Chapter 54
Chapter 54
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 54
Chapter Title: Martyr (1)
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1.
The unknown was more dangerous to an adventurer than anything else.
In that sense, the Mystic Gate was the most perilous place for any adventurer.
And yet, adventurers ventured beyond the Mystic Gate for one simple belief.
“The gate’s rank is the highest difficulty you’ll face.”
The Mystic Gate had ranks.
“No matter how tough an Orange rank is, you won’t encounter a Yellow-rank monster.”
And the Mystic Gate had never betrayed that belief.
That was why.
Why renowned adventurers of Maple World like Captain Kairin, heroes, and leaders of massive forces like the Nautilus—those bearing the heaviest responsibilities—could set off into the Mystic Gate.
As long as that rule held, they were confident they wouldn’t die.
But there were beings that could shatter that rule.
‘Martyrs.’
Those beings could alter the difficulty inside the Mystic Gate through an act of martyrdom.
They could strengthen monsters, evolve them, cast zombie curses, or the like.
They made the impossible happen for that rank.
Their purpose was simple.
‘A scheme by the Black Mage’s followers to kill adventurers.’
To slay adventurers.
Nothing strange about it.
The Mystic Gate itself was a trap created by the Black Mage’s followers for his resurrection.
A trap to exterminate all adventurers, Resistance members, knights, and hunters—to prevent the Six Heroes from sealing the Black Mage again!
So they designed it that way.
They dangled bait and established rules. That way, adventurers would venture in.
Then they created Martyrs to dismantle those rules.
Thud!
The ten-meter-tall giant swamp mud monster charging toward El Pam’s party was the result of a Martyr’s martyrdom.
It had spawned a monster that could never appear in an Orange-rank Mystic Gate.
Of course, El Pam knew.
‘Only the core executives among the Black Mage’s followers can become Martyrs.’
Martyrs weren’t something you could use casually.
They were that rare.
‘To become a Martyr, you have to withstand the Black Mage’s magic.’
One key requirement was the ability to wield black magic.
To be precise, it was more like being a vessel.
Very few could truly wield black magic to begin with.
The Martyrs here were those who could contain the Black Mage’s magic in their bodies and release it.
Such talent was exceedingly rare.
Out of ten thousand with magical aptitude, maybe six or seven.
And that wasn’t the end.
Among those, even fewer could advance their circles.
Using a Martyr meant you were desperate to kill your target.
‘If they could use them freely, they’d have done it to me by now.’
Even Evoc, the owner of the Kania Merchant Group who desperately wanted El Pam dead, hadn’t played that card.
‘They were dead set on killing Jack Rich.’
In other words, Jack Rich was worth that effort.
Here, El Pam paused to consider.
‘Jack Rich isn’t that impressive an adventurer.’
The Jack Rich El Pam knew wasn’t particularly special, aside from his father being Gold Rich.
To the Black Mage’s followers, he wasn’t worth a Martyr.
But there was an answer.
His father being Gold Rich.
‘The biggest beneficiary if Jack Rich dies would be Gold Rich Junior, right?’
Jack Rich’s death meant Gold Rich Junior inheriting everything.
‘Something’s brewing, centered around the Goldrich Merchant Group.’
The picture came into focus.
Thud!
“Boss!”
But that picture wasn’t important right now.
“What do we do?”
What mattered was El Pam’s decision facing that monster.
“Right now, treat that thing as a Yellow-rank boss monster.”
At El Pam’s words, everyone’s faces hardened.
Its size alone screamed Yellow rank, but they’d held out hope otherwise.
If El Pam said it, though, it was Yellow rank.
And if it was Yellow rank, there was only one choice.
‘We can’t take it. How do you take a Yellow rank?’
Run.
And it wasn’t just any Yellow rank.
El Pam had said it clearly: Yellow-rank boss monster.
Something that required a party of 4th-Circle-plus adventurers—dozens strong—to hunt.
Fight that?
Forget fighting; even escaping wouldn’t be easy.
‘If it’s a boss...’
Still, they had hope in El Pam.
To that hope, El Pam said,
“We retreat.”
2.
Thud!
Escaping the swamp against a giant swamp mud monster was no easy feat.
But El Pam’s party was the exception.
Whoosh!
With El Pam’s telekinesis, they could easily mislead its attacks.
Thud!
Fooled by El Pam’s trick, the giant swamp mud monster lurched in the opposite direction from the party.
But that wasn’t the end.
“From now on, move as slowly as possible.”
El Pam moved sluggishly, like a turtle.
It was common sense.
The swamp stage wasn’t for sprinting, no matter how much you wanted to, and reckless movement risked aggroing nearby monsters.
So El Pam’s party moved in silence.
But their minds were more chaotic and busy than ever.
‘What do we do now?’
El Pam’s party had always had faith. Faith that El Pam could handle anything.
But now, the situation was different.
‘In this absurd scenario?’
A Yellow-rank monster in an Orange-rank Mystic Gate.
The rules had broken.
Even faith in El Pam had to waver.
The only hope left was one.
‘If only we stumble on the exit.’
But expectations for that hope were slim.
El Pam knew.
‘If it were that easy, Jack Rich’s party wouldn’t have died.’
Jack Rich’s party, trapped here before, must have thought and tried the same.
Yet they died.
El Pam’s party could guess what that meant.
And that guess soon became reality.
Kyuu!
“There’s a clearing over there.”
Following the snail manno, El Pam’s party spotted a clearing about a thousand pyeong in size.
Not sinking swamp, but solid ground.
Good fortune.
In this hellhole, a stage for proper combat and rest.
But no one smiled at the sight.
“A pile of corpses.”
The rotting bodies announced this as none other than Jack Rich’s party’s tomb.
And the state of those rotting corpses was gruesome.
Like ants crushed by a human—limbs mangled, items smashed, nothing intact.
A brutally惨 sight.
‘That monster did this.’
El Pam’s party could easily picture it.
Jack Rich’s party crushed without resistance by the over-ten-meter swamp mud monster.
“They must have made this their last stand.”
The worst part: nowhere to run.
This thousand-pyeong island afloat in the swamp was the only decent stage for Jack Rich’s party to fight.
Leaving it was suicide, nothing more or less.
And that applied to El Pam’s party too.
If they fought, it had to be here.
So if they died fighting, this would be their grave.
That was when.
Kyuu!
The snail manno suddenly scurried toward one spot.
At the end lay one gruesomely crushed corpse.
“This one’s items are intact?”
Unlike the others, whose equipped items were smashed, this one’s were fine.
The meaning was clear.
“Unique rank, right? Then...?”
This corpse’s owner was Jack Rich.
El Pam stood before Jack Rich’s body.
He first picked up the helmet.
The moment he saw it, El Pam’s eyes narrowed.
‘Achilles’ Helmet.’
A Unique item El Pam knew.
‘Boosts the wearer’s combat prowess by 30 percent. A warrior’s item.’
Impressive.
Next came the armor.
‘This is Theseus’ Armor.’
Another impressive piece.
‘Accelerates the wearer’s movements.’
Boosts movement and attack speed by 30 percent each upon equipping—an item even 5th- and 6th-Circle adventurers couldn’t get.
And it didn’t end there.
Inside Theseus’ Armor, El Pam found two feathers.
‘Pegasus’ Wing Feathers.’
Two items, each boosting movement speed by 10 percent.
Honestly, El Pam was impressed.
‘Warrants the “expensive adventurer” label.’
Beyond impressive for a 3rd-Circle adventurer—ruthlessly top-tier gear.
Of course, El Pam couldn’t use them.
“All warrior gear.”
Jack Rich was a warrior adventurer. His items had to be warrior-focused.
“Nothing the boss can use?”
El Pam’s party’s faces hardened at that.
Their only reliable asset here was El Pam. If he couldn’t power up...
That was when.
Examining Jack Rich’s crushed body, El Pam noticed the clenched fist.
Prying it open revealed a note.
El Pam read the note Jack Rich had gripped with his dying strength, and his eyes narrowed.
“Boss, what’s it say?”
To Dibo’s question, El Pam answered.
“Searched for an exit for ten straight days, but none. Exit trigger seems to be hunting the boss monster. That’s it.”
Dibo and the others’ faces hardened again.
They’d hoped.
Maybe Jack Rich’s party was just unlucky, and an exit existed plainly.
“In my view, no exit here either.”
But now that hope was gone.
As Jack Rich’s note said, they had to kill the boss monster—that absurd giant swamp mud monster—to leave.
Leaving was impossible.
Faced with that, El Pam’s party surprisingly stayed composed.
Adventurers all faced death someday, always prepared for it.
Only possible because it was El Pam’s party.
Most adventurers would panic and turn on each other.
Composure meant strong mental fortitude.
‘Yeah, thanks to Boss, I fixed my sister and saved enough to live on after I die.’
‘It was a life meant to end anyway. Made it this far.’
‘It was my choice, damn it. No other way?’
Dibo, Kiri, and Miner’s resolve was exceptional.
“Leader.”
Ralp stood out most.
“How do we split the items?”
“Split?”
“Unique items fetch insane prices. Can’t just divvy them up, right?”
His money talk even here left the other three dumbfounded.
“We’re all goners, what’s money...”
What use was money in death?
“Dibo takes all three.”
“Boss?”
But El Pam gladly explained to Ralp.
“All three. Better one person uses them fully than splitting.”
“Then what about my share?”
“In exchange, Dibo gets no cut from Mystic Gate profits from now on.”
Give to Dibo, but make him pay for it.
“Boss, for real?”
“You’re the only one who can use them properly. If not, I’ll offer to Kiri.”
Dibo chuckled at the question.
“I’ll take them. Get to use a Unique before dying—no regrets. How much?”
“Three billion mesos total.”
“Huh?”
Dibo’s eyes widened at the sum.
“W-what? How much?”
“Three billion mesos. Could be worth more. Other members, objections? Ralp, you?”
“Then I get 75 million mesos from Dibo from now on?”
“Yes.”
“Fine by me.”
“Others? No objections in five seconds means accepted.”
In those five seconds, Kiri and Miner just blinked. Then El Pam looked at Dibo.
“Only your say left, Dibo. Worth three billion mesos. Taking them?”
Dibo let out a hollow laugh.
Normally, he’d refuse. Three billion in debt? Lifetime free labor?
But not now.
“Sure, deal. What’s a bounced check when we’re dying anyway.”
The debt meant nothing.
Everything was meaningless now.
So they all thought.
‘Boss is doing this on purpose, to shift the mood.’
El Pam knew it was pointless but did it for morale.
Crucial.
The slimmest hope required desperate clinging to grasp.
And El Pam’s words lightened the mood.
Hardened faces softened.
“Now we hunt the giant swamp mud monster.”
When El Pam said that, they smiled instead of grimacing.
“Yeah, gotta. While we’ve got strength.”
“Let’s do it.”
“Can’t get paid if we don’t get out, so we make it happen.”
“Let’s see how far we can go.”
To those smiles, El Pam said,
“Dibo pulls aggro on the giant swamp mud monster. Kiri, Ralp, Miner support him. Your job: keep its attention while I attack.”
Everyone nodded.
Simple plan.
Only one issue.
“So how many minutes do we hold?”
El Pam pondered, and so did they.
‘Killing that thing takes at least ten minutes.’
How long for El Pam to kill it?
‘Maybe 30 minutes, an hour, or more.’
They assumed the worst.
Makes sense.
Destroying the magic stone in a ten-meter giant would take thousands of hits.
Even one per second: a thousand seconds is over 15 minutes.
El Pam solo?
Plus his mana limits. A thousand casts? Impossible.
They concluded: whatever time, impossible.
‘But we’ll do it anyway.’
No saying impossible.
To them, El Pam raised a hand.
Spread all five fingers wide.
“50 minutes?”
“50’s tough.”
“75 million for 50 minutes? Not bad.”
“I could fight all day; 50’s a joke. Trust me!”
They smiled leisurely at the math. El Pam tilted his head.
“You’re talking nonsense.”
“Huh?”
“Not 50 minutes.”
“Boss?”
Dibo asked in surprise.
“Then five hours?”
“Five hours? Impossible to fight that long.”
El Pam frowned slightly at the question.
“Five minutes. Hold five minutes, and I’ll kill it.”