Chapter 45
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 45
Chapter Title: The Only Way Out
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Pain pulled my consciousness from the depths back to the surface.
Light seeped once more into my pitch-black vision.
The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was Rireu. The moment I started to stir on the floor, she rushed over, asking if I was okay and wiping the cold sweat from my brow.
I had no idea how many hours had passed before I regained consciousness. Rireu's sweat-drenched robe was bone-dry, and Trian was busy tending to the arrows he'd pulled from the spider carcasses.
“Huuuh…”
My entire body screamed in agony. Even turning my head was an effort, but I struggled to push myself up and observe the state of my party members.
Trian's hands were stained with the spiders' bluish blood, but he didn't seem to be badly injured.
“Rireu, get some bread and water and give it to Bin.”
Seeing me awake, Trian pointed to a bag in the center of the room. It contained about a week's worth of food and water. I forced the dry bread Rireu handed me into my mouth.
It was beyond just having no appetite; my stomach was so unsettled I felt like gagging, but I had to quickly get some food down to revitalize this wretched body of mine.
Clank!
As I forced down the food and water, the sharp sound of steel hitting the floor reached my ears.
The sound came from Rex's prosthetic arm. The mechanical limb, corroded by the explosion and poison, had begun to shed parts onto the floor.
“Huuuh… Hah… Huuuh…”
Slumped on the floor, Rex stared down at his corroding prosthetic with a look of utter dismay.
I only just noticed how unstable his breathing was.
“Rex.”
I called out to him, my eyes filled with concern.
“…Yes, General.”
The skin on his back had completely melted away. It was all because he had thrown himself in front of Rireu and me to shield us from the blast.
“The explosion is one thing, but the Mazoku blood that seeped into the wounds is the bigger problem. He’s been poisoned.”
Trian explained Rex's condition for me. Though his hands never stopped sharpening blunted arrowheads, his mouth and eyes betrayed his concern for Rex.
“…”
Rireu, too, seemed unsure of what to say, her lips twitching before she fell silent.
“This is no time to be lying down.”
Ignoring the screams of my body, I forced myself to my feet.
Through the torn flesh of his back, the poison-laden blood of the Mazoku and the Mutant was contaminating his body.
Simple herbs or potions were nowhere near enough to cure it. This wasn't just a Mutant's poison, but a Mazoku's; only a proper cleric's healing prayer could completely remove it.
“Rex, how many days do you think you can last?”
“…I’m fine.”
Rex answered, scraping the dried spider blood from his body. It wasn’t hard to tell he was bluffing.
“Report again, accurately, Rex. Now is the time for a cold assessment of your condition so we can formulate a proper plan.”
Even the most exceptional barbarian has his limits.
And he had clearly reached his.
What I wanted to hear wasn't some bravado or rousing cry meant to boost the team's morale.
It was material for a calculated decision.
“…The poison is spreading through my body. It must be because that Mazoku bastard's blood got into my wounds. I can hold out for a day without issue, but… starting tomorrow, I’ll likely be able to do little more than move my legs. From the third day on… you may have to leave me behind.”
Even after being doused in the blood of a powerful Mazoku, Rex claimed he could still fight without issue for about a day. Frankly, that sounded like more bravado to me.
If I had sustained those injuries, I wouldn't have lasted five minutes, let alone a day, before passing out.
“…This is bad.”
Rex's body was incomparably larger and heavier than an elf's or a human's. If time passed and he collapsed, who would be able to carry him?
It was physically impossible for Rireu or me, and even for Trian, whose muscles were developed from years of combat, carrying that massive frame all day would be out of the question.
Carrying Rex would slow us down, and if our movement slowed, finding an exit would naturally take longer.
If finding the exit took too long, Rex would die.
No matter how exceptional a barbarian he was, there was no way he could survive for days while infected with Mazoku poison.
“…Trian, roughly how long do you think it will take to find the dungeon's exit?”
“It’s only been two days. Don’t rush me.”
“I don’t want to, but given the circumstances…”
“…I’ll do my best. But the chances of finding an exit in just a day or two are slim.”
Trian must have made a calm assessment of the situation. To Rex, his words were tantamount to a death sentence, yet no trace of despair clouded the brave orc's face.
“…There isn’t much time left. While my body can still move as I command, it would be best for you to make full use of me.”
With those cold, detached words, Rex pushed his heavy body back to its feet. His breathing was ragged and cold sweat poured from him, but he couldn't stop.
In about two days, his body would no longer obey him. It was as if he was saying he had to be as helpful as possible to his comrades before that happened.
“…”
I watched Rex’s back as he began clearing away the spider carcasses with sweaty arms and trembling hands.
I already owed this orc my life twice over.
In return, what had I done for him?
“…”
Rireu swallowed hard, watching the orc’s back as he calmly sought out what he could do, even in the face of death.
“Don’t look at me like that. An infantryman’s duty is to protect the mages. I am merely fulfilling my obligation.”
To look at him with pity was an insult. He seemed content as long as the mages behind him considered him a sturdy shield.
“…Rex.”
“Speak, General.”
“Clear a path. I have somewhere to go.”
I stepped over the spider carcasses, my black robe stained with their bluish blood, and crossed the room.
“Somewhere to go? What’s a guy who doesn’t even know the way doing taking the lead…?”
“Just trust me and follow.”
There was only one thing I could do for Rex.
Just as he had saved me time and again, I would now save his life.
“…Did you sense something?”
Trian eyed me with suspicion as I walked with a newfound confidence, then asked with a serious expression.
This bastard seemed to think I was some kind of shaman.
Sense something? Hell no. I just know from having cleared this dungeon hundreds of times.
The location of the dungeon’s only ‘fixed exit,’ that is.
But of course, I couldn't say that.
“…Uh, yes. In fact, there’s been an unsettling energy I’ve felt ever since we stepped into this dungeon.”
Honestly, I wasn't too comfortable repeating these kinds of lies over and over.
But I couldn't think of a suitable excuse to convince the suspicious Trian.
Well, I might as well play the part of a shaman.
Rex had thrown his life on the line for me twice. I could tell a few lies like this for him.
“This is a dungeon. We don’t know what threats lie in wait. There’s no guarantee an unusual energy signature points to an exit.”
“When did I say I sensed an exit? What I sense is quite the opposite.”
“What?”
I gently lowered Trian’s arm from my shoulder and met his gaze. I don’t know what he saw in my eyes, but as soon as we made eye contact, he fell silent as if at a loss for words.
“I can sense the location of the most dangerous monster in this dungeon. A very foul, viscous magical energy.”
Goddamn it, I never thought I’d live to say something like this as a mage…
“Let’s clear this dungeon. It’ll be much faster than wandering around looking for an emergency exit.”
There are two ways to get out of a dungeon.
The first is to use the ‘emergency exits’ that spawn randomly throughout the dungeon.
That was our original plan.
The dungeon was high-level, and more importantly, the rewards for clearing it were utterly useless to me.
But that method was no longer an option. Finding an emergency exit, which could appear anywhere, required diligent, daily travel.
But Rex would be bedridden in two days.
It usually takes a skilled guide five days to find a dungeon's emergency exit. With bad luck, it could take over a week.
Rex didn't have much time left. That’s why I chose the second method of escape: ‘clearing’ it.
Every dungeon has a boss-level monster, a being known as a ‘Treasure Keeper,’ residing within it.
Defeating this Treasure Keeper yields treasures like vast amounts of gold or special equipment, and it reveals a fixed exit from the dungeon.
The Treasure Keeper’s location is always fixed. Unlike the randomly spawning emergency exits, the fixed exit guarded by the Treasure Keeper can be used at any time, if one so chooses.
Of course, you have to deal with the Treasure Keeper first.
“Are you sure about this? As you’ve seen, the monsters in this dungeon are no ordinary foes. The Treasure Keeper here could be quite a handful…”
I frowned at Trian’s worried tone.
“Why are you talking as if it has nothing to do with you?”
“What, am I supposed to fight too?”
“…So you weren’t planning on it?”
“A Treasure Keeper is incomparably stronger than a regular monster. I can barely inflict damage on the monsters here by aiming for their eyes. I doubt I’d be much help against the boss.”
I don't get how he can so brazenly admit he's too weak to be useful.
“Same goes for Rex. He’s bluffing about being able to move, but if he were to fight the Treasure Keeper, he’d just be a hindrance to you.”
Rex pressed his lips together, as if he had nothing to say.
He seemed to have no retort to Trian’s cold assessment.
Hmm, Rex gets a pass. After all he's done for me.
“…Well, then. I’ll handle the Treasure Keeper myself. I need you to do something else for me instead.”
“What is it?”
“When I fight the Treasure Keeper, it’s going to get very loud. It’s not a monster I can face while trying to keep the thunder down.”
“Meaning?”
“You just need to buy me some time against the monsters that will swarm us.”
“…So you’re telling us to go die.”
“You can hold out for five minutes, can’t you?”
Trian sighed, looking back and forth between me, Rex, and Rireu.
Fighting off all the swarming monsters was likely impossible. But just holding out for five minutes… with this group, could they manage it?
It wasn't impossible. In fact, the odds of surviving for five minutes were higher than the odds of not.
“…You’ll really finish it in under five minutes?”
Heh, Sergeant Trian sure worries a lot.
If I can't finish it in five minutes, we're all dead anyway, so you don't have to worry about that possibility.