Chapter 63
Chapter 63
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 63
Chapter Title: Traits and Ambush
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“Amazing. It’s something I’ve only ever seen in books or diaries brought back by adventurers.”
Zero spoke in a voice subtly trembling with emotion, then slowly smiled as he held the paper up to the sky.
[Kindness (A+), Thirst for Knowledge (B), Cooking (S+). You are a very kind person, brimming with passion for learning. You possess tremendous talent in cooking. Remember that everyone can improve, grow, and deserves recognition.]
Unlike the wooden tablet from the Labyrinth, in the Spirit Forest, they wrote the traits on paper faintly dyed a pale green.
The paper, which smelled faintly of grass as if it had been dipped in herbal water and removed, was something Zero kept stroking over and over as if it were a treasure.
“It really changes based on effort. I guess I do have some talent after all.”
His face was bright. Unlike the wooden tablet from the Labyrinth City that simply read [Kindness (A). You are a kind person.], here it was phrased quite gently, and it even ended with an uplifting phrase like something pulled from a book of quotes, which seemed to satisfy him even more.
Zero, looking pleased at the fact that he had talents beyond just kindness, carefully rolled up the paper and tucked it into his pocket.
‘You’re smiling too soon, Zero.’
After all, the most important trait hadn’t awakened yet.
[Zero — Doppelganger’s Beginning and End]
Representative Traits: [Copy (B)] [Kindness (A+)] [Thirst for Knowledge (B)] [Cooking (S+)]
Hidden Traits: [Myriad Transformations (A)] [Dignity (C-)] [Magical Physique (C)]
He’d learned it late, but hadn’t he endured Repid’s presence? While Luna fainted and even Cain paused momentarily amid that flood of murderous intent, Zero had trembled but kept moving.
Stronger than Cain? No way. Even a hundred Zeros would be cut down by a single Cain.
Presence is a wave of mana, a thought, the manifestation of killing intent. So, the moment he was swept up in it, this Magical Physique must have been born.
‘I’ll awaken either Magical Physique or Myriad Transformations this time.’
As I was lost in thought for a moment, the three of them were bustling on one side.
“How about this outfit?”
“Bunny senior. Please don’t pick out clothes yourself…”
“Agreed.”
Luna, who had been holding some weird tight pants, looked shocked as she glanced back and forth between Zero and Cain before scurrying over to me.
“Young master. Doesn’t it look kinda off to you too?”
Polka-dotted tight pants?
Not really. I smiled slowly and opened my mouth.
“Nah, it’s fine. It’d suit Zero if he wore it. Buy it.”
At my words, Zero’s shoulders, which had risen high, drooped sharply, his face turning sullen, while Luna’s floppy ears perked up as she beamed brightly.
Yes, as long as it’s not me.
Besides the tight pants, Luna held a few other items that subtly clashed with normal fashion sense, and as Zero’s face darkened even more watching her…
Cain moved slowly, brushing past me before pausing briefly.
“Let’s go.”
When Cain glanced at me and spoke, I beckoned to Luna, who was paying with a few coins, and Zero, who was starting to look sulky.
“Seen any good spots? Somewhere with a nice view.”
“Yeah.”
As we walked leisurely, I asked Cain, who nodded lightly and drew a bit closer to my side.
Luna stood on my other side, walking with her usual smile, tapping the ground lightly with her toes, while Zero carried the luggage bag at a slant.
“What would you like for dinner tonight?”
“Anything you or Zero make is delicious, so…”
“Um… I’d like to try my hand at bread too. Starting from kneading the dough.”
It was a conversation that sounded utterly peaceful to anyone listening. We chatted amiably as we gradually headed toward the outskirts of the forest.
And the moment we turned onto a slightly less-traveled forest path, I pulled out the codex and activated shields one after another.
This is where squeezing Repid paid off.
Ting— Ping! Pang!
Before the shield that blocked the fast-flying hand crossbow bolts could fade, I placed my hand on the codex again and reactivated it.
In the meantime, Cain had dashed into the forest in the blink of an eye, thrusting his sword into the bodies of the ambushers hidden in the trees.
‘Damn it.’
I’d wanted to put off any bloodshed that wasn’t against monsters as much as possible. In case the kill count affected that guy’s language center.
Right now, aside from the codex’s shield spells, I had no way to protect myself, so Luna and Zero stayed by my side guarding me while Cain swept through the forest alone.
“With the power of truth.”
In an irritated voice, I activated magic missiles, starting to pin down the assailants dressed in black that didn’t suit this forest one by one.
With their numerical advantage, three or four clung to Cain attacking him, while others tried stabbing from blind spots, but I disrupted them with shields, magic missiles, and bindings, letting Cain go on a one-man rampage.
The assailants were mostly aura users, but that only meant their weapons wouldn’t shatter on first clash.
Strength, speed, combat sense—Cain overwhelmed them in all. Within a certain distance, the moment they slipped, heads or arms flew, bellies pierced.
“Crazy, isn’t he a monster? How did he even notice? We were using mana camouflage!”
Figures. The Spirit Forest surely had people stronger than us, including those handling security, yet they ambushed openly.
‘Mana camouflage?’
I didn’t know exactly what that was, but it was obvious. Some kind of magic to hide from detection.
Boom— Rumble!
Trees fell heavily to the ground, their tops severed, as Cain swung his sword without yielding to the assailants leaping between branches with bizarre movements.
Amid sending out suppressive spells intermittently, I watched as Cain momentarily shifted his weapon into a chain sickle, sliced an assailant’s waist in half, and pulled it back before shouting at him.
“Can you capture one alive?”
“Yeah.”
Crazy—what kind of focus lets you change weapon shapes mid-battle?
Cain disrupted their escape paths, which they tried to confuse by stepping on different branches, by turning his weapon into a massive axe and cleaving the trees they aimed for in one go.
Someone who’d lost footing mid-air twisted their body to land on another tree, but a metal whip flew out, wrapped their ankle, and Cain hurled the figure toward me.
“Urk! What the—!”
“Luna, Zero—subdue and tie him up. And gag him quick, just in case.”
“Yes!”
Like in novels or movies, they always have poison in their mouths or something.
“Hands too.”
They often hide tiny weapons somewhere for escape attempts or suicide needles later.
Luna and Zero responded spiritedly, binding his hands with a small pouch and gagging his mouth.
“Is that even human?!”
A scream pierced my ears.
Some turned their gazes aside, protesting as if Cain’s strength was unfair, impossible.
Now they could barely hold on. The survivors weren’t coordinating attacks on Cain but merely covering each other’s blind spots to dodge his sword—that was their limit.
“Everyone shut up and retreat before Ranger gets here!”
One of the remaining assailants raised a hand, signaled, and they pooled their strength to slash Cain back with aura blades, forcing him away before scattering in different directions.
As Cain chased one, I shouted urgently.
“Cain! Come back!”
We’d already captured one alive, no need to rack up more meaningless kills.
Plus, with our strongest fighter away, someone might target me in a double trap.
‘Might seem self-important.’
But objectively, my value wasn’t low. Depending on the goal, it could even surpass Cain’s.
‘Especially here.’
Sudden ambush. Clearly, word had leaked. That I knew how to enter the ruins. Unless that hadn’t spread, the reasons for the attack were limited.
After Cain returned to my side, I cast Clean and Purification on him, then turned at the minty scent wafting from behind.
“Oh dear, too late already?”
“Yes.”
Green wooden greaves, a bow on her back. A green elf with pale green hair and eyes scratched her cheek awkwardly.
“Uh… sorry. We used an artifact to disrupt mana, so I detected the mana clash around here late…”
“Why not just kill them all then.”
“Ugh, I’m really sorry.”
The green elf kept apologizing with an embarrassed smile at my grinning remark.
I understood logically. The assailants must have been confident they wouldn’t get caught right away.
‘That’s that.’
But because the ranger was late, the kill count went up. Monsters aside, humans for sure…
‘I know it’s not a game.’
In Innocent Saga, kill count wasn’t entirely meaningless.
Cain’s emotional expressions dwindled faster against humanoid enemies than monster-only dungeons.
I tapped the wriggling assailant on the ground with my foot and spoke.
“We captured an assailant alive. Don’t say later, ‘We couldn’t interrogate the mastermind because he suicided on our watch.’ That’d be a problem.”
“Of course… Haha, please calm down…”
I tossed one more line at the awkwardly smiling green elf.
“And tell Elder Bahadi this too: If he doesn’t come by tonight, it’ll be no fun.”
* * *
How does one usually enter a space secretly hidden by someone?
Simple—three ways, maybe.
1. Sneak in.
2. Force your way in.
3. Get invited in.
‘And 1 or 2 usually gets you labeled a thief.’
But 3 is different. You enter as a guest. Worlds apart, right?
Plus, right now, I was in a position to boldly say unpleasant things to that elf.
“The elves standing behind you have eyes I don’t like.”
I blew nonexistent dust off my nails and chuckled.
At my words, the eyes of the elf warriors behind Bahadi grew fiercer.
“If you don’t like it, smash the board. Who’s the one who couldn’t manage info security and put necks on the line?”
Bahadi let out a low groan at my words, while the elf warriors glared daggers.
I leaned back in my chair, tilted my head up, looked down at them, and continued dryly.
“Don’t you know who holds the advantage now?”
I scoffed. Who’s showing mercy here? Live a hundred years and all you get is pride, no common sense?
Who’s the one who can enter the place you couldn’t for a thousand years? Who’s gonna get wiped out later because they couldn’t find one traitor—and now they’re staring wide-eyed!
“Or do you think I’m a real idiot? Who’s the one who couldn’t keep one piece of info secret and invited assailants?”
As their long ears twitched at my sarcasm, Bahadi raised one hand and spoke.
“Everyone, please guard outside the door.”
“But Elder Bahadi…”
“How can we trust them.”
At the elf warriors’ protests, Bahadi spoke in a flat tone.
“Don’t you trust me?”
“No…”
The elf warriors ground their teeth and exited, and I caught Luna sticking her tongue out at Bahadi from behind.
My expression softened a bit as I rested my chin on my hand and looked at Bahadi.
“Try making an excuse.”
“There’s no excuse. Unless word leaked from our side, there shouldn’t have been an ambush.”
I watched her bow her head—my fault, I apologize—then curled my lip.
“Just words?”
“I’ll advance the meeting with the Great Elder a bit.”
At her words, I replied indifferently.
“That was already our deal. Meeting the Great Elder, ruins access. But due to your poor management, we took losses, so you owe us one more.”
“What might that be?”
“Know what a codex is?”
I smiled at Bahadi’s calm eyes.