Chapter 209: Leader (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 209: Leader (2)
It's a coincidence. It's just someone with a similar laugh. This world is so big, there has to be one other person out there with a similar quirk.
Those thoughts didn't even occur to me. As soon as the sense of déjà vu hit me, I accepted it as reality.
Clown.
A member of the Watchers of the Round Table and the guy who seemed to be the most knowledgeable and skilled out of all of them—this was that man's true identity.
I'd already guessed that he was from Noark, but to think we'd meet like this...
I was face-to-face with the clown I'd been so curious about, but it wasn't at all nice to see him.
We're fucked. What do I do? He looks hella strong. If I reveal I'm Lion, will he let us go? No way.
I cast aside the weak thoughts that started to pop into my head. Not only would that be the equivalent of revealing that I was an evil spirit, but the person Clown respected was Lion, not this barbarian sucker. The moment my identity was revealed, Clown would lose interest in me and get angry.
And so I shouted, "Prepare for battle!" If I could overcome the fear, which could become my greatest asset, at any moment, anywhere, that was a win.
Clown looked amused. "Now you sound like a barbarian!"
Did that bring her to her senses? Raven immediately cast a spell. "Derva Timunes." It was a team voice control spell. Since we were facing a human, not a monster, she must have thought to turn this on as soon as she heard me shouting.
"Tsk, how boring." Now that he'd lost his source of entertainment, Clown seemed displeased. That wasn't my problem, though.
"Everyone, get behind me!"
As I fired off orders, I used Giantization to block the passage. This was the advantage of the first floor's Crystal Cave. Although each passageway was different, they were mostly narrow enough to be blocked by one giant barbarian.
Click.
"Behelaaah!" In an attempt to shake off the fear, I called out the name of my ancestral god. Holding the shield just low enough not to interfere with my vision, I focused all my attention on this guy's movements.
Thump!
My warrior's heart started beating at just the right speed. Hot blood circulated quickly through my veins, invigorating me. I had a feeling I at least wouldn't go down without a fight.
"Mr. Yandel, we can't attack if you do this!"
Our wizard's concerns were firmly dismissed. "Then don't."
"Pardon?"
"We don't know who he is. We need to first learn his abilities. Until then, don't step forward."
The most important thing in PvP warfare was information. Out of the tens of thousands of special abilities and items, how had our opponent combined them and in what class had they cultivated their character? Without knowing that, it would be difficult to respond in the right way.
"That's...! This monster killed a knight. Yet you're going to figure him out on your own?"
What else could we do? "This is the best way." I was a tank. I could take a mystery attack, but not these guys. The moment they were struck unprepared, their game was likely to be over.
"Since I can't hear what you're saying, this is no fun," Clown said coldly. Without giving us time to discuss our strategy any further, he reached out his hand. Suddenly, there was a weapon there.
It's mithril.
His awl pike emitted a blue-silver light. "Just die." A low voice resounded through the passageway, and at that exact moment, Clown's form disappeared right before our eyes.
We didn't lose him for long, of course. This was a straight corridor, after all.
You think you can use stealth-play?
When I lowered my shield slightly, I spotted Clown taking a stance from an angle that had previously been obscured by its bulk. With my instincts having been hardened by numerous live combats, I quickly identified where he was aiming.
The thigh...
In combat, everything was informative. The time for swinging weapons without thought was over, and each action was bound to have justification and intention. So why did he aim for the thigh?
As I thought, is he an assassin?
Compatibility-wise, he must have figured it was too much work to try to get through my shield. It was the first thing I'd upgraded with the money I saved after paying off my debt.
If he had a brain, he would've realized as soon as he saw it.
A large shield crafted from the grade-four metal moonstone was strong enough to even withstand a few blows from an arc sword.
Hack!
And it was impossible to pierce with mithril, which was grade five.
Clang!
Not stopping at shielding myself, I tensed my arm and applied force. Clown was pushed back without resistance. I recorded one more piece of information in my head. Well, actually, this went without saying.
His Strength stat is below mine.
I was starting to think this was doable. I was not the same person I had been six months ago. Starting with equipment, I'd made significant improvements in many areas. By the looks of it, he wasn't at the level of the Dragon Slayer either.
Well, I'm sure he hasn't shown me everything he's got yet.
Staying vigilant, I studied Clown, who had stepped back. I managed to block the first attack, but if I allowed even one, it was very likely to be trouble. He did confidently tell me to die, after all. That wasn't a line someone would say while aiming for the thigh.
Is it poison, then?
It was highly likely that the weapon was poisoned. It could also be that his special ability was related to poison. I didn't know anything for sure yet, so I left all possibilities open, even while operating under the assumption that that was the case.
I think it's about time now...
All we'd done so far was exchange simple physical moves. Since those had been blocked, it was time to start using skills.
"Ugh, honestly! I wanted to save my MP as much as possible!"
I couldn't help but laugh. Aside from his classic over-the-top tone, to flat-out say "MP"?
"...Mr. Yandel! That man is an evil spirit!"
This deranged bastard had no intention of hiding his identity, huh?
Are people from Noark all like this?
Well, now that they were openly opposing the palace, there was no reason to hide it.
"No, wait a minute. If he's an evil spirit..."
Those words made me flinch. I could guess what Raven was thinking: someone from Noark who could kill a knight on his own, the most notorious player in the city...
It's mithril.
His awl pike emitted a blue-silver light. "Just die." A low voice resounded through the passageway, and at that exact moment, Clown's form disappeared right before our eyes.
We didn't lose him for long, of course. This was a straight corridor, after all.
You think you can use stealth-play?
When I lowered my shield slightly, I spotted Clown taking a stance from an angle that had previously been obscured by its bulk. With my instincts having been hardened by numerous live combats, I quickly identified where he was aiming.
The thigh...
In combat, everything was informative. The time for swinging weapons without thought was over, and each action was bound to have justification and intention. So why did he aim for the thigh?
As I thought, is he an assassin?
Compatibility-wise, he must have figured it was too much work to try to get through my shield. It was the first thing I'd upgraded with the money I saved after paying off my debt.
If he had a brain, he would've realized as soon as he saw it.
A large shield crafted from the grade-four metal moonstone was strong enough to even withstand a few blows from an arc sword.
Hack!
And it was impossible to pierce with mithril, which was grade five.
Clang!
Not stopping at shielding myself, I tensed my arm and applied force. Clown was pushed back without resistance. I recorded one more piece of information in my head. Well, actually, this went without saying.
His Strength stat is below mine.
I was starting to think this was doable. I was not the same person I had been six months ago. Starting with equipment, I'd made significant improvements in many areas. By the looks of it, he wasn't at the level of the Dragon Slayer either.
Well, I'm sure he hasn't shown me everything he's got yet.
Staying vigilant, I studied Clown, who had stepped back. I managed to block the first attack, but if I allowed even one, it was very likely to be trouble. He did confidently tell me to die, after all. That wasn't a line someone would say while aiming for the thigh.
Is it poison, then?
It was highly likely that the weapon was poisoned. It could also be that his special ability was related to poison. I didn't know anything for sure yet, so I left all possibilities open, even while operating under the assumption that that was the case.
I think it's about time now...
All we'd done so far was exchange simple physical moves. Since those had been blocked, it was time to start using skills.
"Ugh, honestly! I wanted to save my MP as much as possible!"
I couldn't help but laugh. Aside from his classic over-the-top tone, to flat-out say "MP"?
"...Mr. Yandel! That man is an evil spirit!"
This deranged bastard had no intention of hiding his identity, huh?
Are people from Noark all like this?
Well, now that they were openly opposing the palace, there was no reason to hide it.
"No, wait a minute. If he's an evil spirit..."
Those words made me flinch. I could guess what Raven was thinking: someone from Noark who could kill a knight on his own, the most notorious player in the city...
"The Corpse Collector...?" Raven said numbly.
"Kyaaa!"
I hurriedly turned around to look behind me.
[Abed Necrapeto has cast Puppet.]
The bodies of the knight and soldiers scattered behind me stood up and attacked Raven.
Damn it, she was right.
There was no point in denying it any further because the Corpse Collector's character build was famous. It was a good character class I had also played a few times, specializing in curses and summoning—a class that emphasized high Agility stats to compensate for their weakness in close combat.
An APN, or Agile Poison Necromancer, was my opponent today. Since he had been aiming for my vitals with an awl-like weapon, I thought he was an assassin, but that was obviously a mistake.
A necromancer, huh?
He had simply underestimated me and tried to use an ordinary attack to take me down. His real specialty lay elsewhere.
He didn't happen to be in the area—he came looking for us.
Now that I knew his identity, I started to see the situation in a different light. This guy probably left the corpses there on purpose for one simple reason. If he pretended they were corpses and left them there, he could use them like CCTV to alert him when anyone walked by. Not that it mattered now.
There won't be any need to test the waters.
I decided to focus on the positives. Having gathered information on Orcules after the battle with the Dragon Slayer, I also knew quite a bit about the Corpse Collector.
He has six known essences.
Of course, he probably had three unidentified essences, and considering this guy's notoriety, that would be disastrous for us. But at least I'd figured out his class.
"All of you, don't fight and step back!" I hurriedly gave my team orders. If this were a battle against a normal summoner, the standard strategy would have been to defeat the summons.
"Don't fight?"
"Keep your distance first!"
But when it came to APNs, every summon was the equivalent of a bomb. Widening the distance was the key to survival.
"Aruru, come here!"
"Okay!"
The moment Ainar, looking out for Raven, prepared to step back, gray light burst through the eye holes in Clown's mask.
Flash!
[Abed Necrapeto has cast Curse of Stone.]
My nerves started to numb from the feet up. I realized what skill it was as soon as it hit me: the essence of the rank-four monster Medusa.
Dash.
Perhaps he wanted to kill me first because he picked up the awl again and lunged at me. It was an overpowered skill.
It's probably because of this skill that there were no signs of a struggle here.
Even a knight would have a hard time fending off a rank-four essence, since an average knight was level five. It would be hard to keep up in terms of Mana Resistance.
Well, not me, though.
Over the past six months, I had filled all two hundred available slots of the Manticore's passive skill, Hereditary, with Mana Resistance. Usually, you used it to improve miscellaneous stats, but Mana Resistance had been the most practical option for me.
"The Corpse Collector...?" Raven said numbly.
"Kyaaa!"
I hurriedly turned around to look behind me.
[Abed Necrapeto has cast Puppet.]
The bodies of the knight and soldiers scattered behind me stood up and attacked Raven.
Damn it, she was right.
There was no point in denying it any further because the Corpse Collector's character build was famous. It was a good character class I had also played a few times, specializing in curses and summoning—a class that emphasized high Agility stats to compensate for their weakness in close combat.
An APN, or Agile Poison Necromancer, was my opponent today. Since he had been aiming for my vitals with an awl-like weapon, I thought he was an assassin, but that was obviously a mistake.
A necromancer, huh?
He had simply underestimated me and tried to use an ordinary attack to take me down. His real specialty lay elsewhere.
He didn't happen to be in the area—he came looking for us.
Now that I knew his identity, I started to see the situation in a different light. This guy probably left the corpses there on purpose for one simple reason. If he pretended they were corpses and left them there, he could use them like CCTV to alert him when anyone walked by. Not that it mattered now.
There won't be any need to test the waters.
I decided to focus on the positives. Having gathered information on Orcules after the battle with the Dragon Slayer, I also knew quite a bit about the Corpse Collector.
He has six known essences.
Of course, he probably had three unidentified essences, and considering this guy's notoriety, that would be disastrous for us. But at least I'd figured out his class.
"All of you, don't fight and step back!" I hurriedly gave my team orders. If this were a battle against a normal summoner, the standard strategy would have been to defeat the summons.
"Don't fight?"
"Keep your distance first!"
But when it came to APNs, every summon was the equivalent of a bomb. Widening the distance was the key to survival.
"Aruru, come here!"
"Okay!"
The moment Ainar, looking out for Raven, prepared to step back, gray light burst through the eye holes in Clown's mask.
Flash!
[Abed Necrapeto has cast Curse of Stone.]
My nerves started to numb from the feet up. I realized what skill it was as soon as it hit me: the essence of the rank-four monster Medusa.
Dash.
Perhaps he wanted to kill me first because he picked up the awl again and lunged at me. It was an overpowered skill.
It's probably because of this skill that there were no signs of a struggle here.
Even a knight would have a hard time fending off a rank-four essence, since an average knight was level five. It would be hard to keep up in terms of Mana Resistance.
Well, not me, though.
Over the past six months, I had filled all two hundred available slots of the Manticore's passive skill, Hereditary, with Mana Resistance. Usually, you used it to improve miscellaneous stats, but Mana Resistance had been the most practical option for me.
"Behelaaah!"
As a result, my battle cry had evolved to replace the Fortitude skill.
[Your Mana Resistance is over 400.]
I had +20 from stage two of the Immortality Imprint, +80 from the Ogre's essence, and +200 from Hereditary. The boost I got from Giantization and Wild Outburst was about +40, and if you added the additional 20 percent increase from the Earth Dragon's blessing...
[The Suppression Immunity effect has been activated. The status effect Curse of Stone has been nullified.]
My Mana Resistance temporarily surpassed 400 and I became immune to any skills that tried to restrain me!
As soon as the numbness in my feet disappeared, I grabbed my shield and ran forward. My opponent looked very taken aback. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say he was dumbfounded.
"Ha! Suppression Immunity? Just how much did you invest in Mana Resistance?!"
Save the high praise. The reason I'd paid all that money to consume the Manticore essence had been for Mana Resistance in the first place. Regardless of whether the stats remained after you erased it, +200 Mana Resistance was enough to milk the essence until the second half.
Anyway, he's fast as fuck.
Although I pushed forward like the tank I was. This guy easily kept his distance like a classic APN. This was why these bastards were tricky. In general, a summoner's actual body was bound to be vulnerable, but catching APNs was a whole ordeal. Still, I was glad he wasn't an assassin.
"Raven! Freeze the corpses!"
"Pardon? Okay!"
"And Abman, when I give the signal, fire off a bit shot! To give us an opportunity to escape!"
"Escape? Is that possible?"
Well, the odds were fifty-fifty, but we had to try. We had a higher chance of getting away than we did of being victorious in battle.
"I guess I need to pour everything into one blow. Okay!" Fortunately, Mr. Bear obediently followed orders. As soon as he heard the name Corpse Collector, he must have pieced together that our odds of winning in a fight were slim and that even if we did, it would inevitably come at a cost.
Why the Corpse Collector of all people?
This guy was among the upper echelon even in Orcules. He was above even the Dragon Slayer.
But I have a chance now.
Due to the nature of their class, necromancers weren't very good at chasing people down. Not only that, but this guy was trying to conserve his resources.
Since he has to keep fighting until the labyrinth closes, I'm sure he wants to save as much energy as possible.
With that in mind, I quickly backpedaled.
Shaaaaa!
A chill slid over my back. It seemed Raven had used ice magic to freeze the corpses, as instructed.
"They're frozen!"
Okay, that was all set. "Abman!"
"Ah, just say the word!" Mr. Bear seemed to be ready, too.
Once I sounded the alarm for a surprise attack, I asked one more thing of Raven. "Raven, turn off Voice Control."
"Pardon?"
"Hurry."
"It's off."
Once the team's voice control spell was deactivated, I spoke to Clown. "Hey."
He gave me a curious look. "Hm?"
I continued regardless. "Do you know the top two ways to piss someone off?"
"I'm not sure. I've never heard of them."
Oh, foreigners. I knew he wouldn't have. "The first is to stop talking in the middle of a sentence."
Clown nodded in understanding. "I see. What's the other one?"
"That's..." I trailed off and deactivated Giantization.
[Abman Urikfried has cast Enhancement.]
[Abman Urikfried has cast Hazardous Material.]
An arrow containing Mr. Bear's full power shot across the open passageway.
CRASH!
The cave shook as if struck by an earthquake.
Whooosh!
As the other side was obstructed from view by a sudden wall of fire, I bellowed, "What are you doing? Run!"
"Behelaaah!"
As a result, my battle cry had evolved to replace the Fortitude skill.
[Your Mana Resistance is over 400.]
I had +20 from stage two of the Immortality Imprint, +80 from the Ogre's essence, and +200 from Hereditary. The boost I got from Giantization and Wild Outburst was about +40, and if you added the additional 20 percent increase from the Earth Dragon's blessing...
[The Suppression Immunity effect has been activated. The status effect Curse of Stone has been nullified.]
My Mana Resistance temporarily surpassed 400 and I became immune to any skills that tried to restrain me!
As soon as the numbness in my feet disappeared, I grabbed my shield and ran forward. My opponent looked very taken aback. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say he was dumbfounded.
"Ha! Suppression Immunity? Just how much did you invest in Mana Resistance?!"
Save the high praise. The reason I'd paid all that money to consume the Manticore essence had been for Mana Resistance in the first place. Regardless of whether the stats remained after you erased it, +200 Mana Resistance was enough to milk the essence until the second half.
Anyway, he's fast as fuck.
Although I pushed forward like the tank I was. This guy easily kept his distance like a classic APN. This was why these bastards were tricky. In general, a summoner's actual body was bound to be vulnerable, but catching APNs was a whole ordeal. Still, I was glad he wasn't an assassin.
"Raven! Freeze the corpses!"
"Pardon? Okay!"
"And Abman, when I give the signal, fire off a bit shot! To give us an opportunity to escape!"
"Escape? Is that possible?"
Well, the odds were fifty-fifty, but we had to try. We had a higher chance of getting away than we did of being victorious in battle.
"I guess I need to pour everything into one blow. Okay!" Fortunately, Mr. Bear obediently followed orders. As soon as he heard the name Corpse Collector, he must have pieced together that our odds of winning in a fight were slim and that even if we did, it would inevitably come at a cost.
Why the Corpse Collector of all people?
This guy was among the upper echelon even in Orcules. He was above even the Dragon Slayer.
But I have a chance now.
Due to the nature of their class, necromancers weren't very good at chasing people down. Not only that, but this guy was trying to conserve his resources.
Since he has to keep fighting until the labyrinth closes, I'm sure he wants to save as much energy as possible.
With that in mind, I quickly backpedaled.
Shaaaaa!
A chill slid over my back. It seemed Raven had used ice magic to freeze the corpses, as instructed.
"They're frozen!"
Okay, that was all set. "Abman!"
"Ah, just say the word!" Mr. Bear seemed to be ready, too.
Once I sounded the alarm for a surprise attack, I asked one more thing of Raven. "Raven, turn off Voice Control."
"Pardon?"
"Hurry."
"It's off."
Once the team's voice control spell was deactivated, I spoke to Clown. "Hey."
He gave me a curious look. "Hm?"
I continued regardless. "Do you know the top two ways to piss someone off?"
"I'm not sure. I've never heard of them."
Oh, foreigners. I knew he wouldn't have. "The first is to stop talking in the middle of a sentence."
Clown nodded in understanding. "I see. What's the other one?"
"That's..." I trailed off and deactivated Giantization.
[Abman Urikfried has cast Enhancement.]
[Abman Urikfried has cast Hazardous Material.]
An arrow containing Mr. Bear's full power shot across the open passageway.
CRASH!
The cave shook as if struck by an earthquake.
Whooosh!
As the other side was obstructed from view by a sudden wall of fire, I bellowed, "What are you doing? Run!"