All I had to do was cut down the strongest monster lurking in the deepest part, and it was over.
I'd defeated werewolves, high-ranking minotaurs, and other beastkin-type monsters on my way here, but they didn't yield particularly valuable materials, and the treasure chests that popped up were underwhelming—middle-grade potions and the like.
Maybe this dungeon just doesn't have much to offer.
Anyway, I stored the defeated Kaiser Minotaurus in my spatial storage, and—
The moment I took this thing down, the presence of monsters in the dungeon thinned dramatically, so I figured everything should be fine now.
And right on cue, Eric and his party showed up.
Well, to be honest, I'd just been killing time fooling around with the Kaiser Minotaurus until they arrived.
"You bastard—how dare you steal my prey!"
"Well, you're a bit late, aren't you? I mowed down a huge number of monsters and you just casually stroll in after all that, and you're the one delivering lines like that?"
"Hand over the Kaiser Minotaurus you stored! I need that to reach Orichalcum!"
"Eric, that's going too far… Gilmas said 'if you're an adventurer, prove your strength in the stampede,' and this guy beat it before us. Just honestly wait for the next chance."
As expected, even Eric's party members
tried to
admonish him.
"Don't be ridiculous! That thing was supposed to be mine! You guys, support me now! He must be completely exhausted by now!"
Could it be—he actually intends to snatch it by force?
The instant Eric pointed his sword at me, a localized blizzard erupted in my direction.
Hidden within that blizzard, a razor-sharp slash came carving toward me.
["Sword Demon Secret Technique — Mist Ice Soaring Slash! I'll kill you and take the magic bag for myself. This is the deepest floor of the dungeon, so nobody's watching. You'll just vanish here, and that'll be that!"]
"No, but like—aren't you going to say something about how you leaked my skills without permission, or called me small fry, or any of that?"
I dodge the slash cutting toward me through the blizzard and ask casually.
"Dieeeee!"
Ah, right. That's his answer.
Snatch Skill.
And then, at maximum output — Intimidation!!
Eric's entire body is crushed as though squeezed by an invisible giant hand.
"Guh— agaahhh— help... m..."
Caught dead-on by my full-power Intimidation, Eric groans as every part of his body is wracked with the pain of being slowly compressed.
"I— I'm not the kind of guy who dies in a place like this— no way— it can't—..."
Sorry, but this is fate.
If he'd just waited for his next chance like his party members told him, none of this would have happened.
Before long, blood sprayed from every part of Eric's body, he went still, and collapsed to the ground.
A pool of blood began spreading outward from beneath him.
Come to think of it, that might be the first time I've actually killed someone with Intimidation.
"Ah— ah— ah— I'm— I'm sorry! Please don't kill me!"
The remaining party members were trembling as they begged me for their lives.
I'm pretty sure my full-power Intimidation was aimed only at Eric, but I guess they caught a bit of the aftershock.
These guys didn't lift a finger back when Eric told them to support him, so I have absolutely no reason to do anything to them.
"If you're not going to oppose me, then I won't do anything to you. Actually, you were trying to stop Eric, weren't you?"
Hearing me say I wouldn't do anything, Eric's party members stopped trembling and spoke to me in a normal tone.
"……Yeah, he changed after he got that skill. At first, I was just thinking 'Why is he of all people getting stronger and stronger?' but watching him grow more and more arrogant, I was actually starting to worry about how dangerous he was becoming."
"Is that so?"
"I'm sorry about all this. I'll report to the guild that Eric was killed by monsters here."
"Sure."
"Oh, and this might be asking too much, but would you mind if I took his body back and gave him a proper burial? He was a founding member of our party, after all."
"That's fine. I won't interfere, so do as you please."
◇◇◇◇◇◇
The skill I took was [Tenfold Growth Rate].
Skills: [Reverse], [Divine Eye], [Sword God], [Fist God], [Spear God], [Blazing Magic], [Frozen Ice Magic], [Clear Storm Magic], [Rock Iron Magic], [Holy Magic], [Dark Magic], [Spacetime Magic], [Thunder God Sword], [Phantom Thief Gentleman], [Ninja Master], [Seeker of Truth], [Monstrous Strength], [Pain Reduction], [Complete Status Abnormality Resistance], [Dark Spirit's Protection], [Super Intuition], [Heaven's Gate], [Abyssal Contractor], [Magic Hand], [Treasure Search], [Seduction], [Eloquence], [Great Luck], [Tenfold Growth Rate]
Rank: Orichalcum
Thank you for reading!