Chapter 49
Chapter 49
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 049
Chapter Title: The Lingering Specter in the Story (2)
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If the boss monster's activation condition was all four people gathering, then the clear condition would be no different.
‘……All four must stay alive.’
What they needed to do while alive remained to be seen.
Figuring that out would be the key.
Fortunately, there was still some time to grasp more of the pattern.
After all, the combination of Greg and Alice wasn’t bad.
Swish—
Chris, who had been moved to one side of the plaza, was starting to recover bit by bit.
For now, while he recovered, Greg, Alice, and Regin had to hold out.
—Roar!
“Urk!!”
Greg blocked the black flames shooting from Skelzy’s hand with his axe.
Whether due to a setup that countered magic, neither the axe nor Greg melted away.
“Fireball.”
While Greg blocked the attack, Alice relentlessly unleashed her spells.
Boom—!
A Fireball nearing the end of tier two flew ceaselessly toward Skelzy.
It slammed into Skelzy’s body, which no one could fully dodge, and exploded with a massive roar.
‘Mana shield…….’
It was a far thicker shield than the double-layered one Regin had made.
At least tier three level.
“I’ll keep attacking.”
“……Got it!”
They had to smash through it somehow.
Fireballs mercilessly assaulted the shield.
That was probably why the mage class was so highly regarded.
Flashy, powerful, and with high freedom of control.
‘Focusing on one spot.’
She wielded Fireball almost freely.
The more mana-intensive the spell, the harder the fine control should be.
Yet Alice controlled it with veteran skill and prowess, steadily shattering the shield.
Just as Regin thought they might take down Skelzy right then—
Whumm—
“……Hup!! Urk!!”
The moment Skelzy cast his spell, Greg’s body flew far back, crashing into the wall.
‘Knockback skill?’
It looked like a spell that knocked back intruders into its domain.
No direct damage, but hard to avoid.
The impact from flying back and hitting the wall was a bonus.
“Tch……!”
That left Alice’s positioning awkward for a moment.
Skelzy was right in front of her eyes.
Alice didn’t retreat and raised her wand once more.
“Fireball.”
But in that brief instant she hesitated, mindful of Greg—
—Grulk.
—Gerrulk.
Countless bones began crawling up from the floor.
Whumm—!!
Skelzy extended both hands, injecting mana into the ground.
‘Summoning skeletons…….’
Damn it.
Regin gritted his teeth.
This was completely different from the play videos he’d seen.
‘……The users were too weak to trigger the next phase.’
Not a clear video, but they’d fought for a while, so he thought they were close.
That’s why he’d judged it below Lycanthrope tier.
But experiencing it firsthand proved otherwise.
‘That player was just too weak.’
Weak enough that Skelzy didn’t need the next pattern.
“……Flame!”
As skeletons crawled up and took the Fireballs instead, Alice furrowed her brow.
Judging that eliminating them was priority, she switched spells.
With a red magic circle, flames spread in all directions.
Dark skeletons touched by the flames scattered into ash.
Sizzle—!
Regin tore a scroll to help.
Magic Arrow scrolls he’d stocked in bulk.
Dozens of mana-formed arrows shattered the dark skeletons’ skulls.
“Hup!”
In the meantime, Greg charged forward again, smashing skeletons with his axe.
The sound of breaking bones echoed everywhere.
Skelzy ignored it and kept spawning dark skeletons.
Over fifty by rough count.
Sweat beaded on Alice’s forehead, which had stayed composed until now.
Blasting spells nonstop to prevent more skeletons meant even a tier-three mage would tire eventually.
‘……Stay calm.’
Regin’s mind raced once more.
Playing DAT, he’d puzzled over this countless times.
How to tackle monsters.
If patterns existed, analyze them all to predict the next.
If gimmicks, understand their meaning first, then countermeasures.
‘……All to clear faster and easier.’
It was a roguelike where death ended everything.
Even facing unknown monsters or bosses, he’d always done his utmost to survive.
That accumulated experience now told him.
‘Don’t hold back.’
Not going all-out to save for the next pattern.
Would only make things trickier.
Flick—!
Regin tossed two scrolls from his bag, one to Greg and one to Alice.
“Mana shields!”
Alice could use her own, but.
He couldn’t make her burn more mana.
“Both of you, tear them right now.”
Tear—!
At Regin’s firm tone, the two tore the scrolls immediately.
Chris had recovered enough to do the same.
Confirming that, Regin pulled out another scroll.
‘Upgraded with Voland’s advice…….’
Regin special bomb version two.
Or, magic overload bomb.
Its power was already proven.
Regin tore the scroll and hurled it to the plaza’s center.
Boom—!!
A mass of black mana exploded.
A fierce mana vortex swept the surroundings.
Regin special bomb, potent enough to devastate a 20-meter radius.
The blast center was a wreck.
Remnants of Skelzy’s summoned skeletons filled the plaza.
‘Try summoning more.’
Just in case, Regin gripped another bomb scroll, glaring at Skelzy.
If more skeletons appeared, he’d blow them away again.
That deleted the phase two summon pattern.
* * *
Alice wiped her sweat and looked ahead.
Smoke from the explosion cleared, revealing the plaza empty of skeletons.
“All skeletons wiped.”
She thought Regin’s judgment was spot-on.
At first, she hadn’t grasped giving her a shield scroll.
“If no shield, that skill could endanger us too…… Got it.”
A bomb potent enough to shatter Regin’s shield in one hit. Prep for danger, and it was great firepower.
“Can I request one more later?”
“Everyone needs shields up, as you saw.”
“When the time comes, I’ll tell you. Toss a scroll like before.”
Regin nodded.
If ready, one or two…… he could unleash freely.
The issue was whether such an opening would come again.
— …….
Skelzy roared and bombarded Regin with spells.
His mana shield looked thin now too.
Under spell barrage, designing scrolls was tough.
That moment.
Black flames flew at Regin from an unavoidable angle.
“Regin!”
Greg dashed in, barely blocking with his axe.
But even Greg struggled to hold.
Skelzy was spamming skills desperately.
“Keep holding like that.”
The thing had no leeway.
That meant clear was near.
Alice seemed to grasp it too, gathering mana with her staff.
Whumm—
Mana denser than before endlessly converged on the staff.
Prepping her strongest skill.
Likely to blow Skelzy’s mana shield in one shot.
Skelzy’s gaze shifted to Alice’s staff.
It snapped its fingers.
Snap—!
“……Stop!”
A familiar skill.
Seen fighting the 10th floor Silence Witch.
‘Why…… is a 4th floor monster using this?’
Regin tried to stop Alice urgently, but a beat too late.
“……Urk!!”
The spell from Skelzy’s fingertip reached her staff.
In an instant.
All that mana evaporated.
Boom—!
An explosion rang out.
Not Regin’s bomb this time.
……Mana exploded from Alice’s staff tip, all backlash hitting her.
‘……Mana Burn!’
Skelzy’s skill was Mana Burn.
Advanced spell that burned away ambient mana.
It forcibly canceled Alice’s cast, triggering backlash explosion.
“……Kuh!”
Intense pain spread as Alice collapsed.
She hadn’t shown it, but her mana was already low.
They’d split into four groups to avoid overexertion, but Skelzy targeted knight Chris, forcing repeated emergency teleports.
From there, prolonged battle grew hard; Fireball to Flame.
All skills used in the drawn-out fight had drained her mana dry.
‘……Damn. That overload just caused mana exhaustion.’
Mana exhaustion, or magic exhaustion.
Symptom when a mage depletes all power.
Never experienced it, but books here said it felt like veins burning throughout the body.
Her final shot’s Mana Burn explosion triggered it.
“……B-bomb it…… end it!”
Even collapsed, Alice gritted her teeth and shouted.
She didn’t know about herself.
But Regin’s bomb would at least take Skelzy down with her.
The moment she steeled herself and looked at Regin.
“Greg!”
Regin pulled not a bomb scroll, but another.
‘Can’t waste it on a bomb.’
Still didn’t know how to defeat Skelzy.
Couldn’t make the dumb choice of reducing numbers.
Tear—!
Greg tore the scroll Regin handed him.
“Smash it just like that.”
Mana poured out, soaking into Greg’s body.
Spellcrafter Voland, who’d bet everything on brawn, prepared it for Regin.
‘Strength enhancement scroll.’
Greg’s body swelled massively, then stopped.
Nearly double strength boost.
Greg charged at Skelzy lunging for Alice.
Boom—!!
A full-force axe swing from an 11th-floor warrior dwarf slammed Skelzy’s mana shield.
Cracking sounds followed as the shield shattered, scattering everywhere.
— …….
Regin smirked unconsciously at the roaring Skelzy.
‘It’s out.’
Some monsters required specific gimmicks to defeat.
Skelzy too.
With the mana shield gone, purple patterns floated around its body.
East, west, south, north—exactly four directions in midair.
“One per person!”
Gamer’s instinct.
Reason four entered here.
Simultaneously strike those patterns from all sides.
Swish—
Greg took position first. Chris, barely standing, followed.
Alice reached from the ground, mustering her worn mana.
— …… !!
One shot each.
The moment all struck the east-west-south-north patterns.
— Krurrulk!!!
Skelzy screamed and collapsed there.
The heavy mana pressing the plaza vanished.
Skelzy, DAT’s near-only monster Regin couldn’t defeat, finally fell to his hand.