“What’s that coordination you mentioned? We’re on the edge, shouldn’t we be using communication magic properly? Avoiding fights to get this far but in this state…”
“We don’t use stuff like that. We made it this far calling out to each other.”
“…Huh?”
Hm?
No need for communication magic or anything. We did fine without it so far.
“Um, Ms. Rebecca, we were originally a small party, so speaking was enough…”
“I dunno about that. Aren’t we a huge group now?”
Sophia supplements me, but Rebecca doesn’t seem convinced.
The mood doesn’t feel good.
I heard we’re the only ones who have fought floor masters on the frontier, so I guess it’s only natural for the followers to feel uneasy.
“Hey chief, you got a plan to advance from here? I know it’s unknown but this is still too flimsy.”
Rebecca turns a dissatisfied face my way.
“Got a problem with the pay? I think it’s plenty.”
“It’s not about pay. It’s tactics.”
Oh, tactics huh.
“No worries on tactics! I’ve got an amazing plan!”
That’s right, I was careless with myself.
Last night, I properly considered how to advance using the guild’s information.
I hid it because I wanted to surprise everyone, so of course they’d lose confidence.
“We’ll burn this whole forest down!”
Chronos’ bold, no, audacious order was executed as if it was nothing questionable at all.
“Okay Maris, go ahead.”
“Got it! [By my will which defines immutable principles, dual lines extend infinitely–]”
Ms. Maris took up her staff as tall as she was and began chanting.
No one disputes Ms. Maris’ talent as a mage.
Notable is her immense magical power.
Obvious weaknesses like sloppy honing, poor efficiency, and difficulty adapting on-site with symbolic chants stand out, but given adequate time, her raw output itself is considerable.
Wind blows from behind. The oxygen seems concentrated in one spot.
“[Fire Cannon Fire]”
A high, shivering keening in the air silenced all other noise, forming a momentary vacuum.
The next instant, a pillar of flames erupted sideways.
The pillar steadily grew thicker, forming radial spikes the farther it extended.
The roar and heat blast the oppressive humidity away since arriving at the 99th floor. I have to hunch not to get blown away.
“…Phew…it’s all scorched now.”
As the flames settled down, Ms. Maris caught her breath like finishing a job, her forehead drenched in sweat.
“Great work Maris!”
“Ehehe, it went pretty off course though.”
“No problem. We can safely advance now. And visibility is better.”
It was an overwhelming sight.
The forest in front of Ms. Maris was greatly gouged, smoldering remains stretching far ahead.
“Everyone! This is the plan! Let’s keep advancing while burning away the forest like Maris did!”
The non-core members were also dumbstruck.
Sorcery of this scale isn’t seen often.
I see, so this was Chronos’ aim.
By suddenly displaying powerful magic, he wants to overpower the other members and seize control of the pace in one go. Very highhanded but it seems successful.
“Listen, beasts hate fire right? Monsters are the same. Flames are no good in enclosed spaces but this floor is different. We can burn the forest, and with open sky there’s unlimited oxygen!”
Chronos explained smugly, walking with sword in hand.
The strategy was simple and clear. Mages continually fire flame spells forward and to the sides, warriors cut down or avoid obstructing burning trees and brush.
Doing so let us steadily advance with good visibility.
In fact, as he said, the monsters showed no sign of attacking, though I couldn’t say if that was because they feared the flames.
But I wouldn’t call it safe.
Burning away the forest was only above ground – the trees here seemed deeply rooted and writhing roots remained below.
Those roots occasionally tried to entangle our legs with some kind of will, which kept breaking our concentration.
“Hoi!”
Chronos cut the root by my feet.
“That was close, Sophia.”
“Oh…thank you very much.”
While staying alert, I look around.
Repeatedly setting fires inevitably caused the flames to spread somewhat.
But it wasn’t burning over as much as I expected.
The trees here have many wide-leaved varieties unlike on the surface. They vary in shape and height, giving the impression the whole forest retains a lot of moisture.
For now, it seems to be going as Chronos intended.
But that doesn’t mean it’s good just because it’s working at the moment.
No matter what, a sensation of guilt, or of violating a taboo, binds my body.
I also hear sounds like spirits keening in the distance.
No matter the aim of conquering the labyrinth, this method has far too many problems for me to know where to start cautioning about.
First, the smoke.
Visibility is better cleared out, but the still burning sections are completely obscured.
We might not notice if surrounded.
We have to keep avoiding breathing the smoke in, but I can’t say how effective that will be without concrete measures.
Further, the heat.
With flames around an already hot location, even standing is difficult.
Our water supply is limited too, and such intense exertion can’t be kept up long.
And above all–
“Sorry Sophia, I’m dropping out.”
The Rebecca beside me said.
“Tell the boss I’m sorry. I don’t need payment.”
“Um, that’s…”
“Being so conspicuous, who knows what we’ll get attacked by. Does the boss seriously think beasts and magic-wielding monsters are the same?”
I couldn’t argue back.
It’s true many monsters fear fire. They have aspects in common with beasts’ instincts.
But the stronger the monster, the higher its intelligence and resilience become – that’s also a fact. They might not fear fire at all in some cases. In that case, this just creates a false sense of security against small fry.
On the contrary, it could even attract stronger monsters.
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“Listen, you hear that?”
Hearing Ms. Rebecca say that, I strained my ears too.
I did feel like I heard a distant howl of some kind.
“Anyway, you seem decent so get out of a party like this quick.”
Saying that, she ran for the transfer circle in the back.
…I have to be careful too.
I still can’t leave Team Wings of Dragon, but that’s only if I’m alive.
While searching around, I change how I look and face different directions to see through the smoke.
Looking down to avoid breathing in smoke, I strain my ears not to miss any sounds.
Then voices rose from the left.
“Monster!”
Everyone’s attention went that way.
It was visible through the burning trees. That was a monkey.
Bigger than a normal man?
Hard to see its fur color with the fire’s reflection but probably black. And sharp claws and teeth. Its arms were considerably long, walking on two legs but hands touching the ground.
Then a shrill voice rose from behind.
No, this was a scream.
I look that way.
But no monster is visible.
Smoke had started swirling around us too.
As if it was a signal from that scream, voices started rising from all directions.
Whether screams or reports, they no longer conveyed any meaning to judge the situation.
We fell into chaos in an instant.
We searched for each other in the poor visibility and tried to clump together as much as possible.
“Chronos! What do we do!?”
“Stay calm everyone! I’ll protect you all!”
Everyone naturally gathered toward Leader Chronos, looking to him for instructions.
That was all we could do in this situation.
“Maris! Nicola! You there!?”
“Yeah!”
“I’m fine!”
“Sophia! How many do we have!?”
“Nine people! The rest are…unknown!”
“Shit!”
Our numbers were less than half what we started with. We didn’t know what happened to the people not here now.
We formed a circle so there were no blind spots, gripping our weapons tightly.
Stare intently to not miss any movement beyond the smoke.
My ears caught monkey-like cries from all sides.
We were surrounded.
The problem now was where the attack would come from, and who would survive.
The tension was strung so tight it felt ready to snap.
Wait and wait for the next moment. Relief with each moment it doesn’t come, yet fear of being pounced on the next instant.
Senses honed like that let me notice the air change.
Ahead. Right in front of Leader Chronos. That spot was open.
The monkeys likely surrounding us were refraining.
A large humanoid shape with protruding horns appeared through the smoke.
Far bigger than the other monkeys, about twice as large.
But it didn’t seem sluggish, with long arms that looked like they could easily grab multiple people moving nimbly.
An aura far too alien.
Even at first sight, it was clear.
This was the floor master.
No one could move. We knew death was imminent.
“Come at me! I’ll show you my true power!”
Except Leader Chronos.
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Chronos went Leeroy Jenkins. Also, the line about full english translation attempt… Was text below it complicated in japanese?
I tried using Mistral to rewrite and smooth out that part because the original Japanese text is written rather unusually, and I forgot to remove it. Sorry …
No problem, I was just curious.