Chapter 96
Chapter 96
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 96
Chapter Title: Self-Portrait (1)
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“This is tricky.”
Ceria scanned their surroundings as she spoke.
“Ghosts are a pain for me and Greg to deal with.”
Ghosts—the monsters DAT players called by that name.
There were all sorts of ghosts here, each with different abilities and traits, but they shared one key thing in common.
‘They’re immune to physical attacks.’
They lacked physical bodies to begin with, existing only as wandering souls.
It was only natural that swinging a sword or axe at them wouldn’t work.
“Even wrapping mana around our weapons has its limits.”
In the end, only skills powered by mana could land solid hits.
Of course, even then, skills that didn’t match their type wouldn’t deal full damage.
Above all, their floating, drifting forms made them tricky opponents for Ceria, who relied on daggers.
“Well, you two can sit this one out.”
Leggin chuckled and pulled out a scroll.
In his hand was the new regeneration scroll he’d made using rabbit foot fur.
“The ghosts in the knight’s quarters aren’t that tough anyway.”
The ghosts that appeared in the rooms were typically the sorts who might have once lived here.
This room was large, but it had been for regular soldiers.
Not general-level ghosts—just foot soldiers.
“I’ll handle this room.”
This would buy the other two some rest.
Greg and Ceria chuckled and lowered their weapons.
Ssslruk—
Leggin unleashed spells at the ghosts emerging from between the wall and floor.
The scroll tore apart mercilessly.
It expelled all its mana, then regenerated almost immediately, restoring its form.
Kwaang—!
Craaaack!
Leggin’s spells hammered the ghosts without mercy.
‘This one regenerated twice.’
Thanks to the rabbit foot fur’s effect kicking in, the scroll had regenerated twice.
Meaning one scroll allowed for a total of three attacks.
Even if this room had the most ghosts and their mismatch in affinities would make it a slog otherwise.
It didn’t apply to Leggin, who was more confident in multi-target fights than anyone.
Fwoosh!
He could even pick spells that matched their affinities perfectly, making the battle even more one-sided.
“A real monster, huh.”
The ghosts vanished rapidly amid Greg’s hollow laugh.
* * *
There were two ways to exit the rooms inside the castle.
‘Either clear every monster that exists or complete the event.’
Otherwise, pay the price to open the door.
It didn’t require anything extravagant—just inject enough mana into the door for the escape.
Of course, the amount needed wasn’t small.
It demanded mana proportional to the room’s escape difficulty.
“Thanks to you, we can save that mana for later.”
“This feels like we’re getting out almost scot-free.”
“Exactly. As a scrollcrafter, you probably didn’t burn much mana anyway.”
The party didn’t have to pay that price, thanks to Leggin’s performance.
Leggin’s face stiffened slightly at Greg and Ceria’s praise.
“Scrollcrafters burn mana too.”
“……Huh?”
“Crafting them guzzles mana, and using them does too.”
“……W-Who said otherwise?”
“It might’ve looked easy, but I worked hard enough.”
There was a saying that if someone’s job looked easy, they were just that good at it.
Scrollcrafting was never a cushy profession.
If anything, it was far more demanding.
“My bad, Leggin.”
“……”
“……Thanks to your considerable sacrifice, we got through the room nice and easy.”
Leggin nodded in satisfaction.
It hadn’t actually burned much mana, but he couldn’t stand people treating scrollcrafters like they had it easy.
‘That’s why you gotta put these comfy jobs in their place sometimes.’
It was why he never let the whiners in the community slide.
……They had to know what real hardship was before any conversation made sense, right?
“Pfft. You turn into a whole different person whenever scrollcrafting comes up.”
“……I’ve got some personal trauma on that front.”
“Heh, it’s funny, but I get it. Scrollcrafting’s no easy gig.”
“……”
“You can tell just from how few scrollcrafters enjoy exploring and fighting. It’s not a combat class to begin with.”
“Most of them make custom scrolls for guilds or associations.”
“That’s what makes you special. I know it’s something only you can pull off.”
Leggin smiled awkwardly.
He’d spoken firmly because it reminded him of community drama, but it seemed comical to Greg.
“Anyway…… I had a feeling, and sure enough—no mana stones.”
“Yeah.”
“They don’t hold mana, so that tracks.”
Leggin had taken out over thirty ghosts in that instant.
Yet not a single soldier ghost dropped a mana stone.
“Tch. This room’s a bust. Good thing we ducked in here to hide—if we’d come for loot, we’d be pissed.”
“True.”
“And you burned mana on top of it—a huge loss…!”
“Haha! You’re right.”
Leggin had already known ghosts didn’t drop mana stones.
Especially not soldier-grade ones.
‘Higher-grade ghosts are different, though.’
Those often dropped items that weren’t quite mana stones.
“Ghosts probably drop Soul Crystals.”
“Soul Crystals…? Those come from ghosts?”
“Yeah. But only from the strong ones, it seems. Probably only those whose souls are dense enough with power.”
“Intriguing.”
Like mana stones, they weren’t ore, but they functioned similarly.
It wasn’t surprising for a blacksmith like Greg to take interest.
‘They can imbue attributes…… kind of like enchant items.’
He glanced subtly at Ceria.
Assassins had all sorts of builds.
“One build that’d be perfect if we can farm as many as possible crossed my mind.”
A perfect fit for Ceria—one that required Soul Crystals.
They chatted idly like that, taking a short break.
They’d been fighting nonstop since entering the 8th Floor, and above all, they needed to check the situation outside before moving on.
“Feel any GranTula mana?”
“……Hmm.”
Even after clearing all the ghosts, they waited a good while before leaving.
If a basilisk was prowling the hallway outside, that’d be a disaster.
“No GranTula mana yet.”
Thirty minutes passed.
Yet no sign of a single moving GranTula outside.
He sensed mana now and then, but it was just from other parties passing through the halls.
‘Maybe no basilisks.’
He kept considering other possibilities.
If not basilisks, then what could make those spiders hide in fear?
Another ten minutes trickled by, and Leggin had to make a call.
“Let’s go.”
“Did you sense any GranTula mana?”
“No, still nothing.”
“……What if there’s a basilisk? It’ll take time to duck back into this room.”
Rooms had re-entry cooldowns.
That’s why they couldn’t pop in and out to check.
Still, he judged it better than wasting time hiding from a maybe-enemy.
“I’m not saying we charge out the door, obviously. If there’s a basilisk……”
“We’d get wiped.”
“Exactly.”
Pure difficulty-wise, they were on par with the lycanthropes on 4F.
“So here’s the thing.”
Swoosh—
Leggin’s gaze turned to empty air.
“How about we use that hole?”
A hole big enough for one person to crawl through lying down.
Greg had worried about it on the way here, but up close, even someone in armor might squeeze through.
“……You mean the doggy door?”
Greg stared at Leggin with wide eyes.
Leggin always tossed out unexpected ideas, but this one took the cake.
He was suggesting they use what DAT players just called “vent shafts.”
“Yeah. We call ’em doggy doors usually, but for us, they’re people doors.”
* * *
“Urgh…… Not easy. Crawling like this, I mean.”
“It’s not like we can’t move, though.”
Greg went first, then Leggin, then Ceria—they crawled through the vent in order.
It was manageable for Leggin and Ceria, but Greg in his armor struggled a bit.
“Better than getting eaten by a basilisk, right?”
“……Fair point.”
Greg caught his breath and continued.
“Surprised this even works in the first place. Figured it’d be sealed off.”
“Read it in a book. The vents in Skull Castle are a bit big for just ventilation.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. It said they might be emergency passages for when you can’t use the hallways…… something like that.”
It was from the library, of course.
There’d been a book compiling Skull Castle’s history, with structural analysis and guesses.
He’d been honestly impressed reading it.
Leggin had tried nearly every playstyle here, so he knew the tips inside out.
Yet this guy had researched solo inside the game and nailed it almost perfectly.
‘Makes sense when you see the author’s name.’
Carlos Cicero.
A mage who wouldn’t pale next to the sage Nuada.
That’s why Leggin had read it—pure curiosity.
‘Not from Flexis’s era, not an archmage either. But one of the top mages right now.’
How could he skip it?
This era’s three great mages always included him.
‘No wonder he’s one of the three greats. Felt it playing the game too…… The guy’s got wild ideas.’
Bowman had mentioned him once before.
A mage that famous, and stylistically the polar opposite of Nuada.
Unlike Nuada, who stuck to established spells and rules, he was the master of tricks and innovation.
Leggin hadn’t told Nuada, but that’s why he’d sought out more of his magic books.
Carlos might’ve jotted down something Leggin never considered.
“Left.”
The fruits of that reading were this.
He’d concentrated hard on it after ages.
Leggin never skipped long analysis posts in the community either.
He’d known vents were usable.
“Right.”
But learning their exact purpose and layout? Thanks to Carlos’s breakdown.
‘I used to think vents weren’t efficient. They don’t connect every room.’
According to Carlos, Skull Castle’s vents were deliberate passages.
The key was one thing.
……Secret routes to evade attackers.
“Past this room……”
“……The banquet hall.”
“No other parties around. Let’s move.”
They usually linked to the massive banquet hall. From there, you could switch routes.
“This way.”
“Vents from the banquet hall too? Heh. Folks’d flip if they saw.”
They hurried into another vent before the banquet hall monsters spawned.
‘Taking this route……’
Thirty minutes of crawling through vents later.
“We’re here.”
Leggin’s party emerged from the hole into a new room.
“The portrait room.”
A vast space, portraits lining every wall.
Creak, thud.
As if registering their entry, the open room door slammed shut.
“……Creepier than I thought.”
And with that, every portrait’s gaze turned to them.
The figures in the paintings moved only their eyes, staring down Leggin and his companions.