It's Dangerous Outside the Dungeon, Master

“The main force is a necromancy-type dungeon… Blades and arrows don’t work well! Take up blunt weapons!”

“Damn it. Of all things…”

“I really don’t like these skull heads…”

Maria’s instructions fell as soon as she saw the skeletal forms rising from the shadows.

Hearing this, everyone, whether scout or warrior, grabbed hammers, clubs, and other auxiliary weapons they had brought.

Even if they have weapons they’re familiar with, it’s one of the common skills of adventurers to change weapons depending on the opponent until special skills develop.

“I’ll definitely find them…!”

Even Leonis was gripping his staff tightly with both hands, looking full of determination to jump into the frontline if necessary, as he should be stronger than ordinary skeletons.

His ‘technique’ would be focused on the ability to manipulate magic rather than moving his body, yet he’s quite reckless with his body.

It seems his special feelings for Sonia and her friends were not a lie.

The only ones still holding swords as weapons were Maria and Daniel, who were confident in their skills.

Even then, Daniel was holding an additional heavy club in his other hand, so only Maria, Sonia, and I maintained our usual armament.

“Still, it’s fortunate. There are many, but no special individuals. Befitting a newly born dungeon.”

“Don’t let your guard down. We don’t know what might happen.”

“It’s hard not to be careless against skeletons. Let’s quickly find your sibling and get out, Maria.”

“…Right.”

Still, as in the current conversation between Daniel and Maria, people weren’t very tense.

It’s common sense that undead who rise after a person’s death don’t maintain their living abilities intact, and the appearance of the skeletons visible now looked like they were probably nearby humanoid monsters or thieves in life.

“I heard a group of bandits went missing recently.”

“Looks like they were here. Did they try to use the cave as a hideout and get wiped out?”

“What a bunch of fools.”

So. Until just the next moment.

-Clack.

Snap!!

As Evangeline clicked her jaw bones.

The undead legion that had raised their weapons once took a step forward.

As if they were one body, simultaneously.

“What’s that…?”

“Soldiers…? No, they don’t have shields…”

A sense of discomfort instantly spread among the people who saw this.

That appearance was not like ordinary skeletons that blindly rush at the living with hostility, but more like ‘Skeleton Soldiers’ who, though unremarkable individually after class-up, exert powerful strength when gathered in groups.

‘My goodness. She must have really pushed them hard.’

Seeing their appearance, clearly more elite than when I last saw them, I swallowed several emotions internally.

Admiration for Evangeline’s tenacity and effort in finally engraving ‘tactics’ into those stupid skeletons, and pity for the skeletons who had tactics engraved into their bodies while being beaten by Evangeline without properly understanding why.

On the other hand, knowing that all those actions were ultimately for me, even joy.

It was very difficult to hide my smile, so I decided to cover it with a fabricated emotion of the composure of a predetermined victor.

“The skeletons seem smarter than expected. If you can hold out for a bit, Sonia and I will use magic.”

“We’re counting on you, Miss Mage!”

So Sonia and I stood at the back, with one apprentice warrior and Gyeonghan staying behind to protect us.

“Sonia. Are you ready?”

“Yes, Teacher…!”

“In such a melee, we shouldn’t use magic that’s hard to aim. So?”

“Restraint, right?”

“Yes. You’re smart.”

“…”

Sonia smiled quietly. I patted her head once, then looked straight ahead.

Because I felt ‘jealousy’ being shot directly at me, or more precisely, beside me.

‘Don’t be like that. You’re my only first.’

Flash.

‘Right. Then… Your targets are four. You can handle the rest yourself.’

-Clack!

Step! Step! Step!

As soon as I designated the ‘targets,’ the slowly approaching skeletons lengthened their strides.

Over fifty skeletons approaching while simultaneously enveloping all sides of the large room, and adventurers guarding against them with their backs to the entrance.

Maria’s instruction that immediately followed was appropriate.

“Move towards the entrance! We need to reduce the area we’re facing!”

-Graaah!!

Bang!!

That instruction had two effects.

The temporary disruption of the adventurers’ formation and the effect of one of the skeletons, unable to overcome its instincts, rushing forward upon seeing this.

It’s going to get scolded later. That child.

The giant skeleton that had been the leader of the bandits in life charged in while letting out its ‘Battlefield Roar,’ a characteristic it had successfully inherited while dying.

『Battlefield Roar – During battle, temporarily amplifies Health attribute proportionally and reduces all stats of opponents with lower Health attribute than oneself by half of the amplified Health.』

Although the increase ratio was very low because it was common grade, due to its inherently high Health attribute, it was a really good characteristic that could still temporarily decrease the abilities of most adventurers, even if just a little.

At that roar, everyone on this side except Daniel, Maria, and me stiffened.

This should be used when the clash properly begins, not when starting a charge, clearly showing the limitations of an ordinary skeleton.

“It’s coming! As expected, it’s just a skeleton. It couldn’t maintain formation!”

“I’ll handle this one, you take care of the people!”

“We need to move quickly! Move! Hurry!!”

As Maria steps forward to face the charging ‘Axe’, Daniel immediately turns around and encourages the stiffened people to form a formation near the entrance.

Although the room’s entrance was quite wide so that gaps couldn’t be completely eliminated, it seems they thought it was at least better than meeting in the dead center.

It’s a moment when I feel proud of my past self, who deliberately widened the entrance in preparation for adventurers who would form such a formation when visiting my dungeon.

In a place like this, it’s impossible to form a perfect formation unless you have a considerable number of people.

There’s only the best and second-best.

“Mages! This way! Susan, protect the mages from behind!”

While Daniel was reorganizing the formation like that, Maria and Axe clashed for the first time.

* * *

“You’re nothing special…!”

Whoosh, Bang!!

-Clatter!

The result was, of course, Maria’s overwhelming victory.

Although the ‘giant skeleton’ was overwhelmingly larger, nearly 2 meters tall, it had lost flesh and muscle, reducing its mass, and in life, it had been nothing more than a muscle-head with no other abilities.

Maria, who seemed surprised by the unexpectedly powerful strength for a moment or two, soon regained her composure and succeeded in deflecting that large body and making it lose balance.

It was the power of the orange explosion arising from the flame coalescing on her blade and her strength that was originally not inferior to a skeleton’s.

“Die…!”

Clang!

However, she had to miss this golden opportunity she had gained. Due to the force contained in a blade with a red light swiftly intervening from the side.

The exquisitely intervening trajectory existed in a position that was difficult to avoid or block, a position where one would inevitably get hurt if moving forward, so Maria had no choice but to retreat.

“Another one… Wait, you… That strength and that armor…”

Maria, who had blocked it with her curved sword and retreated once, soon found something familiar.

The red light that coalesced and disappeared on the sword, and the breastplate the skeleton was wearing. These two elements.

Her stoic but always caring and lovable sister who worried about her older sister. She had simultaneously discovered the source of her friend’s equipment and characteristics.

It was inevitable that Maria’s eyes, which had been anxious all along, would roll.

“You… Jack…! Where is Remia? Where is Remia!”

Clang clang!

Five exchanges occur instantly between Maria and the skeleton.

Maria’s sword was sharp and fast.

However, the skeleton, intensively nurtured by a master who recognized its special talent and who had not neglected its own training, didn’t easily give way even against a high-ranking warrior.

Even without having gone through a class-up yet, Evangeline’s specs were approaching high-rank, surpassing formal rank.

“Maria!! You need to get out!!”

“Where are they?!!!”

Maria, who would normally have recognized such skillful swordsmanship and retreated to look for an opportunity, swung her sword while giving in to anger and impatience.

Because of this, she didn’t notice that she had become trapped among the enemies.

“Damn it!”

Thud!

In the end, it was Daniel who started moving towards her side.

He runs forward with a short sword in one hand and a hammer in the other.

Whether it’s love or comradeship mixed with affection and mistaken for something greater, anyway, the sight of the man running forward without hesitation was quite impressive.

The problem is that this is reality, not a movie.

“You need to give more variability to the material coordinates there. The enemy won’t stand still.”

“Ah, yes!”

Behind that, I continued to advise Sonia, who was using a binding spell in actual combat for the first time.

Hearing that it’s enough to bind the legs of just a few in the front rather than all of the enemies, Sonia had commendably said she would try to proceed alone.

Thanks to this, Sonia, who was concentrating while sweating nervously, was focusing on my words without even opening her eyes.

I had no reason to stop her, and there was no interference from the surroundings.

This was all due to the leisure that could be afforded because their enemies, that is, my soldiers, were ultimately skeletons even if they were a bit special. And I had no reason to stop the enemy’s leisure.

She probably only has the obsession to accomplish this with her own hands.

“Maria, Maria!! You need to break out! These things, they’re using tactics! You’re being surrounded!”

“Ugh…!”

The two most threatening ones were still tied up and unable to break free from the skeletons.

Although Maria had broken free from her anger and realized her situation, regaining her composure, it wasn’t easy for the two to break out of my army.

-Clack!

Clang clang!

Evangeline was persistently holding them back so they couldn’t escape freely, while never overexerting herself directly.

The sword flashing among the weapons of the lined-up skeletons had a sharpness and precision that even a higher-level adventurer could never underestimate.

That swordsmanship was even beautiful.

-Clatter!

“These bastards… They’re pushing us so we can’t regroup!”

Also, my soldiers under her command were repeatedly striking and retreating nimbly with the aid of necromancy.

Now they could really be seen as an army of the living.

How wonderfully she had trained them. I should praise her a lot when this is over.

“D-Damn it. This isn’t really going to end badly…?”

“Sh-Should we run…?”

It was the same for the formal adventurers who were trackers or trap specialists, and for the apprentices who were just simple warriors.

They try to rush in somehow, but when my soldiers’ formation tightens, they can’t actively intervene.

A formal adventurer has the ability to hold off three or more ordinary skeletons, and even an apprentice adventurer can handle one or two. With four people, they could hold off more than ten and create time for a high-ranking adventurer to escape.

They’re not even able to demonstrate their abilities due to panic or prioritizing self-preservation.

Of course, my skeletons have a commander who makes them ‘not ordinary’, so the situation is much more serious than usual.

“I will…!”

“It’s dangerous to rush in recklessly!”

-Graaah!!

Bang!!

On top of that, ‘Axe’, which I directly controlled, was threatening the rest with even more powerful strength than Maria, using its roar at appropriate times.

It was stupid both in life and death, but its clever strategy, as if it had become a different person, was directed at the other adventurers instead of the two high-ranking adventurers, shattering their ‘salvation’.

In the end, it was time for the mages, who could inflict powerful attacks or control on the skeletons from a distance, to play an active role.

* * *

“Group battles are the best, but this is good too. Let’s use binding magic for those two. I’ll finish the others.”

“Yes…!”

“Now, let me help. We need to do this quickly.”

I approached Sonia, put my arm around her shoulder, and overlapped my hand on the back of her outstretched hand.

Sonia, whose growth had stopped at a younger age, was about the same height as me, who had become much smaller now, so it wasn’t an awkward posture.

In that state, I adjust her magic power.

Her face, which subtly reddened when the hand of the teacher she trusted overlapped with her own, was quite cute. Although she hadn’t fully blossomed due to not cultivating her beauty, she was still beautiful.

It was a pity that her face would soon be ruined.

“Are you ready?”

“Yes!”

“Good. Ready… now.”

“「Draining Plant」!”

Crackle…!!

Sonia’s low but forceful cry.

Along with it, the mana seeds scattered from her fingertips quickly promoted their growth and grew into vines that grabbed and drained the vitality and life of what they caught.

“What is this…?!”

“Vines…?!”

It caught Maria and Daniel, not the skeletons.

And simultaneously.

Thud-!!

“「Shadow Binding」.”

I struck Leonis, who was beside me, with the Skull Staff I had summoned to my hand from my inventory while activating the magic.

Not the same rapid growth magic of demon realm plants as Sonia’s, but the curse of shadow magic bundled with necromancy.

Swish…!!!

“A, a necromancer…?!”

“Miss Mage…!”

“Why…?!”

The shadows that instantly spread out, integrating with the darkness of the cave, grabbed and clung to the adventurers’ ankles.

“Ugh…?!”

The physically weak Leonis couldn’t avoid or block the staff swung with the powerful physique of a Dungeon Lord.

The sight of him collapsing ironically overlapped with the scene of Sonia collapsing when the novice adventurers had come here.

Rustle rustle!

“Aah! Let go!”

Right on cue, my legion approached to bind or subdue the adventurers.

“Huh…?”

In the middle of it all, the only ones unharmed were just Sonia and me.

I stroked her head and said.

“Well done. You’re worthy of being my first disciple.”

The smile I always wore when dealing with her, this time, I didn’t even faintly show it.

Absolutely not.

『Dungeon level has increased. Lv.2 ▶ 3』

『Demon Lord Candidate ‘Libertas’ Dungeon Lv.3』

“Excellent.”

My face reflected in her wavering blue eyes.

There, a penetrating light was visible.

A light is originating from my pupils, shining and asserting its presence amidst the shadows of black hair.