Conclusion Of The Duel With The Hero Party

“Die, you bastard!!”

“This is a duel, but you’re overflowing with murderous intent…!”

Heavy Knight Garen hefted his sword in his non-dominant hand and lunged.

――Kiiin!

I parried with my longsword.

“Die! Die! Die!!”

“You’re slow.”

The Level gap between Garen and me was already twenty-five.

The fear I used to feel when he said “I’ll train you” and then beat me senseless was completely absent.

I would have felt the same even if Garen’s right hand had been intact.

“He just swings his sword relying on brute strength. It works against weaker monsters if you use a greatsword, but—”

――Slash!

“――It won’t work on me, fatty.”

“Gyaaaah!?!?”

I slipped past Garen’s blade and cut upward.

I sliced as if to stroke his right eye; Garen dropped his sword and clapped a hand over his wounded right eye.

“My eye!? I can’t see out of it!”

“Don’t worry. Even if you’re hurt, if you can beat me you’ll get a potion that can heal any wound—assuming you win, that is.”

I swept the unguarded Garen’s legs out from under him.

He fell awkwardly onto the wet floor of the chamber.

――With his injured right arm trapped beneath him.

“Uggyaaaaah!?!?”

Garen was a massive man clad in heavy armor.

His total body weight probably exceeded a hundred kilos.

In such a state, with his poisoned arm crushed, he’d stand no chance.

“Not bad. He’s a captain of the Royal Palace Knights, but clearing an A-rank dungeon solo wasn’t just a fluke.”

“So even small-brained idiots can be captains in the palace knights? If you’re worried about the country’s future, you should reform personnel when you inherit the throne.”

Garen’s arm probably couldn’t be healed without a rare elixir like【Windine’s Tear】.

I had blinded one of his eyes.

Having dealt damage up to the edge of what’s permissible in a duel, I turned to face the Hero Sylvan next.

“You say that well, Shikai Tribe.”

“You could’ve come at me together.”

“I didn’t want to get caught up in Garen’s reckless bladesmanship. One-on-one is easier to handle.”

Garen… even his allies diss him casually like that…

“――I shall engage!”

――Kiiin!

I met Sylvan’s ornate, expensive-looking longsword.

――Kiin! Kinkinkin!!

Two blows, three blows—the blades met and sparks flew.

As expected of royalty, he enjoyed swordsmanship and was tougher than Garen, who just swung his sword relying on stats.

“(But… I don’t intend to lose in swordsmanship either.)”

The swordsmanship taught to me by Master Dullahan parried Sylvan’s strikes one after another—kiiinn!

――Sylvan’s sword flew through the air.

“Damn it!”

“Alright, one for me.”

I smacked Sylvan’s nose with the pommel of my longsword.

It was the first time Master Dullahan’s sword techniques paid off.

Against giant monsters, swordsmanship intended for duels against people isn’t as useful as expected…

“Gah!? Y-you… you’ve scarred the face of a Royal like me!”

“Then next time you fight monsters, Prince, be sure to discuss ‘please don’t target my face’ before you go into battle.”

Sylvan bled from his prominent nose and glared at me, his handsome face contorted.

“Now then—just the Mage and the Assassin left… huh? Where’d the Assassin go?”

“Hey!? Where’d Ruru go!?”

I searched for the brown-skinned girl from the minority tribe—Ruru—but she was nowhere to be seen.

I thought she might have used an Assassin’s skill to diminish her presence, but—

“She left alone a little while ago.”

“That’s impossible!!”

Lilium was stunned by the words of the official, Almugard.

“Kuahaha! This is a masterpiece! The Hero party, who would’ve thought they’d be this fragile?”

“Then it’s just you left.”

The cheeky brat’s expression turned to despair.

“Hey! Don’t come! I said don’t—【Thunder Shot】!!”

Lilium unleashed lightning magic.

I infused my sword with mana and deflected it.

“【Thunder Shot】!【Thunder Shot】!【Thunder Shot】!!”

Too monotonous.

Flustered, she could only spam a simple spell.

I walked slowly toward Lilium while parrying the incoming bolts.

“Right! Water conducts electricity… and there’s water at his feet… Take this! 【Thunder Shot】!!”

“Sid—jump!”

“I know!”

Lilium cast her lightning spell at the watery floor of the chamber.

I leapt before it hit, landing near the chamber door—on dry ground beside Lilium.

“Gyaaaaaah!?!?”
“Gyaaaaaah!?!?”

The released lightning spell struck Garen and Sylvan—who should have been allies—and dealt them massive damage; both lost consciousness.

“Ah, sorry! I didn’t mean to…!”

She knew water conducted electricity but apparently hadn’t considered that it would hit her allies.

“So, what now?”

“W-wait… I-I’m surrendering! I surrender—goeh!?”

I drove my fist into Lilium’s soft belly.

She clutched her stomach, face flushed red, writhing.

Lilium collapsed in a posture that thrust her hips out, and a yellowish fluid spread from around her lower abdomen.

“Don’t let that filthy fluid get into the water. It’ll dirty the dungeon.”

“Aeh… gah…”

With that, everyone was neutralized.

Too weak.

Have I been bullied by people like this all this time?

They had middling skill, but precisely because of that they had no concept of teamwork.

This duel proved it: they tackled me one by one for fear of being dragged into each other’s fights.

“Official, this counts as my victory, right?”

“Of course. The victor of this duel is—Sid Ranorus!”

＊＊＊

I’d like to wake them up and make them apologize at the Adventurer’s Guild for insulting the Shikai Tribe, but something else is more urgent.

Right now it’s more important to heal the Shikai Tribe girl waiting at the mansion.

We recovered the Dungeon Core and Windine’s Tear.

The dungeon vanished and we were all teleported back to the surface together.

The Hero party remained unconscious on the grassy plain above.

“By the way, you were after this elixir too, weren’t you?”

“Yes. When I heard the Dungeon Boss was Windine, I assumed the drop would be something that heals wounds and sicknesses, so I went after it. My prediction was right, but I didn’t expect a competent adventurer to beat me to it.”

“But you didn’t try to take it by force.”

“Of course. The rule is first come, first served for Magic Stones and artifacts obtained in dungeons.”

If Almugard had challenged me to a duel, things might have gotten dangerous.

As I considered earlier, even with my current stats I couldn’t defeat Almugard, who is Level 179.

I’d need to mobilize the full power of Shadows, Ekarraat, and Vanargand.

If that happened, I couldn’t hold back—we’d fight until one of us died.

That’s why I tossed Windine’s Tear to Almugard.

“What do you intend by that?”

Almugard caught the elixir bottle in midair.

“I don’t want to be your enemy, and I’ve left a bad impression after that duel with the Hero party. I thought I’d balance things out with a good deed.”

Besides, since I made Windine herself an ally, I have no need to use the one-time Windine’s Tear.

I refused it mainly because it would have annoyed me to give it to the Hero party.

Also—it’s not bad to owe a favor to the strongest human.

“I see. Thank you. I appreciate it.”

Almugard rubbed his full mail and made it clank as he bowed to me.

“In return, I’d like you to pretend you didn’t see what you’re about to witness.”

“Understood. I’m tight-lipped, contrary to appearances.”

“Good—Vanargand, escort us to the mansion.”

“Waon!”

After confirming the Hero party hadn’t woken up yet, I summoned Vanargand at my feet.

A giant wolf’s maw emerged from the shadows and swallowed me whole—then it slowly sank back into the darkness.

“Amazing… So a Necromancer can do something like that…”