Chapter 47
Chapter 47
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 47
Chapter Title: We Haven't Even Shown Our Trump Card Yet
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We haven't even shown our trump card yet, you know?
D-ring.
Is this okay? lol. Watching the stream, it looks really tough.
The live broadcast that suddenly started streaming on Instagram was, of course, not Eve's idea, as she was focused on clearing the dungeon. It was the spontaneous, independent action of Mecha-Doggo, who had an internet connection thanks to its SIM card.
Swoosh...!
"Wow, the maid fights really well...!"
Ophelia's combat prowess was that of an A-rank veteran mid-range bruiser, certified by the Yongsan Hunter Ability Assessment Center. She began dispatching the monsters at incredible speed, swiftly dealing with the legion of mummies that surged forward like a tidal wave.
Rumble...!
At some point, the floor rumbled like thunder. The right entrance, which had been quiet for a while, shattered, and a colossal mummy emerged.
"Gah."
"Eve! You don't have to look, just close your eyes!"
"I-I'm fine...!"
I've always disliked gruesome things, but I could handle this much. I'm an A-rank Hunter now; I can't turn away from something like this.
Not that anything would change if I did look away... but still.
"Whoa...!"
"Hey, hey! Something's not right about this!"
It was a giant mummy, its body covered in metal shields held in place by bandages. It stood at least four meters tall, and its thick arms, wrapped in steel shields, swept through the area like flails.
"Didn't someone say they met a mid-boss down below!"
"Maybe it's a multiple-spawn type!"
But we'd heard that a team had already encountered a mid-boss before we even entered the dungeon.
Sensing something was off, Chae-rin quickly bundled the Mummy Dog and mummy corpses inside a thicket of thorny vines and brought it down on the giant mummy's head with a resounding thwack!
ROOOOAAAARRR!!!
The giant mummy collapsed with a single scream. As its massive body slammed onto the floor, the perceived space in the room shrank instantly, noticeably restricting the bruisers' range of motion.
It was too big to be blown away by wind or knocked into a wall. At this rate, we would have to abandon this room, which we could have used for another ten minutes.
"I'll find the next room right away!"
"Thanks, Eve! You're a big help!"
"Hehe!!"
I summoned Suri, placed a camera in its talons, and stretched Mecha-Doggo's cheeks until it turned into a tablet.
"This room is too small... Ah, should we go up to the next floor...?"
Team C's route was to the top anyway. It seemed we had cleared this floor, as a spiral staircase was already coming into view.
"Suri! I'm counting on you! Let's go to the upper floor!"
I shouted into the microphone on the side of the Mecha-Doggo monitor. Suri spun the camera around for a moment, then skillfully narrowed its wings and flew up the spiral staircase to the next level.
"Ah! This place looks good!"
"Did you find it, Eve?"
"Yes! I think we can go! Suri, come back!"
I resummoned Suri with my skill, and just like before, the clearing team moved to the next fortress spot under Suri's guidance. Thanks to Chae-rin completely blocking the narrow passage with dense thorny vines, we were able to prevent any remaining monsters from the previous area from following us.
"Phew...! There are so many of them!"
"Is it normal for there to be this many...?"
"It's rare, but not unheard of."
Ophelia fought with such grace. I wondered if her attire was practical, but what could I do? A skirt seemed like it would be inconvenient for fighting.
"We have to take the stairs to the next floor this time!"
"Got it! Thanks!"
We had already climbed three sets of stairs. It felt like we had been fighting for a long time, but only about thirty-five minutes had passed since we entered. The visible part of the Desert Mausoleum was about 180 meters tall, and each floor's height ranged from eight to as much as twenty meters.
This meant we would have to repeat this climb several more times to reach the top.
Thump, thump, thump...!
"Ugh, there's another one of those here...!"
In the hall with the spiral staircase leading to the upper floor, another giant mummy like the one we just faced appeared. This one was slightly smaller but was a warrior-type, wielding desert scimitars in both hands.
"I'll hold it off, you all hurry up!"
"Thanks! I'll prepare the funeral money!"
"Don't say such ominous things and get lost, you punk!"
The other Hunters were still full of energy, trading jokes with each other. I was once again cradled in Ophelia's arms as we ascended the spiral staircase.
Clang, clang!
"Wow... he's a great fighter...."
There's just something about a sword-on-sword fight. Maybe it's that swords are more visually appealing. Once the entire rear team had climbed the spiral staircase, the swordsman sliced off the creature's left arm, then leaped halfway up the stairs in a single bound.
He grabbed the railing with one hand and used the momentum to propel himself upward again. Finally, he reached the upper floor and joined us as we moved toward the next combat area.
Screech, screeech....
"What's that sound?"
"I think it came from up ahead."
As we were heading to the wide space Suri had found, a strange sound echoed from a corridor we encountered. A grating noise, like rusted metal, ominously reverberated from both sides.
"Hey, hey, hey...!!"
"It's the sides!! Everyone, be careful—!!!"
With the vanguard's shout, the giant warrior statues lining the walls all moved at once, beginning to surround both ends of the corridor.
It was an incredibly narrow and difficult terrain to fight in. It would be inconvenient for the large creatures too, but for us, even a small, persistent injury could become dangerous.
"Chae-rin, I'm going to use this...!"
"Sorry, I'm counting on you!"
One of my fellow rear-guard teammates, with a determined voice, tore the locket from her neck and threw it to the ground.
Shatter!
With the sound of breaking glass, a physical barrier of bright yellow light spread out in a hemispherical dome. The vanguard team skillfully dodged the warrior statues' attacks and entered the barrier.
"Ah, this is a pain."
"I-I'm sorry!"
"No, it's fine. We would've been caught anyway if we didn't know."
Suri had led us this way, and now we were trapped by the statues. The other Hunters didn't seem to mind much, but I couldn't help but feel responsible.
After everyone took a moment to catch their breath, we formulated a plan to break through the front passage, coordinating with Chae-rin's ability.
"Well then, I guess I'll use an artifact."
"Thanks, Hyeon-su. I'll get it processed as a team expense."
"Team Leader Yoo, of course you should."
"You little...?"
The plan was for the vanguard Hunter to use his ultimate move to smash the statues in front, and in that opening, we would get inside Chae-rin's spinning vine ball and shoot through the passage like an arrow fired from a taut vine.
Or so we planned.
"Uh, uh...!"
When we didn't emerge from the physical barrier, the statues' eyes suddenly glowed red, and they began pounding the floor with their massive weapons.
"If they hit it like that, the floor will...!"
Crack...!
Just as we feared, the floor tiles began to crack and shatter mercilessly under the statues' assault, letting out an ominous groan. Chae-rin quickly took out her radio to contact the other teams.
Ksshhk...!
"This is Team C! The floor is about to collapse, everyone be careful! We might need to evacuate based on coordinates!"
"Team B! We're also engaged with a strange enemy! The walls are alive and moving!"
Over there, it wasn't statues but living walls. Soon after, a transmission came from Team D, reporting that as soon as they entered their own route, their exit was blocked and the terrain had transformed into a maze.
"What is happening...!"
"O-Ophelia! What do we do...?!"
"It is alright. I will protect you, Princess, no matter what."
Beep!!
The floor, which had been barely holding on, gave way under the statues' relentless attack. The inside of the physical barrier, wrapped in thorny vines, tumbled and crashed to the floor below like a hamster ball.
The biggest problem was that the flooring, spanning a height of fifteen meters and weighing hundreds of tons, came crashing down all at once.
Naturally, the floor below couldn't possibly withstand it.
"This is insane...! We're still falling!"
"Chae-rin! I think this is going to break!"
"I'll do something!"
Although the exterior was wrapped in sturdy thorny vines, the physical barrier inside couldn't hold indefinitely. With the third consecutive floor collapse, the physical barrier shattered. The thorny vines were then torn apart by sharp stone fragments, leading to the catastrophe of the clearing team being split in two.
"Aaaahhh!!!"
"Ophelia! Please take care of Eve—!!!"
I was separated from Chae-rin, and after tumbling through the air a few times, the core of Minium that I had been holding so carefully was knocked somewhere out of my grasp.
The last thing Chae-rin did was encase me in a hard sphere of vines, so I wasn't seriously injured. Just a little sore from rolling around.
As I tumbled inside the hamster ball, which was just big enough for me, dust seeped in and stung my eyes.
"Ugh... Everyone, return...!"
I tried to summon everyone, but they were nowhere to be seen, likely trapped in the debris. Only Mecha-Doggo, small enough to fit inside the sphere, popped into existence before my eyes.
"Ugh... Doggo...!!"
Beep!! Beep-beep!!
Mecha-Doggo turned on its bright light, illuminating the surroundings. We were definitely buried under rubble. Moreover, judging by the thudding sounds from outside, those statues were still active.
Thump...!
"Princess! Are you unharmed!"
"Ah, Ophelia! I'm over here!!"
"I will rescue you right—"
BOOM—!!!
Ophelia's voice cut off mid-sentence, and a massive impact, strong enough to overturn the debris I was under, swept through the area.
"Aaaahhh!!!"
Fortunately, I was safe inside the sphere, but from the looks of the situation outside, it seemed a statue with a giant hammer had struck Ophelia on top of the debris I was under, knocking me free.
Crash!
"Urgh...."
Beep...!!
After I was thrown out of the rubble, the scene before me was grave.
"Where... is this...?!"
The collapse of four or five floors had merged us with what appeared to be Team B. Four of the twelve statues from our side had been destroyed, but eight remained. And outside, the "moving walls" that Team B had mentioned on the radio were now visible.
"That's... a Sphinx...?!"
The giant Sphinx, which had seemed like a mere sculpture, was alive and moving. I could see Ophelia far in the distance, and hordes of Mummy Dogs and giant mummies were swarming in. The warrior mummies we had considered mid-bosses were just common mobs, appearing intermittently. In reality, these creatures had been the hidden bosses all along.
"O-Ophelia...! Please, wake up...!"
Beep!!
"It is alright, Princess. Please remain calm...!"
Fortunately, the hammer statue's attack had flung me into the middle of the other squad members. However, everyone was suffering from accumulated combat fatigue. At this rate, we could be surrounded and killed.
THUD! THUD!! THUD!!!
The Sphinx stomped its massive forepaws again, shattering the floor, and the statues resonated in response.
"Hey, hey...! It's collapsing again...!!"
"Damn it!! Grab onto something—!!!"
The ceiling was already wide open, connecting about five floors. To make matters worse, mummy vultures and Mummy Dogs were pouring down from above.
KABOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!
"W-what was that...?!"
A tremendous roar suddenly echoed through the chamber.
An unidentified blue flash of light sliced through the giant Sphinx's neck, leaving a momentary afterimage.
Thud!
Roll, roll, roll....
As the Sphinx's head fell, the giant warrior statues all turned to stare in one direction, as if dumbfounded.
And standing there was none other than...
"Minium...?"