Chapter 229: The Abyssal Tactician
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 229: The Abyssal Tactician
There was no point in just throwing every spell I could use right now. It wouldn't be enough to subdue the Labyrinth Master.
The Deep Layer Army was also far too numerous; it was practically impossible to wipe them out with any single spell.
In that case, I had to go with that.
“Ice Cloud.”
I would use the same spell I used to catch the Dagger Raptors.
But the ice crystals couldn't touch the fountain, or it would freeze over.
Therefore, the first cloud would be placed directly above our heads, perpendicular to the fountain, to prevent enemies from ambushing us by leaping from above.
[Your Turn. Time Remaining: 52 seconds]
[Action Points: ■■■□□□]
Next.
Before casting the second Ice Cloud, I used the Psychokinesis Wand.
I needed to move the Message Transmission Wand tucked into my belt.
“Move.”
I had to place the wand carefully. The destination was, of course, right in front of the Labyrinth Master and his Deep Layer pursuit force.
I had to create a barricade of Ice Clouds between us and them.
“Move.”
[Your Turn. Time Remaining: 46 seconds]
[Action Points: ■□□□□□]
If I ran out of Action Points, I’d use Memory Book Inspection.
My five Tier 1 slots were filled with Dust Devil, Hot Wind, Humidify, Flash Freeze, and Scribe.
I didn’t need Scribe right now, so I removed it. The rest were necessary for Ice Cloud, so I left them.
From my Tier 2 slots, I removed Static Coat, Owl's Hunt, Compression, and Light. All of them.
From Tier 3, I removed Enchanting, Ice Armor, and Oil Puddle.
From Tier 4, I only removed Exploitative Bleeding, leaving Ethereal Blink as a precaution.
I didn’t know what the Labyrinth Master was planning, so I needed some insurance.
I cleared out my Tier 5 and 6 slots as well.
That was ten spells removed, giving me 5 Action Points.
[Your Turn. Time Remaining: 35 seconds]
[Action Points: ■■■■■■]
After placing the wand at the precise target location…
[Remote Wand Control!]
I took hold of the Message Transmission Wand with my mind.
And from that wand, I cast another deployable spell.
“Ice Cloud.”
[Your Turn. Time Remaining: 29 seconds]
[Action Points: ■■■□□□]
The area with the fountain was a dead end, and we had already secured it.
The distance between us and the enemy was a mere three or four meters.
I had summoned an Ice Cloud above our heads. Now, I had completely surrounded the enemy with another.
Calculating the spell’s range, the edges of the two cloud layers would overlap.
Like a window screen and its frame fitting together without a single gap.
Not a single damn mosquito could get in. The enemy had no way to approach us unless they physically broke through the Ice Clouds.
What about teleportation skills like Shadow Leap?
They could get close, but I would stop them.
“Cumulonimbus.”
I summoned a rain cloud over the Ice Cloud that surrounded the enemy. The falling rain would turn into flurries of snow, obscuring their vision.
It would be even better if I could induce a whiteout with a blizzard, but I didn't have enough Action Points for that right now.
Instead, the Cumulonimbus would inflict the ‘Wet’ status, ensuring that even the Deep Layer monsters couldn't resist being frozen.
[Your Turn. Time Remaining: 21 seconds]
[Action Points: ■■□□□□]
If there was one thing bothering me, it was the Labyrinth Master.
There was no way he would let us go this easily.
What was he thinking?
[Temporary Hourglass]
If something unexpected happened, something I hadn't predicted, I had to use this immediately.
I had acquired it sometime after reaching the 10th floor and fighting my way here.
It seemed one of the spells I’d been indiscriminately firing at the Deep Layer pursuit force and the 10th-floor monsters had landed as a lucky punch.
If I felt things were going south, I had to flip the hourglass and escape within two Action Points.
“Cumulonimbus.”
[Your Turn. Time Remaining: 13 seconds]
[Action Points: ■□□□□□]
Perhaps the reason he’d dragged our entire party into the illusion wasn't because of me, but because of Yernil.
The Labyrinth Master was a master at reading and manipulating people's minds.
Showing Yernil that illusion, and Yernil suggesting to me, ‘Let’s live here.’
He might have intended for all of it.
But I refused, and Yernil obediently followed my lead.
Did that mean I’d thwarted him?
Yernil didn't end up like Blackdog.
Was that enough?
Or was there something else I was missing?
[Your Turn. Time Remaining: 5 seconds]
[Action Points: ■□□□□□]
This is difficult.
So damn difficult.
But I have no other choice, and no more time.
“Cumulonimbus.”
I just have to go for it.
[All Action Points have been consumed.]
[Ending Turn.]
*
A chill spread.
From the front.
And the cold air descending from above felt like Nimue's 'Advent of the Ice Age'.
But the spell's range was smaller, and its damage was lower.
The difference was the freeze chance.
In terms of how well it inflicted the status effect, Ice Cloud was on a different level from other ice-type spells.
Just as a Superconductor spell deals low damage but has a high chance of electrocution.
Just as Flash Freeze has pathetic range and damage compared to Frost Ray, but a much higher chance to freeze.
Ice Cloud was originally a spell for wizards to protect themselves by blocking an enemy's approach, and it could only be cast from the tip of a wand.
The massive clouds filled the room completely. I could hear the sound of rain from ahead.
Swoooosh!
The downpour from the pitch-black rain clouds entered the Ice Cloud's domain, scattering as minuscule flecks of frost.
And…
“It’s a vortex!”
At the base of the fountain, Krom felt the massive, writhing vortex of the void. It pulled at them, as if trying to swallow them whole.
“Get in!” I shouted, grabbing the Fox Marble from the fountain floor.
“Let’s go!”
Without a moment's hesitation, Krom leaped into the vortex with Nimue and Rococo.
“Go!”
Yernil and Back Attack jumped in.
“Let’s go!”
I entrusted myself to the vortex along with Aimus.
And then I realized.
I realized what I had missed.
*
Do you remember what happened in Bearhim's garden?
Back then, after the great battle with the Glutton, I fell asleep and met Bearhim in my dream.
It was a situation I had never experienced in the game. Whether it was a real dream or something akin to reality…
Well.
I don't really know.
But I could summarize that situation like this:
‘If you sleep next to the corpse of a god, you can meet that god.’
What is a Fox Marble?
I once took Hyedam's Fox Marble, left the Wyndham Labyrinth, and confessed to the tribunal, ‘I killed Hyedam.’
The reason my confession was accepted was that the Fox Marble served as evidence.
Because a Fox Marble is a part of a fox spirit's body.
And the Gumiho is dead, isn't he?
So, ta-da.
The Fox Marble, it turns out, counts as the Gumiho's corpse.
‘Fuck.’
The Gumiho appeared.
Just before I entered the vortex.
“Kuh…”
It was an unavoidable attack.
The Temporary Hourglass didn't activate automatically, the Fox Marble was in my hand, and the sharp claws that shot out from it without warning buried themselves in my side.
The Labyrinth Master didn't need to break through the Ice Clouds. He had already placed his card right in my hand, beyond the clouds.
Damn it.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
Blood fell.
The fountain began to turn red.
Limbs were emerging one by one from the compressed marble.
Until it revealed the form of a giant Gumiho, its fist still buried deep in my side.
“…”
I finally understood why the Labyrinth Master went through all that trouble to drag me into the illusion.
‘To throw me into confusion.’
I'm confused. I can't get my bearings at all.
Is this a hallucination, like the one I saw near Bearhim's corpse?
Does that mean I'm asleep right now?
Is the Gumiho's fist that pierced me fake?
Did the Labyrinth Master cast some kind of narcolepsy spell on me?
Or is this actually happening?
The Labyrinth Master can make illusions real.
Have I been trapped in the Labyrinth Master's dream all this time?
Even in the Deep Layer, the Fusion Continent had all been in my head. When I woke up, I found myself just standing blankly in the middle of the Deep Layer.
Is this similar? Am I meeting the Gumiho in a dream, and is that dream becoming reality?
Is there a way to wake up from this?
Or should I be thinking about how to survive, not how to wake up?
Where does the illusion begin and end?
What is real and what is fake?
‘Nothing…’
This is the worst.
‘I don't know anything…’
To the Labyrinth Master, words like real, illusion, hallucination, lie, and reality are meaningless.
The overwhelming depth and vast scale of his mental power is a world in and of itself.
A mental world that powerful can define what it imagines as real, turning everything outside of it into a fabrication.
Just as the Turn-Based Wizard's transcendent mind can interfere with time.
The Labyrinth Master's mind constitutes the world.
Squeeze!
In any case, the pain in my side feels real enough.
‘Is this…’
The scene unfolding below feels unreal.
‘Is this my blood…?’
There's so much of it.
The fountain was stained crimson. My legs are giving out.
“Guardian Redeployment!”
Yernil, who had been entering the vortex, leaped back out.
“Caleb!”
Ah.
I see.
The Labyrinth Master predicted even this.
As we jumped into the vortex one by one, Yernil, with her sharp senses and keen ears, must have felt it.
The moment I was attacked by someone as she entered the vortex.
That's why she came back out.
“Caleb…”
Don't look at me like that.
Yernil.
I feel like I'm about to lose my mind, too.
“Keuk…”
My vision is blurring.
“Do you wish to save him?”
The Labyrinth Master's voice echoes from beyond the Ice Clouds.
Directed not at me, but at Yernil.
The Labyrinth Master designed it all, right up to this point.
The reason he forcibly dragged our party into his Deep Layer magic.
It was because he knew of Yernil's feelings for me.
He knew that as everyone else escaped into the vortex, Yernil alone would notice something was wrong with me and turn back.
And.
“Join the Labyrinth.”
He knew that to save me, Yernil would do as he commanded.
“Yernil.”
The devil's laughter resounded across the 10th floor as he strode through the Ice Clouds.
BOOM!
BOOM! BOOM!
‘Walls’ shot up in front of and behind Yernil.
I see.
Right now, there are no adventurers on the 10th floor. It's completely empty.
The strongest person here…
Excluding me, who's on the verge of death, is Yernil.
She could become the Exit Boss.
But if she decides to join the Labyrinth, the Labyrinth Master will give her more than that.
“I will give you Floor 9.5.”
*
[Your Turn. Time Remaining: 60 seconds]
[Action Points: ■■]
He's strong.
Too strong.
He planned this all the way from the moment he let me into the Deep Layer.
‘His perspective is on another level.’
Taking Blackdog would have been simple, but the reason he went to the trouble of cramming our party into the illusion…
Was to kill me.
If he had made a clumsy move, I would have noticed and escaped.
So he waited until the very, very end, then pulled the Gumiho out of the Fox Marble to land a counter.
And Yernil.
Unable to accept my death, Yernil has decided to join the Labyrinth.
“I don't think so…”
I can't give you Yernil, Labyrinth Master.
You have all the monsters of the Labyrinth.
Let's say Wizus has all the adventurers on the surface.
As for me, I only have my party.
I don't have many pieces.
And Yernil is my queen.
“Go back to the vortex, Yernil.”
I will never let you take her.