Raising the Lowest-Ranked Adventurer, the Heroic Girl – Wasn’t I Just a Substitute Old Man?

Raising the Lowest-Ranked Adventurer, the Heroic Girl – Wasn’t I Just a Substitute Old Man?

Chapter 19   Failure in the Dungeon

“Constant Ambushes! What’s happening!?”

“There’s no sign of them stopping at all!”

However, even though we pressed forward, things didn’t go smoothly.

This grassland may have only sparse and unreliable vegetation for humans to hide, but it’s more than enough for the “rabbits” to conceal themselves.

Unlike the first encounter, our team members couldn’t spot the enemies hiding in the grass, and they fell victim to surprise attacks.

However, these surprise attacks shouldn’t be happening one after another like this. Normally, they should occur at most once every few minutes. But in the current situation, it’s happening every few seconds.

“Why is this happening?”

“Well, it’s probably because of the magic earlier.”

There must be a reason for this situation.

It’s due to the actions taken by Abe a little while ago.

Other than the initial discovery, we had only encountered the enemies through surprise attacks. So, in order to detect their positions in advance, I used a technique that scattered my magic around to sense anything that came into contact with it.

However, that technique isn’t as simple as it sounds.

The monsters eat anything, but they prioritize consuming things with high levels of magical energy. In other words, they are seeking out magic. Now, here’s the problem.

What do you think will happen if the monsters sense an enormous, directionless amount of magical energy?

The answer is this.

Even if they sense immense magical energy, as long as it exhibits hostility, aggression, or wariness, the monsters wouldn’t approach. They clearly perceive the danger.

However, if it’s just a release of magical energy without any directed intentions, it’s a different story.

Currently, the rabbits that sensed such magical energy are converging from various places to this location.

“Hey, you! Instead of just watching, lend a hand!”

“I distinctly said I’m mostly here to observe, didn’t I? Or is it that you can’t handle this level of situation?”

“Ugh, don’t underestimate us! We can handle this on our own!”

“I see. Then do your best.”

It’s not like they’re endlessly overwhelming us, and at this rate, it should be over in another five minutes.

There’s no risk of death, so I’ll let them work hard and see it as a valuable experience.

“Phew… Finally, it’s over…”

“Heh… Yeah…”

It ended earlier than expected, but it must have been their first experience being surrounded by such a large number of enemies. Asada is leaning on her weapon after it’s all done, and Miyano seems slightly out of breath.

With Miyano’s exceptional abilities at the special level, she should be able to handle this with ease, not even breaking a sweat. However, showing signs of exhaustion like this indicates either a lack of mastery over her powers or a lack of combat experience, causing her to exert more effort than necessary.

Well, with experience, she’ll eventually overcome that.

“Why did this happen?”

“You mean just now? It’s because of the magic you scattered, as I mentioned earlier.”

As I observe the fatigued frontline duo, Abe distorts his expression and asks.

While the fatigue from using magic shouldn’t affect us in the backline as much as the frontline, the fact that she keeps questioning without taking a break indicates that she’s really concerned about the phenomenon earlier. Well, I did say something like “It’s your fault” along the way, so it’s natural for her to be worried.

“Monsters eat meat and vegetables, but they prefer things with high magical content. In other words, it can be assumed that they consume magic. When such a large amount of magic is scattered, they sense the reaction and come towards it.”

“So… is it my fault?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

As I nod, Abe realizes that it was her own fault for attracting the horde of monsters, and she displays the most obvious and poignant expression of regret and sadness so far.

It’s not like I don’t feel guilty about making a high school girl look like this, but it’s necessary.

All of them have talents that differ from mine. That’s why someone has to say it.

“So be careful. It’s important to assess the situation around you, like I did earlier, and that technique is useful. But inexperienced skills can put not only yourself but also your comrades in danger.”

“…Yes.”

“Once you step out of the dungeon, there’s a place like school where you can hone your abilities. Train there and when you feel confident enough to use them in real combat, go ahead. The technique itself is still useful.”

“…Understood.”

“And by the way, I can only use magic related to water and earth, but you can control fire, right?”

Each mage has limitations on the magic they can use.

To be more precise, it’s not that there are limitations on magic itself, but rather differences in the manifestation of magic.

In my case, it’s solid and liquid… individual and fluid forms, while for Abe, it manifests as combustion, resulting in flames.

Although it’s possible to use magic with properties outside of these limitations, it consumes an incredible amount of energy and its effectiveness decreases, so I don’t use them often. If forced, it could even lead to a backfire.

“Then, instead of using the same approach as me, I think it would be better to try using magic to identify the enemy’s body temperature. Think about it carefully and give it a try.”

“…I’ll give it a try.”

I watched Abe firmly nod in response to my words, then patted his shoulder and proceeded towards Miyano and the others.

“Well then, let’s start heading back soon.”

“Yeah.”

“I want to go home quickly.”

After that, we resumed our progress, but the current time was a little past noon. We had planned to advance until noon and then return. If we were only exploring the dungeon, we would have plenty of time, but considering the journey back, it wouldn’t be possible to continue progressing until evening.

So, we decided to return for today…

“Hey, umm, which way did we come from?”

“Huh?”

Kitahara’s question, as she looked around anxiously, drew the attention of the team members. They turned their gaze towards Kitahara and then scanned the surroundings.

“Well… that way, right? Because we walked from that direction.”

“But we had a battle along the way, right? Think back to that intense fight. After that, were you really able to continue straight ahead?”

“Well, that’s…”

My words made Miyano hesitate, and it seemed that it wasn’t just her but all the team members were in the same situation, unable to say anything.

“This open-type dungeon makes it difficult to grasp the terrain. In cave-like or building-like dungeons, you can manage with memorizing the route, but if there are no clear paths, it’s not easy to find your way back. Unless you have an exceptional sense of direction or can count your steps accurately. Didn’t you learn this in class?”

“…I learned it, but it didn’t stick with me.”

“I figured. School wouldn’t mean anything if they didn’t teach you that.”

Even I was taught, despite it being cramming. There’s no way a school that assigns dungeon exploration as a summer vacation assignment wouldn’t teach it.

The fact that I told them not to rely on me for information this time might have been a factor, but maybe they just didn’t consider the open-type dungeons since the previous one was cave-like.

“In open-type dungeons like this, you leave markers along the way, like Hansel and Gretel. However, no magical items or food with concentrated mana should be used. They’ll get eaten by monsters.”

To monsters, both food and mana sources are simply good bait.

“This time, I scattered some transmitters, so we’ll follow their signals.”

“You could also drive stakes into the ground or create landmarks with magic, but I think this method is the safest, albeit costly.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. That’s why we have instructors. Besides, if we had taken more time, we could have found our way out eventually.”

“The rabbits here may look like alien monstrosities, but they are edible. This dungeon has a river, so even if we get stranded, we should be able to survive for a few days by eating them.”

“Well then, good job, everyone. Shall we meet here again at the same time tomorrow?”

“Yes…”

After escaping from the dungeon and having a brief reflection session, Miyano, the team leader, seemed somewhat down.

I know the reason. It’s because of our poor performance in conquering the dungeon today.

Honestly, if they had gathered information beforehand, they could have progressed more smoothly. One could argue that the difficulties we faced this time were my fault.

However, I believe it’s better for them to struggle at the beginning than to get too confident from early successes. After all, dungeons are wretched places where no amount of lives is ever enough. We can’t afford to be complacent.

Honestly, as someone who will be separated from them in three months, I don’t necessarily have to think so much about their well-being. Whether they get injured or die after we part ways doesn’t concern me.

But still… I didn’t want anyone to die.

I value myself the most. I don’t want to die or get hurt.

Because I’m weak, I resort to underhanded tactics and won’t hesitate to run away. I can’t save anyone. I can only focus on surviving on my own.

But if possible, I don’t want anyone to die. The same goes for these kids.

“It’s normal to make mistakes at first. Besides, kids can be a hassle for adults. Don’t worry about it.”

“Um, Mr. Igami!”

“Hm?”

“Thank you for everything starting from tomorrow!”

“Yeah. I’ll make sure to teach you everything I can during these three months so that none of you will die.”

I’ll teach you everything I can over these three months to ensure that you all stay safe and don’t end up getting hurt or worse.