Dungeon Battle, Conclusion

Dungeon Battle, Part Two: The Conclusion.

Slowly, the [Gate of Wisdom] opened.

Haku somehow managed to piece her broken spirit back together and tried to peer through to the other side…

… She couldn't.

Because beyond the door was an earthen wall.

… Complete with a politely posted sign reading "Under Construction."

Her broken spirit exploded.

 

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"… Oh, she got it right."

"Hey, it's a dead end. What gives?"

"Well, I was a bit short on time, you see… I-I didn't sleep, okay? Really, I swear."

So he definitely slept. Rokuko was certain of it.

"Honestly, I figured if Rokuko could solve it in three seconds, they'd breeze right through… so I deliberately left it unfinished."

"Deliberately, huh?"

"I mean, I thought it would be more surprising that way…"

"It's certainly surprising. Reaching a dead end after clearing a labyrinth… So where are they supposed to go from here?"

"Actually, I hid three dummy cores inside the labyrinth besides the pitfall… they went past them."

I had hidden two in "small protruding rooms" that jutted out from the neatly squared labyrinth, and one in the ceiling.

However, they were currently covered by wall golems, so Haku-san's group hadn't found them.

That said, since having the real Dungeon Core walled in would cause the dungeon to malfunction, I planned to shift just those wall golems aside to create an opening after using castling.

Incidentally, it apparently doesn't count as being confined if there's a proper door sealing it off. I honestly don't understand the logic there, but covering it with wall golems was apparently not allowed. Go figure.

 

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""""… … … …""""

Everyone in [White Trial] had fallen completely silent.

Each of them wore a slightly different expression.

First, Haku.

She had frozen with a smile on her face.

Misha, the only one who had answered the riddle correctly, had gone pale and frozen stiff, thinking "Crap, I said something I shouldn't have…"

And the remaining four retainers, Chloe among them, felt an indescribable terror at Haku's smile and couldn't bring themselves to say anything.

"…! The enemy has broken through the dungeon boss room! Th-the Core Room has been discovered!"

Amelia's sudden report pushed away the frozen atmosphere.

"Wait, hold on! What happened to the Red Minotaur boss?! You can't enter the Core Room without defeating the boss!"

"Its… a rat got stuck in its throat and it died!"

A chill ran through them.

Not from imagining that horrible way to die—though that wasn't entirely absent—but from the fact that rats, mere rats, had defeated a boss monster.

"Ah, ahaha, th-this is ridiculous! How can rats be this deadly?!"

"Please calm yourself, Dolce… Ojou-sama."

"We haven't lost yet… Have the attack team continue searching. There must be something they missed. Chloe, take my spear and defend the core."

"… As you command. Even if it costs me my life…!"

No one could say that was an exaggeration over mere rats.

They had just witnessed rats defeat a Red Minotaur by sacrificing themselves to clog its throat. With Chloe's much smaller frame, even a single rat would probably get stuck if she tried to swallow it whole.

"The enemy… still numbers around one hundred… good luck."

"I still have to serve Ojou-sama, so I can't afford to die… Here I go!"

And so, Chloe leaped out from the core with spear in hand, just as the swarm of rats was about to descend upon the Dungeon Core.

"Just barely…! Block them! [Firewall]!"

With those words, a wall of flame sprang up to surround and protect the core. The rats hurriedly backed away.

This was the power of Haku's magic spear, the [Spear of Firewall]… It used the wielder's magical power, manifesting the fire-type Advanced-tier magic [Firewall] with a single keyword. A truly magical spear.

Furthermore, if offered to a dungeon as treasure, a single one of these would fetch 10,000,000 DP. A treasure among treasures.

"Phew… this should buy us some time."

Now then, what would they do next? Chloe thought… Her prediction was that the rats would clump together and try to burst through the Firewall.

When she looked, the rats were indeed huddling together.

Good. If she was mentally prepared, she could handle—

"Chloe-san! Wait—behind you! The enemy is already behind you! Ten of them!"

"—?!"

She spun around, but nothing was there… No, she just couldn't see them?!

"What on earth—?!"

She searched for the enemies but couldn't find them. Couldn't see them. There should be ten of them?!

They weren't rats?!

"…! It was… touched…!"

"Haha… what is even happening…"

She couldn't comprehend it. Her concentration slipped, and the [Firewall] dissipated.

… After the flickering flames died out, she noticed something transparent sitting atop the core.

"… What is this?"

It was transparent—something she had never seen before. Like… an insect, or something.

 

＊ ＊ ＊

 

Finally, the Dungeon Core… well, the dummy core, but still—touchdown! … Or so I thought, but then Chloe jumped out from the core and put up a [Firewall].

So you can sortie from a dummy core too… I didn't know that. If I'd known, I could have made better use of golems. Like an infinite-spawn combo with them reviving and re-entering from all over the place in the labyrinth.

But man, this flame was a pain to deal with.

Seriously, that's cheating. I was one step away from victory. It was obviously a magic item. I'd like to have a word about that 100,000 DP limit.

Let me gather the rats and see if they can somehow break through… hmm.

Hm? Wait a second…

"… Ah, the top is wide open. Perfect, just what I needed. Time to deploy the 'hidden ace.'"

"Ooh, that weird thing from before!"

"Deploying."

Don't call it weird. In my world they're called drones, kind of like helicopters… yeah, she'd have no idea what those are either.

Anyway, I made these with transparent materials.

At first I tried making them as water golems, but the propeller strength turned out to be insufficient and they couldn't fly. However, I happened to have some empty mana potion bottles, so I tried making them with those and it worked out perfectly.

Plus they were transparent and incredibly hard to see. The rats could carry them by swallowing them. The amazing miniaturization was a success. They were about the size of marbles at most.

And well, especially in conditions like these… with flames flickering everywhere, they'd be extra hard to spot!

Since they could be made from a single material and didn't even need a power source as dungeon-exclusive golems, this level of stealth was possible. In modern Japan, the best you could manage would be a skeletal-frame drone with visible circuit boards and batteries for communication equipment. Magic is incredible.

So, the drones that had been hidden inside some of the rats' stomachs, stored in capsules, were released as the rats opened them up.

This was my ultimate weapon, the 'hidden ace.'

… Visually speaking, this meant the rats were tearing open their own bellies. Grotesque. Sorry about that, and sorry about ordering them to dive into the Minotaur's mouth earlier too, but maybe because they're just rats, I don't really feel that bad about it.

And then, the drones slipped in from above the Firewall and made a soft landing—the hot air turbulence made them a bit tricky to control, but—

—We won.

Bonus

A little something from during the labyrinth challenge.

"Kuh, this [Transforming Labyrinth] is such a pain… Oh, I know! Why don't we just break through the walls to advance?"

"Wait, that's totally cheating for solving a labyrinth."

"No, but at this rate we won't have enough time…"

"… Very well, I'll allow it. Go ahead!"

"W-we're receiving a transmission from the enemy!"

"What could it be? Put them through… My my, Kehma-san, what is it? I don't believe there was any rule against destroying the dungeon or labyrinth walls."

"Ah, I just thought I'd share some useful information… This labyrinth is… handmade by Rokuko, you know. Are you really okay with destroying it?"

"Wha…?! Th-that's…"

"Actually, Rokuko dug out the passages herself alongside the golems, using a pickaxe… So this is truly her first, genuine, handmade labyrinth. And you're… really okay with that? Truly? You won't regret it even if she ends up hating you?"

"… That's a dirty psychological attack!"

"It's standard practice on our turf… So, are you going to destroy it?"

"…! Of course I'm not going to destroy it!"

That exchange may or may not have happened…