Chapter 37
Chapter 37
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 37
Chapter Title: Snow Yeti (1)
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037
Chapter 12. Snow Yeti (1)
1.
Igloo.
“Phew, now I can finally breathe easy.”
Dibo, Kiri, and Ralph were taking a rest inside the igloo.
It was quite a comfortable rest.
For starters, the inside of the igloo was warmer than anyone could imagine—far warmer. It wasn't hot enough to make you sweat, but to someone who had just endured brutal combat in the freezing cold, it felt like paradise.
“Kiri, mind if I ask a favor?”
“Spit it out.”
“Could I hug you for a bit?”
“W-what are you talking about?!”
“No, no, don't get the wrong idea. You're just warm from that Sun Stone or whatever it is. I wanna use you like a heater.”
On top of that, Kiri right here was emitting a fair amount of heat on her own, making the igloo even cozier.
Of course, just because the temperature was nice didn't mean everyone's mood was rosy.
“Get your head straight. This place is hell.”
As Kiri said, the place where they were adventuring right now deserved to be called hell.
It wasn't just because it was blanketed in snow or because Cold Eyes appeared.
Those two elements were no longer threats to them.
But they knew.
“No telling how many have failed already.”
If that was all there was to it—if the snow-covered world and the Cold Eyes were everything here—there was no way so many wounds would have been left behind.
There had to be a monster here incomparable to the Cold Eyes.
“There'll be corpses piled up like mountains.”
At Kiri's words, Ralph picked up the thread.
“There'll be items piled up just as high.”
Chilling words.
Dibo gave a wry smile at the eeriness.
“What the hell are you planning to do with all that money obsession? Huh? Buying some huge mansion? Or items? Or do you have family at home sick with Black Blood Disease?”
Ralph answered flatly to the question.
“Nothing like that.”
“What?”
An unexpected reply.
“If I had something I wanted to buy or family I needed to protect, there'd be no reason to risk my life for money like this. Those would be more precious.”
Dibo and Kiri had no more words after that answer.
Silence settled over the igloo.
Kyuu!
The one to break the silence was the snail Mano inside Kiri's armor.
The creature, which had been huddled in her armor to escape the cold, emerged now that warmth had returned.
Of course, it wasn't just because it was hot.
There was only one reason the snail Mano moved.
Kyuu!
“Hey, why'd you come out here?”
Kyuu!
“The floor? Here? No way?”
Only when it was time to hunt for items.
“And looks like there's a corpse under here?”
The items were usually on corpses.
At that moment, Ralph pulled a shovel from his pack as if he'd been waiting and started digging into the snow.
Scoosh!
The shoveling that began was at a divine level.
‘How much shoveling has he even done to get that good?’
It was hard to gauge the experience.
Thanks to that, Dibo, Kiri, and Ralph quickly uncovered it.
The corpse slumbering beneath the snow.
And the moment they saw it, everyone's faces—including Ralph's—froze solid.
“This guy?”
“Yeah. It's one of the adventurers who came in with us.”
It was a familiar face.
“And he's intact.”
On top of that, the corpse was in pristine condition. All limbs were attached.
That made their expressions harden even more.
“No bite marks.”
A corpse intact in the Cold Eyes' paradise?
“No wounds either.”
Not even a scratch visible.
Ralph was the first to provide the answer.
“Poison got him.”
That explained the lack of wounds and why not even a Cold Eye tongue had touched this plump corpse.
The moment they reached that conclusion, Dibo reacted first.
‘Danger.’
Dibo grabbed his polearm and bolted out of the igloo. He shouted.
“Boss! Danger! Get back here!”
He sent a warning toward El Pam, who was scouting the surroundings.
It was a dangerous move.
Yelling in a snow-blanketed forest full of Cold Eyes was tantamount to courting them.
Something no veteran adventurer would ever do—and Dibo knew it.
“Boss! We've got a troll here!”
Even so, Dibo didn't stop.
“It uses deadly poison!”
Warning El Pam took priority over his own life.
Dibo shouted desperately.
“Boss! Where are you?!”
“Right here.”
“Huh?”
In that instant, El Pam appeared behind Dibo.
“Boss?”
To the startled Dibo, El Pam said quietly.
“Don't make a racket.”
The warning from their first meeting.
“Ah, no, I mean, Boss.”
Dibo finally lowered his voice.
Of course, he couldn't stop talking.
“Big trouble! We found a corpse—it's an adventurer who came in with us. Poisoned.”
The situation was extremely urgent.
“One of our adventurers is doing trolls again, just like before!”
It was enough to get anyone worked up.
“I know.”
“Huh?”
But El Pam's words chilled Dibo to the bone.
“Y-you knew?”
“On my way back from handling it.”
“Huh?”
His mind froze at those follow-up words.
It was that shocking.
“H-how?”
“It was tailing us.”
“Us?”
The moment he heard that, Dibo's chilled expression twisted fiercely.
He caught on immediately.
“Did one of us leave tracks?”
In this snow-covered world that hid even corpses, a pursuer latching on this easily was impossible without someone deliberately leaving trails for them.
Pinpointing who was simple.
Dibo glared at Ralph.
“I left them.”
Ralph spat out the truth under that gaze.
“They said they'd pay if I left tracks.”
“You goddamn bastard! Money's nice and all, but selling out your comrades? What the hell's wrong with your head? How much did they pay?”
“Five million mesos.”
“Five million?”
“Five million just as a down payment, and I took it. Split it halfsies with the leader.”
“Leader? That fucking who… Huh?”
El Pam gladly told Dibo, who whipped his head around to stare at him.
“I ordered it.”
El Pam had anticipated the Kania Merchant Group contacting Ralph to buy him off.
So he'd told Ralph.
Say okay if they make an offer.
In exchange, split the profits halfsies.
Of course, it wasn't because he coveted the profits.
“Ah, no, Boss? Why?”
“Nothing beats having pursuers follow the tracks Ralph leaves.”
It was the perfect way to lure the Kania Merchant Group's assassins.
From El Pam's perspective, there was no reason to refuse.
Realizing that, Dibo stared blankly at El Pam, words frozen on his tongue.
To such a Dibo, El Pam said.
“Situation's cleared up. We're the only adventurer party left in this snow hell. The rest are wiped out.”
The current state of affairs.
“There were at least fifty parties of adventurers who came here—over five hundred people. But none found the exit. That means the exit condition is likely killing the boss monster.”
El Pam's summary of the dire situation was grim.
“And the boss monster here is probably a Snow Yeti, though not certain.”
He put the worst possible period at the end of that grimness.
“Snow Yeti? You mean that monster from the El Nath Mountains? The bigfoot with the huge build?”
“Similar, but different. Think mutant Yeti. Especially notable for its vitality.”
“Regeneration beyond common sense?”
“Think of it as using a heal skill in real time.”
At that explanation, not only Dibo and Kiri but even Ralph's face stiffened rigidly.
They knew.
Just how powerful a heal skill was—they'd all experienced it firsthand.
Any wound short of losing a limb could be healed with it.
And it used that heal skill in real time?
Meaning it was impossible to kill with ordinary attacks.
“The Snow Yeti's skin is just like snow. Impossible to spot it with the naked eye when it's in the snow. Plus, it's smart. If things don't go its way, it'll run without looking back.”
A monster with such abilities that knew how to flee? Even nightmare didn't cover it.
“Not certain.”
Of course, El Pam's words were mere speculation.
“Need to grasp the situation more to know details.”
El Pam knew it was true, but that was from his perspective.
Unless he revealed he was a regressor and proved it, his comrades couldn't be sure.
But certainty didn't matter.
The adventurers dying here proved it.
“Either way, there's some insane monster here.”
Surviving this place wouldn't be easy.
“So, Boss, you got a plan?”
The only way out was El Pam—and following his lead.
And El Pam had a plan.
“Won't be easy to catch it with magic or physical attacks. Even if you damage it, it'll flee if the wounds get deep. The moment you chase it there, Cold Eyes will swarm.”
“Swords no good, spears no good, Boss's magic no good—what do we use?”
“Poison.”
Ralph's eyes went wide at that.
“Poison? Leader, you can use poison-attribute magic too?”
Ralph had never seen El Pam use poison-attribute magic.
No wonder he was shocked.
He already used fire and telekinesis magic—now poison too?
A talent for three attributes was one in ten thousand mages.
“Not like the Boss is Boss for nothing.”
Dibo grinned at Ralph's shock.
“So how do we use poison magic? Like before, condense poison mist and make it inhale?”
“Won't work against Snow Yeti.”
“Huh? Then how?”
“Inject poison directly into its body.”
With those words, El Pam pulled out a ring.
“Coat Cold Beam with poison and lodge it in its body.”
The ring item enchanted with the Cold Beam spell.
“Cold Beam?”
“You can use ice-attribute magic too?”
Kiri and Dibo's faces matched Ralph's in shock.
They were floored.
Four attributes on top of three?
‘Four attributes?’
They'd heard of only one such case.
‘Only the mages' master, Heinz?’
The curator of the magic library in Ellinia, the city of magic and fairies—the teacher to all mage adventurers, Heinz!
He was the only one in Maple World with talent for four-attribute magic.
Of course, El Pam's talent differed from the mages' master Heinz.
All Master—superior even to that.
But El Pam didn't bother explaining.
Even if he told them now that he could use other attributes, it wouldn't help in the fight.
‘It'll move soon.’
Above all, El Pam knew.
‘I set the baited trap.’
A signal would come.
And as El Pam predicted, the signal came.
Kraaaaa!
A colossal roar incomparable to any Cold Eye shook the snow-blanketed hell.
“Snow Yeti. That's definitely it.”