A little while after the base construction team pa.s.sed the stairs, which lead to the second underground floor, they were attacked by a swarm of monsters. Mixed with the large amount of demon hounds, were the large rats that had surpa.s.sed roundness and only existed for the purpose of being food, even the jelly-like slimes that clean the dungeon attacked them as if to stand in their way.
“What the h.e.l.l, there wasn’t a welcome like this last time.”
“Maybe the monsters are acc.u.mulating because of the barrier at the construction site?”
“That doesn’t become a reason for the round rats and slimes to attack us.”
“Wah, they’re coming from under our feet too!”
While handling the monsters that just kept coming in wave after wave, they retreated to a narrow place and set up a defense line there, preventing the monsters from coming in, but in front of such a great number of monsters, they couldn’t cut through them, nor could they carelessly retreat, they had fallen into a dangerous situation.
ED: Run-on sentences like this are perfectly acceptable in j.a.panese, and a pain to break up into grammatically correct sentences in English – so I don’t, kappa. -Ishman
In order to counter this strange situation, the hired spiritualist, who was behind the group in order to protect the workers, went to the front in order to read the mind of the crowding monsters. The result—-
“The great will of the labyrinth is wary, and has a great amount of hostility towards us.”
According to the information the spiritualist got from reading the monsters’ minds, it seems like the collective consciousness sees the creation of the base as a threat and sees the base creation team as an important enemy, so it sent the monsters under its control to attack them.
“In other words, the collective consciousness that controls these guys is p.i.s.sed off because we are trying to build a base here, right.”
“To think the collective consciousness would make such an intellectual and precise response against human actions…….”
“It isn’t the time to be impressed, at this rate we won’t even be able to reach the base’s location.”
If they were to reach the place where the barrier was set up, they would be able to easily fend them off, and with the spiritualist’s power they’ll be able to increase the barrier’s output. Like that, he’ll be able to purify the area around the barrier, so the monsters and the dungeon’s magic power won’t be able to get in, which means that they’ll be able to take a break at that time.
However, it doesn’t seem like they’ll be able to reach it. Even if slaughtering the demon hounds would be easy, the slimes that come from below and latch themselves onto their feet, are troublesome. Since fighting and attacking them with normal weapons doesn’t have much effect, the only way would be to burn them to ashes with a torch, or with the fire magic of a fire magician, but they can’t afford to leisurely take care of the slimes while fighting the demon hounds.
“c.r.a.p, my spear was-!”
“That’s why I told you to only use blunt weapons.”
“Blunted weapons don’t fit me you know~.”
The spear was discarded because the tip was bent, Gashe is now fighting against them with his spare short sword. However, because of the large difference in range, he only grazed a demon hound in front of him. It was already hard to beat one of them.
“Ei! d.a.m.n it! Does any one of you have a great sword or battle ax with ‘em!?”
Then at that time, behind the great number of monsters, a single demon hound appeared. The demon hound, that seemed to be part of another wave of enemies, came close to them and then used the corpses of other monsters as stepping stones, in order to jump over the vanguard and land behind them.
“Wha…….. Shimatta!”
TL: Shimatta is j.a.panese for d.a.m.n it. -Tensai
ED: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
TL: LOL, f.u.c.k YOU, THAT NOTE ISN’T MINE – Tensai
To think that a demon hound could do something like that, the whole vanguard was completely caught off guard by this. At the rear there were people who can’t fight in the front, along with the spiritualist and workers that were brought here in order to build the base. Even if a single demon hound cla.s.s monster were to attack them, the victims would be immeasurable.
“Rich.e.l.lo and I will hold them back! You go kill off the other one!”
Thinking that the short sword would be useful, Elmel had Gashe go after the demon hound that had jumped over them, while she took over the place Gashe was defending, and threatened the pack of demon hounds by swinging her long sword around. Rich.e.l.lo quickly went to Elmel’s side in order to support her. Gashe immediately went to the other group where the demon hound was, and involuntarily stopped moving. Let’s just say that the sight before him, was something he didn’t know how to react to.
“Hey, What happened! What are you standing around for!”
“W-Well that……”
Elmel, who had raised her voice in anger because of Gashe, who wasn’t moving, looked back to see what was happening, when she did, she frowned at the sight. The demon hound was sitting straight in one spot. First of all, that’s impossible. Since the demon hound was an existence controlled by the collective consciousness that would attack humans on sight. This has been an unchanging thing within the dungeon, the adventurers and even the trainees around this area know that. Just why would it sit in front of a human. Furthermore, at the feet of the demon hound lay a battle axe of good quality. Of course, it wasn’t something from the vanguard, and it wasn’t something the other group had prepared.
“This guy, could it be……”
Seeing the battle axe in front of the demon hound, Gashe thought about the recent ‘monster that would help out adventurers’.
At that time, after being informed of an unexpected wave of monsters that blocked the way of the base construction team, the adventurer’s society sent a sortie of support troops who would go to a.s.sist them, they went there immediately and beat the waves of monsters. The torch of simple magicians and the powerful fire magician burned the slimes to ashes, the swarm of demon hounds that was blocking the corridor was also dealt with in no time.
“Alright, with this, we were somehow able to finish it.”
“So it finally ended……”
“Don’t let your guard down, the real thing starts now.”
“Hahaha, we can’t see which one the captain is.”
Even Gashe, the one who said that he was the captain because of his capability, was now smiling wryly towards Elmel who fit the job perfectly. The vanguard of the base construction team was talking lively in the corridor filled with corpses. Seeing a demon hound near them, an adventurer from the support troops warned them.
“Oi! One of them’s still alive!”
Gashe and the others put up their guard after hearing that voice, but after looking at the demon hound the adventurer of the support troop was pointing at, they dropped their guard.
“No, this one’s alright.”
“This one’s our ally, so no problem.”
“What are you saying? That, isn’t that a demon hound?”
“Well, yeah, but…… haven’t you heard of it? The recent rumor about a monster that allies itself with adventurers.”
‘Is that what it is?’ The adventurers of the support troops asked, while looking at the demon hound with observing eyes, staying vigilant. Just what was it doing they thought, seeing it poking, around the corpses at the side of the demon hounds, with its paws and nose. Even the experienced adventurers like them had never seen a monster that allied itself with adventurers. However, it was true that they could see that this demon hound didn’t show any intention of attacking them.
“Anyway, let’s start moving towards the base’s construction site for now.”
“Right. I couldn’t stand it if we were to get attacked by a swarm of monsters again.”
The base construction team and the support troops were thinking it was about time to move. It seems like the demon hound was going accompany them.
The support troops were cautious around him, but seeing that he didn’t pose a threat, ‘He’ was allowed to travel with them.
[It’s the first time I’ve seen so many people, isn’t it. Some of them are even ones I know.]
Among the humans he had met, there were those that had recognized him as their ally in battle, and he was happy to have made ‘acquaintances’ like that. The happy feelings ‘He’ was feeling, also influenced the body he possessed, seeing the demon hound wagging its tail happily even though it had a vicious and rugged looking body, the ones around him didn’t know if they had to feel it was charming or that they had to think it was just a bad joke.
The party reached the barrier where they were planning to build their base, so first they began to raise the output of the barrier, in order to make it a real safe area. Sometime after that, the purification ritual will be performed by the spiritualist, in order to erase an area around them from the influence of the dungeon’s magic power.
After the purification, the dungeon’s magic power will return after some time pa.s.ses. What was thought up against it was, a barrier that permanently purified the area within it. It is a ritual called permanent purification.
While the barrier was being strengthened, the workers began to carry around simple reinforcement materials while building a door. The day they’ll be able to build a wall, made of firm stones, is after they’ve set up the place as a safe area, so that they can safely carry materials to it.
[Ah, it feels as if my body is getting heavier…… Has the barrier gotten stronger?]
While watching over their work, ‘He’ decided to temporarily retreat outside the barrier, since it seemed like he wouldn’t be able to move anymore if he stayed inside the barrier.
“Oh? What happened doggie?”
“Are you going somewhere?”
“Woof~” [‘My body’s heavy you know-‘]
“Isn’t it because it’s painful within the barrier?”
“Ah, I see. Cause it’s a monster.”
“Woof~” [Looks like it.]
Because of the communication between the demon hound and the three skilled adventurers,
the wariness of the workers and adventurers against the demon hound had all gone away.
“Enemy attack!”
Around the time the power of the barrier began to work against ‘Him’, a pack of monsters, that could be called the second wave, poured out from the surrounding area. The vanguard quickly got into defensive formation. Because of the a.s.sistance of the support troops and the strength of the barrier, they had it relatively easier than the previous wave.
Meanwhile, ‘He’ ended up being excluded from the place that had become the adventurer’s base, after the barrier had been strengthened. ‘He’ was on the opposite end of the corridor, where the monsters were flooding from, and was looking restlessly at the situation. In order to move to the other side of the corridor, he would have to travel a considerable distance, furthermore, he wouldn’t be able to enter the barrier and would be attacked from both sides. As expected, it would be a suicidal act. Leaving aside the question whether he has a life or not, he would never expose the body he is possessing to death meaninglessly.
[But, what should I do.]
While ‘He’ was thinking, whether it was good to just keep on spectating, or that he should go explore some other place, someone was going toward him. It was the cornerstone of the base’ construction team, the spiritualist. It seems like the spiritualist, who had nothing to do until her part came, had taken an interest in the mysterious demon hound that allied itself with humans.
Even if the warrior, who was her guard, told her that it would be safer not to get closer since it might be dangerous, Rich.e.l.lo, who was also on standby, still convinced her after saying he would go with her.
“………? This is——“
Feeling ‘His’ presence inside the demon hound, the spiritualist asks:
“Who, who are you?”
Noticing that the spiritualist was watching ‘Himself’, ‘He’ showed himself from the demon hound’s possession. The spiritualist involuntarily gasped when a spirit like existence showed itself from the demon hound. The guard who became wary after seeing her surprise, Rich.e.l.lo, got interested in what the spiritualist saw.
“I am a spiritualist from Eiyoa, Rindora. And you are?”
[Me? I am………]
Having a hard time answering her question, ‘He’ told her the name he was given, even though he didn’t know his own.
[I am, ‘Kou’]
TL note: Remember how he was called by the girl, when he was a bat? -Tensaiz
“So you’re called ‘Kou’? Kou, what kind of existence are you?”
[I don’t really know.]
Being able to hold a direct conversation, ‘He’, who named himself Kou, remembered feelings such as; surprise, excitement, and joy. He had never thought that a time would come where he would be able to hold a conversation, this way, it became an awkward conversation, where he just answered whenever Rindora asked him a question, but it gave him a really fulfilling feeling. Kou answered that he didn’t really know. He didn’t tell her about his old world from the pieces of memories inside his head, since he wouldn’t be able to explain it well enough.
Rindora had a.n.a.lyzed Kou, and thought that he might have been an information body, that was a subspecies of a spirit, born inside the dungeon. It might have separated itself from the collective conscious, or it might be a new type.
“Kou, since when have you been here?”
[I don’t know. But I think it’s probably been more than twenty days. What about it? There is a place that shows the outside, so I counted the days and night there. Actually, I think it’s been longer than that.]
Rindora focused on the fact, that even though it had never been out of the dungeon, it had knowledge about the ‘outside’ world. The light that was coming out of the demon hound, even though it didn’t have a substance, vaguely had a human form.
“You, might’ve been originally been a human.”
[Ah, I am certain about that, certainly, I was once a human.]
Rindora nodded while saying ‘I see’. The soul of a fallen adventurer might’ve separated itself from the collective conscious of the dungeon, or a monster that got fused with the soul was separated from the collective consciousness, because it had a will of its own, and was able to move by its own will. It was probably something along those lines. Anyway, it’s very rea.s.suring that an existence that communicates with them and possesses monsters, is their ally.
“There are still a lot of things I am unsure of, but I have roughly understood your situation. I shall entrust this to you.”
Rindora took the amulet with a green stone from her own neck and held it out to Kou. Seeing that amulet, Rich.e.l.lo involuntarily gasped.
“The spiritualist’s amulet……….”
“Wha! What did you say!?”
After having determined that Kou doesn’t hold any ill will towards them, she gave ‘Him’ an amulet that negates the barrier’s effects. If it was put on the possessing existence, he’ll be able to pa.s.s through most barriers.
ED: Green key card GET -Ishman
“Rindora-dono! Isn’t it dangerous to gift such a thing to a monster?”
“It’s alright. He will not try to harm us.”
The guard was wary, but most spiritualists have the ability to see through a person’s heart. Rindora had made certain that Kou wasn’t a dangerous existence.
Kou, who had received the amulet, didn’t put it around the demon hound’s neck, since the cord was too short, so for a while after going through trial and error, he was able to use the information in his memories about ‘implantation’, which allowed the amulet to be embedded into a part of his body.
[Let’s see……?]
When he tried to put his front leg through the barrier, with the power of the amulet, he was able to move inside the barrier without feeling any pressure.
[Oh~ I got in! Thank you, Rindora-san!]
The demon hound was wagging its tail in front of Rindora’s face. Its dark fur was like a shadow, the long and sharp fangs and its vicious appearance hadn’t changed, but the overflowing feelings of happiness that was coming from its body, made it seem like a normal dog even with its appearance.
The battle against the second wave was almost over, with most of the monsters beaten, now they only had to burn the slimes that had acc.u.mulated in front of the barrier. Kou, who had decided that he would stay here while the base was being constructed, was now directly speaking with the spiritualist, Rindora, and deepened his knowledge about the outside world.