Chapter 103: Mafia (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 103: Mafia (2)
To be honest, when I first saw Mr. Bear's crossbow, the following thought popped into my mind: Is it really possible to use that thing as a weapon? Surprisingly, the answer was yes, it was possible.
Whooom!
As if in direct defiance of my doubts, Mr. Bear skillfully loaded the crossbow, aimed at the head with accuracy, and fired.
"Tsk, as expected. It blocked it."
The Yeti blocked the arrow with both hands and escaped an instant death. Of course, it didn't escape anything else. Both its hands had been skewered by a single arrow. The Yeti screamed and tried to apply strength to the problem, but the arrow did not come out. The arrow didn't seem particularly special, either.
Could this be Hook Arrow?
There was a skill I suspected was at play here, but I couldn't be certain. That wasn't something to worry about right now, anyway.
"Keeek!" The gigantic Yeti stomped toward us. Since both its hands were tied, it didn't seem particularly threatening. But what was this?
"You guys finish off the rest." Mr. Bear slung the crossbow on his back again as if to say he had done his job. One more arrow would have finished this, but based on what I just saw, I could conclude that he didn't want to do any free labor.
Is it because he's an adventurer? The way he's divvying up the labor is incredibly precise.
So that there would be no objections to our loot distribution in the future, I took up my shield and ran out.
"What is he—?!" I could hear Carlson freaking out. Even if I was a barbarian, it would likely seem impossible for me to stop a monster like that head-on. But that was only when you were a basic barbarian. Building a wall with my shield, I blocked the Yeti's charge.
Bam!
The heavy blow jolted through me, but that was nothing. After absorbing the Essence of an Orc Hero, I had almost no excuse to be pushed back in a power struggle. Besides, the Yeti was only about three feet taller than me.
[You have taken cold damage from Chill.]
That chilled my bones, but not to the point of pain.
"Michelle!"
"Ah, yes!" When I shouted, Missha, who had been staring blankly at me, stepped on my shoulder and leaped. With the swords that she had now mastered, she stabbed both of the Yeti's eyes from below at the same time.
Stab!
Since they weren't daggers like the ones she had used in the past, the sharp blades were long enough to penetrate the Yeti's brain.
Boom!
Soon after, the Yeti collapsed to the floor with a heavy thud and disappeared in a flash of light.
[You have killed a Yeti. EXP +3]
Unfortunately, there was no essence. If there were, I would've given it right to Missha.
This is a bad start.
Now there were only five possible essences, excluding the guardian's, left for me to feed Missha.
"Hm? Why arrre you looking at me like that? D-Did I do something wrong?"
...There should be at least one, right?
"You two. You have good teamwork." After a short comment from Mr. Bear, we kept moving.
We went inside the ice cave and, moving in formation, killed countless Frost Wolves, which were rank-nine monsters. These were the only guys that spawned in this area.
[You have killed a Frost Wolf. EXP +1]
Anyway, Missha and I had to do some labor here. Mr. Bear killed some wolves with his crossbow too, but not enough to compare to us.
He has a strong one-shot but not any wide range.
As I wandered through the cave analyzing Mr. Bear piece by piece, we reached the end of the first stage of the map. It took exactly six hours to arrive there because we got lost a lot.
...Not here, either.
If I had stepped forward in earnest here, we could have cleared this stage in under an hour. The topography was the same as the dungeon in the Bloody Citadel.
Left, left, right, right, left, seven consecutive straights, left...
Pillars appeared at regular intervals. If you wanted to find your way through this place, it was easy to do so. But I didn't on purpose in order to feel the rest of the team out.
Someone who knows how to open a rift would have been able to memorize a pattern as easy as this.
This left one of two possibilities: either the mafioso was not a player, or they were pretending not to know on purpose.
Well, if I keep an eye out, I'll find an opening.
Thus, the second stage continued like that.
"This cave is kind of ominous..."
We traveled down the ice stairs at the end of the cavern and headed further underground. As we did, I carefully observed what my team members were doing. There was a hidden item here. Nothing special, but breaking the third pillar in this room revealed an elixir that granted the user a one-time boost in Cold Resistance.
They're not going to take this, either?
Even though we were past that pillar and had reached the end of the stairs, no one was acting strange.
Well, even if they do know, they wouldn't do something so obvious. They can just come back at the end and take it for themselves.
I decided not to foolishly underestimate my opponent. The stronger I assumed the enemy to be, the better. Well, at least I thought so.
"It seems like we went really far down, but it's still surprisingly bright," Carlson muttered behind me.
I felt similarly. The ice walls radiated white light, almost like the entire cave was made of transparent glass.
"It's kind of pretty."
"Yeah, rrright? I thought the same thing."
"Uh, but what is that?" Jencia, who had been conversing with Missha on a topic that was hard for me to relate to, pointed to a huge cavity facing us at the bottom of the stairs. At first glance, the conspicuous, totem-like thing in the center stuck out.
"Oh!" she exclaimed. "I touched it and it started glowing."
"It could be dangerrrous, so step back."
"Ah, okay!" Jencia was clearly worried she may have done something wrong.
Mr. Bear chuckled. "What are you so startled for? That looks like the key, anyway."
"Key?"
"Well, I'm sure a few monsters will come out first, but then the path will open to us." Once again, Mr. Bear was demonstrating a gamer-like mindset. Indeed, what he was saying wasn't wrong, although there were a few things that needed correcting.
[The long-sealed tyrant has awakened.]
In this section, it wasn't just a few monsters that appeared, but a final boss's mob. Of course, the rift spat out a bunch of trash mobs before that.
[You have killed a Frost Wolf. EXP +1]
Anyway, Missha and I had to do some labor here. Mr. Bear killed some wolves with his crossbow too, but not enough to compare to us.
He has a strong one-shot but not any wide range.
As I wandered through the cave analyzing Mr. Bear piece by piece, we reached the end of the first stage of the map. It took exactly six hours to arrive there because we got lost a lot.
...Not here, either.
If I had stepped forward in earnest here, we could have cleared this stage in under an hour. The topography was the same as the dungeon in the Bloody Citadel.
Left, left, right, right, left, seven consecutive straights, left...
Pillars appeared at regular intervals. If you wanted to find your way through this place, it was easy to do so. But I didn't on purpose in order to feel the rest of the team out.
Someone who knows how to open a rift would have been able to memorize a pattern as easy as this.
This left one of two possibilities: either the mafioso was not a player, or they were pretending not to know on purpose.
Well, if I keep an eye out, I'll find an opening.
Thus, the second stage continued like that.
"This cave is kind of ominous..."
We traveled down the ice stairs at the end of the cavern and headed further underground. As we did, I carefully observed what my team members were doing. There was a hidden item here. Nothing special, but breaking the third pillar in this room revealed an elixir that granted the user a one-time boost in Cold Resistance.
They're not going to take this, either?
Even though we were past that pillar and had reached the end of the stairs, no one was acting strange.
Well, even if they do know, they wouldn't do something so obvious. They can just come back at the end and take it for themselves.
I decided not to foolishly underestimate my opponent. The stronger I assumed the enemy to be, the better. Well, at least I thought so.
"It seems like we went really far down, but it's still surprisingly bright," Carlson muttered behind me.
I felt similarly. The ice walls radiated white light, almost like the entire cave was made of transparent glass.
"It's kind of pretty."
"Yeah, rrright? I thought the same thing."
"Uh, but what is that?" Jencia, who had been conversing with Missha on a topic that was hard for me to relate to, pointed to a huge cavity facing us at the bottom of the stairs. At first glance, the conspicuous, totem-like thing in the center stuck out.
"Oh!" she exclaimed. "I touched it and it started glowing."
"It could be dangerrrous, so step back."
"Ah, okay!" Jencia was clearly worried she may have done something wrong.
Mr. Bear chuckled. "What are you so startled for? That looks like the key, anyway."
"Key?"
"Well, I'm sure a few monsters will come out first, but then the path will open to us." Once again, Mr. Bear was demonstrating a gamer-like mindset. Indeed, what he was saying wasn't wrong, although there were a few things that needed correcting.
[The long-sealed tyrant has awakened.]
In this section, it wasn't just a few monsters that appeared, but a final boss's mob. Of course, the rift spat out a bunch of trash mobs before that.
Rumble!
The entire space vibrated and started filling with icy powder. Before long, a howl that seemed to pierce the eardrums resounded all around us.
"Gwaaaa!" In terms of pure intimidation, that roar was second only to a Lord of the Floor.
[The ancient monsters who sense the return of the tyrant have awoken from their long slumber.]
Shatter!
Soon, the ice walls that surrounded us peeled off layer by layer and began to spit out demonic beasts.
"Grrr..." The freshly-thawed monsters got to their feet slowly, like they didn't have any strength yet.
"W-What do we do?"
"Huh, I didn't expect it to go like this," Mr. Bear murmured.
I doled out orders. "Let's go toward the stairs. There are no walls there."
Mr. Bear agreed with me. "Yes, that's a good idea."
The battle began. In the first wave, about twenty Frost Wolves appeared. From the second wave onward, rank-eight monsters also began to appear little by little: Saber Tigers and Wormstones, both of which we had fought in the Den of Beasts, and Ice Golems, which only appeared here.
"Kyaaa!"
"It looks like they're not able to move properly..."
"Oh, that wasn't just me?"
Since this monster released a Slowdown aura that grew more potent as time passed, I smashed every single one I saw with the mace.
[You have killed an Ice Golem. EXP +2]
Since this was a rift that Missha and I had been preparing to clear on our own in the first place, we didn't run into too much trouble. I was sure Jenson was being forced to risk their lives, though. Still, we were able to clear the monsters out before the next wave.
Once you start getting pushed back, that's the end of it, but otherwise, it's a pretty generic stage.
We reached the ninth wave in about thirty minutes. Another Yeti spawned here. Of course, it was completely different from the first one we ran into. If that one had just been a gatekeeper, this one was more like a mid-level boss.
"Koooooo!"
The Yeti appeared along with the lower-ranked monsters. That alone increased the difficulty of this wave by several times, but this time it was also a high-rank mutant. To put it simply, it was named. Besides a named monster having higher intelligence, its own name, and a unique backstory, it could also use the ability of another monster.
[Lord of the Snowfield, Katoomba, has cast Suppression.]
"Huh! W-What? Why is my body...?"
This Yeti's extra skill was the Stone Golem's Suppression. It was the same thing those asshole plunderers once used on me. The strategy for dealing with it was simple.
"Huh! A-Again...! Everyone, be careful! That monster is using something—!"
Either get beaten up by trash mob monsters every time your body froze up like Carlson over there or keep biting your tongue to keep bleeding, just like I'd told Missha to do in advance.
"Ugh."
[Your Mana Resistance is above a certain level. You have total resistance to this effect.]
Otherwise, you could also prepare Mana Resistance stats in advance. As Suppression had the overpowered ability to temporarily keep someone from being able to act, it was also considered easy to escape. That was probably why this Yeti was still only a rank-seven monster.
"Behelaaah!"
After raising the level of aggro using Wild Outburst, I ran forward. Disregarding the fact that Jenson may or may not be almost half dead, if I didn't get rid of this guy before the next wave, I'd be in trouble too.
[You have taken cold damage from Chill.]
When I got to the center, the Yeti—was its name Katoomba? Anyway, starting with this bastard, all sorts of trash mob monsters fixated on me. I only focused on Katoomba, though, because the rank eight or nine monsters clinging to me only felt like a tickle.
"Don't ruh off uh your owh!" Missha, whose pronunciation had gotten even worse from chewing on her own tongue, followed right behind me and cleared out the surrounding monsters. The way she moved with the twin blades made it look like she was dancing.
[Lord of the Snowfield Katoomba has cast Cold Eruption.]
Was it because I had looked away for a moment? I found I couldn't avoid or block the snowstorm the bastard flung at me. My skin was burning because I had no cold resistance.
But everything else is fine.
Since this body of mine healed instantly, it did not get to the point of frostbite. I intensified my battle against the Yeti.
"If you don't want to die, get out of the way quick," Mr. Bear muttered just loud enough for me to hear.
[Abman Urikfried has cast Enhancement. The effect of the next active skill used increases in proportion to Soul Power.]
[Abman Urikfried has cast Hazardous Materials.]
For some reason, my instincts told me to listen to the man's warning.
Dash.
The moment I pushed off the ground and widened the distance, he shot an arrow.
Whooom! Kwaaang!
As soon as it hit the Yeti's head, it exploded, flames bursting out in a ten-foot radius. Compared to the Area of Effect spells that Raven used, you couldn't say this attack had a wide range, but all the monsters within it were dead.
"What kind of arrow d-does that?!"
Therefore, I tweaked the information about Mr. Bear that I had been collecting little by little. I thought he was a one-note nuker, but he had one Area of Effect attack.
[Higher-class mutant bonus. EXP +1]
In reality, I wasn't sure if that was an Area of Effect skill, but anyway. Thanks to him showing off his full strength, the ninth wave was easily dealt with.
"A-An essence!"
The time for negotiation came a little sooner than expected. Mana stones could be collected later, but not essences.
"Two at once. That's good luck." Mr. Bear did not show much interest in the essences and just said we could each take one.
I felt similarly, at least partly. "You two take care of the red one over there." I had no interest in a Frost Wolf or Saber Tiger essence. "We'll take this instead." A blue essence floated in the spot where the Yeti had taken its last breath.
"Could that be the Yeti's essence?" Carlson asked, stuttering.
"Do you have any complaints?"
"O-Of course not. I don't." As if to physically shake off his greed, Carlson frantically waved his hands and stepped back. Still, he looked a little disappointed.
If you think this is unfair, you should get stronger, right? Strength is invincibility and king in this world.
"Then no problem."
I called Missha over, but it seemed she had misunderstood something. "Congratulations, Bjorn. Now you'll be even strongerrr!"
"What are you talking about? This is yours."
"Hmm? Y-You're giving this to me...?" Missha faltered, her words of sincere congratulations stuttering to a stop. Then she carefully opened her mouth. "It's not that I don't want it—no, I rrreally do want it, but... I'm just asking just in case, so don't take this the wrong way, okay?"
"Say it."
"...How much do I have to pay for this?"
Did this kid think of me as some evil boss?
Rumble!
The entire space vibrated and started filling with icy powder. Before long, a howl that seemed to pierce the eardrums resounded all around us.
"Gwaaaa!" In terms of pure intimidation, that roar was second only to a Lord of the Floor.
[The ancient monsters who sense the return of the tyrant have awoken from their long slumber.]
Shatter!
Soon, the ice walls that surrounded us peeled off layer by layer and began to spit out demonic beasts.
"Grrr..." The freshly-thawed monsters got to their feet slowly, like they didn't have any strength yet.
"W-What do we do?"
"Huh, I didn't expect it to go like this," Mr. Bear murmured.
I doled out orders. "Let's go toward the stairs. There are no walls there."
Mr. Bear agreed with me. "Yes, that's a good idea."
The battle began. In the first wave, about twenty Frost Wolves appeared. From the second wave onward, rank-eight monsters also began to appear little by little: Saber Tigers and Wormstones, both of which we had fought in the Den of Beasts, and Ice Golems, which only appeared here.
"Kyaaa!"
"It looks like they're not able to move properly..."
"Oh, that wasn't just me?"
Since this monster released a Slowdown aura that grew more potent as time passed, I smashed every single one I saw with the mace.
[You have killed an Ice Golem. EXP +2]
Since this was a rift that Missha and I had been preparing to clear on our own in the first place, we didn't run into too much trouble. I was sure Jenson was being forced to risk their lives, though. Still, we were able to clear the monsters out before the next wave.
Once you start getting pushed back, that's the end of it, but otherwise, it's a pretty generic stage.
We reached the ninth wave in about thirty minutes. Another Yeti spawned here. Of course, it was completely different from the first one we ran into. If that one had just been a gatekeeper, this one was more like a mid-level boss.
"Koooooo!"
The Yeti appeared along with the lower-ranked monsters. That alone increased the difficulty of this wave by several times, but this time it was also a high-rank mutant. To put it simply, it was named. Besides a named monster having higher intelligence, its own name, and a unique backstory, it could also use the ability of another monster.
[Lord of the Snowfield, Katoomba, has cast Suppression.]
"Huh! W-What? Why is my body...?"
This Yeti's extra skill was the Stone Golem's Suppression. It was the same thing those asshole plunderers once used on me. The strategy for dealing with it was simple.
"Huh! A-Again...! Everyone, be careful! That monster is using something—!"
Either get beaten up by trash mob monsters every time your body froze up like Carlson over there or keep biting your tongue to keep bleeding, just like I'd told Missha to do in advance.
"Ugh."
[Your Mana Resistance is above a certain level. You have total resistance to this effect.]
Otherwise, you could also prepare Mana Resistance stats in advance. As Suppression had the overpowered ability to temporarily keep someone from being able to act, it was also considered easy to escape. That was probably why this Yeti was still only a rank-seven monster.
"Behelaaah!"
After raising the level of aggro using Wild Outburst, I ran forward. Disregarding the fact that Jenson may or may not be almost half dead, if I didn't get rid of this guy before the next wave, I'd be in trouble too.
[You have taken cold damage from Chill.]
When I got to the center, the Yeti—was its name Katoomba? Anyway, starting with this bastard, all sorts of trash mob monsters fixated on me. I only focused on Katoomba, though, because the rank eight or nine monsters clinging to me only felt like a tickle.
"Don't ruh off uh your owh!" Missha, whose pronunciation had gotten even worse from chewing on her own tongue, followed right behind me and cleared out the surrounding monsters. The way she moved with the twin blades made it look like she was dancing.
[Lord of the Snowfield Katoomba has cast Cold Eruption.]
Was it because I had looked away for a moment? I found I couldn't avoid or block the snowstorm the bastard flung at me. My skin was burning because I had no cold resistance.
But everything else is fine.
Since this body of mine healed instantly, it did not get to the point of frostbite. I intensified my battle against the Yeti.
"If you don't want to die, get out of the way quick," Mr. Bear muttered just loud enough for me to hear.
[Abman Urikfried has cast Enhancement. The effect of the next active skill used increases in proportion to Soul Power.]
[Abman Urikfried has cast Hazardous Materials.]
For some reason, my instincts told me to listen to the man's warning.
Dash.
The moment I pushed off the ground and widened the distance, he shot an arrow.
Whooom! Kwaaang!
As soon as it hit the Yeti's head, it exploded, flames bursting out in a ten-foot radius. Compared to the Area of Effect spells that Raven used, you couldn't say this attack had a wide range, but all the monsters within it were dead.
"What kind of arrow d-does that?!"
Therefore, I tweaked the information about Mr. Bear that I had been collecting little by little. I thought he was a one-note nuker, but he had one Area of Effect attack.
[Higher-class mutant bonus. EXP +1]
In reality, I wasn't sure if that was an Area of Effect skill, but anyway. Thanks to him showing off his full strength, the ninth wave was easily dealt with.
"A-An essence!"
The time for negotiation came a little sooner than expected. Mana stones could be collected later, but not essences.
"Two at once. That's good luck." Mr. Bear did not show much interest in the essences and just said we could each take one.
I felt similarly, at least partly. "You two take care of the red one over there." I had no interest in a Frost Wolf or Saber Tiger essence. "We'll take this instead." A blue essence floated in the spot where the Yeti had taken its last breath.
"Could that be the Yeti's essence?" Carlson asked, stuttering.
"Do you have any complaints?"
"O-Of course not. I don't." As if to physically shake off his greed, Carlson frantically waved his hands and stepped back. Still, he looked a little disappointed.
If you think this is unfair, you should get stronger, right? Strength is invincibility and king in this world.
"Then no problem."
I called Missha over, but it seemed she had misunderstood something. "Congratulations, Bjorn. Now you'll be even strongerrr!"
"What are you talking about? This is yours."
"Hmm? Y-You're giving this to me...?" Missha faltered, her words of sincere congratulations stuttering to a stop. Then she carefully opened her mouth. "It's not that I don't want it—no, I rrreally do want it, but... I'm just asking just in case, so don't take this the wrong way, okay?"
"Say it."
"...How much do I have to pay for this?"
Did this kid think of me as some evil boss?