Day 31 The Farthest Labyrinth 54F
They're too strong. "Werewolf Lv54." Wolfmen, lycanthropes, famous from movies and all… but seriously, give me a break.
Just hairy all over, basically a wolf standing on two legs.
Faces like palette-swapped kobolds, but genuinely powerful. Just raw strength. Just speed. That alone makes them overwhelmingly dominant. Wolf people.
Even when you corner them, "just strong" is enough to keep you from winning.
50–60 of them. Pack hunters, coordinated, and they hunt. Not "fight"—they identify weaknesses and unilaterally crush with their own strength. That's what's terrifying. That's exactly what's terrifying. And that's exactly how Haruka fights. So it's scary. Can't pursue too deep.
Even when surrounded, "just fast" means you can't finish them.
All initiative belongs to the hunters. They take the first move, do whatever they want, then seize the follow-up too. No openings. Not even a sliver. Seems like a charge battle? Turns into attrition. Looks like endurance? Suddenly blitzkrieg. Pretends to be total war? It's psychological warfare. We're being toyed with. Can't make the first real move from our side. Holding on purely through individual ability… and each individual is that strong. Werewolves.
Magic gets toyed with, defense gets shredded, attacks don't land at all, yet we're being overpowered by brute force. Only we're getting exhausted. This can't continue.
Shift from semicircle defense to half-encirclement, lure them in. They won't come to the center—that's bait. Werewolves target the left or right edges of the net.
Right side: us. Left side: Kakizaki-kun's group. Rest the center and rear guard, let the flanks pick them off one by one. Reduce numbers even by one. Inflict even minor wounds, force retreat.
Those monsters will one-shot if they spot any gap.
But if they can't one-shot, they'll shake and break us down.
So first move:
When they attack the flanks, we absolutely finish them.
If we can't, we get finished. One collapse and it's over.
Seven on our side, eight on left. The rest are diversions—trying to rattle us.
"HAAAAAHH!!"
One werewolf that pushed too far into the center gets caught. Surround and grind it down. Two more rush in to support—pull them, smash. Literally smash: spear feint, shield bash, overhead spear slam, then shield-neck-slice. Volleyball club combo. Shield is the real attack, spear just connects. Low stance to lure, then crush from above. Center linchpin.
More try to push in—they all pull back at once. Now. Flanks go on offensive.
Vice-Chair C slices precisely to lure, draws them into Vice-Chair A's attack range. Panicking werewolves jump in—we (me and Vice-Chair B) cut in, surround. Vice-Chair A & C duo break through the center, split them, finish one by one. Three inside, four on our side, four for Kakizaki's group, three from rear—14 total. Second wave: Oda-kun's group seizes initiative and collapses it, two more down. Center girls' club group presses forward. If we encircle, we annihilate. But they retreat too fast. We have to pull back too—regroup in semicircle. Numbers reduced. We can heal, so they can't afford prolonged fight.
"Fuuu～ Next wave, prep!"
""""Roger!!""""
Rear sets traps. They either flee or break through.
They retreated.
We shaved off 25–30%. Labyrinth monsters aren't respawning anymore, so just keep reducing numbers. We only have injured, and we can heal. Almost no real damage. We won't allow any. Haruka threw away his life to protect us. We absolutely won't let anyone die.
Monsters not respawning. Labyrinth is dead. Means the dungeon master on the bottom floor was defeated. Only person down there is Haruka. No one else I know is crazy enough to take down a Lv100 floor master. So he must be heading upward. Definitely.
"Good work～ Retreat complete."
Kakizaki-kun's rear guard made it up to 53F too. A few more fights and we should break through the werewolves on 54F. No floor master on 55F apparently, so we can keep going. We should be able to. But no forcing it.
"Mid-line culture club girls are insane～"
Oda-kun's scouting group and the sports club girls are back too. Lately everyone's stopped using names for some reason. Because of someone.
"Culture club girls were always indirect-combat types anyway—disruption over direct fights. Once front line holds them, it starts working."
"Illusions, status ailments, distractions, even messing with footing?"
"Dirty. Actually kinda Haruka-like character?"
""""That's going too far!!""""
Yeah, everyone's still got energy. Still some margin. Even in that bad position we bounced back, levels rising, definitely getting stronger.
"Today good to end here, Chair?"
Speak of the devil—Library Committee member. Master of tricks, diversions, status effects. Scariest against groups.
"Everyone wants to keep going, but that's it for today."
"You're all rushing too much. Worrying too much. If we progress steadily, he'll come up on his own. Haruka will."
She says it flatly and leaves. Same school as Haruka for 11 years, knows him well—Library Committee member.
"Seriously. What are you even worried about with Haruka? Even if he had zero skills, it wouldn't matter. At all."
Kakizaki-kun's group (same high school) agrees. For some reason their attitude toward Haruka is completely different.
"Haruka's just… different. Thinking about it only makes it more confusing."
Even Oda-kun's group unanimously says worrying is stupid. They declare it. They seem to sense something.
"But～ the people saying that～ are the ones charging in the most, right～?"
Says Vice-Chair B, who tried solo-breaking through today and got dragged back.
I've known her since high school, think of her as a best friend with confidence… but maybe I understand her the least. Why?
During fights, sometimes I feel the exact same thing from her as from Haruka.
She's usually just normally fighting in front line. Look away for a second—she's suddenly soloing everything. But she's Great Sage, right? Job?
Yet always unscathed. Not a single injury? No way… is she bouncing attacks off her chest or something? "Boing" or whatever?