Interlude – The Guardian II
Information about anything related to the dungeon spreads quickly throughout the academy.
From trivial matters to major incidents.
Right now, the subject dominating dungeon-related rumors was a single monster.
—The gargoyle.
The story of a party whose members went missing, leaving behind only one female student, was still a fresh piece of news.
When that girl returned to the academy, her face was pale.
It was the face of a corpse.
When the academy’s Dungeon Management Committee questioned her in detail, she said that a tectonic shift inside the dungeon had opened a new path—and from there, a monster unlike anything she had seen before had appeared.
Upon hearing this, students’ reactions split into two types: those who felt fear toward the gargoyle, and those who rejoiced at the idea of a new monster and the untapped treasures it might bring.
Six people belonged to the latter group.
They were a six-person party.
Four men, two women.
All of them were students of Larva Academy.
The six of them proceeded across a rugged stone floor.
The place they were in was a vast darkness—no narrow corridors, just a wide space where a massive blossom-like structure spread across the ceiling, and multiple layers of rock formed a flat floor beneath.
Among those six, one person stood out strikingly.
A woman.
She had the looks of someone truly adorable. Her hair was tied into a ponytail with a pink hair ornament, and her face had a charming, beautiful aura.
While the others wore armor or robes, she alone was dressed differently.
Despite being inside a dungeon, she wore a one-piece dress that reached just above her knees, seamlessly connected to its upper portion. The top only barely covered her shoulders, leaving plenty of skin exposed. The color was white, decorated liberally with frills, and accented with touches of pink. Her boots were high-heeled, reaching up to her knees. They, too, were white—unsuited for the dungeon, and not just ordinary white, but pure white, without a single stain.
And in her hands, she carried no sword or spear—instead, she wore white gloves that extended up to her elbows.
Looking like this, she was completely out of place within the party.
But she wasn’t dressed this way because she wanted to be.
—White Idol.
Her Ability forcibly transformed her entire outfit into this gear.
Ahead of them in the wide corridor, an enemy appeared.
A demi-human monster with the body of a bull.
A minotaur.
It had two white horns.
Among minotaurs, it belonged to the lowest rank.
Three of them emerged.
“Perfect for getting warmed up…” said one of the men wearing a black robe.
He held a longsword. It looked heavy, but the way he swung it lightly, as if it weighed nothing, suggested it was made from some extremely light material.
“I want to fight too,” said another man as he stepped forward, wielding a small hand axe in each hand.
He was clad head to toe in armor, yet he hopped and bounced around as part of his warm-up—so his armor was likely made of a similarly light material.
“Me, me! I’ll do it!” the unusually dressed woman said, raising her hand energetically.
The man who seemed to be the leader addressed the three immediately.
“Got it. I’ll leave it to you.”
The three of them moved at the exact same moment.
The fastest on his feet was the swordsman in the black robe.
He still hadn’t used his Ability. He ran forward using only his own legs. He closed in on the minotaur closest to them. Without any hesitation, he immediately activated his Ability.
“Dance for me, fairy.”
—Maliciodo Fada
It was an Ability that created illusions to confuse the enemy.
It had no direct effect on offensive power, but it worked on nearly all monsters, and since it could bewilder opponents and disrupt their movements, it was extremely practical. Within the party, it was one of their most valued abilities.
The minotaur at the front stumbled for a moment as it became distracted by the fairy.
The swordsman didn’t miss that opening.
“Haah!”
He clearly had confidence in his swordsmanship as well; his blade flashed brilliantly.
It was like a streak of lightning. The man’s sword severed the minotaur’s right arm. The cut was perfectly clean. The bone and flesh were clearly visible, and the slice was so sharp that for several seconds, not a drop of blood fell.
Another flash. He cut off the minotaur’s left arm.
While it was still absorbed by the fairy’s illusion, the minotaur lost both arms and let out a loud cry. It was grief. From the pain, the Ability’s effect broke.
But it was already too late.
The man took its head in the final strike.
The dual-wielding man with the small axes looked at the minotaur standing right behind the one the swordsman had just felled, then glanced at the swordsman.
The reason: that minotaur was wildly swinging its arms around in place.
— It was being toyed with by the fairy.
When their eyes met, an unspoken conversation passed between them.
Don’t do unnecessary crap, said the axe-user’s eyes.
Oh really? The swordsman sneered.
That was all. Their silent exchange ended, and the axe-user stopped his advance.
“Guess it can’t be helped, right?”
At this distance, the axe-user continued.
He wasn’t foolish enough to go out of his way to get close and expose himself to danger.
He muttered quietly and activated his Ability.
—Imensidao Aquo
His small axes shone with a blue light, and he threw them. Both of them, one after the other. They spun toward the minotaur. The first grazed its cheek, the second pierced through its torso. Then the axes returned to the axe-user’s hands.
In short, Imensidao Aquo enhanced his weapon-throwing and made the weapons return to him.
“Hey—”
And the one standing in the very back was that woman.
A suspicious smile appeared on her face.
It was directed at the swordsman in the black robe.
“What is it?”
“End your Ability. Now. It’s in my way.”
“Fine.”
The man dispelled his Ability.
Once freed from the last remaining Ability, the minotaur glared at the six of them with blazing eyes.
The swordsman in black and the axe-user stepped back.
The one who stepped forward—unsurprisingly—was the woman.
“Hehe…”
She laughed as she stood face-to-face with the minotaur.
Seeing that smile, the rest of the party went pale.
After all, she was the strongest in the party.
She clenched both hands tightly.
A white power welled up there. Gathering, swelling.
It wasn’t a Gift.
It was an Ability.
Her Ability was not one that transformed her equipment.
That part could even be called a byproduct.
Her Ability, simply put, generated white light. Some called it the power of destruction; others said it was the power to vanquish monsters—in other words, evil beings.
In short, her white power was also a weakness of monsters.
Once she activated her Ability, her physical capabilities rose far beyond those of an ordinary adventurer. In that state, she closed the distance to the Minotaur in an instant.
When she saw the Minotaur raise its arm to strike, she moved her right arm at the exact same moment.
“White Impact!”
The moment her right hand shone white, the Minotaur’s arm detonated.
And when she swung her other arm, a hole was blasted straight through the Minotaur’s torso.
She—Clavo—turned to face her companions, her ponytail swaying, and flashed a double peace sign.
“We did it!”
Her smile drew wry grins from the others.
◆◆◆
Following the information they’d acquired from the academy, Clavo’s party proceeded along the path illuminated by glowing stones.
It felt like another realm entirely.
There was no sign of monsters.
Within a dungeon, there is always some sort of presence—monster or adventurer. To feel nothing from either was rare.
Maybe it was because this path diverged from the route leading down to the lower floors.
Clavo and the others couldn’t be sure.
But they found it.
The marker that led to the “Guardian,” just as the swordswoman—their source of information—had described.
“So this was… that party’s symbol.”
What the six found was an arrow with the emblem of the Fruit of Wisdom beneath it.
It was the crest of the swordswoman’s party, just as they had been told.
“Looks like it. Let’s go—”
The six moved forward with determination.
One step at a time. Carefully. Slowly. Without haste.
They had no idea how far they’d gone.
But it was easy to follow—the swordswoman had mentioned several forks along the way, all clearly marked.
And then, after a while, they noticed a black stain on the floor.
Blood.
A great deal of it, drawn out as if forming one long, continuous line from deeper within.
“This is…”
“Blood, most likely. But according to that woman, she shouldn’t have suffered any injury that would bleed this much.”
“Then something else must’ve come through here, too?”
“That might be the case.”
The six continued onward.
But the monster they were searching for did not appear—nor did any other.
Was this truly a dungeon?
Was this really the dungeon known as the gateway to hell?
Doubt followed them as they advanced, until finally—they arrived.
“A wide room?”
Clavo was the first to speak.
Ahead of them was a chamber overflowing with light. A place completely unlike the dim, unknown passages they had been walking through.
Knowing that the “Guardian” was supposed to be within such a chamber, the six steeled themselves.
Inside was a scene so stunning that Clavo, eyes shimmering, murmured, “Beautiful…”
But they had no time—or luxury—to be distracted by it.
As expected, the one inside was the Guardian. A gargoyle. Sitting in silence at the back of the room, eyes closed. And the instant the six stepped in, the monster let out a roar. Low, deep, like the rumbling of the earth.
To the six of them, it sounded like a war horn heralding the start of battle.
“Everyone!”
The leader barked sharply, as if to drive back the gargoyle’s terrifying voice.
As soon as the leader shouted, the remaining five immediately began the plan they had discussed beforehand.
“Dance for me, fairy.”
First, one of them activated his ability.
—Maliciodo Fada
It was an ability that generated illusions to confuse the enemy.
However, the moment the man activated it, the corner of the gargoyle’s mouth lifted. Then it roared again.
“This bastard— the fairy doesn’t work on it!”
The man was stunned to realize his ability had been nullified.
“—Imensidao Aquo”
Right after that, the dual hand-axe user activated his ability—and at the same time:
“—O Lord.”
The gift-user’s gift went off first.
Clad in a yellow monk’s robe, the adventurer kneeled before the gargoyle, which still hardly moved, bowed his head, clasped both hands tightly before his face, and made his vow to the god.
He forced out each word, one by one.
“O Lord of Thunder. Delight of human desire. You are my one desire. Lightning is my joy. The spear is the flash I seek. You who are the sovereign of the heavens. Manifest here, in this world, the delight of my—my—my desire.”
The power of Zeus—the god of thunder—dwelt in the gloves the gift-user wore on both hands.
His hands were dyed gold.
The hand-axe user’s ability activated first, and the two axes flew toward the gargoyle. At the same moment, the gift-user thrust out both hands, eyes wide open, and a bolt of lightning shot forth.
—But the gargoyle was not watching either attack.
It was simply watching the six of them.
Then, while taking both attacks head-on, it shot upward, closed in on the icicles hanging from the ceiling, and immediately swooped down, skimming low across the floor as it glided straight toward the six.
“It didn’t work…? No way!!”
One of the members shouted.
In truth, the gargoyle’s movements hadn’t changed in the slightest. Not a single scratch marked its body.
“Lightning is nullified? And on top of that, its hide is that tough?”
The man who looked like the leader observed the gargoyle calmly while raising his sword.
Enemies with resistance to certain types of attacks weren’t uncommon.
He assumed this gargoyle was one of them.
“In that case—let me!”
The one who stepped forward was Clavo.
No one objected.
As a matter of fact, Clavo’s ability, “White Princess,” had never once failed against a monster.
The reason was simple: her white power was believed to be a natural weakness for monsters.
Light gathered around Clavo as she clenched her fists and leaned forward.
Then the gargoyle’s horn, still gliding toward them, collided head-on with Clavo’s fist.
“Wha—!?”
The victor was—the gargoyle.
Clavo was blown off her feet, her body thrown into the air without mercy.
“RUN!!”
The leader reacted instantly.
The moment Clavo lost, he ordered a retreat.
Their long-prepared confrontation with the gargoyle ended in utter defeat, powerless and humiliating.
And with yet another of the academy’s renowned parties losing to it, the perceived threat level of the gargoyle rose even higher.
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