Chapter 217: The Wizard’s Party
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 217: The Wizard’s Party
The scene was like a shotgun blast at point-blank range, or a volley of rocket arrows.
Bang!
With the sound, hundreds of arrows slammed into the back of the Cannoneer Shark's head, its back, and its shoulders.
Fired right in front of the target, the magical projectiles had no flight distance to cover. They retained the full tension of the bowstring, and because of that…
CRASH!
The impact was immense.
As if hit by a truck, the Cannoneer Shark's body flipped over several times.
The surrounding water splashed away. At the same time, the nearby Water Ghosts and Mermaids were sent flying in all directions.
“Kaaack!”
The Water Ghosts, about to lose their king unexpectedly, swarmed toward Yernil, but…
'Shattering Gaia!'
The monster monk's flaming iron staff was terrifyingly powerful in the water. A vertical strike from the staff split the Cannoneer Shark's water bubble in two.
And then, the heat.
The thermal energy spreading in all directions brought the water to a boil, driving the Water Ghosts away.
The mass of water that had been floating in the air like a cloud began to fall.
“Kuh…”
The Cannoneer Shark staggered and lifted its head, magical arrows sticking out of its back and the back of its head like a porcupine's quills.
“We have to kill it now!” Aimus shouted, striking down the Mermaids.
Yernil knew it too.
No matter how powerful her Arrow Swarm was at close range, it wasn't easy to put an Inter-floor Lord into a dazed state with a single blow.
There had to be another secret to this destructive power.
'Karma's Mantra.'
What Caleb had taught her flashed through Yernil's mind.
The souls of the monks training in Kalung on Mount Dalai are linked to the universal law of causality, placing a karmic restriction on those who attack them.
Their bodies weaken, and their defense drops significantly.
After all, hadn't her arrows worked even on the Lancer when he was caught by Karma's Mantra?
'Recall Arrow!'
Yernil summoned an arrow to her hand. It was the seed for her Arrow Swarm.
I have to kill it now.
There's no time to waste.
Because the Water Ghosts and Mermaids are swarming Aimus.
If Aimus takes even a single hit from them, the target of Karma's Mantra will change.
I have to land a decisive blow before that happens.
'Arrow Swarm…?'
Yernil stopped just as she was about to fire the arrow.
The Cannoneer Shark was staring her down.
She knew instinctively. If she fired her Arrow Swarm now, it would dodge with Warden's Relocation.
Click.
The shark's main cannon turned toward Yernil.
CRACK!
Aimus smashed two Water Ghosts, sending them flying.
BOOM!
From below, a dagger thrown by Back Attack detonated a torpedo.
VMMMMMM!
Magical energy concentrated in the Cannoneer Shark's main cannon.
*
Yernil.
Who was she? A partner who had been in sync with Caleb since his days as a slave wizard wandering the 1st floor of the Labyrinth.
The 'Tactical Command Center' who had regrouped two adventurer parties on the verge of annihilation after they were scattered on the 3rd floor.
An intelligent player who, alongside Caleb, had defeated even the professors in the cryptic message game at the Berten estate.
She was the genius wizard's right hand, and perhaps 'Sohen's second brain'.
Yernil's extraordinary intellect engaged in a battle of wits!
Just like Caleb!
Just like the wizard who would weigh five different possibilities in a split second!
Yernil's first possibility:
The Cannoneer Shark knows I have Warden's Relocation, so it won't fire right away. Which means…
'Huh?'
Yernil's mental calculation ended rather quickly.
'It's firing immediately!'
Magical energy erupted from the main cannon. Yernil reflexively used Warden's Relocation.
'Then I'll appear behind the Cannoneer Shark and use Arrow Swarm…'
BOOM!
A powerful impact sent Yernil's vision spinning.
The Cannoneer Shark had predicted she would take its back.
The moment it fired its main cannon, the Inter-floor Lord spun 180 degrees, using the momentum from its waist to swing the heavy cannon like a baseball bat.
“Yernil!”
Aimus roared at the falling Yernil.
Bubbles burst from Yernil's mouth.
She didn't have an underwater breathing mask.
She had been holding her breath ever since charging in here with Aimus.
GRAB!
The shark's powerful hand seized Yernil by the throat.
*
A creature that breathes with lungs is bound to panic underwater.
This elf was no exception.
KABOOM!
She finally fired her most threatening card, the Arrow Swarm.
She must have had no choice if she didn't want to drown.
'Warden's Relocation!'
The Cannoneer Shark moved its position, dodging the massive volley of magic arrows.
Yernil tried to push through the water bubble and escape. Her plan was to shake off the Cannoneer Shark and retreat for now.
But.
'Suffocating Water Bubble.'
The mass of water clung to Yernil's face, refusing to let go.
And then.
'The monk!'
The Cannoneer Shark stuck close to Yernil to keep Aimus in check.
He could blow away the water bubble on Yernil's face with his tidal iron staff.
'I fell for that once.'
This time, the Cannoneer Shark pulled in a swarm of Mermaids and Water Ghosts to block Aimus's path.
'Just until the elf drowns.'
She had been holding her breath from the start. She couldn't have much air left. Besides, she'd exhaled a lot of oxygen when she was hit by the iron cannon.
After killing the elf, I'll take care of the isolated monk. And one more thing.
'Float!'
It raised the altitude of the water mass carrying Yernil and Aimus.
This was to prevent the rogue from following. His Shadow Leap had enough range to reach this high, so to stop him, it would raise the water mass higher and higher…
'Huh?'
The Cannoneer Shark saw something shocking, and its expression hardened.
Seeing the water mass rising, Caleb's team's rogue suddenly dashed toward the Spider Doctor.
Twang!
He leaped onto a one-centimeter-thick spiderweb thread shot from the Spider Doctor's hand.
Thrum! Thrum! Thrum!
And he started running up the thread.
'No. Fucking hell…'
The Cannoneer Shark was experiencing cognitive dissonance, unable to believe what it was seeing.
'Is that even possible?'
How could anyone do that, no matter how good their sense of balance?
Sprinting at full speed on a springy spiderweb thread that was only one centimeter thick?
While it was being violently shaken by wind and water currents?
That wasn't a feat a human body could perform.
Of course, it was a skill.
One of the gods devoured by the Labyrinth must have given it to him.
'Careful Steps!'
It was a skill that prevented slipping on ice or oiled floors. Someone from the age of myths was granting that rogue a superhuman sense of balance.
But that wasn't all.
Tatatatak!
He didn't fall, even on the incredibly steep incline.
The water mass had already reached a considerable height, and since the Spider Doctor was on the ground, the spiderweb naturally curved, its slope becoming steeper as it rose into the sky.
At a certain point, it was nearly perpendicular to the ground. And yet…
Thrum! Thrum! Thrum!
Despite it all, the rogue didn't slip or fall. He was actually running vertically up the spiderweb.
The surreal, anti-physical sight made the Cannoneer Shark's brain freeze.
That, too, was not a human ability.
'Wall Walking.'
The bizarre combination of skills that rogues didn't normally learn was possible because he had once been an Exit Boss.
He was a rogue with the ultimate mobility.
If his feet could touch it, there was nowhere he couldn't run.
Even if it was a one-centimeter-thick, vertical spiderweb.
“Honestly, Yernil.”
Now quite close to the water mass, Back Attack leaped into the air.
“You'd be lost without me and the guys!”
And then, once within range, Shadow Leap.
He teleported to Yernil's side and shoved her out of the water mass.
“Puhah!”
Yernil gasped for air and pulled something from her pocket.
It was a magic scroll.
“Back Attack! This!”
Unlike with the Glutton, this time Caleb hadn't given a turn-based command.
But sometimes, a party's teamwork is simply fantastic.
'Snatch!'
Back Attack snatched the scroll from the falling Yernil.
[Rapid Freeze Scroll]
He gripped the scroll with both hands. All he had to do was tear it open and freeze the Cannoneer Shark along with the water, and it would be over.
*
'Suppressive Barrage.'
A Tier 8 main cannon skill.
A massive number of shells explode in all directions, intimidating the target and robbing them of their movement.
It was similar to Mugol's Roar.
BOOM! KABOOM!
Even the sheer volume of the explosions was comparable.
Just as the infrasound of the roar paralyzed the neuromuscular system, the target's action points plummeted in an instant.
To the point where he couldn't even tear a single scroll.
“Kuh…”
Flames flashed on all sides, the water boiled, and explosions roared.
In the midst of it all, Back Attack's grip went slack as if his hands were paralyzed.
The scroll fell.
Fluttering down through the water, onto the Cannoneer Shark's palm.
“…”
The Cannoneer Shark also looked incredibly surprised and flustered.
“To think you could run on a spiderweb like that.”
But after snatching the scroll, it gave a slight smile.
“Still, the Inter-floor Lord stage is too soon for you…”
An arrow flew up from below.
Fired by Yernil mid-air, before she had even landed.
The arrow entered the water mass and, with a thwip!, embedded itself in the scroll. This arrow was also a skill.
Magic Tip.
“Shit.”
The Rapid Freeze Scroll activated.
*
On the 7th floor, Caleb had once used Psychokinesis Teleport and Remote Wand Control to move only a wand near a Mermaid and cast Rapid Freeze.
Cryogenic ice particles would then spread through the water like high-density brine icicles, and a block of ice would freeze solid with a crack!
Couldn't they do something similar?
What if they got the Rapid Freeze Scroll near the Cannoneer Shark and hit it with Magic Tip from a distance?
'Success.'
CRACK!
The Cannoneer Shark was encased within the giant block of ice that had formed in the water.
“Hey! Are you crazy, Yernil!”
Back Attack, having returned by swapping places with the Mirror Rogue, yelled.
“I almost got frozen in there with it!”
“Weren't you going to use the scroll inside anyway?”
“That's because I was planning to get out with the Mirror Rogue!”
“And you got out this time too, didn't you?”
“I almost couldn't! That shark bastard shot some kind of cannonball and paralyzed me!”
“But you got out anyway.”
“Aaaargh!”
Back Attack grabbed his head and jumped in frustration.
“Even if you had been frozen, I could have treated you.”
The Spider Doctor pulled Back Attack by the shoulder.
“Now, please step aside.”
A spiderweb net wrapped around the block of ice, trapping the Cannoneer Shark inside.
And like a fisherman hauling a net from the water, he dragged it toward the ground.
CRASH!
Ice shards scattered everywhere as it hit the ground.
The Cannoneer Shark broke free from the ice, but it was still partially frozen and couldn't move. And…
SWOOOOSH!
A vertical tidal wave was crashing down on it. Like a waterfall.
Aimus, surfing the wave, raised his iron staff high.
Thanks to the water bubble's increased altitude, it had gained more acceleration. Falling from a dozen meters up, the iron staff was like a lightning bolt made of steel.
Or a meteor.
'Shattering Gaia!'
With a deafening CRACK!, the ground split and buckled as if a board had been karate-chopped.
Shards of ice and rock shot into the air.
Along with the shark's bones and flesh.
*
The Mermaids and Water Ghosts were scattering in all directions. They were all fleeing. Because the summoner who had called them was dead.
“Ah, that was fucking tough.”
Back Attack collapsed onto the ground.
In front of the corpse of the Cannoneer Shark, its entire head blown off.
“You all…”
The Spider Doctor looked slightly surprised. He spoke while pouring healing magic onto Aimus, who had taken the full brunt of the incineration barrage.
“Honestly, you've exceeded my expectations.”
“Well, we're used to fighting enemies stronger than us, anyway.”
Back Attack shrugged.
“We've never had an adventure in the Labyrinth that was actually at our level…” Aimus muttered.
“There's no time for you two to rest!” Yernil shouted.
“The White Lion is going to be much stronger than this thing! No matter how amazing Caleb is, it'll be difficult for him alone!”
“She's right about that.”
Back Attack dusted off his pants and stood up.
“Of course, Caleb isn't the type to go down easy, but…”
“Caleb!”
Mugol's booming voice echoed.
A short distance away, the Beastfolk warrior appeared, carrying Bipa on his back.
Bipa looked severely injured.
“My goodness! Did you kids catch this shark?” Bipa asked, sounding surprised.
“Of course,” Back Attack said smugly.
“Did you guys get that bug thing?”
“Yes. We took care of it.”
“But looking at you, old timer, it seems you took quite a beating. We should've lent you Yernil.”
“They couldn't have won without me!” Yernil retorted indignantly.
“Everyone, stop it and let's find Caleb,” the Spider Doctor said.
But there was no need for them to move.
“Is everyone finished?”
Because from behind the White Lion's fortress, Caleb was walking down toward them.
“Caleb!”
“Boss!”
And in his grasp was the corpse of a monster.
Dragged along the slippery snow.
“The White Lion!”
DONG-. It felt like a bell had rung in the back of their heads. Everyone froze in shock.
“He actually did it…”
That crazy wizard had really killed the strongest Inter-floor Lord all by himself.