"Earth Bullet!"
On the 45th floor, in the middle of the town during the afternoon. Ren, having quickly moved from the starting point to the soldiers' barracks, slammed an area-of-effect Earth magic spell into the building.
Though he didn't use Boost and, naturally, didn't use the Double Cast dual magic, a hundred stone projectiles impacted the building. Dogagagagaga, they made a satisfying sound as they dug into the walls, ceiling, and nearby stone pavement. Fortunately, no passersby were harmed, as they had fled upon seeing Ren.
"Oh, this is still quite powerful... well, whatever."
Seeing that the walls and ceiling were gouged halfway through their thickness, he deliberately fired the next set of spells into the sky. The stone projectiles flew upward, stalled, and then rained down, GANGANGANG, drumming against the barracks roof.
"W-what in the world is happening!?"
"Is that... a demon!?"
The soldiers rushed out shouting. Meteor, who was following, relayed the contents of their shouts via telepathy.
Meteor herself took aim at one of the soldiers—specifically, she shot an arrow barely past his cheek, embedding it KACH! into the wall.
An unexpected appearance of a demon (Succubus) and a Dark Elf in a peaceful town. The soldiers immediately fell into a panic, their eyes darting around, wondering what to do.
"Hurry up! You have plenty to do: evacuate the townspeople, get your ranged weapons, call your comrades!" Meteor telepathically urged.
"We are about to attack this town! The main force will arrive soon! Tremble in fear, you foolish humans!" Meteor shouted in the other world's language.
Ren, meanwhile, was shouting in Japanese. In this case, an enemy speaking an incomprehensible language was likely even more terrifying.
After giving the warning, they only shouted similar things a few more times as they moved away from the spot, but the effect was outstanding. Before they even left the town, the alarm bell began to ring, and the soldiers started running around in a frenzy.
It worked. Everyone, just follow after us.
Roger.
Ren and Meteor naturally flew in the direction from which the enemy was expected to arrive. Having multiple enemy units meant that being focused on by one side was still a problem, but it couldn't be helped.
A short while later, the other members who had been waiting at the starting point followed after them. May, incidentally, was flying while possessed by Huuli.
While Ren's group only intended to link up with their companions, to the outside observer, it must have looked like a group of adventurers (?) was quickly pursuing the enemy. The soldiers were surprisingly persistent and fired a couple of arrows at them, but they were easily avoided, and Ren's group quickly soared over the town's outer wall.
Whoa, they're quite close.
The time limit was only ten minutes to begin with. We have to buy them some time to solidify their defenses.
The enemy composition hadn't changed much: Goblins as general infantry, Lizardmen as elite equivalents, tough Orcs, Dark Elves who could use both bows and magic, Ogres acting as siege weapons, flying Harpies, and a few Demons. The bothersome part was the increased number and proportion of Harpies and Ogres.
This time, the enemy was fully prepared for a town assault. Upon Ren's group's approach, the rear logistics units carrying provisions stopped, and the main unit began to deploy to protect them. The enemy's judgment was quick when facing a party mixed with a Succubus and a Dark Elf. Well, it was natural to be wary if unfamiliar faces suddenly came flying from the direction of the town.
"Fire Arrow!"
"Foxfire!"
"Firebolt!"
"I will also participate in the shooting this time."
Everyone except Huuli, who was resting her hands for defense, launched a preemptive attack with magic, arrows, and cannon fire. They unified their attack with the Fire attribute this time to avoid scattering friendly fire with wind magic.
With Ren's two hundred fire arrows, Shion's nine-by-five flames, and the attacks from Iris's group added in, it was a veritable downpour. The monsters momentarily paused their advance and screamed in response to the painful attacks. Delayed counter-attacks flew their way, but Ren's group evaded them by moving haphazardly through the air.
Against the incoming Harpies:
"Mana Bolt!"
"Wind Slash!"
Even vicious monsters with sharp claws and fangs can't land an attack if they can't fly. Even if the attacks weren't enough to annihilate them, dropping them to the ground would cause them to automatically disappear from the impact of the fall. May and Shion, incidentally, were dealing with the Harpies by punching and kicking them, respectively.
Harpies getting punched by an arm treated as a blunt weapon or kicked by a giant fox were rather pathetic sights. But, setting that aside.
This is pretty tough...! Ren thought.
Indeed. We would have preferred to quickly dispatch the main unit and move on to the others, Meteor replied.
All of Ren's group were completely pinned down. Since the enemy also hadn't reached the town, they were in a standoff, but it was questionable whether the townspeople alone could survive the secondary units' attack.
May, let's use that!
The Bombs, yes. Understood, May replied telepathically.
May retrieved a small crystalline object from her storage. She drew back her arm and threw it down. It was absorbed into the enemy formation and BOOMED! The scattering flames and blast were just like the Fireball spell. This was a bomb that had been created at a higher cost than regular fire pellets, a true bomb as the name implied. For Ren's group, whose area-of-effect options were limited, this was extremely helpful.
The Demon, who seemed to be the commander, gave a new command in response. The enemy units began to scatter into smaller groups and move in different directions. They were trying to disperse the damage in anticipation of further Fireball attacks.
However, the inability to act as an organized unit should also be a major blow for them, Shion observed.
All Ren's group had to do was crush the small groups one by one. Ren started by trying to rain Magic Arrows down on one of them, when suddenly:
"!?"
The spell misfired. Naturally, it wasn't due to a lack of MP. It felt as if the spell had suddenly vanished just as it was about to activate. He looked and saw the commander Demon glaring at him with a fearless smile. No, given how hard it was to read a Demon's expression, perhaps it only looked that way.
Dispel Magic. Pretty good to nullify Ren's magic from this distance.
Mmm. That's an unpleasant feeling. I really don't want to take much of that.
If a card's effect is negated in a TCG, it's one thing, but having it happen in a real fight causes confusion, making you wonder, "What just happened!?" It was likely not a spell the Demon could spam, but combined with the psychological effect, it was quite nasty.
Well, whether it gets dispelled or not, I'll just use it when I can...!
He exchanged glances with his companions, and they each split up to target different enemies. Ren boldly initiated a rapid descent, approaching the boss Demon.
"Try to dispel this trump card too!"
Triple Spell.
Overboost.
The ultimate trump card of a Mana Conductor. The Mana Bolt he fired, imbued with these skills that were still MP-intensive even for Ren to use, had its first shot dispelled, but the remaining two were sucked into the Demon's body.
DON!
The Demon looked down at the pseudo-shockwave and the resulting hole in its body, muttered something small, and then vanished.
"Commander, defeated."
A wave of confusion began to spread through the enemy ranks. Ren, ignoring them, descended further, circled behind an Ogre, and delivered a swift cut with his tail.
"Drain Slash...!"
This Succubus skill, which applied a physical attack augmented by magic power and simultaneously absorbed MP, was quite powerful if used carefully, despite its short range and high base MP consumption. The Ogre apparently also had a jugular vein, as blood immediately spurted out, and it began to scream.
"Next, with Drain Arrow!"
This was the area-of-effect version of the absorption magic, Drain Bolt, not a Magic Arrow attribute change. Its advantage was its low power but high MP absorption effect, allowing it to be used without worrying about MP.
By this point, the enemy had lost the moment they stopped to deal with Ren. Soon after, the remaining Demons were defeated by the other companions, sealing the main unit's destruction.
First, the rear support units fled in a straight line. They must have been composed of members with low fighting power. They would be capable of fighting humans, but they were too weak to assault a mass of humans—a town. This was especially true if strong individuals were stationed to defend that town.
Ren, Mee-chan, you guys can go ahead. It'll get complicated if you stay here, right? Huuli suggested.
Thank you. I'll go crush the other unit then.
Hurry up and join us. You two can't communicate with humans either, Meteor ordered.
Some of the combat-ready monsters also fled. The remaining enemies were enough for May and Huuli to handle alone. Iris and Shion were told to move through the town and take care of any monsters that might have already infiltrated. Since it would complicate things if Ren and Meteor entered the town, they took a wide detour toward the secondary unit.
Oh, they're surprisingly putting up a fight, aren't they? Meteor observed.
No soldiers came over here, so maybe they prioritized the weaker side, Ren guessed.
The enemy's secondary unit was fighting soldiers, as well as adventurers and mercenaries. They hadn't completely stopped the momentum, but they weren't entirely outmatched. They might have fared reasonably well if the town hadn't been an object to defend.
But still, even with those numbers, that's their limit. If the main unit had come, they would have been instantly overwhelmed. And dealing with an Ogre still seems like a big job even with multiple people, Meteor remarked.
Didn't it take a decent number of Dark Elves too? Ren asked.
To kill them safely, yes. These humans are risking their lives just to fight them. They are only humans, after all.
Regardless of how much trust to put in Meteor's comments, Ren's group joined the fray. Initially, the humans almost attacked them, but realizing Ren's group was only targeting the monsters, they decided to ignore them for the moment. Meteor, the only one who could communicate, had an exchange with the humans while fighting, which essentially amounted to, "Who exactly are you!?" and "You wouldn't have moved unless we said that, would you? A lie can be a good tool." The details were omitted.
Iris's group quickly joined up, and the momentum shifted decisively. Though it still took a little more time for the enemy battle line to completely collapse.
Well, it looks like we're fine now. Meteor, did you properly clear up the misunderstanding?
I wonder? It might get complicated if we stay here until the fighting is completely over. ...Wait, does this mean we can go home?
...Ah.
According to the guidebook, the descending staircase was also inside the town. Could it be that on unknown floors, they have to diligently search for the next floor's entrance? If it's a town, that alone could take half a day... Setting that aside. If they have to go into the town to use either the ascending or descending stairs:
We're going to get attacked, aren't we? Ren asked.
We're going to get attacked, yeah. It would probably be fine without Ren and Mee-chan.
...Ah. Let's sneak in after it gets dark.
While they could try to earnestly clear up the misunderstanding, a mute Succubus who had just conducted acts of destruction was suspicious no matter how you looked at it. Thus, Ren's group ostentatiously left the town, hid in a suitable spot, and then, after waiting for nightfall when people were asleep, returned to the shrine via the descending staircase inside the empty house.
"Phew... This is the first time we've been this late, isn't it? We were almost out all night," Ren said.
"I know. I heard staying overnight wasn't uncommon, but this is going to be tough," Huuli agreed.
The specific "tough" parts mainly related to things like bathroom breaks and meals. Although, since Huuli was fine in her non-corporeal or possessed state, many members of Ren's party could actually keep fighting for extended periods. In that sense, things were relatively easy. In fact, in that sense, other races might be considered cheating.
"But with this, the 45th floor is also conquered!" Shion exclaimed.
"A boastful face is definitely guaranteed after this," Meteor added.
Incidentally, the clear reward for the 45th floor was the complete opening of Iris's and May's storage. This meant Iris's group now possessed exactly the same combat capabilities as Ren's group (Meteor's 'Blessing' was different, so her raw power was simply strengthened). In fact, Iris's group could directly raise their skill levels through special training, arguably making them stronger than Ren's group, who rely on skill points. While the current level difference still favored Ren's group, they would likely be surpassed soon.
Since it was night in the dungeon, it was also night in their world. Flying quietly through the night sky to avoid bothering neighbors, Ren replied telepathically:
"Well. What should we do from the 46th floor onwards? Should we take another preparation period?"
"Considering how much the enemies are being strengthened, that might be better. We probably lack the necessary skill to handle multiple units with just a small elite force, Iris suggested."
"Hmm... About that, I think it might be time to ask for help from other people."
Ren smiled wryly as he responded to his companions. While he deeply wished to handle things only within their group due to the difficulties of working with others, he felt it was time to change their policy.
============
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