Ch.339Snow Country (8)

I held the baby penguin in my arms and brought it to the mother penguin.

“Oh my goodness!! You brought it back!! There are still four left… Please!! Save them!”

The mother penguin exclaimed frantically.

“This… is annoying.”

Kana was already starting to get bored.

“Right. Can’t we just smash our way through and go up?”

Tina said.

“That’s my preference too… but something serious could happen. Someone might get hurt.”

This wasn’t a game but reality. We needed to move with the strategy that carried the least risk.

“And don’t you feel sorry for them?”

This penguin mother wasn’t an NPC but a real person. Someone troubled by losing her children! It was only natural to want to help.

“Hmm… not really.”

Kirtan said.

“That’s right. Kids always find their way home eventually. Children should be raised tough.”

Taiga also had that ‘not my problem’ mindset.

Hmm… is that so? With our current specs, we could probably just power through. My good intentions died immediately, and my laziness awakened again. The goodness in me is too weak. You die from just one comment? Hang in there a bit.

As the mood shifted this way, the mother penguin seemed to sense the crisis.

“Please!!! Save them!! I, I’ll give you our family treasure!! It’s a sword made of ice!!”

The mother penguin finally offered a greater reward to save her children.

“It’s a very sharp and excellent sword!! It will help you!!”

The mother penguin said.

A sword… now that’s tempting. If it has some options, I could feed it to my Pinocchio Sword.

“Alright. I’ll save them. Have that sword ready.”

I said.

“Thank you!!”

The mother penguin cried out.

Anyway, that’s how we decided to hunt—no, rescue the penguins.

———

“Squeak! Squeak!!!”

Beyond the straight ice pillar on the cliff, a baby penguin was hanging there.

“Why is it in a place like that…”

Kana muttered.

“When I was young, I often played climbing mountains. Looking back, I did a lot of dangerous things.”

Thumbs-up Man nodded as he spoke.

Thumbs-up Man as a child… I wanted to see that. Was he bald back then too? If so, he must have looked like a cute little monk.

“Shota. Can’t you just take out your Psycho-robo again and save it?”

Sasits said.

“Sorry, but I have to cross that directly. There’s jamming ice over there.”

I said, pointing to a spot.

There was ice glowing like a red crystal. It was a kind of jamming device. I couldn’t take out my Psycho-robo in that area. There were several such devices during the mountain climb. We had to fight using only physical attacks.

It was a malicious device from the developers. We had to cross the ice pillar using only physical abilities. If you fell, you wouldn’t die, but the ice slide would take you back to the entrance of the mountain. Yes, it was a dungeon with the typical game format where one misstep means game over.

“I’ll do it.”

I took a deep breath and stood in front of the ice pillar. It was too long to jump across. I had no choice but to cross the ice pillar with careful steps after finding the right angle.

“Shota. Aren’t you going to fall?”

Tina said.

“Hey now. Trust me.”

I said that and then concentrated power in my legs.

“Hmmmm…”

The key was to activate the Blazing Stance on my legs first. Then, using all my strength, I would cross the ice pillar in one go. If I tried to move slowly while maintaining an awkward balance, I would slip instead.

“Leap of Faith!”

I dashed across the ice pillar.

In about two and a half steps, I spotted the baby penguin.

“Gotcha.”

I grabbed the baby penguin and threw it to the other side.

“Squeeeeeak! Squeak!”

The baby penguin flailed its body as it flew to the other side.

Tap!

Tina caught the baby penguin right away.

And crossing the ice pillar again in the same way would complete the task.

——–

After that, I rescued penguins from various locations and brought them back. Since I already knew their approximate locations, I could proceed quickly.

And so, we fulfilled the mother penguin’s request.

“Thank you so much!! Adventurers!!”

The mother penguin cried with tears.

“Here it is!! The activation key for the elevator.”

The mother penguin handed over a key made of ice.

“Where’s the sword? You said you’d give me a sword.”

Of course, I hadn’t forgotten that. There was no reason to refuse an unexpected reward.

“Of course!! Here it is!!”

The mother penguin immediately handed over a sword.

Shiiing-!

It was a sword wrapped in a blue blade, like ice. But it was metal. Transparent steel… definitely not Earth’s iron. But it was incredibly sharp.

Ding-!

A message appeared through the status window.

‘Sword of Icy Clouds’

‘A rare sword made of white steel, a rare metal. However, unfortunately, since swordsmanship never developed among the penguin tribe, it became just an antique.’

That’s a sad story.

‘When used as enhancement material, it permanently increases damage by 30.’

There were no additional options, but it was extremely efficient when used as enhancement material. It was basically telling me to feed it to my Pinocchio Sword.

“Thank you!! Take good care of your children!! Don’t let them get lost again!”

I immediately secured the item. This was already a sufficient gain.

———

Since we completed the quest, I opened the ice door that led to the shortcut.

Clunk-!

As the door opened, an elevator appeared. The structure was such that riding this would take us straight to the top floor. Plus, there were no enemies near the elevator. It truly served as a shortcut in that we could go directly to the enemy headquarters without taking any damage.

‘At this point… the enemies are just time-wasters.’

The party members’ specs had become so high that hunting no longer significantly increased our levels. It was best to just pass on annoying enemies.

Ding-!

The elevator carried us up, shaking. I wondered if it might crash midway. Such an ominous thought crossed my mind, but I didn’t voice it. If you say it out loud, it might actually happen.

“Is this going to crash…”

At that moment, Taiga tactlessly tried to say something.

“Hey!!!”

I immediately kneaded Taiga’s chest to stop her.

“Kyahung?!”

Taiga fell silent with a cute voice.

Ding-!

The elevator soon stopped at the top.

“Alright. The boss is out there. Let’s take it down quickly.”

I said.

“Taiga. When I open the door and rush in, immediately summon Fenrir and unleash a fire-attribute attack.”

I gave the order right away.

That would break the enemy’s stance once, followed by an all-out attack.

“Taiga, after you shoot fire, Sasits, you use Ten-Foot Slash. If the enemy’s stance doesn’t break, do it again. The key is to keep using it.”

Then we would break its stance again and continue the all-out attack, enabling us to take it down in seconds.

“Let’s go.”

I flung the door open without warning.

“Hi Bang-garu!!!”

My shout drew the attention of the boss mob, a giant ice giant.

“How did filthy Earthlings…”

Before it could pick up its massive ice club, Taiga immediately summoned Fenrir.

“Hellfire Blaze!!”

Taiga unleashed the ultimate fire technique.

“Grrrroooaaar!!!”

Tremendous flames erupted from Fenrir’s mouth.

“Gaaaaargh!!!”

The icy surface of the giant ice giant’s body began to melt rapidly.

Thud-!!

The ice giant lost its balance for a moment.

“Now!!! Everyone, all-out attack!!!”

At my command, everyone charged forward with their weapons.

“Come forth!! Pinocchio Sword!!”

I immediately drew my Pinocchio Sword and decided to fully utilize its infinite durability special.

Zzzzzzzzzzt-!!!

As I ran, I rapidly scraped the sword against the ground, causing it to be engulfed in flames. It was the Blazing Slash, temporarily imbuing the sword with the fire attribute.

“Hyaaaaaaah!!”

I thrust the burning sword into the ice giant’s head.

Crack-!!!

As the ice cracked, the giant’s head began to melt.

“Gaaaah!!”

That should have significantly reduced the boss mob’s health.

Sasits followed my orders and immediately drew Hades to unleash Ten-Foot Slash.

Papapapapapat-!!!!

As the sword wind swept through, large chunks of the boss mob’s icy body were carved away. Tch. No critical hit on the first strike.

“Once more!!”

Shupapapapapapat-!!

Sasits mindlessly unleashed Ten-Foot Slash again as I instructed. It was a boss fight after all. It didn’t matter if we used up all our SP.

Kwaaang-!

With a clear sound, the giant ice giant’s body collapsed once more.

“One more all-out attack!!!”

I shouted loudly, raising my sword.

“Let’s go!!! Finish it quickly and have a snowball fight!!”

“If not now, we won’t get to play in the snow!!!”

The anger of those who lived in regions without snow was collectively directed at the ice giant.

Thwack-!! Stab-!!! Crunch-!! Pow-!! Papapak-!! Clang-!!

The one-sided lynching of the giant ice giant continued.

Crack-!!

Soon after, cracks spread throughout the ice giant’s entire body. Whether it was a difficult boss or not, there was nothing it could do after taking the first hit.

“This is impossible… Lord Pink Beard… I’m sorry…!!”

Kwaaaang-!!

The ice completely shattered, scattering ice fragments in all directions.

And so, we cleared the November dungeon as well.

Shhhhhhhh-!

With the boss’s death, the dungeon itself slowly began to collapse.

“Everyone! The dungeon will disappear soon!! Let’s roll around and play in the snow!!”

Knowing this was the snow play fever time, I quickly encouraged everyone.

“Hurry!! We need to make at least one small snowman!!”

Umi began rolling snowballs at an insane speed. Her movements were so dynamic that the huge snowball permanently attached to her body also shook. What a spectacular sight.

Kana also immediately lay down in the snow, waving her arms and legs to leave an angel’s imprint.

I quietly picked up a snowflake.

Shhhhhh-!

And placed it on Thumbs-up Man’s bald head. As expected, Thumbs-up Man had a constitution with a lot of heat in his head. The snowflake that landed on his bald head immediately melted into dew. The melting speed was incredible.

“What are you doing, Shota?”

Thumbs-up Man asked me.

“It’s something I’ve always wanted to do when it snows.”

I said seriously. And with that, I fulfilled one of my lifelong wishes.