第八話 不穏な悲鳴
俺は〈影踏み〉でグリムリーパーの移動を制限しつつ、スキルを保つように影を踏んだ足を引き摺りながら移動する。
ルーチェは常にグリムリーパーを挟み、俺の反対側の位置をキープする。
これが俺とルーチェの編み出した、対グリムリーパーの戦法であった。
「ケケケケッ!」
グリムリーパーが大鎌を引いた。
これは〈竜殺刈り〉の予備動作だ。
「来るぞ、スキルを解除する!」
さすがに防御をするのは危険すぎる。
だが、回避するのは難しくない。
俺は〈影踏み〉を解いて背後へ跳んだ。
「ケェッ!」
グリムリーパーが大鎌の一撃を放つ。
鎌の刃は、俺の身体にあと一歩届かない。
「てぇいっ!」
その隙にルーチェが一撃をお見舞いした。
青い霊体が千切れ、奴の仮面に亀裂が走る。
「ゲェッ......!」
断末魔の叫びを上げ、グリムリーパーが一本の大鎌を残す。
ルーチェはその場に崩れ落ち、両手で顔を覆った。
「なんで四本目なんですかぁっ! こっちじゃないのに! こっちじゃないのに!」
「四連続でちゃんと武器が落ちるのは、ありがたくはあるんだけどな......かなりの金額にはなるし」
レベルが上がれば、それ相応に強力な武器が必要になって来る。
強くなるための金銭の使い道は多い。
もう少しレベルが上がったら、そちらの方面にも本格的に着手しようと考えている。
お金はいくらあっても困ることはないのだ。
「......ただ、今欲しいのは〈
千載一遇の好機だったのだが、どうにもドロップ運がよろしくない。
いや、ドロップ運はいいのだが......〈魂刈りの大鎌〉四本は、正直持て余してしまう。
「はぁ......アタシ、グリムリーパー狩るのが上手くなってきた気がします......」
ルーチェが落ち込んだようにそう零す。
「ま、まぁ、それはいいことだ。相手のスキルや予備動作、弱点を覚えて、徹底してその隙を突くように動くのは、戦闘の基本だ」
同じ魔物と戦い続けていれば、他の魔物に対してもそうした意識で戦う習慣がついてくるはずだ。
手癖で戦っているだけではいずれ成長が止まる。
「う、ううむ......」
体力的にも残りMP的にも、あまりこれ以上グリムリーパーを探し回っている余力はない。
すぐに見つかったら一体狩れるかどうか、といったところか。
最寄りの村での休息を挟んで戻ってきたら、さすがに〈幻獣の塔〉は消失してしまっているか......。
俺達とあのスノウのコンビだけであれば、もう少し〈
B級冒険者の三人以上のパーティーであれば、充分様子見に入ることは可能なレベルである。
ましてや俺達が来た時点で、出現から二日以上経っていたはずだ。
ここから日を跨げば、さすがに残っていないだろう。
「......俺達以外の冒険者が〈死神の凶手〉を手に入れているかもしれない。後日、裏の店を回って、売っているところを探そう」
「ただ......その、このレベル帯の冒険者って、結構お金持ってるんですよね? 魔剣士のヒルデさんも、五千万ゴルド近く出せたわけですし......」
「その代わり装備が〈ベアシールド〉になったがな」
B級以上の冒険者がそれなりに纏まった大金を持っているのは確かだ。
B級冒険者の羽振りの良さに憧れて冒険者を志す者の姿も、この世界ではよく見られる。
「裏のお店使う人って、結構稀ですよね......? 黙認されているとはいえ、やっぱりリスクは付き纏いますし......」
「スノウさんの情報秘匿を乗り越えたB級冒険者のパーティーが、グリムリーパーから〈死神の凶手〉をドロップして......その上で裏のお店で売却する確率って、結構低いんじゃないですか?」
「......ま、まぁ、ゼロではない」
俺はルーチェのもっともな言葉に、辛うじてそう返した。
ギルド長のハレインにはさすがに頼れない。
取り締まる側の人間だ。
堂々とそんな注文を出されたら、彼女も立場上黙って見過ごすわけにはいかなくなるだろう。
そのとき......微かに悲鳴のようなものが聞こえてきた。
俺は咄嗟に、声がした方を振り返った。
「どうしたんですか、エルマさん?」
「今、悲鳴が聞こえた」
魔物相手に後れを取った冒険者がいたのだろうか。
ここはまだ〈夢の主〉が出没する地点からは遠い。
あまり奥地へ入り込むのは危険だが、ただの魔物相手であれば、俺達でも充分助けられるはずだ。
もう一体......最後にグリムリーパーを狩りたかったのだが......まぁ、それは仕方がない。
人の命とは比べるまでもない。
「悲鳴......様子を見に行ってみましょうか」
ルーチェの言葉に俺は頷いた。
Volume 3 - Ch 8
I used my [Shadow Stomp] Skill to restrict the movements of the Grim Reaper, moving a bit by sliding around the foot I was using to maintain the Skill.
Luce and I kept the Grim Reaper between us exactly.
This was the anti Grim Reaper tactics that Luce and I came up with.
"KEKEKEH!"
The Grim Reaper swung its scythe.
That was the starting movement for its [Dragon Reaper] Skill.
"Incoming! I will deactivate my Skill!"
It would be far too dangerous to try and block it.
However, it was not that hard to dodge it.
I deactivated [Shadow Stomp] and jumped backwards.
"KEH!"
The Grim Reaper swung its large scythe.
The blade of the scythe came just short of reaching my body.
"Haaah!"
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Luce delivered a decisive blow.
Its blue spectral body tore apart and a crack appeared in its mask.
"GEH......!"
After a last scream, the Grim Reaper left another scythe.
Luce crumpled to the floor right there, clutching her head with both hands.
"Why a fourth one! This is not the one we want! This is not the one we want!"
"Well, it's nice to have four weapon drops one after the other as well....it will be quite a sum."
As our levels go up, we need to have powerful enough weapons to go with it.
There are many things we can be spending our money on if we want to get stronger.
Once we manage to get another few levels, I was thinking of starting to work on that as well.
Money is something we can't have too much of.
".....however, the one we want right now is the Skill Book."
This was basically an opportunity of a lifetime, but it seems we just weren't lucky with the drops.
Well, strictly speaking our luck was good to have found four Soul Reaper Scythes, even if they're more than we can easily deal with at once.
"Haah.....I have a feeling I've become quite skilled in hunting Grim Reapers already....."
Luce mumbled, looking downcast.
"W-well, that's a good thing. Remembering the opponent's Skills, the starting movements for those, and reliably being able to take advantage of the opportunity they offer is the basics of battle."
Even if you fight the same opponents for a time, you start to approach fighting other monsters with the same method after a while.
If you are fighting solely based on habit, then you will hit a wall sooner or later.
"Uhm, uh, yeah....."
We are too low on stamina and MP to keep searching for Grim Reapers for too much longer.
We could take down one more if we manage to find one right away, if that.
Although if we take a break at the nearest village, then most likely the Phantasmal Dungeon would have disappeared by then....
Although, if it's just Snow, Izabella and us two who are inside of this place, then maybe the Phantasmal Dungeon might persist for a while.....?
B rank adventurers in a party of three or more should be more than enough to at least check this place out.
Furthermore, by the time we arrived here, this Dungeon was here for two days already.
We shouldn't expect the place to remain after one more day.
"....it's possible other adventurers might have found a [Reaper Assassin] Skill Book. Let's explore the underground shops in the coming days and hopefully find some place that sells it."
"But....adventurers around our level have quite a bit of money, right? Even Hilde, the Magic Swordsman was able to come up with 50 million gold...."
"Although she needed to switch to a Bear Shield to be able to do that."
It's well known that B rank and above adventurers are all most likely sitting on quite a nest egg.
There are many people in this world that decide to become adventurers with the aspirations to become like the powerful B rank adventurers they look up to.
"There aren't that many people that frequent those underground shops, right...? Although they usually turn a blind eye to it, there is still some risk...."
"The chance that a B rank party that managed to hear about the Dungeon despite the information blockade ordered by Snow-san would manage to get a [Reaper Assassin] Skill Book drop from a Grim Reaper.....then try to sell it to an underground shop should be fairly low, right?"
"....w-well, it's not zero."
I replied with difficulty to Luce's perfectly reasonable observation.
Asking the Guild Master, Hallein, for something like this would simply be too much.
She is on the side that's supposed to enforce these things.
If I were to brazenly ask for something like that, then she wouldn't be able to overlook it due to her position.
At that moment....I could hear something like a faint scream.
I immediately turned towards the direction I heard it from.
"What is it, Elma-san?"
"I heard a scream just now."
Perhaps an adventurer came up short against a monster.
This area was still far from where the Dream Lord could appear.
It would be dangerous to go too deep, but if it's against a normal monster, then we should be able to help out.
I wanted to hunt another Grim Reaper if possible, but....I guess it can't be helped.
The lives of people are much more important.
"A scream....should we check out what happened?"
I nodded to Luce's question.
The Reincarnated Heavy Knight Who Was Exiled After A Supposed Big Miss Is Unparalleled With His Game Knowledge
大ハズレだと追放された転生重騎士はゲーム知識で無双する
https://www.novelupdates.com/series/the-reincarnated-heavy-knight-who-was-exiled-after-a-supposed-big-miss-is-unparalleled-with-his-game-knowledge/
Action Adventure Fantasy Romance Shounen
Abandoned Children Adapted to Manga Adventurers Alchemy Arrogant Characters Artifacts Blacksmith Calm Protagonist Clever Protagonist Determined Protagonist Dungeons Fallen Nobility Fantasy World Game Elements Guilds Hot-blooded Protagonist Level System Love Interest Falls in Love First Lucky Protagonist Male Protagonist Mystery Solving Naive Protagonist Nobles Poor to Rich Previous Life Talent Reincarnated in a Game World Romantic Subplot Skill Books Strategic Battles Strong Love Interests Strong to Stronger Sword Wielder Underestimated Protagonist Weak to Strong
https://ncode.syosetu.com/n8465gx/
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