Chapter 43
Chapter 43
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 43
Chapter Title: Veteran's Stage - 3
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I gained two new insights from the Terror Emperor's Palace.
The first was that I'd been vastly underestimating Maribel's talent up until now.
She might be Kizen's daughter, but she'd only learned the basics and sorely lacked real combat experience.
Unlike Coco, with her explosive potential from a unique ability, Maribel came across as mediocre in every way.
'Honestly, she seemed more like a secretary than an assassin.'
Her exceptional administrative skills and enthusiasm had even made me consider assigning her as one permanently.
But my view of her as mediocre turned out to be a delightful misunderstanding.
"If only I'd recognized Maribel's talent sooner..."
Back when I first met her.
She'd just dealt with a spy who'd infiltrated as the princess's maid and casually flung the severed head over her shoulder.
Then she tossed a dagger high into the air and nailed the tumbling head with pinpoint accuracy, pulling off an astonishing feat.
I'd only thought it was impressive at the time, but that stunt had actually revealed her true talent.
Unconventional weapon handling and spatial awareness.
Those were her gifts.
"Now the kid can take on a watchman all by herself."
"Yeah. I never dreamed mastering a technique could change her so much."
Maribel kept the watchman under heavy pressure with her glaive from a safe distance.
She swung it in all directions, throwing her opponent into a frenzy.
Realizing this couldn't continue, the watchman charged forward, willing to take the hit.
As the distance closed in an instant and the watchman's sword swung down, Maribel slammed her glaive into the ground.
Just before the sword met the glaive's blade.
Maribel leaped onto the glaive's shaft, using it as a springboard.
Clang-!
As the two blades clashed, Maribel spun through the air and drew her sword.
Landing behind the watchman, she slashed long and deep across its back.
"Gahk!"
"And it's not even a regular watchman."
"It's one that absorbed a cult knight."
The watchman Maribel was fighting had already processed a knight with bound limbs.
Despite gaining the elite knight's skills and becoming far stronger, it was getting overwhelmed.
I'd worried a bit when she insisted on handling it solo, but my fears were unfounded.
"Still, things could turn on a dime, so stay ready."
"Don't worry. I'm dying to test this bow—my fingers are itching!"
Lena had taken down an archer watchman and picked up archery in the process.
Though elves were synonymous with bows, Lena was different—she'd never formally trained with one.
She'd learned spirit magic, stealth, and dagger work, and only later tried the bow but quit when the elves' secret arts proved too tough.
So she was thrilled to learn archery this way, even if it wasn't elven lore.
"If the kid looks like she's in trouble, I'll jump in quick."
"Good."
Meanwhile, just as Maribel swung her sword to sever the watchman's neck.
The black blood oozing from its back hardened into thorns.
A spike sharp as an awl shot toward her face, but she kicked off the ground with her front foot and leaped back.
She followed up by sweeping her sword, batting away the barrage of thorns.
"It even absorbed magic."
It was the magic primarily used by the cult's sixth knight, Frederico.
Blood magic that used blood as a medium to infuse mana and manipulate transformations.
An ultra-rare spell from a long-extinct primitive tribe, impossible to learn anywhere.
You couldn't find a single book or artifact on it across the entire empire, so players deemed it utterly unusable.
"So if we take down that watchman, we can learn blood magic."
My second insight was that things absolutely impossible in the game could happen here in reality.
In the game, stepping into an ancient dungeon during a cult pursuit instantly ended the chase.
No matter what, the cult never followed into ancient dungeons.
The devs must have designed it that way on purpose, knowing players could hijack enemy skills inside.
But this world I now inhabited had no developer oversight.
The rule that the cult wouldn't enter ancient dungeons was gone.
"Tempting, huh?"
"Of course. Not that I plan to use it myself."
I might not wield it personally, but having an ally who could was satisfying enough.
It was an achievement no one else had ever pulled off.
I'd love to rub it in the faces of those trash gamers who'd flailed around trying to recruit Frederico.
"Ngh! Looks like it's not my turn after all."
Maribel cleaved through the surging wave of blood in one stroke.
She hurled the handaxe from her back through the split.
The axe traced a clean arc and buried into its head.
With its skull split open, the watchman dropped dead on the spot.
"Too bad—I'll have to hog the next one."
"That's the last watchman patrolling the maze."
"What? No way!"
Lena's mouth fell open in shock at the declaration.
Counting up the ones we'd taken down so far, it did add up to the end.
"C'mon, if we look real hard, maybe one's or two hiding?"
"If you don't believe me, go hunt around. Maribel and I will head to the center meanwhile."
"Won't we get stuck on traps without you, Young Master?"
"I said follow quietly."
Ancient dungeon enemies don't respawn.
Hanging around yielded nothing.
Worse, linger too long and poison gas flooded the entire maze.
An extreme toxin that even an elixir couldn't save you from—one whiff and you were dead.
Time to grab the rewards without greed and get out.
"...If you spot any cult stragglers, leave 'em to me."
"Sure. Though I doubt any are still kicking."
As expected, we found no cult remnants anywhere on the way to the depths.
We spotted the occasional black-robed figure, but they were already cold corpses.
Their sacrifices let us bypass a few annoying traps.
Who knew the cult's faithful would ever be helpful?
"Spineless punks..."
Lena spat on the corpse in sheer disappointment.
Wait, isn't that technically sexual harassment?
As I stared seriously at Lena's spit, someone licked the nape of my neck.
I jolted at the slick sensation and whipped around.
Maribel stuck her tongue out just a bit, grinning mischievously.
"What the hell was that?"
"Marking my territory."
"What...?"
"Kidding."
Maribel hummed a tune as she backed away.
My thoughts froze from the dampness on my nape.
Princess Rosmel's influence, maybe?
Maribel was getting bolder.
"This isn't easy..."
Had one of the watchmen absorbed a succubus?
It was that kind of sudden affection assault.
Calming my pounding heart, we pressed on to the depths.
With all the paths memorized, it didn't take long to arrive—only the final gateway to the emperor's bedchamber remained.
"Those who wish to set foot in my domain, offer your life or treasure? What the hell is this?"
"What else? An ugly tantrum."
The last gateway was the most infuriating spot in the entire Terror Emperor's Palace.
True to the inscription embedded in the gate, you had to sacrifice a life or treasure to reach the emperor's bedchamber.
Kill a precious comrade or smash epic-grade gear or higher.
The devs' spiteful way of denying pure profit.
"It's fine. I brought something to sacrifice ages ago."
I drew Tyrbing, the demonic sword I'd taken from Duke Grimjack's house.
The one that had coldly rejected me for lacking talent.
Too dangerous to hand off to anyone else, so I'd lugged around this dead weight—time to finally ditch it.
Sacrifice the demonic sword and sweep every treasure inside? Pure profit.
"Fitting for a demonic sword, it has to be at least epic-grade."
[W-wait!]
Tyrbing must have sensed the danger, because an urgent voice echoed in my head.
I'd thought it was dead from the lack of response lately.
[You plan to discard Tyrbing?!]
'A masterless demonic sword? Yeah, gotta toss it.'
[Are you not Tyrbing's master?!]
'What's with you? You ditched me first, remember? Said I had no talent.'
[Th-that's true, but your attitude transcended even primordial evil! It deeply impressed me! You are fit to be this Tyrbing's master!]
'Too late. Besides, how am I supposed to use you with this damn body?'
[Even without talent, there are countless ways to wield Tyrbing! Please, don't discard me!]
I started to waver at Tyrbing's unexpectedly tempting words.
As a gamer, my interest was piqued a little.
But I couldn't sacrifice Maribel or Lena for it.
Just as I moved to offer Tyrbing to the altar without mercy.
Creak-!
The massive sealed door suddenly swung open, and a crowned boy peeked out.
He stared at me intently before blurting out genuine admiration.
"Ooh! Incredible! To think there's another weakling like vermin in this world besides me!"
Once again, Heinz had triggered an entirely new development.