Chapter 5: The Magic University's Slave Team (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 5: The Magic University's Slave Team (2)
The bald man seemed to be the leader of their slave party.
And surprisingly, he'd come with a strategy to recruit me rather than fight me.
He laid out his logic with practiced ease.
“You can't get through this shield with Tier 1 magic anyway.”
That was incorrect, but for now, he was right. To destroy a goblin shield with Tier 1 magic, my Wisdom would need to be over 13.
“Same goes for those toothpick-like arrows.”
The bald man pointed at the arrow in Yernil’s hand. He was right about that, too. The arrows would either bounce off the shields or get stuck in them.
“If that's all you've got, you have no way of attacking us behind these shields.”
It was a plausible threat.
Goblins didn’t know how to use shields properly, so you could pick them off by exploiting the gaps as they ran around wildly. But if they arranged their shields like riot police on a protest line, it would indeed be tricky.
“And the moment you try to chant anything, our archer will put an arrow between your eyes,” the bald man added, gesturing to his team’s archer.
“This means you don't stand a chance if we fight. Stop trying to be clever and just hand over the elf bitch. I promise we'll let you go peacefully. Or... we could form a new five-person party, without her.”
After breaking my will to fight, he moved on to recruitment.
“It'd be better for you, too. Wouldn't it be safer to travel with four men than with that elf girl?”
No.
I could sleep while Yernil stood watch, but I wouldn't be able to sleep a wink if I trusted you guys.
However, the threat seemed to work on Yernil as a way to drive a wedge between us. She glanced at me, looking extremely flustered.
“C-Caleb…?”
“What do you say? Join us and we’ll form a new five-person party. It’s a good deal for you. You probably couldn't touch her before because she was your only companion, right? Now you can do whatever you want.”
“...”
“Honestly, we’re the kind of guys who could die at any moment in this labyrinth. This might be your last chance. Don't miss an opportunity like this.”
Yernil’s face went pale.
She faltered, taking half a step away from me.
It was about time I eased Yernil's anxiety.
The only reason I’d been listening to the bald man ramble on was to analyze them for as long as possible. But it seemed there was nothing more to figure out.
“Cut the bullshit. Back off now, and I'll let you live.”
I warned the bald man in the firmest tone I could manage.
“Puhahaha!”
He burst out laughing.
“You're joking, right?”
“I'm serious. This is your last chance.”
This was the last shred of humanity I could offer.
No matter how shitty the situation, for someone who was a modern man just half a day ago, killing wasn't a simple matter.
Even so, I had no intention of letting the burden of murder paralyze me in a situation like this. In horror movies, guys like that are always the first to die.
A moment's hesitation here is fatal. I had already made my decision. If someone was going to die here, it had to be them, not me.
If you don't accept this offer, I will kill you right now. I'm serious. I've already steeled myself, and I can smash a Fireball into your smug face at any moment.
Surprisingly, my mind was calm and collected. This ruthless resolve felt as comfortable as a perfectly fitting suit of clothes. So much so that I felt like a stranger to myself.
“Haa.”
The bald man scratched his hairless head.
“Can’t be helped. Kill him.”
He signaled the archer.
But the archer couldn't release his bowstring.
[Your Turn.]
[Action Points: ■■■■]
Because it was my turn.
*
Electrocution.
One of the status effects in this game.
The Lightning Shock spell can only shock one target at a time, but with water, it's a different story.
To be honest, I wasn't sure if it would work as perfectly as it did in the game, but so far, this world had followed the game's rules almost 100% of the time.
And even assuming real-world physics, a puddle like that would obviously conduct electricity, unless it was pure distilled water.
“Lightning Shock.”
First, I used the wand Yernil had given me to cast the lightning spell. The target: the puddle of water.
Bzzzt!
Lightning has a short range, but since it's not a 'projectile,' the attack is instant.
A brilliant blue current shot from the wand, connecting to the puddle on the floor. It looked like a blue line had been drawn between them. The moment the turn ended, it would shock the enemies.
Then they'd have no choice but to drop their shields, bows, and wands.
[Action Points: ■■■□]
Three action points remaining.
Anticipating they would drop their shields, I targeted them one by one with magic.
“Fireball.”
[Action Points: ■■□□]
However, I aimed the first Fireball at the puddle.
[Your Turn. Time Remaining: 49 seconds]
After waiting for the cooldown.
I adjusted my aim and targeted the bald man behind the first shield.
[Action Points: ■□□□]
“Fireball.”
I had set up one Lightning Shock and two Fireballs.
[All Action Points have been used.]
[Ending Turn.]
*
The lightning couldn't be described with a word like 'fast.'
It wasn't a matter of 'I was paying attention but missed it' or 'it was too fast to react.'
It was more like, 'I didn't even know it, but I had already been struck.' Closer to checking the result of a die that had already been thrown. Just like in a turn-based game, when you're attacked by an opponent, you've already taken the hit by the time your turn starts.
The enemies didn't even have a chance to 'release' their drawn bowstrings.
“Grrrk!”
Strange groans, veins bulging on their necks.
The high-voltage current that shocked the four of them through their feet and ankles paralyzed their neuromuscular systems.
Their bodies tilted backward like stiff wooden planks.
Still clutching their swords, shields, and wands. Still in the posture of having drawn a bowstring.
But the shock status doesn't last long.
As their bodies splashed into the puddle, their senses would slowly return. As proof.
Fwoosh!
The arrow, finally freed from the string, was fired. As the paralysis from the shock wore off, their muscles relaxed, causing them to let go of the bowstring.
Thwack!
But the arrow, its trajectory now completely off, hit the stone ceiling.
And just as the bowstring was released, I saw their weapons—the goblin shields, swords, and wands—tumble from their loosened grips. Towards the disarmed enemies.
KABOOM!
Two fireballs exploded.
One hit the bald man who had dropped his shield, and the other hit the puddle.
Dusty steam erupted from the puddle as the water instantly boiled from the intense heat.
“Aargh!”
“What the-!”
A moment later, screams erupted from beyond the steam.
The tables had been completely turned.
“I can't see!”
The enemies had lost their vision because of the steam.
“Spread out!”
Splashing sounds echoed from all directions.
I couldn't pinpoint their exact locations in the steam either, but.
“Yernil!”
Our team has a sound-mapping archer.
I dropped flat to the ground and yelled to her.
“Shoot!”
Thankfully, Yernil didn't hesitate. She understood exactly what she had to do.
Fwoosh!
“Kuaargh!”
In the steam, all characters are blinded, but that doesn't apply to someone with the sound-mapping special ability.
'Even when blinded, Yernil can secure her attack range.'
That's why I came up with this plan.
“Shoot them all!”
My spell's cooldown is five seconds. Since the hourglass had run out, I had to wait for the cooldown to recover in real time.
The steam wouldn't last more than five seconds. It was already starting to settle.
Yernil has to take down at least one of them before it clears.
If my Fireball succeeded in burning the bald man, Yernil needed to kill one more to make it a two-on-two situation.
Even then, it wasn't exactly a hopeful development.
-Fwoosh!
Because I'm a wizard who's only invested in Wisdom, and Yernil is an archer who's weak in close combat.
On the other hand, they have a warrior with a goblin sword. I didn't know his stats, but he was surely stronger than me. At this distance, if the steam cleared and he got to us, it's over.
'The time remaining is...'
The light on the Fireball wand was slowly returning.
Probably about two seconds left on the cooldown.
Fuck, I never knew five seconds could be this long!
The legs and torso of the bald man's corpse became visible through the steam. It was clearing.
“Take out the warrior first!”
I yelled to Yernil again to prevent the worst-case scenario, but her reply was unexpected.
“I... I killed them all.”
“Huh?”
Wait a minute. Yernil, didn't you only shoot two arrows?
*
I understood the situation after the steam settled.
Yernil's first arrow had struck the enemy archer squarely in the neck. The second had torn through the shield warrior's carotid artery and continued on to pierce the neck of the mage behind him. A triple kill with two arrows.
The positions and angles of the warrior and mage as they got up in a panic after being shocked had coincidentally made it possible.
The actual game had mechanics like piercing hits or ricochets, but I never expected this.
Yernil... you're kind of terrifying, aren't you?
“Keoheok!”
The bald man coughed up a mouthful of blood.
“So he was alive.”
Turns out, Yernil had three kills, and I had zero.
“Was I... unconscious...?”
It seems he passed out from the shock. It's understandable.
Both his arms were gone.
After dropping his shield, he'd seen the fireball coming and reflexively crossed his arms in an X to block it, which is why his arms had disappeared.
So, even if no one touched him, he was already on the verge of death. The bald man gasped for his last breaths, staring at me with bloodshot eyes.
“...What... what the hell are you...?”
He shivered from the cold of blood loss.
“You're casting magic without chanting...?”
So that's how it looked to him.
That was probably why he'd been so cocky while standing in the puddle.
Because an arrow could have reached me while I was chanting 'Lightning Shock'.
But to be taken down without even hearing a chant, it was no wonder he felt it was unfair.
“And... three spells... with no delay... at the same time... Heh, hehehe! Cough.”
He coughed. He spoke, gasping for air.
“This world is so fucking... unfair...”
Tears streamed from the bald man's eyes.
“Some people, fuck... get excommunicated and become slaves because they have no talent for magic, while others... Cough! are naturally gifted with high-speed, chantless casting... Hah!Cough.”
The bald man was saying the same thing as Yernil.
“And on top of that... you even have a woman with you. Kehehehe. Life is shit...”
His breathing grew slower. The strength was gradually leaving his eyelids.
“The Magic University... bastards... will love...”
The bald man's breathing stopped.
“Caleb...”
Yernil glanced at me and suddenly apologized out of the blue.
“I'm sorry.”
“For what?”
“I didn't know he was still alive.”
“...?”
“When I said I killed them all earlier...”
Ah.
So you're sorry for giving me the wrong information?
“It's fine. Next time, please confirm the kill.”
“Yes...”
As the tension left her, her shoulders began to tremble violently.
“It's... the first time I've shot a person...”
“...It's the first time I've used magic on a person, too.”
But surprisingly, I was calm.
Am I actually a psychopath?
So calm it made me wonder.
If I had killed someone back in the modern world, I would have had a mental breakdown, but this situation, happening inside the labyrinth of this insane game, was... how should I put it?
So surreal that it wasn't even surprising?
That's how it felt.
It was a stark contrast to when I was almost killed by the goblin. Are humans really that self-centered?
Or was my mind being rapidly fortified, like a combat veteran's, after just half a day in the labyrinth?
But even if my emotions were dull, the smell stinging my nose was foul. The stench of burning human flesh mixed with the coppery smell of blood.
I can say with certainty it was the most disgusting smell I had ever encountered.
*
I took everything the bastards had. Four wands, a bag of potatoes, and a large backpack with a sleeping bag attached.
“What's this backpack?”
The Magic University never gave such things to the slaves. All we were issued was a single wand and a bag of potatoes.
“Maybe they took it from another adventurer?”
Yernil was probably right.
I opened the backpack and found a cutlery case, a handkerchief, a keychain, a Bible, a small frying pan, a water bottle, one healing potion, a large loaf of bread, a slab of bacon, a block of butter, a multi-purpose knife, a rope, and a wallet.
I opened the wallet and took out the ID card.
[Avison]
-This certifies that the individual above is qualified as an F-Grade Adventurer.
-Head of the Labyrinth Union (Seal)
There was a photo of a pale human man.
He seemed to be the backpack's real owner.
He probably had his own party but was either left behind after dying while exploring the labyrinth, or was killed after falling behind and ending up alone.
Death is common in the labyrinth.
Even an S-Grade adventurer, not just an F-Grade, could die screaming at any moment.
Even when I played the game, it was common to get a 'Game Over' in all sorts of ridiculous ways.
Take the bald man, for example.
He never would have expected to be killed by a fellow slave.
Judging from our earlier conversation, he seemed to have been a student at the Magic University and appeared to have a decent knowledge of combat.
He must have thought he could easily take care of one scrawny human and one elf.
'If this were the game, what would I have done?'
The moment the bald man stepped into that puddle, his defeat was all but certain. Would I really have avoided the puddle, dealt with it from the outside, and then entered?
Would I consider the possibility that the wizard in the pathetic two-person slave party I was chasing was lying in ambush, would suddenly pop out and cast a chantless Lightning Shock to inflict a stun status effect, make my allies drop their shields, then cast consecutive Fireballs to trap them in steam and have a sound-mapping elf archer pick them off?
No way.
I would've just gone in for the sake of progressing quickly.
I could have ended up just like the bald man. If our positions had been reversed.
Shit. It feels like the survival difficulty just shot way up.
I realized anew that the only reason I was still alive was pure luck. The luck of having this irregular trait, the hourglass.
This isn't my style.
Every battle must be certain and perfect. Every strategy must be meticulously planned. My life is on the line, after all!
If I can't do that, I'll end up like the bald man.
Get a grip. Focus more, think more.
I put Avison's ID card back in the backpack.
Whether he was left behind after dying or killed after falling behind, either way, he too was probably giving off that same disgusting, coppery stench by now.
I hoped we wouldn't run into his corpse.
With that prayer, we moved forward.