Chapter 81

The cave the lizardman warriors headed to had turned into a dungeon.

Upon entering, they discovered traps along the way, which made me worry about their safety. However, whether it was the worst-case scenario or as expected, the lizardmen were surrounded by a large army of monsters.

This was one of those rooms in dungeons where a large number of monsters spawn, almost like a trap. The room was as wide as Kyle's mansion or the grounds of a church. Since it was a natural cave-type dungeon, one would be surprised to find such a vast room after passing through a door.

It is likely that when the lizardmen entered the room, there were only a few monsters. As they pursued them, stepping closer to the center of the room, monsters began to surge from hidden passages all around.

The lizardmen were cornered in a corner of the room, barely managing to protect themselves. Raidock immediately shouted,

"Casper sisters, support them immediately! The rest, eliminate the enemies!"

"Understood!!!"

Then Eva took a half-step forward.

"I'll clear the way! 'White Heat Ray'!!"

The spell she cast was a mixture of light and fire magic, which shot out a white, glowing beam. It had strong linearity and was unlikely to cause collateral damage, but it consumed a lot of magic power. With hundreds of monsters filling the large room, the White Heat Ray sliced through them like a carpet, burning and vaporizing the enemies in front of the lizardmen.

"Eva! Consider the remaining magic recovery potions!"

"Don't worry! I'll hold back from now on!"

"Good! We'll follow the path Eva has cleared and get to the lizardmen!"

The materials for making magic recovery potions had run out, so we couldn't alchemize any more. We only had the ones we had on hand, and we had used most of them in the battle with the frogs, so we had to be careful with our magic power consumption.

We sprinted along the scorched path created by the White Heat Ray, moving swiftly to the corner of the room where the lizardmen were cornered.

"Shiruru! Explain the situation to them!"

"Okay!"

Shiruru, who had been wielding a spear next to me, ran over to the lizardmen. Most of them were injured, and if we had arrived any later, there would have been casualties.

"Shiruru! What's the meaning of this, being with humans!?"

"Details later! The village chief knows about this!"

"What!?"

"They're strong, so just focus on protecting yourselves! Those with severe injuries, use healing potions! Those with minor injuries, receive Marilyn's... the busty cleric's healing magic!"

"Busty... really, the village chief's permission?"

"I promise."

"Alright! Everyone, follow Shiruru's instructions!"

Some of the warriors seemed to want to complain, but the leader, whom Shiruru addressed, gave orders, and they immediately sprang into action. Good. If they had attacked us from behind, it would have been a disaster.

Still, a busty cleric... well, it's not wrong. Yeah.

"Alright! Morda, support the sisters! Reifan, guard the center! Sollar and Jitaro, fire away!!"

"Aye!"

"Jitaro! Don't hit Raidock!"

"Leave it to me! Hah!"

The two archers created gaps in the surrounding monsters. One of the lizardmen, who had received healing, muttered,

"Amazing... just two of them are whittling down the monsters!"

A blue flash appeared.

"Well, I'll give it my all too."

Of course, it was Raidock. Every time his sword flashed, several monsters were sliced into pieces.

Well, the monsters were orcs and giant spiders. No matter how many there were, they weren't a match for us. I supported Raidock without overexerting my magic power.

"Your back is exposed, Raidock! 'Wind Blade Thousand Cuts'!!"

I used wind blades to clear the group of monsters trying to attack Raidock from behind. He grinned.

"Hah! You think I'd let you get away with that! I'll leave my back to you! Just be careful with your magic power!"

"No need to tell me!"

I stroked the belt holding my potion vials. Right, I'll use the alchemical weapons I didn't get to use in the frog battle. This way, there's almost no magic power consumption.

My potion vials were custom-made by Reifan. They were harder than glass, test-tube shaped, and could be broken at the desired time with magic power, with the broken glass safely disappearing. It was a rather quirky design, but it was very handy for me, who had honed my throwing skills during my adventurer days.

"Raidock, move!"

"Sure!"

Raidock moved to the side without questioning, and we had become quite in sync, making me smile a little.

"Take this!"

I threw the potion vial like a knife. Adjusted by magic, it burst upon impact with the monsters, and the contents flew out. The moment they touched the air, they expanded to several times their volume, enveloping the monsters.

"What's this!?"

"Don't touch it, Raidock! It's sticky stuff!"

"Wow... oh! Even the ones who bumped into it are caught! Haha! This is easy!"

"Be careful not to use too much, or you might catch your allies too."

"Alright, Craft! Throwing it next to me is a nuisance! Throw it at the ones in the back!"

"Understood!"

The alchemical sticky stuff I had secretly prepared seemed to be a success. Of course, I had also made a dissolving agent, so it could be used for temporary capture. If it hit the face, it could cause suffocation, so I was hesitant to use it against humans. But against monsters, there was no need to hold back!

"Craft! Can you use it over a wider area?"

Bardack came up behind me and pointed to where the enemies were clustered. Bardack, a magic user without a mage's crest, was trying not to waste magic. For him to ask this, it must have been meaningful.

"I can, but it will be less sticky and they'll escape quickly."

"Just for a moment is fine."

"Give me a moment."

I placed the alchemical sticky stuff potion vial in my palm and added alchemy magic.

"Alchemy: Dilution and Volume Increase"

I used an alchemy spell to dilute and increase the volume of the potion. With an alchemy cauldron, I could make a lot, but now I was only using magic, so I could only do one vial at a time. It was during a battle, after all. In the early days when I had no materials and the whispers of the crest were few, I used to alchemize like this.

The amount of the potion increased, but I adjusted it so that the volume would expand more when it touched the air. In exchange, the effect would be weaker, but it would spread over a wider area.

"Alright! Let's go, Bardack!"

"Thanks!"

I threw the modified alchemical sticky stuff behind the front line where Raidock and the others were reducing the enemy numbers. Unlike before, it burst above the monsters' heads, spreading to cover nearly ten of them.

"It's like a fishing net."

"Great job, Craft! Take this! 'Inferno Bullet'!!"

Bardack's most powerful explosive fire magic exploded in the center of the monsters immobilized by the sticky stuff.

"Wow! So that's it! The ones who couldn't escape are all caught! Smart, Bardack!"

"Hmph. It's only because of Craft's creation. Let's do it again!"

"Sure!"

After eliminating a new group of enemies, Reifan, who seemed to have some breathing room, stood next to me.

"Craft, you might not realize it, but this is a pretty amazing invention."

"Really?"

Weapons that could catch allies were tricky to use.

"On the contrary, it means it's very useful when you think about how to use it, right?"

I see. That makes sense.

In this way, we completed the conquest of the room, which was one of those rare rooms in dungeons where a large number of monsters were waiting, without much time.

◆

"Amazing... what are these humans?"

"There were more than a hundred, right? Unbelievable."

"Maybe three hundred?"

"Surely not that many."

"Still, to defeat such a number of monsters without a single injury in a short time, humans are terrifying."

No, no, I can't be lumped together with the average adventurer in the kingdom.

Ah, maybe they don't know what the average is.

"Ah, everyone, not to brag, but with the blue-haired swordsman at the center, we are among the best in the kingdom... among humans."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah. Otherwise, it would be difficult to venture into a forest far from the human settlement."

"Indeed."

"Humans, thank you."

"Yeah. We also received help from the village. By the way, have you heard about what happened in the swamp?"

"Shiruru told us. A large army of Paralyze Baron Frogs and a Titan Duke Frog appeared, right?"

"Yeah. We all worked together to repel them."

"I see... you protected the village in our absence. Thank you again."

I shook hands firmly with the lizardman leader.

"Amazing! Master Craft!"

Shiruru jumped at me, chest first.

"Whoa!? Shiruru!?"

"Master Craft is the best! A warrior among warriors!"

"Even for a magic user, you call them a warrior?"

"A warrior is a brave one. Craft, you are definitely one."

"Thank you."

It felt ticklish to be praised by the leader of the warriors, but the soft sensation made it hard to focus.

Looking forward to the manga adaptation!