Chapter 457: Raid (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 457: Raid (2)
"Oh! What a strange looking—"
"Stop!" I yelled as soon as Ainar bent down to grab the flower. A sigh of relief escaped me when she jumped back, flustered.
"Wh-what is it?! I didn't do anything!" Ainar quickly defended herself, confused about what she might have done wrong. I didn't mind her tone, though. I didn't shout at her to scold her. "I-Is there something strange about this flower?!"
Ignorance wasn't a sin. Well, at least not for barbarians.
"That's No. 9999: Beginner's Luck."
The only person to react to the name was Amelia. "...Something precious has already shown up."
Yeah, it was precious, all right. It was an item not even money could buy.
"What is it?" Erwen asked.
"Hm..." Amelia hummed. "It's one of the 109 Treasures of the Labyrinth. Didn't you read a book about them when you were a kid?"
"...I didn't ask you."
I didn't recognize whatever 109 Treasures of the Labyrinth book Amelia was talking about either, but I followed my gut and quickly stepped in before those two could bicker any longer. "Beginner's Luck is a talisman item."
Of course, in the game, the English descriptions said "Charm."
"A talisman..."
Since none of them seemed familiar with the term, I first had to explain what a talisman was.
Fortunately, Erwen was quick to grasp the concept as a talented adventurer with a lot of experience under her belt. "Ah, so it's an item whose effects activate as long as you have it on you, right?"
"Yeah." There were a total of twelve talismans between all the Numbered Items, but if you had more than one in your possession, only one of them could be active at a time, even if they had different effects. "And Beginner's Luck is unique in that it will belong to a set person."
"...Like the Orb of Fire you've talked about?"
"Yeah."
"Oh no! I-I didn't know, I swear! I had no clue! Believe me!" As soon as she heard it was an item that bound itself to the first person who touched it, Ainar paled and suddenly started to plead her innocence. Of course, no one had suspected her of any wrongdoing in the first place, so we just ignored her as we continued to discuss what to do with it.
"What effect does the flower have?"
Ah, it was pretty simple, actually. It didn't help you out in combat nor did it increase your Item Level or stats when worn. "Instead, it increases the probability of an essence dropping when you hunt a monster for the first time."
"I see... what an incredible item!" Erwen looked unexpectedly excited to hear what it was.
Ainar, on the other hand, only seemed disappointed. "How incredible can it be? It doesn't even guarantee an essence drop! And it only works on monsters you hunt for the first time?"
That wasn't an unreasonable reaction. After all, they wouldn't know the exact probability of essence drop rates.
According to the data that I gathered myself over the years, the drop rate of all essences increased by about 5 percent while wearing Beginner's Luck, and that was a fixed rate, not a multiplier. For example, if a guardian's essence had a drop rate of 33 percent, that rate would increase to 38 percent with Beginner's Luck's 5 percent bonus.
"So what's the improved drop rate?"
The effects might seem lackluster on the surface, but it was a completely different story when you fought against regular monsters. You might not notice a difference between 33 percent and 38 percent, but the change from 0.01 percent to 5.01 percent was so drastic that anyone was bound to notice.
"I'd say roughly one in twenty."
It wasn't just Ainar who gawked at the approximation I offered. Even Erwen and Amelia looked surprised. "A-Are you serious?! One in twenty?!"
Another understandable reaction yet again. Even though they didn't know the exact numbers, every adventurer had learned through experience just how horrendous the drop rates of essences could be.
"Oh, of course when I say one in twenty, I'm talking about rank-nine monsters," I explained as an additional aside. "Though I heard that the higher the rank, the higher the drop rate."
Monsters of higher ranks had slightly higher base drop rates. Some rank-three monsters even had a drop rate of 5 percent. To be fair, that was likely because it was harder to hunt them in the first place.
"Wow... it really is one of the 109 Treasures."
"It certainly is. It may only work the first time you kill a new monster, but the probability of an essence dropping is too good, especially if you have a wizard with you. You could easily earn a lot of money."
"Bjorn... I'm sorry. I had no idea, and I nearly took it without even thinking..." Ainar suddenly went back to apologize, but we all knew from the start she didn't do it on purpose. Why did she keep apologizing to me?
I just chose to ignore her and move on to the topic at hand. "Now then... which of us will take it?"
It was time to decide the owner. Since the item would be bound to the first person who touched it, it would be impossible to sell afterward.
"You said that the person holding it doesn't have to hunt the monsters themselves, so it should work for all of us so long as we're bound by the binding spell, right?"
"Then it might be a good idea to give it to the person with the least experience fighting monsters."
Amelia was right—the best person to give it to would be the lowest-level member of our party, as they would have killed the fewest types of monsters. Currently, Amelia was level eight while Erwen, Ainar, and I were level seven.
"Auyen, what level are you?"
"...Me? Oh! Um, I'm level six!"
We could just have Auyen hold onto the item and drag him along with us like a totem...
But during a real battle later on, we can't risk such a precious item not taking effect. And with the way things are now, I have no plans to let Auyen take part in combat in the future.
After taking everything into consideration, I came to my decision. "Ainar, you take it." Erwen already had experience fighting against Bellarios, but Ainar didn't.
"...Huh? You're giving it to me? I'm happy, b-but I think you should have it instead, Bjorn...!"
Didn't I tell her already? You could only have one talisman item at a time, otherwise the effects wouldn't activate. I wasn't planning on wasting my precious talisman space on it when I wouldn't even be able to get rid of it later.
"You're a better fit for it than me, so you should have it, Ainar."
"Bjooorn!"
Thankfully, Ainar seemed happy about it.
***
[The luck hidden in the flower's petals seeps into Ainar Fenelin.]
***
After clearing Iron Grave, we headed straight to the Den of Beasts.
"Aaaaaagh! How long do we have to stay in this smelly place?! This isn't the type of quest I had in mind!"
"I'd say roughly one in twenty."
It wasn't just Ainar who gawked at the approximation I offered. Even Erwen and Amelia looked surprised. "A-Are you serious?! One in twenty?!"
Another understandable reaction yet again. Even though they didn't know the exact numbers, every adventurer had learned through experience just how horrendous the drop rates of essences could be.
"Oh, of course when I say one in twenty, I'm talking about rank-nine monsters," I explained as an additional aside. "Though I heard that the higher the rank, the higher the drop rate."
Monsters of higher ranks had slightly higher base drop rates. Some rank-three monsters even had a drop rate of 5 percent. To be fair, that was likely because it was harder to hunt them in the first place.
"Wow... it really is one of the 109 Treasures."
"It certainly is. It may only work the first time you kill a new monster, but the probability of an essence dropping is too good, especially if you have a wizard with you. You could easily earn a lot of money."
"Bjorn... I'm sorry. I had no idea, and I nearly took it without even thinking..." Ainar suddenly went back to apologize, but we all knew from the start she didn't do it on purpose. Why did she keep apologizing to me?
I just chose to ignore her and move on to the topic at hand. "Now then... which of us will take it?"
It was time to decide the owner. Since the item would be bound to the first person who touched it, it would be impossible to sell afterward.
"You said that the person holding it doesn't have to hunt the monsters themselves, so it should work for all of us so long as we're bound by the binding spell, right?"
"Then it might be a good idea to give it to the person with the least experience fighting monsters."
Amelia was right—the best person to give it to would be the lowest-level member of our party, as they would have killed the fewest types of monsters. Currently, Amelia was level eight while Erwen, Ainar, and I were level seven.
"Auyen, what level are you?"
"...Me? Oh! Um, I'm level six!"
We could just have Auyen hold onto the item and drag him along with us like a totem...
But during a real battle later on, we can't risk such a precious item not taking effect. And with the way things are now, I have no plans to let Auyen take part in combat in the future.
After taking everything into consideration, I came to my decision. "Ainar, you take it." Erwen already had experience fighting against Bellarios, but Ainar didn't.
"...Huh? You're giving it to me? I'm happy, b-but I think you should have it instead, Bjorn...!"
Didn't I tell her already? You could only have one talisman item at a time, otherwise the effects wouldn't activate. I wasn't planning on wasting my precious talisman space on it when I wouldn't even be able to get rid of it later.
"You're a better fit for it than me, so you should have it, Ainar."
"Bjooorn!"
Thankfully, Ainar seemed happy about it.
***
[The luck hidden in the flower's petals seeps into Ainar Fenelin.]
***
After clearing Iron Grave, we headed straight to the Den of Beasts.
"Aaaaaagh! How long do we have to stay in this smelly place?! This isn't the type of quest I had in mind!"
We waited up until the eighth day for any rifts to open. I did debate postponing things for next time, of course. We now had Beginner's Luck, so the most efficient thing to do would be to bring along a wizard to sell any essences we might encounter.
But considering the price of a test tube, the essences of the monsters on this floor wouldn't be worth it.
Ultimately, the only essence worth taking would be the guardian's essence, and since I was planning to give it to Erwen anyway if it dropped, there was no need to postpone our plans any further. We could focus on raking in the cash with a wizard next time.
"...Really? Are we really going to the higher floors now after wasting all that time?!"
"That's what we decided on beforehand. So stop whining."
As we headed toward the portal on the eighth day, we started to encounter mid- to high-level adventurers. They were adventurers who were currently focused on hunting down rifts, like us. However, since second-floor rifts didn't open after the seventh day, everyone planned on going up.
[You have entered the Pilgrim's Path on the third floor.]
Once on the third floor, we passed Ironrock Hill and headed straight to the Orc Colony to focus on farming. The monster we would be hunting now was one I was personally familiar with. It was the very same monster that the Dzarwi clan had been hunting when the Lord of Chaos was summoned: the Orc Hero.
"Ohhh! Giantization! Does that mean I'll get the chance to do it now too?!"
Ainar was overjoyed to hear the identity of our target, but unfortunately for her, no one on our team would be absorbing its essence. Without the Immortality Imprint's Union ability, the cons associated with Giantization far outweighed the pros. The plan was simply to get EXP for hunting the Orc Hero and hopefully get a Numbered Item drop as well.
But now that we have Beginner's Luck, an essence drop is almost guaranteed for us.
I couldn't live with the guilt of leaving an essence like that behind, so I spoke with every wizard we came across while grinding for the Mighty Orc Warrior mana stones that we needed for the altar. Luckily, we were able to convince one.
"A test tube? Of course I have one, but—"
"Great. If an essence drops, can we use your test tube? We'll pay for the cost immediately, of course."
"...What are you talking about? Just who do you think you—"
"Lewis! A-Are you nuts? That's Baron Yandel!"
Because of my rather high Reputation stat, recruiting help turned out to be a lot easier than anticipated. Not only that, but they gave me some useful information. Apparently, the third floor's rift hadn't opened yet.
All right, in that case, we can stay here on the third floor until the thirteenth day...
After getting our affairs in order, we went back to mana stone farming. Our team was able to search for and hunt monsters individually, so we were able to collect all 777 mana stones in less than a day. Once we'd prepared all the stones, we met up with the wizard again as we waited.
"I'm telling you this just in case, but don't come anywhere near me unless I give you the signal. If for some reason the Orc Lord suddenly appears, I won't be able to protect you all."
"An Orc Lord..."
"It's a rank-two monster."
"A... rank two?!"
"You'll be safe as long as you don't come close, so don't worry."
"I-I'll keep that in mind..."
With that, preparations were complete. After explaining what to do if the Orc Lord made an appearance, I offered the mana stones to the altar.
We waited up until the eighth day for any rifts to open. I did debate postponing things for next time, of course. We now had Beginner's Luck, so the most efficient thing to do would be to bring along a wizard to sell any essences we might encounter.
But considering the price of a test tube, the essences of the monsters on this floor wouldn't be worth it.
Ultimately, the only essence worth taking would be the guardian's essence, and since I was planning to give it to Erwen anyway if it dropped, there was no need to postpone our plans any further. We could focus on raking in the cash with a wizard next time.
"...Really? Are we really going to the higher floors now after wasting all that time?!"
"That's what we decided on beforehand. So stop whining."
As we headed toward the portal on the eighth day, we started to encounter mid- to high-level adventurers. They were adventurers who were currently focused on hunting down rifts, like us. However, since second-floor rifts didn't open after the seventh day, everyone planned on going up.
[You have entered the Pilgrim's Path on the third floor.]
Once on the third floor, we passed Ironrock Hill and headed straight to the Orc Colony to focus on farming. The monster we would be hunting now was one I was personally familiar with. It was the very same monster that the Dzarwi clan had been hunting when the Lord of Chaos was summoned: the Orc Hero.
"Ohhh! Giantization! Does that mean I'll get the chance to do it now too?!"
Ainar was overjoyed to hear the identity of our target, but unfortunately for her, no one on our team would be absorbing its essence. Without the Immortality Imprint's Union ability, the cons associated with Giantization far outweighed the pros. The plan was simply to get EXP for hunting the Orc Hero and hopefully get a Numbered Item drop as well.
But now that we have Beginner's Luck, an essence drop is almost guaranteed for us.
I couldn't live with the guilt of leaving an essence like that behind, so I spoke with every wizard we came across while grinding for the Mighty Orc Warrior mana stones that we needed for the altar. Luckily, we were able to convince one.
"A test tube? Of course I have one, but—"
"Great. If an essence drops, can we use your test tube? We'll pay for the cost immediately, of course."
"...What are you talking about? Just who do you think you—"
"Lewis! A-Are you nuts? That's Baron Yandel!"
Because of my rather high Reputation stat, recruiting help turned out to be a lot easier than anticipated. Not only that, but they gave me some useful information. Apparently, the third floor's rift hadn't opened yet.
All right, in that case, we can stay here on the third floor until the thirteenth day...
After getting our affairs in order, we went back to mana stone farming. Our team was able to search for and hunt monsters individually, so we were able to collect all 777 mana stones in less than a day. Once we'd prepared all the stones, we met up with the wizard again as we waited.
"I'm telling you this just in case, but don't come anywhere near me unless I give you the signal. If for some reason the Orc Lord suddenly appears, I won't be able to protect you all."
"An Orc Lord..."
"It's a rank-two monster."
"A... rank two?!"
"You'll be safe as long as you don't come close, so don't worry."
"I-I'll keep that in mind..."
With that, preparations were complete. After explaining what to do if the Orc Lord made an appearance, I offered the mana stones to the altar.
[The spirit of a Mighty Warrior has been sacrificed to the warrior's bowl.]
[The spirit of a Mighty Warrior has been sacrificed to the warrior's bowl.]
[The spirit of a Mighty Warrior has been sacrificed to...]
The mana stones we placed on the altar quickly vanished into bursts of light.
[Special Condition—Warrior's Bowl has been met.]
As if to signal the start of a boss battle, the outer layer of the stone statue behind the altar began to crumble away.
Craaaaaack.
Luckily, the stone statue of the Orc Lord remained intact. Well, considering the probability of an Orc Lord actually appearing, that was a given.
I always get nervous whenever there's a chance of an impossible fight breaking out, though.
No matter how many times I experienced it, I could never get used to it.
"Get ready everyone!" I hurriedly shouted to my teammates, who were standing far away from the altar.
[The ancient hero Denish has awoken.]
[The ancient hero Belta has awoken.]
[The ancient hero Tarugas has awoken.]
They were the three Orc Heroes. As soon as the three heroes broke free of their statue, the battle began.
"Graaaaaawr!"
"Behel—aaaaaah!"
The three ran at me, each wielding a different weapon—an axe, a hammer, and a sword. But thanks to my combo of Transcendence and Giantization, I was no pushover when it came to weight class.
Slam!
Even the attacks that I couldn't block didn't hurt me. At best, they only made my bones ache a bit. To be honest, if I had to, I felt like I could take an entire day of nonstop bombardment from them.
This will be the perfect battle to test our skills.
As long as I played my role and focused solely on tanking their attacks, this would turn into a long, drawn-out battle. After all, these three monsters were all rank five. It would be ridiculous to dismiss their difficulty level just because their attacks might not be hurting me right now.
"Graaaaaa!"
A horde of regular rank-seven Orcs rushed out from where they were hidden in the forest in never-ending waves as soon as the raid began.
Clang! Smash! Booom!
Like we planned in advance, Ainar would focus on dealing with those extra Orcs, meaning we only had two damage dealers to use in this boss battle. In other words, Erwen and Amelia would have to kill all three of them on their own. Then again, the two of them had completely destroyed the Death Worm in the Rock Desert.
[The Ancient Hero Denish has cast Agony.]
Orc Heroes were typically rank-five monsters, but as higher-rank mutants, these guys would drop rank-four essences. Not only that, but between the three of them, each essence was different.
[The Ancient Hero Belta has cast Sacred Battlefield.]
[The Ancient Hero Tarugas has cast Protective Shield.]
When combined, their essences complemented each other, compensating for the other's weaknesses while maximizing their strengths.
That wasn't all.
[Erwen Fornacci di Tersia has cast Concentrated Fire.]
[The Ancient Hero Denish has used the Great Sword of Control. The trajectory of all long-range attacks has been modified.]
They also used Numbered Items.
[The Orc Sorcerer has cast Frenzy.]
[The Ancient Hero Denish's Physical Resistance has increased threefold for 10 seconds.]
What was more, during the battle, they constantly got buffs to their resistances, making it even more difficult for them to deal damage.
[The Orc Sorcerer has cast Regeneration Imprint. The Ancient Hero Tarugas's Natural Regeneration has increased significantly.]
They even got instant healing.
The monsters before us were strong, well beyond any regular Orc Hero an adventurer would ever meet by chance on another floor. The good thing was they gave bonus experience points since they were higher-rank mutants. Without that and their odds of dropping a Numbered Item, there would be absolutely no reason to fight them.
"What are you guys doing? Aren't you going to kill them?! You killed that worm so easily, but you can't deal with these guys?!"
"It's not that easy!"
"Never mind our battle and focus on your own, barbarian."
The moment push came to shove, the trio started to bicker with each other. Still, at the end of the day, they were all professionals.
"Ms. Ainar! Can you focus on getting rid of that Sorcerer first?"
"Tersia, go after the one with the hammer. I'll deal with the one holding the sword."
"Behel—aaaaaah!"
After realizing that this would never end if they fought amongst themselves, they slowly started to cooperate, communicate, and create opportunities for others to attack.
"Ahhhh!"
Auyen, our rank-six teammate with a sordid past, also managed to help. He focused on dealing with the trash mobs that were trying to go after Erwen.
[You have killed the Ancient Hero Belta. EXP +5]
[High-rank Mutant Bonus. EXP +1]
At long last, we were able to defeat one of the three heroes, and from there, we had the upper hand needed to quickly end this fight.
[You have killed the Ancient Hero Denish.]
[High-rank Mutant Bonus. EXP +1]
[You have killed the Ancient Hero Tarugas.]
[High-rank Mutant Bonus. EXP +1]
When I checked my watch, our total battle time ended up being thirty-five minutes. Considering that it was a four-person raid, that was pretty fast. But...
"Even though we worked so hard, nothing dropped..."
There were absolutely no spoils. Neither an essence nor a Numbered Item dropped. It couldn't be helped, though. That sort of luck was par for the course when you played Dungeon and Stone.
"Okay, let's quickly collect the mana stones and move on. Oh, Amelia. You can go tell the wizard over there that he can leave now."
After we gathered the mana stones by hand, we left the Orc Colony. So far, our expedition this month had been smooth sailing.
"Mister...?"
As we camped out by the Witch's Forest while waiting for the thirteenth day to arrive, however, I was struck by a bad feeling.
[A fifth sacrifice has been made in the hut.]
[A sixth sacrifice has been made in the hut.]
[A seventh sacrifice has been made in the hut.]
The world around us began to shine with a light bright enough to render all torches useless. I looked up to see a bright red glow take form and start to spread along the ceiling.
[Special Condition – Seven Sacrifices has been satisfied.]
Tsk. Just my luck, some moron was starting shit again.
[The Lord of Chaos, Riakis, has begun to wander the floor.]
This was going to be a headache.
[The spirit of a Mighty Warrior has been sacrificed to the warrior's bowl.]
[The spirit of a Mighty Warrior has been sacrificed to the warrior's bowl.]
[The spirit of a Mighty Warrior has been sacrificed to...]
The mana stones we placed on the altar quickly vanished into bursts of light.
[Special Condition—Warrior's Bowl has been met.]
As if to signal the start of a boss battle, the outer layer of the stone statue behind the altar began to crumble away.
Craaaaaack.
Luckily, the stone statue of the Orc Lord remained intact. Well, considering the probability of an Orc Lord actually appearing, that was a given.
I always get nervous whenever there's a chance of an impossible fight breaking out, though.
No matter how many times I experienced it, I could never get used to it.
"Get ready everyone!" I hurriedly shouted to my teammates, who were standing far away from the altar.
[The ancient hero Denish has awoken.]
[The ancient hero Belta has awoken.]
[The ancient hero Tarugas has awoken.]
They were the three Orc Heroes. As soon as the three heroes broke free of their statue, the battle began.
"Graaaaaawr!"
"Behel—aaaaaah!"
The three ran at me, each wielding a different weapon—an axe, a hammer, and a sword. But thanks to my combo of Transcendence and Giantization, I was no pushover when it came to weight class.
Slam!
Even the attacks that I couldn't block didn't hurt me. At best, they only made my bones ache a bit. To be honest, if I had to, I felt like I could take an entire day of nonstop bombardment from them.
This will be the perfect battle to test our skills.
As long as I played my role and focused solely on tanking their attacks, this would turn into a long, drawn-out battle. After all, these three monsters were all rank five. It would be ridiculous to dismiss their difficulty level just because their attacks might not be hurting me right now.
"Graaaaaa!"
A horde of regular rank-seven Orcs rushed out from where they were hidden in the forest in never-ending waves as soon as the raid began.
Clang! Smash! Booom!
Like we planned in advance, Ainar would focus on dealing with those extra Orcs, meaning we only had two damage dealers to use in this boss battle. In other words, Erwen and Amelia would have to kill all three of them on their own. Then again, the two of them had completely destroyed the Death Worm in the Rock Desert.
[The Ancient Hero Denish has cast Agony.]
Orc Heroes were typically rank-five monsters, but as higher-rank mutants, these guys would drop rank-four essences. Not only that, but between the three of them, each essence was different.
[The Ancient Hero Belta has cast Sacred Battlefield.]
[The Ancient Hero Tarugas has cast Protective Shield.]
When combined, their essences complemented each other, compensating for the other's weaknesses while maximizing their strengths.
That wasn't all.
[Erwen Fornacci di Tersia has cast Concentrated Fire.]
[The Ancient Hero Denish has used the Great Sword of Control. The trajectory of all long-range attacks has been modified.]
They also used Numbered Items.
[The Orc Sorcerer has cast Frenzy.]
[The Ancient Hero Denish's Physical Resistance has increased threefold for 10 seconds.]
What was more, during the battle, they constantly got buffs to their resistances, making it even more difficult for them to deal damage.
[The Orc Sorcerer has cast Regeneration Imprint. The Ancient Hero Tarugas's Natural Regeneration has increased significantly.]
They even got instant healing.
The monsters before us were strong, well beyond any regular Orc Hero an adventurer would ever meet by chance on another floor. The good thing was they gave bonus experience points since they were higher-rank mutants. Without that and their odds of dropping a Numbered Item, there would be absolutely no reason to fight them.
"What are you guys doing? Aren't you going to kill them?! You killed that worm so easily, but you can't deal with these guys?!"
"It's not that easy!"
"Never mind our battle and focus on your own, barbarian."
The moment push came to shove, the trio started to bicker with each other. Still, at the end of the day, they were all professionals.
"Ms. Ainar! Can you focus on getting rid of that Sorcerer first?"
"Tersia, go after the one with the hammer. I'll deal with the one holding the sword."
"Behel—aaaaaah!"
After realizing that this would never end if they fought amongst themselves, they slowly started to cooperate, communicate, and create opportunities for others to attack.
"Ahhhh!"
Auyen, our rank-six teammate with a sordid past, also managed to help. He focused on dealing with the trash mobs that were trying to go after Erwen.
[You have killed the Ancient Hero Belta. EXP +5]
[High-rank Mutant Bonus. EXP +1]
At long last, we were able to defeat one of the three heroes, and from there, we had the upper hand needed to quickly end this fight.
[You have killed the Ancient Hero Denish.]
[High-rank Mutant Bonus. EXP +1]
[You have killed the Ancient Hero Tarugas.]
[High-rank Mutant Bonus. EXP +1]
When I checked my watch, our total battle time ended up being thirty-five minutes. Considering that it was a four-person raid, that was pretty fast. But...
"Even though we worked so hard, nothing dropped..."
There were absolutely no spoils. Neither an essence nor a Numbered Item dropped. It couldn't be helped, though. That sort of luck was par for the course when you played Dungeon and Stone.
"Okay, let's quickly collect the mana stones and move on. Oh, Amelia. You can go tell the wizard over there that he can leave now."
After we gathered the mana stones by hand, we left the Orc Colony. So far, our expedition this month had been smooth sailing.
"Mister...?"
As we camped out by the Witch's Forest while waiting for the thirteenth day to arrive, however, I was struck by a bad feeling.
[A fifth sacrifice has been made in the hut.]
[A sixth sacrifice has been made in the hut.]
[A seventh sacrifice has been made in the hut.]
The world around us began to shine with a light bright enough to render all torches useless. I looked up to see a bright red glow take form and start to spread along the ceiling.
[Special Condition – Seven Sacrifices has been satisfied.]
Tsk. Just my luck, some moron was starting shit again.
[The Lord of Chaos, Riakis, has begun to wander the floor.]
This was going to be a headache.