Chapter 125
Chapter 125
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 125
Chapter Title: 39. Mikhail's Disciple (1)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
1.
“Boss, you're amazing.”
The sight of El Pam hunting D. Lloyd with Zeus's lightning spear was utterly astonishing.
“To think you'd be walking again after just three days.”
And the sight of El Pam, who had fallen into mana shock, moving on his own after just three days was nothing short of miraculous.
For El Pam to recover his abilities so quickly was an incredible feat.
After all, most mages who suffered mana shock retired from adventuring.
But the admiration didn't last long.
Nor was it a situation that allowed it.
El Pam had indeed shown something tremendous, but the price was that he was effectively out of commission.
Lloyd was still a sufficiently threatening monster for the remaining four without El Pam.
“We're starting the search.”
That was why, when they began scavenging for relics, their pace was inevitably very slow.
Fighting Lloyd without El Pam was extremely dangerous.
But they couldn't just avoid combat indefinitely either.
“We still need to thin out their numbers.”
With Lloyds still overflowing, achieving their goal was impossible.
In other words, this search was essentially a hunt.
“Bit by bit.”
The only difference from the hunts El Pam's party had done so far was that they were doing it from an extremely disadvantaged position, as the underdogs.
It was like rats hunting cats.
Naturally, it was beyond difficult—it was maddening.
After all, the number of Lloyds El Pam's party had to take down easily surpassed thousands.
Of course, it was tough at first.
Zap!
“Damn, it's hard enough catching five without the boss.”
Even snagging a few stragglers from the herd left them breathless.
So on the first day, they struggled to hit two hundred after hunting all day.
The second day was the same.
“Now I get it. What these things are like.”
But on the third day—when El Pam finally started moving on his own—the El Pam party succeeded in hunting over four hundred Lloyds in a single day.
“They're different from monsters.”
It was because they had figured it out.
“They don't have that feral instinct monsters do. They're mechanical. They move like machines.”
They had grasped Lloyd's characteristics.
“They're fast, but not exceptional. No special ones among them.”
And the weaknesses of those characteristics.
“Their movement patterns are predictable enough.”
Predictable.
That was the most reliable guarantee for any adventurer.
“Nothing we can't catch.”
A guarantee of a successful hunt.
Of course, while Lloyd's behavior patterns were indeed regular and mechanical unlike normal monsters, not just anyone could grasp and exploit them.
Explaining it in words didn't mean others could replicate it.
“I get the gist.”
But Miner had already sensed what Dibo was feeling to some extent.
“I felt that too.”
Ralph was the same.
El Pam wasn't greatly surprised by that fact.
‘As expected, they're catching on.’
He had anticipated that they would figure out Lloyd's characteristics and how to counter them on their own.
That's why he hadn't told them outright.
Discovering things like this through direct experience was how skills grew.
‘Worth pushing myself.’
Moreover, that was why El Pam had hunted D. Lloyd even at the cost of being out of commission.
As long as they took down D. Lloyd, the remaining members could handle Lloyd hunting here sufficiently.
He had no doubts about that.
‘Talents as expected.’
Dibo, Miner, and Ralph.
These three were talents acknowledged by the Last Adventurer, El Pam.
Not just the level of unlocking the 7th Circle, but talents great enough to leave their names in that chaotic era.
“Kiri, what do you think? Figure it out?”
It was only natural for owners of such talent to catch on.
“What does this even mean right now?”
There was one thing that deviated from El Pam's expectations.
“Isn't it obvious?”
“What? Obvious?”
“I thought everyone knew. That's why I didn't say anything.”
“You knew? Since when?”
“From the start.”
“From the start? Kiri, aren't you bragging a bit too much right now?”
It was Kiri's ability.
“Don't lie.”
“I'm not lying. I knew from the beginning. Lloyd's characteristics.”
At those words, El Pam knew.
‘She's telling the truth.’
That it was the truth.
The moment he took down D. Lloyd and fought out of commission, El Pam had realized Kiri had grasped Lloyd's patterns.
That was outside El Pam's expectations.
‘I knew Kiri's talent was exceptional, but not to this extent.’
El Pam acknowledged Kiri's talent.
She was special.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have brought her this far in the first place.
However, El Pam had thought her talent fell short of Dibo, Miner, and Ralph's.
Naturally so.
Those three were on another level.
If luck and connections had favored them, they could have become the Last Adventurer instead.
Kiri was different.
Honestly, she hadn't even existed in El Pam's memories.
Of course, it was only natural that owners of talents unknown to El Pam were hidden throughout the world.
So El Pam had no doubts about Kiri's talent.
What puzzled El Pam here was something else.
‘Those around her wouldn't have missed talent of this level.’
Her background.
He didn't know exactly, but from her words and knowledge, she was no ordinary person.
He had become certain during his conversation with Oz, the leader of the Fire Knights.
‘Cygnus Knights leader level. Kiri's background is one of them.’
A conviction that Kiri's background was even more special.
‘Who could it be?’
Leaving El Pam pondering that, his companions continued hunting Lloyds.
Their speed kept increasing.
On the 11th day after entering the 4th floor, they succeeded in hunting a thousand in a day.
And from then on, the full relic search began, but it didn't take long.
There was no reason it should.
Kyuu!
The moment an environment where Snail Mano could shine unfolded, El Pam's party found it immediately.
“Boss. This seems to be it.”
A single black suit of armor lying amid piles of broken Lloyd parts.
“Doesn't look ordinary at all.”
“Man, the vibe from this thing is no joke.”
“Smells like big money.”
Even without knowing what it was, just looking at it was shocking.
And El Pam, who knew its identity, was even more shocked.
‘Mikhail's armor.’
Mikhail, the leader of the Cygnus Knights' Knights of Light and the greatest knight who guarded Empress Cygnus at her side!
It was unmistakably his armor.
Naturally, it was no ordinary armor.
‘Armor of the Sun.’
An armor imbued with the power of the sun, doubling the power of the sun techniques used by the Cygnus Knights' Knights of Light.
Wearing it alone made one twice—no, more than twice—as strong.
It was armor with absurd abilities.
That was why it was given only to the leader of the Knights of Light, generation after generation.
‘Why is this here?’
Thus, El Pam couldn't comprehend why this armor was here.
‘Disguised in black.’
Moreover, Mikhail's original armor was a dazzling white like light itself, yet this one was coated entirely in black.
It meant someone had deliberately hidden that it was Mikhail's armor.
In any case, only one person besides Mikhail could wear such armor.
‘Definitely Mikhail's disciple.’
And El Pam knew only one disciple of Mikhail.
‘Kasim?’
Mikhail's first disciple, Kasim.
A name unknown to the world.
Even El Pam hadn't known it.
‘He succeeded him after Mikhail died.’
Only after the Black Parade, including Ralph, killed Mikhail, the leader of the Knights of Light, did he learn the name.
He knew no more than that.
In other words, information about Mikhail's disciple was virtually unknown in the world.
‘Originally, he wasn't supposed to die here.’
Moreover, before El Pam returned to the past, Mikhail's disciple Kasim had lived until Mikhail's death.
Meaning he was naturally still alive at this point in time.
But El Pam wasn't surprised by that.
History had already changed greatly. Changed by no one other than El Pam himself.
In such a situation, there were two things to focus on.
‘Whoever killed him, it's no small matter. If the enemy reveals themselves, the Cygnus Knights will move.’
That this incident was a massive event.
‘And few know of this incident.’
At the same time, few knew this was the tomb where the leader of the Knights of Light's disciple had died.
‘Right now, I'm the only one here who knows...’
That was the moment.
“Wh-what is this doing here?”
Kiri stared at Mikhail's armor with a shocked expression.
“Huh? You know what this is?”
Dibo asked in surprise at her reaction, and Kiri looked flustered before shaking her head.
“N-no. I must have seen wrong.”
“I thought you knew for a sec.”
Dibo didn't press further, and at that moment, no one else paid her reaction any mind.
‘So that's it.’
Everyone except El Pam.
‘Kiri, she...’
2.
“Kiri is also Mikhail's disciple.”
Cheryl's face showed shock at Oz, the leader of the Fire Knights', words.
She had no choice.
Cheryl had rushed over at Oz's sudden summons, and the words Oz spoke to her were shocking.
“My god.”
And the reason Oz was saying this was even more shocking.
“Then right now, in there?”
“Yes. Right now, two of Mikhail's disciples are on the verge of death in there.”
Shocking enough that Mikhail had disciples, but both dying in the same place?
How would Mikhail, leader of the Knights of Light, take this?
And how would the Cygnus Knights take it?
In any case, one thing was clear.
‘He's judging them dead.’
Oz believed El Pam's party would fail.
That was why he called it the tomb of two disciples already.
“We've received word. The ones who entered first were none other than Green Scorpion Kimar of the Red Scorpion Group.”
Hearing the follow-up explanation, Cheryl couldn't help but think the same as Oz.
‘Green Scorpion...’
A far bigger fish than she had imagined had been named.
Moreover, someone of Green Scorpion rank could clear that Mystic Gate with ease.
In other words, El Pam's party had zero chance of survival.
‘Different from estimating over 30% success chance.’
Oz clearly hadn't rated El Pam's party's chances highly, but at least over 30%.
And even if they failed, it would be due to ability. The Cygnus Knights weren't so petty as to lash out at others over their knights' shortcomings.
But if they failed due to someone else's interference, the story changed entirely.
At that point, Cheryl understood why Oz had summoned her.
“You want cleanup.”
He wanted the Cross Hunters to handle them—to handle the Red Scorpion Group.
It wasn't strange.
Officially, Mikhail had no disciples, per the Cygnus Knights' stance.
Thus, the Cygnus Knights couldn't seek revenge for Mikhail's disciple.
Of course, it wasn't just revenge.
The Cygnus Knights didn't move on mere emotion.
It was literally cleanup.
“A thorough cleanup.”
Dealing with the spy inside the Cygnus Knights and the Red Scorpion Group attached to that spy.
It wasn't easy, which was why Cheryl was here.
In the Maple World, only the Cross Hunters could handle such a task quickly and reliably.
Thus, Cheryl couldn't accept the proposal lightly.
‘Not easy.’
Even deploying the Cross Hunters' full capabilities, success wasn't guaranteed.
Conversely, the merits if they succeeded were certain.
The Cygnus Knights were staunch supporters of the Cross Hunters, and they wouldn't pay cheaply for this.
Above all, a crisis for the Cygnus Knights was a crisis for the Cross Hunters too.
Setting aside rewards, they couldn't back down here.
So what was needed was one thing.
‘Still, we have to do it.’
Resolve.
Cheryl, harboring that one necessity, spoke.
“Alright, we'll have the Cross Hunters...”
That was the moment.
“Lord Oz!”
One of Oz's subordinates burst in mid-conversation.
A cold chill settled on Oz's ever-smiling face at the interruption.
It was that important a conversation.
But the expression didn't last.
“The Mystic Gate has closed.”
Oz wasn't surprised.
“Kimar, they succeeded in clearing it.”
As expected.
“N-no, that's not it.”
The subordinate said to her.
“The ones who returned... are El Pam's party.”