Paul-san. Seeing that, Beowulf dropped to one knee, drew her sword, and stood ready along the passage where the sound had come from.
"How long should we wait?"
We waited for a while, but there was no change. Beatrix was getting impatient.
"Wait!"
Paul-san said, cutting off Beatrix's question, and a rustling sound could be heard from the passage in the back.
Paul-san began an incantation.
Beowulf gripped her sword tightly, and Beatrix and I also dropped to one knee and began our incantations.
Everything was exactly as we had discussed beforehand.
The sound stopped. Then, nothing could be heard...
Have they come...?
"When you say Paul?"
Marcelo-san threw the password toward the passage.
There was no response.
"[Wind Barrier]!"
Paul-san unleashed his magic without mercy.
A flapping sound came from the direction of the passage. The heavy thuds were likely the goblins falling on the spot after having the air around them momentarily stolen.
Paul-san lowered his right palm, which he had aimed forward, slightly toward the ground. The wall of air must have pinned them to the floor.
"[Magic Reflection]!"
It was Marcelo-san's holy support magic. He chanted the mid-tier magic that reflects spells without a verbal chant.
"[Energy Bolt]!"
"[Holy]!"
Following that, Beatrix and I unleashed three spells each toward the wall in turns.
The magic we fired was reflected off the magical wall Marcelo-san had created, like light reflecting off a mirror, and flew deep into the passage.
I couldn't tell if they hit. I thought I might have heard a scream. If there were many of them, at least one must have hit. We had practiced several times on the way, but after all, we couldn't see the target.
Paul-san's right hand, which was manipulating the [Wind Barrier], moved.
ROAR!
A gust of wind raged through the cave.
Air condensed to a hardness capable of blowing away giant stones fired from a catapult was released all at once toward the goblins.
Beowulf, holding her sword and shield, stood up.
"[Increase Defense]!"
"[Increase Agility]!"
Marcelo-san cast support magic on Beowulf. Defense up and speed up.
From here, it was melee combat.
When Beowulf advanced into the passage, she lowered her posture toward where the enemies were. Behind her, Paul-san, who had stood up, held a torch in his left hand. He took a sharp stone in his right hand from the leather bag hanging at his waist.
"Go!"
Receiving Paul-san's instruction, Beowulf began her advance.
Paul-san followed after her.
From deep inside, I could hear Paul-san's war cries, like "Tooh!" or "Kieeh!"
There were also thumping and banging sounds.
Paul-san was likely using his shouts and stone-throwing as a distraction while Beowulf swung her sword.
Paul-san's shouts gradually grew distant, and finally, after some time had passed since they could no longer be heard, Marcelo-san suddenly threw a torch toward the passage.
"When you say Paul?"
Last time, there had been no reaction.
"Crazy!"
Paul-san returned to the room with a satisfied face. Beowulf was with him.
It's good that he's self-aware, but I wish he could have done something about that...
"We defeated about eight of them."
He had a smug look.
Beowulf was already sheathing her sword.
"Are you okay? You're not hurt? Should I cast healing magic?"
"Thank you. I'm fine."
Good. She's safe.
"How were the goblins? Were they strong?"
Beatrix's face was pale.
"No. We didn't really fight. We were just finishing off the ones who had been downed by everyone's magic."
"Eh? But we heard shouts and all sorts of noises."
Beatrix and I looked at each other.
"Ah, that was Paul-san. He was shouting at the goblin corpses and intentionally making noise by rolling after jumping over them. Apparently, it was a distraction for any that might be playing dead or lying in ambush. In the end, they had all been defeated by the magic. My finishing them off was just to be sure."
I see. The password was correct then. I was convinced.
"What about the main force?"
When Marcelo-san asked, Paul-san pulled out a mud-stained piece of cloth. "Here."
There was writing on it.
Apparently, it's a common tactic for goblins to collapse ceilings or walls. The main force had supposedly been advancing while trailing a rope as a countermeasure. In case something happened, they could tie a cloth with a message to the end of the rope, and those coming from behind could pull the rope to retrieve the message.
The cloth said, "No casualties, escape possible, retreat."
The fact that it could be pulled out meant the extent of the cave-in was likely narrow.
If the main force could escape safely, there was no reason to linger.
According to Paul-san, there was a thin hole that a human couldn't pass through where the collapse had occurred.
Reinforcements for the enemy might come from behind. It was time to withdraw.
The torches remained unextinguished along the way. We should be able to retreat smoothly.
Just in case, Paul-san stood at the front with a torch, and Beowulf stood at the rear, also with a torch, as we advanced while guarding the front and back.
We moved in silence so as not to disturb Paul-san's hunter instincts.
Then, Paul-san raised his right hand.
"Beowulf, move to the front."
Beowulf stepped forward and raised her shield.
Behind her, Paul-san was nocking a fire arrow to his bow.
Torches remained in places throughout the cave, allowing us to see quite far ahead.
To be honest, I couldn't see anything, but Beatrix and I began our incantations just in case.
When Paul-san fired the fire arrow, it flew just below the ceiling toward the darkness where no torches were set. The ten goblins should be beyond that.
The fire arrow struck something and then fell to the ground. No, the thing it struck fell over.
"[Hurl Stone]!"
Paul-san chanted the spell.
The flying stone pebbles hit something.
Several child-sized shadows illuminated by the flames tumbled down.
Goblins.
And behind them, I saw a large black shadow.
It was something massive that seemed to fill the cave, giving off a very dangerous vibe... That wasn't a goblin...
"[Wind Barrier]!"
He was likely trying to suffocate them by momentarily stealing the air around them. In a narrow place like this, it was the most lethal tactic.
However, that large thing stopped moving for a moment and then immediately started moving again.
It seemed unable to advance toward us, blocked by the wall of air Paul-san had created, but there was no sign that it had taken damage. It was fine even after having its air momentarily stolen.
"Beowulf. Add more fire arrows!"
When Beowulf fired two or three more fire arrows, they bounced off the wall of air and fell to the ground, but the area beyond the wall became brighter. Something black was squirming beyond the goblin corpses.
As we got closer, the situation became clear.
The creature beyond the wall of air looked prickly and moved in a way that was utterly loathsome.
"That's a spider," Paul-san, who was keeping his hand raised to maintain the wall of air, told us.
"A spider!"
If I recall, it was a D-rank... Why was something like that in a goblin den...? Moreover, it seemed to be acting with the goblins...
The spider was trying to pass through the wall of air, supporting its body with its four hind legs while probing the wall with its four front legs.
It was likely trying to come this way, but the wall blocked the entire cave.
In front of us was the large face of a spider and its scuttling legs.
A truly disgusting sight was spread out before my eyes. I was fine because I was an adult, but if I had seen this as a child, I might have had a fit.
Beatrix picked up a fallen fire arrow and held it toward the spider, making its even more repulsive form clearly visible.
The red eyes lined up on its head were shining with a strange gloss, and it was clicking its two crossed fangs.
It must have been able to see us too. It began slamming its front legs against the wall—thud, thud.
"Nuuuuuuun!" When Paul-san put strength into it, the spider's form distorted for a moment. Apparently, he had made the wall even thicker.
"Even at normal size they're disgusting, but when they get this big, you can't even look at them properly."
Contrary to her words, Beatrix held up the torch and, along with Marcelo-san, was observing it intently.
How can you even observe something so disgusting?
"Shall we settle this soon?"
Having finished his observation, Marcelo-san spoke to Paul-san.
"No, the thing is... I got a bit too close. If we're this close, the moment I deactivate the magic, we'll definitely be attacked. Can you think of a way to defeat it like this?"
Eeeeeeeeeh! Why did it turn out like that? Are we going to stay like this forever?
"How much longer can you hold it?"
"I'm reaching my limit soon. I made it as hard as possible, so just maintaining it is the best I can do. Sorry, I got a bit carried away. This is a critical situation."
Beads of sweat were forming on Paul-san's forehead.
Wait a minute. You got carried away...? Are we in a critical situation for a reason like that?!
Marcelo-san stood beside me and grabbed my arm.
"It can't be helped, then."
Eh? What? What?
"Jeanne. Be ready to chant [Holy] at any time."
"A-Ah, yes."
I didn't know what was happening, but I chanted as I was told.
"Here we go."
"Huh?"
Strength entered Marcelo-san's left hand, which was holding my right arm. In his right hand was... a Mithril knife?
"[Teleport]!"
Eh? For a moment, everything before my eyes went pitch black.
"Jeanne! Now! Three consecutive [Holy] spells!"
When I realized it, the spider's back was right in front of me. Beyond it, the flame of the torch held by Beatrix was flickering.
The spider turned around in an instant! At this rate, I'll be eaten!
"[Holy]! [Holy]! [Holy]!"
Half out of desperation, I blasted the spider with three [Holy] spells, while Marcelo-san teleported onto the spider's head. He then raised the Mithril knife and drove it into the spider's head.
"GISHYAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
Body fluids spurted from the head of the spider, which let out a voice that made my skin crawl. It was a disgusting color, like a mix of brown, green, and black.
"[Holy Lance]!"
A white light as thick as an open palm was released from Marcelo-san's outstretched hand, piercing through the spider's head.
He had detonated a massive [Holy Lance] right where he had wounded it with the knife.
Amazing! The thickness... the destructive power was different from my magic.
As expected of a D-rank, it flipped over, curled its legs, and stopped moving entirely. Marcelo-san had already jumped down beside me.
He defeated it so easily... This is Marcelo-san's power...
It happened in a mere instant.
Is this what they call a surprise attack...?
At any rate, even if we were just decoys and distractions, we defeated a D-rank monster.
This is something to be proud of.
I'm going to puff out my chest and brag about it to Hans-san.
"Are you okay? Your legs are shaking. Don't lose your nerve in a place like this."
I decided to ignore the voice of the mage who couldn't read the room, ruining my mood as I basked in the afterglow of victory.