Ch.235Darkness Stirring in the Deep, Secluded Corner

“Phew… That burned up quite nicely.”

“There are still some embers remaining here and there, so be careful.”

“Ah, I found another magic stone.”

From the furniture that had been soiled with filth to the monsters that had been crawling around, and even the giant corpse that had been nailed to the wall.

Everything in the banquet hall had burned to black ashes, and we diligently searched for traces of Arcane Words among the ruins.

Occasionally, we found the small pleasure of discovering magic stones among the ashes.

“There’s a magic stone here too. It’s bigger than the others.”

“Really? It’s the size of a fist?”

“It must be from where that large monster was nailed. Could it have been alive in that state…?”

“Surely that couldn’t have been the Tyrant King, right?”

“No way. The crown was clearly human-sized from what we saw.”

“Hmm…”

Well, it’s probably meaningless to wonder about the identity of a monster that has already turned to ashes.

More importantly, finding the Arcane Word is our top priority right now.

After all, we waited outside for an hour until the fire naturally extinguished itself.

‘Thud’

“Whoa!?”

“Oof… Be careful, Mina. If you fall here, you’ll be covered in ashes.”

“I am being careful. My foot just caught on something.”

Having narrowly avoided falling, Mina began to rub the spot she had just walked over with her foot.

As she cleared away the ashes on the floor, broken and cracked floor tiles came into view.

Unlike the rest of the floor, which was merely sooty or dirty, this part was actually broken.

“Looks like we found something, don’t you think?”

“Blowing everything up and burning it was the right answer after all.”

“Honestly, I didn’t expect it to go this far… Anyway, let’s clear away these broken floor tiles.”

Sure enough, beneath the floor tiles was an iron trapdoor.

Hidden under that trapdoor was a staircase leading underground, and at the bottom of those stairs, we discovered a black stone engraved with an Arcane Word.

{The Tyrant King, master of this castle, was betrayed by his trusted servant who stole his throne on the night he achieved victory against the giant.}

{If you wish for the King’s return, take the scepter hidden here, gather the crown and medal, and bring them to the place where the King shall reign.}

The latter part of the Arcane Word was identical to the text we found in the warehouse, with only the order of the words “crown” and “scepter” switched, but the first part contained quite significant information.

“It seems the cunning usurper was a subordinate of the Tyrant King.”

“And the giant mentioned here must be the monster that was nailed to the wall upstairs.”

“Considering they couldn’t completely kill it and had to seal it away, it must have been a formidable enemy at the time.”

“Good thing we didn’t have to face it head-on. It might have weakened considerably over the years, though.”

The King who had won against a powerful enemy was betrayed by his subordinate at a critical moment and had his throne usurped.

What would happen if we gathered the three treasures and brought back the Tyrant King?

To find the answer to that question, we needed to locate the third Arcane Word.

After reciting the Arcane Word and obtaining the scepter, we searched diligently throughout the castle and finally found a suspicious location.

Behind a weapon rack in a secluded training ground, we discovered a hidden well.

Setting aside whether monsters need drinking water or not, a well hidden in such a secluded place must conceal some secret.

Our expectations were met in both good and bad ways.

‘Swoosh!’

“Eek!?”

“Phyllis!”

Phyllis, who had approached to peer into the well using her Night Vision ability, was startled by something black that suddenly shot up, causing her to fall backward onto her bottom.

“Tentacles?”

‘Shuurururu-!!’

Like ink gushing out with tremendous force, what emerged from the well was a mass of thick, black tentacles.

Their size and agile movements were incomparable to the tentacle attacks of the Water Elemental we fought in the Oak Sanctuary.

As the tentacles poured down toward the fallen Phyllis, wind blades cut through them.

‘Slash!’

‘Thud…’

“Phyllis, get back.”

“Th-thanks, Seti.”

Thanks to Seti, Phyllis narrowly escaped danger and quickly readjusted her grip on her gun, retreating to secure a safe distance.

The severed tentacles had already regenerated more than half, and they began to bend toward us, swaying disgustingly like seaweed in ocean currents.

“Jessica, do you know anything about this thing?”

“Sorry, there are so many types of tentacle monsters that it’s hard to identify just by appearance.”

“OK. For now, let’s be careful not to get caught and fight from a distance. Seti, don’t get too close either.”

“Okay.”

When you think of tentacle monsters in dungeons, adult games might come to mind, but unfortunately, the place I crossed over to isn’t an R-rated game world but a proper other world.

Of course, even if it were an R-rated game world, I wouldn’t stand by and watch my women being violated by tentacles.

“Flame Lance!”

‘Boom!’

Jessica’s Flame Lance flew with fierce momentum, causing a small explosion.

But the tentacle monster, as if unaffected by such flames, lunged at Seti, who was closest, from multiple directions.

Seti cut down the attacking tentacles and quickly escaped the encirclement, then examined where the Flame Lance had hit before speaking to Jessica.

“There’s no wound at all. Looks like fire doesn’t work.”

“Then… Diamond Dust!”

‘Ratatang!’

‘Tang!’

‘Taang!’

If fire doesn’t work, then try a cold attack.

And the moment the tentacles froze, my revolver, Phyllis’s rifle, and Mina’s large-caliber pistol all fired white magic bullets.

‘Crack!’

The frozen tentacles, penetrated by magic bullets, fell like broken spaghetti, and the movement of the entire mass of tentacles seemed to slow down a bit.

Whether cold was its weakness or not, it was undoubtedly more effective than fire.

‘Shuurururu-!’

As the tentacle monster made a strange sound and trembled, time around me seemed to slow down, and I sensed killing intent approaching my torso in a parabolic trajectory.

Just like when it first startled Phyllis, the tentacle was trying to extend its length in an instant to pounce on its prey.

“It’s extending! Everyone be careful!”

‘Swoosh-!!’

Right after I shouted a warning to everyone, the mass of tentacles that poured out split into several branches, extending toward all five of us.

Those of us who were keeping a sufficient distance—myself, Mina, and Phyllis—were barely able to dodge by throwing ourselves aside, but Jessica’s skirt hem and the tip of Seti’s spear were caught by a hair’s breadth.

“Kyaaaa!”

“Jessica!”

Jessica lost her balance and was being dragged along the ground.

Seti boldly abandoned her spear that had been caught by the tentacle and ran toward Jessica, using her monster material harvesting knife to slash and tear Jessica’s skirt hem.

If Seti’s decision had been even slightly delayed, Jessica would have been dragged toward the well with her leg caught in the tentacle, not just her skirt.

‘Bang! Bang! Baang!’

The three of us—myself, Mina, and Phyllis—were busy keeping the tentacles at bay as they tried to extend toward the two again, having failed in their initial attempt.

Jessica, who had barely escaped the danger zone, looked at Seti’s spear caught by the tentacle with an apologetic expression, but before she could say anything, Seti reassured her.

“It’s okay. I can pick up the spear after we defeat the monster. Don’t worry about it.”

“…Alright. Let’s focus on taking down that tentacle monster.”

With that, Jessica deployed her Fragment of Omniscience and spoke to Phyllis.

“Phyllis, can you make a Lightning Bolt pass close to me and hit the monster?”

“No problem. Should I do it now?”

“Yes. And let me know how the monster reacts when it hits.”

“Got it. Lightning Bolt {Accelerated Thunder Shot}!”

‘Crackle!’

When the lightning from Phyllis’s gun barrel passed by Jessica and struck the black tentacle monster, all the tentacles that had been swaying in various directions suddenly stiffened, and the severed parts began to burst.

Seeing that the burst parts were no longer regenerating, it seemed that lightning was this tentacle monster’s weakness.

“There was a reaction. The damaged parts aren’t regenerating.”

“I see. Let’s keep pressing with lightning attacks.”

As Jessica spoke, tiny sparks like static electricity were glimmering at her fingertips.

She must have caught some of the Lightning Bolt that Phyllis had fired using her Fragment of Omniscience.

“Lightning Bolt, Break Enchant!”

With Jessica’s shout, I felt a different power imbuing our weapons.

As I reloaded my magic bullets, I noticed that the crystal indicator on the back of the cartridge was emitting a light purple glow.

“Purple?”

“Did you imbue the magic bullets with lightning?”

“That’s right. But since it’s an attribute I can’t normally handle and I forced it to work, the effect will only last about five minutes. So…”

“We need to turn that thing into electric grilled eel as quickly as possible. Got it.”

The battle after that was one-sided.

The tentacle monster could offer no resistance against the lightning-attribute magic bullets fired by myself, Mina, and Phyllis, only stiffening its entire body, and Seti too overwhelmed the monster, cutting through the tentacle masses with her lightning-imbued knife.

By the time it would take to cook instant noodles, all the tentacles that had emerged from the well were severed and scattered on the ground.

‘Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Baang!’

Even the parts remaining in the well were helplessly shredded by the lightning-attribute magic bullets that the three of us poured in.

It was a moment for Mina’s large-caliber pistol, which had been switched to an explosive barrel type, to shine.

‘Pshuuuu…’

“Ah, it’s over.”

As we continuously poured magic bullets into the well, we realized that the tentacle monster had met its end when we saw the fallen tentacles around us dispersing like mist.

It was the most desperate and magnificent battle we had experienced in this dungeon.