The Witch's Forest (Part 4)
Contrary to our expectations, the center of the dungeon was crowded with seasoned, high-tier adventurers. Under their strict command, the lesser adventurers scurried about doing chores and running errands, keeping unnecessary disputes to an absolute minimum.
“Hmm. How boring,” Selena sneered beside me.
She had apparently expected the center to be another blood-drenched slaughterhouse like the zones we had passed through earlier.
“Hey, people aren't combat automatons. You think they can just fight all day, every day?”
“I mean, you're not wrong, but...”
“Control yourself. If you go and lose your sanity in a place like this...”
Crack!
With practiced mana manipulation, I flicked a pebble reinforced with dense magical energy. The simple snap of my fingers sent the tiny stone rocketing forward, cleanly piercing straight through a boulder the size of a grown man.
“......Okay.” Selena nodded rapidly, pale with fright.
I had only meant to scare her straight, but because she was still in the nascent stages of awakening the Heavenly Murder Star, intimidation worked like a charm. Once that trait matured around A-rank, she would throw herself at the strong and the weak alike without hesitation, turning into a real nightmare to manage. Right now, however, she was merely an early-stage, bloodthirsty sociopath.
In short, there were still countless ways to rehabilitate her. Well, that was a project for later.
Tearing my gaze away from Selena, I looked ahead. A crowd easily numbering in the hundreds had gathered in one clearing, locked in heated discussion. Other parties and guilds appeared to be mingling freely, so I suppressed my presence and slipped closer to listen in.
“Well, well! Look at this punk-ass thug! Shouldn't you refrain from doing things that would make your late father roll in his grave? Keep acting out and his ghost might actually descend to smack you!”
“You rotten son of a bitch—!”
“Sure, sure. Let's say I'm a son of a bitch and you're just a common thug!”
“You fucking bastard—!”
The foul-mouthed adventurer drew his blade and lunged. But the veteran-looking man casually shifted his foot back, tripping his opponent with an effortless sweep.
“And that's why you're a dog. Reckless. Incapable of using your head. Going into heat the moment you lay eyes on a woman. A completely hopeless piece of trash.”
Just when it seemed the confrontation was over, the man reversed his grip on his sword hilt and drove the pommel straight down, knocking the thug unconscious in a single strike.
“As expected of the Guildmaster...! Taking down a C-rank adventurer with such ease!”
“I'll follow you to the ends of the earth!”
“Damn it...! I'm crying tears of joy over here!”
The surrounding solo adventurers erupted into raucous cheers. By the way, "solos" referred to adventurers who roamed dungeons and hunted without joining an official party or guild. It seemed these wanderers had rallied around the man to form a makeshift collective.
Technically, it wasn't a formal party, but rallying this many people was no small feat. Curious, I focused my vision on the man waving his hand in the distance.
Chime—!
With a crisp chime, his information materialized before my eyes.
A four-star. And a 4-star endowed with Search, no less...
To be honest, even I had rarely seen anyone of this archetype. Plenty of playable characters possessed the Search skill back in the game, of course, but since there was no actual relic-hunting mechanic in the original game system, it had always been practically useless.
“Things are different now, though.”
Relics. Unlike ordinary weapons and armor, they were armaments imbued with extraordinary power. I had seen an actual relic in person only once before:
Ancient Elven Bow (S)
Word was that all relics commanded at least an S-rank tier. The more aged and potent among them were said to develop an ego—possessing thoughts and a will of their own. In short, laying your hands on one skyrocketed your combat prowess through the roof.
“Hahaha! Just trust me and follow my lead, and every one of you will make it out alive—!”
As the man rallied the crowd from afar, his eyes blazed with a fiery emotion I recognized all too well: greed. Of course, unlike me, he didn't look like the type to cast his humanity aside for it... Even so, I felt an odd sense of kinship.
“He somehow carries an aura reminiscent of your past self,” Soso remarked, tilting her head. “Though the sheer depth of your avarice far surpasses his, there is undeniably a resemblance.”
“You thought so too? I was just thinking the exact same thing.”
“It seems our minds meet.”
With the two most influential figures in the mob having clashed and only one left standing, the jovial Leo seized full control of the atmosphere. The end result was the birth of a makeshift raid party. A massive coalition numbering in the hundreds. Frankly, calling it a guild fit better than a party, but a party it was.
Their objective was singularly focused: Escape the Dungeon and Defeat the Boss.
Starting from B-rank dungeons, the scale expanded dozens of times over, and the caliber of the boss scaled up proportionally. Anyone thinking this boss could be slaughtered as easily as the Minotaur was dead wrong. At a conservative estimate, this boss was ten times stronger than the Minotaur. At worst, twenty times.
“Hmm? What are you staring at so intently?”
“Nothing.”
Soso, who still had the limited perspective of an E-rank adventurer, almost certainly believed she could hunt down the boss on her own. I figured this was a prime teaching opportunity.
“Just thought this was a pretty good chance, that's all.”
“......?”
Since time immemorial, there has only ever been one cure for stubborn brats and cocky newbies: teaching them their place.
Flashing a sly grin, I naturally led us into the newly formed collective. Given the sheer headcount, the party was subdivided into ten separate squads. We were assigned to the 3rd Squad. Squads 1 through 5 acted as the vanguard, hunting beasts and carving out a forward path. Squads 6 through 10 held the rear, managing logistical support, food, water, and healing.
With clearly defined roles and a reliable titan anchoring the front line, morale soared through the roof. And the result was...
Slash!
Crunch!
A force so brute and reckless it defied common sense. They slaughtered every monster in sight and devoured anything remotely edible.
“Are they... locusts?”
Hundreds of human locusts tore through the vanguard, consuming everything in their path. They hoarded every scrap of edible ration, even collecting the monster bones as if planning to boil broth out of them.
Oh, as for Soso...
“I refuse to take orders from anyone other than you, so I shall wander alone,” she had declared before vanishing into thin air just before the squads were divided.
Consequently, our squad only had three members from our group: me, Selena, and Carly. Frankly, I would have preferred going solo as well, but...
“Boss, I can kill that one, right? I can, right? Huh? Huh?”
“Go ahead...”
“Yaaay!”
There was only one way to keep this lunatic under control, so I had no choice. And as for Carly:
“Refuse to separate.”
“You know your survival chances are much higher in the rear?”
“Affirmative. Still refuse.”
Besides, her buffs weren't directed at Soso or Selena anyway; they were cast exclusively on me. According to her, it was out of gratitude for feeding her. Well, whatever. As long as I got the buffs, I didn't care.
Zzzzt!
An aura of pure mana enveloped my blade, slashing clean through the air.
Slice!
Hunting had become absurdly easy thanks to learning Mana Reinforcement. Though my level had surpassed 36 and was no longer shooting up as rapidly as before...
“Kyahaha!”
The thrill of party hunting was irresistibly sweet. Selena and the eight other adventurers covered my blind spots with ferocious efficiency. They say madness is contagious, don't they? The looks in the eyes of those eight adventurers—who had initially stared at Selena like she was a raving lunatic—had long since transformed.
“Big Sis is the greatest—!”
“What color is your blood, monster?! Red?! Blue?!”
“Kill them! Kill them all—!”
“Kyahahaha—!”
Their eyes gleamed with full-blown insanity.
A ten-man pack of raging maniacs. As the other nine squads caught onto this, our position—originally trailing near the back of the vanguard—gradually drifted toward the very front.
One day.
Two days.
And by the fourth day...
Having absorbed stragglers from accidents and various mishaps, Squad 3 swelled to twenty members. And naturally, the tip of the vanguard spear became our permanent station. How the hell did it come to this? Where did everything go wrong...?
“Boss—!”
“Boss—!”
“Boss—!”
Before I even realized it, leadership of the frontline had effectively been handed from Leo to me. Leo himself, clearly relieved to pawn off such a burdensome responsibility, was merely shrugging and grinning back at me.
“Haaah...”
Letting out a heavy sigh, I slowly raised my voice. I let slip the kind of words I would have died of pure embarrassment saying back on Earth:
“Slaughter them.”
“......”
“......”
My face burned furiously red the second the words left my lips, but—
“WAAAAAAAGH—!”
“YEAAAHHH—!”
“KILLLL—!”
With a thunderous roar, the berserkers charged into mortal combat.
Haha. I don't even know anymore.