Chapter 76
Chapter 76
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 76
Chapter Title: Luminous's Collection (1)
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1.
“As I said, from this moment on, I’ll be coming for you. Your lives.”
Common sense dictated it was a joke.
The kind of quip tossed out to lighten the mood, something you’d snort at the moment you heard it—utterly unworthy of being taken seriously.
But the moment they heard it, El Pam’s companions wore identical expressions.
They were all taking it completely seriously.
In other words, El Pam’s companions knew.
‘The boss means it.’
That El Pam wasn’t the type to crack jokes like that.
‘Our shortcomings are real enough.’
Far from jokes, El Pam’s party members were well aware of what they lacked.
Objectively speaking, El Pam’s party members were exceptionally talented.
Even excluding El Pam, the remaining four had dazzling resumes.
Miner was a disciple acknowledged by Captain Kairin, Kiri possessed talent recognized by the Cygnus Knights, and Ralph had abilities beyond measure.
And Dibo, overshadowed only by El Pam, had shown tremendous growth—a true genius.
Their astonishing growth rates were proof.
‘What we lack is experience.’
In other words, they hadn’t had enough time to accumulate experience matching their level of growth.
Of course, that wouldn’t normally be an issue.
They could cover for a lack of experience with talent.
‘Especially fighting other adventurers.’
The real problem was that while El Pam’s party excelled at monster hunting, they had no experience in battles against fellow adventurers.
Truth be told, this wasn’t unique to El Pam’s party.
Adventurers generally avoided fighting each other.
Far from just avoiding it, the Adventurers’ Association outright banned infighting through various means.
Even the Association, which rarely intervened in adventurers’ affairs, slapped bounties on trolls and adventurer killers without hesitation.
As a result, adventurers naturally had almost no experience fighting each other.
And honestly, it wasn’t a huge problem.
Most adventurers never had reason to fight one another.
But El Pam’s party was different.
‘We can’t just brush it off anymore.’
From now on, they’d face more adventurers as enemies than monsters.
Which meant it was time for training.
“Yes, we knew this day would come.”
That’s why Dibo accepted El Pam’s proposal without a hint of hesitation.
Nor was he the only one.
“This’ll be fun.”
“Let’s give it a shot. Might be a letdown, though.”
They all accepted willingly.
“What’ll you give us if we win?”
In fact, they were already prepared for this exact scenario.
“Right, boss! A plain fight’s no fun—let’s make a bet.”
They even had confidence.
“Gotta wager money to make it exciting, right?”
They knew El Pam was amazing, but they were confident they wouldn’t go down easy.
“A bet... Fine.”
To them, El Pam held up a single finger.
“If you survive, I’ll give you 100 million mesos.”
“For a day?”
El Pam happily demonstrated.
“No. Ten minutes.”
“Pardon?”
“Then let’s begin.”
What hell truly was.
2.
Prince Kasha considered survival the most crucial virtue when hiring adventurers.
It went without saying.
From his perspective, he wasn’t after boss monster corpses or items.
Of course, he hadn’t focused solely on survival skills. He’d vetted their abilities too.
In the end, he’d selected only the finest adventurers.
The kind who could clear a 300-man Yellow-grade gate—the highest difficulty—with ease.
A 99-man gate? They’d laugh it off.
Thud!
But now those adventurers lay fallen.
Not laughing, but with faces twisted in agony.
No exceptions.
Every dead adventurer wore the same expression.
It was proof.
“Death confirmed.”
Proof they’d all been killed by the same person.
“As always, Lord Meo’s poison is extraordinary.”
The killer’s name was Meo.
No widely known name.
It couldn’t be.
“No one targeted by Killerbee has ever survived.”
Killerbee.
Not a single survivor among those who’d faced that moniker. No witnesses.
That was Killerbee Meo’s prowess.
For starters, his poison magic was devastatingly potent.
“They couldn’t possibly survive. It’s unavoidable poison.”
But the scariest part? His poison magic struck its target with unerring precision.
“How do you dodge a poison arrow chasing you with telekinesis?”
Killerbee Meo’s telekinesis-guided poison arrows zipped toward their marks at blinding speed, hitting dead-on.
Like bees.
That’s how he earned the Killerbee nickname.
“And the stage was perfect.”
Moreover, this place—the third floor—was a dense jungle.
Rustle!
A tangled jungle where even a whisper of wind sowed chaos.
Bzzz!
Filled with insect buzzes and every manner of noise.
Dodging Killerbee Meo’s telekinesis arrows in such a setting was practically impossible.
And crucially, Killerbee Meo wasn’t alone.
Ten companions moved with him, all extensions of his will.
Like worker bees serving their queen.
“How many left?”
Their diligent bee-like hunt of adventurers was nearing its end.
“Five.”
Just one party remaining.
“Day seven.”
Today marked the final day of the seven-day cutoff Prince Kasha had set.
Even if they cleared the Mystic Gate tomorrow, it’d be as good as death.
In short, Killerbee’s party just needed to wait out the remaining day here.
At this point, it was as good as over.
Everyone was convinced in their minds.
‘They probably died on the second or first floor.’
Those five were no different from dead.
‘If not, they couldn’t have stayed hidden on the third floor this long.’
In a scenario aimed at the fastest clear, reaching day seven without appearing on the third meant lacking the skill—and in a Mystic Gate, that meant death.
No reason for tension.
And crucially, Killerbee Meo had it.
‘Luminous’s bracelet.’
A special item received for this job.
‘An absurd item.’
Its power was such that even Luminous, the great mage, had kept it in his collection.
‘My telekinesis gets a full upgrade just by wearing it.’
Simply equipping it boosted telekinesis by a whole level.
Absurd.
Not mere efficiency like reduced mana cost—this elevated the ability itself.
Like a 3rd Circle adventurer becoming 4th Circle.
That’s why Luminous hadn’t used it despite his telekinesis mastery.
Too powerful to release into the world.
That was the reason.
‘No one in this Yellow-grade Mystic Gate can surpass me now.’
That’s why Killerbee Meo brimmed with unprecedented confidence.
That’s when it happened.
“Lord Meo.”
“What is it?”
“The trap at the third-floor entrance has been triggered.”
The final prey had appeared.
3.
A jungle thick with underbrush.
El Pam’s party, emerging into it, halted and stared at the ground.
Nothing unusual met their eyes.
But to El Pam’s party, it was different.
“There’s a trap.”
Between the trees stretched an impossibly faint thread, invisible to most—but clear to them.
An exquisitely crafted trap.
Not just placed, but positioned with light angles in mind, making it incredibly hard to spot.
Even seasoned adventurers might pass it without notice.
“Amateurish.”
But Dibo snorted at the sight.
He’d seen plenty.
“Compared to the boss.”
Countless truly ingenious traps.
And no wonder—El Pam’s trap-setting skills were on another level from other adventurers.
It made sense.
In impossible situations, he’d done whatever it took to hunt.
Become a jack-of-all-trades.
Traps included.
They had to be perfect. Otherwise, pointless.
“Countless times we fell for them.”
Dibo and the others had faced death hundreds of times from such traps.
To them, this one was laughable.
That’s when it happened.
Splat!
El Pam deliberately stepped on the trap.
Twang!
The thread snapped with a faint sound.
El Pam had triggered it on purpose.
But his companions didn’t flinch.
Instead, their eyes narrowed.
They knew.
“You’re luring them out on purpose.”
El Pam’s intent.
“Exactly.”
Just as they guessed.
El Pam meant to bait the adventurer hunters here by triggering the trap.
Of course, he knew.
“Those who set this aren’t amateurs. They have the skill to oppose Prince Kasha without hesitation.”
These adventurer hunters were no pushovers.
Revealing their presence could be far more dangerous than imagined.
“And we don’t know who they are, their abilities, or how many there are.”
At present, El Pam’s party had zero intel on them.
Triggering the trap deliberately was thus extremely risky.
Beyond common sense.
Normally, El Pam wouldn’t touch it first.
He’d be fine, but his companions might not.
In other words, this wasn’t normal.
“Right. No problem.”
“Yeah, what’s the issue?”
“Boss, who cares?”
His companions stated clearly.
“Compared to you, it’s child’s play.”
Their foes would be laughable next to the El Pam they’d faced these past days.
Not baseless bravado.
“Of course. Child’s play.”
On the first floor, that Lupin-infested hell, the four companions sans El Pam had experienced it.
“Died over a thousand times.”
What hell was.
“Couldn’t last a minute at first.”
“All four of us dying at once.”
“To a trap, no less.”
But it wasn’t just surviving hell that bred this confidence.
“130th try, we hit ten minutes?”
They’d done it.
“Later, we even lasted an hour.”
They’d reached the point of surviving an hour against El Pam.
Tremendous.
Holding off the Last Adventurer for an hour.
And the proof—the fruit of that desperation, punching through hell—was on their wrists.
“Unlocked 4th Circle then.”
Four rings.
That’s when it happened.
“Boss, something’s coming.”
At Dibo’s words, El Pam’s party turned.
Swoosh!
And they heard it.
Something approaching them.
The moment they did, everyone’s faces hardened.
“This?”
They knew it well.
“Sounds like telekinesis launching magic arrows.”