Chapter 140
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 140
Chapter Title: Field Boss Defense Battle (3)
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"Where's the field boss's current position?"
"The last report said it's still in the north."
"Keep sending reports right up until we deploy. No one else can handle that thing."
In truth, the Twin Head Troll was so powerful it had overpowered even Hertex, who was at the early stages of level 6, in terms of raw strength.
If a monster like that rampaged without the Hertex Adventure Group there, the entire formation would collapse in an instant.
After receiving the final report, Hertex looked at the group gathered under his name.
He was the type who lived long and thin, but as an adventurer, he too had a burning heart.
"Let's survive and return to our daily lives!"
"Woooaaah!!"
The crowd erupted in cheers at Hertex's short speech, and the battle soon began.
Meanwhile, the White Whale Mercenary Corps decided to move separately from the Hertex Adventure Group.
Precisely, to the rear of the battlefield.
For Jun, who had ranged attack capabilities, it was far more efficient overall to read the flow of the entire battlefield from the back and provide support rather than fighting on the front lines.
"It's a relief we're in a safe spot, but... somehow it feels wrong just sitting here while everyone else fights."
"...?"
Maya tilted her head at Aiden's words for a moment.
She almost mistook him for wanting to go out of his way to find trouble, probably because he'd been hanging around that accident-prone mage.
And above all, only Aiden and Maya had it relatively leisurely—Jun and Eleanor were anything but.
"Severe cases first! Light wounds, hold out with recovery potions!"
"Damn it, priestess! Over here!"
"This one's first! His guts are spilling out!"
"You idiots, if you're not dying right now, get back! You're in the way of the healing!"
Combat was breaking out everywhere.
Especially battles with large monsters often resulted in instant combat incapacity from even the tiniest mistake.
As such, Eleanor, an upper-class priestess, was busily darting around to assist with healing.
"Herald! Where are you? Herald!"
"Huff, huff! Here, here I am!"
"Giant War Boars appearing en masse at the 5 o'clock position from here! Send shield warriors!"
"Y-yes, sir!"
Iron Rampart
"Herald!"
"Y-yes!"
"Giant War Wolves en masse at the 9 o'clock position! Tell them to handle it with fast movers and hunters!"
"Those guys went to the 11 o'clock position earlier!"
"Hertex Adventure Group has mostly cleared that side! Call them back now!"
"Mage! The shield warriors are delayed getting to the 5 o'clock position!"
"Hold on!"
Scan
Grease
"I've tied up the boars' charges for a bit— we've bought time, so tell them to hurry!"
Using the Bright Eyes skill and Scan to survey the entire battlefield, Jun busily exchanged information with the Hertex Adventure Group's heralds, adjusting the flow of battle.
Thanks to him, the Hertex strike team could focus on their mission in this fog-shrouded environment.
"Why are there so many monsters!"
"You idiot, Turn! Why'd you push forward like that!"
"Fall back!"
"You dumbass, quit shaking and clench your ass—charge!"
"Uwaaaah!!!"
Chaotic combat.
Yet they were steadily holding back the monster wave.
Meanwhile, the Hertex Adventure Group facing the Twin Head Troll was locked in fierce battle.
"Damn it, its attack range is too wide!"
"Pull its attention with ranged attacks as much as possible! Shield warriors, fall back!"
"Don't move rashly. The White Whale Mercenary Corps has our backs!"
"Maknae, you little shit! I told you not to get greedy!"
"Slashed its left ankle! Focus on the left!"
"Arrows are all out!"
"We'll buy time—go resupply from the rear now!"
The Twin Head Troll moved with surprising speed for its 7-meter colossal frame.
Normal arrows couldn't pierce its hide and just fell to the ground, while mana- or enchanted arrows worked somewhat, but if attention shifted even slightly, it recovered fully and moved as if nothing happened.
Conversely, those attempting melee weren't faring much better.
Figuring out paths to deal damage while avoiding ranged attackers' trajectories made it hard to commit numbers, and slicing its thick hide drained mana heavily.
"Don't move in panic—tired ones, fall back and recover stamina!"
"Move swiftly!"
In the midst of it, Hertex's adjutant Mulder racked up major contributions.
As the troll made a big swing to shake off nearby warriors, he unleashed Dig to disrupt its balance.
The instant its balance crumbled...
Kuoooooh!!
A intense aura erupted, shaking the ambient mana.
"Kuhk!"
Mulder, mid-cast, coughed harshly as his spell canceled and mana rioted within.
But as a 4-circle mage, he quickly calmed it, summoning a steel spear and launching it at the troll's buried right leg.
"Now! Disrupt its gaze! All-out attack!"
Hertex's command followed, and everyone poured attacks to land Mulder's spell.
Targeting vitals like head, heart, and neck, they overwhelmed the troll—it couldn't block Mulder's magic.
"The plan's working!"
"It's collapsing to the right!"
"Aim for the head!"
"Don't focus one side! It'll be easier for it to defend!"
In prior fights, they'd underestimated the irregular troll's strength amid encirclement by field monsters, but the prepared Hertex Adventure Group was no pushover.
Arrows and blades coated with irrecoverable poison forced it to burn more mana on healing.
To counter Mulder, it repeatedly burst mana-infused auras.
It had no choice but to tire gradually.
But...
Guwaaaah!!
Kweeek, kweeeek!!
With a massive roar, it kicked off the ground, grabbed a nearby Giant War Boar, and began devouring it.
The 4-meter boar gruesomely torn apart alive in the brutish troll's grip was a horrific sight.
"N-no, it's regenerating!"
"Impossible recovery speed!"
"What are you doing? Stop it now!"
A special pattern unseen in normal trolls.
Stunned by the outrageous healing, the Hertex group charged again, but...
The troll widened the gap once more, devoured another monster, and restored its tattered arm.
'A war of attrition like this puts us at an extreme disadvantage!'
Had they known of this pattern, they'd have stalled while clearing surrounding monsters!
Hertex ground his teeth.
"Damn it! This won't do. Surround it slowly!"
"Got it!"
A late judgment, but they had to contain its rampage now.
As the Hertex group reformed, the fully recovered troll resumed its frenzy.
Yet anomalies were stirring within it bit by bit.
"Captain!"
"What is it!"
"I sense a sinister energy from its body!"
"What?"
Mage Mulder first calmly assessed the situation.
Despite no major wounds, the troll wouldn't stop grabbing and eating other monsters.
Mulder quickly read the eerie energy flowing around it and tried to warn...
"Careful—"
Guwarugaaah!!
With its aura, a red wave spread everywhere, freezing the adventurers' bodies.
In that instant, the troll felt indescribably gigantic.
Intimidation.
A pressure like witnessing a tsunami—low-will adventurers' legs shook, and nearby fighters collapsed outright.
"W-what...!"
Hertex gaped at the unforeseen aura type.
He instinctively knew this wasn't just an irregular pattern.
"Everyone, snap out of—"
He hurried to rally his shaken men, but the troll acted faster.
It smashed nearby members with its massive club and charged bullishly.
Precious forces wasted at a critical moment against it.
A sacred light repelling foul energy floated above them like the sun.
And simultaneously...
Flare
Jun, having read the battlefield shift and arrived, unleashed his spell.
A single beam infused with intense solar power slammed into the troll's abdomen.
Thud...!!
The troll, which had seized a reversal chance, paid dearly for its carelessness.
Tremendous heat spread from the pierced belly outward.
Unlike prior Flares, this flame infused with combustion properties wouldn't extinguish until Jun's mana ran dry.
Keyaaaaaah!!
In agony as its organs melted, the troll unleashed a piercing shriek.
Hertex, snapping to, yelled.
"What are you waiting for! Pin it down!"
"L-left! It's going left!"
"That crazy monster bastard! Fleeing in that state?!"
"Less admiring, more blocking!"
Despite its body burning, the troll grabbed another monster to heal.
An intense clash of unquenchable flames and insatiable recovery.
But the victor was obvious to anyone: Jun.
Nearby adventurers witnessing it gasped in admiration.
"A-as expected."
"The rumors are true."
"A monster that had Hertex Adventure Group struggling... in one shot..."
Yet Jun's expression remained grim.
'Twin Head Trolls don't have abilities like that.'
Jun was as rattled as Hertex.
He'd hunted them multiple times in-game, but never this form.
'Ominous.'
Memories surfaced. He'd never seen this exact phenomenon, but...
'Similar ones appeared repeatedly mid-game.'
Content adding patterns that never existed before.
Players mocked devs for gimmicks, but Jun couldn't laugh.
It wasn't just stat boosts—new patterns wiped parties.
'No way that guy's already making moves?'
Bad premonitions always hit true, they say.
Jun began chanting a new spell.
If his hunch was right, he had to reduce that troll to ash, no corpse left.
As he prepared an unused spell...
-Oh dear. Is that you? An unpredictable variable. This is truly... troublesome. Won't my experiment be ruined...?
A voice echoed in his mind.
Its drunken, jumbled tone made Jun's eyes widen.
And with it, the troll's heart and two heads burst like fireworks, collapsing to the ground.
In the anticlimactic death, silence blanketed the field for a moment.
"Everyone, fall back!!"
Jun's mana-infused shout rang out as another anomaly began.
Living as the Hero Party's Mage 141