The weekend arrived.
As promised, I headed to the Labyrinthos with Senia.
“Eriol, this is my first time, so I might be a bit inexperienced. I’m counting on you.”
“I’m not exactly a veteran either, but I’ll do as much as I can.”
This was Senia’s first official entry into Labyrinthos.
On the other hand, I had already gone in once with Helios and Cain. I had learned a lot from Helios during that time, which helped me adjust quickly.
“First, let’s pick a suitable request.”
“Yes, understood.”
We checked the bulletin board at the management office near the entrance of Labyrinthos.
The board was covered with sheets listing various requests.
“Eriol, I don’t think we need to start with something too easy just because it’s my first time. Just pick one that suits your level.”
“Got it.”
The request I chose was to hunt down a bipedal monster called a “bugbear” and retrieve the ornaments they wore.
“Why would someone want a monster’s ornament?”
“Some monsters have their own distinct cultures. These are probably ritual items imbued with some kind of spell.”
“Ah, I see. So it’s for research.”
We wrote down our license numbers on the request form.
As soon as we did, the form began to flash, signaling that no one else could now take on the same request.
“Alright then, let’s go.”
“Yes!”
And with that, we entered Labyrinthos.
Labyrinthos is divided into surface and deep zones depending on depth, but it also has many distinct regions.
Once you pass through the entrance disguised as a limestone cave, you reach a grassland zone.
This area is inhabited by relatively weak monsters, and from there, one can move into forest, mountain, and volcanic zones.
The bugbears we were hunting today were monsters that lived in the forest zone.
“Senia, the forest zone’s just ahead. Let’s take a break.”
“Okay.”
Before entering the forest, Senia and I decided to rest.
We had already fought a few monsters while passing through the grasslands.
“Looks like the two of us can handle most monsters just fine.”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
Senia would move quickly to confuse the monsters, and I would take advantage of that opening to fire off flame magic.
With just that strategy, we could safely defeat most low-tier monsters.
“But hey, Senia.”
“Yes?”
“You learned swordsmanship from the Artian family, right? Can’t you use that here?”
“Academy students aren’t allowed to carry weapons without permission.”
As she spoke, Senia glanced at her waist.
“Only ‘utility tools’ like this dagger are allowed.”
“So you can’t really use swordsmanship with a dagger?”
“It’s not like wielding a longsword. I can’t use techniques the same way. Though Cain seemed able to perform some pretty sharp dagger work with just this.”
I’d seen that before too.
As expected of someone from the Trigger family, a renowned house of assassins.
“Senia, if you and Cain fought, who do you think would win?”
“If we both had longswords, I’d have the upper hand. But with daggers, Cain’s better. Same if we’re unarmed.”
“Even unarmed?”
“Yes. I think he’s been trained to kill with his bare hands.”
“……”
That was a little chilling.
“Cain also seems better than me at using wind-elemental magic to enhance speed.”
“Really?”
“Yes. His spiritual origin is ‘Acceleration,’ so I think he’s more suited for that.”
“Hm…”
Now that I think of it, Senia’s spiritual origin was ‘Enhancement.’
But since she could only use elemental magic right now, she wasn’t really able to tap into her true affinity.
I wondered—what would happen if Senia wielded a proper weapon and used swordsmanship along with enhancement magic?
Senia has real potential.
She’s already quite capable, but she’ll grow even stronger.
Just in a different direction from me.
“Senia, there don’t seem to be any monsters around here, so I was thinking we could get started now.”
“Oh, right here?”
This was a secluded area where hardly anyone passed by.
Which meant we could proceed without worrying about prying eyes.
“……”
I took something out of my bag.
It was the drake fang Senia had given me before.
“So you can make a dragon fang soldier without a dragon fang.”
“Yeah. Dragon fangs make higher-quality soldiers, but drake fangs work too.”
Dragon fang soldiers—called “Yongabyeong” in old records—were undead summoned using dragons fangs as catalysts.
I dropped the fang to the ground.
“Summon Dead.”
Thud!
Bones erupted from the fang, quickly forming into a humanoid skeleton soldier.
The baleful energy amplified through the fang had summoned the skeleton of a nameless hero.
This probably ties into Spatiotemporal summoning magic. Some of the principles must overlap.
The summoned skeleton knelt before us, lowering itself in a gesture of submission.
Senia let out a gasp of awe.
“Amazing! So this is a drake fang soldier!”
“Yeah. Looks like it’s the same one I summoned during the test run.”
Judging by the size and shape of the skeleton, it appeared identical to the one I had summoned back in the dorm.
Unless something unusual happened, the same soldier seemed to appear each time.
“It looks like a human skeleton, but probably a very tall warrior. The bone structure is quite sturdy too.”
“Yeah?”
“Yes. I can more or less picture what their physique must’ve been like in life.”
Now that she mentioned it, the bones were noticeably thicker than those of a typical human.
“So this soldier moves based on skeletal memory from when they were alive, right?”
“Yeah. It probably wasn’t just any old warrior—this one’s likely quite strong.”
I decided to give it a test command.
I formed a simple command spell in my head and infused it with baleful energy to control the soldier.
“Ah…!”
Whoosh!
The fang soldier swung its massive fist.
The sound of it cutting through the air rang sharply in my ears.
“That was an incredible punch. They really must’ve been a powerful warrior.”
“Yeah?”
“Yes, I’d like to see how it uses weapons too.”
Come to think of it, the dragon fang soldier wasn’t carrying any weapons.
In the novel, the dragon fang soldiers held swords or shields, but that didn’t seem to be the case in reality.
“Anyway, it feels reliable. With this around, I think I’d feel safe even in a dungeon.”
It seemed like Senia had taken a liking to the dragon fang soldier.
Her eyes sparkled as she continued to observe it closely.
“Eriol, does this dragon fang soldier have a name or anything?”
“A name?”
“It’s not some disposable skeleton we’re going to toss after a short use. Since it seems like it’ll be with us for a while… wouldn’t it be good to give it a name?”
“Is that so?”
It hadn’t occurred to me at all.
“It’s not like it’s a pet or something—do we really need to name it?”
“St-Still…”
“Ah, well, maybe we do need names to tell them apart. We might end up with more dragon fang soldier later.”
We could probably just call them dragon fang soldier No. 1, No. 2, and so on… but Senia seemed to be hoping for a proper name.
“Then why don’t you name it?”
“M-Me? But since you summoned it, I think it’d be better if you named it yourself, Eriol.”
“Hmm… I’ve never done something like this before.”
Whether animals or objects, I couldn’t recall ever naming anything.
What should I even do in a situation like this?
Let’s see…
Then, a good idea popped into my head.
A name that even Senia would approve of came to mind.
“Senia, how about Deathvice?”
“Huh, wh-what?!”
Senia’s eyes widened at my words.
“If it’s Deathvice…”
“Yeah, it’s the dragon fang soldier the protagonist commands in The Youngest Son of a Political Powerhouse.”
The dragon fang soldier appears in The Youngest Son of a Political Powerhouse series, one of my favorite novels.
It’s a mute undead, but its loyalty to the protagonist makes it a moving character.
And its name was Deathvice.
“You like that novel too, don’t you?”
“Ah, yes…”
When we first met at the dock, Senia had been sneakily peeking at the new volume I was reading.
She’s also a devoted fan of The Youngest Son of a Political Powerhouse, so she’d probably appreciate the name Deathvice.
“Don’t you think it works? Deathvice was a cool dragon fang soldier, and I think it’s the perfect name.”
“Well… it does feel a bit embarrassing, using a name from a novel.”
“Really? Then should we pick something else?”
“N-No, if you like it, Eriol… you can just call it Deathvice.”
“If you don’t like it, I’ll just call it dragon fang soldier No. 1.”
“N-No! Just call it Deathvice!”
In the end, we decided to name it Deathvice.
“Alright, Deathvice. Then let’s head out for some hunting.”
“…….”
Deathvice, the dragon fang soldier, made no reply.
But the moment I gave it a command through the spell, it immediately started walking ahead toward the forested area.
“It really is reassuring.”
“Right? Every party needs a tank warrior to stand at the front.”
“Hehe. True.”
A massive warrior who clashes head-on with enemies at the front lines—
It’s a standard member in most protagonist parties in adventure novels.
With a warrior tanking in front, the mage in the rear can operate much more freely.
“By now, we should be seeing bugbears showing up…”
“Ah, Eriol. Over there.”
When I followed Senia’s pointing finger, I saw monsters creeping through the forest.
Large, bear-like hairy beasts… They were bugbears.
“Looks like there are four—no, five of them.”
“Bugbears don’t usually form large packs of ten or more. These are probably all the ones in the area.”
If they had been goblins or kobolds, I’d have to worry about more of them popping up from behind, but with bugbears, we just had to focus on the ones ahead.
“Alright then, let’s have the dragon fang soldier—no, Deathvice—take the lead and fight.”
“Yes, let’s do that.”
“While Deathvice holds off the bugbears, we can blast them with attack spells.”
As Deathvice stepped forward, the bugbears began to show signs of wariness.
Bugbears are carnivorous monsters that even eat people, but they probably hadn’t ever seen a walking human skeleton before.
“Grarrr…”
“Grahhh…!”
Still, it looked like they had decided to smash the skeleton in front of them.
With growls, they began to charge at Deathvice.
“Now’s our chance!”
“Right!”
Senia and I prepared to cast our offensive spells.
We’d need to aim carefully using targeted spells so we wouldn’t accidentally hit Deathvice.
“Huh?”
“Ah?!”
But then, something unexpected happened.
“Grrk?!”
Crack!
Deathvice’s swinging fist… smashed the head of the leading bugbear into pieces.
And that wasn’t all. It reached for the next closest bugbear and snapped its neck, then tore an arm off the next one in a single motion.
“Uh…”
“This is…”
We forgot all about casting magic and just stood there, staring blankly.
Before we knew it, Deathvice had wiped out all five bugbears in the blink of an eye.
“Why is it so strong?”
The Dragon Fang Soldier I had summoned… turned out to be far stronger than I had expected.
TL : Lol, someone said to forget the context (except they are man and woman in a cave) and only read the first dialogue of the chapter.
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