Chapter 15: Encounter
The “New Dungeon” lay to the north of Ardolf. Amidst the sprawling fields, there stood a shed where farming tools were kept, but it seemed that it had become a dungeon.
Near the shed, a tent had been set up, and about ten soldiers and adventurers, all elves, were on guard.
As we approached, one of the guards noticed Sfenia and saluted her.
“Lady Sfenia, are you here to investigate this dungeon?”
“Yes, I’ve come to conduct an investigation on behalf of the request from the ‘Holy Tree Hollow.’ Has anything unusual occurred?”
“Well, aside from a party called ‘Supreme Radiance’ entering and exiting since yesterday, nothing out of the ordinary has happened. It seems there are no monsters appearing either.”
“I see. So, ‘Supreme Radiance’ is still inside, then?”
“They just entered a short while ago. It seems they were merely scouting yesterday, but today they mentioned they would delve deeper.”
“Understood, thank you. What do you think, Soushi?”
“I have a feeling it might get troublesome if we run into them inside, but waiting here could take an indefinite amount of time. Let’s sneak in without being noticed.”
“Even so, I think we’ll catch up to them quickly since we’re faster.”
Karma’s words were indeed true, but we would deal with that when the time came. As long as we weren’t seen entering the boss room with all seven of us, we should be fine.
“Let’s head in for now. We should prioritize staying alert over worrying about ‘Supreme Radiance.'”
“Yes, Soushi-sama.”
“Right, those guys are of no concern to us.”
“Just like always, huh?”
“We’re here on a request, so there’s no need to hold back.”
“I won’t be particularly cautious, you know.”
“Hmm, I’m looking forward to this.”
Seeing everyone respond, the guard adventurer looked a bit surprised. A party of seven was indeed rare. While we were pretending to be two parties working together, it was uncertain how well we could maintain that facade.
The first three floors matched the prior information. From the first floor, we encountered ghouls and skeletons equivalent to a D-Class Dungeon, and on the third floor, we faced B-Class equivalent Headless Swordiers.
‘Supreme Radiance’ was supposed to be ahead of us, but the number of weak monsters seemed normal. By normal, I meant that with Karma joining us, there were more than last time, as five Headless Swordiers appeared simultaneously.
“If five Swordiers show up, a typical B-Rank party could end up wiped out,” I remarked.
Yet, Karma seemed to handle them with considerable ease in one-on-one combat. Perhaps it was due to the effects of the Vessel of the Commander.
As we wiped out the Swordiers, the sound of clashing swords reached our ears from up ahead. It seemed we had caught up to them.
In the corridor ahead, a party of four was battling two Headless Swordiers.
The golden-haired swordsman, Garsonia, and a female warrior wielding a naginata were engaged with one each in the front line, while a mage girl in the back provided support, and a girl resembling a cleric cast auxiliary spells.
The Headless Swordiers were formidable opponents when engaged head-on, but it appeared the two front-liners were managing quite well.
Watching closely, I saw Garsonia take down one of the Swordiers, followed closely by the female warrior who cleaved the other in two. It seemed they possessed strength equivalent to B-Rank.
“Hmm, they were terrible the last time I saw them, but they’ve improved quite a bit,” Larni commented bluntly.
Indeed, the last time we met, they seemed barely at C-Rank level, so their rapid growth was unusual. It seemed they were indeed a chosen party.
Once their battle concluded, they began to take a short break. Looking closely, I noticed a staircase leading down to the fourth floor a little further ahead. It seemed they were uncertain about whether to descend or not.
As we approached, the members of ‘Supreme Radiance’ noticed us and took a defensive stance. Upon recognizing my face, Garsonia’s expression twisted in disdain.
“Back again, are you? You’re not here to interfere with us, are you?”
“We’re merely here to investigate on behalf of the Okuri government. We have no intention of getting in your way.”
“Hmph. But if you need such a large group to come here, I suggest you reconsider going further. The depths are supposed to be equivalent to an A-Class dungeon.”
“I understand that. The next floor will likely feature Headless Adepts. Do you think you can handle them?”
Upon hearing the name ‘Headless Adept,’ Garsonia and the members of ‘Supreme Radiance’ showed signs of hesitation.
“…Hmph, we’ll be fine. We have our trump cards ready. But you should be careful as well.”
“We’ve confirmed that A-Class monsters are not an issue for us. If you’re resting, we’ll be on our way.”
I had anticipated that he would snap back, and as expected, he did.
Garsonia’s blue eyes glinted with contempt.
“You’ve merely followed us this far to take advantage of our efforts, and now you want to overtake us? That’s a truly lowly thought.”
“I didn’t notice any decrease in the number of monsters. But if you think that way, then perhaps you should consider that you’ll be the ones benefiting from our efforts.”
“What do you—no, that’s true. Then go ahead. Just make sure to clear the way for us.”
I sensed a hidden agenda in his words, but glancing at Larni and Sfenia, I could tell they were ready to speak up. It was best to leave the scene quickly.
“Then we’ll take our leave.”
I signaled to my party and headed toward the staircase leading down to the fourth floor. As we passed by the members of ‘Supreme Radiance,’ the female warrior gave a slight nod.
At the same time, I noticed a girl dressed like a priestess staring intently at Freinir. She appeared to be in her late teens, with a well-defined face but a somewhat superficial and cunning gaze. After observing Freinir, she fixated on the staff, ‘Saint’s Prayer,’ that she held.
However, nothing more occurred at that moment, and we descended to the fourth floor.
As expected, the Headless Adepts appeared on the fourth floor, accompanied by a ghostly figure resembling a noble, the Baron Phantom.
With nearly ten monsters appearing in total, this was, of course, due to the effects of Soul’s Guidance.
The troublesome part was that the Baron Phantom could cast area-of-effect spells, which even my shield couldn’t block. However, since I could use Provoke to draw their attacks, I should be able to prevent them from targeting the backline…
Or so I thought, but it turned out that spirit-type monsters were extremely weak to holy magic. As Freinir unleashed her True Holy Magic, Ascension, the Baron Phantom was wiped out in an instant. It seemed that her new staff, ‘Saint’s Prayer,’ had drastically increased her effectiveness against the Undead. Although the Baron Phantom was a B-Class monster, being able to annihilate five of them in an instant was astounding.
On the other hand, I could turn the Headless Adepts into scrap metal in an instant if I went all out. I had the front-liners, including Larni, Mariane, and Karma, engage them, but in one-on-one combat, they seemed to struggle a bit. Even A-Rank Anatoria the Crimson had taken time to defeat one, so these monsters were likely meant to be tackled by multiple people.
“Hey, those guys are following us closely behind. Is that okay?”
After the fourth battle, Larni glanced back and voiced her concern.
Indeed, the four members of ‘Supreme Radiance’ had been tailing us since earlier.
“They’re following us as I mentioned earlier, so we can’t complain.”
“But if they keep this up, they might get through this floor without fighting at all. I think that’s a problem.”
“That’s true…”
It was indeed very dangerous to proceed without gauging whether they could handle this floor. But would they listen if I pointed that out?
“They probably won’t listen anyway. Those types only understand after experiencing pain, so it’s better to leave them be.”
Sfenia seemed to share the same sentiment. Karma shrugged in agreement with her cold attitude.
“It’ll be too late by the time they realize. But judging by their demeanor, they definitely won’t listen to us.”
“Maybe if we take a break before heading down to the fifth floor, they’ll move ahead on their own? They seem eager to enter the boss room first.”
“Let’s go with Larni’s idea. For now, let’s head toward the staircase.”
After battling five more times, we finally reached a corridor where the staircase leading deeper lay ahead.
As planned, we took a short break in front of the staircase when the members of ‘Supreme Radiance’ approached with light steps. Garsonia shot me a glance and twisted his mouth into a smirk.
“It seems you’ve had quite a fierce battle. You should take a rest for a while. We’ll go ahead to the boss.”
“That’s fine. Just don’t push yourselves too hard.”
“That’s not something you should be telling me. Excuse us.”
It seemed that Larni’s prediction was coming true.
The fifth floor would likely feature stronger weak monsters, and if they fought even once there, they would realize they couldn’t conquer this dungeon on their own.
The question was whether they would face a catastrophic situation during their first encounter with the weak monsters, but I hoped we could avoid that much.
As I watched ‘Supreme Radiance’ disappear down the staircase, Larni let out a sigh of exasperation.
“Those guys are really foolish. If they had been watching the previous battle, they should have realized they couldn’t handle it.”
“The girl warrior dressed similarly to those from Oz looked quite pale. I wonder if she’ll be alright.”
Shizuna’s mention of the “girl warrior” referred to that female fighter. Indeed, her attire had a distinctly Japanese style, resembling that of Oz. Nevertheless, it seemed she was the only one aware of the danger.
After waiting for about fifteen minutes, there was still no sign of ‘Supreme Radiance’ returning.
Freinir looked up at me with a worried expression.
“Soushi-sama, do you think they’ll be alright? I hope they’re just moving ahead.”
“They might be stronger than we thought. Perhaps it’s time for us to head down as well.”
I urged my party and we descended to the fifth floor. I couldn’t believe they had been wiped out…
Upon reaching the fifth floor, the first thing that caught my eye was a large door about ten meters ahead.
The stone door, resembling a gravestone, undoubtedly led to the room of the dungeon boss, Lyra Nora.
“…I never expected the structure to be like this.”
To think there would be a direct staircase leading to the boss room… I couldn’t shake the feeling that some malevolent presence was at play in this situation.