Chapter 11
“Hang in there!”
“Kueeeek!”
They skillfully absorbed the orc's physical assault with their tightly interlocked shields.
Meanwhile, the soldiers in the rear subdued the orc by thrusting their spears through the gaps in the shields.
‘They're fighting better than I expected.’
I inwardly revised my assessment of the soldiers.
Individually, they might be weak, but as a group, they were excellent.
‘Well, an army is a group rather than a small number of individuals, so I suppose this is only natural.’
The battlefield changed when one last orc burst out of the dungeon entrance.
Thud!
A massive foot came down on the corpse of one of its kind.
Although burns had left its entire body raw and oozing, its fighting spirit remained undiminished as it glared at the soldiers with murderous eyes.
There was no doubt about it. It was a boss monster.
“Ra! Kraksa!”
The orc leader roared and swung its axe.
The axe, heated by the flames until it glowed red, smashed into the shield wall at the front.
Kwang-!
The sound of iron plates buckling rang out as the soldiers' entire formation was shaken.
Several soldiers standing in the front row were unable to withstand the impact and were pushed backward.
‘If it were an Awakened, it would be around D-rank.’
It was an opponent the soldiers, who were F-rank at best, simply couldn't stand against.
There was a limit to making up for their inferior physiques with a phalanx.
“Looks like it's time for me to step in.”
Charlotte, who had been watching the soldiers, finally drew her sword and stepped forward.
Charlotte seemed to have decided that the soldiers couldn't handle it either.
‘I suppose I'll find out how skilled a knight is.’
“Open the wall!”
At the command, the soldiers who had barely been holding out moved as though they had been waiting for it.
As the shield wall opened, Charlotte kicked off the ground and leaped inside.
The shield wall had taken on the shape of a circular arena, leaving only the orc and Charlotte inside to glare at each other like gladiators.
The orc moved first.
It swung its axe with an oozing hand.
Clang-!
The heavy sound of their collision echoed through the forest.
If one only listened to the sound, it might have seemed like a clash of strength against strength, but the reality was different.
Tilting her sword diagonally from above, Charlotte deflected the axe, then followed its path and cut into the orc's side.
At the same time, it was a familiar style of swordsmanship.
‘Was it called longsword swordsmanship?’
Close-combat Awakened tended to learn martial arts or swordsmanship as they climbed to higher floors, so it wasn't difficult to identify.
‘So that's what integrated offense and defense meant.’
I finally understood the intricacies of the integrated offense-and-defense technique a companion had once bragged about.
A sword path I had thought was merely defensive became an attack, while one I had thought was offensive blocked the enemy's attack, switching between offense and defense as smoothly as flowing water.
The orc's axe work, on the other hand, was as crude as could be compared to Charlotte's.
Bring it down or swing it.
That was all.
However, if victory were decided by technique alone, weight classes wouldn't exist in every combat sport.
Although the orc had no technique, it pressed Charlotte relentlessly with the strength born of its overwhelming physique.
‘Charlotte will win anyway.’
Charlotte's level was around D-rank, just like the orc leader's.
At the same rank, an orc covered in burns and suffering from smoke inhalation was bound to be at a disadvantage.
My prediction was correct. As time passed, the orc's movements grew noticeably slower.
Charlotte was aware of this as well, and she took advantage of its sluggishness to slash deeply into the back of its neck.
“Kuraaah..!”
Blood gushed from the orc's neck like a fountain.
Soaked in the blood it had sprayed, the orc staggered and dropped to its knees.
“..?”
It was around then that I noticed something strange.
‘Could blood really dry that quickly?’
Only moments ago, it had been drenched in its own blood, but at some point, the blood seemed to have dried, leaving behind only a red aura.
The change became more pronounced then.
As though blood were flowing into the orc's axe, strands of red energy gathered one by one.
Then, as it straightened its bent knee and raised the axe high, a faint red light spread along the blade.
‘Weapon enhancement?’
The red light gathered around the axe was unmistakably weapon enhancement, the exclusive ability of C-rank close-combat Awakened.
My brow naturally furrowed when an orc that should have been no more than D-rank used such weapon enhancement.
It should have been a technique it couldn't possibly withstand, but it seemed to be forcing it out by using its life as fuel.
“Aura!”
Charlotte's voice was flustered for the first time.
Apparently, they called weapon enhancement aura here.
‘If that's weapon enhancement, this is dangerous.’
Against an orc that had temporarily transcended its rank, Charlotte was no longer a match.
Sure enough, the axe imbued with red light drove Charlotte back.
Krrrkkk-!
A grating sound rang out as the axe blade locked against the sword's edge.
The enhanced axe was slowly cutting into the sword.
If Charlotte had been holding a high-grade sword, she might have been able to withstand the weapon-enhanced axe, but unfortunately, the sword in her hand was nothing more than an ordinary iron sword.
In the end, a thin crack appeared in the sword that had been blocking the axe.
“Tch!”
When the blade cracked, Charlotte wore a troubled expression.
‘You shouldn't assume a healer is nothing more than a medic.’
I reached out before she really got Lotte'd.
‘Weapon Aura.’
Then, from the sword that had begun to crack and crumble, a dazzling light blossomed as though to oppose the orc's axe.
…
At some point, I caught the scent of flowers covering the smell of blood.
As though entranced, I followed the scent to its source and saw a brilliant light blooming from the sword.
Charlotte's eyes flew wide open as if they were flowers in full bloom.
At the same time, she gritted her teeth and stepped forward.
She was putting her strength behind the sword.
Immediately afterward- the white aura and red aura collided.
That was when bewilderment appeared on the orc leader's face.
“Kr, Krak..!”
The sword should have been pushed back if it had clashed with the axe in a contest of strength.
But Charlotte's sword, imbued with light, cleaved through the thick axe blade in a single stroke.
The sword's flash continued on and grazed the orc's neck.
Sshhk-
‘I overdid the buff.’
It was no wonder I had that thought.
When the bisected axe blade and the orc's neck rolled across the ground one after another, cheers erupted from the battlefield, which had gone so quiet that even the soldiers had been holding their breath.
“Hooray-!”
“Long live Lady Charlotte!”
Tap, tap-
Charlotte approached through the cheers and bowed her head.
“I made it through safely thanks to you.”
“I only did my job.”
Since applying Heal and buffs at the proper times was my job, that wasn't a lie.
After accepting Charlotte's thanks, I approached the orc leader's corpse.
“It may be a bit gruesome for you, Priest.”
“There's something I need to check.”
If it really was similar to a Tower floor boss, then that thing would definitely be inside the corpse.
When I placed my hand near its chest, I felt a familiar energy.
I took out my knife, cut through the flesh, and checked inside.
As expected, there was a red crystal slightly smaller than a fist.
‘..There's a key.’
The key to the door leading to the next floor.
It was also the key to opening the reward room.
Of course, it wasn't actually shaped like a key, but the Awakened who climbed the Tower called it a key for convenience's sake.
When I took out the key, Charlotte showed interest.
“That's a special magic stone.”
“A special magic stone?”
“Unlike ordinary magic stones, these are occasionally found only in dungeon monsters. I believe the Mage Tower purchases them at high prices.”
“..I see.”
Could it be something else?
Charlotte's explanation differed from what I knew it was used for, making me wonder whether it might have no connection to the Tower at all.
But I soon shook my head.
‘..She might simply not know.’
Unlike Earth, information didn't flow here; it stagnated.
That was only natural, since there was no internet, nor even anything that could properly be called mass media.
I couldn't rule out the possibility that something existed without people knowing about it.
Holding the magic stone in my hand, I looked toward the dungeon entrance.
“Let's go inside.”
“It should still be burning. Even if it's the beach, the heat will make it dangerous.”
“If my understanding is correct, it should be fine.”
When a floor boss died, the environment on that floor was reset.
Monsters didn't respawn immediately, but destroyed terrain and environmental elements were restored quickly.
Therefore, if the orc we had just killed was really the boss, the fire inside the dungeon should have gone out by now.
I stepped into the portal.
“Look, the fire..”
Fwoosh-!
A wave of heat struck my face.
The flames had not diminished in the slightest and were devouring the entire forest.
…
Charlotte, who had followed me in, looked back and forth between the burning forest and my face.
“It's still burning.”
“..This shouldn't be happening.”
“The heat is too intense. Let's go back out for now.”
We turned around without any particular objection.
But our steps soon stopped again.
The magic stone in my hand was glowing faintly, as though reacting to something.
The flames that had been raging all around shook at once.
Then they began rapidly shrinking, as though being sucked into something invisible.
The smoke covering the forest flowed backward and disappeared as well.
‘It seems the boss died outside the dungeon, causing it to clear belatedly.’
It was something I had never suspected because bosses never left their floors in the Tower.
“The fire is going out. No, the heat itself is disappearing.”
Charlotte looked around in amazement.
“They say dungeons normally disappear once their leader is defeated. Then, after some time passes, they reappear in an entirely different location.. Could this be related to that phenomenon?”
“..I don't know. But it's an interesting hypothesis.”
I responded appropriately as I walked deeper into the forest, where the heat had disappeared.
‘But it certainly is suspicious.’
The Tower had planted roots in every nation.
It was the same Tower with the same contents, not separate Towers.
But could it really be a coincidence that a dungeon which had been cleared later appeared in another location as though it had been duplicated?
Of course, it was a baseless speculation, practically no different from forcing a connection where none existed.
‘Maybe I'll learn something once I receive the reward.’
The key vibrated more strongly as I drew closer to my destination.
Following its reaction, I soon came upon what appeared to be an orc village.
Flimsy leather tents and a wooden fence came into view first, while inside stood a grotesque totem made by weaving together the bones of various animals and branches.
‘This must be the place.’
The key reacted more strongly the closer I brought it to the totem.
I held the magic stone in front of the totem and slowly infused it with energy.
The crystal floated up from my hand.
‘Everything up to this point is as I remember.’
Then, as its energy drained away, the empty magic stone hit the ground and rolled, while a message in the familiar font filled my vision.
-The Original Piece of Floor 7 has been recovered.
-Floor 7 of the Tower has been restored.
‘The Original Piece?’
Unlike the familiar font, the wording itself was completely unfamiliar.
The message did not end there.
-Rewards will be distributed to all participants in the dungeon expedition according to their contribution.
-You have obtained experience (Large) proportional to your level according to your contribution to the expedition.
-You have obtained 1 contribution point.
-The list of items in the Contribution Shop has been provided.
Flip-
“..!”
The list wasn't very long.
But since there were so few items, it was hardly strange that one in particular immediately caught my eye.
[Tower Entry Ticket]
Price : 20 contribution points.
You can enter any Tower of your choice.
My heart began to pound.
I wanted to shout for joy, but Charlotte was beside me, so I forced myself to calm down without showing how I felt.
‘I've found a way back—or rather, a clue.’