Legend

Chapter 75

Rei, who went down to the second level of the dungeon from the first level, advanced straight to the stairs to the third level while looking at the map.

「When they talked about the dungeon, I was wondering how difficult it would be……this is easier than I thought!」

Ara muttered as she sliced a 1m long Poison Toad, which had jumped at her, with her sword.

Next to her, Rei shot a fire bullet at a Giant Bat that was waiting for an opportunity from above, turning it into charcoal.

「Because we’re only 2 floors underground, it’s still only for beginners……ha!」

While replying to Ara, Vel shot an arrow into a large frog which was further away.

While watching the situation, Elena manipulated her sword whip, changing it from a sword to a whip as she tore apart the bats.

「The enemies are weak, but if there are a large number of them like right now, it’s troublesome to deal with.」

「Certainly, it’s as you say Elena-sama.」

Kuust nodded as he stabbed his magic spear into a Soldier Ant that had tried to approach Elena through a gap in their group.

「I think the dungeon nucleus is transferring in new monsters into the dungeon because the number of monsters inside the dungeon is decreasing. Such a thing was written in a book about dungeons.」

After cleaning up the monsters that attacked, Rei answered Elena as he cut off the wings of a bat before throwing it to Set to eat. In addition, he cut off the legs of the Poison Toads and stored them into the Misty Ring.

「I see, then that means we’re just unlucky. ……Well, there won’t be a problem if it’s only enemies like this. Let’s move quickly.」

Following Elena’s instructions, they advanced towards the stairs going down from the second floor. Around the time they were looking at the stairs indicated on the map……

「We have guests.」say

While holding the Death Scythe, Rei muttered.

「What is is this time Rei-dono. Toads?　Ants?　Bats?　To be honest, it’s very troublesome to have to deal with such small fry.」

「No, it seems not, it would be troublesome if it was as you said. If you do say something, please make the dungeon nucleus give us a boss monster. ……Hm? Apparently Ara’s wish has come true.」

「Yes?」

What Rei heard was neither the Kii~ Kii~ sound of a Giant Bat, the footsteps of a Soldier Ant or the bouncing sound of a Poison Toad. It was the sound of something walking on two feet.

「Guru~」

Set raised a cry from behind them. Though they were just sounds to Elena and the rest, as his partner, Rei noticed that it was a cry of caution.

「Elena-sama, apparently it’s a pincer attack. Judging from Set’s cry, the same kind of enemies from the front are also aiming at us from behind.」

「Hou~. The monsters we’ve encountered so far had no intelligence. But to make a pincer attack, apparently these next ones are different.」

「Well, even if you say that, since we’re still on the second level of the dungeon, the monsters probably won’t be a very high rank.」

Vel muttered while drawing back his bow. They were surely different monsters than those they had encountered in the passage until now. At the same time Vel said that, the monsters came into view.

「Goblins, is it.」

As Kuust muttered bitterly, 10 Goblins showed up from the passage ahead. Most were armed with long swords or daggers with simple shield and armour.

「……Their equipment seems to be quite substantial for Goblins.」

「Perhaps they stole them from inside the dungeon or obtained them by attacking adventurers.」

When Rei answered Elena, who was strangely impressed, a voice called out from behind them.

「Elena-sama, there are 5 armed Goblins behind us.」

Elena made snap decision at Vel’s words. Though personal bravery was also there, it was because of her quick decision making that gave her the name General Princess.

「We don’t have enough time to avoid fighting at at the back. There’s no other way. Rei, can I leave the 5 Goblins at the back to just you and Set?」

「I don’t have any problems with that.」

「Then I’ll leave the rear to you. We will take care of the 10 Goblins at the front.」

「I understand, Then we’ll clear them up at once.」

Rei nodded and moved to the back, past Elena and Vel.

「Gururu~」

Set greeted Rei with a cry. Looking ahead, there were 5 Goblins as Vel had said.

Normally, living creatures would feel the difference in status compared to a Griffon. However, unlike a forest, where they wouldn’t have attacked, here was a dungeon. These Goblins had been transferred here by the dungeon nucleus. As a result, they had no hesitation in attacking an existence that they would normally never touch.

「There are two with long swords and three with daggers. ……You don’t seem to be too happy Set.」

「Guru~」

Set nodded as if letting out a sigh. Any how, a Goblin’s magic stone was worth very little and there were no materials that could be stripped. And as the meat was also very unpalatable, Set wasn’t too happy about it. Their one saving grace was that at the very least, their right ears, proof of subjugation, could be handed in for 3 copper coins. The Goblins weapons could also be sold.

「……No, that’s no good.」

In the end, the intelligence of Goblins was low. Though they could carry out a pincer attack from two sides, such as now, the concept of weapon maintenance didn’t exist to them. Because of that, the Goblin’s weapons were rusted with what may be adventurer blood. They were not likely to useful unless they were refurbished at a blacksmith or weapons shop even if they were collected. And even in such a case, the majority of them would have no major difference from the weapons that were usually sold.

「It can’t be helped. Set, let do it!」

「Gururu~!」

Giving a short cry at Rei’s voice, Set kicked against the ground and went towards the goblins. At the same time, Rei readied the Death Scythe as he shortened the distance to the Goblins.

「Gyagyagya~!」

Though a Goblin stabbed at Set with a long sword as Rei called out to him, Set kicked against the ground and jumped towards the wall, causing the Goblin’s long sword to miss, before jumping off the wall in a triangle jump to attack the Goblin.

「Gururururu~!」

Striking with his forefoot while letting out a courageous cry, adding the effect of the magic item, Bracelet of Herculean Strength, Set was wearing, the Goblin’s head exploded.

The two Goblins to either side were stunned by Set’s sudden triangle jump and were neatly divided into upper and lower halves with a single side sweep strike of Rei’s Death Scythe.

「Two remaining!」

Rei turned his body while shouting. The next moment, a long sword that a Goblin had swung down went past the space that Rei had been in a moment before.

「Did you think you could get me with such an attack!」

Using the momentum from the Death Scythe, Rei spun his body around. It was a suitable distance for a long sword to be used, in other words, because the Goblin had gotten inside the Death Scythe’s range, the blade couldn’t hit it. However, Rei swung the Death Scythe without caring. The handle hit the Goblin. Unluckily for the Goblin, weighing over 100kg being swung with Rei’s strength, the Death Scythe broke its ribs. The rest of its rib and spine were then broken as it crashed into the side walls of the dungeon, the shock destroying its internal organs. It died from the shock of the acute pain.

As the Goblin crumpled to the ground, spewing blood from its mouth, Rei turned to glance at Set. All there was was the corpse of the Goblin whose head had exploded from a single strike.

「Guru~」

How was that, Set seemed to proudly say. Rei gave a wry smile and stroked Set’s head as he turned to look at Elena and the others.

Though he wondered whether he should go to help them, he immediately realised that he didn’t need to butt in. Any how, all of Elena’s escorts were capable people. ……Rather, even though there were some with character issues, such as Kuust, there were few problems with the strength of Elena’s escort. It wasn’t possible for such people to have trouble dealing with Goblins.

Vel shot arrows to restrain the Goblins. Ara closed the distance and swung her long sword, cleaving a Goblin in two. Her sword carried a surprising amount of strength with it. At the very least, every helmet worn by a Goblin had been cut straight through.

Next to her was a Goblin with a shield that had been pierced through by Kuust’s magic spear. Then there was Elena, who used her sword whip to bypass the shield and cut their necks.

「As expected, I should say.」

Though the number of enemy Goblins had exceeded 10. More than half of them had been annihilated as if it was nothing. Because of that, Elena’s skills stood out all the more.

After several minutes, all the Goblins that had attacked had all lost their lives and were all lying on the ground.

Rei quickly cut off the right ears, the proof of subjugation, of the Goblins and stored them into the Misty Ring before continuing ahead with Elena and the others.

Following the formation before they had encountered the Goblins, Rei took the vanguard and Set followed at the tail end.

「Still, the Goblins didn’t run away even at the very end.」

Elena muttered while advancing through the dungeon.

Goblins would become unreasonably aggressive if the opponent was weak. However, they also had the character of fleeing if they realised the enemy was stronger than them. But while fighting against Elena’s group, they had fought to the very end without running away even though they knew that the other party was overwhelmingly stronger than them. As a result, they were annihilated. At any rate, it was more surprising that they fought to the last Goblin without being led by a high ranking or rare species.

「Some sort of brainwashing or consciousness operation was done by the dungeon nucleus when it transferred them here. Any how, even the Horned Rabbits and Giant Bats cooperated with each other on the first floor, even though they were different species.」

「……Saying that reminds me. I think we should consider that all monsters here will work together with each other for the purpose of protecting the dungeon.」

Elena nodded at Rei’s words.

And, as they were about to go ahead……

「Everyone, stop!」

Vel suddenly said.

「Vel?」

Kuust asked as Vel silently went past Rei and Ara and began to search the ground. After a few minutes, a click echoed into the surroundings.

Everyone understood why Vel had stopped them just before.

「Whew, it’s okay now. The trap has been disarmed. The trap would have shot arrows out if the switch was stepped on.」

Disarming a dungeon trap for the first time, Vel gave a smile and nodded to release the tension.

「A trap was placed at the location where we would have more or less defeated the Goblins and might have lowered our guard. ……Is this just a coincidence?」

「As expected, it probably isn’t. It seems to be a targeted trap made by the monsters living in the dungeon.」

「Kuust thinks so as well. ……Indeed, this seems to be a rather nasty trap to be placed on the second floor. We will need to pay more attention from here on.」

Everyone nodded at Elena’s words. The Goblins strength and arrows being shot out weren’t much of a threat if considered separately. However, it was important that there was a monster that had the wisdom to take action and put the two together.

「We can’t be careless even though we’re on the upper layers. Everyone, don’t lower your guards even if the monsters that come out aren’t strong.」

Nodding at those words, they advanced along the passage towards the stairs down to the third floor while studying the map.

Should they say fortunately, other than the previous battle with the Goblins, they had arrived at the stairs without encountering any troubles with monsters.

However, Vel’s voice shouted out from the back the moment Ara took the first step down the stairs.

「Rei, stop Ara!」

A voice called out at the same time Rei saw it and he reflexively grabbed the back of the armour around Ara’s neck.

「Kya~!　Rei-dono, what the hell!?」

「Ara, take a good look at the stairs.」

Vel called out to Ara, who was glaring unhappily at Rei.

With a suspicious face, Ara carefully looked at the stairs. And what she saw was……

「This is……thread?」

「Ah. That’s probably from some sort of spider monster. It’s amazingly thin and light. Even if you touched the thread, you probably wouldn’t notice it. This is all the more for people like us and Ara, who are wearing armour.」

「So, naturally, such a thread wouldn’t be placed here without any reason.」

Rei muttered, following Vel’s words.

「That’s right. I think this thread is probably the switch to some sort of trap. ……Well, it’s there to catch out naive people, should I disarm it?」

At that question, Elena thought for a moment before slowly nodding.

「You’re right. Though we only need to step over this thread to avoid it, it would be a bad shock if someone behind us triggered it and died because of that. Vel, I leave it to you.」

「Will do. Even though it will be done soon, take a break while waiting for me. If it’s like this, the third floor is likely to be troublesome in various way.s」

「That may be true. That’s fine, then we will take a break until Vel disarms the trap. Rei, please serve some simple food and drinks. I want to fill my stomach while I can.」

「I understand.」

Saying that, he took out stuff such as water bottles and sandwiches from the Misty Ring and handed them around.

Even Kuust, who disliked Rei, didn’t mix his private and public matters, accepting them without a sound.

……Of course, he didn’t give any words of thanks.

20 minutes after successfully releasing the trap, they were able to safely go down to the third level.