Chapter 145: Richard
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 145: Richard
Hope began to surface.
Considering how worried I’d been, the situation was looking incredibly good.
The difference in our combat strength had been significant, so it wouldn’t have been strange if a few of us had died by now.
But we had all survived.
What if this had been a game?
What if it had just been me and Clorence against the Blowgun Nymph?
The moment the nymph broke free from the ice and used Sentry Relocation, we would have lost.
There were even greater strokes of luck.
For instance, what if Clorence and I had faced Verdure instead of the nymph?
That would have been truly hopeless.
Without Yernil or a priest to lower its resistance, two wizards would have been completely helpless against Verdure. And while Aimus or Richard might have survived a graze from its horn, for us, it would have been instant death.
And then there was the biggest piece of luck.
‘The Glutton was tied up with the Gardener for a long time.’
The worst-case scenario for me was the Glutton switching its target from the Gardener to my party or Clorence’s.
That’s why I had rushed the battle as much as possible while the Gardener was buying us time. And thankfully, the fight between the Glutton and the Gardener had dragged on for quite a while.
The reason was probably…
‘Its goal was to subjugate the Gardener.’
If it had wanted to kill him, it would have been over in an instant.
“Thank goodness the Gardener resisted until the end!” Yernil shouted.
“Since he’s the boss in charge of the garden, he probably couldn’t leave this area,” Clorence added, looking pleased.
“Maybe the Gardener is someone the Glutton can’t subjugate in the first place?”
It was clear that 6th-floor adventurers didn’t know much about the Glutton.
The skills and spells that octopus monster possessed were all deadly, but the trickiest one was something else entirely.
Pressure of the Void.
It was a spell with a relatively low success rate, but if it landed, it could place a target in a state of submission.
It had probably used it on Verdure and the nymph as well. However, to increase the success rate, the target’s health needed to be whittled down first.
It must have been biding its time, controlling its attacks to keep the Gardener on the brink of death, waiting for the right moment to inflict submission.
Right?
I glanced at the Glutton.
What was that thing thinking right now?
No matter how well things were going, this was an opponent I could never let my guard down against.
Before the monster lay a shattered path of ice and the bisected torso of the nymph.
Beyond that was the corpse of Bearhim, slumped on a massive throne.
And rushing toward the Aether Mushrooms blooming all over it were seven adventurers and one combat doll.
Behind them, the Gardener, barely conscious.
What is it aiming for?
In that fleeting moment as we ran for the mushrooms, an inexplicable sense of dread washed over me. The hair on my neck stood on end.
Why isn’t it doing anything?
Having tasted an Aether Mushroom itself, the Glutton knew of its power.
Shouldn’t it be trying to stop us from eating them? That’s the very reason I was rushing forward.
So why wasn’t the Glutton coming to stop us—
The monster’s tentacle twitched.
A circle of blue magic was suspended at its tip.
“Wait!”
A scream escaped my lips.
“Stop!”
We were just a few steps from the Aether Mushrooms. I grabbed Back Attack and Yernil and yanked them back.
At the same time, Aimus and Richard slammed their iron staff and zanmato into the ground, catching the others who were following behind.
Right in front of Bearhim’s corpse, exactly where we were about to step, the circle of blue magic fell.
“Phase Shift!”
That was too close.
The Glutton’s Tier 6 Chaos Magic had been waiting for us like a trap, activating right next to Bearhim’s body.
You insane monster bastard.
It had cast the spell and was just holding it at the tip of its tentacle, waiting!
It had anticipated that we would slow down as we reached the corpse and timed it perfectly for that spot.
“We’re… we’re alive.”
Kudrum, who had screeched to a halt while holding onto his combat doll, let out a sigh of relief.
“Let’s go again!”
But we dodged it.
I read your attack.
What’s next?
Void Devouring?
Clorence had already lost his Aether Mushroom to that spell.
The effects of the mushroom that monster ate back then must have worn off by now, so it’s probably aiming to steal a new one, right?
The moment one of us seven picks up a mushroom, it will use Void Devouring to snatch it away.
That way, it can weaken our team while doping itself.
Is there any way to prevent that?
Can I bait it into wasting Void Devouring on something else?
Not easy.
The Glutton is a smart monster. It’s saving Void Devouring right now, specifically to steal a mushroom.
If we have to lose one mushroom, whose would be the best to sacrifice?
Selfishly, I’d prefer it to be Richard’s or Kudrum’s, since they aren’t in my party.
But let’s not get greedy.
The most rational tactical decision here is for the person with the lowest attack power to have theirs taken.
Yernil?
It’s not that her attack power is low, but rather that she’s in a position where she can pull her weight even without the mushroom’s buff.
Most of Yernil’s combat effectiveness comes from her marking arrows and magic arrowheads, so a stat buff isn’t as critical for her.
“Yernil, you get the mushroom first!”
We can just cut open the octopus’s belly and get the mushrooms back later.
“Okay!”
Yernil leaped forward.
And in that instant.
“No!”
Back Attack suddenly grabbed her by the hair and pulled her back.
In that split second, I realized what I had misjudged.
The card the Glutton had chosen wasn’t Void Devouring.
Swoosh!
Richard spun 180 degrees on the spot, his zanmato cleaving through the air where Yernil had been.
The tip of the blade grazed the bridge of her nose.
If Back Attack hadn’t pulled her back, her head might have flown off.
Fuck.
It was Pressure of the Void.
Richard had fallen into a state of submission.
*
To think that after going to all that trouble to beat the Gardener to an inch of his life, it would use its submission spell on Richard.
No.
I should have predicted this.
The Glutton had lost Verdure, its front-liner.
It makes sense that it would prioritize a front-liner over the Gardener, who was a support type.
And while Pressure of the Void has a very low success rate, that rate increases depending on how injured the target is.
Richard was already critically wounded.
He’d said he was knocked unconscious after taking a direct hit from a Collapsing Sky before joining our party.
Shit.
I was too hasty.
How could I have missed something like this?
‘Spinal Cleave.’
The Orc warrior charged straight ahead.
His target was…
Me!
The blade fell before my eyes.
[Turn-Based Hourglass Cooldown: 36 seconds]
The hourglass I had just used to set up a 6-AP action combo for Back Attack and Yernil was still on cooldown.
I had no way to defend, and no time.
My Static Coat still had a few charges of lightning left, but that was meaningless.
It couldn’t block physical attacks in the first place.
SWOOOSH!
The greatsword flew at me with a terrifying sound.
The feeling was similar to my first day of possession, when the goblin’s blade came right up to the carotid artery in my neck.
I’m going to die.
*
CRASH!
Something moved on pure reflex, shoving Richard aside.
It was the combat doll.
I felt like I’d just been halfway across the River Styx and barely made it back to shore.
“Hah… Hah…!”
“Caleb!”
A beat later, Aimus pulled me back.
“You crazy son of a bitch!” Kudrum screamed.
“Richard! Snap out of it!”
In truth, Richard’s surprise attack was not something a human could have reacted to.
The combat doll only managed to block it because it was in a constant state of high alert.
“Hah…”
I was breathing hard, like a patient having a hyperventilation attack.
My legs gave out from under me.
“Caleb!”
Yernil rushed to my side and helped me up. Back Attack had his sword pointed at Richard.
“Richard!”
Clorence didn’t know what to do.
If it were an enemy, he would have already unleashed Cursed Viper, but this was a companion he had adventured with all the way to the 6th floor. He was frozen, unable to make a decision.
That’s right.
Clorence was also at a ‘mid-floor level.’
“G-get a grip!”
He was just spouting useless nonsense like that.
“It’s no use!” I shouted, pulling on Clorence’s arm.
If Richard was in a state of submission, we had no way of snapping him out of it.
We’d need a priest who could use at least a Tier 5 ‘Forced Repentance’ spell, but Dorothy was trapped.
No, even if she were here, there’s no guarantee she’d even have that spell.
BAM!
Richard kicked the doll away with all his might.
Then he raised his zanmato again.
“Aimus!”
I screamed as if in prayer. Richard bent his knees, lowering his upper body close to the ground.
‘Rushing Demon’s Ankle Slash.’
It was a horizontal slash with a very low Z-axis, a move I often used myself when I played a zanmato warrior.
A devastating strike that could cause an ankle injury or even sever it, sweeping a wide area in front of the user in a single blow.
‘Steel Parasol!’
It was nothing short of a miracle that Aimus managed to open his parasol in time.
CLANG!
A dull, metallic sound rang out.
The parasol protected me, Yernil, and Back Attack, and even shielded the dwarf.
But…
“Uh…”
Clorence, who had been outside the parasol’s range, swayed.
His center of gravity was gone.
His right ankle was gone.
*
“Aaaaargh!”
This was definitely different from the game.
In the game, even if you suffered a severed ankle, you’d just get an AP penalty and your health would tick down from bleeding. You wouldn’t have a mental breakdown.
“Clorence!”
But right now, Clorence was on the verge of collapsing from the immense pain.
The dwarf was freaking out, too.
Yernil, Back Attack, and Aimus all had blank looks on their faces for a moment.
The three of them had never been cornered like this before.
To have a party member turned against you by the enemy, to see an ally’s limb get hacked off and sent flying.
They had never been in a situation this dire.
From the 7th floor onward, it’s no longer the mid-floors.
It’s the high-floors.
This is a taste of the high-floors.
Fuck.
“Back Attack! Get Clorence and retreat!”
“T-to where?!”
“Next to the Gardener!”
Idiot.
Moron.
Fucking fool!
I cursed myself relentlessly.
Did I get my hopes up just because we took down the nymph and Verdure without any losses?
How could I possibly be hopeful when a special boss two tiers above us was standing right there?
“Everyone, fall back! Use the combat doll to hold Richard down!”
No.
That’s not it. I didn’t make a mistake because I was hopeful.
I made a mistake because I was anxious, and that made me rush.
I was afraid the Glutton would charge in and physically block our path to the Aether Mushrooms.
The Gardener had already been defeated and knocked away. I was worried the now-unoccupied Glutton would block us and prevent us from securing a route to the mushrooms.
That’s what I was worried about.
So I rushed. I charged ahead, thinking that even if we lost one mushroom to Void Devouring, we all needed to secure one right now.
Because I thought if we missed this chance, strengthening our party would be impossible, and we’d never be able to defeat the Glutton.
My impatience was my mistake.
“Everyone, get back!”
A massive octopus tentacle shot up like a giant mushroom. Its shadow fell over all of us.
It was Collapsing Sky.
“Back Attack!” I yelled, pointing at Clorence.
Clorence grabbed Back Attack by the collar and shouted.
“Forget about me!”
The 6th-floor wizard had panicked for a moment, but he summoned a superhuman will and got a grip on himself.
“Take care of Caleb!”
Honestly, that was the right call.
Because Clorence had that spell.
‘Ethereal Blink!’
Clorence vanished.
The combat doll clung to Richard, who was trying to charge us.
Thanks to that, Aimus, with Kudrum—who had lost his combat doll’s flight ability—tucked under one arm, activated his skill.
‘Rhino’s Horn!’
The tentacle slammed into the ground.
*
“Hah… Hah…”
Back Attack, who had used Shadow Leap with me, collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath.
We were at the edge of the garden, about eighty meters from the previous battlefield, hidden among giant thicket-mushrooms.
Just me and Back Attack.
The two of us.
“Ah, damn it.”
Back Attack clutched his head.
“What are we supposed to do now?”
“…”
Richard was subjugated.
Dorothy was trapped behind an iron door.
Clorence had lost a foot.
Kudrum had lost his main combat doll, and maybe his backup doll as well.
We have to do this ourselves.
Four 5th-floor level adventurers have to somehow manage against a 7th-floor special boss.
“This can’t be happening…”
Despair washed over Back Attack’s face.
“There is one way.”
Back Attack.
Will you trust me?