Ch.129But what if the Dragoon self-destructs?

After defeating the giant Dragoon, the movements of the smaller Dragoons became noticeably simpler.

Gone were their coordinated tactics and situational adaptability—now they just rushed toward their targets for close combat with mindless banzai charges.

Without even their greatest threat, the red beam, the Dragoons were no longer a match for our party. We conquered the second underground level before lunchtime and immediately boarded the elevator heading down to the third level.

When we reached the third underground level, the Dragoons blocked our path with completely different tactics than before.

“Beep-beep-beep-whoosh! Beep-beep-whoosh!”

“Bzz! Bzz! Bzzzzz!!”

“Wow… this is impressive no matter how many times I see it.”

Red beams continuously flew from around the right corner of the corridor, crossing our field of vision before disappearing as they hit the tunnel wall.

If those beams’ destructive power worked on the tunnel walls, this entire area would have collapsed by now.

Taking advantage of the gap between shots, I peeked around the corner and saw Dragoons stacked like moving boxes about 30 meters ahead.

Four rows across, four rows deep.

Sixteen Dragoons neatly stacked, taking turns firing beams—resembling a defensive wall with laser turrets.

“Stacking monsters like a wall to block the narrow path and firing beams… this is more threatening than sending troops in piecemeal.”

“I guess they’re also figuring out how to defeat us.”

“This isn’t the time for compliments. That thing might come out again!”

“Don’t worry. I’ve already prepared countermeasures.”

“Yes. It’s appearing right now.”

As I quietly listened to Seti’s words, I could hear the clanking footsteps of a Dragoon approaching amid the whooshing beam sounds.

Tension flashed across everyone’s faces, and Jessica and Seti quickly exchanged glances.

“Phyllis, how’s the rifle?”

“I still need a bit more time.”

“Got it, I’ll handle this one. Seti, Fatum, please.”

“Okay.”

“Leave it to me!”

As Seti and Fatum nodded and rushed into the corridor with their shields forward, the previously scattered red beams began concentrating on them.

“Clank-clank-clank-clank!”

Amid the chaos, a Dragoon charging forward under the cover of beam fire had mining dynamite hanging all over its body.

This was the trump card that nearly wiped out our party when we first confronted the Dragoon wall—the “suicide bomber Dragoon.”

Their strategy of pinning us down with beam fire while sending in suicide bombers was quite excellent, but we weren’t going to fall for the same trick multiple times.

“Flame Lance!”

“BOOM–!!”

When Jessica’s spear of fire mercilessly struck the dynamite-laden Dragoon, a massive explosion and vibration echoed throughout the Korkas Mine tunnel.

Our counter-strategy: if the enemy sends a suicide bomber, detonate it before it gets close.

It’s an extremely dangerous tactic that could lead to a mine collapse, but we adopted it based on Mina’s assurance that dwarven hardening technology would prevent collapse from explosions of this magnitude.

“Crack!”

“Ugh, my shield…!”

Just before we could hide behind the corner again after successfully stopping the suicide Dragoon, a beam pierced through the thick dust and managed to shatter part of Fatum’s shield.

It seems the fourth beam hit the spot where the scales had disappeared after blocking three previous beams.

“Should we replace it with a spare shield?”

“No, about a quarter broke off, but it’s still fine for blocking beam attacks.”

“Don’t push yourself. We’re only halfway there.”

It would be nice to recapture the third underground level in one go, but retreating midway wouldn’t be a problem.

We’ve completely cleared the second level and can seal the elevator platform anytime, so we can resume the recapture operation from the third level next time.

Besides, we’ve confirmed that the dynamite the Dragoons use for suicide attacks was originally stored by the dwarves for emergencies.

Logically, they wouldn’t stockpile hundreds of “emergency” items, especially explosives, so the suicide Dragoon strategy can’t continue indefinitely.

“Will, the rifle’s cooldown is complete.”

“Oh?”

Phyllis’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

While Jessica, Seti, and Fatum’s role is to intercept suicide bomber Dragoons early, dismantling the Dragoon wall is my job with Phyllis.

“Great, let’s go, Phyllis.”

I gave Phyllis the signal and rushed out first, confirming the Dragoons across the corridor in slowed time.

I could feel the trajectory of each red beam fired by the Dragoons stacked in a 4×4 formation.

“Heeyah!”

“Bzz! Bzz! Bzzzzz!”

Unlike the beastfolk, I can’t directly infuse magic into shields, so I can only block one beam with one scale. In a situation where suicide bombers could be deployed at any moment, I can’t ask Jessica to use fragments of the holy relic.

Yet I’m still in charge of protecting Phyllis for this reason:

To use my skill to track attack trajectories and perfectly block beams aimed at Phyllis.

Of course, I also make sure to move my shield so that no more than one beam hits a single scale.

“Fireball {Explosive Routing}!!”

A perfect defense followed by a decisive attack.

The fireball, accompanied by intense heat, flies and hits one of the Dragoons in the wall formation with perfect accuracy.

“KABOOM-!!”

After the explosion, smoke, and flames subside, all that remains are the charred corpses of Dragoons.

“Phew, somehow we managed to clear them. I’d like to wait for Phyllis’s rifle to be ready, but…”

“We have no choice. If monsters rush out and form a new wall, we’ll just be wasting time.”

“We don’t have much further to go. If we continue straight, we’ll reach the storage room and break room, then the second tunnel, and after passing through the main equipment room at its deepest point, we’ll find the elevator platform to the fourth underground level.”

“The dynamite must be in that storage room. Let’s secure it by the shortest route.”

If we just capture the storage room where the dynamite is kept, the risk of suicide attacks will significantly decrease.

Of course, there’s a possibility that the Dragoons moved the dynamite elsewhere, but that’s no reason to delay capturing the storage room.

The next thing to resolve is finding and defeating the giant Dragoon that likely exists on this level as well.

Once that’s done, the remaining Dragoons will become significantly weaker, just like on the second level, and we should be able to recapture the third level without much difficulty.

That’s what I thought, but—

“…They’re gone.”

“Yes, not a single one in sight.”

Until we reached the storage room, break room, the complex second tunnel, and even the main equipment room at the deepest point, not a single Dragoon appeared before us.

“Strange. If they wanted to harm us, those complex tunnels we just passed would have been the perfect place.”

“I know. No long corridors, lots of intersections—if they had hidden and jumped out for suicide attacks, it would have been hard to counter.”

“This main equipment room isn’t a bad place to gather forces either. Yet they’ve all disappeared without a trace…”

“Could those that Phyllis took out earlier have been the last of them?”

To Mina’s optimistic expectation, Fatum shook his head and replied:

“That’s impossible. I can’t be sure about the smaller monsters, but there should have been at least three more large ones, excluding the one we defeated on the upper level.”

“So they used the Dragoon wall and suicide attacks to buy time while the remaining ones retreated completely to the fourth underground level.”

“But why?”

“Why indeed… Yes, that’s the important question.”

Why did the Dragoons retreat to the fourth underground level?

Logically speaking, they might have abandoned the third level to strengthen the defenses of the fourth.

But if that were the only reason, they should have withdrawn all forces when we first descended to the third level.

There was no need to sacrifice numerous Dragoons by forming walls of sixteen and conducting suicide attacks.

“They needed to buy time for something beyond just retreating. That’s the only explanation I can think of.”

“Buy time for what?”

“For example, this main equipment room is quite spacious compared to other areas. If they’ve occupied such a place for three years, it wouldn’t be strange if they installed important facilities or stored lots of supplies here.”

“So they were buying time to move those to the fourth level. That… does make sense.”

“Well, this is just my speculation. We can’t really know what the monsters were thinking.”

“We’ll find out when we investigate the fourth level. For now, let’s secure the path to the elevator platform and contact Director Kelly.”

“They might be trying to lull us into a false sense of security before a suicide Dragoon goes boom!”

To cut to the conclusion, nothing like that happened.

Not a single Dragoon remained in the rest of the third level, and we found decisive evidence that they had conducted a major retreat to strengthen their final defense.

The metal elevator leading down to the fourth underground level had been completely destroyed, its remains scattered on the elevator platform floor 15 meters below.