Volume 3 - CH 11

The next morning, after losing the vehicle, the group advanced with a large number of adventurers, including Onyx.

Although some of them seemed to have left the group due to traps or injuries, nearly five hundred people were still behind Mars and his companions.

They were grouped into groups of about ten, spaced about ten meters apart, and their numbers were linked together in a long chain of beads.

The space between the groups is intended to prevent them from being wiped out in case they are caught in a trap.

Besides Mars and the others, only Lucille and Onyx were with them.

Lucille's guard and other dwarven attendants were in the group right behind her.

When Mars asked them to keep their distance if possible because the spearheads were dangerous, they easily backed off.

Of course, the real reason was that Mars did not want to have hostile elements right behind him.

Even so, Mars was uncomfortable in the presence of so many people behind him.

――It's like a picnic

There is no tension at all, and chatter can be heard from everywhere behind them.

This is just cave exploration.

「But still, there aren't many monsters in this dungeon.」

「When I went to the middle layer, all I saw were golems. There aren't that many of them. There are plenty of traps, though.」

Mars talked to Onyx, who was also leading the way.

Nemu was also in the lead, but she seemed to be concentrating on detection by sonar, so Mars didn't talk to her.

Nemu's magic that emits ultrasonic waves is very useful for detecting monsters and traps ahead.

However, it was also mentally draining and required a lot of concentration.

Onyx is a man who would have been assigned to assassination duty, but his straightforward, bamboo-split personality did not make him a bad influence on Mars personally.

However, when he was right next to Mars, the physical pressure of his flesh was incredible.

「I've never seen a golem, but is it strong?」

「Hmmm? If it can break rocks, it's not much of a monster. Strength varies from thing to thing, but if you ask me, it's like a moving rock.」

Golem. It doesn't seem very strong, but as Onyx said, it's like a big moving rock.

「Then I can handle it. However, it seems to be a little tough with a sword. Let's try it out and decide. I don't have much in the way of striking weapons.」

「Are you a master swordsman, human boy?」

「Nope. If it's just swordsmanship, I'd say I'm in the middle level. I'd say I'm just below the top. I wield a sword with my physical ability. I practice swordsmanship every day, in case you're wondering.」

「I'm similar to you. I once read an instructional book on the art of axe fighting, but I fell asleep after reading the first line! Hit them and they're dead! That's all!」

Hearing their loud conversation ― the loudest voice being Onyx ― the adventurers walking behind them praised with a shudder.

Although many of the humans in this world have had plenty of experience dealing with monsters and the like, their basic physical abilities alone are not much different from those of humans in Mars's previous lives.

In fact, if we take into account their nutritional condition, the humans of his previous lives are, on average, stronger.

In other words, they usually can't crush rocks.

「............」

「............」

Just behind Mars and the others walking in the lead, Lilia, Hazuki, and Lucille walk side by side.

Lucille was going to apologize to Lilia, but her pride preceded her, making it difficult for her to get the words out.

It is even more difficult to say because of the presence of people around her.

「Nyaa nyaa. A big one is coming from the front-nyaa」

「Oh, thank you. I still can't hear it.」

A few moments later, they hear a faint thudding sound from the direction Nemu pointed.

「I wonder if it's a golem. ――Can you let me do it once on my own? I want to see how far I can go.」

「I don't mind. ――I want to see with my own eyes those who have conquered the Seven Great Dungeons.」

「I'm not the only one who's done it. I mean, it's mostly Hazuki-chan in the back. I just beat the biggest one.」

Me!? Hazuki, surprised by the sudden topic of conversation, makes an embarrassed face.

「I'm going to fight the golem, so you guys stay on standby and watch your surroundings. If I'm in trouble, I need your help.」

「U-Understood!」

Arms around and legs stretched, Mars, prepares for the approaching golem.

It is always nerve-wracking when facing a monster for the first time.

It helped that he didn't feel guilty about killing it when he thought it was a moving rock, even though it was a monster.

「Is that the golem? ...... how does it move?」

「I don't know, but it's probably magic. Dwarves don't have the magical aptitude, so I don't know much about magic.」

Onyx crosses his too-thick arms and sniffs.

He looked as if he was even proud of not being able to use magic.

The golem's movements were slow.

However, in terms of movement speed, it was not that slow either.

Although each movement is slow, the stride is simply not comparable to that of a human, and they collectively advance about three meters at a time.

――Somehow, it is difficult to grasp the speed of this monster.

The golem, which occupies most of a path equivalent to a width of 10 meters, is so large that it even scrapes the ceiling.

Its shape is like a stack of rectangular boulders, with rounded joints and a thick silhouette.

The color is ochre, similar to rocks found in deserts and other arid regions.

It was a being halfway between an inorganic substance and a living creature, with appropriateness like the piles of blocks that a child had piled up messily.

Whenever the golem walked in the cave, the ground sank in the shape of its feet due to its excessive weight.

「Say, Onyx. How did you defeat it?」

「Well, I just smashed it up everywhere! If you smash them all, they'll stop moving!」

「Brain muscle tactics, huh.......I was hoping to hear something smarter than that. You said it had a core, right?」

「Ah, I think there was some kind of glowing rock in its belly. When I pulled it out or broke it, it stopped moving. I broke them all at random, though.」

「That's what I wanted to hear! All right, then!」

Mars activated 【Body Strengthening】 twice, took the sword in his hand, which was sharp but not magically enhanced, and leaped out.

Aiming only at the spherical joints.

If it is heavy enough to make the ground sink under its own weight, it should not be able to support its weight if its joints are damaged.

Once it is knocked down, the rest is just rock-crushing.

Golem's punch has a very large hit radius.

However, from Mars' point of view, it looked like it was standing still, and it was easy to evade.

With his momentum intact, he put strength into his right arm, which gripped the sword, and slid the sword into the joints of the golem's legs.

――The joints are fragile, perhaps because they are where the load has built up from the start.

Although Mars had no experience cutting rocks, he could feel the blade pass through the tip of the sword more easily than he had expected.

After half of the blade passed through, he twisted his body as hard as he could and swung through the rock.

「It feels great to be able to do something with physics!」

Mars shouted loudly as he rode on the back of the golem, which fell to its knees with a thud.

These days there are too many problems that can't be solved with swords or other physical means.

The quarrels between Lilia and the others, the intrigues in the country, nothing can be solved by wielding a sword.

Even in the Great Norn Tomb, it was stressful that he could not make the decisive blow himself against the undead.

He looked at the sword and didn't see a single blade spill.

――I was surprised that I was so good with a sword. I thought I was just using my strength. I had not received proper instruction, and I had nothing to compare it to, but maybe I am better with a sword than I thought.

The scaffolding shakes and Mars returns his attention to the golem. It wasn't over yet.

He slashes the rock on its back several times and stomps on it as hard as he can.

As if to flip the lid, he peeled off the rock to reveal a fist-sized piece of shiny black magic steel inside.

「This is the core!」

Mars said and thrust his sword into it.

After feeling a hard texture different from the rock, the golem stopped.

The time Mars took to defeat it was a dozen seconds. That is a standard spec for a dungeon monster.

Feeling exhilarated for the first time in a long time, Mars pulls out the shattered magic steel that is at the core.

Although large in size, it is ordinary magical steel that can be found in any dungeon.

――If this is the case at this level, it might be a little difficult to use the current strategy if the core is a better quality ore.

First of all, the golem movement would be different.

「So the golem is like a magic machine. ――Who makes them?」

「I see, I see. Human boy――Mars, right? Fight with me!」

「Haah? Why should I? You're a golem in the head. I think you still have some of yesterday's booze left in you.」

「That stuff went out with the piss! ――I don't understand the difficult things. I don't even know what those dwarves who came with us are sneaking around thinking about.」

――Does this guy seriously know nothing about the Dwarves' plans?

Onyx pointed his huge axe at Mars, his serious eyes fixed on Mars on the golem.

「But even I know something. ――Strength is the primordial law. No matter what anyone says, no matter how much money or power you have, it is always the strength of arms that counts when it counts. And in a dungeon, it is the law that is applied first and foremost! I've been doing this because I think I'm the law here. But ...... you are strong! I can tell it from the way you just moved! If you keep going like this, you'll surely run into me!」

「Let's see, ...... in other words, you want to talk about which one of us will be the leader?」

「Exactly! Let's decide who will lead this group, you or me!」

「Hmmm...umm.........」

――What is this situation?

I have no desire to fight, but as the leader, I want to keep the initiative.

We are the ones who know the dungeon best in this group, and if we leave Onyx to the ignorant ones who are just strong, no matter how strong they are, we will be wiped out.

Even with breaks, etc., everyone would be worn out at Onyx's pace.

It's a lot of work if it's not done by Mars, who is used to it and has the logic to know what he's doing.

「......Fine. But I'm not going to kill you. I'm going to disable you in combat, though」

「I'm going to kill you, though?」

「Try it if you can. ――If I destroy your weapon, you lose, you agree?」

「Sure thing!」

Haaah, With a loud sigh, Mars readies his sword again.

This is the first time he has seriously fought a human opponent ― a dwarf, that is.

No matter how much he made weapon destruction a victory condition, he felt it was impossible not to hurt Onix because he was Mars's opponent.

「Lilia, Hazuki-chan. Can I ask you to heal no matter who wins?」

「Eh, sure. ...... Are you serious?」

「I'm not, but this guy is serious. Tell the guys back there to stop for a minute.」

「O-Okay!」

As Lilia and Hazuki react, Lucille, not either of them, calls out to the adventurers behind them.

Right behind them was the Dwarven Imperial Guard, who were stopping the adventurers behind them.

Lilia and the others do not try to stop them because they are the ones who know the power of Mars best.

Mars was glad to feel that there was trust and credibility in this situation.

「I'm not into this. ......」

「I'm always up for it!」

With a battle axe larger than Mars, Onyx's stature is larger than one might imagine when both of his limbs are spread out.

Perhaps it was the atmosphere, but the difference in size seemed to be twice as great.

At the moment, Mars is using 【Body Strengthening】 twice. This alone should be enough to defeat Onyx, but just to be on the safe side, he has activated it twice more.

If he uses it a total of four times, his movements will reach the speed of sound, and he is confident that he can overwhelm anyone within the living things' range.

――Onyx is neither a speedy type nor a magic-using type.

Then this should be enough.

「I don't use magic weapons. I use only this ordinary sword. And be very careful of your surroundings when fighting.」

「Of course. But I don't mind if you use a magic sword, you know? I want to beat you with everything you've got, and I want to win!」

「I dare say. ――I'm not going to go all out. And then I will crush you. That way, the victory will be clear.」

「Don't regret it after you die, you hear? Human boy.」

「I'm not going to die. With all due respect, I'm going to go easy on you. Otherwise, it's not even a contest.」

「――Kid. I'm a man with a big heart, but what you just said has me a little annoyed. Prepare yourself!」

――He's so easily provoked that it's no match for him.

Onyx rushes at Mars with an axe in both hands, and Mars looks at him coldly.

If we look at physical ability alone, Onyx is overwhelmingly superior to Mars.

However, Mars is calmly and objectively looking at his own physical abilities and is using the appropriate number of 【Body Strengthening】.

Moreover, if the opponent is in a state of anger, his attack is inevitably direct.

Sure enough, Onyx chose the most destructive attack, swinging his axe down from the top.

Mars firmly caught the axe, which swung down with a roar as if the air was cracking, with both eyes and optimized his whole body.

If the axe is struck from his head, it will easily cut his entire body in two and completely crush him.

――It is impossible to receive. But .......

Onyx's axe, by the looks of it, is simply made of metal. For Mars, who can easily cut through rock, it is as good as cotton.

Mars moves sideways, sliding at a speed Onyx cannot detect, and raises his sword with one hand.

A small metallic sound echoes for a split second, followed by a crunching sound like aluminum foil being cracked open.

Mars passes Onyx. The sword was already in its scabbard at that time.

「What the ......!?」

「――that's a win for me, right?」

With a thud, the blade of Onyx's axe pierces the ground.

Onyx holds only the handle of the axe, and the sudden change in weight caused by the loss of the heaviest part, the tip, causes him to fall on his butt.

――This is going to be a muscle cramp tomorrow. My muscles are all torn up already. He's too powerful.

The sensation in his right arm fades, and he begins to feel sluggish and sore.

But he doesn't show any sign of it.

He needs the fact that he won the match with a handicap.

「A-Aniki ......!」

「――Eh, What did you just say?」

Onyx, who had fallen on his buttocks, made a disturbing remark in a quiet voice that was a complete change from the past.

Then he gets up and closes the distance at Mars.

「Let me call you Aniki!」

「I refuse! Why all of a sudden!? And you're too close!」

Onyx grabbed both of Mars's shoulders and snorted as he came close to hugging him.

Mars avoids his face and moves Onyx's bearded face away from him.

I know what's going on, but it's too abrupt.

「I was invincible because of who I am! But that was just a snack in my stomach! The strong are my laws!　Therefore, I obey!」

「No, it was because you're ignorant about the world ......, you're too straightforward, then(?). I'm very likely to win」 [TLN Sorry had a hard time translating this 消化できそうじゃん、それじゃ。めっちゃ勝ちそう]

「Hmm ......? Either way, I don't care! In this dungeon, you are my king!」

「It's all hot. It's nice to be liked by a girl, but there's not an ounce of joy in being liked by this big muscle guy. ......」

He smells too much like a man.

The idea of being in trouble is going around in his shaking head as his shoulders are being moved back and forth.

――What is it with him, Aniki? What are you, some kind of a gangster or something?

Such a retort flies in Mars's head.

「A-anyway, let go of me!」

Mars pushes Onyx toward the wall to escape the membrane of unwanted body heat.

Because of the unexpected situation, the residual effects of the 【Body Strengthening】, and Onyx's own resistance to stay away, Onyx flew in a direction different from Mars' imagination ― toward Lilia and the others.

「Guohh!?」

「Don't come this way!」

Lucille strikes back with a hammer at the back of Onyx, who had almost fallen on top of Lilia and Hazuki.

After a rather painful dull sound, Onyx had his head smashed into the wall on the other side.

「No, no, no, that was too overkill. ...... Oi, are you alive?」

「Muohh, what happened!?」

「Oh, he's alive. What kind of body does he have that he can just let his head go into the wall ...... and Lucille-chan's attack was also deadly.」

Onyx, with only his head, stuck in, jitters and starts punching the wall to pull his head out with both hands.

Then ―― clunk ― there was a mechanical noise.

「Eh」

「Ah!?」

「Eeeehhhhh!? I-It wasn't me! Aaaahhhh!」

With a batan, the ground opens up like a slide, and Lilia, Hazuki, and Lucille slide down it and disappear. Then it quickly closes and returns to the ground.

In a flash, the worst thing happened.

「......Everyone. Where is everyone!?」

――Dead.

The worst imaginings came to Mars's mind.

He completely short-circuited his thinking for about ten seconds.

In the meantime, Nemu starts to put her ear to the ground.

「They're all alive-nya! They were just dropped to the lower layer-nya! They're yelling-nya!」

――I see, Nemu-chan can hear them, so they're showing the one on the above that they're safe!

They must be in a very upset situation, but this must be Lilia's idea.

「Really!? Let's hurry up and go! Guys, I'm sorry, but I'm leaving all of you behind! Follow me slowly later!」

「Nemu's going too-nya!」

「Aniki! Take me with you!」

Ignoring Onyx, who remains buried in the rock, Mars runs as fast as he can with Nemu to the lower layer.