Chapter 338: Guwon's Counterattack
Chapter 338: Guwon's Counterattack
But the dungeon was so vast, its depths seemed endless.
No matter how determined we were to rescue the adventurers in peril, finding them was never going to be easy.
We couldn't find the adventurers, let alone any trace of them.
"I can't see them..." Matilda muttered, her voice laced with anxiety as she scanned our surroundings. All her earlier tension seemed to have vanished.
"I get how you feel, but try not to be so impatient. We never expected to find them this easily, did we? There are probably plenty of other adventurers who took an interest, so they might have already been rescued for all we know."
"Yes. I... suppose so."
Matilda agreed, but she continued to scan our surroundings.
How can she be so desperate to save people she's never even met?
Is it one of those 'love all humanity as the Goddess teaches' things?
No, forget the Goddess's teachings. This must just be her nature.
She certainly falls in love at an incredible speed... ah, but that's probably not related.
In any case, it wasn't just Matilda; everyone was desperately scanning the area for the missing adventurers, but we found no sign of them.
A blizzard was constantly raging here, so even though the terrain was wide open, our visibility was extremely limited.
Even Sara, with her sharp eyesight, seemed to be struggling to see clearly through the storm.
In the end, we had no choice but to call off the search for the day, having found no clues.
The next day, and the day after that, were the same. There was still no sign of the adventurers.
We were now nearing the lowest levels of the 3rd Floor.
The monsters were still no match for us, which allowed us to focus more on our search.
The missing party was said to hunt primarily in the latter half of the 3rd Floor, so this area was our best chance of finding them.
"Hn!"
Just as we were about to set off again after lunch, Sara suddenly flinched to a halt.
"Sara, what's wrong?"
"Shhh."
Sara raised a finger to her lips, signaling for silence. She closed her eyes and began to concentrate.
A moment later, she opened her eyes and pointed slightly to the right of our intended path.
"I heard a faint scream from over there. It could be..."
"The missing adventurers?" I finished.
"I'm not certain. I can also hear the faint sounds of a battle. It might just be another party fighting."
"Well, we should check it out regardless. If it's not them, we can just continue on our way."
We headed in the direction Sara had indicated.
When we arrived, we found a battle raging, just as she'd said.
But it wasn't the party we were looking for.
In fact, it wasn't an adventurer at all.
The person fighting for her life was the pride of the Guild, the beautiful receptionist, Elder Sister Rachel.
"Kyaaah!"
Her usual dignified composure was gone. Elder Sister Rachel was covered in wounds, struggling desperately against a horde of monsters.
"Elder Sister Rachel!"
We rushed to her side.
"Guwon!"
Hearing my voice, Rachel's face lit up with relief.
But her expression quickly turned desperate again as she pointed to a pile of blankets behind her.
"Help them! The priestesses! Please!"
Why was she pointing at a pile of blankets instead of the monsters? And why was she specifically calling for the priestesses?
The reason was obvious. The blankets were rising and falling faintly, as if someone was breathing underneath.
Did Elder Sister Rachel actually find them?
"Leia and Matilda, treat the injured! Silvia, protect them! The rest of us, attack! Diana, I'm counting on you!"
I barked out the orders and charged toward the monsters.
There were three Ice Golems, over a dozen Lizardmen, and seven polar bears.
It was a mix of monsters you would never normally encounter all at once. No wonder even someone as capable as Elder Sister Rachel was struggling.
Elder Sister Rachel was an Elementalist who controlled water and wind.
Water was a poor matchup against the monsters of the 3rd Floor, and we had already seen that wind wasn't very effective against Ice Golems either.
But why are they all attacking together?
This isn't a game. Monsters are living creatures with their own lives; they even fight among themselves. It's almost unheard of for different species to team up against adventurers.
But that question was answered the moment they moved again.
The polar bears began to move at the Lizardmen's signal.
Are they being tamed? Have some self-respect! You're stronger than the Lizardmen, you damn polar bears!
As for the Ice Golems and Lizardmen, it wasn't so much that they were cooperating, but more that they were simply ignoring each other.
Or to be more precise, the Ice Golems were ignoring the other monsters to focus solely on the adventurers, and the Lizardmen were skillfully taking advantage of the situation.
"Diana! Take the golems first!" I yelled, blocking the charging polar bears as they swiped with their massive paws.
"Hmph. Nothing to worry about," Diana said with an air of confidence, beginning to summon three fireballs.
At first, they were the size of her fists, but they rapidly expanded until they were larger than the golems' own, blazing with ferocious heat.
The flames radiating from each orb were so intense that the snow around Diana instantly melted, and it even seemed as if the falling snowflakes were vaporizing before they could reach the ground.
As expected of someone with 500 Intelligence. Get hit by one of those, and there won't even be bones left to find.
Then again, golems don't have bones to begin with.
And my prediction was spot on.
As the fireballs flew toward the Ice Golems, the sturdy creatures began to melt before the flames even made contact.
The fireballs pierced through their melting bodies, and once the golems were completely gone, the orbs changed course and crashed down among the Lizardmen.
"Kweeeeeek!"
Caught completely by surprise, the Lizardmen were roasted alive without a chance to resist.
Of course, they were spread out, so the three fireballs didn't annihilate all of them, but the survivors merely became easy targets for Sara's arrows.
With their masters gone, the now-uncontrolled polar bears grew even more ferocious and began to rampage.
But your opponent is me.
My attack power might have fallen off lately, but there's no way I'm losing to living creatures, especially not some measly 3rd Floor monsters.
I immediately activated Saint's Touch in both hands and tapped each of the polar bears in turn.
"Kuuuwoooong!"
Don't cry like that. The fun is just getting started, isn't it?
Once I confirmed the polar bears were frozen in place, I clenched my fists.
"Oraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraora!"
Under my finishing rush, the polar bears trembled violently as if struck by lightning before collapsing to the ground.
Normally, I would have struck a cool pose and delivered a finishing line, but this wasn't the time.
The moment I saw the polar bears fall, I rushed over to Elder Sister Rachel.
"Elder Sister Rachel! Are you okay?!"
"I'm fine. More importantly, please, those people..."
Though she looked like a wreck with wounds all over, it seemed they were numerous but shallow.
Rachel, who had collapsed to the ground during our fight, scrambled to her feet and hurried toward our priestess duo.
For some reason, though, as she moved, she kept glancing at my face, trembling with anxiety.
What's that about?
"Leia, Matilda, how are they?"
Under the blankets were the adventurers, just as I'd suspected.
A Rabbit-kin thief, a Tiger-kin bard, and a Dog-kin mage.
They were the ones from the rescue request poster.
So Elder Sister Rachel found them. She's really something else.
But one look was enough to see the situation was dire.
We were lucky to have found all three of them alive, but their injuries were severe.
The Tiger-kin bard, in particular, had a gaping hole in his abdomen, so large that his organs were visible.
Did he try to protect the women because he was the man of the group?
It looked like he'd taken a direct, devastating blow.
Whatever the reason, it had been reckless.
Frankly, it was a miracle he was still breathing. If Leia and Matilda weren't both pouring holy magic into him at the same time, I would have mistaken him for a corpse.
"It's alright. I will save him. I will..." Matilda muttered, as if vowing to herself while continuing to pour out holy magic.
But the Tiger-kin bard wasn't the only one in critical condition.
While his wounds were the most severe, the Rabbit-kin and Dog-kin were also badly hurt.
I understood why Leia and Matilda had to prioritize the bard—he would die any second if left untreated—but still...
Nothing for it. I'll have to use all my potions to give the other two some first aid.
"Ah, don't!"
Just as I reached for the Dog-kin mage, Elder Sister Rachel suddenly cried out and lunged at me.
"E-Elder Sister Rachel?!"
"Calm down! Please, calm down, Guwon! You can't kill him! He may look like this, but he's still a person!"
As she desperately tried to hold me back, I could only stare, completely dumbfounded.
Kill him? What does she mean, he's a person despite his appearance?
I mean, sure, the Dog-kin mage looked more like a walking, talking dog than a person. His entire body was covered in fur, and with his long snout, his face was pure canine.
But I'm not the kind of asshole who discriminates against people for that.
Does she really think I'm some kind of racist who judges Beastkin by their looks?
"E-Elder Sister! Calm down! Of course I'm not going to kill him!"
"B-but... you hate dogs! You said you hate them so much you want to kill every single one you see!" Rachel cried, still clinging to me, refusing to let go.
Huh?
Her desperate cry made my brain short-circuit for a moment.
What in the world is she talking about? What kind of image does she have of me? A psychopath who wants to kill every dog he sees...? Ah. Ah. Aaaaaah!
A memory from my days hunting on the 1st Floor flashed through my mind.
Back then, I had hunted Wolfdogs to the point of near-extermination, and I'd continued to hunt them regularly to use the passage guarded by their Transcendent Species.
And this very woman had once asked me why I was so obsessed with hunting them.
And my answer to her question... Don't tell me that's why she started acting so weird, refused my help, and came all the way out here by herself?!
"N-no! It's a misunderstanding! I mean, yes, I did say that, but I was just embarrassed about hunting nothing but Wolfdogs, so I was just joking! It's not true!"
"Liar! Then why did you reach for the Dog-kin first?!" she yelled, clearly unable to believe me. My answer back then must have left a very strong impression.
"I was trying to help him! With a potion! Here, look! Ta-da!"
I made a potion appear in my palm from my inventory. Only then did Rachel's expression shift to one of dubious belief.
"R-Really?"
"Of course!"
As if to prove my point, I immediately poured the potion onto the Dog-kin's wounds.
I took out the rest of my potions and poured them over the Rabbit-kin and the Dog-kin.
When a bit of color returned to their faces, I used what was left on the Tiger-kin.
To be honest, I was running low. We rarely got injured against 3rd Floor monsters, and with two priestesses in the party, I hadn't bothered to stock up.
The potions were enough to serve as first aid for the Rabbit-kin and Dog-kin, but the Tiger-kin still looked like he was in agony.
Still, relieved that I wasn't, in fact, about to murder the Dog-kin, Elder Sister Rachel let out a sigh.
"Th-Thank goodness..."
With those final words, her body slumped to the ground.
"E-Elder Sister?!"