Chapter 58 : I see a pillar of smoke
want to read ahead or want to support you can join my patr-eon and u will be able to read ahead by 15 chapters
patreon.com/Elsapataky
---------
Rias nodded and accepted the advice. Together they all left the guild building and headed out the main gate into the wilds.
They walked in silence, following the directions given to them for a fair while before Rias frowned, "Is it just me, or have the dungeons been getting bigger over time?"
Koneko, the one among them with the most acute senses nodded, "Bigger."
Rias considered that before speculating, "He must be getting stronger. Making all of these dungeons has to be a lot of effort for him letting him unlock more and more power from his Sacred Gear."
They all nodded in agreement to that. It was how Sacred Gears worked. They grew from use and from necessity. One being used so much would definitely make the user grow stronger.
Their conversation ended there as they found the location described in the request. They stood at least a hundred feet away from a cave entrance and watched as large green muscular beings unloaded crates from a wagon and carried them into the cave.
They had no idea what the supplies were but it looked like the monsters were planning to stick around for quite some time if they were still moving supplies into the cave.
Rias considered what their course of action should be. It wouldn't be hard to ambush the orcs outside of the cave, but any noise from fighting would easily be heard by those inside of the cave.
They had no solid reading on the numbers or how big the interior of the cave would be. She didn't expect it would be too many or the request wouldn't have been E rank, their current rank.
Orcs weren't the strongest monsters out there. Each was the size of a grown man and slightly stronger than one. Their true threat came from their intelligence. They carried various weapons, wore armor, and used complex tactics in battle.
Essentially, fighting orcs was like fighting humans and required just as much care. If they just charged in things would likely go south for them pretty quickly.
She considered her options for a while before an idea struck her. She turned to her peerage, "I have a plan. Yuuto, Koneko, I want you two to ambush the orcs at the wagon. Take them out as fast as you can. Akeno, you and I will be going to the cave entrance.
There I want you to put up your strongest barrier at the entrance while I send a lot of fire down the passage. Hopefully it will either burn or choke the orcs within the tunnel either killing or weakening them. Once things seem calm we'll all head into the cave to make sure it's cleared out and see what information we can find."
Akeno giggled perversely at the brutal plan to kill the orcs. She was only slightly disappointed she wouldn't be the one doing the burning. Yuuto and Koneko both nodded and accepted their roles in the plan.
However, Yuuto was starting to wish they had another melee fighter in the group to help out. He enjoyed working with Koneko and they had a good rapport, but more support would be appreciated. Koneko just accepted the plan and got ready by adjusting her cat-themed fighting gloves.
Everyone quickly got to work. Rias and Akeno made their way to the cave entrance. A moment of concentration from Akeno was all it took for her to construct a powerful one-way barrier in front of the cave entrance. Rias, standing next to her, got to work on her own part of the plan the moment the barrier was up.
She wasn't nearly as good as Akeno at elemental magic, but she was even worse at barrier magic. Flames burst to life in her hand just before she cast them through the barrier and into the cave tunnel. She continued to channel her demonic power into the magical flame thrower while Akeno giggled perversely at the roars of agony that quickly came from inside.
Meanwhile, Koneko and Yuuto charged the pair of Orcs at work unloading the crates from the wagon. Koneko leaped from the ground to slam into the orc standing on the back of the cart foot first. The powerful kick sending the monster flying through the air to crash painfully into a tree that, literally, broke its fall.
Yuuto took advantage of Koneko distracting both orcs to dash behind the second while drawing his sword. Two lightning-fast slashes of the blade severed the tendons in the back of the orcs knees forcing it to fall to the ground as it lost control of its limbs. Surprisingly, the orc managed to catch itself on its hands and start to turn to face Yuuto.
The swordsman didn't give the orc the time it needed. Taking up a double handed grip after flipping the sword upside down, he drove it through the orcs back and heart killing it. The sound of breaking bones informed him that Koneko had finished off her own foe.
Together the pair joined Rias and Akeno at the entrance of the cave where Rias was still pouring flames down the tunnel. Yuuto looked up and spoke, "I see a pillar of smoke in the distance. It looks like there's another entrance to the cave."
The others looked at the pillar of thick black smoke in the distance. Rias sighed and ended her spell, there was no point if there was a second entrance for the orcs to escape the smoke from stuff burning in the cave.
She addressed Akeno, "Keep the barrier up a bit longer. We'll let things cool down a little before we enter and we don't want anyone to come out of this entrance."
Even after waiting a solid ten minutes, there was no sign of movement or sounds from within the cave. Rias nodded to Akeno who immediately dropped the barrier. Yuuto and Koneko stepped to the front and led the way into the cave.
It reeked of smoke and burnt meat. It didn't take them long to come across the first dead body, though it was clearly fading away as it was partially transparent. Something that happened to all the monsters over time.
They had noticed that the weaker the monster, the faster they faded with the stronger ones sticking around for a while.
---------
want to read ahead or want to support you can join my patr-eon and u will be able to read ahead by 15 chapters
patreon.com/Elsapataky