Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, Vol. 5 (30 page)

“I…”

Bell paused for a moment, when another voice came from a little ways behind him.

“Yo! Rabbit boy! Get over here for a piece of the action! Or are you too scared?!”

A group of attackers was getting ready for another run and their leader called out half jokingly to Bell.

They had heard the rumors and invited him to join them in the adventurer style, a challenge.

“…Show ’em how it’s done. I wanna brag that I’ve got a contract with the guy who took down this floor boss, got that?”

“—Count on it!”

Bell smiled as Welf gave his shoulder a small shove. The boy nodded as they wished each other luck and went their separate ways.

Bell raced off to join the group of attackers, caught up with them, and joined their formation. A large man with an eye patch gave him an affirmative jerk of his chin as if welcoming him as soon as Bell arrived.

“Little Rookie! Are you goin’ in with those weapons?!”

“A greatsword, please, the best one you’ve got!”

“I hear ya. Take this one!”

One of the attackers in the group took a spare greatsword off his back and handed it to Bell. The boy thanked him. Bell held the greatsword in his right hand, resting the back of the blade on his shoulder as the group of attackers, four in all, left the forward base and charged toward the giant.

However, it saw the group coming and ran to meet them.

“““OH, SHIT!”””

“Huh?”

The “brave” attackers immediately changed course, leaving Bell behind. Still a relative newbie, Bell didn’t recognize the danger in time to get out of the Goliath’s path like they did.

Bell wondered if maybe he was falling into a trap as he charged toward the Goliath, alone. The giant’s damaged, bloodshot eyes managed to lock onto the single figure charging toward it.

Zing!
The monster’s ferocious aura hit him hard. Bell looked around, searching for an escape route, when suddenly—the image of locks of golden hair passed through the back of his mind.

“—”

The girl who’d slain a floor boss just like this one, on her own. An image of the knight who was far more powerful than him.

Bell’s ruby-red eyes flashed with intensity as he looked up. Gripping the greatsword in his right hand with all of his might, the boy kicked off the ground and charged headlong toward his target.

“OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!”

“—!”

He pointed the sword at the giant’s leg and sped up.

One path, straightforward to the target—
Don’t run, fight!
He reached his top speed. He managed to pass under the beast’s oncoming fist by the slimmest of margins, the ground behind him erupting in a cloud of dirt and crystals.

Legs a blur beneath him, he stayed on course. He was now inside the Goliath’s defenses, but the threatening presence of its massive fist just behind him kept his senses on high alert as he closed in on his target, the beast’s left leg. Grabbing the hilt of the greatsword with both hands, he swung—and hit.

“Gah!!”

A dull impact. The creature’s hide was too strong to pierce; however, the impact did inflict some damage.

Bell’s strike caused the floor boss’s leg to quiver. The damage inflicted by the hit-and-run raids of the attackers had been immense.

Bell took a page out of their book and escaped between the legs of the giant and out behind it, amid cheers from the people who’d witnessed his deed.

“Mr. Cranell, that was reckless.”

“L-Lyu…”

“No amount of life will save you if you try that again.”

Lyu caught up with him, running side by side as she scolded him.

Bell could feel her sky-blue glare coming from underneath the hood. His shoulders sank like those of a child being put in timeout.

“I will give a signal; follow my lead to attack. You should be able to keep up.”

“…! Yes!”

Lyu looked forward before speaking. Bell nodded enthusiastically and moved behind her.

The two advanced like master and apprentice as they continued their assault on the floor boss.

The attackers tenaciously targeted the floor boss’s legs in an effort to bring it to ground, or at the very least restrict its mobility. Although they were unable to injure the Goliath enough to keep it in one spot due to its extremely thick hide, their attacks made the beast’s movements clumsy and awkward.

The mages finished their spells just as a group of attackers celebrated another successful run.

“Front lines, get back! Big stuff’s comin’ in!”

Lyu, Bell, and the other attackers immediately withdrew. They had drawn the Goliath into the middle of a small network of magic users protected by walls. The beast’s bloodred eyes opened wide once it realized what was about to happen.

Every single magic caster grinned, knowing there was no escape for their target now, and thrust their staffs upward.

New colors flashed throughout the battlefield. Magic circles shone brightly as wave after wave of magic hit the beast all at once.

“
?!”

Magic of every element continued to pound the monster. It was assailed by burgeoning balls of flame, followed by thunderbolts in the shape of spears, all while being caught between massive tornadoes and skewered by a rain of long, thick ice shards. A group of
attackers equipped with magic swords added yet another round of flames to the assemblage of smoke and explosions that had completely engulfed the Goliath’s body.

At long last, the magic barrage came to a stop. Everyone’s ears were ringing as the echoes of the last explosion died out. Every set of eyes was trained on the ball of smoke in the middle of the battlefield…A massive arm emerged as the smoke started to clear, but there was no hand attached. Next, a heavily damaged head and shoulders were revealed as they slumped forward. The Goliath’s skin was torn to shreds, exposing raw muscle and spewing blood from every angle.

White smoke billowed out of its mouth as the beast tried to draw breath, showing just how much damage it had absorbed.

The adventurer ranks yelled out in celebration.

“Let’s finish it off, maggots!! ATTAAAAACK!!”

All of the attackers moved in at once. They came in from every angle, all of them looking to be the one who delivered the final blow.

This time, their target was the Goliath’s head.

“…?”

“Lyu?”

Bell had the same triumphant smile on his face as the other attackers, until he noticed that Lyu’s shoulders were shaking.

Her eyes were very serious, narrowed beneath her hood, until they suddenly snapped open.

“—FUOOOO.”

The other adventurers noticed it at about the same time, too.

The Goliath should have been too badly injured to move, and yet it raised its head. The injuries that it had sustained were gone.

Red specks of light emerged from its body, more specifically from its wounds. The adventurers watched in horror as the Goliath’s skin regenerated right before their eyes. The red specks were multiplying while all the damage was being erased. Soon, all that was left on its body were scars.

The Goliath stood up with renewed vigor.

“Self-regeneration?!”

Screamed Asfi in disbelief. The Goliath recovered from its injuries at an astounding pace and locked its eyes on the attackers who had charged in close—then the stunned and horrified mages—before raising its arms above its shoulders and bringing its hands together above its head.

Then it brought both massive fists straight down into the ground.

“
”

The great plain split.

The ferocious explosion sent a destructive shock wave through the ground. The attackers were instantly swallowed up by an ever-expanding tsunami of debris. It was no time at all before the adventurer walls were overwhelmed and the mages overtaken.

Everything was launched into the air.

“Huh…?!”

Bell had retreated alongside Lyu, but he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

Their defensive web was destroyed in an instant.

The attackers got the worst of it and most were on the ground, writhing in pain. But it wasn’t just them—the magic users hadn’t fared well, either. There were too many adventurers shaking on their hands and knees for Bell to count.

Smoke wafted up from the cracks in the ground, shrouding a battlefield that looked like a scene from hell.

“It turned magic energy into healing power…?!”

The remaining crystals on the ceiling cast blue light over the battlefield. However, the Goliath glowed red. Its body was surrounded by thousands and thousands of red specks, the by-product of burned magical energy.

The same energy it used for a howl had been used to accelerate its natural healing ability.

Asfi gawked at the living nightmare, a monster with the ability to regenerate—a power only attributed to floor bosses.

The remaining adventurers still able to stand looked at the Goliath. It was covered in so many red specks that it appeared to be burning in the darkness.

To Bell, it looked as if Sodom had emerged from the fires of hell to punish evil in this world.

“
AAAH!”

The Goliath’s assault began without warning. It shot a howl at anything that moved, putting even more adventurers out of commission. They were blown backward, crushed under its impact, and were fading in and out of consciousness.

“Oh no…Boris, reestablish formations, now!”

“How the hell am I supposed to do that?!”

Confusion and fear had completely overtaken the adventurers, who weren’t used to working in larger numbers. Some were retreating to regroup; others were healing the wounded. A few magic users had begun casting another spell. There was no unity, only panic.

Seeing their teamwork completely fall apart, the Goliath seized the opportunity to use its trump card.

“OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!”

“That bastard. More monsters…?!”

Every remaining monster on the eighteenth floor responded to the Goliath’s second summoning call with a howl of their own. Not wasting any time, a fresh wave of monsters appeared on the great plain.

The surviving adventurers suddenly had a lot more on their plate than they could handle.

“…Mr. Cranell, stay here. Join their ranks and repel the monsters.”

“L-Lyu! What about you?!”