Chapter 181
Chapter 181
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 181
Chapter Title: 55. Xerxes (2)
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3.
Adventurers had several ironclad rules.
One of them was sticking to the plan they had initially laid out.
The reason was simple.
A plan devised in their most rational and clear-headed state would always outshine one thrown together in the heat of a crisis—obvious as that was.
“Hold out for 20 minutes.”
Yet now El Pam had abruptly changed the plan.
Never a good sign.
Crucially, his original plan had been nothing less than rescue followed by immediate escape.
A plan born from the judgment that engaging in combat was impossible from the start.
And now they were supposed to fight?
“Boss.”
In situations like this, a companion’s role was vital.
Only they could slam on the brakes if the leader lost control.
“Got it.”
But neither Dibo nor any of El Pam’s other companions touched the brakes.
No need.
‘Boss says charge, we charge.’
They were certain El Pam would never lose control.
If anyone was shocked, it was Michael.
“Y-You’re really going?”
He’d pulled out the map to persuade them, but he hadn’t expected it to work this fast?
“I-Isn’t it dangerous?”
So swift that Michael now worried instead.
“It’s possible.”
El Pam’s response.
“I’ll go alone.”
“Ah, right. I see. Wait, what?”
Michael and his companions froze in shock the instant they heard it.
“W-What was that?”
“I’m the only one heading out to find the core. You’ll be able to hold here plenty long enough.”
Calm and straightforward.
But to Michael, it landed differently.
“H-How could that possibly be okay?”
“Only I’ll be sidelined from the fight.”
Michael had no comeback after that.
He was speechless.
El Pam’s companions, on the other hand, got it right away.
‘Better the boss goes solo than us lumbering along as a group. Way faster.’
That was when it happened.
Puuu!
Mammut’s roar echoed once more.
No great difference from the last one, at first listen.
Puuu!
But El Pam and his party knew the moment they heard it.
‘That’s no ordinary roar.’
‘It’s on purpose.’
A sound the Mammut wasn’t making for itself—but for someone else.
El Pam spelled out why.
“Xerxes has appeared.”
4.
Xerxes.
It looked like a goat.
A massive goat with two enormous horns.
Unlike an ordinary goat, though, its body below the head was strikingly human. Arms. Legs.
Like a human, it dangled all sorts of jewelry and ornaments from its head and limbs.
Thud!
And for a finale, it had ripped out a stone throne crafted by Kerese’s giant folk, now using it as a palanquin.
The throne’s carriers? Monsters.
A laughably absurd sight.
“That thing’s decked out like a person?”
Any adventurer seeing it would blanch.
“Damn it, so it’s got a human brain too.”
Dressing up in baubles was the surest sign of being close to human.
A massive pain.
Proof of human-level cunning.
One reason Xerxes was so terrifying.
The main one, though?
“Keep this in mind. Ten seconds. Don’t lock eyes with it longer than that.”
Anyone meeting its gaze for ten seconds or more became its minion.
Straight-up ridiculous.
Avoiding eye contact in combat, where every sense had to be razor-sharp?
Worse, Xerxes didn’t roam alone.
Thud!
Jibill, Fenek, Scopi, even Mammuts around it—the full roster of Kerese monsters stood in formation.
“It showed up now to wipe out the intruders for good. If it senses trouble, it’ll bolt straight for the Colosseum.”
A proper legion.
“Never step inside the Colosseum. That’s its castle.”
Complete with its own stronghold.
“Once more: it’s rigged with every trap it cooked up. It’s no ordinary monster. Cunning as any adventurer.”
Seemed impossible to take down.
El Pam said as much.
Hold out.
Not hunt—just survive twenty minutes.
“Stay alive.”
And emphasized it wouldn’t be easy.
“Yes!”
Everyone, Dibo included, nodded at El Pam’s words. He moved.
Fast.
El Pam’s companions watched the direction he’d vanished in, then turned.
Thud!
Monster legions came into view.
Crude helmets, armor, spears gripped tight—their presence crushed despite the shoddiness.
Truth be told, Michael’s party wanted to bolt right then.
‘Block this for twenty minutes?’
Breathing for twenty seconds against that army seemed impossible, let alone twenty minutes.
Michael was the exception.
“I’ll help.”
Everyone else itching to flee, and he stepped up with courage.
Proof he was the leader.
Dibo’s response to that grit?
“Won’t make a difference.”
Michael’s thought then?
“You’re probably planning hit-and-runs, right? We can back you on that.”
Figuring El Pam’s party would skirmish that army.
Against thousands of monsters, small numbers had one tactic.
Obvious common sense.
“Nope.”
Dibo shattered Michael’s common sense.
“Huh?”
“So, uh, how exactly are you gonna do it?”
Instead of answering, Dibo glanced at Kiri, Miner, and Ralph.
“Let’s charge right in!”
And with that, they barreled toward the army.
5.
Puuu!
El Pam entered the Colosseum, and a long Mammut roar rang out.
‘It’s on.’
That sound told El Pam his companions had clashed with Xerxes’ army.
‘Frontal breakthrough.’
Not skirmishes—full assault.
Utterly against the grain of common sense.
El Pam felt no surprise.
‘I taught ‘em well.’
He was the one who’d drilled that tactic.
Sure, El Pam knew the basics.
Large monster numbers? Hit-and-run was standard.
But you couldn’t always play it safe.
Hit-and-run worked when you had the terrain mapped cold.
Beyond the Mystic Gate, though? Unknown territory.
Escape sometimes flat-out impossible.
Monster traits varied too.
Instinct-driven hordes? Hit-and-run shone.
Clever ones? Different story.
They spotted the pattern fast.
Commanders like Xerxes anticipated it, laid traps.
Hit-and-run, and bam—ambush from lurking monsters.
‘Better to smash through.’
Fight straight than trip those.
Not for amateurs, though.
El Pam’s party only.
Dibo and Kiri as the wall, Ralph backing them, Miner sniping safe inside.
Flawless execution.
‘Twenty minutes? Easy.’
El Pam trusted they’d buy his time.
‘My problem now.’
Himself was the issue.
‘Xerxes is brutally smart.’
El Pam’s firsthand Xerxes cunning outstripped most adventurers by miles.
‘Its monster army outdid adventurers.’
Burned into his bones.
‘Tons of adventurers died for it.’
Via companions’ sacrifices.
‘Nearly got me too.’
Several brushes with death.
El Pam’s conviction?
‘No way it’s clueless about the core.’
Xerxes knew the core mutated monsters—birthed it.
No chance it left the core unguarded.
‘Definitely stationed defenders.’
Monsters on guard.
Hence.
‘And now’s its weakest point.’
Why El Pam rolled the dice here.
He knew best: altering plans now was reckless as hell.
Simple reason he risked it.
‘While it’s careless.’
Xerxes leading the army personally against El Pam’s and Michael’s parties.
Meant it saw them as jokes.
No way it reinforced Kerese’s core guards extra.
Thus, prime window to hit the core.
El Pam’s take, anyway.
‘Still, defenses might surprise.’
Could’ve stacked more than he guessed.
Wouldn’t be a cakewalk for him.
‘Run then, or...’
Two options in that pinch.
‘Play the ace.’
Whatever came, El Pam had counters prepped.
Only if he reached the core spot, though.
Getting there? No picnic.
Recall the map from pure memory first to pinpoint it.
Tough sledding.
Michael’s map: Colosseum layout. Interior a nightmare tangle.
A straight-up maze.
Map in hand, still lose your way.
Core buried deepest underground.
Path there? Worst snarl of all.
Made sense.
Kerese giants prized the core above all.
Safest vault obvious.
Colosseum to core: sprint flat-out, thirty minutes minimum.
Plus Xerxes’ pets gatekeeping every choke.
Clear in twenty?
Nah—even less, factoring return.
Nuts.
‘No issue.’
El Pam? Zero doubt.
Proved it on the spot.
El Pam slipped on Hermes’ Boots, tore through the labyrinthine Colosseum like lightning.
Screee!
Monsters latched on spotting him. He showed them.
Swish!
Evasion so effortless it was art.
That was his confidence source.
Nothing special to him.
Mage adventurers? Outrun a monster encounter? Dream on.
Dodge or die.
El Pam lived that grind harder, longer than anyone.
Monster-dodging prowess? Untouchable.
Evasion bonus perk.
Monsters whiffing him chased in packs.
‘Mazes screw monsters too.’
Crowded into tight halls?
They jammed up, crushed themselves—self-made roadblocks aiding him.
‘Eight minutes.’
Sprint kicked off, eight minutes later: core chamber.
What he saw.
Puuu!
Puuu!
Seven Mammuts on core watch.
‘Good break.’
El Pam’s thought.
‘No ace needed.’
Gamble hit paydirt.