Chapter 67
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 67
Chapter Title: Old Woman (2)
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As they moved deeper toward the heart of the ruins, the number of undead surged exponentially.
Even so, after just a bit of time spent, the party's steps showed no hesitation.
"Th-the combination of a high priest and a holy knight... it's truly overwhelming."
High Priest Eleanor and High Holy Knight Bern.
These two weren't meant for a mere Level 3 field to begin with, so no undead could block their path.
At best, the higher-grade mutants among the undead tried to stand in their way, but even those melted like jelly under Eleanor's holy power.
And right after, Bern's monstrous hammer swings inevitably followed.
"Hm. We've arrived."
"Is this the place...?"
The party reached a massive plaza in the center of the city, large enough to hold thousands of people.
And there, spaced at regular intervals across the plaza, stood enormous pillars.
A total of five massive pillars stretched endlessly upward into the sky.
"Those are the sealing stones for the five named ones, right?"
"That's right."
Eleanor gave a curt reply to Aiden's question.
All eyes turned to the center of the plaza.
A giant angel statue towering ten meters high.
Beneath it, stairs leading underground came into view.
Into pitch-black darkness where not even an inch ahead was visible.
Bern took the lead, stepping forward.
Fwoosh—!
Torches mounted on the walls ignited on their own, illuminating the path.
"They even know how to welcome guests. Not bad manners."
Jun left that impression.
Gulp.
Aiden swallowed dryly.
Bracing himself for the battle about to unfold.
First, the burliest one, Bern, descended into the underground.
Aiden and Jun followed behind him.
Right after, Eleanor raised her holy power, while Maya advanced warily, guarding the rear.
Before long, an unparalleled seriousness settled on Maya's face.
The Heavenly Church was in league with the Corruptors—her sworn enemies.
Each steeling their resolve, they descended the stairs.
Then, about halfway down, Jun's eyebrow twitched.
'Something feels off.'
It was that familiar unease he'd felt countless times in his life, each time signaling mortal danger.
What could be the source of this sensation this time?
As he edged toward 5th circle, Jun grasped the clue.
'The mana feels different.'
It was a subtle change, but reaching 5th circle and gaining power to resist his master Damian's incantations had sharpened Jun's mana sensitivity.
On top of that, a sticky, ominous feeling permeated the air—something foreboding yet vaguely familiar.
'Definitely something's here.'
He quietly gathered his mana.
One hand resting on the choker around his neck.
[Interpreting Incantation...]
[Interpretation complete.]
[Incantation 'Odyssey of the Lazy Pilgrim' influence reduced by 1%.]
With every step down the stairs, he reduced the incantation's influence by 1%.
By the time they reached the bottom...
"Kirruk."
A reptilian cry echoed as the underground chamber came into view.
It was wider than expected.
Ten sturdy pillars anchored to the floor supported the ceiling.
Torches embedded in the walls lit the interior.
And at the far end opposite them.
Beside a massive stele scribbled with indecipherable ancient script and runes stood a large altar.
A single figure stood upon that altar.
"Welcome, you variables."
A grating voice, like nails on a chalkboard, reverberated through the chamber.
"...A lizardman?"
Eleanor muttered upon seeing it.
Aiden's eyes widened too.
Lizardmen were one of the monsters that appeared in Level 3 fields.
But their assumptions were wrong.
Jun, recognizing it instantly, recalled the old woman's name in his mind.
'The Ominous Crone...?'
The crone who prayed for misfortune.
A boss monster at Level 7 even in the game.
'Not quite a monster—clearly human.'
Her reptilian, lizardman-like form was just a curse she'd inflicted on herself for sorcery.
Her true nature was human.
'Why is she here?'
The question flashed through his mind, but he quickly dismissed it.
Dealing with the crone mattered more than her reasons for being here.
'Sorcery.'
At the same time, Jun's eyes swiftly scanned the surroundings, even activating his Bright Eyes skill to focus on everything.
In the midst of that.
"Kirrr. If you'd stayed outside, things might not have gotten messy."
The crone sneered mockingly at Jun and his party.
More precisely, her gaze fixed on Eleanor.
"Vessel. Ignorant vessel. You've come here to offer yourself as a sacrifice."
"What're you babbling about, you lizard bitch?"
Eleanor shot back immediately.
The crone merely chuckled "kirruk" at her words.
To her, Eleanor wasn't a person—just material.
"How contradictory. Trying to stop a disaster by summoning a greater one... Fools. But accept it gladly. It's all for a new heaven to open."
The sorceress, the Ominous Crone, slammed her staff—adorned with dangling skulls—into the ground, uttering cryptic words. Countless threads shot out from her feet.
The threads immediately snaked toward the pillars holding up the ceiling.
Bern reacted at once.
He didn't know what trickery she was up to, but he couldn't let her act freely.
But just before Bern could move.
"Asura Salvartha."
A heavy voice boomed from the left pillar, and simultaneously—
Kwaaang—!
A massive fist crashed down on Bern's shield, shaking the entire chamber with a thunderous roar.
Bern's muscles bulged massively, holy power forming an aura around his shield.
He instantly realized the foe was no inferior opponent.
"You...!"
"We both serve the divine, but our paths differ."
The suddenly appearing monk gripped prayer beads in both fists.
Like brass knuckles.
With that, the tattoos etched on the monk's body glowed red.
Holy aura intertwined with an unknown energy.
'So the renegade monk was here too.'
Tsk. Jun clicked his tongue softly at the standoff.
The Outer God's Defiant Monk, Slaughter Monk.
Like the Ominous Crone, a Level 7 monster in the game.
The silver lining was Bern on their side.
Sorcery: Manticore's Deception
The Ominous Crone stabbed a massive purple heart with a dagger, unleashing the sorcery at Bern.
A manticore illusion materialized from empty air, its barb-covered tail whipping toward Bern.
Eleanor immediately unleashed her gathered holy power, but the enemy moved sharply too.
As the Slaughter Monk blocked Bern's shield with one fist, he burst energy from the other, scattering Eleanor's holy power.
Bern managed to shove the Slaughter Monk back with his shield, but in exchange, the manticore's illusory tail lashed him.
"Hup...!"
Whoosh—
The illusory tail passed through Bern's body without physical impact, but the effect hit instantly.
Cold sweat drenched him, heat rising from his body.
Bern held his loosening muscles with his innate physical prowess, but it cost him stamina.
All this happened in a split second.
But the trouble didn't end there.
'A sorceress of that caliber...'
She wouldn't stop at just this.
Despite his comrade under attack, Jun gave no orders.
Frozen in fear?
No—as a mage, he was facing and analyzing the situation.
Sorceress, Ominous Crone.
A far superior sorceress compared to the goblin shaman in the Black Forest.
Yet Jun instinctively sensed something off.
'Is this all she's got?'
She's strong.
But not as strong as in the game.
He knew because he'd gauged the total output of energy flowing from her body.
Reaching 5th circle and drawing on his past life's memories.
The Crone's sorcery was a different lineage from the Goblin Lord's.
Still, memories of her sorcery lingered.
'She's weaker than in the game.'
He realized intuitively.
Level-wise, mid-Level 6.
Still a formidable foe, utterly out of place in a Level 3 field.
The kind of imbalance that would've made him ragequit the game.
But this was reality, not a game. Jun desperately racked his brains to overcome it.
'She's not trying to kill us right now. Why?'
A Level 6 sorcery master and a Level 7 Defiant Monk weren't going all out.
Well, the monk was unclear, but the sorceress definitely wasn't fully committed.
If the Ominous Crone had unleashed her sorcery in earnest, she wouldn't have targeted just Bern like that.
She'd have left Bern to the Slaughter Monk and focused entirely here.
But she hadn't.
Why?
'Because of the vessel here? Considering Eleanor's safety?'
No way.
That wouldn't explain the base camp incident.
Then.
'Something else.'
The reason the Crone wasn't at full power—what was it?
Jun concentrated his gathered mana in his eyes. Activating Bright Eyes simultaneously.
Then.
"...!"
An absurd amount of energy pressed down from right above.
Stealthily, but on a scale too vast to fathom, a massive force lingered in the area.
And that energy split into five strands.
'The named seals?'
Had she tampered with the named undead seals?
Pouring all her energy there, immobilizing them?
As that question arose.
Jun's eyes shifted to the Ominous Crone.
But something strange caught his eye.
'The energy... it's not just five strands.'
One strand remained.
That energy concentrated in her sinister staff, seeping into the ground in real time.
At that moment, Jun's and the Crone's eyes met.
"You... what are you looking at?"
"Something interesting."
There was something.
Below, that shady old hag was furtively channeling energy.
Just like how he'd amassed mana for a single decisive strike.
Jun immediately surged his mana.
If they'd shown their hand, he had to show his.
Mana began swirling fiercely in an instant.
The Crone's face twisted for the first time at the ominous sight.
The variable she'd dreaded—an irregular—had appeared.
* * *
'What the hell is that guy doing?!'
Mana was gathering.
The Ominous Crone, who had lived through all sorts of scenarios via sorcery over long years, had never seen such a sight.
Mana as if rejoicing.
Just that alone warped the surrounding space.
Anxiety surged over her simultaneously.
Why did a mage like that exist in a mere Level 3 field?
The question was fleeting; she immediately activated her prepared sorcery.
The sorcery she'd stealthily prepared to deceive the high priest vessel and the burly high holy knight.
It needed a bit more time to complete, but she'd handle that with personal skill.
"You pest!"
Activate the sorcery first.
And almost simultaneously, the mage stirring a sinister mana vortex thrust his arm toward her.
'I don't know what it is, but you're too late, you vermin!'
Terrifying mana compressed at the mage's fingertips.
Mana particles clumped, friction generating heat that coalesced.
The sorceress inwardly sneered as his fingers pointed at her.
'Idiot!'
No matter how powerful the spell.
It surely packed enough to kill her in one hit.
But that meant nothing to her.
She'd prepared sorcery to reverse and redirect that power.
Even if it didn't kill, no problem.
She had a way to wipe out all these variables at once.
She trusted the energy pulsing beneath her staff.
With that, she unleashed her sorcery.
Sorcery: Reverse Offering
A mirror forged with Outer God power summoned, shielding her entirely. Almost simultaneously, the enemy's spell fired.
Vast energy converged, but the mirror would absorb and reflect it back.
But.
Smirk.
As if smirking, the mystery mage's lips curled.
"...!!"
His fingertips, aimed at her, dipped downward.
In that brief instant, the sorceress read his lip movements.
-You should've looked all the way.
The mage's spell shot straight at the Ominous Crone's feet.