3 bar menu

Volume 1 Chapter 17-2: *Spoiler*

「『Also』? So you mean you’ve had it hard as well Frey-san?」
「Hm?…well a bit. I don’t take pride in my misfortune but my parents passed on early as well. I also have a younger brother with a weak body so I have had some troubles. Even if I say that, there are many people who fall prey to bandits and monsters so there are many people who have it harder.」

Looks like Frey-san had her own circumstances. She probably had to escort people like that to maintain her livelihood with her brother.

『No good…we are nearly to the exit but they come out in a bad place at a bad time ja. Soujirou! We’re on a straight path and we’re going to be stuck between two groups of monsters. We’ve got injured people so we have no choice but to split our fighting force ja!』

I was hoping that we might escape without engaging in combat, but as expected it’s too hard to make it that far without meeting any resistance.

After conveying my acknowledgment to Hotaru-san I drew my swords.

「Ooh! What are you doing Fujinomiya-dono?」
「Sistina! Monsters are coming from front and back! We’ll hold them off at the back so you focus on the front with Hotaru-san before backing us up!」
「Understood! I’ll be back soon so be careful! You guys don’t move from the middle!」
「G-got it.」

We moved quickly as Frey-san followed me seeming flustered. We didn’t want the monsters to reach Tor and Ari so we had to move slightly back down the path.

After retreating a bit we heard unpleasant scratching and creaking sounds. Ahh this sound means…

『Ant Man (4th Floor) Rank: F』
『Tower Ant (3rd Floor) Rank: G』 x3

「We’ve got one Ant Man and three Tower Ants. Hotaru-san and Sistina will take care of the ones in front so we need to deal with these.」
「…yeah, but this isn’t good.」
「Certainly a group of four is hard with just us two. As long as we buy some time the ones from the front will come reinforce us.」
「Not that…」

I thought she was being cautious because of the larger numbers and spoke up to relieve her, but Frey-san shook her head.

「Ant Men are higher rank species than Tower Ants.」

Well both of them are similar but one of them walks on six legs like a normal ant and one walks on two legs and attacks with 4. Even though they have their differences I don’t see why this is bad?

「Ant Men have the power to command Tower Ants. If an Ant Man is commanding a group of three Tower Ants many 4th Floor Explorers would strongly consider retreating.」

That certainly sounds troublesome. So what do we do? Crush the leader first or kill the soldiers first?

The most troublesome part is that if we plunge in with just the two of us it seems we might get bogged down and overcome. If we were to have made it this far and lose the people we saved at this point it would be extremely frustrating. At this point I definitely wanted to save them and escape.

That means…we had to start by crushing the Ant Man. If we crush the head then we just needed to shave off the soldiers little by little without dying.

「Frey-san, if I draw away those three Tower Ants can you kill an Ant Man in one on one combat?」
「Wh-!? Are you serious Fujinomiya-dono!?」
「We don’t have time. Can you do it!?」
「Ku…sorry I am unable to. My attacks can’t pierce the hard shell of…」
「Got it. Then I’ll do it. Frey-san do the opposite and draw the Tower ants.」
「O-okay. I’ll do my utmost.」

Even for me it would be difficult. But, I had defeated it once before. Sakura-chan can cleave through the crevices in their armor.

Now how do I do this without Hotaru-san’s back up? How do I suppress the 4 attacking limbs and find an opportunity to strike? I can’t help feeling uneasy. If I let them pass then Tor and Ari would definitely die. Hotaru-san and Sistina would get attacked from behind.

If I had a ‘Three Kingdoms Mode’ like Hotaru-san suggested then this was the time to enter it. (TN: Like how you activate Musou in Dynasty Warriors)

As I resolved myself my mind and gaze grew cold.

I glared down the path as I lowered my center of gravity.

「F-Fujinomiya-dono?」

Frey-san seemed a bit frightened as I took my stance, but I had no leeway to respond.

The Ant Man was following behind the Tower ants as it clashed its jaws. Those sounds were most likely it giving out orders.

The Tower Ants approached at set intervals to block the corridor. It seemed like Frey-san was right to say the Ant Man could command them.

However, it seemed that the Ant Man did not have high intelligence since this position made it so that only one Tower Ant could actually attack you if you maneuvered slightly. All I needed was for Frey to block the soldiers and I could fight the Ant Man.

Even if it can command, it means nothing if it is stupid.