LEGEND

Chapter 404

It had been about 30 minutes since they had used a stalactite trap to kill a Wind Bat. After taking several forks in the path, Byune suddenly stopped.

「What’s wrong, Byune?」

「Mm.」

Byune pointed to towards the end of the passageway with a sound as she responded to Vihera, who was walking beside her.

Looking in that direction, everyone understood why Byune had stopped them.

「Swords are no good, a hammer though……do it-!」

「OOO-, leave it to me. Out of the way, Rambros! My hammer is more effective against this stone bastard!」

「Shut up! This Golem hurt hurt my Karsana, I’m going to destroy it!」

「Hah-, this is such a pain. I’m going to attack it, so don’t get hit! I won’t care if I hit you! Get behind him! UOOOOOOOOH-!」

It was faint, but they could hear such voices.

They were at a distance where you’d normally be unable to hear anything, but everyone here had sharper senses than most others. That was why they could hear the voices.

「Mm?」

What do you want to do? Byune seemed to ask. She wasn’t asking Rei……but Vihera, who she had the longest working relationship with. Considering Vihera’s experience from entering the dungeon though, it wasn’t unreasonable.

「That’s right. Rather than fighting a pointless battled……no, we heard them call it a Stone Golem. It’s definitely a Stone Golem. Maybe we should show Rei and Elena what it’s like.」

「But is that okay? I feel that it wouldn’t be good to surprise another party while they are currently in combat.」

「Kyu!」

At Elena’s words, Yellow, who was sitting on left shoulder, seemed to give a cry in agreement.

However, Vihera thought it about for a few seconds as she listened in to the angry shouts echoing from down the passageway before shaking her head.

「It’s an unspoken rule that it is rude to interrupt another party’s battle. However, if there is a request from the other party, that’s a different story. So, let’s go up and ask them if they need help, if not, we won’t do anything. Do you have any objections?」

「……I’m slightly concerned about the glint in your eyes.」

Although Vihera had said that she just wanted to help the other party, her eyes clearly showed that her mind was struggling against the instinct to want to fight something. Still, Vihera was still in enough control of her urges to not be too risky.

Hearing Elena’s words, Vihera lightly fiddled with the weapons on her hands as she glanced at the rest.

Seeing that no one objected, she gave a glossy smile before dashing forward and running in the direction they had heard the voices.

While she was wearing thin clothes and only had weapons on her hands and feet, fighting spirit radiated from her attractive body.

She moved through the cave with her peculiar movements, as if she were gliding across the ground. Eventually, a shadow much larger than a Mud Golem came into view.

It was one head taller than Vihera, who was 175cm tall. The Stone Golem was probably over 2m in height.

Two warriors were slamming their weapons into the Stone Golem, which was a bit small to call a large golem, but was too big to call small either.

The warrior with a sword swung down at the Stone Golem from behind while another warrior swung a huge iron hammer, the size of a person’s head, from the front.

「What do you think, Vihera?」

Elena quickly ran over to Vihera and watched for several seconds before asking.

Next to her were Rei, Set, and, of course, Byune.

「Yeah. It seems that this party was a bit overconfident to come to the sixth floor.」

Vihera’s right arm pointed towards a lightly armoured woman, a thief it seemed, who had fallen to the ground a short distance away from the Stone Golem. Next to her, a man with a bow was shooting the Golem in an attempt to restrain it.

But……

「It’s no good.」

Rei muttered out loud.

The fact was, the arrows being shot out weren’t a good match for the Stone Golem. Although they hit its roughly shaped face, similar to when the Mud Golem had, they just bounced off.

IF the arrows had a magic metal arrowhead, or if the bow itself was a magic item, it might have been different. If the archer had been more skilled, he might even have been able to shoot through the stone body.

However, it didn’t seem like he had the skills to do that and could only draw a bit of its attention.

「This……Rei, could you ask them if they need help?」

「Are you sure?」

「Yes. I think a man like Rei is better than a weak woman like me in this situation, even if people tend to underestimate you.」

「……」

Glancing over at Elena and Byune, the two of them nodded slightly without any objections.

Next to them, Set and Yellow also gave short nods to show their agreement. ……That said, in Yellow’s case, it was more likely that he nodded because Set nodded.

(I definitely think that it would be better for Vihera to ask rather than me, considering she’s well known around Exil.)

Rei thought about that but, seeing the adventurers fighting the Golem fall into a disadvantage, he couldn’t ignore them.

「Hey, do you need some help?」

「Shut up, stay out of this!」

The man with the sword immediately responded to Rei’s words. His sword, which he swung with a loud shout, bounced off the Golem with a high pitched sound without cutting through its stone body.

(……That sound? He’s striking stone with his sword?)

Rei had some questions in his mind, but a shout from the man with the hammer interrupted his thoughts.

「Rambros, don’t let your emotions get the better of you! I’m sorry, please help us if you can……woah!」

The man shouting at Rei evaded the Stone Golem’s fist by a hair’s breath before exhaling in relief.

「A-Anyway, if you can help us, do it! Please!」

「Don’t be stupid! I’ll break this Stone Golem……!」

「That’s enough……!」

The Stone Golem changed its target to the man with the sword again as the man with the hammer had taken some distance. The man with the hammer swung it down at the Golem from behind. Unlike the sword, the hammer’s impact couldn’t be stopped as chips scattered off the Stone Golem’s body.

「UOOOOOOOOH-!」

「Hey, don’t rush in! Step back!」

While the two men with the sword and hammer were interacting as such, the archer, who had been shooting arrows as support beside the female thief, went over to Rei and the others.

He knew that his support had basically no effect and decided to prioritise talking with Rei.

(Heh, he’s a lot calmer than the man with the sword.)

Rei called out to the approaching man with some admiration.

「May I assume you would like us to help?」

「Please. ……Forgive Rambros. His girlfriend was was the one hit by the Stone Golem at the beginning of the fight……」

At the end of his line of sigh was the female thief, who was lying unconscious on the ground. Rei nodded, understanding why the blood had rushed to the head of the man called Rambros.

「So you don’t mind if I take it down? If that man complains later, you can handle that, right?」

「Yes. I didn’t know that Stone Golem would be this strong……」

(They didn’t know, huh.)

Vihera thought to herself as she listened in.

Having been active on this floor several times, she had fought Stone Golems several times. However, even for Vihera, the Stone Golem she could see was very different from the Stone Golems she had fought in the past.

First of all was its size. Ordinary Stone Golems were the same size as Mud Golems, this one was much larger. Even the stones that made up its body were not destroyed after being hit with a hammer. At the very least, after being smashed by a hammer so many times, it barely had any scratches.

(I wonder if this is……this is unexpected. I had thought it would be enough if I just watched Rei and Elena fight it.)

The flames of struggle burnt bright within Vihera as here eyes glinted with a belligerent light.

A lustrous beauty. That was the best way to describe Vihera’s face, who had a smile on her face as she looked forward to the struggle.

「Rei, Elena, Byune, I’m sorry, but I’m going to take that prey. You don’t mind, right?」

「Wait! It’s not the type of enemy you can defeat alone!」

The archer barely manged to say that as he was exposed to Vihera immense seductiveness.

Unluckily for the man, he hadn’t heard of Vihera before. She was called the Mad Beast, but that name was only known to those who knew. It was different from titles that had spread to neighbouring countries, such as Crimson and General Princess. Because of that, it wasn’t a surprise he didn’t know Vihera……

「Ara~, are you planning to get in the way of my struggle?」

Vihera turned to look at him with eyes filled with fighting spirit.

「-!?」

The archer, pressed down by the pressure of her gaze, immediately prepared for his own death. It was a gaze with that much power behind it.

Seeing the man’s legs give way from under him, Vihera gave a snort before turning to Rei.

However, it wasn’t a gaze asking for permission. It was one saying that he shouldn’t get in the way.

「……Hah, I understand. But don’t go and hurt the two people fighting over there.」

「Fufu~, you know me very well. That’s right, I’ll give you a good thank you later.」

Saying that, Vihera dashed forward as she closed the gap towards the Stone Golem.

「Vihera!」

Elena gave an angry shout as Vihera left.

「Damn it, why is this stone so hard!」

Rambros clicked his tongue as he swung his long sword down at the Stone Golem without giving up.

It was an action he had repeated many times. Each time, his sword bounced off the stone body without scratching it.

The reason he couldn’t stop himself was because he had seen his girlfriend hit by the Stone Golem’s fist and fall unconscious with his own eyes.

Of course, since they were in a dungeon, it was true that it was an adventurer’s own fault if they let their guard down. But although he understood that, he continued to attack the Stone Golem. He couldn’t stand the fact that his girlfriend had been hurt……

Seeing all of his attacks bounce off, he clicked his tongue internally.

At that moment.

「Step aside!」

Someone said those words to him as they ran past Rambros.

As a warrior, he couldn’t understand her movements. The next moment, his eyes widened with surprise at the smoothness of her movement, which could called fluid.

Vihera didn’t know, or didn’t care, about him as he poured magic power into the weapons on her hands, forming claws, before cleaving the side of the Stone Golem.

She then headed straight for the cave’s stone walls without slowing down……

「Hey, that’s dangerous!」

Ignoring the voice of the man with the hammer, she rushed towards the wall without slowing down, jumping against it before leaping back towards the Stone Golem.

The Stone Golem headed straight for Vihera as it threw a fist to intercept her.

However, as soon as she saw that, Vihera danced through the air as she shifted her balance, bending her body to create space for the stone fist to pass by her.

Grabbing onto the stone fist that passed by her, she stopped moving for a moment……the next instant, she used the Stone Golem’s strength against itself as she slammed its large body onto the ground.

「……What just happened?」

Rambros muttered as if he couldn’t understand what had just happened. It was the same for the man with the hammer, who could only watch the series of stunning movements.

However, Vihera’s attacks didn’t end there. Jumping off the ground lightly, she poured magic power to the weapons in her heels, forming a blade. She swung it down on the shoulder of the Stone Golem that was trying to get up, destroying it. At the same time, she continued to swing her fists and legs repeatedly, using her claws and blades.

By the time Vihera had satisfied her own desire to fight and stopped attacking, the Stone Golem had lost almost half its body and was unable to move.

Vihera looked down on it with a glossy smile.

Rambros was distracted by her appearance and only returned to reality when the archer called out to hime.