Chapter 437 - Third Story: Labyrinth Exploration ②
The first enemy on the third floor was a frog. The room was clearly wider, and the passage had become shorter. A frog's attack method would be swallowing whole. It's dangerous to challenge it in close combat.
"That thing uses Shower and Clump Water."
Holy magic is neutralized.
"I'm sure frogs hibernate. I'll take care of it."
Mary put it to sleep with Ice Cube. As expected of a super-advanced mage. She made it hibernate completely with one shot. Then, she delivered the finishing blow with a silver knife.
"Aren't you amazing? When did you become so strong?"
"Ufufu. It's a lady's accomplishment."
She smiled with composure even at Beatrix's jab.
"Jeanne has to do her best too."
Hmm, it won't do for a herbalist to be more battle-hardened than a monster hunter.
The second is a snake. Usually, Beatrix would make it hibernate with Ice Cube, but we want to save mid-level magic as much as possible. That said, it's the height of folly to challenge such a long thing from the front.
"Is there any basic magic we haven't used?"
"Only Wind Cutter and Hurl Stone are left."
"I have none."
"What shall we do?"
Beatrix, Mary, and I consult. Even if we attack with basic magic, we probably won't be able to stop the snake's movement. It'll be a hassle if it thrashes around.
"Next is C-rank. Since you can't defeat them with one shot even with mid-level magic, use them up on this floor."
It's Roberts-sama.
"In the end, it's a war of attrition. It's better to fight with as few moves as possible. Probably, if we run out of moves, this competition will be forcibly ended. Think about it, if a mouse came out fifty times on the first floor, it would have been over. He's being lenient. Let's not think too deeply and go as far as we can."
Hmm, in the end, it's a competition. In that case, except for the two heroes' spears and swords, and my eight simultaneous shots, which are the trump cards, let's use them without hesitation.
"Then, Ice Cube. I'll make it hibernate, so for the finishing blow, a spear... right, Bonnie, please."
If made to hibernate, the opponent will stop its movement completely. We can win if we pierce the heart with a spear.
The third snake, Roberts-sama fought with the staff and delivered the finishing blow.
The fourth is also a snake. After Beatrix paralyzed it with Lightning, she herself pierced it with a spear and defeated it. She found the location of the heart, and just by putting the spearhead there and pushing it in, a victory judgment was given. The spear used was an exquisite item by an elf that Will borrowed from Katherine-sensei. It must be the victory of silver and the elf, which are overwhelmingly powerful against monsters.
The fifth is also a snake. By this point, I feel the malice of the organizer. For example, if the opponent is a spider, you can cut off its legs with a barrage of Wind Cutters and leave only the torso. Since the same opponent continues, we've run out of attack methods. It's a bit rough, but after Mary knocked it out by battering its head with water she produced with Shower and Beatrix manipulated with Clump Water, Bonnie pushed a sword into its heart.
The sixth is also a snake. No matter how you look at it, it's harassment. Mary took over the water ball that Beatrix was manipulating with Clump Water, battered its head to knock it out, and then she herself pushed a sword into its heart.
The seventh is also a snake. Because we took a detour at first, the number is large. Even so, the person who set this up must have a quite bad personality. According to the map Beatrix and Mary are making, we're almost at the completion of this floor. Probably, if we get through this one battle, we can go up. I want to somehow keep it to mid-level magic.
Flame is slow, so it's dangerous if dodged or if it charges in. Clump Air lacks hardness compared to Wind Barrier and lacks weight compared to Clump Water. Accordingly, its power is low. Since this is a stone structure, Clump Sand cannot be used. What remains is Favorable Wind, but... Previously, Henry-sama and Eleanor-sama had demonstrated power on par with a catapult in combination with stone-throwing, but that's because they are super-advanced mages.
No, wait a minute. The opponent is a snake. The first move of an attack would be extending its neck to bite.
"Hey, Bonnie, do you have a sling?"
"Is it decided?"
Roberts-sama asks.
"Yes. I'll use this."
I take out my wallet.
"Silver coins. I see."
Silver deals great damage to monsters. Silver is better, but such an expensive thing cannot be obtained. Since silver coins have high purity, just hitting it will be a sufficient threat.
"However, even if it penetrates those scales, will it reach the heart?"
Probably impossible. It's a two-stage plan.
"Will. It's your spear's turn. I didn't want to use it in a place like this, but it can't be helped."
When I told her the plan, we decided to try it.
First, Bonnie's stone-throwing. While swinging the sling in her right hand with a 'bun-bun', she gradually closes the distance. The snake has its head raised and is flicking its tongue with a 'pyuru-pyuru'.
Bun! It's the first shot. It hit the snake's right eye, which has no eyelids, perfectly.
For the snake, it must have been a surprise attack. It pulled back its neck, retreated, and is trying to escape. Bonnie loaded a second shot and circled to the left. Since the snake can't use its right eye, to confirm Bonnie's position, it has to turn its neck toward Bonnie. Taking advantage of that split second, Bonnie's sling was swung, and she also crushed the left eye.
"Switch!"
Will runs as if to replace Bonnie, who moved to the snake's blind spot... its rear. The snake has completely lost its will to fight and is trying to escape, but it can't because it's a stone structure. When Bonnie provoked it by hitting it with a silver coin from the sling from afar, thinking it was annoying, it opened its large mouth toward Will, who was standing in front of Bonnie.
"It's coming!"
Will closes the distance smoothly. Bonnie runs all at once and escapes this way. The snake raised its head in front of Will. Will, who met it, went down on one knee while holding the spear in front.
Bakun! I thought she would be bitten, but Will's spear pierced the upper jaw from inside the mouth. It probably reached the brain.
"You did it. However, you managed to control that snake's actions well. Normally, it wouldn't bite into a place where a spear is thrust out like that."
"Snakes can tell a human's position even if they can't see. After crushing its eyes, if I switched with Will, I thought it would charge in without noticing the spear. Even if it were found out, the snake would just hesitate to attack."
"That's quite something. Both your knowledge of monsters and your use of the incredibly gutsy Wilhelmina."
I was praised by Roberts-sama.
Fufufu. He who controls information wins. Bonnie could have held the spear, but since she's not used to handling spears, I had Will take her place. It seems to be a good result.
Now, the next floor is C-rank. Since it's not an opponent we can win against by fighting normally, let's use advanced magic without stint.
Going up one floor, the first battle was a Cerberus. Well, it's a reasonable line. It would have been a hassle if it were something like a Cockatrice or a Red-Eyed Man whose eyes would turn you to stone.
The room has also become wider, and advanced magic can be used. I know how to defeat a Cerberus. Just freeze it.
"Hmm. It's only guys that ice-type magic works on. Are they aiming for it?"
Now that she mentions it, it might be as Beatrix says.
"In that case, I should save my Cocytus and Maelstrom for the next floor."
That might be so. The opponent is B-rank. With super-advanced magic, Roberts-sama and Gladys-sama's spears, and my eight simultaneous shots, can we somehow... manage?
Things like Lindwurms or Hydras probably won't even be weakened by one or two shots of super-advanced magic.
"If the opponent is B-rank, it'll be Jeanne's eight simultaneous shots and Beatrix's Wind Barrier. In addition, Mary's Cocytus. The finishing blow will be delivered by me and Gladys."
"Then that's five moves."
Beatrix immediately jabbed.
"That's right. In other words, we can't win in three moves."
"Then, are we giving up?"
"I think returning uninjured takes priority."
"Do you have scrolls? Holy Lance infused by a super-advanced mage."
Wait a minute. That plan will be hard for me.
"I have two, Gladys has two."
"If there are four, we can probably strengthen it considerably. Jeanne is a priest, so there's no falling to the dark side. How about having her fire the strengthened eight simultaneous shots repeatedly?"
No matter how you look at it, isn't fainting the premise? Since the practice with Price-sama, I've been fainting constantly.
"If we don't do that, this girl won't learn new magic."
It's hard to be told that.
"Are you guys okay with that?"
"So, Mary and I will do our best on this floor. We might have the two heroes deliver the finishing blow with swords, but please help us then."
So, the first Cerberus was frozen with Beatrix's Glaciate.
The second was an Orthrus, but it's similar, just with two heads instead of three. Mary froze it with Glaciate.
The third Cerberus, Beatrix defeated with two shots of Tornado Wind.
The fourth Orthrus, Mary defeated with two shots of Blizzard.
The fifth Cerberus, after Beatrix made it groggy with two shots of Fire Storm, Bonnie drew her bow and defeated it with three silver arrowheads.
"As expected, it was strong against fire-type."
"Right, it spits fire balls, after all."
Normally, hairy types are strong against ice magic and weak against fire magic. Cerberus and Orthrus are the opposite. If you know, it's no problem, but it'll be tough for the first time. Moreover, it's C-rank. You have to use advanced magic to defeat it.
"Until now, had you not used fire magic on those two types?"
"Right. It's the first time. Until now, we've only used ice-type."
Gladys-sama is surprised. Come to think of it, when we went to the Fire Dragon's volcano, Gladys-sama was on maternity leave. At that time, while I was inside the crater with Eleanor-sama and the others, Beatrix and Mary had fought the two types of fire-breathing dogs until their magic control power was almost exhausted to draw the monsters away. They are experienced.
"As expected of monster hunters."
"No, compared to the two heroes, it's nothing at all."
Mary's voice is cracking.
"We were made to face them many times at the volcano where the Fire Dragon is. At that time, I was handling the bowl. Since there were no other moves, when Mary used Glaciate half-desperately, it froze easily."
"Go-gohon."
Mary, the person involved, looked away, and Roberts-sama, who was there, laughed 鹰扬ly.
"I think you guys are excellent, including such things."
I-It was a coincidence. I didn't know either.
Finally, it's B-rank. I wonder what will come out. Assuming there are no friendly humanoids or flying Lindwurms, is it a Behemoth? Or a Hydra?
There are almost no passages.
"It seems to be a Tarasque."
Gladys-sama, who acted as the listener, told us the next opponent.
Tarasque? What's that? I've never heard of it.
When I looked at Roberts-sama, he spread both hands and shrugged his shoulders. He doesn't seem to know.
"On this island, it should have gone extinct quite a long time ago. If anything, the stories from when there were monsters on the continent are more famous."
"What kind of monster is it?"
"If I recall, it's a monster with a lion's face, a torso with a turtle shell, and six thick and powerful bear-like legs, and it should use earth or water magic. There's a legend of it being defeated by holy water."
Holy water! I can make holy water!
"Sorry. Water and Shower magic are sold out."
Now that she mentions it, she used them for the snake extermination.
"If holy water works, Holy works. However, since the shell is as hard as a dragon's, if it retreats inside, there's a possibility it'll repel both swords and spears."
Isn't that just a turtle? It'll be the first time I've seen a turtle monster.
"In other words, unless Jeanne's eight simultaneous shots can defeat it, there might be no chance of winning."
Roberts-sama says something unpleasant.
"I'm sure turtles hibernate, right?"
Mary has become knowledgeable about hibernating types before I knew it.
"Mary, how many shots of Cocytus can you fire?"
"I used advanced magic twice, but I was saving Maelstrom, so if it's not full power, I think I can fire it four times."
This is Mary's weakness, if anything. Because she remembers few spells, despite being a super-advanced mage, she runs out of breath quickly. If it's full power, she might only be able to fire it twice.
"Then, after weakening it sufficiently by firing as many of Jeanne's eight simultaneous shots as possible, we'll make it hibernate with Cocytus, and then I'll somehow deliver the finishing blow."
In short, I'll be fainting.
I woke up not in the Ghost Mansion, but in the Earth Dragon's room.
"Jeanne, are you okay?"
"Good morning, Violet."
"It's already 'good afternoon'."
I remembered here.
"What happened?"
"Somehow, it seems they defeated one B-rank equivalent and withdrew."
In the direction she points, everyone is having a banquet.
"I see, we won."
"Right, it seems they won various things."
She's having a suppressed laugh.
"Various?"
"Yeah. The prizes the Earth Dragon mentioned."
What does that mean? The first prize, the wonderful way to handle weapons, is probably because they defeated monsters using weapons they don't usually use. Regarding the possibility of learning new magic, since we defeated a B-rank, Mary and I have a sufficient possibility. Surely, Mary must have learned something.
But I haven't been told the third prize.
"Ah, Jeanne, you've woken up."
"Oh, Jeanne, why don't you have a drink to refresh yourself?"
As the old couple recommends, I go toward the table with Violet. When I sat in a chair, they poured wine into a bowl.
"You were active, Jeanne. You did well to defeat one B-rank."
Eleanor-sama takes my hand and praises me.
"Thank you very much."
When I said my thanks, Beatrix let out a deliberate sigh.
"Did something happen?"
In the direction of Beatrix's gaze, the Earth Dragon and Henry-sama are having a post-battle review with Roberts-sama, saying this and that.
"Somehow, it seems they were all making a bet."
"A bet?"
"Yeah. How far we could go, apparently."
Could it be that the third prize is...
"Sorry. There's little entertainment here. If it weren't for things like this."
The Earth Dragon is scratching his head. Did he win?
"You did quite well, didn't you? I thought B-rank was impossible."
It seems he lost.
"I thought we could do three, though."
Wilson-san is looking at Roberts-sama with a grim face. It seems he lost.
"I wanted you to defeat at least one more."
Henry-sama also seems to have lost.
"I am very sorry."
Roberts-sama bows his head while laughing.
"I thought you'd win all of them."
It's Violet. I'm happy she trusts me, but it would be reckless.
"Jeanne, thanks to you, it's my sole victory. You did well to defeat only one B-rank. It's become a good prize for me."
It seems to be Eleanor-sama's sole victory.
With a full smile, she shows off the five copper coins she won.
Really, the prize is something else.