Chapter 26
Chapter 26
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 26
Chapter Title: Unique Item (4)
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7.
The value of Circles to adventurers was beyond words.
For starters, more Circles meant access to more powerful skills.
It also increased the number of skills that could be used simultaneously.
Even the same skill packed double the punch, and with greater mana reserves, the number of times skills could be cast, their sustained power—everything exploded in capability.
“1st Circle and 2nd Circle adventurers are like children and adults. And 2nd Circle and 3rd Circle? That’s the difference between a man and a tiger.”
The gap was even bigger than adventurers imagined.
“You can’t compare a human to a tiger. But what if that human became a tiger?”
That was the problem.
“Could they hunt like a tiger right away? The moment they turned, after a lifetime as a human?”
The difference was so vast that wielding that power properly was impossible.
That was why adventurers who had just advanced to 3rd Circle often couldn’t even utilize a fraction of their potential.
Of course, they were still strong. Incomparably so to 2nd Circle. Like how a tiger could kill a human with a mere swipe.
That was the norm, anyway.
Even the innately talented or so-called geniuses couldn’t fully harness their new power the instant they Circlized.
It wasn’t a matter of talent to begin with. It was experience.
That was why.
Squeal!
The Ribbon Pigs’ heads burst open like Orange Mushrooms under El Pam’s Fire Arrow—the Fire Arrow of a man freshly minted at 3rd Circle.
El Pam had more experience than anyone.
More than any adventurer in this world.
That was why advancing to 3rd Circle was El Pam’s trump card.
If it was just a moderate power-up, El Pam—who already possessed all sorts of rare items and skill cards—wouldn’t have classified it as such.
Of course, this was from El Pam’s perspective.
“Huh.”
From Kiri’s view, watching the scene, it was utterly incomprehensible.
That was why she still hadn’t fully recovered even after everything settled.
“It’s El Pam.”
But the moment El Pam spoke to her, she snapped to.
“……I need your help.”
Her first words after were a plea.
“Trolling happened here. Not just any trolling, either. There was a traitor among the Knight Order trainees.”
A brief explanation followed.
“This needs to reach the Knights. I beg you. Help me, and I’ll pay any price. Even my life.”
Finally, the offer.
El Pam’s eyes narrowed at that.
‘At least she’s worth saving.’
Truth be told, before rescuing Kiri, El Pam had prepared several scenarios.
The worst was her name-dropping the Cygnus Knights and acting high and mighty.
Cygnus Knights business, so follow orders without question! The baseless sort.
Surprisingly common.
Unlike adventurers, Cygnus Knights followed Empress Cygnus’s commands, sparing no means to fulfill them.
Their mindset differed from adventurers.
El Pam had experienced it countless times.
But thankfully, Kiri was different.
‘A true knight.’
She embodied the sense of duty befitting a Cygnus Knight.
“I’ll accept the Knights’ commission.”
That simplified things.
“From this moment, I hold all decision-making authority in this party.”
Kiri nodded without hesitation, resolve in her eyes.
Trust.
‘This adventurer can do it.’
El Pam spoke to that faith.
“Then from this moment, we eliminate the trolls.”
“What?”
Kiri’s expression changed.
“What do you mean?”
What she’d thought possible was escaping this Mystic Gate with El Pam.
Common sense, even.
“The enemy isn’t ordinary.”
For one, those who’d pulled off the trolling here weren’t simple folk.
“There’s a traitor even in the Knights!”
They were assassins—holding their breath everywhere, striking at the critical moment.
And their goal wasn’t mere gain.
“They prepared extensively to kill everyone!”
If things had proceeded today, Lith’s top ten merchant groups would’ve taken a devastating hit.
No, the damage was already severe. The promising talents and experts they’d nurtured had died without results.
Worse, if the trolls’ plan had succeeded fully, the merchants wouldn’t have even grasped the reason.
That was key.
If only the trolls survived and escaped, the world would never know what they’d done.
They could twist the truth at will.
That made them terrifyingly cunning.
“Do you even know how many there are?”
Enemy numbers, levels, skills, abilities—none were properly assessed yet.
And he wanted to take them out?
“They could be hiding.”
Crucially, identifying the trolls was extremely difficult right now.
A tough situation all around.
El Pam had one thing to say about it.
“No problem.”
Absurd, from Kiri’s standpoint.
“Hey, don’t be too shocked.”
Dibo spoke to such a Kiri.
“The real shocks haven’t even started.”
“Huh?”
“When you’re with Boss, just give up thinking altogether.”
And so it was.
“From now on, Kiri and Dibo—you two will be bait.”
The moment she heard it, Kiri gave up thinking.
8.
When the 100-man Mystic Gate was discovered, and word reached Lith’s top ten merchant groups, William received his orders.
“Exterminate every adventurer inside the 100-man Mystic Gate.”
William harbored no doubts at the command.
“For the Black Mage, that great one.”
It was the decree of the great transcendent who would remake the world, the god who would set it right.
Nor did he question feasibility.
Not out of faith in the Black Mage.
“Fourteen will aid you. Comrades hidden throughout the top ten merchants will join.”
Fifteen traitors deployed in total.
That alone practically guaranteed success.
Just poisoning the comrades’ food would end it.
Cleanup after was no issue.
“We’ll eliminate all adventurers and emerge. Our stories will align: ‘We barely survived.’”
Fifteen survivors from various parties spinning the same tale? The world wouldn’t suspect a thing.
Of course, the biggest reason for zero doubt was that.
“Take this.”
He received the item.
“The Black Mage will aid you, William.”
A Unique-grade item.
“Your fire magic will shine even brighter.”
An item powerful enough to match a 3rd Circle adventurer as a 2nd Circle mage.
The moment he took it, failure was inconceivable to William.
That was why.
“H-How…….”
Facing death amid his comrades’ corpses, William’s eyes blazed fiercer than ever.
A man appeared before such a William.
And that man said,
“Fire Arrow.”
The last sound William heard.
9.
“Fire Arrow.”
With the word, a fiery arrow materialized above El Pam’s shoulder and plunged into William’s face.
No scream.
El Pam had hunted as many adventurers as monsters. In an era overrun by monsters, societal balance and morals collapsed, turning many adventurers into outlaws and plunderers. Survival meant hunting them.
And even more Black Mage followers.
He knew better than anyone how to kill them efficiently.
Not a pleasant skill. He hadn’t sought it.
Thus, El Pam felt nothing.
“Boss, you okay?”
“Fifteenth.”
“You got them all?”
“Yeah.”
Seeing El Pam’s impassive face, Dibo let out an involuntary chuckle.
Kiri looked like she’d forgotten how to speak.
That was how strong El Pam was.
“Truly impressive.”
“Fifteen. Weaker than expected.”
“Of course, Boss. They’re just snacks to you.”
Dibo couldn’t deny it.
El Pam wasn’t boasting or fishing for praise.
Killing Black Mage followers stirred no emotion in him.
Just cold analysis.
“They’re too weak to have planned this trolling.”
“Yes?”
To target Lith’s top ten merchants, they’d need a trump card.
That was why.
El Pam began stripping the dead William.
“You!”
Kiri reacted.
“What are you doing?”
As a Cygnus Knight, desecrating the dead violated her code—even enemies who’d tried to kill her.
That was knightly honor.
“This scale of trolling demands utmost certainty. They wouldn’t be certain with this level of power. They had to have a card giving them that certainty.”
El Pam was an adventurer.
The Last Adventurer, who’d faced the world’s end to the bitter finish.
‘Any card is needed.’
He wouldn’t pass up a chance at a valuable one.
No issue, either.
“Even so, desecrating the dead…….”
“Kiri, I’m the party leader. And the clear isn’t over.”
Kiri had neither power nor justification to stop him.
She fell silent, and El Pam stripped William bare.
Nothing special emerged.
Just a few items he’d used.
“No shoes with anything hidden?”
El Pam didn’t quit. No—if anything, the lack confirmed it.
“Then it’s under the skin.”
“Yes?”
“Sometimes items are hidden in the body. If it’s truly precious, nothing’s safer.”
A real trump card.
“Th-Then you plan to dissect him?”
“No need.”
Finding it required no great effort.
“I’ve got Mano.”
Squeak!
He had an excellent snail.
And Mano performed admirably. Climbing William’s body, it reached his right chest, then began dissolving the corpse with its acidic slime.
It extracted something feather-like from within and brought it to El Pam.
A bird’s feather.
From a bird with red plumage.
“Boss, what’s that?”
Nothing special about the feather.
But to El Pam, it was different.
He knew the instant he saw it.
‘A Phoenix Feather here, of all places.’
The Unique-grade item Phoenix Feather.
‘Boosts all fire magic power by 20% just by possessing it.’
Naturally, El Pam knew its effects well.
‘It saved my life thousands of times.’
Better than anyone.
“Unique-grade item.”
“Yes?”
“What?”
Dibo and Kiri gaped, stunned.
That feather—a Unique?
To the shocked pair, El Pam said calmly,
“Now, on to the next operation.”
Calmly.
“So we’re heading out now?”
“No.”
“Yes? Next operation? We got everyone here—only exiting left, right?”
“One more Unique-grade item remains.”
“One more? Don’t tell me?”
“Yeah. We hunt the boss monster.”
And so El Pam began the next hunt.