Chapter 84
Chapter 84
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 84
Chapter Title: Witch's Garden (2)
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"......Should we have chosen the green smoke?"
They had just fought a round against the skeletons, and now they had to fight again without even a moment to rest.
The archer gave a wry smile as he looked at Regin.
"Even if it had been green smoke, it wouldn't have made much difference."
In truth, this was a point of contention even among players.
Yellow or green.
He recalled heated debates about which choice was more efficient.
'......And the truth is, there's still no clear answer.'
Regin himself had concluded that it was hard to judge.
"You wouldn't want to fight Orc Warriors or an Orc Lord, right?"
"......So green led to the Orc Lord?"
"According to the records, yes. It spawns a few orcs along with warriors or a lord."
"Creepy. So aside from the green and yellow paths, there's no easier route?"
"Probably not."
Avoid one tiger, and you end up with a den of foxes and wolves.
No, maybe even closer to bears.
Orcs boasted strength and stamina incomparable to goblins.
And the Orc Lord leading them could be even worse than the skeletons.
Grrr—
That was when it happened.
Bang—!!
As if unable to wait any longer, the pirate skeleton drew its pistol.
Everyone's eyes widened at the sudden gunshot.
"Even so, guns are going too far......!"
Clang!
One gladiator blocked it with his armor and shouted in indignation.
"You must have seen pistols in the kingdom too."
Sure, a skeleton suddenly firing a gun out of nowhere could feel absurd.
But considering the gun's low level of power, it wasn't that big a threat.
Reloading was slow too.
"Let's close in and take them out quick."
After a brief moment of surprise, the party adapted and launched their attack.
Bang—!!
Slash—!!
The sound of swords swinging mingled with the gunfire.
In the midst of the noisy clash, Regin calmly tore a scroll.
"Ice Ball."
In an instant, three skeletons were struck by ice orbs, their bones freezing solid.
Seria seized the opening and dove in.
She sped toward the skeleton that looked like the captain.
Slash—!
Twin daggers gripped in reverse grip sliced relentlessly through the skeleton's bones in mid-air.
When Seria halted her assault, the captain's body crumbled to the ground in pieces.
Crash!
"......Huh. How is her movement that fast?"
"Heh heh. Seria's the pride of our party."
Greg spoke proudly, and Seria gave a light smile with a nod.
"......By the way, no more skeletons coming out, right?"
"No other gravestones around."
Regin quickly moved toward the pit the skeleton had burst from.
"Best to loot it."
"What?"
"The stuff inside the gravestone. We haven't decided on distribution, so first come, first served."
"......!!"
Only then did they notice the items buried in the pit.
The archer let out a hollow laugh and shook his head.
"Oh no. First come, first served puts us at a huge disadvantage."
Among them, Seria had the quickest movements.
She was already rummaging through every corner of the pit.
Not for nothing was she an assassin.
Regin searched alongside her, but unfortunately found nothing much.
"The gravestone's owner didn't leave much behind. There's a compass, though......"
It seemed to be a pirate's gravestone by the setting.
Navigation tools were buried there, but the sea didn't appear until the 20th floor in DAT.
So they were items that were awkward to use or sell right now.
'Or go to the starting island, but I won't have business there for a while.'
He was staring at the compass like that when—
"......Huh. Regin."
"Yes?"
"Is this why you called it a garden full of ores instead of flowers?"
"Exactly."
Following Greg's belated gaze, glittering ores came into view everywhere.
"The mana from the skeletons reacts with the surrounding rocks, producing lots of mithril and such."
The Witch's Garden was filled with bones, and the ores born from that mana were plentifully buried.
In other words, even if nothing good came from the gravestones, you could profit from the ores.
"Records say...... the deposits here rival any mine."
Greg smirked and opened his bag.
"This is why I told you to come with empty bags."
To a blacksmith like Greg, it must have felt no different from a treasure island.
* * *
"Hup."
Greg, having stuffed his bag full of ores, tensed his thighs and stood up.
"Even with a lightweight scroll, it's this heavy...... Am I being too greedy?"
He said, feeling the weight of his bag.
He had swept up every ore in sight, so of course it wasn't light.
"You grabbed a ton too, didn't you, Regin?"
"Ah, yeah."
Regin had taken about as much, but suffered no weight penalty.
"It's a bag with pre-enchanted magic."
"......Jealous."
"Once this expedition ends, I'll get bags for you and Seria too."
It was all thanks to the ketchup thief, but he kept that quiet.
'Have to make it look like the bags' efficiency benefits others.'
Bags enchanted with lightweight and space optimization magic existed.
Even so, they only held two or three times more than usual.
Regin had deliberately bought one to bring in.
'Can't let the Infinite Inventory get exposed to others.'
Honestly, he wasn't without the urge to confide in Greg about it.
He wanted to study it properly too.
'......Until I heard Ferma Vinish was on death row.'
He had seen with his own eyes how the kingdom reacted to black magic and unknowns.
......And Regin's inventory, which he still couldn't explain?
If rumors spread wrong, the kingdom might move, and there was no guarantee he wouldn't end up like Ferma.
"......I've decided."
"Yes?"
"Gonna have to lighten the load. Ugh. Such a shame. Can't take all these valuables."
"Good thinking. Other graves will have ores too. Let's just take the high-purity ones."
"Right. Any orichalcum?"
"Probably not. Orichalcum only drops on 10th floor and up."
"......Deeply disappointing."
Regin felt the same regret.
Even if orichalcum came later, it stung that he couldn't take all these abundant ores.
'I could take them all, though.'
If Regin just decided, hauling every item here wasn't impossible.
A sneaky desire grew in one corner of his mind to game a bit more comfortably.
'......Nonsense.'
He shook his head and cleared his thoughts. Time to stay rational.
Making life inside easier was nice, and smoother clears were welcome.
But those weren't the top priorities.
'You have to survive to clear and do the rest.'
Survival.
Regin reaffirmed his goal and moved.
Thud—
His hands and feet gripped the pit's edge, pulling him out of the grave where the skeleton and ores had been buried.
'At least one year.'
He had to do everything possible within that time.
He didn't have the power or timing to oppose the kingdom yet.
But once all preparations were complete.
'No more hiding...... I can take all this as I please.'
The remaining ores in the pit entered his view.
Imagining the day he'd get double compensation for today's regrets, Regin walked toward the Elsilva group.
* * *
"But how the heck did someone from the age of sail end up buried here?"
They were moving along the yellow smoke again when the archer tilted his head and asked.
"After the kingdom unified the continent, no pirates like that showed up."
"Not that I know of."
"And people who handle guns are rare too...... How did they end up buried in this tower?"
To the archer, encountering a gun-wielding skeleton felt alien.
It was understandable. Guns were extremely rare in DAT.
'Mostly just pistol forms at best. Even advanced ones are revolvers. Mana-charged shots barely pierce armor, so no threat to skilled explorers.'
There was one simple reason guns hadn't advanced.
Swords and bows were easier and stronger.
If guns pierced monster heads, they'd use them, but they didn't.
"Ever heard of the Ancient Witch?"
"Ancient Witch......?"
"Yeah."
"Not the First Witch, but Ancient Witch? First time hearing it. I've decoded a ton of history books."
"It's in the kingdom library too. Just a single line, easy to miss."
"Huh. Regin Petrichio. How many books do you read normally?"
Regin shrugged.
Most time not exploring was spent reading library books.
He had the goal of surviving, plus the fun of comparing to game knowledge, so it wasn't hard.
'I was a bookworm in Korea too.'
When not gaming, he read.
Not anything profound, but webnovels and such suited his tastes.
Fantasy games shared similar settings, making them easy to approach.
'And I'm a reader from Korea, where Nobel Prizes happen.'
Regin shrugged, reminiscing.
He remembered excitedly visiting a bookstore upon hearing a Korean author won the Nobel.
Tough read since it wasn't genre fiction, but...... Koreans being book-close isn't weird.
"Anyway, witches existed before the kingdom's witches were born."
"......What? So she was the first witch?"
"Bit ambiguous to call her a witch. More like......"
Regin blended game info with library readings smoothly.
"......A being close to an ancient god."
"God?"
"Yeah. Said to control time, space, and even life spans with magic."
"......"
Gulp.
He heard the archer swallow.
"......Possible? Even with magic."
"Just a legend, believe it or not."
"Absurd. Messing with time, space, and life."
The archer chuckled wryly and continued.
"That's enough to create a whole world."
"......Haha. Dunno about that, but seems she could make places like this graveyard."
"So this garden was made by that Ancient Witch?"
"Yes."
"That's why it's called the Witch's Garden."
"Right. Probably transcended time and space to gather bones from eras she could reach."
"......Hold on. You said earlier we have to catch that witch?"
"Yes."
"How do you catch a being like that?"
He tried not to show it, but everyone including the archer was listening intently to Regin.
If the Ancient Witch was the stage boss...... how do you even beat that?
A strange tension hung in the air.
"Impossible to catch the main body, sure."
"......"
"But records say the witch on 7th floor is a clone."
"Clone?"
"There's a spell called Shadow Avatar. Creates a clone...... usually at one-tenth the caster's power."
"Hearing that is a relief. So we just fight one-tenth the witch's strength?"
"High chance."
"Then until then, we keep battling like this?"
Crunch!
The party fought skeletons popping from gravestones while moving.
In about an hour, there had been nearly six fights.
No rest, no turning back.
"No. The Heart Diamond fragment from Chimihi......"
There was a textbook method for times like this.
Heart Diamond shards pointed to the Ancient Witch.
As Regin reached for the fragment in his pocket—
—......Run, everyone!!
"......!!"
Regin's gaze snapped to the pendant.
A very faint voice, but he didn't miss it.
Plaxys's pendant.
The one he'd worn constantly since entering—it spoke.
Meaning his friend Manannan was in the Witch's Garden.
"......The witch is within an hour's distance."
Less than a kilometer away, in other words.