Antagonist Protection Service

Encountering new monsters such as slimes and giant spiders in addition to things like the goblins and skeletons of previous Floors, the 14th Floor was basically just a giant labyrinth of a cave system, one which likely had many paths of varying difficulty and lengths leading to the surface.

Naturally, with the map we had with us acting as a sort of walkthrough, I chose the shortest, most direct path towards the surface for us to navigate.

I was the one who they had asked to tag alongside, so although it went unstated, it was indeed true that I was acting as the de facto leader.

Still, I was sure we would come to a unanimous decision even if that wasn't the case.

At first sight of one of those aforementioned slimes―a dark grey blob of goo that appeared initially like nothing more than a puddle of murky cave water on the ground―I thought they wouldn't be that big of a deal, but as it turned out, they were more annoying than almost anything I had encountered throughout all of the Floors of the Tower thus far.

Highly resistant to physical damage with no clear or visible weak point in any part of its gelatinous body, I was only able to kill one with at least a few swings of the Villainous Blade to rend it apart, and even then, I needed to watch out for any trying to jump onto my head and suffocate me, as appeared to be their modus operandi.

I was sure that if I could control my magic energy properly, I'd be able to coat the Villainous Blade with it and enhance it to get the kill in a single hit, but regardless, I hadn't yet achieved that ability yet.

Fortunately, it seemed they were at least vulnerable to magic, so with the white-haired mage being assigned the primary duty of taking care of them with his sheer-white fire, there wasn't much to worry about, and there was no need for me to switch to the Holy Sword.

Incidentally, he introduced himself as Cassano once we had got going for a bit, and the female archer did the same, going by Nina. They were both young, but thankfully weren't holding me back as much as I was concerned.

As for myself, well, needless to say, I didn't plan the slightest on saying that my name was Enki. That would defeat the entire purpose of the Villain's Vizard, after all.

In fact, I didn't want to give any hints away at all, so I simply told them to refer to me as they wished.

In any case, we advanced with great haste, the temporary party the three of us established progressing through the underground without pause, until eventually, the path we had chosen to explore soon began to change.

Ever so gradually, rather than being a simple, dull cave, with the only source of light being a ball of white fire held by Cassano behind me, we began to notice a shift in the encounter rate of our 'obstacles'.

Less and less slimes, less and less goblins, less and less skeletons.

More giant spiders.

Adding onto that the blatant signs of thick webs being weaved to block our path, it was clear what lay ahead even without it being explicitly stated.

"...Fire."

Pausing in my tracks, I muttered just that one word.

There was no need for me to say anything more.

"Yes...! Leave it to me."

Understanding immediately what I was asking for, Cassano stepped forth. Wielding his white flames, he lightly extended his hand towards the webs preventing our advance.

With the slightest contact they caught alight, instantly spreading and causing the whole tunnel to flash with intense brightness in the blink of an eye, scorching up into nonexistent ashes before anything could even be said.

Not stopping there, he continued, walking forward to burn all of the countless webs ahead.

"..."

Every time I saw it, I felt something strange from that fire.

I wasn't sure what it was, or if I had ever even encountered anything quite like it before, but the more I witnessed its use, the more it gave a subtle, almost teasing impression of something familiar, as if tickling my heart in goading.

I already knew that the abilities of Awakened could vary wildly from person to person, some people being blessed with the power to use magic, some with incredible martial ability or raw physical strength, and some even with powers that were rather specific or niche, including those not suited for combat at all.

Whatever it was, whichever one of the above, or even if it was somehow something completely different, I knew that fire was not simply a product of magic alone.

Even if, as most Awakened abilities seemed to function, it required only magic energy.

Dismissing such a thought, I cast a glance at Nina, who had stayed at the back of the party from the beginning, both due to her bow not being of much use in tight cave tunnels like this, but also because she was the one holding the map we were using as a guide.

This entire time, even during the boss fight on the previous Floor, she appeared quite stoic, especially considering her age which must have been a couple of years younger than me, and for a moment, I wondered if she also noticed something off about the power behind the mage's fire.

Now that I thought about it, something was strange with her, too.

I only had the others I had met earlier to compare to, as well as the general sense I got from everyone on the Hub Floor, but her amount of magic energy definitely seemed surprisingly high for a newbie that wasn't even a mage.

In fact, even if it wasn't quite as much as this guy, I was sure it didn't lose out to the mage girl from before.

Of course, I was aware that one's quantity of magic energy wasn't all there was, but it was certainly a decent indicator, and it's not like that was even all there was.

I was a little surprised an archer like her would be able to get through the entirety of the dungeon on her lonesome in the first place. At least, even if she had something like a dagger as a side-weapon or for emergencies, I still thought it was impressive.

'Hm. If she's something more along the lines of a ranger than a pure archer, it might make sense. Survival skills, trap detection, dagger skills, stuff like that...'

More or less satisfied with that self-derived answer, I left it at that, thinking it didn't really matter if these two were hiding anything anyway, returning my attention to the slew of burning webs before us.

'Eugh, damn it...'

Even if I tried to take my attention away with irrelevant matters, it was practically impossible to distract myself from what I already knew lay ahead.

The path before us, the documented shortest route from the start of the 14th Floor to the next, not only had these disgusting webs blocking the way, but of course, the thing itself that had planted the traps to begin with.

An optional Area Boss.

Supposedly, if we took a route other than this one, there would either be a weaker boss like a troll or a giant slime, or even no boss at all depending on which path you took, but in each case, it would take that much longer to make it through.

I guess it was only because a long time had passed since a lot more people had made it to these Floors that there was so much information available, as well as thanks to those initial Frontliners who made a profit off selling the information to other Challengers.

'There are so many alternate routes available... So why does it have to be the case that the boss for this specific one is a damn Broodmother...'

I certainly didn't ask for it, and neither did our third party member, but Cassano went off on his own about the various strengths and weaknesses of the upcoming colossal spider for what felt like ages.

'All the giant bastards until now were already bad enough...'

Personally, I would have rather fought something like an ogre, another Demon like that guy from Drakon-Rasa, or even something stronger like a wyvern.

It would have been vastly easier if I could use Moonlight Thule to deal with them, or even just an increased amount of divine energy to enhance myself with, considering that most insect-type monsters like those bore a severe weakness to ice and frost attacks, but the Villainous Blade was sharp enough on its own to slice them in half without it.

Besides, thankfully, despite my acute distaste for such creatures, Cassano was better suited at taking them out with his fire anyway, which was likewise a critical weakness for them, so I didn't have to do much.

Either way, with the goal of making it to the next Floor as soon as possible, we hurried ahead, burning down all the weaved traps in our way, and before long...

"――Stop!"

Suddenly opening her mouth, Nina called out for us from the back.

Doing as she said and halting just before erasing the final sticky blockade before us, the two of us in front turned around to face her, meeting her gaze as she continued.

"...It's right behind here."

Glancing between each of us, that was all she needed to say.

'Ugh. Damn it...'