Chapter 17
Chapter 17
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 17
Chapter Title: Come Pick Me Up (2)
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-Thwack!
Regen leaped up, effortlessly vaulting over the long snout of the Brain Licker swinging toward her.
Like a monkey climbing a tree, she scrambled in an instant onto the elephant-like face of the Brain Licker,
-Stab!
and with swift, precise movement, thrust her rapier into one of its eyes.
-Grraaaaaaargh!!!!!
The Brain Licker thrashed wildly to shake Regen off.
-Stab! Stab! Stab!
But Regen paid no mind, stabbing her blade into various parts of the monster's body to keep her balance.
"...Wow."
It was as natural as riding a well-trained horse.
Not only the examinees but even the supervisor, Mike, let out a gasp of admiration.
-Stab! Stab!
-Grraaaaaagh-!!!
After that, the one-sided violence continued.
Like climbing an ice wall, Regen drove her rapier in repeatedly and made her way back to the Brain Licker's face.
Between the folds of flesh, she spotted skin bulging with prominent veins.
"The nerves... must be clustered around here."
And then,
-Stab!
Regen put her full weight into it, plunging the rapier deep into the area between the Brain Licker's snout and mouth.
For a human, it would be the philtrum.
-Kreeeeeeeaaaaagh!!!!!!
"Ugh!"
"What kind of scream is that..."
The monster's howl carried the agony of thousands of nerve bundles being severed.
It was enough to make anyone listening feel the pain.
"If it hurts, lift your nose."
Regen quipped in a nonchalant tone.
"Kreeeeee... eeeaaaagh....!"
-Flash.
At that moment, a miracle occurred.
As if it understood her words, the Brain Licker's snout suddenly lifted up.
A coincidence-born moment of communication.
Regen, too, seemed intrigued as she briefly met the monster's gaze.
"Does it hurt?"
The monster's tear-streaked eye met Regen's for a moment—but
"If it hurts, then die."
-Stab!
With her indifferent reply, Regen's rapier pierced the Brain Licker's remaining eye.
"Kreeeeeeeaaaagh!!!!!"
As if saying, 'You told me to lift my nose,' Mike swore he heard a hallucinated voice from the Brain Licker.
"Hook."
Regardless, Regen twisted the handle of the rapier she gripped.
-Click, grind!
Like shifting gears on a bicycle, the handle rotated—and
"Open."
-Whoosh!
Barbs like hooks sprang out from the rapier's body.
The thorns protruded in the opposite direction of the stab, firmly anchoring into the Brain Licker's flesh.
Designed like a barbed hook, once embedded, it was hard to pull out.
In that situation,
"Hup."
Regen forcibly yanked out the now-barbed rapier.
-Riiiiiip!!!
The reverse-facing barbs shredded flesh as they tore through, turning the monster's face into rags.
Eyes, nose, and mouth shattered into pieces.
Torn flesh and blood painted the sky.
Ignoring the blood trickling into their mouths, Mike and the examinees gaped at the petite elf's back.
"Urk... cough! Cough...! Damn this cough..."
Even decayed, she was Dark Iron.
Kneeling and vomiting up a handful of black blood, she was far from frail or pitiful.
-Stab! Stab! Stab!
Even after the Brain Licker had completely stopped moving, she stabbed it several more times.
Never let your guard down until it's dead— and even after confirming death, stay vigilant.
Don't stop attacking until you've shattered the joints in its limbs and churned its guts into mush.
It was a rule as binding as law for Nether explorers.
'...Barbed Hook.'
Mike knew that gruesome sword technique.
It looked like an ordinary rapier on the surface, but twisting the handle deployed barbs that ripped flesh on extraction, inflicting maximum agony.
'Even in that weakened state, that level of specs... more chilling than I thought.'
It was a feat generally impossible.
Not just a matter of physical stats.
It required precise knowledge of where to strike to bring down the enemy without fail.
'That's why you can't underestimate elves.'
Elves were nature-attuned beings.
Creatures that loved nature, diligently studied it, and amassed vast knowledge about it.
Conversely, they knew nature better than anyone.
And understanding structure well meant...
'It also means they're damn good at disassembly.'
High pride, finicky dispositions, and the worst communication skills among races.
Despite that, elf explorers received noble treatment thanks to their unparalleled understanding of nature.
No one adapted to unfamiliar flora and fauna like an elf.
'And at the pinnacle, they become like that.'
Mike's furrowed brow gleamed with pure admiration.
"Without even using mana... that kind of power..."
Fey, watching from the side, was sweating coldly at Regen's skill just the same.
But that moment passed quickly,
"Gah!! Cough cough! Damn...!"
Her body strained from the intense activity, Regen started coughing madly again, vomiting blood once more.
"Regen!"
"Huff... I'm fine. Just a chronic condition."
Regen wiped the blood from her mouth with a pale hand.
"...Hey, baldy with the mustache."
"Y-yes... sir!"
Startled, Mike saluted instinctively as he replied.
"I'll hold here, so head up. Once that Magic Tower Elite kid clears them with firepower, swarm the rest."
"...You're not coming with us?"
Regen nodded.
"Something nasty's coming. From someone who's tangled with it once, you lot wouldn't stand a chance."
"...Understood."
Mike accepted her words without argument.
He was a Gold-rank veteran, after all.
He could tell if it was a fight he could join.
"Let's go together! What are you going to do alone?!"
In contrast, inexperienced Fey insisted on fighting alongside her—but
"Go quietly. Without you, these rookies will die on the way up."
Regen shut her down flatly.
"But..."
"What, worried about your boyfriend?"
"...!"
Regen smirked at Fey's flushed face.
"I'll check on him, so don't worry. He's probably alive somewhere."
It was a lie.
Regen didn't think Will was alive.
The altar's seal had broken, and its corruption was spreading through the entire forest.
Not even a Gold-rank adventurer could guarantee survival. It wasn't an environment a fresh recruit could escape.
'He'll be her first lost comrade.'
She'd have to get used to that sense of loss from here on.
That's what Regen wanted to say.
That was the essence of this place.
Friendships snapped. Trust vanished. Faith, love, hope, dreams—all crumbled with a stench.
From the moment you set foot in this hellish place, the ending was set.
Become a corpse, or venture out to become one, addicted to the glory it offered.
So she wished they'd go.
Lives too precious to waste in this ugly pit.
"Regen!"
As Regen turned to leave, Fey shouted.
"We'll definitely!! Come back for you!!! With everyone!!!"
"..."
She told her not to.
Rookies never listened to words like that.
But,
'Heh.'
Laughing at such foolishness—did that mean she was essentially the same idiot deep down?
"Then, one favor."
If they were to become proper explorers—
Retake the exam, return here to retrieve a senior explorer's remains,
"Come pick me up."
An idiomatic expression commonly used among explorers.
"...It was an honor."
Mike, knowing its meaning, bowed deeply in respect.
However,
"We will! When you come back! We'll drink like that time! With Will too!"
The rookie explorer before him seemed to take it literally.
"Alright, go. Be careful on the way up."
Regen turned and headed toward the altar.
"Man, can fate really rhyme this perfectly?"
Of all days, facing again what had ruined her like this.
"Haha."
Regen let out a hoarse laugh as she kept walking.
Toward the place of her downfall,
Toward where her despair resided,
And at the same time,
"Ha."
Probably toward her death.