Chapter 27: Dungeon Field Class (2)
We were in the most common formation.
Allen and I faced the enemy in the front line, and in the center stood Velita, who took command.
Behind her was Tesrad, the mage who was the core of battle, and at the very back, Anette guarded him.
It was a stable formation.
It was easy to maintain and flexible enough to respond to any situation.
Moreover, the number of monsters currently approaching us was something we could easily handle.
However, I was not the one making the decisions.
“Do we shoot or pull back?”
Perhaps it was the sound coming closer that made me tense, but I accidentally let slip a phrase from my mercenary days.
I deliberately ignored the glance that flicked toward me and calmly asked again.
“……Please decide whether we fight or flee. Right now, the leader of this party is Your Highness.”
“We have no choice but to fight.”
Velita answered immediately as if it required no thought.
“In another situation, maybe, but right now, there’s no place to run. If we flee recklessly and end up cornered, we might have to fight endless waves of enemies.”
She drew her rapier with a cold sound.
“We fight. If their numbers are small, we wipe them out here and move on. If they are too many, we break through and escape.”
Velita continued issuing orders.
“Sir Lian, if possible, bless everyone with a simple miracle. If it’s too much, just Sir Lian and Allen. Tesrad, prepare your magic. Anette, keep Tesrad safe.”
“Understood.”
“Your Highness, it’s dangerous, you should step back a little……”
“I’m fine, Anette. More importantly, once the enemy shows themselves, Tesrad will fire his spell as the signal to open the front line. The two of you in front, please be careful not to get caught up in it.”
“Yes.”
“I’ll be cautious.”
With a short response, I invoked the Miracle of Vitality to give everyone a boost.
In the meantime, Allen muttered with a sigh.
“Insects, huh. Bad matchup.”
Indeed, with their hard shells and swarming numbers, fighting insects could easily damage a blade, even with mana reinforcement, if one wasn’t careful.
Gripping my mace, I stepped forward.
Crunch, crunch, crunch…
Their footsteps had already reached close range.
“Hey, Gwendil. How many do you think there are? From the sound, it feels like a lot.”
“The sound echoes in the cave, so it’s hard to judge precisely. But there should be fewer than it seems.”
At my reply, Tesrad nodded and fell silent.
Judging by the low murmurs, he had begun chanting again.
“Screeeech!”
“Kiiiiik!”
Fortunately, the cave was not dark, so we quickly spotted the monsters approaching from afar.
“Ants.”
Giant ants.
They were characterized by their hard shells, strong mandibles, and tendency to move in swarms.
They had no venomous stingers or deadly poison—only their bites.
Against one or two, even an untrained civilian could hunt them easily.
However, because they swarmed in vast numbers, their danger depended entirely on the size of the colony, to the point that fleeing was the only option if things went wrong.
“Tesrad.”
Velita gave a whisper-like command.
“Begin.”
“―――――!!!”
Tesrad instantly let out an unintelligible cry.
At his fingertips, a blazing fireball appeared, then shot straight into the middle of the ants.
KWAANG!
With an explosion like a bomb, flames surged in the midst of the oncoming horde.
Yet the ants pressed forward steadily, uncaring that their comrades burned.
Clack, clack, clack!
They advanced, mandibles snapping with strange sounds as if to threaten us.
“Hup!”
I swung my mace down with all my strength at an ant lunging with wide-open jaws aiming for my shin.
With a sickening crunch, its head was crushed and bodily fluids splattered everywhere.
When some splashed on my lips, I quickly wiped it away with the back of my hand.
‘No poison or acid.’
That meant this was not the time yet.
I focused on the ants before me.
“Tesrad, prepare the next one immediately. At my signal, aim for the center of their ranks.”
“Anette, guard the rear and secure a retreat path. Giant ants’ favorite hunting tactic is flanking and encirclement. If that happens, we must respond at once, or we’ll all be annihilated here.”
“Sir Allen, Sir Lian. Even if only the head remains, giant ants still move, so make sure you finish them off completely. If gaps open, I’ll cover them. The two of you should focus on steadily holding the line and cutting down their numbers. There’s no need to push aggressively.”
Velita issued her orders calmly and precisely.
It was the most rational judgment to make in this situation.
Her composure and steadiness were greater than I had expected, and I gave a slight nod.
‘The incident hasn’t even begun yet….’
For now, I needed to focus on handling the current situation.
Resolving myself, I smashed the legs of a giant ant crawling along the wall, sending it flying.
“Not so fast.”
“Kieeeek!”
I reminded myself not to get excited and to conserve my strength.
Relax the shoulders, swing like a whip.
When facing numerous opponents, maintaining rhythm and continuous movement was far more advantageous—as experience had already taught me.
‘Let’s see.’
While handling the ants in front of me, I glanced around.
Naturally, everyone else was managing the giant ants without difficulty.
Velita thrust her rapier precisely into their joints to finish them off, and Tesrad calmly continued his incantation.
Anette supported by striking and throwing daggers at the right times to help Velita and me, while also protecting Tesrad.
“Khuh!?”
On the other hand, Allen was clearly struggling.
More precisely, unable to cope with the sheer numbers using skill or swordsmanship, he was relying purely on brute strength to fight.
But that kind of fighting would only tire him out quickly and drain his stamina fast.
And Allen too must have known that better than anyone.
‘…I’ll have to look into this properly later.’
Both the last time and now, I couldn’t think he was merely pretending.
If he really were pretending, he wouldn’t make it so blatantly obvious.
“Allen.”
I called his name and tossed him a mace.
He snatched it reflexively, startled.
“Thank you, Lian.”
Perhaps he understood my intention from that alone, for he gave me a slight nod.
I grinned at him once, then smashed the head of a giant ant that was rushing forward.
“Kiiik!”
Crunch!
I must have put in more force, because the giant ant’s head not only shattered but tore off and flew far away.
Watching it, I let out a quiet breath.
“Hoo.”
The number of them had already decreased noticeably.
“It’s fortunate we were able to deal with it without much damage.”
Velita whispered as she carefully wiped the fluids from her blade.
“Thank you all for your efforts. Especially Sir Lian and Sir Allen—thanks to you both holding the front, we could finish it smoothly.”
“You flatter me, Your Highness. I was only impressed by your accurate instructions and judgment.”
I bowed my head politely in reply.
Part of it was wanting to keep some distance from her, but also—when I had instinctively spat out a crude word earlier, their expressions had been quite……
Especially Anette Ganetsa’s eyes, where I had clearly seen a lingering killing intent.
‘I’ll need to be careful from now on.’
As I thought that, Velita made a somewhat sulky expression, as if dissatisfied.
Seeing it, I calmly closed my eyes as though naturally.
If I accidentally cursed again here, I might really be targeted for death by the two of them.
“Really, Tesrad, Anette… and even Sir Lian and Sir Allen all keep calling me only ‘Your Highness.’ I don’t expect nicknames, but it would be nice if you called me by my name, Velita, more familiarly.”
“Your Highness, that would be lèse-majesté. Neither Anette nor I are eager to be dragged to the guillotine or gallows so early in life.”
Tesrad said that, then burst out laughing as though it were the funniest thing.
Velita still wore her sulky expression.
Once cleanup was mostly finished, Velita dusted off her clothes and looked at me.
“So then, Sir Lian. What should we do now?”
“Pardon?”
“I mean, what should we do from here….”
“No, it’s not that I didn’t hear you, Your Highness.”
Wondering why this woman was suddenly acting this way, I lowered my stance even more.
“You are the one leading us, Your Highness. I am nothing more than a priest in a supporting role…”
“I’m asking for advice, that’s all.”
Velita cut me off with a noblewoman’s soft laugh.
“To be honest, it’s embarrassing to say, but we lack knowledge in these things. But Sir Lian, you seem well informed.”
Was it only my imagination that her violet eyes seemed to flash strangely for a moment?
“So I would like to hear your opinion.”
When I looked again, her eyes held the same kind and gentle light she showed to everyone.
How many lives had been lost, ensnared by that very light?
“In our current situation, what should we do?”
“……”
I lowered my head slightly, avoiding her gaze.
For some reason, my instincts told me to.
“…Giant ants.”
Carefully avoiding her eyes, I explained in a calm tone as though speaking respectfully to a princess.
“They communicate with a peculiar scent called pheromones. We humans cannot detect it at all, but the ants can sense it clearly even from afar. There are many types, allowing instructions far more precise than you’d expect. When intruders appear in their nest or prey is spotted, it’s those pheromones that cause them to converge from all directions.”
“You mean to say…”
“It’s highly likely they’ve left pheromones in this place. Therefore, I recommend we leave here as quickly as possible.”
For now, this was information hardly anyone knew.
Even I only knew their habits superficially, but for the moment, this much was enough.
“Is there no way to use that against them?”
“Unfortunately, I don’t have that much expertise.”
“Hmm…”
She pondered briefly.
“This exam is a ‘breakthrough.’ That means we must minimize losses and find the shortest path forward. First, we must leave this cave.”
“That’s correct.”
Dungeon Field Classes were divided into breakthrough, exploration, domination, and subjugation.
This one was breakthrough—the priority was piercing through the dungeon and reaching the destination.
“And from what you’ve said… we can’t rule out the possibility that pheromones have rubbed onto us, correct?”
“Of course, since the creatures in this dungeon are created from mana, I can’t be certain. But we can’t exclude the possibility such a function was built in.”
She had seen it clearly.
All of us who entered this dungeon likely had traces of pheromones on our bodies.
Unless we cleansed or removed them, we could not escape their pursuit.
“If that’s the case, we’ll be forced into a war of attrition with those chasing us.”
“Yes.”
Though even if that happened, there was no need to worry much.
Giant ants were only dangerous when they swarmed in overwhelming numbers—individually, they were weak.
And since this was the first field class, the individuals roaming here would surely be weakened ones.
…That is, unless Rahma interfered.
“……”
For now, only weakened ones roamed, but before long, stronger variants would appear.
So strong that the last group would seem almost cute—appearing in legions, nearly endless.
In the end, hundreds of students would die without leaving a trace to those very ants.
“Then what would be best to do?”
“We must still get out of this cave quickly.”
So I decided to make use of the woman before me, Velita.
Since she had ruined my plan, I intended to take something in return.
“But in the meantime, we make one stop.”
“A stop?”
“Yes.”
“Where do you mean?”
The greatest trait and weakness of insect-type monsters—
They were helpless until they hatched from eggs, lived as larvae, and passed through the pupal stage to become adults.
“The cocoon chamber.”
Where their pupae lay.
Where the monsters responsible for the massacre still slept.
“We burn it.”