Monster Intelligence

Monster Intelligence

As usual, we changed clothes, checked in, and headed beyond the blockade.

Then we stepped into the dungeon.

For an instant, I felt as though I were being sucked in. Immediately afterward, I felt soft earth beneath my boots.

A dense forest spread out before us. The lantern-shaped LED hanging from my waist illuminated the towering trees rising from the dark earth.

The trees were at least ten meters tall. Through the gaps between their suitably massive branches and leaves, I could see nothing but the pitch-black ceiling of the dungeon.

Most forest-type dungeons had a fake blue sky and sun. But this one had neither.

A lukewarm wind brushed my cheeks. The rustling branches filled me with an indescribable sense of unease.

It was as though I had been abandoned in a forest at night. My instincts as a living creature were sounding an alarm.

But I suppressed it by tightening my grip on my sword. It was all right. I could fight.

"Takanashi-san, bring out Kenning."

"Yes."

After turning around and telling her that, Riko-senpai and I moved a short distance away.

A ring threaded onto a cord wrapped around Takanashi-san's wrist. From it, accompanied by particles of mana, a steel giant appeared.

Kenning's sturdy feet sank into the soft ground. Takanashi-san climbed into the machine, which was kneeling on one knee, with practiced ease.

Clank. After the sound of an iron door closing, the steel giant stood up a few seconds later, its eyes glowing faintly.

'Turning on the lights.'

Just as Takanashi-san's voice came through the speakers, a light installed near Kenning's collarbone switched on.

As one would expect from a machine originally designed for military use, the light was powerful. In the night forest, its figure carrying a baton and shield gave off an even more oppressive presence than it had in the garage.

'As planned, I will take the front line. I would like the two of you to navigate and provide support in an emergency.'

"Got it. Be careful."

"Go for it~"

'Yes.'

After looking up at the giant standing around three meters tall, I shone my light over the nearby trees. On the fourth one, I found the Self-Defense Force's paint.

The monsters here were not particularly intelligent. Thanks to that, letters and numbers had been painted in yellow, visible even under an ordinary flashlight.

But now that I thought about it, it was a strange thing. We could interfere with this dungeon, a mass of mana, using materials that contained no mana.

That thought brought an unpleasant image to mind. The prey the monsters favored most was human beings. Ability users and non-ability users alike were targeted equally.

Was this 'nest' meant to transport food efficiently...? No, that was not something to think about while exploring.

I shook my head and pushed the unnecessary thoughts to the back of my mind. Beside me, Riko-senpai was looking at a map on her smartphone.

"Our current location is 'O-3,' Miyucchi~"

'Understood. I will proceed ahead.'

"Okie-dokie~"

"Yes..."

I pulled myself together and nodded, sword in hand.

Riko-senpai was the navigator, Takanashi-san handled the main combat, and I was the shield who would protect either of them if danger arose. I had to concentrate.

Kenning began walking with heavy, thudding steps. We followed behind it and slowly made our way through the forest.

After walking for about three minutes, we heard footsteps other than our own.

"Takanashi-san, there's an enemy. It's approaching us."

"Ten o'clock. One of them~"

'Understood.'

At our words, Kenning turned toward the indicated direction.

Even with a powerful light shining on it, the monster showed no sign of changing course. It leisurely walked toward us between the widely spaced trees.

Kenning's light illuminated its form.

It was a giant roughly three meters tall, no less imposing than the steel giant. Its heavily muscled body was covered in coarse, dark-brown hair.

Its feet ended in hooves, but its skeletal structure was close to human. Its arms, covered in muscular armor visible even through its fur, gripped a crude axe.

The exposed muscles of its stomach and chest were black, as though they had melted into the night.

'Huff... huff...!'

The approaching monster emitted a harsh beastly sound.

From the neck up, it was that of a boar.

It had a distinctive snout and sharp white tusks protruding from its lower jaw. Its eyes were hardly gentle, and they emitted a faint glow.

'Bwooooo...!'

'Orc.'

The name itself belonged to an incredibly famous monster. If you were Japanese, you had probably heard it in one work or another.

Of course, the form of this monster that had appeared in the modern world differed somewhat from the one commonly seen in fiction.

The orc held its axe low in both hands and lowered its center of gravity. Its hooved feet sank deeply into the ground, and then—

'Bwaaaargh!'

With a thunderous roar, it charged straight at Kenning.

It was fast. Its absurdly direct charge was like that of a runaway truck.

But she showed no sign of being shaken.

'Commencing combat.'

After her emotionless murmur, a fierce whirring sound came from the soles of Kenning's feet.

"Wah!"

Kicking up a tremendous cloud of dust, the steel giant charged at the monster as well.

I hurriedly swept away the dust obscuring my vision with my sword, just in time to see the machine and monster collide.

'Aaaaaah!'

As the axe swung down with a roar, Takanashi-san moved Kenning's shield to meet it.

Just before the blade reached maximum speed, the thick wooden tower shield swatted it away.

However, neither charge could be stopped so easily. At the instant they were about to collide, Takanashi-san pulled Kenning's shield back at the last moment.

I sensed a flow of mana. I could not see well because the steel giant's back blocked my view, but there was no doubt. She had used a 'Telekinesis' scroll.

'Bgrk...!?'

A thunderous crash that shook the trees, followed by the orc's brief scream, reached my ears. It had slammed face-first into the shield and, unable to break through, had taken the full impact.

She did not take the force head-on. Instead, she lowered her stance and tilted the shield. The monster's huge body was lifted and sent flying.

With a heavy thud, the orc was slammed onto its back. Its tusks had snapped off, and blood ran from its nose.

It was obviously seriously injured. But that was not enough to stop the monster. It raised its upper body using its left elbow and gripped its axe again with its right hand.

But before it could stand up—

────Thud!

The baton in Kenning's hand had been driven into its thick neck.

The weapon should not even have had a blade, yet it was embedded in the orc's vital point. After twisting it around and pulling it free, something red clung to its tip.

Seeing that, I understood. It had not merely broken the orc's neck. It had pierced it.

Along with the blood on the tip of the baton, the orc's body changed into black mist. All that remained was a magic stone.

Kenning's head turned toward us as we watched from a short distance away.

'How was that, you two?'

After exchanging a glance with Riko-senpai in response to Takanashi-san's question—

"Perfect."

"Nice fight."

We both gave a thumbs-up.

I could not see Takanashi-san's face as she made Kenning's head nod in response, but somehow, I felt she was wearing a proud expression.

We collected the magic stone and approached her.

"Are you all right? Any internal impact or damage to the machine?"

'No problem. Everything is within the acceptable range. The "Telekinetic Shield" absorbed the impact on this side quite well.'

"I hadn't anticipated using it that way, but I'm glad it seems to have worked out."

'Yes.'

"So, so? How were my adjustments?"

'I can only express my gratitude. This is the first time the machine has kept up with me this well.'

"See? Right? As expected, I'm a genius gyaru!"

Whether she was a genius was beside the point, but she was certainly not a gyaru.

However, the enormous breasts of Riko-senpai, who had put both hands on her hips and puffed out her chest, gave a soft bounce, so I merely looked away.

'I think we should continue exploring. Is that all right?'

"If Takanashi-san is all right with it, of course."

"Okie-dokie, bro! I'll go with you to the ends of the horizon, baby!"

'Thank you. And I am not your brother.'

"That's just how it works in Japan!"

'You previously told me otherwise, Yahiro-san.'

"No way... Is Otaku-kun's reliability rating higher than mine!?"

"Figures."

"Nooo~"

Ignoring Riko-senpai, whose eyebrows formed an inverted V, I kept watch over our surroundings just in case.

Apparently there were no other enemies. I rested the back of my sword on my shoulder and turned my gaze back to Kenning.

"Let's search around here for any Self-Defense Force markings first."

'Understood.'

"Wait, you're ignoring me? You're ignoring Riko-chan?"

Even while muttering, Riko-senpai used the flashlight she was carrying to search the surrounding trees.

We soon found a tree marked with yellow paint.

"Found it. Our current location is 'D-23.'"

"Okay. We were at 'O-3' before, so... all right. Let's head in that direction."

'Understood.'

We started walking again in the direction Riko-senpai pointed.

According to the Agency for Supernatural Affairs' website, orcs generally did not hide and ambush their prey. However, we might coincidentally fail to notice one approaching and take a direct hit from the side.

That showed how high their physical abilities were. There were even stories of them toppling large trucks by ramming into them. Their charging power was in a completely different league from a Crazy Boar's.

"That reminds me~"

As we advanced while keeping watch over our surroundings, Riko-senpai opened her mouth.

When I looked at her, I saw that although she was talking, her eyes remained warily fixed on the trees ahead.

"You two fought a kobold during your admission tests for 'Alf,' right?"

"That's right. We went with Master."

"Then you've fought the famous ones now: kobolds and orcs. Goblins are pretty famous too, at least in games and stuff."

"Goblins aren't generally permitted for ordinary adventurers to fight."

'Goblins.' Alongside orcs and kobolds, they were among the most famous monsters, or perhaps even more famous.

Apparently, they were classified as a type of fairy, but their ugly appearance and cruel nature were far removed from anything fairytale-like. Then again, fairy legends were often pretty gruesome to begin with.

"Honestly, it's surprising, isn't it? Goblins are usually treated as weak enemies in games and stuff."

"Because they're intelligent. Those things."

The intelligence of monsters varied wildly. Some, like orcs, could use tools but basically did nothing except charge, while others were monsters that wielded magic and employed tactics.

'Even in the era I came from, goblins were terrifying beings.'

Takanashi-san joined the conversation through the speakers.

'Higher-ranked monsters tend to be more intelligent, but even among lower-ranked monsters, there are some with exceptional intelligence. Goblins were the prime example.'

"They were considered dangerous even in the future?"

'Yes. They were even said to be the first lower-ranked monsters to learn modern human language.'

"To that extent...?"

'They imitated and adapted the movements of human units, then attacked using weapons stolen from humans. There were even cases in which an entire base was destroyed by goblins.'

What I had heard in the training seminar was that Self-Defense Force ability-user units had struggled with trap bows and pitfalls... But it seemed that in the future, goblins had become even more terrifying beings.

'Even so, their overall threat level was low.'

"Really?"

'Because there were many more dangerous monsters.'

"Ah... yeah."

The world a hundred years from now really was nothing but a demon realm.

Without realizing it, my hand reached for the staff stored in the holster at the back of my waist.

The mana-infused paper I was currently developing through trial and error seemed like it might enable some pretty 'amazing things' besides capturing monsters if I could get it to work... But would it actually be useful?

...Well, I had no choice but to try.

As they say, a fool's thinking is no better than resting, and for an utterly ordinary person like me, trying things out was probably the only path available.

The conversation ended there, and I once again focused my attention on guarding our surroundings.

Even though their intelligence was relatively low, orcs—and monsters in general—were terrifying beings.

"...Speaking of which, in those lewd books, goblins and orcs attack humans in a sexual way, don't they?"

"Focus."

'Reproduction? No, there are no such cases, and I do not believe monsters view humans as sexual objects in the first place.'

"You don't have to answer that."

'However. In a book classified as prohibited, Yahiro-san, in a goblin nest—'

"Why don't you be quiet for a moment?"

'Yes.'

"Fine, Otaku-kun... Tell me all about this later!"

"Don't. Ever."

Because monsters were terrifying beings...!

As I vowed to tattle to Master later, we proceeded through the false night forest.