Chapter 113
Chapter 113
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 113
Chapter Title: 35. Junior Balrog (3)
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6.
Alsar and Mohad, along with their subordinates, appeared on the third floor twelve hours after El Pam's party had taken Prince Kashan and left.
It was a considerable amount of time.
More than enough time for El Pam's party and Prince Kashan to flee as far as they possibly could if they were intent on escaping.
Alsar and Mohad were well aware of that fact.
Yet they had waited twelve hours for a simple reason.
"Rest should be more than sufficient."
To raise their condition to the maximum.
In fact, over those twelve hours, Alsar and Mohad, along with their subordinates, had enjoyed ample meals and sleep.
They brimmed with vitality and energy more than ever before.
"The enemy must be exhausted from all that running by now."
Meanwhile, El Pam's party would be utterly drained from fleeing while dragging Prince Kashan along.
That was why they waited twelve hours.
Half a day—a point where even those on the run could muster no more strength even if they wanted to.
"And Prince Kashan even more so."
Unlike El Pam's party of seasoned adventurers, Prince Kashan was no adventurer.
Of course, he had received training.
As a prince of the Ariant Kingdom, he needed basic survival skills to endure the harsh lands of the Nihal Desert.
But that was the Nihal Desert. The Mystic Gate was an entirely different story.
Above all, he was now being pursued by those he had trusted the most.
"He won't even have a moment to catch his breath."
There was no way he could rest properly even if he tried.
In other words, it was the perfect situation for the pursuers.
That was the reason for the twelve-hour wait.
"So from now on, we search for the exit."
And at this moment, neither Alsar nor Mohad had any intention of engaging in a chase.
There was no reason to, in fact.
"Once we secure the exit, it's over."
If El Pam's party and Prince Kashan were holed up at the exit, they were as good as dead anyway.
"Better than getting bloodied in some sloppy pursuit."
Decisively, chasing Prince Kashan here was extremely dangerous.
Following the traces they had left behind was far from a good idea.
Alsar and Mohad knew it well.
"El Pam is an exceptional adventurer."
El Pam was capable enough to deliberately leave traces while setting traps.
And that wasn't all.
"We don't know what monsters might appear."
This was a 300-man Yellow-grade Mystic Gate, a place where the most powerful boss monster that could emerge from such a gate might appear.
It meant they had to devote all their attention to whatever boss monster showed up.
It was then.
"Over there!"
A monster appeared before them.
Dinosaurs the size of elephants, covered in brown hides.
"Drakes!"
Drakes.
They were a massive headache of a monster.
They didn't have any special abilities. It was just that facing them physically was incredibly troublesome.
For good reason: their size alone was elephantine, and they were dinosaurs to boot.
Sharp claws, razor teeth, and a terrifying horn on their snout!
A charging Drake, armed with such weapons, was a walking disaster in every sense.
"Kappa Drakes!"
The monsters that appeared were Kappa Drakes, the weakest among Drakes.
But no adventurer in the Maple World would call that a relief.
Even Kappa Drakes were a calamity in their own right.
Kraaa!
"Three of them!"
There were even multiple Kappa Drakes this time.
The usual choice in such a situation was to flee.
But Alsar and Mohad were different.
Alsar didn't run. Instead, he leaped toward the Kappa Drake with full power.
"Leaf Attack!"
He unleashed the Leaf Attack skill, crashing down onto the Kappa Drake's body like a thunderbolt.
The impact was thunderous.
Puk!
His sword plunged straight into the Kappa Drake's back hide.
Tough as it was, the Kappa Drake's hide tore like lambskin under Alsar's blade.
It had no choice but to.
For one, the sword Alsar wielded was exceptionally sharp. There was no way Prince Kashan would give him anything subpar.
On top of that, Alsar was currently wearing Hercules' Bracelet!
He possessed monstrous strength beyond what any 4th Circle warrior could match.
And it didn't end there.
"Aura Blade!"
Aura Blade!
Alsar activated the powerful skill, rated as an Epic among 4th Circle warrior skills.
Wooo!
Alsar's sword began to glow yellow.
Shiiik!
He swung, and the yellow sword aura erupted, slicing the Kappa Drake's body clean in two.
It happened in an instant.
Thud!
One Kappa Drake fell in a flash.
Two remained.
But that was no issue either.
"Take them."
Mohad gave the order.
His subordinates charged at the Kappa Drakes without a hint of hesitation.
To the followers of the Black Mage, orders were absolute.
They also had faith.
"Don't die."
Faith that Mohad's heal skill would keep them alive in most cases.
"Take them!"
Mohad's subordinates, fearless of death, rushed in.
The outcome was predictable.
Kraaa!
Like a locust overwhelmed by soldier ants, the Kappa Drakes met gruesome ends beyond recognition.
It was a laughably easy hunt with no hint of crisis, and everyone's eyes gleamed with confidence.
"No problems here."
Confidence that the third floor would be no trouble either.
Alsar and Mohad felt the same.
'Kappa Drakes are no issue at all.'
Clearing the third floor would be straightforward.
It was at that moment.
'Huh?'
A shadow began to loom over Alsar and Mohad's heads.
Flutter flutter!
Wings beat the air.
As everyone tilted their heads at the sound, the shadow snatched one of Mohad's subordinates.
"Uwaaaak!"
A receding scream made everyone turn, and soon they saw it.
"Wh-what is that?"
7.
"It's a Junior Balrog."
The moment El Pam uttered the name Junior Balrog, no one stiffened.
Instead, they all smirked.
"Come on, Boss, even for a joke, that's too much."
"This one's a bit over the top."
"Yeah, the prank's gone too far."
"Indeed. This joke feels a tad excessive, sir."
They didn't believe El Pam.
In other words, that was how it was.
"A Junior Balrog here? Come on, even as a joke, that's ridiculous!"
Junior Balrogs were that terrifying.
"Right! Junior Balrogs are rare even deep in Sleepywood these days!"
The silver lining was that their numbers had dwindled compared to the past.
Imagining one appearing was nearly impossible.
Of course, El Pam was certain.
"It's definitely a Junior Balrog."
He knew he couldn't be mistaken.
'I've hunted hundreds of Balrogs.'
To him, Balrogs were, in a way, all too familiar.
Only then did El Pam's party begin to believe him.
Their faces hardened.
"B-Boss. For real? A real Junior Balrog?"
That was the level of monster a Junior Balrog was.
"That absurd beast is the boss monster here?"
"No way. That's an absurd monster!"
Even El Pam's party, seasoned through countless trials, felt fear.
It was that fearsome.
Balrogs alone were monsters on a different plane from the ordinary.
Their mere appearance spelled disaster!
A Junior Balrog inherited a fraction of that power, making it a near-disaster itself.
Victorian Island adventurers feared them most of all.
"Aren't they extinct even in Sleepywood?"
The place they appeared was none other than Sleepywood Forest, Victoria Island's forbidden zone.
Of course, Prince Kashan from the Nihal Desert knew too.
"Is it really a Junior Balrog?"
He knew how monstrous it was.
"It's definitely a Junior Balrog."
Around then, El Pam spoke.
"And as long as it's here, avoiding it and doing anything is practically impossible."
"What do you mean?"
"Exactly what I said. It's not just strong—it's an exceptional hunter."
"An exceptional hunter?"
It was even more terrifying than anyone imagined.
"It flies through the sky on wings and snatches prey when it spots it."
For starters, Junior Balrogs had wings.
"Ah."
"Like a hawk hunting."
It soared on wings, dove to snatch prey upon sighting it, then carried it to a safe spot to finish the job.
There was no answer for the prey.
"Extremely fast."
The snatch was so quick that proper response was impossible.
"Its eyes are sharp too."
Plus, it was skilled enough to rarely miss prey unless something extreme happened.
That was the scariest part.
"And its head is even sharper."
It was incredibly intelligent.
"If there's an exit, it'll surely use it to hunt prey."
Trying to sneakily find and flee through an exit against such a Junior Balrog was just begging to be hunted.
"Though there might not be one."
Even if there was, if the exit appeared only after hunting the boss monster, there was one answer.
"What if there isn't?"
"Dibo, are you really asking because you don't know?"
"......No. We have to hunt it."
Hunting the Junior Balrog.
At that point, everyone's rigid expressions eased.
Not because they saw it positively.
Their reason and thoughts had numbed from the sheer absurdity, loosening their faces slightly.
Of course, as reason returned, their expressions hardened again.
Even stiffer than before.
No words came out anymore.
Gulp!
Swallowing was all they could do.
In that silence, only one could speak.
"There is a way."
"Yes?"
"There is a way to take down the Junior Balrog."
El Pam said it with astonishing calm.
But his comrades were different.
"No, Boss, how do we take that down? Even for you, this is a whole different level!"
At this moment, they couldn't believe El Pam.
"It's a different level."
El Pam agreed.
"At our current level, it's impossible. Even if we tried, the odds would be minuscule."
Hunting a Junior Balrog at their level, including his own, was suicide.
"It's not something 4th Circle adventurers can handle to begin with."
That was why.
"So it's simple."
El Pam calmly pulled something from his bosom.
He put it in his mouth.
Gulp!
He swallowed it in one go, then said,
"We reach 5th Circle."
El Pam had just played his trump card.