Not long after I’d finished setting things up, Cashel and his friends reached the room where I was waiting.
“So there you are, Cashel-san. Oh, are the two behind you the party members that you mentioned? Well, anyway, I’m almost one hundred percent sure that the Black Spirit Knight is behind that door over there.”
“Hmm...wasn’t this supposed to be a competition to see who could complete the subjugation quest first? And yet you stayed to wait for us? Quite the gentleman, aren’t you?”
Cashel looked slightly surprised, as if things were rather different from what he’d expected. Maybe his plan had been to assault me while I was busy dealing with the Black Spirit Knight, just as Melfina had suggested, or to strike when I let my guard down after the fight. Seeing the newcomer who had proposed the competition waiting patiently for his arrival was clearly a scenario that hadn’t even crossed his mind.
“As you can see, as long as we don’t cross the threshold of this door, the Black Spirit Knight won’t come out to attack us,” I noted, pushing the creaky door open ever so slightly. Through the crack, the figure of a large, imposing man clad in jet black plate armor could be seen. Rather than waiting for prey to approach, my impression was that he was standing guard and protecting something. I could tell at a glance that the room had once been an audience hall, as the tasteful ornamentation still retained much of its beauty despite the ravages of time. And the object the man was standing in front of — it was a throne, a seat reserved solely for the king who had once reigned over this castle.
“Whatcha tryin’ to say? You took a look and realized you couldn’t beat it on your own, so you wanna team up with us after all?” taunted Raji in a voice so loud that it echoed through the room, sending a tiny spike of pain into my ear.
“You wish. I still intend to win this competition, of course. But I can’t have you guys making things difficult for me in the middle of my fight with the Black Spirit Knight.” I finally dropped my polite tone. “Or should I say, I can’t have you guys using me to get rid of it for you, hm?”
Noticing the change in my demeanor, the three men immediately fell into battle formation. Cashel and Raji were in front, while Gimul backed up slightly to stand behind them at an angle.
“He already knows about us, boss.”
“If so, I don’t understand his motives in coming here all alone. Hey, ‘newcomer,’ are you a guild hire? Or are you a bounty hunter after Raji’s head?”
“Nah, nothing grand like that. This was merely a chance encounter. It was you guys who approached me in the first place, remember?”
“You sure that wasn’t just a ploy to make us fall into your trap? Pretending to be a newcomer and racking up achievements to draw our interest?”
“What a guy...little wonder he possesses such high-ranked skills!”
Is it me or is this whole conversation way off base? I don’t have high-ranked skills because I’m high level — it’s just the way I am!
::Honey, it’s not like the misunderstanding changes what you have to do, so just get on with it.::
Aye, aye, ma’am.
“Well, there’s no point delving into the nitty gritty, right? Bottom line is, you guys tried to spring a trap on me, but got caught in my trap instead.”
Cashel laughed. “You sure are good at joking, newcomer. You’ve made a big mistake with your positioning. The exit is behind the three of us, while the door behind you leads to the Black Spirit Knight. On top of that, you’re outnumbered. Who’s the one at a disadvantage here?”
You’re right, of course...on the surface, that is.
“You never know until you try, right? None of us are here for tea and a friendly chat, so you, the big lumbering oaf, how about you stop shaking in fear and come get a piece of me already?”
“Who’s shaking?! I’ll shut your smart mouth, you puny mage!” roared Raji, charging straight at me. As I’d expected, he was extremely susceptible to provocation. A single-celled organism, just as he looks.
“Raji! Don’t rise to the bait!” Cashel shouted, but it was too late. The spell that I’d set up in advance had already activated.
“Huh?!”
A patch of ground that had been plain stone just moments before suddenly turned into a large bog that trapped Raji’s legs.
“You bastard! What did you do?!”
“I don’t know, how about you tell me?”
It was, of course, the Rank D spell Mud Bind, which I’d hidden with Concealment. The spell changed the targeted ground into a bottomless bog, restraining anyone who was unfortunate enough to be caught in it. Casting it was normally a rather conspicuous affair, but since no one present could see through my Concealment, Raji had charged straight into the trap without me having to lift a finger.
“This...is this Concealment?!”
“My Concealment Detection didn’t catch it at all!”
Well, yeah, I made my preparations knowing that you wouldn’t be able to see through it with your Rank C skill. Concealment is turning out to be even more useful than I’d imagined.
“Shit, a stupid bog like this...I can get out with raw power alone!”
“I would advise you to not flail around needlessly. That bog is bottomless,” I offered helpfully while casting Wind at all three of my opponents.
Cashel was threading his way towards me through the storm of invisible blades, carefully detouring around the bog. Raji took the attacks head on, but the damage done to him was fairly insignificant. As for Gimul...
“Gimul, what the hell! You running away?!”
“Hah, yeah, sorry, boss, but I ain’t staying around for this. You two have fun! My instincts are telling me that this guy’s real trouble. So long!”
::Honey, Gimul’s heading for the exit now, and Cashel will reach our position in ten seconds.::
Not a problem. Everything’s still going according to plan.
“Block the exit, Clotho!”
The passageway leading out was still within my magical range, which meant that I was capable of Summoning Clotho right behind my attackers’ backs.
“Wh-What is this?!”
For the briefest of moments, a magic circle shone brightly at the entrance to the corridor. Gimul stopped in his tracks, raising his guard. When the light dissipated, he found himself face to face with a blue slime. And it was no ordinary slime, but a gigantic one almost Raji’s size.