## Chapter 44 – Dungeon
“This humiliation, I’ll never forgive it!!!”
Extremely pissed off, I unleashed a lion’s roar.
Even though there was a mage on the enemy side, his magic was useless against Meria’s shield, and the skeletons coming from over there were too pathetic to stop my hegemony.
“Sister Elise! I’ll break through! Copson! You too!”
“Understood.”
“Good!”
I ran forward with all my might. Elise and Copson followed behind me, naturally forming a wedge formation. The momentum was like brave knights breaking through the infantry.
“Magnum Kick!”
Gaining momentum and leaping powerfully, I delivered a spinning side kick to the skeletons.
—Thwack!
—Crack!
The formidable power of my third-dan taekwondo kick shattered three skeletons at once. My fighting spirit surged. A flame of burning fighting spirit that wouldn’t die down unless I fucked these bastards up completely today!
The dungeon will receive three skulls today!
—With the light, He shall come…
As I forcefully smashed other skeletons, I heard a chanting sound from behind. Elise seemed to be using a divine skill.
“Light Bolt!”
A sphere of light shot past me. The sacred sphere brightly illuminated the dungeon, shattering skeletons as it flew. It was a flare with tremendous physical force.
—Swoosh!
—Smash!
As the skeletons touched by the Light Bolt shattered and collapsed, a large, straight path opened up. That was the opportunity. I darted out like a sprinter.
The target was, of course, the Skeleton Mage.
“Die! Mage!”
—Ggrrr.
—Whoosh!
But the Skeleton Mage didn’t give in. It chanted darkness again, casting a curse magic.
Purple flames surged above the staff with the black crystal orb, forming a sphere and shooting out. The burning fireball resembled a bizarre deep-sea fish attacking from the bottom of the darkest abyss.
It looked that ominous, and it was very fast.
But.
“Evade!”
It wasn’t fast enough to hit me, who was extremely focused.
I stared intently at the incoming fireball and rolled on the ground, timing it perfectly. The sphere cut through the air and flew behind me.
—Thud!
An explosion was heard. I turned my head halfway to look back. Meria was blocking with her shield.
“I blocked it!”
“Nice!”
It seemed Meria had blocked it. Good. Now there was nothing to worry about. The distance between me and that Skeleton Mage bastard was only a few meters—I was going to close the distance in an instant and smash him. An unstoppable, destructive impulse surged.
—Ggrrr.
Only then did it seem to grasp the situation, and it slowly backed away. Even though it was just a skull, it was a mage, so it had some brains. With that action, all the other skeletons retreated as well. If they couldn’t win by fighting, they had to run.
A wise decision. Worth praising.
Running away from me is the right thing to do.
“Wise decision, desu.”
But it was too late.
If you were going to run, or rather, if you were going to do that in the first place, you shouldn’t have appeared before me.
The mage will pay the price.
“I’ll fuck you up!”
I put all the power of my run into a diagonal slash.
This was Assault, one of the skills I learned from Karin. A technique that puts the full speed of the run into the slash. An average guy would go to his screaming death like he’d been in a traffic accident.
“Dieee!”
—Slash.
The blade drew a clear trajectory.
—Cut.
“You cut something useless.”
The slash went in unbelievably cleanly. It was the best cut of my life, undeniably. A thrill like that of an executioner surged through my fingertips.
—Thud.
The Skeleton Mage’s body was precisely bisected.
Its spine slid along the cut surface and fell to the ground. I composed myself and sheathed my sword. Because there was something else I had to do now.
That was.
“You motherfucking son of a bitch!”
To fuck up the mage.
“You goddamn son of a bitch! You fucking ball-less bastard! You fucking retard!”
—Thwack thwack thwack!
Losing my mind in anger, I frantically stomped on the bastard’s remains. No bullshit, I thought I was gonna drown for a second there.
Thinking about it sent shivers down my spine. The sensation of water entering my nose was still vivid.
“Die! Die! Die, die, you motherfucking son of a bitch!”
I fell into a trance and crushed the bastard’s bones.
After kicking and stomping on him with my combat boots for a long time, finally turning him into bone powder, my rampage ended.
“Haa… Haa… I won.”
I had achieved a wonderful victory against a mage. A refreshing sweat of labor trickled down my forehead with the sense of accomplishment. Endorphins were released. Feeling good, I chuckled softly.
“You completely fucked him up. You’re a barbarian.”
“Heeh… Are you okay now?”
Copson and Meria approached and said. I smiled at them.
“Ah, I’m more than okay.”
If I had to say, I felt so refreshed that I wanted to put the finely ground bone powder of the Skeleton Mage in an urn and enshrine it.
“That was a proper use of anger just now. If you live with that precious feeling in your heart, it will be good.”
Elise also smiled brightly for some reason. Proper anger was something I wouldn’t have understood normally, but intoxicated by the thrill of victory, I gladly accepted those words.
“Then we should check it out.”
Elise, walking into the darkness, picked up the Skeleton Mage’s skull. I was so angry earlier that I kicked it away first.
“Indeed. Look at this Skeleton Mage’s skull. Isn’t that a familiar symbol?”
“Huh?”
I didn’t notice it earlier, but there was a somewhat familiar pattern engraved in black on the skull’s forehead. After thinking about it for a while, I realized what it was, and an exclamation of surprise burst from my mouth.
“Kobold idol!”
“That’s right. This also proves that there is some kind of ominous connection.”
I had destroyed a Kobold idol when I first worked with Elise. Those underground-dwelling bastards had crawled above ground for some reason and done such things, and what I found there was this symbol.
…There was a smell of some kind of evil plot.
“Anyway, it seems my mission is over.”
Elise stroked the Skeleton Mage’s head. Her purpose was investigation, so if she just took that as evidence, the mission would probably be over.
“Will you go further in? My mission is over, but if you wish to explore further, I will follow.”
“Hmm…”
This was a fork in the road. The party pondered.
There were three options.
1. Chase the necromancer who might be hiding underground.
2. Screw the necromancer and make some more money.
3. Just go home happily.
“What do you guys think?”
I had confirmed Elise’s intentions, so I asked Copson and Meria.
“Hmm… Skeleton Mage. This seems a bit dangerous.”
“Honestly, the skeletons themselves aren’t a big deal…”
After unleashing a torrent of intense violence, I had entered a rare moment of clarity. Judging by my refined and sharpened insight, this was exactly option 2.
“Let’s just find something else to make money and go. Honestly, a necromancer is a bit much for our level. I’m really scared. If we go further inside, something like a super strong skeleton might pop out instead of a Skeleton Mage.”
If nothing else, seeing the [Skeleton Mage] made my decision clear. After having a serious showdown with him, I realized one thing.
Necromancers are dangerous.
Just raising skeletons is something a mage can do, but being able to create skeletons that can use magic is a bit too much.
It’s just bones, but it uses magic. Then I’m afraid of what kind of bizarre magic the creator of that can use.
It might shoot out spells that the shield can’t block or spells that are too fast for my agility stat to dodge.
If that’s the case, it’s a motherfucking difficulty.
There’s no need to bother with an unconfirmed enemy.
“That makes sense. I was feeling a bit dangerous when I saw the mage.”
“Isn’t he not that scary since we can block with the shield?”
Copson nodded, and Meria expressed doubt. As someone who handles shields well, she had faith in them. I didn’t want to pour cold water on her pride, but,
“It’s a big deal if we meet a bastard who uses magic that the shield can’t block.”
“Hmm… I guess so.”
Magic is erratic and mysterious, so there was a possibility that the shield would be useless. If they shot a beam that could penetrate walls, we’d die instantly. Since he’s a necromancer, he might shoot something like a Death Beam.
“Ah, right, fuck. More than that, there’s this staff.”
I picked up the staff with the black crystal, which I had forgotten for a moment, the one the Skeleton Mage was holding.
“That’s…”
“Looks expensive.”
“Right?”
The black crystal was cracked and faded, looking cloudy, but he definitely used it to cast magic. I’m ignorant about magic, but the fact that it works means it’s not completely broken.
Mage tools are generally expensive.
Well, there are many reasons, but let’s skip that for now. What I want to say is that even low-level equipment is quite valuable. And this black crystal staff would be no exception.
No, rather, since it’s a necromancer’s item, it might be worth even more.
“I like it very much.”
The party’s eyes lit up. The biggest gain of this dungeon trip would be this. Greed welled up. At that moment, Meria spoke wistfully, as if she was fascinated by the black crystal.
“Then how about we look for a few more Skeleton Mages before we go? We know what the enemy is, so we can be careful enough, and if they have the same staves…”
—Gulp.
I swallowed involuntarily. No one could resist that greedy temptation. Adventurers are that kind of people. We looked at each other and smiled like greedy merchants. Copson’s face looked like a Jar of Avarice, making me feel friendly. I felt like I should draw two cards.
“Hehehe.”
“Hehe… Good idea.”
“Thinking about it, it would be good to take one more piece of evidence. Hehe.”
As expected, filling the lantern with oil with greedy hands, we headed into the darkness.
