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Chapter 63

The Secret of The Lower Layer In Seiris Fourth Dungeon and The Continuation of The Battle Beneath The Surface

 

I could see horned monsters making their way from below the staircase to the top of the pyramid where we were standing.

Although the structure of this second floor is messy, it’s troublesome because of the sheer number of monsters that are trying to crush you. To be more precise, it’s because 『it will be hard to make it into a one-on-one fight』.

I’ve used a strategy to surround a strong monster with multiple people before, but I never thought the role would be reversed here…

 

Come to think of it, there’s a magic that I just realized I can designate to someone else after I shared my power with Emmy yesterday.

 

「Eve, and both of you.」

 

「Hm? Ssup Nii-san?」

 

「《Dark Enchant》」

 

I quickly enchanted Eve’s weapon with my dark magic, which glowed with a blackish light.

「It’s extremely sharp, so be careful」, I gave Eve, who was surprised to see the edges of her blade glowing, a word of warning, and turned to the other two.

Catching my intention, they both held out their weapons.

 

「……Here it comes!」

 

Sybilla shouted and I turned around to reposition after seeing the two edges of both of their swords wrapped in blackish light.

And there it was, the monsters, which had been only faintly visible earlier, were now in full view.

 

「……Needle Wolves, huh. They’re sending a monster that doesn’t even appear on the second dungeon right off the bat.」

 

So they’re the monster of this dungeon. Judging from its appearance, I can tell it’s a monster that can headbutt and bite you.

It’s the type of monster that’s troublesome to fight in close quarters.

 

The Needle Wolves come up the stone stairs and spread out as if trying to surround us.

……It was clear that just like the Needle Rabbit on the first floor, they were moving like they were being directed by the Demon Lord.

 

Normally, that would work quite well to deal with adventurers like us, but they picked the wrong opponent this time.

Because that tactic is useless against me!

 

「《Dark Splash》!」

 

Holding my sword in my right hand, I used my left hand to shoot the magic with the image of engulfing the whole surface of the pyramid with it.

My dark magic rained sideways onto the wolves and hit them in their body.

By using double chant on the Dark Splash, the density became so high it was practically impossible to avoid it. Moreover, the closer they are to each other, the tighter the gap, which makes the effectiveness of this magic higher.

 

A magic which you can’t dodge or defend against.

……This is the perfect magic for this kind of place that just an open space without any obstacles!

 

「Ohh~ Russell’s magic hit even the ones over here! Ahahahaha that’s so funny! That guy definitely commanded them to step to the side to surround us, but that totally backfired!」

 

The monsters on Sybilla’s side, which is on my right are apparently also moving to surround us.

However, that turned out to be a mistake, as they ended up within the range of my magic.

 

There’s a Needle Wolf in front of Eve too. Eve leaped at the monster with a speed that surpassed its agile movement.

A thick glove fitted in her left hand has a small circular shield wrapped around her wrist. She swiftly shoves that shield into the monster’s mouth.

As soon as she heard the sound of the monster biting into the hard shield, her dagger slashed the monster’s neck. That was a skillful move from her.

 

「Whoa, this dark blade is awesome!」

 

She said as she returned to my side while being amazed at the power of the dark attribute on the blade.

She landed next to me with a backstep and at the same time, used a small throwing knife from her waist to keep the other monster in check, showing that she never let her guard down until the very end.

The throwing knife pierced the wolf’s eye with splendid accuracy, making it howl in anger.

 

Eve was amazed at the power of my dark attribute magic, but… I was even more amazed after seeing her performance.

Sybilla compared Eve to a 『feral wolf』 earlier, but now that I’m once again seeing her in action, Eve really does have some unique moves.

The technique she used to defeat the Needle Rabbits in one swoop on the first floor was nothing short of amazing. It’s clear that the difficulty of the first dungeon isn’t enough to put her skills up to test.

 

「《Dark Splash》…… I guess that’s the last of them.」

 

After taking them down in the most effective way possible, I made sure there was no longer any movement in the direction I was in charge of, and I called out to Eve.

 

「Eve, I can help you if it’s too tough.」

 

「I’m okay! I think I’ll be fine since there’s not much of them left. More importantly, I want to do my best since I want to earn my shares!」

 

「Got it. But don’t push yourself too hard, alright?」

 

I decided to trust that side to Eve and turned to Emmy, who was behind me.

Emmy was in charge of the side facing an unnatural staircase that stretched from the top of the pyramid to the ceiling.

 

「Hyaaaaaah—-!」

 

The shield in her hand glowed and blew the wolf away into the void. It would likely have died just from the force of being blown away and even if it didn’t, it would have died from the fall.

Although her shield is her main weapon, she’s by no means bad with the sword. Emmy has swordsmanship experience from our days of sparring with wooden swords, she has her abilities as Holy Knight, and she also has a sword that has been imbued with dark magic.

Looks like there’s nothing to worry on this side, after all.

 

Even though we’re at the lower layer, so far they’re only pushing with quantity and the monsters aren’t even that strong… or at least that’s the feeling I get.

No, this is still a dungeon that was created by a Demon Lord. The design is troublesome enough even now, so we can’t let our guard down.

 

「Russell, can you back me up here please!」

 

「Oi oi, out of everyone, why are you the first to ask for help? But alright, I don’t mind some experience points.」

 

Good grief, to think I need to cover for Sybilla’s side first instead of Eve’s, who’s still new at this.

I began firing a barrage of Dark Splash again at the monsters crawling on the stairs below.

 

Sybilla who was behind me retreated while chugging down a magic potion, and she was about to walk up to me before stopping in her tracks.

 

「……He’s gone and done it now, that bastard. 《Stone Wall》!」

 

The next thing Sybilla did was raise her free hand towards the ceiling and create a stone wall.

Of course, since it’s Sybilla, there’s no way she’s doing this without a good reason.

 

As I kept unleashing a barrage of magic at the monsters, I started feeling an unpleasant sweat running down my back.

 

「《Dark Splash》! Hey Sybilla, mind telling me what you’re doing?」

 

「Yeah, it seems like most of the monsters on all four sides have gone. By the way, the ceiling here sure is high, huh. Not to mention how pitch black it is.」

 

「…..Don’t tell me.」

 

The next magic Sybilla fired at the ceiling was Flame Strike. It was the most powerful magic Sybilla could use.

Then, as the fire approached the ceiling——!

 

『Gaahhhhhh…!』

 

Although it sounded faint because of the distance, I could clearly hear a monster’s scream from that direction.

 

「Everyone, get away from the top of the pyramid right now!」

 

At Sybilla’s instruction, Eve and Emmy also quickly moved away while taking care of the rest of the monsters.

The next moment, something fell from above and the wind pressure from the fall reached us along with the sound of flesh being crushed.

 

「It’s a Wyvern! Russell, aim at its neck!」

 

「Roger!」

 

Lying there was a burnt, winged monster with an appearance that was like a dragon, just smaller.

But before it could get up and make a move, I swung my sword to cut off its head.

 

「In battle, taking advantage on the high ground is the basics of basics! So when one arrives at this platform, naturally they would only look at what’s below. The first floor is right above this platform, so no one would’ve suspected that there would be anything up there. …..That’s why I didn’t notice it too at first. I didn’t realize there was a gap between the first and second floors big enough for monsters to get through…!」

 

A space for monsters to get through and attack from above huh…!?

 

Just when I thought the monsters were quite weak for a lower layer standard.

To think that while we were so focused on the monsters coming from below, a winged dragon would coming from above…!

 

Even the most experienced adventurers would be in danger if they were ambushed by such a creature.

And what’s most frightening of all is… the moment this wyvern, which is clearly a high-level monster, appears, everyone will turn their attention towards it.

 

As a result… we would’ve been attacked from behind by the Needle Wolves.

Knowing this fact, the top of the pyramid just changed from 『just a lazy design』 to 『the perfect place for a pincer attack』.

 

That Demon Lord sure is a Dungeon Maker with a terrible personality.

He’s the most vicious Demon Lord with admittedly extraordinary abilities.

 

But.

 

「《Stone Wall》! With this, I’ve blocked all the paths where they can come through. I’ll admit he beat me to the punch a few times in the third dungeon. But this time, I’ll make sure to completely shut down all of the sneaky methods he set up by 『anticipating』 our movements. In fact, he lost this time too, because he failed to anticipate that I would use my scouting magic. I’m sure he’s extremely frustrated about it right now, and that alone makes me feel good!」

 

There was just one thing, or rather, an existence that the Demon Lord hadn’t anticipated.

 

——That is, we have Sybilla with us.

 

It’s just as she said. Seeing how much effort he put into creating this bizarre and unconventional dungeon, only for his tricks to be seen through and completely shut down, he must be fuming right about now!

 

The corners of my mouth turned into a grin just like Sybilla and we silently gave each other high fives.

Sybilla then turns around to give Emmy and Eve a victory high-five as well.

 

…The fourth dungeon of Seiris, hidden by the Demon Lord.

Both the location he hid it and the trap on the second floor were undoubtedly a fruit of Sybilla’s triumph.

 

「Fufufu……! Russell’s magic seems to be working well, so let’s keep going downstairs. Just you wait, I’m going to make you regret making fun of this Sybilla-chan…!」

 

Her face revealed the joy of her hard-earned victory, but it was also burning with the determination to never let her guard down and fall into the Demon Lord’s scheme again.

 

Demon Lord, it looks like you’ve angered the one person you least want to make enemies of.

 

Naturally, I’m also itching to unleash my abundant magical power on you.

And my Goddess will carve the path for me to achieve it.

You’ve run your mouth all you wanted, so you better be prepared to receive the consequence, alright?

 

We’re going to devour every inch of this unfinished dungeon.