Chapter 199 Need Help
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Translator: JayM
Chapter: 199
Chapter Title: Need Help?
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Swamp area, 12th floor.
In front of the transfer stone.
Mick and the brothers were pacing with heavy expressions.
They couldn't bring themselves to move, as if their feet were glued to the ground.
The cat beast-person, Lumi, also had a dark expression. Still, she had to say what she had to say.
"Get a grip. How long are you going to be like this?"
"..."
Lumi's words echoed through the swamp, and Mick's party fell silent.
"We searched the entire 11th floor, just as you wanted. We searched the 12th floor too. And we sent someone to tell Karin about Skar's disappearance, didn't we? What more do you want me to do?"
The Huntsman clan executive, Lumi, had done her best to find Skar's whereabouts.
But that was for a day or two. A week had already passed.
It was a pity, but there was no possibility that Skar was still alive. Even if he was alive, there was even less of a possibility that he was still sane.
It was a situation where she couldn't spend any more time looking for Skar.
Their food and arrow supplies were running low already.
"Why are you being so soft? You have to be strong."
Lumi said forcefully, hiding her uncomfortable feelings. She didn't want to show a weak side here and lower the clan members' morale.
Mick nodded and sent a sign language message.
'I understand.'
Pete and Meat let out a bitter sigh.
Although he was a friend they hadn't known for long, Skar had gotten along with them quite well.
He had grown on them, but for him to disappear like this…
Their hearts were heavy.
"There must be a problem with the Bracelet of Unity. When this hunt is over, I'm going to go to the Explorer's Guild and give them a piece of my mind."
Lumi muttered to herself and placed her hand on the transfer stone.
Fwoooosh.
As soon as the red portal was created, she stepped in. The explorers also followed Lumi and stepped into the portal one by one.
The last to remain, Mick's party, stood at the transfer stone.
'Skar is a barbarian. He won't die or go mad easily.'
At Mick's sign language, Pete and Meat nodded and gestured.
'We don't know where he fell, but it's certain that it's in the swamp area. He'll definitely be on the next level.'
'Brother is right. He could have fallen into a resting place. It's too early to be sure that he's dead.'
Mick's party entered the red portal while holding on to a sliver of hope.
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At the same time.
In the 10th-level Ash Village tavern, the gathered explorers were chatting.
Most of it was lewd talk.
"Lizard beast-people are so good. They're cool and just right for cuddling."
"Nonsense! Elves are the best. Their soft, smooth skin and cloying voice. Huh? Kya! Just thinking about it makes my mouth water."
An explorer smacked his lips.
"Still, they can't be better than that party that just passed by."
As if it wasn't a wrong statement, the surrounding explorers nodded.
"I know the red wolf beast-person is Karin-nim, but I don't know who the priestess next to her is. Her breasts were huge, though. Hoo."
Another explorer lowered his voice.
"Watch your mouth. Mion-nim is a high priestess of the Earth Mother Goddess’ temple. Her older brother, Cain-nim, is the Knight Commander of Labyrinth City. If you're not careful, you'll die without anyone knowing."
"Huh?! Why is she here? Didn't she retire?"
"I don't know. They seemed to be in a hurry. I don't think it's our business to get involved."
"Could it be because of a man? Like her lover’s in danger?"
"Blasphemous words."
"..."
The explorers were silent for a moment.
In fact, the explorers in the tavern had similar thoughts.
It was because two women of overwhelming beauty had left, crossing the village busily without even resting.
The party leader sighed and stood up.
"She's a tree we can't climb. Let's drink in moderation and sleep. We have a long way to go."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
"Johnson, is this the right place?"
Jeong Yoo-shin chewed on a root and tapped Johnson on the shoulder.
The ghoul glared at Jeong Yoo-shin and struggled.
"Kip!"
"Alright."
Jeong Yoo-shin looked into Johnson's eyes, then turned his head and looked straight ahead.
'Easy to read.'
His new friend Johnson's eyes were honest. Should he say that his emotions were so clearly visible that they were easy to read?
When there were fellow ghouls around, Johnson's eyes would turn triumphant.
When a stronger monster was wandering around, he would be terrified and refuse to go any further.
If he rolled his eyes back and forth, it meant that he was looking for a chance to escape.
Johnson had another characteristic. He hated vegetables and jerky, but he went crazy for rotten meat.
The places Johnson went to always had a lot of corpses.
Even if his vision was limited by the red fog, Johnson was remarkably good at finding corpses.
Of course, Jeong Yoo-shin had exerted a lot of effort to make Johnson obedient. It was the same now.
Jeong Yoo-shin placed his hand on the head of the hesitating Johnson.
"Tsk. Johnson, I can hear your eyes rolling. Has the devil taken hold of your heart?"
"Kip!!! Kip!!!"
As if the 'education' had been effective, Johnson reacted violently to the word 'devil' and trembled.
"Let's go."
Squelch. Squelch.
Jeong Yoo-shin and Johnson once again cut through the shallow waters of the swamp and advanced.
'This is convenient.'
Thanks to the various knowledge he had learned from the labyrinth’s man of nature, Fin, he was smoothly passing through the swamp.
Still, it was difficult for him to sleep properly. Johnson was a competent monster friend, but he wasn’t a trustworthy one.
After resting for a long time with his eyes half-open, his mind has become a bit hazy.
'I should get a good rest when I get back.'
He felt it intuitively. The end of his exploration was gradually approaching.
The further they went into the swamp, the more explorer corpses they found.
Half-eaten explorers were floating on the swamp.
Creatures that could be either maggots or snakes were busily going in and out of the holes on the corpses.
Jeong Yoo-shin looked down at the dead explorers with a numb gaze.
When he first saw them, the terrible sight had made him nauseous. Not anymore.
Squelch. Squelch.
The further they went, the more dead bodies there were.
He had never seen so many corpses.
Judging by the level of their equipment, they were clearly intermediate-rank explorers, but for dozens of them to be taken down so easily…
He didn't know anything else, but he knew that the opponent they met wasn’t an easy one.
He shook his head to clear his mind of useless thoughts and moved forward.
If Fin's words were right, this should be the center of the 13th floor.
If he went in a little further, a place with only a swamp and no trees would appear.
After walking a little more, a dry hill and a wooden box came into view. Around it were the corpses of explorers. They were only bones, as if the Swamp Ghouls had licked them clean.
Jeong Yoo-shin slowly approached the box and looked inside.
"There's nothing here…"
Jeong Yoo-shin tapped Johnson.
"Let's go."
But Johnson just stood there without reacting while staring at one side.
Jeong Yoo-shin also followed and turned his head.
A green light was sparkling between the corpses.
Jeong Yoo-shin slowly approached the light.
He could immediately see the source of the light.
A half-broken Zweihänder.
It was a greatsword, also known as a two-handed sword.
Jeong Yoo-shin crouched in front of the green Zweihänder.
'Is this the magic sword the explorers were talking about?'
Looking at it closely, it was worth being greedy for.
It was clearly no ordinary item.
It was beautifully decorated with old-fashioned ornaments, and it was also emitting a chill.
Jeong Yoo-shin grabbed the greatsword and lifted it.
"Crazy... What?"
The weight was no joke. It didn't seem to be made of ordinary iron.
On top of that, the type of coolness it was emitting was different.
It was a different feeling from the cold swordsman Gwyn, whom he had sparred with last time.
If Gwyn's coolness was like pure white snow.
The coolness of this greatsword was a chill that would be felt from the corpses sleeping in an underground tomb.
Jeong Yoo-shin's brow furrowed.
"Wasn't this suppose to be just a knockoff? Or was it an actual magic sword?"
He didn't hear any bullshit like 'Hehe, do you want power?' in his head, so it didn't seem to be possessed by an evil spirit.
But his thought was short-lived, as the sword's magic was embedded in Jeong Yoo-shin's head.
"Fuck!!!"
The startled Jeong Yoo-shin threw the greatsword on the ground, but it was too late.
In an instant, the sword's magic and chanting method were imprinted in his mind, as if they had been slammed in.
Jeong Yoo-shin, who had been clutching his head and groaning, lifted his head.
He looked down at the Zweihänder rolling on the ground.
"I-Is this possible?"
What in the world was this crazy sword?
At that moment…
Kra-boooooom!!!!!!
A loud roar erupted from nearby. Jeong Yoo-shin and Johnson's heads snapped around.
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Swamp, 13th floor.
Central part.
A giant fly monster that was 4 meters tall swung its tentacle arm.
Kra-boooooom!!!!!!
As the tentacle struck the surface of the swamp, spraying water and piles of mud into the air as if a bomb had exploded.
The vanguards didn't even think of blocking and were just dodging here and there.
"Shoot!!!"
When Lumi shouted, the Huntsman clan members busily fired arrows.
Swiiissssh!!!
But the monster with the fly head quickly hid its body under the water and dodged the flying arrows.
It was the prey they were looking for, which they had suddenly encountered in the middle of the level.
It was a monster called the Fly Count.
A height of 4 meters.
Its body was close to human form, but its arms and legs were made of bundles of tentacles.
At the end of the tentacles were sharp awls.
On top of that, it occasionally shot a red glow from its eyes, and if you were hit by it, your body would stiffen up and you would collapse.
It didn't fly. Instead, it moved through the wide swamp like a ghost.
Despite its body being well over 4 meters, seeing it submerge itself in the shallow swamp and then pop out from another place, one could only think of it as magic.
Lumi bit her lip hard.
It was a much more dangerous prey than she had heard. According to the information from the Guide's Guild, it wasn't suppose to be this strong.
They had brought a lot of arrows imbued with ice magic because they had heard that its weakness was the cold.
But this fly-headed bastard was quick-witted and moved freely through the swamp, persistently targeting only the ranged archers.
The situation was grim.
One wrong move, and they could all be annihilated.
'No. Let's not think negatively.'
At the front, Mick was bravely swinging his shield and parrying the tentacle attacks one by one.
Mick's defense skills were shining.
But as if Mick's Taunt imprint wasn't working, the fly-headed bastard was moving through the swamp and persistently targeting only the rear guard.
The Huntsman clan members moved quickly and fired their arrows, but their movements were inevitably sluggish in the swamp.
In the end…
The fly's tentacle struck a female explorer.
Craaaaaack!!!!!!
She was a young female archer, but when she was hit by the tentacle, her back was broken and she was sent flying far away.
Splash!!!
Water splashed, and the female explorer floated on the swamp. She wasn't moving.
"Tia!!! Kugh!!!"
Lumi shouted and gritted her teeth.
The fly-head's red eyes glistened.
It was as if the prey and the hunter had been reversed.
The vanguards, their morale broken, were the first to retreat.
A Huntsman clan member grabbed one of the vanguards.
"H-Hey!!! Where are you going?!"
The vanguard shook off the clan member's arm.
"You madman!!! You're going to catch that thing? Are you out of your mind?!"
"We can catch it if we work together!"
"We can't! This is impossible!"
Even in the midst of the division, Mick didn’t retreat and used his shield to block the fly-head's tentacle attacks.
Boom!!!!!
Boom!!!!!
Mick gritted his teeth.
Every time the tentacle struck his shield, his bones ached. But he endured it. He had to win this fight to find his comrade.
The fly-headed bastard, as if it thought it had completely seized victory, didn’t run away and swung its bundle of tentacles to its heart's content.
Boom!!!!!!
"Kugh!!!"
Mick was pushed back. The fly-head's tentacle attacks didn’t stop.
Craaaaaack!!!!!!
A tentacle that came from a blind spot struck Mick. He was thrown into the air and plunged into the swamp.
Just as the tentacle, its sharp awl shining, was about to finish him off…
A greenish fog slowly filled the swamp lake.
A fog that emitted a cool chill.
The fly-headed bastard's body flinched.
"Yo."
A voice suddenly came from below it.
The fly monster hurriedly bent its head and looked down.
Not only the fly monster, but also the Huntsman clan members stopped fighting and stared blankly at the interloping human.
It was hard to believe…
They had definitely thought that he was dead.
Skar.
The half-breed barbarian was standing next to the fly monster with a half-broken green Zweihänder slung over his shoulder.
The shocking scene didn’t end there.
Skar had his arm around a ghoul.
Skar chewed on a root and grinned.
"You look like you're having a hard time. Need help?"
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T/N - Damn, that was a pretty badass entrance. Also, lots of stuff happening here. Mion and Karin entered the labyrinth to look for the MC. Then the MC himself just picked up a magic sword without a fight. The sword seems to acknowledge the MC too. Crazy luck right there, though it’s par for the course for the MC at this point.
But what touched me the most is Mick’s loyalty. Even though his mouth is dirty, his loyalty is impeccable. The brothers were also quite worried for the MC considering that they’ve only known each other for a week or so at this point. The MC better treat them right.