episode_0071

There are two types of 2nd floor hidden dungeons.

[The Ruined City of Serium] and [Blood Ruins].

Both are dungeons that can hold a maximum of 15 people.

But the feeling is slightly different.

[The Ruined City of Serium], where we are now, starts with 15 people in random prisons.

Fortunately, they are not completely scattered. They are divided into 3 groups of 5 people each.

However, unfortunately, they must go with randomly met explorers until they reach a meeting point in the middle.

Because the luck factor is strong, not many explorers enter the 2nd floor hidden dungeon.

It’s safest to enter as a clan unit to avoid occasional looters.

So the 2nd floor hidden dungeon isn’t very popular.

Compared to the 1st floor, which can only hold 5 people, the risk is higher.

Usually, if the required level for a hidden dungeon is about +2 floors.

For the 2nd floor, 4th-floor explorers need to enter, but the number of 4th-floor explorers is overwhelmingly small.

Thanks to rare special items that sometimes appear, there’s a little demand, but just about that much.

The explorers’ mindset is that it’s better to hunt in the 3rd floor Orc Sanctuary than to come here.

Then why did we come here?

It’s simple.

Because a request came in while I was debating whether or not to run a clan somewhere on the 3rd floor.

And thankfully, we arrived exactly at Serium, where the request came from, among the two options.

A ruined city where darkness has fallen.

If the Labyrinth City were to perish with all humans gone, wouldn’t it look like this? It’s a city that looks so similar to the Labyrinth City that you might think so.

The buildings are all broken, and the terrain is collapsed in places, so you might fall into the abyss whose end is invisible at any moment.

In such a dangerous space, relying on a small torch, we were slowly moving forward.

Unfortunately, we didn’t have a single guide on our side.

Our clan’s guides are one per party out of the 3 parties.

I thought that due to luck, there wouldn’t be a guide in one of the places.

But I didn’t expect it to be on our side.

But even so, I’m not worried.

At least I can perform the role of a guide to some extent.

Of course, not in finding the way, but only in detection ability.

“Monster on the right.”

My expanded senses detected a monster walking in the distance.

Immediately, I took off my luggage and prepared for battle.

The composition of our current party is as follows.

First, me.

I am a mage.

Next is Chloe.

She is a female human archer.

Specifically, she is an archer who uses a crossbow, not a bow.

If that were the only thing, she wouldn’t be a talent worth recruiting.

But she has a very unique combat style.

“Here I come!!”

Chloe, who rushes to the front line despite being a crossbow user.

Surprisingly, she is the only tank right now.

Seven monsters appeared from the darkness.

They are Rotted Soldiers, monsters that mainly appear in the ruined city.

Soldiers with rotten bodies wearing simple armor, shuffling like zombies.

If you only look at that, they don’t seem threatening at all.

But unlike their weakly walking appearance, the moment they approach.

They move quickly, like the undead.

As soon as Chloe charges, a soldier in front swings a sword.

She lightly rolls to dodge it and aims the crossbow at point-blank range.

Paat!!

A powerful arrow flies and tears the soldier’s body.

A strong sound, as if a sonic boom occurred, and the wind that tears flesh follows.

You might ask why a crossbow user would deliberately approach.

It’s related to her card.

[Point-Blank Shot]

It says that the damage inflicted increases the closer the distance.

Of course, it’s limited to bows and crossbows.

But the correction value is unbelievable.

As expected, having stayed on the 3rd floor for quite a long time. She has skills close to the latter half of the 4th floor.

Subsequently, a soldier swings an axe down at her.

But Chloe is not just holding a crossbow.

On her back is a shield only suitable for Guardian-type explorers.

She blocks the attack with that shield.

She lightly turns her shoulder to block the attack, and

Drrrk!

Chloe, who reloaded her crossbow, immediately blows off the head of the soldier next to her.

Just as I was thinking that her actions flowing like water were a bit cool.

Following her, the second clan member steps forward.

Mark. He is an ordinary human male.

His specialty is throwing.

He has a unique combat method of throwing all sorts of things well.

But what he is most proud of is javelin throwing.

Just like the goblin I first saw when I came to this world.

He throws his only spear with all his might.

And with just that, the bodies of the two Rotted Soldiers in front are torn apart.

Moreover, it pierces the other two standing behind them simultaneously, so Mark sends three of them away at once.

However, unfortunately, there is no way to retrieve the spear, so from now on, he must use stones or throwing daggers.

But the series of battles ends quickly.

Without me needing to help.

“Cleared!!”

As soon as Chloe embeds an arrow in the last Rotted Soldier’s head, the status window pops up.

Ding!

『Please check the Card Reward.』

It’s been a while since I’ve seen the status window.

But there’s no reason to choose.

There are no usable cards obtained from the lower floors anyway.

Just in case, I checked and, as expected, skipped the reward.

Meanwhile, the four clan members who have already collected even the lowest-grade magic stones look at me.

As if they want to look good to me, they are all full of passion.

In this situation, there’s no reason for me to pour cold water.

For a while, I decided to just let auto-hunting run.

We move forward.

As we continued on, we found a broken bridge.

According to the map, we have to cross here.

Was the bridge originally broken like this?

Still, there was no reason why we couldn’t cross.

Just as I was about to shuffle my deck to find a suitable card.

“I’ll do it!”

A clan member stepped forward with great enthusiasm.

Gamel.

He is a mage from the White School of the Magic Tower.

He is the only mage from the Magic Tower who volunteered to join us.

There were a few wandering mages who applied, but Gamel was the only one from the Magic Tower.

At first, I wondered if the Magic Tower Lord sent a mage directly to keep an eye on me.

Fortunately, that wasn’t the case. He just came in to research the magic I use because he finds it fascinating.

There was no reason to refuse. I was also curious about card magic.

Just as the three primary colors of light combine to become white, the White School seeks to learn all magic without belonging to any single place.

If all schools learn magic narrowly and deeply, the characteristic of the White School is to learn broadly and shallowly.

So if you ask explorers which school’s mage they would take with them from the Magic Tower? A hundred out of a hundred would choose the White School.

Because they learn various magic, their utility is excellent.

In the first place, a mage like me is a special case.

What explorers usually want from a mage is excellent utility and the ability to use magic appropriate for the situation.

Srr.

Gamel begins to fix the broken bridge.

He moves the scattered trees and stones around to rebuild the bridge and simultaneously melts them with fire to join them.

Before long, the bridge regained its original form.

Although it became a little more environmentally friendly.

There’s a reason why the White School is popular everywhere.

Even if their rank in the Magic Tower is low. As explorers, they are the best school.

After all, explorers can provide the damage.

Gamel’s influence is growing.

Bringing things from far away, creating flying lights to brighten the view, pouring water to move a pulley and lower a drawbridge.

He couldn’t use strong magic, but he could use all sorts of simple magic.

And all at a high level.

Perhaps because I am also a mage, I am impressed by every single one of Gamel’s movements.

Sometimes I wonder if it would be okay to ask him for guidance.

“Ah! I got hurt!”

A young girl runs towards Chloe, who was fighting on the front line.

Her name is Kitra.

She is a priest of the Ariel Church.

Actually, when she volunteered to join us. I had many concerns.

Because she is a priest of the Ariel Church, with which I have many ties.

Of course, I thought she was connected to the Saint, so I sent Grace to investigate.

Fortunately, it is said that she is not a person from the Saint’s side.

Someone said that if everyone in the Ariel Church was on the side of that scheming Saint, it wouldn’t have grown this big. That made sense.

“You’ll be alright now.”

Kitra heals Chloe’s wound with divine power.

With a benevolent smile. Kitra, who is just smiling constantly, is said to be just one of the ordinary priests who went on a pilgrimage to the labyrinth.

Of course, I’ll only know for sure after seeing more.

Anyway, without a frontliner, it’s 1 Supporter and 4 Damage Dealers.

Nevertheless, we proceed without any problems.

But it’s getting close to the time when I need to focus.

“We’ve arrived!”

Chloe, who was leading, finished her search and gave a thumbs up.

We immediately entered the building.

A completely old and broken banquet hall.

There was nothing inside.

But we already know.

That this place is a junction.

“Chloe, can you do it?”

“I can!”

Immediately, everyone except Chloe took a position in a corner of the banquet hall.

“I will prepare the magic circle.”

While Gamel was drawing a magic circle appropriately, we roughly lit a bonfire and put down our luggage.

Unfortunately, I cannot make magic circles often because they are Power Cards.

During non-combat, I can make up to 3.

So, I carefully considered and made 3 magic circles.

“Amazing. Even my teacher draws magic circles directly by hand.”

As Gamel said, drawing a magic circle without touching it, just by the movement of mana, is not an easy task.

Gamel, who was watching me draw 3 magic circles, looked at them curiously and then finished his work.

“Found it!!”

Chloe waved her hand and shouted.

She had found a switch somewhere in this spacious banquet hall.

We, who had finished preparations, immediately sent a signal to Chloe.

“Going in!!”

As Chloe, who was far away, broke something, strange sounds suddenly began to be heard in the banquet hall.

Sobbing sounds.

The voices of suffering of countless humans echoed.

Along with those voices of pain, an unpleasant mist gradually crept along the floor.

In the unsettling atmosphere, Chloe slowly ran towards us.

But she doesn’t let down her guard either.

Because she doesn’t know when or where an attack might come from.

My expanded domain scans everything around. While both Gamel and I were figuring out where the attack was coming from. Gamel found it first.

“Below!!!”

Hearing that short phrase, Chloe quickly backed away.

And in the spot where Chloe would have been if she hadn’t stopped, a large white scythe shot up.

No one was flustered or surprised.

Everyone quickly switched to combat stance.

Ding!

『A Grim Reaper has appeared.』

『Combat start. Draw 3 cards.』

『Energy 4/4』

As soon as 3 cards were drawn, the Grim Reaper came up from the banquet hall floor, swinging its scythe.

Seeing that, I activated the magic circles I had set up.

[Crush]

[Wave]

[Lightning]

Among my many offensive spells, I simultaneously activated 3 spells that attack only the enemy without destroying the surroundings.

Mana moved to grab the Grim Reaper’s body and crush it.

A powerful wave gathered at one point and flew, shaking the Grim Reaper’s body.

A single bolt of lightning finally pierced its body.

Powerful magic that, even alone, could instantly kill a normal monster.

But the world doesn’t go the way I want it to.

“……?!”

The Grim Reaper immediately scattered in all directions and dissolved into the world.

It’s the Grim Reaper’s Etherealization.

In that state, no attack is effective.

Of course, it can’t be used anytime, and it is said to activate only when the Grim Reaper is on the verge of death. It seems it saw an angle to die after being hit by my 3 spells.

The Grim Reaper, which immediately used Etherealization, reappears in the distance.

But now it cannot use Etherealization.

Because there is a cooldown.

We aim to eliminate it by exploiting that gap.

Gamel activates his magic circles.

10 magic circles open simultaneously, and countless elemental magic flies towards the Grim Reaper.