CH 53

Since then, the number of monsters has been gradually increasing. No, I think it’s too much.

“Everyone protect the front line while pushing them down little by little! Don’t get yourself hurt!” (Vanguard Explorer)

The monsters are currently crammed into the stairs of the dungeon, and the shield specialist is forcing them back in. The number of monsters is still increasing one after another, and this state will not last long.

“Shoot your magic!” (Lead Explorer)

At the same time, countless lights flew through the air, blasting the monsters away. It creates a short gap between the monsters and humans.

“Push them back!” (Lead Explorer)

“[Shield Bash]” (Vanguard Explorer)

The skills from the shield specialists are activated simultaneously. This is one of the many shield skills, and it uses the mass of the shield to smash the enemy.

A number of Shields will charge into the group of monsters, and the monsters in front of them that are sandwiched between the Shields and the monsters behind them killing both monsters.

This strategy is repeated over and over again to maintain the front line, but this strategy does not allow the vanguard to do anything except defend. The Shields and the monsters are always jammed close together, so there’s no place to swing a weapon. That’s why,

“I’m vacant.” (Kei)

“Free time.” (Haru)

So we’re sitting back and watching. Of course, we are not the only ones watching, other vanguards and support-type explorers are also supporting the Shields. By the way, the person who gave the instruction from a while ago is also the person with the most powerful Sword Proficiency here.

“It looks like the front line is about to collapse, so why don’t we go down one more layer?” (Haru)

“Well, okay. The moment the monsters start to overflow, we can use stealth to get in.” (Kei)

Of course, an outbreak of monsters means that people with Shield Proficiency will be outnumbered, and that moment is fast approaching.

“A Unique is here, and it’s a cow type. It’s approaching while crushing other monsters and will breach the Shields.”

With the voice of the person acting as a representative of the shield, the Shield users begin to be overwhelmed by the monsters.

“We’re going to be crushed if we keep going like this, so clear the way!”

“Okay, with my signal the rearguard should evacuate. Each party should go on a separate raid. Shield team, clear the way!” (Lead Explorer)

The Shields that were about to be crushed spreads out, to the left and right, to release the pressure from the monsters, and suddenly the barricade disappears.

Monsters began to overflow as if a dam broke down. Their number is immeasurable. Well, if you look at their abilities against ours, we should be able to annihilate them safely. Because a huge number of vanguards can act.

“Haru, let’s go secretly.” (Kei)

“Got it.” (Haru)

We also have to take action.

We kept my body as low as possible and slipped into the gap between the monsters’ legs. Normally, the monsters would have compressed us and we would have died, but the two of us were a little too strong.

No one saw us move, my sword is slicing through the monsters around us, and Haru’s tonfas are blowing them away.

“Since we’re going to be gone, we might as well leave a souvenir?” (Kei)

I look up at the unique cow-type monster that I just saw. I applied my [Strong Slash] skill to my sword, forcefully rotated my body from a running stance, and swung upward.

“Brother, nice!” (Haru)

The blade easily slices off the cow’s head and turns it into a black mist.

The sword slashes monsters after monsters, creating a gap for a person to move between the monsters. Then a black shadow runs through the gap at a tremendous speed.

“It was unexpectedly easy to get out. Nobody noticed.” (Kei)

“Well, we’ve been through a mountain of monsters.” (Haru)

After passing through a certain number of monsters, the two of us kicked the ground and leaped upwards. Our feet caught the wall and we kept going. This is what we call Wall Running.

It’s a good idea to kick the wall to avoid touching the ground, since kicking the wall will naturally cause propulsion on the opposite side of the wall.

“Brother, I’m fine here. [Fissure]!” (Haru)

“Whoa, so sudden?” (Kei)

Haru’s swung up her tonfa before unleashing an extraordinary amount of magical power then, the space cracks.

The crack created through the space spreads into the passage where monsters are crowding, and then,

“No, there’s nothing for me to do, is there?” (Kei)

After that, there was not a single shadow of a monster left in the passage.

“Well, I can kill them if I hit them lightly, but I tried to forcibly expand the range by using [Magic Manipulation]. It’s easier to use than I thought.” (Haru)

“Oh, that’s right. There are still more enemies.” (Kei)

She killed all the monsters we could see, but the passage was soon filled with monsters.

“Can I use that one?” (Kei)

Collecting the drops from the monsters that Haru defeated earlier, and selecting only the metallic type. It might have been a good thing we don’t have much time, I guess?

“[Domination]” (Kei)

I whispered and the magical power surrounding us stops moving.

“[Bind] [Alchemy]” (Kei)

I use my [Domination] skill to make [Bind] thin and hard and expand it into a web. I’ll use my [Domination] skill to forcibly alchemize the dropped items into the vines from [Bind]. What can I do with it?

“A fence that can never be destroyed by these monsters.” (Kei)

While maintaining [Bind] in that form, I deactivate [Domination]. The army of monsters doesn’t care about the fence and pushes forward. And what does that mean?

“Brother, isn’t it too horrible?” (Haru)

The first monsters charge into the fence, the second ones hit the previous ones, and so on, one after another.

“Too loud.” (Haru)

What you hear is the voice of a monster screaming under pressure from the front fence and the monster behind. It gradually turns into a scream of death demons and disappears.

It’s a trap. A trap that takes advantage of a large number of monsters and the fact that the monsters are a force to be reckoned with. The monsters that are constantly coming at us crush the monsters in front of them to death. Furthermore, you can say.

“I like the drops. They’re all cheap, though.” (Kei)

“Yeah, I guess so. It’s a fence, so they’ll come out on their own.” (Haru)

The items dropped by the squeezed and dead monsters in front of us are pushed by the monsters behind us and roll to this side of the fence on their own.

Sometimes there are monsters that use long-distance attacks or magic, but these monsters are not strong enough and will be squeezed by other monsters and die before they reach the front of the fence, so there is no need to be alarmed.

The monsters kept coming and dying one after another. Quantity over quality, as the saying goes. Even the occasional unique monster was being squeezed to death by other monsters, but the fence that one person had built showed no signs of being broken.

“Brother, aren’t you free?” (Haru)

“Oh, all I do is maintain [Bind].” (Kei)

“I’ve got nothing to do.” (Haru)

“It can’t be helped. There’s no need to retreat because there’s no sign of people even though there are so many monsters.” (Kei)

Although I don’t know any siblings who would say such a thing, this is a path that must be taken in order to go up to the upper levels. This is why so many monsters gather here, and there are no attacks from behind.

In addition, the groups of Intermediate and Advance Explorers who are working further down are too busy dealing with the monsters to come to us. The most relaxed group would be the people above us.

Since all the monsters have been killed without fail, the people above us only need to eradicate the monsters that had already gone up earlier.

How long has it passed since then? My sister and I were chatting while pinching the calpas that had been collected like the rare times when we were at a game center. The number became fewer and fewer until the monsters were no longer overwhelming, and after some time we felt the presence of a person. [T/N: Calpas are like dried meat sausage snacks. They look like small-cut salamis or hotdogs. Haven’t tasted one but I like most sausages.]

“Oh, my brother. Signs of people.” (Haru)

“Seriously? Let’s get out of here. I didn’t think we’ve been here that long even though we’ve stopped a lot of monsters.” (Kei)

I put Calpas in the Item Pouch, and when I saw the fence, there was a pile of items piled up high. From the perspective of us siblings, they are worth little money, but we can’t afford to leave them.

“Let’s collect them. If you connect the mouth of the Item Pouch to the pile, it will automatically store the items.”

I put the Item Pouch I had just put away to the pile of items, retrieved all of them as quickly as possible, and quickly left the place.

When I returned to the ground, it seemed that a number of parties had already returned and it was very crowded.

“Hey, you brother and sister? You guys were in the dungeon, right? We were worried you were dead.” (Older Explorer)

The people who suddenly spoke to me were probably the ones in front of the stairs leading down to the fourth floor.

“I’m sorry. I was afraid I would be a liability when the monsters came through, so we ran upstairs. But still, it’s amazing. There were hardly any monsters up there.” (Kei)

“Oh, I see. Life is the most important thing. Unfortunately, it wasn’t us who didn’t let the monsters through, but the people further down. After that, we didn’t have many monsters coming our way. Have a safe trip home.” (Older Explorer)

“Yes, thank you.” (Kei)

The man who spoke to me was kinder than I expected. I was expecting him to accuse me of running away. Is it because I’m a child?

Oh well. It seems that the people who were really in the lower levels of the hierarchy below us have not yet returned, and it would be better to run away before they find out anything unnecessary.

“Well, Haru. Shall we go to the next dungeon?” (Kei)

“Yeah. I’m tired, so I’ll sleep on the train.” (Haru)

I don’t have that much memory of the dungeon, which wasn’t much of a challenge. In the end, we just ate calpas and relaxed. If that’s the case, all we have left is time and a drowsy feeling.

I wondered when the train would come, and began to walk to the station, thinking about that.

It was then that I heard the news of the hero’s return from behind us.

“I’m hungry, I’m sleepy.” (Kei)

“I’m hungry, I want to sleep.” (Haru)

These siblings were the only ones who were still at their own pace.