Welcoming the Intruders (2)

If they just gave a random number for the spiral staircase's step count, they'd eventually get the right answer by chance. But by adding the color of the door at the bottom—since you couldn't see it from above, you wouldn't know without descending. That was the idea.

"You can't solve it without going further into the dungeon… we're being lured in."

"Damn, we let our guard down too much. We should have known it'd be completely different from the old [Ordinary Cave]."

"Oi! Brace yourselves if you don't want to die! This isn't an E-Rank dungeon anymore—think of it as an A-Rank class dungeon!"

Oops, my bad. Looks like I got them all fired up.

… Well, that's fine. I need them to give their all if I'm going to test our performance anyway.

While all that was going on, the knight order advanced into the [Spiral Staircase Area]. It was a spiral staircase with an open center, with plate-like footholds jutting out from the walls in a spiral pattern. They were checking each step one by one to see if it would fall… Their concern was justified. Some of the footholds here were designed to collapse under a person's weight.

"There are collapsing footholds mixed in. Don't step carelessly."

"Yeah. Let's proceed carefully… Should we count the collapsing ones too?"

They checked each step one by one and slowly descended. But there's no way I'd just let them descend like that.

"Alright, Rei. Kinue-san. Nerune… The enemies have entered the [Spiral Staircase Area]. —Push."

"""Understood, master."""

This Spiral Staircase Area was designed with an open center. Besides looking cool, there was another proper reason for it.

What we'd set up there were thick—incredibly thick, wider than the staircase itself—stone wall golems.

And as the knight order descended the open spiral staircase, the stone wall golems that had been embedded in the walls slid out. The result of that was, simply put—

"Wha—?! M-move quickly! It's a trap!"

"W-wait, go back!"

"Idiot, this side too… h-hiii, uwaaah!"

They were pushed off and fell. Simple as that. The four who had been too focused on the collapsing footholds and were late to escape were pushed off by the stone wall golems and fell through the open center… In terms of floors, from the second above-ground floor to the third underground floor. Even though they were already partway down, those four people plunged through four floors' worth of open shaft at maximum speed and became red splatter marks that would definitely need mosaics when they hit the floor.

The DP we gained was about the amount from four E-Rank adventurers… Hmm, so it doesn't double even when we take them out while they're trapped.

But still… ugh, this is worse than I expected. I've been slaughtering bandits since coming to this world, so I don't feel guilty at this point. But it looks awful. Maybe because of the weight of their armor, all four of them went headfirst and burst open. Gross. This is the kind of thing even late-night anime would black out with shadows. Blech, I can't eat meat today…

"Tch, four people taken out huh."

"What do we do, we can't go back."

"…… No, look. The walls have already retracted… The timing surprised us, but the speed they came out wasn't that fast. And there were gaps when they extended. If we rush through all at once, or climb over the extended walls, we should be able to make it. Though we ended up getting chased down to the bottom."

… Six remaining. As expected, the commander types are unharmed.

They were collecting usable equipment and valuables from the corpses. What amazing mental fortitude. I could learn from that.

"I'm sorry, I could only push off four of them."

"No, this is just right. Rather, it's impressive you got four of them… Six more left. Let's have them join us for combat training."

I deployed a haniwa golem at the top of the spiral staircase. It was a normal one, originally meant to be a boss but never got its turn—a sad existence. I had this cavalry-type haniwa golem slowly make footsteps as it descended the spiral staircase.

"Oh, this is the door at the bottom, huh. It's red. Alright, let's head back. How many steps were there?"

"… It was 160. Whether or not to include the top and bottom steps is… wait, commander. Something's coming down. At least Unique-level."

"From above? Where did it come from? … Can we take it?"

"No idea, it's a shape I've never seen before. Too many unknowns. Stay on guard."

The haniwa golem was an armored golem mounted on a golem horse. Its face was a haniwa. The concept was a soldier that protects my peaceful sleep.

Normally I have it roam around on auto, but right now Niku is giving it instructions and piloting it.

"Then first, I will demonstrate, so please watch."

The haniwa golem had been carefully descending step by step… but the moment the surviving six assumed battle stances, it leaped down through the open center.

Normally it should have ambushed them before being noticed, but this time was for training Rei and the other newcomers in golem piloting, so I had Niku—who had already become a complete veteran pilot—demonstrate.

Using the horse portion's legs fully to absorb the landing impact, it drew the magic sword golem naginata from its back in a smooth motion. The armored golem was about 1.5 times larger than an ordinary human, with a horse golem scaled to match. This size difference was quite intimidating.

Despite being surrounded by six armed people, the golem showed no agitation. As if it had eyes in the back of its head—actually, since we were watching through the monitor, there were no blind spots—the tense atmosphere froze everyone in place.

"Here I go."

Niku's murmur was directed at us. The next instant, the horse golem alone shot forward as if launched, slamming one person into the wall. Just a split second later, the armored golem that had landed swung its naginata at knee height.

Two people whose reactions were delayed by surprise at the horse golem's charge had everything below the knees cleanly severed off, slipping and tumbling to the ground.

"It huuurts!! Commander! Help meee!"

"Run! —The staircase is blocked, head deeper in!"

What the haniwa golem—what Niku—had been aiming for was blocking the staircase. The first person the horse golem charged had fainted. With the horse golem trampling that person who had been positioned in front of the staircase, and the armored golem further guarding it while brandishing its naginata—

The escape route was sealed… And at the same time, three people were instantly incapacitated.

Since our DP hadn't increased yet, they weren't dead yet. And half were left for the newcomers' combat training. My orders were perfectly followed—magnificent work.

The remaining three fled into the Golem Warehouse.

"… Perfect."

"Thank you very much, Goshujin-sama."

… Wait, huh?! Could the horse golem always be shot out that fast with those movements?!

I did sacrifice some output using gears to let it move somewhat faster, but Niku, how did you just do that? Hey?!

"By smoothly shifting weight across the entire body and operating all joints simultaneously at their maximum, you can launch it. Then by also kicking off with the one on top, you can add even more acceleration to achieve this speed… I practiced with Rokuko-sama. This is a technique Rokuko-sama can also use. As bosses, you should be able to do at least this much."

So please learn it too, Niku explained to the three newcomers.

When did they… ah, it must have been while I was sleeping. I thought I was the best at using golems, but apparently not.

"What should we do with those three, and the rest, Goshujin-sama?"

"… I'll add a prison cell adjacent to the Golem Warehouse. Neutralize them and throw them in. We'll squeeze DP out of them until they die… Chase the rest while fighting. But don't defeat them—getting defeated yourselves is fine. There are various golems, so try out different things."

"""Yes, master."""

Iron golems and stone golems relentlessly chased them around the Golem Warehouse Area's corridors. There were animal-shaped ones, ones with four arms, ones with four legs, ones with bows and arrows, ones with spears—every single golem had features unusual for ordinary golems.

"Damn, damn, what are these monsters, what the hell, what the hell, what did we even do!"

"This way, there are fewer over here!"

"Hiii?! A pincushion?! Uwah, don't come, don't come!!"

"This four-legged golem is slow, but it can draw a bow stably from any position."

"A broom as a weapon isn't suited for combat."

"Heee～, just running with the hedgehog golem is intimidating enough～, so easy～"

I had the three use whatever prototype golems they liked to drive the enemies toward designated checkpoints.

At those points—

"Uwah, a-a net?! Damn, I can't get it off!"

"I'll tear it off!"

"Igyaaah! G-guh, damn, there are thorns on it!"

"Oi, they're behind us! Hurry!"

"Uwaaah! That thing, that thing is coming!"

—there were traps set up, and the haniwa golem circled around. Chasing, herding, making them run endlessly.

"Haa, haa, damn… th-this is—"

And finally, where they ended up was the spiral staircase room. Their only way back.

"A different room… no, it's not… but the bodies are gone. Already disappeared?"

"This dungeon is weird, dangerous."

"We're getting out alive… the stair count, count again! Don't miscount! Watch out for the walls! …! It's him, he's comiiiing hurry!!"

The haniwa golem urged them on as a final push. Clack, clack, making the hard footsteps characteristic of golems, one step at a time.

I let them climb without triggering the walls. Though there were still collapsing footholds, so they kept almost slipping.

"Master, is this okay? Just letting them go home like this?"

"No, I'm not letting them go… If I let them go like this, our dungeon would go from beginner-friendly to high-alert… I've set up a little prank, hope they enjoy it."

And so, the three survivors arrived at the riddle room.

"It's the riddle! Hurry before he gets here! Did you count the steps?! I counted 160!"

"Same here! 160!"

"160! The door is red!"

"Alright, here's the answer……?"

The three froze. Before them was the riddle puzzle.

But it wasn't a question asking for the number of steps and the door color.

"…'I've made it a special problem with an [Easy] answer! What is 25 + 39?' … What is this…"

"The question changed?! … But come on, even I know this one! It's 66!"

The moment the commander gave that answer, the room's floor turned into a pitfall.

… He had a "Why?!" expression as he fell, but honestly, I didn't expect him to get that particular part wrong either.