Chapter 47
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 47
Chapter Title: 6th Floor - Lv. 95 Stormhowl Brigade (4)
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The moment the first meteorite slammed into the ground, the earth's crust couldn't withstand the pressure and bulged upward.
Snow and soil erupted dozens of meters into the air.
The land rippled like water struck by a stone.
Before the shockwaves could spread even a single step, the next meteorite came crashing down.
A troll lost its balance on the quaking earth and took a direct hit to the head.
Its skull burst apart with a dry crack, becoming one with the shattered crust.
The overwhelming physical force tore its headless body into pieces.
The way it exploded was as gruesome as a blood pouch rupturing.
As the troll's remains sprayed into the air like mist, the other meteorites—now arriving almost simultaneously—embraced the earth.
The world vanished in a blaze of light and sound.
The ground shook.
It was a rumble unlike anything she'd experienced before—one that made her think it had to be at least a magnitude 7.
Just as she'd been taught, the girl braced herself fiercely, pressing her hands and feet into the earth as if digging into it.
Flattened to the ground like this, she wouldn't take any damage even if it shook.
But it wasn't enough.
She recalled the tambourine-shaped ride from the amusement park.
Her whole body jerked up and down, left and right, forward and back without mercy.
Slammed into the dirt, battered against hills, pelted by flying rocks.
The entire world felt like a malicious amusement ride.
Her head smashed into the ground once hard before things finally quieted around her.
Lifting her nauseous head, she searched first for Uncle.
His stats had temporarily dropped to 1. He was sure to lose consciousness.
She had to protect him from the aftermath.
That was the mission entrusted to the youngest.
The girl's strength might be sufficient, but her small frame made it a stretch.
A hulking brute shielded the party leader with his entire body.
Limp and unconscious, his face was strikingly pale.
The goddess had called it a highly dangerous act.
She prayed, asking if he was okay, if it had worked—but there was no response.
She soon realized it was the same as passing out from tampering with divine power.
Noticing the girl's worried gaze, the youngest gave a thumbs-up.
He'd neglected his own body, ending up with severe abrasions all over.
The girl rushed over and drizzled some liquid from a vial onto his wounds.
Faint smoke rose from the injuries as they began to heal.
The youngest bowed his head politely.
Only then did she have a moment to survey the aftermath of the magic.
Her head must have split open; blood was trickling down, blurring one side of her vision.
She smeared some potion on it. The bleeding stopped almost immediately.
The terrain had changed completely.
The plain where their outpost had stood now resembled the pockmarked surface of the moon.
The meteorites must have been small, as the craters weren't huge.
But they were deep enough to birth countless ponds of all sizes.
Blood that hadn't evaporated, snow that had melted, flowed in to cool the heat.
It vaporized instantly, hissing and sending up steam.
It looked like volcanic craters had formed.
"Dodge!"
The hunter shouted.
The girl glanced up, wondering what to evade, and spotted an ogre hurtling toward them.
"Gah!"
She dove sideways with all her might, even chaining in a [Dash]. The distance opened up in an instant.
The ogre—no, what had been an ogre—crashed into the ground with a horrific sound and never moved again.
Then a barrage of debris began flying in.
Those grazed by the impacts had been flung airborne by the shockwaves—good luck or bad?—and were now raining down.
Flesh and chunks of earth pouring from the sky was a novel experience.
For what felt like about ten minutes, the remnants scattered everywhere.
Once she ducked her head again and the danger passed, sunlight broke through.
The clouds, ready to unleash snow, parted.
It was the sun, a rare sight on this frozen land.
Ironically, the very last piece of debris to fall was a flagpole. It thudded into the ground, steel shaft piercing deep.
On the tattered, broken flag, she could just make out a lightning emblem.
Probably the symbol of the Stormhowl Brigade.
The girl surveyed the devastation once more.
Fires were breaking out late across the land, rocks melting into lava flows.
It would take a while for them to cool into lakes.
As planned in advance, the hunter took command.
"You fairies over there—if it's not too much trouble, could you watch over him for a bit?"
The cat-eared one nodded with a horrified expression.
The snow leopards, put to sleep by fairy magic, were only now waking up, dazedly looking around.
They mewled in confusion but quickly understood.
They loaded the pale-faced party leader onto the back of one.
The girl hurried over and tied him down securely.
Glancing at the fairies, she caught a hint of fear in their eyes.
Their object of dread was their own party leader.
The hunter hesitated for a moment.
Could he entrust him to them?
But he shook his head. Fairies were generally kinder and more diligent than humans.
Even if they weren't Grove Fairies, that held true.
But the fairies seemed to sense his concern.
"It's fine. We don't think you'd do anything to us."
Cat ears drooped over a wry smile.
"We'll take good care of the Grand Sorcerer. Take your time getting back."
It wasn't a shrill, ringing tone—it was quiet and earnest.
The hunter nodded back.
Unlike the girl's perception, less than three minutes had passed since the meteor swarm's impact.
The youngest stepped forward first.
The girl took up position behind him to handle anything breaching the defense.
The hunter nocked an arrow.
Fighting without the party leader felt like a first.
Even if the enemy was in ruins, it wasn't an easy battle.
The hunter was an exile with his own experience.
The ominous vibe from this even floor had persisted without end.
The shamans rallying survivors near their obliterated outpost were proof—even after the whole thing had been blown away.
Orc shamans, no less.
Those didn't show up until near the 20th floor.
Grazed trolls and ogres were still alive, too.
Trolls especially moved as if their wounds had never existed.
The hunter loosed an arrow.
Sharp Shooting
The shaman's head exploded.
Lightning crashed down from the arrow's mana.
While they recoiled from the thunder, more arrows flew.
The leader had said to use up all the special arrows he'd saved for this.
The hunter figured he wouldn't just use them—he'd have no choice but to empty the quiver.
A few massive monsters charged.
The hunter's legs trembled.
Was this really doable? They were surviving hits like that and still coming.
The troll finally closed in, swinging its elongated arm.
The youngest parried with his shield door. Several skills triggered, deflecting the monstrous strength.
The troll faltered, surprised by the human's unexpected toughness.
In that gap, the hunter's arrow pierced one eye.
Regeneration didn't mean it didn't hurt.
In that split-second daze, the girl—small and hard to track—moved.
Even when he'd first seen her on the 1st floor, her movements were hard to perceive.
Boosted more by the Labyrinth's corrections and honed by the leader, now they were simply too fast to follow with the eye.
The troll's neck was half-severed.
The beast roared in pain, reaching to reattach its lolling head.
Brief flashes streaked several times.
Blood poured from the troll's tough hide. The giant buckled to its knees.
Regeneration only worked on the living.
The girl landed atop the severed head that had rolled free.
She proudly flashed a V-sign.
"One down!"
The hunter couldn't help but laugh.
Right—another oddball in the party.
The tingling rush of a level-up was usually ecstatic, but in this extreme state with Strength at 1, it was overwhelming stimulation.
Especially when twenty-plus levels exploded at once—it felt like death.
How to describe it? Like having the flu, body aching everywhere, wrecked—and then slamming yourself with forced ecstasy?
Multiply that by twenty.
Dizzy and cold, yet my body shook violently.
So I puked.
"Gah! This guy—no, sir, uh. I mean, um. Grand Sorcerer? Anyway, he puked!"
"Urk! It stinks!"
"Hey! You'll get us in trouble! What if something like that lands in our camp?!"
These hysterics were from the leaf fairies.
My body was bound every which way—crudely, but securely enough not to fall.
I had a guess whose handiwork it was.
"How much time has passed?"
My stats still hadn't returned. The effect lasted roughly thirty minutes, so it couldn't have been longer.
The cat-eared one answered.
"We've reached the camp. We took it slow, so about twenty minutes?"
Then the fairy priestess would come greet us.
Leaf fairy leaders were invariably priestesses.
Unlike other races calling them clerics, leaf fairies insisted on "priestess."
The Labyrinth had a tendency to reveal racial cultures in subtle ways.
That worked in my favor.
Just showing you understood their culture made most races more lenient toward exiles.
Reaching the camp's edge, I sliced the bonds with a dagger and staggered to my feet.
The ground heaved.
No—my vision did.
Strength 1 was rough. If it hit 0, you'd die. Cause: crushed under your own weight.
So 1 was naturally a perilous state of frailty.
Still, without combat, I wouldn't die.
The priestess greeted me with a complex, subtle expression.
Entering the warm tent steadied me somewhat.
I'd blacked out and missed it, but the mana pulse must have spread far.
No way the priestess hadn't sensed it.
Even without that, a meteor shower was spectacular. Meteors plunging from the sky were visible to the naked eye.
Her attitude was notably more deferential.
"The god spoke of you. You're a noteworthy exile."
"Noteworthy?"
Had I done something to catch attention? I pondered briefly. Anything fairy-related.
Hm, I'd inflicted some losses on the orcs back on the 2nd floor.
But the 4th had no connection.
No real reason for the God of Nature and Purity to notice me.
But gods were capricious by nature. Our own goddess was always grumbling.
When dealing with a powerful god commanding masses of followers, best to bow low and play along.
Faction affinity management boiled down to schmoozing with their gods.
[The God of Nature expresses gratitude to you.]
'Hmph. As if that sways me. A vampire serving nature—what an awkward fit.'
'Goddess, quiet down. Can't you hear the divine words?'
'She wouldn't care about a lowly goddess like me.'
'Where'd you pick up "lowly" from?'
'That guy's fallen for her.'
'Pity.'
Gratitude, huh? If that [Meteor Swarm] had hit a forest, she'd have thrown a fit.
Lucky it's tundra—no trees.
Anyway, time to show proper respect.
No better way to boost fairy faction affinity right now.
Even if the 2nd-floor corpses got flagged by the system, enough trust lets me claim it was an accident.
Having fully abandoned the Greenskins, I needed the fairies now.
Before the priestess, I performed the fairy etiquette I'd honed over the years.
Right hand over heart, pinky and ring finger tucked; right foot forward; kneel, bow waist about 20 degrees.
Left arm raised as if offering support, posture rigid.
The priestess paused silently, then took my left hand and helped me up.
Now stand and bow deeply.
Ancient fairy protocol. For a male outsider greeting a noble fairy lady.
Post-empire collapse, only gods and their servants remembered it.
Sure enough, the priestess quietly lifted her veil.
A priestess of purity baring her face signified complete trust.
"You're the one who was once our ally."
"It's in the past, but how could I not feel a twinge of the same? Glad to meet again and lend aid."
"We welcome you."
[The God of Nature is amazed.]
'You're not seriously switching sides here, are you?'
'Chaos, calm down. I'm not.'
From here on, I'd act as the fairies' ally.
Bonus: Swing back by the dwarf village and take some credit.
For the saintess and Trdongt, abandon negotiations.
Force would have to do.