Chapter 103
Chapter 103
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 103
Chapter Title: Chapter 32. Pharaoh (5)
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10.
Most adventurers weren't trained to attack other adventurers.
There was no one who wanted to learn it, and no one to teach it.
That was why the followers of the Black Mage were so frightening.
Even adventurers skilled at hunting monsters often fell easily to attacks from fellow adventurers.
Moreover, the followers of the Black Mage didn't just attack openly.
They struck from the shadows, biding their time, ambushing with the resolve to die together at a critical moment.
Adventurers accustomed to such ambushes were rare even in the Maple World.
In other words, the followers of the Black Mage were the same.
They were used to ambushing, but not to being ambushed.
“Gah!”
That was why Dibo could deal with Rick's subordinates so astonishingly easily.
Of course, it wasn't just that the Black Mage's followers were weak to ambushes and got taken down helplessly.
Dibo had been trained.
By none other than El Pam, the adventurer in the current Maple World whose technical skill could be called the highest.
And it wasn't just Dibo who had received that training.
“Headshot!”
“Solar Slash!”
Miner with her musket and Kiri with her blazing sword.
Pow!
And even Ralph, fists clenched.
All three tracked Rick's subordinates at an astonishing speed and eliminated them.
“Ralph, why is a healer rushing to the front lines?”
“So I can loot items even a second faster, isn't that obvious?”
They were brimming with leisure.
“I'm jealous that you have the luxury for that.”
“It's not luxury. Aren't items precious right now?”
Of course, it wasn't true leisure overflowing.
Far from leisure, the current situation was extremely bleak.
“To survive here from now on without Rick's party.”
Until now, everyone, including El Pam's party, had greatly relied on Rick's party's strength.
The plan to hunt the Pharaoh Snake this time had been possible only because they trusted Rick's party's abilities.
But excluding Rick's party?
In chess terms, it was like removing the queen and continuing the game.
It meant it became an entirely different game.
And it wasn't just the queen suddenly vanishing.
“Let's hope the boss takes it down first. That damn bastard.”
They had to eliminate that queen themselves.
In truth, that was the biggest worry.
‘It might fail.’
Everyone, including Dibo, rated the possibility of El Pam failing to catch Rick as very high.
It wasn't that they underestimated El Pam's skills.
‘No, the chance of failure is high.’
‘Rick, he's a monster.’
It was simply that Rick's demonstrated abilities were extraordinary.
‘Leader, why did you give that ridiculous item to a monster like him?’
Moreover, on Rick's back were the wings that El Pam himself had equipped, fully fitted.
In such a situation, seeing high odds of victory would be the strange thing.
‘One thing's for sure—if it fails.’
And if they missed Rick?
‘We might all really die.’
From then on, every adventurer here would be fighting with a time bomb strapped to their chest.
Even if Rick did nothing, the mere worry about him could drive them to nervous breakdowns and death.
In fact, that was why El Pam's companions had said:
‘We should have gone with him after all.’
Let's all band together and take out Rick first.
But El Pam had shaken his head at that.
Against Rick, who wielded lightning attributes—especially Thunderbolt magic—swarming him with numbers would only put everyone at risk.
It was a valid point in reality, so El Pam decided to face Rick alone.
But now, it was inevitable to worry.
“Damn it, so why did the boss give him that item and make things this hard? Huh?”
Around then, Dibo vented a bit of frustration.
“Huh? If you'd just given him a decent item, we wouldn't be worrying like this, right?”
“Sorry about that.”
“Yeah, you should be sorry! Huh? Uh?”
It was at that moment.
“B-Boss?”
El Pam appeared.
“Sorry for making you worry needlessly.”
“Th-That.”
Dibo felt flustered by the appearance.
“Haha, no way. Just kidding. More importantly, you look unscathed?”
Dibo quickly changed the subject, but his eyes narrowed.
Not just Dibo—everyone's eyes narrowed.
‘Unscathed?’
He'd faced none other than Rick, the Lightning Master, and came back unscathed? Was that possible?
Around then, everyone thought:
“Boss, did you...?”
“Plans have changed.”
And with El Pam's following words, everyone's suspicions turned to certainty.
‘He failed.’
El Pam hadn't caught Rick.
No one felt disappointed or despondent at that fact.
On the contrary, everyone thought:
‘At least he's unscathed.’
Even in failure, El Pam returning without any notable injuries was truly a relief.
“The original plan was to hunt Rick's party, then spend ten days hunting the remaining monsters. But the situation has changed.”
“Yes, we need to take out Rick first. That's the priority, right? Just leave it to me! I'll ram this polearm right into that guy's skull!”
El Pam looked at Dibo, who was eagerly steeling himself.
With an expression that said he had no idea what Dibo was talking about.
At that look, Dibo's face began to stiffen, sensing something off.
To such a Dibo, El Pam explained.
“Plans have changed. We're shortening the ten-day schedule to five days.”
What had changed.
“Yes?”
And at that explanation, Dibo and everyone else wore blank expressions.
It was utterly incomprehensible.
The most incomprehensible part was that.
“Wait a minute, Boss! What about Rick?”
To that question, El Pam showed his finger instead of answering, and soon everyone could see it.
Zeus's ring.
Irrefutable proof.
But that alone didn't explain the full situation.
Originally, El Pam's party planned to quietly eliminate Rick and then spend ten days hunting monsters.
In other words, they intended to hide Rick's elimination from Phir and proceed with the plan for ten days.
It was obvious.
The moment they announced Rick's party was wiped out, Phir and everyone would fall into panic.
Ignorance is bliss.
In other words, El Pam's party needed at least ten days to eliminate most of the monsters here.
But cutting that to five days?
“Boss, I get that you took out Rick. But shortening to five days— is that even possible?”
“It wouldn't be normally.”
El Pam knew how absurd that sounded.
“But with this, it's different.”
In other words, what had come into El Pam's possession was such an item.
“Isn't that a gold fragment?”
“It's a fragment of Astrafe.”
“A fragment of Astrafe?”
“A piece of Zeus's thunder spear. Ownership doubles damage of all lightning attribute magic.”
“Yes?”
An item beyond common sense.
“Damage doubled?”
Lightning magic, already more powerful than other magic, doubled in damage?
Of course, it wasn't all upsides.
“Mana consumption doubles too.”
But that was a price not even worth considering.
‘The boss's lightning magic damage doubled?’
Moreover, El Pam had that.
‘That Thunderbolt?’
Telekinesis.
At that moment, El Pam's companions no longer questioned the plan he stated.
“Then let's start the hunt.”
11.
“Ah.”
On the fifth day of beginning the monster extermination hunt, Phir let out a long sigh.
That was unusual for him.
Phir was tougher-willed than anyone. His eyes didn't even flicker at most things.
In fact, even when all his comrades died, he had focused solely on his duty without faltering.
But this time was different.
“One more.”
Right now, before him lay a comrade's corpse.
Not just any dead comrade, but one he'd killed with his own hands.
It was due to the Pharaoh Snake's poison.
The poison that turned one into a Pharaoh Snake mummy upon infection—his comrade had been poisoned, forcing him to kill with his own hand.
The stress from that was on another level from merely losing a comrade.
“Fourth one now.”
And this wasn't the first time.
Even so, it was possible only because it was Phir.
The other comrades couldn't even attack, let alone judge properly, when a poisoned ally turned enemy.
And that was natural.
Phir's comrades weren't just adventurers—they were Cross Hunters, comrades willing to give their lives for each other.
To stab a blade into such a comrade's chest?
Killing them was the impressive feat.
That was why Phir sighed.
‘We endure, but the others...’
If even he was struggling this much, other parties couldn't be faring better.
One consolation he had.
‘At least the red smoke hasn't risen.’
The red smoke signal, reserved for truly dire moments, hadn't appeared yet.
In other words, red smoke meant a real emergency.
It could be seen as signaling the failure of this Mystic Gate conquest.
And they had sworn not to make contact until that red smoke rose.
The reason was simple.
‘Appear without smoke, and you're an enemy.’
They had agreed to judge anyone appearing without the red smoke signal as poisoned by Pharaoh Snake poison and kill them.
“Phir!”
It was then.
“Red smoke!”
The worst situation began rising before his eyes, and Phir's face hardened.
But there was no hesitation.
“We move.”
When red smoke appeared, everyone gathered—that was the only thing to do now.
Waiting for Phir's party as they moved was El Pam's party.
Phir was surprised by that.
‘El Pam's party?’
The abilities of El Pam's party, as he knew them, were in no way inferior to Rick's.
Above all, all members of El Pam's party were safe.
Then why had they fired the red smoke?
“Phir.”
El Pam answered the question.
“Rick's party were followers of the Black Mage.”
“What?”
At those words, Phir's mind went blank.
Then his face turned pitch black.
‘My god.’
It was the worst situation he could imagine—nay, far beyond it.
‘Rick?’
None other than the strongest here had become the greatest threat.
Of course, there was doubt.
“Are you certain?”
Doubt about the truth of El Pam's claim.
Naturally, since the Cross Hunters had thoroughly background-checked Rick during recruitment.
No connections to Black Mage followers anywhere.
“No evidence.”
El Pam replied curtly.
“Only my name on it.”
Those words were absurd.
Yet Phir accepted them.
The El Pam he knew wouldn't joke or scheme about something like this.
Even if he did scheme, that wasn't the issue to debate now.
Assuming Rick's party were Black Mage followers, they needed to completely revise plans.
“Then we need to deal with Rick's party first.”
As he voiced that plan, Phir's expression hardened further.
He said it, but how exactly were they supposed to take down Rick's party?
‘Half will die.’
Even if they did, they'd have to accept at least half casualties.
“No need to deal with them.”
“What?”
“They're already dealt with.”
Hearing El Pam's next words, Phir's mind blanked once more.
“......Dealt with?”
Regaining his senses, Phir spoke soullessly, and El Pam nodded.
“Rick's party— all 18 members eliminated.”
“Whew.”
At that, Phir began deep breathing.
Honestly, his mind wasn't sorted.
Nor did he fully trust El Pam's words.
Separate from faith in El Pam, the claim was too outrageous.
So Phir thought:
‘Let's plan assuming El Pam is right.’
That was why.
“So we just need to take down the Pharaoh Snake.”
Phir didn't question it.
With Rick's party gone, refocusing on the original plan was obvious.
And what to do was simple.
“We'll keep eliminating monsters as before. It'll be harder without Rick's party, but.”
To such Phir, El Pam replied.
“No, we just need to take down the Pharaoh Snake.”
“What?”
“Exactly that. All remaining monsters are eliminated. Only the Pharaoh Snake is left.”