Dungeon Conquest (2)
Dungeon Conquest (2)
A massive monster resembling a rat appeared.
With red eyes, long whiskers, and sharp fangs, its face could easily have belonged to a giant rat.
But below its head was something entirely unexpected.
The monster's shaggy, long-haired body had four pairs of legs attached to it.
Three pairs resembled insect legs, while the uppermost pair was twice as thick and longer than the others.
With its fur-covered head, torso, and legs, the monster looked like a rat that had been transformed into an insect and then enlarged.
"Why is a Red Mouse here..."
Hearing the muttering beside me, I gathered that this monster was called a Red Mouse.
But despite the name, the Red Mouse's skin wasn't red at all.
If anything, its skin was closer to gray.
The Red Mice slowly approached.
I raised my sword and asked the Firebird Hunter,
"What should we do?"
She looked at me, then counted the approaching monsters again.
There were three monsters in all.
"There's no choice but to fight. It's impossible to shake off Red Mice underground."
After confirming the count, she drew the sword she wore at her hip.
The bird soaring across its blade glowed brightly.
"Is there any weakness?"
"These monsters haven't been seen often since the Great War. I've only heard that they're annoying to deal with because they're fast."
The books at the estate didn't mention any monster named Red Mouse, either.
In the end, we'd have to find out through direct combat.
The approaching monsters saw us and let out low growls.
Growl.
That growl sounded like a filthy wind rising from hell.
Keeping their distance, the monsters growled at us while the mercenary and I stared them down with our swords raised.
I was also releasing all the mana I'd been holding back.
As I drew up my mana, I could now wield the sword I'd been carrying easily with both hands, and a faint light shimmered across its broad blade.
Seeing my glowing sword, she looked surprised.
"I figured you'd be stronger than you looked, but this amount of mana makes no sense for someone your age. Don't tell me the ducal house still has 'Mana Resonance'?"
Mana Resonance? Isn't that an inherited ability passed down in the royal family? What does my mana have to do with the royal family's ability? And how do you know about that?
When I gave her a questioning look, she averted her gaze.
"Anyway, you're a better companion in a fight than I expected."
With those words, she dashed forward.
She seemed to have misspoken about something. But this wasn't the time to question her, so I prepared to fight the incoming monsters as well.
Fortunately, as she charged, two of the three turned their attention to her.
Only the remaining one charged at me, and I swung my sword at the creature as it came.
Whoosh.
The angle was right, and my timing wasn't off, either.
But I felt no resistance in my hand.
'Did it dodge?'
Damn, they said it was fast, but this is beyond fast!
I hadn't even seen where it had dodged, but I hastily braced my sword against my body and leaped back.
Clang!
A heavy impact struck my sword, shoving my body hard backward.
But this time, I kept my footing.
Thanks to the mana I'd driven into the ground, I could hold my ground without being pushed far back.
Only then did I see what had struck my sword.
Four claws protruding from the monster's front leg were pressing against my blade.
Screech.
As the sword and claws strained against each other, a grinding sound came from somewhere.
Fortunately, the sword was intact.
Then.
Snap.
Two of the claws braced against my sword snapped, and the rat-like face twisted as the monster retreated.
The monster that stepped back had raised its two front legs, each tipped with four long claws.
It was a sight I felt I'd seen somewhere in my past life, but I pushed the thought aside and glared at the monster.
Fortunately, perhaps because its first attack had failed, it didn't charge again right away.
It was fast enough to make me lose track of its movements, and its attacks were stronger than I'd expected, powered by that speed.
On top of that, judging by how it struck and immediately retreated, it seemed smarter than I'd thought.
It felt like facing a fast knight.
It seemed I'd been underestimating monsters far too much.
The monsters I'd encountered while traveling to the Marquisate's territory had all been easy to deal with, except for the first one. And even that one had been blown away with a single strike by the previous owner of this sword.
Perhaps that was why a tendency to underestimate monsters had taken root deep in my heart.
"Sorry. I guess I got too full of myself."
I lowered my sword and apologized to the monster in front of me.
Growl.
Unfortunately, the monster didn't accept my apology.
It seemed a verbal apology wasn't sincere enough. As expected, apologies should be shown through actions.
I began to move my sword.
I exhaled, then inhaled, gradually slowing my breathing.
The sword passed in front of my body and descended to my lower left.
As my body, previously hidden behind the sword, began to show, the monster flinched.
It's not coming in. As expected, this was a monster with considerable intelligence.
But it didn't matter if it didn't come in. This movement was only the opening stance of a connected sword technique.
Until now, I hadn't been able to properly use the sword techniques I'd learned in actual combat.
I'd fought at close range using techniques more suited to a dagger, and there had been many times when I'd ended things with a single strike.
On top of that, since taking up this sword, there had been times I'd relied on raw strength that didn't suit my body.
It had been difficult to use proper sword techniques in any of those fights.
Even in those battles, the sword techniques I'd learned in the past had surfaced and helped me greatly. And since I'd heard that real combat was supposed to be like that, I hadn't regretted it.
But as such battles continued, I found myself reflexively swinging my sword whenever an enemy appeared.
I couldn't fight this enemy that way. There wasn't a huge gap in skill between us, and it wasn't an enemy that relied on tricks.
And the sword techniques I'd learned had been passed down since the Great War.
They were techniques for fighting humans, but when they were first created, they had been designed to fight monsters.
As I steadied my breathing and gathered my focus, the monster's form filled my vision.
I saw its slightly trembling eyes, its twitching claws, and its fur swaying with each breath.
I matched the monster's breathing to mine and aligned my mana with my movements.
Hum.
I could feel my mana moving.
This was the first time I'd properly felt each movement of my mana in real combat.
The mana swirled powerfully through my body. Then, reaching toward my sword, it tried to push through the blade and reach the monster.
Mana trying to escape my body.
Ah, so this is how it's used?
It felt as if I'd caught a glimpse of the technique the assassin had used the other day to dominate space with mana.
Unfortunately, the mana was bound to the sword and couldn't escape.
Growl.
But even so, the pressure of the mana, though it hadn't escaped, was suppressing the monster and keeping it from even thinking of attacking.
Then it was my turn to attack.
I reversed the mana that had been anchoring my body to the ground, turning it into repulsive force.
Thud.
At the same time, I kicked off the ground.
The monster came at me at speed.
The flinching monster moved so fast that, at some point, it left afterimages.
It was moving at a speed that would have made me lose sight of it just moments ago.
But now, even if only faintly, I could track its movements!
If it ran away, its speed would be hard to match. But it was coming toward me.
Thud!
I slammed my advancing foot into the ground and used mana to disperse the inertia pushing me forward.
It looked like a running horse stopping dead in its tracks.
Then, with the remaining inertia, I moved my arm.
Whoosh.
My sword swept in a wide arc toward the monster lunging at me from the side. My strength and the remaining inertia sent it swinging at tremendous speed.
One of the basic sword techniques of the royal and ducal knights, the "Hero Carlos" sword technique, Chapter 3.
"Great Swirl!"
The name sounded so cheap that the royal family had tried to change it several times, but apparently they couldn't bring themselves to casually alter a name given by the royal ancestor.
Anyway, the startled monster raised its front leg against the sword flying in from the side, but—
Crunch!
The sword shattered all the monster's claws and sent its front leg flying, too.
Growl!
A strange cry came from the rat-like mouth, but I had no intention of letting this opportunity slip away.
I stepped forward again and kept swinging my sword.
Even though I was using the power of mana, it was difficult to move such a heavy sword freely.
I could only control the sword's direction according to the techniques I'd learned.
I couldn't produce powerful explosions or surprise attacks, but the sword, flowing like water, began to butcher the monster's body.
At first, the monster dodged my sword with only small wounds. But after two or three of its legs were sent flying by my consecutive attacks, its explosive movements came to a halt.
After that, it was easy. The monster's claws couldn't block my sword.
The opposite front leg flew off along with its claws, and then my sword severed its rat-like neck.
Thud.
The decapitated monster collapsed to the ground.
I couldn't figure out its weakness, but it seemed that it did die if its neck was severed.
After stabbing my sword into the monster's body to confirm it was dead, I could finally turn my thoughts to my comrade, who had been fighting alongside me.
That was how focused I'd been, but it also meant I hadn't been paying attention to my surroundings.
I still had a long way to go.
Fortunately, the Firebird Hunter was fighting well.
One monster was dying with most of its legs severed, and the other was still fighting despite having two legs cut off.
The Firebird Hunter was drenched in sweat, but I couldn't see any wounds.
At that level of skill, it seemed I wouldn't be a hindrance if I joined in.
"Want some help?"
As expected, only the monster reacted to my voice.
The monster flinched at my voice, and another large wound appeared on its body.
"Whoa! You're already done? No need to help!"
Her voice was far more relaxed than her appearance suggested.
So she wasn't fighting at full strength?
Just as I had that thought, her sword sped up.
And a fountain of blood erupted from the monster's body.
Huh? Did her sword reach it? It wasn't long enough to reach, though.
Her sword moved incredibly fast, but not so fast that my eyes couldn't follow.
Clearly, that sword wasn't touching the monster's body.
While I watched her sword in surprise, the monster collapsed to the floor.
The monster was dying, bleeding from wounds covering its entire body.
That was definitely death by exsanguination.
"Hmm, there's no real weak point. Cutting off their legs to immobilize them seems like the best approach."
As expected, she hadn't been fighting at full strength. She'd been stalling for time to find a weakness.
"Wow, your practical skills are impressive, too. You've properly learned the Kingdom's sword techniques. In a one-on-one, you could beat most knights."
No, I think you're the more impressive one. That means you saw everything even while you were fighting.
And how does a mercenary know my sword techniques?
There was no need to ask about her identity separately. If we stayed together like this, I was sure to learn who she was before long.
"All right, shall we get going? There might be more of these things, so let's get out of here quickly."
She moved toward the largest cave, aside from the one the monsters had come from.
I followed behind her.
Despite the fierce battle, my body felt fine, perhaps thanks to all the training I'd been doing.
Fortunately, the cave we entered opened onto the surface above.
We walked on diligently, but less than ten minutes later, we stopped.
I turned to look at the Firebird Hunter.
She was staring straight ahead with a pale face.
"Words become seeds, as they say..."
"What does that mean?"
Tsk, I guess that proverb doesn't work in this world.
Anyway, whether or not her words were to blame, we ended up surrounded by monsters.
In the clearing that opened up in the middle of the cave, over ten rat bastards were waiting, while other monsters had already blocked the cave we'd walked through with their bodies.
We were cut off both in front and behind.
Beside me, the Firebird Hunter spoke with a pale face.
"It would be foolish to hide any remaining strength in a situation like this, right?"
Her sword glowed brightly, and I could see the tip of the blade rippling.
'Is that her inherited ability?'
Thinking that, I poured my mana into my sword as well.
Unfortunately, these monsters didn't test the waters.
Growl!
A flood of monsters poured toward us, and we swung our swords like mad.
I saw monster legs and torsos flying in all directions from her rippling sword, but the sight was quickly obscured by other monsters.
Monsters were everywhere.
Even when I cut a monster with a swing of my sword, it didn't fall.
Even when I severed their legs to immobilize them, they attacked me with their claws, while other monsters swung both legs at me from behind.
I desperately swung my sword to block the attacks, but it was hard to block dozens of claws with a single sword.
Claws began to pierce my body one by one, and my hand was severed, causing me to drop my sword.
"Damn it!"
I screamed in pain, but the monsters took no notice.
More claws pressed in, and then a rat-like monster opened its mouth wide and bit down on my head.
Your breath stinks.
Just as that thought crossed my mind—
Crunch.
The world went dark.
[You have died. Restarting from the Automatic Save Point.]