TBAGM Vol. 2 Chapter 3 Part 6

“This is our guild.”

Just like Nick, Elna had brought her three recruits back to the guild.

The alchemists working under her were two women and one man. Naturally, all three were older than she was.

“Welcome back, Elna.”

“I’m home, Rena. Are you done with the transfer procedures?”

“Yes. Thanks to you, the transfer is finally wrapped up.”

When they entered the guild, Rena was already waiting for them.

She had been busy these past few days handling all the transition work with the Adventurers’ Association, but it seemed that ended today.

Rena turned her gaze to the three people standing behind Elna.

“Are these the newcomers Mr. Orgus gathered?”

“Yeah. Here are the documents.”

Elna handed Rena the file she had received from Orgus.

Elna herself had read through it earlier, but beyond their names and ages, she had not understood much.

“As expected of Mr. Orgus. The balance is excellent.”

Having worked as an employee of the Adventurers’ Association, Rena could understand exactly what the appraisal results meant.

Besides her potion-making, Rena also possessed a talent for management. She had an exceptionally rare gift—an Intelligence limit of A.

Asking ten-year-old Elna to manage a guild alone would have been impossible. Rena had been hired to act as Elna’s right hand and support this guild.

“Introductions. I’m Elna. Favorite thing: mana control. Race: dark elf.”

Without delay, Elna began introducing herself to the three.

Following her lead, they each began to introduce themselves in turn.

“I am Til. My specialty is crafting magitools.”

.

[Name]	Til (18)
[Skill]	Silver Specialization D/B
[Attributes]	Magitool Crafting D/A  Erudition D/B  Dexterity D/B

.

“M-My name is Lili. My, um, specialty would be… miscellaneous tasks, I suppose?”

.

[Name]	Lili (24)
[Skill]	Development Revolution E/A
[Attributes]	Support C/B  Development E/A  Design E/C

.

“I’m Renz. My specialty is potion-making. I’m an elf.”

.

[Name]	Renz (18)
[Skill]	Blessing of the Elves D/A
[Attributes]	Potion Crafting D/B  Grit D/A  Absorption E/A

.

Til had been chosen to take charge of the magitool division,

Renz to lead the potion division,

and Lili to head the development division that would support both sides. That was the reason Orgus had assembled these three.

Elna shifted her gaze to Renz, the only man among them, and asked in a heavy tone:

“Renz. You have something you want to say to me?”

She understood full well just how superior elves generally felt toward dark elves.

For an elf like Renz to work under a dark elf like her, he was bound to have some sort of feelings about it. That was what Elna assumed.

He slowly nodded in response to her question.

“Yes. Under normal circumstances, the idea of an elf working under a dark elf would be utterly unacceptable.”

“Renz, that’s incredibly rude to say to your guildmaster—”

Rena immediately bristled at his attitude and tried to interject.

However, Elna quickly raised a hand to stop her.

“It’s fine. Renz, say what you’re thinking.”

“To be honest, I came here to see whether your ability is genuine, Ms. Elna. I can’t believe a dark elf skipped grades—that you were fast-tracked like that.”

Renz held Elna’s gaze and enunciated every word clearly.

Normally, such a statement would be treated as an act of outright insult toward the guildmaster and punished accordingly.

He spoke knowing that perfectly well.

“On my own, I could never have grown.”

“Thanks to the guildmaster they call Lord Lloyd?”

“Yes. Lord Lloyd draws out our sleeping power.”

Elna spoke with a delighted smile.

Seeing that expression, the three of them found themselves unable to reply. The way she spoke made it sound as if she had entrusted everything to him, as if he were her true parent.

“I’ll show you the power Lord Lloyd found in me.”

And so Elna and her team immediately set about their alchemy work.

“Twinwing Alchemists”—this was the first step toward making their name echo across the world.

†

“It’ll be a little nerve-wracking at first, but Rii and Mii will take the front line. I’ll hold the middle. Ellis will stay in the rear.”

The four members of the raid team immediately began their assault on the Volcano Dungeon.

The current state of affairs was this: in the forest dungeon, the twenty-second floor was “Fairy Garden,” and the twenty-first floor was “Incarnation of the Sun.”

In the Volcano Dungeon, the twenty-first floor was “Incarnation of the Sun.” Other guilds were still stuck around the fifteenth floor.

The bosses that appeared every ten floors revived almost immediately even if they were killed once. Every guild had to face the boss fights no matter what.

When it came to the twentieth-floor boss battle, even A-rank adventurers struggled. Only guilds ranked near the top could press onward.

Right now, the four of them were on the third floor of the Volcano Dungeon. On the first and second floors, they hadn’t even encountered any monsters, and it had practically felt like a picnic.

(How much these two can actually be used is the real question.)

Nero watched the two of them, who looked like they were having the time of their lives on their first adventure, and thought the same.

“Ellis. Just in case, if it gets dangerous, I want you to be prepared to support us.”

“It’ll be fine. Those two were scouted by Lord Lloyd, weren’t they?”

“Still, they’re children. Something could happen.”

While keeping an eye on the two charging deeper into the cave, Nero spoke to Ellis, who had returned to her adult size.

Neither Nero nor Ellis had seen the girls’ aptitude yet, so they didn’t know how strong they actually were.

“A-A monster…”

“We can fight it!”

A gigantic monster appeared in front of the two who were advancing ahead.

It was a golem. Since this was only the third floor, it had virtually no lethality, but for the third floor it boasted considerable durability. It was, in essence, a moving wall.

“Mii! Start by trying an attack yourself.”

“Leave it to meee!”

Following Nero’s command, Mii raised the massive axe she had been carrying on her back.

The axe looked about as tall as she was.

(How is she supposed to swing something that huge?)

The size of the axe she held was absurd. It wasn’t something a child should be carrying around.

“Here I gooo!”

Perhaps she was excited about her first monster, because Mii let out a war cry and charged the golem.

Without activating 【Twin Stars】, her current stats were all E. Even if it was a golem from the upper floors, she was still outmatched in raw ability.

“Gogogogogo.”

“Guh!”

Mii swung the axe up high, ready to bring it down, but before she could, the golem’s fist slammed into her stomach.

The impact sent her tumbling across the ground.

“Ar-Are you okay!?”

Rii sprinted to Mii’s side at once, propping her up with a worried look.

It was an attack from a golem with almost no killing power. She probably hadn’t been injured, just rattled by the shock. Mii brushed off the dust and stood back up.

(This is really bad…)

(Even I, a mage, could move faster than that…)

Nero and Ellis fell into grim contemplation.

To them, Mii’s movements looked like slow motion.

“What are we going to do? If those two stay on the front line, someone’s going to get hurt sooner or later.”

“I know that. But there has to be something… something.”

“Maybe, but…”

As if she couldn’t hold it in anymore, Ellis pressed the point.

But Nero shook his head.

(Mr. Lloyd put them on the raid team. There has to be something… He must’ve said something that could serve as a hint.)

Nero raked through his memory as though replaying Mr. Lloyd’s words verbatim.

He absolutely didn’t want to abandon them. Just as Mr. Lloyd had recognized Nero’s talent, Nero wanted to command in a way that drew out their strengths.

Then one line from Mr. Lloyd flashed through his mind.

“Have them act together.”

Nero jolted and immediately barked out an order.

“You two! Use what Mr. Lloyd taught you, and attack together!”

“Hey—are you serious!? Sending out two Gladiators at once? They’ll crash into each other!”

Ellis’s eyes widened at Nero’s command.

One monster to one Gladiator. That was an iron rule among adventurers.

If two attacked at the same time, it was only possible with flawless coordination, the kind that made them seem to understand each other without speaking.

“It’s fine. I think this is what Mr. Lloyd wanted.”

Something that overturned adventurers’ common sense was about to unfold.

“Mii! Let’s do it!”

“Rii! I know!”

Just as Nero ordered, the two raised their axes.

Rii’s axe, unlike Mii’s thick, heavy-looking one, was incredibly sharp, and so slender it almost looked worryingly thin.

Rii held her axe in her left hand, Mii held hers in her right, and with their free hands, the two of them clasped each other tightly.

““…Huh?””

Even Nero and the others couldn’t hide their surprise at the sight.

Attacking in unison was an exceedingly difficult technique; something an E-rank adventurer simply couldn’t manage. You’d normally need at least A-rank skill from both parties.

And if they were holding hands, even more of their movement would be restricted. In practice, it should have made proper motion impossible.

(I should be warning them… so why is it, then… Why does this feel so suffocating?)

Nero began to sense 【Twin Stars】’s effect through his skin.

An aura of some kind had started to pour off the two of them, something he hadn’t felt at all before.

Ellis seemed to be noticing as well; she lifted one corner of her mouth slightly and watched the pair.

“Rii! Get close!”

“Got it!”

At Mii’s shout, Rii kicked off the ground hard.

Mii, as if being yanked along by Rii’s arm, sprinted after her a beat late.

““…What!?””

Nero and the others, watching the twins, sucked in a breath.

They had closed a distance of several dozen meters to the golem in an instant.

That speed wasn’t E-rank.

At least for Rii, it might even have been B-rank.

In the blink of an eye she reached the golem, drove her axe into its leg, and although her low strength made the blow light, the speed behind the sharp edge bit into the joint just right, throwing the golem off balance.

“Mii! I’m counting on you!”

“Okaaay, leave it to meeee!”

At Rii’s call, Mii brought her massive axe down toward the golem.

The golem couldn’t react to Rii’s unnatural speed, and it ended up taking Mii’s strike as well.

“Huh!?”

Nero blurted out a baffled cry at the spectacle.

Everything about Mii’s swing was different from before.

Her axe came down with such weight that, for a moment, the thought crossed his mind that she might be a completely different person.

“——!!”

The golem was crushed by Mii before it even had the chance to let out a death scream.

The sheer weight behind that strike was absolutely not something that could be dismissed as “E-rank.”

Nor was it the kind of power someone could unleash while holding another person’s hand.

“We did it!”

“First kill, yes it is!”

The two of them slung their axes back over their shoulders and hopped up and down in front of the golem, which had turned into a magic stone, openly celebrating.

They were probably thrilled over their first monster subjugation.

Watching that abnormal spectacle, Ellis and Nero could do nothing but let out awed murmurs.

“Th-This is incredible…”

“Yeah. I never imagined we’d see Gladiators like this. If this is what we’re working with, I can finally focus on being a Guardian.”

From their movements alone, the two of them understood.

Their Inherent Trait was effectively one shared between them. When the two were in contact, they could draw out power several times greater.

Rii specialized in speed. Mii specialized in offense. Nero and Ellis could tell just by watching.

In truth, Nero had felt uneasy about being in a situation where it was just him and Ellis.

He knew exactly how formidable the final boss was.

Even the First Unit, which had been put through relentless training by Mr. Lloyd, had endured countless desperate battles.

(This means we can seriously aim for a complete clear.)

Satisfied with the newcomers’ strength, Nero finally brought their ultimate objective—the dungeon’s complete clear—into view.