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

by Fujino Omori, Kiyotaka Haimura

  “Nha!”

  “Gah!”

  Grabbing hold of her collar with his free hand, the man in white slammed her to the floor.

  Strength that surpassed comprehension sent Asfi rolling after the impact. Colliding with the charred remains of flower monsters that littered the floor, her body flung chunks of black flesh into the air.

  Searing pain shot through her shoulder. She managed to slow down by digging her feet into the floor, grimacing as she clenched her molars together.

  She leaped to her feet, straight into a cloud of smoke that still hung in the air.

  The man was gone from her line of sight. Head on a swivel, she desperately tried to find his figure in the smoke and scanned every detail in the ever-shifting cloud.

  Just then.

  SHING!

  “—!”

  A sickening sound came from her torso.

  Time stood still for a moment as a burning sensation spread from where the sound came from.

  A red blotch spread out from beneath her combat gear. Only then did she notice the glimmer of the blood-spattered blade protruding from her stomach. Trembling, she looked over her shoulder.

  The man in white was right behind her.

  He held the familiar blade piercing her body, white hair shifting with his momentum.

  Asfi had been run through. Knowing that her opponent got behind her faster than her eyes could see sent a bead of cold sweat down her cheek. Blood spilled from her mouth a heartbeat later.

  SHUCK! She collapsed to the floor, a bloody mess, the moment he pulled the blade out of her.

  She cursed her weakness, and the fact she hadn’t been able to tell the difference in their power, as she fell.

  “Asfi?!”

  Clatter. A metallic echo filled her ears as the man discarded her shortsword.

  Lulune screamed from far away. The sight of their leader collapsing threatened to break the spirit of Hermes Familia. The ranks they had so desperately held in their attempt to fend off the enemy attacks started to fall apart.

  Amid the distant sound of clashing blades, the man in white approached Asfi.

  First, his gaze went to the still extended wings of Talaria, and he smashed them underfoot. Next, he grabbed hold of her neck.

  “Ga-ha, gahh…?!”

  “So, you still cling to life?”

  He proceeded to lift her body high into the air as if she weighed nothing. Asfi’s feet dangled limply above the floor.

  Her combat gear and white cloak had been stained red with her blood, making her look like a crucified martyr. Yet even now, she possessed an undeniable beauty.

  The blood dripping off her boots started to form a red puddle beneath her feet.

  A grin appeared on the man’s lips as his fingers wrapped all the way around Asfi’s thin neck.

  “Be at ease. Adventurer’s tenacity runs deep within you…I’ll suffocate it.”

  Fingers plunged into her skin as he tightened his grip.

  Her weak struggling came to a sudden end, her face contorting. A sadistic gleam in his eyes behind the skull mask, the man squeezed again in an attempt to break her warm neck in half.

  However—that was the moment that the rumble of lightning echoed through the cavern.

  “?!”

  The man in white searched for the source of the noise. What he saw was a werewolf kicking everything in sight—and two elves carrying magical staffs.

  “Proud warriors, marksmen of the forest. Take up your bows to face the marauders. Answer the call of your kin, nock your arrows.”

  Lefiya entered the cavern just behind Bete and started using her Magic the moment Filvis’s spell was complete.

  The three adventurers had entered the pantry by the same route Aiz and Hermes Familia had, by breaking through the fleshy “gate” and wandering through the passages. The appearance of this mutated Dungeon—the foul plantlike walls and ceiling—was enough to make them feel physically sick, providing even more incentive to quicken their pace.

  The larger party had left a trail of crystals. That, combined with what they could discern from the slain monsters left in the passageways, guided them directly to the main cavern.

  “The hell’s goin’ on in here?!”

  The first thing Bete saw upon passing through the entrance was a party of adventurers engaged in a desperate fight with a strange group of masked warriors and a swarm of flower monsters. With a surly shout, he raced headlong into the fray.

  He made a split-second decision to eliminate the monsters bearing down on the party. Lending his strength to their cause, his boots connected with the first of the vicious plants at the same time that Filvis unleashed her Magic to cover him. Surprised adventurers watched in shock as he single-handedly pushed the front line back with a flurry of attacks.

  “Bring forth the flames, torches of the forest. Release them, flaming arrows of the fairies.”

  Every enemy on the attack was now Bete’s target.

  The remaining masked warriors started to scream in the face of his onslaught and reached for their cords. But it was already too late. Before they could detonate their payloads, Bete punched and kicked them high into the air, knocking each one unconscious with a single blow.

  At the same time, Filvis dealt with the beasts drawn to Lefiya’s magic by generating her own as a distraction and finishing them off with precise swordwork.

  “Fall like rain, burn the savages to ash!!”

  The moment her chant ended, a golden magic circle illuminated her in a bright light.

  A prum caster in the adventurers’ rear guard looked over her shoulder when she saw the flash. Then her expression changed as she yelled, “E-everyone, take cover!”

  As a specialist herself, she knew the Magic packed into that spell was greater than normal.

  Heeding her warning, the party immediately fell back. Lefiya unleashed a spell powerful enough to frighten another magic user the moment they were clear.

  “Fusillade Fallarica!!”

  Innumerable flames appeared high above her head before descending as a downpour over the battlefield.

  The wide-range offensive spell wiped out the monsters trapped beneath in a matter of moments as a tremor passed through the battlefield.

  Lefiya had pushed both the power and range of the spell to its absolute limit. The surviving robed warriors fled the fiery rain in a panic, leaving the plant monsters behind. Some managed to get away from the inferno by the skin of their teeth. The blazing salvo spread out to cover almost half the cavern, incinerating every large monster that happened to be in the area.

  The vision of all present burned red.

  “Wha—?”

  The man in white took his eyes off Asfi for a moment to gaze at the destructive spell’s aftermath.

  Just barely out of range, a few of the flaming missiles had landed right in front of him. The floor split open at the point of impact, sending tremors under his feet as the man used his free arm to shield his face.

  As the tide of battle turned, Asfi’s blue eyes cleared and locked onto the arm holding her aloft by her neck. Whipping her body in one swift motion, she drew a knife from her holster and slammed it into the man’s wrist.

  “Nah!”

  “!!”

  She drove her heel straight into the man’s chest the moment she felt his grip weaken.

  With missiles still falling behind her, blood continued to flow from the hole in Asfi’s stomach as she broke away from the man’s grasp.

  “Damn you…” The man yanked out the knife impaling his wrist while cursing Asfi’s feeble escape attempt.

  She gained a bit of distance before collapsing in a fit of coughing and falling to her knees in pain. The man held his bleeding wrist and took a step in her direction…when a large explosion and another flash of light caught his attention. He stayed still.

  Ignoring the dying girl at his feet for a moment, the man focused on the new intruders instead.

  “Haah, haah…What…
what is this place…?”

  Lefiya muttered as she lowered her staff and took a look around the cavern after eliminating the swarm of monsters.

  The area was composed of relatively soft green walls, and three gigantic flowers bloomed on the quartz pillar. Her Magic had done immense damage to the floor, but it was beginning to heal with stomach-turning gushing noises. More flower buds than she could count dotted the walls and ceiling while the open, vividly colored flowers wiggled their way free. New plant monsters were being born.

  Every one of those buds was a new enemy—that realization made Lefiya’s face turn pale. The mysteries of the living labyrinth were only increasing.

  The sight of human bodies among the corpses of monsters left her lost for words.

  “There were several factions in the battle…?”

  She saw the smoldering corpses of what looked to be adventurers and an incredible number of flower monsters. Filvis stepped up next to Lefiya, frowning as she spoke.

  “Don’t I know you…? No way. Lefiya?!”

  “Eh? Miss Lulune?!”

  A chienthrope—Lulune called out to her, and Lefiya rushed to her side.

  The two had met just prior to the attack on Rivira. The elf was concerned, seeing her acquaintance and her allies covered in injuries.

  “Why are you here—?”

  “Oi, is Aiz here or not? Answer me!”

  Lefiya was interrupted by Bete, who stepped in front of her and approached Lulune.

  Down on one knee, the chienthrope did her best to string words together under his furious gaze as her tail trembled.

  “Sh-she was with us, up until a while back…We got…separated.”

  “Huhh? Whaddaya mean, ‘separated’?”

  “B-b-but right now, please save Asfi!”

  Lulune fell forward, desperately pleading for Bete and Lefiya to leave the questions for later.

  She looked toward the opposite end of the cavern to where the man in white stood. The other adventurers could see a blood-splattered female body on the floor near him.

  The sinister figure looked their way, white hair peeking out from under his mask.

  “This screwed-up pantry, all those freaky monsters—he’s behind everything! It’s all his fault!”

  “…!”

  “We’ll tell you anything you want to know! Just please, save Asfi first…!”

  Confirming Lulune’s assessment, the man raised an arm, causing two flesh-eating plant monsters to emerge from the wall and start slithering toward them.

  Bete narrowed his eyes at the man capable of manipulating monsters. A stunned Lefiya stood next to him.

  The stare from underneath the skull mask was enough to let them know he was their enemy. Bete braced himself for battle beside the elves.

  “Oi, my blades.”

  “R-right away!!”

  Bete didn’t take his eyes off the white-dressed man as he issued Lefiya a command.

  The jittery elf quickly took the tubular backpack off her shoulder and drew twin blades, each fifty celch long. Bete had prepared them before they left home.

  “It’s a pain in the ass, but why the hell not. Can’t stand that look in his eyes.”

  The man had thrashed Asfi within an inch of her life, and Lulune knew the rest of them didn’t stand a chance. Her only choice was to plead with the elite adventurer. Bete’s amber eyes flashed with intensity and locked with the masked man’s gaze. He knew in an instant that their enemy had no intention of letting them walk away whole.

  The carnivorous flowers thundered their broken-bell howls, as if Bete’s equipment change was the signal to attack. They lunged forward from their positions beside the man.

  “Leave the guys in the robes to us! We’ll manage somehow! Both of you, please, go!”

  “O-okay!” Lulune shouted as she watched Bete race into battle.

  The last survivors of the robed faction that managed to regroup were renewing their attack. While Lulune and the rest of the party consumed their healing items and took hold of their weapons, Lefiya nodded.

  Filvis also dipped her head affirmatively before joining her in a race to catch up with Bete.

  The curtain had risen on the second battle within the transformed pantry.

  “!!”

  “Outta my way!”

  Bete held the twin blades in a reverse grip as he charged straight toward the oncoming flowers.

  Jumping between them, he inflicted fatal gashes along their bodies with two silver swipes. He left Filvis and Lefiya to put the writhing monsters down and continued his advance toward the man in white.

  Filvis begrudgingly fulfilled the job pushed onto her before following suit.

  “Got any more tricks up your sleeve?”

  “More than you could ever imagine, filthy adventurer!”

  Bete had come within striking distance of the man dressed in white.

  Jumping into the air and bringing his blade down like a scythe, Bete missed his furious target. Dodging the attack with ease, the man made a move toward the werewolf’s exposed back, but the ash-gray adventurer was faster.

  A quick pivot on his plant leg and Bete unleashed a fully extended sweeping kick. A tinge of surprise flashed over the man’s face as he was forced to use his right arm to block it.

  “Gah!”

  A shocked grunt escaped his lips. The blow was powerful enough to make his arm go numb.

  “Tsk!”

  Bete clicked his tongue, frustrated that his opponent not only blocked the kick but did so with his arm in one piece.

  “Vanargand…A member of Loki Familia! You came in pursuit of the Sword Princess!”

  “Bastard, what have you done with her?!”

  A grin appeared beneath the skull mask. Bete bared his fangs and intensified his assault.

  Dodging the twin-blade strikes by a hair, the man commenced his own counterattack as he answered.

  “My associate is seeing to her. She should be all but subdued by this point, and I’m sure the Sword Princess is in great hands.”

  “—You die, now.”

  An aura more threatening and murderous than any monster’s emanated from the werewolf as his attacks reached a fever pitch.

  His body became a blur, his frenzied attacks struggling to reach his enemy. The man dressed in white smirked, moving his powerful arms at the same rate and knocking Bete’s blades away.

  “Mr. Bete!”

  “Viridis, stay back! Ready support—!!”

  The two elves had arrived in time to witness the hand-to-hand brawl between Bete and the man. The two began casting to assist their ally.

  However, their desire to help was pointless because their target was moving too fast. Every time they caught a glimpse of him and pointed their staffs, the enemy was already gone.

  H-he’s so fast—

  Aiming is impossible!

  The high-speed battle overwhelmed Lefiya and Filvis. Neither could get a clean shot.

  Their eyes could hardly follow the exchange of powerful blows and counterattacks. The instant an attack was blocked, the defender had already wheeled around to strike from the exposed side. By the time one of the elves had lined up for a ranged attack, the battle had already moved to a different location. The two elves spent so much time lining up their sights that neither could pull the trigger.

  Afterimages of gray werewolf fur and white streaks of hair behind the skull mask streaked across the battlefield.

  “On par with a strong upper-class adventurer…”

  Filvis’s red-gem eyes shook with fear. Lefiya’s dark-blue irises were also trembling, but out of disbelief.

  —A match for Mr. Bete?!

  The man in white clearly matched the fastest member of Loki Familia blow for blow. Trying to comprehend how this man was competing with a captain of the strongest familia in Orario was too much for her to handle.

  He might have been slightly slower, but there was no mistake the man was physically stronger than Bete. Even more distu
rbing was his ability to endure damage and continue attacking.

  The werewolf’s metallic silver boots landed hit after hit all over the man’s body, but it did not faze his enemy in the slightest. Bete snarled with rage as his opponent countered from every angle with enough force to tear the werewolf limb from limb should he connect. Each near miss ripped long gashes in Bete’s combat gear, sending bits of fabric to the floor below.

  It was the same feeling—Lefiya had seen that strength before.

  The battle between Aiz and the red-haired woman in Rivira replayed in the back of her mind.

  The Sword Princess had failed to defeat the woman who was also able to block Lefiya’s magic with her bare hands.

  The raw power of Bete’s opponent was extremely similar to what she saw on that day.

  “Violas!”

  The battlefield changed once again while Lefiya was lost in thought.

  On the plantlike ceiling, several red flower buds far above the combatants’ heads bloomed. The creatures opened their mouths wide, baring their fangs at the battle below, and dropped down at the man’s call.

  Bete was quick to dodge the massive incoming shadows. A chorus of dull, thudding impacts filled the chamber as the monsters rose from their landings and began their pursuit.

  “You bastard!”

  Four of the monsters charged him in unison. Bete was forced to divide his attention, defending himself with his twin swords and sending their gigantic frames flying with a flurry of kicks as the man in white charged in.

  The man smirked and punched with all his might. Bete blocked the straightforward attack with his metal boots.

  The force of the blow knocked him off balance, providing the reinforcements with an opening to flood the battle with vine whips.

  “Mr. Bete!”

  Even though all the whips were sliced down before they could connect, the man had already renewed his assault.

  Lefiya watched in horror as Bete was forced to contend with the man’s flurry of attacks without finishing off the monsters surrounding them.

  “—My apologies, Miss Filvis. Protect me!”

  Lefiya raised her staff and started casting without waiting for Filvis’s response.