Manowa Chapter 164

◎ Blue Rifon Fort, 11th Layer

「Wow, these guys are strong.」

Kazane said with a discomposed voice. She thought it may have been a long time since she had been this nervous, but when she thought about it again, she was quite scared when they were surrounded by dragons in Deer South... well, a pinch was a pinch.

「Kazane, my arrows aren't effective at all!?」

「Then use restriction type magic to weaken them!」

Kazane shouted in response to Emily's complaint.

「Guh, nothing is usable other than my crus.h.i.+ng magic sword?」

「I'm going.」

「Don't go too far forward.」

Naoki said to the rus.h.i.+ng out Lyle. But Lyle laughed lightly while in a cold sweat as he plunged forward. In this party, only Kazane and Lyle's dragon fang spear could deal effective damage to the enemies in front of them. It was a position where they couldn't avoid doing rash things. Then Sera accompanying them tried to use a lance attack, but it wasn't effective, and she suffered a great deal of damage from the counterattack and had to fall back.

Naturally, the current situation could be called a hard fight. Kazane and the others were now confronted by opponents with strength unmatched by the monsters they had encountered in the dungeon so far. They were Minotaurs. They were Minotaurs made of stone, and there were three of them. They couldn't use Material s.h.i.+eld, but their physical strength was high as always, and most of all, they were hard. They were high level monsters that couldn't be damaged without a certain amount of attack power.

At present, Kazane was fighting one; Yuuko-nee, Tatsuyos.h.i.+-kun Dragoon with the 3 meter magic sword, and Tatsuyos.h.i.+-kun Normal were fighting one; and Naoki and the rest were fighting one.

(Are these the guys that killed Alz-san?)

Kazane continually avoided attacks with the ability provided by Intuition, Nimble, and Killing Leg Lv3 as she struck back with kicks and Fire Vortexes, but she couldn't do that indefinitely. Kazane herself was fine, but Naoki and the others were in danger. The attack pattern could already be seen. Since that was the case, it was time to decide the match.

「Yuuko-nee, Boost and disturb!」

Then Kazane gave instructions to Yuuko-nee with Information Link. In accordance with the instructions, Yuuko-nee ate a lightning clad fireball and started running around clad in red flame and lightning.

「Dragoon, this way!」

Then Tatsuyos.h.i.+-kun Dragoon ran toward Kazane's Stone Minotaur and swung the huge magic sword. The Stone Minotaur that had been fighting Kazane made confused movements due to that situation. A Stone Minotaur was a non-biological monster, and like Golems, its movements were pre-programmed to a certain degree. It couldn't make instant decisions like a living thing, so its reactions were slightly dulled when switching between attack targets.

That confusion was Kazane's aim when she had Dragoon attack her Stone Minotaur. Then she herself ran toward the Stone Minotaur being restrained by Yuuko-nee. She took out her loaded spell daggers, and while activating Invisible, she climbed into the sky with Air Jump.

「Let's go at full power!」

Then『Kazane・Neo-bazooka』was fired. The Stone Minotaur was utterly destroyed by the Killing Leg empowered two leg drill. The power was also stronger than before. But that power still couldn't be stopped. She was going to be buried in the ground again. Then Kazane put into action her plan for preventing that.

「Uryaaa!」

It was spreading her legs. She didn't do that previously because her groin could have been torn, but she could now handle it due to the effect of Killing Leg Lv3. Then clouds of dust rose while Kazane spun on the floor like a top with tremendous momentum.

「Guufu」

Kazane was so dizzy she seemed like she was going to collapse, but she immediately recovered due to her Circlet of Wisdom's mental status abnormality invalidation.

(Or perhaps I should say, is it really okay for dizziness to be considered an abnormal status condition?)

She thought, but it was effective, so there was no use thinking about it. Then she headed for the one Tatsuyos.h.i.+-kun Dragoon was keeping in check, and this time Yuuko-nee and Kazane acted as diversions while Dragoon whittled it down with the 3 meter magic sword until it was defeated.

As for the last one,

「Gotchaaa!!」

Simultaneous with Kazane defeating the second body, Lyle struck the Stone Minotaur's Corestone with the spear technique『Shake』and destroyed it. The decisive factor was the ma.s.s production model Tatsuyos.h.i.+-kun A and B's stone throwing. They were activated from the beginning, and after Sera took damage and had to withdraw, she started carrying stones for their attacks. The Stone Minotaur staggered due to their attack, and Lyle was able to land the blow.

And after Lyle shouted, he crumpled on the spot and sprawled spread-eagled on the ground. He didn't take any major wounds; his emotional strength was simply thoroughly s.n.a.t.c.hed away by the battle. He needed to rest.

With a sidelong glance at Lyle, Kazane rushed over to Sera.

「Sersan, are your wounds okay?」

「Well, just enough that I can carry stones.」

The weary Sera in front of the Tatsuyos.h.i.+-kun models replied with a smile that was probably her grinning and bearing it. At least there was no mistaking that she was feeling better than some time ago when she saw the three Stone Minotaurs and thought「Ah, I'm going to die.」

「Is that so? That's good.」

So saying, Kazane used『High Heal』on Sera, the superior version of Heal. The pleasant feelings showed on Sera's face after she received it. But Kazane's mind was still on the battle.

(But that was dangerous. It's scary that there are high level monsters that are so difficult to damage)

Kazane s.h.i.+vered when she thought of the situation some time ago. Her level rose by 1 from this battle, and she also received a Skill called『Stone Minotaur.』

However, if there had been one more Stone Minotaur, she wasn't confident that she could have restrained it. It would have thrown everyone's battles into disarray.

There was the method of becoming a dragon and crystallizing them with Crystal Breath, but if Kazane were killed before they crystallized, it would have been over. And with the Stone Minotaurs' offensive power, there would have been a high probability of that occurring. Kazane s.h.i.+vered when she thought of the dangerous situation Naoki and the others would have been in if they couldn't somehow support Lyle... but a victory was a victory. So Kazane strongly thought that she should smile.

「......」

Sera made a slightly rea.s.suring smile as she watched Kazane's conflict. She could easily guess Kazane's emotions from her constantly changing face.

「So then, Ori and the others are over there.」

Lyle had composed himself and stood up, then looked toward a wall behind the place where the Stone Minotaurs had been gathered. There was an unnaturally differently colored wall there. Kazane and the others had encountered the Stone Minotaurs as they aimed for that place.

「I don't know if it's Ori-san... but there's one person inside.」

Kazane replied with an indistinct voice.

「What do you mean?」

Emily asked, but Kazane tilted her head and instructed Naoki to call out to them as their first action. They could simply destroy the wall, but if they were unlucky, they might receive a severe attack from the person they were trying to help.

And when Naoki called out, a girl's frail voice could be heard from inside. The wall was shortly broken from the inside, and a limping girl around the same height as Kazane appeared. Her ears were pointed, so apparently she was an elf.

「Is that Nao-kun?」

The elf girl didn't see anyone other than the first person she caught sight of and spoke to, Naoki.

「Yuzu, it was you? And, are you all right? Your leg?」

Naoki rushed over to the girl called Yuzu. Perhaps simply standing brought Yuzu to her limit, but she instantly leaned on Naoki. Then she immediately starting crying into Naoki's chest.

「Muu」

Emily made a displeased expression, but as one would expect, she had the self control to do nothing to prevent a girl who was crying from clinging to Naoki.

「Uu, Nao-kun! Nao-kun! Nao-kun! Nao-kun!」

It seemed it was very difficult for her. Naoki had a troubled expression as Yuzu continued holding him tight and calling his name. Naoki looked toward his older sister, who made a (let her calm down) gesture, so Naoki nodded his agreement and waited for Yuzu to stop crying.

Then Lyle and Kazane went into the hidden room Yuzu was inside until just now.

「Yeah. Ori and the others aren't here?」

Lyle looked around the room, but there was no one else, only a Golem.

「Golem?」

Kazane looked with curiosity at the human-shaped ma.s.s of earth inside the hidden room.

「Yuzu is from the Tuure Kingdom. She's a Golem user like Kazane.」

Kazane said「Heeeh」and seemed very interested as she looked at the golem after those words.

「Is that so. This is the first time I've seen a Golem user other than myself.」

「Is that so?」

Lyle tilted his head after Kazane's words. The technology to manipulate Golems was the secret magic solely possessed by the Tuure Kingdom on this continent. Magicians like Yuzu were allowed to go to other countries, but only members of the Tuure Kingdom were allowed to learn Golem magic, and it should only be learnable in a special place. Therefore, any Golem user was certain to be a citizen of the Tuure Kingdom, and it wasn't possible for there to be other unknown Golem users... Lyle thought, but the girl in front of him was an exception in many ways, so having doubts at this point in time was useless, and he shook the thoughts from his head.

「Hey, Yuzu. Ori and the others aren't here?」

After Yuzu's crying voice finally softened, Naoki saw that she had calmed down and asked.

Yuzu was the only member of O-ring here. Since that was the case, where were the other members?

「Yeah. Everyone left some time ago. Ah, but Alz-kun strayed along the way. Umm, uh, Alz-kun is a rookie member.」

Everybody except Yuzu had bitter faces after those words.

「Huh? What happened?」

Yuzu saw their strange expressions and tilted her head, but then she saw what was on High Hippo-kun, and after she looked toward Naoki, who nodded to confirm, tears started spilling from her eyes.

「Wait a second, Yuzu.」

But as might be expected, Emily couldn't endure any more, so she approached Yuzu, grabbed her shoulders, and spoke roughly.

「Now isn't the time to cry, right? Where are Ori and the others? We came to help!」

Large tear drops still gathered for an instant after those words, but Yuzu endured. Yuzu's spirit was on the brink of wearing out from the situations that had occurred since yesterday, but she somehow held out.

「O, Ori-kun and the others, went to the Baby Core.」

「Baby Core?」

Yuzu nodded after Naoki's confirmation question.

「We didn't think we could escape from the Stone Minotaurs as it was, so with that in mind, we decided to go for an all or nothing challenge. If successful, the Golem types should become immobilized. But since I'm injured, I was left behind.」

After saying that, Yuzu hung her head. So she was left here alone....

「.....Those idiots, that was too hasty.」

Lyle said, but Kazane thought their decision was correct. a.s.suming reinforcements from other adventurers couldn't be expected, there was no choice but to return by their own power. Fundamentally, Golem type monsters inside dungeons collapsed if the Heart Orb was stopped. If there were no Stone Minotaurs, only small fry monsters would remain, and no additional monsters would appear. The irregular situation here was that Kazane and the others had come to help.

「Yuzu-san, when did Ori-san and the others leave?」

While Yuzu was bewildered by the abrupt question from the unknown girl, she still answered.

「Umm. Maybe around 30 minutes ago?」

(I see. So the Stone Minotaurs some time ago got wind of Ori-san and the others' departure and were loitering around?)

She didn't know the current status of Ori and the others, but since there were no changes to the dungeon, it seemed they hadn't obtained the Baby Core yet. Since that was the case, as long as they weren't already killed, they were probably just before or in the middle of a battle. If that was the case, they needed to quickly advance and join them.

Then after thinking to that extent, Kazane looked around at her companions.

「Alright, let's hurry!」

Then everyone nodded after Kazane's words. They were all thinking the same thing.

Yuzu was the only one who couldn't read the situation and she was confused, but she timidly nodded.

Name: Yuihama Kazane

Occupation: Magic Swordswoman

t.i.tle: Ogre Killer, Dragon Slayer, High Beast Summoner

Equipment: Staff 『White Blaze』, Two Handed Sword『Black Fang』, Adhesion Sword『Gum』, Spell Dagger, Dragonscale Breastplate, Drake Gauntlets, Silver Sheep Clothes, Sylphyn Skirt, Plasma Pants, Dragon Ogre Greaves, Indestructible Cloak, Mysterious Pouch, Crimson Saint Coffin, Heroic Spirit Summoning Ring, Circlet of Wisdom, Aim Bracelet, Magic Acc.u.mulator, White Magic Acc.u.mulator

Level : 31

Health: 114

Magic Power: 205+420

Strength: 55+10

Agility: 48+4

Endurance: 31

Wisdom : 62

Dexterity : 39

Spell : 『Fly』 『Torch』 『Fire』 『Heal』『Firestorm』『Healer Ray』『High Heal』

Skill : 『Warrior's Memory』 『Night Vision』 『Crus.h.i.+ng Blow』 『Dog's Sense of Smell』 『Golem Maker: Lv3』 『Rush』 『Fire Principle: Third Chapter』 『Healing Principle: Fourth Chapter』 『Air Jump: Lv2』 『Killing Leg: Lv3』 『Fear Voice』 『Invisible』 『Tiger Eye』 『Wall Walking』 『Intuition』 『Cheat Death』 『Nimble』『Charge』『Material s.h.i.+eld』『Information Link』『Optical Camouflage』『Dash』『Bloodsucking Blade』『Dragonization』『Regenerate』『Soul Breaking Blade』『Stealthy Placement』『Thunder Chariot』『St.u.r.dier Teeth』『Crystallization』『Fabricated Coercion』『Stone Minotaur』

Kazane:「It's a timid loli character.」

Yumika:「A Golem user? It's the first time a Golem using person other than you has appeared.」

Kazane:「That's right.」