Chapter 161
Chapter 161
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 161
Chapter Title: Giant's Plateau
Plateau.
"One, two, three, four!"
"“One, two, three, four!”"
"……."
I woke up in the morning to some bizarre noise and stepped outside, only to be greeted by a strange sight.
Finn, who had been beaten half to death by one of the Black Heart Sect members not long ago.
And Hansen, who was in the rear guard like me.
Including those two, Gotash and Volkan were diligently lifting and moving what looked like logs.
"Oh, you're up."
"What is this?"
"Nothing much."
No matter how I looked at it, it seemed like something.
I gave them a pitying glance before lying down on the carriage seat. The space that the crown prince had expanded for me before.
Thanks to that, the seat boasted bed-like comfort.
'Ah, this is nice.'
Was it because I'd made a fuss about doing that closed-door training or whatever?
Days like this, just resting, felt endlessly blissful.
I felt like I could do this all day.
As I lay sprawled in the carriage, rolling around comfortably, I heard the click of the door opening.
"……Save me, Yuseong."
Marcel spoke to me with a pale face, his glasses slipping.
However.
A massive hand grabbed the back of Marcel's neck.
"Where do you think you're going, you weak mage?!"
Volkan dragged Marcel back.
Oh dear.
I closed my eyes for a moment, praying for Marcel's peace, then went right back to rolling around.
"You seem pretty relaxed."
"Very."
And then.
Diago, who had followed our clan for some reason.
He let out a sigh as he looked at me.
"Truly carefree."
"Isn't this better than racking your brains over nonexistent problems?"
I replied leisurely.
Diago looked at me with eyes that seemed somewhat envious.
"Bow Hero, Han Yuseong."
"Bow Hero?"
"One of the empire's terms. Since others call you the Thief Hero, we figured we'd at least keep up appearances."
"Figured?"
"Well, none of those guys are human anyway."
Diago chuckled.
"So you could say the expectations riding on you are enormous."
"With nothing to show for it?"
"……Can't argue with that."
Diago gave a wry smile at my words.
"The new Sword Hero, Soyeonhwa, is being taught by Black Hope Gong. The Mage Hero is walking the path of training as well. They were supposed to fight the previous heroes, but you know what happened, right?"
Diago conveyed it with his eyes.
His demeanor suggested it was burdensome even to say it aloud.
'They died fighting the Four Heavenly Kings.'
The guy who appeared out of nowhere.
He used his immortality as a shield to slaughter people.
All I'd confirmed was that the Bow Hero, trying to suppress his immortality with the Sacred Bow's power, had been killed.
'Honestly, he's beyond what I can handle.'
I'd newly mastered all of the Seven Luminaries sword techniques.
And I'd gotten stronger as a result, but there were limits.
How was a level 6 like me supposed to take down a guy who was tough even for level 9s?
"Well, hero training takes time. The empire's pinning their hopes on the level 9s instead."
"……."
I understood the empire's intentions from Diago's words.
When we'd tried to kill the Four Heavenly Kings.
When the Bow Hero had tried to do something with the Sacred Bow's power.
They'd reacted most fiercely then.
'At least become strong enough to backstab, huh.'
Well, that much was doable.
*
We were heading smoothly toward the Giant's Plateau.
"Guh, ugh……."
Marcel, on the verge of tears.
Ah, it had been smooth.
For me, anyway.
In any case, we arrived at the Giant's Plateau.
"Welcome."
"Hm……."
I looked around.
Buildings made of stone walls and quaint huts dotted the area.
Next to them, green-skinned orcs were sparring with blades.
'……Cradle really was a nice place.'
From a modern person's perspective, even Cradle could be frustrating at times.
"Unlike Cradle, this scenery is close to nature."
"Ahem, Gold Witch……no, Moonlit Sword. I knew it from your swordplay, but you're too good for a human."
"Oh my, sorry, but I'm already taken."
Ermé sidled up to me and grabbed my shoulder.
Gotash visibly looked disappointed.
"……."
Giant's Plateau.
It was a truly barren plateau with nothing around, leaving me speechless.
It seemed like I'd really need to show my skills here to live like a human.
'What now?'
Even bringing a house seemed like a chore.
But Ermé wore a confident expression as she led our clan members to an empty clearing.
"This will be our place from now on."
"Are my eyes wrong? There's nothing here."
"Now now, Marcel, you have to see with your heart's eye."
"My name is Marcel, not Glasses!"
"Anyway, it's time to use this magic tool I brought from Cradle."
Ignoring Marcel, Ermé pulled something out of her subspace ring in the empty clearing.
Boom!
A massive box that looked like four of my bodies stuck together.
She lightly infused it with mana.
Rattle!
The box unfolded on its own, transforming into a house.
"Hehe, it's a spare house I invested in for the guild members. By the way, it cost 30 platinum coins."
"Whoa……."
What an absurd amount of money.
I glanced at the house.
The Thief God's intuition told me it was pretty decent.
'Well, compared to camping, this is luxury.'
For now, the most important of food, clothing, and shelter was settled.
"Shall we head to the labyrinth then?"
*
Before entering the labyrinth, we did some basic preparations.
A final check, you could say.
The others moved busily, but Ermé and I were exceptions.
We had subspaces, after all.
'Still, minimal prep is necessary.'
I separated the poisons and antidotes I'd made using elven alchemy,
and distributed recovery potions to all the clan members just in case.
Even so, there was a bit of time left.
'Everyone's busy because it's prep time.'
They had to unload their luggage here too.
Ermé tidied up appropriately and started forming parties.
"We'll be living here for at least half a year, so everyone rest up well on the first day."
Ermé smiled brightly as she spoke.
I wondered why it sounded like "prep well because it'll be hell later."
We pondered how to divide the parties with Ermé and lightly set some future policies.
'……This is why I didn't want to be clan leader.'
After finishing the annoying chores,
I went into my room.
And took out the item called black iron and my bow from the subspace.
⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡ [Synthesis] -No, you're using another weapon while leaving the girl behind?!
The Sacred Bow flew into a rage.
The holy swords were like this too—they had strong pride as weapons.
I couldn't even use the Sacred Bow properly right now.
But soothing her came first.
'I can't use you on trash mobs.'
-That's true.
It was easy to get past like that.
I took out my old bow and the black iron.
'It'll be a bit heavy, but.'
Thanks to the Storm Giant's heart I'd recently acquired, my strength and stamina had grown, so no problem.
I placed my hands on the black iron and bow, then thought inwardly.
⚙ APPRAISAL COMPLETE ⚙ [Item] Darkscale Longbow (B+) A longbow made using sturdy black iron for high tension. ◇ Attack, Penetration, Accuracy bonuses.
Flash!
What appeared was a longbow wrapped in what looked like black scales.
'Appraise…….'
……B+ was a pretty good grade for a weapon, but seeing it like this made it look so plain.
'……Well, I'm satisfied with this much.'
I drew the Darkscale Longbow once.
The strong tension felt pretty good.
'Roughly 1.5 times more than before.'
I was quite satisfied.
*
Next morning.
We assembled the clan members and divided them into parties.
Party 1 members: Ermé, Lucia, Viola, Hansen, Rozante.
Party 2 members: Han Yuseong, Teresa, Finn, Marcel, Rishiel.
"Even if we split like this, the labyrinth at the Giant's Plateau won't scatter us, so no need to worry too much."
"We've passed the stage of fearing the 1st floor long ago. No worries."
Marcel flashed a confident smile.
I recalled the labyrinth at the Giant's Plateau.
'If Cradle's labyrinth is mixed-type.'
The beastmen's labyrinth was a beach.
And this place's labyrinth was.
'Grasslands.'
You had to confront every monster head-on.
It was tricky with lots of hidden monsters and ranged ones.
'More than ever, priests are essential here.'
I glanced at Rozante.
Times like this, I missed Veronica or Clara.
'No, Rozante's fine too.'
She got annoyingly drunk sometimes, but being able to protect herself while healing was extremely rare in this world.
Holy power usually came with intense pain, so most priests were doped up on drugs.
With the parties all set,
"I'll go too."
"Of course, brother. As if we'd leave you behind."
"……."
Soyeonhwa, Gotash, and Volkan joined.
*
It was some time ago, I think.
Me, Veronica, and Clara.
The three of us had gone down into the labyrinth. More precisely, we'd fallen by accident.
We'd made it to the 13th floor then.
And survived several near-death experiences there.
Why bring it up now?
'Didn't expect it to be this easy.'
We'd arrived at the 12th floor.
The grassland field was nothing special.
An open space.
And endless monster charges.
That was it.
'The problem is the sheer numbers defy imagination.'
The amount of monsters charging at once.
It was absurdly massive.
Fortunately, we had supplies.
'Not having only Teresa up front makes a big difference.'
More precisely.
The biggest factor was having more people to take the initial hits from the monster rushes.
I could frontline, but I was DPS.
The only one who could tank in our party before was Teresa.
-ROOOAR!!
A bellowing roar.
Up ahead, a massive bull head glared at us, roaring.
Minotaur.
I loosened my hands and faced forward.
If it were just minotaurs, it'd be easy.
'This is ridiculous.'
I gauged the enemies with my eyes.
About thirty centaur archers positioned behind the minotaurs.
And ten trolls arrayed like shields below them.
If it were one fight, I could just dump mana into it.
'But it's not.'
Hoo.
I took a deep breath and raised the Darkscale Longbow.