Volume 9 Chapter 3 Part 3 (2/2)
Saying so, Suzune slowly stepped forward. Thanks to the pendant, her expression changed from crying to only slightly grimacing.
After completing the countermeasures, the party proceeded towards the depths of the corridor.
What they found next was a hall where several swamps of a forbidding poison-like liquid were formed. Purple smoke rose from the swamps, which was thought to be the source of the awful stench.
”Growl”
Kagerou, who was next to Tiera, growled faintly and submerged again in her shadow. Even if he would not be affected by status ailments thanks to the item, the foul odor must have been too much for his sensitive nose.
He would be out again right away in case of battle, so s.h.i.+n decided to proceed.
The party proceeded by making use of the small s.p.a.ce available between the poison swamps.
At the same time, they detected the presence of something within the swamps.
”There are monsters inside the swamps. They're scattered all over. Stay on your toes, just in case.”
Tiera reacted.
”Yes, I bet there are. But what do you mean, just in case?”
”Well, situations like these are when Schnee s.h.i.+nes. Am I right?”
”Yes, leave it to me.”
Smiling in response to s.h.i.+n's proud statement, Schnee stepped forward.
”I will use a magic spell with a wide area of effect, so please do not move unless necessary.”
After warning Suzune and the others, who had no idea about what she was going to do, Schnee slowly raised her right hand.
”Ooh, you sure are something too.”
Mitsuyo commented, impressed, about the quant.i.ty of magic power that was being gathered. She didn't know about Schnee's fighting ability yet.
Behind her, Suzune whispered her honest thoughts, her face tense.
”..we have another monster here. What's up with this party, seriously?”
After several seconds, Schnee lowered her right hand and a crackling sound, like breaking gla.s.s, resounded at her feet.
Suzune looked at the ground and noticed a white mist arising from the terrain, which had changed color because of the poison swamps. From the cold sensation arising from the ground, she understood that it was chilled air.
The crackling sound was produced by the freezing of the ground and the swamps.
The whole hall was being enveloped in extremely cold air, with Schnee at its center.
”With this there should be no risk of being attacked from the swamps.”
The freezing reached deep within the swamps, so the presences s.h.i.+n had felt seemed to have been frozen too. The map still displayed them, but their hostility markers had disappeared.
”From here, we might encounter things we have no information about.”
”I wonder if they detected our presence and are changing the dungeon's interior because they feel in danger? We are a presence that puts their survival at risk after all, so it wouldn't be weird for them to react, I guess?”
It couldn't be said that miasma possessed a will of its own, but if presences that could purify it, like s.h.i.+n and Tiera, were close, it was possible that it tried to resist. Because of its corruption of Kotone, it was also possible that it acquired some degree of intellect, or so continued Mitsuyo.
”Another possibility is the presence of someone else acting as the brain.”
If thick miasma was present, there was always a possibility that it had given birth to a demon.
s.h.i.+n mentioned that it was worth considering that someone could stand in their way as they tried to rescue Kotone.
With renewed caution, the party proceeded through the hall to the floor below.
The following hall was also riddled with poison swamps, which Schnee froze before they pa.s.sed.
”Hey, we haven't encountered a single monster for a while, is this normal?”
After they pa.s.sed the 7th hall, Mitsuyo asked her question while looking around.
As Mitsuyo had stated, the party had not encountered any monsters since the poison swamps. s.h.i.+n's detection field did not register any monster presences either.
”No, monsters always prowl in dungeons. Even if their numbers are reduced, they start appearing from the walls, from the ceiling, even from nothing. Even if they are all exterminated, after awhile they start appearing again.”
s.h.i.+n answered while glancing at the walls and the ceiling.
This was something he had already verified. Even if all the monsters in a dungeon were defeated, they would either break in through the walls, the ceiling, or even the floor, or magic power would concentrate in one point and create one. It was the same in ”Depths of h.e.l.lfire” too, so it had to be one of the world's rules.
”Could they be gathered somewhere?”
”They could have formed a train, as a trap or something. Or maybe something is attracting the monsters on purpose.”
The word ”train” refers to the situation when a player flees, drawing more and more monsters which eventually become a pack. The large group of monsters chasing the player is reminiscent of a train, hence the term.
Trains were usually caused by players' actions, but in THE NEW GATE they also happened for other reasons.
Monsters that called upon reinforcements when receiving damage, because of traps or other causes, received damage and called for help. The summoned monsters would also receive damage from the trap and call for help themselves, increasing the numbers more and more.
Even outside on the field, rival groups of monsters could continually call for help while fighting, thus causing a train.
This ”automatic train” phenomenon was thought to be a bug at first, but was then found out to be intentional. In a dungeon, where escape routes are limited, it wasn't any different from a monster house.
Monster groups prowl through the dungeon, attacking players on sight. Even if it looked like there weren't any monsters in the surroundings, lowering one's guard would be a huge risk.
”The dungeon is changing, so both are possible. If we find a train, isn't it better to retreat for a time?”
”No problem. Even if we find a train, all we have to do is take them all down. Considering the level of the monsters around here, our killing speed is higher than whatever momentum they might have.”
The dungeon indeed lacked in escape routes, but that also meant that the directions the monsters would attack from were limited too.
With party members like s.h.i.+n and Schnee, clearly stronger than the monsters, trains were nothing more than a way to acc.u.mulate experience points.
”We'll have to pay special attention whenever we arrive in a place with many entrances and exits.”
Halls not only had stairs leading to the lower floor, but were also connected to many big and small corridors. In halls with many corridors, there was the risk of being attacked from all directions, thus the party had to be especially careful.
s.h.i.+n's group proceeded through several more halls.
According to the information provided by Kuchinas.h.i.+, they were supposed to be less than 3 floors away from the bottom, but even then monsters were still nowhere to be seen. There were only a few units acting on their own; even the monsters which usually appeared in groups were on their own, apparently separated from the herd.
”They're all packed together one step before the last floor, huh.”
s.h.i.+n stated this observation, with a tone both jaded and annoyed, on the floor above the boss' chamber. He had picked up a large number of monster responses at the edge of his perception field.
”It's really a pain if there are so many.”
Mitsuyo agreed, her shoulders dropping in dejection.
The floor where the monsters were lying in wait, being the last floor before the final one, was rather small and narrow. It was surely filled with monsters to the point of barely leaving any room to stand.
s.h.i.+n thought that it would be great if they just fought and defeated each other like that.
”This ispretty incredible.”
Schnee's perception field also detected the monsters, and the High Elf's brow furrowed at their numbers.
”They're way too many for a skirmish before the boss, seriously. It would take forever if we knocked them down little by little in close combatSchnee and I will blow them away with a large-scale spell, you snipe any survivors Tiera. Mitsuyo, Suzune, I want you to watch our backs and be wary of any surprise attacks.”
”I doubt I'll have much to do, but leave it to me.”
Tiera knew that dodging s.h.i.+n and Schnee's magic barrage was no easy feat. She nodded as she pulled an arrow from the quiver.
”Not having many long-range attack methods is something this party has to work on, I guess. I'll take the rear this time too, but rest a.s.sured that anyone ambus.h.i.+ng us will be cut in half.”
”Going overboard like that is kind of concerning toobut I'll make sure I fulfill my role.”
Mitsuyo and Suzune also had their weapons at the ready.
After making sure that everyone was prepared, s.h.i.+n stepped into the corridor leading to the floor below.
Maybe because of the high-density monster group awaiting them, a foul stench, a mix of blood and beastly odors, leaked from the other end of the pa.s.sage.
”Okay then, let's show them.”
”Understood.”
Monsters were closing in on the group like a torrent of water breaking through a dam.
Quick four-legged monsters led the pack, insect-types crawled on the ceiling, and flying types swooped through the s.p.a.ce between floor and ceiling.
Behind them, monsters such as Ogres and Nues could be spotted too.
Towards the phenomenon that could be aptly described with the words ”monster wave”, s.h.i.+n and Schnee calmly raised a hand, their palms facing the horde.
Magic power focused on their hands through their arms, and a bluish-white globe started forming in the center point between their palms.
”White Cannon!”
s.h.i.+n and Schnee's voices resounded at the same time. The moment they p.r.o.nounced the spell's name, the globe accelerated instantly, flying towards the monsters.
Leaving after-images as it shot forward, the white globe sped through the center of the corridor.
The flying-type monsters probably thought they could easily dodge it, and just tilted their bodies slightly as they kept flying.
After the globe's pa.s.sage, however, even apparently untouched monsters burst into flames, instantly turning into ashes.
The burning speed was so fast that rather than ”going up in flames”, it looked like they were crumbling from the edges.
”Whoa”
Suzune couldn't help but voice her surprise and incredulousness at the extent of the spell's power. It wasn't only the monsters flying close to the globe that had disappeared.
The combination-only skill White Cannon was a white globe of light with an invisible damaging aura all around it. An aura of scorching, searing h.e.l.lfire.
The aura normally had a small area of effect, but the two casters' magic power had expanded it to an extremely wide range.
The invisible flames had filled the whole corridor, not leaving any room for escape, not even on the floor nor on the ceiling.
The monsters had fallen in utter confusion, as some tried to avoid the impending destruction as others kept pressing forward.
”I'm starting to feel sorry for the monsters”
”Growl”
Tiera and Kagerou looked at the screaming monsters with mixed feelings.
”Tiera, Suzune, close your eyes.”
”Eh?”
The light globe continued onwards, incinerating the monsters in its wake. As it reached the end of the corridor and the hall, s.h.i.+n gave this order to Tiera and Suzune.
They didn't understand what s.h.i.+n meant, but both had a bad feeling about it and immediately closed their eyes.
It happened the next instant.
Upon reaching the hall, the globe unleashed all the energy compressed within itself.
A pure white flame blazed through the hall, reaching all the way to the corridors. The magic barrier s.h.i.+n put up in protection turned completely white, and then not a single monster was in sight anymore.
As the flames died down, s.h.i.+n released the barrier. As he did, the heat wave he had blocked blew past him, towards the rear.
”Let's cool down a bit.”
s.h.i.+n used a water spell to bring down the temperature in the burning hot corridor and hall.
After the torrid air had changed to a cool breeze, s.h.i.+n and Schnee proceeded forward.
”What's wrong? Let's go.”
”Eh, yes, okay.”
Still affected by witnessing White Cannon and its power, Suzune replied with a shrill tone of voice.
When the flames had begun to decrease, Suzune opened her eyes a little; even after witnessing the party's fighting style throughout the dungeon, the scenery before her eyes left her completely speechless.
”For s.h.i.+n and the others, that's just normal”
Tiera had felt Suzune's shock and tried to calm her down, putting a hand on her shoulder. She then added ”I got used to it already”, and Suzune felt again that Tiera was a person on ”her side” of the world.
”Let's focus on our goal, together.”
Behind s.h.i.+n and Schnee, the two girls felt a curious sense of community between each other.