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When we arrived at Payago Cave…
“W-What is this—?!”
Seeing the ‘Undying King,’ I couldn’t help but gasp in disbelief.
“A mere Skeleton King… is being called by some grandiose name like the ‘Undying King’?!”
A thousand years ago, Skeleton Kings were the kind of monster that even F-Rank adventurers would happily hunt. I’d gotten my hopes up, wondering what kind of powerful monster we’d find… What a letdown.
“Reinforcements! We’re saved!” “But… they’re just kids? Was this really all the Guild could send?!”
The adventurers turned to look at us. It was a party of about ten people. They were covered in wounds from head to toe; completely battered.
“This thing… no matter how many times we hit it, it just regenerates!” one of the adventurers yelled, his eyes still on the Skeleton King.
Of course it does, I thought.
A Skeleton King is a monster that will simply revive indefinitely unless you attack it with magic. But it looked like there wasn’t a single magic user among these adventurers. They could swing their swords all day, but as long as it kept regenerating, they’d never defeat it.
The Skeleton King’s own attack power is negligible. That’s probably the only reason they managed to hold out until we got here.
“Kurt, this is terrible! We have to join the fight, quickly!”
“It looks strong, but we can’t run away!”
“Ngh… ah, yeah, right…”
“Why do you look so let down, Kurt!”
This is just pathetic.
A thousand years ago, this was just a small-fry monster everyone casually one-shotted with magic. Still, I guess we can’t just turn around and leave now.
“Lara, Marise. Since we have the chance, let’s try that ‘teamwork’ thing we talked about.”
“O-Okay!”
“I will do my best not to hold you back!”
“Right. Remember what I taught you in the Ryobezar’s Forest…”
I quickly explained the plan to them.
“I’m counting on you two.”
“Yeah!”
“Yes!”
Good answers.
I drew my sword from its sheath and advanced on the Skeleton King.
The Skeleton King was about to mow down the adventurers with the broadsword in its hand. Just then, a Fire Spear launched by Lara pierced its body.
“GUOOOOOO!”
The Skeleton King roared in pain.
“Good, just like that, Lara.” But… the spell was a little weak. The Skeleton King slowly turned to face us. …Perfect. I never expected to defeat it with a single hit. All I needed was to get its attention.
I casually parried the Skeleton King’s wild swings with one hand.
“Marise! Do it!”
“Y-Yes!”
A Fire Spear shot from Marise’s hand. The Skeleton King jumped back, putting distance between us to avoid it. But… the fire spear Marise had launched suddenly changed direction mid-air, homing in on its target.
“Pierce it!” Marise cried.
DOGOOOOOOON!
The tracking Fire Spear struck the Skeleton King dead-on. However… it seemed she’d focused too much on the homing enchantment and sacrificed some of its power.
“That’s more than enough,” I said.
The creature flinched for just an instant, its stance faltering. I didn’t miss that opening. I channeled magic into my blade. By doing this, the sword takes on the same properties as a magic attack, allowing it to damage the Skeleton King.
And then—a single flash.
In one strike, the bones holding the Skeleton King together scattered and fell to the ground.
“Whoa…! They defeated the Undying King!”
“And they’re just kids! What the hell is happening?!”
At the sight, the cave suddenly erupted with noise.
“Haaaah…”
“Kurt? Why do you look so down?” Lara asked.
Because I came all this way thinking I’d fight a strong monster, and it turned out to be a measly Skeleton King. I sheathed my sword with another heavy sigh.
“H-Hey! You kids, where are you from? I’ve never seen you around Shifrea before…” One of the adventurers ran up to us.
“We’re from the Royal Capital.”
“The Capital! I knew it! They’ve really got some crack adventurers over there!”
Technically, I’m not an adventurer, I thought, but it’d be a pain to correct him and cause a scene. I’ll just let it be.
“It wasn’t that big of a deal. If you could use magic, even one of you could have beaten it.”
“No way!” the adventurer said, his shoulders slumping. “Besides, magic is only for a few talented elites. There’s no way I could ever use it…”
Well… that’s the first monster down. Time to take care of the second one. It started around the time we defeated the Skeleton King. That killing intent… it’s just leaking all over the place.
“What’s wrong, Kurt?” Lara asked.
Ignoring her, I walked straight toward him.
“Hm…? Oh? What is it?”
Him… being the man who had guided us here.
“If you leave right now, I’ll let you live.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You’re planning something nasty, aren’t you?”
“What the hell are you on about? I haven’t done anyth—”
“…Hmph.”
Before he could finish, I unleashed a Fire Spear at point-blank range, piercing him through the chest.
“W-Wait, Kurt!”
“What do you think you’re doing?!”
The two girls rushed over in a panic. But…
“Huh?”
Lara’s eyes went wide. The man I had pierced with my magic… his form was gradually changing, transforming into an ape-like monster that looked nothing at all like a human. In its final moment, it glared at me, its expression clearly asking, “How did you know?”
“It was obvious from the very beginning,” I said with a sigh.
The monster’s body slowly collapsed to the ground.
“Whoa! It’s a monster!”
“Kurt, what’s going on?!”
Staring at the fallen man… or rather, at the monster that had revealed its true form, Lara and Marise cried out at the same time.
“This is a monster called a Mimic Doll.”
“A Mimic Doll…?”
“Even you’ve never heard of it, Marise?”
“A Mimic Doll is a monster that can disguise itself as other beings. They look so much like their target—like a perfect double—that telling them apart by appearance alone is next to impossible.”
“Then how did you know it wasn’t human?”
“Its magic frequency was clearly different from a human’s. I knew right away it was a monster—and really, only a Mimic Doll can pull off a transformation that good.”
“‘Right away?’ Since when?”
“Like I said. From the very beginning.”
From the moment it walked into the Guild. It was completely obvious to me, but I decided to play along with its little story. Besides, I was curious about this ‘Undying King’ it mentioned. There was always the chance it was lying about that too, but I was confident I could handle whatever we found.
“Think about it. When we said we would go, he didn’t object at all, did he?”
“Ah…” Marise realized.
“What are you getting at, Kurt?” Lara asked.
“It looks like Marise just figured something out.”
The sharp Marise seems to have caught on. It was strange from the start. Why would he ask for help from a group of unknown kids who just arrived from another country? He was clearly panicking, so he must not have heard the rumors about us defeating the Hydra. Normally, any sane person would have protested, ‘Kids? You’ll just get in the way!’
“But he just guided us here without a word of protest. Mimic Dolls are monsters that love to play cruel pranks. He probably wanted to bring a bunch of kids who were clearly not combat-ready, just to sow more confusion. And then, when he had his chance…”
I glanced at the dead Mimic Doll, pierced by my Fire Spear. It was humanoid, but its skin looked like dry, withered bark. A dagger was clutched in its right hand.
“…He was definitely planning to stab us with that dagger while our guard was down after the Skeleton King fight. Too bad for him, his brilliant plan just got him killed.”
“That’s horrible… If you hadn’t realized, Kurt…” Marise trailed off.
“Yeah. It might not have gotten all of us, but it probably would have taken out one or two.”
A Mimic Doll’s actual combat ability is low. But by the standards of adventurers in this ‘declined’ world, it’s probably considered pretty strong. Though I’m sure Lara and Marise could have handled it easily.
“Still, what a letdown.”
“Kurt? What is it?” Lara asked, blinking her wide eyes.
The Mimic Dolls from a thousand years ago could even alter their magic frequencies. There were even some troublesome ones that could disguise the very ‘color’ of their magic power. When you got to that level, even I had a hard time telling them apart. This was the first time I’d seen a Mimic Doll in this era. I was curious to see what it was plotting, so I played along… but it looks like this one was just a disappointment, too.
The surrounding adventurers started buzzing.
“Whoa… a monster like that actually exists?”
“A Mimic Doll? Never even heard of it!”
“Adventurer turnover is so high, I never thought twice about seeing a new face… but I can’t believe this.”
“We were too busy fighting for our lives against the Undying King!”
“B-But still! We defeated the Undying King!”
“What are you talking about? We didn’t do a single thing!”
“Don’t sweat the details! More importantly… let’s get back to the Guild!”
“The Undying King’s corpse is all yours, kids! It’s bound to sell for a high price!”
The fight’s over, and it looks like everyone is letting their guard down. But I just said one thing to them:
“Head back to town ahead of us. I’m going to check a little further into the cave.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m getting a reaction from a much stronger monster, deeper in the cave.”
“W-What?! Are you serious?”
“Yes.”
“How can you possibly know that?”
“Detection Magic. It’s… ah, a magic that lets me grasp the terrain and any monsters. I’ve had it spread across this entire cave system from the start.”
This reading… it’s probably a Demon-type monster.
“If we leave it be, it could cause trouble later. So I’m going to press on deeper into the cave. Lara, Marise, are you two coming?”
“Of course!”
“We could never leave you to go on alone while we return to town!”
“You’re reliable.”
I meant that. The two of them have been growing stronger by leaps and bounds recently. Even though I have a good idea of what’s up ahead with my Detection Magic, unexpected things can always happen. Having allies with me at a time like that is genuinely reassuring.
“W-Wait!” one of the adventurers spoke up. “I’ll go too! I can’t just let a bunch of kids shoulder all the danger! I mean, yeah, a strong monster is terrifying, but…”
“Hmm…” I folded my arms, thinking. This is awkward… I appreciate the sentiment, but unfortunately, he’s just not strong enough. To put it bluntly, he’d just be dead weight. I need to find a way to turn him down gently…
“It’s fine. We can handle it on our own.”
“B-But!”
“It’s not just one monster, you know. You still want to come?”
“Huh?”
“I’m also getting reactions from more Skeleton Kings deeper in.”
“More ‘Undying Kings’!?”
This wasn’t even a lie to get him to back down; it was the truth. The Guild receptionist did say they ‘appear periodically.’ It’s likely that a nest of them is lurking deeper in the cave, and one or two wander out in front of people from time to time.
“In fact, there are… five… no, six of them.”
“S-Six of them?! When it’s already that hard to take down just one…”
“So, what’s your decision? It will be dangerous, but if anyone still wants to come, I won’t stop you.”
When I asked again, not a single adventurer raised their hand.
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