Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? On the Side: Sword Oratoria, Vol. 3

by Fujino Omori, Kiyotaka Haimura

  Lefiya stayed mesmerized for several moments after the battle was over, a feeling of inferiority overtaking her.

  “Now if only you could pull that off.”

  “Uwhaa…”

  Bete came up to her and delivered a verbal knockout punch.

  Lefiya was a pure-magic user, meaning she couldn’t contribute to a battle without the help of a Wall, practically helpless without allies for support.

  Compared to the all-powerful Filvis who was fine in solo combat, the difference was like night and day.

  Her head drooping with depression setting in, this time it was Filvis who came to her defense.

  “It is cruel to expect that from a magic user who wields such firepower. It is highly likely Viridis’s strength will be essential to completing our mission.”

  Filvis firmly pointed out that it was the party’s role to protect magic users like Lefiya long enough to unleash that power.

  Indeed, the technique Bete was referring to—Concurrent Casting—was an extremely rare ability among those who specialized in pure-magic power. So rare, in fact, that the only other person Lefiya knew of who could do it was Riveria.

  Filvis pushed her point even further by saying that powerful magic users were a party’s ace in the hole. Bete, on the other hand, took one look at the two girls and snorted.

  “Gotten really buddy-buddy, haven’t you, elves.”

  When Bete pointed out how much their relationship had changed in a short amount of time, Filvis clenched her mouth shut. Lefiya’s cheeks turned bright red as she looked between the two.

  The werewolf chuckled drily before focusing his gaze on Lefiya.

  “You satisfied like this? Having to count on others ’cause you can’t protect yourself?”

  Amber eyes unblinking, he didn’t pull any punches.

  His voice might have been full of the usual contempt, but it was the serious look in Bete’s eyes that made Lefiya’s shoulders tremble.

  “Those airheaded Amazons are spoiling you, but I ain’t doing that. As long as your Magic is the only useful thing you got, you’ll never be anything more than baggage.”

  “……”

  “You are soft.”

  There wasn’t a shred of kindness in the man’s verbal onslaught. His amber irises bore down on Lefiya as if cornering her on the edge of a cliff.

  Bete always chose the words that would hit someone in their weakest spot. He didn’t pour salt on their wounds, he tore them open.

  That was one of the reasons he wasn’t well liked. His aggression and lack of restraint turned words into cutting instruments, opening old scars and drawing the ire of adventurers far and wide.

  At the root of this was his own inability to face the scars of his past.

  Lefiya had no response as she spiraled deeper into despair. Even still, a part of her knew that she had no choice but to change. It was the same part that had pained her during the incident at the Monsterphilia.

  In order to not hold back her idol, Aiz, and the others—in order to be allowed to stand side by side with them, Lefiya had to find a way to reach a new height. She must never forget the tears she’d shed at her own powerlessness, nor the burning desire to catch up. It would be a lie to say that Bete’s words, with his amber eyes glaring down at her, didn’t sting.

  Lefiya felt Filvis’s concerned gaze on the side of her face as she held her staff in both hands, squeezing as hard as she could.

  “……?”

  At that moment, Lefiya looked up from the floor.

  After saying all those things, Bete was walking away. Filvis, too, was a few steps down the hall, although she was looking back over her shoulder at her.

  A strange feeling crept over Lefiya as she watched their backs.

  Magic…?

  Rooted to the spot, she had a look around.

  “Um, Mr. Bete…?”

  “Yeah?” He responded verbally first. “What?” He then turned to face her but apparently didn’t sense anything wrong.

  “Is something the matter?”

  “Ehh, um, well…”

  Lefiya failed to string words together after Filvis asked as well.

  Just my imagination? she thought, tilting her head and observing the other two. They weren’t sensing it.

  “If it’s nothing, then we’re going. The pantry ain’t that far away.”

  Bete started walking again, his mood worsening because they’d lost even more time. Filvis followed close behind.

  Lefiya examined the path behind them, paused for a moment, and then hurried to catch up to the other two.

  The girl’s golden-yellow hair swished as she disappeared down the hallway.

  “……”

  A figure in the darkness watched her leave.

  It emerged from the corner of the path Lefiya had been looking at.

  This figure, clad in a violet hooded robe and hiding its face behind an ominous mask, followed the adventurers’ footsteps farther into the Dungeon.

  “Sword Princess! Hey, can’t you hear me?!”

  Lulune yelled loudly enough to be heard over the roaring monsters.

  Separated from Aiz, Hermes Familia was doing its best to fend off the pincer attack from two swarms of man-eating flowers.

  But with wave upon wave charging in from farther down the hallways, the swords and spears constantly plunging into monster flesh weren’t enough.

  “What the hell just happened?! Asfi, what do we do?!”

  “…If you have the energy to be concerned about her, use it to protect yourself. We must evacuate this location the moment a path is clear!”

  “Have you no heart?”

  “She’s the Sword Princess!!”

  No matter how loud Lulune yelled, there was no response from Aiz on the other side of the wall of pillars. Fearing for the girl’s life, Lulune pleaded with Asfi for help. But their leader would not budge, saying that it was a waste of time to worry about a top-class adventurer, and quickly issued orders. Aiz Wallenstein was an experienced veteran, with enough skill to warrant the label War Princess. Asfi’s first priority was the safety of her party.

  New monster reinforcements were still arriving from both the front and the back.

  “New enemies on the rear flank! Five of them!”

  “More from the front, too!”

  Hearing the frantic calls of her allies, Asfi made a swift decision. “Scatter the magic stones!”

  At their leader’s command, the entire party took a deep breath.

  Each of them had a small pouch tied to their belts. Thrusting their hands inside, they pulled out handfuls of the purple crystals and threw them against the walls.

  Suddenly, the carnivorous plants weren’t interested in the adventurers anymore. Ignoring them completely, the monsters went straight for the magic stones.

  “All units, forward!”

  Thanks to Aiz’s information, Asfi knew how to manipulate these monsters’ predilections and guided the party ahead. Motioning for Lulune and the others to keep going, she wanted to use this window of opportunity.

  Falling back to the rear of the party, Asfi drew three vials of Burst Oil from her holster to make sure this encounter ended here.

  “Nelly, a magic sword!”

  She hurled the liquid grenades directly into the swarm of monsters still devouring the magic stones.

  The human supporter did as she was told, drawing a magic sword and swinging at the beasts.

  A stream of fire erupted from the dagger-shaped, magic-infused blade and collided with the three vials of Burst Oil, setting off a gigantic explosion.

  The defeaning blast drowned out the roasting monsters’ cries of pain as a mushroom cloud formed in the passageway, eliminating the possibility of counterattack.

  “Asfi, there’s a ton coming from the front!”

  Lulune called out to alert her of another wave coming in.

  She did not, however, slow down as she shouted. Her blades flashed as she jumped between the massive cr
eatures. Monster blood sprayed in her wake. Thanks to Lulune’s distraction, other party members carrying larger weapons had a clear shot at the monsters’ heads. Most of the bud-like appendages split on impact.

  “Apparently, they don’t want us going any farther down this hall…!”

  Asfi’s eyes narrowed, and the corners of her lips turned upward as she looked past their enemies.

  Judging by the increased intensity of the monsters’ attacks, she was certain there had to be something worth protecting on the other side. She moved from the rear of the party up to the front lines and forced the wall of monsters back with her own blades. Her allies followed, steadily advancing at the same pace.

  Asfi and the war tiger Falgar, who was wielding a greatsword, drove the swarm of enormous creatures out of the way.

  “…What is this place?”

  It was after they’d plowed through more waves of monsters than they could count.

  The party saw bloodred light at the end of the long passageway, unlike the dim light from the flowers.

  “Could that be light from the quartz? So the pantry is up there?”

  Just like her allies, Lulune examined the view ahead.

  Pantries were located in the deepest corners of many floors in the Dungeon. These vast caverns all had one thing in common: a towering pillar of quartz crystals. The pillars produced a nutritious fluid that monsters traveled from far and wide to consume. They also constantly generated a mysterious light.

  The quartz pillars on the twenty-fourth floor gave off red light. That telltale sign at the end of the tunnel let everyone know their destination was just up ahead.

  “Asfi.”

  “…We advance at full speed.”

  The party followed their leader’s order without question.

  Slaying the final flower monsters in their path, they dashed through the passageway of green flesh.

  The smell of rotting tissue thickened with every breath. At long last, the party made it to the exit near the source of the red light.

  Their boots hit the ground of the cavernous pantry floor.

  “—”

  What awaited Asfi and the others once they made it inside took their breath away.

  The same disgusting green walls they had seen up to this point also encased this large, open space. The only major difference they could see was the thousands of flower buds sticking out of the walls.

  However, what quickly captured all their attention were the enormous monsters on the pillar of quartz inside the pantry.

  “Parasites…?”

  Three in all, they looked like overgrown plant monsters. What’s more, they were firmly attached to the pillar, which stood over thirty meders tall.

  Three gigantic, richly colored flowers bloomed in different spots on the pillar. In terms of length and girth, these creatures were at least ten times the size of the carnivorous flower monsters. A vast network of vines sprouting from their bodies connected them to the pillar.

  It could have been due to the bloodred light, but the vines themselves looked like veins traveling up and down a giant limb.

  “Don’t tell me…It’s sucking the goo straight out of the pillar?”

  SLURP! A low sucking noise echoed through the cavern every so often. Asfi’s eyes trembled as she watched every drop of the liquid from the quartz disappear.

  However, the gigantic flower monsters’ roots and vines didn’t stop there. They extended to the walls, ceiling, and floor to create the soft green surface that the party knew all too well. There was no doubt in their minds that these gigantic flower monsters were behind the dramatic changes around the northern pantry.

  They fit the definition of a parasite exactly.

  The Dungeon constantly produced a nutritious liquid. The monsters were able to exponentially grow their bodies by using it as an energy source. The resulting abomination changed the Dungeon’s very structure.

  “Th-that’s…”

  Asfi and her party were not the only people inside this vast green cavern covered with countless flower buds. An unknown group was already there.

  Each member wore large robes that hid their upper bodies from view as well as masks that left only their mouths exposed. The sudden appearance of Hermes Familia startled the unknown faction hiding their faces and origin. At first, they looked to one another in panic, until one of them pointed to the newcomers and started yelling orders.

  The atmosphere in the chamber quickly turned much more serious, even deadly. However, Lulune was still looking past the unidentified masked group to something attached to the quartz pillar.

  Specifically, the base of the structure, covered in the vines and roots of the three gigantic flower monsters.

  There was a green sphere containing a feminine fetus attached to it.

  “The orb from before…?!”

  “So they made it this far.”

  While Asfi and her party were trying to recover from shock…

  The ones already there were figuring out how to deal with them.

  A man dressed in all white stood at the base of the quartz pillar, staring at all fifteen of the intruders. His white hair peeked out from beneath the skull drop item he’d fashioned into a helmetlike mask.

  It was the tall man who had spoken with Levis, the red-haired tamer, not too long ago.

  “How? What have you been doing?!”

  “The violas weren’t enough to stop them.”

  A human approached the man dressed in white and offered an explanation as he kept his gaze concentrated on the intruders.

  This newcomer was clad in a different color from the rest of the masked faction. The man in white did his best to contain his anger as he responded to the excuse.

  “Fill your role, Evils’ Remnant. Become her shield.”

  After sending a glare in the human’s direction, the man dressed in white cast his gaze up at the pillar.

  Specifically, at the green orb containing a feminine fetus attached to its base.

  Protected by several thick vines from the gigantic flower monsters, it, too, was absorbing the nutritious liquid produced by the quartz.

  The Dungeon was known as the “mother” of all monsters. Now, it was nursing a child.

  However, this selfish infant cared nothing for the struggle of its mother.

  Paying little attention to the constant groans coming from the weakly glowing quartz, it kept growing as it consumed all the nutrients the pillar could provide.

  The man watched, a look of ecstasy in his eyes every time the fetus kicked.

  “…That’s a given!”

  The man dressed in white didn’t take his gaze off the shifting orb as the other masked human frowned before turning on his heel.

  The man in white and the female fetus watched as the human issued orders to the other Evils’ Remnants. The group of masked warriors was quick to draw blades.

  “Let no intruder survive!”

  An angry roar cut through the din.

  It came from a man wearing a robe different from the rest—those around the human followed his command. The masked faction inside the cavern sprang into action.

  Weapons held high, they charged forward to engage Asfi and her party.

  “Hey, these guys aren’t playing around!”

  Lulune could see the intent to kill on their faces and warned her friends.

  Hermes Familia was still at the cavern entrance, watching their new, unknown enemies charge at them at full speed.

  “We shall meet them in battle. It doesn’t look like we will get any information out of them without a little persuasion, now does it?”

  The enemy’s strange energy made Asfi’s skin crawl. She quickly looked to all her allies in turn.

  The green walls hosted many exits besides the path they had used to arrive in the cavern. A large, black, cage-like apparatus was located next to each of them, housing carnivorous plants.

  At the same time, more monsters were being born from the fleshy green walls.
The flower buds started to bloom, mature ones sliding forward with their bodies dangling from the wall surface before flopping to the ground and slithering across the floor. Apparently, the green coating from the gigantic flower monsters had the ability to bear live young just like the walls of the Dungeon itself.

  The question now was whether the enormous floral creatures had been artificially created or if they were purely a new species of monster. Were all plant monsters born this way?

  Every hypothesis passing through Asfi’s mind sent shivers down her spine. No matter the answer, she didn’t have a good feeling about it.

  The leader took another look around the unrecognizable pantry, her mind working overtime.

  There were still many questions that needed answers, such as how this space was created and where they would take the cages lined up at the exits.

  “Kill them!”

  “Engage!”

  Leaders of both companies issuing their final orders, Hermes Familia clashed with the group of masked warriors.

  Large robes and masks concealed the identities of the faction that held a considerable numerical advantage over Hermes Familia. Their front lines descended on the adventurers like a storm, blades and war cries bearing down on their targets. In response, Lulune led the other demi-humans in the middle of their formation up to the front lines, matching the attackers’ intensity with their own.

  The war tiger’s shield knocked swords and spears to the side, opening a lane for several elves to engage the robed warriors at point-blank range.

  Every time enemy archers unleashed a wave of arrows into the air, magic users were quick to respond with short-trigger spells. The air was clear in moments.

  Hermes Familia combined their capacity to cover one another’s weaknesses with the exceptional strength of their individuals to overwhelm an opponent trying to win on numbers alone. Robed warriors late to enter the fray saw the strength of upper-class adventurers among the intruders and lost the will to fight.