The Supporting Protagonist Gets to Work - 3
After wiping out the Nepenthes in the flower field, we set out for the next stretch of the path.
Frach clung to me the entire way, being an absolute nuisance.
"Tell me right this instant what you were about to say earlier and then stopped!"
"I already told you it's better if you don't know."
"I'm curious! This body cannot rest until its curiosity is satisfied!"
"Even so, I'm not telling you. This is all for your own good, so just accept it gracefully."
"Ugh...! How mean. Fine—I'll drop it. But at least tell me about the place we're heading next."
"That much I can tell you freely."
The next section we would be entering was Oz's Laboratory.
A zone derived from the fairy tale The Wizard of Oz, where the book's characters appeared as monsters. True to the name "laboratory," however, those monsters manifested in rather grotesque forms.
"Honestly, I didn't really want to talk about this either, but..."
"We're going to see it soon enough anyway, so just tell me beforehand. This body specially gave up on pressing you further!"
"Alright."
There were four monsters in Oz's Laboratory, and not a single one could be taken lightly.
Leading them was the beast Dorothy, fused with her pet dog Toto; then a twisted zombie Scarecrow; a Tin Golem wielding a polearm; and a Manticore dosed with stimulants. Every last one of them was a thoroughly troublesome monster.
Dorothy in particular possessed command ability on par with a kingdom's general, making her an especially difficult opponent. The rest of the monsters were said to have overall capabilities comparable to S-rank monsters.
The main challenge of this section was whether you could break the coordinated assault of all four.
"Monsters that are already tough one-on-one, and their teamwork is excellent on top of that... Just hearing about it makes them sound like a heavy burden."
"That's why the standard approach is usually to split into a group and take them one at a time."
"Don't you regret not bringing Rene or Lin along?"
"Not particularly? Felix's dungeon is structured so that solo play is rough, but it's not at a level where solo clearing is completely impossible."
"Such overflowing confidence. Surely you have a plan, which is why you're so at ease?"
"Of course. Would I have come alone for no reason if I didn't know the strategy?"
The Lust Dungeon and the Jealousy Dungeon never appeared in the original work at all, so I'd been jerked around in various ways. But Felix's dungeon—this one I could confidently say I knew thoroughly. Which meant no matter what enemy appeared, I could respond perfectly.
"We're here."
"The atmosphere at the entrance is certainly different."
"The moment we step inside, combat starts immediately, so get ready."
"Understood."
Returning from human form to magic sword, Frach settled snugly into my hand. Combat stance complete, I approached the laboratory entrance.
This was the section where I could properly gauge my combat ability. I would absolutely not let my guard down.
Whirr—!
An automatic door, rarely seen in this other world. The moment I stepped into the pitch-black space, the door shut right behind me. Then the lights inside the room began turning on one by one, illuminating the stage at the center.
On the central stage stood a single bright-red scarecrow, motionless. It showed no movement at all, its head cocked at a ninety-degree angle.
As I watched it absently, the lights suddenly began flickering—going out and coming back on in rapid succession. At the same time, the scarecrow's position was drawing closer to me. When it had come within arm's reach, it suddenly vanished without a trace.
"Hey, this setup is way too predictable."
In the pitch darkness, the scarecrow appeared behind me, about to bite. Without even turning around, I seized the scarecrow's head and hurled it into the air. I swung my sword to bisect it—but a lion lunged in, snatching the scarecrow's body in its jaws and yanking it away. My sword stroke cut only empty air.
"Their camaraderie is solid, I'll give them that."
"Grrrr...!"
Setting the scarecrow down, the Manticore let out a threatening growl. A lion's body and head, a goat's horns, massive bat wings on its back, and a tail resembling a scorpion's. Like a chimera, it was a composite monster based on a lion. Unlike a normal Manticore, however, a syringe filled with blue liquid was stuck into the back of its neck.
Clank—! Clank—!
A tin golem took its place beside the ferocious Manticore. It was so tall you had to crane your neck all the way up just to see the top—making the Manticore look like a house cat by comparison. The polearm the Tin Golem carried on its shoulder was roughly five meters long. Even a hit from the non-bladed part would probably pulverize a body.
"So the remaining one must be Dorothy."
"Heehee! Heehee!"
From behind the central stage, out of the pitch darkness, came a girl's laughter. Her form was human, but her entire body was covered in fur, and her hands, feet, ears, nose, and snout were all those of a dog. She had every feature of what the internet commonly called a furry. Wearing a sky-blue dress with a basket hooked over her arm, she grinned at me with a twisted smile. Her behavior wouldn't have seemed out of place if she'd been the Cheshire Cat instead of Dorothy.
"Those must be the monsters in charge of this zone, then?"
"That's right. I have to wipe out every last one of them—except one."
In the original, Kang Junhyuk cleared Felix's dungeon. But it couldn't be called a perfect success. His dungeon run was a simultaneous coexistence of success and failure.
Kang Junhyuk's first failure occurred in Oz's Laboratory.
The Scarecrow approaching like an assassin, the Manticore attacking with vicious and dazzling ferocity, the Tin Golem boasting overwhelming destructive power, and the girl Dorothy commanding them all. If you asked who among them was the greatest threat, everyone would point to the same one.
"In this body's judgment, it would be best to deal with that girl first."
"So you think so too."
"Hmm? Has this body's judgment gone astray?"
"No, not particularly."
Even if individuals are strong, without coordination, group combat backfires. For instance, if the Tin Golem brought its polearm down while the Manticore was attacking, they'd get caught up in it together. The one who coordinated and commanded them so that never happened was Dorothy.
"If you eliminate Dorothy first, the remaining enemies can be easily annihilated... or so you'd think. Unfortunately, that turns out to be a terrible move, contrary to our expectations."
"What exactly happens if you kill her first that makes you say that?"
"The remaining three monsters commit suicide on their own, and you become unable to enter the secret room inside Felix's dungeon."
"In other words..."
"Right. The dungeon's secret that the headmaster commissioned us to find can never be uncovered, and any treasures that might be inside get buried forever, never obtained."
Kang Junhyuk made the mistake of eliminating Dorothy as top priority. Because of that, even though he defeated the final boss and escaped the dungeon safely, readers considered it a failed clear. He never fully obtained Felix's legacy, after all.
But I intended to perfectly complete the dungeon clear that Kang Junhyuk couldn't.
"I'll ignore Dorothy as much as possible and deal with the other monsters first."
"Then wide-range attacks should be avoided as much as possible."
"Exactly!"
Having conceded the first move to the Scarecrow, they charged in without hesitation from the start. Who would greet me first? Watching their reactions, the threatening Manticore sprang forward.
"GROAAAR!"
A long leap using its wings. The Manticore swung a sharp right paw toward my shoulder joint. I angled my sword and deflected it aside. Next came the pointed scorpion tail, but I lightly caught it with my hand and slammed it into the floor.
Just as I was about to stab the smoothly subdued Manticore's neck with my sword—I sensed a presence behind me and rolled my body to the side. The Scarecrow's scythe swept through the spot where my neck had been. I'd dodged it by a hair's breadth.
As I tried to regain my stance, a shadow fell over my head—the Tin Golem's polearm came crashing down.
"Let's see just how strong those arms of yours really are."
Clang—! Screeeech—!!
The pressure of a mountain crashing down bore down on my entire body. It felt like my body would sink into the earth along with the ground, but I poured every ounce of power into both arms and flung the polearm aside. It was only an instant, but I had clearly surpassed the Tin Golem's pure physical strength.
"Frach."
"Already prepared."
"Good."
Frach's body, imbued with dark energy, swelled massively. Sword aura was typically used for projection, but it could also be used for reinforcement like this. The trade-off was that the weight increased dramatically, making it difficult to swing one-handed.
Gripping Frach's hilt with both hands, I spun my body and used the momentum to swing her. The Tin Golem raised its polearm to defend.
Think you can block this? I'd show it just how arrogant that thought was.
CRAAACK—!
The sound of tin being shredded by sword aura filled the space. Only then grasping the situation, the Tin Golem began backing away. Not about to let it escape, I stuck close and gradually carved through the golem's body.
Sensing its comrade's crisis, the Manticore charged at me—but that made its movements monotonous. Dozens of swords rained down from above the Manticore, piercing the lion's body. Frach's ability absorbed from the magic swords: Replication.
With the lion immobilized, the only one who could help the Tin Golem was the Scarecrow. But earlier, when I'd grabbed the Scarecrow's head, I'd injected a small amount of blood into its body. My blood had seeped into the straw that made up the Scarecrow. And once it reached the very center of its body, around the abdomen...
"?!"
SPLOOSH—!
Sharp, vivid crimson thorns bloomed like roses, piercing straight through the Scarecrow's body. Covered in so many thorns it could have been called a sea urchin, the Scarecrow perished on the spot.
"Finishing blow."
BOOM—!
With half its body shredded by sword aura, the Tin Golem collapsed to the floor and hung its head. The Manticore twitching as it poured out blood, the Scarecrow decorated with thorns of gore, the Tin Golem collapsed without strength—not a single one of them could stand against me.
"Now it's just you left."
Looking at Dorothy again, terror filled her eyes.