by Chuuni Suki
When the Rockmount felt that he could not pass by Ryutaro, it withdraw a bit and inhaled a deep breath.
"GuGaGaGaaaaa------!!""
The intense roar vibrated the whole room.
"Gu!?"
"Uwa!?"
"Kya!?"
A shock ran through their bodies, it did not damage them, but it froze them. This was Rockmount's Special Magic "Intimidating Roar". The roar carried the magic that caused the temporary paralysis.
Kouki's vanguard took the roar almost point-blank, this caused them to freeze momentarily. The Rockmount took this gap in defense to attack, it lifted a boulder and threw it at Kaori's rear guard. A stunning shot-put form was executed by it. The rock flew towards Kaori, and the frozen vanguard could not move to stop it.
Kaori and her partners ready the magic wands they had, to intercept the boulder. There was not enough room to dodge it. However, the moment they were going to activate their magic, all of them involuntarily were stunned at the sight before them.
The boulder that was thrown was another Rockmount. Nearing Kaori's group, it did a stunning rotation and expanded its arms. It's appearance was like a Rune Diver. A voice saying "Ka-o-ri-chan~!" could almost be heard. Strangely, its eyes were bloodshot and its breathing was rough. Kaori, Eri, and Susu unintentionally screamed and stopped their magic.
"Hey! What are you doing in a battle"
In a hurry, Meld went to slay the Rockmount that was still in the dive. The girls apologized, but the bad feeling was still there. Their face had paled.
There a person that got mad at such a situation. Our very own mass of justice, Amanokawa Kouki.
"Bastard....You dare treat them like that...I won't forgive you!"
Kouki seemed to have misunderstood why the girls were pale and feeling bad, he thought they were afraid of their impending death. To frighten girls like that! Indescribably, small signs of anger surfaced on Kouki. His "Holy Sword" seemed to shine in response to his feelings.
"Myriad of Soaring Wings, Reach the Heavens, "Soaring Flash""
"Ah, this fool!"
Ignoring Meld's voice, Kouki brandished his sword over his head and swung down in one motion. His chant had made the sword emit an intense light, the slash released the light. Drawing a curve, the light bisected the Rockmount without encountering any resistance. The blade of light continued on until it destroyed the back wall.
Debris lightly fell from the damaged wall. Kouki exhaled and gave the girls a sparkling smile. He had defeated the monster that scared them. It's alright now! About to give credit to his voice, he was approached by a smiling Meld who smack him.
"Ow!?"
"You fool. I understand how you feel, but you shouldn't use such a technique in such a narrow place. If it collapse, what are you going to do?"
At Meld's rebuke, he choked. Kouki tried to apologize. The girls approached him and gave him a strained smile to try to comfort him.
At that moment, the collapsed wall caught Kaori's attention.
"What is that? It's sparkling."
Everyone looked at the wall Kaori was mentioning. There blooming on the wall were minerals that radiated pale light. It was like a crystal covered in indicolite. The girls were enchanted by the beautiful sight of the crystals.
"Oh, that's Grantz Crystal. A one this big in size is rare."
When talking about Grantz Crystal, it was like an ore that was like a jewel. The crystal did not have any special effects, but it's cool and sparkling appearance is popular among the ladyship. Rings, earrings, pendants, and other jewelry have it set into them and it's very well received. The jewel is one of the top 3 chooses for proposal rings.
"Lovely..."
Enchanted, Kaori's cheeks blushed. Hajime and Shizuku were the only ones who noticed this.
"If that's the case, I'll retrieve it!"
The one who announced that and abruptly moved toward it was Hiyama. He approached the wall and quickly reached towards the crystal. Meld panicked at that.
"Kora! Don't just do what you want! We haven't confirmed if it's safe!"
Hiyama pretended not to hear and finally arrived in front of the crystal. Meld chased after Hiyama to stop him. At that moment, one of the knight finished his analysis with the Fair Scope. He paled at the result.
"Commander! It's a trap!"
"tsu!?"
However their warnings came too late. The moment Hiyama touched the Grantz Crystal, magic started to spread from the crystal. The trap was set for people who became so fascinated with the crystal that they would touch it carelessly. There's a good story about this. It's the way of the world.
In a blink of an eye, the magic circle spread throughout the whole room, and it gradually shined brighter. It was like a replication of the magic that summoned them.
"Withdraw! Get out of this room this instant!"
At Meld's insistence, everyone started to clear the room in a hurry, but they weren't fast enough. When the light filled the room, everyone momentary felt a floating sensation. The students felt the change in atmosphere. They were slammed onto the ground with a thud.
With the increasing pain on his butt caused by the fall, Hajime looked at the surrounding. Same as Hajime, his classmates fell on their backside. Meld, the knights, and Kouki's party quickly stood up and observed their surroundings. Seems like the earlier magic was a transportation type magic. Since such magic was not possible with current magic, it was most likely an ancient magic.
They were all transferred onto a huge bridge made of stone. Approximately it was 100 m in length. The ceiling looked to be about 20 m. There was no river passing by underneath the bridge, because of the darkness nothing else could be seen. It felt like there were in an abyss.
The width of the bridge was about 10 m, but there were not even handrails. If you slipped there would be nothing to grab onto, and you would fall headfirst. The group was right in the middle of the bridge. On both sides of the bridge, they could see a passage that led to a stairway that ascended to the upper level.
When he confirmed it, Meld issued out orders with a grim expression.
"You guys, get up there immediately, go towards the stairs. Hurry!"
Quickly the students moved. However, a trap in a dungeon was not going to be so easy, the retreat wasn't that easy. Monsters emerged from the magic circles that appeared on both sides of the bridge. On one side was a huge monster. The other had a large amount of monsters.
Meld started at the huge demon and just whispered...
"No way....a Behemoth."
Chapter 6: Behemoth
[Traum is German for Dream]
* * *
On both sides of the bridge, a magical formation that emitted crimson light appeared. The magic circle on the aisle side is close to 10 m. The one on the stairs side is around 1 m, but the numbers are numerous.
From the smaller countless magic circles came monsters that were sword-toting skeletons, these were called "Traum Soldier". Their eyes were the same color as the magic circle, it sparkled and shine while they looked around. 100 Traum Soldier have already been summoned and yet the numbers were still increasing.
Even though there were so many skeleton Soldiers on this side, the other side's monster was what caused Hajime's danger sense to go haywire. From the 10 m magical circle, a quad pedal demon 10 m long with some sort of helmet on its head, spawned from it. If compared to any animal Hajime knew of, the closest would be a Triceratops. However, it's eyes shone crimson, while percussing it's sharp claws and fangs, flames gathered around the horns on its helmet.
Meld just whispered out "Behemoth". At that moment, the Behemoth took a deep breath and let out a deafening roar.
"Gurua~a~a~aaaaa!!"
"Tsu!?"
The roar caused Meld's senses to return, he quickly started to issue commands to everyone.
"Alan! Lead the students to the stair and break through those Traum Soldiers! Kyle, Ivan, Gale! I need you guys to extend the best barriers you can! Stop it! Kouki,
hurry and get to the stairs!"
"Wait a moment, Meld-san! We'll help! That dinosaur-like monster is the most dangerous!? We'll..."
"Fool! That's a real Behemoth, at your current strength it's impossible! It's a 65th level demon. Once a long time ago, the "Strongest" known adventurer battled it and were unable to defeat it. Hurry up and go! I can't let you guys die!"
Even Meld's expression faltered for a moment at the daunting monster in front of him. "I can't just abandon you guys!" was Kouki's response as he stood his ground. At the moment when Meld tried to reason with Kouki to retreat, the Behemoth roared and started to charge at them. At this rate, the students who were retreating would get trampled to death.
To prevent it, the strongest of Haihiri's military spawned multiple full powered barriers.
"""Repel all Malice and Enmity, Absolute Providence from the Son of God, Herein a Sanctuary, You Shall Not Pass, "Absolute Virtue""""
The magical formula for this spell was engraved in the highest quality paper 2 m wide. The incantation having 4 phrases to activate it. 3 of the Warrior's casted it simultaneously. A barrier manifested that could stop anything for 1 minute. The hemispherical barrier shined pure-white as it stop the Behemoth's charge.
The moment the Behemoth clashed with the barrier, a shockwave erupted from between them. The whole bridge shook at the shockwave, and everything around the Behemoth's feet were pulverized. The retreating students scream and tumbled at the artificial quake.
Traum Soldier were monsters that showed up on the 38th level. They were heads above anything they encountered so far. The students panicked as they were sandwiched by a monstrous demon in the back and an eerie army of skeletons in the front.
They advanced reckless, without giving care to keeping rank, and aimed for the stairs. Alan, tried to calm them down desperately, no one listed because of the imminent terror. One of the school girls was pushed from behind and fell down. She groaned as she lifted her head to see before her a Traum soldier brandishing it's sword.
"Ah."
The soldier swung it's sword down towards her.
She thought she was going to die at that moment, but suddenly the Traum Solider feet were up heaved. Losing its balance the trajectory of the blade missed the girl and struck the ground instead. Furthermore, the upheaval continued like a wave towards the end of the bridge, tripping up many Traum Soldiers along the way. This caused some of the Soldiers to fall into the abyss.
2 m off of the edge of the bridge in a crouched position was Hajime as he exhaled heavily. He was continuously transmuting the ground. Like a ground slide, the monsters on the bridge were guided off into the abyss. Unaware, his proficiency in transmuting got better because he constantly used it. The range of his transmuting also seemed to have increased.
While drinking a mana potion, Hajime quickly approached the girl that fell down. He helped the girl up. Hajime spoke to the still stunned girl with a smile.
"Hurry Forward. It's alright, if you calm down these skeletons are nothing. Because except for me, everyone else is a cheat!"
Hajime pat her on the back with full confidence, the next moment she uttered a quick energetic "Thank you".
Hajime had ruined the surrounding Traum Soldiers' footing and had them detained, he took that moment to survey the battlefield. Everyone was in such a panic that they were fighting without any thought and looked so sloppy. At this rate, it was highly likely that someone would die. Alan is still trying to organize them, but it is not going well. More reinforcements came for the Traum Soldiers through the new magic circles.
"We need a strong leader to guide us, Amanokawa-kun!"
Hajime started to sprint towards Kouki's party.
Behemoth was still repeatedly charging the barrier. A powerful shockwave was produced everything it collided with the barrier, the bridge groaned at the pressure. There were already cracks in the barrier and it was only a matter of time before it gave. Meld had joined in the reinforcement of the barrier but it was like adding a drop into a bucket.
"Ah, Crap! It won't hold for much longer! Kouki, hurry and retreat! You guys go too!"
"No! I will not abandon you guys! We will all survive this!"
"Ku, to be so egotistical at this moment..."
Meld just displayed a sour face at their conversation. In such a narrow space, it would be very difficult to avoid the Behemoth's rush. Therefore, the best option was to withdraw because without the barrier they would be trampled. Such a subtle perception of the situation could only come with experience, it was highly unlike for Kouki and his party to have such an insight.
Meld was urging than to withdraw, but with a heavily summarized explanation on why. Kouki did not take his advise and refused to "abandon" them. Also from the look in Kouki's eyes he wanted to challenge the Behemoth.
It could be attributed to his adolescent mind. He was overestimating himself, because he had so much praise showered onto him.
"Kouki! Listen to what Meld is saying and retreat!"
Shizuku, who understood the situation, grabbed Kouki's arm in remonstration.
"This is not the first time Kouki is unreasonable! I'll back you up!"
"Thanks, Ryutaro!"
Ryutaro's statement just fueled Kouki's attitude even more. Shizuku clicked her tongue at that.
"Don't get intoxicated with the situation! Bakamono!"
"Shizuku-chan"
Kaori is worried for the irritated Shizuku.
A boy jumped out in front of Kouki.
"Amanokawa-kun"
"Na-Nagumo!?"
"Nagumo-kun!?"
Everyone was surprised by how serious Hajime was.
"Hurry and retreat! You have to help everyone!"
"Why so sudden? What are you even doing in a place like this? This is not a place you should be at! Just leave this to us, Nagumo...."
"Is this the situation to say such a thing?"
Hajime showed such unexpected force in his words that Kouki stopped his rebuke. Until now, they had never heard Hajime use such a harsh tone. He had always presented himself with a smile and now seeing such an image was shocking.
"Can you not see what is going on? Everyone is in a panic, because their leader is missing!"
Hajime pointed towards the students while one hand grabbed onto Kouki's chest. In the direction he pointed at, there was his confused classmates being surrounded by Traum Soldiers. The training that was drilled into them was nowhere to be seen, they fought willy nilly. Since they were so inefficient they were being overwhelmed by the reinforcements. Although their high stats were protecting them for now, soon it would not matter.
"We need a blow that can break through them! A power to erase the fear in everyone's hearts! And it's you who has such a power! Don't just look in front of you, look at what's going on behind you too!"
Stunned at seeing his classmates in chaos, the shaking Kouki nodded his head.
"I understand! I'll go immediately. Sorry, Meld-san!
"Go!"
The moment Meld looked back at Kouki's agreement to retreat, the barrier finally fell to the Behemoth's onslaught. The raging shockwave caused by the destruction of the barrier, was shooting straight for Hajime and the others. Hajime quickly stepped forward and transmuted a wall, but it was easily brushed aside. It seemed he had weakened it. Dust whirled as the Behemoth bellowed out a roar.
On the ground was Meld and three of his knights groaning. Their body seemed to have taken damage from the shockwave, they were unable to move. Kouki and his party had fallen over, but quickly they recovered. Hajime's wall had been useful for those behind Meld.
"Ryutaro, Shizuku can you buy me some time?"
Though they were in some pain, the two of them pressed forward at Kouki's request. Since Meld had been disabled, it was up to them to do something.
"I'll do what I can!"
"Somehow, I'll do it!"
Both of them rushed the Behemoth.
"Kaori, start healing Meld and his men."
"Okay."
Kaori quickly went to work. Hajime was already beside Meld. He quickly created a stone wall to prevent the affects of battle from reaching them. Although it seemed useless when looking at the battle, it was better than nothing.
Kouki at the moment had been gathering himself and chanting to perform his best skill.
"Divine will! Perish all evils with your light! The breath of God! Blow away the ominous clouds and purify this world! The mercy of God! Forgive all sins with this strike! "Heaven's Might"!"
An aurora gushed out from the "Holy Sword" after the chant. The skill was similar to the "Soaring Flash", but it's power was on a completely different level. It paved a gouge in the bridge as it shot towards the Behemoth, shaking the bridge with its might. After the chant, Ryutaro and Shizuku had already cleared out. However, after fighting the Behemoth they were in a tattered state. To suffer such a considerable amount of damage in such a short time.
The bombardment of light hit the Behemoth directly. Light filled the area where the spell had impacted with the demon. An earthquake resounded in the bridge, and cracks spawned all over it.
"If it's this....Ha-a Ha-a"
"Did that do it?"
"I hope so."
Ryutaro and Shizuku returned to Kouki's side. Kouki breathed heavily after using such an enormous amount of magic. That skill earlier, was his trump card. Most of his magic was used to fuel it. Kaori had finished treating the fallen Soldiers and Meld was actively trying to stand up.
When the light and dust settled down....
There it was, an unscathed Behemoth.
The beast sent a death glare at Kouki and growled. It raised its head, there was a high pitch then it's horns started to glow red hot. Magma, that word described perfectly what the Behemoth's helmet looked like.
"Don't just stand there! Move!"
Meld's voice helped the them regain their senses and they started to move. The Behemoth soon rushed them with his newly powered helmet. Like a falling meteorite the Behemoth fell helmet first towards Kouki.