Clowns' Grave (3)
Only Aquaril and I were fighting at the vanguard. Even so, we tore through the Thief Clowns like a splitting blade through bamboo, carving our way forward without pause.
"Stop, Aquaril."
"Yes, Master."
I'd been charging ahead when I spotted the stone pillars and brought Aquaril to a halt. They were shaped like chess pieces.
"Hmm..."
I scanned the pillars from top to bottom, and the picture clicked almost immediately.
This is a trap-and-ambush pattern.
The thick pillars had plenty of space behind them to hide in. And some of them were packed so close together that only one person could squeeze through. There were definitely traps on the floor.
In that case...
"Can you get up on top of the pillars?"
"Yes, Master."
"Good. The monsters will be hiding behind them, so we hit them from above. And don't go through those narrow gaps between the pillars. That's where the traps are. Got it?"
"Understood."
"Alright. Let's go."
Aquaril and I sprang from where we stood, landing as lightly as cats atop the two-meter pillars.
"Ohh~"
Canisia watched us with open interest.
We each took a different pillar and carefully hopped to the next. That's when I spotted a Thief Clown crouched behind one, dagger in hand.
"....."
Aquaril caught my eye and nodded. She'd found one too. The monsters never dreamed we'd skip the easy path and come at them from above.
I held up three fingers and folded them one by one. When the last one dropped, Aquaril and I leapt down at the clowns lurking behind the pillars.
"Kikikik?!"
"Kikikik!"
Our blades cut them in half like they were nothing. You poor bastards who can't even die without laughing — Thief Clowns! Drop those Growth Stones on your way out.
"Kikikik!"
The ambush blown, the remaining Thief Clowns burst out from behind the pillars. Six of them.
Take them all at once.
Aquaril and I could've split them three and three, but why bother? Just kill them all in one go.
Thief Clowns hit hard enough that a single strike could be fatal — but their bodies were just as fragile, which is why I could even think about this.
Temptation!
Temptation
Enemy aggression redirected to the caster
"...Kikikik!"
"Kikikik? Kikikik!"
The moment I activated Temptation, the clowns charging at Aquaril staggered, then spun toward me instead.
Even the attacks aimed at my allies belong to me. A skill greedy in the strangest possible direction.
"Aquaril!"
"Yes, Master!"
With all six staring at me, the rest was easy. At my shout, Aquaril moved fast, her blade sweeping across the clowns' exposed backs.
Slash—!
Three of them split in two as they entered her sword's range.
After fighting these things so many times, Aquaril knew exactly how easy they were to kill. Before the halved bodies even hit the ground, she was already sprinting toward the rest.
"Over here, you dumbasses!"
I baited them, using a pillar as a shield. Their daggers all clanged harmlessly against the stone.
Slash—!
"Kikikik!"
In that window, Aquaril took the remaining clowns' heads. They collapsed, still laughing as they died.
But the fight wasn't over.
Once I confirmed every clown that had shown itself was dead, I vaulted back onto the pillars. Hopping from one to the next like stepping stones, I launched myself at the Thief Clown hiding behind a pillar near the passage.
"Peekaboo!"
"Kik?"
Slash—!
The last Thief Clown died as its body was cut diagonally in two.
The sucker punch right when you think you've already won. One of the nastier patterns you'd run into all the time playing Fairy Masters.
"Wow! You're actually pretty good. How'd you know there was a Thief Clown hiding there?"
"This much is basic."
I shrugged at Canisia's admiration. Her eyes lit up even brighter.
What the hell? Why does it feel like her affection's shooting through the roof?
I'd only known Canisia for three days. And yet, for some reason, she was being remarkably friendly.
Does she have some kind of angle?
I thought well of her too — I'd even marked her as a potential partner. But that didn't mean I'd opened up completely.
I'd already taken a knife in the back from Prisia Lily, hadn't I?
The only ones I could trust a hundred percent were Fairies, bound in absolute loyalty to their Master.
Don't forget. This is reality, and I am a fragile thing.
The day I forget that is the day I die a second time.
There were three types of monsters in Clowns' Grave.
⚔ Thief Clown ★★★ — Fast on its feet, fights with daggers, and uses a skill to vanish and reappear from behind.
⚔ Bandit Clown ★★★ — Mid-boss. Strong and durable, unlike the Thief Clowns whose bodies snap like dry stalks under a single cut.
⚔ Captain Clown ★★★ — Dungeon boss. Tough as the Bandit Clown, with throwing-type skills to match.
The Captain Clown was a particularly nasty piece of work. Not only was its body as tough as the Bandit Clown's, it used throwing-type skills. On top of that, the boss room was packed with traps on the floor, the walls, and the ceiling — one wrong move and they'd all go off.
Of course, that didn't mean Aquaril and I couldn't kill it.
Traps couldn't hide from eyes honed by a past life's experience, and our blades could cut and wound these monsters just fine. That's why I'd chosen this dungeon.
Under normal circumstances, it would've been a bit tiring, but we could've cleared it without much trouble.
Then a variable entered the picture: Canisia.
She'd brought not only her Fairies but her porters into the dungeon, which raised the difficulty and spawned monsters that weren't supposed to appear.
"Kieeeeee—"
"Shit. There it is."
Whether she was just here to watch how I ran a dungeon, Canisia hadn't said a word about the raid itself. Even when I poked into every corner, she just followed along without comment.
We'd been searching the dungeon when I found a treasure chest. The moment I approached to open it, something pale burst from the wall, blocking our path with a grotesque wail.
Three Ghost Clowns circled the chest, as if determined to keep me from opening it.
"Aquaril."
"Master, but..."
"Are you going to disobey my order?"
"...I will obey."
The moment I mentioned an "order" and shot her a look, Aquaril stepped back with a wounded expression and took her place beside Canisia.
"Oh my?"
Canisia looked at me like this was the most entertaining thing she'd seen all day.
No Master in existence would send their Fairy to the rear and fight in their place — especially against a monster they'd never faced before.
Because a Fairy could die and be summoned again. But if a Master died, that was it.
That's why Masters treasured their own lives above all else. And Fairies felt the same way.
One life versus theoretically infinite resurrections. Of course you'd prioritize protecting the one who only gets one shot.
But I was doing the exact opposite of every other Master. Canisia's eyes, already carrying some inexplicable fondness for me, sparkled like stars — like she couldn't wait to see what I'd pull this time.
Unfortunately, I wasn't going to be satisfying her curiosity.
How the fuck am I supposed to kill that?
If I'd known Ghost Clowns would show up, I would've prepared to kill them. But they'd spawned because of Canisia's unexpected stunt, so there was no preparing for something I couldn't have seen coming.
So what choice did I have? I'd have to stall with my body until Canisia stepped in.
And the reason I'd pulled Aquaril back was to earn Canisia's favor.
When she'd tested me, she hadn't hesitated to spit venom about Masters who sat back with their hands folded while their Fairies did all the work. Showing her I was different from those people would only make her think better of me.
The reputation I built this way would go a long way toward getting her to take the hand I eventually offered.
"Want some help?"
Canisia's sweet voice drifted from behind me. Right now, the only person here who could actually kill a ghost-type monster was Canisia, with her offensive skills.
"...No, I'm good. A man draws his sword, he cuts something down — even if it's just a goblin. Can't exactly ask for help without even trying."
"Ohh~ That so? Then give it your best shot."
I'd been about to nod at her offer without a second thought — then I caught the look in her eyes and shook my head instead. Even a clueless idiot would've recognized that look. She wanted to test what I was made of.
I fought to keep my face from curdling, then turned back to the Ghost Clowns.
How am I supposed to do this...
There was no way for me to take down a Ghost Clown.
Without a skill that used mana to deal heavy damage, or a weapon with the Light attribute, my odds of losing were a hundred percent.
Ghost-type monsters all carried the Dark attribute, so a Light-attribute weapon would make short work of them even without a skill.
Wait. Is that... hold on.
As I glared at the Ghost Clowns, something around them caught my eye. Both walls flanking the treasure chest had something jutting out. Projectile traps. And there was only one of them, not several... which meant whatever it fired when triggered, there was only one shot.
The hole was too big for a single-arrow trap... so maybe the kind that belched fire?
Good.
In the end, Canisia would be the one to kill the Ghost Clowns. She seemed far too interested in me to just sit there and watch me die.
Which meant I had one job: look like I was giving it everything I had.
Where's the switch? Ah. That one.
The trap was set to target whoever opened the chest. Looking closely at the floor in front of it, something was sticking up — that was the trigger.
After two years of playing Fairy Masters all the way to ranker, you could spot a trap like that without any skill's help.
Let's go.
I ran a mental simulation of how to fight three Ghost Clowns, then started walking toward them.
"Kieeeee, ki, kikikikikik!"
"Kikikikik!"
As I approached, the Ghost Clowns circling the chest all locked onto me and burst into laughter. I could feel it — one more step and they were going to kill me.
I closed in anyway. And then they came at me.
"Hah!"
I swung at a Ghost Clown, and sure enough, my blade passed straight through its body. No sensation of cutting anything at all.
"Kikikikik!"
Normally I'd have rolled out of the way here, but...
"Master!"
I knew a Ghost Clown was coming from behind. I just pretended I didn't, and didn't dodge. Aquaril, who hadn't caught on, screamed because she thought I was in danger.
Whoosh—
"Ghk?!"
Then the Ghost Clown passed straight through my body. My legs went out from under me, like every ounce of strength had been sucked out. It felt like absolute shit.