The unfortunate thing about the Blunder Wolf is as follows.
“Forget about axes! Those guys spew fire if they sense even the slightest injury!”
First, the moment they get hurt, they crank up the fire on their bodies for a counterattack. It’s like a hedgehog puffing up its spikes when it feels threatened.
Because of this, a warrior completely specialized in close combat had to endure burn damage from counterattacks every time they attacked the monsters.
“Then isn’t Lady Krimhilde in danger?!”
“Just kick them!”
If this were a game.
But this fight was not a game; in reality, there was no reason for a swordsman to fight with just a sword.
– WHOOSH!
I demonstrated this by kicking the side of a fire wolf charging at me with all my might.
– “KRAAAAH!”
With a scream that sounded like a dog’s bark, the Blunder Wolf’s side burst open and fell to the ground.
As soon as it recognized it was hit, it spewed out violent flames, but by then, its body had already been knocked away from the force of my kick.
The heat from the flames never even touched the surface of my armor.
“See? If you push them away like this, it’s no problem!”
There’s a brief moment between when they get hit and when they counterattack. If you can just create distance during that gap, you can avoid the Blunder Wolf’s retaliation.
Of course, since they’re engulfed in flames from the get-go, hitting them would still mean your body comes into contact with fire….
‘My armor can’t possibly not withstand a mere spark, right?’
Rare metal is rare for a reason.
Unless you take a full brunt of their retaliation, that brief contact when you kick them doesn’t let even a hint of heat penetrate inside.
“Um, Lady Krimhilde! Isn’t there another way?”
Arine shouted at me, looking as if the idea of single-handedly kicking a bull-sized wolf seemed a bit far-fetched for mere silver tier adventurers.
“Another way?”
“Yes! At least something a person can do!”
What does she mean by that? Is what I just showed not something a person can do…?
That’s a harsh evaluation; I’m a person too, after all.
“A method that a person can do….”
Well, if she wants another method, I should probably teach her as a true leader should provide advice and help to party members.
“Um, if you crush its head in one hit, there won’t be a counterattack….”
“A single hit, head, instant kill, is that what you’re saying? Got it!”
Before I could even finish my sentence, Arine bound one of the wolves tightly with a chain of light and hurled a blessed axe at its forehead.
– THWACK!
The gleaming white axe blade collided with the Blunder Wolf’s head, exploding it like a charcoal briquette thrown to the ground.
“Indeed, there’s no counterattack this way!”
Arine smiled as she approached to retrieve the axe. Talk about bravery through ignorance!
“Stop! It’ll explode soon!!”
“…Huh?”
I urgently shouted to stop Arine. I didn’t want her upper body scattered everywhere.
The unfortunate thing about the Blunder Wolf—secondly—
The moment they die, they unleash all their remaining power and self-destruct.
Just like now.
– KABOOM!
A loud explosion and shockwave echoed through the air.
The Blunder Wolf Arine had killed expanded violently and exploded into bits the instant she stopped moving.
It was a far more intense explosion than the previously mentioned ‘counterattack flames.’
The shockwave shook the ground momentarily, and stalactites from the ceiling came crashing down, embedding themselves in the ground like wedges.
– “AAAH!”
Arine, who reflexively raised her shield, was thrown backward by the pressure.
After being pushed back several meters, she barely managed to regain her balance.
Thanks to her shield and chain mail, she wasn’t seriously injured, but if she had been missing even one of those three, she would have been seriously hurt or dead.
“See? If you kill them in one shot, they self-destruct instead of retaliating, so either create distance right after killing or let them exhaust their power beforehand!”
“…Could you say those things a bit earlier?!”
Arine, casting Minor Heal on herself with a face indicating she just dodged a bullet, shouted.
“I was going to tell you, but you didn’t give me the chance!”
Well, she should have listened to the end of what I was saying. If you act on impulse without hearing it all and get hurt or die, isn’t that your own fault?
“Um, I’m…sorry…!”
With no rebuttal, Arine blushed and bowed her head in apology.
“Haha! I should step in for moments like this! Arine, you just rest!”
Unlike Arine, who embarrassed herself trying to be brave, Reed was in high spirits, firing arrows like a fish out of water.
His metal crossbow bent elastically as he unleashed a rain of especially broad arrows like a lightning strike.
– THWACK! KABOOM!
“KEEAAH!”
“KYAAAH!”
Arrows piercing flesh not only embedded themselves but also ripped out chunks of flesh, completely brutal.
The Blunder Wolf hit in the head had a fist-sized tunnel drilled through it, killing it instantly, while those hit in their legs fell over, losing their footing.
While his firing speed was slightly slower, it was still powerfully effective shooting for a silver tier adventurer.
◆◆
While Reed and I were busy, the other two weren’t just standing around either.
“I’ll hold them back! Take care of the rest!”
“Send them flying!”
Arine used a binding magic called ‘Chains of Sky’ to stop the enemies, while Friede swung her reverse-gripped greatsword like a club, knocking the nearby wolves away.
Arrows from Reed pierced the wolves bound by the white chains, while wolves with their bones crushed by the greatsword fell, unable to stand.
Soon enough, all the Blunder Wolves that had surrounded us exploded and turned to ash, turning the rocky corridor into a sea of flames.
“…How do we get through here?”
A sea of flames that could instantly grill a human the moment they stepped in.
Arine hesitantly extended her hand and, upon feeling the heat, asked how we would pass through the wall of fire we created.
“Um…maybe we could douse it with some water?”
“Water? From that?”
With Reed’s suggestion, Arine let out a hollow laugh and pointed towards a stream flowing below the crumbled passage.
Indeed, aside from the drinking water we brought with us, it seemed that the only way to get water would be to head down to that stream…
‘…That place is a no-go.’
Face-eating fish bobbing up and down on the surface, while snake-like and frog-like monsters feasted on them in the underground stream.
Not to mention, there was a corner where dozens of fist-sized caterpillars were coiling together, sending shivers down my spine just looking.
It wouldn’t be easy to even go down there, and if we went down carelessly, it was clear we’d receive a warm welcome from all those monsters.
Suggesting we fetch water from that monster-infested stream to extinguish the fire was nearing lunacy.
“Wh-what about breaking rocks to cover it up…?”
Friede cautiously suggested another idea.
Smashing nearby rocks into sand and using that sand to smother the fire—wasn’t that a possibility?
It made sense but was a method that would take way too long. By the time we secured enough sand, the fire would likely extinguish naturally.
There was no need for such pointless toil.
Since there’s no such thing as a fire that burns forever without fuel, that fire will eventually go out if left alone.
“Instead of that…let’s just have a meal first. We have fire here, so we can roast some jerky.”
So instead of suggesting a way to cross the fiery wall, I proposed we sit down and eat.
“Um…is that okay? If we smell like food, the monsters might track us down….”
“Then that’s even better. It’d be like they’re coming to us as sacrifices to help put out the fire!”
Excluding the Blunder Wolves we already wiped out, the remaining monsters were nothing but a threat as long as they didn’t swarm us all at once.
If they came at us, we just kill them and put out the fire with their blood.
“….”
“….”
Perhaps it was a bit too radical for them, as Reed and Arine stared at me in silence as if I had said something bizarre.
What? Why? What?
If there’s a better plan than this, just say it.
I held my head high, as I always did.
◆◆
A seemingly bottomless pit that you couldn’t see the floor of, wide enough that you could only jump over it if you could fly.
Large and small boulders that looked roughly hewn lay scattered in the middle of the cliff, floating like stepping stones.
If you wanted to enter the entrance to the 7th Floor beyond the cliff, you’d have to jump over these stepping stones while risking a fall.
A desolate space consisting of the cliff, the air stepping stones, and the doorway on the opposite side.
This was the sight we beheld after finally dropping down to the 6th Floor after extinguishing the fire with the monsters’ blood.
‘Finally, the mid-corridor area.’
While the previous 1st to 5th Floors formed a singular ecosystem, this 6th Floor was more like a short corridor connecting such rooms.
It would be more appropriate to say it was simply an extended staircase between floors, though it was called a ‘floor’ for convenience.
In the original work, this might have been…a resting point for reorganization?
Given its small size and the absence of patrolling monsters, it was a perfect place to set up a temporary camp and sleep, hoping for tomorrow.
Of course, there was one imperative task that needed to be done before we could rest comfortably.
“KRAAAAAGH…! Intruders, here again…!”
We had to deal with the guard monster blocking the door leading to the passage.
That’s right. There’s always one or two monsters placed as guards in these corridors.
Unlike a dungeon with rigidly separated sections, an entire floor plays the role of a mini-boss room.
To rest in that corridor, we would first have to take down that mini-boss.
And indeed, there was such a mini-boss here, floating across the rocky stepping stones.
“You lot, you’re the enemies of my spouse…! I’ll kill you all!”
A giant with arms and legs like a person, yet clumsily understood and spoke human speech, had a tubby physique.
With its bulbous green skin covered in cyst-like growths and a bald head, it was clear that it was not a human but a monster.
“…Troll!”
Reed clicked his tongue in tension, revealing the creature’s identity.
One of the eight demons, it was a giant monster of the frost giant Jotun lineage that couldn’t handle its blood and turned into a monster.
A well-known representative among the monsters, the Troll.
A monster with the power to toss boulders like pebbles was now blocking our path using the cliff as a shield.
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