Chapter 142: Blowgun Nymph (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 142: Blowgun Nymph (2)
It was the same when I took down Ingelam.
I’d detonated the Sphere of Absorption with a dust explosion, drenching him with the massive amount of water that poured out. Then I finished him off with a Lightning Shock.
This time was similar.
Boom!
The amount of water that burst from the water bomb, compressed to a physically impossible degree, was measured in tons.
Like a firefighting helicopter dumping its load to suppress a blaze, a tremendous volume of water erupted from the sphere fifteen meters in the air.
For a moment, the Nymph was completely submerged.
“At a glance, it looks just like an Ethereal Lake—a spherical prison!” Clorence shouted excitedly.
The Nymph couldn't even scream. It plummeted like a gnat doused with a bucket of water.
The monster's wings were completely soaked.
“Here it is!”
As Clorence and I charged toward the Nymph, something fell in front of us like a rock launched from a trebuchet.
CRASH!
It was the corpse of a mushroom, split in half.
'It's paying attention to our fight.'
The Glutton had the Gardener caught in its massive tentacle. The Gardener struggled, but couldn't break free.
The mushrooms were attacking the Glutton, spewing spores everywhere, but the monster didn't even flinch.
Instead…
WHOOSH!
It threw the Gardener at us.
“Ignore it!”
We had to finish the Nymph before the Glutton got here.
“Frost Ray!”
A Tier 1 spell shot from my wand. I didn't need a Blizzard; a Frost Ray was more suitable, being instantaneous.
The battlefield had become a straight line connecting the Glutton, the Nymph, me, Clorence, and the Gardener. The area around the Nymph was flooded with a deluge of water.
'Frozen!'
A drenched target is vulnerable to electrocution and freezing. And water, when hit by freezing magic, turns to ice.
Hadn't I done the same thing before, creating a sheet of ice with Ice Lance when I fought the exit boss, Back Attack?
The Glutton couldn't approach us now.
The Nymph…
“Now!”
The monster, half-buried and frozen in a mass of ice, could only move its head.
“Cursed Viper.”
It was Clorence's most powerful spell. A Tier 5 magic tome obtained by binding living plague magic with python magic.
[Book of the Cursed Viper]
It was a build I'd used a few times in-game myself. When cast, a deadly, venomous viper shoots out from the tip of the wand.
It's a type of summoning magic, but you can designate a target and fire it.
The summoned magic viper then flies like a bullet…
CRUNCH!
...and bites the Nymph's neck.
The magic viper instantly coiled itself around the Nymph's frozen body.
Normally, the 6th-floor mushrooms are immune to poison. The viper isn't actually the best spell for exploring the 6th floor, since the poison damage is useless.
But I'd often used it to clear the 6th floor in the game.
“Gurgle!”
Because the sheer power of a Tier 5 spell doesn't rely on poison alone. Blood dripped from the Nymph's slender neck where the fangs had pierced it.
“We got it!”
Besides, the Nymph had no resistance to poison. As the venom spread, its face began to turn blue.
The Glutton was hesitant to step onto the ice. Its ranged spells were all on cooldown, as the Gardener had absorbed most of them with his body.
It's over…
“Huh?”
The Glutton's tentacle was raised high in the air. I knew what that motion meant.
It was probably the same attack that had crushed Richard when Clorence's party first encountered the monster.
'Falling Sky.'
It wasn't aimed at us. Its range couldn't reach us across the icy path.
The Glutton's attack was falling right on top of the Nymph.
“That crazy…”
It goes without saying, but a monster like that has no sense of camaraderie.
It didn't care if the incapacitated Nymph lived or died.
If the Nymph was lucky enough to survive, it could escape once the ice was shattered. If it was even luckier, the attack might also kill the summoned Cursed Viper.
And if it was unlucky and died? That was fine too. The ice would be broken, achieving its primary goal. The Glutton would secure a direct path to us.
CRASH!
The tentacle slammed into the ground.
Shards of ice flew in all directions.
And then…
'Sentry Relocation!'
The Nymph vanished.
A chill ran down my spine.
It must have moved behind us.
Fuck.
The Glutton is a ridiculously overpowered monster, sure. But the 6th-floor exit boss is also tough for me at my current level.
*
“If Clorence or Dorothy were here… hell, if even that Dwarf Puppeteer bastard was here, this fight would've been over long ago.”
Richard leaned on his greatsword, barely able to stay upright.
“You get it?! You fucking weaklings!”
After the party was split, the fight against Verdure wasn't going well.
“Sorry. We're 5th-floor adventurers,” Aimus panted.
“You're pulling your weight, so don't worry.”
To be honest, Richard was surprised. The toughness of the Iron-Vein Monk was beyond his imagination.
“The problem is we lack attack power.”
At Richard's roar, Back Attack looked like he'd eaten shit, and Yernil shrank back, glancing around nervously.
“But none of my attacks are doing any damage…”
The helplessness Yernil felt was comparable to when she'd hunted the Venomic Spider long ago.
She thought she'd never feel that way again.
“My Triple Shot doesn't work, my magic-tipped arrows don't work…”
Caleb had gotten her a bunch of cheap and useful magic scrolls from the university.
Mysterious Knockdown.
Rapid Freezer Pipe.
Ignition.
Superconduction.
Virulent Touch.
These were typically close-combat countermeasures used by wizards, focused on incapacitating targets with status effects rather than dealing massive damage.
Just like how Superconduction's chance to electrocute was significantly higher than Lightning Shock's.
But against Verdure, none of the scrolls were of any use.
“It's because it's a high-resistance boss! I told you to leave a mark!” Richard shouted.
“I know that!”
Yernil wasn't an idiot!
Right before the new iron wall had shot up and split the party, hadn't Caleb shouted the same thing? 'Yernil! The mark...!'
Her newly learned Marking Arrow left a mark on the impacted area that nullified resistance.
If she hit that same spot again, the magic-tipped arrow would work. Caleb must have been planning to use that strategy.
“But…”
Yernil's Marking Arrow just wouldn't land. Verdure watched it carefully and knocked it away with its horn.
Even…
“It failed even with invisibility.”
Back Attack had made Yernil invisible, and she'd shot the Marking Arrow at an opening, but Verdure had blocked even that.
It was because of its Magic Vision.
Verdure's vision could not only perceive visible light but also detect 'magic power'.
Adventurers who'd made it to the 6th floor all had a piece or two of magic equipment, so it wouldn't lose track of their position even if they were invisible.
Back Attack was just as helpless.
Leaping Ambush, Dagger Throw, even Bomb Toss. Despite unleashing all of his most lethal skills, Back Attack's attacks barely seemed to affect Verdure.
Using Mirror Rogue to create a clone was also meaningless.
“If Dorothy were here,” Richard said, “she would've shattered its resistance in one shot with her Condemnation Magic.”
“…”
“And Clorence would've brought it to its knees with his viper. Then I would've taken the monster's head.”
Richard missed his party members.
There was definitely a gap in skill between 5th and 6th-floor adventurers.
“Or if Kudrum had just rammed his combat doll into it and self-destructed, that thing would be critically injured.”
“Let's stop thinking about people who aren't here and find a way to solve this ourselves,” Aimus said.
But honestly, he too was desperately missing someone who wasn't there.
If Caleb were here. He would have found a way.
Yernil and Back Attack were both thinking the same thing.
Thud.
Thud, thud.
Verdure stomped its foot.
“It's coming. Be careful.”
Richard checked Aimus's condition. The iron monk, who had taken several hits for him, was certainly impressive, but he wouldn't be able to take the next one.
“I'll take the front.”
Despite his severe injuries, Richard stepped forward.
He recalled the words of the wizard who had fallen into the trap on the 5th floor.
'So if things get rough, we're just going to use the 5th-floor party as meat shields to win the battle? Is that what we're doing?'
That arrogant bastard!
'What do you take me for?'
Clorence had probably thought that way from a tactical standpoint, to maximize the survival of the eight-person party, and Kudrum had likely made such calculations simply because he was a shady person(?), but not Richard.
He had never told anyone weaker than him to take the front line in a battle.
“So stay the hell back, you son of a bitch, Back Attack.”
“Whether in the West or here, I just can't stand that guy.”
Back Attack looked up at the sky.
Something was floating there. 'The Watcher.'
It was what Caleb had used to scout the inside of Bearhim's garden.
What would Caleb do in a situation like this?
Just like when he'd dragged the dying Aimus back into the inter-floor village from the 1.5th-floor stairs.
They needed some kind of miraculous tactical decision.
The iron wall blocked the path, so there was no way for the other adventurers to provide support.
They had to solve this on their own and escape, no matter what.
'Boss! What should I do?!'
Back Attack wanted to grab him and ask for strategic advice.
CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!
Verdure charged.
*
“Caleb!”
The Blowgun's breath, fired from behind me.
Without exaggeration, the back of my head was about to explode.
The reason I survived was thanks to Clorence.
He had been standing slightly behind me, and the moment the Blowgun Nymph used Sentry Relocation, Clorence had blocked its path.
CLANG!
A sound like screaming steel rang out.
Unlike the Electrostatic Coat, his magic protection could block physical damage, but only once.
Shrapnel flew. Clorence's protection shattered.
“Superconduction!”
There's one thing you must always remember when playing Labyrinth of the Abyss.
Always have a Plan B.
The situation was spiraling into the worst-case scenario, but we still had a chance.
“Run!”
I had to get Clorence to safety.
He couldn't fight the Glutton yet.
He had to survive until we could regroup the party for the final battle.
“This thing…”
I threw myself at the Nymph.
“I'll take care of it!”
The Nymph was a monster with insane long-range destructive power and crazy mobility, but its body was small.
About the size of a ten-year-old child.
My Strength stat is zero, but so is the Nymph's.
“……!”
I grabbed the monster and ran. I only needed to run ten meters. It was just beyond that.
'Bearhim's garden pond.'
I dove toward the place where the mushrooms grew.
I had to hold the Nymph tight in my arms, so the muzzle of the blowgun in its mouth couldn't aim at me.
The twenty-centimeter barrel ran in a straight line past my neck. The tip of the muzzle stuck out over my shoulder.
From that angle, it couldn't possibly shoot me.
Instead…
'Piercing Shot.'
It could shoot Clorence.
BANG! The insane gunshot felt like it blew out my left eardrum.
Did Clorence get hit? I pray he dodged it. There was no time to look back.
SPLASH!
I dove into the pond, holding the Nymph in my arms.
The Cumulonimbus was starting to clear. Its summoning time was up.
The Hourglass had thirty seconds left on its cooldown.
But my Electrostatic Coat was fully charged.
BZZZZZT!
As I sank into the water, I lightly jabbed my own side with my right hand.
To discharge the coat.
KRAKOW!
A current spread out in all directions. The electrocuted Nymph thrashed about wildly.
We sank together into the sapphire-blue water.
There's one thing I wanted to tell Clorence.
Even if you summon a mass of water with the Sphere of Absorption to trap something, it's vastly different from the Ethereal Lake-Spherical Prison.
Is that because of the difference in magic tiers? No, that's not what I mean.
The Spherical Prison constricts its target with immense pressure, right? It adds the 'Suppressed' status effect. That's why they can't move.
That's the core of the Spherical Prison.
What I'm doing now is similar to that.
[Moisturizing Ring]
The ring I wore on my finger was to retain moisture in the scorching sun and dryness of the 5th floor.
Water that touches the skin doesn't come off easily and has a tendency to cling.
Just like the water in this pond now.
With this pseudo-Suppressed status effect, the Nymph couldn't easily escape the pond.
Flap!
It beat its wings powerfully, trying to shake me off and get out of the pond, but it failed.
'Let's suffocate together in here!'
Being underwater induces the 'Difficulty Breathing' status effect. After two turns, it changes to 'Suffocating'.
Suffocation damage isn't a fixed value; it's a certain percentage of total health.
The Nymph's health is much higher than mine, but in terms of percentage, its current health is probably much lower.
'I haven't been hit once, but you've taken several lightning strikes and been bitten by a viper.'
Blood leaked from the hole in the Nymph's neck as water seeped in.
“……!”
The Nymph thrashed in agony.
I hugged it tighter to keep it from moving.
Water was starting to enter my nose now, too.
“Gah!”
But I won't suffocate to death. Because you'll die first.
“Krrrk…!”
I just have to hold on for a moment. Once that moment passes, you'll die, and I'll…
[Temporary Hourglass Acquired.]
[Your Turn. Time Remaining: 60 seconds]
[Action Points: ■■]
I use the Time Trader skill.
Remove Suffocation.
[Your Turn. Time Remaining: 59 seconds]
[Action Points: ■■]
I could breathe again.
To be precise, I wasn't actually breathing due to the time stop, but the feeling of stability returned to my lungs and body.
The moment the Hourglass ends, 'Difficulty Breathing' will start again.
But I can get out of the pond before it progresses to Suffocating.
I should make good use of my remaining time and Action Points.
And how will I use them…?
[Watcher Scroll]
I take out the scroll I had tucked into my belt, careful to use only the minimum movement to expend just one Action Point.
I just lower my eyes to look at it.
Hey! Is everyone okay?