Chapter 51: Team Half-Wit (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 51: Team Half-Wit (1)
"Rotmiller, is there anyone nearby?"
Could he have had similar suspicions? Brown closed his eyes, then opened them without a word. His pupils were contracted as he looked around.
[Brown Rotmiller has cast Thermal Detection.]
Thermal Detection was a special ability that Lizardman Scouts had. Its effects were similar to a modern-day thermal imaging camera. It was a pretty useful skill in the game as well. Whether the enemy used Conceal or something else, this skill could see through everything.
"There is no one nearby," Brown replied shortly, deactivating the special ability. "But judging from the smell, it looks like someone was here not too long ago."
As this was the opinion of someone with two essences that adjusted his olfactory stat, the possibility of him being wrong was low. I asked him a few more questions. "How long ago, do you think?"
"I can't be certain, but this much of a scent means it hasn't been more than two minutes."
"That means they must have left after seeing us fight, right?"
"...That's right." Rotmiller nodded with a grim look on his face.
Hikurod, who had been listening quietly to the conversation, interrupted, startled. "Wait, then someone was targeting us on purpose?"
Brown did not deny it. "Probably not us, exactly. They would've been waiting for anyone to pass by." He went on to explain that luring monsters in front of portals was a technique often used by plunderers, a low-risk method employed by those groups.
They sure are good at pulling tricks.
Using monsters to ambush a team was a way to take advantage of the moment when the adventurers who had just crossed the portal were most vulnerable. A total team kill would be the best outcome for the plunderers; one or two injured was pretty good, and if the team happened to get out unscathed, the ambushers just had to retreat for a bit and lie in wait for their next prey.
"Rotmiller! Shouldn't we find them and finish them off? Killing looters is a moneymakerrr!" shouted Missha.
"Even if we were to do that, they would be difficult to track down. It's not like we can just wait around here... Plus, there's no evidence. We cannot rule out the possibility that we may end up being framed in return."
"Eeet, the dead don't talk!" Missha huffed angrily when Brown finished up his explanation, but the dwarf then stepped in and made a cool-headed decision as the team leader.
"In the name of good conscience, let's go back to the second floor to leave a sign warning people about the looters in front of the portal before we go."
I agreed. "That's a wise decision."
After that, we did the bare minimum any adventurer was expected to do and left the portal behind. On the way, we continued to discuss the topic of plunderers. However, the more I listened, the stranger things sounded.
"Brown is grrreat. Until now, I didn't even know they used tactics like that."
"I've only heard talk of it before," Hikurod said with a nod. "This is the first time I've been subjected to this trick."
"True, it's not every day that you run into a plunderrrer!"
Uh, what the hell are you guys talking about?
I felt alienated by the other adventurers' talk and found it difficult to empathize with, so I asked about it. At which point I learned something shocking.
"Me? I've run into maybe eight of them in the past five years. Once, it was my own teammate, and the rest were all good-forrr-nothings!"
"Only eight times in five years? Shit, isn't running into looters a daily thing for adventurers?"
"Definitely not... I heard that was the case about 150 yearrrs ago, though!"
Missha added that after the death of the first king, also known as the Immortal King, various policies were put into place that greatly reduced the number of looters. However, I couldn't accept this explanation. There had to be some kind of mistake. Otherwise, I couldn't make sense of it.
Once in the Crystal Cave, once in the Goblin Forest, twice in the Land of the Dead...
Including today, I had come across five plunderers in the past three months.
So what does that say about me?
When I told them this to get their opinion on it, everyone, including Brown, gave me a strange look.
"How many sins did Bjorrrn commit in his past life?"
"Hahaha! Maybe it's your fault that we ran into a plunderer today!"
I really had nothing to say to that. What kind of life had I been living?
As I walked in silence, unable to muster the energy to refute them, Brown sighed and opened his mouth. "Everyone, stop teasing. We all know that Miss Karlstein is one of the lucky ones, right?"
"Ah! That's tr—!"
"I also tend to see plunderers about once every three months. So don't worry too much."
Ah, uh— um... Thanks for the comforting words, but that's not five in three months.
***
[You have killed a Wormstone. EXP +2]
[You have killed an Iron Falcon. EXP +2]
[You have killed an Ironrock Hill Guardian Soldier. EXP +2]
Third floor, Pilgrim's Path. Whether you passed through the Land of the Dead, the Goblin Forest, or the Den of Beasts, you inevitably ended up on this level. The starting point was different for each route, though, so in order to run into adventurers coming from a different path, you had to follow the road to the fourth portal at the center of the map.
It takes around three to four days to reach the center on average...
For reference, that was the minimum time required for travel. To that end, the scale of the third floor was incomparable to that of the other floors. While the name of the floor itself was Pilgrim's Path, the areas here were referred to by the names of the monsters that inhabited them. I was currently at Ironrock Hill.
"We will camp here today, and tomorrow we will move on to the next area."
On the ambiguous border between where one region ended and another began, we started setting up camp. As this was an area where monster territories overlapped, only a few monsters showed up.
"By the way, Dwalkie, are you okay?" Hikurod asked. "You've looked off for a while." The dwarf spread out a sleeping bag, wrapping up his preparations for the night.
Brown, Missha, and I pretended not to be listening. We were curious why this usually talkative bastard looked like he'd stepped on dog poo.
"...Do I?"
"Maybe I'm wrong, but that's how it seemed to me."
"I see..." Dwalkie flashed a bitter smile and nodded. After hesitating for a moment, he soon spoke his mind. "I know what I'm going to sound like. I probably seem naïve and immature to you. But... To be honest, I was shocked earlier."
"Me? I've run into maybe eight of them in the past five years. Once, it was my own teammate, and the rest were all good-forrr-nothings!"
"Only eight times in five years? Shit, isn't running into looters a daily thing for adventurers?"
"Definitely not... I heard that was the case about 150 yearrrs ago, though!"
Missha added that after the death of the first king, also known as the Immortal King, various policies were put into place that greatly reduced the number of looters. However, I couldn't accept this explanation. There had to be some kind of mistake. Otherwise, I couldn't make sense of it.
Once in the Crystal Cave, once in the Goblin Forest, twice in the Land of the Dead...
Including today, I had come across five plunderers in the past three months.
So what does that say about me?
When I told them this to get their opinion on it, everyone, including Brown, gave me a strange look.
"How many sins did Bjorrrn commit in his past life?"
"Hahaha! Maybe it's your fault that we ran into a plunderer today!"
I really had nothing to say to that. What kind of life had I been living?
As I walked in silence, unable to muster the energy to refute them, Brown sighed and opened his mouth. "Everyone, stop teasing. We all know that Miss Karlstein is one of the lucky ones, right?"
"Ah! That's tr—!"
"I also tend to see plunderers about once every three months. So don't worry too much."
Ah, uh— um... Thanks for the comforting words, but that's not five in three months.
***
[You have killed a Wormstone. EXP +2]
[You have killed an Iron Falcon. EXP +2]
[You have killed an Ironrock Hill Guardian Soldier. EXP +2]
Third floor, Pilgrim's Path. Whether you passed through the Land of the Dead, the Goblin Forest, or the Den of Beasts, you inevitably ended up on this level. The starting point was different for each route, though, so in order to run into adventurers coming from a different path, you had to follow the road to the fourth portal at the center of the map.
It takes around three to four days to reach the center on average...
For reference, that was the minimum time required for travel. To that end, the scale of the third floor was incomparable to that of the other floors. While the name of the floor itself was Pilgrim's Path, the areas here were referred to by the names of the monsters that inhabited them. I was currently at Ironrock Hill.
"We will camp here today, and tomorrow we will move on to the next area."
On the ambiguous border between where one region ended and another began, we started setting up camp. As this was an area where monster territories overlapped, only a few monsters showed up.
"By the way, Dwalkie, are you okay?" Hikurod asked. "You've looked off for a while." The dwarf spread out a sleeping bag, wrapping up his preparations for the night.
Brown, Missha, and I pretended not to be listening. We were curious why this usually talkative bastard looked like he'd stepped on dog poo.
"...Do I?"
"Maybe I'm wrong, but that's how it seemed to me."
"I see..." Dwalkie flashed a bitter smile and nodded. After hesitating for a moment, he soon spoke his mind. "I know what I'm going to sound like. I probably seem naïve and immature to you. But... To be honest, I was shocked earlier."
"Shocked?"
"I guess it would be more accurate to say that I've been disillusioned. I've been hearing stories about adventurers ever since I was young, but... I was never told stuff like that."
'Stuff like that' being adventurers who killed other adventurers; on top of that, another adventurer who spoke of making money by killing said adventurers. It was certainly not a reality full of sunshine and rainbows.
"Eeet, that was a joke!" cried Missha.
"Whether it was a joke or not, if I continue to work as an adventurer, I will one day kill another person, right?"
At that, everyone in the team shut their mouths. Anything we said to try to comfort him here would be a lie. Hikurod, Missha, Brown, and I had all killed someone before. If Dwalkie continued down this path, he would inevitably go through the same thing one day.
"So I've made up my mind. The whole time we were traveling here, I kept thinking about it..."
Hearing his determined muttering, I asked, "And your verdict? Have you decided you'll do it?"
"I have. But... I don't know if I'll be able to do it when the moment actually comes." Dwalkie's resolve was full of contradictions. He had no confidence in himself, just fear of what could potentially happen in the future.
However... I thought it was actually better that way. "That is enough." Better to be honest than to be one of those fools who rattled off promises that they couldn't keep, and then whined that they couldn't do it.
Perhaps he had a similar thought, because Brown, who was listening to the conversation, said, "It is important not to be overconfident in yourself. To me, what you just said sounds a lot more reliable than just saying 'I can do it.'"
"I-Is that so?"
Dwalkie's bashful expression made a warm smile appear on Brown's face, almost like he was looking at a young man following in his footsteps. "You're aware that it is something you'll have to do, and you're even determined to do it. If that's the case, I'm sure you will be able to follow through when the moment arrives."
"I hope that really is the case..."
"Hahaha! Cheer up, my friend!" The conversation finally ended when Hikurod slapped Dwalkie on the back.
However, after we planned the night shifts and just as we were about to go to bed, Brown suddenly summoned the team. "Wait. Can you all give me a bit of your time? I know getting as much rest as possible is the most beneficial thing for us right now, but I have something I want to show you."
"What is it?"
At my question, Brown looked at Dwalkie and said, "This profession isn't only full of difficult and terrible things."
Soon after, Brown checked his watch and moved to the edge of the cliff near the campsite. We followed without knowing what was going on. All we could see was the usual darkness of the labyrinth that swallowed light itself and always obstructed an explorer's vision.
"You have something to show us?" asked Missha.
"Wait," Brown answered while looking at his watch. "It'll only take a moment."
As I watched Brown, I had a guess as to what he was referring to, so I took out my own watch. It was 23:59, one minute before the start of day three, when the monster population peaked. The second hand moved with a ticking sound. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five...
I closed the watch and stared into the darkness at the opposing cliff. Before long, a silver sphere of light appeared in the distance, and soon there were too many little lights to count. Starting from the ground, they all fluttered like dandelion seeds and drifted toward the sky. The dark labyrinth gradually brightened around us. It was then that I understood why this place was called Ironrock Hill.
"Shocked?"
"I guess it would be more accurate to say that I've been disillusioned. I've been hearing stories about adventurers ever since I was young, but... I was never told stuff like that."
'Stuff like that' being adventurers who killed other adventurers; on top of that, another adventurer who spoke of making money by killing said adventurers. It was certainly not a reality full of sunshine and rainbows.
"Eeet, that was a joke!" cried Missha.
"Whether it was a joke or not, if I continue to work as an adventurer, I will one day kill another person, right?"
At that, everyone in the team shut their mouths. Anything we said to try to comfort him here would be a lie. Hikurod, Missha, Brown, and I had all killed someone before. If Dwalkie continued down this path, he would inevitably go through the same thing one day.
"So I've made up my mind. The whole time we were traveling here, I kept thinking about it..."
Hearing his determined muttering, I asked, "And your verdict? Have you decided you'll do it?"
"I have. But... I don't know if I'll be able to do it when the moment actually comes." Dwalkie's resolve was full of contradictions. He had no confidence in himself, just fear of what could potentially happen in the future.
However... I thought it was actually better that way. "That is enough." Better to be honest than to be one of those fools who rattled off promises that they couldn't keep, and then whined that they couldn't do it.
Perhaps he had a similar thought, because Brown, who was listening to the conversation, said, "It is important not to be overconfident in yourself. To me, what you just said sounds a lot more reliable than just saying 'I can do it.'"
"I-Is that so?"
Dwalkie's bashful expression made a warm smile appear on Brown's face, almost like he was looking at a young man following in his footsteps. "You're aware that it is something you'll have to do, and you're even determined to do it. If that's the case, I'm sure you will be able to follow through when the moment arrives."
"I hope that really is the case..."
"Hahaha! Cheer up, my friend!" The conversation finally ended when Hikurod slapped Dwalkie on the back.
However, after we planned the night shifts and just as we were about to go to bed, Brown suddenly summoned the team. "Wait. Can you all give me a bit of your time? I know getting as much rest as possible is the most beneficial thing for us right now, but I have something I want to show you."
"What is it?"
At my question, Brown looked at Dwalkie and said, "This profession isn't only full of difficult and terrible things."
Soon after, Brown checked his watch and moved to the edge of the cliff near the campsite. We followed without knowing what was going on. All we could see was the usual darkness of the labyrinth that swallowed light itself and always obstructed an explorer's vision.
"You have something to show us?" asked Missha.
"Wait," Brown answered while looking at his watch. "It'll only take a moment."
As I watched Brown, I had a guess as to what he was referring to, so I took out my own watch. It was 23:59, one minute before the start of day three, when the monster population peaked. The second hand moved with a ticking sound. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five...
I closed the watch and stared into the darkness at the opposing cliff. Before long, a silver sphere of light appeared in the distance, and soon there were too many little lights to count. Starting from the ground, they all fluttered like dandelion seeds and drifted toward the sky. The dark labyrinth gradually brightened around us. It was then that I understood why this place was called Ironrock Hill.
"It's a view that only adventurers who get here early enough can see," Brown explained. "Isn't it wonderful?"
Even within the labyrinth, this place was considered a highland. It was usually dark, so it was hard to tell, but now that countless lights were clearing away the darkness, the entirety of the spacious third floor could be seen at once. Mountains and fields with a river flowing through them, a dense forest, and a high, towering spire reaching toward the ceiling in the center... It was a sight that I would never have gotten to see if I had lived my whole life within the walls of Rafdonia.
Dwalkie stared blankly at the lights and murmured, "...I think I can understand now why adventurers always call it a big world."
I raised my head to look up. It was a closed ceiling, but at that moment, it felt like I was really seeing a clear night sky, and one filled with the Milky Way at that.
Of course, it was just for a fleeting moment. It took only a minute or so for the spheres of light that had lifted off the ground to reach the ceiling and completely disappear.
"No one knows why this only happens on the third floor."
There were many hypotheses about this: come the third day, the labyrinth dimension grew oversaturated with mana that then had to be released, or it was a blessing from god. Everyone chose what they wanted to believe, but Brown set the record straight.
"Whatever the explanation, the truth is that whoever sees this sight no longer wonders the reason why."
"That's right! I've only ever heard of this—it's my firrrst time seeing it! Normally, I would have been fast asleep in my sleeping bag!"
"Hahaha! I have a feeling that my friend here won't be able to sleep tonight."
After that, the lights completely disappeared, and a familiar darkness enveloped the labyrinth again. Aside from me, as I was taking the first watch, everyone got into their sleeping bags and fell asleep.
It was only a long while later that I could finally hear the sound of breathing from Dwalkie's bed.
***
It was daybreak, not that our surroundings were actually bright. But time-wise, it was morning, 8:10. After clearing up our campsite, we walked downhill for a long time and left Ironrock Hill. Soon we reached our first destination.
"Now, from here on is the Orc Colony," Brown announced.
Among the various regions on the third floor, this was the most populated with monsters. Its key characteristic was that only rank-eight or higher monsters appeared here.
Unless we're planning to head up to the fourth floor right away, there are no better hunting grounds.
The difficulty level was the second-highest of the different regions on the third floor, but if my calculations were correct, we shouldn't have any major trouble. With these team members, we were more than capable of being active even on the fourth floor. We had a wizard, and aside from myself, the rest of the team were adventurers previously active on the fourth floor.
"So let's work on our fighting techniques for a while here and decide what to do next based on the results," Brown suggested.
After rearranging our formation, we stepped into the large bushes. The rearrangement only involved sending Brown to the back, and Hikurod and me to the front.
"Hikurod, there is a group of orcs coming at one o'clock."
Like any popular hunting ground with a high population of monsters, even though we were still on the outskirts, we managed to encounter a group of orcs after only walking a little while.
"Ch-chwiik!" It was a gang of four orc warriors, one archer, and one sorcerer.
"Just do as we practiced!" Hikurod yelled.
We got into the formation we had drilled previously: Formation A. Hikurod and I protected the front, and Missha, as the close-combat damage dealer, went back and forth between our shields to close in on the enemies at the very front first.
[Riol Warb Dwalkie has cast the rank-eight spell, Ice Lance.]
Orcs didn't necessarily require curse-type spells, so Dwalkie was focused on attack. The same went for Brown. He focused on using his crossbow to provide rear support during the battle. However, he also took on one other role.
[The Orc Sorcerer has cast Frenzy. The Physical Resistance of the Orc Warriors has increased by 3x for 10 seconds.]
In case a monster ignored the wall of shields and headed to the back of our formation, he had to protect Dwalkie, the most vulnerable of us all.
"It's a Frenzy spell! Be careful!"
"Dwalkie, stay behind me!"
"Okay!"
One of the orc warriors who was in a Frenzy state ignored us and rushed toward Dwalkie, but Brown pulled out a shield to block them. Of course, as a scout, he didn't have the physical ability to defeat an orc warrior one-on-one.
"Whew, that was a close call!"
But he just had to use his main weapon, his crossbow, or a buckler, dagger, or gasoline bomb to buy a little time. After that, either Missha could come to their aid, or Dwalkie could cast an attack spell.
[You have killed an Orc Warrior. EXP +2]
[You have killed an Orc Archer. EXP +2]
[You have killed an Orc Sorcerer. EXP +2]
So, our first battle against the Orcs ended smoothly. The total time was about eight minutes, and there had been no injuries. However, the time used up by the battle was longer than expected.
We're definitely lacking damage dealers.
In addition to a scout, we had two shield warriors, and orcs were among the rank-eight monsters with fairly high physical resistance. Of course, we had a wizard on our team, and they were considered the most dignified damage dealers in this universe... But Dwalkie was not from the Magic Tower. The only rank-eight attack spell he knew was Ice Lance, which could inflict damage on a single monster.
Well, we brought him here for his curse spells rather than his attack magic in the first place.
The value of a wizard didn't just lie in having powerful attack magic. There was something commonly referred to as "compatibility" between adventurers and the monsters they fought. However, if there were a wizard on the team, the team could battle monsters of a much more diverse nature.
It took a while, but we're pretty reliable.
It had its pitfalls, but all of this combined made a pretty great team.
"Then let's go further in."
Afterward, we fought toward the center of the orc colony. The more we fought, the more orcs appeared in each group. Once, there was even a rank-seven Mighty Orc Warrior in the mix.
[You have killed a Mighty Orc Warrior. EXP +3]
This, too, we took down without difficulty. However, shit always happened when everything seemed to be going smoothly. This time, it happened when we had just found our footing and were slaughtering orcs left and right.
"Ihenro Teuntine."
Suddenly, we heard a low-pitched chanting from some bushes in the distance.
Kaboom!
A flaming meteorite promptly fell and blew up the orc horde we were hunting.
"...The fuck?"
What kind of bullshit situation was I in now?
"It's a view that only adventurers who get here early enough can see," Brown explained. "Isn't it wonderful?"
Even within the labyrinth, this place was considered a highland. It was usually dark, so it was hard to tell, but now that countless lights were clearing away the darkness, the entirety of the spacious third floor could be seen at once. Mountains and fields with a river flowing through them, a dense forest, and a high, towering spire reaching toward the ceiling in the center... It was a sight that I would never have gotten to see if I had lived my whole life within the walls of Rafdonia.
Dwalkie stared blankly at the lights and murmured, "...I think I can understand now why adventurers always call it a big world."
I raised my head to look up. It was a closed ceiling, but at that moment, it felt like I was really seeing a clear night sky, and one filled with the Milky Way at that.
Of course, it was just for a fleeting moment. It took only a minute or so for the spheres of light that had lifted off the ground to reach the ceiling and completely disappear.
"No one knows why this only happens on the third floor."
There were many hypotheses about this: come the third day, the labyrinth dimension grew oversaturated with mana that then had to be released, or it was a blessing from god. Everyone chose what they wanted to believe, but Brown set the record straight.
"Whatever the explanation, the truth is that whoever sees this sight no longer wonders the reason why."
"That's right! I've only ever heard of this—it's my firrrst time seeing it! Normally, I would have been fast asleep in my sleeping bag!"
"Hahaha! I have a feeling that my friend here won't be able to sleep tonight."
After that, the lights completely disappeared, and a familiar darkness enveloped the labyrinth again. Aside from me, as I was taking the first watch, everyone got into their sleeping bags and fell asleep.
It was only a long while later that I could finally hear the sound of breathing from Dwalkie's bed.
***
It was daybreak, not that our surroundings were actually bright. But time-wise, it was morning, 8:10. After clearing up our campsite, we walked downhill for a long time and left Ironrock Hill. Soon we reached our first destination.
"Now, from here on is the Orc Colony," Brown announced.
Among the various regions on the third floor, this was the most populated with monsters. Its key characteristic was that only rank-eight or higher monsters appeared here.
Unless we're planning to head up to the fourth floor right away, there are no better hunting grounds.
The difficulty level was the second-highest of the different regions on the third floor, but if my calculations were correct, we shouldn't have any major trouble. With these team members, we were more than capable of being active even on the fourth floor. We had a wizard, and aside from myself, the rest of the team were adventurers previously active on the fourth floor.
"So let's work on our fighting techniques for a while here and decide what to do next based on the results," Brown suggested.
After rearranging our formation, we stepped into the large bushes. The rearrangement only involved sending Brown to the back, and Hikurod and me to the front.
"Hikurod, there is a group of orcs coming at one o'clock."
Like any popular hunting ground with a high population of monsters, even though we were still on the outskirts, we managed to encounter a group of orcs after only walking a little while.
"Ch-chwiik!" It was a gang of four orc warriors, one archer, and one sorcerer.
"Just do as we practiced!" Hikurod yelled.
We got into the formation we had drilled previously: Formation A. Hikurod and I protected the front, and Missha, as the close-combat damage dealer, went back and forth between our shields to close in on the enemies at the very front first.
[Riol Warb Dwalkie has cast the rank-eight spell, Ice Lance.]
Orcs didn't necessarily require curse-type spells, so Dwalkie was focused on attack. The same went for Brown. He focused on using his crossbow to provide rear support during the battle. However, he also took on one other role.
[The Orc Sorcerer has cast Frenzy. The Physical Resistance of the Orc Warriors has increased by 3x for 10 seconds.]
In case a monster ignored the wall of shields and headed to the back of our formation, he had to protect Dwalkie, the most vulnerable of us all.
"It's a Frenzy spell! Be careful!"
"Dwalkie, stay behind me!"
"Okay!"
One of the orc warriors who was in a Frenzy state ignored us and rushed toward Dwalkie, but Brown pulled out a shield to block them. Of course, as a scout, he didn't have the physical ability to defeat an orc warrior one-on-one.
"Whew, that was a close call!"
But he just had to use his main weapon, his crossbow, or a buckler, dagger, or gasoline bomb to buy a little time. After that, either Missha could come to their aid, or Dwalkie could cast an attack spell.
[You have killed an Orc Warrior. EXP +2]
[You have killed an Orc Archer. EXP +2]
[You have killed an Orc Sorcerer. EXP +2]
So, our first battle against the Orcs ended smoothly. The total time was about eight minutes, and there had been no injuries. However, the time used up by the battle was longer than expected.
We're definitely lacking damage dealers.
In addition to a scout, we had two shield warriors, and orcs were among the rank-eight monsters with fairly high physical resistance. Of course, we had a wizard on our team, and they were considered the most dignified damage dealers in this universe... But Dwalkie was not from the Magic Tower. The only rank-eight attack spell he knew was Ice Lance, which could inflict damage on a single monster.
Well, we brought him here for his curse spells rather than his attack magic in the first place.
The value of a wizard didn't just lie in having powerful attack magic. There was something commonly referred to as "compatibility" between adventurers and the monsters they fought. However, if there were a wizard on the team, the team could battle monsters of a much more diverse nature.
It took a while, but we're pretty reliable.
It had its pitfalls, but all of this combined made a pretty great team.
"Then let's go further in."
Afterward, we fought toward the center of the orc colony. The more we fought, the more orcs appeared in each group. Once, there was even a rank-seven Mighty Orc Warrior in the mix.
[You have killed a Mighty Orc Warrior. EXP +3]
This, too, we took down without difficulty. However, shit always happened when everything seemed to be going smoothly. This time, it happened when we had just found our footing and were slaughtering orcs left and right.
"Ihenro Teuntine."
Suddenly, we heard a low-pitched chanting from some bushes in the distance.
Kaboom!
A flaming meteorite promptly fell and blew up the orc horde we were hunting.
"...The fuck?"
What kind of bullshit situation was I in now?