Chapter 404: Ice Rock (5)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 404: Ice Rock (5)
When a red light appeared on the Traffic Light Ring, that could only mean one thing. Something that was likely to harm the wearer was nearby.
No way... is there another traitor?
That was the first thought that popped into my mind. He didn't mention an accomplice during the interrogation but there may have been another spy I didn't know about.
...Well, maybe the light isn't about a traitor this time.
As I was responsible for the lives of multiple people, I decided to keep the worst-case scenario in mind and not get too caught up in it. After all, nothing was set in stone yet. I decided to just remain alert and keep a careful eye on my surroundings.
[You have entered a special area. Field Effect – Glacier Eye is now active.]
The day after the execution, we packed up camp and entered the deep pit that seemed to lead into the inner core of the cave. It was a large, cylindrical structure with what looked like a spiral staircase on the wall that went round and round to the bottom, but as it was the final area before the eighth floor, its difficulty was quite high. The monsters that spawned here weren't much stronger than the ones we'd already dealt with, but...
[Status effect – Whisper of Immortality is now active.]
If you died here, a curse resurrected you from the dead and made you kill your own team.
[All healing and recovery effects are now reversed.]
And even worse, this goddamned debuff was piled on too.
What am I supposed to do about reverse healing?
In this place, even the smallest of wounds didn't heal. No, on the contrary, they continued to fester and worsen. The higher the character's Natural Regeneration stat, the faster the effect. This place was practically a tank's graveyard.
How many Shield Barbarians did I lose here again...? I don't know, I don't even want to think about it.
I couldn't be sure, but the number must have been in the hundreds. Before I finally figured out the right strategy, anyway.
"This place is even spookier."
"Erwen, cut the chitchat and stay alert. There will be demons here soon. As I said before—"
"Be careful not to get hurt as much as I can. Hehe, okay."
Since the width of the staircase was so narrow, everyone divided into their teams and followed each other in a line. From here, the role of long-rangers became critical. Nearly 90 percent of the monsters that appeared here were capable of flight.
"It's a Gargoyle...!" This wasn't the rank-eight Gargoyle Statue I saw in the Bloody Citadel, but the real deal.
"A Death Knight too!"
Death Knights with spears in their hands rode in on the Gargoyles.
"Kihehehe!" Queen Banshees and various spirit-type undead monsters danced around in the air and showered us with debuffs.
Flight-type monsters, which pretty much served to neutralize close-range fighters, appeared from all over, but they were all intercepted and turned into bursts of light before they could even get near us.
[James Calla has cast Piercing Light.]
[Titana Akurava has used No. 1911: Fabler's Broken Pocket Watch. Up to five minutes of cooldown time has disappeared.]
[Erwen Fornacci di Tersia has cast Element Synthesis.]
Archers, special ability users, wizards, etcetera—not only were there plenty of long-rangers in our party comp, but with as many as four priests, there was no shortage of firepower.
[Niaro Campbell has cast Healing Wave.]
[Benjamin Orman has cast Emergency Regeneration.]
Divine spells dealt a whopping 1.5 times more damage to the undead. Of course, not all the monsters that appeared here were undead, but that wasn't a huge issue. It dealt enough damage either way.
[All healing and recovery effects are reversed.]
You couldn't heal your allies in this place anyway, so priests were basically long-range damagers here.
[You have defeated a Gargoyle. EXP +6]
[You have defeated a Ghost Horse. EXP +4]
[You have defeated a White Wyvern. EXP +6]
[You have defeated a Blue Flame Bird...]
The monsters were melted by the high healing factor and wide-range divine spells. The melee fighters focused on defense and dealt with the various monsters climbing the cliff.
"The battle is over!"
"We'll keep moving after a ten-minute break!"
Any time a wave ended, we took a quick moment to regroup and then continued down. Overcoming wave after wave without a single casualty, we finally arrived at the first obstacle a while later. The narrow slope came to an end, and a wide, rocky ledge jutted out of the cliff.
"This is nuts. We have to avoid getting injured while fighting all those things?"
Hundreds of monsters filled the space. The interior of the cave in that cliff was a respawn point, so it couldn't be helped.
"What are you grumbling about? We've been resting the whole trip down, so it's our turn to work hard." If the long-rangers took the more active role on the decline, it was time for the close-range damagers to throw their hats in the ring. "In formation!"
"Make sure to focus! Unless you want to ride out this journey with a rotting arm for the rest of the week!"
After taking up a line formation, the warriors moved to the front to set up a shield wall.
"Let's go!"
We secured space by shoving away as many monsters as we could. After that, a melee broke out. While the warriors fended off the enemy from the front, the long-rangers bombarded them with firepower. Perhaps because we were overwhelmingly powerful, the battle itself was relatively easy.
"Damn it, my arm! Agh!"
Nevertheless, some ended up injured.
***
The total number of injured was four. Three of these four had sustained what could be classified as minor injuries. These were only scratches, unlikely to result in death. According to the plan, we'd reach the eighth floor in six days. Unless they sustained more injuries on top of that, they should be able to hold out until treatment was possible, even if the wounds rotted and festered. The problem was the one person who was seriously injured.
"A-Am I... g-going to die like this?" Rick Jugusta was the close-range fighter from James Calla's team, which was already down a man thanks to Pyke Neldine's removal.
"Of course not!" Calla shouted beside the writhing man, who was clutching the place where his bone peeked out from his thigh. "That's not going to happen, don't worry!"
Right, these two are old friends.
"Fiona! Please use a curse, quickly!"
Calla requested a curse from one of the wizards. The wizard seemed to wonder what he was thinking, but after he explained, she saw what his plan was. So did I. Was it because he was the deputy commander of a large clan? It seemed he knew the fundamentals of dealing with injuries here from his previous trip to Ice Rock.
[Niaro Campbell has cast Healing Wave.]
[Benjamin Orman has cast Emergency Regeneration.]
Divine spells dealt a whopping 1.5 times more damage to the undead. Of course, not all the monsters that appeared here were undead, but that wasn't a huge issue. It dealt enough damage either way.
[All healing and recovery effects are reversed.]
You couldn't heal your allies in this place anyway, so priests were basically long-range damagers here.
[You have defeated a Gargoyle. EXP +6]
[You have defeated a Ghost Horse. EXP +4]
[You have defeated a White Wyvern. EXP +6]
[You have defeated a Blue Flame Bird...]
The monsters were melted by the high healing factor and wide-range divine spells. The melee fighters focused on defense and dealt with the various monsters climbing the cliff.
"The battle is over!"
"We'll keep moving after a ten-minute break!"
Any time a wave ended, we took a quick moment to regroup and then continued down. Overcoming wave after wave without a single casualty, we finally arrived at the first obstacle a while later. The narrow slope came to an end, and a wide, rocky ledge jutted out of the cliff.
"This is nuts. We have to avoid getting injured while fighting all those things?"
Hundreds of monsters filled the space. The interior of the cave in that cliff was a respawn point, so it couldn't be helped.
"What are you grumbling about? We've been resting the whole trip down, so it's our turn to work hard." If the long-rangers took the more active role on the decline, it was time for the close-range damagers to throw their hats in the ring. "In formation!"
"Make sure to focus! Unless you want to ride out this journey with a rotting arm for the rest of the week!"
After taking up a line formation, the warriors moved to the front to set up a shield wall.
"Let's go!"
We secured space by shoving away as many monsters as we could. After that, a melee broke out. While the warriors fended off the enemy from the front, the long-rangers bombarded them with firepower. Perhaps because we were overwhelmingly powerful, the battle itself was relatively easy.
"Damn it, my arm! Agh!"
Nevertheless, some ended up injured.
***
The total number of injured was four. Three of these four had sustained what could be classified as minor injuries. These were only scratches, unlikely to result in death. According to the plan, we'd reach the eighth floor in six days. Unless they sustained more injuries on top of that, they should be able to hold out until treatment was possible, even if the wounds rotted and festered. The problem was the one person who was seriously injured.
"A-Am I... g-going to die like this?" Rick Jugusta was the close-range fighter from James Calla's team, which was already down a man thanks to Pyke Neldine's removal.
"Of course not!" Calla shouted beside the writhing man, who was clutching the place where his bone peeked out from his thigh. "That's not going to happen, don't worry!"
Right, these two are old friends.
"Fiona! Please use a curse, quickly!"
Calla requested a curse from one of the wizards. The wizard seemed to wonder what he was thinking, but after he explained, she saw what his plan was. So did I. Was it because he was the deputy commander of a large clan? It seemed he knew the fundamentals of dealing with injuries here from his previous trip to Ice Rock.
[Fiona Amos has cast the rank-five curse spell Regeneration Prevention.]
It was a method I once used as well. If you could lower the injured person's Natural Regeneration using a curse, you could at least stop the wound from getting worse. For a long while, I used this strategy to clear Ice Rock, blindly plowing through while trying to minimize injuries as much as possible. Until I figured out the real strategy, anyway.
As soon as the emergency patch job with curse magic was complete, Calla turned to me. "Schuitz! We have to turn the group around and head up immediately!"
His tone was urgent but I only shrugged. "Why?"
"W-Why? What do you mean? If we leave him like this, he'll never make it to the eighth floor."
I couldn't help chuckling at his tenacity. Would he have acted like this if it was someone else who was hurt? I didn't know, but I was sure he would've at least assessed the situation more calmly, just like Akurava over there.
"We already spent the whole day coming down. If we go up and down again, we'll waste a total of two days," said Akurava.
In other words, twenty-eight people would have to burn through two whole days to save a single person. Well, that in itself wouldn't be an issue, but...
"Sir Calla, I'm sorry, but our food supply is only enough for the next five days. As it stands, we'll already have to starve through the entirety of the final stretch."
As Kaislan said, it wasn't just time we would be sacrificing to save this one man. It was the success of this mission. We may be able to handle starving for one day, but we wouldn't be able to continue this journey after starving for three.
"Ah, that's thanks to the traitor from a certain someone's team, right?" Jun chimed in.
Is this guy really a paladin? Where is this sarcasm coming from...
"Enough about the traitor. Let me ask you one thing: Sir Calla, did you really think we'd be able to complete this mission without any sacrifices?" Calla fell quiet, clearly speechless, and Kaislan continued heartlessly. "Besides, there will continue to be more injuries—what will we do then? Go up every time?"
Calla wasn't able to say anything to that, either.
Grit.
He simply gritted his teeth, unable to hide his anger. The reality of having no one on his side was too cruel.
"Why don't we let him return to god's embrace in peace? If it'd be too difficult for you to handle yourself, I can help." Jun suggested turning off life support entirely.
At this, Calla looked at me, shaking pitifully. "Schuitz. Do you think the same way...?"
I neither confirmed nor denied it. "Kaislan didn't say anything untrue." Everything he said was usually the case in extreme situations. There came a moment when you had to make a choice and make sacrifices.
"All right. I'll do it."
What are you saying?
"No, it's not time for that yet."
I couldn't let a precious member of this expedition die. While they may die during the mission itself, I wouldn't let it happen here, at least.
"...Sorry?"
I glanced down at Calla, who was staring up at me in bewilderment, and shrugged. "We are neither going up nor letting our comrade die here." Each team leader gave me the same look at that proclamation.
What the hell is this bastard talking about?
That kind of look.
Tsk, tsk, this is the problem with newbies.
[Fiona Amos has cast the rank-five curse spell Regeneration Prevention.]
It was a method I once used as well. If you could lower the injured person's Natural Regeneration using a curse, you could at least stop the wound from getting worse. For a long while, I used this strategy to clear Ice Rock, blindly plowing through while trying to minimize injuries as much as possible. Until I figured out the real strategy, anyway.
As soon as the emergency patch job with curse magic was complete, Calla turned to me. "Schuitz! We have to turn the group around and head up immediately!"
His tone was urgent but I only shrugged. "Why?"
"W-Why? What do you mean? If we leave him like this, he'll never make it to the eighth floor."
I couldn't help chuckling at his tenacity. Would he have acted like this if it was someone else who was hurt? I didn't know, but I was sure he would've at least assessed the situation more calmly, just like Akurava over there.
"We already spent the whole day coming down. If we go up and down again, we'll waste a total of two days," said Akurava.
In other words, twenty-eight people would have to burn through two whole days to save a single person. Well, that in itself wouldn't be an issue, but...
"Sir Calla, I'm sorry, but our food supply is only enough for the next five days. As it stands, we'll already have to starve through the entirety of the final stretch."
As Kaislan said, it wasn't just time we would be sacrificing to save this one man. It was the success of this mission. We may be able to handle starving for one day, but we wouldn't be able to continue this journey after starving for three.
"Ah, that's thanks to the traitor from a certain someone's team, right?" Jun chimed in.
Is this guy really a paladin? Where is this sarcasm coming from...
"Enough about the traitor. Let me ask you one thing: Sir Calla, did you really think we'd be able to complete this mission without any sacrifices?" Calla fell quiet, clearly speechless, and Kaislan continued heartlessly. "Besides, there will continue to be more injuries—what will we do then? Go up every time?"
Calla wasn't able to say anything to that, either.
Grit.
He simply gritted his teeth, unable to hide his anger. The reality of having no one on his side was too cruel.
"Why don't we let him return to god's embrace in peace? If it'd be too difficult for you to handle yourself, I can help." Jun suggested turning off life support entirely.
At this, Calla looked at me, shaking pitifully. "Schuitz. Do you think the same way...?"
I neither confirmed nor denied it. "Kaislan didn't say anything untrue." Everything he said was usually the case in extreme situations. There came a moment when you had to make a choice and make sacrifices.
"All right. I'll do it."
What are you saying?
"No, it's not time for that yet."
I couldn't let a precious member of this expedition die. While they may die during the mission itself, I wouldn't let it happen here, at least.
"...Sorry?"
I glanced down at Calla, who was staring up at me in bewilderment, and shrugged. "We are neither going up nor letting our comrade die here." Each team leader gave me the same look at that proclamation.
What the hell is this bastard talking about?
That kind of look.
Tsk, tsk, this is the problem with newbies.
"We'll continue to head down."
It was time to use the strategy. Glacier Eye was an area I used to avoid as much as possible. At least, as I said before, until I figured out how to deal with it.
[All healing and recovery effects are reversed.]
The journey through Glacier Cave was long and took up to a week. There was only one reason Dungeon and Stone would hit adventures with such a ridiculous penalty here. Figuring there had to be a means to get around it hidden somewhere, I finally found it after countless attempts. The solution was simpler than I thought it'd be.
"Distortion magic...?"
"Yes, from now on, we're going to use the Distortion spell against all the demonic monsters we fight."
"The wizards are tired enough already from using Preservation over and over. Why would you increase their burden?"
That was because the key to this strategy was Distortion. Monsters targeted by it didn't spit out mana stones or essences, but instead, their corpses had a certain probability of being preserved when they died. Wyvern leather, adamantium, Troll blood (which was a raw material for potions), and various materials used in high-level Spirit Imprints were all acquired using Distortion.
The monsters that appear in Glacier Eye can all be hunted on different floors.
That was the reason why it took me so long to figure out Distortion was the answer. Why bother using Distortion to farm materials in a place where you already had a shortage of inventory thanks to sub-space being blocked? When it was easier to catch those monsters on another floor? It was extremely inefficient. Well, as always, the answer was buried in this goddamn game.
"...To think there was a technique like that to treat injuries here."
When I gave a brief outline of the strategy, everyone let out exclamations of surprise. Although this was the first they were ever hearing of this, no one doubted my intel.
"Lord Tercerion's sources are truly amazing. Or, should I say this goes to show how strong the palace is? To think they would know a strategy even I don't."
Just as they assumed there had to be another strategist on my team when I turned detective mode on to catch the traitor, they seemed to believe the source of this information was someone else as well.
...Maybe it's better that they believe that? Hmm, that might be better. Showing off doesn't help anyone, right? That's why our Confucian humility is a virtue.
"That's it, then. Since everyone's exhausted today, we'll camp here and set off again tomorrow."
Figuring Calla's friend would last at least two more days, we spent the night on the ledge and resumed our journey early the next morning.
[Riard Ashed has cast the rank-six space-time spell High-Level Distortion.]
[McKelly Rayothers has cast the rank-six space-time spell High-Level Distortion.]
[Versyl Gowland has cast the rank-six space-time spell High-Level Distortion.]
Spamming High-Level Distortion, which had a 1.5 times higher probability of succeeding than regular Distortion, we continued to kill monsters. As a result, we were lucky enough to produce a preserved body by afternoon.
"S-Schuitz! Is this the thing you were talking about?" Calla, who was the first to run up and rummage through the body, found a bead and quickly fed it to the injured man before it melted.
[Rick Jugusta has taken Frozen Traces of Life.]
Okay, that's one person healed...
"Um... what are we doing with the rest of the remains?"
I decided to throw away the rest of the monster's corpse. It'd sell for a good price back in the city, but it was impossible to take more stuff with us at this point. It was obviously better to just throw it away...
Growl.
Hmm, but why can't I move my feet?
Searching for the cause of my subconscious resistance, a thought occurred to me.
This is still meat, right? Although it seems a bit rotten...
Thinking I hit paydirt, I rushed over to Amelia and shared my idea. "Emily! I found a way to solve the food problem!"
"What hare-brained scheme have you come up with now?"
"This one isn't weird, really!"
She sighed. "Tell me what it is first."
"Well..." I proceeded to explain the food supply plan I came up with.
Slap!
For my troubles, I just ended up getting smacked in the back.
...Was it that bad? Well, I thought it was a good idea...
"We'll continue to head down."
It was time to use the strategy. Glacier Eye was an area I used to avoid as much as possible. At least, as I said before, until I figured out how to deal with it.
[All healing and recovery effects are reversed.]
The journey through Glacier Cave was long and took up to a week. There was only one reason Dungeon and Stone would hit adventures with such a ridiculous penalty here. Figuring there had to be a means to get around it hidden somewhere, I finally found it after countless attempts. The solution was simpler than I thought it'd be.
"Distortion magic...?"
"Yes, from now on, we're going to use the Distortion spell against all the demonic monsters we fight."
"The wizards are tired enough already from using Preservation over and over. Why would you increase their burden?"
That was because the key to this strategy was Distortion. Monsters targeted by it didn't spit out mana stones or essences, but instead, their corpses had a certain probability of being preserved when they died. Wyvern leather, adamantium, Troll blood (which was a raw material for potions), and various materials used in high-level Spirit Imprints were all acquired using Distortion.
The monsters that appear in Glacier Eye can all be hunted on different floors.
That was the reason why it took me so long to figure out Distortion was the answer. Why bother using Distortion to farm materials in a place where you already had a shortage of inventory thanks to sub-space being blocked? When it was easier to catch those monsters on another floor? It was extremely inefficient. Well, as always, the answer was buried in this goddamn game.
"...To think there was a technique like that to treat injuries here."
When I gave a brief outline of the strategy, everyone let out exclamations of surprise. Although this was the first they were ever hearing of this, no one doubted my intel.
"Lord Tercerion's sources are truly amazing. Or, should I say this goes to show how strong the palace is? To think they would know a strategy even I don't."
Just as they assumed there had to be another strategist on my team when I turned detective mode on to catch the traitor, they seemed to believe the source of this information was someone else as well.
...Maybe it's better that they believe that? Hmm, that might be better. Showing off doesn't help anyone, right? That's why our Confucian humility is a virtue.
"That's it, then. Since everyone's exhausted today, we'll camp here and set off again tomorrow."
Figuring Calla's friend would last at least two more days, we spent the night on the ledge and resumed our journey early the next morning.
[Riard Ashed has cast the rank-six space-time spell High-Level Distortion.]
[McKelly Rayothers has cast the rank-six space-time spell High-Level Distortion.]
[Versyl Gowland has cast the rank-six space-time spell High-Level Distortion.]
Spamming High-Level Distortion, which had a 1.5 times higher probability of succeeding than regular Distortion, we continued to kill monsters. As a result, we were lucky enough to produce a preserved body by afternoon.
"S-Schuitz! Is this the thing you were talking about?" Calla, who was the first to run up and rummage through the body, found a bead and quickly fed it to the injured man before it melted.
[Rick Jugusta has taken Frozen Traces of Life.]
Okay, that's one person healed...
"Um... what are we doing with the rest of the remains?"
I decided to throw away the rest of the monster's corpse. It'd sell for a good price back in the city, but it was impossible to take more stuff with us at this point. It was obviously better to just throw it away...
Growl.
Hmm, but why can't I move my feet?
Searching for the cause of my subconscious resistance, a thought occurred to me.
This is still meat, right? Although it seems a bit rotten...
Thinking I hit paydirt, I rushed over to Amelia and shared my idea. "Emily! I found a way to solve the food problem!"
"What hare-brained scheme have you come up with now?"
"This one isn't weird, really!"
She sighed. "Tell me what it is first."
"Well..." I proceeded to explain the food supply plan I came up with.
Slap!
For my troubles, I just ended up getting smacked in the back.
...Was it that bad? Well, I thought it was a good idea...