It's Dangerous Outside the Dungeon, Master

-Kieeek!!

-Kyaaak!!

Sonia was quite calm for her first time facing Greenskins alone.

It was thanks to the ‘combat training almost like real battle’ that Libertas had already made her do using goblins.

[Although you have talent for curses, you weren’t able to use them enough during combat. So this. This will be an excellent response using minimal resources against unintelligent and blind enemies.]

-Kyaaak!!

“「Mirror Creation」!”

As soon as she saw a goblin rushing at her as she poked her head out at the stairs, Sonia immediately stretched her hand towards the floor of the stairs and spread magic power.

Crack!

-Kieeop!

Thud!

Thin ice instantly formed on the stairs, and two goblins who had stepped onto that ice fell down to the first floor with their heads down, making a ‘whoosh’ sound.

If Libertas had seen it, she would have commented that it looked ‘like a cartoon’.

[Your power is still lacking, but that’s something that can be solved with mass. Make sure to carry this while traveling. You’ll need to treasure this more than your staff for a while.]

-Kirr…

Thwack! Thud!!

‘Done.’

Sonia finished off the goblins who had fallen to the floor and couldn’t come to their senses by striking their heads with her hand axe.

After confirming that the goblins had fallen silent at once exactly as her master had taught her, she raised her head and saw several green heads appearing again from the second floor.

-Kyaaak!

“「Ice Wall!」”

-Kuek!!

Sonia stretched out her hand towards the goblins charging down like they were falling, blocking the stairs and crushing some of the faster ones between the ceiling and the barrier.

She didn’t stop there and moved immediately.

The current lodging was a house temporarily rented from an owner who had gone on a trip. There were two staircases going up to the second floor, so even if one was blocked, there was another staircase in a different direction.

Thud!!

-Kuok…!

‘Orc…!’

What jumped down through the other staircase was a greenskin with muscles that seemed at least five times hers, though similar in height to her.

The orc wearing armor on its body and a wolf skull as a helmet on its head had a momentum incomparable to the goblins from earlier.

As soon as Sonia confirmed the enemy’s identity, she lowered her posture and glared at the orc’s eyes.

[The basics of combat for a magician are not different from a warrior. Don’t lose sight. Whether human or demon, the eyes indicate where they will go. …Or so Evangeline says.]

This time it was according to what she learned from Evangeline, not Libertas.

-Kuwaak!!

The standoff didn’t last long.

The greenskin’s impetuosity was too famous to be patient over prey smaller than itself.

‘Now.’

Eyes checking the floor right before charging.

As soon as she saw that, Sonia immediately used the magic she had been preparing.

“「Mirror Creation」!”

Magic using more magic power as the enemy had weight.

The magic power responded to her wish and created thicker and harder ice on the floor, and that ice stuck to the floor and hardened instantly.

-Kuwaak!

However, this time the result was different from the previous goblins.

While a little ice was enough to make demons slip on the stairs, it wasn’t so on flat ground, and.

The opponent was not good either.

Crack!

‘The strength is too strong…!’

“「Frozen Arrow」!”

The orc breaking through the ice created on the floor and rushing in.

Sonia, surprised by that strength, canceled the big magic she had been preparing and fired magic that could be used instantly, but.

Crack!

-Kuwaaak!!

Woong-!

The orc that had been grazed by that magic through its shoulder guard ignored its freezing upper arm and continued charging while trying to swing the hammer it was holding.

[Always keep your thinking flexible. That will surely save you.]

And at that moment, Sonia’s resourcefulness was demonstrated.

“「Ice Wall」!!”

A barrier magic that occupies a certain space and blocks the enemy’s physical attacks.

This magic, which is used by designating coordinates in the elemental world and material world to summon elements to this world and make them rise up, was used by narrowly designating it at the lower part of the orc charging from the front.

Thwack-!

-Kuap!!

The orc was holding its axe with both hands while leaning its upper body forward to increase its charging power, and thanks to that, its chin was exposed to the attack from below.

Thud! Crash! Crunch!

-Kueek!!

The orc screamed as its chin was struck by what should be called an ice pillar rather than an ice wall, hit its head on the ceiling, then fell and had its arm struck by its own axe.

The arm that was already freezing was completely disabled.

She didn’t just watch.

“「Frozen Arrow」!”

Tat!

Sonia fired another spell and immediately ran while gripping the axe with both hands.

Bang!

-Kuwaap!!

The orc stretched out its uninjured hand to block the magical arrow flying in, and thanks to that, that arm was momentarily slowed while stretched out away from its body.

That’s what she had aimed for.

“Kit…!”

With a sound too weak to be called a shout, Sonia swung the hand axe gripped in both hands from left to right.

However, what she hadn’t expected.

It was that she still couldn’t exert even adult-level strength because she hadn’t trained her physical strength. And that the orc was an individual with excellent stamina and durability.

Crack!

-Kuwaap!!

Thwack!

“Kyaah!”

The swung axe did strike the arm but couldn’t cut through it, and instead got stuck in the orc’s arm and was swung back.

Considering that she wasn’t yet familiar with aggressive elemental magic, she had chosen the path of swinging the axe, but she had misjudged the hardness of the opponent’s body by her own standards.

-Kuuruk…

Fortunately, even the orc was confused rather than immediately enraged when it couldn’t use both arms, and didn’t think to move right away.

-Kuuk…!

The greenskin, being a greenskin, soon started moving with its eyes turning red with rage, but.

Sonia wasn’t the only one here.

“Hup-!”

Although the characteristic of swordsmanship had disappeared, the sense of wielding a weapon hadn’t completely vanished, and a warrior who knows where to attack to surely inflict damage with her already weakened strength.

Slash!

-Kurp…! Kururu…

The short sword swung shortly and concisely with all the strength Maria had.

That which was swung in a simple trajectory not even swordsmanship stole flesh and blood from the orc’s nape that hadn’t been watching its back while wary of Sonia, and slipped out.

Thud!!

Clang!

Along with the sound of a small, hard body falling to the floor, the short sword fell to the floor.

“Damn it.”

Hands trembling from the muscles surprised by the force with which she swung the small sword with all her might.

Maria looked down at her own hand with a complex gaze, then soon shook off the bitter impression and ran to Sonia.

“Are you okay? Sonia.”

“Ye, yes… Ah, we need to block the stairs…!”

“Right. I’ll support you.”

-Kyaaah-!!

-Kueeek!!

-Stop those guys!

Screams, shouts, and occasional battle noises could still be heard from outside the window.

Sonia briefly considered joining those fighting outside to secure safety for both sides, but inwardly shook her head immediately.

She still hadn’t given up on one possibility.

‘If Master caused this situation, she would naturally try to kill people who joined us too.’

Although they say this isn’t her style now, she was a Dungeon Lord.

While there were no known cases of Dungeon Lords themselves coming out to cause trouble like her, attacks using monsters were one of the well-known tactics among attacks carried out by demon races using fanatics.

Moreover, although they had been getting along fairly well recently, Sonia still didn’t trust her.

Stopping burning oneself with hatred absolutely doesn’t mean trust as a person.

-Kuook!

Thud! Bang!

However, soon she faced a situation where she had to reconsider her decision.

“This… is?”

“The house is shaking. Could it be…”

-Kuok! Kuok!

Thud!! Crack!!

-Over there! That house is being attacked! There must be survivors!

-Damn! Everyone gather!! It’s an ogre!!

-Are you crazy! Just block this side! Or run away! How can we face an ogre!

Apart from people’s shouts trying to help them touching Sonia’s conscience and fear, the attacks on the house grew increasingly severe.

‘Ogre…’

Maria’s face darkened as she heard the identity of the enemy.

A creature that competes with other demons for the position of strongest land creature, reaching at least high rank even when immature, not just greenakins.

This wasn’t a threat that could be anticipated in advance, and was an enemy they couldn’t respond to on their own.

-Kuook!

Crack!!

“Kyah!”

“Already…!”

A huge hand piercing through the ceiling, that is, the floor of the second floor, and plunging into the floor.

-Kuh. Kuh.

It groped around the area like that after propping on the ground, then disappeared upwards again.

An action like a beast cub searching for prey on the ground.

What that meant was obvious.

‘It’s already recognized us!’

It was clear that the problem wasn’t barricading themselves in the house, but that they needed to escape from here as quickly as possible.

Their hearts naturally became urgent.

“Sister! Senior…!”

“I’ll bring him! Huh…?”

“Both of you get out quickly! 「Giant Vine」!!”

“Senior?”

Just as Sonia recalled Leonis whom she had confined to a room, and Maria also recalled him and tried to move urgently.

At the same time as a shout burst out from the room where he had been confined, dozens of thick stems grew from the ground of the room where there had been nothing.

It was Leonis’s main spell that Sonia was very familiar with.

The magic of the guild’s great master that could be used anytime in combat situations as it was capable of both offense and defense, but he would deprecate himself saying it’s better to learn other things as its attack power and defense are ambiguous, honestly.

Leonis, who had woken up due to the vibrations shaking the house, had summoned it by continuously overlapping his magic.

“Let’s go quickly!! It’s this way!”

Leonis, who had temporarily propped up the entire building through plant stems, pointed to one side and started running.

Choosing the direction to move wasn’t a problem.

The direction in which the whole house was shaking intuitively informed them of where the ogre was located.

“Let’s go.”

“Yes! 「Ice Wall」!”

As soon as it was confirmed that Leonis had come out of the room, Maria started escaping by pushing Sonia rather than approaching him.

Sonia also created pillars to withstand the impact until escape by additionally erecting barriers while running.

-Kuwaaak!!

Bang!!!

As soon as the three escaped from the house, the house collapsed right behind them.

The ogre’s rampage had begun in earnest.

Crack!

-Aak!!

“My goodness…”

Sonia swallowed dry saliva as she watched fragments of the destroyed house fly into the sky and cover other adventurers who were on the other side.

She realized that if they had been in that place, they might have been neutralized by a decisive attack before they could properly do anything.

The greenskin competing for the name of strongest, boasting the peak of stamina and durability.

The rampage unleashed by such a highly rated demon filled with madness was literally on a different scale. Even though the size visible among the flying debris was by no means smaller than what had been reported.

“Let’s go quickly! Before it notices us!”

“Damn… An ogre. This is the biggest among recent attacks…”

“Over there! There’s an ogre over there!”

“When will elite adventurers or knights…!”

“Why these guys suddenly!!”

The question of ‘why’ is meaningless for demon attacks.

This world has been at war with demons for 200 years already, so attacks where fanatics summon demons in cities through methods close to self-destruction have happened dozens of times in history.

Then why hasn’t magic developed to detect such attacks in advance?

Because ‘fanatics’ are merely ‘humans’ who worship demon races, not demons using demonic power or contractors.

The fact that they are treated like ‘living landmines’ very accurately explains this situation.

-Kuwaaap!!

“「Giant Rafflesia」!!”

Crack!!

And because the world is so harsh, such misfortunes can happen readily.

“Ugh…!! Se, senior…?”

When Maria and Sonia, who had been pushed by Leonis running behind them, raised their heads.

-Grrrr…

“Cough! G… go…!”

“Mr. Leonis!!”

Much thicker and stronger vines than those summoned before were torn apart, and a giant flower grown by magic was miserably ripped off.

Before their eyes, a thin figure was being lifted by a huge hand.

Powerlessly, gesturing for them to quickly get away from him.

“Cough…! 「Spear of Freezing」-!!!”

A shout literally spitting blood.

The internal injuries suffered from rapidly raising magic power, and the blood bursting from his mouth because of it, indicated that this was Sonia’s full power.

Swish!

However, the ‘rare-grade magic that summons a spear that freezes everything it touches’ fired like that, and the ‘quite large amount of magic power compared to the properly trained period’ didn’t reach the ogre.

It wasn’t even able to stop one arm like with the orc, but merely slowed down one forearm.

-Kuwaeek!!!

There was almost no damage, just enough to enrage the ogre.

“Go-!”

“We won’t go!!!”

‘I absolutely refuse to lose someone again right before my eyes without being able to do anything…!’

However, to Sonia, that rather looked like hope.

Because the enraged ogre glared at them while roaring with Leonis grasped in its hand.

“「Spear of Freezing」! 「Spear of Freezing」! 「Spear of Freezing」!”

-Kuwaaap!!!

Thwack!

“Kheuk…!”

Ignoring what was welling up inside, once again, twice, thrice.

Sonia continuously summoning magic.

And the ogre raging towards her like that, carelessly threw away Leonis it was holding in its hand and charged.

“This way…!”

Sonia started running with all her might after pushing even Maria away, but the ogre was overwhelmingly superior to her in size, stamina, and endurance.

Even though she had started with a large distance, it gradually narrowed.

“「Spear of Freezing」!”

‘Just a little… just a little more!’

If Libertas could have examined her state now, she would have frowned seeing 「Magic Overload」 ominously flashing in resonance with 「Magic Overadaptation」.

At the same time, she would have been pleased seeing Sonia exerting more than her full power to save Leonis.

For that ‘not hesitating when it’s time to use full power’ is one of the lofty virtues of beings capable of thought.

“You endured well. Sonia.”

“Master…?”

In fact, she did just that.

A clear smile was on the lips of the demon master passing by as a shadow while patting Sonia’s head.

“「Be sturdy」, and 「Be strong」. My cherished people.”

-Grrrr…!!

-Tack.

Necromancy buffs exerting excellent power while raising the grade even further, and two people appearing with ‘madness’ accumulated while coming here and magic power raised in advance.

Swish!

The swordsman who sprang out from the shadows as if lying face down twisted his body in mid-air, swung his sword horizontally once to chop and scrape off the legs, then disappeared.

-Grrrung-!!

The blood-colored figure that fell from the sky slashed the ogre’s neck and pulled as it was.

“「Hound of the Baskervilles」.”

The shadow that rose up large in the shape of a dog with red flames for eyes bit off and swallowed the ogre’s heart.

-Ku…op…

It was the futile end of an elite-rank demon that had devoured a total of ten adventurers before they came, and could have torn apart at least thirty more.

* * *

“So… this incident happened because of a grudge?”

“According to the real culprit’s claim, yes.”

I felt like frowning at Talhan’s report.

The demon attack that occurred in Copzerin.

I learned that its cause was truly something unpredictable, and at the same time, something I might have been able to prevent.

It would have been possible only if my luck had been extremely good and my intuition had been very actively working, but.

“Ha… It was really this person.”

The magically printed photograph brought by my undead intelligence agent.

It contained the image of a noble woman who had been spewing ominous words at the dinner party venue.

[The Count is a hypocrite. He supports people in front, but actually…]

[He will pay the price.]

Her name was Eleanor Claimel.

The last heir of a noble family that was once prosperous enough to be the political opponent of Count Zulheim who held the banquet I attended, but is now known to have fallen due to him, and.

She was also a fanatic of demons with an unknown background.

“Where is she now?”

“In the underground prison of the fortress.”

She was also the real culprit who summoned demons to the city of Copzerin.