Chapter 309

The scout's eyes fluttered open as Rayleigh dragged him clear.

When he managed a weak "Who...?" Rayleigh told him he was someone who intended to charge the Guild extra for this.

The man tried to laugh, but it became a groan, and Rayleigh stopped joking as he lifted him over one shoulder.

Hyapporankan was already breaking apart behind them.

Rayleigh judged that it would hold for another five seconds, which gave him time to cross the cavern in two rapid Shunpo.

He reached Dankū before the Irregular escaped, and the healer scrambled toward him as soon as she saw whom he was carrying.

"Doran!" she cried.

Rayleigh carefully passed him through the barrier and knelt to help lower him, explaining that his left leg was broken and he had lost a great deal of blood, though his breathing remained steady.

He warned her to keep him still until the bleeding was under control.

The healer bent over Doran with both hands glowing.

Tears gathered in her eyes when she found his pulse.

"He's alive... he's actually alive!"

Beside her, the expedition leader sagged with relief, only to stiffen again when a crash came from the far side of the barrier.

The Irregular had broken free, and the noise of the fight had drawn more monsters from the surrounding tunnels.

Lizardmen, armored insects, and several four-legged beasts poured into the cavern around it.

Faced with a full Monster Party, the leader could only stare in disbelieve.

"You've got to be kidding me."

Rayleigh looked over the growing swarm, then back at the adventurers who could barely stand. He raised both hands.

"Stay where you are. I'm putting another barrier around you, and nobody leaves until I say so."

The leader demanded to know whether he meant to fight them all alone, but Rayleigh was already casting.

"Bakudō #73: Tozanshō!"

Four walls of spiritual energy enclosed the expedition, joining into an inverted pyramid.

Once the barrier was stable, he released Dankū and stepped out to meet the charge.

The first Lizardman came at him with a raised cleaver.

Rayleigh caught its wrist, twisted the weapon aside, and struck its sternum with his palm, sending it crashing through two of its companions.

Three winged insects dived at him while he was turning, and he pointed toward them.

"Hadō #31: Shakkahō!" A red sphere exploded among the insects, shredding their wings and hurling them against the cavern wall.

Rayleigh used Shunpo beneath the falling bodies and appeared in the next group, sweeping one Lizardman's legs out from under it before driving an elbow into another creature's throat.

A claw swept toward the back of his head. He ducked and aimed over his shoulder.

"Hadō #4: Byakurai!"

White lightning pierced the attacker's skull.

Before it hit the floor, he caught the first Lizardman as it tried to stand and hauled it into the path of an incoming spear.

The weapon lodged in its body, and Rayleigh threw both monsters into the approaching pack.

The Irregular roared, and the remaining creatures stopped attacking individually. They spread into a broad semicircle, moving together as they surrounded him.

Rayleigh watched their formation take shape with renewed interest.

'It's controlling them.'

They charged from several directions at once, crowding the cavern until there would be little room to land even with Shunpo.

Rayleigh braced a foot against the stone and thrust out his hand.

"Bakudō #63: Sajō Sabaku!"

A golden chain swept across their formation, winding around one creature after another until more than a dozen were tangled together.

He seized the chain and dragged the struggling mass away from Tozanshō before raising his other hand.

"Hadō #33: Sōkatsui!"

Blue fire engulfed the monsters and drove them into the wall.

The blast lit the cavern and sent dust rolling over his coat.

Inside the barrier, the expedition members had almost forgotten their injuries.

One of the younger adventurers stared through the glowing wall.

"He hasn't even drawn his swords."

Their leader watched Rayleigh duck beneath the Irregular's claw and appear above its head a moment later.

"No, he hasn't. And don't start thinking this is what every Level Six looks like! You'll get yourselves killed trying to imitate him."

Another impact shook the cavern, and the healer looked up from Doran to ask whether that was supposed to reassure her.

The leader assured her it wasn't, keeping his eyes on Rayleigh as he landed on the Irregular's skull.

The creature jerked its head back, but Rayleigh had already jumped.

He turned in the air and brought his heel down into one of its eyes, bursting it.

The scream echoed through the chamber, and the adventurers inside Tozanshō clapped their hands over their ears.

Rayleigh landed on its shoulder and immediately sprang away from a hooked claw.

Its tail swept beneath him, cutting off his descent, so he formed Enkōsen under one foot and kicked against the circular shield.

The sudden change of direction carried him over the tail and onto the monster's back.

From there, he could see fresh black armor creeping over the exposed flesh he had uncovered earlier.

He frowned at the sight.

'Regeneration too? You're greedy!'

The Irregular rolled onto its side, forcing him to jump clear.

Smaller monsters scrambled over its body and launched themselves after him, six of them closing in together.

Rayleigh raised a hand as he fell and cast Rikujōkōrō, catching them in golden restraints before he reached the ground.

He passed through the suspended group with Shunpo, landing a precise Hakuda strike on each.

His palm crushed a chest, two fingers drove into a throat, and an elbow broke a jaw; by the time his heel struck the last creature's spine, none could fight back.

He released the bindings, and all six of it fell.

The Irregular's remaining eye followed him.

Rayleigh saw it hesitate, then turn toward Tozanshō, and the amusement left his face.

His spiritual pressure settled over the cavern with enough force to stop the surviving lesser monsters where they stood.

"Don't."

The creature opened both mouths at the barrier.

Fire and acid struck together, shaking the entire structure and spreading bright cracks across one wall.

The wounded adventurers recoiled as the Irregular drew breath for another attack.

Rayleigh's voice went cold.

"Try that again and I'm breaking every jaw you have."

The Irregular turned on him with a roar and charged.

He gave it a thin smile.

"Good choice."

He appeared beneath its head and drove his fist upward, putting his full strength into the strike.

The impact boomed through the chamber as the creature's head snapped back and its front legs left the ground.

Broken teeth scattered across the floor.

Rayleigh used Shunpo again before it could recover, appearing above it with a different spell forming in each hand.

"Bakudō #61: Rikujōkōrō!"

Six golden pillars locked around its neck and upper body.

He followed immediately with Sajō Sabaku, winding chains around all six legs and pulling the creature to its knees.

Its struggles cracked the floor and strained both sets of restraints.

Rayleigh landed in front of its chest, where the damaged armor had yet to close completely, and raised his right hand.

Yellow lightning gathered around his fingers.

"Hadō #63: Raikōhō!"

The bolt struck the weakened plate in a flash that lit the entire cavern.

Thunder battered the walls as black armor shattered, exposing a broad patch of glowing flesh.

The creature remained upright, tearing through Sajō Sabaku before wrenching apart the golden pillars.

It lunged with its jaws wide enough to swallow him.

Rayleigh's hand almost went to Benihime, but his eyes stayed on the opening in its chest.

'No. I don't need it.'

With Tozanshō behind him, he couldn't retreat safely, so he stepped toward the closing jaws.

"YōTōSAI!"

The cry came from inside the barrier as he thrust out a hand.

"Bakudō #9: Geki!" Red light washed over the monster.

The spell was too weak to hold something that powerful for long, but it stopped the creature for the instant he needed.

He crossed the last gap with Shunpo and pressed two fingers against the exposed flesh.

"Byakurai."

A narrow beam of white lightning pierced its chest and tore through the tissue around its Magic Stone before emerging from its back.

The Irregular went rigid, its remaining eye widening.

Rayleigh lowered his hand and stepped clear as cracks spread across its body.

The huge frame collapsed behind him and crumbled into ash, leaving an enormous Magic Stone to strike the floor with a heavy thud.

The surviving monsters scattered into the tunnels.

Once they were gone, Rayleigh let his spiritual pressure settle and released Tozanshō.

The expedition stared at him until the healer found her voice, her gaze dropping to Benihime.

"You never even drew your sword in the end...."

Rayleigh glanced at the weapon, then at the cracks overhead.

"With the ceiling like that, drawing one of the more destructive blades would've been a terrible idea."

Their leader covered his face with one hand and began to laugh, exhausted enough that it took him a moment to speak.

"You beat the damn thing to death with barriers and spells because you were worried about property damage?"

"The punches helped."

That only made the man laugh harder, so Rayleigh left him to it and went to collect the Magic Stone.

He crouched, worked both arms around it, and heaved it against his chest before turning back to the battered group.

"Please tell me someone brought a bag big enough for this."

The healer began laughing too, though she kept both hands steady over Doran's injured leg.

...

Several hours later, the missing expedition emerged from Babel alive.

Guild personnel hurried forward with stretchers and healers, asking so many questions at once that Rayleigh briefly considered turning around and heading back into the Dungeon.

He escaped the first round by handing a clerk his written emergency report while the injured adventurers were taken away for treatment.

She skimmed the opening page, slowed at the second, and finally looked up with an expression that suggested he had done something personally offensive.

"You encountered the target Irregular, a Monster Party, an acid-based breath weapon, and a structural collapse?"

Rayleigh adjusted Benihime and Shinsō at his waist.

"Yes. Fortunately, the order was convenient."

When she repeated that last word, he explained that the ceiling had fallen before the larger Monster Party arrived.

She stared at him, then pinched the bridge of her nose.

"I'm filing this exactly as written. You are not leaving Orario until we've finished reviewing it, and there will be follow-up questions."

Rayleigh looked more troubled by that than he had by the Irregular.

"That sounds like paperwork."

The clerk's restraint gave way, and her shouted confirmation followed him as he turned toward the exit.

"I just remembered an appointment!" he called over his shoulder.

She assured him, loudly enough for half of Babel to hear, that he had no such thing.

Several adventurers turned to see who had managed to upset a Guild employee so badly.

One young adventurer recognized the swords at Rayleigh's waist and nudged his companion.

"Wait... was that Yōtōsai?" His friend nearly choked at the suggestion.

Rayleigh kept walking, wishing that three more years of hearing the alias had made it any less embarrassing!