154. Tell Me Your Wish (9)
154. Tell Me Your Wish (9)
First floor of the Secret Archive.
If I remembered correctly, the first floor was a straight-line sequence of battles, beginning with weak monsters and progressing to stronger ones. It was something like a relay training course.
The final monster had been a troll, a staple of fantasy and a fairly troublesome enemy. But if I remembered correctly, the very first monster was...
"Yohan! That's a slime, right? Is it squishy if you touch it?"
"Maybe. It might sting your skin."
I'd heard their internal structure was slightly acidic, so it would probably sting.
"It's really been a long time since I've seen a slime..."
Karina murmured as though recalling her childhood. Slimes... They were the weakest class of monster here too, weak enough that even seven- or eight-year-old children could beat them to death with wooden sticks.
Despite that, slime bodies were surprisingly useful. The setting even mentioned regions that operated entire slime slaughterhouses to supply materials.
...Maybe I could buy some slime extract or fragments and research them.
In any case, no one needed to step forward against slimes.
They were far too weak for tactical practice. Each flash of Lewis's blade split another slime in half. The dead slimes gradually vanished as though they'd never existed.
They really were illusions.
"It was more anticlimactic than I expected..."
"Don't let your guard down. The monsters from here on will be more troublesome."
Slimes first, then goblins, if I remembered correctly. We advanced for another three minutes before encountering the next monsters.
Around fifteen goblins blocked the way. Four carried crude bows that looked barely capable of firing, while six others wielded clubs or chipped axes. This was far too easy again.
They were still too weak for proper teamwork practice. I left them to Lewis again, and their heads flew before they could even scream.
He really was the protagonist.
So he overwhelmed them with pure swordsmanship.
We watched the goblin corpses fade for a moment, then continued forward. At this rate, we'd eventually meet opponents suitable for practicing as a team.
Our first opportunity to practice teamwork came when roughly twenty orcs filled the passage ahead.
"Yohan, there's a ton of them."
"Th-the number..."
"That's a lot!"
"Twenty orcs... That's a terrifying sight."
"Lewis! Focus on defense. Wizard group, begin chanting together, then fire your spells one at a time. Viola, throw paralysis reagent at the orcs."
"Got it!"
The Wizards voiced their reactions as they began chanting according to my orders. It was only Fourth-Class Magic, so the incantations barely deserved the name, but chanting was chanting. A fireball the size of a soccer ball formed in Elisa's hand and shot toward the orcs.
The fireball tore through the air and struck the head of the orc that was bringing its axe down on Lewis.
A small explosion made the orc stagger. Startled, the others backed away from the orc whose head was burning and looked toward us.
Had they realized which side was more dangerous?
"Shuri. Martina. Fire your spells at the orcs on either end, one after the other."
The priority was to attack those at the edges, where Lewis would have trouble covering them.
Their spells left their hands and flew toward the orcs—a faintly visible blade of wind and a crackling sphere. Wind and lightning, then. That decided the next spell.
"Elisa. Douse them with water."
"Y-yes... Water!"
A simple Fourth-Class spell formed a sphere the size of a basketball above Elisa's head. Just as the lightning sphere roasted one orc and the wind blade severed another's arm, the ball of water burst over the orcs.
The suddenly drenched orcs tilted their heads, unable to understand what had happened. Once they realized the water had caused no harm, they let out ear-splitting roars and charged at Lewis and Viola behind him. A desperate situation.
"Shuri. Lightning Ball."
"Yes!"
"Lewis. Fall back."
Lewis immediately kicked off the ground and leaped backward at my command. The orcs rushed toward us across the newly opened distance, but the lightning-filled sphere struck them before they could close it.
"...Ugh, the smell."
Everyone pinched their noses at the awful stench of burning flesh rising from the electrocuted orcs. They were illusions, so why had the smell been reproduced so faithfully?
Was it meant to make us fight as though this were real?
"Elisa. Shuri. Martina. What matters is not simply using powerful magic, but combining spells to deal with enemies efficiently. Keep thinking. Remember that throwing nothing but fireballs simply because they're powerful is not very efficient."
"Yes!"
Fireballs might have offered the greatest raw power, but even a strike from the back of a blade could make one explode. Wizards here still favored them because of that firepower.
That was understandable, since it was rare for two or more Wizards to belong to the same party in the first place.
Unless a Wizard was exceptionally talented, using magic of several different elements was difficult as well.
"Finally vanished."
We began moving again. From slimes to orcs, the enemies had grown progressively stronger, so the next ones would be stronger still.
What monsters were stronger than orcs? I didn't remember every enemy that appeared, so I considered the possibilities as we advanced.
"Yohan! New enemies ahead! They're werewolves!"
"W-werewolves?!"
At Lewis's report, I shifted aside and observed the werewolves swarming toward us. They were certainly stronger than orcs.
Thirty of them.
More than I expected.
Was the difficulty being adjusted to match the size of our party?
What infuriating attention to detail.
"Shuri, spray water. Elisa, freeze the water with ice magic. Martina, spray another layer of water over the ice. Understood?"
"Yes!"
"Y-yes..."
"Understood."
"Viola! Throw the paralysis reagent! Lewis! Engage defensively!"
Our front line was far too thin to allow a chaotic melee. As the party carried out my orders, I placed a hand on Millia's shoulder when she recoiled from the charging werewolves.
"Don't worry. We'll have this sorted out in no time. Craft."
I sealed Karina and Millia behind a small wall, then stepped forward without hesitation. Lewis couldn't hold back that many alone. I glared at the beasts slipping across the ice and activated a Skill.
"Craft."
Five or six pillars of blue stone erupted from the floor. They rose like spike traps, impaling werewolves and creating obstacles.
Left.
No, the right?
I immediately glanced toward the wall of the Secret Archive. True to their agility, several werewolves were scaling it to attack our rear. The moment I identified their target, I shouted.
"Shuri! Defensive magic! Elisa! Spray water! Martina, the moment their bodies are wet, freeze them with ice magic!"
No answer came, but Shuri had accumulated enough experience to carry out my order immediately. With a screech like chalk against a blackboard, the werewolves' claws scraped across the barrier. Realizing their ambush had failed, they retreated without hesitation and snarled.
"I-it missed!"
So it had missed.
The creatures were so fast that Elisa had apparently failed to hit them.
"Reinforce the barrier! Stay inside until we finish them!"
"Got it!"
"Viola. Hand me your paralysis reagent."
"Here, take it. I'll hold them off, so hurry back."
I evenly applied Viola's special paralysis reagent to the blade of my mithril shovel.
The mithril shovel, coated in a faintly yellow liquid, gave off an unsettling sheen, but I could not worry about that during battle.
I kicked off the ground and rushed toward the werewolves encircling the trio of Wizards.
A heavy shock ran up my arm. The creature outweighed me by at least half again, pushing me back slightly, but what mattered was that it hadn't dodged.
"Craft."
A spike burst from the floor like a crocodile lunging from the water and pierced the werewolf's body.
No matter how tough its hide was, it couldn't escape without injury. I immediately drove my shovel into the maw of the werewolf, pinned in place like an insect on a needle.
Good thing it was not real.
I tore my gaze away from the werewolf whose mouth had been split open like that of an old movie villain and glared at the monsters charging me.
Were they trying to tear out my throat before I could react?
"Craft."
Right before me, the floor rose covered in countless spikes like a sea urchin, punching holes through the werewolf's body. The fact that it still writhed afterward proved how tenacious its vitality was.
I cut the throat of the monster that had been turned into a hedgehog, then called to the party again.
"Lewis! Viola! Fall back! Wizard group, coat those bastards in oil magic!"
Lewis and Viola withdrew, and the werewolves rushed through the opening. About eighteen remained. Still quite a few.
But because they were slipping on the ice and badly wounded, they couldn't move as quickly as before.
That left them unable to avoid the oil created by the Wizards' magic.
The werewolves, now caked in oil, tripped to the ground or thrashed their legs wildly, struggling to keep their balance.
A blade flashed in the meantime, and three heads flew into the air. Movement worthy of the protagonist.
"Wizard group. Fire magic into the pool of oil."
"What? But if the books catch fire—"
"The great Wizard who built this place must have prepared for at least that."
"O-okay! Fire!"
"F-fire!"
Fireballs the size of soccer balls shot past on both sides of me, heating the air. They flew at considerable speed and struck—one hitting the body of a decapitated werewolf, the other exploding against a werewolf struggling to rise.
"It's hot."
It was enough fire to heat up the early-autumn library.
We paused to catch our breath while watching the unexpected campfire. As expected, the flames vanished in an instant without spreading to the shelves.
"Everyone, reform the formation and report any injuries."
The party approached as soon as I finished speaking and reported their injuries.
Lewis had a scrape on the back of his hand and what looked like a claw mark on his arm. Viola's prosthetic had broken while blocking a werewolf's attack, so she replaced it. The Wizard group had no problems beyond considerable mana consumption.
"Dismantle."
I dismantled the wall that had isolated Karina and Millia. Millia clung to me with a frightened expression.
"That was so scaaary!"
"I know, so let go for now."
Unlike usual, Millia quickly released me and watched my reaction. She was plainly waiting for praise, so I lightly stroked her head before approaching Karina.
"Karina. Can you treat the party?"
"Leave it to me."
Her veil swayed softly.
---------------
"Everyone, listen. The next monster will most likely be the final enemy on the first floor."
From slimes to werewolves, followed by two trolls. Remembering the monsters that had been strengthened beyond what I recalled, I stared into the conspicuously widened passage.
The design practically announced that a powerful monster waited ahead.
"It must be a powerful monster."
"Last time, there were two trolls. What on earth will appear this time...?"
Lewis seemed worried about what might emerge. That was only natural after facing monsters that were strangely powerful. None had been unbeatable, but without Karina, we would have struggled considerably.
Perhaps Lewis's remark opened the floodgates, because everyone began offering plausible guesses.
"Maybe it's an ogre or something? All I can think of that's stronger than a troll is an ogre or a drake."
"A-an ogre? C-can w-we r-really take one of those...?"
"As long as you follow my instructions."
"Whatever appears, remember one thing: don't be afraid."
I looked around the whole party.
The party members who had followed my orders until now nodded without hesitation.
"Then we're going in... Millia and Karina, hide safely in the corner."
"Yeah! I'll cheer you on real hard from the corner! Heehee."
"May the blessing of Kalon be with you all."
She was adorable. I watched the two of them move into the corner, then stepped forward.
The moment we entered the battlefield, an illusion began forming before the door to the next floor, swelling larger and larger.
"Whoa... that's amazing."
"I've never seen magic this intricate before."
"But isn't that a little too big?"
...It really was. It looked about one and a half times as large as a troll.
Watching the monster's body gradually take shape, I tilted my head.
Something felt wrong.
"Everyone, take formation. Wizard group, prepare Third-Class Magic."
As the Wizard group's chanting began behind me, the illusion completed its form and roared.
"Huh."
What the hell was a two-headed ogre doing here?
Whatever grudge the first principal bore us, the malice behind the blatantly unfair shit he was pulling made me curse.
"This is fucking ridiculous."