"Now then—why did you hurt them?"
I finally release the anger I'd been desperately holding back and demand an answer from them.
"You're the 'Dragon Slayer,' huh? Yeah, you've got the vibe."
A voice comes from the robed figure of indeterminate gender.
From the tone, probably female?
"I'm the one asking questions. Answer mine."
"Whoops, my bad. The reason we hurt them? Because they're connected to the 'Dragon Slayer.' We figured if we had their corpses, the 'Dragon Slayer' might show up."
"...So you're saying they didn't do anything to piss you off—you just hurt them because they're associated with me?"
"In short, yeah. Man, I didn't expect you to show up this fast."
"You've got to be kidding me..."
"That's our line! You show up out of nowhere and blast me away. I'm gonna kill you!"
The big man gets back up, throwing killing intent my way.
"I see. —Relax. I won't kill you. I'll make you taste suffering worse than death, so brace yourselves."
"Heh, we're specialists in human combat, and it's four against one. No way you stand a chance!"
The skinny man is making noise, but I have no obligation to respond to that.
Still, I should thank him for giving me time to construct spell formulas.
"—! Everyone, deploy mana barriers!"
The robed woman seems to have realized what I'm about to do and shouts.
(Sharp instincts. —But too late.)
I activate [Weight Up] on everything they're wearing...
"Guaah..."
"Kyaa...!"
"Ugh... What the—suddenly so heavy—"
The robed woman blocks it, but the other three are affected.
Their gear suddenly becomes much heavier, throwing off their balance.
"...[Earth Shock]."
I send electricity surging through the ground toward all four.
It's not strong enough to kill, but if they're in contact with the ground, dodging is difficult—and it catches them off guard.
The robed woman evades, but the other three take the current through their bodies and lose consciousness.
Now just one left.
I activate [Hide] on myself to blend into the surroundings, then close in on the robed woman.
Once I'm in sword range, I apply [Sharpness Zero] to Schwarzhaese and swing.
"I never expected three to go down in an instant."
The robed woman mutters something while effortlessly blocking my attack with a staff she was somehow already holding.
(She shouldn't be able to see me, yet she blocks this?)
"—!"
Before I know it, white smoke fills the area around me.
I instantly recognize it as [Blizzard] and leap backward—my previous position freezes solid.
It freezes that fast...!
Right after I move, over twenty [Ice Javelin] appear around me and shoot toward me all at once.
(She activates this many advanced magics right after a special-grade one!?)
I deploy a mana barrier, reinforce it with [Mana Convergence], and activate [Instant Capability Super Rise: Impact] the moment they hit to protect myself.
I reflect one of the ice spears with [Reflective Wall], redirecting its path toward the robed woman.
She tries to block it with her own mana barrier, but I add [Instant Capability Super Rise: Impact] to the spear—piercing through.
Just as it seems about to hit, she dodges with incredible reflexes.
She doesn't completely avoid it—her side gets grazed—but it's far from fatal.
(She's a magician, right? What kind of movement is that?)
I can't help but be impressed by her agility—on par with high-rank vanguard explorers.
I immediately circle to her side and swing Schwarzhaese again, but it's blocked by the staff once more.
Still, I don't stop—swinging repeatedly, yet every strike is parried.
After about ten swings, a mana barrier suddenly appears between me and the robed woman.
Then I sense an abnormal flow of mana right in front of me.
"—!?"
I leap backward immediately—an explosion erupts exactly where my face had been.
(She blocks my unseen consecutive attacks while constructing—even if simplified—the spell formula for [Explode]? And what was that mana flow...? —!)
Explosions continue in rapid succession at my position.
She's predicting my evasion routes—each move I make triggers another blast.
(Damn it, even if I try to disrupt her mana inflow, the magic activates faster than I can interfere. Or rather, what is this magic? It's like she's skipping the mana inflow process entirely... If this is an ability, what kind is it?)
Thanks to sensing the mana flow in advance, I'm managing to dodge—but it feels like she's guiding my movements.
By the time the chain of explosions stops, I'm quite far from the robed woman.
([Hide] is pointless.)
I decide that and release [Hide].
"To come out unscathed from my attacks... Not bad, 'Dragon Slayer.'"
The robed woman speaks.
She still seems to have plenty of energy left.
It could be a bluff, but I shouldn't take it lightly.
She's strong.
Compared to everyone I've fought so far, she's easily top-tier.
And now I notice—not only is the graze on her side already healed, but even her robe has repaired itself...
I've never heard of magic that repairs clothing.
Original magic? Or perhaps an ability.
"...You're from "Amuntzares", aren't you?"
From the skinny man's "human combat specialists" comment and this woman's combat experience, I make the guess.
When you hear "human combat professionals," the first candidates are military from various countries.
Militaries—owned by royalty or lords—maintain public order in peacetime and fight on battlefields in war.
That's why soldiers train specifically for human-versus-human combat.
That's also why, two months ago when a dragon appeared on the surface, it was explorers like us—not the military—who were sent to subjugate it.
Incidentally, in the Nohitant Kingdom, the military is divided into the central army owned by the royal family and the provincial armies owned by lords.
From that, soldiers almost never enter labyrinths.
So the next likely candidate is "Amuntzares"—the organization that's been massacring explorers all over.
"Correct. Impressive insight. Looking at you reminds me of an old acquaintance... He died as a child... but if he'd grown up, he might have turned out like you."
This distance is bad.
Keeping distance against someone who can spam special-grade magic is foolish.
I don't want to talk to the people who hurt them, but right now I have no choice if I want to buy time to close the gap.
"...Why kill explorers?"
"I don't want to kill people either. But this is the only path left for us. The original was slain, the replicas fell into enemy hands. All we can do now is buy time on the slim chance of hope."
Original? Replicas?
Intriguing, but not something to think about now.
"Terrorist scum. If this is your only path, just give up already."
"Shut up...! Parasites infesting the world...! People like you are the ones driving the world toward destruction...!!"
For the first time, the robed woman lets her emotions burst out.
(...Tch, even when venting anger, no openings.)
"—Fuu. Not charging in recklessly, huh. Well, I think this much stalling is enough."
Right after shouting, she returns to her earlier aloof demeanor.
She was going along with the conversation knowing it was just buying time.
Leaving behind so many suspicious keywords...
"Want me to predict your next move? You'll use [Space Leap] to close the distance in one go, right? You're a vanguard attacker type. Staying at range against a rear-guard attacker like me leaves you no chance of winning. You'll go for my back? Or the side? Maybe even straight in front on purpose?"
The robed woman confidently predicts my next action.
The plan was to catch her off guard during conversation and close in with [Space Leap] for an attack.
Yeah—that does seem like the most effective option.
—But that's wrong.