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

by Fujino Omori, Kiyotaka Haimura

  “How have you lived with yourself after causing so much pain and suffering?” Her murderous visage obscured her elven beauty. “Because of you, my allies…I…!”

  “…Oh, you survived that plan, too?”

  “How dare you!”

  The thirst for revenge in the elf’s eyes let Olivas know the girl had been directly affected by the Twenty-Seventh-Floor Nightmare.

  The man lifted his chin, head tilted as he calmly smiled at her.

  “Although the plan was executed according to my design, I am also a victim—I perished, after all. And now I finally awaken from the nightmare of the gods…We can share this pain.”

  “Go to hell!!”

  Filvis wouldn’t have any of Olivas’s mind game and shot it down.

  Her arms and legs trembled with fervor. Rage rolled off her thin body, and her mind was far away. Any semblance of reason had long since disappeared.

  Her shortsword gone, she made a fist out of her open right hand and raised her wand high with her left.

  Filvis’s loathing was not only directed at the man responsible for her pain but also at herself for not being strong enough to take revenge while he was in his weakened state.

  “So long as you die, nothing else matters…!”

  Dark flames of indignation burned within her red eyes as Olivas accepted her hate with open arms.

  At the same time, he shifted his gaze to look directly behind her.

  “While entertaining you does pique my interest…can you abandon your kin to her fate, elven maiden?”

  “—!”

  Her eyes quivered.

  She looked over her shoulder at the viskum’s onslaught.

  Among the adventurers desperately fighting for their lives was another elf with golden yellow hair, trapped between the gigantic flower monster and several smaller plants.

  Filvis’s expression contorted once again.

  The irony in the man’s taunts brought her back to herself, awakened her ability to see reason.

  “Your friends have already perished…and now, can you let the same happen to her?”

  A series of vicious attacks had left cuts and gashes all over Lefiya’s body. Filvis’s red eyes landed on each one.

  She was faced with a decision: forward or backward.

  Would she take the forward path and slay the enemy with the burning rage within her?

  Or would she extend a helping hand backward to rescue a fellow elf on a precarious edge between life and death?

  —“Banshee.”

  A horrid nickname that she’d never once paid any attention to now tormented her in the back of her mind.

  She didn’t know how many elves had forsaken her after learning of her past, calling her an “embarrassment to their race” before today.

  It was the truth.

  Never once had her heart felt pain.

  That is, until someone called her “beautiful” despite knowing everything.

  The girl who was willing to speak kindly to someone as unclean as herself, even if it was only consolation and sympathy.

  Just like Dionysus.

  She had looked upon Filvis with sincere, honest eyes, gorgeous enough to make her envious.

  Would she leave that beautiful young girl to die…?

  The dilemma dug deeply into her soul, posing the same question over and over.

  The voices of her deceased allies came to life in her ears.

  —Run for your life, Filvis!!

  —Go…go now!

  —AARRGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!

  —Yes, Filvis…you must…go.

  —Run, Filvis.

  —Fil-vis…

  —Save me.

  The voices of allies lost to the Nightmare kept coming. Memories that had been eating away at her from the inside began to flash before her eyes, staining the chamber red.

  Their sad voices, bloodcurdling screams, and mournful final whispers seized her heart.

  I—…

  The one responsible stood in front of her, watching her inner conflict and enjoying every twinge pass across her face. Directly behind her was a fellow elf desperately fighting to stay alive.

  She stood at an impasse. Then—

  “Damn! Damn it all…!!”

  Turning her back on Olivas, she rushed back into the battlefield.

  “!”

  Lefiya guided the ivy whips away from her body with her staff.

  Her special robes were getting torn to shreds, but she was managing to keep the rain of creepers from making a direct hit.

  Her ability to protect herself in a situation where casting was impossible was thanks entirely to Riveria’s tutelage. Magic energy was volatile, and its wielders possessed a great deal of it. They must be able to physically defend themselves should the time come. Riveria had taught her to have the resilient spirit of a towering tree, keeping her mind calm amid the chaos. As long as she focused on her enemies and harnessed the many bow-staff techniques that had been drilled into her, Lefiya could deflect monster attacks on her own.

  And, of course, she had plenty of experience dealing with plant monsters.

  Lefiya dodged oncoming attacks well before they reached her by calling upon her many battles with this species of late. When the impact of a nearby ivy whip knocked her off balance, the carnivorous plant monsters saw their opportunity and swarmed her. Although able to avoid a direct hit, Lefiya was tossed high into the air.

  She landed on her back, fighting through the pain and struggling to breathe as she forced her body up off the floor.

  Not good! She could feel the bloodthirsty eyes on her as she got to her feet—when a yellow lightning bolt passed just in front of her face.

  “Viridis!”

  “Miss Filvis!”

  Filvis dashed to Lefiya’s side as the smoldering monsters fell away, done in by her magic.

  Lefiya had feared the worst after the two became separated, so she breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing the other elf’s face.

  “Are you hurt?”

  “I am all right, thank you.”

  Filvis’s relief was evident as well when she saw Lefiya stand on her own two feet.

  “Do you have any blades?” asked Filvis. Lefiya immediately removed her backpack and flipped open the lid. Filvis stuck her hand into the tubular container and pulled out a one-handed longsword.

  Ditching the sheath, she moved in front of Lefiya to protect her.

  “What do we do, Asfi?!”

  —Elsewhere, a group of adventurers were directly engaged in battle with the enormous parasite.

  Lulune yelped from inside the swarm of monsters too numerous to kill. Asfi did her best to defend with a shortsword, but she’d lost too much blood to go on the offensive. Rivers of sweat poured down her face and neck as she desperately knocked away oncoming vines.

  “…Now would be the perfect time to have Thousand Elf incinerate it with magic, but maintaining a Wall is impossible against an enemy of this size.”

  She could order many of her allies to raise their shields in a line, but the entire group would be crushed under the gigantic body. Whether or not they could block wasn’t the issue.

  Asfi glanced over her shoulder at Filvis fighting tirelessly to protect Lefiya before facing forward once again.

  “It appears our only option is to aim for its magic stone.”

  Destroying it would turn the entire monster into a mountain of ash. Drawing out the battle would only work against them. Going for an instant kill at the monster’s “core” was their only choice.

  The problem was finding where the magic stone was located.

  Was it in the central chest area as was normal for monsters in the Dungeon, or was it in the back of the throat like the violas?

  Bete called on every muscle in his body to knock the monster off course. Asfi used these brief windows to examine its body for clues. But once they found it, could their blades penetrate deep enough into the gargantuan body to break the stone? Asfi did everything s
he could to drive that scenario out of her head as she issued orders to Lulune and her allies.

  “Pointless.”

  Olivas chuckled to himself as he watched the party of adventurers fight back against the monsters.

  Absorbing the nutritious liquid from the quartz tower had allowed the viskum to grow to a scale that outclassed other monsters. Each one would take more than a fortnight to conquer.

  Deciding to end the battle before the adventurers devised a new strategy, Olivas narrowed his leaf-colored eyes and prepared to summon another of the gigantic beasts into battle.

  Then, as he was about to raise his arm, it happened.

  A new explosion from the other side rocked the cavern.

  “?!”

  Every inhabitant of the chamber turned around to find the source of the deafening boom and the cracking that followed.

  They immediately spotted several columns of smoke rising—and the red-haired woman directly beneath them.

  She had hit the wall of the cavern with the force of a cannonball, shattering its surface with her back on impact. THUMP THUMP THUMP! She tumbled down the wall and slammed into the floor.

  Her body had flown like an arrow to the other side of the chamber, away from the rampaging viskum.

  “Kagh…!”

  Grunting in pain, she tossed what was left of her heavily damaged crimson blade to the side.

  Despite the numerous injuries covering her from head to toe, offering a clue as to the intensity of her battle, she propped herself up onto one knee.

  “Haaahh…haaah…!”

  Everyone looked toward the wall she had come through and saw the unmistakable blond girl with golden eyes—Aiz.

  The girl’s armor and exposed skin were also covered in cuts, and her shoulders rose and fell with each breath.

  “Levis!”

  “Miss Aiz!”

  Olivas and Lefiya yelled at the same time.

  Aiz lifted her silver saber into a defensive position as she took her first step into the cavern. Cautiously scanning, her eyes popped open in surprise to see Lefiya before nodding to her right away to indicate she was okay.

  It had been over half the day since they last saw each other. The sight of Aiz alive and well made Lefiya’s eyes water with joy. Asfi, Lulune, and all of Hermes Familia couldn’t help but smile as they fended off the latest round of attacks. Even Bete flashed a grin.

  Lefiya quickly wiped her tears with her sleeve and refocused her attention on the new arrivals.

  There was no doubt in her mind that this red-haired woman called Levis was the one who’d led the attack on Rivira. Judging by her sudden appearance in the cavern, Aiz had managed to deliver a direct hit at full strength during a fierce battle. Unable to withstand the blow, Levis had been launched through the wall and into this chamber.

  Both combatants were covered in cuts and bruises, their armor and combat gear heavily damaged, and they were sweating up a storm.

  Neither was anywhere close to peak condition, but Aiz held the advantage because of her weapon’s special characteristic.

  Aiz didn’t let her guard down, keeping her focus squarely locked on to the now weaponless Levis kneeling on the floor.

  “…All talk, Levis? Disgraceful.”

  Olivas observed the new arrivals just like Lefiya. The red-haired woman was supposedly his ally, but he only jeered at her.

  Levis’s green eyes flicked toward him.

  Aiz followed suit as Olivas’s sneer deepened the wrinkles on his brow.

  “This child, ‘Aria’?…Hardly, but it matters not. If that is Her will.”

  There was an air of hostility in the man’s voice, almost as if he were jealous of Aiz.

  Face contorting even further, he lifted his right hand high above his head.

  “Viskum!”

  He looked over his shoulder at the quartz pillar behind him and roared at the top of his lungs.

  One of the monsters still leeching liquid from the quartz pillar started to move, detaching its body from the towering structure until it fell from it like a collapsing building. It hit the floor with a deafening crash, pieces of the broken surface scattering in all directions as it arched its lumbering body forward.

  The last remaining viskum watched from above as its companion leveled the petals of its blooming head toward Aiz.

  “Miss Aiz!”

  Lefiya screamed as the second monster was summoned into battle.

  The elf started to rush to her aid, but the first creature on the floor unleashed a wall of ivy whips, most likely at the behest of Olivas, to bar her path.

  Reaching Aiz was now impossible.

  “Corpse or not, I will bring the girl to Her.”

  With the monsters keeping the adventurers at bay, Olivas decided to approach Aiz himself.

  The girl had sustained considerable injuries just as Levis had. A conniving grin grew across his lips as he thought about how easy it would be to kill her in this state.

  “Hey, back off!”

  “Do not attempt to get in my way, Levis. I will take care of the enemy you could not handle.”

  Levis shouted at him with one knee still firmly planted on the floor, but Olivas wouldn’t listen. Subdued white hair swished back and forth with each step, his eyes unblinking and focused on the blond girl.

  The man watched as Aiz quietly leveled her saber at the gigantic dark-green body slowly slithering toward her.

  The difference in scale was so dramatic that it looked as though she were holding a toothpick toward the massive beast. The absurdity of it all made the man chuckle.

  “Die, Sword Princess!”

  Olivas roared as he thrust his arm in her direction.

  The monster under his command picked up speed, carving up the floor as it closed in on its target.

  “—Fool.”

  Levis snapped from her vantage point.

  “—Here we go.”

  Aiz whispered to her weapon of choice, Desperate.

  Then she cast her spell.

  “Awaken, Tempest.”

  Immediately, swirling winds burst through the chamber at her call.

  Maintaining eye contact with the monster in front of her, Aiz bestowed Desperate with the strongest winds her magic could muster.

  Slash!

  The viskum’s head was severed with one arcing slice.

  “”

  Olivas, the adventurers in the cavern, and Levis all fell silent.

  The power of the sword enhanced with magic. The flash of silver light. The howling wind.

  The viskum’s head fluttered through the air, riding the air currents created by the sword’s single slash.

  Time slowed to a crawl as the soaring mass of flesh was reflected in Lefiya’s dark-blue eyes.

  Blood splattered in all directions. The moment between the beheading and the dull thud of the projectile hitting the floor felt like an eternity.

  “Aaa!!”

  The feminine fetus at the base of the quartz pillar released an earsplitting scream.

  The quartz itself seemed to writhe in pain in response to the magic wind howling through the cavern.

  As soon as time returned to normal for the adventurers, Lefiya and everyone else focused on Aiz with shock. The girl was standing still, Desperate still extended after her follow-through.

  One blow.

  She’d ended the fight with one blow.

  Although not as strong as a floor boss or either of the female-figured monsters they had faced before, she had just taken down a monster of that scale with one blade.

  Unlike Aiz’s Status or swordsmanship, there was no way to measure Airiel’s true power.

  The red-haired woman watched the events unfold with a cold stare. Bete’s eyes were wide open while Asfi and Lulune stood transfixed, muscles in their faces twitching. Filvis stayed completely still, a speechless Lefiya at her side. No one moved. The only sound was the cry of the feminine fetus.

  Its head gone, the gigantic flower monster
was nothing more than a motionless mountain of green flesh.

  Aiz slashed her saber down toward the creatures’s limp body. Howling winds once again tore through the area.

  Her beautiful, long blond hair swirled in the currents.

  “Wha…what…?!”

  One step, two steps. Olivas shrank away from the battlefield, his sickly white skin losing even more color.

  His assured victory gone, the unyielding confidence he’d carried was a thing of the past. Losing the viskum in the blink of an eye shook him to his very core.

  The residual magic wind whispered through his white hair.

  “!”

  Redirecting her first Level Six Airiel wind around her body like armor, Aiz shifted her attention to the man in white.

  Olivas immediately thrust a shaking hand into the air and desperately called out.

  “V-violas—!”

  Following his command, the remaining flowers disengaged the other adventurers and swarmed toward Aiz.

  Aiz looked around at her new opponents. With the wind as her ally, the swordsman charged into battle.

  And so began a one-sided massacre.

  She hit the line of approaching monsters with the speed and ferocity of a hurricane. Slashes similar to the one that slew the viskum cleaved several violas at once, pieces of their bodies soaring through the air. Instant death. The whirlwind surrounding Aiz deflected oncoming whips into other monsters. Victims of friendly fire, they were either blown backward or cut into pieces by the appendages of their allies.

  “……!!”

  Lefiya shuddered, struggling to comprehend the overwhelming force that was the magic wind whirling around Aiz.

  —It was not normal.

  Simultaneous offense and defense; power that granted her the ability to face the floor boss on her own; a strength that went far beyond any enchantment. No enchantment could produce an effect of this magnitude.

  How was she, a human without the inborn magical talents of the elves, capable of producing that much power?

  Miss Aiz as she is now is…!

  The reason that Aiz had been considered to be among the upper echelons of adventurers while still at Level Five was due to her command of this magic, plain and simple.

  This “wind” placed her on the same stage as Orario’s elite, Level Six adventurers.