The test began, and our party moved to Heln Mine via the Magic Tower.
Heln Mine.
Well, it’s a mine, literally.
This place used to be a Kobold mine, and due to the numerous caves, it became a temporary hideout for demon creatures once.
Of course, now, as the nearby artifacts have been purified, all the remaining demon creatures have lost their powers.
Anyway, we were assigned to check out a place among the many traces of the mine that hadn’t been investigated yet, to confirm the progress of the purification.
Just had to weed out the suitably weakened demon creatures and collect the dark magic concentration from the dungeon’s center.
This is what they refer to as “Dungeon Exploration Practice” back at the academy.
But let’s be real, what kind of thrilling adventure would await the main characters?
Big events, big accidents.
In other words, this place definitely wasn’t the size for freshmen’s field trips.
Roooaaar!
With a heavy sound,
Crash!!!!
Fzzzzzzz…
The ground was destroyed.
About, what, two meters high?
Two greenish-brown golems started massacring spiders.
“See? This is how you break through the web! Yeriel-senpai! Burn it down with fire magic!”
The behavior of spider monsters is pretty simple.
They spin webs and wait for prey.
So, Lily was using a very straightforward strategy: sending the golems first to remove the webs and draw the spiders’ aggro.
Flahhhhhhh!!
And then, she used Yeriel’s elemental magic to clear those tangled webs.
Since the golems are resistant to fire attacks, thanks to Yeriel’s precise control, we had absolutely no damage on our side.
You could say we had a strategy, right?
“Who’s gonna catch all those with that pathetic attack of yours?”
“Lily, let’s not say stuff like that…”
“Huh? I’m not specifically talking about anyone…”
…
It was clearly directed at me…
But Edwin, who ranked lower than me and contributed nothing, was sulking quietly in silence.
Then we found ourselves at the first fork in the road.
“Huh…?”
The paths branched left and right, akin to Lily’s hairstyle.
Just as everyone was pondering, I, who already knew the answer, jumped in.
“We should go left. The stalagmites on the right path show traces of a cave spider. They’re fast, so dealing with them with golems would be troublesome.”
As I activated First Circle Light magic and pretended to scan the cave surface, Lily promptly bit down on my bait.
“Wait, who do you think you are to give opinions?”
In a typical party, it’s the tank’s role to lead, but it’s fairly standard for marksmen or rogues to scout ahead.
Yet Lily firmly said, “I’m going right.”
“Maybe we should listen to Lev this time…”
“You don’t trust me, Lily? That guy disrespected my golem!”
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[Anonymous Feedback: Please attach a hate label to Lily Forget.]
[No can do, so instead, we’re offering you cute Lily. For your broad understanding, a backstory was added where she lied about her age by 4 years to enroll.]
—————————————————
“Was she really a little kid…?”
Ultimately, thanks to Lily’s tantrum, we headed right.
Shiiiiiish!
Sssssss!
“Eh… Ugh!!! Wh-what the hell is this!”
Crash!
Crash!
A land crab the size of a palm with shaggy black and yellow stripes—this was definitely a nightmare for Lily.
“G-get away from me!”
[Land Crab]
[Normal C-Rank Demon Creature]
[Arthropod]
[Danger Level: Slightly High]
[Traits: Individual value is low, but they move quickly on the ground and swarm, so caution is advised. A swarm controlling them exists deep in the dungeon.]
Moreover, their speed was faster than expected.
While they looked simple, they were still demon creatures.
Even if they’d been slightly weakened by purification, they still craved survival and reproduction.
Just one bit could bleed into our field of view and suck our life force right out!
“Die! Die already!”
Thud!
Thud!
The golem’s slow movements couldn’t hold back all the land crabs.
“Uwaaaaaah!”
Swsh!
Edwin’s shout was useless.
Sssssssss!
The few that broke through the frontline charged toward Yeriel and Aria in the back row.
“Everyone, fall back!”
Yeriel, like a true upperclassman,
Flahhhhh!
Summoned a wall of flames.
Fifth Circle Magic—Fire Wall.
Once the spider movements were halted for a moment, I took aim with my crossbow.
Gotta keep those grades up.
Taking a deep breath, I cast Wind Archery.
What I needed now was…
[Wind Arrow – Rapid Fire]
Reflecting my thoughts perfectly, winds began to spiral around the launching position of the Gray Ashen Bolt.
“Hey, stay still! What are you doing!”
“Just hiding behind the golem. You too, Edwin.”
“Huh?”
Fzzzzzz!
As I pulled the trigger, blue gusts began to pour out magnificently.
Flahhh…rrrk!
Before long, the wind turned into a wave of flame rising from Yeriel’s Fire Wall, engulfing the land crabs.
It was a fleeting moment.
The cave instantly lit up, warm winds blowing in,
Flahhhhhh!!!!
Cheeeeeeeek!!!!
[Luck Activated! Randomly increases stats by 0.05!]
[Luck Activated! Randomly increases stats by 0.05!]
[Luck Activated! Randomly increases stats by 0.05!]
Cheeeeeek!
And left only the smell of burning crabs.
“Ugh… Cough!”
While Yeriel was using Ventilation magic, Lily, who had been hiding behind the golem to skip the flames, peeked out to check the situation.
Then she came huffing towards me.
“You’re so dangerous!”
“If we’d just gone left like I said… it wouldn’t have happened…”
“What? Are you saying Lily was wrong?”
“Was about to say yes.”
“…Ugh.”
Lily, seemingly out of rebuttals, turned her head away, red-faced.
It’s only human to respond childishly to a childish act.
The dungeon is definitely confusing enough to lose your way.
That’s the natural law of things.
Thus, once more…
A fork in the road appeared.
“…Ugh!”
Watching Lily’s flustered back, I jumped in again.
“It’s left again. There’s a part of the right wall that’s rumbling, meaning there’s probably a trap set.”
“You really told me to keep quiet…”
Lily’s tone was lower than before.
Of course, the rumbling wall and all was just my plausible chatter.
This time, Edwin stepped up first.
“Lev, are you sure about that…?”
“Probably.”
I answered vaguely on purpose.
Still, public opinion was tilting towards me, and as Edwin was about to head left…
“Then we should go left…”
“Stop!”
Lily cut him off.
“It’s just a lucky guess from a loser…! This time, it’s really right…”
“Lily, accepting party members’ opinions counts as teamwork in evaluations.”
Even Yeriel began siding with me.
I approached Lily impersonally and asked, “If we go right, are you taking responsibility?”
“What…?”
“I mean, can you be held accountable if an uncomfortable situation arises?”
“Of course!”
With that declaration, Lily stepped boldly forward.
Yeriel looked at me anxiously, but I simply nodded in response.
*
The difficulty of [Reincarnated Hero] is by no means easy.
Every moment has the potential for a kill, and it’s not just monsters, betrayals and conspiracies lurk everywhere.
As with any roguelike game, players are endlessly forced to make ‘choices’.
Depending on their choices, the characters’ survival or demise is at stake, and the more a dungeon tempts players with loot, the more critical these choices become.
Moreover, the place I’ve just now possessed is even a step harder than the ultra-hard difficulty.
According to the story, if Selena was here instead of me, we’d be on the right path, with a different A-rank scout replacing Lily, it would be an easy dungeon conquest.
The issue was that a raid-level monster called “Flame Demon” would appear later.
*
So, the consequence of Lily’s choice: the next demon creature was a Zombie Kobold.
“Experience points, experience points…”
[Kobold Zombie]
[Normal C+ Rank Demon Creature]
[Humanoid]
[Danger Level: Average]
[Traits: A kobold sealed in webs for a long time, turned into a mummy and revived infected by the demon’s power.]
Goblin in appearance, yet mixed with a semblance of a dog.
The good news was that while they had a lot of individual numbers, they weren’t party units and were close-combat focused instead.
Kiaaaa?
As soon as they recognized us, they charged at us with gusto.
Normal kobolds are notorious for their greed regarding adventurer’s treasures, but now that they’ve been beset by dark magic, they’ve become something far more sinister.
Of course, they flocked to Lily, the one who looked most harmless, wearing a big hat.
Kyaaaaa!
With Lily’s scream, the golem punched one kobold away.
Growl!!!
Kiaaaa!!
Edwin didn’t miss that moment, plunging his sword vertically into the creature, ending it.
“Waaaah!”
Crack!
Keeegggk!
But that was just one.
Graaarrrrh! Crack!
A horrifying sound of blade scraping against rock began echoing from the forefront.
Kobolds began to swarm and slash at us.
And right in the golem’s blind spot, one kobold slipped through and tackled Lily.
“…!”
With Lily looking startled,
Swish!
Thud!
With a wind sound as crisp as the pressure,
The kobold’s body was lodged against the cave wall, dangling.
Huuuuun…!
And in the resultant wind pressure, the balance of the kobolds surrounding the golem was shattered.
Keher??
At that moment, Aria wasted no time whispering to me.
“Now’s the time.”
As she began incanting her sacred magic, light filled the surroundings.
Kegrrr?
Keeeeru!!
Having been in the dark cave for so long and losing their balance, the creatures started to topple over each other as they became entangled.
Fzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!
And once again, from my Gray Ashen Bolt, bursts of wind began to pour forth.
…
—————————————————
▶ Status
[Strength]: 2.9 -> 2.95 (new)
[Health]: 3.25 -> 3.3 (new)
[Agility]: 2.6 (3.38)
[Magic Power]: 1.9 (2.09) -> 1.95 (2.14) (new)
[Mana]: 2.5 -> 2.55 (new)
[Mental Strength]: 2.45
[Reactivity]: 1.7 -> 1.8 (new)
[Luck]: 3.4
[Specialization]
Circle Magic (1)
Crossbow – Proficiency (7)
Curse Resistance (3)
—————————————————
‘Huh? They haven’t even unleashed a named one yet.’
Thanks to my and Yeriel’s area spells, alongside the sacrifice of one golem, we were able to ward off the zombie kobolds.
Though we gained less experience compared to hidden dungeons, our stats increased quite a bit.
However, everyone seemed exhausted from the relentless grind, and no further conversation took place.
Stuttering.
“Again…?”
At that moment, the final fork in the road appeared.
Of course, I jumped in again.
“Left…”
“Ah, I get it! I was going to go left too…”
Lily interjected, and without waiting for me, began advancing.
Now she wasn’t even bothering to ask our opinions.
And then, just as she stepped in,
Shhushushuhh!!!
Crack!
Uwaaaaah…
Her last golem crumbled like a cookie.
“Ah…?”
She likely got caught in some trap after sustained damage within the dungeon.
Wobble…
Like a child watching a horror film, Lily began to tremble in fear.
Then she started to argue with me.
“You said… it was left… why did it turn out like this…”
“People should listen until the end, I was going to say left has a trap and right is the answer.”
“…!!”
Lily, seemingly stunned by my wordplay, widened her eyes before bowing her head.
“And didn’t you say you’d take responsibility?”
“……”
She looked utterly deflated.
Her hands clutched her skirt tightly.
She seemed precarious.
“Step ahead quickly. Thanks to you, we’re way further from the dungeon’s center now.”
Under my urging, Lily glanced around.
Summoning golems, especially maintaining two, consumed quite a bit of mana.
To support her, Aria used a lot of her sacred power, and Edwin was already out of breath, sitting down to catch his breath.
Well, Yeriel seemed relatively fine, but she looked tired from continuing to watch Lily’s back.
Lily muttered to herself, choked up, creating a situation she made.
“If I summon again… that should be enough…”
Literally so.
Golems could be summoned again.
But the reason she shifted from being a summoner to a dragon tamer has everything to do with this.
A summoner named Lily was born and raised with love, experiencing only good things, and as the daughter of a wealthy family, she was spoiled throughout.
Moreover, though she appeared grumpy on the surface, she had a soft heart and was profoundly affected every time her summons died.
Thus, she sought a strong summon that wouldn’t leave her—that was a dragon, which is why she became a dragon tamer.
Well, this too was all part of Caeran’s scheme and gaslighting.
Yet, the narrative that breaks Lily’s heart is relevant here.
“Well, if I have to sacrifice about 10 golems, we might get to the dungeon center…”
“Eww… eww…”
“…?”
Lily’s big hat quivered up and down.
“Waaahhhhhh!”
With my dry remark, Lily finally burst into tears.
“I-I don’t like you! Waaaah, you hear me! I really don’t like you! Waaaah… so why did you do that to me!!”
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– Hey, do you like me?
—————————————————
…So that was the reason?
