Background: Fran is currently fighting a Devil. Will the Devil overwhelm Fran? Or will Fran and her trusty sword be able to secure victory? Let’s find out!

Fran slowly became less talkative as well. She was likely focusing all her attention on the battle.

Is now a good time to run away?

But we didn’t make much progress.

I was sure that we completed the objective of stopping the goblins from heading towards the city by giving them h.e.l.l in their own den.

Well, this was originally a C or D rank a.s.signment.

All that was left was this Devil. If we took care of him, then it’d be the same as taking control of this Dungeon.

But I wanted to tire out that b.a.s.t.a.r.d a little bit more because if we were to escape, then Dunadrond and his group would have to fight him.

“Black Bomb!”

“Ugh.”

“Hyaaah!”

The Devil who had been getting angrier and angrier began using large-scale magic.

This is dangerous. The Dungeon Master continued to shout at the Devil. He was only alive because this s.p.a.ce is so small.

Though if this s.p.a.ce were bigger, the Devil may have used stronger large-scale magics.

The Dungeon Master’s here as well, so the Devil likely can’t.

『No, wait.』

I had a good idea.

『The Devil’s a demonic beast connected to the Dungeon.』

I should think about what Dunadrond said.

We received a large variety of explanations on the Dungeon Core and the Dungeon Master.

The important thing in our current situation was that he said that killing the Dungeon Master is the same as destroying the Core, and that doing so would cause all the demonic beasts to die off.

In that case…

『This Devil will disappear if you kill that goblin.』

“——Fire Arrow.”

“Ack, you b.i.t.c.h! How cowardly!”

The Devil returned to the Dungeon Master with a confused look on his face.

It seems my guess isn’t wrong.

The Dungeon Master may have a Divine Bracelet equipped, but if we were able to kill him once, we’d be able to do so immediately after he revived as well. The Devil had no choice but to keep the Dungeon Master covered.

Because even if he can resist the Dungeon Master’s control, he’s still chained to the Dungeon Master.

“Heh.”

“You brat, you’re gonna make me angry!”

『Fire Javelin!』

“No way, is she a silent caster?”

No, it’s just that I cast that magic secretly.

“Fire Arrow.”

『Tri Explosion.』

“Fire Arrow.”

『Flare Blast!』

Bam, boom, bang!

Those spells, shot in rapid succession, engulfed the Devil.

“Kugh.”

“Heek!”

Just the heat would have been enough to kill the Dungeon Master, so the Devil had no choice but to endure our attacks like a punching bag.

“You idiot! That’s why I told you to always fight in front of me!”

“Sh-Shhh-Shut up! Without you, all the defenses in this room would disappear!”

The Dungeon Master was alive because he’s an idiot.

The Devil’s HP went down by quite a bit. But he had higher magic resistance than I expected.

At this rate, we’ll run out of mana first.

『Fran, time for a strategy change.』

“Okay.”

I kept up the barrage of magic while Fran used the wind magic we gained in an earlier fight.

The Wind Magic 4 spell, Sonic Shooter. Simply put, it’s a spell that uses wind to increase the speed of something we throw. And we can control the direction a little.

“I’m going.”

『Yeah, whenever you’re ready.』

“Hyah!”

Fran timed it carefully and threw me.

『Yahoo!』

With Sonic Shooter’s effect, I flew towards them at blistering speeds. Aimed at the spot above the Devil’s right shoulder, straight for the Dungeon Master.

“So you’re playing tricks! Is that wind magic? But do you really think I’ll let you?!”

Fran shot magic at the Dungeon Master, so the Devil couldn’t move right away.

But even then, the Devil extended his right arm to catch me.

Even though I was going so fast, the Devil was able to see me clearly.

And the Devil closed his fist——but was unable to get a hold on me.

“Noo! Gyah!”

I changed my path with wind magic and unleashed the Telekinesis I had been storing until now. This was the attack I used a long time ago, the Telekinetic Catapult Attack.

And I dove for the Devil’s now injured body.

Of course, I focused the majority of my remaining mana to my blade.

This was my final attack. If I fail, then we’d have no choice but to run away with the Return Feather——.

“There’s…no way…”

『Looks like it worked…』

That impossibly strong Devil was unable to block the Telekinetic Catapult Attack. I pierced through the Devil’s Barrier and his chest was impaled deeply by my blade.

But in a turn of events shocking enough to give even me the chills, the Devil was holding his sword in his left hand. How?!

If I hadn’t used so much of my mana to increase my power, I might not have been able to impale him through his left arm as well.

This Devil was no joke.

“Kuuuu…”

I sliced through his magic crystal perfectly. And I absorbed it through my blade.

“Kuaaaaa…——.”

Great! Just what I’d expect from a Devil’s magic crystal. When we entered this place, my Magic Crystal Points was at 2699/2800, but now it was 3199/3600. His magic crystal gave me a shocking 500 points.

“N-No way, the Devil was…?”

The Dungeon Master was stupefied. But I suppose that was to be expected, considering that that overwhelmingly powerful Demon was defeated by a little girl like Fran.

But is it really okay for you to be standing so defenselessly in front of your enemy?

“Hah!”

“Kuaaaagh!”

Without missing a beat as usual, Fran swung her sword to shoot out an Aura Blade that sent the Dungeon Master’s right arm flying.

Both his arm and his Divine Bracelet fell to the ground.

And Fran mercilessly severed the Dungeon Master’s head from his body as he screamed in pain and terror.

Even if he was a Dungeon Master, he was still a goblin. There was no way he could withstand Fran’s full-power Aura Blade.

The Dungeon Core that had until now been s.h.i.+ning brightly suddenly went dark.

But that was all that happened.

『…Nothing’s happening.』

“Master, did we win?”

『I think so, but…』

I kind of wish there was a more noticeable change after we defeated the Dungeon Master. I was ready for something like an earthquake to happen, but there really was nothing.

We did defeat the Dungeon Master, right?

Well, the demonic beasts should all have died off so we’ll know once we get out of this room.

『Ah, is the Devil’s corpse all right?』

Confused, Fran looked at his corpse, but there was absolutely no change. Thank goodness. I was worried his loot——no, corpse would turn into sand, but it remained as it was.

I didn’t store his corpse. It was a waste, but I thought that I should leave it with the Guild. Considering we owe them for our going in first.

Also, even if we did store the corpse, hiding it would be difficult. Because the corpse is connected with the Dungeon Core’s system.

Even a human can use the Core while it’s in a dormant state. And apparently, someone who touches the Core can see those who became the Dungeon Master previously. In other words, whoever utilizes the Dungeon Core here will see the Devil’s name pop up.

And, of course, we’ll be found out if we take the Devil’s materials. And then we’ll be the subject of everyone’s envy and hatred.

Thus, I decided to leave the corpse to the Guild.

But to do that, we’ll need to do some deceiving. We shot an Explosion at the Devil’s heart region, resulting in a ma.s.sive hole in his chest.

That way, we could give the excuse, “Fran’s attack destroyed the Devil’s magic crystal and only left his corpse.”

We could have had Fran claim the magic crystal as her own, but then Fran’s share of the loot would be too big. The other adventurers would definitely resent her.

Well, there’ll probably be quite a few of them who won’t believe our ruse, but there’s no helping that. Regardless, there’s no magic crystal for them to find.

We took his sword. We might be able to sell it by keeping its origin a secret. In the worst case, we could probably melt it down and sell it as a material. We also decided to take the Divine Bracelet from the Dungeon Master’s amputated arm. It would probably be useful later.

Diving Bracelet gained!

“We won.”

Fran raised her fist into the air and made a victory pose. Our tactics may have been cowardly, but she was happy just to have beaten a stronger opponent than her.

Fran’s leveled up eight times!

I was worried about whether the experience would pa.s.s on to Fran if I defeated the Devil, but it looked like, because I’m her equipment, it counted as Fran defeating him. Could throwing the sword count as defeating the Devil?

We only won because of the Dungeon Master’s incompetence, so we really caught a lucky break.

So, since entering the Dungeon, Fran’s level went up by 13.

Du-du-du.

Oh, it looks like the seal on the door dissolved.

“Hey! Little lady, you in here?”

“H-Hey, that’s a Devil!”

“F-For real?!”