Chapter 33: The Wizard's Super Save
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 33: The Wizard's Super Save
“Our Monk may be bald, but he’s lucky when it comes to people.”
Back Attack gathered his gear and extended a hand to Aimus.
“Where’d you find a badass wizard like that? By the way, what happened to Caelin and Hershel?”
Those two were the druid and wizard who had originally been in Aimus’s party.
“They’re dead.”
“What…”
Back Attack looked a little surprised, but he accepted it quickly.
“I see…”
In the Labyrinth, death was nothing out of the ordinary.
“So I couldn’t save you after all. I remember jumping into the Labyrinth, but that’s it.”
“No. You saved me.”
“I did?”
“And I abandoned you and ran.”
“…”
“Back Attack. You had become an Exit Boss.”
“Me? I was an Exit Boss?”
“Yes. The Labyrinth Master’s seal is still branded on your forehead.”
Even after dying, becoming undead, being laid to rest, and then being resurrected, the brand had not faded.
Back Attack touched his forehead.
“You’re the first and only case of someone becoming an Exit Boss and returning alive. Among possessed adventurers, that is.”
“…No way.”
“And the one who killed you when you appeared as the Exit Boss was Caleb.”
“…!”
“Then he turned you into an undead, found this place, and resurrected you.”
“Whoa, hold on. I think there’s a lot I need to hear, but not here!”
Back Attack shouted.
“Let’s just get out of here first! Didn’t you say the cloud only lasts for ten seconds?”
“Yes! That’s why I’m telling you now, because we don’t have time! Back Attack! Listen carefully!”
Aimus gripped his shoulders tightly.
“Join Caleb’s party!”
Back Attack’s career as an adventurer might have been over.
Because the Labyrinth Master’s seal was branded on his forehead.
Because he had a record of being an Exit Boss.
When exploring the Labyrinth together, who knew what kind of strange phenomena that brand on his forehead might cause?
No adventurer would be willing to take such a risk. Especially not on the lower floors.
“But Caleb… he might be able to handle you.”
As proof, the wizard had readily accepted this difficult project and had actually succeeded, displaying incredible knowledge and leadership.
“So you have to join Caleb’s party!”
“…”
“If you understand, let’s go. Use Shadow Leap.”
“This old guy is acting really weird today… maybe it’s his age.”
Back Attack gripped the Monk’s wrist tightly.
A skilled rogue’s teleportation never fails.
‘Shadow Leap!’
CRASH!
The cathedral’s back door shattered. Trembling with rage, the Caretaker of Rest raised its wand.
Bzzzzzt!
The sentries that had been swept away by the torrent of lightning began to rise again.
The cumulonimbus was starting to dissipate. The earthen wall, its time up, was also crumbling.
It was too late for the sentries and monsters to give chase.
“Aimus and Back Attack are back too!”
Because Caleb’s party was already in front of the gate.
“Run!”
*
About one kilometer south of the Adventurer’s Guild in the Labyrinth City of Sohen.
Past the bank and down an alley next to the restaurant district, houses stood packed tightly together.
One of them.
In front of a worn-down house, Mrs. Renick greeted a visitor.
With her newborn youngest strapped to her back.
“A con artist, you say?”
It was about the pendant.
Mrs. Renick had bought a protective pendant from a supposedly skilled shaman in the black market, introduced to her through a relative of the man who ran the mill.
A pendant that was said to activate a Tier 3 protection spell when hit by a dangerous attack. An artifact that also blocked curses, supposedly favored by adventurers on the 3rd and 4th floors.
450 gold was no small sum for Mrs. Renick, who spent her days in a hectic bustle raising three children, but she had decided to splurge on it.
Because her husband, long past his prime, was going back into the Labyrinth.
She thought it might help.
Like a fool, she never imagined it was a scam.
“The Sohen Constables have already arrested him and confiscated his assets. This is the gold you were swindled out of. 450 gold. Is that correct?”
The constable held out a pouch of gold coins.
“Here. We’re returning it. Where is the pendant?”
“I gave it to my husband.”
“And where is your husband?”
“He went into the Labyrinth.”
“When he returns, we’ll need to retrieve the pendant, so please tell him to visit the Constable headquarters.”
“Yes, thank you.”
After the constable left, Mrs. Renick returned to her room with the bag of gold.
“Momma, Momma.”
Her youngest was still a newborn, and her second child called for her a hundred times a day.
“Yes, sweetie.”
Mrs. Renick hugged her second child and forced a smile.
Because children get anxious when they see their mother looking worried.
Her eldest seemed to have noticed the smile was fake.
Still, Mrs. Renick smiled.
She had to smile like that to soothe her own anxiety as well.
*
“We made it!”
Floor 1 of the Labyrinth.
In front of the secret stairs leading down to the 1.5th Floor.
Eight adventurers were gathered, cheering.
“We did it!”
Yernil hopped up and down excitedly.
The gate in the inter-floor space, from which all the adventurers had escaped, began to rapidly fade. It was similar to an exit room gate.
Green, yellow, red, and then it vanishes. As long as no other adventurers enter.
“I can’t believe we actually escaped that hell alive.”
The Halfling crossbowman, Remus, honestly thought it was all over when they were trapped in the cathedral.
“We even brought Astin back to life!”
The Barbarian, Greg, was happier than anything to have his long-time party member back.
“Caleb! I’ll repay this debt, no matter what!”
The Halfling had initially refused to hand over command to a wizard from a new Floor 1 party, but now his opinion had done a complete 180.
“Join our party! Wizard!”
The Barbarian grabbed Caleb’s shoulders and shook him wildly.
“No way!”
Yernil protested, jumping in.
“Well, I only saw the end of it.”
The Dwarf wizard, Astin, stroked his beard.
“But just seeing that is enough. You must be the one who commanded that insane battle in the cathedral, right?”
“He’s the one who saved you, you idiot! This wizard is the one who sent the Elf archer!” the Halfling shouted.
“…”
Actually, that statement needed a slight correction, since the resurrection scroll was something Bernard had brought.
Nathaniel’s Lizard Paladin felt somewhat overwhelmed by everything that had happened since encountering Caleb in the cathedral.
‘How on earth is any of this possible?’
If you compared the individual combat strength of their members, Bernard’s party and Caleb’s party were probably not that different.
But what about their performance?
It was Caleb who had devised the strategy, collapsed the roof to suppress the enemies, and summoned a storm of rain and lightning to wipe them out.
It was the Monk, Aimus, who had held the front line, buying time.
Even saving and bringing back a fallen comrade from Bernard’s team was done by the archer, Yernil.
It was fair to say their party had done it all.
The mission from the Order was to ‘confirm if a place where souls are preserved truly exists in the Labyrinth and find proof.’
And it had nothing to do with Back Attack.
It had been an extremely difficult mission, but it was complete. They had living proof: Astin.
But could Bernard really say he was the one who succeeded in this mission?
What had he done during this adventure?
“…”
Bernard sank into a depression of self-loathing. He suddenly remembered the time he had applied for Caleb’s party and had his interview.
Back then, Caleb had chosen the Monk, not Bernard.
The Monk who didn’t know a single skill, was just absurdly strong, and was perpetually at the bottom of the Adventurer’s Guild rankings.
Perhaps Nathaniel’s reason for not putting Bernard in that party wasn’t to keep him from getting involved in Back Attack’s resurrection.
‘It’s because I was lacking.’
The truth hit Bernard hard.
Caleb’s party was solid. The Monk was, in fact, a better front-liner than Bernard…
“Aimus!”
Bernard’s eyes widened to twice their size as he spotted something.
Aimus’s breathing had suddenly become erratic.
His complexion was as pale as one of the sentries.
“Gasp… gasp…”
Aimus was panting, clutching his ankle.
It was the ankle the Caretaker had grabbed.
“What the…”
Caleb rushed over to him.
“What is this? What the hell is this?!”
He rolled up Aimus’s pant leg.
A mark Bernard recognized was branded there.
Ray of Corruption.
A Tier 3 necromancy spell.
A curse that causes the target’s heart to decay after a certain amount of time, leading to death.
*
When did it happen?
I didn’t make a mistake. I was always mindful of that spell, the most lethal one the Caretaker of Rest possessed.
If it had fired that, there’s no way I would have missed it.
When did I miss it?
There was only one moment I looked away.
When I turned back toward Back Attack and yelled at him to take the dagger from my bag.
Fuck.
Now I see. The part hit by the necromancy spell was the right ankle that son-of-a-bitch Caretaker was holding.
Right. Now I get it.
When Back Attack jumped up with the dagger, the Caretaker must have cast a spell too. To intercept Back Attack.
But the hand holding the wand was also gripping Aimus’s ankle at the same time.
That’s why the spell hit Aimus’s ankle.
Still, that’s no excuse. You crazy old man.
“Why didn’t you say anything until now…”
No wonder you were setting up so many fucking death flags!
“What good would telling you have done?”
Aimus gasped for breath.
Tumor Erosion and decay were rapidly progressing from his ankle. Blackened, corrupted veins surfaced on his skin.
Splat!
And they began to burst.
Blood started trickling from all over his body.
At this point, his remaining lifespan was measured in seconds.
“Aimus…”
In an instant, the atmosphere of both parties sank into a funeral-like gloom.
Yernil was already on the verge of tears.
“Don’t mess with me…”
Back Attack grabbed Aimus by the collar.
“Don’t fuck with me! You were running just fine on the rooftop! What is this?!”
“Back then…”
Aimus managed a pained smile.
“I could still run then. Thankfully.”
“…”
“Aimus…”
“You lizard! Do something!”
The Halfling shook Bernard frantically.
“You’re a paladin! You can use healing magic, can’t you?!”
“I…”
Bernard hung his head, feeling powerless.
“I cannot cure a curse like this.”
“…”
“Back Attack.”
Aimus called out to him, steadying his ragged breaths.
“Remember what I told you earlier.”
“No, hyungnim…”
“And Caleb.”
He said.
“Thank you for everything. You were the best wizard I’ve ever seen.”
“…”
“Ha. This pendant.”
Aimus let out a laugh and held up the pendant.
“I knew it was probably a fake… So naive, getting scammed like that.”
“…”
“I…”
Aimus covered his face with the hand holding the pendant.
“I should be there for them…”
A tear trickled down the pendant’s chain. It was mixed with blood, as the vessels near his eyes had burst as well.
“This pendant… Please return it for me, Caleb. And tell them… I’m sorry…”
Aimus spat out these words as his last will and testament.
And one thing was different from the game.
“His heartbeat…”
Sometimes, Sound Mapping is more of a curse than a talent.
“It’s getting weaker.”
Because you can hear things you don’t want to hear all too well.
Yernil clung to my arm, crying.
“Aimus.”
Bernard approached him.
A low-tier paladin who couldn’t cure curses. A paladin who couldn’t block enemies on the front line. A paladin who couldn’t even resist a foul stench. A paladin who let his party member fall behind and die. The utterly incompetent Bernard could only do one thing.
“I… I will pray.”
He placed a hand on Aimus’s forehead.
“I’m sorry for what I said during the interview.”
Bernard finally broke down in tears.
“You are the greatest Monk. Someone like me can’t even compare… I’m so sorry, Aimus…”
*
Think. Think. Think.
I have to think. He’s not dead yet.
When does a character hit by Ray of Corruption die?
After a random N number of turns, the corruption sets in. Then, within one turn, the heart necrotizes, the arteries burst, and the target dies.
Do I even have ten seconds before it gets to that point?
What do we have?
A few useless healing and regeneration potions. Special arrows, food, and some miscellaneous consumables.
What did we get from looting Sally’s team?
A combat doll core, beastfolk equipment, a dagger, a grenade, and…
What did I get from Sally?
I got one scroll and one elixir from Sally.
Wait a minute.
Those things are…?
“Back Attack!”
I quickly tore open my bag and pulled out the elixir.
“Drink this!”
“Wh-what is this?”
“No time! Drink it, no-o-ow!”
I was in such a hurry that I screamed.
Back Attack, though startled, took the potion and downed it.
“Yernil! Back Attack! Follow me!”
I grabbed Aimus, who already had one foot in the grave.
And headed for the 1.5th Floor gate, which had now turned red.
“Caleb! Are you insane?!”
Leaving Bernard’s horrified voice behind me, I jumped back into the gate.
*
It was a close call.
The moment Aimus died.
If he had died outside, that would have been the end, but inside the 1.5th Floor, it’s a different story.
Amidst the chaos beyond the shattered main doors of the cathedral.
Fwoosh!
A green light lit up on one of the still-intact ossuaries.