Chapter 28
【Presence Detection】 picked up several presences in a room some distance away.
One seemed to be a powerful monster, along with several adventurers.
'...Looks like they're in trouble.'
Despite their numerical advantage, the adventurers were being pushed back.
And this monster was—
My body moved before I could think.
'Let's go!'
'Let's go! I smell profit~!!'
We ran toward the source of the presences――.
As we neared the room, someone came running toward us.
It was a group of three adventurers, shouting loudly as they ran.
"Hey, are you sure about this?"
"What choice did we have? Someone had to be sacrificed."
"They've been deadweight this whole time, causing us no end of trouble. At least they finally got to be useful as a decoy, so they're probably satisfied!"
"Seriously. If it weren't for that idiot, we'd have been a lot stronger."
"Yeah, exactly. If they hadn't been holding us back, we'd be C-rank by now. We wouldn't be struggling in a place like this!"
"They'd better be useful at least once, especially at the end!"
The adventurers noticed me and shouted one after another.
"Hey! You're in the way! Move!"
"Get out of the way!"
"You should run too!"
I moved to the side to clear the way, but the three didn't even acknowledge me as they fled for their lives.
【Presence Detection】 told me that one person was still fighting the monster.
'What ill-mannered people~.'
MP was fuming, but this was no time for that.
Judging by the situation――.
"Damn, they abandoned their comrade?!"
Gritting my teeth, I sprinted off.
Please let me make it in time...
I reached the entrance to the room where the fight was taking place――.
"What?! They'd go that far?!"
"It's blocked~!"
An earthen wall had been erected to block the entrance.
It had been deliberately created with Earth magic.
Among the ones who ran away was a woman who looked like a mage.
She had to be the one who made it.
This wasn't to buy time for them to escape the monster.
They'd done it to keep their decoy from escaping.
"Those scumbags!"
I used 【Presence Detection】 to check where the person inside was――.
"—Fireball!"
"—Fireball!"
"—Fireball!"
With three consecutive Fireballs, I smashed the earthen wall to pieces and rushed into the room.
Inside, the battle was in full swing.
A four-armed skeleton monster.
A Quad Skeleton.
A formidable foe wielding four swords.
It was several times stronger than an ordinary skeleton.
A monster that shouldn't appear on this floor.
Facing it was a ponytailed girl.
She held a badly chipped straight sword in middle guard.
She was covered in countless wounds, her sky-blue hair stained with blood, and her leather armor was in tatters.
But even so, she faced it without giving up.
They shifted positions rapidly, trading blows fiercely.
If I charged in carelessly, I'd get in her way, and a Fireball might hit her.
I kept my eyes on them both, watching for a chance to help.
The Quad Skeleton unleashed a relentless flurry of attacks.
The girl swordswoman skillfully parried with a sword faintly wreathed in red light.
The first to give out was her sword, not the girl herself――.
The sword that blocked the Quad Skeleton's blow snapped in half with a sharp crack.
"What?!"
She froze in shock and took the next slash full-on, crumpling to the ground.
Gasping for breath, she seemed to have no strength or will left to fight back.
The Quad Skeleton mercilessly brought its sword down on her――!