Published: September 9, 2025
Satou here. I think positioning is crucial in RPGs, war simulations, and FPS games alike. Terrain effects are not something to underestimate.
â—‡
“Satou, lots of enemies.”
Please stop talking like I’m some kind of unwanted person.
A little after Mia, Tama, who was at the very front, seemed to catch the footsteps of approaching explorers from afar.
“People coming~?”
Pochi quickly came up from behind and lined up next to Tama, putting her ear to the ground.
“It must be bugs,” Pochi said.
Almost immediately, Arisa, looking serious, asked me for the exact number of enemies.
“How many are coming?”
“Are they people or enemies?”
I asked with a bit of a teasing tone. She answered right away, “Enemies,” so I straightforwardly replied, “About 300.”
“Th-three hundred!?”
“Master, I suggest we retreat.”
“Master, I agree with Nana.”
“Hm.”
Ruru, trembling, grabbed my arm. Everyone was making pretty accurate and cautious judgments. If you were the kind of brainless musclehead who wants to fight against 40 times more enemies, the labyrinth would not suit you.
“You okay~?”
“I’m fine. As long as I’m with you, master, it’s easy!”
There they are — the brainless musclehead girls.
Pochi and Tama struck some kind of strange heroic pose. Placing my hands on their heads, I asked,
“What would you do if I weren’t with you?”
“Of course, we’d run away.”
“Run like crazy~?”
Oh? So it’s not that you’re brainless — you actually trust me.
“Good, that’s right. Even against weaker enemies, don’t challenge more than three times your number.”
“What if you absolutely can’t avoid fighting?”
“What do you think we should do?”
I answered Arisa's question with another question.
“Well, the principle power of the land, maybe?”
“Correct. Use places where the opponent can’t capitalize on their numbers.”
“That was the basic when solo grinding in online games~”
I see, that kind of knowledge.
In the MMO I played, soloing meant fighting mobs that could be defeated in one hit, but it seems things differ depending on the game.
â—‡
Now then, I have no particular obligation to help explorers I don’t know, but since these are monsters, let’s let them be experience points for everyone.
“There are some people running from monsters this time, so let’s fight to help them out.”
I proposed battle with a casual excuse. Everyone immediately agreed.
“Of course, when I’m not around, put your own life first and run straight away, okay?”
I made sure to emphasize that just in case.
We backtracked a little and took a position where the terrain was stepped and rubble piled up, making it easier to fight the large number of enemies. From here, the frontline fighters could battle while the rear could cast magic or attack from a distance over their heads.
The problem was that the corridor curved, limiting visibility to about 50 meters ahead, and because escaping explorers were coming, we couldn’t set traps in the passage.
I cast the magic “guided arrow (remote arrow)” as a backup during encounters, hiding them in the darkness of the ceiling and having them follow. Of course, I restrained myself and deployed only 30 arrows.
â—‡
Beyond the corridor, a party of rabbit tribe and rat tribe members literally fled like rabbits. Their figures were not yet visible, but behind them came a party of human men, and at the end was a party of human women accompanied by carrier children.
“Run!”
“Hey, you all, a group of monsters is coming!”
“If you don’t want to get eaten, stop wasting time and run!”
The demi-human party passed by, shouting warnings to escape. All three were level 7 to 10 warriors.
Following them was a party of human men: three explorers and two well-built human carriers who seemed to be slaves.
“Hey, slaves! If you drop the ant honey jars, I’ll cut off your hands and feet and feed you to the ants!”
The slaves silently followed the cruel man’s orders without reply. The male explorer who was yelling was level 13, the highest among their group. The two slaves were only level 4.