Rina had gradually reduced her number of copies on the battlefield as she herded the non-combat students into a safe zone in tandem with the other student council members. Having fewer copies of herself allowed Rina meant that she was stronger.
The students had not been allowed to make any kind of preparation of the dungeon because part of the student school trip stress test was to gauge their ability to resist under attack in an emergency.
Once gathered, the students could finally start to make use of their non-combat abilities to construct a barrier and then a base which would in turn provide an uninterrupted supply of items and equipment for the combat students.
Rina herself had started to direct the forces.
“Areas 2C to 7D have been cleared.”
“Good. Draw trenches through areas A to C. Surround the dungeon.”
“Rina-dono, ask the monster clubs to send monsters hostile to those in the dungeon into the dungeon itself.” Arthur requested as he fought a minotaur which was about six times his size.
“Huh? What’s the point in doing that, we will have to kill more monsters that way!” Lain replied while downing more foes in the air. “Besides there’s too many enemies attacking from the air already!”
“No, master Arthur is correct.” replied Rina. “There are more monsters than there are combat students but if the dungeon boss feels that the dungeon itself is under attack, then it will recall its forces back into the dungeon.”
“And then we won’t worry as much about protecting the students since only a few monsters can attack at once in a more limited space.”
“This is so boring. I could just fly in there and beat the boss. Why are we even doing this?”
“Lain-sama, we don’t want to have to come to save you once you are trapped by the boss in there. Stick to the plan as the boss desires without causing us any more trouble.”
Just as they were about to create a path into the tower, to send the monsters in, a large explosion from within the tower shook the whole island throwing everything into disarray.
Out of the chaos a single figure appeared holding an orb in her hand. The Student Council members and the players watching immediately realised that that was the Dungeon Core.
“See, all of that planning was unneeded!” said Lain while pulling her tongue at Arthur.
The figure which was holding the Dungeon Core appeared flew down on golden translucent wings. She had golden and black coloured body armour, which covered her body but her face was left visible, as were her long elf-like ears. Her long braided hair and eyes with which she was glaring at Lain were green.
“You will pay for having destroyed my dungeon!”
With that she launched an attack straight at the base camp. Rina blocked it but only by sacrificing half of her copies on the battlefield.
“Master Arthur, Master Lain, I don’t think that I can block her attack again. Destroy her and get a hold of the Dungeon Core. I will hold back the other monsters. Then this battle will be over.”
Whoever owns the dungeon core has ultimate control of a dungeon.
“She can talk, huh?” Eilis asked.
“Yes, Senator Eilis, from now onwards new Dungeon Bosses will be given the same AI system as advanced NPCs.” replied Rina who was sitting here in the Senate, while her copies fought off attack after attack on the base, which for its part had no protection other than a barrier.
“I see. I get that, but what the hell happened. Why did the tower suddenly crumble?”
“Oh, it must have been because it was leaning already. Or maybe because the dungeon boss could see through the strategy and didn’t see any point in not showing up.”
“That still doesn’t make sense, there were still some monsters left inside the tower… Well, nevermind I should have known better than asking questions from an NPC. What the hell are you smiling about Raphael?”
“Oh nothing. I just remembered something interesting.”
“What a weirdo.”
From the rubble where the tower had stood a slab of wall which was pushed aside and from beneath it rose a copy of Rina carrying a brown haired boy under her arm.
“You can put me down now.”
“No, Master John II, you must wait until I can get you back to the temporary base.”
