The Somehow Strange Hero's Party (4)

Crack! Snap! Crack!

The sharp, wet sounds of impact echoed through the dungeon. The source of those cracks was a completely unhinged woman swinging her whip so hard that beads of sweat flew from her skin.

"Kya-haha, put a little more fire into it! You can move harder than that, can't you? I'm working so hard whipping you!"

That was our party's spirit mage, Letisia. The spirits taking the lashes poured out their power, cutting down the giant Monitor Lizards that kept appearing in front of them.

Crack! Snap!!

"Kya-hahat~♥ Trample them all!"

Letisia's face was flushed with pure ecstasy. At a glance it looked like she was tormenting her spirits purely for her own pleasure… but there was actually a reason she whipped them like a maniac.

True to her place among the broken characters I'd carefully selected for this party, Letisia's specs were absurd. Her Strength was low, but that didn't matter for a spirit mage, and her Mana was practically Hero-tier. Completely ridiculous.

The trait that mattered here was [Whipping – Spirit Enhancement].

That was the legal excuse this sadism patient used to thrash her spirits. The more she whipped them, the stronger they became; after a full hundred lashes she could drag out every last drop of their latent power.

So even though the four elemental spirits she summoned looked like the most generic mid-tier spirits you could find anywhere, once they met her whip they reached a level that wouldn't lose to most high-ranking spirits.

…Though she already has a Great Spirit that's even higher than high-ranking ones.

The trait [Contractor of the Spirit King] wasn't just for show—she really had a contract with the Spirit King himself. She seemed reluctant to call him out, though. Probably because the mana cost was murderous.

Letisia kept swinging her whip without rest, wiping out every Monitor Lizard the moment it appeared. Watching her, Ser-Aria spoke up.

"Oho, first time I've seen Monitor Lizards… They're huge, but their magic resistance looks pretty low!"

She was right. Monitor Lizards—true to the name that literally meant "king lizards"—were enormous lizard monsters. They had monstrous stamina from their bulk and high physical resistance from their thick hides, but their biggest weakness was magic resistance that sat near zero.

To any character who fought with mana as their main weapon, Monitor Lizards were nothing but high-HP sandbags. In our party, the only person who could fill that role with mana was Letisia.

"Allen must have researched hard. He knew exactly that Monitor Lizards would appear in this zone."

Freya offered a quiet note of admiration. That little bit of praise actually put some weight behind my earlier claims.

Erinn smiled faintly and chimed in.

"You worked hard for a scrub♡ Finally trying to become a slightly useful human being~?"

"…Something like that."

"Puhaha, well that's good news!"

Ser-Aria laughed once, then pulled out a bottle of liquor. The second I saw it I stopped her.

"No."

"…What?"

Her voice and eyes went ice-cold so fast I almost shut my mouth out of pure fear. Stopping an alcoholic from drinking is a genuinely dangerous business.

But I had a solid reason, and once I explained it even this crazy drunk would understand.

"You're up next. The next zone needs a powerful long-range shooter, and you're the only one we've got."

"Ehk…"

Reason worked. Her expression and tone loosened at once. She glanced back and forth between me and the bottle with restless eyes.

"J-just one sip…"

She really was completely gone for alcohol. The look on her face said she'd collapse on the spot if she didn't drink, so I had no choice ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠but to allow it.

She'd claimed it herself, after all—that she was number one in the village at hitting apples while drunk. I could only hope she shot well.

"……Fine."

"Thanks, Allen!"

Ser-Aria thanked me, flicked the cork off with her thumb, and started guzzling.

"Hey! You said one sip!"

"Puhah! I never took my mouth off the bottle, so it counts as one sip!!"

This one-gulp bitch…

"…You'd better do your job right. Otherwise we're all in danger."

What was already drunk couldn't be undrunk, so I at least left her with a warning. Ser-Aria just laughed lightly.

"So everyone's lives hang on the bowstring of this drunken archer!"

"…You know that and you're still drinking like that?"

"Of course!"

Crazy woman.

That thought only lasted until she nocked an arrow. The moment the shaft touched the string, her eyes changed completely. I almost wondered if she was really drunk… then she started drawing the bow back right there.

"Hey, Aria! Not here—next zone, next zone!"

"Ah?… Puhaha! Right, you said next!"

…Can I actually trust this?

Arrows and swords didn't sink well into Monitor Lizards, so efficiency was terrible. Letisia would handle this zone; Aria resting for the next one was better.

"Hmm, looks like that's all of them."

Letisia, who had been thrashing her spirits the whole time, finished off the last Monitor Lizard. She chuckled and looked at the spirits.

"You were all a little useful this time♥"

"Kyuuung…"

"Krrrng…"

The spirits made faces that couldn't decide whether to be happy or miserable about the praise, then slowly faded away.

I couldn't decide either—whether to pity their lot or envy them for landing a contractor who was excellent both as a mana battery and as support.

Either way, I offered a light word to the woman who'd worked hard.

"Good work, Letisia."

"It was nothing. More importantly, how are we handling the next zone?"

The sudden return to normalcy was almost unsettling.

Impressed in more ways than one, I answered her question.

"Aria has to take it. Monsters that are weak to long-range attacks… well, magical beasts that are weak to them show up."

"I see. I never managed to get that kind of information myself. You really did research thoroughly."

"Uh… yeah."

We'll go with that.

"But my spirits can handle long-range fire as well."

Letisia looked at me with eyes that clearly wanted to keep swinging her whip.

Don't look at me like that. It's scary… for real.

"…They're thin-skinned, but their magic resistance is high."

"Hmm, an efficient choice. So this is how Allen's command works."

Letisia assessed it that way and stepped back. I wondered what "this is how" was supposed to mean, but judging by the tone it wasn't a bad evaluation.

That was a relief, at least.

Before long we passed the Monitor Lizard zone and entered the area I'd warned Ser-Aria about. The moment she saw the magical beasts there, she nodded.

"Puhah, now I get why you told me to handle them!"

"You couldn't even wait that long and drank again…"

Ah well. As long as she shot straight, fine.

Just as Ser-Aria understood instantly, the other party members seemed to grasp why I'd said a long-range shooter should take the lead.

The magical beasts packing this zone were called Blitz Wing Lizards. The name sounded grand, but they were just winged lizards.

Whooosh!!

The problem was that their speed was absurdly fast. Probably named after lightning for that reason. Not many people could accurately hit things that glided and darted through the air like that.

But the one ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠standing here was the archer selected for a Hero's party. She'd downed a ridiculous amount of liquor… yet she claimed she was confident, so it should be fine. They'd traded mobility and high magic resistance for thin hides, which made them weak to physical attacks.

For a slightly more efficient clear…

"Thief."

"……What?"

"If Aria misses any, clean them up with your daggers."

"……Ah, got it… So I'm the leftover cleanup crew."

"…Huh?"

"……Someone like me can only do that kind of thing anyway… Yeah…, it's the perfect role for me."

…I'm going to lose my mind.

But there was no time to soothe the thief right now. The lizards already looked ready to attack.

"Kyaaaak!!"

The Blitz Wing Lizards all flew at us at once, claws extended. They looked simple, but between the speed and those razor-sharp ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠talons, one wrong graze and—

Whoosh!!

"…Shit."

—you could almost die like that. They were faster than I'd imagined and I couldn't react, but my body moved on its own. Looking sideways, I saw Erinn had yanked me out of the way.

"Dummy~♡ What are you doing not dodging? You want to die~?"

"Th-thanks."

I really need to raise my Agility stat somehow, and fast…

"Aria! Shoot now!"

"Got it~!"

When they attacked with a diving flight path, they were most vulnerable right after a failed strike. Their backs were fully exposed, and the only way to answer a counter was to dodge—yet the acceleration from the dive made even that hard.

Of course, being magical beasts they could still twist away with weird movements, but our side had an extremely skilled archer.

Heavenly Thunder ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Arrows—a skill where a single shot splits under the influence of mana into hundreds of arrows that rain down. The power doesn't weaken; it actually grows stronger, producing terrifying killing force.

"Huh?"

But what happens if you use that in a space this narrow? Watching hundreds of arrows start falling from the sky, I shouted in a panic.

"Hey!! If you use that here we're all going to get hit!!!"

"Puhaha! Don't worry, Allen."

Whether she understood what I was fretting about or not, Ser-Aria smiled brightly.

"I told you—hitting apples while completely wasted, I was number one in the village."

That confident smile left me blank for a second, and in that second every single one of those hundreds of arrows punched cleanly into the Blitz Wing Lizards.

"Kyaaaak!"

"Kweeek!!"

It was an astonishing sight. Not a single miss; every arrow pierced wings and bodies of the swarming lizards. Asking the thief to clean up misses had been a completely unnecessary request.

Behind the smiling Ser-Aria, the corpses of Blitz Wing Lizards dropped in a single heap. Seeing it, she burst into cheerful laughter.

"Puhaha, how about that! Still good even when I'm drinking?"

"…All I can do is be impressed."

"Puhaha! Of course, of course!"

Ser-Aria laughed happily and brought the bottle back to her lips. We could all hear the glug-glug of liquor racing down her throat.

…Unbelievable.

Watching this absurd scene, I felt it clearly. If things kept going like this, one day I really might become so useless that they threw me away.

We had an archer who drank like that and still shot like that as a party member, and the others weren't far behind either.

Objectively speaking, the most useless one among us was still me. I was showing good strategy in this dungeon, so if I kept handling command for a while after this it would be fine… but even that might become unnecessary someday.

To keep from getting kicked out before I gathered enough power, and so I could leave this psychiatric-ward party whenever I couldn't take it anymore…

I have to find as many as possible, as fast as possible.

Finding hidden pieces and getting stronger was the top priority.

Fortunately, here in the Lizard Lord's dungeon there was one thing worth obtaining.

There was a hidden spot in the boss room, and inside it was a hidden item you could get in the early game. The boss, the Lizard Lord, would be handled by the others… so I should be able to search for it relatively comfortably in the meantime.

"So, Allen."

"Yeah?"

"What's next?"

Ser-Aria's question finally brought the surroundings back into focus. Everyone was waiting for my orders.

"…Next, it's more efficient to fight together than for anyone to go alone. It's a zone where Lizardman villages have formed, so they'll come out with all kinds of weapons."

"That so?"

"Yeah. So…"

I spoke with a little more confidence.

"I'd like you all to move according to my instructions."

If this was a game and that game had become reality, I could give them a nearly perfect clear strategy. And here we had people who could execute that strategy perfectly.

So…

"Alright."

"We've come this far without trouble, so let's have Allen handle the rest of this dungeon."

"If the scrub messes up, we'll have to work twice as hard~♡"

I was confident I could clear this dungeon perfectly.