Chapter 33
Chapter 33
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Translator: Ruby
Chapter: 33
Chapter Title: So This Is Really What It Looks Like
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Kuuuuuung......!
The Minotaur collapsed powerlessly.
I looked down at my trembling hands.
It wasn't because I was scared.
It was because of an indescribable sense of achievement.
Up until now, I had been fighting in a way that was closer to relying on the instincts created by my unique skill.
However, this battle was different.
I had moved according to my calculations and accomplished it exactly as I had imagined.
Even though my opponent wasn't a demon.
Rather, it felt like the fact that my opponent wasn't a demon had helped me more.
If it had been a demon instead of the Minotaur......
'I might have lost this sensation I gained from my experience with Romain.'
It felt like I had finally learned how to control my excessive excitement a bit and approach combat properly.
It seemed I had grown as well.
'Maybe I could accept light sparring matches from time to time?'
I finally understood, even if faintly, why others' eyes sparkled so much at the mention of sparring.
That aside.
In any case, since I had worked hard to defeat a mythical-grade monster.
'I need to collect my reward!'
I passed by the fallen Minotaur and headed toward the small wooden chest.
It was something that looked exactly like a treasure chest from one's imagination, and even seeing it in person, it looked identical.
'So this is really what it looks like......'
I stood before it and smoothly slid my sword across the lock.
Clang.
The rusted lock fell to the floor.
When I opened the lid of the chest.
Hwaaaaa!
Bright light burst out in all directions from inside the chest.
Perhaps because I had been underground until now, the light felt especially intense.
I squinted my eyes and looked inside, slightly blocking the intense light with my hand.
A single small gem lying alone inside.
I reached my hand toward that gem.
And then.
Common Skill: Mana Burning (Fighter Class Exclusive) - Burns all remaining mana to break free from non-physical mental attacks (debuffs) caused by magic.
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As one could tell from the name.
The Fighter was an ultra-close-range combat class based on basic attack-focused physical damage.
As a result, there were naturally several disadvantages.
Living up to its name, the complete absence of ranged attack methods was the first.
The tremendous DPS loss and one-sided damage that occurred until the moment of approach was the second disadvantage.
Damage Per Second: A measure of how much damage a weapon or character can inflict over a one-second period
But the problem was that demons and mythical-grade monsters appearing in the later stages came equipped with increasingly powerful CC skills.
CC immunity skill refers to an ability in video games that makes a character temporarily immune to crowd control (CC) effects, such as stuns, slows, or knock-ups
'It was absolutely hopeless when you finally closed in only to get hit with debuffs like fear or blindness.'
The blindness side in particular was truly fatal for Fighters.
Since it was a basic attack-based class, if you got hit with blindness, situations arose where you literally couldn't land a single hit until death.
So this Mana Burning skill was like timely rain during a drought, an oasis in the desert, for such Fighters.
After all, you could use mana that was barely needed anyway to instantly remove debuffs.
Though my explanation is getting lengthy, to put it simply, it was straightforward if you viewed it as a non-physical CC immunity skill.
And that effect was very useful for me right now as well.
'First of all, it doesn't overlap at all with what I currently have.'
That point alone had sufficient merit.
And on top of that, it was a mental-type defense method?
This could truly be called an incredibly sweet skill.
After all, if a bit more time passed from now on, I would inevitably face enemies who used mental-type magic at some point.
As a countermeasure for that time, there was nothing better than this.
After finishing the rather satisfying farming.
When I turned back around.
Diaz was staring blankly at the Minotaur sprawled on the floor.
"......"
Then she looked at me.
"You're......amazing......"
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After escaping from the labyrinth, Diaz and I decided to return to Gilad for now.
After light reorganization, to say our farewells and head to our next destination, Saint Traval, where the alchemist was.
When the two of us returned.
The people of Gilad were showing very anxious expressions.
As soon as we returned, Romain approached and spoke with a worried face.
"Just a moment ago, there was an unusual earthquake. I felt it along with a sound like some terrible beast howling......it might be dangerous, so you should leave this place quickly."
Judging by the nuance, it seemed he had felt the aftermath that occurred when I fought the Minotaur in the underground labyrinth.
To think he was worrying about others first while being so anxious himself.
Honestly, I was a bit surprised.
However, for this matter, there was no need to worry.
Diaz provided an explanation on our behalf.
"It's alright, Master."
"What do you......hm? It seems you know what happened?"
Romain asked, having noticed something.
Looking at him, Diaz smiled.
"Yes."
"Let me know what happened too."
"There was......a labyrinth beneath this place, Gilad. We discovered the entrance in that forbidden forest area I asked you about yesterday."
"Underground......labyrinth? My word. I've lived on this land for decades......"
It seemed Romain had no idea either.
Judging by his extremely flustered expression.
Diaz continued speaking.
"And there was a battle with a monster inside the labyrinth. According to Lord Rohan, it was a monster called the Minotaur."
"W-wait a moment. The Minotaur?"
His face changed ominously.
"The Minotaur......you mean the monster with a human body and a bull's head?"
"Did you know about it?"
When Diaz nodded, Romain froze for a moment.
"......!"
He looked at Diaz with eyes that seemed unable to believe it.
"A, a monster from mythology......a creature forged by curse......!"
Diaz also tilted her head in puzzlement.
It was because Romain's reaction was more intense than expected.
"Master? Are you alright?"
He looked back and forth between Diaz and me frantically.
"You escaped well......no. Wait a moment. You fought it? Not that you escaped?"
"Yes?......Yes."
Diaz was still bewildered.
Honestly, I also wondered if it was something to be that surprised about.
The Minotaur was strong, but in the end, it was an enemy you defeated and passed in the original story.
"You two......you're saying just the two of you defeated it?"
"N-no. Actually, Lord Rohan did it alone. I was mostly just standing......"
"......Insane!"
A rough compliment burst from Romain's mouth.
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Diaz and I took seats inside the house following Romain's guidance.
He served us each a cup of tea, then sat down heavily.
"Zaberon. That demon bastard. He was an incredibly strong one. To me, who had never known defeat in my life, he was the first one who made me feel a wall. The leg I injured from him still seems to throb."
Romain continued speaking while recalling memories from that time.
"That bastard had three arms. But originally he had four. He must have sold one off somewhere."
I was also focusing on his story.
Zaberon was actually a demon who didn't appear in the original work.
So there was no way to know how strong he was.
Just because Romain himself was strong, I figured the demon must naturally be strong as well by association?
So actually, there were such discussions among users.
'In terms of lore, is Zaberon stronger, or are legion commander-grade demons stronger?'
It was that kind of hot topic that would set the forums ablaze whenever it was thrown out.
Since Zaberon didn't appear in the game and no ability stats existed for him, direct comparison was impossible, which was the cause of this debate.
A hint to that topic had now appeared before me.
"Just before dying, he said this. If he hadn't lost one arm to that Minotaur bastard, he would have beaten me."
"That can't be......"
At Romain's words, Diaz was surprised enough to drop her jaw.
And I had taken down such a Minotaur.
Meanwhile, I found that story very interesting.
'Oh ho.'
This topic might get somewhat resolved?
'Is the Minotaur about equal to or slightly stronger than Zaberon? Hmm, wait a moment. That Minotaur bastard. He definitely had one eye missing......was that from being hit by Zaberon?'
Did they each take one from the other?
That meant that at full power, Zaberon's pure combat strength could be viewed as higher than the Minotaur's.
As far as I knew, Zaberon was a fighter-type demon.
But fighters also had a slight penalty against the Minotaur.
It was because the Minotaur bastard's bull hide had an additional defense effect against physical strikes.
'Because of the matchup difference, even though Zaberon was stronger, they fought similarly.'
I crossed my arms and pondered.
Then full-power Zaberon with all four arms might have truly been able to defeat Romain.
To summarize, Romain and the Minotaur would be similar in strength.
And full-power Zaberon and legion commander-grade demons would be above that.
'Zaberon was quite an impressive bastard after all.'
There had been opinions that legion commanders were either similar to or superior to Zaberon.
In other words, the enemies I would meet from now on would be even more troublesome.
'Haaa......I need to get stronger quickly. More, more.'
That was ultimately the conclusion.
To survive, I still needed to build more strength.
Defeating the Minotaur alone wasn't enough to be satisfied.
'I have a long way to go.'
However, for a person to become stronger, time was definitely required.
That's why the tasks I had to do going forward became even more important.
'To buy time, I need to delay the Great Invasion......!'
In the end, all I could think about was heading to Saint Traval without a moment's rest.
But......
Who on earth sent that letter that came from the demon's minion?
'And why the underground labyrinth key......the Minotaur appears in the Fighter scenario, but in the Thief scenario, the Minotaur doesn't appear at all. Naturally, the underground labyrinth key doesn't appear either.'
This was currently the Thief scenario where Revarsen existed perfectly fine.
So it didn't make sense.
I pondered for quite a while, but......
No matter how much I thought about it, no conclusion where the puzzle pieces fit together came to mind.
'I don't know. There's still too little information......let me focus on what I need to do for now.'
In any case, what I could do in the current situation was more limited than I thought.
Accumulate power, and accumulate more.
And if possible......buy more time to accumulate even more power.
That was the best I could do.
Just as I was making my own decision and trying to set plans for the future.
Knock, knock......knock.
A knocking sound that felt somehow off-rhythm and very unstable could be heard.
Naturally, Diaz's and my gazes turned toward Romain, the owner of the house.
However, Romain also seemed not to know whose presence was outside.
He supported himself on the chair and stood up, limping as he stood before the door.
Creeeeak.
Then he carefully opened the door.
But surprisingly.
Outside the door stood a completely unexpected person.
"You were here after all......Rohan."
The owner of the voice was an unexpected figure.
The Thief, Revarsen.
It was her.
'Why is she here?'
However, Revarsen's condition didn't look good at all.
Weren't there bloodstains here and there, her clothes torn, and she was covered in dirt all over as if she had rolled around somewhere?
I also stood up from my seat and frowned.
But unfortunately, I couldn't immediately hear the reason she had come here.
Thud.
Right after seeing me.
Revarsen collapsed unconscious just like that.