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Chapter 15 – Sneak Attack
“GUOOOOOOOOH!?”
The men tumbled to the ground, unable to keep their footing, and dropped their weapons so that they could cover their ears with both their hands. However, they had crashed into the wall after being splendidly blown away, so surely there was a large amount of damage to their ears.
“GAAH!? Why the hell are those bastards coming from behind us!?”
The archer yelled that out hysterically while grimacing from the sharp pain in his ears.
Well…that line confirmed their guilt.
“Hey! What was that sound just now!?”
“Damn it, it’s that brat! Kill them!”
Soon, after thinking that it had become noisy, a torchlight shined from beyond the passageway. A torch, huh? If the person that could use magic had to be over there for that pincer attack to work, then the guys over here had to have ensured another method to see, other than their night vision. Speaking of relying on tools, in other words, it was saying that their fatal weakness would be exposed.
“Flame Absorb.”
Rank 3 Darkness Magic. A thin, radiant orb of dark violet was emitted towards the opposite end of the passageway. It was a counter-spell for flames. The flame sustained by the torch was absorbed by the darkness orb.
“Impos……”
It was akin to suddenly blindfolding those guys. Of course, they could neither use their martial arts nor could they counterattack. Grace and Rossetta charged at them.
Grace’s movements were simple; there was no waste in her actions.
Using only the momentum from rushing forward with her small frame, she grasped the man’s throat, who tumbled to the ground as she broke both of his legs with a slash from her arm, and knocked him into the wall, as if she was disposing of a piece of trash.
Looking at her, it was as if she had only given him a pat. Just because she didn’t use her axe, it didn’t mean that she was being lenient. She probably loathed needlessly spilling human blood.
As for Rossetta, she was fighting quite elegantly.
She knocked down the opponent who had run at her at the beginning, and just as she was about to completely seal his movements with a trample, she lightly struck the confused man’s chest with her fingertips and easily activated her magic.
“Rotten Blood.”
It was a support spell derived from the water detoxification spell, Clear Blood. It produced a toxin within the target’s bloodstream.
“Gubuh!?”
Although I didn’t know what it felt like to be on the receiving end of Rotten Blood, the man raised a muffled complaint, clutched his chest and collapsed to his knees. Before he fell down, Rossetta stepped on his head. I didn’t know if he was hovering between life or death, but for now, his movements were restricted.
“Damn it! How the hell did it end up like this-”
Caught up in the extreme confusion, the man wasn’t allowed to finish the rest of his sentence. Grace kicked his chest and sent him flying parallel to the ground. The large man’s body collided with the wall.
“G-Go burn in hell-!”
The magician tried to wield his Staff and cast a Fireball.
“Too late.”
The body of the Magician was pierced through by the spear of lightning that came from the expanded magic circle at my fingertips.
A spark of bright green light flashed in the labyrinth passage and was accompanied by the sound of something bursting open.
It was a Rank 4 Lightning Magic, Electro Lance. If your opponents were human, this spell had the power to kill them. Although Magicians had quite a high resistance, they would still fall down after receiving a single attack and become unable to move.
Not all Magicians felt the need to hide their cards up their sleeves, like using chantless magic or magic circles, so it was impossible to predict if capturing them would be easy. You could even go so far as to say that there was a possibility of them using magic after being incapacitated, depending on the condition of their body and if they were still conscious. There was certainly a need to bury them. Although I had a spell up my sleeve that could put them to sleep, it was unreliable. If one of them understood that type of magic, it would be possible for them to resist, depending on the strength of their mind.
Rossetta’s healing magic was a different kind of magic. Since it affected the body, direct contact was necessary, and it was a powerful interference ability that ignored resistances.
“Y-You’re joking…right?…It was done…instantaneously?”
The defeated archer’s voice leaked out. It was possible that he had received damage to his eardrums, and although I was uncertain of his pronunciation, I was able to catch his words.
“Light Bind.”
“Hii?!”
When the archer was restrained, the battle ended underwhelmingly. There wasn’t anyone who could stand up and come at us. I wasn’t concerned as to whether those guys were dead or alive. After all, it was all the same if they surrendered.
In order to confirm whether or not the restrained archer had allies outside the labyrinth, I decided it was necessary to revive one of them, two at most.
As to how their allies suffered while under the effects of the night vision, I had thoroughly seen through them. I’ll take the opportunity to express my thanks for what they did to us when we get outside. The guys who would vainly meddle in our business will decrease and people pulling off similar tricks will quiet down as well.
“Y-You’re wrong! We are just-”
The man rolling on the floor screamed out an excuse.
I wondered what I should say. There wasn’t anything wrong with arranging preparations with just this.
For these guys to be so frantic meant that a number of the criminals within the large labyrinth couldn’t avoid capital punishment. Since interrogations were conducted with the use of lie detecting magic, they couldn’t talk their way out of their crimes.
When I stared down at them silently, the man who had looked at me didn’t know where to direct his sight. When they finally got serious, they glared in our direction.
“Th-That’s right! We didn’t have any plans to kill you! You guys aren’t injured, so isn’t it fine to ignore us!?”
“…I won’t say it twice. Stop talking.”
“…”
When I said that while a magic circle floated above my palm, the man finally went silent. Now that they were at my mercy, they were pretending to be weak, since their attempt at thievery had failed. The fact that they targeted new people and begged for their lives was fine, but they were completely unpleasant individuals.
Was their goal money or pleasure? Was their method intimidation or murder? These things had no relation to us at all.
As for what those guys were planning to do, they could have only chosen one or two paths at most, considering the time they chose to launch their sneak attack.
Would we resist and have casualties? Would we be deprived of our possessions without putting up any resistance?
Speaking of choices, being lenient and overlooking them wasn’t an option. It wouldn’t be good to allow them to cause more harm, seek revenge and the like.
For example, it wouldn’t be strange for new people, not like us, but honest Adventurers like Forest Bird, to fall prey to these guys.
That was why I was personally insincere towards all of the Adventurers who were did things like dirty their hands and were even harmful to me.
These actions in themselves, where one had to obliterate others, were miserable and unpleasant.
“Rossetta-san, I’ll give you a Dimension Stone. Can you call people to come over for us?”
Perhaps it was much too convenient to have the influential woman go to the stele and call for people.
There was a mountain of adventurers that could transfer to the third floor, but there weren’t any issues with leaving if you didn’t have a Dimension Stone, since there were stairs leading out. There might be a chance for the Guild personnel to come here directly.
“…You’ll be fine, right?”
“Yeah.”
Although Rossetta gazed in my direction for a while, she ran towards the stele.
Such a thing…seriously. It’s fine not to worry about me.
//
“Yeah, that’s enough.”
After we had returned from the third floor stairwell, we were called to one of the Guild rooms and interviewed by the receptionist woman. If I had to say it, it seemed that she was quite sympathetic towards us. After she had asked several questions to confirm the situation, she released us with a pitying expression.
Although I had thought that it would take more time, it was unexpectedly straightforward.
Was it because of Rossetta’s influence, or because she was our representative for the magic examination?
“Those guys are a group that calls itself ‘Snakebite’.”
“There have been a lot of disputes with those guys, since their behaviour has been quite bad.”
“…Is that so.”
For her to be so sympathetic towards us, did that mean this kind of behavior was normal for those guys?
“Since we were able to confirm the facts clearly, I think we should discuss the reward money.”
Reward money, huh? I wasn’t trying to earn any, though.
Grace and Rossetta were seen off by the receptionist lady and returned from the Guild’s room.
Then, Rossetta let out a deep breath and smiled as if her feelings had changed.
“Good work you two.”
“Rossetta-san as well.”
“Yeah. Well then, Theodore-kun, what will you do from here on?”
Was she referring to whether I would enter the labyrinth again?
“…I’ll head back obediently, as expected.”
“There’s that option as well. I’ll head back too.”
“Shall I send you off with a carriage?”
“It doesn’t matter. I feel like walking by myself for a bit.”
Rossetta shook her head when I tried to offer to send her off.
“It’s fine to be in the mood for anything while you do this. I’ll be happy if you make an appearance again. You can consult with me for anything if you ever have troubles, or if there is something you’re worried about.”
“Understood.”
I realized that I was treated well after handling this event.
Rossetta might have regrets regarding Mom as well. She left the Guild with a smile after I gave her a nod.
In the end, she looked over her shoulder at the exit and said,
“Ah, that’s right. Those guys had a black dimension stone on them, for some reason.”
“…Black? What’s that?”
…It was an item that didn’t exist in BFO.
“Even I don’t know what this is. It’s the first time the Guild personnel have seen this item, and it seems like they’re currently examining it to figure out how it’s used. They might let you know the details, depending on what they discover while you’re out and about.”
Although they were suppressed all at once…It might have been annoying if this item was used. The risk might have been high if it was an item like a Teleportation Trap.
I saw off Rossetta and left the Guild while absorbed in my thoughts.
“…It’s slightly tiring.”
“Yeah.”
I gave Grace, who squinted her eyes and inclined her head, a small laugh and nodded.
There didn’t seem to be any side-effects for Grace after being released from her cursed artifact, since those guys were defeated without any blood being spilled. With things as they were before, it seemed it had worried me to the point that I wouldn’t be able to calm down for a while.
Aah…That’s right.
I needed to turn the raw materials we brought back into money.
Shall we head back after buying a magic stone for the bath? I would probably calm down a bit if I took a hot bath. It was important to regulate one’s mood.
After I relayed my thoughts to Grace, she looked at me gently.
