episode_0042

The top of the spire is the 30th floor. Innumerable paths leading to the boss room on the 30th floor. There are monster rooms and ? there. But among them, the only one we choose is the monster room. Rather than choose ? and suffer the strange things done by the black mages, we choose the monster room and ascend honestly. In reality, the monsters on the 4th floor untouched by the black mages are no match for us, so it’s a viable choice. And this choice has been accurate up to the 12th floor now. Because we’ve been clearing all monsters from the 4th floor to the 11th floor within 1 minute so far. Even if our hand was bad in the middle, there was no problem. Because we could just overwhelm them with firepower.

“Opening!!” As soon as Hans opened the door, he unleashed the [Lightning] he had prepared beforehand. Fzzt!! Powerful lightning flew towards the monsters. What was visible were countless goblins. The goblin horde we met on the 2nd floor were the monsters on this floor. The lightning that flew in an instant penetrated through a group of goblins, taking them down at once. Ding! 『[Butcher’s Gloves] consumes blood.』 『Energy increases by 1, and draw 1 card.』 Due to the effect of [Butcher’s Gloves], cards were drawn in abundance, filling the hand, but. As soon as the combat resolution began, the hand all returned to the deck and 3 cards were drawn again. 『Combat begins. Draw 3 cards.』 『Energy 4/4』 [Tidal Wave (3)] [Ice Arrow (1)] [Strike (1)] Putting disappointment aside. I throw the cards. [Tidal Wave] A massive tidal wave gushing from a line drawn in the air strongly descended the stairs. Seeing this, the Goblin Shaman put up a shield. Goblins fleeing inside it. Flash!! Lowering the power of the tidal wave slightly out of worry that it might cause damage to us ended up being detrimental. To the point where it could even be blocked by the shaman’s shield. Whoosh!! I split the tidal wave coming towards us over the goblins in half, making it flow to both sides. The tidal wave that extended greatly behind us, centered on us, directly hit the wall of the spire and mixed again, returning. I manipulated the movement of the tidal wave by moving my arms. The tidal wave that narrowly avoided us advanced towards the goblins again. However, the shield protected them. I continued to manipulate the tidal wave to attack the shield, but. The tidal wave lost its kinetic energy and became weaker as it repeatedly crashed. Soon, it became shallow water reaching up to the ankles. In the end, it couldn’t deal any damage to the goblins, but. It didn’t matter at all. Because the goblins’ bodies were already completely wet from the water the tidal wave emitted. From now on, it’s my companions’ turn.

“I’ll break it!!” Thud!! As Kailek shot a harpoon arrow, the Goblin Shaman’s shield cracked. If it doesn’t work once, just attack twice or thrice. I nocked the harpoon arrow retrieved with [Arrow Recoil] onto the bowstring once again. Whoosh!!!! The harpoon arrow, cutting even through the saltwater on the floor, reached the shield the shaman created. Clang! The sound of the shield shattering. At the same time, a hole was pierced through the body of the Goblin Shaman in front, and it advanced further, skewering countless goblins. The goblins, flustered by the shaman’s death. We wouldn’t give them time to regain their composure. Luca and Grace dashed forward. “Uwaaaaaa!!!” As Luca roared and used [Taunt], the gazes of countless goblins turned towards Luca. Grace didn’t miss this and threw numerous awls. Thump!! A goblin with a small awl, or something like a needle, stuck in its body felt something strange, but. As if it were nothing, it pulled it out with its hand. But the cold contained in the single small needle that was stuck in. Crackle!! It immediately began to freeze. Because the weapon she threw also had some cold properties remaining. It wasn’t this effective originally, but. It froze better on the goblins whose bodies were already soaked by the tidal wave. “Kieeeek?!!” Flustered goblins tried to desperately escape, leaving the frozen goblins behind, but. Luca, who had dashed over, made a huge leap and enlarged his axe. And swung it. Flash!! Goblins’ flesh being cut off. A few goblins on the outer edge quickly escaped, but. A defense golem was waiting there. Boom!! Goblins exploding from the strong blast and the water rising high splashed in all directions. We chased after and took down the fleeing goblins who had lost their will to fight. A one-sided massacre. It didn’t take long to eliminate all the goblins.

“They’re definitely on a different level than the guys we saw on the 2nd floor.” There weren’t any black goblins right away, and there was only 딱 1마리 (exactly 1) Goblin Hero. Originally, this meant it was the normal difficulty of the 4th floor. Ding! 『Check card rewards.』 I dismissed the status window. “Let’s go up.” We continued towards the upper floors. Climbing the stairs, I drew cards again. [Strike] [Blink] [Earth Wall] The hand was disappointing, but there was no time to wait for a new hand for 1 minute. I immediately opened the door to the next floor. As soon as Hans opened the door, I threw a card. [Strike] Thud!! A strong impact hit the head of a monster whose form hadn’t even been revealed yet. As expected, the monster got up unharmed, as if one Strike hadn’t done any damage. “It’s an Orc Warlord!!! There are no other monsters!!” As Grace shouted, one orc spotted us and came running. It was a guy with a huge body, unlike regular orcs. A red flag was stuck in its back. What was impressive was that the saw-shaped weapon it was holding was covered in a lot of blood. The distance to the orc was 10m. Swish. The cards returning to the deck again. Ding! 『Combat begins. Draw 3 cards.』 『Energy 4/4』 [Shield (1)] [Shield (1)] [Ice Shield (1)] The hand came out like trash again. But it didn’t matter. [Shield] [Shield] After using 2 Shield cards on myself. “Self-destruct!!!” I made the golem self-destruct again. Maybe because I’ve blown it up more than 20 times while climbing up to the 14th floor now. The golem self-destructed with a really reluctant expression. “Graaaaa!!!” The Orc Warlord was unharmed despite being caught in the golem’s explosion. The Warlord came running quickly. Towards it, Kailek shot an arrow. Clang! The Warlord easily deflected it with its saw. It immediately planted the flag on its back into the ground. “…?!!” Suddenly, a powerful shockwave spread, creating a circular space. Simultaneously, the Orc Warlord accelerated. “Within the area of that flag, it says its strength increases and speed quickens!!” Around the time Grace finished her explanation. The Warlord arrived in front of Hans and swung its saw. Hans lightly blocked it with his shield, but the power was so immense that Hans was stuck in the floor like a nail. Still, thanks to blocking the attack, Kailek’s arrow struck the Orc Warlord’s body. The Warlord’s armor shattered. But it didn’t tear through flesh and bounced off. The Warlord immediately passed Hans and ran towards the backline. Dangerous. I immediately activated the status window. Ding! 『Check card rewards.』 I quickly scanned the three rewards with my eyes and chose one. [Growth (2)] – Enhances all magic used next turn. The card returned to the deck upon choosing the reward. Ding!! Entering combat again, 3 cards were drawn. [Lightning (3)] [Darkness (1)] [Earth Wall (1)] “Self-destruct!!!” A golem that popped out from the subspace exploded at point-blank range of the Orc Warlord. Boom!! The Orc Warlord retreated slightly. “Uwaaaaaa!!!” Luca’s taunt worked. The Orc Warlord immediately chased Luca. Luca ran towards Hans, and. Thanks to that, the Orc Warlord’s back was visible. I immediately used [Lightning]. Fzzt!!! Powerful electricity gathered in my hand. Seeing this, the Orc Warlord instinctively felt threatened and rolled to the side. But that was a poor move. Grace’s dagger immediately stabbed the Orc Warlord’s instep. The Warlord’s foot froze. Immediately, the explosive arrow shot by Kailek embedded itself in the Orc Warlord’s body. Kaboom!! A blast even more powerful than the golem’s self-destruction hit the Warlord directly. “…?!!!” The Orc Warlord staggered, unable to regain its composure. But it was still alive. I threw the lightning that I had gathered in my hand. Flash!! The lightning pierced through the Orc Warlord’s body. The Orc Warlord vanished. Ding!! 『Check card rewards.』 I casually dismissed the status window and ascended the stairs. As we were almost up the stairs, Grace boasted about the spoils from the Orc Warlord. “It’s a purple card!!!” “Nice.” “We can keep operating on the 4th floor from now on, can’t we? Even if going through floors 1-3 is annoying.” Listening to Grace’s voice, I climbed the stairs and stood in front of the door leading to the 15th floor. A single door. There were many paths from the 1st floor to the 14th floor, but they all converged here. There was a monster symbol drawn in front of this room too, but the shape was slightly different. Because it had no less than 3 horns attached. “Elite Monster’s Room.” A monster with strength on a different dimension than regular monsters was waiting in front of here. “Shall we go in?” “Hold on.” I checked the hand I was holding. [Force Field (2)] [Momentum (1)] [Charge (1)] Cards that were utterly useless outside of combat. “How long has it taken so far?” “About 25 minutes.” “Faster than I thought?” Since we climbed a total of 12 floors, from 3 to 14. Even including the time to climb the stairs, it took less than 1 minute per floor. Everyone knew who accomplished all of this. “It’s all because Ivan-ssi is just spamming magic.” “…Are you really okay?” The party members came closer, seeming worried. “Actually, it’s not straining. I’m getting stronger, if anything.” In fact, I’m constantly stuffing the deck with high-value cards that come out on the 4th floor, so it’s not a loss. Recklessly filling the deck with high-value cards was the concept I decided on when building the Elementalist deck from the start. Of course, after a certain point, I need to draw moderately. If I get cards from the upper floors, the value of the cards I got from the middle floors will significantly decrease. But at least for now, there’s no problem. “Let’s go in.” “Yes.” The moment Hans, who had listened to my words, was about to open the door to the elite monster’s room. Suddenly, something occurred to me and I shouted at Hans. “Wait a minute!!” 『Until the next draw 20… 19…』 “Let’s wait 20 seconds before going.” “…Yes.” Actually, my hand was too crappy right now. Besides, I had [Charge] too. Waiting about 20 seconds should be fine. Time passed. 『Until the next draw 0』 『White Storage Box: Preserve 1 card.』 Among the cards in my hand, I chose [Charge]. Unlike [Force Field] and [Momentum] which returned to the discard pile, [Charge] remained in my hand. 『It’s your turn. Draw 5 cards.』 [Charge (1)] + [Strike (1)] [Lightning (3)] [Growth (2)] [Telekinesis (1)] [Ice Shield (1)] It’s here. A 3-cost attack card after Charge. It was good I waited. “Let’s go!!!” Seeing Hans open the door as he heard my words, I threw 2 cards in quick succession. [Charge] – [Burning at the Stake] A powerful combo. Charge, enhanced by [Cat’s Paw], makes the next magic used stronger. [Burning at the Stake], enhanced twice. I’ll take care of the elite monster before it notices. I spread my senses and read the monster’s mana. I used [Burning at the Stake] exactly at its location. Five massive spears of flame piercing through the floor of the spire. They pierced through the body of the elite monster in the center and rose up. “Kyaaaaak!!” The monster made a bizarre sound. Its roar was so powerful that a strong shockwave occurred, pushing my body back. “Are you okay?” Fortunately, Grace supported my back before I was sent flying. Putting my weak body aside, it was certain that my attack had properly hit the monster. Because the elite monster in the center was in pain. Its appearance could be described in just one word. The upper body of a giant scavenger. Without the lower body, only the upper body of a giant scavenger was stuck in the center of the spire. But instead of losing two legs, it had 4 arms. The creature was expressing pain, wildly swinging its 4 sharp blades. Cracks were present on its blackened body where the spears of flame had passed. Soon, it seemed to have noticed us. Its blue eye-glow flickered wildly. 『Combat begins. Draw 3 cards.』 『Energy 4/4』 [Vortex (3)] [Freeze (2)] [Telekinesis (1)] “Kyaaaaaaak!!!” The giant scavenger roared fiercely and attacked us with its 4 sharp, lengthening blades. Hans, who had rushed forward first, blocked one of the blades. But the remaining 3 blades approached us. “I’ll block them!!!” [Vortex] A strong wind dominated my surroundings. A powerful wind that even diverted the trajectory of the large scavenger’s blades. The scavenger’s 4 blades, hit by the strong, sharp wind, couldn’t approach us and were deflected outside the range of the vortex. “I’ll shoot!!!” As soon as I heard Kailek’s shout, I released the vortex. The battlefield became quiet. Only the harpoon arrow shot by Kailek moved. Whoosh!!!! The area near the scavenger’s right ribs hit by the arrow was completely shattered. But Kailek’s attack continued. The harpoon arrow retrieved with [Arrow Recoil] flew once more. Flash!!! A large hole was pierced through the large scavenger’s body. That was the end of it. Crackle!! Numerous cracks that had appeared on the large scavenger’s body began to split into smaller pieces. And before long, the large scavenger vanished with a final scream. Float. And from that spot, a card appeared. “It’s another purple card!!!” Grace quickly approached and retrieved the card. I also casually dismissed the status window that had popped up and approached her. “Let’s rest for a bit. We’ve already come halfway, to the 15th floor, in less than 30 minutes.” “Right? It’s easier than I thought.” “This is the original difficulty of the 4th floor! It’s originally no problem for us!” Kailek laughed heartily. It was true for Kailek, whose original specs were for floors 4-5. And my combat power was also comparable to the top tier of the middle floors if I got a good hand. It was right that the 4th floor should be no problem at all. “…Shall we make some soup for the first time in a while, then?” “Good!!” I put some withered vegetables from my subspace bag and roughly boiled some soup to eat. Of course, Grace was picking dry grass from afar, but. We ran out of water in the canteen, but. I spun the deck appropriately and obtained water using [Rain]. After a proper rest. We headed upwards again. “We still have 2 days’ worth of food left, so let’s go up slowly!” “Let’s do that. There’s no need to overdo it.” With this momentum, we could definitely reach the 30th floor in 2 hours, even if we went slowly. We immediately headed upwards. 16th floor, 17th floor, 18th floor. The monsters got a little stronger as we went up. However, they were not our match. 20th floor, 21st floor, 22nd floor. We continued to climb faster. Before I knew it, we had arrived at the door of the final floor, the 30th floor. Looking at my somewhat thicker deck, I checked the status window. 『Check card rewards.』 There was 1 reward remaining. I had saved a few rewards while climbing up to the 29th floor. But the 29th floor was unexpectedly difficult, so I used up all the saved rewards. Thanks to that, unlike when the deck was in the early 30s before coming to the 4th floor, my current deck exceeds 60 cards. ‘I’ve never handled a deck this thick even in games…’ It was very thick, making it difficult to draw the desired cards, but. But it didn’t matter since it was filled with cards overflowing with value anyway. My deck was definitely upgraded compared to when I first entered the 4th floor. “Steel Golem… is its name. It says there’s no specific strategy, and it has powerful defense. But it’s not easy to break through easily. Well, that’s no problem for us who have a powerful mage!” Grace, who had read the guidebook before entering the boss room, said there was no problem. “Let’s go in. Let’s finish quickly and go back.” “We’re just going to barrage it with attacks, right?” “Let’s break the enemy!!!” There was only one strategy. Deal as much damage to the enemy as possible before the Steel Golem recognizes us. “Opening!!” Opening the door and entering, I unleashed [Lightning]. Kailek shot a harpoon arrow. Luca’s clone dashed forward. Grace threw daggers. And again, Kailek activated [Arrow Recoil] to launch a second attack. With this much, the opponent would at least be on the verge of death. But the situation that followed was different from what we expected. “My, my arrow?!!” The harpoon arrow Kailek retrieved with Arrow Recoil was broken. “That’s strange!! Steel Golems aren’t usually this tough!!” “Right? There’s no way there’s a monster on the 4th floor that can block Kailek-ssi’s attack…” At that moment, the dust caused by our attack cleared, revealing the form of the Steel Golem behind it. A cubical mass of steel in the center of the wide room. Despite being hit by powerful attacks, it stood there steadfastly, without even a scratch.