Chapter 57: You Can Never Figure Out the Labyrinth
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 57: You Can Never Figure Out the Labyrinth
There was no time.
We had to hurry.
I wanted to explain the details to Yernil's team, but every second spent scribbling a note was a waste.
‘I have to keep pace with Gildal.’
That dokkebi was already climbing the snowy mountain.
There were three approach routes to the summit. Gildal was taking Route 3.
Route 2 was a dead end. The Lich had erected a Femur Wall there.
That meant the only viable route for us was Route 1.
Luckily, we were planning to take Route 1 anyway. The stairs to the 3.5th floor were there.
“Caleb! Are you okay with all this running?”
Soyul asked.
Trying to keep up with Aimus, Back Attack, and Hijikata was leaving a wizard who'd put all his points into Intelligence out of breath.
I felt like I was going to die from exhaustion after running just 200 meters to the start of Route 1.
But Soyul was panting just as hard. I just gave her a quick okay sign with my hand.
‘Where is Gildal now?’
I took a glass bottle out of my pocket.
It was an item I'd looted from Antonelli's corpse. A magic tool for wizards, the 'Wizard's Eye.'
I took out the eyeball inside and sent it floating over Route 3 like a drone.
Inside the bottle, the scene observed by the eyeball was playing on a small screen.
The sun had set long ago, but the Wizard's Eye had excellent night vision. I could see Gildal, already halfway up Route 3.
“We're starting our climb now. Hang in there, boss!”
I didn't even have the strength to reply to Back Attack's encouragement, so I just gave a slight wave.
“Everyone, watch your step so you don't slip! It's dark!”
Aimus said.
Aimus had taken off his torch-helm and stored it in his bag.
Soyul's magic could handle the confusion and the cold.
The reason we'd switched from the helm to Soyul's magic was that we needed to climb as stealthily and quietly as possible.
The light from a torch would be far too visible in this darkness.
‘Gildal will reach the summit and start fighting the Lich.’
That's the moment we have to aim for.
If we go too early and draw aggro, the Lich will send his undead army after us.
But if we're too late, Gildal will be captured by Antonelli.
If it were a one-on-one fight, it might be different, but the summit is crawling with an undead army.
Gildal's chances of winning a fight there are slim.
And if Antonelli succeeds in killing Gildal...
‘He'll resurrect him as an undead.’
That's the worst-case scenario: Gildal becoming one of Antonelli's undead minions.
If that happens, taking down Antonelli himself will become much harder. We might not be able to get him even after activating the monolith, and the whole plan could go sideways.
The stairs were now in sight.
Yernil had probably detected our footsteps by now. If we got a little closer, she and Gadozumi would pop out.
“Shh.”
Aimus signaled for the party to be quiet.
From here on, we had to slow down and be careful to make as little noise as possible.
Though my speed was already forcibly reduced.
“Pant... pant... haah...”
I controlled my breathing, muffled my footsteps, and walked slowly.
Now it was time to check on Gildal.
We moved another 50 meters or so, then hid behind some bushes.
“...”
No one made a sound, not even a breath.
My palms were slick with cold sweat.
Tilting my head back, I could see monsters swarming the mountaintop.
‘Eighty meters to the stairs.’
I reassessed the situation.
‘From the stairs to where I first lost my footing is about 70 meters.’
We could cover that distance quickly.
We just needed to reach the spot where I slipped, with Yernil.
From there, it's about 100 meters to the monolith, with a clear, direct line of sight, which means we can use the plan we prepared.
When Gildal starts the fight, that's our signal. From that moment, we have to move fast and activate the monolith...
‘Huh?’
As I took out the glass bottle, I realized something was going terribly wrong.
I'd run through every bullshit scenario imaginable, but this wasn't one of them.
“What the...”
Gildal was gone!
He was nowhere to be seen on Route 3.
‘Caleb...!’
Contrary to the plan, Yernil was already peeking her head out from above. She called my name, keeping her voice as low as possible.
Yernil, I told you to come out on my signal!
No.
Wait.
‘Watch out!’
Seeing her mouth the words, I remembered our retreat from the mountain.
Yernil had shouted the same thing to me back then.
She wasn't warning me to watch my step, but to watch out for the wolf diving at me from the side.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Footsteps sounded from behind us.
Aimus and Back Attack, their faces pale, spun around.
Hijikata and Soyul did the same.
No way.
‘Don't tell me Gildal came here?’
No, that's impossible.
He was on Route 3 just a moment ago.
There's no way a guy who had the Lich's full aggro because of the ossuary would suddenly shift his attention to us. And unless he teleported, how could he have gotten from Route 3 to Route 1 so quickly?
This doesn't make any sen...
“What the fuck is this now?”
It wasn't Gildal.
Right. Like I just thought, there's no way it could be Gildal.
What appeared wasn't Gildal, but something just as massive.
Something far more hideous.
‘A Patchwork Zombie.’
The monster thrust its head over us, snapping through the trees and bushes with a loud crack.
“Groooaaaar!”
*
The Patchwork Zombie. An epic monster a Lich creates when it takes over and fortifies an area.
It's a monstrosity made by stitching up to three corpses together like a quilt.
Its strength is immense, so caution is required.
I wasn't careless.
I had considered the possibility of a Patchwork Zombie from the start.
But this... this was unexpected.
‘Where did these guys come from?’
Antonelli hadn't managed to kill anyone from my team or Hijikata's team on the summit.
And since then, he hadn't left the snowy mountain.
There was no way any other crazy adventurers would deliberately come to a mountain overrun by a monster wave.
So, even if a Patchwork Zombie appeared, I expected it to be made from a combination of three snow wolves or three frost hunters.
...or so I had thought.
‘What the hell are these bastards!’
It was clearly not made of monsters, but of three adventurers stitched together.
A huge Orc Fighter, an Elf Druid, and a feline Beastman.
The creature's form, illuminated by the moonlight in the dead of night, was so grotesque it looked like something straight out of a horror movie.
A muscular green body was covered in the Beastman's fur. The Beastman's tail also protruded from it. Below the Orc's head, embedded in its collarbones, were the heads of the Elf and the Beastman.
The stench of blood and rot was overwhelming.
The arms of the Beastman and the Elf were attached below the Orc's armpits.
Craaack!
A tree snapped like a twig under the axe swung by the three-headed, six-armed monster.
Swoooosh!
And then the axe came crashing down toward my head...
Clang!
Aimus barely managed to block it.
“Kugh!”
But he was crushed by the overwhelming power.
His iron staff tilted, like a squatter forced to drop one side of the barbell to the floor because of the weight.
“Haaahp!”
Red smoke began to rise from Hijikata's body. He had entered a frenzied state. At the same time, Soyul's fox-orbs rose into the air.
“Alluring Foxfire!”
Flames fell upon the monster's head.
Hijikata's two-handed sword plunged into its chest.
Back Attack's dagger sank into the back of its neck.
But...
“Graaaaaaaah!”
The Patchwork Zombie didn't even flinch.
The monster shook its body, throwing Back Attack and Hijikata off.
Then it swung its two-handed axe with all its might at Aimus, who had just managed to get back up...
CRASH!
...and sent him flying.
“Aimus!”
“Boss!”
Swoosh!
Just as the monster's axe was about to hit me, I managed to cast a spell.
“Superconduct.”
A powerful spark flew, but the level difference was too great for it to be electrocuted.
CLANG!
Hijikata blocked the unstoppable axe with his two-handed sword, only to be sent tumbling by the force.
‘It's a 4th-floor party.’
I knew the identity of this Patchwork Zombie.
For our attacks to be this ineffective, and for there to be such a huge gap in strength with Hijikata and Aimus, all three corpses had to be from adventurers of the 4th floor or higher.
Antonelli's main party must have come looking for him, only to end up as a Patchwork Zombie.
Unbelievable.
I had considered that his 4th-floor party might show up. But I thought they'd see the monster wave and turn tail in fright.
How could I have possibly predicted that the party members of a trash-tier necromancer like him would be so damn loyal that they'd brave a monster wave to try and rescue him?
Shit.
You can never figure out the Labyrinth.
Was that selfish bastard, who was about to conduct an unauthorized experiment without a care for all the 3rd-floor adventurers dying, actually a sweetheart to his own party?
“Yernil! Gadozumi!”
The plan had gone to shit right from the start.
“Come out now!”
Monsters poured down from the summit like the avalanche I'd seen earlier. The commotion caused by the Patchwork Zombie had drawn their aggro.
“Caleb!”
Yernil ran toward us, along with Gadozumi.
An incredible number of monsters charged in behind them.
“Kik! Kikikikik! Kikkik!”
And the Lich was with them, of course.
“So it was you! Thank you! Thanks to you, the ultimate form of my necromancy...”
Just shut up.
[It is your turn. Time remaining: 60 seconds]
[Action Points: ■■■■]
*
The best method was as follows.
Jump across the cliff between Route 1 and Route 2.
How?
First, Back Attack takes me across with Shadow Leap.
Yernil crosses with Sentinel Redeployment.
Then, Back Attack uses Leaping Ambush on the Patchwork Zombie to return to this side.
He then uses his Adrenaline Rush special ability to reset the cooldown on Shadow Leap.
And then he takes Aimus and uses Shadow Leap to move to Route 2 again.
For Hijikata's party, Gadozumi will take the Fox Spirit across with Shadow Leap.
That leaves only Hijikata.
What does he do?
I give Hijikata the torch-helm.
Hijikata puts on the torch-helm and runs down the mountain, drawing the monsters' aggro with the light.
The reason Hijikata is assigned this role is because he has the best speed and stamina here.
While the monsters' aggro is focused on Hijikata, we'll climb up Route 2. Aimus will smash the Femur Wall, and we'll activate the monolith to wipe out all the monsters.
Then we regroup with Hijikata, kill Antonelli, and escape.
‘But I can't use this strategy, can I?’
The reason is that it's too complicated.
I can't explain all of this in a moment where every second counts.
So what do I do?
For now...
“Superconduct.”
Let's deal with the Patchwork Zombie.
“Superconduct.”
It wasn't electrocuted before, but four stacks is a different story. Even Antonelli got shocked, didn't he?
“Superconduct.”
I just need to electrocute the Patchwork Zombie and knock it down for a moment. After that, Back Attack will have to work a little.
“Yernil. Take my bag and use Sentinel Redeployment to cross the cliff. Move to Route 2.”
After giving Yernil her orders, I cast the final spell at the Patchwork Zombie.
“Superconduct.”
[All Action Points have been consumed.]
[End Turn.]
[The hourglass has been flipped again. Time remaining: 60 seconds]
*
CRACK! KRA-KOOM!
Four bolts of lightning erupted at close range, and the monster zombie's body went rigid.
“Grrrrrrr...”
It made a strange noise in its throat and dropped its axe with a thud.
“Back Attack!”
I pulled the torch-helm from the bag Aimus had dropped and handed it to Back Attack.
“Take this thing to the oil trap!”
No time to explain. Please, understand what I mean, Back Attack.
“......!”
Back Attack's eyes widened.
I knew he wouldn't hesitate.
This was the man who had become an exit boss just to save Aimus.
Fwoosh!
Back Attack took the helm and used Shadow Leap on the Patchwork Zombie, vanishing from the battlefield.
Yernil had already moved to Route 2.
“What do we do now?!”
A terrified Gadozumi joined us.
With that, all three members of Hijikata's party were together, while ours was now split up.
“Yernil, wait there and provide covering fire!”
That spot is safe. Route 2 is blocked by the Femur Wall, after all. Yernil can deal damage freely from there.
As for me...
“Nobody run!”
We have to buy time here. It's possible now that the Patchwork Zombie is gone.
“We have to fight back right here!”
Not for long. We just have to hold on for a moment.
“Hold them off for ten seconds!”
“Kik! Kikikikik! Kikkik!”
The Lich led a massive number of monsters down the mountain.