Faced with the overwhelming rain of arrows, Isagi naturally and skillfully raised his greatshield once again.
"[Heavy]!"
Lefiya was also immediately obedient, hiding behind the young man like a little rabbit. Seeing this, Filvis was momentarily stunned, but subsequently used her defensive magic anyway.
The elf maiden was truly too embarrassed to go over and squeeze in with them!
"[Dio Grail]."
Under the dual isolation of magic and physics, the waterfall-like rain of arrows did not harm the trio in the slightest. However, the archers behind that city wall seemed to come in wave after wave, showing absolutely no intention of stopping.
It made Isagi want to retort: Is this a damn bow and arrow or a machine gun?!
Continuing like this was obviously not a solution.
"What do we do now?"
Filvis asked Isagi almost subconsciously. Because along the way, the young man had clearly acted as the leader, and he also appeared to be an old hand at dealing with those strange, special monsters.
"Should Lefiya use magic..."
"Tried it. Didn't work."
"Eh?!"
Filvis's own offensive magic didn't have that much destructive power—generally speaking, the power of magic was directly related to the length of the chant.
So she thought:
Could we have Lefiya directly use [Fusillade Firebolt] or something to just blast the city wall open?
However, Isagi and the others had already tried this method before.
The two were obviously not here at this Goblin Kingdom · Border Fortress for the first time; they had been here when clearing the map previously, but failed to break through.
The reason lay in the fact that...
The walls were too thick. Even Lefiya's magic couldn't completely destroy them.
And if they chose to cast multiple times and fight a war of attrition—
"The city wall is also part of the Dungeon, so it will regenerate."
"..."
The young man's words left Filvis momentarily speechless, but thinking about it carefully, that was indeed the case! The terrain of the Dungeon can be destroyed, but it will also recover over time; this is common knowledge for adventurers!!
But the problem is, does such a massive fortress also count as "part" of the Dungeon?!
It really does.
Previously, after Isagi had Lefiya try to bombard the wall with magic, the result was that before the second spell could even finish chanting, the scorched crater left on the surface had already been repaired.
Tsk tsk tsk, indestructible scenery, huh?
A little clever thought from the Dungeon.
So they could only use another method. Isagi's original plan was to use Ryuu Lion's current third-favorite item, the "Oil Pot."
It could be considered inspiration from his Familia senior, realizing that as an adventurer, there are actually many "nifty little gadgets" one can use.
Throw the Oil Pot into the holes in the wall, and then use the Shinobi Prosthetic to inject fire with the Flame Vent.
This move, "Char-grilled Smoked Goblin," shouldn't be too bad.
However, Isagi now had another, better method, which was—
"Trouble you to keep up the defense, Miss Filvis."
"Okay!"
The elf maiden's magic shield remained motionless at this moment. However, she didn't understand what the young man, who was walking forward with his shield raised, was actually going to do.
And subsequently.
It turned into her completely not understanding what the young man had done!
Mist suddenly appeared. In the distance, Isagi's figure suddenly transformed into the giant Two-Headed Lizard from before. First, he smashed fiercely forward with his large skull, and simultaneously opened his huge mouth towards the city wall, spewing out a massive amount of scarlet pus.
Sizzle sizzle sizzle sizzle—
The sound of arrows being corroded and dissolved by the pus was incomparably ear-piercing. Not only that, but a large amount of the scarlet liquid flowed into the interior of the holes in the wall.
Then.
There was no more sound.
"Done."
The mist dissipated again. The figure of the Two-Headed Lizard vanished, changing back into Isagi's appearance. The whole process took only a few seconds, yet it left both Lefiya and Filvis dumbfounded.
"So amazing!"
It was the first time Lefiya had witnessed Isagi's Spirit ability. She thought that the strike just now was probably even stronger than her own attack magic, right?!
As expected.
Mr. Isagi becomes strong too fast. I must work even harder!!
As for Filvis.
Perhaps because there were too many "strange things" of various kinds, she instead emptied her mind and decided not to think about this matter anymore.
Moreover, thinking calmly, this was probably the boy's Skill. Since that was the case, naturally one shouldn't pry into others' intelligence; this is a rule between adventurers... Mm, calm down, calm down...
Like hell I can calm down!
Filvis now only felt the illusion that she had arrived in some "otherworld," just like those fairy tales or stories compiled by bards.
"Let's go."
Taking advantage of the moment while the city wall had completely ceased fire.
Isagi quickly brought the two elf maidens to the front of the main gate of this Goblin Kingdom · Border Fortress.
He gave it a push.
Very good, it can be opened. The thing Isagi worried about most did not happen.
The stone door was about two meters high. For Goblins, it should be considered very wide, but in Isagi's view, it was just okay.
After pushing it open.
Heavy darkness instantly poured out from the inside, accompanied by the rotting scent of many dust-laden years.
There was absolutely no illumination existing inside.
So Lefiya quickly fished out a portable lamp commonly used by adventurers from her large carry-on bag. It was driven by Magic Stones as an energy source and could be considered the city's most common "Magic Stone Tech" product.
Click.
Pure white light instantly dispelled the darkness, illuminating the similarly not-so-wide passage before them.
"Let's go."
"Mn!"
Isagi took the front, Lefiya in the middle, and Filvis brought up the rear.
The three quickly walked inside.
The passage was straight, and both sides were walls completely piled up with masonry, even appearing somewhat cramped.
The length was alright, about two or three meters. However, just before reaching the exit, Isagi suddenly stopped his steps because he discovered very short secret doors in the walls on both sides.
These doors were less than a meter in height, very narrow and small, clearly to the extent that only Goblins could squeeze in.
Those archers just now probably used these passages to enter the inside of the wall?
If that's the case.
Isagi very carefully had the two girls stop first, then used the Shinobi Prosthetic's Flame Vent to spray fire inside.
"!@￥＃＃@!!!"
Screams instantly came from within the scorching flames.
Motherfucker.
Sure enough, Goblins wanting to ambush were hiding behind this stuff just now.
Isagi knew it, so he simply burned them a while longer. Only after there was no more movement inside did he retract the Shinobi Prosthetic and continue to beckon the two elf maidens forward.
The light spread out.
At the end of the passage, however, there were roadblocks facing inward, inlaid with iron spikes and sharp bone spears and long horns.
Following that was a floor covered in corpses. There were Goblins, and also Kobolds full of filthy fur. It looked like they had been slaughtering each other earlier.
The city wall seemed to have become the Goblins' final position.
In front of the roadblocks, a thick layer was composed entirely of the piled-up corpses of Kobolds. And on one side of the city gate passage, Isagi also saw the kind of Goblin Glimmer Knight they had seen on the 2nd Floor.
It was already dead, yet it still stood in the passage.
The pale armor it wore was covered in dark bloodstains, and the greatsword in its hands had long since been snapped.
Tsk tsk tsk.
And seeing such a scene before her eyes, the first thing Lefiya thought of was:
Do these monster bodies still have Magic Stones?!
They really do!
When the elf maiden skillfully dug out a massive Magic Stone from the chest of that standing Glimmer Knight, she was visibly happy beyond belief!!
There are so many dead monsters in front of us.
A bumper harvest! Dig in, dig in!!
After quite a bustle, where even Isagi and Filvis began to help out, it took them quite some time to clear the entire city gate area, and they even obtained quite a few drop items.
The only pity was that the Glimmer Knight did not drop its greatsword or other equipment.
And it was only after this.
That Isagi began to observe the situation inside.
The trio had arrived at a great hall that seemed to have been modified from a cavern chamber. The ceiling, still four or five meters high, hung high directly above, only lacking the tiny fluorescence used for light, making this place appear exceptionally dark.
And just not far ahead.
A towering stone statue—at least by Goblin standards, standing over three meters tall—stood here. It seemed to be carved from some special ore, its surface presenting a weathered pale color, just like limestone.
This was the Goblins' King.
atop a base over a meter high, holding a spear, clad in armor, and wearing a crown that looked like spikes, the Goblin stood here.
And on its base, it was described as follows:
[The King brought the Pale to replace the Darkness. Though it is still not Light, it is enough to allow the stagnant Kingdom to march forward.]
[Honor to the greatest Pale King.]
"Goblins can speak the Common Tongue?"
Lefiya spoke in a hushed voice. In response to this, Filvis was actually not that surprised, because—
The stone statue had already been destroyed.
Its body was covered in all sorts of filth, as well as claw marks and teeth impressions. Many edges also showed signs of being missing, and even half of its head was gone.
Isagi's attention did not stay on it for too long, because behind the stone statue, what appeared before the trio's eyes was an incomparably massive pit.
Isagi had once wondered what it looked like inside this fortress, but he never expected it to be like this.
The circular pit was like the starting path from the Dungeon entrance to the 1st Floor, only it looked rougher and more irregular. It extended continuously downward, plunging straight into the darkness.
Moreover, there were no stairs or the like on the edges.
Only occasionally.
One could see faint blue fluorescence existing within, illuminating the crisscrossing, rotten wooden planks. It was like very narrow trestle roads built over the void, layer upon layer, connected by ladders, similarly extending downward.
Seeing this scene, Isagi suddenly had a feeling of coming home.
Ah.
Truly such a classic "Box Garden design"...
...
___
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