Chapter 90
Chapter 90
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 90
Chapter Title: Lord Warrior (3)
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The party unleashed the highest-level skills they all could use.
― Grrrk!!
The Orc Lord had lost its composure, no longer able to speak human language.
It let out an orcish scream and began to kneel.
Ignoring the orcs swarming from all sides, the sheer power of the barrage was something even it couldn't withstand.
Shhk―
Regin pulled out an explosion scroll.
With a fierce glare fixed on the Orc Lord, he started moving forward.
His target was the creature's mouth.
Just like with the Lycanthrope, he planned to shove the bomb scroll into its mouth and detonate it.
"Regin."
The archer grabbed Regin like that and continued in a cold voice.
"Let me finish it off. Please."
Seeing the look in her eyes, Regin nodded.
She was asking for the chance to avenge Elsilva's gruesome end—her body torn between bone and flesh—with her own hands.
Her gaze burned with an icy chill.
Twang.
The bowstring pulled taut.
The archer locked eyes sharply on the Orc Lord, aiming right between its brows.
The perfect spot to deliver its final judgment.
Pheww!
An arrow infused with all her remaining mana left the bowstring.
It flew sharper and faster than ever before.
Thwack!!
It struck the Orc Lord squarely between the eyes.
Before it could even cry out in pain, flames erupted from the arrowhead, delivering a second blow.
Burn Arrow.
The most agonizing technique the archer could unleash.
'A skill that burns the target's mana along with their body.'
More potent than deadly poison, crueler than paralysis.
It raged through the body, using the victim's own mana as fuel, until they yanked it out themselves.
A skill that incinerated every last drop of mana from the inside out.
Fwoosh!!
The Orc Lord writhed in agony for a long while.
Every time it reached to pull out the arrow, gladiator swords flew in from the sides.
Finally, Greg and the gladiator severed its arms completely.
Thud!!
The Orc Lord collapsed to the ground, arms hacked off.
Grrrk......
It was in a state from which it could no longer escape death's approach.
It lay there, awaiting the end.
After gasping for a long time, the Orc Lord finally turned to dust and vanished after ten minutes.
The witch's clone and the Orc Lord.
With both linchpins gone, the orc horde began to fall apart quickly.
No more orcs came rushing in, and even if they did, they couldn't fight with the same ferocity as before.
They were nothing but blind soldiers without a leader.
'It's not just the orcs who lost their leader.'
Regin's view took in the two gladiators and the archer.
"......I should have shot it right between the eyes from the start. The moment it jumped and came down—that's when I should have nailed it!"
Even after slaying the Orc Lord, the archer found no satisfaction.
She was only whipping herself, regretting that she should have attacked sooner like this.
What came into view was not the thrill of hard-won victory, but the torment over what they had lost.
......
Once all the orcs were cleared, Regin moved silently to one spot.
No matter the process or outcome, farming had always come first for Regin.
He'd always planned for the next step, preparing for the future—but not this time.
Shhk.
At the spot where Elsilva's armor lay, he picked up the longsword she had wielded.
The weight of the sword she had held transmitted to his fingertips.
"Hup!"
Gripping it tightly with both hands, he thrust it into the ground with all his might.
Crunch!!
As deep as possible.
As firmly as possible.
Just as Elsilva had always done when pledging to protect Regin and the party—planting her sword into the earth.
"Elsilva. You were our great shield."
The two gladiators stared at Regin in a daze.
They followed suit, driving their own swords into the ground.
Crunch!
"Thank you!!"
"Thanks, Elsilva!"
Crunch!!
Greg, Bern, and Seria also planted their weapons into the earth.
Everyone bowed their heads for a moment.
As you wished, the party members you guarded with your life—all survived.
We survived the wake of that first wave.
Rest in peace, Regin murmured softly.
* * *
An hour had passed since defeating the Orc Lord.
Exhaustion that potions couldn't heal and mana depletion had them all sitting, catching their breath.
It had been an grueling battle.
After entering, they'd fought nonstop against skeletons, then immediately faced the witch's clone.
Just when they thought it was over, the saint's sword and Orc Lord appeared, forcing them to pour out their last reserves in another fight.
"You've all done well."
Regin spoke to the group, who had been sitting in silence for a while.
Without them, survival through this marathon battle wouldn't have been guaranteed.
Nor could he have saved Bern and Manannan.
'This means a lot to me too.'
He looked at the weary Manannan.
It had only been about three months since they'd last met, but his aura was different from their first encounter.
The mana density emanating from him was noticeably thicker.
Even nearly depleted now, it was impressive—hinting at even greater power at full strength.
'He must have been leveling up steadily.'
There had been almost no casting errors amid the chaos. He'd calmly intercepted monsters one by one.
It spoke to the thick experience he'd gained in that short time.
As Regin watched Manannan, the man approached and tapped his shoulder.
"Long time no see."
"Yeah."
"......How'd you know to come here?"
"I figured out where the saint's sword might be and came on a hunch."
......
"No need for that apologetic look. If no one had been here, we planned to take down the clone and grab the sword ourselves."
The saint's sword was an item that sought out mana sources.
It vanished without mana, so it constantly moved to find a host.
'Normally, it would have settled somewhere on the 6th floor to maintain its form.'
The fact that no one found it there meant it had passed through the portal to the 7th floor.
Regin had confirmed this through experiments with DAT users, so he was certain.
'From the sword's perspective, no better spot exists. The fog here is infused with the clone's mana...... Essentially, the whole map is blanketed in it.'
On top of that, the witch's garden collected items and corpses from inside and outside the tower.
Whether it was the ancient witch's personal taste or not, she'd even stationed a clone to manage it.
Adding something like the saint's sword here wasn't so out of place.
"Oh, introductions. Greg and Seria—they're my party members. Those folks were Elsilva's group; we met outside and came in together."
Regin briefly introduced Greg and Seria to Manannan.
"You're Manannan, right? I'm Greg. Greg Harbian. Exploring with Regin here."
"I'm Seria."
Greg greeted Manannan brightly as usual, while Seria stared before blurting it out.
"I'm Manannan."
"Yeah. Heard a lot about you. Regin's first exploring buddy, right?"
"Correct. We went up to the 5th floor together. But has Regin been talking about me a lot?"
"You bet. Just earlier too. You two split the Plexis Pendant, didn't you?"
"Correct."
"We were wandering Ian hunting skeletons when we heard your voice leaking through. Regin led us straight here on the spot."
Manannan hurriedly felt his neck.
"......Huh?"
"Here. It leaked earlier."
Regin handed Manannan the pendant. He'd recovered it right after taking down the witch's clone.
It was definitely a terrifying monster.
To think it'd use the Plexis Pendant to lure others.
In hindsight, it was a ridiculous ploy...... Regin might've been a bit pissed if Manannan had died.
"......The witch mimicked my voice?"
"She uses magic to imitate others."
"......Damn."
Manannan looked at Regin apologetically.
"Because of me, needlessly......"
"We had to take her down to leave anyway. Finding the clone quickly was a win."
......
He looked lost in thought.
Probably not guilt over Regin and the party.
More likely, thoughts of his own fallen comrades weighed heavier.
"......No wonder. The witch hid in the fog, ambushing constantly. Hard to pin down a way to fight back."
Places that seemed suspicious were empty.
Then a comrade's voice drew them in, only for the witch to prepare an ambush.
Regin's party had endured that hellish pattern too—and so had Manannan's.
"......Honestly, it's my fault."
Bern, who'd been listening, spoke up bluntly.
"When we found the 7th-floor red portal, we hesitated to enter. We didn't know much about this place."
......
"But we decided to come in. My call."
His expression wasn't great either.
Bern had led his party into this red portal with one goal: claim the saint's sword.
He clearly felt deep responsibility for that choice.
"The skeletons from under the tombstones were tough. And against the clone at the end, we were helpless."
"......It's not a well-known spot."
"With her ambushes dragging on, we lost one by one......"
......
Regin pondered briefly as Bern spoke.
'Makes sense—they all died.'
In the fight with the witch clone, they'd fallen, and the two survivors had met up, fleeing on the carpet.
That explained the guilt etched on both their faces.
One tormented for letting others die as leader, the other ashamed of his own shortcomings.
"Bern."
"......Yes."
"Once we're done here, how about we look for your comrades' bodies together?"
......
"I'll help."
Bern hesitated, then nodded.
"If you do that, I couldn't ask for more."
Somewhere in this place lay Bern's party members' bodies.
No guarantee of their condition, but honoring their end would bring peace.
"......Regin."
"Yes."
Bern looked at him, voice trembling as he continued.
"Thank you. For coming this far. And for those words just now."
"No need. I had my own reasons for coming. And recovering bodies is just the right thing."
......
"Our party thinks the same."
Greg nodded.
He'd been through something similar—his daughter dying in the tower.
"If someone hadn't carried her body through the portal back then, I might never have seen my daughter's last moments."
......
"That's what exploration is, isn't it? You climb on your own...... but no one should face the end of that journey alone."
"......You're right."
"We all hope to share that final moment with loved ones, or at least pass it to those left behind...... So we help each other."
It was an unspoken rule. Unless unavoidable, recover any bodies you witness.
In this case, they were like family to Bern—no calculations needed.
"Then, after an hour's rest, we'll clean up here."
Regin continued, having already roughed out a plan.
"Manannan. Let's talk separately."
Before that, he needed more time catching up with his old friend.
* * *
The witch's garden, now clear of fog, presented a bizarre scene.
Tombstones and bones littered everywhere, with trees sprouting sporadically amid them.
And the sky above was clear and sunny.
"......Damn it."
Manannan sighed, sitting under one of those trees.
"That embarrassing, huh?"
"......Yeah. You called me out because it showed on my face...... Honestly, I keep thinking if I'd done better, my teammates wouldn't have ended up like that."
......
"Didn't see it clearly, but I caught you using that bomb to blow away the fog temporarily. Let us fly in on the carpet because of it."
Like Regin had, what if he'd found a new counter to the clone?
Those three party members might not have died so pointlessly.
Manannan was still beating himself up over it.
"Won't offer clumsy comfort."
Regin looked at him and continued.
"Everyone's path is different—you'd just fixate on your shortcomings anyway. Better to talk about something else for now."
"......Like what?"
He'd thought it over during the hour's rest.
Mourning Elsilva mattered, but those she'd saved needed to push to the next stage.
"Once we get out, follow the archer Apellion. Join Phoenix Guild if you can. Convince Bern to come too, if possible."
The archer who'd fought alongside them thus far was Apellion.
Regin was convinced these two would need each other.