Chapter 587: Original (4)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 587: Original (4)
I walked through the portal that had opened next to the Troll statue into a new space. It didn't take long for me to confirm where I was.
Cold air moved in from below my feet. Walls of ice refracted light like transparent glass.
...It's the Glacier Cave.
This was where I met Mr. Bear and killed Jencia, the player from Noark. That said, it wasn't as if I felt nostalgic about this place. I had already felt all those emotions when I went in to kill the Tyrant Tarunbas before.
Anyway, that means this is a rift on the first floor...
Thanks to that, I had another piece of supporting evidence. Just like how when entering the Bloody Citadel, the hidden boss Duke Cambormere might appear at a very low probability, it meant that a few other rifts also had hidden bosses as well. The Guardian Troll that I was here to defeat was another one of those cases.
"I'll think about it after I see it," I mumbled to myself.
After collecting my thoughts at the entrance, I moved on through the tunnel, and soon, the tight corridor expanded into a huge area, though for now, I couldn't see the Troll.
Like I thought...the boss room is different too.
I took a short look around the area before the boss could appear. In Cambormere's case, instead of a Death Knight, there had been a coffin in the Bloody Citadel. There was also something different about this space.
The three Orc brothers encased in pillars of ice—these three acted as appetizers before the real boss appeared, but they weren't here, just as Tyrant Tarunbas's portal wasn't. And there was one other key difference.
What happened here?
The frozen room was littered with corpses.
The bodies were crushed and limbs severed to the point where it was difficult to see what they had originally looked like, and each was stacked on top of the others like a mountain.
What wasn't difficult to see, however, was that these were imperial soldiers. It was thanks to the bloodstained symbol on the flag, the insignia I had seen in the Doppelganger Forest and in the cave where I fought against White Captain Dreadfear.
Looks like the imperial army was just everywhere.
I suppose compared to a country on earth, they would be like England?
In any case, the space wasn't just filled with imperial corpses, but the remains of monsters as well. Ice Orcs, Frost Wolves, Yetis, and so on. Alongside monsters who appeared naturally in the Glacier Cave, there were a few other entities as well.
Is that not Tarunbas...?
I could even see the corpse of the original Guardian of Glacier Cave, Tyrant Tarunbas, but I couldn't see the club that he usually had on him—
What the? Where's that creaking coming from?
It didn't take me long to see where the unsettling noise had originated.
Creak, creak.
The much larger mountain of corpses that was situated in the center of this space shook. As I listened closer, I heard something else too.
Gulp.
Now, I heard something swallowing. It happened when I curiously approached the pile.
"Graaaaaak!"
Something covered by the mountain of corpses roared as it stood up.
It was easily over fifteen feet tall with horrifyingly large canines protruding from its mouth. Excluding the fact that it was much larger than an ordinary Troll, it had most of the same characteristics.
Well, also except for the fact that its skin is black...
I was a modern K-Barbarian who would've been called racist if I talked about anything related to skin color. Hence, my focus was on something else.
It's holding the club.
While it was holding a corpse with one hand and eating it like a snack, its other hand was on the club, the same one that Tyrant Tarunbas would have originally carried. Oh, by the way, the club had a designated name as well.
No. 9712, Snow Field Club.
As it was a numbered item with a very high number, the weapon had the simple effect of doing cold damage on top of its normal damage.
Boom!
After swallowing the "snack" in one gulp, it walked toward me in a threatening manner. Still, I calmly tried to initiate a conversation.
"I am Bjorn, son of Yandel."
Boom!
As I spoke to it while making my peaceful intentions known, the Troll stopped walking, then looked at me and tilted its head.
"Grrk...?"
Would I be able to talk with this one as well?
That hope was broken into pieces one second later.
"Graaaaak!"
Even though I had only stated my name, the Troll let out a monstrous roar and began to charge me.
With how expectant I was, my disappointment was also immeasurable. I sighed. So I couldn't talk with this one. Seeing how it was eating the corpses limb by limb, a part of me did expect this outcome.
Well, it was still too early for me to give up.
Vwoong!
I quickly dodged the club and tried again to talk to it—in the ancient language this time, just in case.
"(Calm down. I don't want to fight you. My name is Bjorn, son of—)"
"Graaaak!"
D*mn it, that didn't work either? I didn't have much left now...
"Graaaak!"
My next move was to try talking to it by mimicking what it said, but nothing worked.
In the end, I used the final trick I had. If Rafdonian, the ancient language, or using its words back at it didn't work, there was only one thing left: to talk with our bodies.
Bam!
I swung at its chin with my hammer as it charged at me.
A lot of people in the modern world had anger management issues. Just like with them, if I showed a clear difference in power between it and I, maybe it would regain its senses.
But looks like that didn't work either.
Even though I hadn't used Swing because I was worried it would die in one hit, the Troll only got angrier and charged at me even more fiercely. It was similar to the behavior of normal monsters who acted aggressively until their life force faded.
Alright, then I'll give up trying to talk to it now.
After concluding that my main mission would be impossible to achieve, I focused on my secondary mission of gathering information about this thing.
Vwoong!
The club it swung created shockwaves as it cleaved through the air. While it did, its weapon didn't start glowing or produce any special effects. However, even with that— No, because of that, I was at least able to recognize what it was doing.
Well, also except for the fact that its skin is black...
I was a modern K-Barbarian who would've been called racist if I talked about anything related to skin color. Hence, my focus was on something else.
It's holding the club.
While it was holding a corpse with one hand and eating it like a snack, its other hand was on the club, the same one that Tyrant Tarunbas would have originally carried. Oh, by the way, the club had a designated name as well.
No. 9712, Snow Field Club.
As it was a numbered item with a very high number, the weapon had the simple effect of doing cold damage on top of its normal damage.
Boom!
After swallowing the "snack" in one gulp, it walked toward me in a threatening manner. Still, I calmly tried to initiate a conversation.
"I am Bjorn, son of Yandel."
Boom!
As I spoke to it while making my peaceful intentions known, the Troll stopped walking, then looked at me and tilted its head.
"Grrk...?"
Would I be able to talk with this one as well?
That hope was broken into pieces one second later.
"Graaaaak!"
Even though I had only stated my name, the Troll let out a monstrous roar and began to charge me.
With how expectant I was, my disappointment was also immeasurable. I sighed. So I couldn't talk with this one. Seeing how it was eating the corpses limb by limb, a part of me did expect this outcome.
Well, it was still too early for me to give up.
Vwoong!
I quickly dodged the club and tried again to talk to it—in the ancient language this time, just in case.
"(Calm down. I don't want to fight you. My name is Bjorn, son of—)"
"Graaaak!"
D*mn it, that didn't work either? I didn't have much left now...
"Graaaak!"
My next move was to try talking to it by mimicking what it said, but nothing worked.
In the end, I used the final trick I had. If Rafdonian, the ancient language, or using its words back at it didn't work, there was only one thing left: to talk with our bodies.
Bam!
I swung at its chin with my hammer as it charged at me.
A lot of people in the modern world had anger management issues. Just like with them, if I showed a clear difference in power between it and I, maybe it would regain its senses.
But looks like that didn't work either.
Even though I hadn't used Swing because I was worried it would die in one hit, the Troll only got angrier and charged at me even more fiercely. It was similar to the behavior of normal monsters who acted aggressively until their life force faded.
Alright, then I'll give up trying to talk to it now.
After concluding that my main mission would be impossible to achieve, I focused on my secondary mission of gathering information about this thing.
Vwoong!
The club it swung created shockwaves as it cleaved through the air. While it did, its weapon didn't start glowing or produce any special effects. However, even with that— No, because of that, I was at least able to recognize what it was doing.
...Is it Swing?
A Troll was using Swing. It was pretty surprising, but I kept calm and focused on deducing the reason for this.
An elite boss...
The Troll of Glacier Cave was an elite boss. That was why it could use the essence of a different creature. Just like how Vampire Cambormere could use Nightplar's Pain Sharing, this guy could use the ogre's skill.
Of course, that wasn't the important part.
...Wow, so it does exist.
It was something I had been curious about for a long time. The strength of an ogre with the regeneration of a Troll—if a monster had both of these qualities, what would it be like? Now, the realization of such an imaginary monster was before me.
It's not that impressive, though.
Maybe it would have been different if it was an Ogre with a Troll's essence, but a Troll with an Ogre's essence was more boring than I anticipated.
Hmm, or maybe I had just become too strong. Honestly, if I had faced this guy instead of Cambormere as my first rift, Bjorn Yandel's story would've ended that day.
Then let's check.
I continued to do damage to it and observed the way the Troll fought. I figured I needed to obtain as much information as possible so that the ones who would come in after me would have an easier time. Of course, even while doing that, the battle ended pretty quickly. I guessed that it only took thirty minutes. Except for the fact that the Troll's cooldowns disappeared when the cave darkened in the end, there was nothing to be wary of about this Troll.
[You have defeated the Corrupted Beast Kurdui.]
[Elite Boss defeat bonus. EXP +1]
[Guardian defeat bonus. EXP +3]
As I crushed the Troll's head with my hammer, the portal opened, and I ignored the rainbow essence that dropped once more as I left the area.
***
After defeating the Troll, I went and defeated all the rank 5 monsters among the unconfirmed monsters, but I didn't have any extraordinary gains.
Duke Cambormere was the only one I could talk to.
There must be a reason for it. Surely...
But no matter how much I thought about it, I couldn't even come up with a decent theory.
Why was I able to converse with that old man?
What was the difference between him and the other unconfirmed Guardians?
Was it just luck?
There was no way of knowing, but I decided to shelve the mystery for now and focused on clearing the statues.
I cleared the White Temple, the rift of the third floor, that I had been putting off until now. It was odd, but the Knight of the End of the White Temple didn't say anything it would say in the game and just charged me. The same went for the rift of the fourth floor, which I challenged after borrowing equipment that could be useful for it.
"Are you...also here...to kill me...?"
The Doppelganger should have said something like that yet didn't say a word either and just began fighting me as any boss would.
That, and the structure of the boss battle was completely different. I was curious about how I would have to get around the gimmick of needing to attack it from both the inside and the outside while the Doppelganger took on the form of a team member.
...Is it Swing?
A Troll was using Swing. It was pretty surprising, but I kept calm and focused on deducing the reason for this.
An elite boss...
The Troll of Glacier Cave was an elite boss. That was why it could use the essence of a different creature. Just like how Vampire Cambormere could use Nightplar's Pain Sharing, this guy could use the ogre's skill.
Of course, that wasn't the important part.
...Wow, so it does exist.
It was something I had been curious about for a long time. The strength of an ogre with the regeneration of a Troll—if a monster had both of these qualities, what would it be like? Now, the realization of such an imaginary monster was before me.
It's not that impressive, though.
Maybe it would have been different if it was an Ogre with a Troll's essence, but a Troll with an Ogre's essence was more boring than I anticipated.
Hmm, or maybe I had just become too strong. Honestly, if I had faced this guy instead of Cambormere as my first rift, Bjorn Yandel's story would've ended that day.
Then let's check.
I continued to do damage to it and observed the way the Troll fought. I figured I needed to obtain as much information as possible so that the ones who would come in after me would have an easier time. Of course, even while doing that, the battle ended pretty quickly. I guessed that it only took thirty minutes. Except for the fact that the Troll's cooldowns disappeared when the cave darkened in the end, there was nothing to be wary of about this Troll.
[You have defeated the Corrupted Beast Kurdui.]
[Elite Boss defeat bonus. EXP +1]
[Guardian defeat bonus. EXP +3]
As I crushed the Troll's head with my hammer, the portal opened, and I ignored the rainbow essence that dropped once more as I left the area.
***
After defeating the Troll, I went and defeated all the rank 5 monsters among the unconfirmed monsters, but I didn't have any extraordinary gains.
Duke Cambormere was the only one I could talk to.
There must be a reason for it. Surely...
But no matter how much I thought about it, I couldn't even come up with a decent theory.
Why was I able to converse with that old man?
What was the difference between him and the other unconfirmed Guardians?
Was it just luck?
There was no way of knowing, but I decided to shelve the mystery for now and focused on clearing the statues.
I cleared the White Temple, the rift of the third floor, that I had been putting off until now. It was odd, but the Knight of the End of the White Temple didn't say anything it would say in the game and just charged me. The same went for the rift of the fourth floor, which I challenged after borrowing equipment that could be useful for it.
"Are you...also here...to kill me...?"
The Doppelganger should have said something like that yet didn't say a word either and just began fighting me as any boss would.
That, and the structure of the boss battle was completely different. I was curious about how I would have to get around the gimmick of needing to attack it from both the inside and the outside while the Doppelganger took on the form of a team member.
So how is one...supposed to clear this?
The Doppelganger immediately changed into me to fight, and it even used Self-Replication to get the numbers advantage over me. However, it wasn't that desperate of a situation. The Doppelganger couldn't copy numbered items, after all.
Wall of Aegis.
Kraul's Demon Grinder.
Including these two core items, I even had Outlaw of the Wilderness, which countered humanoid monsters, along with many more pieces of equipment that I'd borrowed before coming in here.
After using everything to its limit, I was able to defeat the Doppelganger. It took me about seven hours.
[You have defeated a Doppelganger.]
[Guardian defeat bonus. EXP +3]
The seal of the Doppelganger, which originally needed to be kept locked tight, was broken from the start, and in that state, I had seen its Crystallization pattern over thirteen times. However, because I had my full build, no attacks landed on me no matter how many there were, so I could clear the boss.
Damn it... I thought I was going to die.
After coming back out and informing everyone about the battle process with the Doppelganger, everyone was speechless when they heard I fought for seven hours straight. It seemed that my desperate battle left an impression as thankfully, no one came out and said they would challenge the boss themselves. Instead, they were only impressed with their jaws dropped.
"The Doppelganger's essence... It's enticing, but I'll have to give it up."
"It's not a monster you can defeat alone."
"I'm honestly surprised that it's even possible to defeat the fourth-floor rift Guardian alone."
"But...it looks like you didn't eat the essence this time either, Your Lordship?"
Right, that last question was something I had thought about as well. The Doppelganger essence was valued pretty highly. It was useful no matter the class of the person.
But I need the slots.
It wasn't like I would get that much stronger if there were two of me, and it wasn't as if numbered items could be copied when I used a clone skill. Also, Self-Replication needed an essence like Dual Control that Amelia had to get any sort of synergy going, so I just gave it up.
I don't know what I might find, so I need to keep at least one slot open.
In any case, after that battle with the Doppelganger, I spent an entire day just lounging around and resting. I watched the expedition group while I did, and things had taken a pretty interesting turn.
"Oh! You're back! That's a relief!"
"P-priest! Please look at this injury!"
The adventurers who chose to challenge themselves passionately went in and out of the portals at all hours while the knights, wizards, and priests took a step back to spend their time doing their own things. They didn't need experience or essence. Still, the wizards, who were focused more on the scholarly side of things, were quite interested in our situation as well.
"Lord Baron, are you going to challenge the Golden Ruins tomorrow?"
"Yes, I will be."
"I am curious... Just what would the Golden Ruins be like? And what is beyond that closed gate?"
The wizards' primary concern was looking forward to my next actions. They didn't seem to care about the stone statues that had already been cleared.
[You have defeated the Golden Fang Kalpion.]
[Guardian defeat bonus. EXP +3]
And so, after resting for the whole day, I challenged the fourth-floor rift, the Golden Ruins, as planned after eating breakfast, and I returned after about three hours. However, it wasn't as desperate of a situation as was with the Doppelganger. It was just the fate of a tank.
Hah... I wish I had an attack skill.
Swing and Demon Grinder. Since I at least had those two, I was able to defeat it in the end, but tearing Kalpion's scales off one by one definitely took a long time. Plus, because it wasn't a humanoid monster, Outlaw of the Wilderness wasn't able to help out.
...Still, I could only kill it because I am a tank.
Honestly, it was quite a common thing in RPG games. If a well-created tank had a good matchup, it was possible for them to solo-defeat bosses which other classes couldn't. That was, of course, assuming there was no time limit.
Then excluding the unconfirmed Guardians, only the fifth floor statues are left...
As my gaze turned to the fifth-floor Guardians, everyone's attention also fell on me. Most of them looked at me with expectation, but the eyes of the members of the Anabada Clan were more nervous.
"We're sure...that there are two portals that open up for the fifth-floor rifts, right?"
"That's right. I wonder who Baron Yandel will take with him into the rift."
I took a look around. Amelia had a neutral expression while Erwen looked at me with expectation.
Does she think we're going on a picnic or something?
Missha looked pretty nervous, and Ainar avoided eye contact with me as soon as I looked at her. For some reason, she looked even less motivated today.
But, well, I had already decided who I was going to take. I walked past everyone else and arrived in front of one person. "Arua Raven."
"...Sorry?"
She looked as if she never expected herself to be chosen, but I didn't need to say much.
"I need you."
This was the essence of a fifth-floor Guardian. Of course I needed to take it in a magic vial.
So how is one...supposed to clear this?
The Doppelganger immediately changed into me to fight, and it even used Self-Replication to get the numbers advantage over me. However, it wasn't that desperate of a situation. The Doppelganger couldn't copy numbered items, after all.
Wall of Aegis.
Kraul's Demon Grinder.
Including these two core items, I even had Outlaw of the Wilderness, which countered humanoid monsters, along with many more pieces of equipment that I'd borrowed before coming in here.
After using everything to its limit, I was able to defeat the Doppelganger. It took me about seven hours.
[You have defeated a Doppelganger.]
[Guardian defeat bonus. EXP +3]
The seal of the Doppelganger, which originally needed to be kept locked tight, was broken from the start, and in that state, I had seen its Crystallization pattern over thirteen times. However, because I had my full build, no attacks landed on me no matter how many there were, so I could clear the boss.
Damn it... I thought I was going to die.
After coming back out and informing everyone about the battle process with the Doppelganger, everyone was speechless when they heard I fought for seven hours straight. It seemed that my desperate battle left an impression as thankfully, no one came out and said they would challenge the boss themselves. Instead, they were only impressed with their jaws dropped.
"The Doppelganger's essence... It's enticing, but I'll have to give it up."
"It's not a monster you can defeat alone."
"I'm honestly surprised that it's even possible to defeat the fourth-floor rift Guardian alone."
"But...it looks like you didn't eat the essence this time either, Your Lordship?"
Right, that last question was something I had thought about as well. The Doppelganger essence was valued pretty highly. It was useful no matter the class of the person.
But I need the slots.
It wasn't like I would get that much stronger if there were two of me, and it wasn't as if numbered items could be copied when I used a clone skill. Also, Self-Replication needed an essence like Dual Control that Amelia had to get any sort of synergy going, so I just gave it up.
I don't know what I might find, so I need to keep at least one slot open.
In any case, after that battle with the Doppelganger, I spent an entire day just lounging around and resting. I watched the expedition group while I did, and things had taken a pretty interesting turn.
"Oh! You're back! That's a relief!"
"P-priest! Please look at this injury!"
The adventurers who chose to challenge themselves passionately went in and out of the portals at all hours while the knights, wizards, and priests took a step back to spend their time doing their own things. They didn't need experience or essence. Still, the wizards, who were focused more on the scholarly side of things, were quite interested in our situation as well.
"Lord Baron, are you going to challenge the Golden Ruins tomorrow?"
"Yes, I will be."
"I am curious... Just what would the Golden Ruins be like? And what is beyond that closed gate?"
The wizards' primary concern was looking forward to my next actions. They didn't seem to care about the stone statues that had already been cleared.
[You have defeated the Golden Fang Kalpion.]
[Guardian defeat bonus. EXP +3]
And so, after resting for the whole day, I challenged the fourth-floor rift, the Golden Ruins, as planned after eating breakfast, and I returned after about three hours. However, it wasn't as desperate of a situation as was with the Doppelganger. It was just the fate of a tank.
Hah... I wish I had an attack skill.
Swing and Demon Grinder. Since I at least had those two, I was able to defeat it in the end, but tearing Kalpion's scales off one by one definitely took a long time. Plus, because it wasn't a humanoid monster, Outlaw of the Wilderness wasn't able to help out.
...Still, I could only kill it because I am a tank.
Honestly, it was quite a common thing in RPG games. If a well-created tank had a good matchup, it was possible for them to solo-defeat bosses which other classes couldn't. That was, of course, assuming there was no time limit.
Then excluding the unconfirmed Guardians, only the fifth floor statues are left...
As my gaze turned to the fifth-floor Guardians, everyone's attention also fell on me. Most of them looked at me with expectation, but the eyes of the members of the Anabada Clan were more nervous.
"We're sure...that there are two portals that open up for the fifth-floor rifts, right?"
"That's right. I wonder who Baron Yandel will take with him into the rift."
I took a look around. Amelia had a neutral expression while Erwen looked at me with expectation.
Does she think we're going on a picnic or something?
Missha looked pretty nervous, and Ainar avoided eye contact with me as soon as I looked at her. For some reason, she looked even less motivated today.
But, well, I had already decided who I was going to take. I walked past everyone else and arrived in front of one person. "Arua Raven."
"...Sorry?"
She looked as if she never expected herself to be chosen, but I didn't need to say much.
"I need you."
This was the essence of a fifth-floor Guardian. Of course I needed to take it in a magic vial.