“Eight more to go… How are the others doing?”
Asks Argo when we enter the dungeon, and he’s not the only one who’s curious. Everyone is.
I call out Map, and use both Presence Detection and Magic Energy Detection.
There were fifty-four members of Jetblack here, but…
First, let’s check where they are. I see reactions on a corner of Map.
That means they’re pretty far from the staircase.
I infuse more magic energy to enlarge Map, and gulp.
The number of reactions has gone down. There are only forty-five of them.
That means nine people died.
“I see…”
Says Argo quietly, and Chris has a sad expression on her face.
Dungeons are always risky. All we can do is work out ways and countermeasures to prevent it.
“Are the ones that are left okay?”
“…I think so, for the time being.”
I look at the reactions around Jetblack, mostly at the kijin reactions between them and the staircase.
I imagine an experienced clan like Jetblack would have started mapping out the floor the moment they stepped inside it. But they’re pretty far from the staircase.
They might be on their way back, but judging by where they were three days ago, I don’t think that’s the case.
I think they fought kijin and ended up where they are after running away.
But that’s just a theory, only they know what’s really going on.
“So what are we going to do?”
Rurika asks me and Argo. I think she means if we should go help them.
“Well, they’re going to have to figure it out on their own.”
Says Argo.
It might seem cold, but no one forced them to come to the dungeon, so they’re responsible for themselves.
“Not to mention that if they found themselves cornered like that, there was something strong over there for sure. We don’t have an obligation to brave that danger to save them, right?”
Argo is right. And despite everything, that party has been taking down kijin.
Their numbers have gone down, but it might be just because they were unlucky while fighting kijin in the three days when we weren’t here.
At least that’s a theory Argo came up with after listening to me describing what I see on Map.
“And even if we have Sora and Chris’ abilities, we can’t afford to worry about others.”
Rurika nods in agreement.
“So Sora, which way should we go?”
“…First, can you do it, Chris?”
We need to make that decision after Chris casts Detection Magic.
We can detect the invisible ones, but we still want to avoid three-eyed kijin.
This is how we decide where we should go… Which is not in the direction of Jetblack.
I agree that I have a bad impression of Jetblack, and people of the empire, but this decision is made purely based on the number and positions of the kijin.
And it turns out to be right, as we hunt the remaining eight without issue.
A tough fight with a three-eyed one is forced on us, but we get through it without injuries.
“Now we just have to head back…”
Argo lets out a sigh of relief while looking at me.
If we go back the way we came from, we’ll have to fight just one. We can go around it, which will take longer, but sounds better.
When I say that, no one objects.
I also tell them what I see about Jetblack.
They didn’t move much while we were after kijin, and their numbers stayed the same.
“They supposedly came here with plenty of food. It also depends on how long they were planning to stay here. If they’re not moving, I assume they’re either tired or waiting for wounded people to heal.”
“Or maybe they’re pinned down. According to Sora, there are kijin no matter what direction they go.”
Guilford says to Argo.
If they have the power to detect enemies, they might think they’re surrounded.
They actually are, but the kijin aren’t taking the initiative to go towards Jetblack.
If they don’t move from there, kijin won’t attack. At least that’s the impression I get from how the kijin are moving when I’m looking.
But since Jetblack doesn’t know this, they might not be too comfortable.
After all, there are enemies nearby.
“Well, the decision is theirs. And I wonder how they’re doing in terms of fighting power when it comes to the ones outside the dungeon.”
Argo is wondering what the ones still in town will do if the ones here don’t make it back on schedule.
And Jetblack stays in the same place the whole time when we make our way to the exit.
Thanks for the treat.