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Adventurers on a Remote Island – Part 07

“There’s a large room ahead, with a shortcut that leads to the third floor,” Esrat interjected. “I didn’t mention it until now, since I assume you guys value safety.”

“Really? That sounds great. Let’s head there right away.”

“But there are over twenty monsters in the large room.”

“Piece of cake. What? You thought we would lose to just twenty or thirty monsters?”

“Hey, you guys—”

“Let’s go, Jillarte. We can take care of the monsters, no sweat.”

Jillarte tried to stop their reckless behavior, but she couldn’t assert herself. Her influence within Einbiest was still limited, and she lacked the power to give orders to the Beastmen with her.

In the end, she was forced to go along with them into the large room, and the only condition she could impose was they took a break once they reached the third floor.

“I don’t remember there being a shortcut,” she said.

Only Esrat, Jillarte, and Michael had maps. Jillarte had the map as backup in case of emergencies, so she reached into her bag to retrieve it.

“L-Let’s go!” Michael pushed her from behind. “They’re leaving us behind.”

“Hmm, Michael. Where exactly is this shortcut?” Jillarte looked at Michael’s map.

“Right here.”

“Hmm?”

“Quickly.”

“W-Wait. I haven’t checked it yet.”

“Michael! Hands off Jillarte!” The black panther Beastman pushed Michael aside.

Jillarte let out a soft sigh, deciding that she could examine the map more carefully during their next break.

After walking for about fifteen minutes, they arrived in front of a large room. Jillarte was continuously astonished by the size of this dungeon, and once again, she found herself taken aback. True to its name, it was indeed large, a cubic space with sides measuring about a hundred meters.

“Hey, you said there were over twenty, but there has to be at least fifty!”

“Seems like there are more today. Should we turn back? We still have time.”

“What are you talking about? We’re the elite of Einbiest!”

“Wait! That’s too many. We should lure them to this passage and fight them with equal numbers…”

“Jillarte, you came in second place in the Ruler’s Rumble. This doesn’t scare you, does it?”

The Beastmen’s clouded eyes focused on Jillarte, and she gave a start.

Beastmen loved change and despised monotony. For them, this dungeon was nothing but torment. Danger was just an exciting spice, and though they considered the possibility of someone getting injured with such a difference in numbers, they optimistically believed it wouldn’t happen to themselves.

“Let’s go!”

“Yeah!”

“Ah—”

Jillarte had no time to stop them from charging straight into battle.

The enemies were combat-type Golems. It was evident that they would move and coordinate just like the Golems they had fought before. Golems could only operate in that manner. Adventurers from Southleaf Island were trained to anticipate Golem movements and fight accordingly.

However, the Beastmen had lost their cool, choosing these Golems as their stress relief and attempting to overpower them through sheer strength.

“Ugh!”

“Hey, watch out! Don’t get hit!”

“You’re in the way! Move!”

They started off at full power, knowing that a rest period awaited them, and managed to defeat about ten Golems. But from there on, their movements began to slow down. The accumulated fatigue and the Golems’ coordinated attacks took their toll.

“Shit!”

The black panther Beastman lost his balance as a Golem taken down by another guy rolled towards him. Just as he tried to step over it, the Golem turned into white smoke and vanished. It felt like missing a step down the stairs, and his upper body lurched. At that moment, two Golems armed with spears charged at him from both sides.

The Beastman screamed, envisioning spears piercing through his torso. Only death awaited him.

A figure glided in like the wind, wielding cutlasses in both hands, and parried the spears upward. The sharp blades effortlessly deflected the two-handed weapons.

“Haaaah!”

Jillarte swung both arms towards the disarmed Golem’s torso. Though she couldn’t cut it completely in half, the blade running through tore deeply into the Golem, creating a shower of sparks.

If there was someone with Mana Detection, they would have witnessed mana leaking out from the spot where the Golem was sliced apart. The monster staggered forward a few steps before dissipating into white smoke.

“J-Jillarte…”

“Keep your guard up. You can do better than this, can’t you? Show me what you’ve got.”

Jillarte looked over her shoulder and winked.

“Y-Yeah! You got it!”

The look of complacency vanished from the black panther Beastman’s face, replaced by a determined expression.

After the curse was lifted, all the attention got very annoying, but I didn’t expect it to come in handy like this, Jillarte thought as she watched the black panther Beastman eagerly dispatching the Golems.

There was a clear disparity in strength between her and the Beastmen. Her second-place finish in the Ruler’s Rumble tournament was no small feat.

Silver Face would probably say something like, “If you have something you can use, don’t hesitate to use it. You want to fulfill your dreams, right?”

Even amidst the heat of battle, Jillarte chuckled softly as she took down Golems.

Esrat and Michael observed silently from the rear.

“How many left?”

“Just one more, and we’re done!”

“All right!”

The final remaining Golem was a defense-type with a shield. Several people surrounded it, and it swiftly transformed into white smoke and vanished.

“We… We did it…”

There was no exultant cheer. The three Beastmen who remained standing, including the black panther, crumpled to the ground.

With the Golems dissipating upon defeat, the only occupants left in the room were the party members, battered and bruised.

“Haa, haa… haa…”

Jillarte, too, was visibly exhausted. She had endured several strikes from the enemy’s attack. Her left arm, in particular, throbbed with excruciating pain, rendering it impossible for her to wield a sword.

Six Beastmen lay sprawled out, almost incapacitated, as they consumed healing potions. So long as they could stand and walk, it would suffice. The last three were drenched in sweat, their breaths labored.

Only Esrat and Michael remained unscathed. They scavenged elemental magic stones from all over the room.

“M-Michael! You… You didn’t even do anything!” a Beastman snarled. His fellow comrades glared at Michael with eyes brimming with animosity.

“You can whine all you want.”

In that instant, Jillarte sensed something off with the flippant smile on Michael’s face.

“Look, there’s the shortcut passage leading to the third level,” Michael said.

All eyes turned to the direction to which Michael pointed. The expansive room had several connecting passages, but there should have been none where Michael indicated.

That area appeared half the size of a regular passage and emitted a purple glow. There was a faint, rhythmic thumping, and the ground beneath their feet trembled slightly.

“Oh, that’s the shortcut?! So it’s meant to show up after you kill all the monsters, huh? What a nasty mechanic.”

“We may be exhausted, but this will be something to brag about when we return, right?”

“No one’s gonna get it if we start talking about Golems. Beastmen are a bunch of idiots.”

“Damn right!”

The Beastmen rose to their feet, laughing cheerfully. The sight of the passage seemed to alleviate their tension.

“I forgot to mention, but the passage will disappear after three minutes.”

Esrat’s words stunned the room into silence. All eyes turned to the rat Beastman.

“If you plan to take the shortcut, you best start running now. If three minutes elapse while you’re still within the passage, the walls will crush you.”

“You should’ve shared that with the class earlier!” The black panther Beastman dashed off.

“Hey, don’t leave us behind!”

“Wait, wait, wait!”

The other Beastmen followed sluggishly.

The distance to the wall was about thirty meters, and the length of the passage itself was unknown.

“S-Sorry about this, Jillarte.”

“No need to apologize. Bear the pain for a little while. Once we reach the other side, we can rest for a bit.”

Jillarte assisted a Beastman struggling to walk. The black panther Beastman was already at the entrance of the passage.

“Jillarte, hurry up!”

“I’m coming.”

One by one, the Beastmen leaped into the passage. Jillarte managed to reach the entrance as well.

“Hmm?”

Jillarte could see the purple passage, but not the other Beastman who went ahead.

At that moment, Jillarte sensed Esrat and Michael standing behind her.

“Esrat, what’s the deal with this passage…” Jillarte turned her gaze and caught sight of the twisted smile on Michael’s face.

“Get in.”

Esrat delivered a swift kick to the back of the Beastman, while Michael pushed Jillarte from behind.

“With this, Jillarte will be mine…”

Jillarte tumbled into the passage.