30 – The Mysterious Robed Man does Something (Part 1)
The 249th ranked party consisted of a Hero, two Warriors, a Paladin, and a Hunter.
The Warriors consist of a young man and a young girl Warrior. Internally, I have labeled the male as A and the female as B.
It seems that this Hero has formed a contract with the Lesser Spirit of the Wind Spirit.
Once, the Great Four Spirits supported the Humans during their conflict with the Demon King Army, each forming a contract with the Flame Hero, Storm Hero, Frost Hero, and Gaia Hero respectively.
However, even though they were unparalleled warriors, one cannot win a war with only four people.
The Great Spirits cut up and split their own existence into small pieces and those pieces can become spirits.
These small spirit fragments are called Lesser Spirits. It's rank is lower but it can bestow upon the contractee the same kind of powers as its parent spirit.
Thus, in an instant, the number of Spirit wielding Heroes multiplied as written in history.
Even when peace was attained, those that were once Heroes proceeded to the Spirit Shrines in order to offer thanks to the contributions that the Spirits once provided.
And with that official stance, the Spirits were asked earnestly to lend a hand to the Adventurer Business.
Now that I think about it, I wonder what Fenix said in the shrine. No matter how many times I ask him, he just laughs embarrassingly and doesn't answer me.
It looks like this Hero was granted divine protection of lightning magic by the Lesser Spirit of Wind.
A number of the Hellhounds who went first were defeated.
They were sacrificed in order to let the enemy feel like the fight is going well.
Prior to the battle, I was told that the Hellhounds will unfalteringly carry out their duties for the sake of the pack's victory but it still hurts to see.
I should give them lots of treats after we win this fight.
This time, I shall be borrowing the strength of a pack of Hellhounds as well as The Invisible Slaughterer Glasya-Labolas.
Other than them, it's just me and my magic.
In this roughly straight line-shaped wasteland, the party heads toward the papier-mache Demon King Castle where the Floor Boss is located.
The viewers will see this as the first stratum wasteland but it's actually more like the first barrier.
Because on this roughly straight line-shaped wasteland, ridiculously large boulders are rolling around.
Currently, I am made invisible thanks to Glasha-Labolas', okay his name is too long so I'm gonna refer to him internally as Gla-la, magic.
I asked about the details of the spell and he told me that it's not the kind that dispels when you attack, rather it dispels when you get too close to your target.
The effect can't be applied to spells, so if a magic-user were to use it from afar while invisible, the enemy can still see the magic being cast from a distance. Even though the magic-user is invisible, they can see where the spells are coming from and deal with it. It would be effective to attack from a distance just close enough that it doesn't dispel the invisibility, but if your attack doesn't completely annihilate the enemy, they could counterattack and defeat you.
With that said this spell pairs excellently with Black Magic.
It's not as if Black Magic assaults the enemy with clouds of black haze or something. Black Magic was already invisible to the naked eye, so making the user invisible as well is fantastic.
「Hah! So much for being impregnable. This is easy.」
Says the Hero of lightning. I think they called him the Thunder Hero.
「Isn't it because this is the first stratum? The slow, loitering pace we're going is annoying, but if that's all we have to worry about, we got this!」
「I'm so glad the doggies have fiendish faces~. If they were cute, I wouldn't be able to attack them.」
Replied Warrior A and Warrior B.
「We started late. We're challenging the strata that Fenix and party already cleared, so I think we have to at least do better than the minimum.」
The Hunter was a macho looking man. He was older than the others and spoke and moved cautiously.
「Yeah. I think it'll be hard to show the difference in Dungeon clearing speed by clearing a Dungeon brilliantly but slowly. If our video has no highlights, we'll be laughed at and our reputation will be finished.」
The tall bespectacled young man is the Paladin.
The Hunter and the Paladin are right.
If you just copy someone else but worse, the original party isn't gonna be happy with it.
But if you do something similar but with a unique gimmicky twist, the evaluation changes.
「You idiot. We don't have a dead duck Black Sorcerer with us, we're way flashier.」
「Dead duck」is harsh…Their Hero sounds just like Alba.
「But y'know, having two Warriors doesn't have much of an impact.」
「I totally get that~. Plus neither of us have a Magic Sword.」
Magic Swords and my ring are considered Magic Tools, tools imbued with mysterious powers. They have their respective origins but it is common knowledge that they were once made by a certain race.
Is there anyone who can create new Magic Tools in this day and age? For now, no…
And that's because the aforementioned race has already died out. Officially, they are said to have gone extinct.
Because of that, Magic Tools are somewhat valuable.
Alba probably inherited his Magic Sword from his father.
Even though she's treating me as the Chief of Staff, to simply plop the ring into my hand was incredibly generous of the Demon King.
I wonder if it has anything to do with me being the disciple of her grandfa-, I mean, my master.
Anyway, our guest's thoughts are just as I predicted. If that's the case, let's go with Plan A. Just in case, I have thought of three plans.
「I guess we're going for a speed clear, huh?」
「Hmm. It's gonna be tough on the Paladin if he dashes at full speed.」
Paladins and Heavy Warriors wear armor. You can rely on them for defense and attack power but at the cost of their speed.
It's standard for a party to move together at the same speed as their slowest members.
Observing them from a distance, I get into position.
I hide behind the shadow of a large boulder, and I ask Gra-la to dispel my invisibility. Thanks to Gra-la's effect, I am able to see fellow invisible allies.
I stepped out from behind the boulder.
A number of Hellhounds at my feet.
「Wha?! Hey, look!」
「…A Majin? But the only humanoid thing in this stratum is the Floor Boss.」
「You got that from the 4th ranked party's video, right? Then that means…」
「…It's a humanoid monster that Fenix and party never encountered.」
「Wait, wait, hold on now. That is definitely a trap.」
Right you are, Mr.Paladin.
But I bet you're all thinking that continuing to simply copy the way Fenix and party cleared this stratum is meaningless.
You planned to clear the Dungeon as fast as possible but what if you found something that would easily differentiate your video from Fenix's? What would you do?
A Hellhound summoning Majin that even the 4th ranked party didn't encounter. If by some chance Glasya-Labolas appeared as well, you might be able to defeat two rare wandering Monsters.
He's invisible and closing in, so discovering and defeating him would be difficult.
So, what will you do?
「Hey, let's get'em!」
Heroes are unique beings. They have strength far beyond the norm. They are chosen warriors.
With a few exceptions, they each think that they are the best in the world.
It's not enough to be the 249th ranked party, right? I get it.
And if that were true, it would be humiliating to imitate other people, right? But with so many parties in the world, it's unacceptable to do things half-heartedly.
To them, this is their chance.
Finally, a chance for them to definitively create a different Dungeon Clear video than Fenix party's one has come.
You'd definitely pursue that, wouldn't you?