Side Story 6: Paldi’s Exciting Nightmarish Dungeon Exploration Journal! Part 4
「You gotta be kidding me…」
Said Basak in a voice full of fear.
And that must be the impression everyone had in his place.
A giant that exceeds seven melds.
With countless arms growing from its back.
That held a sword, a spear, an axe, a bow and even a weapon Paldi had never seen before.
What’s even more surprising is the amount of magic stones used for its eyes and decorations.
The number of magic stones used makes it even more powerful.
They can feel its overwhelming magical power even without sharpening their senses.
It’s as if they were caught in a huge torrent.
No matter how you think about it, this golem has the power of an advanced, no, a General-class.
What kind of idiot created this monster?
For what purpose?
Did the killer ants were trying to protect this?
Wait, could it be that its creator is here?
Thought Paldi, before the enemy starts to move.
The golem began to move towards them.
Fast.
It moves at an unbelievable speed that doesn’t compare to its large size.
「Scatter! Don’t stay in one place! Be careful with its arms! 」
Rail immediately gave them instructions.
He looks towards Basak who seems to have no problem with moving.
If anything, it’s impressive that he can move at that speed with his injury.
「Guh! What is this thing?! 」
What the hell is this? It can fight against five people at the same time.
Its barrage of attack feels like dealing with a swarm of enemies.
Sword, spear, axe, arrow.
All came pouring at Paldi like a storm.
Even though they are all attacking, it didn’t take any damage at all.
Rather, they’re the one being pressured.
It effortlessly dodged the attack coming from behind as if it has a pair of eyes behind its back.
「Lele! I leave it to you! 」
Rail asks Lele.
「Alright~」
She talks slowly.
But her action is quick.
Immediately, she moves on to casting spells.
「Flame, burn all your might! Light, bring my enemy into destruction!」
Lele chants.
An advanced fire element magic,『Flames of Destruction』.
A dense heat-ray, which emitted from the tip of her cane, is directed towards the golem.
Scorching.
The temperature is so high that it can even turn a human into ashes.
This is the end for you! Is what she thought.
Unfortunately, the golem did the unexpected.
Of the myriad of arms, it cut a few and threw them at the incoming attack.
The 『Flame of Destruction』 hit the severed arms.
And turned them all into ashes.
However, the golem itself is still intact.
Lele’s attack failed to reach the golem, it ended up only burning a few arms.
「How?!」
What just happened, thought Paldi.
The Flame of Destruction may look like a dense ray, but in fact it is a magic that sends a large amount of heat to a single target.
To put it simply, it can be blocked.
However, it’s impossible to do so without knowing the magic characteristic.
In other words, it’s not a problem if the enemy is a monster.
How… How did it know?
Muttered Paldi.
「Eh?」
She never expects the golem could defend against it.
Lele gasp in shock.
Suddenly,
「Ack.」
She was stabbed.
Something pierced through her chest.
It was a sword made out of stone.
Earlier, the golem cut its arm and threw the sword at Lele.
Gohok, she coughed as a lot of blood spilled from her mouth.
「Lele!! Damn it! Baldroy, get to her now!!」
「Right away!」
Baldroy immediately tried to approach Lele.
However, he got blocked by the golem.
「Get out of the way!」
It was Rail who shouted.
He slashed it.
And cut the arm moving toward Baldroy.
Furthermore, he began to attack earnestly.
However, the golem guards itself using more than twenty arms.
And used its remaining left to counterattack.
「Guh!」
「I won’t let you.」
Paldi supports him with her wind skill.
An advanced wind element magic, Air Blast.
She released it while minimizing the output so as not to hit Rail.
The small tornado released by Paldi went past Rail and hit the golem.
It then got blown away and smashed into the wall.
「Baldroy, now!」
「Okay!」
Baldroy managed to get to Lele.
She was still breathing.
But wheezing.
No matter how you look at it, her situation is not good at all.
He then pulls out a healing potion and pour it on her wound.
All the members of Silver Crow have potions for recovery.
The wound on Lele immediately closed up.
They managed to avoid the crisis for now.
「Thank goodness. You’re――――――」
He didn’t manage to finish his word.
As his head flew in the air.
「Eh?」
Just now, whose voice was that?
Looking at the golem on the wall, one of its arms had stretched bizarrely.
Baldroy’s severed head hit the floor with a thud.
A closer look at the stretched arm shows that it’s foldable.
It stretched out its folded arm and aimed at the off guard Baldroy.
Who just finished the treatment.
And Paldi also noticed something.
Her Air Blast didn’t damage the golem at all.
That is to say, it did that on purpose.
It braced the attack in order to let their guard down.
And she was right.
At that moment, the golem, which was supposed to be expressionless, looks to be uttering words.
『One, down.』
It seemed to be saying so.
「Uwaaaaaah!!」
It was Basak.
In anger, he charged at the golem.
「Basak, don’t do it! 」
However, Rail cut in and held him down.
「Let me go, Rail! I’m going to kill that bastard for him!」
「Stop!」
Rail looks terrible as he yelled.
An angry face that was about to burst in tears anytime.
If he hadn’t seen this expression, Basak would have shaken him off and run towards the golem.
However, his next words made him doubt his sanity.
「Withdraw… Paldi, use Fly on the three of us.」
「What?」
Three? What are you talking about?
Baldroy is dead. I can understand that. He can’t be alive since he lost his head.
But, what about Lele?
She’s still alive, isn’t she?
You’re just gonna leave her here?
「We will abandon Lele… We have to leave this place now or else we all die.」
「How could you?!」 (Basak)
「Rail?!」 (Paldi)
Even Paldi couldn’t get through him.
「Baldroy, our tank is now dead… Lele, our support is dying and can’t use her magic. We don’t know when the hordes of killer ants will appear again. I’ll carry her… No, if I do that, we’d die. Withdraw and report it to the guild… That’s the only choice we have.」
His voice gradually grows fainter.
He clenched his teeth and his hand bleed from gripping the sword too hard. The other two could not argue against him who desperately wants to flee.
「You can blame me as much as you want after this! Quickly, the golem is coming! 」
「I know!」
Paldi quickly casts Fly on them.
However,
『I will not let you escape.』
Where is this voice coming from?
I can hear it inside my head.
A woman’s voice. A graceful and elegant voice.
Crunch, there was a sound.
While softly floating, Paldi turns her head to look at it.
What is that?
What she saw was an insect monster.
Is that a Killer Ant?
It has a human upper part attached to what’s supposed to be an ant body.
It looks like an arachne, a higher species of spider monster.
But much more sinister.
The dungeon master, could it be?
It has such an ominous appearance and a sign of magical power that is many times denser than the golem.
This monster created this dungeon.
She is sure of it.
The monster has two swords in its hand and a white cloak on its back.
And she know the true nature of the cloak.
「Earth dragon skin?」
Whispered her to herself.
And surprisingly it reached the monster.
『I see it now…』
Once again, the voice of a woman echoes.
The monster suddenly came close to them at a frightening speed.
The gap between them instantly diminished.
We can’t dodge when we’re in the air!
「Paldi!」
Rail screams.
Paldi quickly pulls out her trump card.
Clank!!
The swords collide and spark scatter.
The Earth Dragon Sword.
Paldi’s trump card.
It was the sword her sister gave her when she was ranked as an A-rank adventurer.
It’s a famous sword that boasts absolute cutting power and was said to never chipped.
『!!!』
It feels like the monster froze for a moment when she pulled out the sword.
Is it on guard because of this sword?
Thought Paldi.
But, she was wrong.
『You bastard!』
Tremendous anger.
After repelling that single attack, they went higher in the air.
『How dare you, how dare you, how dare you, how dare you, how dare you!!』
A voice full of hatred echoed.
Finally, Paldi noticed that the voice from a while ago is from the monster in front of her.
An intense killing intent was directed at them.
They managed to stop their body from shaking and fly further from it.
It doesn’t look like it can fly.
Let’s return to the surface for now.
Immediately after thinking so,
「Huh?!」
Paldi refused to believe it.
It’s coming at them at an unbelievable speed.
How on earth?
Magic? But there shouldn’t be any Killer Ant that can use wind magic?!
Could it just be a jump?!
No, that’s not it.
Further down, the golem from before is still there.
It threw the monster up here.
And they can hear its voice as it gets closer.
『Die』
Ptoo, the monster shoots out something from its mouth.
Which is too fast for Paldi to see.
And it pierced Basak who’s next to her.
「Gah…」
Blood overflowed from Basak’s chest.
More holes start to appear on his body.
In just a short moment, he becomes full of holes.
That’s not all.
Smoke rises from his body as he melts.
「What’s happening…. To me….」
His body then fell on the ground.
Fly only works on the living.
In other words, he…
「Damn it!」
Rail decides to take action.
He holds his sword and tries to cut the monster in the air.
However, it managed to avoid the attack even without the skill Fly.
「How?!」
Impossible, is what they thought.
Once again, the monster fired something out of its mouth.
Rail fails to avoid it.
「Gahak…」
It shoots through his heart, and he falls just like that.
Paldi is the only one left.
「How did this… Happened…」
Her head turned blank.
The monster is right in front of her.
She desperately swung her sword.
「Uwaaaaaaaaah!」
None of them hit. It’s as if it can read her attack.
When in reality, she was actually panicking.
「?!」
And the next moment, Paldi stiffened as if she was bound.
The hand she use to swing her sword bend backwards and her arms spread opened.
Her body moved against her will.
The sword that she was holding slid down from her hand and fell.
The black ant monster holding a sword is right in front of her.
She can see the sword moving towards her in slow motion.
She no longer cares.
But there’s one thing she knows.
This is a nightmare.
Paldi was cut and slowly sank into the darkness as her blood splashed all over the place.
And the moment her consciousness completely disappeared, the bracelet on her left arm shattered quietly.
_________
Ann: Isn’t this cloak a little flashy?
Una: No, it really looks good on you, Ann! *sparkles*
Ann: Re- Really? Ufufu…