Chapter 161: I’ll Do the Grilling
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 161: I’ll Do the Grilling
“The sky is so blue.”
It hadn't been all day, but it felt like I’d been underwater for an eternity. Normally, the dense canopy of trees would have hidden the sky, but the Megido Serpent had dragged the lake water out with it, sweeping the forest clean.
Thanks to the Snowfield Troll’s blood, my muscle fibers were regenerating rapidly. As oxygen flooded my system, my fatigue began to ebb. The pain was subsiding enough that I could probably move, but perhaps because I’d pushed my brain to its limit, my mind felt hazy and incredibly heavy with sleep.
Splash, splash...
Before I knew it, Father had stepped through a portal and was walking toward me. He must have realized the Megido Serpent was dead and tracked me down.
“Haha... Father. You’re here. I’m so sleepy right now, I don't think I can even flap a wing.”
Father stared at my face for a long moment before finally nodding.
“...Is that so?”
“Yes. Do you mind if I sleep for a bit?”
“Go ahead. Rest easy.”
His voice put my mind at peace. Immediately after, my vision cut out as if someone had flipped a switch, and I plummeted into sleep.
* * *
Roland and his companions had realized the Megido Serpent was dead the moment a purple flash erupted with a sound that seemed to tear the world asunder.
Not long after, the lake water—having lost the will that controlled it—collapsed, losing its form and soaking into the earth.
“Hey, hey, I knew I could count on him...!”
Tring, tring!
Gerick’s lute sang out even more vibrantly. Even for veteran explorers like Roland and his team, a battle against an Irregular Megido Serpent was not something to be taken lightly.
And yet, in the end, Yoo Eon—who was a mere Gold-grade explorer—had taken the beast down alone. Even if Roland’s initial assault had stacked enough impact to force it into a berserk state, Yoo Eon was overwhelmingly responsible for the kill.
Meanwhile, Gerick, Bontes, and Gadel had been scouring the 30th Floor, utilizing their superior mobility and detection skills to rescue other explorers. They had already saved sixteen people, proving they had handled the crisis admirably in their own way.
“Truly incredible.”
“I knew he was unusual, but still.”
“I’m going to go check on the situation.”
“We’ll go with you. We don't know what kind of state the lad is in, but he can't be completely fine.”
Roland gave a small nod and stepped into a portal, signaling the others to follow. Following the scars left on the earth by the serpent’s wake, they eventually spotted someone lying in the distance.
Found him.
Fortunately, it was Yoo Eon. Roland himself had poured everything he had into whittling down the serpent’s health, yet he had still doubted whether Yoo Eon could actually win. To his amazement, the boy had pulled it off.
“Haha... Father. You’re here.”
Yoo Eon lay on the damp grass. Roland had feared he might find a corpse, but surprisingly, the boy looked perfectly fine—not a single wound on him. However, there was something else that shocked Roland even more.
How is that skill...!
Yoo Eon had returned to his original form. Along the contours of his face, mana circuits shaped like flickering flames were glowing. Judging by his glazed eyes, he didn't even seem to realize his new skill had activated.
“I’m so sleepy right now, I don't think I can even flap a wing.”
Roland stared at him, dazed with shock for a long time. Finally, he stepped closer and nodded slowly.
“...Is that so?”
“Yes. Do you mind if I sleep for a bit?”
“Go ahead. Rest easy.”
Only after hearing Roland’s voice did Yoo Eon offer a faint smile and drift off instantly. As he did, the red-glowing mana circuits on his face faded away.
“....”
Roland stood in silence, his hand hovering near Yoo Eon’s face.
It was a hauntingly familiar pattern of mana circuits.
An unforgettable skill.
Aven.
The very skill that had driven his son to his death.
* * *
Beep, beep.
“This is Sepira.”
“Ah, yes. Captain. I’m on standby on the 29th Floor.”
While Sepira, the Lightning Flower, was holding people back on the 29th Floor and waiting for the main force to arrive, a voice finally came through the communication artifact. The main force had reached the 35th Floor. She stood up from her spot in the base cave and addressed everyone present.
“Everyone, it seems the main force has arrived just below us.”
“Th-then are you going too, milady...?”
“Yes. Our Mayerbridge Union’s 1st Party, ‘Orion Aura,’ will now subjugate the Irregular Megido Serpent.”
It was a name no explorer in Calax could fail to recognize. They were currently the strongest party in the city, led by an Orichalcum-grade explorer.
Nearly fifty minutes had passed. The explorers in the cave cheered for Sepira, thinking of those who had descended to the 30th Floor just before her arrival.
“Lightning Flower! You have to win!”
“We believe in you! A 3rd Stratum boss is nothing to Orion Aura!”
“Of course! I believe Orion Aura will be the ones to see the end of Calax!”
“Everyone...”
By now, the number of people held back from the 30th Floor had grown to about forty. There had been a few who claimed they weren't afraid of the serpent and went down anyway, but she assumed they were likely dead by now.
Bathed in the cheers of the crowd, Sepira nodded with a solemn expression.
“Thank you! We will surely prevail and return to the 29th Floor with the good news!”
Beep, beep.
“Yes, Captain! We’re heading down to the 30th Floor now!”
“Pardon?”
“Uh... what?”
“It’s not there...? It’s gone...?”
“Ah...”
“Damn it, what is going on? Understood for now.”
A moment later, Sepira lowered the communication artifact.
“They say... the Megido Serpent is gone....”
It was the ultimate peak of humiliation a human could experience: receiving the passionate cheers of forty people only to do absolutely nothing.
Her face turning a brilliant shade of crimson, Sepira Eclair—true to her name as the Lightning Flower—bolted out the door with the speed of a lightning bolt.
* * *
Bontes had securely fastened the sleeping Yoo Eon onto the back of his cat, and the group had quickly returned to the 25th Floor. Only about fifty minutes had passed since they first went to the 30th Floor, but thirty of those minutes had been spent in a brutal deathmatch with the serpent.
“Wouldn't it be better to head straight to the surface rather than staying on the 25th Floor?”
“You have a point.”
The 25th Floor had a base where they could rest, but the surface was always better for real recovery. Still, Roland figured he should wake Yoo Eon up, feed him, and then let him sleep again just in case.
“If you don't have calories in your system, it’s hard for your muscles to recover even if you sleep.”
“True enough.”
As they stood in the yard of the base, grilling a fish they had brought from the 30th Floor...
Crackle!!
Someone arrived with incredible speed, accompanied by the discharge of electricity.
“That’s quite flashy.”
“I feel like I’ve seen her somewhere before.”
Gerick and Bontes tilted their heads, trying to place her.
“That’s Sepira Eclair of Orion Aura.”
“Aha.”
Gadel managed to remember her name, though he got the first letters slightly mixed up.
“Orion Aura? Are you back from the 30th Floor?”
Sepira Eclair’s face was bright red for some reason, and she was glancing around like someone who had committed a crime. When her eyes met Roland’s...
“Y-you people!!”
She tilted her head, looking uncertain, then marched up to Roland.
“How did you survive?!”
“Oh?”
Sepira looked around; they were exactly as the witnesses had described. A man with a massive back and a cat tattoo, a crazy bard with golden hair standing up like spear tips, and a mage in a rainbow robe.
“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“You... you went down to the 30th Floor! The explorers on the 29th Floor told me!”
“Ah, yeah. We went down.”
“The Irregular Megido Serpent was there...!”
Sepira Eclair knew who Roland was. Twenty years ago, she would have been only seven years old, but even then, the name ‘Roland Otmarie’ had been at the top of the Mayerbridge Union’s recruitment list under the alias ‘Roanmarie’s Poltergeist.’
High-priority targets always had their status and whereabouts updated, and if there was ever an opportunity to put them in their debt, the Union was instructed to use its name to help them at any cost.
She was aware that he had obtained a skill that made him look like a young child.
“Ah, that thing? My son-in-law took care of it.”
“Pardon...?!”
It was a shocking revelation. Took care of it? The Megido Serpent? That monstrous Irregular entity? His son-in-law?
Did he have eighty sons-in-law or something? She didn't know the details of Roland Otmarie’s personal life, but she vaguely remembered he had a daughter.
“Wh-who is that...?”
Boss entities didn't just vanish due to the labyrinth’s whims, but the labyrinth was always unpredictable. She had pushed the thought of what happened to the serpent to the back of her mind. Since it had evaporated without leaving a corpse, she had wondered if it had somehow escaped the labyrinth entirely.
Sepira scanned the group. They all looked like absolute lunatics. Which one of them could possibly be the son-in-law? She felt a bit sorry for the daughter.
“He’s resting in the base right now. Why do you ask?”
“...Orion Aura was planning to subjugate the Irregular Megido Serpent that appeared on the 30th Floor.”
“Is that so?”
“But when we got there, the serpent was gone...”
“I see.”
“And you say... your son-in-law was the one who killed it?”
“And?”
“Would it be alright if I met him?”
“That’s a bit difficult.”
“...Why?”
“Because he’s tired and sleeping.”
“He’s... sleeping...?”
She was dumbfounded.
He killed an Irregular Megido Serpent and was just... sleeping because he was tired? If he were on his deathbed, she was prepared to heal him with the high-grade elixir she carried.
What do I do...?! There’s nothing for me to help with...!
As Sepira struggled to keep the panic from showing on her face, Roland asked her a question.
“Young lady, are you good at controlling fire?”
“Uh... what?”
“Try grilling this. Aren't you a fire mage?”
“I am... a lightning caller.”
“Can't you roast beans with a flash of lightning?”
“...No. Not really.”
“Tsk.”
The fish was currently turning into a lump of charcoal in real-time, thanks to the intense heat of the burning Ether Tree wood.
Watching this, Sepira scratched her head and crouched down in front of the campfire.
“I... I’ll do the grilling.”