Chapter 65: Field Boss (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 65: Field Boss (1)
I slept soundly for twelve hours. When I woke up, for some reason, Missha was sleeping on my stomach and drooling again.
Anyway, we had quite a bit of time left, so I organized our loot. I checked what was in their backpacks, removed the rest of the equipment from our three enemies, and put it all in our expandable backpacks. It was fortunate that Missha owned one too. After shoving all the equipment in, they became quite heavy despite the weight reduction magic.
This should be enough compensation for all that hard work.
Letting Missha sleep, I took out some jerky and chewed on it. Well, if she woke up and was hungry, she could take care of herself.
Whoosh!
After eating, I washed my body with a cloth dampened with water. I even shaved for the first time in a while.
Now I feel more like a person.
After all the firewood left in the fireplace was burned, there was nothing left to do, so I went outside and sat on the rocking chair. There was a faint scent of blood coming from the serene, grassy field. As I was basking in the sun and letting my thoughts drift, I slowly closed my eyes.
Suddenly, I remembered the religious freak whose head had gotten bashed in mid-nap...
The entrance to the hut must have closed already, so I don't have to worry about that.
It was peaceful.
At least I'm safe as long as I'm here. Yes, that's all that matters.
"Bjorn, wake up. You should at least eat something. Otherrrwise, you'll have a stomachache!"
When I opened my eyes, Missha was shaking my shoulder. I looked at my watch and saw that fourteen more hours had passed since I last checked it.
"Here, even if you don't have an appetite, eat!" Missha split some jerky and bread and lifted it to my mouth. I had already gotten up once in the middle of resting to eat, but since I was hungry again, I took it. "Arrre you going to sleep some more?"
"No."
"Mm, okay. Oh, right! But how did you know that if you put people in the firrre, you can stay here longer?"
"I read it in a book."
"...Bjorn, do you like smart women?"
"That's right."
After we finished eating, I provided half-assed answers to Missha's questions and checked the fireplace. Judging by the strength of the fire, it looked like we had less than an hour left.
Click.
I closed the watch and secured it in my clothes. Stretching my body to wake it up from its long rest, I started preparing to go out. It was still too early to claim success, but my heart felt strangely full.
The day really has come.
The fifteenth day would begin soon. In other words, if we survived for just one more day, we could escape from this goddamned forest and return to the city.
So, let's keep our heads in the game until the end.
[The Witch's Hut is now closed. You are being moved to the Witch's Forest.]
Because, as always—
"B-Bjorn! What's happening?"
"Fuck..."
—it ain't over 'til it's over.
***
[A 5th sacrifice has been made in the hut.]
[A 6th sacrifice has been made in the hut.]
[A 7th sacrifice has been made in the hut.]
[Special Condition – 7 Sacrifices, has been satisfied. The Lord of Chaos, Riakis, has begun to wander the floor.]
***
The moment we stepped out of the hut, I could sense the change in the forest with every part of my body.
[Field Effect – The Witch's Forest has been deactivated.]
I could see straight ahead. All of the hallucinations had disappeared. Our surroundings became bright enough for us to be able to see far into the distance without a torch.
"B-Bjorn...?"
The ceiling emitted an ominous red light. In addition, the spirit-type monsters that we had seen everywhere in the forest had completely disappeared.
This was the first silence I encountered since entering the Witch's Forest. I bent down and touched the ground.
Dddddd.
I could feel a slight tremor through my fingertips. There was no longer any need to confirm or deny what was currently happening. I knew the cause of this phenomenon.
"...It's the Lord of the Floor."
This was a monster that acted as a kind of field boss. In the game, they were called the Lords of the Floor. There was a Lord with a different nickname on each floor. Except for a few of the floors, most were summoned with a trigger.
"L-Lord of the Floorrr? D-Don't tease me. I heard that there is no Lord on the third floorrr!"
"It's not that there isn't one. Just that the method for summoning it is kept secret."
In the case of the Crystal Cave on the first floor, after the third day, it was common knowledge that when there were more than five people around, there was a certain probability of the Lord appearing.
However, the Lord of the third floor was different. The royal family and the guild kept the summoning method top-secret, and once even made a new law to severely punish those who summoned it without prior notice. According to the books, it had been about 150 years ago.
"The guild kept it a secrrret? But, why?"
"Because if some lunatic decides to summon it, it won't end with just a few deaths."
The Lord of the first floor disappeared once it killed whoever had activated the trigger, but the Lord of the third floor—Riakis, the Lord of Chaos—was different.
[Erosion has begun. All the monsters on the floor have concealed themselves in chaos. A creature of chaos has awakened.]
This guy didn't just affect the entire third floor.
[Riakis, the Lord of Chaos, has begun to wander the floor.]
Once summoned, it wandered around the labyrinth and committed massacres until it died. To make matters worse, the ability to move between floors was also blocked.
[The portal is temporarily disabled due to Erosion.]
That meant that escaping to another floor was impossible. When I explained this, Missha's complexion turned white.
"T-Then what is this?! I-If it is a secrrret, then why has the Lord of the Floor appeared now?!"
Ah, uh... um...
Should I tell her the truth or not? I was a little worried, but the decision ultimately wasn't a hard one. "Probably because of us."
It would be better to make her an accomplice here. Whether she considered me her savior or not, that would be a more effective method of making sure she kept the secret.
[A 6th sacrifice has been made in the hut.]
[A 7th sacrifice has been made in the hut.]
[Special Condition – 7 Sacrifices, has been satisfied. The Lord of Chaos, Riakis, has begun to wander the floor.]
***
The moment we stepped out of the hut, I could sense the change in the forest with every part of my body.
[Field Effect – The Witch's Forest has been deactivated.]
I could see straight ahead. All of the hallucinations had disappeared. Our surroundings became bright enough for us to be able to see far into the distance without a torch.
"B-Bjorn...?"
The ceiling emitted an ominous red light. In addition, the spirit-type monsters that we had seen everywhere in the forest had completely disappeared.
This was the first silence I encountered since entering the Witch's Forest. I bent down and touched the ground.
Dddddd.
I could feel a slight tremor through my fingertips. There was no longer any need to confirm or deny what was currently happening. I knew the cause of this phenomenon.
"...It's the Lord of the Floor."
This was a monster that acted as a kind of field boss. In the game, they were called the Lords of the Floor. There was a Lord with a different nickname on each floor. Except for a few of the floors, most were summoned with a trigger.
"L-Lord of the Floorrr? D-Don't tease me. I heard that there is no Lord on the third floorrr!"
"It's not that there isn't one. Just that the method for summoning it is kept secret."
In the case of the Crystal Cave on the first floor, after the third day, it was common knowledge that when there were more than five people around, there was a certain probability of the Lord appearing.
However, the Lord of the third floor was different. The royal family and the guild kept the summoning method top-secret, and once even made a new law to severely punish those who summoned it without prior notice. According to the books, it had been about 150 years ago.
"The guild kept it a secrrret? But, why?"
"Because if some lunatic decides to summon it, it won't end with just a few deaths."
The Lord of the first floor disappeared once it killed whoever had activated the trigger, but the Lord of the third floor—Riakis, the Lord of Chaos—was different.
[Erosion has begun. All the monsters on the floor have concealed themselves in chaos. A creature of chaos has awakened.]
This guy didn't just affect the entire third floor.
[Riakis, the Lord of Chaos, has begun to wander the floor.]
Once summoned, it wandered around the labyrinth and committed massacres until it died. To make matters worse, the ability to move between floors was also blocked.
[The portal is temporarily disabled due to Erosion.]
That meant that escaping to another floor was impossible. When I explained this, Missha's complexion turned white.
"T-Then what is this?! I-If it is a secrrret, then why has the Lord of the Floor appeared now?!"
Ah, uh... um...
Should I tell her the truth or not? I was a little worried, but the decision ultimately wasn't a hard one. "Probably because of us."
It would be better to make her an accomplice here. Whether she considered me her savior or not, that would be a more effective method of making sure she kept the secret.
"U-Us? I-I don't underrrstand..."
"We burned the bodies back in the hut. That's one of the conditions."
After I kindly explained this, her reaction was delayed. "...T-That was the summoning method?! Bjorrrn! What the hell did you do?!"
No, I didn't know things would end up like this, either. Even the books I had read in the library had said that only a few people knew about this, and the last time Riakis had been summoned was more than ten years ago. So I had thought it wouldn't be a big deal even if we burned three people.
Fuck, but who would have thought someone had already burned four?
I couldn't help but curse the ridiculous coincidence. But who could I blame? In the end, it must have been my fault for not considering the worst-case scenario. So, in that sense... "Missha, make one more promise with me."
"Promise?"
"You must not tell anyone that we summoned the Lord of Chaos."
He hadn't been summoned after extensive preparations had been made by a giant clan. There would no doubt be a lot of deaths. But if it became known that we had been the ones to cause it...
They will make us take responsibility somehow.
As our situation slowly dawned on her, Missha drew a line in the sand. "U-Us? What do you mean? You're the one who burned the bodies!" She spoke very urgently, and even her pronunciation was very clear for once.
That reaction made me kind of sad. She was the one who said she'd treat me as her savior and repay me until the day she died. Anyway, if that was how she wanted to play, I had no other choice. I had to corner her a little bit. "Do you think the guild will believe that? No, even if they do, the outcome will be the same. When it comes to quelling the citizens' anger, the more sacrifices, the better."
"Ugh..." Well, based on that reaction, I didn't think I needed to threaten to screw her over with a false testimony.
"If you understand, snap out of it. We will be lucky if we even die back in the city."
"...Okay. Then what should I do now?"
The answer was simple. "Let's run."
First of all, we needed to get as far away from here as possible. I never thought I'd be leaving this place like this, but...
It would be safest to go to that place first.
It was time to leave the Witch's Forest.
***
Finding a way out of this damned forest was simple. Since the status effect Loss of Direction had disappeared, we only needed to move in one direction while following the compass. The problem was that the whole third floor was teeming with new types of monsters.
"Bjorn! Something's following us!"
"It's an elemental of chaos."
For reference, the Lord didn't even have a ranking. It didn't give any mana stones, and no essence came out.
"We should take care of it."
Elementals of chaos were targeting monsters, and once their aggro was fixated on something, they would follow it to the bitter end.
"...Is it something we can take down?" Missha seemed wary of hunting a monster she had never seen before. True, in this place, ignorance was the same as death. I had learned by dying countless times in the game.
"Its attack power is on the higher side, but that's all. Don't worry, it will probably disappear with one elemental attack."
"...Is that rrreliable information?"
"Yes, I read it in a book."
"Okay." Relieved to hear the monster's stats, Missha adjusted her grip on her holy water-enchanted spear. Then, she thrust it toward the elemental of chaos that was slowly following us.
Pop!
The elemental exploded with one blow from the spear. Something like slime wet the floor, turning the ground black.
[The Elemental of Chaos has been destroyed. This location will be eroded.]
The ground would now deal chaotic-type damage if you stood long enough, but there was no need to worry about that. It was not like we were hunting the Lord of the Floor here, and it hadn't even been a full day since it had been summoned.
After today, the labyrinth will close, so we can just ignore the erosion rate.
That, at least, was a positive. Although the Lord of the Floor had been summoned out of nowhere, the clock had just rolled over to 00:01. Day fifteen had just begun. If we could survive the next twenty-four hours, we could get back to the—
"H-Hey! Help me!"
As we were about to leave the area, a single adventurer ran toward us from somewhere in the distance. I couldn't see any other party members, but I did not wonder why he was alone. The dozens of chaos elementals following behind him were explanation enough.
"B-Bjorn?"
"What are you worried about? Run."
Grabbing onto Missha's flinching wrist, I ran in the opposite direction of the man asking for help. Thanks to that, we would have to go around a little bit, but what could we do? It was better than the aggro being redirected to us.
"Agh, ah!" Apparently, he was already at his limit. The sound of the brief scream made me turn to look behind us, and I saw that the adventurer had fallen.
"H-Help—!"
God damn it, our eyes met.
"B-Bjorn...?"
"Don't look back." I tugged on Missha's wrist and looked forward again.
"No! D-Don't go!"
His screams of despair were drowned out by the sound of the wind speeding past my ears. "Harden yourself," I muttered to myself. "If it were the other way around, do you think he would've stopped for you?"
"But! It's our fault the thirrrd floor is like this now!"
Well, I had nothing to say to that.
Fuck...
I felt dirty, like every part of myself had been thoroughly exposed. But one day, this would all just be a fleeting memory to look back on. We should just do what we had to do.
This should be far enough.
After heading south for a while, we turned east again and moved. We could see eroded land and the bodies of adventurers throughout the forest. The more I saw, the more I just looked ahead and ran.
Pop!
After traveling for about an hour, destroying the elementals of chaos that were following us, we noticed the forest was coming to an end. A wide-open plain could be seen.
I thought it would take at least seven hours...
Had we already been on the eastern outskirts of the forest? We got out much earlier than expected.
We were lucky.
Soon, we quickly cut through the plains and entered the Orc Colony. How much time had passed since we'd last been here?
"Now, now, everyone. Please calm down and follow the rules!"
As expected, a large number of people were swarming in there.
"U-Us? I-I don't underrrstand..."
"We burned the bodies back in the hut. That's one of the conditions."
After I kindly explained this, her reaction was delayed. "...T-That was the summoning method?! Bjorrrn! What the hell did you do?!"
No, I didn't know things would end up like this, either. Even the books I had read in the library had said that only a few people knew about this, and the last time Riakis had been summoned was more than ten years ago. So I had thought it wouldn't be a big deal even if we burned three people.
Fuck, but who would have thought someone had already burned four?
I couldn't help but curse the ridiculous coincidence. But who could I blame? In the end, it must have been my fault for not considering the worst-case scenario. So, in that sense... "Missha, make one more promise with me."
"Promise?"
"You must not tell anyone that we summoned the Lord of Chaos."
He hadn't been summoned after extensive preparations had been made by a giant clan. There would no doubt be a lot of deaths. But if it became known that we had been the ones to cause it...
They will make us take responsibility somehow.
As our situation slowly dawned on her, Missha drew a line in the sand. "U-Us? What do you mean? You're the one who burned the bodies!" She spoke very urgently, and even her pronunciation was very clear for once.
That reaction made me kind of sad. She was the one who said she'd treat me as her savior and repay me until the day she died. Anyway, if that was how she wanted to play, I had no other choice. I had to corner her a little bit. "Do you think the guild will believe that? No, even if they do, the outcome will be the same. When it comes to quelling the citizens' anger, the more sacrifices, the better."
"Ugh..." Well, based on that reaction, I didn't think I needed to threaten to screw her over with a false testimony.
"If you understand, snap out of it. We will be lucky if we even die back in the city."
"...Okay. Then what should I do now?"
The answer was simple. "Let's run."
First of all, we needed to get as far away from here as possible. I never thought I'd be leaving this place like this, but...
It would be safest to go to that place first.
It was time to leave the Witch's Forest.
***
Finding a way out of this damned forest was simple. Since the status effect Loss of Direction had disappeared, we only needed to move in one direction while following the compass. The problem was that the whole third floor was teeming with new types of monsters.
"Bjorn! Something's following us!"
"It's an elemental of chaos."
For reference, the Lord didn't even have a ranking. It didn't give any mana stones, and no essence came out.
"We should take care of it."
Elementals of chaos were targeting monsters, and once their aggro was fixated on something, they would follow it to the bitter end.
"...Is it something we can take down?" Missha seemed wary of hunting a monster she had never seen before. True, in this place, ignorance was the same as death. I had learned by dying countless times in the game.
"Its attack power is on the higher side, but that's all. Don't worry, it will probably disappear with one elemental attack."
"...Is that rrreliable information?"
"Yes, I read it in a book."
"Okay." Relieved to hear the monster's stats, Missha adjusted her grip on her holy water-enchanted spear. Then, she thrust it toward the elemental of chaos that was slowly following us.
Pop!
The elemental exploded with one blow from the spear. Something like slime wet the floor, turning the ground black.
[The Elemental of Chaos has been destroyed. This location will be eroded.]
The ground would now deal chaotic-type damage if you stood long enough, but there was no need to worry about that. It was not like we were hunting the Lord of the Floor here, and it hadn't even been a full day since it had been summoned.
After today, the labyrinth will close, so we can just ignore the erosion rate.
That, at least, was a positive. Although the Lord of the Floor had been summoned out of nowhere, the clock had just rolled over to 00:01. Day fifteen had just begun. If we could survive the next twenty-four hours, we could get back to the—
"H-Hey! Help me!"
As we were about to leave the area, a single adventurer ran toward us from somewhere in the distance. I couldn't see any other party members, but I did not wonder why he was alone. The dozens of chaos elementals following behind him were explanation enough.
"B-Bjorn?"
"What are you worried about? Run."
Grabbing onto Missha's flinching wrist, I ran in the opposite direction of the man asking for help. Thanks to that, we would have to go around a little bit, but what could we do? It was better than the aggro being redirected to us.
"Agh, ah!" Apparently, he was already at his limit. The sound of the brief scream made me turn to look behind us, and I saw that the adventurer had fallen.
"H-Help—!"
God damn it, our eyes met.
"B-Bjorn...?"
"Don't look back." I tugged on Missha's wrist and looked forward again.
"No! D-Don't go!"
His screams of despair were drowned out by the sound of the wind speeding past my ears. "Harden yourself," I muttered to myself. "If it were the other way around, do you think he would've stopped for you?"
"But! It's our fault the thirrrd floor is like this now!"
Well, I had nothing to say to that.
Fuck...
I felt dirty, like every part of myself had been thoroughly exposed. But one day, this would all just be a fleeting memory to look back on. We should just do what we had to do.
This should be far enough.
After heading south for a while, we turned east again and moved. We could see eroded land and the bodies of adventurers throughout the forest. The more I saw, the more I just looked ahead and ran.
Pop!
After traveling for about an hour, destroying the elementals of chaos that were following us, we noticed the forest was coming to an end. A wide-open plain could be seen.
I thought it would take at least seven hours...
Had we already been on the eastern outskirts of the forest? We got out much earlier than expected.
We were lucky.
Soon, we quickly cut through the plains and entered the Orc Colony. How much time had passed since we'd last been here?
"Now, now, everyone. Please calm down and follow the rules!"
As expected, a large number of people were swarming in there.