Volume 22 - CH 24

「――Owl's eyes, cat's eyes, bat's eyes, tapetum tapetum, night vision for everyone 【Night vision!】」

I'll designate everyone to cast a night vision spell.

「Ohhh, I can see now. That's a serpent!」

「Damn, that's a big one.」

There were two large serpents in the passage. I'm going to 【Appraise】 them just to be sure.

〈Name〉 Big Sidewinder.

〈Level〉 42

〈HP〉 1428/1428

〈Status〉 Intimidating

【Description】

Also known as a rattlesnake.

It creeps up on you, making a sound with its tail.

It has a rather timid personality.

Non-aggressive.

Level 42, huh? To me, it's just a small fry, but to Camilla and the others, it will be a very strong enemy. However, I'm sure they won't be killed right away, so I'll leave the serpent to them for a bit and see what happens.　

「Damien! You stay back. Hage and I will take care of it.」

「Ouu.」

「I'll take the left, Hage.」

「Tsk, I'm not a warrior. I'm a thief, an enemy spotter.」

「I know that. Just buy me some time and I'll take care of it!」

Camilla ran forward and attacked the serpent on the right, using her spear as a sidearm to check the serpent on the left.

「Shah!」

Although the spear hit cleanly, it was not enough to kill it with a single blow, and the serpent trembled and showed its anger.

「Tsk, I'm not a big fan of snakes. Why snakes, damn it? Come on! I'll deal with you!」

Hage grumbled, but slowly stepped forward with his dagger at the ready. He seemed to be planning to play the role of a wall.

「Hage, you're getting too close. That spacing is――」

Camilla tried to warn him, but before she could, the serpent jumped.

「Whoa!?」

Hage was about to be bitten on the head, but he barely managed to twist and dodge. But that wasn't the end of the serpent's attack. It quickly slipped past Hage, and this time it leaped toward Damien.

「Ohhh!」

The warrior Damian shouted in surprise, but he flicked the fangs with his battle axe.

His left hand was still holding the sinners' ropes, and he was using his right hand to control the large axe, but he still managed to survive the serpent's blow without wavering. That's quite a feat of strength.

「Hage!」

「Damn it, I know that!」

Camilla urged Hage to slash at the serpent from behind. He quickly slashed it twice, but the attack was too weak. It would have taken very little damage with that.

「Mmnnn!」

But then, the warrior Damien swung his axe down with all his might and successfully cut off the serpent's head.

――Houh.

Camilla had already killed the other serpent, and both monsters disappeared in a cloud of green smoke.

「W-we did it!」

「Phew!」

Camilla, wiping the sweat from her forehead with her left hand, strolls up to me.

Is this the time for a victory high five?

I raise my hands in the air, but Camilla grabs me by the collar of my cloak.

「Alec! You can move, but you didn't move, did you? What does that mean!」

「Don't be so angry. I just thought I'd wait and see what you guys are capable of. I was going to come to your aid if you were in danger.」

「...... Tsk.」

She let go of the cloak and Camilla clicks her tongue in abhorrence.

「Oh, come on, Camilla, you don't have to blame Alec for that one. He was at the back of the pack, remember? In fact, you should be praising me for my efforts, you know?」

「Hmph, that was a close one, Hage. Are you so dull that you don't even know what the enemy is capable of?」

「What did you say!?」

「Well, stop that, there's nothing to be gained by making a fuss here. The enemy's level is 42, and at this rate, we should be able to handle them unless we're not careful.」

I'll tell then what I see.

This party was stronger than I thought.

「42? O-Oi, oi, I didn't know they were such a strong opponent. I'm only level 25 or so, you know?」

Hage turned pale when he heard the number of enemy levels.

「That's right. All right, next time, Hage, you don't have to force your way forward. Instead, Alec, you're going to take cover. You can use spells, right?」

「Well, yes.」

「Come to think of it, you were chanting something just now. Aren't you a swordsman?」

Hage looked at me suspiciously, but I don't think he'd know anything about it anyway. I'm not going to tell him about it because it's too much trouble to explain.

「Kehh, you're going silent, huh. We're a party, remember? Camilla, let's cut off his reward.」

「Next time he skips out. Let's go.」

「What. ...... Damn it!」

The mood was a bit worse, but the party was functioning. There will be no problem.

We didn't come here to play.

Each of us is expected to play a role in the battle. That's the point.

As we continued down the passage, Hage stopped walking.

「There's another monster! The red slime!」

Three slimes were crawling along, blocking the passage. Each one was about forty centimeters in diameter. The soft translucent jelly is moving.

「I'll take care of it. Hagee and the others can just watch.」

「Hehe, that's very kind of you. If it gets dangerous, I'll at least back you up with a throwing knife.」

Hage said this, but I'm not sure how effective a throwing knife would be against slime.

I've fought slimes of all colors, and in my experience, blows don't work well. Because there was a slime that had 【Blow Resistance】 before.

Damien's axe could cut it in half, but Camilla's spear, which can keep its distance, would be best here. If it gets dangerous, I'll use my ice javelin to back her up.

「Haah!」

First, one of them. Camilla manipulates her spear with one hand and thrusts it forward.

「All right, that's good, Camilla!」

Hage was pleased, but it didn't seem to be a blow. The stab of the spear only made a small hole in the surface of the slime.

Camilla saw this and switched to swinging from above this time. The red slime crumbled into a heap and quickly turned to smoke.

「It's a piece of cake!」

Hage had released his battle stance, but there were still two of them. He was too careless.

But Camilla didn't smile, and this time she slashed at the Red Slime on the left side of the corridor.

「The second one! One blow! You're good, Camilla!」

That was quite an attack.

「This is the end!」

Camilla swung her spear at the third one with great force.

No one in the surrounding would have doubted her victory. I thought that would be the end of it too―but

「Aah! It dodged my attack!」

As the slime moved with unexpected speed, Camilla's spear cut through the air and struck the stone floor with a bang.

「Bastard, you move fast for a slime.」

「Tsk!」

Camilla, perhaps annoyed at being dodged by the slime, closed the distance this time to be sure.

Are you going to go at it head-on?

I had a bad experience with it when I was just starting out. I didn't think Camilla's approach was a good one, but I'd wait and see.

「It's over!」

Camilla reliably strikes the spear with both hands and smashes the slime.

At the moment it was crushed, the red slime, in a last-ditch effort, sent mucus flying at her.

Camilla's armor took the brunt of it.

「Damn, I've been hit, aahh, geez, I don't like the smell of slime mucus because it smells bad.」

She looked at her armor and complained.

「Well, you killed all three of them. You'll just wipe it off with a cloth. Oops, I'm not lending you my hand towel, okay?」

Hage took a step back.

「I'll use mine for that. Aah!?」

「Hmm? What's wrong?」

Karen shouts in surprise, and we look at her.

「Y-your armor's melting!」

「Wow, it's true. What kind of slime is that? It's melting steel, too!?」

「That's scaryyy. Are you okay, Camilla?」

「Khhh, I need more cloth. Someone, lend me some!」

Camilla's armor is still melting, emitting a cloud of white smoke.

「Uhm, you can use this.」

The loli slave tore off the hem of her dress and held it out. I take it and wipe off Camilla's armor.

「Be careful, Alec. The cloth will melt, and if it gets into your hands, you won't get away with it.」

「Don't worry.」

In my case, I have 【Pain Blocking】 and 【Regrowth】, so I can handle that level of dissolving attack.