Year 7446, Month 10, Day 19The teleport room of the 3rd floor. Among several parties that were camping out, there was luckily one spot open along the walls. There"s a reasonable number of people so you can hear voices coming from here and there. It"s been quite a while since the majority of the people had already become acquaintances.
"How is it? Are you tired?"
Gwine hands the tea Miduchi made over to Kamu and Kimu while asking them.
"Thanks. Hn~ not that much I guess? The pace isn"t all that different from the {Butchers} after all."
Kimu smiled while saying.
Well, I"m sure. Now not just the {Butchers} but even the {Exterminators} are clearing through to this teleport room on the 3rd floor on the first day and camping out here after all.It"s just the pace that differs a bit and it shouldn"t be all that different. Ah, I haven"t dispatched Gwine before so they might not be able to get a feel for it~ They might just be making comparisons to how slow other parties than the {Slaughterers} clear through the dungeon.
Other than that, Zenom and others were resting their tired bodies while talking and waiting impatiently for the dinner Giberuti was making.
However, Basutoral and Angela weren"t partic.i.p.ating in that, they"re still enthusiastically whispering about things along the edge of the wall.
Somehow, the challengers Kamu and Kimu seem to have more composure. The side that should be taking them on isn"t holding back at all in making preparations almost like the challenger, and thinking that it was a bit amusing. It"s fine, if you just calm down and do it the same as usual you won"t lose so easily. On the contrary if you get impatient and try to implement some strange strategy you don"t usually do, it"s more frightening when that falls through.
Well, it"s nothing for me to comment on right now. Do whatever you please.
.....................................
Year 7446, Month 10, Day 20
We smoothly cleared through the 4th and 5th floors and arrived at the teleport room on the 5th floor so we"re taking a short break.
The campsite that {Black.Topaz} used is covered in dust but it"s been expanded quite a bit. The amount of bags in the spot the {Verdure.Brotherhood} uses has increased quite a bit as well. And then, it"s not a corner of the room but there"s a considerable amount of bags in the spot {Gehenna.Flare} uses as they seem to be smoothly developing it as well.
On our route through the 5th floor this time we didn"t end up with a course that pa.s.ses through any altar rooms. Our pace at clearing through the 5th floor is obviously faster than the {Butchers}. Or rather, you could say it just doesn"t differ much from our pace yesterday though.
I guess since Kamu already experienced a faster pace during the incident with {Black.Topaz} the other day, she wasn"t having any problems in particular. But, as expected she isn"t used to this pace either so her expression was a bit more serious. On the end of Kimu she hasn"t moved at this pace past the 4th floor so the amount of talking she was doing had clearly decreased and her expression was dark. I"m sure it"s not exhaustion from lack of stamina for the two of them but mental fatigue. It"s good to see that they"ve properly increased their abilities. After that is just experience.
Once again today Basutoral and Angela were discussing things every time we took a break and there wasn"t any particular change.
Just like that, I was watching as Kamu explained things about the traps on the 6th floor to Kimu so they don"t have any problems tomorrow.
"In regards to those teleport traps. The {Slaughterers} have already made an almost perfect map from walking around the 6th floor. If we pa.s.s through the edge of the hall in order then it"s easy to get by them. That"s why it seems fine if you don"t think about it so carefully."
"..I"ve heard that a number of times already. But.."
"It"s alright. I thought the same until the other day. But, it"s already fine. It"s not like it"s the first time for you either, you"ve already pa.s.sed through them a number of times right?"
"That"s right but..Even if you tell me the range where you"ll fall into the trap...No one knows if it"s the same for all of the traps on the 5th floor after all..When I think that I might disappear.."
"If we enter the {Slaughterers} then I don"t think that will be allowed. We can"t always be taking our time around there forever after all."
"If sister says so then.."
If sister says so huh? It seems there"s still not enough trust, in me as well. Though it can"t be helped since the length of time they"ve been together is no comparison though.
After finishing our break, we teleported into the 6th floor.
..................................
After teleporting into the 6th floor, we"re approaching the third monster room soon.
While I"m standing at the lead of the party I use Identify vision to look into the room from further down the hall.
..It doesn"t seem to be dangerous but this is..troublesome. I told everyone "it seems to be fine" and then we walked ahead without lowering our pace. It seems like the other side has noticed us as well. I lightly wave my hand and gesture that we"re not monsters.
"Ooh~ Gwine~!"
After entering the monster room and Garuban.Disukorudo or Garun who was keeping lookout for {Gehenna.Flare} while they take a break sharply noticed Gwine and approached while calling out to her. The one who I waved to just now was this guy.
With no difference from usual the orange flames on their armor that"s been dyed black stands out.
"Ah, Garun-san. How are you doing?"
"Just listen to this, because of that s.h.i.tty leader"If it isn"t Gwine-han!!"
Pushing aside Garun the leader Heggusu.Whiteflame ran over and took Gwine"s hand.
The other members all stood up from the places they were sitting and gathered to approach Gwine and Zenom as well.
"Ah, Firefreed-san, it"s been a while."
"It"s been a while~!"while~"while~""
"Yeah, I haven"t seen you all in a while.."
Obviously they weren"t paying the slightest interest in any of us other than Gwine and Zenom. They didn"t even greet us. Treating us as if we"re air or something that isn"t even there.
"Please have some tea."
"If you"re fine with something simple we have tea cakes as well~"
"Ah, please let me hear the continuation of that discussion from the other day, the one from when Firefreed-san was younger."
"That sounds great!"
"I want to hear about it as well!"
Zenom sure is popular. We just smile bitterly as we"re left behind.
"Hey, s.h.i.tty leader! Go and suggest a break to them."
"Sh..s.h.i.tty..Th..That"s so mean.."
Ah, for the time being it seems our existence has been recognized. During the time we were wandering around the 4th and 5th floors unless I took action first, we were really just ignored though...For some reason I feel just a bit happy.
"Can"t you at least manage something like that, how useless!"
"..Really~ you"re all too loud.. Ah~ Greed-han. We"ll at least offer some tea so you all should take a break around here as well. Around that area over there is fine."
The dwarf speaking with a Guranan accent said while pointing to a random corner of the room. It won"t even take 2 hours to arrive at the teleport crystal from here. It can"t be helped. Shall we take a break? I turned around to everyone with an expression like it can"t be helped. Everyone was making vague expressions.
Somehow you know~ Though, somehow I kind of like this man called Heggusu. Though it might be pity from being oppressed by his members. I turn around again in order to reply.
He"s gone.
Huh? After one-sidedly declaring to me Gwine has already been abducted!?
Was that just an afterimage!?
"Here you go~ Firefreed-san can have this one.."
"Hey, Mima. We had some Reida leaves right? That.."
"Eh~ to them as well?"
"Idiot, for Firefreed-san and Gwine-chan."
"That"s right, there"s the leaves from the tea we were just drinking right? The leftovers of that is plenty."
"Ehi~ Gwine-ha~n, sit down over here~"
"Ah, hey! Gwine-chan over here!"
"Ow, it hurts! Don"t pull me!"
"Leader! Let her go! You"re hurting Gwine-chan!"
"Really, please stop fighting. Then starting from next to Heggusu-san."
"No..No way~"
"Oh~hyu~, ah, we have some bisubanana, eat up, here eat all you want."
"Eh? Is that fine? I"m happy~!"
"Muhyohyo, Gwine-han"s smile is so nice~"
"Hey, Garun, Vigo, Bobu, return to keeping lookout, it"s you guys turn right?"
"Something like lookout those guys can do""That"s right!""
"Really~ well I"m sure they won"t miss any monsters""That"s right!""
No way you pieces of s.h.i.t. But, we can"t slack off on keeping lookout. Now that it"s become like this I already know from experience that {Gehenna.Flare} absolutely won"t do something like keeping lookout. However, bisubanana he said? Those are super expensive fruits that cost over 50,000 Z each!? I"ve only eaten it once during a course meal in a restaurant in the capital...
"{Gehenna.Flare} sure is troublesome right."
"Those guys have always been like that since a while back. Though just Kevin didn"t seem to have any complaints."
Kamu and Kimu were talking about it while making faces like it can"t be helped.
I"m sure they were like that to {Sun.Ray} as well.
"Angela, Basutoral. Keep lookout together with me. I"ll keep an eye on those two halls over there. Angela you watch those two, and Basutoral watch that one over there. After 10 minutes we"ll switch with Miduchi, Toris, and Kimu."
.....................................
"Zenom, Gwine. We"re leaving soon."
20 minutes later, I called out to the two of them who were sitting in a circle with {Gehenna.Flare}.
"Since I was called please excuse me."
"Eeeh~ already?"
"Gr..Greed-san, just a bit longer! Gwine-chan still hasn"t come to sit by me yet!"
"Nmo~! I"ll sit by you next time Bobu. Hey, let go of me."
"Gwine-cha~n!"
"Sorry about that, Bobu. We"re already going. Let go of Gwine."
"Ssu! Firefreed-san, please let me hear more stories again next time~ssu!"
"Thanksu!"Thank!""Tha~!"
"Greed-han, sorry about stopping you up. Well, we"re in your care from here on out as well~"
In regards to what?
"No..Well then, please excuse us."
What do you please to request of us next time?
I"m already sick of it...
However, these guys, they sure do have quite the composure for being on the 6th floor.
I"m sure they"ve already come a number of times and are somewhat used to it but in some meanings as expected of them.
...............................
Year 7446, Month 10, Day 21
After eating the breakfast Giberuti prepared for everyone, we had a meeting before teleporting into the 7th floor.
A confirmation of the regulations.
"It"s fine to start with the challengers, Kamu and Kimu"s group right?"
"I don"t mind."
"That"s fine."
"Alright, then let"s go over things one last time. Kamu and Kimu are challenging Basutoral and Angela. The winning group joins the {Slaughterers}."
I already discussed it countless times already but I repeat once more.
"The victory and defeat is decided by taking on 1 ogre and the amount of time it takes to defeat it. We"ll repeat combat with ogres three times and the group with a shorter total time wins. I"ll take time with this clock magic tool. The time starts when I say "begin". Since there"s also the matter of the distance and position from the ogre but I"ll make sure there"s no unfairness on that end."
The four of them nod.
"It"s fine for you to do combat in any way. Whether it"s cutting with a sword, stabbing with a spear, shooting with a bow, or using magic it"s your choice."
I look at the four of them in order as they nod at everything I say.
"Alright, the signal for completion is when you"ve taken the magic stone out and hold it up. Don"t forget."
First off it"s necessary to search for just the right ogre for the test. It"s not like we"re aiming for the 8th floor or a monster room so it"s easy that the teleport destination doesn"t matter.
"We"re already prepared, so bring it on anytime!~"
Kimu said enthusiastically.
"Ffu. Then let"s go. Jukuda!"
In a moment we were teleported and we went from the dim 6th floor teleport room to the 7th floor which was bright like midday. It seems there"s no ogres or goblins around us.
After confirming our location on the map, it seems like we"d run into an ogre if we just wander around randomly so without any real basis I faced towards the right side. If we"re lucky then there should be an ogre in the forest spread out about 100 meters ahead.
"We"ll go with {Wedge.One} in that direction. If I discover an ogre then I"ll raise my closed left hand."
I"ve already more or less explained our formations. The dispatched leaders to the {Butchers} have more or less explained things to them so it"s plenty to just go over the fine details.
On our way towards the forest I use the spell {Detect.Life} to search for enemies. In my case since my void magic level is high even if I extend the range it can be done with less MP than usual.
There"s nothing~
I guess we"ll need to wander around a bit.
On our way through the forest, I use {Detect.Life} again.
There"s one. It"s barely on the edge of the range I can detect, around 200 meters ahead.
Conveniently it seems to be just 1 as well.
It should be in a wasteland or plains ahead of this forest.
An ogre or goblin. Since there"s just 1 it"s probably an ogre though.
For a short while we continued just like that and the monster entered our sight.
After all it was an ogre.
It"s sitting in the center of the plains after the forest opened up and is just dazing off almost like it"s bathing in the sun.
I gave the sign of discovering it and lowered my posture.
We approach carefully so it won"t notice us no matter what.
In another 15~20 meters from pa.s.sing through the forest I can see a convenient place covered by bushes.
The size is plenty so it"s probably ideal for watching.
I hide behind the bushes and after everyone had gathered over I quietly said.
"There"s an ogre over there...You can see it right? It seems to be just 1 so we"ll start with it. Kamu, Kimu. Are you ready?"
"We"re ready but let us go over things for a moment."
"Yeah, I don"t mind."
The two of them started going over things in a whisper.
It seems they"re done in less than a minute.
"Is it fine already?"
The two of them nod. Seeing that I nod back.
And then Zenom took out the clock magic tool so they could tell.
It"s the usual alarm clock sized one we always use in the dungeon.
"If you want backup say something without hesitation. If things seem dangerous then even if you don"t say anything we"ll move at our own convenience but don"t think badly of it."
Kamu and Kimu were making faces like they already knew that and nodded.
Alright.
"Begin"
While lowering her body Kimu went straight ahead holding the long spear and Kamu went a bit around to the right while holding her bow.
I think there"s around 20~30 meters from here to the 1 ogre in the plains?
It depends on their movement speed but it shouldn"t even bee a minute before the battle starts.
Everyone was watching as Kamu and Kimu approach the ogre from the shadow of the bushes but soon after the two of them were hidden in the gra.s.s of the plains.
"6:22"
Zenom said while still holding the clock magic tool.
"About 30 seconds."
Hearing that Miduchi said it almost as if she was responding but I guess she means that it"s now 6:22:30, 30 seconds after the test started.
Basutoral and Angela are watching the surroundings of the ogre.
I took the glove off my left hand and tensed up so I could provide back with magic at any time. Since I don"t want to lose Kamu and Kimu in this sort of place after all.
Author"s Note: {Gehenna.Flare} Member List:
Heggusu.Howaitofureimu (Heggusu), Male, Dowāfu, Poleaxe.Magic
Jonasan.Birubān(Neisan), Male, Dowāfu, Tomahawk.Shield
Miruhīma.Aisumerutā(Mīma), Female, Dowāfu, Flail.Magic
Garuban.Disukōrudo(Garun), Male, Dowāfu, Warhammer
Rōkairu.Girufureā(Roiru), Male, Dowāfu, Mace.Bow.Magic
Daniera.Bāningusu(Daniera), Female, Dowāfu, Tomahawk.Bow.Magic
Maruisharu.Fureimushafuto(Māshu), Female, Dowāfu, Mace.Bow.Magic
Vīgouru.Reddobureizu(Vīgo), Male, Dowāfu, Battle Axe
Robāto.Rokkubureiku(Bobu), Male, Dowāfu, Halberd