kscans

Chapter 86 - The Troll's Cave

The Troll charged, roaring. In response, I moved past `Byakuren` to take the lead.

'GROOAR!!'

"Hah!"

I met the descending stone club head-on with my sword.

The clash of giant rock and steel blade sent sparks flying, and with a heavy thud that resonated deep in my gut, both were knocked back. The monster only staggered a few steps, while I was thrown a good distance away.

I was using wind to brace myself, but the difference in mass was just too great. Could I win a direct exchange if I channeled more wind into controlling my posture...?

In that instant, my `Spirit Eye` foresaw it. The earlier shockwave had been the final straw; the stalactites on the ceiling began to crumble and fall.

Thanks to its natural toughness and the height of its head, the Troll seemed undamaged, but if we were hit, we'd be in serious trouble. Those stalactites were as hard as steel.

"Byakuren!"

But I had a plan for that.

The silver knight swung its chain, and the iron ball, accelerated by a blast of wind, swept away the raining stalactites.

As fragments scattered, the Troll raised its stone club to strike again. But a fist-sized pouch hit it square in the face.

'VWOAH!?'*

Inhaling the pepper inside, the Troll let out a cry that was somewhere between a scream and a sneeze.

I rushed to its feet, unleashing wind and flames. I wrapped them around my blade and, as I dashed past, swung diagonally at its shin.

The blade cut through skin and muscle, scraping against bone. The spattering blood was incinerated, and the wound was cauterized. The Troll's massive body pitched forward.

Immediately after, the iron ball slammed into its face. Sharp spikes gouged its thick hide, tearing away flesh. The impact momentarily jolted its tilting body back upright.

Blood gushed out. The spray, like a sprinkler, rained down, but it stopped just as quickly.

'GA, AAAAAAARGH!'

The Troll's regenerative ability. An inhuman power, just shy of immortality, that would heal any wound unless a vital point was completely destroyed.

There was only one way to deal with it.

The monster roared, trying to use its stone club as a cane to get back up. I kicked off the wall, using it as a springboard to land on its right shoulder.

Before the monster's face could turn toward me, I raised my sword.

"Shii...!"

I drove my sword into its neck from the side, placed my left hand on the hilt, and twisted with all my might. It pierced through the thick layers of skin and muscle, the tip reaching bone. The blade slipped between the cervical vertebrae and severed the nerves.

The monster's giant body convulsed. Ignoring the tremor beneath my feet, I unleashed a blast of wind and fire, using the acceleration to swing my sword horizontally.

One flash. I landed on the ground, leaving a trail of red flame. A half-second later, I leaped back from the Troll as it collapsed face-first, raising my sword again.

It was undoubtedly a fatal wound, but with a normal attack, a wound this severe would regenerate in an instant.

The way to stop a Troll's regeneration is to 'burn the wound.'

As I watched warily, the monster turned white and began to crumble. It transformed into a mass of salt of equal weight, forming a small hill with a soft thump.

"Phew..."

Seeing that, I lowered my sword and took a breath.

I think I fought more steadily than I expected. With this, I might be able to go for a strike from the start instead of defending.

The Troll surpassed the Centaur and the Lesser Demon in both strength and toughness, but it was far inferior in agility. As long as I had a way to counter its destructive power and inhibit its regeneration, taking it down wasn't a problem.

However...

"Erina-san, I'm going to blow the salt away with some wind, so stay back."

There was too much salt. It would be a pain to retrieve the drop item from inside this pile.

I'd blow it to the side, but it would be a problem if I got too much of it on myself. I could handle one, but if they stampeded, I'd surely be overwhelmed.

"Kyo-chan, Kyo-chan. Can you help Byak-chan first?"

"Huh? Oh..."

I turned around to see `Byakuren` frozen in the same pose it had taken after throwing the iron ball at the Troll's face.

It had run out of mana. Golems with a Homunculus core were already fuel-inefficient, but `Byakuren` was a particularly big eater for the sake of performance.

I rushed over, touched its shoulder, and poured my mana into it. Its glass eyes immediately lit up as it rebooted.

...Seeing this makes me really jealous of the `Alchemy Enthusiasts Club`'s `Magi Battery`.

'Well, well. That was overwhelming. Are C-Rank monsters other than bosses no longer a challenge for you?'

"I wonder... It might just be that I have a good matchup against Trolls."

I wrapped my sword in wind and slowly blew away the salt mountain, then glanced at my left hand.

Ring of the Flame Horse.

This ring, a drop from the Refcourse, was devastatingly effective against Trolls. Since I could burn as I cut, I didn't have to worry about its regeneration.

"On the other hand, it might not be a good matchup for anyone but you, Kyo-chan, Paisen. I can't use fire-style ninjutsu."

'Hmm. It would be nice if we could burn its wounds with a Molotov cocktail.'

"...Just to be clear, you didn't make any, did you? Molotov cocktails."

I glanced back nervously, and Erina-san gave me a thumbs-up.

"Of course not! They wouldn't be very effective against monsters of this rank!"

"So you would have made them if they were effective?"

"Yup!"

"Let's not do that, okay?"

"Okay!"

No matter how relaxed the `Dungeon Law` had made the sword and firearm regulations, Molotov cocktails would get you arrested. Seriously.

That part of the law is still strict, probably because a lot of people from the generation that has bad memories of them are still around... and also because they could easily cause a catastrophe through 'carelessness' or 'accidents.'

As we talked, the drop item came into view.

"Oh!"

From the still-mounded pile of salt, I retrieved a dull silver bracelet.

I could barely feel any mana from it, but there was no mistake. It was a Troll drop.

"Erina-san, can you take this?"

"Okay."

I brushed off the salt, handed the bracelet to Erina-san, and she put it in her `Item Box`.

Come to think of it, I still have the Orc Champion's bracelet... I didn't have time to put it on during the demon fight.

But if I can keep it as a good luck charm, that's for the best. I'd rather not fight an opponent where I have to use up a magical item just to win.

'Congratulations. That one's worth ten thousand yen.'

"Nice."

"Ooh."

Ten of them would be 100,000. Twenty would be 200,000.

It's dangerous, but being an adventurer really is a profitable profession.

Well, Professor Arisugawa buys them from us at a pretty high price, too. I think this bracelet would normally sell for around seven thousand yen.

For a C-Rank monster drop, is that expensive or cheap...?

Well, today was just a warm-up, and I chose this dungeon because it's easy to retreat if necessary. No point in fussing over the money.

"Alright, let's resume the exploration."

"Yeah!"

I used wind to push the pile of salt against the wall and moved forward. About twenty seconds later, I found an SDF marker.

"Aira-san, we're at B-4."

'Okay. In that case, let's see. Continue straight along the gentle curve, and when the path splits in two, go left.'

"Understood."

Following the artificial lights, I thought about the Trolls.

Apparently, these monsters are extremely troublesome for the SDF inside a dungeon, but outside, they're sitting ducks.

First, Trolls are tough.

Their hide is an armor of fat and muscle that can stop most rifle rounds, and their massive bodies are supported by thick bones.

Their brains are extremely small for their size, and their skulls are thicker than any other bone. Their torsos are well-protected by flesh and bone, and they have enough intelligence to block with their arms.

On top of that, they have ridiculously high regeneration. Heavy machine guns or anti-materiel rifles can damage them, but the friction heat from a bullet passing through isn't enough to cause a proper burn. In that sense, they're tough.

As a countermeasure, the SDF has chosen a simple solution.

Just crush them with overwhelming firepower.

Everyone's favorite RPGs. Mortars that can be fired from a distance. A barrage of grenades.

Trolls are tough and powerful, but not very mobile. An Olympic athlete couldn't outrun one, but a car could easily lose it.

However, if a Troll were to rampage outside, the scale of the damage and the cost of the ammunition would be astronomical.

And inside a dungeon, because of these stalactites, using explosives carelessly could endanger the user. An Awakened Person strong enough to withstand that would be better off just fighting it in close combat.

In conclusion, it's much more helpful for adventurers to deal with these monsters. Thanks to that, the subjugation reward from the store is relatively high.

...Though it's really just a 'relatively' high amount.

As I was thinking about this, the fork in the road Aira-san mentioned came into view.

"Left here, right?"

'Yes. After that—'

"Wait."

Erina-san grabbed my shoulder, stopping me.

A faint tremor traveled up through the soles of my feet.

"...Two of them are coming from the right path. What do you want to do?"

"...We'll engage them here. I don't want to get flanked and pincer attacked."

"Got it."

We backed up a bit and waited for the Trolls to arrive.

A few seconds later, I could hear their heavy footsteps. The shaking of the ground grew stronger in proportion.

"Byakuren. Knock down the ceiling stalactites first."

At my command, the golem threw its iron ball, snapping the icicle-like rocks.

In a normal limestone cave, this would be an outrageous act of vandalism. I brushed away the fallen stalactite fragments with wind and tightened my grip on my sword, sensing the monsters' footsteps quicken. They must have noticed us.

Then, two Trolls came into view, running as if they were racing each other.

'VROOOOAAAAAR!!'

'GAAAAAAARRRGH!!'

Their voices were deafening on their own, but now there were two. The sound, which could be called a shockwave, nearly broke my stance.

But I knew someone who could aim at their 'target' without flinching even in this situation.

"Great! Ninja! Attaaaack!!"

From that ridiculous battle cry came a powerful throw.

The spinning `Daisharinmaru`, propelled by a blast of wind, cut through the monsters' roars and flew straight toward the Troll on the right.

The Troll didn't even take a defensive posture against the attack heading for its head, but the 'dungeon' was different.

My `Spirit Eye` caught the swell of mana. As I suspected, the dungeon itself was trying to protect the monster.

But that would backfire.

`Concept Interference`.

The spinning blades absorbed the twisting wall of mana and accelerated, now cloaked in a gale, and cleanly split the Troll's head vertically.

The Troll on the right collapsed to its knees with a spray of blood. The other one ignored it and charged straight for me.

It raised a stalactite it must have pulled out along the way as a club, swinging it at me as I stepped forward.

But it was too slow.

I held my sword at my waist and, before the club came down, closed the distance. I swung my flaming sword at its shin, then reversed my turn and slashed its calf.

'GI, GAAAARGH!?'

The monster screamed and pitched forward. I ran up its back and jumped.

Keeping my body parallel to the ground, I spun sideways. My blade, cloaked in wind and flame, entered at the nape of its neck and severed its spine.

I landed as the monster collapsed face-down with a ground-shaking thud. I glanced back at it, using a series of small hops instead of a slide to stop on the uneven rock floor.

Readjusting my grip on my sword, I caught sight of the Troll with the split head.

The wound had already closed, and it was using its weapon as a cane to get back on its feet. Its brain must have been destroyed, yet its regeneration speed was astonishing.

But there was no reason to let it do as it pleased. Just as it was about to stand, an iron ball shattered its ankle, sending it tumbling again.

'GOOH!?'*

As the Troll fell to its hands, I closed the distance in an instant.

The monster instinctively thrust its club at me, but I used the power of wind to dodge to the right, getting close enough to touch.

As our eyes met, my yellow gaze locking with its, I brought down the hand-and-a-half sword I held with both hands. The blade sliced diagonally through its face, which was as large as a man's height, splitting it open and burning it to a crisp.

I took a few steps back from the carbonized head, holding my stance. Only after confirming that both Trolls had turned to salt did I finally let out a breath.

"Phew..."

"Good work, Kyo-chan!"

"You too, Erina-san."

"I don't hear anything nearby. I'm gonna go get my `Daisharinmaru`!"

Erina-san said as she passed by me. I chuckled as I watched her run, her golden twin-tails bouncing like a tail, then replenished Byakuren's mana.

Alright, then.

"...I think collecting the drop items is harder than killing them."

My cheeks twitched as I used wind to push the mounds of salt, which were threatening to block the path, against the wall.

It was too dangerous to stick my arms or body into the salt, so I had no choice but to disperse it bit by bit.

'Gooo...ood luuuuck.'

"Thanks for the unenthusiastic cheer...!"

'Well, there's not much I can do from here. I'll just check the route. Oh, if you're having Byakuren-kun stand guard, I can act as your eyes through the mirror.'

"...Please do."

Erina-san and `Byakuren` moved a short distance away to scout the area, so as not to get buried in salt. It was my job to find the drop items in the white mounds.

I'm never coming to a dungeon like this again...!

*

My first exploration of a 'C-Rank Dungeon' thankfully ended without a single injury.

I was surprised by how heavily armed the SDF personnel at the exit were, though. They even had something that looked like the missiles you see shooting down helicopters in movies.

According to Aira-san, if a Troll stampede was imminent, they were prepared to fire at the risk of causing a collapse, then dash out before the gate was buried. The SDF guys have it tough.

In any case, today's work was done.

From defeating 34 Trolls, my earnings for the day, including the reward from the store, came to 410,000 yen. Split between the two of us, that's '205,000 yen' each.

During the exploration, I had all sorts of thoughts, but seeing the numbers in my bank account increase brought a smile to my face. I really am a simple man.