Obelisk Assault (3)

Somehow the party members looked a little too worked up, so Allen spoke up as if telling them to settle down.

"They're Dark Witches. Not the kind of monsters you can just grab however you like…."

"No~? We can catch them though♡"

Erinn answered boldly and drew her sword. The witches' expressions shifted the moment they saw the pure-white Holy Sword.

"The Hero… so you weren't just some ragtag bunch of adventurers?"

"We were going to play with you."

"This won't do."

The easy smiles the witches had worn until a moment ago vanished. Allen tensed a little at the sight. Dark Witches might not quite match the Lizard Lord they had fought before, but they were still high-ranking monsters.

At the same time, though, he found his party members strangely reliable for claiming they could take even creatures like these without a second thought.

"…All right. Let's try it."

Allen said.

"I'll handle the interference. Everyone else focus on the offense. Just don't use any magic."

"Hmm, I'll see what kind of skill you've got~ Hope it's not too scrub-level♡"

With that, Erinn dashed forward. Allen watched her back for a second and let out a short snort of laughter. Then, as if appraising his own ability, he muttered,

"I'm not that much ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of a scrub."

At the same time Ser-Aria and Clara sprinted to the front while Letisia and Freya held position in the rear.

Dark Witches had high magic resistance, so the two of them had decided to conserve their strength for a more efficient fight.

"You're not going all-out? You're looking down on us far too much!"

The runes carved into the Dark Witches' bodies glowed with a sinister light. Instantly, powerful magic surged forth and gathered in their staves.

True to their name as witches of darkness, they were casting dark-attribute magic.

Allen immediately drew out his own magic power. By now he was thoroughly practiced at calling it forth.

The instant Allen released his magic, every witch's face flooded with confusion.

"Wh-what!?"

"Sister, the magic is…!!"

Their supposedly powerful magic refused to obey them at all. The vast stores of power were being dragged straight toward Allen's own.

"What the hell is that guy!?"

Allen's magic had seized the witches' power and bound it. They could no longer gather enough force to complete their spells.

Left suddenly defenseless, the witches flailed their staves at the sight of Erinn charging in. They meant to fire even incomplete magic to keep her at bay—but Allen's magic moved again.

"Dispel."

Even the half-formed spells they had flung to check Erinn were dismantled completely. The witches could only stare blankly at the wooden staves that had become useless the moment their magic vanished.

"How is this…."

With their magic gone, the witches had no way to stop the approaching Erinn. Nor could they do anything about Ser-Aria's arrows or Clara's throwing weapons streaking toward them.

"Th-this is impossible! How can a mere human seize my magic!!!"

Slash!

The gleaming Holy Sword swept through the air in the same instant as Witch Bella's scream. At the same time a razor-sharp arrow buried itself between Mina's brows and a dagger coated in deadly poison sank into Rosa's heart.

"Ah…."

The three neutralized witches were defeated in the same breath. For so-called high-ranking monsters, their end was almost pitifully empty.

Staring at the lifeless corpses, Ser-Aria cried out in amazement.

"Whoa, Allen! How'd you do that?"

"I don't really know either."

"Huh? You don't know?"

"It's just…."

He couldn't explain the trait to them, so Allen answered as if he truly had no idea.

"My magic pulls other magic toward it. I found out while training with Letisia last time."

"Ooooh! That's amazing! Against magic-heavy monsters like just now, you're basically invincible!"

Ser-Aria's admiration made Allen scratch his head a little awkwardly.

"Hmm."

Having seen Allen's new power with her own eyes, Erinn made no effort to hide her interest. She spun her sword once, slid it lightly into its scabbard, and turned to look at him.

She kept the full measure of her delight carefully under wraps—afraid that if she praised him too much he might get carried away and do something reckless. Even so, she gave credit where it was due.

"For a scrub, that wasn't half bad~♡"

"…That so?"

"At this rate, what you said might actually come true~?"

Erinn finished with a little giggle. Allen's eyes lit with a fairly intense heat, as if the wager had just come back to him.

I don't even know what she said she'd give me.

And yet the way he was working so hard….

"……He really has become a different person."

Her final murmur went unheard by anyone. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Erinn tilted her head up a little to look at Allen, then smiled mischievously.

"Shall we keep going forward, then~? Commander gets to decide~♡"

"Yeah. Let's go."

Allen felt considerably more at ease. He had been tense when monsters stronger than expected appeared right from the first zone, but his new power had proven far more useful than he had imagined.

If only magic-type monsters keep showing up like this….

They would reach the top of the Obelisk without any real trouble.

Even after they wiped out the Dark Witches, monsters kept appearing in every zone.

Magic Slimes whose physical and magical resistance were both extremely high and whose soft, squishy bodies made physical attacks almost useless.

Bloody Flies that drank blood to wield magic.

Even Merrows, who looked like beautiful mermaids at first glance but whose true forms were closer to monsters and who attacked by packing magic into their voices.

Every one of them was one or two ranks higher than the monsters that should have appeared. It really did seem correct to view this world as one full step above Extreme difficulty.

Which means I have no idea what will show up on the higher floors.

From the Dark Witches earlier all the way to the Merrows, these were not monsters that originally appeared in Zone B of the Obelisk. They belonged at least in Zone D and above.

The fact that they had come down meant something else was filling the vacancies they left behind….

"…No telling what we'll run into."

"Isn't that only natural? This isn't some ordinary dungeon with information available—it's an Obelisk."

Letisia spoke as if it were obvious, but that was exactly the problem. He had expected to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠seize the high ground with prior knowledge, and now that advantage was gone.

Still, the rule that magic-type monsters appear is holding.

That, at least, was a relief. It let him roughly predict the types. Since creatures like these had started showing up from Zone B, Zone C above would bring out even higher ranks.

…Wyverns might even appear.

That could get dangerous. The party wouldn't fall to one or two wyverns, but if the numbers climbed into the dozens it would definitely be a problem.

I checked the party's condition. Everyone still looked good, and they clearly had strength to spare.

"Let's clear just up to the floor right above us for now, then take a short rest."

"Yes."

Ser-Aria took a swig from her bottle after hearing me and declared,

"Puhah, let's do that!"

I was sure her bottles had all been smashed last time. Where had she gotten that one?

"When did you even buy that?"

"Before we left!"

…Couldn't you just pack the regular supplies the same way you pack booze? Then nothing would get left behind.

"…Anyway, let's go up."

Having cleared Zone B, we climbed into Zone C. And immediately we came face-to-face with the monster guarding the area.

"Ohoho, we have guests!"

…Ah.

"Allen? Why that face?"

"This just got annoying."

"Pardon?"

The thing that called us "guests" the moment it saw us looked human, but it was a monster. More precisely, a magical lifeform—something created by a Magic Legion Commander, just like the Ogdor we had met before.

It was never supposed to be in Zone C….

Murder Clown. Players of Dungeon in Evil usually just called it the Clown. Even though it was an early-game monster, it was fairly well-known.

"Guests have arrived, so I can hardly just stand here doing nothing~!"

There was only one reason.

"Allow me to introduce a fun little game for all our guests!"

Its difficulty was vicious and tricky in a way that didn't suit an early mob at all.

"Hmm…."

"A game…?"

"What game all of a sudden…."

The party members clearly didn't know what this thing was. That made things troublesome. This wasn't a monster you could simply overpower with raw strength.

"We're short on time, so I'll keep it simple."

"Pardon?"

"…What?"

I told the party,

"Everyone get ready to run. And just keep running as much as possible. Even if it starts talking, ignore it and keep running."

"…Is that all right?"

"Nothing it says is worth listening to."

"Pardon?"

The moment I finished speaking, the Murder Clown removed its ridiculous hat with one hand. Underneath there was nothing—not hair, not even the scalp that should have been there.

"This game is Tag! I'm sure you all know how it works!"

"What a pain. Can't we just kill it already~?"

"…Impossible."

The monster information was hidden so I couldn't see the numbers, but as far as I knew, a Murder Clown's physical and magical resistance both maxed out until you cleared the mini-game it proposed. Even a Hero couldn't kill it without playing at least once.

"Attacks won't land right now. Only after we clear the game it offers will our attacks finally work."

"…How annoying."

I completely shared Freya's sentiment. It really was a pain.

"Then let the game begin at once!"

"…Everyone be careful. Don't forget what I just told you."

I reminded the party one more time.

"Absolutely do not listen to anything it says. Just keep running."

With those final words, the scenery around us changed completely. This was a kind of barrier the Murder Clown deployed. Unlike ordinary barriers that could be broken by a strong enough impact, this one would never shatter unless the conditions set by its user were met.

"Now then, let's begin!"

The Murder Clown laughed with pure delight.

"Our game!"