GILF Hunter

Chapter 455: 455 Trump Card

All the altars rising throughout the room were lit.

As the powerful flames of the altars surged from all directions, the previously dark interior of the room was brightly illuminated.

With the inside of the deep layer, which had been filled with shadows and darkness until now, becoming so bright that not a trace of darkness could be found, the expedition members looked around with awkward expressions as if unable to adjust to the light.

The Shades that had been crawling out with the momentum to fill the room fled somewhere once all the lights were lit.

’The Shades are fleeing.’

’They rush at us when they see fire, but they hate the brightness? That’s actually better.’

The Shades that had been interfering from the darkness had all disappeared. Conversely, the giant began to run wild even more fiercely.

It was quiet only because it couldn’t make sound; if it could have, it likely would have let out a monstrous scream.

The knights retreated far out of the range of the giant’s attacks, which had turned significantly more aggressive.

’It seems to have become tougher.’

’But it won’t be able to regenerate anymore.’

Ian replied to the Knight Commander’s mutter.

Just as he said, even though the knights had all retreated and stopped attacking, the giant’s injuries did not heal.

Thanks to the damage concentrated on one leg, it couldn’t properly chase the knights who had pulled back and was only attacking from its spot.

’Then it’s easy...’

Its size was massive, but there were no knights here who would be too intimidated to attack just because of that. If it could no longer regenerate, the opponent was merely a large target.

Exchanging glances, the knights charged from all sides simultaneously.

The giant, which had entered what Ian would call a berserk phase, had much higher defense and speed than before, but of course, there were no foolish knights to be swept away by its blind attacks.

This was because all the Shades had vanished, allowing them to focus solely on handling the monster without needing to protect the torches.

The knights steadily chipped away at the giant that could no longer regenerate, and they were finally able to bring down the shadow giant with the Knight Commander’s finishing blow.

＊ ＊ ＊

After the battle completely ended, the altar fires began to go out one by one as if they had been waiting.

Thick darkness returned once again to the room that had been as bright as the outside of the Labyrinth.

As the lights vanished one by one and darkness began to settle, the members hurriedly gathered near the knight holding the main body’s torch.

Fortunately, even after the lights went out, the fled Shades did not return.

Instead, the aftereffects of the vanished light swept over them.

Airi was the first to shiver, feeling a sudden, sharp chill. This was because Airi had lit more torches in place of Rin and Lia, who had no leeway during the battle.

As the torches flickered out one by one, a chilling sensation flooded in, as if she had been thrown in front of a vast crowd of citizens and told to give a victory speech.

’Ah, ugh...’

’Oh no. Are you alright?’

The Knight Commander, who had approached to discuss future policy after finishing the monster, asked Airi, who had her head bowed.

When Airi shook her head vigorously from side to side as if she wasn’t alright, the Knight Commander let her go with a somewhat relieved face.

Seeing that she could calmly judge that she wasn’t okay meant the situation was at least somewhat manageable.

Frenda, who was examining the state of the members, turned to Ian and said.

’What were you planning to do about the consequences by letting your team handle all the fire?’

’...It was a situation where it could have become much more dangerous if we didn’t deal with it quickly...’

That wasn’t entirely wrong.

Since the Shades in this room appeared indefinitely until the fires were lit, the unhandled Shades would have gradually piled up as time passed.

If that happened, they wouldn’t have been able to move to light the fires anymore, and the knights wouldn’t have been able to focus solely on dealing with the giant as they did now. it would have been a much harder battle.

But even so, leaving it all to just a few people was too much.

’If that’s what you thought at the time, it can’t be helped. Please understand as well, Priestess. I’m sure it wasn’t intentional.’

’...I wasn’t trying to blame him.’

...Of course, it wasn’t incomprehensible. In an urgent situation where orders had to be given quickly, even a seasoned commander has limits in making the right choice.

One cannot leisurely calculate profit and loss while thinking about the future during combat. Even if it wasn’t the best judgment in hindsight, it was unavoidable.

It was a meaningless action to pick apart and argue for a better choice after everything was over.

Rather, it was more important not to persist in making wrong choices out of stubbornness after the event occurred.

After deep thought, the Knight Commander said to Ian.

’Will you be alright? If further exploration is impossible, now is the only chance to turn back. Think carefully.’

After pondering for a moment upon hearing those words, Ian replied.

’...During the last break, everyone couldn’t sleep properly. It would be better to rest here once more.’

’Is that so? It would be good to observe the status while resting a bit. Thoughts will also become more organized.’

No one opposed the additional rest.

They had fought several more times in the meantime, and it was about time to supplement their sleep anyway.

The knights immediately began setting up a campsite where they could sleep.

Since there were a few simple tents among the luggage with minimized volume and weight, a fairly decent campsite was created.

It was thanks to the fact that there was enough room in the luggage even after packing all essential supplies due to the large number of members.

While such things might seem useless at a glance inside a Labyrinth... they actually belonged to the category of supplies that are good to bring if possible.

Because you never knew what the environment inside the Labyrinth would be like. To use an extreme example, there was a possibility of an ice cave appearing, covered in ice and hit by blizzards.

They simply hadn’t been able to pack tents when entering with a small number of people because there was no room in the luggage. Since the recovery rate during sleep would also increase significantly, it was a good enough choice.

As the decent campsite was built, Frenda and the Knight Commander also nodded as if it wasn’t bad.

’Well, it’s not such a bad place compared to that room earlier. We’ll be able to rest comfortably.’

’We were quite lucky.’

Thus, a temporary campsite was set up in the room from which the monsters had been driven out.

Excluding the fact that sentries had to be posted, it was a location no worse than the previous one.

When camping inside a dungeon, there were rest correction values based on the environment.

If it was a place unsuitable for rest, the value recovered through rest decreased, and in unsafe locations, the probability of being ambushed while resting increased.

Fortunately, this wasn’t such an unfavorable place for rest. The recovery efficiency was only slightly reduced.

And there was only a small possibility of an ambush.

For that reason, they couldn’t rest as easily as before and had to set up night watches to monitor for monster attacks.

In places like the deep layers where the appearance rate of monsters with special abilities is high, there were cases where night ambush prevention options were nullified, so sentries were a must.

’We will take the watch. Your side focus on recovering.’

’Yes. Thank you.’

Ian expressed his gratitude and nodded at the Knight Commander’s offer.

Thanks to that, Ian and the members could rest comfortably in the tent set up in the best spot in the center of the room, even excluded from the night watch duty.

The rest of the knights were divided into a resting group and a guard group and took their places.

’...’

Thus came the sleeping time.

Naturally excluded from chores like night watch, Frenda did not sleep and slightly raised her head.

She quietly surveyed the surroundings, but no sound was heard other than small breathing. Everyone seemed to be asleep.

There wasn’t a single foolish knight awake and messing around during such an important time. The knights whose turn it was to rest were all deep in sleep.

Thanks to that, Frenda could slip out of her tent without worrying about the knights’ eyes.

Frenda stared at the Ian Mercenary Group’s tent, which was slightly set apart.

...I wonder how they’re doing.

Although she had harbored a slight suspicion toward Ian until now, that was strictly a personal suspicion. Public and private matters had to be clearly separated. Frenda felt worry before suspicion.

The state of the mercenary named Airi, in particular, looked quite poor. She didn’t know how much help she would be, but wouldn’t it be better to at least use some recovery magic for her?

With those thoughts, Frenda quietly approached the Ian Mercenary Group’s tent.

As she neared the tent, it seemed like small voices could be heard from inside.

Perhaps they weren’t sleeping either.

Well, Ian must have various worries as well. If the members’ condition didn’t recover, the expedition was in danger of failing. Perhaps he was even discussing future matters with the mercenaries.

Thinking that, Frenda reflexively lowered her footsteps even more cautiously.

It wouldn’t be good to interfere while they were having an important conversation. Frenda intended to come back later if they were in the middle of a serious talk, and she peeked inside very slightly to gauge the atmosphere inside the tent.

’...!’

What Frenda saw then was...

’Wha, wha... what, what is this!’

’Ah...!’

It was a relief that she couldn’t let out a loud shout because she was so flustered. Had she done so, the knights would have swarmed in and seen this sight together.

Airi, who was holding something in her mouth that Frenda couldn’t possibly describe with her own lips, pulled away from Ian in a panic. Thanks to that, Frenda could clearly see that object with her own eyes as it was revealed.

The members inside the tent, belatedly realizing Frenda had approached, scattered in a flurry.