Chapter 141: Blowgun Nymph
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 141: Blowgun Nymph
Thump-thump-thump!
Clorence immediately spun around and started running.
He was going for the Aether Mushrooms.
“……!”
The Gardener flinched, turning to look at us.
She considered anyone approaching Bearhim’s corpse an enemy and would attack, but the Glutton’s presence kept her from acting rashly.
This was our chance.
We had to get the mushrooms now!
...Or so Clorence seems to think.
Dammit.
His judgment wasn't wrong, but there was a problem.
“Wait! Clorence!”
“Caleb, you come too!”
Before I could stop him, Clorence had scrambled onto the massive ethereal corpse and plucked an Aether Mushroom.
He then got into a throwing stance, aiming for me.
“Caleb! Catch this—!”
As an adventurer still on the 6th floor, Clorence didn't know the first thing about Aether Mushrooms and the Glutton.
“Huh?”
Why was that monster called the Glutton?
Because that ravenous predator possessed the Void Devouring Magic. It could target nearby items, weapons, neutral objects, living creatures—anything.
It would instantly snatch whatever it perceived as a threat and bring it into its grasp.
And usually, it would eat it.
Hence, the Glutton.
Swoosh!
A black hole the size of a rice bowl writhed in Clorence’s hand, and the Aether Mushroom he’d been holding a moment ago vanished.
“No way…”
The mushroom had reappeared at the tip of a tentacle the Glutton wielded like a hand.
An immense light began to pour out from it.
This was because it had come into contact with a monster other than the Gardener.
But it didn't last long.
Gulp!
The Glutton swallowed the mushroom whole.
Not even that intense light could penetrate the special boss’s thick stomach wall and flesh.
“Ugh…”
Clorence quickly tried to pick another mushroom, but he couldn't.
“What the!”
The moment his hand neared a mushroom, it retreated into Bearhim’s body to hide.
Each person could only pick one mushroom.
Clorence had just had his stolen.
And unless one used a special method like Void Devouring, no one else could pick a mushroom and hand it to him. It would simply disappear.
What did that mean?
It meant that the main dealer with the highest attack power among our eight members had just lost his means of boosting his damage.
And the Glutton?
We're so screwed.
Aether Mushrooms enhance stats according to one's class.
For a creature like the Glutton, its Wisdom would have been boosted.
Vweeeeee!
A sphere of red light began to gather in front of the Glutton’s eye. It was Scorching Ray.
“Get down!”
I yanked Clorence down, and we hid behind Bearhim’s corpse.
The Glutton’s base Wisdom was a fixed 30.
Eating an Aether Mushroom would multiply it by 1.5 for the duration of the buff, bringing it to 45.
Scorching Ray was only a Tier 2 spell, but…
KABOOOM!
Not a single one of the iron-plate mushrooms survived the path swept by the flames.
“Gasp… gasp…”
Clorence’s face went white; he’d just had a brush with death from its unimaginable power.
And yet, despite being engulfed by that mighty flame, Bearhim’s corpse didn't even have a scorch mark. The luminous ethereal body still lay there peacefully.
Instead…
“Aaaaaargh!”
The enraged Gardener leaped into the air.
Half of her iron-plate mushrooms had been wiped out in a single blow, but more were still crawling out of the ethereal pond one by one.
“Fungal Explosion.”
The Gardener cast a spell on the Glutton.
A void-like gaze shot out and swept over it.
The mushrooms began firing spores wildly.
“Stay down!”
I grabbed Clorence and flattened myself against the ground.
Bearhim’s corpse was our cover; beyond it was a battlefield where monsters rained hellfire on each other.
I quickly turned and reached out my arm.
Pluck!
I grabbed an Aether Mushroom.
“Clorence.”
The situation was too urgent for a long explanation.
“The only way you can eat this mushroom now is if we cut open that octopus’s stomach and retrieve the one it ate.”
“……!”
Seeing is believing.
I decided to show him.
I brought the Aether Mushroom close to Clorence’s skin.
The mushroom’s form blurred and vanished.
When I pulled it away, it reappeared in my hand.
“See? I’m the only one who can eat this.”
But instead of eating it now, I put it in my pocket.
Even with this, we couldn't defeat the Glutton right now.
“So that’s why you said you’d give the mushrooms to us. Because we couldn't take them all anyway.”
“I won’t deny it.”
“In that case, it’s best if everyone in Caleb’s party eats one too.”
“That’s the only way for as many of us as possible to survive.”
“For now…”
We were both in agreement.
“We should probably get out of here?”
“Let’s escape for now.”
While the Gardener was buying us time, we needed to find our parties and regroup.
The Aether Mushroom boosts one’s primary stat by 1.5 times during its active period, but its power gradually fades.
The Glutton’s Wisdom, which had risen from 30 to 45, would drop to 32 over the next 60 minutes.
The final 2 points, however, were a permanent increase.
“If we’re going to fight, it has to be then.”
The best-case scenario was for the Gardener to wear down the Glutton a bit before dying.
In the meantime, we would regroup our party, return, buff ourselves with Aether Mushrooms, and then take down the Glutton.
“That’s the only way.”
For now, let’s deal with Verdure and the Blowgun Nymph.
Verdure was trapped behind the Wall of Loyalty that had been summoned. It might even be fighting Aimus’s or Richard’s team right now.
So where was the Blowgun Nymph?
“Gororororororo!”
A masterless combat doll came running toward us.
Or more accurately, it was trying to run past us.
“Let’s follow the combat doll!”
The doll was currently running toward its master, the Dwarf Puppeteer.
“We need to regroup the party and reform our lines…”
Thwang!
Just as we were about to move, something like a magic bullet was fired from the sky.
One of the combat doll’s arms was blown off.
Blowgun Breath!
The skill was similar to the ethereal bullets Isilof used, though not quite as devastating.
Still, it would be more than enough to take out squishies like me and Clorence in one hit.
“The Nymph is above us!”
That was close.
If we had moved three seconds sooner, it would have been our arms blown off, not the combat doll’s.
The 6th-floor exit boss, the Blowgun Nymph, hadn't been trapped by the Wall of Loyalty. It was floating in the sky, right here in the middle of the battlefield where the Glutton and the Gardener were fighting.
“Gorororo!”
The combat doll picked up its severed arm and started running again.
The situation had changed.
If we followed the combat doll out into the open field now, we’d be asking for a bullet in the back of the head.
“Let’s use Bearhim’s corpse as cover and take down the Nymph.”
“Understood. With no front line, we’ll have to fend for ourselves.”
Clorence raised his wand with a grim expression.
“Do you have any defensive magic?”
“Of course, I do. What about you, Caleb?”
“Static Coat.”
I enveloped my body in a magical defensive barrier. Clorence looked a little worried.
“That spell’s power is weak unless it’s charged with lightning…”
“Cumulonimbus.”
You worry too much, Clorence.
[Your turn. Time remaining: 60 seconds]
[Action Points: ■■■■■■]
Along with the spell, I flipped the hourglass.
*
Ruuuumble!
The sky filled with dark clouds.
“Tch-smack.”
The Glutton licked its lips and looked up at the sky.
“……!”
Even the Gardener seemed startled for a moment and glanced upward.
Seven massive clouds began to pour down rain, soaking the Gardener’s well-tended mushroom forest. The pond, which had already flooded once, began to overflow explosively.
“Superconduct.”
With Caleb’s incantation, seven bolts of lightning fully charged the Static Coat.
“You’re probably the only one who can use it like that.”
“So tell Avison not to copy this.”
Clorence let out a small laugh at the unexpected joke.
“He has been trying to copy your build. Be careful, Static Coat can’t block physical damage.”
“I know.”
Bearhim’s corpse would block any physical damage.
“Magic Protection.”
Clorence also cast a spell on himself.
It was a Tier 2 defensive spell.
And…
‘Wind Coat Mode.’
The Blowgun Nymph used a skill as well, to avoid getting wet from the downpour of Cumulonimbus.
A magical wind spiraled out from the Nymph’s wings, deflecting the rain.
“We have to bring it down,” Clorence said.
He had faced the Blowgun Nymph on the 6th floor before. That monster was incredibly difficult to attack while it was airborne.
It dodged every spell he fired.
But Clorence had a way to deal with it.
“Caleb, I’ll teach you the strategy we use to take down the Nymph…”
“The Sphere of Absorption, right? Hurry up!”
“……?”
*
He had a look on his face that said, How could Caleb, who just arrived on the 6th floor today, possibly know that?
Clorence, my friend.
I know everything.
We shared the magic information in our memory books on the way here, after all.
‘Sphere of Absorption.’
Ingelam had once prepared that spell as a counter to my Cumulonimbus, intending to eliminate the clouds.
The reason Clorence carried that spell was likely to have the sphere absorb a massive amount of water and then detonate it on the Blowgun Nymph.
Normally, the plan would be to find the exit room, confirm the Blowgun Nymph was inside, and then spend over a day charging the Sphere of Absorption with moisture before entering.
Was there a way to supply that much water instantly here?
Yes. The pond.
Clorence must have calculated that far.
But that pond also served as the mushrooms’ spawning pool, so we couldn't drain it now.
If we did, no more mushrooms would appear, and the Gardener would be defeated in an instant.
“That’s why I summoned Cumulonimbus!”
“Sphere of Absorption!”
While Clorence was casting his spell, I peeked out from behind Bearhim’s corpse and prepared my own.
“Lightning Shock.”
My target wasn't the Nymph.
Because if I aimed for the Nymph, it would just dodge.
True enough, the moment I raised my wand, it was already preparing to move.
The Nymph’s movements were like a hummingbird’s.
The creature hovered in mid-air, moving at a speed that could almost be called teleportation.
So it was better to aim for the ground beneath it. Then Cumulonimbus would strike that spot with lightning.
CRACK! BOOM!
If I was lucky, it might hit.
“……!”
One bolt landed.
The Nymph, struck by lightning in the back, seemed to have taken some damage but was still going strong.
And it looked a little angry.
Thwang!
A blowgun dart flew from the enraged monster.
I quickly ducked behind Bearhim’s corpse, but…
It’s a Poison Mist Bullet!
It was a skill where a highly toxic liquid hit the ground and then leaped toward a nearby enemy.
It dealt fatal plague damage.
“Caleb!”
Clorence screamed as he saw me get hit squarely by the Poison Mist Bullet.
The lightning charge on my Static Coat exploded, and discharged currents flashed around me.
“I-I’m fine.”
That was fucking close.
A whopping seven stacks of lightning from my Static Coat had just evaporated.
But I blocked it.
Calculating the lightning’s cooldown, I aimed my wand at my chest again and leaned out.
“Superconduct.”
‘Blowgun Breath.’
Thwang!
As my Static Coat charged with lightning, a bullet ricocheted off the ground.
I ducked back behind Bearhim’s corpse just in time to avoid it.
That was physical damage, so unlike the Poison Mist Bullet, Static Coat couldn't block it.
But before casting the Blowgun Breath skill, the Nymph had a specific tell: it would put the blowgun to its mouth and puff out its cheeks with a huff!
I had to read that movement carefully.
Then I wouldn't die from a Blowgun Breath.
The Nymph had a few other physical attacks as well. For example…
‘Piercing Shot.’
KABOOM!
It was a skill meant to destroy cover and attack the enemy behind it, but Bearhim was an indestructible object.
The Nymph hovered in the air, looking perplexed.
It probably wanted to move behind the throne where Bearhim’s corpse was sitting.
That way, it could snipe us while we were hiding.
But it couldn't do that either.
Its flight capabilities were severely limited in Wind Coat Mode. It could move for a moment to dodge lightning, but to travel any real distance, its wings would get soaked by the rain.
That’s why I chose Cumulonimbus over higher-tier cloud spells like Hailstorm, Typhoon, or Blizzard.
I wanted to spread the rain over the widest possible area.
Thwang!
Thwang! Thwang!
The irritated Blowgun Nymph fired its gun indiscriminately. The shower of bullets hit Bearhim’s face and shoulders, scattering in all directions.
Splat!
A Poison Mist Bullet hit the ground and leaped up.
KRAKOOM!
The moment my shield discharged, I spun around and aimed my wand.
Instead of recharging the seven lost stacks with Superconduct…
“Lightning Shock.”
I attacked.
This time, I aimed straight for the Nymph, not the ground.
It couldn't move while casting Poison Mist Bullet either.
BOOM!
As expected, it was struck by lightning from all sides and staggered.
I had lost a lot of lightning charges, but the lightning’s cooldown was only five seconds, so I could recharge soon.
And your Poison Mist Bullet has a 15-second cooldown. I know that, too.
“It’s ready!”
Clorence popped up next to me.
Alright.
Show me what you’ve got, Clorence.
It was absurd for a wizard like me to be fighting like this, using Static Coat and cover because we had no front line.
“Move Sphere.”
Something like a blue baseball was moving through the sky. It was a water bomb that had collected and absorbed a large amount of rainwater flowing on the ground.
“It can’t move far from its current position because it’s using Wind Coat!”
“I know!”
The Sphere of Absorption instantly moved right in front of the Blowgun Nymph’s face.
“Explode.”