Chapter 74: Remaining Party Check Card
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 74: Remaining Party Check Card
Former Inspector Ennes was not cooperating with the investigation.
“Congratulations, Neko. With the promotion review coming up, you’ll be sitting in the seat I vacated soon, won’t you?”
“How long have you been working with Blackdog?”
“For a long time.”
“Were you the one who had my partner kidnapped by Blackdog?”
“I…”
Ennes leaned over the interrogation room table, moving closer to Neko with a faint smile.
He said, “I don’t know anything about that.”
A look of undisguised disgust spread across Neko’s face, as if she’d found a bug in a half-eaten bowl of soup.
“If you keep this up, I’ll request Lie Detection Magic.”
“You won’t get approval for something like this. So far, the only charge against me is leaking the Headquarters’ operation to Blackdog.”
Bang!
Neko slammed her hand on the table.
“Ennes! You’re a disgrace. Do you have any idea how humiliated I was in front of that wizard?”
“Neko.”
Ennes slowly leaned back from the table.
Smacking his lips, he said, “There’s something you don’t know.”
“What is it?”
“It’s not the Public Security Headquarters that maintains order in Sohen. It hasn’t been for a long time.”
“What nonsense is this…”
“If anything, it’s Blackdog that protects this city.”
The Labyrinth City was a place where money was literally printed. In modern terms, it was a blessed land where oil, coal, gas, lithium, and rare earth minerals endlessly bubbled up.
Countless external forces coveted those resources. The Public Security Headquarters didn’t have the capacity to deal with them all.
Perhaps Blackdog, competing with those forces behind the scenes, was the true protagonist protecting the city.
It was a fact that even Neko was aware of.
But still, Chief Constable Neko was a person who pursued public order and justice.
“Is that why Blackdog abandoned you?” she retorted, mocking the traitor’s nonsense.
“You really know how to hit where it hurts.”
Ennes gave a bitter smile.
“I’m asking you as a human being, Ennes. Please tell me what happened to my partner.”
“Like I said, I don’t know. Who caught him, where, or how. Whether he’s dead or alive. But I’ll tell you one thing so you don’t waste your energy. My final lesson as your former superior, Neko.”
Ennes said, “Ninety-nine percent of missing constables are dead within two days.”
*
“He was basically telling me he’s dead,” Neko said, biting her lip.
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
To be honest, I had more or less expected it. There was no real use in Blackdog keeping a constable imprisoned, so they would have killed him early on.
“He was my partner for a long time. So, frankly, I’m quite heartbroken… but I’m too busy to stay down.”
Neko continued, “I’m going to get promoted quickly and normalize the Public Security Headquarters. There are too many things in this city that are outside the government’s control.”
To that end, Neko decided to rack up one more achievement before her promotion review.
That would make the vacant Inspector position one hundred percent hers.
“The poachers on the 4th floor. I’m going to catch them.”
I glanced at her party.
They seemed to be the subordinates from Neko’s constable team. A female Lizard crossbowman, a human male priest, and an Orc fighter.
Their equipment looked a little shabby, but it couldn’t be helped. The Public Security Headquarters was a relatively weak organization among Sohen’s various factions. They were short on funds, so this was the best they could do.
“You did at least bring something to protect against the mana volcanic ash, right?” I asked, worried.
Fighting monsters was ultimately a matter of skill. You could see and dodge the lava mounds, and you could see and dodge the falling pyroclastic fragments.
But if you tried to watch for volcanic ash, you’d just get ash in your eyes and be done for.
Exposure to the skin caused rashes, and inhaling too much of it led to the disease ‘Pneumoconiosis,’ which induced a respiratory distress status effect.
It was essentially the ‘Floor Magic’ of this level, like the cold on the 3rd floor or the confusion.
If nothing else, you had to be thoroughly prepared with various defensive magics for this.
What about us, you ask?
We brought a ‘Mass Dust Shield’ bracelet.
Professor Isilof had lent it to me when he tasked me with investigating the 4th floor.
“Here.”
Neko pulled four raincoats out of her bag.
“…”
Not magic equipment, just raincoats. The kind you could buy at a general store for 20 gold.
Seriously, Neko…
Is this for real?
I felt like I was watching someone show up with four shovels to a construction site where everyone else was using excavators.
“W-we can’t help it!”
Sensing my gaze, the feline beastwoman’s ears perked up.
“The headquarters doesn’t give us much of an operating budget! We can’t afford to buy or rent magic equipment for a mission of this level! The Public Security Headquarters is always short on funds!”
Blood rushed to her ears, turning them red.
“The raincoats will block the skin rashes, and we’ll wear masks and goggles for our faces. We brought those too!”
I still had my doubts about whether that would work, but she was embarrassed, so I decided not to press further.
“Good luck.”
“Thank you. But, Caleb.”
Neko pointed to her own shoulder.
“You haven’t attached your card yet.”
A card the size of a name tag was attached to Neko’s shoulder.
[Current 4th Floor Adventurer Parties: 17]
It was the Remaining Party Check Card that the Labyrinth Union had handed out on the way to the elevator.
“Do I have to wear it on my shoulder?”
“Haven’t you read the 4th-floor guide the Labyrinth Union gave out?”
Honestly, I figured it would be stuff I already knew, so I hadn’t.
“I’ll read it now.”
“Yes. You should definitely read it. It’s about operational cooperation between the Labyrinth Union and the Public Security Headquarters.”
“…?”
“If by any chance you see the poachers, please send us a message.”
She and her party members put on their raincoats. They wore goggles and masks over their faces.
They looked incredibly uncomfortable. Could they even fight properly dressed like that?
“See you later.”
The constable party waved and left first, heading in the opposite direction from us.
*
[Regarding Request for 4th Floor Adventurer Cooperation]
We gathered our heads together and read the notice.
[Hello. This is Litman, the administrator in charge of the 4th floor at the Labyrinth Union’s administrative headquarters.
Recently, an external force has appeared on the 4th floor of the Labyrinth, stealing Aggregation Cores from the smeltery. It is presumed that they are not using the stairs or elevators managed by the Labyrinth Union, but are instead entering the Labyrinth via a separately constructed makeshift elevator, then crossing through the inter-wall space.
The Labyrinth Union has attempted to deploy personnel to monitor them, but the poachers appear to be using ‘Mass Disguise’ magic to mimic the appearance of regular 4th-floor adventurer parties. By doing so, they deceived and approached our agents stationed at the smeltery, murdered them, and then stole the Aggregation Cores before fleeing. This is the full account of the Union agent deaths from the last Labyrinth cycle.]
“Huh…”
I’d thought we were just running into shitty situations every time we entered the Labyrinth, but maybe this was just the default state of things.
It wasn’t that we had bad timing; it was always a shitshow, and we just happened to show up.
“So Labyrinth Union agents were murdered on the 4th floor last time.”
The reason we hadn’t known until now was likely because the Labyrinth Union kept it under wraps for this operation.
“My god.”
Aimus, Yernil, and Back Attack all clicked their tongues.
“They probably didn’t send just one or two agents,” Aimus said.
He was probably right.
There would have been one team guarding the smeltery, while other teams spread out across the 4th floor to search.
And they would have been in constant contact via message transmission.
After learning their agents had been killed, they would have issued a full alert, tracked the poachers trying to escape into the inter-wall space, and attacked them. A battle probably broke out.
‘But they couldn’t catch them, and the bastards got away?’
These poachers were quite skilled.
So that’s why Krom said he didn’t expect us to catch them.
“Wow, think about how unlucky the kids who fled to the 4th floor to escape the 3rd-floor wave were,” Back Attack said.
“They escaped the wave only to find the Labyrinth Union at war with a band of plunderers? That level of rotten luck has to be worth at least 0.5 Calebs.”
“…Let’s keep reading.”
I turned to the next page of the notice.
[In response, the Labyrinth Union has secretly planned a joint operation with the Public Security Headquarters. Please attach the distributed ‘Remaining Party Check Card’ to your shoulder. This item is enchanted with Illusion Prevention Magic, making it immune to disguise magic. Be cautious if you encounter a party without a card.
Your partner, always doing our best to ensure your adventures are safe.
Litman, Labyrinth Union Administrative Headquarters.
P.S.: Please burn this document after reading.]
“So that’s why they told us to attach the Remaining Party Check Card to our shoulders,” Aimus said as he burned the document.
“But why do we need something like a Remaining Party Check Card?” Yernil asked.
“It’s because of the Aggregation Cores.”
In the Labyrinth’s smeltery, even if someone takes an Aggregation Core, a new one appears once the floor closes and reopens.
That’s why the poachers show up like clockwork every time the Labyrinth opens, like migratory birds.
But conversely, this means it’s okay to take the Aggregation Core right before the Labyrinth closes.
After all, once it closes, there are no adventurers left to use it, and a new core will form when it reopens.
“The Labyrinth closes when all the adventurers inside have left. So, the last remaining adventurer party earns the right to take the Aggregation Core.”
This card is how you find out if you’re that last party.
“Aha.”
“Anyway, let’s be careful. Our opponents are skilled and tricky with their disguise magic. It seems they even got the better of the Labyrinth Union during their operation.”
But maybe, because of that, they wouldn’t dare invade the Labyrinth this time.
If they took a severe beating from the Union’s attack last time.
No.
No, that’s not right. If my Labyrinth-crawling life had a hope circuit and a despair circuit, it would be the latter one hundred percent of the time.
Don’t let your guard down.
“Let’s move out.”
I attached the Remaining Party Check Card to my shoulder.
Then, I activated the magic contained in the bracelet, ‘Mass Dust Shield.’
I could see a transparent film, like a soap bubble, forming in a five-meter radius around us.
*
Two types of monsters appeared on the 4th-floor field.
First, the three types of Brass Golems.
Longspear Golems wielding long spears, Sword-and-Shield Golems armed with swords and shields, and Crossbow Golems using crossbows.
These three types of golems moved in squad-sized groups, attacking adventurers.
They were the wall that drove adventurers coming up from the lower floors to despair.
The moment these monsters encountered adventurers, they formed a battle line. The Shield Golems were at the very front. Right behind them, the Longspear Golems took position, aiming their spears over the shields to form a large formation, much like a phalanx. Then, from the rear, the Crossbow Golems took aim.
The number of enemies we were facing now was three, two, and two, respectively.
Thwang! Thwang!
Two crossbow bolts flew and embedded themselves in Aimus’s parasol.
“!”
For a moment, Aimus’s jaw muscles tensed. The level was clearly different from the 3rd floor.
The arrows and ice spikes fired by the Frost Hunters had mostly bounced off the parasol, no matter how many there were. But these crossbow bolts had stuck.
“Ugh…”
Yernil raised her bow for a counterattack but couldn’t easily release the string. The Sword-and-Shield Golems were blocking the front like an iron wall.
Back Attack could use his leaping ambush on the Crossbow Golems, but that would leave him isolated behind the enemy lines.
This was why lower-floor adventurers despaired when they first entered the 4th floor and met the three types of golems.
There was simply no way to beat them.
Of course, we had a countermeasure for everything.
Golems were weak to cold, and our team had a cataclysmic wizard who had succeeded in a quad-link.
“Hailstorm.”
Along with casting the skill, I flipped the hourglass.
[It is your turn. Time remaining: 60 seconds.]
[Action Points: ■■■■]
*
I waited until the 15-second cooldown of the pre-cast skill was over, then cast the second spell.
“Hailstorm.”
[It is your turn. Time remaining: 45 seconds.]
[Action Points: ■■□□]
Tier 1 and Tier 2 magic consumed only one AP, but Tier 3 magic consumed two.
So, unfortunately, I could only cast Hailstorm twice at once.
Still, it was a relief that its cooldown was 15 seconds, same as Cumulonimbus.
[It is your turn. Time remaining: 30 seconds.]
[Action Points: ■■□□]
Golems had a strong tendency to gather in one place, which made them particularly vulnerable to area-of-effect spells like Hailstorm.
“Hailstorm.”
[All Action Points have been consumed.]
[Ending turn.]
[The hourglass has been flipped again. Time remaining: 60 seconds.]
*
Thundersnow is a type of thunderstorm where the main precipitation is snow or hail instead of rain, and it is one of the rarest meteorological phenomena.
Usually, even when thundersnow occurs, the falling ice crystals are very small, but a magical ice storm is a bit more destructive.
A maximum diameter of 30 centimeters.
Hailstones the size of a child’s head rained down. The immense physical force generated by their speed and mass was like boulders launched from a catapult.
Crash! Crash! CRACK!
The heavy physical force crushed the golems. Like cars colliding with debris fallen from a highway truck, crumpled mineral plates and bodies, and broken arms dropped crossbows and spears.
CRACK! CRASH!
The only ones that could withstand the hail barrage head-on were the shield-wielding golems.
They held their shields up to the sky, enduring the downpour of ice chunks. But…
Crack! S-crack!
The cold crept from the shield’s surface into the monsters’ bodies. A white frost began to freeze the golems’ wrists, forearms, shoulders, and waists.
[Frozen], [Frozen], [Frozen].
If this were a game, messages like that would have appeared.
Once frozen like this, they were helpless against subsequent attacks.
CRASH!
Aimus’s iron staff activated Smashing Gaia, shattering a Sword-and-Shield Golem. Ice shards and ore fragments scattered in all directions.
Clang!
Back Attack’s dagger decapitated one of the Sword-and-Shield Golems. As the heated blade passed through, the ice on the cut surface sublimated, and smoke and molten metal flowed out.
Thwack!
One Longspear Golem survived a glancing blow from a hailstone, but one of Yernil’s arrows embedded itself in its core.
‘The lightning… seems unnecessary.’
One bolt of Lightning Shock would have made the Hailstorm rain down lightning as well, and since it was a Tier 3 Hailstorm and not a Tier 2 Cumulonimbus, the damage output would have been much higher.
‘If I just lock them down with the freeze effect, they can take care of the rest.’
At this rate, I could probably clean them up with just Frost Ray, without needing to use a big spell like Hailstorm.
“Caleb.”
As I was extracting magic stones from the golem corpses, Yernil gently poked my shoulder.
I followed her gaze and saw someone appear.
Ah, for fuck’s sake.
Why are my bad feelings never wrong?
It wasn’t that the Labyrinth was just always a shitshow and I happened to be there… no. I can guarantee it. On the days I show up, all the big-box stores are closed, and the traditional market is having a festival.
“Hello there!”
The elf merchant Lilweed approached, greeting us cheerfully.
“Stop!”
Without being told, Yernil automatically entered guard mode, aiming her bow with a hint of emotion.
“You’re plunderers!”
She immediately jumped the gun.
“What are you talking about?!”
“You’re the poachers!”
“No! Look! We even have the cards on our shoulders! We came in properly through the elevator…”
“You stole them from another party!”
“Are you crazy?! No, we didn’t!”
He was extremely suspicious and shady, but, Yernil, calm down for a second.
“If you have something to say, say it from there.”
I’ll just aim my wand at him, too.
“Don’t come any closer.”