Chapter 38

A camp built inside a dungeon.

Sleeping in the largest tent, Vex awoke to an unfamiliar sensation. There was something eerie about it.

He had been slaughtering monsters nonstop for two days.

Naturally, he had accumulated a lot of demonic energy, and he thought that was why he felt this sensation.

*Wooosh!*

He pushed himself up and picked up the flask from his bedside table. The holy water made by the Holy Empire was excellent for eliminating demonic energy.

He downed it in one gulp.

He lay back down and was about to close his eyes when an unfamiliar sensation once again spread through his body.

His head jerked up and his nerves tingled.

*Thud!*

He could feel the ground vibrate.

It was so subtle that if he wasn't paying attention, one would hardly notice it.

*Thud!*

The rumbling grew stronger.

Something was getting closer.

At the same time, he felt a strong sense of demonic energy.

Vex grabbed his sword scabbard from around his waist and stepped out of the tent, looking around. Connie was dozing in the crackling fire pit.

"Tsk Tsk…."

*Thud!*

He blinked and made eye contact with Connie, who jerked his head up sharply. Startled, Connie jumped to his feet.

"Are you still going to sleep?"

"Wake the kids up right now."

"yes?"

"Wake everyone up."

Vex barked the order to Connie, then sprinted off, his senses expanding as he ran along the path he'd already cleared.

He could sense the approaching demonic energy.

A level of energy unlike anything they'd ever encountered. There is only one thing in the dungeon that emits this kind of energy.

The master of the dungeon.

A monster created by the Demon Cult.

*Oooohhhhh!*

An intense surge of demonic energy swirled around him, clouding his senses. He swung the sword in his right hand, slicing through the miasma.

Vex steadied his breathing.

With the monsters here, he'd gauged the dungeon's difficulty. As long as his men hold their ground, he should have no trouble capturing the dungeon boss.

"Shall we buy some time?"

He gripped the hilt of his sword firmly and looked straight ahead. The dormant stone statue¹ from earlier had come to life.

*Thud!*

Pausing for a moment, the gargoyle's golden eyes flashed. Its closed mouth opened, revealing sharp teeth.

Demon energy gathered in its mouth.

Watching, Vex stomped the ground and lunged forward. He needed enough information to catch this thing.

*Ung-ung-ung!*

*Quagagagagagang!*

The energy that gathered in the gargoyle's mouth shot out in a straight line, sweeping down the hall. Vex, who had barely dodged the attack, dived into the gargoyle's arms.

He swung his sword quickly.

*Clang!*

Sparks flew and the sword bounced away. Once again, he charged his sword with mana and slashed with all his might, but the result was the same.

"He's got a tough defense."

Vex withdrew completely, watching the demonic energy gather in the gargoyle's mouth. Back at the camp, he found his men just waking up.

"Gather round."

The men lined up in front of Vex.

"What's going on?"

"The boss monster is coming this way."

"Huh? We didn't event touched it…"

"That's not important right now, we need to take out the boss monster first."

"Yes!"

"He has excellent defense, so the two of you will prepare a powerful spell, and the rest of us will stall while the spell is being prepared."

*Thud!*

The gargoyle approached.

"Everybody, get into position!"

"Yes!"

Vex and the swordsmen leapt forward. The mages all fell back, drawing on their mana and casting spells.

Meanwhile.

A massive wall crumbled, revealing a gargoyle. With golden eyes and a mouthful of demonic energy, it swept through the chapel.

*Kwagagagagang!*

Vex's voice echoed through the chapel as the dust rose.

"Draw the focus and stall for time for the magic to be completed!"

With that, the swordsmen leapt to the gargoyle.

*Clang!*

*Bang!* *Clang!*

Vex joined the gargoyle, making it safe for the mages. The gargoyle continued to shoot at them, and the swordsmen dodged the attacks, stalling for time.

Vex used as little energy as possible to analyze the gargoyle's behavior.

Then he noticed something strange.

One of the gems on the creature's two chests glowed blue. Something clicked in his mind, and he charged his sword with mana.

He ran quickly and aimed for the gargoyle's shoulder.

*Claaang!*

The gargoyle, which had withstood Vex's attack, swung its arm and shot a burst of magic. Pulling back, Vex narrowed his eyes.

A little more blue than before.

That was a hint of a boss monster, he thought. Vex stepped away from the battlefield for a moment to clear his head.

Why isn't the other one changing?

While he was thinking that.

"The power of the sun…. is overwhelming!"

Vex turned at the sound of a shout behind him. A mage who had been casting a spell was struck and fell.

Behind him, he could see Connie's form.

In his hand was a staff, its color faded by magic. Connie's mouth moved with the staff as it fell to the ground.

"Behind."

An eerie sensation at that moment.

Vex whirled quickly, raising his sword. But the gargoyle's arm was faster, its sharp nails scraping across Vex's shoulder, causing blood to splatter as it passed.

"Ugggh!*

But it didn't end there.

*Squelch!*

A pure white sword pierced through the stomach.

And from behind him came a voice he'd never heard before.

"Farewell."

* * *

[The Target was killed]

[Harvesting the damned soul.]

Things were going according to the plan he had created.

"Captain? Everyone… Damn it!"

"You can't even beat him to death with a sword, what are you mage bastards doing!"

The swordsmen were growing exhausted from the gargoyle assaults, and the one remaining mage was still chanting with his eyes closed.

He yanked his sword out of Vex's body.

*Thud!*

He wiped the blood from his sword and walked away. Now his business here was done. He grabbed the one backpack he'd left behind.

At that moment.

A strong gust of wind rose.

The mage's robes at the center fluttered, and the gem at the end of his waiting staff glowed brightly.

"Ice…."

*Boom!*

A giant ice flower bloomed in the ground.

The air in the chapel turned cold.

"Blaster!"

A blizzard of pure white snow whipped up. A white gust of wind swept through the gargoyle, extending from the icy flower, freezing everything in its path in an instant.

"Hah… I barely survived."

"What the hell happened...."

*Bam!*

A crack appeared in the ice that had frozen the gargoyle. The gargoyle broke through the ice and began to move again.

Even more violently than before.

"RRooooooooaaaaarrrrr!"

"Fuck!"

The crucible of chaos.

Calmly, he stared at the gargoyle's chest. Blue and red lights appeared on the two faded gems.

Like a gauge.

The blue color is almost completely filled.

and the red one is a little over half full.

"Just a few more minutes and I'll be ready to fire my magic again!"

The wizard cried out and began to prepare his spell again.

As Redin watched, he raised his sword.

'Golden-eyed gargoyle'

It was one of the top boss monsters in the Rook level dungeons. This is because it has a strong physical defense and magic resistance and is extremely tricky to defeat.

The red gem indicates when it is affected by magic attacks.

Blue gem when it's time for receiving physical attacks.

The two gems had to be precisely matched to kill the gargoyle.

In games, over time, data accumulated about players' levels and skill proficiencies made it easier to calibrate these gauges.

Here, there is no such data.

So there's only one way to kill the gargoyle. Fill both of those gauges to the max.

As the mage casts his spells, the red gauge will fill up, and as the swordsmen continue to attack, the gargoyle might eventually be taken down by luck.

*Swoop!*

He decapitated the wizard with his sword.

"Keeugghh…"

Now those swordsmen will never be able to kill the gargoyle. Redin grabbed the backpack and slipped out of the chapel. They'll be scrambling for their lives, buying time.

Making his way down the long hallway.

Keeping his senses sharp, he found where Seria and Heather were. He veered to the right at a crisscrossing path.

There were several rooms.

He pushed open the third door from the left, and a sharp branch popped out. Ducking back slightly, he dodged the branch.

Grabbing the wrist of the attacker to stop the relentless attack.

"It's me, Redin."

In the darkness of the room, Seria's face was half-revealed. She checked his face with a disapproving look, then dropped the branch.

"You're early, come in."

He stepped inside and saw Heather crouched in the corner.

"H-Hungry…"

Pff.

Redin laughed at the absurdity of it.

He set down the backpack and pulled out some simple rations from it.

"Here you go. I brought you something to eat."

*Scrambles!*

Heather darted over faster than ever, ripped open the preservation enchanted wrapper, and began to devour the sandwich.

"D-Delicious!!"

"I thought I left you guys a pretty generous supply of food?"

Glancing at Seria, she shrugged and shook her head.

"I ate one per day."

"Well, let's eat first. You come and eat."

Seria accepted the sandwich and sat down on the floor.

"But can you afford to be this relaxed?"

"Uh, for an hour or two."

"Good."

He took a short break.

After finishing his sandwich, he opened the backpack. He pulled out the five spare daggers the swordsmen carried and handed them to Seria.

"What's this?"

"A backup dagger the swordsmen used to carry. It'll have to do for now."

Seria examined the dagger.

"So what's the plan?"

"We're going to leave the dungeon today."

"Can the three of us take down the boss monster?"

"If there's someone who can use magic. So I was wondering, can you guys use magic or something?"

"No."

Redin was well aware that Seria hadn't practiced magic, but he asked anyway, just to set the stage.

"Well, that's going to be a lot of work…"

"Why?"

He explained briefly the details of the gargoyle.

Along with information about the jewel in its chest.

After hearing it all, Seria let out a deep sigh.

"So the bottom line is we're all going to die?"

"For the time being...."

The atmosphere became somber.

At the same time, he saw Heather's eyes grow unsteady as he ate his sandwich.

*Thud!*

Just then, the gargoyle began to wander off.

It looks like all the swordsmen in the chapel have been rounded up. He felt it coming this way little by little.

"The boss monster is coming this way."

"I never thought this would be the last supper...."

Seria popped the sandwich in her hand into her mouth and stood up.

"Redin, let's go. We have to do something. We can't let ourselves die like this."

"Okay."

He handed the backpack to Heather.

"There's extra food in here. Find a place to hide while we bide our time. If you hold out, someone might come to your rescue."

"me too…"

Heather walked out of the room leaving Seria speechless.

Seria looked back for a moment.

"Do you think it's okay to leave Heather alone?"

"He'll only get himself killed if he follows us."

"You're not wrong."

*Thud!*

He drew his sword at the sound of the approaching gargoyle's footsteps, and Seria, who had crossed her arms beside him, did the same with her dagger.

"I didn't want to die, so I came out unprepared… but what are we gonna do?"

She asked.

"We need time."

"Time?"

Time for Heather to look at the spellbook in the backpack and awaken.

*Thud!*

"Let's go."

** ** **

TL/N:

1. Unlike Redin who is a Gamer and knows the species of the Boss Monster as a Gargoyle for Vex and his men, they only know of it as a stone statue earlier that suddenly moved.