Ch.94The Wailing Slaughterer

‘Kugugugugugu…’

“Oh! It’s open, it’s open.”

“There was a lot of rust on the mechanism, but it seems to work just fine.”

What appeared after the seemingly dead-end cave wall opened was a square room about 10 meters by 10 meters.

This was the third secret room we’d discovered in this dungeon. Our dungeon exploration was steadily yielding results.

“No monsters hiding in the darkness. Seems safe for now.”

“More like there’s nothing in here at all. What was the point of hiding this place?”

The first secret room we found had contained a silver vein, and the second one was what you’d call a monster house.

Since our contract prohibited resource collection within the dungeon, we had no choice but to pass by the room with the silver vein. However, in the monster house teeming with giant larvae, thanks to Phyllis clearing out the enemies with a fireball, we were able to obtain magic stones and some spoils without any significant danger.

But this newly discovered secret room had nothing special about it except for the dirt floor.

No treasure chests, hidden passages, or traps—not even a hint of monsters lurking about. I couldn’t even guess what purpose this room served.

“Hmm… this soil is fertile ground rich with magical energy. I’ve heard it’s occasionally found inside dungeons or near mana veins.”

“Fertile soil? You mean good for growing plants?”

“That’s right. Rare medicinal herbs are sometimes found in places with this kind of soil, and if you take some and put it in a pot, it’s excellent for cultivating herbs.”

“It would probably fetch a decent price if sold to an alchemist… but since this soil counts as a dungeon resource, we’ll have to leave it behind.”

“Couldn’t we just sneak a little bit?”

“If they made resource collection prohibition a condition, they probably have means to detect violations. We can’t risk failing the quest over a handful of dirt, can we?”

“Tch, I guess not.”

Putting aside her disappointment, Mina marked the information about the secret room on our map and turned away without lingering.

Following behind Mina, we left the secret room and retraced our steps. Just as we were about to enter a passage we hadn’t yet explored—

‘Moooooo-!!’

“!?”

A cow’s bellow echoed from somewhere deep in the dark corridor.

Unlike the leisurely mooing of the Black Ox we’d heard at Ambers Ranch, this was a rough and violent roar.

“Did you hear that?”

“Yeah, sounded like a cow.”

“…This is dangerous. If it’s a cow-type monster roaming the dungeon, it’s likely a Minotaur.”

Minotaur. A mythical monster with the head of a bull and the body of a human.

Famous as a ruthless killer that wanders labyrinths and slaughters intruders, it’s often portrayed as a powerful mid-boss level monster in games and comics.

“How strong is this Minotaur thing?”

“Minotaurs in dungeons receive special protection that makes them nearly invincible. If we face one head-on, we have no chance of winning.”

“That serious?”

“Yes. We’d be up against a berserker that feels no pain and takes no wounds.”

If Jessica, who could accurately assess our party’s combat strength, was this adamant, then this Minotaur monster seemed to be an opponent that couldn’t be defeated by conventional means.

I was about to suggest that we proceed carefully to avoid encountering the Minotaur when—

‘Moooooo!!’

‘CRASH’

‘Aaaaargh!’

A second roar, followed by the sound of something being smashed, and then a man’s scream came in succession.

“That sound just now…”

“Must be someone from Hector’s party. Are they being chased by the Minotaur?”

‘MOOOOOOO—–!!’

The third roar was louder than the previous one.

Judging by the heavy thudding footsteps and the patter of running that followed, it seemed Hector’s party was fleeing from the Minotaur and heading in our direction.

“Damn it, they’re running this way!”

“What should we do? Should we fall back and wait for them to pass by somewhere else?”

If the Minotaur’s target was Hector’s party rather than us, Mina’s suggestion was certainly appealing.

If the survivors of Hector’s party led the Minotaur far away as they fled, that would be OK. Even if not, we might never have to see that detestable Hector again…

‘I don’t like that Hector guy. But the two people with him are innocent.’

When I recalled what Seti had said before we entered the dungeon, the thought of leaving Hector’s party to die vanished.

Sensing my feelings, Jessica gave me a slight smile before letting out a soft sigh.

“Haah… Hector really is a man who brings nothing but trouble to one’s life.”

“Are you thinking of saving them?”

“I reeeeeally don’t want to, but I’d like to see Hector’s face when his pride takes a hit from owing me a debt.”

“Haha, I like that. It’ll make for excellent entertainment.”

Given Hector’s personality, we probably wouldn’t get any thanks for saving him, but the fact that he owed his life to Jessica, a Codex Mage, would remain like a thorn in his chest for a long time.

And until he achieved something great enough by his own power to crush that thorn, he wouldn’t dare pick a fight with Jessica again.

The moment Jessica pulled out the “you owe me your life” trump card, Hector would have no choice but to shut up.

“Phyllis, please hit the Minotaur with a Lightning Bolt as soon as it appears.”

“That means I won’t be able to use my rifle for a while. Is that acceptable?”

“It’s fine. We’re not trying to engage the Minotaur in a full-on battle right now. We’ll bind its feet with Lightning Bolt and Diamond Dust, then all escape together.”

“Understood.”

We decided to postpone challenging the Minotaur until another opportunity when we could take advantage of numerical superiority, and we prepared our interception while listening to the approaching sounds of the fugitives and their pursuer.

“…They’re coming. Get ready, Phyllis.”

“Mm.”

As lantern light appeared in the dark corridor, Phyllis stood straight and aimed her rifle toward the passage.

The three men who finally burst around the corner flinched momentarily when they saw Phyllis pointing her gun in their direction, but Jessica shouted loudly as if to encourage them.

“Don’t stop! I’m going to use lightning magic, so keep your heads down and keep running!”

‘MOOOOO-!!’

The three men, following Jessica’s instructions, lowered their upper bodies and ran desperately toward us.

As the large bull-headed man emerged from the corner with a thunderous roar, Phyllis’s rifle emitted a brilliant white flash.

“Lightning Bolt {Accelerated Thunder Bullet}!!”

‘CRACKLE!’

The glowing white Lightning Bolt flew over Hector’s group and struck the Minotaur in the chest, causing it to lose balance and crash into the wall behind it.

“Diamond Dust!”

The Diamond Dust, activated at maximum output, not only enveloped the Minotaur’s entire body but also created several large chunks of ice that filled the inner corridor.

It would take quite some time for the Minotaur to break free from its frozen state and smash through all the ice blocks blocking the passage.

“Mina, move out! You three come with us!”

‘WROOOAAAARR———!!”

Leaving behind the Minotaur, which was still roaring in fury despite being completely frozen, we began running through the dark dungeon following Mina’s lead.

After about 10 minutes of fleeing.

Once we confirmed that the Minotaur’s roars had grown sufficiently distant, we leaned against the dungeon wall to catch our breath.

“Huff, huff… this is like something straight out of a horror movie.”

“Whew… Mina, are we going the right way?”

“Don’t worry. I’m taking the shortest route from the paths we’ve already traveled.”

After shaking off the Minotaur’s pursuit, I took a closer look at Hector’s party. The three men had torn clothes and were bleeding in various places, but they hadn’t sustained any major injuries.

Then again, if they had allowed that brute monster to land even one serious blow, they would have been dead on the spot.

“Huff, huff… Jessica… Jessica Walter.”

“Hmm? Got something to say?”

“Whew… what’s your angle? Helping a competitor.”

“I didn’t help you because I wanted to. You brought the Minotaur to us.”

“We just happened to run in your direction while fleeing. It wasn’t intentional.”

When Rick, who was holding a double-barrel shotgun, answered like that, Jessica seemed to have no desire to argue further and nodded in agreement.

“Let’s retreat outside the dungeon for now. Facing a Minotaur without any countermeasures is suicide.”

“I agree with that, but do you know the way out?”

“Of course… Wait, did you enter without mapping?”

“Of course we were mapping as we went in. But at some point, the map started to diverge from the actual terrain, and while being chased by the Minotaur, we lost track of our position entirely…”

The reason their map failed them was probably because they drew it without noticing the subtle curves in the corridors.

They got lost on the wrong path, encountered the Minotaur, and in their desperate flight, entered unfamiliar territory, rendering their map useless.

They had fallen into the worst possible pattern that could occur in this dungeon.

“This just keeps getting better. We’ve made a proper map, so just follow us quietly.”

“Ugh… how did I end up like this…”

Hector let out a low groan, glared at Rick, and then silently began to follow behind us.

He seemed to think they had ended up in this predicament because of Rick’s incompetence in mapping.

“……”

Until we reached the dungeon entrance following the shortest route Mina had identified, the members of Hector’s party didn’t exchange a single word.

It was easy to guess that their silence wasn’t due to vigilance or tension about a surprise attack from the Minotaur, but rather from suppressing their dissatisfaction.

This all happened on just the first day of our dungeon investigation.