No Free Rides
“Ahh, this cool, weighty feel of metal. I’ve missed it.”
It had been a long time since he’d last used the Bakgyeokpo.
“Just as I thought. You were planning to fire mana rounds through that cannon, weren’t you? If so, then yes, it’s perfectly possible.”
Marquis Iolid, who had seen the Bakgyeokpo in action on video, nodded with a satisfied air.
“It’s already finished? You’re remarkably fast, Marquis.”
“Making mana rounds is nothing worth mentioning. More to the point, how is this? Is the strength sufficient?”
The mana rounds were harder than Dandanum, yet lighter than Gaveum.
“More than sufficient. As expected of the head of one of the continent’s foremost magical houses. Truly impressive.”
“It’s nothing much. Still, Count Tamer, there’s something I’d like to ask. Why is it that the method you used to deal with the Elite Trolls earlier isn’t being used against the Giant Troll?”
He meant the combo of Edification and Mana Torrent.
“A Giant Troll cannot be converted. And even if it could, its magical resistance and regeneration are so high that we would need another means to finish it off.”
As he loaded a mana round into the Bakgyeokpo, Ho-yeong answered.
“I see. So this time, the mana round and the cannon are that means. Then there’s no need to make any more mana rounds?”
“No. One shot will be enough. And since we’ll be firing the first round at maximum power anyway, a second shot would be pointless. It will take time for the Bakgyeokpo’s mana stone to recharge.”
“And what if you miss?”
“I won’t miss.”
The answer was so firm that the marquis didn’t press the matter any further.
He’s easier to deal with than those annoying sons of mine, who keep pestering me with one question after another.
At the thought of Kristian and Keiji, a black iris flashed in Ho-yeong’s necklace.
Anxious Evil Eye activated! Ashk Iolid is anxious that his sons may get caught up in the invitation event from the Cliad Sect’s leader and lose their lives.
This necklace is useful, but annoying. It doesn’t just activate when I want it to—it goes off and tells me things whenever it feels like it.
Ho-yeong let out a short sigh and tried to reassure the marquis.
“Are you worried about your sons?”
“Ahem. It would be a lie to say I’m not worried, but… as you said, now is not the time for that, is it?”
“Please don’t fret. I have a way to protect both your sons and the honor of House Iolid.”
“Is that so?! Good. Then I shall trust you.”
“Since the matter of your sons has come up, it would be best if you helped those young masters for the moment. First, the side assigned to Junior Count Kristian.”
“Very well.”
Rather than letting a four-star mage stand around, it was better to put him to work.
Those unreliable sons of his are bound to keep asking questions, so I’ll just hand them off to their father.
After that came the turn of the holy knights to receive their orders.
“What would you have us do?”
“Ah, you startled me.”
Demis Ezef was already there before Ho-yeong had even looked for him.
“Vice-Commander, and the three squad leaders who were in charge of defending the southern village earlier, will fire the Bakgyeokpo with me. The rest of the holy knights will take up their lances and concentrate their aura while waiting at the positions I designate.”
“Understood.”
The holy knights carried out his orders without the slightest hesitation.
That’s unexpected. I thought he’d ask me whether I meant what I said to Lucy earlier—or say he was disappointed, or something.
The vice-commander showed no sign of disappointment at all.
As Ho-yeong’s gaze moved, the Anxious Evil Eye widened its pupil, but Demis seemed to exude neither fear nor unease.
He’s remarkably serene. Maybe that’s what an S-rank mentality is like—an iron mind through and through. I wish I could be that calm.
Though he didn’t show it, Ho-yeong was uneasy in more ways than one.
No—admiring him is fine, but let’s not force myself to copy him. Strength and calm don’t suit me. I’m the sort who pretends to be solid on the outside, but is really just a quiet, still sort on the inside.
Looking into the Dandanum shield, he saw Joren Tamer’s face reflected back at him. A face much like his own, but not identical.
Still, Joren Tamer’s inner self was closer to Demis Ezef than to Ho-yeong.
An iron mind is hard to break, but once it does break, it shatters badly.
Perhaps Joren Tamer’s own resolute spirit had cracked after death.
Even if it doesn’t break, that doesn’t mean it stays untouched. When you block a sword with a shield, it still gets scratched and chipped.
Then he remembered something Mr. Berneval Luntin had once told him.
“Grand, just because a mineral’s got a high strength doesn’t mean its hardness is high too, y’know. (…) See these marks? Even if my teeth are weaker than a hammer on the inside, the surface can still be harder, hard enough to scratch it. In other words, my teeth’s hardness is higher than the hammer’s hardness.”
The dwarf had even scraped a hammer with his own teeth to explain the concept of strength and hardness firsthand.
In terms of the strength and hardness of the mind, Ho-yeong fell short of those men. But his spirit had a strength they did not.
If Demis and Joren have iron minds, then mine is a spring mind. Weaker, and easier to scratch—but with steady resilience.
A powerful elasticity.
A spring stretches or compresses, but in the end, it returns to its place. If you pull too hard, it’ll take longer to come back. If you yank it too hard, it’ll snap. But as long as it stays in place, whether stretched or shortened, that’s enough.
So instead of trying to shake off the unease by force, he decided to hold it close for the time being.
Once he found peace, the anxiety would disappear before long. Like a black mist of despair withering under the force of hope.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
One Giant Troll will be summoned in approximately 15 minutes. Summon location unknown.
By then, they were more or less ready to receive the boss.
Lucy’s circles marked the range, keeping friendly forces from being caught in the blast.
With the help of mana soil and the marquis, Keiji Iolid had prepared powerful traps.
The holy knights had wrapped their lances in auras steeped in firm resolve and surrounded the area.
The minotaur centaurs and the station guards had built earthen embankments beyond the rise.
“I’m sure many of you had questions, and I’m truly grateful that you all followed my orders without complaint.”
Standing atop the earthen embankment and looking down at the others, Ho-yeong had the Bakgyeokpo before him, with the four senior holy knights posted proudly at his side.
“First, as for how I knew where the Giant Troll would appear—I didn’t use any kind of prophecy.”
His prophecy stat had risen quite a bit, but it still hadn’t marked the Giant Troll’s summon location on the map.
“I only made an educated prediction.”
Still, foresight had helped indirectly.
“Look at those circles. Thanks to the Iolid marquis’s mages, the range is marked for us, so isn’t it obvious? The reason they were arranged like that.”
The circles were laid out as follows:
○ ○ ○
○ ○
○ ○
“Why do you think one direction was left open?”
[Legend]
☠ = Estimated Giant Troll spawn point
○ = Circle (enemy trap)
▣ = Magic circle (friendly trap)
♥ = Defended objective (signal tower)
▲ = Earthen embankment (barracks)
○ ○ ○
○ ☠ ○
○ ↓ ○
▲
↓
▣
♥
“The open side is the Giant Troll’s exit. That’s why we turn it into a Kill Zone—a killing ground!”
Only then did the soldiers finally understand what Ho-yeong meant.
“There’s something else we can infer from that arrangement. The magic set on those circles probably doesn’t discriminate between friend and foe.”
In Reign of Dice, the most common measure used to prevent spawn-killing was a trap. There were many different types of traps, but Ho-yeong’s classification was straightforward.
Did the trap only hurt allies, or did it also hurt enemies?
“In other words, if the Giant Troll approaches those circles, it will take damage too. If not, there’d be no reason to leave one side open. You could just step on it and be done with it.”
“Um… Count of the Border Region, then what about a plan to draw the troll’s attention and lure it toward the circles?”
Keiji Iolid raised his hand.
“Good question, Third Young Master.”
Though inexperienced, he was still a mage by name, and his intellect was fairly high.
“And a good idea. But the Giant Troll won’t be easily aggroed. It’ll be focused only on destroying the signal tower—more precisely, the mana stone inside it.”
“No matter how I think about it, I still don’t understand that part. Why are the Giant Trolls, or rather the elves who believe in that Cliad Sect, targeting the signal tower? Of course, if the signal stone is destroyed, every streetlamp in this area will go out…but I can’t tell whether that alone is worth the trouble of summoning a Giant Troll.”
Kristian asked after his younger brother.
“I’m sure Your Lordship would know the answer to that….”
“I don’t know either.”
“Pardon?”
A moment of silence fell over the grassland.
“I don’t know what principle those fanatic pointy-eared bastards use to generate dimensional rifts and summon monsters. But as you pointed out, it does seem clear they consume some special resource to do it. That elf, Lucy Perhela, even talked about ‘sacrifices’ and the like.”
As if it were now the marquis’s turn to speak after his sons had had their say, he opened his mouth.
Ho-yeong was a little annoyed that the briefing had been interrupted.
“In any case, those big-eared bastards can’t be summoning monsters endlessly and without limit. Looking at what they’ve shown us so far, I think I can make a rough guess.”
Positive event! Marquis Iolid is about to provide an important hint! It is recommended that you do not interrupt the marquis and listen carefully.
At the words “positive event,” he pricked up his ears.
“Ahem. It seems the old man has said something useless before battle.”
The marquis looked a little disappointed by the lack of reaction.
“No, not at all. I was listening so intently to Your Lordship’s profound insight that I forgot to reply. However, if this concerns magic… then for our sake, since we lack both the magical knowledge and the time, I humbly ask that you explain it as simply and concisely as possible.”
Demis Ezef, standing beside him, unconsciously nodded.
“It isn’t a difficult matter. I paid close attention to the order in which those wicked pointy-eared brutes summoned their monsters. First, they summoned ordinary trolls in three southern villages. After that, they summoned mutant trolls here. First the Squat Troll, then the Elite Troll. And soon, the Giant Troll as well. Does that suggest anything to you, Count Tamer?”
At the marquis’s meaningful words, Ho-yeong’s eyes widened.
“If they want to destroy the signal stones so badly, why not just summon all the mutant trolls at once? Why bother sending them out in the order that’s easiest for us to stop? To mock us? If so, then it makes no sense that Lucy Perhela came here alone and risked her own life.”
It was the unspoken law of defense games: weak enemies first, stronger ones later.
Since his possession, Ho-yeong hadn’t paid much attention to that point. It had seemed obvious to him, since he was playing a game.
“Moreover, I don’t understand the Giant Troll’s summon location either.”
“The location? As I explained earlier, that—”
“Forgive me for interrupting, but that isn’t what I mean. You said the Giant Troll is as tall as a five-story building. For a monster of that size, the dimensional rift would have to be equally enormous, so why don’t they just open a wormhole directly above the signal tower?”
Not only the soldiers and holy knights, but Ho-yeong himself was deeply shocked.
Come to think of it, why don’t they do that?
“If they did, the signal tower itself wouldn’t even need to be destroyed by the Giant Troll. The whole thing would burn to ashes from the aftermath of creating the rift. Even if they tried to block it with aura and barriers, there’d have to be a limit.”
Ho-yeong could already imagine such a thing becoming catastrophe itself.
How the hell are we supposed to stop that?
The dialect he’d learned from Berneval Luntin slipped out of him without thinking.
One Giant Troll will be summoned in approximately 5 minutes. Summon location unknown.
“If we put all that together… it seems they don’t just need some special resource to create the dimensional rift, but are also bound by some kind of restriction. I don’t know what it is, but that much seems clear.”
“A restriction.”
Now that he thought about it, it did seem plausible.
Come to think of it, this world is surprisingly real and detailed for something that’s supposedly a game. Even when monsters die, their corpses remain, and the characters are so vivid they’re like people—no, exactly like people. I still haven’t met the sect leader, but Lucy Perhela felt far too alive to be an NPC. She doesn’t seem coded to move only according to a fixed script, like in a game.
There were certainly contrived elements and familiar clichés, but he had brushed them off as “well, it’s a game.” Yet after the hostile NPC faction appeared, unexpected things had begun happening one after another.
Come to think of it, the troll subquest I’m on right now, [Stage 3 - Station Defense], still hasn’t given me a completion notice even though I’ve already wiped out the ordinary trolls. Does that mean I have to eliminate all the mutant trolls first?
The three-part mutant troll combo—Squat Troll, Elite Troll, and Giant Troll—was only the beginning.
I haven’t even finished the capital summoning quest, and now this fanatic group called the Cliad Sect has shown up too. They’re people I’ve never seen in any scenario before.
Having encountered character after setting he’d never met in the game, and now an invitation from the sect leader as well…
A quest… Come to think of it, maybe?! Those fanatic bastards might have quests of their own. The same way I’m progressing through quests and stages! That would explain it. There must be set conditions they have to meet, and probably restrictions too. Just like I can’t play cheap by using Edification, maybe they can’t summon monsters without limit!
Subquest progress! Discover the truth about the Cliad Sect has increased from 90% to 95%.
Important clues have been obtained regarding the behavior patterns of hostile NPCs.