Chapter 66
Chapter 66
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 66
Chapter Title: Warrior, Reorganizing
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While the Papal Court outside was in chaos and the world was freezing under icy winds,
the first floor of the dungeon brimmed with a fresh kind of energy unlike before.
“How dare you come here after using up all your healing potions!! Die then!”
KABOOOM!!!
Thanks to the nonstop challenges from the Rabbit Raiders over the past two weeks, Balak had analyzed his own patterns and the dungeon’s weak points.
Ferguson had also started getting chummy with the frequent visitors to the rest area.
“I’d love to have a go at you sometime…”
“Hahaha, I feel the same way about you heroes, but Big Bro Balak hasn’t given the okay yet.”
“Tch, what a shame. By the way, what caused that earthquake in the dungeon before?”
“That was—”
Soon after, the Rabbit Raiders—who had also completed the commission requested by the elite class, thanks to Ferguson—were ejected from the dungeon and immediately reported the news.
The imperial official who received the information wore a very peculiar expression.
“What, so the reason the powers of various gods appeared at the dungeon entrance was because that Balak guy started seriously training?”
“That’s what the guy at the rest area said, Your Excellency.”
“To think training alone could affect the outside world… I can’t fathom what plans those lofty heavenly gods have in store. Anyway, will the captains keep heading in there?”
“We can’t pass up the chance to feed all our boys those spirit elixirs.”
“Or use our family heirloom, the Dragon Dagger…”
Now free agents, the Rabbit Raiders farmed Abyss Coins for retirement funds while distributing spirit elixirs to their knight orders, earning legendary GOAT status.
They reveled in the dungeon’s endless content and threw parties in the city.
It would have been great if that happy time had lasted forever.
But suddenly, a bolt from the blue struck them.
“The dungeon’s closing for three days?!”
“What the hell does that mean?!”
“Big Bro Balak decided it, so there’s no point asking me.”
“But why would your brother make that call…?”
“Maybe we bought too much from the shop?”
“Bro was thrilled the more you heroes got stronger—he never hated it. He just called it a content update.”
““‘Update?’””
Ferguson shared some rough details with his regular Rabbit Raider customers about what would happen after the patch.
“So…you’re saying the portal to Sky Island will reopen?”
“Not only will that place get a full makeover, but new systems will be added here too, so you heroes can look forward to it.”
“N-No way!”
The Rabbit Raiders were overjoyed at the news of even more to enjoy.
But…
“What a pity. We have to leave in a week anyway.”
“Ah, your lords are summoning you back?”
“Yep.”
“We’ve been away too long as it is. If we don’t hunt the monsters hiding out for winter, spring will be a disaster, so it’s time to get back to work.”
“Sigh… I wanted to keep challenging this place with my boys, but we can’t…”
“You’ll come back someday, right? I’ll be waiting for you heroes.”
“Heh heh, thanks, Ferguson.”
“So how about a discount this time—”
“Absolutely not.”
A real-life crisis hit the Rabbit Raiders, so they sadly didn’t have time to dig into the new content.
Just before the dungeon’s next renewal, after their final shopping spree and as they headed to the third room, Ferguson greeted them and tossed out a hint per Balak’s instructions.
“If you ever visit the revamped Sky Island, look for the golden-glowing spirit. Good things will happen.”
“Huh? What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Just a prayer for you heroes’ good fortune.”
With that, the curtain fell on the Rabbit Raiders’ latest run, and the dungeon prepared to seal itself again.
So who would handle the ones still inside?
“Thumble Learyat!!!”
““‘Huh?’””
KABOOOM!
Balak personally toured the entire floor again, escorting all challengers out.
*************************
Alright, now that all the players are out.
I pulled out the dungeon sealing scroll for the first time in ages.
Normally, using this ridiculously expensive scroll would’ve hurt like hell.
But not this time!
Who’d have thought the dungeon merchants would give it to me for free!
Ahh… this is what collaboration is all about.
True best friends.
Anyway, it’d been a long-overdue maintenance and rest period, so now it was time to tackle the postponed task.
“Big Bro Balak, did the sealing go well this time?”
“Of course! Ready, Little Bro?”
“I’m all set.”
Just like the time Second Bro and I went at it for real, Little Bro had said he wanted to spar with me.
Probably because that old knight crew’s constant challenges had fired up his competitive spirit.
A very welcome development, so I happily agreed.
And!
“Balak, you’re really fighting Orek?”
“You’re here! Skeleton Merchant!”
Unlike Second Bro, Little Bro didn’t have a bullshit healing factor.
Karian arrived as a safety precaution for any mishaps, and now everything was ready—
“Wait! Why’d you leave me out!!”
“Huh? Zephira?”
“No way! My contractor’s fighting, so I fight too! And Orek… you sent me back to the spirit realm just now because you’re worried I’ll get hurt?!”
“Ahem…”
Oh boy.
She was miffed that Orek had tried to fight me without her.
But I got where Little Bro was coming from, so I spoke up.
“Zephira, if you fight me, you’ll get forcibly banished to the spirit realm for sure. So can you understand Little Bro’s feelings?”
“I get that, but…”
“A devotee hoping their object of worship stays unharmed… isn’t that the purest form of faith?”
Honestly, it was a spar with a foregone conclusion.
Little Bro would face killing intent totally unlike our previous bout,
and throw everything at me until he was smashed to pieces.
“Still, it’s fair to say you want to test your full strength against me.”
“Huh? You mean…”
“You’re curious too, right, Little Bro? How far you can go against me with Zephira?”
“Y-Yeah.”
“So don’t fight each other—team up and come at me.”
Little Bro was a hybrid druid-shaman to begin with.
Fighting me while sealing his main shaman powers would be straight-up nonsense!
So!!
“Ready?!”
“Yeah!”
“Yep!”
Time to see Little Bro’s limits.
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Ferguson and Karian quietly moved to the training room to watch the brothers’ spar via video magic tool.
Balak activated the boss room device like before, and the space shifted in an instant.
“This forest is beautiful no matter how many times I see it.”
“Yeah. Wish I’d been at that party too—such a shame.”
“Hahaha! Tell me about it, Zephira! Don’t worry, there’ll be more parties later!”
Soon, the boss room transformed into the peach blossom grove where the sworn brothers had held a party marking one year since arriving at the dungeon, turning it into the stage for this spar—filled with warm memories.
Under the sky where pink petals danced in the breeze.
Balak held a greatsword in one hand and faced Orek, who was preparing at a distance.
“Now’s the time to show me everything you’ve got, Orek.”
“…Understood.”
“Here I come.”
As Balak called his sworn brother’s name straight, the surrounding peach trees fell eerily still, as if tense, without a whisper of wind.
In that strange silence—
Balak’s form blurred for an instant as his sword slashed down like a bolt of lightning.
But Orek kicked off the ground and retreated swiftly.
Vines and branches erupted from where he’d stood, stretching toward Balak.
“To think plants of this caliber in a place with nothing but fake trees!”
“Seeds I collected from Sky Island plants!”
But they were woefully inadequate against Balak’s monstrous strength, so he swung his sword lightly, cleaving through them effortlessly.
As wood chips and leaves scattered in the air, the wind swirling around Orek condensed into the shape of a hawk and materialized.
The top-grade wind spirit—Zephira’s true form—appeared, and gales began rippling around them.
A fierce whirlwind coiled around Orek’s hand axe.
He swung it, sending a blade of storm wind flying as he charged straight at Balak.
A reckless choice, one might think.
But Orek had more than just plant manipulation up his sleeve—another power all his own.
“GRRRRAAAHHH!!”
“The druid’s power!”
KABOOOM!!
Orek’s body morphed into a massive bear and clashed savagely with Balak.
The ground cracked with a thunderous roar, freezing the battlefield air for a moment.
The bear-Orek roared and raised a forepaw, the whirlwind on its pad sharpening into a blade that met Balak’s sword head-on.
“Hahaha! That’s my little bro! Now let’s kick it up a notch!”
“G-Grah?!”
Thud!!
Whoosh!!
Balak grabbed the forepaw and hurled it aside before stomping forward.
Spears burst from the earth, which he snatched in his free hand, unleashing a barrage.
Shockwaves rippled along the trajectories of his spear and sword, sending peach petals raining down like pink snow.
Zephira tried blocking the onslaught of iron fury, but wind is always swept away by fiercer gales.
Even with druid magic halving the physical impact, wounds began accumulating on Orek’s body.
Yet he fought on without a groan.
This fight wasn’t just a spar for him.
It was a test of how far he could climb—
a moment to prove if he could truly stand beside his brothers.
With that iron resolve, time wore on…
“You endured.”
“Cough…”
Orek had finally passed Balak’s final trial.
Even collapsing here, no one could blame him.
But he had seen it.
He knew.
The power Balak had wielded against those knight captains.
So Orek picked up his weapon again.
“Hoh, not stopping here? You’re a backliner by trade—clashing with me head-on puts you at a disadvantage from the start.”
“Still, I’ve got to at least match those old knights, right?”
“Heh, aiming that high after just a month of training… You’re one greedy little bro.”
“So, Big Bro—what’s your answer?”
“My answer…”
is this.
Weapons began gathering around Balak one by one.
Swords, spears, axes, hammers…
An arsenal orbited him, filling the peach grove with a killing intent unlike before.
“Ready?”
“Anytime.”
Balak’s phase one began, and Orek was reduced to a battered wreck.
His side crushed by a hammer, rolling on the ground; slashed by a sword, pierced by a spear.
He tried blocking an oncoming double-bladed axe in bear form, but even with Zephira diving in to shield him, his arm was half-severed.
Yet Orek’s eyes didn’t dim—they deepened.
And he sensed it now.
This was the moment for his all-or-nothing final strike.
Orek recalled the strongest beings he’d ever seen.
Massive, more powerful than anything he’d witnessed—
Druid mana surged through him like a torrent, embodying myriad beast forms.
And then!
“BRRROOOOAR—!!!”
“Hahaha!! Yes! That’s it!!”
Squeezing out his last strength, he transformed into a triceratops and charged Balak.
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Who knew Little Bro would awaken at the end!
I, Warrior Balak, am moved.
“Ugh… Orek’s in rough shape.”
“I went pretty hard on Little Bro. With injuries like that, even healing might leave aftereffects, right?”
“Of course not! I brought an elixir for exactly this.”
“An elixir?!”
“K-Karian, isn’t that a bit much?”
“Not at all. Think of it as a gift from us dungeon merchants to Balak.”
Jeez! Dungeon merchants!
What do you even have left after giving away so much!
Sprinkling the dungeon merchant-provided elixir on Little Bro restored his mosaic-worthy state to normal.
“So this is the power of the legendary elixir…”
“The ultimate restorative? No wonder it’s so pricey. But wouldn’t this lift Second Bro’s curse too?”
“As you say, Balak, it’d lift the curse, but Ferguson’s already changed species, so it’s pointless now.”
“Ah, that’s how it works?”
While waiting for Little Bro to wake, we reviewed the fight footage from the video magic tool for feedback—
when a weird aura emanated from the boss room.
Th-this… no way?
My hunch came true moments later.
“H-Here? The source of that power… gaa…”
“““……?”””
Suddenly, a yellow-haired, red-eyed human appeared in the boss room.