Otoko Nara Ikkokuichijou no Aruji o Mezasa Nakya, ne?

Terror of the Underground

Year 7447, Month 6, Day 29

Just before entering the 2 km in diameter large room where the guardian of the 10th floor is believed to be waiting for challengers we decided to have a meeting along with lunch. In the end we brought along both the rifle and the net shooter. Since we're fighting against the guardian of the 10th floor for the first time I thought it was necessary to be as careful as possible. We've even predicted that the guardian this time might be a lot more of those absurdly strong minos. Therefore, including Miduchi not a single person was against bringing along the guns.

"I wonder if it'll be Minotaurs again.."

Gwine said while burying a bone from the chicken leg she just ate in the ground.

"Won't that be the case?"

Toris replied while licking the oil off his fingers.

It sure seems convenient when the end of your tongue is forked.

"The 8th and 9th floors are fine since we know them but I wonder if there were really Minotaurs on the 5th, 6th, and 7th floors?"

And then said as if confirming with me.

"Yeah, that's what I heard from the King. Though supposedly there's no records remaining of the 1st to the 4th floors but I think it's most likely fine to think they were Minotaurs."

I sip at the dried meat soup that was made in my flask while replying.

"What method are we going to use when going in?"

Zenom asked while wiping his dirty beard with a towel.

"What method? Isn't the same as usual fine? Bel entangles them with the net. Then Maruso shoots the ones that aren't caught up in the net. Isn't that fine?"

Ralpha replied as if wanting to say what other methods are there? while already peeling the skin off the dessert orange. Though that's fine as the procedure for charging into battle. But, what Zenom is asking about is the details of the formation, the distance between each person, the order for Angela to shoot in and simultaneously the order for Miduchi to provide backup fire, he wants to discuss things like that ahead of time.

"Isn't the same basic line we used against the Minotaurs on the 9th floor fine?"

Bel said that but there's no way of coming up with any other strategy than that.

The things we should be discussing right now are re-confirming our tactical patterns when up against the group of Minotaurs on the 9th floor and how to deal with unexpected circumstances.

In other words, first off is the problem of whether or not there's another {Anti-Skill Area}. We should assume there "is" I'm sure. I'm sure we'll be able to figure it out immediately if Miduchi's {Party-ization} gets cut off and in the case it remains in effect then it's just a lucky situation because I can freeze them or use attack spells to finish things up.

Next up is problems in regards to the terrain where the battle takes place. Just from a glance and this ridiculously large room doesn't seem any different from the room in the center of the 8th and 9th floors. If we were assume that it's the same sort of room then in the center would be a large pillar with the teleport crystal room in it and the Minotaurs should be guarding the entrance to there. Roughly 50 meters surrounding the pillar there's no rocks that can be used to hide behind, it's believed to be a dull and dry area with just dirt ground spread out.

The problem is in the case that there's rocks which could act as obstructions or to hide behind and depending on the case maybe even trees and bushes like on the 7th floor. Depending on the size and density of those it might even be difficult to use effectively use the net shooter. We needed to discuss what to in a case like that.

"..I guess it's about time to go."

We finished up our discussion and after burying the the chicken bones and other food in a hole we did a final check of our equipment.

Bayonet, good.

Knife, good.

Survival kit, good.

The various bands including the tie for my helmet, good.