Plan B, Commence!

Hey, Shun here!

I'm the type of person who'd… Uh… What type of person am I, actually? I never thought of that ever since but should I be thinking about it now?

Come to think of it, was there any reason at all as to why most of the members on my group chat are quite different from the 'norm' placed by society?

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(Third Person's POV)

"Okay. You girls listen up, okay? I'm about to tell you something really amazing! Believe it or not… Minotaurs die if their heads come off!"

Amazing idea indeed. In fact, the idea was so amazing that it left the two beastkins dumbfounded.

It took Ikumei and Zenko a few seconds before they could finally recover from the 'shock' of the enlightenment they received from Rokuko's 'boundless' knowledge. It was too much to take in.

What Rokuko said was indeed true for basically any living thing. Well, that's atleast true for almost every humanoid monsters. You cut off their head, they die. As simple as that.

"Umm… so… we just need to target the head, right?" Ikumei inquired in a rather hesitant manner. In response to her, Rokuko answered her confidently.

"Uh-uh! As long as we target its head, it will eventually die! …I think!"

While Ikumei is looking at Rokuko with a gaze full of admiration, Zenko, on the other hand, is contemplating about what Rokuko said. If we target its head, even the rats and rabbits can deal some damage, she thought.

"But… won't the icy breath coming from its nose freeze them to death?" Unknowingly, Zenko said her inner thoughts out loud, which was heard by Rokuko.

"Tsk tsk! You don't understand, do you?"

"…Umm?"

"Can't we just clog its nose to stop it from breathing? That way, it wouldn't be able to snort snowy fogs out of its nose! How about it? Amazing idea, right?"

It's quite the farfetched idea, but Rokuko does have a point. The minotaur wouldn't be able to exhale its freezing breath if its nose is clogged up…

"Clogged?" Something seems to have clicked in Zenko's mind as she also directed a gaze of admiration at Rokuko.

Rokuko, in turn, started to puff up her chest in pride. She should tell this to Shun later. To think that she also have such a strategic side to her.

『Horned rabbits, attack the minotaur with your horns! Rabbits, bite the minotaur's neck! As for the rats, wait until the minotaur opens its mouth before going in and stopping at its throat!』 Because of Rokuko, Zenko finally formed a strategy to beat the Blue Minotaur.

Without any hesitation, the rats and rabbits surrounding the minotaur charged forward upon hearing Zenko's instructions. The rats, experienced as they are at scaling even steep cliffs, had a pretty hard time climbing up the minotaur's body.

The minotaur is a living being after all. Upon seeing and feeling that rodents are starting to climb up its body, the minotaur did whatever it can to shake them off.

Meanwhile, whilst the rats are having a better time climbing up on top of the minotaur's shoulders, the rabbits were having a hard time. They can't scale the minotaur's body as good as they grey rats so Zenko taught them a trick on how they could attack the minotaur's face using their specialty, jumping.

Like some makeshift platform, the rabbits jumped off the back of a golemand propelled themselves towards the minotaur's shoudlers. Some were successful but some missed the mark or was dodged by the squirming and growling minotaur.

When two of the horned rabbits landed on top of its shoulders, they immediately stabbed it using their sharp and pointy horns, making the big guy cry out in agony. At the same time, the rats who managed to arrive on top of the Blue Minotaur's shoulders before the rabbits, began carrying out the orders that were given to them.

Two rats was sent towards the minotaur's large nose, and soon both of its nostrils were clogged. On the other hand, three more rats came inside its open mouth before stopping on its throat.

To make matters worse for this poor minotaur, its ice cold breath didn't really help. The first of the three rats, who are lined up in a row, froze, its air duct becoming completely sealed off.

The minotaur could forget about breathing at this point. Its ability became its own undoing.

Unable to breathe, the blue bipedal cow could do nothing but flail its body around in a rampage. It crushed the rats in its nose with its hands, in a vain attempt to salvage the situation, but it was already too late.

The minotaur couldn't even roar with its throat blocked up. It helplessly fell to its knees, gripping its throat, seemingly trying to break the ice that's becoming thicker and thicker as time goes by on its throat.

*CLUNK*

With both of its hands busy, its warhammer fell from its hand and noisily hit the floor…

As a last ditch effort, the minotaur tried to pull the rats out of its throat… but its hands were too big and its fingers couldn't reach deep enough inside. Who knew that being too big could become such a huge problem to it?

After running out of ideas, the Blue Minotaur could only look at the ceiling of the dungeon. Saliva incessantly flew out of its mouth as it writhed helplessly.

After a few minutes passed, its arms weakly fell to the floor as its body started to twitch. One more minute was all it took before the door to the next room opened up.

Seconds later, two of the three rats climbed out of its mouth, covered in minotaur saliva and shivering. They could be counted as lucky for still being alive and well after all of that.

『T-That's! We… WE WON!』

『Rokuko, amazing…』

『We couldn't have done it without your brilliant idea…』

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(Shun's POV)

"Minotaurs die if you clog their throats, I guess…?" That's the only thing I could say after seeing how the girls successfully defeated the Blue Minotaur.

May it have a more fun and fulfilling life in the afterlife. The pain and agony it experienced today was really horrendous.

Even Chloe, a usually calm and collected person, was gobsmacked at what she just witnessed.

"The minotaur died because of a few rats and rabbits… By choking to death…"

I'm pretty sure it was Rokuko who gave Zenko this idea. I'm willing to bet my money on it.

"How is it, Chloe? I thought you said that the girls of our dungeon wouldn't be able to defeat that mino of yours?"

"That… It seems like I have underestimated the creative thinking of the princess and your slaves. This is such a huge surprise."

While we were talking, I noticed that the door leading to the next room already opened. While Chloe is distracted with her battle with me, I should commence plan B.

『Rokuko, are you there?』

『Y-Yeah, I am! Ah, right! Did you see it, Shun!? We won against that minotaur! Are we awesome!?』 Look who's excited.

『Yeah. I watched you guys battle against that big guy. You girls did a really good job in defeating it.』

『I know right~!? I was the one who taught Zenko how to defeat it, you know!?』

By the way, should I mention that I'm doing all of this while once again being engaged in a battle against Chloe? Oh, here comes another sweeping strike!

『Yeah. Good job. After this, you girls could buy anything you want as long as it's around 10,000 DP.』

『Really!? That's gonna give me so many hamburgers and other breads! Thank you, Shun!』

『You're welcome. Anyway, please commence Plan B. I will distract Chloe while you three focus on instructing our camouflage unit, okay?』

『Okay~! Don't forget your promise, okay!?』

『Yes, yes. I won't.』

After cutting off my communication with Rokuko, I immediately parried the incoming spear that's about to st ab my stomach.

"You don't have the time to get distracted, Shun…"

"Haha… I guess?"

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(Third Person's POV)

Inside [Ordinary Cave's] Core Room, a pretty agitated Rokuko stood up abruptly and, while pointing her her sword at nothing in particular, shouted.

"Shun said we can commence Plan B! Our target destination is that huge door being covered with flames!" According to what she knows currently, the Dummy Core should be beyond that door. It was quite easy to think of it as such since they already mapped out the whole dungeon and saw nothing suspicious like secret passages.

She then stopped for a brief second before directing her gaze at Ikumei.

"You should do your best in guarding our dungeon, Ikumei. I and Zenko will focus on getting our 'camouflage unit' to touch the dummy core of Number 89."

"Y-Yes."

With that, the three went about doing their own assigned jobs.

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"..."

Those in the [Ivory Proving Grounds'] Master Room were all stunned by the bizarre death of one of their boss monsters. Seeing someone get choked to death by grey rats isn't a daily occurrence, after all. Thus, it was pretty understandable why they were surprised.

"…Ah! The enemy has broken through the Boss Room! Th-They've found our Core Room!" The silence was only broken after Amelia, head of defense, gave a panicked report. Dolce, head of information, immediately replied.

"Wait, what?! Hold on! What happened to Chloe then?! Chloe was there to stop Shun and his troops from advancing, isn't she?!"

Then, as if something clicked inside her mind, she muttered something that made a chill go down on everyone's spine.

"D-Don't tell me… Did Chloe also got suffocated to death by the rats!?" The air froze. Not just because of how terrifying a mental image that gave everyone, but because it was unbelievable that their friend had been defeated by mere rats.

To think that their good friend, Chloe, would perish in the battlefield in such a way. She's still a chaste succubus, there's lots of things left for her to do in this world.

"A-Ahaha! Th-This doesn't even make sense! Gray rats aren't supposed to be this powerful! This monstrous!"

"Please calm down, Dolce. Ah… My lady."

"Chloe… To think that you'd die so valiantly in order to protect my honor as an elder sister to Number 695…"

Just as everyone was starting to think that Chloe really died by the hands — or was it paws in this case? — of those terrifying creatures known as grey rats, a mental message contacted them. This mental message came from their supposedly deceased friend, Chloe.

『What are you guys saying? I'm alive and well. Anyway, Dolce, where was the enemies who entered inside the core room? I saw no one pass through the [Flame Wall] I erected so… How?』

"…Ah! Chloe… It's over… They touched the Core…!"

"What?! But how?!" She didn't understand anything. The strength drained from her body and the [Flame Wall] dissipated. Chloe had failed to fulfill her promise with her lord. That reality hit her with a harsh sense of loss and emptiness, but she kept the spear gripped firmly within her hand.

"Oh, looks like Rokuko and the others successfully commenced Plan B."

"What does that supposed to mean!?"

"Hehe. Well, it's a secret…"

Seeing Shun wink at her with a playful look on his face, Chloe knew that she wouldn't get any answer from this guy.

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※~To be continued~※

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Author's Remarks:

※ Thanks for reading! A few more chapters and this Dungeon Battle Arc will be over. After this, I'll be moving on to a much more fun arc(which will be a secret for now).