Chapter 34
Chapter 34
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 34
Chapter Title: Snow Hell (1)
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1.
Dealer, tank, supporter—adventurer parties were largely divided into three positions.
The supporter role, true to its name, provided support, and anyone could fill it, whether warrior, mage, archer, thief, or pirate.
But in practice, it was usually bishops—namely healers and buffers—who took on the supporter role.
Naturally, everyone thought the same.
“The supporter is someone you have to protect until the very end. More precious than anyone else. More valuable than your own life.”
You had to protect the supporter with your whole body.
In other words, supporters were treated as fragile beings who couldn’t protect themselves alone.
And that was exactly the case.
“Healing and buff skills consume more mana and have longer cooldowns than other skills.”
For starters, the skills bishops used took a considerable amount of time to cast.
Take the most basic 1st Circle skill, Heal—it had a casting time of about 10 seconds.
That was no short amount of time. In the heat of battle, 10 seconds could decide whether an adventurer lived or died.
Casting also demanded intense concentration.
So it was hard to do anything else while casting.
Even moving was difficult.
Moving during a cast was like balancing a cup of water on your head.
The more vigorous the movement, the higher the chance of spilling the water.
On top of that, a bishop casting Heal meant a party member was bleeding or wounded.
Unlike other magic or skills, where you could try again if you failed, there was no second chance when treating an injured comrade.
That meant even more reason to fear failure.
Even without that.
“Bishops don’t sweat. And they don’t bother trying to.”
Bishops, always treated like nobility within the party, had no reason to push themselves.
It couldn’t be helped.
Adventurers valued their own lives just as much as anyone else.
But there was always an exception to every rule.
There were those with talent enough to dance without spilling the cup on their head.
Those who could fight better than most warriors on top of that.
Those who gladly enjoyed the fight.
And there was one who possessed all three.
Ralph was that one.
For starters, he fought better than most warriors.
Pow!
It wasn’t just good fighting technique.
Kieee!
From the mouth of the Evil Eye—that ferocious monster—came a scream as its teeth scattered under his fist.
It hit harder than a decent hammer blow.
Dazed by Ralph’s attack, the Evil Eye naturally didn’t see Dibo’s massive polearm coming down on its head.
Crack!
Dibo split the Evil Eye’s head clean in two in one stroke.
“Heal.”
Even amid such fierce attacks, Ralph didn’t fail his skill cast.
“Come on in!”
And Ralph enjoyed this situation.
It wasn’t just talk.
A massive grin spread across Ralph’s rugged face.
“This is all money, money!”
At that smile, Dibo and Kiri felt chills rather than amusement.
‘Crazy for battle?’
‘He’s not right in the head. Definitely.’
Sane in every other way.
But Dibo and Kiri agreed on one thing.
‘Crazy bastard, but no joke.’
‘Never seen a supporter like this, even in the knights.’
Ralph was an exceptional supporter.
Of course, El Pam knew of Ralph’s abilities.
‘It’s not just that he fights well. His real value is moving on the front lines.’
Moreover, what made Ralph’s skills remarkable was how they upended conventional adventurer strategies.
Most parties placed supporters in the rear, in safe spots, while dealers and tanks fought up front.
When damage occurred, they’d pull the dealers and tanks back.
The lives and time lost in that process were far more costly than anyone realized.
‘It’s adventures now, but in three years, it’ll be nothing but war.’
Especially after monsters poured out of the Mystic Gates—the world would be far more brutal than anyone imagined.
In such a brutal world, a supporter like Ralph who could fight on the front lines shone even brighter.
‘Just three years.’
That was why El Pam didn’t stop.
‘Not much time left.’
When he thought about what needed to be done, there was no room for slacking here.
So El Pam said it.
“Now we hunt for real.”
At those words, Dibo, Kiri, and Ralph all looked around simultaneously.
Countless Evil Eye corpses came into view.
Kyuing!
Mano scurrying busily among the Evil Eye corpses, cracking open magic stones.
Seeing that, the three looked at El Pam with puzzled expressions.
“No, Boss, what have we been doing until now?”
Dibo spoke up, and the other two nodded.
They’d been hunting harder than any party, and now it was time for the real hunt?
To that question, El Pam replied.
“What we’ve done so far was just syncing up.”
The real hunt was beginning.
2.
There were a few key differences in攻略ing Red-grade and Orange-grade Mystic Gates.
One was the攻略 speed.
“Finish the first adventure as fast as possible.”
From Orange-grade Mystic Gates on, adventurers faced a time limit.
“Before supplies run out.”
Because no one knew how long the adventure might last.
So when攻略ing Orange-grade gates, most focused on finding the first exit.
And once found, they moved to the next adventure as quickly as possible.
“Day six.”
Yet El Pam’s party had been on their first adventure for a full six days.
And it wasn’t just any adventure.
It was a massacre hunt, wiping out countless Evil Eyes.
Frankly, it was insane.
No matter how capable a party, stamina had limits.
And there was nothing more dangerous for adventurers than reaching those limits.
Yet they could pull it off for a simple reason.
“Alright, now get some solid rest.”
No sooner had El Pam spoken than the other three collapsed like puppets with cut strings and fell asleep.
That was the reason it was possible.
Everyone could fall into deep sleep at El Pam’s word.
Normally, that would’ve been impossible.
Fall deeply asleep in a Mystic Gate, not knowing what lay beyond?
That was begging for death.
But El Pam made it possible.
He proved it was safe to trust him and sleep soundly.
It wasn’t just because he showed superhuman combat prowess.
Even with a lion nearby, you couldn’t sleep deeply—El Pam demonstrated the ability to secure safety.
Reading monster habits and terrain to find safe spots, detecting and responding to threats.
Even sensing monsters before the monsters sensed each other.
From El Pam’s perspective, it wasn’t anything special. In the world three years from now, all survivors had it.
Precisely, those without it couldn’t survive.
Those who couldn’t fully recover their strength through rest eventually broke and died.
That was why some surviving adventurers could sleep soundly even with monsters rampaging right nearby.
Of course, among them, El Pam’s abilities were unmatched.
The Last Adventurer—that was proof.
Snooore……
Under El Pam’s protection, the three fell into deep slumber.
But it was deep sleep, not long sleep.
Soon enough, they woke one by one.
“Boss.”
Dibo was first.
“No matter how I look at him, he’s a madman.”
Opening his eyes, Dibo stuck out his tongue at Ralph.
“His eyes glaze over every time he sees a monster. ‘That one’s worth this much, that one’s worth that much.’ Ah, sure, I like money too, but this guy’s actually insane for it.”
El Pam replied.
“Money’s clear-cut.”
“Huh?”
“With money, you can precisely calculate how hard the adventure was, how many you’ve done.”
“Well……”
“And it’s better to be crazy for money.”
As he spoke, El Pam recalled it.
The Black Mage, and how the world had ended up because of lunatics obsessed with that distant being.
“Yeah, fair point.”
Dibo nodded in agreement.
“So, Boss, when do we head to the second adventure?”
Naturally, the next question followed.
“Could you give us a rough idea of when we’ll move? Just hunting Evil Eyes is starting to drive me nuts.”
To that, El Pam answered.
“We can go now.”
“Huh?”
Dibo was startled by the sudden reply. El Pam looked at Dibo’s left wrist and said.
“You’ve hit 2nd Circle.”
“2nd Circle? Who? Huh? Huh? Huh!”
Only then did Dibo notice the second black ring on his wrist. His face filled with shock.
“I’m 2nd Circle? When did that happen? Whoa! Boss! I’m 2nd Circle! I jumped straight up!”
The commotion woke the sleeping Ralph and Kiri simultaneously.
“Everyone’s up.”
The rest was over. They’d all rested deeply enough.
“Time for the next adventure.”
Ralph and Kiri looked pleased at that.
Endless Evil Eye hunting had worn on them too.
Dibo was the most thrilled.
“Let’s go, Boss! Let’s sweep ’em clean!”
He looked eager to unleash the intense power surging through him.
Frankly, it was a dangerous state.
Getting drunk on power you couldn’t fully control was like handing a sharp knife to a child.
“Now we look for the exit.”
But El Pam didn’t try to cool Dibo down.
“Boss, there’s the exit over there.”
“Huh? Boss?”
No need.
“What the hell, why are there so many scratches?”
The moment they saw the exit gate to the second adventure stage, covered in scratches, Dibo and the others felt their blood run cold.
“One, two…… over fifty just at a glance?”
“Is this a joke?”
Dibo was shocked, Kiri suspicious.
It was that incomprehensible. Unless someone was pranking them.
“Who’d pull a stunt like this for fun?”
But no adventurer in this world would joke around like that.
No reason to.
Playing pranks on adventurers already inside a Mystic Gate gained nothing.
Meaning the scratches were real.
It meant that many adventurers had ventured to the second adventure beyond this gate.
The bigger problem: not one of those many adventurers had returned to the next stage—or the world.
“Didn’t they say only three failures max?”
A perfectly suitable Mystic Gate for a skill test had instantly turned into an unprecedented hell of difficulty.
In that moment, Dibo, Kiri, and Ralph all froze.
Their minds reeled.
El Pam, however, was different.
He said calmly.
“We’re going in.”
The three, faces stiff, protested.
“Boss, it’s dangerous.”
“The number of scratches isn’t small. Going like this is suicide.”
“Doesn’t seem like something to decide in a rush.”
All three tried to stop El Pam, but he looked at them and said.
“Will answers come if we wait?”
The iron rule every adventurer should hold.
With that, El Pam stepped through the Mystic Gate without hesitation.
The other three followed without delay.
Thus, El Pam’s party arrived in the land of the second adventure.
“……Fuck, Boss, what do we do?”
Whoooosh!
“It’s a blizzard.”
What greeted them was a forest buried in snow.