Using Gacha to Increase My Companions and to Create the Strongest Girls' Army Corps

"Runa, keep these ready to drink at any time."

"Hmm?"

Before entering the cave, I handed a few small vials filled with a red liquid to Runa. She took one, opened the lid, and sniffed it.

"Blood... This scent is from Heiha."

"Runa-chan, you're a vampire, right? Does Heiha's blood taste good?"

"Neither good nor bad."

I'd appreciate it if we could refrain from discussing the flavor of human blood. As Runa correctly noted, these vials are filled with my blood.

"You're giving me these, so you want me to use my skills?"

"That's right."

For this plan, I intended for Runa to use her skills multiple times. So when I came up with the idea of the ambush, I prepared by extracting my blood and putting it in these vials. Without a syringe, I had to ask Sisya to heal me while I clumsily cut myself and forcibly extracted the blood.

"And there's something for you too, Freesia."

"Really! What is it, what is it?"

As I reached into my bag, Freesia buzzed around me, all excited. What a restless person. Shaking my head in disbelief, I found what I was looking for and handed it to her.

"...What is this? A doorknob? Did you break it, Heiha? Do you want me to apologize to Noru-chan or Estel-chan with you?"

"No, no! This is a 'Dimension Room' item; you use it like this by attaching it to a wall."

"Whoa! Amazing! It opened!"

When I demonstrated its use by inserting the doorknob into a rock wall, Freesia excitedly opened and closed it.

"But why are you giving this to me?"

"I want you to use your skill."

"What!? Wh-Why do I need this for that!?"

"Well, it's because..."

This operation relied heavily on Freesia's skill, *Inversa Sagitta*. I explained in detail how to use the Dimension Room to calm her reluctance, but she just shook her head and wailed.

"No, no, no! I don't want to use my skills!"

"Come on, don't be like that. If you do this, I'll let you play as much as you want afterward."

"Alright… fine. But you promised!"

If all it takes is a promise to play to get her cooperation, then this will be easy. …I hope. Though, I have a feeling it might not be that simple—Noru will have to put in some effort.

Anyway, our first task is to take down the three Diabolos who chased me out of the chamber, one by one. Now that we're all set, I used the map app to track down one of the Diabolos, and we headed back into the cave. When we entered earlier with Irina-san, Estel's magic made the cave bright, but now, it was pitch dark.

To avoid detection by the Diabolos, we moved without any lights this time, not even lanterns. Despite the darkness, Runa and Freesia moved with confidence, unaffected by the lack of light. As for me, I used the infrared mode of my night vision app on the monitor glasses to turn them into a night-vision scope. Thanks to Estel, I never needed to use this feature until now. Initially, I thought of relying on Runa for guidance, but it turned out that everyone here could operate in the dark just fine.

"Still, to think of an ambush... Heiha, you come up with some violent ideas."

"I don't want to hear that from someone who just declared they’re good at assassination..."

"Fufun! Leave the silent killing to me!"

She used another weird phrase again… Does she even know what it means? Sisya probably fed her this nonsense, thinking it was funny.

"I can't imagine this noisy elf being silent."

"Hmph, you don't trust me, do you? Then I'll show you my skills!"

With those words, Freesia started moving slowly, blending into the darkness until she vanished from sight. W-What? She disappeared! I couldn't even sense her presence anymore. It wasn't super speed or anything like that; it was as if her existence had been erased. As I panicked and searched around, I suddenly heard Freesia's scream.

"Ow! Ugh… That hurt..."

"Trying to sneak up on me, are you? Bold move. But, I admit, you managed to suppress your presence to some extent. So, you weren't lying about being good at assassination."

I turned toward the voice and saw Runa with a look of exasperation and Freesia holding her forehead. Runa had moved without me noticing, and they were both in a completely different spot.

"How did you even… I couldn't see where you went at all…"

"Naturally."

These two are something else… I was using a night vision scope, yet I couldn't see them move at all. I was sure I was watching closely, but I lost sight of them anyway… Is Freesia really that good at assassinations? And to think Runa not only saw her but caught her… they're both unbelievable.

With that out of the way, we turned serious and continued onward. Freesia must have sensed the change in mood because she quieted down and put on a serious expression.

"Hmm, stop. There's something ahead."

Runa, who was leading the way, raised her arm horizontally, signaling us to halt. I couldn't see what lay ahead, but it seemed Runa had spotted something.

"Hmm… Is this the trap you mentioned, Heiha?"

"I can't see it, so I can't say for sure, but probably. Estel disarmed all the traps on the way to the chamber, but I guess there are still some left…"

I had planned our route to follow the main path where Estel had disarmed the traps, but it seemed we had strayed from it while tracking the Diabolos. I trusted Runa to detect any magic, so I let her lead, and it was the right decision.

"So, you can set traps with magic? I wonder what happens when they activate!"

"Don't touch it! Just don't touch anything!"

Freesia was twitching with excitement, almost jumping forward. As I held her back, Runa swung her spear toward the front. Unlike with Estel, there was no visible magic circle, just the sound of something breaking.

"Alright, let's go."

"Wait… can you disarm magic traps too, Runa?"

"I didn’t disarm it; I destroyed it."

"Oh… okay…"

I don't understand the difference, but if the trap's gone, that's good enough for me. Runa might act lazy most of the time, but when it matters, she's very reliable. Moving forward, she broke several traps along the way, and we finally got close to our target, one of the Diabolos.

"We're getting close. Let's stop here and prepare."

Instead of going directly for the Diabolos, I signaled everyone to stop and took out an item from my bag. It was the *Invisible Mantle*. The three of us moved to the edge of the path, covering ourselves with the mantle to hide.

It was a tight squeeze with the small cloth, but with Runa's small frame, we just about managed to fit.

"Ugh… Heiha, it's cramped!"

"S-Stop complaining! We just need to endure until they pass."

"Ugh… It's suffocating."

Runa, squeezed in the middle, looked like she was struggling, but I needed her to endure it a bit longer. Based on the map app, the Diabolos was moving in our direction. This was our chance to ambush them while remaining unseen under the mantle.

We chose a spot with a clear line of sight on a narrow path. Since the Diabolos could operate in the dark, they probably had night vision, so hiding in the shadows was pointless. The cave didn't have many places to hide, either. So, we intentionally chose this open spot and used the Invisible Mantle for a sneak attack.

Watching the map app with bated breath, I saw the Diabolos coming our way, flapping its wings and gliding slowly through the cave. Hah, its guard was totally down.

I glanced at Runa and Freesia, and we nodded at each other before I made my move. While remaining invisible under the mantle, I used the Dimension Bracelet to grab the Diabolos' head, covering its eyes. It panicked, unsure of what was happening, and tried to shake me off, flailing its arms and landing on the ground.

With my free hand, I lifted a part of the Invisible Mantle. Freesia, understanding my signal, silently fired her arrows. She skillfully avoided my hand, landing a perfect headshot and three arrows into its body. The Diabolos let out a scream, and before it could recover, Runa hurled her spear, piercing through its chest.

Finally, Freesia shot another arrow, and the Diabolos disintegrated into particles of light, unable to escape my grasp.

"That's one down! That was easier than expected!"

"Yes, much easier than last time."

"Don't celebrate just yet. Let's move and hide again."

We shifted positions slightly and once again hid under the Invisible Mantle.

"Hmm? Why are we hiding again? Shouldn't we be searching for the remaining enemies?"

"No, I want to see how the Diabolos will react. Let's wait a bit."

"Heiha is strangely sharp sometimes. Let's do as he says."

I focused on the map app, observing the movements of the remaining two Diabolos. I noticed that they abruptly stopped their wandering and turned back to regroup. Then, they started moving toward

 our location.

"Well, that confirms my theory."

"What did you figure out, Heiha?"

"It's just a guess, but I think those creatures are somehow connected to each other."

"Connected? What do you mean?"

"The moment we took down one Diabolos, the other two regrouped and started heading this way. It means they sensed their comrade's defeat and knew where it happened."

When they scattered throughout the cave earlier, I suspected they might have some way of communicating with each other. That's why we went through so much trouble, hiding with the Invisible Mantle to ambush them stealthily.

"That's why you used this thing to hide and covered its eyes when you grabbed it."

"You noticed that? I thought if they could share what they saw, we needed to be extra careful not to give them any information. Better to be safe."

"I don't really get it, but it seems like you're thinking things through! As expected of Heiha!"

It might be that they only communicated the location upon being defeated, but I didn't want to risk revealing too much information about us. We have to keep the Diabolos guessing until we defeat the main target, Grandoris.

Having confirmed this, I prepared for the approaching two Diabolos. This time, I stood boldly in the middle of the path, without hiding under the Invisible Mantle. As the two Diabolos flew toward me, they immediately threw their tridents. I deflected both with my trusty pot lid. Ha! Blocking two tridents from the front is nothing! After getting hit so many times in that earlier fight, I got used to their attacks.

As soon as I blocked the attacks, I manipulated the *Centibar* I had stretched and attached to the ceiling, splashing it onto one of the Diabolos and immediately hardening it. The upper half of the Diabolos was encased in a silver mass and crashed to the ground, its legs flailing helplessly.

Wow, it actually worked! Maybe Sisya was just an exception.

Distracted by the Centibar, the other Diabolos took three arrows to the head and two to the body from Freesia, falling to the ground. I activated the Dimension Bracelet from a distance, stabbing it repeatedly with Excalibar. The one hit by Freesia's arrows quickly turned into particles of light, and the one trapped in the Centibar was pinned down by Runa's spear and then shot in the lower half by Freesia until it vanished.

"We did it! We took out the reinforcements!"

"Even a useless elf can be useful. I'm slightly impressed."

"See, see! Hehehe, being praised by Runa-chan makes me blush!"

Was that even a compliment...? Well, as long as she's happy. Anyway, it was lucky that the two patrolling Diabolos came to us. If they had retreated to Grandoris’ location after realizing we were attacking, it could have been a bit more troublesome.

Now, only Grandoris and the three remaining Diabolos in the chamber are left. This is where the real battle begins.