"Whoa!"
As the leaves were launched from the rock-made plant, Rei instantly raised the Twilight Spear to deflect them.
He had swung the Twilight Spear without channeling any magical power through it, but even viewed purely as an ordinary spear rather than a Magic Item, its performance was exceptional. There was no way it couldn't block a volley of leaves made of rock.
The rock leaves, deflected by the spear's shaft, fell straight to the ground and shattered.
"Rei, more coming!"
"I know!"
At Vihera's warning, Rei swung the Twilight Spear once more.
After the leaves, the next thing launched from the rock plant was its fruit. Though each piece was only about the size of a fingertip, the fact that they were being hurled at him in this situation made it easy to judge that they clearly carried hostile intent.
Deflecting the rock fruit as a matter of course, Rei closed the distance to the plant.
(Rock fruit... isn't that more like small stones?)
Even as that thought flickered through the back of his mind, Rei kept shrinking the gap, threading between attacks to swing the Twilight Spear with swift precision.
The sharp sound of the blade cleaving the air rang out, and in the next moment the rock plant stopped moving. Severed near its base, it toppled to the ground.
"So it's not a monster?"
Rei muttered, eyeing the rock plant that had collapsed onto the floor and was already completely motionless. What now lay there looked more like a stone statue of a plant than anything living.
If it had been a monster, it should have possessed a Magic Stone, just like plant-type monsters such as Treants. But from what he could see, there was no Magic Stone or anything of the sort anywhere on it.
"If there is one, it'd be in the roots... but how do we dig them out? I mean, we could if we really wanted to, but honestly I'd rather not burn the energy here."
At Reliu's words, Rei turned his gaze to where the rock plant's roots had been. What he saw was undoubtedly the stem, severed at a point close to the rock floor. But since it was a plant, its roots had to be buried in the dungeon's floor. And yes, that floor was made of rock.
To dig out the roots, they would need to break through the rocky ground. And they would have to do so as carefully as possible to avoid damaging them.
It wasn't impossible if he set his mind to it. But digging through rock would undoubtedly consume a considerable amount of stamina, and when asked whether it was worth the effort, Reliu was saying he would rather skip it if possible.
Rei considered Reliu's words for a moment, then stored the rock plant in his Misty Ring for the time being. With the Twilight Spear still in hand, he spoke up.
"This is the first time I've seen a rock plant like this, and it could turn out to be some kind of material, so I'd like to bring the whole thing back. I'll dig it out here. Reliu, keep watch on our surroundings."
"Got it."
Since this was a dead end, if an enemy came from the direction they had arrived, it would be extremely troublesome. Knowing that full well, Reliu accepted the role of lookout.
Not that the monsters they'd encountered so far were anything beyond Goblins, Cobolts, Orcs, and the like. Against such creatures, any decently ranked adventurer could repel them with ease.
...In a way, using an Alias Holder and High-Rank Adventurer as a lookout against such monsters was an extravagance beyond compare.
Rei channeled magical power into the Twilight Spear and drove it into the rocky ground. The surface erupted as though it had exploded.
He had aimed at a spot slightly away from where the rock plant had been growing—close enough to avoid, but far enough to ensure the blast wouldn't reach the roots. After confirming that no plant roots were present in the cratered ground, he gradually worked his way closer to where the plant had stood.
The others weren't just standing by watching, of course. Marina was using Earth Spirit Magic to excavate the ground alongside him.
About ten minutes later, they succeeded in digging out the rock plant's roots. Since the work required careful finesse to avoid damaging the root portions as much as possible, the delicate task fell to Marina, who could use Spirit Magic, rather than Rei. In the end, she ended up doing almost all of it.
"Rock roots... I guess you'd call them. Surprising they don't snap."
The roots, made of rock, looked not all that different from ordinary plant roots in shape alone. But they were, naturally, composed of rock—and so slender that one might think they would break at the slightest careless touch.
"Rei, store them before you fumble and snap those roots."
Rei agreed and stowed them away. He understood that if he tried carrying the rock roots around as they were, he would inevitably break one.
Weak as they might be, with battles against monsters still a possibility, that judgment was only sensible.
"So what exactly was that rock plant? Given it was growing here in a dead end, it must have some kind of meaning."
Rei muttered as they made their way back toward the fork.
Even Marina had never seen one before, which confirmed it was a rare find.
"We'll need to have the Guild look into it. Though there's a chance it's a plant unique to this dungeon."
"Yeah, makes sense. A dungeon on a cliff face, and the surroundings are clearly rock too. Put it all together, and it's not that strange for rock plants to exist. If only there were more like it... rock flowers or something, I could bring them home as a souvenir for Schmine."
Reliu murmured wistfully, repeatedly glancing at Rei as he spoke. Not just once, but over and over again. What Reliu was getting at, even Rei could grasp immediately.
"Ah, right. Next time we find a similar rock plant, I'll let you have it."
"Oh, really? Sorry for being so pushy."
"I'm telling you, that's only if we find more rock flowers like this. If we don't, I can't part with this one."
"I know, I know. From how it looked back there, there are probably similar rock plants growing elsewhere too."
Whether he stated that with such certainty out of years of adventurer's instinct, or from the blind recklessness of a devoted husband, Rei couldn't entirely tell. But he could make a fair guess.
In any case, the party continued onward without dropping their guard, talking as they went, and soon arrived back at the fork.
Naturally, without any hesitation, they turned right. Given the abundance of monster tracks down that path, more frequent attacks were a certainty. But since it was the only way forward, there was no real choice.
And as expected, less than ten minutes after heading right, monsters including Orcs came charging at them.
Not that they were caught off guard. Set and Byune had already sensed the monsters approaching, so they weren't hit by a preemptive volley of arrows from the Orc Archers. With everyone except Byune possessing high combat ability, dealing with arrows shot their way was hardly a challenge.
"Orcs in the rear and Goblins as vanguard? What a pain in the ass!"
Reliu ran his longsword clean through a charging Goblin's torso and hoisted the creature up as a shield. An instant later, several arrows from the Orc Archers embedded themselves in the Goblin's back.
"Gyah!"
The body pierce alone had been a fatal wound. But now, on top of that, the Goblin took a hit from behind. It let out a grating scream and went limp.
Reliu hurled the Goblin's corpse at another one that had been heading for Byune, disrupting its charge. After throwing the body aside, he turned his blade back and activated a skill.
"Wind Slash!"
The Flying Slash released from the blade carved straight into an Orc Archer that had been holding position behind the other monsters, about to loose an arrow. Its arrow-nocking right arm was severed, and a scream tore from its throat.
The other Orc Archer standing beside it, utterly ignoring its companion's plight, tried to draw and shoot—
"Squeal!"
A Long Needle pierced its eye, and it shrieked. With its eye punctured, aiming a bow was out of the question. It could barely even fight through the pain.
Some monsters would channel the agony of a pierced eyeball into fury and grow even more vicious, but the Orc Archer apparently wasn't that type.
Before the thrashing Archer could recover, an arrow punched clean through the head of its companion—the one whose right arm Reliu had severed moments ago—killing it instantly.
The shooter was Marina. Though she was a Spirit Mage, Marina was a Dark Elf, and her archery was naturally superb.
Her first arrow struck down one of the two most dangerous Orc Archers in the area. Her second arrow pierced the skull of the other one—the one whose eye Byune had just put a needle through. With that, the battle was over.
The Goblins that had charged in as vanguard were no threat whatsoever to Rei and Set. The phrase "dispatching them with ease" was a perfect description of what had just played out.
"For now, we'll take the Orc Archer corpses and just strip the Magic Stones from the Goblins. But where did the Orc Archers even get those bows? Probably had them before coming here, I'd guess."
"Probably. So what's the plan? Taking the bows too?"
Rei, who had already stowed the Orc Archer corpses in his Misty Ring, was asked by Marina. He looked at the bows, deliberating for a moment, then stored them as well.
The quality of the bows themselves was far from impressive. Still, as long as they functioned as serviceable bows, he figured he might as well hold onto them. They could prove useful later.
Ordinarily, no one would bother hauling around a weapon of merely "might come in handy" quality. It would only get in the way, and the risk of a monster attack because of it was too high. But Rei had the Misty Ring, a cheat-tier Magic Item, so none of that was a concern.
Thinking they might serve some purpose down the line, he stored the Orc Archers' bows and quivers of arrows—the arrow quality was also decidedly poor—in his Misty Ring. With that, there was nothing left to do, and they pressed deeper into the cave.
"Setting that rock plant aside, there's really nothing particularly suspicious about this place."
"There were traps, weren't there?"
Walking at the rear of the party, Rei replied to Reliu's observation. Reliu nodded as if to say, now that you mention it, true enough, but his expression lacked full conviction. If anything, he looked like he was hoping for something more.
"If possible, I'd love to see more... scenery that's really unique to a dungeon, you know."
"Unique to a dungeon? What kind of scenery?"
Vihera asked, seeming to have taken at least a mild interest in Reliu's words.
"Like a giant waterfall in a place like this, for instance."
"...Not a waterfall, but I have seen a dungeon with a forest inside."
Rei, who had been listening to their exchange, murmured as he recalled the Altar of Inheritance he had visited with Elena.
"The dungeon in Exil had all sorts of things. I mean, just from what you all know, there was even a desert, right?"
"Ah... yeah, there was. An endless desert as far as the eye could see. But the dungeon in Exil only got that way because it kept growing, right? This one's probably brand new, so I can't imagine it'd have anything like that."
"Really? It's not certain that the entrance on that cliff face is the only one. It's entirely possible that a dungeon somewhere else grew, and as a result opened a new entrance there. You can't rule that out, can you?"
"Normally, wouldn't a dungeon have only one entrance? At least, that's how it is as far as I know."
"As far as Elena knows, you mean. It's not like Elena knows every dungeon in existence. So it wouldn't be strange for one like that to exist. Dungeons are beings that can't be understood by common sense."
At Marina's words, Elena nodded in concession—
"Mm!"
Byune, leading the way, let out a short sound. Following her gaze, Rei and the others found a staircase leading upward.