Chapter 83
Chapter 83
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 83
Chapter Title: 27. Human Hunter (2)
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2.
Ariant Kingdom's royal castle.
The place that had always been bustling with the festivals thrown by Abdullah VIII.
“Wowww!”
Right now, it was filled with even hotter fervor than during any of those festivals.
Countless adventurers were radiating heat, and the intensity of that heat made even the sunlight pouring down on the Ariant Kingdom pale in comparison.
Of course, not all adventurers were like that.
Some adventurers' expressions had grown colder than ever.
They stared coldly at the paper scattered from the sky, the clue pointing to the location of the prince's tomb.
The day the sky turned black, the place a star had visited, where the reddest flower among them had bloomed.
The adventurers' minds were complicated as they gazed at the clue.
Honestly, it was too vague.
“If the day the sky turned black means night...”
“The place a star visited—does that mean where a meteor fell?”
“A red flower bloomed? There are only one or two red flowers?”
And there was that.
“It seems related to Ariant Kingdom's history, but who knows that stuff these days?”
In the past, adventurers had to study history.
What adventurers sought were ruins and legacies from the unpublicized past, and to know them, they had no choice but to study history.
But modern adventurers were different.
“It's an era where conquering Mystic Gates is all that matters.”
An era where knowing how to hunt monsters solved everything.
Naturally, it was an era where studying history was irrelevant.
So everyone racked their brains before the visible clue.
“The day the sky turned black refers to the time the Black Mage appeared.”
Of course, El Pam was the exception.
“Boss, how do you know that?”
“Books written by historians from the Ariant Kingdom describe that day that way for many of them. In places like Victoria Island, they often used the phrase 'black nightmare.'”
He knew.
“The place a star visited—'star' means the place where the hero who sealed the Black Mage went.”
“Which hero?”
“The phantom thief Phantom from Ariant.”
The meaning of that clue.
“Then what's the reddest flower?”
“The reddest flower is blood.”
“Blood?”
“The warriors of the Ibe Tribe, who operate in the southern Ariant Desert, express blood spilled on the ground as flowers. The place where the most blood flowed is where the reddest flower flowed.”
So El Pam figured it out right away.
“The place where the Ibe Tribe shed the most blood was none other than the Malgur Oasis. There, the Ibe Tribe fought alongside the phantom thief Phantom against the Black Mage's followers. And the Ibe Tribe was annihilated there.”
The Malgur Oasis—that was where the prince's tomb lay.
“My god, Boss! You're amazing!”
At that explanation, Dibo and the others were amazed.
To think he was so well-versed in history?
Of course, El Pam wasn't actually well-versed in Ariant Kingdom's history.
‘I already knew it was the Malgur Oasis.’
Truth be told, El Pam knew the location of the prince's tomb.
Since he knew the answer, inferring the clue's meaning wasn't hard.
Of course, that was only El Pam's story.
“As expected of the Boss.”
His companions, unaware of the truth, could only admire him.
“Thanks to the Boss, this'll be too easy to solve, right?”
And burn with determination.
“Won't we arrive first?”
El Pam spoke to their blazing resolve.
“The struggle for it is just a fancy expression.”
“Huh?”
“The adventurers hired by Queen Areida have already left.”
“Ah!”
At that chilling voice, the remaining companions immediately understood.
What Abdullah VIII had just shown was nothing but a show to turn the gathered adventurers into decoys.
“Wait, then they're already on the move?”
And thinking about it, El Pam's party was in danger too.
If what El Pam said was true, the adventurers hired by Queen Areida would already be near the prince's tomb.
“No, it's fine.”
But El Pam wasn't worried about it.
“There are Sand Painters around the prince's tomb.”
3.
When the Mystic Gate era began, the Ariant Kingdom enjoyed more prosperity than ever.
However, that prosperity quickly withered away amid Abdullah VIII's extravagance and debauchery.
Far from tasting that prosperity, the kingdom's people faced even harsher exploitation than before.
In the end, one of those who couldn't endure the ruthless exploitation drew a picture in the desert sand.
A man resisting Abdullah VIII's army.
And among those who saw that picture, some began drawing themselves behind the man.
Thus, the Sand Painters—the resistance against the Ariant Kingdom's tyranny—were born.
And the Sand Painters they formed became the greatest force threatening the Ariant Kingdom today.
Naturally, the Sand Painters obstructed every move of the Ariant Kingdom.
“The prince's tomb is currently occupied by the Sand Painters. That's one reason it hasn't been conquered until now.”
The prince's tomb was no exception.
They had disrupted the conquest of the prince's tomb—arguably the Ariant Kingdom's long-cherished project—several times.
That was why.
“They'll spread the info among the adventurers. Then they'll head to the Malgur Oasis.”
Queen Areida had planned this event.
“With countless adventurers.”
She planned to use the adventurers gathered at Ariant Castle as bait.
“No matter how strong the Sand Painters are, they can't handle all those adventurers swarming in. Even if they do, it doesn't matter. Taking out those adventurers would make them enemies with the guilds and merchant groups behind them.”
While the Sand Painters were distracted by the bait, she would send in the prepared adventurers to the prince's tomb.
That was Queen Areida's plan.
Of course, Queen Areida knew.
“Not everyone can get in.”
That unexpected adventurers might enter the Mystic Gate with this plan.
“But whatever.”
It didn't matter.
“Our preparations are perfect.”
Ten assassins.
And one martyr.
For the Mystic Gate, it was the most perfect preparation to turn it into hell.
“No one who enters will come out alive.”
So Queen Areida said confidently.
“No, even entering won't be easy.”
4.
Malgur Oasis.
It was one of the largest oases even in the Nihal Desert.
More like a forest than an oasis.
A lush forest spread out, utterly out of place in the Nihal Desert.
And there was a massive lake enabling that abundance—the oasis itself.
The abundance was tremendous, with date palms and food overflowing everywhere.
Hearing this far, everyone would have a question.
“Isn't the Malgur Oasis like paradise? Then why isn't there any city there?”
Why it remained an oasis.
And rightly so, for in the Nihal Desert, an oasis was priceless, leading to villages at smallest or cities at largest forming around them.
Yet no tales of people living were heard from the Malgur Oasis, let alone a city.
“Because it's too abundant.”
“What?”
Ironically, the reason was the overflowing abundance.
“I told you, it's so abundant a forest grew there. So all sorts of monsters flock to it.”
Thanks to that abundance, the Malgur Oasis teemed with terrifying monsters even by Nihal Desert standards.
“So the Adventurers' Association only permits A-Rank adventurers to enter.”
Thus, the Adventurers' Association designated the Malgur Oasis as the fifth most dangerous place in the Nihal Desert.
“Hey, Boss.”
“Speak.”
“You said the Sand Painters guard here?”
That background allowed the Sand Painters to hinder prince's tomb conquests.
In the Malgur Oasis, where even A-Rank adventurers struggled, disrupting or tripping up parties of 4th-Circle-or-below adventurers required just shouting loudly.
That was why.
“Yeah.”
“Then why aren't they showing up?”
Dibo and El Pam's companions wondered.
Of course, the answer to that question was simple.
“They're avoiding us.”
Because the one leading this party right now was none other than El Pam.
Moreover, El Pam had repeatedly said.
“Info on the Malgur Oasis has already come out as much as it can. And the monsters' ecosystem has stabilized. By reading the abundant traces everywhere and moving accordingly, avoiding monsters is no big deal.”
Avoiding the known and revealed was no trouble at all.
In fact, for El Pam's party, it was already known.
They were just surprised.
“I didn't think it would work here too.”
They hadn't imagined his skill was this good.
“The difficulty is on another level from places we've been before, right?”
And rightly so, for the Malgur Oasis was a place only A-Rank adventurers could enter.
It was far higher in adventure difficulty than stages El Pam's party had visited before, like the Perion ruins excavation site or Sleepywood.
Even if it worked there, it not working here would be the natural assumption.
On the other hand, to El Pam, this was natural.
“The Malgur Oasis is only for A-Rank adventurers. In other words, even seasoned adventurers can't act rashly here.”
Because it was dangerous, it was actually more predictable.
“Only the Boss could pull this off.”
Of course, only El Pam could do it.
And knowing that, El Pam's companions didn't raise further doubts.
“Which is a good thing.”
From their perspective, there was no reason to refuse.
“Good thing this guy's the leader.”
“This guy? Gold-eyes gets curt sometimes?”
“And you? You're always curt. Should I make you one-eyed? Huh?”
Thanks to that, they could afford to bicker and joke around.
But that leisure didn't last long.
Krr, krr!
“Sand Giant's territory. Everyone quiet.”
This was still a place swarming with powerful monsters that could make even A-Rank adventurers shiver.
A place where stealth and silence were virtues.
And El Pam's party, upholding those virtues, finally reached their destination.
“There it is.”
The prince's tomb.
“Is that it?”
Upon arriving, Dibo and the companions' first reaction was to tilt their heads.
They had no choice.
“Is that really it?”
“The portal isn't activated?”
What they saw was just the entrance to a normal Mystic Gate, with no portal activated.
“You sure you didn't mix it up with another Mystic Gate?”
Of course, El Pam wouldn't mix it up.
He knew the prince's tomb better than anyone.
“Hey, you sure?”
But El Pam's companions were different.
Especially the fact that the Mystic Gate portal wasn't activated—it confused them even more.
“No way we're the first, right?”
And rightly so—if that really was the prince's tomb, and the portal wasn't activated, it meant no one had entered yet.
“You said everyone knew about this?”
Considering what El Pam had said earlier—that adventurers hired by Queen Areida had moved out long ago—it was very hard to understand.
El Pam addressed it.
“Since they don't know when the Sand Painters might interfere, the adventurers hired by Queen Areida probably aimed to enter simultaneously. So it's natural no one's entered yet.”
Entering a Mystic Gate first was madness by adventurers' common sense anyway.
“Of course we know that, but why'd you do it then? Huh?”
Of course, El Pam had done such mad things several times.
That was why.
“Then should we wait too?”
“We go in first.”
No one was surprised or flustered at El Pam's words—or rather, his declaration of doing the mad thing.
They even nodded in understanding.
“Well, yeah, everyone's our enemy anyway, so we should go first.”
To El Pam's party, other adventurers weren't allies but enemies.
So moving before they arrived was the better situation.
“We can just rush to the second floor and close it.”
Blocking other adventurers with a quick Mystic Gate conquest wasn't bad either.
“If we're lucky, yeah.”
El Pam had that plan in mind too.
“But the moment we enter, the waiting adventurer parties will rush in right after.”
He hadn't only planned for that, though.
The world was full of variables.
“After entering the Mystic Gate, find the exit to the second floor in the shortest time. But if other adventurers follow us in before we find and pass through the exit.”
So El Pam prepared a counterplan.
“The four of you enter the second floor.”
“Huh? Wait, you mean just us tackling it? What about you, Boss?”
“I stay on the first floor and hunt.”