Chapter 10: The Stampede Battle
□ Dungeon Upper Levels (—)
“Hey! It’s an Orc King and an Elder Wolf! What are we gonna do!?”
“Hey, don’t push! We can’t handle those!”
“Jekyll-san! What’s the plan!”
“Huh? Jekyll-san!?”
Just as the adventurers panicked at the appearance of the powerful Orc King and Elder Wolf, Jekyll, who was supposed to be commanding this operation from the rear, had vanished.
“Jekyll-san, where did you go!?”
“No way, did he run?”
“Seriously!?”
“Hey! This is bad! They’re coming this way!”
“R-Run! It’s impossible!”
“Hey, don’t push!”
“What? What happened!?”
Faced with the attacking Orc King and Elder Wolf, and with the commotion from the rear as Jekyll disappeared, the adventurers instantly fell into chaos.
“Uwaaaaaaaah!”
“Stop! Stop it!”
“My arm!?”
“Gyaaaaaaaah!”
“Damn it! How dare you do that to David!!!”
“Claire-san! Healing!!”
At that moment, an Elder Wolf finally lunged at the adventurers’ vanguard.
It sank its teeth into the disoriented adventurers.
The Orc King also charged in, swinging its great axe.
Many adventurers were scattered.
Some, enraged, attacked in response. Others, terrified, collapsed. Still others turned to flee.
All of them became targets for the monsters’ onslaught.
The mages in the rear guard were sporadically casting attack spells, but they were only managing to defeat Dark Wolves and Orcs at best.
Their attacks couldn’t reach the powerful pack leaders, nor could they stop the even higher-ranking Elder Wolf and Orc King.
Some adventurers fled, as if following Jekyll’s lead. Naturally, Claire was among them.
The two who had boasted they would command this operation were the first to disappear.
The adventurers fell into utter chaos, consumed by anger and fear.
Amidst such chaos, the Orc King calmly raised its great axe.
“No…”
“Stop…”
The Orc King looked down on the adventurers who were about to die, a vile pleasure on its face.
Then, after waiting for the adventurers’ hearts to be dyed with terror, it swung its great axe down.
CLAAAAAAAANG!!!!!!!!!!!!
However, what echoed was the sound of metal striking metal.
It wasn’t a scream.
Those who had averted their eyes, anticipating mass destruction by the Orc King, looked back, puzzled by the sudden silence, only to see—
“My apologies. I’m late.”
A knight like a holy maiden, clad in beautiful, pure silver armor…
Michelle, who should have been asleep for half a year, was there, blocking the Orc King’s great axe with her shield.
“Mi-Michelle-san????”
“It’s Michelle-san!?”
“Seriously?”
“She woke up?”
“My apologies. First, let’s scatter these fiends.”
“We can do this! We can do this!”
The adventurers’ spirits soared at once.
Their trust in Michelle was incomparable to that they had for Jekyll or Claire.
“Shooting Ray!”
And then, Michelle chanted a spell.
It was a holy attribute spell that unleashed countless spears of light.
Those spears pierced the Orc King before her, and then proceeded to slaughter the surrounding monsters one after another.
“A-Amazing…”
“We’ll fight too!”
“Yeah, leaving it all to Michelle-san, who just recovered, would tarnish the name of adventurer!”
The adventurers regained their momentum and began hunting the monsters.
The disappearance of the Orc King brought a great sense of relief to their hearts.
Having eliminated one of those terrifying monsters, Michelle was now continuously engaging another.
Unlike the Orc King, which was large, power-oriented, and not very fast, the speed-oriented Elder Wolf had succeeded in dodging the spears of light.
However, as if predicting this, Michelle slashed at the Elder Wolf that had dodged the light spears.
The Elder Wolf retaliated with its fangs, and they transitioned directly into combat.
“Leave the Elder Wolf to Michelle-san! We’ll hunt the ones around us!”
“Everyone, hang in there! We can win this fight!”
“We’re short on healing, but let’s do it with spirit!!!”
“Ooh!!”
With Michelle joining the fray, the adventurers’ morale had clearly returned.
□ Dungeon Upper Levels (Shifa)
Michelle is an adventurer who has long been active in this town’s top adventurer party, serving as both a shield and a pure damage dealer.
Even when “Senko” fell into a trap, while Lux-san who fell couldn’t be helped, Michelle protected the remaining Jekyll and Claire and escaped from the lower levels.
About that part, even Jekyll was probably telling the truth.
After all, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say her efforts alone were responsible for their escape.
However, covered in wounds, she lost consciousness there and remained asleep afterwards.
It was the result of various combined factors like excessive blood loss, delayed healing, depleted Mana, and suffering status ailment attacks, but at that point, no one knew she would sleep for half a year.
That’s probably why Jekyll couldn’t lie about it.
As I recalled such things, I chanted a healing spell.
“All Heal.”
“!?”
“An area-of-effect healing spell?”
Naturally, the adventurers noticed the magic.
“Claire-san? Did you come back?”
“No, that’s not it… The healing effect feels weak…”
“Then who is it? Was there any other mage in this town who could use area-of-effect healing?”
The effect of my magic still doesn’t reach Claire’s level.
For that… I apologize.
It’s because I’ve only recently reached a level where I can finally use it…
“I’m sorry, its effect is weak…”
“Shifa-sama???”
“Eh? What did you say?”
“Shifa-sama! This is a battlefield! Please evacuate!”
However, they wouldn’t listen to my explanation, telling me to run because it was dangerous.
“As you can see, I can use magic! I can fight too!”
“Shifa. While I was asleep, you were practicing!?”
Michelle, noticing me, shouted that, and it’s true.
It was a shock when Lux-san disappeared and Michelle fell asleep.
But, I am the feudal lord’s daughter.
I haven’t been involved in the lord’s family duties because I’m still young, but even so, I must do what I can.
That’s why…
“That’s a great help, Shifa! Continue with periodic healing! Other mages, forget about firepower, focus on support and healing!”
“””””Yes!!!!”””””
Michelle looked at my expression, nodded once, and then gave instructions that included me.
Maintaining this momentum, we annihilated the monsters on the middle levels and returned to the surface.