Rookie Hunting (5)

He had placed the magic sword in the pedestal, but the entrance remained sealed.

"Why… it's different from what we tested… it should be opening…"

"Oh my, what a strange thing to say. Being trapped for one night after pulling the magic sword… wasn't that what you said? And here I went to such trouble to make that come true."

When he turned toward the voice that suddenly reached his ears, he saw an unfamiliar silver-haired woman.

"Who are you!? How did you get in!?"

"How? There's only one entrance to this room, isn't there?"

The woman giggled.

"Now then. This is the end for you. My condolences."

"Ha, what are you…"

Snap. When the woman snapped her fingers, a rock crashed down from the ceiling.

He thought it was a falling rock trap, but it heaved itself up. It was an Iron Golem.

"Impossible… this is a safe zone."

"A safe zone, so what? Besides, you'll die if you don't watch above you."

At her words, he looked up. The high ceiling was covered with masses of iron clinging to it.

No way… are all of those Iron Golems?

One of them, the iron mass clinging directly above Gesunoh's head, wobbled.

He snapped to attention and bolted. A heavy iron mass crashed down right behind him.

"Look out, that spot's dangerous too."

"Hih, huh!?"

Where he'd dodged to, more iron figures came crashing down in rapid succession.

The iron figures continued raining down as if chasing the fleeing Gesunoh, gradually eliminating his escape routes.

"Gah, gwaaaah!"

"Hmm, hmm. This seems quite effective as a trap."

"Damn! Help me, I'll pay! I have a fortune deposited at the guild, I'll even give you all of Kiwami's savings!"

The moment Gesunoh finished screaming that, the golems stopped falling.

"Hah… hah… I'm saved…?"

However, the Iron Golems that had fallen now swarmed and surrounded Gesunoh. Someone of his C-Rank caliber wouldn't be able to break through and escape, even if these were Stone Golems instead.

Besides, the room's entrance was still completely blocked by iron spikes. Where would he even run to?

"Rei, what are you playing around for?"

"Oh, senpai. No, no, this is also an experiment for a trap Master made, so I'm not just playing around, okay?"

Through the Iron Golems, he could see the beastkin slave and the silver-haired woman chatting amiably. Behind the slave stood the flat-faced wooden doll, now wearing Shina's clothes. On its neck was the slave collar Kiwami had placed, and slung over its shoulder was Kiwami herself, still unconscious with her face swollen.

Only now did Gesunoh finally realize that he had been set up.

"Damn… why, why is this happening to me!? What did I ever do!?"

"Senpai, what is that thing saying? You, weren't you hunting rookies?"

"Hunting the weak is common sense in hunting! I did nothing wrong!"

"Are you saying that about your current situation? That's exactly right."

At those words, Gesunoh finally realized that he himself was the pathetic prey, surrounded by golem hunting hounds.

What an idiot he was.

"Kiwami, wake up, Kiwamiiii! Get up, help me, do something about them!"

At Gesunoh's voice, Kiwami stirred slightly.

"Ugh… Darling? I… ow! Huh, what? What happened?"

"Honey! Kill theeeem! Hurry, don't hold baaack!"

Gesunoh sent four constriction commands to the collar of the doll carrying Kiwami on its shoulder.

With this, the collar should tighten until it snapped the neck bone… or in this case, the wooden neck.

Just as Gesunoh planned, with a creak, crack, the [Illegal Order]'s effect destroyed the doll's neck.

The wooden head rolled to the ground. Following that, Kiwami also tumbled to the ground and scrambled to escape.

"Kill them quickly! Do it nooow!!"

"Fine, I don't really understand what's happening, but die!"

She swiftly cut the cords binding her hands and feet with a small knife hidden in her sleeve.

Then, with that same momentum, she lunged at the silver-haired woman with a large needle-like weapon hidden in her other sleeve.

Got her! Both Gesunoh and Kiwami thought, but the attack didn't connect. It whiffed… No, it had definitely hit, but it passed right through.

"That was an afterimage."

"You mean an illusion."

"Ah, no, senpai. You don't need to tell them the truth there."

The two chatted leisurely, even looking away, while Kiwami stumbled forward from her missed attack.

"Wha, huh, where even is this!? Why are there so many Iron Gole—blergh!"

Just as Kiwami, not fully grasping the situation, was looking around frantically, the beastkin slave punched her in the face again.

Courteously, on the opposite side from before. Kiwami lost consciousness once more.

"She's quiet now."

"Good work, senpai. I'm a bit surprised she had tricks like that up her sleeve… but still, why did the mannequin golem's neck break?"

"I think it's an effect of the slave collar."

"Well, as for that magic… I just received orders from Master to ask about it in detail. We'll question him about it later."

They continued chatting peacefully as if nothing had happened. Kiwami's meager resistance meant absolutely nothing to them. That was the reality.

… The gap in strength was too vast. What on earth was going on? Gesunoh felt as if the world before him was going dark.

"Oh, golems. Go ahead and grab that one too."

The silver-haired woman said it casually, as if saying "pick up that piece of trash over there."

Following her words, the Iron Golems swarmed Gesunoh.

The benchmark for a C-Rank adventurer was being able to fight one Iron Golem one-on-one.

Surrounded by several Iron Golems, the C-Rank adventurer Gesunoh desperately resisted but was beaten to a pulp by their iron fists until he lost consciousness.