episode_0072

Whoosh.

The first thing manifested was fire.

Its power is lacking compared to the Red School.

Still, fire is fire.

The Grim Reaper lightly bats it away with its scythe.

The small flame didn’t cross the scythe and disappeared, but that alone was already a sufficient achievement.

Crackle!!

An electric bolt flew and pierced the Grim Reaper’s body, and immediately basic elemental magic like cold, earth, and icy wind attacked its body.

The Grim Reaper would absolutely not die from just that. But it would be annoying.

And the rest fill that gap.

Swish!!!

Mark’s spear flying through the wind. Before long, Kitra’s divine power is imbued there. Just as it tries to avoid it, Chloe’s crossbow, which has already approached right beside it, aims for its head.

The Grim Reaper quickly comes to a conclusion.

It swings its scythe and emits a strange, rotten mana.

Chloe, who was in close proximity, is pushed far away by the powerful mana wave.

The crossbow bolt already released from her hand loses balance and grazes past the Reaper’s side.

Clang!! It bats away the spear with a sound.

Indeed, fitting for a boss-class monster of a hidden dungeon, it doesn’t go down easily.

It immediately moves on to the next.

Ignoring Chloe nearby, the Grim Reaper rushes towards us.

To block it, Kitra raises a divine shield.

Gamel manifests a new magic.

Meanwhile, I quietly stood there, waiting for a chance.

[Ignite (0)] [Wind Blade (0)] [Fireball (1)]

Unfortunately, the draw wasn’t that good.

If I used a good card obtained from the mid-floor, I could have killed it with just one card.

For now, I trust the clan members as much as possible and wait for the time.

『Until next draw: 48』

CRASH!!!

As soon as I checked the time, the scythe was lodged in the shield.

It didn’t break, but the tip of the scythe had entered inside.

Seeing this, Kitra quickly looks around the shield.

The shield breaks quickly, and the Grim Reaper enters inside.

There is no more time to hold out.

I throw one card for now.

[Fireball]

A giant fireball is created, incomparable to the fire Gamel cast.

A fireball even stronger than last time.

This was related to my increased magical capacity.

Magic used through cards is still magic.

Cards are merely catalysts that aid in manifestation.

Handling the manifested magic ultimately depends on the mage’s capability.

As I learned in the Magic Tower, I manipulate the fireball, scattering it into countless small flames.

Like multiple fire arrows shot from a Hwacha (fire cart), the fire, divided into numerous branches, flies towards the Grim Reaper.

Seeing this, the Grim Reaper steps back and emits a wave of rotten mana.

Boom boom boom! Seeing the flames disappear upon being hit by the mana wave, I continue to use cards.

[Ignite]

Simultaneously with using the card, I check the magic Gamel is using.

What he is using is magic that creates light.

Intense light, as if a flashbang had gone off, forcefully massages the Grim Reaper’s body.

Light is undead’s counter.

The Grim Reaper steps back making strange noises.

But Chloe was there waiting with her crossbow.

An intense arrow penetrates the Grim Reaper’s body.

The Grim Reaper, with a large hole in its body as if a vortex had appeared.

Its body begins to fade.

Victory is starting to be seen.

“Chloe, dodge!!!!”

Mark folds the jointed spear at his leg, snaps it together with a sound, and immediately throws it.

But the Grim Reaper, dodging with strange movements as if made of smoke, swings its scythe and slashes Chloe.

Fortunately, she blocked it with the shield on her back, but unable to withstand the powerful force, she is sent flying far away.

“Certainly, the lack of a frontliner is significant.”

As Mark said, there is no proper frontliner here right now.

Even with Chloe carrying a shield, she is closer to a melee dealer, lacking the ability to hold monsters in place.

But having no frontliner means the attack power is higher.

I use the remaining cards and take out a goblin from my subspace.

Crackle?!

I stab a [Wind Blade] into the neck of the surprised goblin, killing it instantly.

『[Butcher’s Gloves] absorbs blood.』

『Energy increases by 1, and you draw 1 card.』

One more card is drawn due to the effect of the Butcher’s Gloves.

[Strike (1)]

No. Why does the only one I have come out now….

CRASH!!!

The shield Kitra created is broken through, and the Grim Reaper charges towards the backline.

Fortunately, our spear-guy Mark stopped throwing spears and tried to face it with his spear, but the rotten mana quickly struck Mark’s head, subduing him.

“GAAH!!”

Mark, subdued while making a strange voice.

The Grim Reaper, running past him, had its eyes fixed on me.

It’s a natural thing.

Eliminating the mage using magic strong enough to make it drop its ethereal form first is the right choice.

However, I wonder if it’s underestimating our clan members too much.

[Strike]

Thud! A shockwave blooming in the air precisely struck the Grim Reaper’s head.

The Grim Reaper’s body momentarily bent sharply backward.

But that’s it.

The activation speed of Strike is top-tier and its stopping power is good, but the damage is minimal.

Therefore, a follow-up attack is important.

“……?!”

The Grim Reaper’s eyes dart.

Towards Mark, who has suddenly sprung up from below and is charging at him.

“UUUOOOAAAA!!!”

Mark, clad in blue mana all over his body, charges forward letting out a battle cry.

That is his card.

[Become a Spear].

Fitting for a card perfectly aligned with his theory that the strongest spearman must even throw himself.

He became one spear and pierced through the Grim Reaper’s body.

WHOOSH!!!

Seeing the Grim Reaper disappear with a strange sound, I casually put the cards away.

Ding!

『Confirm card rewards.』

The status window announcing victory.

With a light heart, I checked the rewards.

[Crush (4)] – Destroys the target.

[Purgatory (5)] – Creates a purgatory that devours everything.

Two cards I already had appeared first.

Roughly speaking, as expected of a strong monster, the card reward table seemed to be set to the mid-floor standard.

The last card was one I hadn’t seen before.

[Electrified Zone (4)] – Creates a square electrified zone that shocks enemies entering it.

A 4-cost defense card.

All the 4-cost cards I’ve obtained so far have been attack cards or power cards.

Since it’s a defense card and even seems to inflict status effects on those nearby, I think it will be more efficient than expected.

Just as I finished my judgment and was about to reach out to choose.

Click!

I closed the status window.

Come to think of it, there’s no need to get it right now.

If I save it and use it when needed, it’s a free 3-draw, isn’t it?

Since I got a useful card after a long time, I decided to stock it up.

While feeling a sense of reassurance.

The clan members had already finished tidying up.

A magic stone and one card. Just the right amount of reward.

And finally, an old key came out.

“Then let’s go to the city gate now.”

The key that came from the Grim Reaper is an essential element for opening the inner wall gate and going outside.

If you entered here without any knowledge, you’d have to get clues from the book in front of the city gate, come back, catch the Grim Reaper here, and go back, wasting movement.

But since we already know the strategy, we continue moving forward without wasting our path.

“How many explorers must have died the first time they entered this hidden dungeon?”

Kitra was praying about unnecessary things.

Gamel said that history is always written in blood, and the two were talking about various things as they went.

…They seem to get along well.

*

We easily dealt with the appearing monster groups without any problems and arrived at the city gate.

The ruined city has an outer wall and an inner wall, like a typical medieval city.

After passing through the inner wall and going outside the outer wall, the boss monster that destroyed this city is waiting there.

The inner wall has a total of 3 gates, but unfortunately, they are configured so that different parties cannot physically meet.

Therefore, it is important to quickly leave the inner wall and join up with other people.

Of course, if it’s a party with sufficient skill, they can just ignore everything and go find the boss.

But the 15-person difficulty has a reason for being 15-person difficulty.

In 2nd floor hidden dungeons, the boss is one thing, but often times the strategy doesn’t work unless there are many people from the start.

“The gate won’t open?”

Mark and Chloe put the old key in the city gate and twist it this way and that.

It didn’t work at all.

“What?”

That can’t be right.

Immediately, I checked the 2nd floor hidden dungeon strategy guide that I bought with Grace.

After catching the Grim Reaper, you open the gate with the key that came out and leave.

“It doesn’t say what to do if it doesn’t work?”

“……”

This is embarrassing.

As expected, that bookstore cannot be trusted.

Next time I go, I’ll have to protest and get my money back.

“I’ll try to open the gate!”

Gamel, the White School mage, stepped forward confidently.

He meticulously searched the keyhole with water magic, then froze it with ice and turned the keyhole.

I don’t know how he did it at all.

The city gate began to open.

Weak but capable. Is this the power of the White School?

“Ohhh!! Gamel!!!”

“Amazing!!”

As Kitra and Chloe praised Gamel, Gamel smiled shyly, hehe. Mark, watching that scene, had a slightly frustrated expression.

While watching the 2nd string and 3rd string kids playing together from a distance, after the gate was completely open, I approached them.

Snap!! Snap!!

Seeing me, they became very disciplined.

Perhaps it’s because of my position as clan leader. It seems it won’t be easy to get close.

“Let’s go.”

“Yes!!” “Yes!!”

We immediately stepped outside the city gate.

Inside the inner wall, there was a banquet hall, and occasionally noble-looking buildings were visible. Outside was just a normal village.

To be exact, a space filled with rural village buildings that I had only seen in Beastmen villages.

From this, I can deduce that this ruined city was not a very prosperous neighborhood.

When I presented this hypothesis, Gamel looked around with interest.

“It seems you’re right. But the labyrinth was created thousands of years ago, so based on that time, perhaps it was quite an outstanding city?”

“That’s true too.”

Considering thousands of years ago, there’s a possibility this was a city with ridiculously over-tech.

Of course, this is only true if this hidden dungeon was modeled after something.

Even in the book obtained from the black mages, the origin of the labyrinth was unknown, so it must be a story only known to the evil god and no one else.

“Monster appearance on the right!!!!”

My senses detected monsters.

Like the inner wall, the regular monsters here are rotten soldiers, but the difference is that their numbers have doubled, and new monsters have also appeared.

“A rotten knight has appeared!!”

One knight riding a horse with rotten skin was accompanying them.

The rotten knight doesn’t have amazing specs. But there’s something annoying about it. First, it scatters buffs around.

ROAR!!!

With a strange voice, the horse reared its front legs, and the knight raised a high, torn flag, causing a red glow to flare up in the eyes of the rotten soldiers.

And simultaneously, breaking the surrounding ground, 3 golems with rotten skin were born.

It’s a troublesome monster that scatters buffs around and summons 3 rotten golems, but it can be easily defeated if the main body is eliminated.

“Can you snipe it?”

“Yes!”

Mark immediately threw his spear at the knight.

The spear, which flew in the blink of an eye, pierced through the knight’s chest. Simultaneously, the spear, tearing through flesh and penetrating, was lodged in a collapsing wall far away.

Thud!!

The knight fell from the rotten horse.

Immediately, the eye glow in the soldiers disappeared, and the rotten golems vanished.

The remaining rotten soldiers could be easily eliminated.

“Other parties might have a little difficulty.”

We can easily eliminate them because all 5 of us can perform ranged attacks.

But excluding Kairek, there is no one who can perform ranged attacks, so they might have a difficult time here.

“We need to find the kids quickly.”

“Then let’s join up first and do the strategy later!”

We immediately turned and headed east.

None of us are guides, but there should be a guide in another party.

And that thought was correct.

Because we arrived soon after walking for less than 30 minutes.

“Mr. Ivan!!!”

Grace waved her hand and approached.

Clan members appeared behind her.

But after looking at their faces, I felt something was strange.

“Huh? Why are all 3 guides here?”

“Right? We thought it was going to be a big problem too!”

Grace’s party had all the guides from the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd strings.

The other two were a frontliner and a mage.

The balance isn’t bad.

Guides aren’t incapable of fighting, and when recruiting them, I selected people who were somewhat prepared for combat.

“Hilda.”

“Liza.”

“Lalanor.”

“Herman.”

As I mulled over the names of the 4 people here besides Grace, the names of the remaining party members easily came to mind.

“Kairek, Luca, Daybeck, Bruno, Adel, was it?”

“Yes, that’s right!”

Since Grace agreed, I remembered the names correctly.

And there was one more thing I remembered.

“Aren’t all of them warriors?”

“Yes!”

“And all of them you can’t find any intelligence in….”

“That’s right!”

“A worldline where Kairek is a super brain…”

“Mr. Daybeck is also there!”

Well.

Was the person who swung me around like a sword someone who could think intelligently and rationally?

I felt like he was somewhat of a freeloader.

As if Grace already knew what I was thinking, her expression stiffened.

“…Right.”

We’re screwed.

They’ll be able to get out of the inner wall, right?