Part 3 of 8
And since her stats are geared toward magic, her physical strength is low.
If we don’t take short breaks along the way, Anna won’t be able to keep up with our movement speed.
Since Ms. Oka is a still-growing elf, her physical stats are low as well, but she can use her excess of magical powers to enhance that.
Though she looks like a small child, she’s skilled in close combat, too.
Is this the difference between pure elves and half elves, or is Ms. Oka just special?
It’s probably the latter, but the obvious gap is taking a physical and mental toll on Anna.
Her mental state was already strained, but the pressure of not holding us back on our quest is only making her burden heavier.
She’s beginning to show signs of labyrinth sickness.
At this rate, she might be in danger.
Basgath has noticed her condition and attempts to manage our pace accordingly, but Anna is pushing herself to try to keep up with us.
Maybe it was a mistake to bring her along.
But if we had left her behind, I would’ve been worried about her, too.
I don’t think there was any right answer in this situation.
I agreed to let Anna come along, so I have to take responsibility by watching over her.
It seems like everyone else understands that, too, since no one has said anything.
Basgath might not know the details of the situation, but he’s a pro. He’ll guide us no matter what.
He won’t complain about one of his clients being slow.
The only person who seems a little disgruntled is Katia.
Maybe I should try to talk to her about it in a more indirect way later.
“Now, we’ve made it about halfway through the labyrinth, so we need to decide which route to take from here.”
Basgath is addressing me.
I’ll have to worry about Anna later.
“There are several routes ahead of us. There’s the shortest but most dangerous route, the relatively safe roundabout route, and the sketchier route that may or may not be dangerous. Which would yeh prefer?”
“Hmm. How dangerous is the shortest route?”
“Well, there are two kinds of passages in the Upper Stratum. There are the normal passages, the narrow kind like the one we’re in now. Then there’s the large passage.”
Pausing for a moment, he hands me a drink.
I accept it gratefully.
“The large passage, as the name implies, is much taller and wider than this one. Think of it like a big hall that goes on for ages and ages. It also happens to be the shortest route, but there are dangerous monsters there far beyond the kind that lurk in the normal passages. C-class monsters aplenty. Occasionally even A-class monsters, too. It’s a danger zone.”
A-class.
Monsters so strong it could take an army to deal with them.
It’s generally said that B-class monsters are the strongest that a small party can handle on their own.
Monsters have better stats than humans.
In order to make up for it, we polish our skills, gather companions, and use all of our combined wits to cooperate.
That’s how you win against an opponent with higher stats.
But that approach is only viable against monsters that are B-class and below.
A-class monsters are a different story entirely.
Aside from their naturally high stats, they have a superior range of skills.
Skills are human beings’ biggest advantage, and these monsters can use them just as proficiently.
Some individuals even have skills specific to monsters, making them especially troublesome to deal with.
A good example of an A-class monster? A high-level wyrm.
Like the one that was likely Fei’s parent, which attacked the academy.
Fei is technically classified as a high-level wyrm, too, but since being a reincarnation seems to have given her an extra edge, she’s probably closer in power to a dragon.
If we’d been on land, Fei might have even been able to beat the water dragon that attacked us before.
“What’s the difference in time between the shortest route and the safer, longer one?”
“Let’s see… At our current pace, I’d say about four days.”
That’s more than I expected.
It must be a pretty big detour.
“And what’s the last route you mentioned?”
“Right. About that…”
For some reason, Basgath hesitates.
As I wait expectantly, he scratches his head and looks uncomfortable.
“To be honest, I’d rather not go that way.”
“That’s certainly very honest. Is there a reason?”
“The Nightmare.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“That area used to be the Nightmare’s territory. Most guides don’t like to go near the place. It’s bad luck. Especially since I’ve seen the thing with me own eyes… I don’t like to be near there if I can help it.”
The Nightmare.
That’s the legendary-class monster he mentioned before, right?
But isn’t that thing supposed to be dead already?
“Incidentally, is that route fast, or…?”
“It’s only a little longer than the shortest route. Least, I think the shortest one should be faster. Prolly only a difference of a day or so, if that.”
There’s the dangerous short route, the safe but lengthy roundabout route, and the somewhat ambiguous route.
“But the Nightmare is gone already, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, the Nightmare itself is.”
“What do you mean?”
I tilt my head.
That makes it sound like there’s something else there.
“We call it a Nightmare’s Vestige.”
“A Nightmare’s Vestige?”
“Yeah. A monster that looks a lot like the Nightmare. It’s been seen all over the Upper Stratum but most often in the route I mentioned before.”
“Is it a particularly strong monster?”
“Oh, it’s strong. And troublesome, too.”
If Basgath says so, it must be pretty serious.
I’d definitely prefer not to run into anything like that.
“However, it has the same strange quirks as the Nightmare. If yeh don’t attack it, it won’t do yeh any harm. If yeh do encounter a Nightmare’s Vestige, it’s best to do nothing and just wait for it to pass.”
“What in the world…?”
I can’t hide my amazement.
Can you really call it a monster if it has such unusual habits?
If you ask me, a monster is supposed to be something that blindly attacks whatever it sees.
“There’s one more thing. It strings up invisible thread all over the place. If yeh cut it or whatnot, it’ll attack yeh.”
“Thread?”
“Yup. I guess I didn’t mention that, huh? The Nightmare is a spider monster. Same for the Nightmare’s Vestiges.”
Spiders, huh…?
“The thread is almost impossible to see, not to mention sticky and tough, which makes it hard to get free if yer caught in it. On top of that, the monster itself is too strong by half. In the old days, when yeh saw a spiderweb, yeh just burned it. But since this Nightmare’s Vestige appeared, if yeh see a spiderweb, yeh just run away. It’s the worst monster in the whole Upper Stratum.”
What a dangerous monster.
It’s that strong and uses such nasty thread, too?
It almost sounds like a monster with the cleverness of a human.
“We’d better not go that route, I’d say.”
Hyrince, who’d been listening to our exchange in silence, speaks up now.
“I went with Julius and the rest of the party to take down a Nightmare’s Vestige once. We managed to scrape out a victory somehow, but it was pretty damn close. Better to avoid it if we can.”
Even Julius and his party had a hard time with this thing?
Yeah, I guess I’d rather not encounter that.
That eliminates that route, then.
Now it’s down to the shortest route and the roundabout route.
“All right, everyone. We have to choose between a fast but dangerous route or a safe but lengthy route. Can I get your opinions?”
I address the other members of the party as they rest up.
My heart wants to choose the shortest route.
Even if we do have a little time to spare, the sooner we get to the elf village, the better.
But it would be even tougher on Anna, who’s already having a hard time, making it difficult for me to decide.
“I think we should pick the shortest route.”
Ms. Oka speaks first.
I’ve already seen how powerful our teacher is.
To be honest, I never expected her to be able to knock Hugo out completely like that.
In terms of magic ability alone, she’s probably even stronger than I am.
Katia seems like she wants to agree.
“Won’t it be dangerous, though? If more than one A-class monster shows up at once, even we might have trouble dealing with them.”
“Ah, I wouldn’t worry about that,” Basgath informs her. “A-class monsters almost never run with others. If we do happen to encounter one, it’ll be alone.”
“Well then, I’m sure we can handle it.”
Katia nods confidently.
Since we grew up together, I understand Katia very well.
I know she has the ability to back up those words.
“Hmm. I guess I vote for the shortest route, too. Monsters are no big deal for us.”
Fei votes for the shortest route, too.
She seems almost too optimistic, but I guess she can get away with it, given how powerful she is.
Fei is the strongest of our group, after all.
“I don’t know. I don’t think it’s wise to take unnecessary risks.”
Hyrince votes for the safer route.
He probably values our safety even more than the continued existence of the elf village.
Now it’s three to one.
Since Basgath is remaining neutral, that leaves Anna and me.
Half the group is already pushing for the shortest route, but I want to hear Anna’s opinion, too.
“What do you think we should do, Anna?”
“Please, there’s no need to concern yourself with my opinion.”
“No, I want to. You’re a member of the group, too. Go on—tell us what you think.”
I press her a little insistently.
Anna hesitates at first, thinks for a moment, then appears to reach some kind of conclusion.
“Let us take the shortest route, then.”
“Are you sure?”
What I actually mean is Will you be all right? Will you be able to keep up?
“Absolutely.”
Her response is firm.
Then there’s nothing else I need to say.
“The short route it is, then.”
Knowing the danger, we’ve decided to push forward nonetheless.
A BRUSH WITH DEATH
I thought I’d teleported to safety, only to find an ambush waiting for me.
This must be Mother’s work.
An army of spiders just coincidentally hanging around in the exact place where my home used to be is about as likely as a meteor hitting me square in the face.
It can’t be a chance happening, right?
What’s really scary is that considering how bad my luck has been so far, it wouldn’t surprise me that much if it were.
Still, I think it’s much more likely that Mother predicted I would teleport here and sent her forces to wait for me in advance.
I guess I might’ve underestimated her a little.
In terms of brains, not brawn.
With Mother’s huge body, there’s no way she could have chased me down while I was running around in the narrow passages of the Great Elroe Labyrinth.
All she had to do was wait for me to come out.
She must have predicted everything I was going to do.
Otherwise, she could never have arranged things to such perfection.
When I left the labyrinth, she came out to chase me down personally.
If she’d finished me off there, that would have been that.
Her sheer speed is higher than mine, meaning the only way I can outrun her is with Long-Distance Teleport.
And where else would I go but back to the Great Elroe Labyrinth?
Specifically, the most likely place I’d flee to first is the spot where my home used to be.
Sending an army there would be an easy way to catch me defenseless as soon as I arrived.
In short, that’s the current situation.
I went from using Teleport to kill those arch taratects to having it used against me.
I’m screwed.
I can’t even react in time to dodge the arch taratect fangs flying at my face.
Here are the facts: I let my guard down as soon as Teleport activated, then I totally froze up for a second the instant I realized that I was surrounded by a spider army, and the wounds Mother inflicted on me delayed my reaction speed.
All those factors combined prevent me from dodging.
The arch’s huge fangs bite into my tiny body.
They don’t break through.
I might not look it, but my defense stat is over 2,000.
I haven’t Appraised the arch taratect that’s chomping on me, which means I don’t know for sure, but if it’s similar to the ones I fought before, its attack is probably over 4,000.
It’s probably using Mental Warfare and Magic Warfare to buff that, too, but its skill levels probably aren’t as high as mine.
Even if it does break through my body and bite off a chunk, it won’t be the end of the world.
Still, the damage would be huge.
And that’s in addition to the severe damage Mother’s already inflicted on me.
My injuries are so bad that without Pain Super-Mitigation, I probably would’ve passed out by now.
On top of all that, I can feel something seeping into my body from those fangs.
I know exactly what it is, since I have the same move.
Poison Attack. Deadly Poison, to be precise.
Even with my high resistance, I can’t nullify it completely.
I have to get away from these fangs soon, or I’ll succumb to the poison seeping into my body and die.
That is, if the raw damage doesn’t kill me first.
In the midst of the biggest pinch of my life, I become strangely calm and quickly start activating some magic.
Specifically, Earth Magic.
An earthen spear bursts out of the ground and smashes into the arch’s head.
I’m not expecting it to do much damage.
All I want is for the impact to loosen the jaws clamped down on my body.
Just as I hoped, the attack makes the arch taratect stumble, loosening its grip for just a moment.
I seize the chance to hit the arch in the face with more magic and escape from its claws.
To my surprise, the attack seems to have weakened the arch more than I thought.
I guess it doesn’t have Dragon Scales or anything like that to ward off magic.
That skill is what’s prevented me from doing major damage to a dragon with a single attack in the past, but I guess without it, even stats equal to a dragon’s won’t protect an arch taratect from a big hit.
That’s only the defense side of things, though.
As far as attacking goes, the arch has stats and skills that are easily on par with the powerful Araba’s.
It might not have the power to cause a huge catastrophe like Mother does, but it’s still enough to do some serious damage to a corner of the labyrinth like Araba did.
And there are five of those powerful creatures here.
Isn’t that a bit of overkill?
I guess that just shows how seriously Mother is trying to kill me.
And I have to say, that plan seems to be going pretty well for her right now.
Mother’s breath attack decimated part of my body, the arch’s fangs put holes in the rest of it, and now poison is eating away at me, too.
It’s enough to make you wonder how I’m even still alive at this point, honestly.
Well, I know why. It’s thanks to Perseverance.
My HP already hit 0 a long time ago.
However, the Perseverance skill can substitute MP for HP.
As soon as my MP runs out, I’m dead.
Thanks to Height of Occultism, my MP regenerates faster than it can go down, so I’m not going to die that easily.
However, that doesn’t mean my wounds are going to heal anytime soon.
Perseverance really just passes off my MP as HP to delay the inevitable.
If I take enough damage that I can’t move anymore, I’m sure the archs will damage me faster than my MP can recover.
I’ll be beaten to a pulp.
Or maybe just devoured.
Even Perseverance can’t do much if my body itself is gone.
I’m already just a step away from that line.
And I have no time to think about recovery, because all five archs are coming to attack me.
I definitely can’t worry about appearances now.
I dodge the oncoming archs and run for my life.
Instead of going down to the ground crawling with countless spiders, I use Dimensional Maneuvering to flee through the air.
Without all my legs, I can’t reach my usual speed.
Filled with fear and frustration, I intercept the huge amount of thread coming up at me with thread of my own.
My destination is the Middle Stratum.
I might not be overly fond of the place, but the spider army is even weaker to the heat there than I am.
The fiery environment of the Middle Stratum is terrible for spiders without resistance.
An arch or greater taratect can probably endure it, but anything weaker than that would probably die from simply being there.
But they’re still one step ahead of me. As I race toward the entrance to the Middle Stratum, something stands in my way.
It looks almost like a doll.
No, I think it actually is a doll.
It has a smooth, faceless head.
An inorganic body with spherical joints.
The obstacle resembles a mannequin that could be found at any department store.
Here in the labyrinth, something so obviously artificial seems strangely out of place.
But it makes sense once you know what’s inside.
Appraisal reveals to me that the doll is full of thread, with a tiny spider at the center.
And this spider is a horrifying monster whose stats all exceed 10,000.
According to Appraisal, this is a puppet taratect.
But I’ve never heard of such a creature.
Even the evolution tree that Wisdom showed me didn’t contain any monster by that name.
But my instincts tell me that this mysterious monster must be one of Mother’s trump cards.
The humanoid doll readies the swords in its hands.
All six of them.
Though the doll looks like a human being, it has six arms.
If you include the legs, that makes eight limbs: just like a spider.
While I’m being distracted by such a stupid observation, the six swords come at me.
Unable to dodge, I feel it summarily cut off my two front legs.
Monsters shouldn’t use weapons, dammit! I want to shout.
I don’t know if you stole them from humans or made them yourself, but that’s just not fair!
One would be all right, but six swords at once? How am I supposed to avoid that?
I’ve almost never lost to anyone in terms of speed.
The only exceptions would be Mother; the earth dragon Araba, which I encountered early on; and the fire dragon Rend.
With my amazing speed, Thought Super-Acceleration, and Future Sight, I’ve always been proud of my evasion abilities.
But now I’ve been outdone at the one thing I do best.
Thought Super-Acceleration and Future Sight can theoretically figure out how best to dodge something instantly, but that works only if I can get my body to do it in practice.
If the attack moves faster than my body can react, of course there’s no way I can dodge it.
I promptly use magic to knock back the doll, but the situation is only worsening.
The puppet spider in front of me, five archs behind me.
On top of that, I’ve lost half my legs, leaving my body in tatters and my mobility drastically low.
I can feel death closing in on me, even more keenly than the time I faced Araba.
I don’t want to die.
I don’t want to die.
I don’t want to die!
I can’t just give up!
I’ll claw my way toward survival for all I’m worth, until my very last moment!
If I am gonna die here, I’m taking as many of them down with me as I can!
Half-crazed with desperation, I still try to check myself as I fire off a barrage of magic.
My main goal is quantity over quality, so the spells aren’t very powerful.
But since these spiders don’t have the skill Dragon Scales, it should still do decent damage.
Even if it’s not much, I doubt they’ll want to charge right into the line of fire.
Sure enough, the puppet spider and the archs all pause to defend themselves.
They use magic, swords, or whatever else to fend off my attacks.
But the other spiders, who can’t even counterattack my lowest-level magic, start going down from the direct hits.
Oh?
Maybe this desperate strategy could actually work?
While keeping the puppet spider and the archs at bay remains my top priority, I start aiming for the other spiders, too.
Especially the bigger ones that look like they’d be worth more EXP.
The little critters are dying from the aftershocks alone, anyway.
While I’m at it, I switch from Inert Evil Eye, which probably won’t work that well, to Jinx Evil Eye.
Leaving only one eye for Future Sight, I apply Jinx Evil Eye to all the others, stealing MP and such from my enemies.
Then I use that newly restored MP on another barrage of magic.
One of the archs gets fed up and tries to push through the barrage despite the damage, but instead of trying to counterattack, I only move away.
I definitely can’t risk trying to prepare other spells while producing all this magic by myself.
I might be able to ward them off, but I can’t completely stop the archs from moving.
Noticing this, the other archs start to charge, too, even if they take damage in the process.
I didn’t buy as much time as I had hoped.
If I had even one Parallel Mind available, things would probably be different, but there’s no point in thinking about that now.
I’m on my own.
I’m going to have to manage this myself.
I give up on the magic barrage and switch to higher-powered magic, aiming it toward the archs as they charge toward me.
Realizing that this will cause more damage than they’re willing to sustain, the archs stop to defend themselves again.
I use that chance to put some distance between us, using slightly weaker magic to fend off the other spiders while I’m at it.
The puppet spider alone moves to the entrance of the Middle Stratum, simply standing there to prevent me from fleeing.
I can’t say that’s particularly good or bad.
Impatiently, I check my status.
I’m fending off the archs’ attacks with magic and thread for now, but I know all too well that I can’t keep that up for long.
Given the archs’ stats, it’s only a matter of time before they push through my pathetic attempts.
Especially since there’s five of them.
And that moment comes all too quickly.
One of the archs’ sharp claws catches my torso.
As soon as I hit the ground, it pins me down.
Unable to move, I see the other archs closing in.
This is a serious crisis.
But I still have a final ray of hope.
Checking on my tattered body, I look at one of my status items again.
Experience points.
I check the amount I gained from shooting down other spiders while I fended off the archs, then the amount I need to level up.
It’s close.
I’m insanely close to the number of points I need, and I’m terrifyingly close to death, too.
It’s a gamble, but the only other option is certain death.
I have to try, no matter how terrible the odds.
I quickly Appraise the archs and lock onto the one with the lowest HP.
Annihilating Evil Eye, activate!
This is a skill I gained when I evolved into my current race, Ede Saine.
An insta-kill attack that uses Rot, the attribute associated with death.
Of all my skills, it’s currently second only to Abyss Magic in terms of killing power.
However, it comes at a high price: I take a huge amount of recoil damage when I use it.
That amount will be especially severe for my currently beaten-up body.
I’d say the odds of me surviving are about fifty-fifty.
Even if I do live through the self-inflicted damage, there’s a follow-up fifty-fifty bet as to whether it’ll kill the arch.
And after that, the gamble of whether it’ll be enough EXP for me to level up.
My odds of winning all these bets are one in eight at best.
<Experience has reached the required level. Individual Ede Saine has increased from LV 29 to LV 30.>
Looks like I won.
My attack killed the arch, and the resulting EXP raised my level.
I undergo molting, which fully heals my wounds.
The missing part of my torso is restored, and my lost limbs grow back.
However, my HP doesn’t recover completely.
Turns out there’s a limit on how much I can heal by leveling up.
Still, this is a turn for the better. I can even see a chance of pulling through this.
It’s a small one, but it’s there.
The arch that I hit with my Annihilating Evil Eye disintegrates into dust.
This development seems to surprise the one pinning me to the ground, enough that its leg slackens a little.
I use Cutting Thread to slash at my captor’s leg and slip from its hold.
At the same time, I clamber up that leg and latch onto the arch’s torso.
The arch tries to shake me off, but I dig in firmly with my sharp claws and sink my fangs into it.
Moments later, it’s writhing around in agony.
The arch slams its body against the ground, trying to knock me off, but I hang on through sheer determination, continuing to inject it with poison.
The other archs are powerless to intervene, since they can’t attack me without attacking the one I’m stuck to as well.
The arch thrashes around, I hang on, and the other spiders watch, unable to do anything.
The only one to get a clue is the puppet spider, which I probably should’ve expected.
It charges forward, fully prepared to slice me in half even if it means killing the arch, too.
But it’s too late.
Time is up.
Long-Distance Teleport, activate.
The puppet’s blade swings toward me, but my body disappears just before it reaches me.
My spell moves me into the Middle Stratum with the unlucky arch in tow.
Really, with the arch’s obscenely high Status Condition Resistance, my poison would never be enough to kill it.
Biting into it with a Poison Attack was just a way to stall for time.
In those stolen moments, I started preparing the Teleport spell.
My goal in that situation wasn’t to wipe out the spider army.
It was ultimately nothing more than survival.
My odds of surviving by fighting to the bitter end were next to nothing.
The four remaining archs would’ve been enough of a challenge, never mind the puppet spider, which was leagues above all of them.
To be honest, I couldn’t have beaten that thing even in a one-on-one situation.
I’ve got no desire to participate in a battle I can’t win.
That’s why I focused all my efforts on getting away.
Though I guess I also got this arch as a souvenir.
I release my fangs and grapple with the arch above the magma.
Now the tables have turned.
I have a certain degree of heat resistance, but the arch has none.
Instead, it gets to take the brunt of my anger for putting me in such a deadly position.
A few minutes later, the charred body of the arch drops into the magma, defeated by the Upper Stratum.
THE TERROR OF THE GREAT ELROE LABYRINTH
A vaguely unreal scene unfolds in my unfocused vision.
It’s as if I’m looking in from the other side of a thin film, like watching an old movie.
The faint light of a torch illuminates the people around me.
Several of them are familiar faces.
I can see Mr. Hyrince and the saint, Yaana.
Two of the other men don’t look familiar, but the third one… Isn’t that Basgath’s son, Goyef?
They keep walking somewhere, until they cross paths with something.
A spider monster: a Nightmare’s Vestige.
After a hard fight, the group defeats it. In that moment, I have a strange vision of a girl.
A girl whose features I can’t see, who can only be described as white.
I jump to my feet.
Was that a dream?
About when Julius defeated a Nightmare’s Vestige in the past?
Did I dream about it because of that conversation with Basgath?
Or was Julius trying to tell me something?
That last idea is probably just wishful thinking on my part.
Absently, I touch the white scarf wrapped around my neck, a memento of my brother.
“We’re about to enter the large passage. Keep yer wits about yeh.”
With that, Mr. Basgath leads us forward.
Once I cross the threshold, I stare around me in surprise.
It’s huge.
Sure, I was briefed on this already, but it’s totally different from the cramped passages we’ve been traveling in all this time.
It could easily be three hundred feet wide.
The ceiling looks equally high.
Just like Basgath said, it’s more like a vast hall than a passage.
But my shock lasts only for a moment.
I quickly return to my senses, looking around carefully.
No signs of any monsters nearby.
Relieved, I still keep my guard up as we move forward.
The passage is enormous.
But there are large boulders and such scattered about, impeding our vision.
Something could be lurking in the shadows of the rocks.
I keep an eye out for any signs as we steadily progress.
After a while, Basgath pauses.
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s strange. I haven’t seen any monsters.”
Basgath’s voice and expression can’t quite hide his consternation.
Is that really such a bad thing?
“Are there usually more around here?”
“Aye. It’s strange that we’ve not seen any after coming this far.”
Under his breath, he adds, “It’s like when we saw the Nightmare.”
Now that makes me nervous.
“Is there any way to reach a different route?”
It’s probably best to assume that something strange is going on.
In which case, we should take precautions.
“There’s a side path a short distance ahead. We’ll switch to another route there.”
Basgath seems to agree, as he doesn’t hesitate to craft an alternate plan.
We all catch on to Basgath’s agitated state, and no one objects to this.
But we made our decision a little too late.
Something is already coming this way.
A dragon.
First, we see a silhouette that resembles a slimmed-down tyrannosaurus.
However, its hands are strangely large, and each of its claws glitters like a flawlessly crafted sword.
“An earth dragon. Damn! And in the Upper Stratum—does that mean it evolved?!”
Basgath clicks his tongue.
All of us get ready for battle.
Steeling myself, I Appraise our opponent.
<Earth dragon Ekisa LV 2
Status: HP: 2,808/2,808 (green)
SP: 3,655/3,655 (yellow)
Average Offensive Ability: 2,498 (details)
Average Magical Ability: 1,298 (details)
Average Speed Ability: 3,600 (details)
MP: 1,312/1,312 (blue)
: 2,032/3,645 (red)
Average Defensive Ability: 2,455 (details)
Average Resistance Ability: 2,452 (details)
Skills:
[Earth Dragon LV 1] [Imperial Scales LV 4] [Hard Armor LV 1] [Steel Body LV 1]
[HP Rapid Recovery LV 1] [MP Recovery Speed LV 1] [MP Lessened Consumption LV 1] [Magic Power Perception LV 3]
[Magic Power Operation LV 3] [Magic Power Attack LV 1] [SP Rapid Recovery LV 2] [SP Minimized Consumption LV 2]
[Terrain Attack LV 5] [Terrain Enhancement LV 5] [Destruction Enhancement LV 7] [Cutting Super-Enhancement LV 6]
[Piercing Super-Enhancement LV 6] [Impact Super-Enhancement LV 6] [Dimensional Maneuvering LV 3] [Hit LV 10]
[Evasion LV 10] [Probability Correction LV 4] [Danger Perception LV 7] [Presence Perception LV 7]
[Heat Perception LV 7] [Motion Perception LV 5] [Earth Magic LV 1] [Destruction Resistance LV 2]
[Cutting Resistance LV 5] [Piercing Resistance LV 5] [Impact Resistance LV 6] [Shock Resistance LV 2]
[Terrain Nullification] [Lightning Resistance LV 7] [Status Condition Super-Resistance LV 2] [Rot Resistance LV 1]
[Pain Nullification] [Pain Mitigation LV 4] [Night Vision LV 10] [Vision Expansion LV 5]
[Vision Enhancement LV 5] [Auditory Enhancement LV 4] [Olfactory Enhancement LV 4] [Longevity LV 7]
[Magic Hoard LV 1] [Ultimate Movement LV 1] [Fortune LV 1] [Herculean Strength LV 5]
[Sturdy LV 5] [Monk LV 1] [Talisman LV 5] [Skanda LV 1]
Skill Points: 19,500
Titles:
[Monster Slayer] [Monster Slaughterer] [Dragon] [Champion]
>
High stats.
Especially its overwhelming speed.
“This thing is fast, everyone. Be careful!” I shout.
At the same time, the earth dragon lunges forward.
Hyrince’s shield catches its claws as they swing down.
“Geh?!”
His face distorts with pain.
But thanks to his quick reaction, the dragon stops in place for a moment.
Basgath and I waste no time in slashing at its left and right feet respectively.
Katia and Ms. Oka unleash their magic on it, too.
Katia’s Flame Magic burns the dragon’s face, and Ms. Oka’s Wind Magic knocks it off its feet.
The dragon shrieks in pain and tumbles backward.
However, the actual damage is minimal.
My sword sliced about halfway through its right leg.
But Basgath’s cut barely made a scratch on its left.
He couldn’t break through its tough defenses.
The dragon rises again.
Its face is free of burns, despite taking a direct hit of Flame Magic.
“This doesn’t look good,” Basgath mutters.
His face is covered in sweat.
My hands are sweating, too, in response to the unexpectedly powerful defense of our opponent.
I had intended to cut its leg clean off with that attack.
Instead, I only ended up with a strike that was too shallow.
In fact, I nearly lost my grip on my sword because of all that resistance.
Magic barely has any effect, either.
The Imperial Scales skill dramatically reduces the impact of magic.
Katia and Ms. Oka are some of the strongest magic users of their races.
But the earth dragon is utterly unfazed by their attacks.
Still, it’s not as though it didn’t do any damage whatsoever.
This opponent isn’t unbeatable.
Then the dragon leaps from the ground.
Despite having no wings, it easily moves through the air.
It’s using Dimensional Maneuvering.
And its eyes are fixed directly on Anna, who is hovering at the back of our party.
Anna activates some magic.
But her electric attack doesn’t cause any damage.
The earth dragon has Lightning Resistance.
On top of its already high magic resistance, Lightning Magic doesn’t stand a chance.
Hyrince throws himself between the charging dragon and Anna.
His shield blocks the earth dragon’s claws.
Just like before.
This time, however, the dragon doesn’t pause, instead opting to retreat immediately.
We can’t keep up fast enough to strike back.
“Lightning won’t work—it has resistance! Same for Earth! Switch to other attributes! Katia, you stick with magic! Basgath, you also use magic to distract it!”
I quickly relay information to the others.
It has resistance to physical attacks, too, but there’s nothing we can do about that.
If Basgath’s strength wasn’t enough to cause any damage, then only myself and one other person will be able to reduce its HP with physical attacks.
“Hiyah!”
That other person is Fei, who just punched the earth dragon in the face.
Its enormous body flies back almost comically, rolling along the ground.
I’m sure I’m not the only one who pauses dumbstruck for a moment.
Katia often accuses me of being a cheater, but isn’t Fei the real cheater here?
The earth dragon stands up, glowers at Fei, and runs toward her with a roar.
Its claws swing toward her.
Fei raises her arms to defend herself.
Her arms sparkle a metallic white, but it’s no illusion.
It’s a skill called Steel Body, which hardens the user’s body like metal.
Since she also has Hard Armor, which toughens the skin, Fei’s defense is even higher than her stats imply.
Whether she’s in human form or not, she’s still a light dragon who was originally a defense-oriented earth wyrm.
A dragon who can square off with another dragon.
Even the earth dragon seems surprised to have its attack blocked head-on, and it pauses for a moment.
Seeing this, Ms. Oka activates her magic.
A vortex of wind engulfs the earth dragon.
This spell isn’t intended to cause damage.
It’s intended to hold the dragon in place.
Binding Wind, a Gale Magic spell.
The earth dragon struggles to escape.
With its Imperial Scales, it won’t be contained for long.
Katia’s Flame Magic strikes next.
It merges with Ms. Oka’s Binding Wind, forming a tornado of flame around the earth dragon.
The earth dragon howls in pain.
Anna pummels it with more Wind Magic, and Basgath uses Dark Magic.
Hyrince seizes the chance to use Healing Magic on himself.
The earth dragon’s attack damaged him, even with his shield protecting him.
The dragon’s HP is steadily decreasing.
But then it shakes off the flame tornado.
The shine of a charging breath attack gathers in its maw.
As my friends catch their breath, I step in front of them.
My magic collides with the dragon’s breath.
The spell I use is the level-7 Holy Light Magic spell.
Its rather uncool name is Holy Light Beam.
But in spite of the cheesy title, it’s quite powerful.
The ray of light forces the dragon’s breath back into its mouth.
Its jaw snaps, and the earth dragon’s body slowly hits the ground.
The dragon’s HP has reached 0.
<Experience has reached the required level. Schlain Zagan Analeit has increased from LV 28 to LV 29.>
<All basic attributes have increased.>
<Skill proficiency level-up bonus acquired.>
<Skill points acquired.>
<Condition satisfied. Acquired title [Dragon Slayer].>
<Acquired skills [Lifeblood LV 1] [Dragon Power LV 1] as a result of title [Dragon Slayer].>
<[Lifeblood LV 1] has been integrated into [Lifeblood LV 6].>
<Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill [Lifeblood LV 6] has become [Lifeblood LV 7].>
It looks like I gained a title by defeating the dragon.
“Dragon Slayer? Well, I suppose we’re proper legends now.”
Katia chuckles.
Apparently, everyone who participated in the battle got the title, not just the person who dealt the finishing blow.
“Whew. So we managed to slay a dragon… I didn’t know how that’d go, to be honest.”
Basgath cautiously approaches the earth dragon’s corpse.
“Any of yeh mind if I take this thing?”
“No, please do.”
Monster parts can have all kinds of uses.
Dragons are considered especially valuable.
Since Basgath has a Spatial Storage item, he can carry even the largest of carcasses.
The dragon corpse is sucked into Basgath’s bag.
“Was that the most dangerous monster in the large passage?”
“Don’t be stupid. A big-shot monster like this normally wouldn’t be here at all. The most difficult monster in the large passage oughta be an earth wyrm, a rank below this thing. More than likely, this thing was an earth wyrm that evolved.”
“Yeah. Its level was pretty low.”
“Exactly. I’d bet we didn’t see any other monsters because this guy was runnin’ around eating ’em all.”
When monsters gain a lot of experience, they sometimes evolve.
This means they become a higher-class monster and revert to level 1.
And monsters that have recently evolved become very hungry and belligerent.
The dragon was a low level, and its SP was already reduced at the start of the fight.
That means it had probably evolved not too long ago.
“Dragon Slayer, eh? Guess I only ever fought wyrms with Julius and the others. That’ll make a nice souvenir to show off to them in the next life…”
Hyrince laughs bleakly.
“We were only able to win because you blocked its attack.”
“Blocking was all I could manage. But I guess I did my job as a tank.”
“Yes, very much so. That’s why there weren’t any casualties. Thank you.”
“No need to thank me. It’s what I’m here for. Besides, you’re the one who finished it off. Good job, kid.”
Hyrince ruffles my hair a bit roughly.
“Cut it out, please!”
I laugh as I dodge away from his hand.
Having defeated a powerful enemy, we all start to relax a little.
Then a chill runs down my spine.
I turn around.
Something else returns my gaze.
Eight glittering eyes, looking down at us from on top of a rock.
A monster known as a Nightmare’s Vestige.
There it stands, on top of the boulder.
Its bloodred eyes are fixed on me coldly.
It isn’t particularly large.
But it has a greater presence than any monster we’ve faced so far.
I can’t move.
Neither can anyone else.
It’s like we’re frozen in place, unable to even tremble.
The white spider monster seems to have its claws around our hearts.
“Hero?”
Suddenly, I hear a voice.
But not in the form of sound.
Telepathy.
It wasn’t directed at me.
I just happen to be overhearing it on its way to someone else.
“Hero.”
Then, suddenly, that someone else is here.
Not just here. It’s everywhere.
“Ruler?”
“Ruler.” “Ruler.” “Ruler.” “Ruler.” “Ruler.” “Ruler.”
“Cannot be Appraised?”
“Cannot be Appraised.” “Cannot be Appraised.” “Cannot be Appraised.” “Cannot be Appraised.” “Cannot be Appraised.” “Cannot be Appraised.”
“Ruler?”
“Ruler.” “Ruler.” “Ruler.” “Ruler.” “Ruler.” “Ruler.”
“Reincarnation?”
“Reincarnation.” “Reincarnation.” “Reincarnation.” “Reincarnation.” “Reincarnation.” “Reincarnation.”
“But they’re weak?”
“Weak.” “Weak.” “Weak.” “Weak.” “Weak.” “Weak.”
“Weak. Weak.” “Weak. Weak.” “Weak. Weak.” “Weak. Weak.” “Weak. Weak.” “Weak. Weak.”
The telepathic voice echoes all around.
Then they appear, on the floor, on the wall, on the ceiling, everywhere.
Red eyes, tons of them.
Then white, filling up my vision.
The bizarre spectacle forces my thoughts to grind to a halt.
No, I have to think.
They’re using language for a specific purpose—they must be.
And one particular word stands out.
“You know about reincarnations?!”
I steady my resolve and speak.
Basgath’s eyes widen, but I had to ask, no matter what.
“We do.” “We do.”
“Of course we do.”
The answer is immediate.
We’re communicating with each other.
These things aren’t monsters that lack intelligence.
“Why do you know that?”
“Master.” “Master.”
“Mother.” “Mother.”
“Is this ‘Master’ a reincarnation?”
“You’ll know soon enough.”
“You’ll find out soon enough.”
“You’ll find out.”
“You’ll know.”
“What do you mean?”
“Proclamation.”
“Pronouncement.”
“The beginning of the end.”
“The world begins.”
“The world ends.”
The white shadows gradually disappear.
“Please, wait! What does that mean?!”
“You don’t need to know.”
“You’ll die anyway.”
“Everyone will die.”
“Just struggle to survive.”
Implicitly, I felt like they were saying, We’ll let you live until then.
With that, the Nightmare’s Vestiges disappear.
“You fool!”
Basgath’s fist strikes my face.
I accept the punch with resignation.
Basgath tries to strike me again, but Hyrince grabs him and holds him back.
“I told yeh, didn’t I? If yeh see a Nightmare’s Vestige, don’t do anything!”
Even in a choke hold, Basgath is still yelling with rage.
At this rate, he might even shake off Hyrince and come at me again.
“Now, now.” Ms. Oka steps in. “We still got through safely, didn’t we?”
Basgath reluctantly stops struggling.
He still seems angry, but at least there’s no sign he’ll become violent again.
“I’m sorry. I just had to ask.”
“Even if it killed yeh?”
Part 3 of 8