Chapter 135: The Wizard of Calamity
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 135: The Wizard of Calamity
“Whew.”
The four-person party of Clorence, a Tier 4 wizard, had just finished their battle with four steel mushrooms.
“Anyone hit by spores, raise your hand!”
Dorothy, the head priestess from the Order of Nathaniel, scanned her party members.
Even without anyone raising a hand, she could spot at least one person who’d been hit.
“Puhahahahahaha! Hahahahahaha! Hahahaha!”
Kudrum, the Dwarf Puppeteer, was rolling on the floor, clutching his stomach, unable to stop laughing through the pain.
His mentally linked combat doll, Choco, was rolling on the floor with him.
“Gorororo, gorororo!”
“……”
Dorothy walked over to Kudrum and firmly gripped the mushroom embedded in his lower abdomen.
“Sterilize.”
Then she yanked the mushroom out with all her might.
“Rapid Regeneration!”
“Kuek!”
Kudrum screamed in agony and curled up on the ground before slowly getting back up.
Blood trickled from his lower abdomen, but the wound soon closed.
“Pant… pant… Thanks. But next time, could you be a little faster?”
“That was as fast as I could be, Kudrum.”
While the priestess tended to the dwarf’s wound, the party’s vanguard was finishing off the mushroom corpses.
With a greatsword of immense length and width.
“The mushrooms on the 6th floor are a real pain. They just don’t die.”
Richard, the greatsword warrior.
He was a versatile vanguard who was making quite a name for himself in the Adventurer’s Guild.
Just a few months ago, he had been debating whether to move from the 2nd to the 3rd floor. Now, he had joined Clorence’s party and advanced all the way to the 6th.
“By the way, Clorence. I heard you have guests at your mansion?” Kudrum asked.
“Yes. They’re friends who helped my younger brother in the past.”
“But is that really okay?”
The Dwarf Puppeteer’s brow furrowed with worry.
“That wizard you let into your home, isn’t he famous for being the Wizard of Calamity?”
“The Wizard of Calamity?”
“They say he brings disaster wherever he goes.”
He had experienced countless crises that an ordinary adventurer would be lucky to face even once in a lifetime.
And everywhere he went, things got destroyed—the Blackdog gambling den, the university dormitory, the Public Security Headquarters annex, you name it.
“I’m worried that having someone like that around might bring misfortune to your estate.”
“Don’t worry. The Berten family is blessed with good people. We can withstand most disasters.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“I don’t think it’s because of the wizard,” Richard offered a different opinion.
“Then who?”
“The rogue in his party.”
“That… what was his name? Back Attack?”
“Yeah.”
“What about him?”
“What do you mean, ‘what about him’?”
To Richard, it was stranger that the wizard was taking all the blame.
“Back Attack is a man marked by the Labyrinth Master’s seal.”
“……”
“He’s the first case of someone becoming an Exit Boss, dying, and then being resurrected after recovering his soul. He’s a man who should have been ‘digested’ by the Labyrinth, but now he’s running around as an adventurer.”
Every single incident that occurred inside the Labyrinth involving that wizard’s party also involved Back Attack.
He had been with the wizard on all his Labyrinth adventures. Even during his first run, when he was a slave at the magic university.
Wasn’t the first time that wizard nearly died because of Back Attack, the Exit Boss?
“Back Attack was even there when they blew up the casino.”
“Hmm…”
“You could argue the Wyndham duo who attacked the dorms were after the wizard. But can you really say the Labyrinth Eruption wasn’t because of Back Attack?”
“Huh! You know, you might be right!”
“That’s absurd.”
Clorence took out a cigarette and placed it between his lips.
“Besides the rogue, there’s also the Dokkebi. He also became an Exit Boss and came back alive.”
“Dokkebi have the innate power to ward off misfortune.”
“You have a strong prejudice against those from the East.”
“I’m a man of the West, so bear with me.”
“It’s not because of Back Attack, and it’s not because of Caleb. It’s just a coincidence that they were nearby when these incidents happened.”
Clorence took a long drag from his cigarette.
“Above all else, they saved my brother.”
“Hmph. If you say so.”
“Do you know Back Attack well?” Dorothy interjected.
“A little. Before he came to Sohen, he was pretty famous in the West. Do you know why he changed his name?”
“I have no desire to hear about his past from someone else.”
Clorence cut Richard’s story short.
“Let’s rest for five minutes, then move out. We failed last time, but let’s make sure we find it this time.”
He changed the subject.
Clorence’s party was currently aiming for a special zone on the 6th floor of the Labyrinth.
“Bearhim’s Garden.”
Bearhim was one of the Ancient Gods.
The father of all druids and the King of Fungi.
He was a druid of the cycle, who brought forth new life from all that had died, like mushrooms sprouting from a corpse.
He was also a veteran warrior who had fought most fiercely in the battle against the Labyrinth. It was Bearhim who had saved Sanfriel when she was on the verge of being devoured by the Labyrinth.
But he was betrayed by one of his fellow gods in the pantheon, and his body ultimately fell into the Labyrinth.
Which god killed Bearhim?
That mystery remained unsolved. No information survived in any ancient text.
However, legend has it that Bearhim’s sacred corpse still lies somewhere on the 6th floor, and that mystical mushrooms sprout from his remains.
The so-called Aether Mushrooms.
The Labyrinth’s greatest elixir, said to awaken the latent power of whoever consumes it.
“We have to find it…”
Clorence’s fighting spirit burned.
The genius wizard Caleb, hot on his heels. His older sister, who had become a university professor. The recent state of emergency caused by the Labyrinth Eruption.
Amidst it all, Clorence felt a powerful stimulus. He wanted to grow stronger, faster, to protect his family.
*
Assuming the Hourglass wasn’t on cooldown, we had to assume the maximum number of mushrooms our party could handle at once was one.
Against two or more, unless they were right next to each other, it would be difficult to suppress them both with Hailstorm. The mushrooms’ caps were so large that the hail struggled to freeze their stems, and if they fired their spore sacs, it wasn’t easy to destroy them all in time.
So, we had to proceed by relying on Yernil’s ears.
“If there are two or more enemies ahead, we have to stop immediately. We’ll either go around or wait for them to move.”
Is it even possible to reach a treasure room this way?
Who knows.
But it was our only option.
…Or so I thought.
No. This makes no sense.
Shockingly, we reached the treasure room without encountering a single monster.
My Labyrinth adventures are never this easy!
Labyrinth Master!
What kind of insane, unfair trap are you digging for me now!
You’re watching me right now, aren’t you? You’re smirking, thinking about how you’re going to stab me in the back!
“Everyone, stay on high alert.”
I won’t fall for it.
Stay sharp.
Slap!
I slapped both my cheeks to focus my mind.
“Yernil, do you hear any monsters nearby?”
“No.”
“You don’t hear anything from inside the treasure room either?”
“No.”
“Back Attack, check the door for traps.”
“There are none, Boss.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m telling you, there aren’t.”
“……”
I took a deep breath and carefully opened the door.
With a click, the handle turned smoothly, and the heavy stone door rumbled open. Then—
“Get back!”
I threw the door open and took cover behind the wall, like an American police officer breaching a door.
“What’s wrong, Caleb…”
Aimus peeked inside the room.
Nothing happened.
“No traps at all.”
Back Attack scanned the interior as he approached the treasure chest.
“Nothing seems out of the ordinary with the chest, either.”
“Thank you.”
Slightly embarrassed, I stepped into the treasure room.
Things going this smoothly made me anxious, but at least it was a relief to have secured the treasure chest.
Click.
When I opened the chest, the first thing I saw on top was an old spellbook.
The very thing I was looking for.
[Whirlwind]
Tier 1 Combat Magic.
Summons a whirlwind in the target area, inflicting physical damage over 2 turns.
On its own, its firepower isn’t great, so it’s not very popular. That’s why it wasn’t even sold at the university bookstore, but…
I can combine it.
I learned the Whirlwind spellbook, recording it in my Memory Book.
And what resulted was…
[Acquired the Combination Spellbook of Dust, Heatwave, Humidify, and Whirlwind.]
『Book of Typhoon』
-The Tier 3 spell ‘Summon Typhoon’ has been recorded in your Memory Book.
Following Hailstorm, my second quadra-combination spell was created.
In actual meteorology, a typhoon is formed when a cumulonimbus cloud rotates due to the low pressure at its center.
Following the same principle, adding Whirlwind to Cumulonimbus transformed it into a typhoon.
Summon Typhoon retained the original properties of Cumulonimbus—heavy rain and lightning strikes—but now, a powerful gale, strong enough to blow away grown men, would rage across the target area, accompanied by high physical damage.
Furthermore, the scale of the spell was larger than the original Cumulonimbus.
But that alone was a bit ambiguous for use on the 6th floor. What I was really aiming for was…
[Acquired the Combination Spellbook of Dust, Heatwave, Humidify, Frost Ray, and Whirlwind.]
“Yes.”
A quintuple combination of Tier 1 spells.
Magic combination was similar to poker.
The concept of a card’s number corresponded to the combination synergy between spells, while the card’s suit was like the spell’s tier.
A combination of five Tier 1 spells was a straight flush in poker terms.
『Book of the Frigid Apocalypse』
-The Tier 5 spell ‘Blizzard’ has been recorded in your Memory Book.
*
[Memory Book]
▶ Known Spells
-Dust, Heatwave, Humidify, Frost Ray, Whirlwind, Electrostatic Coat
▶ Slotted Spells
-Tier 1 Spell Slots (5/5)
① Dust
② Heatwave
③ Humidify
④ Frost Ray
⑤ Whirlwind
-Tier 2 Spell Slots (1/2+3)
① Electrostatic Coat
② Dust Explosion
③ Scorch
④ Cumulonimbus
-Tier 3 Spell Slots (0/1+2)
① Hailstorm
② Summon Typhoon
-Tier 5 Spell Slots (0+1)
① Blizzard
*
I had skipped Tier 4 magic and acquired a Tier 5 spell. It felt like I’d skipped a grade in college, skipped the 5th floor of the Labyrinth, and now skipped a tier in my Memory Book.
Clorence was a Tier 4 wizard, right?
Then he probably has a Tier 5 combination spell as well.
Does that mean Clorence and I are on the same level in terms of our highest-tier magic?
Of course, the actual destructive power wouldn’t be the same. Because of the level difference, Clorence’s Wisdom stat would be much higher than mine.
Still, securing a Tier 5 spell was a relief.
I wonder if there are any other spellbooks.
I still had one Tier 2 and one Tier 3 spell slot available.
They had also opened up when I reached level 20.
And just like with Whirlwind, I hadn’t been able to buy the spellbooks I wanted because the bookstore didn’t have them.
Please!
Sometimes, a Labyrinth treasure chest contains more than just the one item you want most.
Rummage, rummage.
I frantically searched through the chest.
A shovel with a broken handle. A torn net. A chair with a chipped corner.
And…
A coin.
It looked like a 6.5th Floor coin.
[Mushroom Beetle]
It was shaped like a beetle with a mushroom growing on its carapace.
However, it was bipedal and stood upright. Thanks to that, it had four arms.
“What a creepy coin,” Yernil said, peeking over my shoulder.
“I agree.”
As expected, my luck didn’t strike twice. I couldn’t secure any additional spellbooks.
Instead, I got two pieces of magic equipment.
One helmet and one pair of boots.
I hadn’t appraised them yet, so I didn’t know what magic they contained.
But judging by the warmth radiating from the helmet, it seemed to have some kind of fire resistance magic, and the boots looked like they were for a rogue.
I tucked them both safely into my shrinking magic-enchanted backpack.
“Let’s head to the fountain now.”
Even if I had acquired attack power comparable to Clorence’s, our party was still a far cry from the 6th floor’s level.
Frankly, even if we all learned additional skills at the fountain, tackling the 6th floor would be impossible.
Unless we ate an Aether Mushroom…
“Caleb.”
Yernil poked my shoulder.
“Yes?”
“Mushrooms are coming.”
“How many?”
If there were too many, we couldn’t win.
“Two.”
Then we’d be fine.
*
“No sign of the garden…”
After two and a half hours of searching, Clorence’s party came across a breathtaking sight.
Drawn by a clamor, they found a spectacular scene laid out before them.
“It’s like the 3rd floor,” the Dwarf Puppeteer remarked.
A section of the 6th floor’s mushroom forest had been transformed, as if terraformed by some powerful magic.
Everything in sight looked like a scene from the frozen polar regions.
The giant mushrooms, the moss on the ground, the walls, the monsters.
Even the spores they had been releasing.
Everything was frozen solid.
A thick layer of snow and hail covered the ground, and a powerful wind had carried ice particles that scraped against the walls. The scars were visible on the mushrooms as well.
The mushrooms were ‘shredded’ by the ice.
“It looks like a disaster zone,” Dorothy said.
“Was there a wizard like this on the 6th floor?”
Richard tilted his head.
This was the first he’d ever heard of it.