Revenge On Garen

――S-Rank Dungeon【Crimson Night Moon】, 24th floor.

――The four members of the Hero party were advancing deeper toward the lowest layer.

“Ora!【Sword Bash】!”

“Gwo!?”

The Heavy Knight Garen, with a prosthetic on his right arm, parried the Red Orc’s battle-axe with his greatsword.

The shockwave from the greatsword staggered the Red Orc, which stumbled backward.

“Nice, Garen—Lilium, now!”

“Okay, Sylvan ❤ Eat this—【Thunder Shot】 ❤”

“Gwooo!?”

The lightning magic Lilium fired hit the Red Orc’s face—its head above the neck vanished.

“…! There’s another one behind us! Ruru!”

“……!”

“Gugya!?”

Sylvan, the leader and Hero, noticed the new enemy first and, on his command, Ruru slit the carotid artery of the second Red Orc!

“All right! I’ll finish it!【Aero Slash】!”

The second Red Orc also fell before the hero party.

“Yes! Well then, this is a total breeze, huh.”

“This staff is insanely strong ❤”

“Of course. If we combine our strength, we can defeat any monster—even the Crimson Vampire Princess, for instance.”

“……..”

The Hero party was equipped with arms and armor supplied by the Royal Palace and the Holy Church.

Their motivation and cohesion were high, and they were steadily progressing through the dungeon.

“If we defeat the Crimson Vampire Princess, we’ll become the first heroes in human history to clear an S-rank dungeon. It’s obvious I’ll be chosen as the next king, Garen will become a general of the Royal Knight order, and Lilium might even be named Grandmaster of the Knights of the Stigmata—the First Stigmata—; it’s not just a dream.”

“E~ ❤ Really? Then I’ll be a cardinal ❤”

They even had maps of Floors 20 through 25 and information on monsters collected by the Holy Church’s Holy Knight unit—Sheena Aytel—and provided to the Hero party, so the conquest was practically at hand.

――If only Sid Ranorus weren’t here.

――Bon!

“Uoh!? I can’t see ahead at all!?”

“Kef! Kef! It’s insanely smoky~ ❤ What’s this~ ❤”

“There shouldn’t have been any information about monsters that use smoke screens… no, could this be an artificial smoke bomb!?”

“……”

Just as the Hero party mused about their futures, a smoke bomb rolled at their feet and stole their sight.

“Damn it! What’s going on!? How annoying!”

Garen swung his greatsword to clear the smoke with the gust from his blade.

The view cleared—but his comrades were nowhere to be seen.

“Hey? Sylvan? Lilium? Ruru? Where did you go?”

――Zari (sound of dragging)

Footsteps were heard, and Garen looked up.

“Yo, long time no see, Garen.”

“You…!”

The one standing there was not a comrade.

A young man with black hair and black eyes, wearing a distinctive black long coat.

He was Sid Ranorus of the Shikai Tribe.

Upon receiving the information that the Hero party had resumed their assault on the S-Rank Dungeon【Crimson Night Moon】, I moved immediately.

Using Vanargand’s spatial movement, I jumped ahead into 【Crimson Night Moon】, deployed countless Shadows of small animals like rats and bats to form a surveillance network, and waited for the Hero party to arrive.

Then, when they descended, I threw a smoke bomb from the corner of the corridor.

Furthermore, I sent goblin Shadows equipped with teleportation stones that, when used inside the dungeon, warp them to random locations—suicidal charges—to split the hero party.

The plan succeeded, I revealed myself before an isolated Garen—and that brings us to the present.

“Yo, long time no see, Garen.”

“You…!”

Garen was surprised to see me, but quickly contorted his face into a gruesome grin.

He probably thought he could avenge the time at the A-Rank Dungeon 【Blue Orchid Lake】when I blinded one of his eyes.

“That’s a pretty cool prosthetic arm you’ve got. Lucky you.”

“Yeah, it’s really great. I owe you for that time! Unlike when I only had one usable arm, there’s no way I’d lose to some Shikai Tribe scum now!”

Garen braced his greatsword.

It’s finally happening.

At last, my revenge begins…!

“Well then, how about a little lesson since it’s been a while?”

“…Huh? What do you mean by that?”

“You still don’t get it? Well, it’s no wonder—I hardly have any of the old features left anyway.”

I answered while summoning only the Dullahan’s sword from the shadows and gripping the long blade that crawled up vertically from the ground—

“I’m Sid Ranorus—you used me and ground me down as a slave, and in the end you left me in the dungeon as bait for a Minotaur.”

“…Huh? Sid? Seriously?”

“I crawled back up from the bottom of hell. To kill you!”

“Ha, ha… seems legit. So that means, up to now, I’ve been shamed by slave Sid at the Adventurer’s Guild and had my eye put out? Don’t screw with me…! That slave had the nerve to mock me so much! I’ll kill you!!”

――Gakin!

Garen swung his greatsword with a face full of rage.

“Unforgivable! Unforgivable unforgivable!! Kill kill kill kill! You damn slave don’t get cocky, you bastard!!”

“Weaklings bark loudly.”

I caught Garen’s greatsword with the long sword I gripped in one hand.

Even after recruiting Windine in the A-Rank Dungeon【Blue Orchid Lake】, I kept diving into dungeons every day to raise my level.

My current Level is 85.

It was easy to parry Garen’s two-armed greatsword strikes with one arm—it was almost yawn-inducing.

“Is that all? Come at me with all you’ve got.”

“Don’t get cocky!”

――Gakin! Gakin! Gakin!

After dodging and sliding off Garen’s full-strength blade strikes, he tripped over his own feet and fell flat.

Unable to land a single blow, Garen’s pride must have been badly wounded.

“You bastard! 【Blade Blast】!!”

Garen activated a greatsword skill.

The blade, swung high overhead, glowed red and came down in a straight line.

But it was an excessively large swing.

It’s an effective move against massive monsters.

However, having trained under Master Dullahan, I could avoid a full-powered blow simply by stepping one pace to the side and twisting my body.

“The post-skill opening is way too big. Seems he can’t even account for missing.”

――Slash!

“――Ugyahh!?!”

I severed Garen’s arm as his greatsword lodged into the floor and rendered him immobile.

The prosthetic detached from him again, and blood gushed from the now-shorter right arm.

“Oh… my arm…!?”

“Got it now? You can’t beat me. Even if you’re not careless, even if you’re in perfect condition.”

“N-no way… This has to be some mistake! There’s no way I’d lose to a slave like you!”

“A mistake, huh? Then I’ll entertain you until you accept it—Windine.”

I summoned Windine’s Shadow.

“Wh-what is that black monster…?”

“It’s the power of a Necromancer you guys mocked so much. Well—now it’s called Shadow Necromancer, though.”

Windine can use powerful healing magic.

Of course I hadn’t taken a single hit from Garen, and even if I did take damage, my wounds would close immediately.

In fact, since I’m Undead, getting hit by Windine’s healing magic would actually harm me.

It was Garen who needed healing, not me.

“Windine, heal this fatty’s body.”

“~~~~♪♪”

As Windine sang in a tone-like voice, Garen’s arm glowed and the severed arm rose as a white silhouette.

When the light ceased—Garen’s arm had been restored to exactly how it was before being severed.

“M-my arm’s healed!?”

“I also fixed your right eye. Now you can fight without excuses, right?”

“……..I’ll make you regret it.”

Garen tore off his eyepatch, stood up, and regripped his greatsword.

“Make me regret it—if you can.”

I’ve been beaten down by Garen countless times.

There were times I was mercilessly struck with a wooden sword to relieve his stress, and times he punched me just because I was an eyesore—I lost count of how many times.

Again and again, and again—I was Garen’s punching bag.

So—there’s no way I’d be satisfied just because I hurt you once.