Chapter 18
Chapter 18
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 18
Chapter Title: Now Who's the Prey? (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
— Is it really impossible to combine them like this? The creation itself seems to work, though...?
It was back when he used to play DAT.
Regin stared at the screen, a question nagging at him.
'What happens if you cram every single spell formula into one scroll?'
In fact, DAT allowed combining multiple spells into a single scroll for use.
'That's when I started experimenting, tossing in all sorts of things. No one else had tried it, so I was just curious.'
Regin jammed every attribute of magic into one spell scroll.
Boom!
— What the hell?
His character died instantly, and the game crashed.
There wasn't even time to dodge the explosion or heal up. It was over in one hit.
'I was floored. The character I'd carefully leveled up... gone right before my eyes.'
He had no choice but to start the game over from scratch.
If he'd known the damage hit instantly, he could've prepared better.
It was a disaster born of greed and curiosity, but Regin saw potential in it.
'I knew that if it worked right, no spell could match its devastating power. Especially... on these lower floors.'
It wasn't top-spec, but his level was decent, and it still one-shot him.
In other words, it was a massive threat even to lower-floor monsters.
And it had the advantage of instant activation.
Like a grenade without a pin, or a time bomb with no countdown.
Regin's eyes sparkled as he realized he'd discovered it himself.
Boom!
— ...No, how the hell are you supposed to use this thing?
He had to watch his characters die in droves.
Because the user got caught in the explosion too.
— I'll figure out how to use it somehow.
Regin challenged it endlessly, researching until he mastered the bomb's deployment.
A way to deal full damage to the enemy while the caster took none.
Kaboom—!!
And the result of that research...
"Arrrgh!!"
"Urk!"
"Hang in there, Manannan!!"
...was unfolding right before Regin's eyes.
Whoooosh!!
Right after Regin tore the scroll and hurled it at the two, a massive explosion rocked the area.
A huge halo of light signaled the scroll's activation, followed by a deafening roar that echoed through the entire forest.
An explosion that swept away everything in a 20-meter radius.
A fierce mana vortex whipped around, turning the surroundings to rubble in an instant.
Black and white lights spread, clumped, and spread again, repeatedly birthing massive flames.
It obliterated the two raiders who took the direct hit, along with all the red trees sprouting nearby.
'Compared to a grenade, the power and radius are... in another league. No, three leagues higher.'
Even the remaining durability of his Mana Shield vanished in one go.
The remnants of the Mana Shield shattered into blue fragments and flew off.
Regin held his position at the center, gazing ahead.
Thanks to the Mana Shield, he took no explosion damage.
Grip!
But even bracing with all his strength, the storm-like winds threatened to hurl him away.
'This is... the Overload Special Bomb.'
He'd only seen it on a computer screen before. Experiencing it firsthand was new.
As the smoke cleared slightly, the charred blackness of the devastated area came into view.
No 11th Floor explorer could survive it.
...It was Regin's hidden trump card.
"Cough! Cough!"
The explosion stopped, leaving Regin and Manannan rolling on the ground.
Smoke filled the air around them, stinging their eyes and noses.
'That was insane...'
Without the Mana Shield, it wouldn't have ended with just a tumble.
If things had gone even a little worse...
'We'd have been reduced to ash in that blast too.'
A chill ran through him, even though he'd anticipated this firepower.
...Just a slight miscalculation, and they might've been caught in it too.
"...What the hell was that?"
"A bomb. I heard you can make them using overloads. Not our Flame Balls... but on par with second-tier Fireballs."
"...A crazy scroll like this exists?"
Manannan scanned the surroundings with a dazed look.
His hair was a mess from the blast winds, his face smeared black with soot.
But that stunned expression stood out even more.
"H-How are we still okay?"
"Got to credit the Mana Shield."
"......"
Regin had researched ways to make use of these overload scrolls. The Mana Shield was one of them.
'It breaks, but keeps the damage off you.'
Manannan swallowed hard and continued.
"Hey...! Even so, how could you just use something like that without warning...! No time to even move!"
"It was urgent. If I'd hesitated..."
Regin's gaze turned to the epicenter of the blast.
"We'd be the ones done for."
The crater at the blast's heart.
Inside it lay the two man and woman, charred black and collapsed.
* * *
"...Are they dead? They must be, right? How could anyone survive that...?"
"We have to check."
Rustle—
As the smoke cleared, the two cautiously approached the epicenter.
There lay the blackened Clack and Helena.
So horrific they barely looked human anymore... like piles of ash.
"Ugh."
"......"
Regin sharply assessed their conditions.
Twitch.
"Th-they're alive?"
He hadn't finished them off completely; they were still hanging on.
Barely, but alive.
"Ah... What do we do now, Regin? We can't just leave them like this."
"Of course we can't leave them."
"Then what...?"
"Finish them off."
"...What?"
"They're barely clinging to life anyway. Even if they survive, it'll just be suffering. Say some high-floor healer finds them by luck and patches them up..."
What if these two somehow lived?
It wasn't hard to imagine the possibilities.
"They'd report us, or come hunting us themselves... Either way, they won't let us off. Revenge wouldn't be out of the question."
"...R-Revenge?"
"The ones who did this to them... they won't just sit idle."
"Th-That's true, but..."
"Best to end it here."
Manannan got it logically, but his body wouldn't cooperate.
Unlike him, Regin tore a scroll with cold eyes.
This world wouldn't let you survive on kindness alone.
Or would it?
'Does good and evil even mean anything here?'
Human or inhuman—who draws that line?
'...Kill or be killed.'
This was a place where you had to struggle to survive.
To live on, you couldn't shy from any means. That was the norm here.
Regin had steeled himself the moment he entered this world.
No matter what, he would survive.
He would never let anyone take his life.
'Not until I reach the top of the 6th Tower. I can't die pointlessly.'
He didn't know what awaited at the end of the 6th Tower. That's why he had to survive until then.
Who knew?
Something there might send him back to his original world.
Honestly, he desperately hoped there was.
Some way to return to his old life.
And to get it...
'Killing people... I have to accept that too. And everything that follows.'
It was unavoidable.
Something he'd have to face eventually anyway.
"If you can't do it, step back. I'll handle the cleanup."
"Do we really have to? Like you said, they're dying anyway. You don't need to—"
Manannan's unease showed on his face. Killing people naturally sparked revulsion.
'I get it. But what if... They could become a problem later. Better end it here.'
Regin gripped the scroll tighter. It tore bit by bit with a rip.
He was glad to be a mage.
If he'd been a swordsman or thief in this world, it'd be trouble.
Ending a life would mean feeling the blade pierce flesh, seeing the blood up close.
'...Yeah. This is better.'
Magic meant no physical contact. Less shock that way.
Rip!
Regin fully tore the scroll.
A blue magic circle flared, unleashing lightning on Clack and Helena.
Twitch!
The two, barely breathing, met their end completely.
* * *
With the mercy kill done, Regin decided to loot the gear they'd left behind.
"There'll be something useful. If gear survived that blast... it has to be top-notch."
"......"
Manannan remained frozen, unmoving.
Did they really need to strip their gear too?
While he hesitated, Regin boldly handled the items in view.
Isn't that too cold...? As that thought crossed his mind...
"......"
He noticed Regin's stiff expression and faintly trembling fingers.
"Hey, you... you okay?"
"...Yeah."
"Your hand's shaking. Doesn't look okay at all."
"I'm fine."
No.
Truth was, he wasn't.
He barely held back a sigh.
'What? Better than a sword? No sensation, so it's fine?'
Foolish delusion.
Nausea rose to his throat.
Each time he picked up an item, the charred corpse smell and blood hit his nose.
Faces and bodies so burned and electrocuted they were unrecognizable.
The shock of smelling and seeing it was indescribable.
Farming just in case, death permeated his entire body.
"...Beyond okay or not, it's something we have to do."
Here, a single item could mean life or death.
If it was needed, you took it, no matter the cost.
Regin desperately thought of other things to shake off the shock.
'Two died on this floor, so two Ghouls will spawn nearby in the forest.'
On the 4th Floor, souls of the dead lingered, fusing with nearby corpses.
That birthed Ghouls.
Recalling that lore, Regin pressed on.
'No need to fight them head-on. Too much stamina and mana drain. Unnecessary play.'
Regin kept up game-like thinking, reminding himself of what a DAT gamer should do.
Right—this world was once a game.
So just...
'Treat it like a game.'
Then, what next? Searching for blue-leaf trees was stamina-efficient, but...
Focusing on the next tasks proved quite effective.
Regin racked his brain relentlessly, like a fugitive on the run.
As if he couldn't afford not to focus here.
"...Hey, Regin."
"...Huh?"
"Let's rest at the camp they set up. I need it, but especially... your face looks like it does."
His endless calculations snapped when Manannan clapped his shoulder and spoke.
"Sure."
Only then did Regin and Manannan move nearby and flop down.
The mood was awkward.
Regin was lost in thought, and so was Manannan.
Crackle—
After staring at the fire they'd built for a while, Manannan spoke up.
"Sorry."
"Hm?"
"Thinking about it now, you were right—we had to kill them. For our survival too."
"......"
"...If they'd lived, others could've become their next victims."
"......"
Manannan continued, mulling it over.
"Ha. I don't know. Honestly, I'm still not sure if it was right."
"......"
"But if it prevented more victims, not just us... then it was necessary."
"......"
"Ultimately, to avoid stuff like this..."
As Manannan kept going, Regin spoke with resolve.
"We need to get stronger."
"...Yeah. That's what I was getting to."
They needed to get stronger.
They couldn't stay weak enough for 11th Floor scrubs to jump them.
...Couldn't scrape by over hurdles this minor.
"Get strong enough to survive for sure... and see the end of this tower."
It was the conclusion after countless mental simulations.
Nothing had changed since he first arrived.
He'd survive somehow and reach the tower's end.