Ihoujin, Dungeon ni Moguru

Chapter 68: Lola Of The Maniacal Floor I

The party proceeded onward while staying in the tight formation.

We didn’t encounter any enemies for a while.

As we moved forward step by step, I devoted all of my attention to watching for enemies. Yukikaze also had all of her sensors operating. I had quietly attached tracers to the four people we were guarding.

Just in case they were abducted, I would be able to track them using those. As long as they didn’t get affected by uncertain variables, I should be able to track them, but I was still worried.

Suddenly,

At the end of the passageway, a white shadow emerged from the pitch-black darkness.

The moment it stepped into the light of our lanterns, a chill ran down my spine.

It was creepy and horrifying.

The monster that had appeared was in the shape of a person. It had a white skin color that was reminiscent of a drowned corpse, no hair whatsoever, a thin, emaciated body and strangely long and sharp nails extended from its fingertips.

Its face was dominated by a single eye that split it vertically. It wasn’t an eye without emotion. It was the blue eye of a human with emotions.

I had seen all sorts of monsters up to this point, but this was the first time I was physically repulsed by an enemy like this.

Otou-san stretched out an arm to bar the way, stopping Shuna and me in our tracks.

It happened extremely quickly. He closed 10 meters in one go and then cut its head off.

Holding its head, he returned to the party.

「These guys are called『seedlings』. It’s because they become like that when they die」

The headless corpse had twisted itself into a tree-like shape. It started collapsing from one end, and then vanished into dust.

The head that Otou-san was holding also started to twist. However, it went back its original form again.

「Look. It has elven ears. The last adventurer to go missing was also an elf. It’s not a very fun theory, but these『seedlings』might be based on the adventurer that disappeared」

Everyone was speechless.

We had realized the reason why this floor was called the maniacal floor.

The parties who came in search of their missing party members would have fought these『seedlings』here. Would have fought against enemies with the characteristics of the party member that they had lost.

It’s a nightmare.

I don’t even want to imagine it.

「In addition to this『Eye』, there’s also the faceless『Ear』, and the most troublesome one is the『Mouth』that casts magic. Magic that the missing adventurer used」

A monster that uses magic, huh?

That’s bad news. It’s one thing for everyone else, but for me, a person with very little regeneration point, a low-power, area-of-effect magic could result in my death.

「Each of these guys, by themselves, aren’t very strong. A decent adventurer can kill one with a single blow. However, they have one dangerous characteristic. When you’re stared at by an『Eye』for longer than a certain period of time, or when an『Ear』detects loud noises, all of the『seedlings』will come flocking from the entire floor」

We had encountered a similar monster on the floors above. However, the reinforcements it called were at most four or five in number. What would it be like when all of the enemies from the entire floor gathered?

「Do you have an idea of how many of these guys there are in total?」

I asked in a cold sweat.

「Normally, 50 to 70. For transitional periods, which just happens to be this time of year, over 100. Moreover, even if these guys are wiped out, more will spring up immediately. In other words, their exact numbers are unknown」

「It’s the worst」

「Not really. Don’t get found. If you’re found, kill it immediately and quietly. Then there’s no problem. None at all」

That’s easy to say, but……wait, just the fact that there are countermeasures against them means that it’s easy, I suppose.

After crushing the ruined head, Otou-san turned back to us.

「Souya and Ea, if an『Eye』appears, it’ll be up to you to take it down. It’s fine even if you don’t kill it. Be sure to shoot it somewhere on its face. The『Eye』doesn’t react to the light from lanterns. That’s why, calmly lead it and shoot accurately. I’ll finish it off. If I mess up, Shuna, you do it」

『Understood』

Ea, Shuna and I replied with one voice.

「When a faceless『Ear』appears, all of you stop and hold your breaths. I’ll do it. If it’s a『Mouth』, everyone rush it. Defeating it quickly is the top priority」

「Otou-san, I have one question though」

「What?」

「What if there are several of them, and of different types on top of that?」

「I’ll do my best. You guys provide support. Try to not get in my way」

In other words, he was basically saying to leave it all to him.

This is something I learned later, but……

Otou-san isn’t the only one who serves as the guardian of this floor.

He assumed that role only when there were parties with elves or powerful magicians clearing this floor. Other than that, it’s advanced adventurers who take the role of leading the parties on this floor.

The point of it, is to make a display of their superior skills to the greenhorns.

It’s to make them feel envious. It’s to show them a strength that will become their guidepost to also reaching those heights themselves one day.

In our case, we had been showed plenty of that before arriving at this floor.

Was what I thought, but Otou-san showed us a tremendous mastery of techniques on this floor.

Fast, is too slow a word.

Sharp, is too insufficient a word.

They were all extensions of ordinary sword techniques. Not a single one of his techniques could be called special.

But to think that a mere human holding a shield and swinging a sword could attain such heights. Otou-san’s techniques showed me, a person who couldn’t hold a sword decently, the pinnacle of skill.

Fighting with one body, one sword, and one shield. Come hell or high water, towards the heights.

It fires me up inside.

As a man, it’s a strength I long for. Shuna also stared intently at Otou-san’s techniques, as if to devour them.

To think that even a gloomy person like me has this kind of sentiment, it’s a surprise.

Perhaps I had been inspired, but my own techniques also became sharper.

『Enemies detected, four in number』

Yukikaze’s sensors had been turned up to full power. According to her calculations, the internal battery of the aqueous brain would last until we cleared this floor. He might have no need for it, but the information obtained by Yukikaze was also relayed to Otou-san.

I glossed over the explanation of what Yukikaze was by saying that she was an artificial spirit.

As she had reported, there were two『Mouths』at the crossroads ahead of us. And in between us and them, there were two『Eyes』.

I sent Ea a look, and then I shot the one on the right while Ea shot the one on the left.

The arrows pierced through the『Eyes』.

Alluring female voices flowed from the『Mouths』.

「Oh fire. Dance with the elements, and attack the――」

Otou-san and Shuna bounded forward.

The chanting『Mouths』were split into two by the sword slashes that sliced through them. The『Eyes』that had been shot by Ea and me were both finished off by Gashuraku-san with a rapier.

It was a slender sword with a beautiful design. Its needle-like blade was lined with words that had been engraved on it.

It was a glimpse that this person also possessed unfathomable strength.

Stay vigilant, while I thought that in my head, I felt a sense of security.

What was worrisome was that Lazarissa had messed up the formation. She had moved to the center in order to stay close to Frey.

「Lazarissa, is something the matter?」

「No, Lazarissa has a bad feeling. Lazarissa feels some sort of gaze」

When I called out to her, she looked around nervously.

「Lazarissa, it’s hard to move」

As Frey said, when five people were bunched together, it interfered with everyone’s ability to move. All the more so because Lazarissa was carrying a lot of luggage, which made things worse.

「Lys. Can you enclose only the four people in the center using defensive magic once I give you a signal?」

「I can」

「I’m counting on you. Otou-san, is that okay?」

「Shut up」

I was told to shut up when I asked for instructions. Otou-san used his hand to signal everyone in the party to crouch down.

The silence went on for about three minutes.

『Enemy detected, one in number』

About two more minutes passed.

A faceless『Ear』appeared. Otou-san’s intuition and experience were better than Yukikaze’s sensors.

The『Ear』looked around restlessly even though it had no eyes. It walked with unsteadier steps than the other types. Its body also weaved around slowly. That made it even more creepy.

Otou-san soundlessly approached the『Ear』in a bent over posture and pulled out a knife.

He thrust the knife into its heart from the front, circled around to its back, and then slit its throat.

The experienced adventurer who had finished off the enemy almost instantly signaled for us to stay quiet.

Once again, silence fell for a while.

『Proximity warning, four in number』

We slowed our breathing and waited motionlessly.

Perhaps they had gotten wind of something, but I heard the sound of gnashing teeth.『Ears』appeared again.

There were four of them.

This was too much even for us.

In the silence, the sound of a bowstring being drawn taut sounded awfully loud. Ea had moved a little closer to the front row in order to draw her bow. The arrow on her compound bow was aimed at an『Ear』.

I felt that it was risky, but Otou-san send me a look that said,「Do it」.

Reaching down, I slowly pulled Agathion out.

I attacked at the same time as my sister. An arrow and a magic sword each hit an『Ear』in the head and pinned them to the wall.

The remaining two were cut down by Otou-san and Shuna.

「Alright」

At Otou-san’s signal, I breathed a sigh.

It was a nerve-wracking battle.

When I thought about the fact that they would all flood in if we made one mistake, it left me on tenterhooks. But to put it simply, if we killed them quickly and quietly without being noticed, then there would be no problems. None at all.

All we had to do, was not make mistakes.

Exploring the dungeon meant stepping into the unknown. We would likely run into difficulties that were incomparably harder than what we were facing currently.

This was an easy battle in which the correct answer was known. We could follow the established tactics that our predecessors had developed. That was what the last trial for greenhorns was. “If you can’t even do this, then you won’t be able to overcome what lays ahead. Turn back”, was what it was advising.

I disposed of the monsters and we resumed moving.

The formation remained messed up.

「Lazarissa, go back to the back row」

「Sorry, Souya-sama. Lazarissa won’t obey」

My warning was ignored.

Lazarissa was in the center and had her hands on Frey’s shoulders. Ea had moved to the front to shoot her bow, and had stayed beside me.

「Listen to him, Lazarissa. I won’t allow you to act selfishly when the party is moving」

「Sorry, Ojou-sama. Lazarissa won’t obey. The tip of my tail has become numb from a while ago and Lazarissa senses something. Something is here. It’s dangerous」

Her skirt had rolled up and her reptilian tail was swinging side to side.

It was hitting the shield and Lys had an incredibly annoyed look on her face.

To think that we would be bickering in the midst of all these enemies. I had arbitrarily assumed that Lazarissa was a sensible person. That was a misjudgment on my part.

It wasn’t good that the formation was messed up, in fact, it was bad. If as much as five people huddled together in the center, they would get in one another’s way even when trying to protect themselves.

I admonished Lazarissa three times, but she refused to obey. I couldn’t keep on arguing with her, so we forged ahead like that.

We put an end to our thirteenth battle.The formation was still messed up, but we were able to fight without trouble. I had my concerns, but it wasn’t a problem if we could clear the floor regardless. I stopped nagging about it.

All of a sudden, we went 50 meters without encountering an enemy.

I felt something akin to unease at the sudden lack of enemies.

Checking the map, I saw that we had cleared about two-thirds of the way to the stairs.

Huh? That’s weird.

Perhaps it’s for the sake of being prudent, but we had been taking a roundabout route.

It’s a really roundabout route. We had traveled an entire circuit of this floor.

Am I imagining it? Or does Otou-san have a deep reason for doing this? Wait, by any chance——

Otou-san went into a battle-ready stance.

Be quiet, he signaled.

The place where we had stopped was the corner of a L-shaped passageway.

『Proximity warning, three in number』

I could faintly hear the sound of gnashing teeth.

Otou-san leaned his back against the wall. The party also waited on the same side.

I hid myself behind the wall as well, and then took a peek at the enemy.

There were four. Two『Ears』, one『Mouth』and one『Eye』.

For some reason, they were lined up in a formation. The『Ear』was in front, and the『Mouth』and the『Eye』were behind it and to the left and right respectively. Further behind was one more『Ear』.

Wait, there’s one more than Yukikaze’s sensors had detected. Is it a sensor failure, or interference from the dungeon?

The enemies were moving faster than I had expected, so I didn’t have the time to think before the battle started.

I didn’t have the time to check.

「I’ll deal with the『Ear』. Ea, the『Eye』is yours. Shuna, take out the『Mouth』. Gashuraku-dono, I’m counting on you to back them up」

「Got it~」

I’ll guard the back row. The sensors hadn’t picked up anything, but if Lazarissa’s premonition is right, it wouldn’t be strange for something to come out from the darkness.

「Let’s go」

Everyone jumped out of the corner at the same time.

I nocked an arrow and, while keeping an eye on the back row, I followed the battle.

Otou-san’s longsword cut the『Ear』’s head off, Shuna thrust his longsword through the『Mouth』’s throat, and the arrow Ea released pierced through the『Eye』.

Gashuraku-san, who was backing them up, stabbed the『Eye』and the『Mouth』’s vitals with his rapier. The wounds were small, but definitely fatal. On top of that, he stabbed each spot five times with almost imperceptible speed.

「Huh?」

Something strange happened.

Everyone was relaxing their combat readiness.

Shuna put away his longsword, Ea lowered her bow, and Gashuraku-san was also returning to the back row.

Otou-san sheathed his longsword.

I stood dumbfounded for an instant, and then something akin to rage erupted from within me. There was one more『Ear』remaining.

It’s this one.

Were you expecting that on the very first chapter of the arc? Is it Lola? Is she here? Will Souya be able to protect everyone?

I’ll just mention that this is probably one of the very few times that Souya changes due to something not memory-related. You won’t see it right away, but you’ll eventually notice the change. Souya is a man, after all.

Also, the name of the floor and arc has far too many possible meanings to list here. Just to highlight a few, it can mean madness, obsession, or possession.

With that, stay tuned! It’s getting exciting!!!