Chapter 140: Bearhim's Garden
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 140: Bearhim's Garden
The King of Fungi, Bearhim, had a young daughter. Since a god made of aether has no reproductive abilities, she was not his biological child.
She blossomed from the garden's pond, brought forth by Bearhim's power. She wore a mushroom cap on her head and was dressed in clothes as colorful as a poisonous mushroom. Clusters of fungi occasionally sprouted from the backs of her hands, her shoulders, and her arms.
She was the caretaker of all mushrooms.
With a staff gifted to her by Bearhim himself, she worked her magic.
She watered the mushrooms, provided them with rotten logs, and gathered the corpses of beasts to feed them.
The Gardener.
She was the type to hesitate for half a day with shears in hand before pruning a branch, only to finally snip off a piece the size of her palm with tears welling in her eyes.
When Bearhim died, she was devoured by the Labyrinth along with him.
The reason she didn't wander the field or enter the exit room was due to the power left behind by the God of Fungi.
The reason she still protects the garden is not out of any plan or conviction, but because of a habit ingrained in her very being.
Even now, the Gardener fights for Bearhim.
"Found her."
The Gardener came into the Watcher's view.
She looked exactly as she did in the game, like a vibrant, poisonous mushroom walking around. She wore a one-piece dress made of chitinous fibers, speckled with a colorful pattern of red and blue spots. The mushroom cap on her head looked just like a hat.
Her body was human-like, but it was covered in sprouting mushrooms, like a sea creature severely encrusted with barnacles.
Clack, clack, clack.
The Gardener snapped the large garden shears in her hands. Hysterically.
In the game, she reacted the same way whenever a player invaded her garden. She was on high alert. But it wasn't because of us. The one the Gardener was hostile toward right now was the Glutton.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk."
The monster made a strange sound with its mouth. I could almost see an expression on its face. It was brimming with confidence.
No matter how much the Gardener struggled, the Glutton could easily crush her and force her into submission.
Besides, the two 6th-floor exit bosses it had brought along were...
"Verdure, and a Blowgun Nymph."
Just as I expected.
The Glutton tended to build well-balanced parties.
It would have Verdure act as the front-liner and was likely planning to assign the Gardener a support role, like a priest or a Taoist.
And since the Glutton itself was a mage, it was common sense to fill the remaining spot with a ranger or rogue type to increase mobility and the ability to handle the rear guard.
That meant the exit bosses the Glutton would have chosen from the 6th floor, after Verdure, were the Poison Dart Frog, the Primitive Spearman, or the Blowgun Nymph.
This was good.
Of the three, the Blowgun Nymph was the easiest to deal with.
Click.
The Gardener holstered the shears at her side and picked up her staff instead. Holding the long, red mushroom staff that resembled a cordyceps, she began to chant.
In fact, the weapon's name was the Cordyceps Staff.
-Pond of Circulation.
The pond water overflowed, preparing to unleash the garden's true power.
"Now's our chance."
I leaped into the garden.
Although Caleb's authority in the two-party joint operation wasn't officially high, he naturally fell into the role of giving orders.
Because he was the only one here who knew about Bearhim's Garden.
'He said he was once in the same party as those mysterious Deep Layer adventurers from Wyndham.'
Clorence knew that story well. The rumor had spread like wildfire after the dormitory was destroyed.
'And that he'd been lovers with the Eight-Tailed Fox Spirit, who was a Possessor.'
With that kind of background, it wasn't so strange that Caleb knew about Bearhim's Garden.
As proof, Caleb had swiftly led the entire party to find it.
He found the entrance, which no one had ever discovered before, in one go.
'No wonder no one could find it.'
Bearhim's Garden was hidden, much like the stairways leading to the inter-floor villages. A lone gate floated amidst giant mushrooms.
Normally, adventurers couldn't find it because the Gardener constantly moved its location, but this time, she was in a situation where she had to invite Clorence's and Caleb's parties.
And the timing of their entry was also set by Caleb.
'When the pond water begins to overflow.'
The Gardener would try to separate the Glutton, Verdure, and the Nymph to defeat them one by one.
How?
"Walls are forming!" Richard yelled as he jumped through the gate and burst onto the battlefield.
Clorence's eyes narrowed.
It was true.
Just as Caleb had predicted, 'walls' were shooting up from the ground. And embedded in the middle of them was...
'The Faithful Iron Door!'
It was the same thing that had blocked the stairs to the 5th floor of the Labyrinth.
I see. If the Gardener was the one who blocked the 5th-floor gate, it meant she could also erect walls and iron doors between the monsters here.
"Stay close!" Caleb shouted, having already passed through the gate.
Seeing the sudden influx of adventurers, Verdure and the Blowgun Nymph seemed startled and went on alert.
The Gardener was also taken aback, but her staff remained aimed at the Glutton.
And the Glutton...
"Tsk, tsk."
...was as composed as ever.
"Be careful!" Caleb shouted again.
On the way to the garden, he had given an additional warning.
That the Gardener dividing the battlefield with walls might actually be more dangerous for us.
You must never assume the Gardener is an ally.
She's a neutral monster.
What the Gardener wants is to kill the Glutton and its two exit bosses, and then kill all the adventurers too.
Only then would peace return to Bearhim's Garden.
She was creating walls purely for her own convenience.
She had no intention of looking out for our safety.
CRRRRRAAASSH!
The rising walls and iron doors began to separate the Glutton, the Nymph, and Verdure.
The Nymph's pastel-colored wings trembled on its back.
'Sentry Reposition!'
That monster was a ranger type and shared a few skills with Yernil.
Its body, about the size of a ten-year-old child, turned into light and phase-shifted. It was trying to return to the Glutton's side.
"Tsk, tsk."
The Glutton was still just observing the situation.
That thing was a smart monster.
Even in the game, players used to lament and rage about the Glutton's AI level.
'It's aiming for the Gardener.'
The reason the Glutton wasn't moving was that it hadn't fully grasped the adventurers' strength.
It seemed to have clashed with Clorence's party once, but this was its first time meeting us.
To the Glutton, Verdure and the Blowgun Nymph were expendable. It could always open another exit room and summon more.
But the Gardener was a different story.
"Go for Verdure!"
The Gardener wants to use us, and the Glutton wants to use us.
The same goes for us.
"We need to thin their numbers while the Gardener deals with the Glutton!"
The Nymph had used Sentry Reposition to get to the Glutton, leaving Verdure isolated.
BOOM!
Verdure slammed into the iron door with all its might, but it was useless. The Faithful Iron Door couldn't be destroyed by an attack of that level.
"Out of the way, wizard!"
I saw Richard charging fiercely, his Zanbato raised high.
A red, smoke-like substance billowed from his body.
"Incinerate!"
Clorence, following close behind, cast his spell. Verdure was hit, but its body didn't catch fire.
"It's a monster with high resistance!"
Let's save the Hourglass for now.
I didn't know how the Glutton or the Nymph would move.
Instead...
"Summon Typhoon."
A massive cloud, like three cumulonimbus clouds merged together, rose up.
Verdure had high status resistance, making it difficult to inflict Freeze or Burn. But a raging gale was a physical phenomenon.
Furthermore...
THUD!
For Richard, who was launching himself off the ground, it was like a tailwind.
A Zanbato (斬馬刀) is literally a 'horse-slaying sword'. Seeing the weight and size of the greatsword, I had no doubt it could do just that.
If one could even swing it.
'Spine-Severing Strike.'
The 5th-tier skill of a Zanbato warrior came crashing down on Verdure's head like a thunderbolt.
However...
"Tsk, tsk."
The monster's leg appeared over the still-rising wall.
The Glutton wouldn't let Verdure take a critical hit.
'Gaze of the Void.'
The eye in the center of the monster's round, massive head flashed open.
'Fuck.'
I had been conscious of it from the start, so I ended up meeting its gaze directly.
My legs gave out.
Gaze of the Void inflicts a one-turn incapacitation on any character looking at the caster.
As I collapsed, I saw Yernil's arrow flying toward the Glutton.
But it was too late.
Any skill, magic, or summon of Tier 6 or lower caught within the narrow range of the Gaze of the Void would be destroyed.
"...!"
The greatsword striking Verdure's forehead lost its power.
"Richard!" Kudrum screamed. He quickly deployed a combat doll, but it was a little too late.
In that fleeting moment, several skills and spells flew from all directions at once.
"Guardian's Shield."
"Pain Gas Dispersal."
Dorothy's and Clorence's spells flew toward Richard and Verdure, respectively.
'Rhino's Horn!'
Aimus aimed his iron staff and charged ferociously. Due to the size difference with Verdure, his attack only reached the monster's knee, but I saw it stagger for a moment.
THWACK!
Back Attack instantly appeared behind it, his dagger stabbing into the nape of Verdure's neck, but...
'Necrosis isn't taking hold!'
Verdure was a highly resistant monster.
The hood Back Attack wore was supposed to trigger 'Necrosis' magic when attacking from the side or behind, but it didn't work.
"Yernil!"
"Yes!"
"Mark... huh?"
A wall shot up right in front of my eyes.
'What?'
This was strange.
The Gardener had just used the Faithful Iron Door spell.
That was still in progress. The rising walls were just now forming a ceiling.
But she was casting another spell before that one even finished?
Unless the Gardener was a high-speed caster, how could the cooldown be this short?
To be honest, I was surprised the Gardener had summoned an 8th-tier iron door in the first place. I'd never seen anything like it in the game.
That's why, when I first saw it at the 5th-floor stairs, I thought it was a strange phenomenon caused by Bearhim.
But the iron door had said so itself.
Its master wasn't Bearhim, but it did use Bearhim's power to be summoned.
'So I assumed the Gardener cast it.'
Or was this iron door cast by someone else?
But who?
The Glutton?
Impossible. The Gardener was someone who had received Bearhim's power, so I could accept her having a hidden talent I didn't know about, but not the Glutton. No matter how skilled it was, how could a 7th-floor monster use an 8th-tier summoning spell?
And why...
'Was it cast in front of me?'
If the goal of that spell was to divide the adventurers, wouldn't it make more sense to separate Clorence, who had the highest firepower?
"Don't get separated!" Clorence shouted.
"Caleb!" Yernil's voice.
"He's on the other side of the wall!" Back Attack's yell.
Aimus and Richard shouted in succession.
"We're coming over! Caleb!"
"Don't break formation!"
"Protect Clorence and Dorothy!" Kudrum ordered.
The other side of the wall instantly fell into chaos.
"This way!" Clorence made a quick decision.
Not wanting the team to be split, he intended to reform our lines around me, even if it meant letting Verdure go.
"Follow me! Cross over to this side!"
He cast Ethereal Blink and crossed the wall first.
'Sentry Reposition.'
'Shadow Leap.'
'Combat Doll Flight!'
'Barbarian's Long Jump!'
Yernil, Back Attack, and Aimus followed in a rush. A blue, magic circle-like object fell over the heads of Kudrum, Richard, and Dorothy.
I knew what that was.
"It's Displacement!"
The Glutton's 6th-tier chaos magic.
It transported targets to a random, unsealed space.
"Dodge it!"
Since Clorence and I were also in its range, I grabbed him and threw myself out of the way.
As I tumbled outside the circle and looked back...
Pop!
The adventurers from both parties vanished as if they had evaporated.
"Son of a bitch..."
The ceiling closed over them.
Back Attack, Yernil, Aimus, and Richard.
The four of them now stood before Verdure.
"If both front-liners are in one place, what about the others?!" Aimus cried out in alarm.
"Caleb! Are you okay!?"
I'm not okay.
Fuck.
"Gorororo."
Only one of Kudrum's iron dolls remained; Kudrum himself was nowhere to be seen.
Clorence was beside me.
Just the two of us, with no front-liner, rear support, or anyone else.
And in front of us...
"Tsk, tsk."
The Glutton was looking down at us.
Bioluminescent mushrooms twinkled all around. Iron-plate mushrooms were crawling out of the pond one by one.
"Springtime of the Garden."
The Gardener was casting a buff spell on the mushrooms.
The Glutton was in front.
And behind us...
"Caleb," Clorence said, backing away toward Bearhim's corpse.
"Eat an Aether Mushroom, quickly!"