Chapter 91
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 91
Chapter Title: 9th Floor - Lv. 99 Party Leaders (2)
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As I mentioned before, the biggest mistake you can make in the Labyrinth is letting your guard down.
It's easy to think, This should be enough, but that assumption needs solid evidence to back it up.
Of course, that evidence might be lacking. Information isn't handed out freely in this world to begin with.
In the countless kingdoms from my memories, the really important stuff only circulated among the top rankers.
It never trickled down below that level. For kingdoms, nothing is more vital than monopolizing information. Even the gods tacitly approve of it.
They can't afford to lose their powerful followers otherwise.
So, not knowing something isn't a sin. But failing to sense when something's off? That's a sin.
And for that, you die.
Even in such a situation, though, the orc who seemed to be the party leader got extremely lucky.
The fixed artifact [Mjolnir] always comes with the same specs, and there's only one per server—a true "unique" item.
It's leagues beyond your standard unique-grade gear.
A weapon that exists outside the usual grade boundaries, packing immense power.
As its name suggests, this lightning carries the legend of Thor, infused with divinity itself.
And divinity is the natural enemy of all undead.
So yeah, that guy got really lucky.
Purely in terms of matchup, he's overwhelmingly favored against me.
A vampire's impure blood burns under holy power—and lightning.
Despite being a warrior's weapon, it even has AoE attacks built in.
If we were equals, I'd have no chance.
I scanned the surroundings first.
No humans in sight.
They planned this well. If the howitzer squad was here, someone would have to come out to intercept, obviously.
Logically, the highest mobility belongs to vampires who can turn into bats or wolves.
Expecting me—Barbaroia—to show up, they excluded humans.
Dwarves and orcs have blood a human-based vampire can't consume.
Potions are weapons to the undead, not healing.
And sunrise is coming soon.
Just dragging it out would be enough.
The four warriors are tanky enough, backed by four gunner rangers providing support fire.
By their standards, this is more than enough for a perfect Strategy setup.
It might've worked if I were the real Barbaroia.
This situation feels familiar.
Right—it's like what our party faced on the 4th floor.
But back then, I had a sword master on my side, plus [Akasha's Eye].
Sir Dusban's face is hazy in my mind.
I vaguely recall a one-eyed, long-haired swordsman chugging booze and laughing uproariously.
What to do? Should I toss these guys at the Girl as training dummies?
Let's test the waters first.
If they seem too threatening, I'll wipe them out here.
The Girl truly felt the reach disadvantage Uncle had warned her about in fights against humanoid enemies.
Right now, she was at an absolute disadvantage in attack range.
Her dual daggers were daggers, through and through. Even optimized for combat rather than ambushes, they were still short blades around 50 cm long.
By contrast, the fairy leader's drawn longsword looked at least a meter in blade length alone.
Height was an issue too.
The Girl never thought of herself as short-proportioned anywhere.
Her legs and arms were long. She was just petite overall, with perfectly stretched proportions.
But her opponent was a fairy—taller, if anything.
At least 5 cm difference in height.
Converting that roughly to arm length added another 2.5 cm gap.
It might seem minor, but in high-level combat, it's lethal.
They say masters dodge with the width of a sheet of paper—and paper's thinner than 0.1 mm.
Imagine that slicing into flesh. It's the difference between life and death.
I can't let this happen. I absolutely can't get pushed back like this.
Don't try to match her with dagger techniques alone. Uncle always taught me to attack in three dimensions.
She parries while shifting her center of gravity. The opponent reacts to her suddenly lowering stance.
But she's already closed into taijutsu range. The enemy's blades are purely for defense now.
She uses her legs to topple the opponent's balance.
The idea worked.
Exiles fight for their lives with weapons, obviously.
No one masters proper unarmed combat.
She attempts a highly technical submission. It doesn't fully land, of course.
But the unexpected attack disrupts the fairy leader's breathing.
The Girl swings through empty air.
[Trajectory Replay]
She crouches low again, this time launching a slash instead of a strike.
The fairy leader, delayed by a fraction of a breath, falls into defense.
Upward cut.
She blocks, but her body lifts off the ground.
The trajectory replays.
Too bad. Not lethal.
She'd tilted her head back at the last second.
Still, the Girl's forehead gash was nasty.
The Girl presses the assault relentlessly.
The reckless dodge for survival widens the breathing gap even more.
Don't let her regain the initiative.
Overpower with force. Disrupt her stance, and even equal strength won't hold.
But a chilling sensation halts the charge.
The enemy's feint was flawless.
Yet there's enough dissonance to sense it's a feint.
The timing matches: the enemy is off-balance, unable to defend properly. But no way she'd expose such an obvious opening.
Small inconsistency, but enough to decide.
She's baiting something.
Uncle would say the same.
Enemy's a swordswoman. Probably a short-range skill type.
Instead, the Girl [Dash]es backward.
Something invisible savagely slashes through where she stood moments ago.
She quickly sorts her thoughts.
Dozens of probable attack skills from Uncle's list.
[Space Slash]
Cooldown's a bit long. Conditions match [Trajectory Replay]: a delayed follow-up slash regenerating along the blade's path.
It's the advanced version of [Trajectory Replay] to begin with.
That's why she dodged. She knew. Because she uses it herself.
The Girl tilts her head slightly.
She wasn't great at studies, but combat was different.
Pure memorization looks impossible without interest anyway.
She starts counting seconds in her head.
Fighting until the next cooldown isn't ideal, but possible.
60 seconds until the next [Space Slash].
"Damn it all."
The big one missed.
Honestly, she's just holding out thanks to the weapon reach difference.
In pure technique, the fairy leader's at a disadvantage.
At best, she's slightly better at channeling mana.
But as a fairy leader, she's no master.
The impact absorption differs at best, but their base sizes are worlds apart from the start.
That side's a human-sized ogre.
Yet in pure swordsmanship or taijutsu, she's way behind.
Her weapon's high-end too. Quetzalcoatl? My arm aches from the flames.
This is a guaranteed loss over time.
Even with all the leaf fairy buffs, against a human enemy.
So I went for the big skill, but how'd she know?
Feels like facing a ranker.
Those guys know every skill out there.
They frown, dodge, or block because they know.
And they call it "instinct."
Screw that.
Of course, the fairy leader knows that instinct too.
She'd seen [Trajectory Replay] once or twice.
Still, [Space Slash] is big-scale; figured she couldn't dodge.
Change strategy. Got the Duel God's blessing, but won't win solo.
She signals with her hand.
The mage, maintaining spells amid the tangle, finally moves.
Zzzzt.
Blue discharges bloom behind the Girl.
The fairy leader charges straight in.
The Girl tries to sidestep.
A warrior leaps that way.
Collision.
The shield-bearing warrior guards only safe body parts.
Near-fatal hit, but she latches on momentarily.
[Dash]
The fairy leader clings and hurls a bomb fruit.
The Girl's brow furrows deeply.
Lightning strikes from the side.
The mage's [Thunder Calling].
It scatters flashbang-like effects everywhere.
Vision blurs, ears ring.
Melted water from the Girl's earlier Fire Nova soaks the ground, channeling the electricity.
Instant paralysis.
But she slices the airborne bomb fruit.
For a split second, their eyes meet. The fairy leader smirks, one corner of her mouth twitching up.
The fairy leader's dagger is always with the mage.
[Blink]
The fruit explodes.
Stray lightning's dangerous, so I keep my distance.
The orc leader swings [Mjolnir] wildly.
That holy lightning spreads everywhere beautifully.
But misses do nothing.
Even artifacts are best handled by those who've looted plenty.
Lightning's always destructive, but hardest to control.
Intercepting bats zipping every which way isn't easy.
The other orc warriors attack the bats too.
The dwarven shooters are actually more threatening.
But bats under blood authority reform from blood even after dying.
To hurt me now, they need proper magic.
Or Lavahammer Battalion-level overwhelming physical power.
That's why I didn't fight back then.
One solid hit from those insane armored ogres and trolls, and I'd be dust.
Overwhelming physics rivals magic.
Nuclear flames are physical too, right?
Compared to level 400 monsters, I'm laughable now.
[Mjolnir]'s discharges are the only real threat.
Lightning flashes. The pissed orc leader sprays bolts everywhere, not caring if allies get shocked.
Smart move. My bats use other orcs as shields anyway.
As long as they don't die, I can save them.
Good. Stall for time.
[Martial Fighter]'s attack power is insane.
One big hit through their gaps, and it's over.
But [Mjolnir] is magical and holy; a clean hit could end me too.
They think stalling wins for them too, so it's an easy wish.
The battle drags on.
Still holding with just some bats burning away.
Without direct clashes, checking other fronts isn't hard.
[The God of Nature says quit bullshitting.]
It's real...
Anyway, through the bats' eyes, the Girl looks beat to hell.
She raised [Shield] at the explosion.
The skill I'd prioritized in her build.
Her playstyle suits a strength brawler.
Brawlers sometimes have to fill the weird dagger warrior role.
With dagger mastery already on the mind map, other weapons are off the table.
It's not a clean class, so she has to excel here.
She did great.
Draining the enemy well.
In multi-target fights, not going for quick kills looks bad at first, but with her stamina, it's fine.
Pure aggression against numbers leaves openings.
Too bad the initial ambush didn't finish the fairy leader.
But she drew out a lot of their cards.
She just needs to endure—this is her win.
Doing well.
One issue, though.
She's underrating herself.
Mana's new to her.
Yet she's already proficient.
Her weapon tech and taijutsu are unmatched here.
She doesn't realize it—yielding moves even when she could press.
Was assuming I'd always be the enemy a mistake?
She really thinks it's me.
Raising kids ain't easy.
Still, no sign she'll lose.
Let's watch.