Chapter 674 - First Story: Miana's Training ④
Mary was eliminated after being judged incapacitated. Eight people will challenge the third floor.
"You all are excellent. You've only had two dropouts so far. Usually, nearly half drop out."
The second floor was largely thanks to Mary's quick thinking. We would lose one precious ultra-high-level mage who isn't assigned to the Paratroop Jaegers, but since she originally knew few spells, her total number of uses was low. Knowing Mary, she might have done it knowing she would eventually drop out anyway.
Seen off by Mary, who had been revitalized after receiving a Hand Over from the Dragonewt, we moved to the preparation room leading to the third floor.
"They say this place is a town alleyway. We have to break through here as quickly as possible," Bonnie explained, based on the strategy book.
Since it's a small alley, the bowl (T/N: Referring to the camouflage barrier) is impossible, then. I see. We went through the forest path, veered off halfway to arrive at the base, and now we've finally entered the town.
"It says to be careful because if you use attribute magic of advanced level or higher, the enemies will increase all at once."
The enemy guards, then. If they're monster guards, I wonder if Orcs and Ogres will come out in droves.
Specially, this preparation room has a second floor. When we all went up, there was a window where we could see outside. It's good service to be able to see the entire floor in advance.
Looking out the window, a landscape like a provincial city surrounded by outer walls spread out. The width was roughly five hundred paces. The depth was unknown. Hard-packed dirt ground, stone buildings—it looked like there were alleys too. Since we probably won't be able to go straight anyway, there must be many dead ends once we enter the alleys. The ceiling is low. All the buildings within sight are two stories tall, but their rooftops are connected to the ceiling. The alleys have narrow stone gates that completely block the top halfway through. Moreover, the gates are closed, so I have no idea what lies ahead. Even if we used the bowl, we wouldn't be able to pass without frequently deactivating it.
Basically, we'll have to proceed through the alleys on foot. The hurdle is quite high.
It's dark because it's night, but bonfires are lit here and there, so light can be secured. Light that seems to be from torches is also leaking from the windows of several buildings. However, because the buildings are lined up, we can't see far ahead.
"Those look like gatekeepers no matter how you look at them."
The entrance to the town is like a main gate, and as Beatrix said, two scarecrow-like dolls are standing there. If they are modeled after humans, there's a possibility of being detected by magic.
"We're supposed to persuade them to let us in."
"Isn't that impossible?"
"If it fails, it seems like forced breakthrough or sneaking over the wall is also okay."
The strategy book says such things? Recommending illegal acts is quite scandalous. Well, this is a training ground, though.
"Then, let's do both simultaneously. How about splitting into two groups?"
Beowulf approved Will's proposal, and the plan was decided.
The eight of us split into two groups. We'll infiltrate while the persuasion group distracts the gatekeepers. The persuasion group consists of Beatrix, Will, Bonnie, and Keira. For persuasion, we chose the scout Bonnie, the silver-tongued Beatrix, and Keira, whose conversations with old men at Shop No. 4 are popular. Will is the bodyguard. On the other hand, the infiltration group consists of Beowulf, Lyudmila, Miana, and me. In other words, this is the main force.
I cast support magic on everyone. The four of us in the infiltration group hid ourselves by riding in Lyudmila's bowl. There should be no problem using it from the start. However, if we deactivate it somewhere, it's all over.
Bonnie opened the door, and it was time to depart.
The persuasion group went straight to the gatekeepers. The infiltration group took a large detour to the edge of the outer wall that touched the cave wall. It was on the right side from the exit.
We climbed over the outer wall and invaded inside.
The space between the outer wall and the buildings is a passage. There were windows in the buildings, so when I peeked in, there was a frog staring at a bonfire. It looked this way and started croaking "gero-gero." As if that were a signal, croaking started all over the area. The two gatekeeper dolls ran down the passage shouting something.
Oh no! We've been found. I had considered the possibility of alarms being set in the passages, but I didn't think they would place frogs inside the houses.
"Lyudmila, retreat!"
"U-Understood."
We dodged the water they shot at us and moved away from the wall for a moment.
"Miana, you can use Freeze, right?"
"Y-Yeah."
"Then, can you cast it on the bowl to cool it down?"
"Eh?"
It's no wonder she doesn't know. When the opponents are snakes and frogs, this is the best way.
"Let's go to the other side one more time."
"Eh? Is it okay?"
"Yeah. Probably, if we keep the bowl cool enough, the frogs and snakes won't find us."
"I see. Got it."
Miana cast Freeze once more.
When we crossed in front of the main gate, the persuasion group wasn't there. It seems they slipped inside in the confusion. They're shrewd. The gatekeepers were making a fuss on the opposite side with the frogs. Many scarecrows, the same as the gatekeepers, were running that way as reinforcements.
"What on earth are those guys?"
Beowulf tilted her head. They're monsters I've never seen before.
"Hmm, I think the Earth Dragon came up with them."
I can't think of anything else. We don't know what abilities they have, so we must be careful.
Once over the outer wall, there are similar two-story houses. When peeking through the windows, there are frogs as expected. This time, we weren't found due to the Freeze effect. Since Miana cast it one more time as soon as she found a frog, it's a bit cold.
Since we're here, I decided to scout and went down to the first floor. Looking inside through the window, there's a frog staring at a bonfire as expected. The next room is the same. The one next to that, and the second floor there too, had frogs. In short, if the frogs find intruders like us who sneak past the guards and croak, the scarecrows will come running.
The main gate was wide open, so we went there and proceeded further in. The middle passage extends straight to the gate, with alleys of unequal width on the left and right. I don't know where the persuasion group went, but we decided to enter the furthest alley to scout. Beowulf decided on the right side.
The buildings are one or two stories tall. This is the same for the buildings facing the middle street; it feels like cubic rooms are arranged randomly along the streets and alleys. Stacking two vertically makes it two stories. There are always windows on the walls facing the passages.
There were no frogs in the rooms facing the furthest alley. There were bonfires in all the rooms. Some rooms had scarecrows, and some didn't. From what I could see, there were none on the first floor. They probably went in the direction where the frogs were making a noise. There's one on the second floor for every three rooms. When I approached the window of a room without one and observed closely, the room had not only a bonfire but also a door and stairs. The door connected to the rooms on the left, right, and back, and the stairs were located between the room on the right. Of course, they must connect to the first floor.
"There was nothing on the first floor here either, right?" Beowulf asked.
Indeed, there wasn't, but just in case, I lowered the bowl to check. Yes, none.
"Then, I'll go inside and take a look. Let's meet on the second floor."
"But you're the team leader."
Normally, the team leader wouldn't go out on reconnaissance.
"We already decided who would take over if I dropped out, right? It'll be fine."
The second in line was Will, and the third was me. By the way, the fourth was Matilda, but she had dropped out. The selection criteria for the second and below were prioritizing warriors or priests, then mages in order of age... though it's only a difference in birth month. By the way, scouts are excluded because they have a high possibility of dropping out first.
I brought the bowl as close to the window as possible. When Beowulf stepped inside, she appeared. That's because she went outside the range of the Camouflage. After wandering around to check the situation inside, she pointed upward. She intends to go to the second floor.
When I lowered the bowl, I could see her coming down the stairs. I stopped as I was about to enter the room. This was because Beatrix's face suddenly emerged from empty space. It was the hidden reconnaissance group. It was a lucky coincidence that we met up so well. Beatrix looked this way, gave a light wink, and then pulled Beowulf into the range of her Camouflage. In other words, it looked like there was only a bonfire.
After talking for a short while, they appeared again. They came to the window. When I reached out my hand to let them know I was there, she stepped onto the window and came back just like that.
"They said they're going to destroy the gate with gunpowder, so they want us to create a diversion."
Ho ho. They've opted for a forceful measure.
The frog commotion triggered by our intrusion had subsided, and the scarecrows had returned. I don't know how it was handled, but the gatekeeper scarecrows also returned to their original positions.
"First, a little test. I'll try using Holy Lance."
I don't know the scarecrows' abilities. Surely they won't be defeated that easily.
When I fired a log-sized Holy, it was easily reflected. Far from taking damage, it hit the back of the scarecrow facing away, so it didn't even notice. Magic Reflection is active. It's probably a magic circle. It might be embedded in the back and belly. If so, they can't be defeated with magic. Ultra-high-level might work, but it's too inefficient.
"Then, why don't we just set them on fire? If they're scarecrows, they should burn."
I see. It's worth a try.
Beowulf's plan hit the mark; when the fire arrows hit, they started to burn. Simultaneously, the frogs began to croak loudly. Scarecrows came swarming in. Since they are guarding together with the frogs, they seem to be able to use water magic, and they started extinguishing their flaming allies.
"Hey, if it's a diversion anyway, let's deactivate Magic Reflection and burn the scarecrows with Miana's Flame."
This proposal was promptly accepted, and Miana fired Flame toward the crowd of gathered scarecrows.
Fires broke out here and there. It's a total conflagration. However, there's nothing to burn besides the scarecrows, and they seem to be able to use magic even while on fire, shouting something as they poured water from their hands onto their own bodies. Thick smoke billowed up, and reinforcement scarecrows came one after another. We moved while firing flames from above. Eventually, frogs even came out of the windows to join the firefighting.
We caused as much of a commotion as possible. While reapplying Magic Reflection and having Miana cast Freeze again, an explosion echoed. They did it!
According to the arrangement, the bowl is supposed to go first. Because it has strong defensive power. We went to the completely destroyed gate, and when I shot up a Holy, a wall of air formed behind us. It's Beatrix. Even the charred scarecrows and frogs finally noticed, and those not on fire came running.
As we invaded inside the gate, there was now what you might call a main street, a wide road heading straight to the back, with two-story houses lined up on both sides. The alleys were the same as before. We proceeded and shot up another Holy. With this, the persuasion group should have come to this side. In fact, the rubble created by the explosion began to float in the air and block the gate. It must be Beatrix's Clump Stone. Leaving that to them, we proceeded further in.
The wide road extends for maybe a hundred paces. As we proceeded while scouting the left and right, there were rooms with scarecrows and rooms with only bonfires. There were no frogs. When we reached the end of the road, the passage became narrow in both height and width. Since there seemed to be nothing, we passed through and came out into a plaza. The plaza was surrounded by two-story buildings, but there were two alleys each on the right and left. It was when we proceeded toward the center of the plaza to look at those alleys.
CLANG!
Looking back, the passage we came in through was blocked by something like an iron plate. It probably fell from above. I thought there were no gaps, but it seems it was sealed with clay or something of the same color as the gate. I didn't notice.
Since there's no use thinking about it, we continued scouting. Looking at the alleys, the second-floor parts of the buildings were connected halfway through, making them one story high. From the back of that lowered alley, I saw a familiar mass of stone approaching. A Stone Golem. It seems we have to break through that.
"Hey, a letter came from the reconnaissance group."
Wait, seriously?
Communication is only supposed to be used when falling into a critical situation. This time, only two X's are written. In other words, two people have dropped out.
We have to rescue the remaining two. They're probably near the closed gate, so we went to pick them up.
While moving, I shot up a Holy, and small stones rolled on the ground. I transformed the bowl into a plate and went in the direction they flew from. When I reached out my hand outside the range of the Camouflage, it was grabbed by an invisible hand. When I spoke through Thought Communication, it was Bonnie and Keira. I had them get on the plate while remaining invisible and returned to the original bowl. Beatrix's Camouflage and Mute, and my Magic Reflection, are working effectively.
Suddenly, a piece of parchment floated in the air. Looking at it, there was a note stating that those who had not come to this side by the time it was blocked by the iron plate were eliminated due to time-out. In short, it's probably treated as being surrounded by enemy reinforcements. However, this means the scouts who went ahead survive while the main force is eliminated. What a nasty setup.
(Bonnie: Keira and I went out on reconnaissance. While we were scouting, the iron plate fell, and this was posted.)
With this, six of us are left. Two dropouts before the Golem is tough, but it can't be helped.
(Bonnie: For now, let's deactivate Camouflage and Mute since it's inconvenient.)
Lyudmila manipulated the bowl and bumped it against the iron plate. She bumped it three times so it made a "gwaaan" sound. At the same time, Bonnie and Keira appeared. It seems Beatrix sensed it and deactivated them.
"Is it okay to make such a noise?" Keira asked. Normally, it wouldn't be okay.
"I think it's fine. Given who the opponent is."
Looking at the street, as expected, nothing came.
"Opponent?"
"Yeah. Stone Golem."
"Oh dear, the strongest one. Where is it?"
I explained it like this. They are in four places, but probably only one of them leads to the exit. It would be good if we could find it in one go, but at worst, we'll have to fight three extra times. Lyudmila can use Prominence. If I fire eight volleys, it becomes Megiddo Fire. The problem is whether our mana will hold out.
"Beowulf, you have a silver sword, right?" Keira asked.
"Yeah, it's a one-handed sword since it's for close quarters, though."
"Then, if you hit the weak point with that, we might manage somehow."
"Weak point?"
Golems have one Magic Stone embedded in them. Usually, it's the chest. Keira says a silver sword should be able to pierce it. She apparently learned this from the Ancient Priestess she lived with.
"But, fighting that thing with a one-handed sword... I wonder if Jeanne can distract it with Light?"
That's probably impossible. The opponent is stone.
Wait? Hold on a minute. We don't even have to fight, do we?
We defeated the Golem using a spear of light. We sharpened the tip of the pole we used for the Kraken extermination. For strengthening, we could only use one Holy Lance scroll we brought, but Beowulf cast Defend on it repeatedly. And we used the bowl's charging power. Golems target enemies that approach within a certain distance. It's surely inside the passage where the ceiling is low. Otherwise, they would be attacked from above or behind. Therefore, we could try as many times as we wanted. Since it's light, Beowulf could handle it alone. After several attempts with her feet planted firmly, she managed to pierce the chest. The Golem, whose Magic Stone was damaged, broke apart into several pieces. In the end, we had to defeat three of them, but we safely reached the exit.
"It's Keira's and Jeanne's achievement."
Praised by the team leader Beowulf, the two of us high-fived in joy.