episode_0107

[Lightning]

The electricity gathered on my fingertip is shot in one direction.

Electricity piercing the bodies of the Yetis existing on that straight line.

However, it cannot kill their sturdy bodies, merely being enough to shock them.

A feeling of being slightly sturdier than regular Yetis.

Of course, I am not alone here, so merely this level of supportive role is enough to finish everything.

While assisting the fighting party members and explorers, I found myself having defeated all the Yetis in the land of Yetis and reached the front of a small fortress.

However, compared to the smooth progress, the atmosphere was not good.

Rather, it was a situation where only questions accumulated.

“Nothing came out.”

“That’s strange….”

Unless it’s a specific situation, it’s common for monsters encountered in the labyrinth to drop magic stones or cards.

Of course, the probability isn’t high.

Just now, we were in a situation where we had slaughtered quite a few Yetis.

However, since there was nothing, we couldn’t help but feel it was strange.

“I think it’s because it’s a hidden area!!”

“Let’s enter here first! It feels like we might hit the jackpot?”

However, the conspiracy theorists who brought the information reacted to these things as a good sign instead.

Like monsters with specific gimmicks, or special individuals.

It’s a natural thing for humans to interpret situations in a way that is advantageous to them.

Well, there was no reason not to enter the fortress interior for now anyway, so we quickly went inside.

“…I can’t hear anything.”

“There’s no smell either.”

The guides couldn’t sense anything.

That is, it was an empty fortress.

I quickly spread my senses and examined the surroundings, but I truly couldn’t find any trace of monsters.

For now, I slowly walked around inside the fortress.

When I slowly climbed the stairs and reached the middle of the fortress.

““……?!!!””

Suddenly, the guides flinched simultaneously and reacted.

And then.

“Monsters suddenly appeared from all directions!!”

“Prepare for battle!!”

Immediately, everyone quickly assumed combat stance.

Regardless of what else, movement perfect as befits explorers who have reached the 5th floor.

Simultaneously, blue flames ignited in the torches on the fortress walls, and Yetis began to appear from all directions.

This is a slightly difficult situation.

Everyone would agree that being surrounded like this, rather than maintaining a front line and engaging face-to-face, is the worst possible combat situation.

Thus, in such cases, a change is needed, such as a concentrated breakthrough or changing the battlefield.

Such variables are, after all, the role of the magician.

“…Should I step forward?”

I stopped Noah from trying to use her power for now.

Because there’s no need to show others that her power originates from being a black magician first.

In fact, until just now, she had just beaten the Yetis with her fists like a martial artist.

“There’s a way.”

But I have a card that can create a variable.

And a card perfectly suited for use inside a building.

Immediately, I swapped my Joker Card and entered combat judgment.

『Combat Start. Draw 4 cards.』

『Energy 5/5』

『Joker Card – Draw 1 designated card additionally on the first turn.』

[Jackpot (7)] [Wind Blade (0)] [Splash (0)] [Force Field (2)] + [Tidal Wave (3)]

Without using other cards, I immediately use [Tidal Wave], the Joker Card.

And then I drew a line with my finger towards our rear.

The wave generated within it powerfully advanced forward.

A feast of waves perfectly dividing half of the fortress, completely covering and churning one direction.

With this, our position changed from being surrounded on all sides to a battlefield where we faced them face-to-face.

If so, from now on, they alone are sufficient.

I kept only Noah, who was acting as my escort knight, beside me, and controlled the waves.

Even if the waves couldn’t deal enough damage to kill the Yetis, the intense movement of water could stop them.

Immediately, I moved the waves left and right, left and right, holding the Yetis back so they wouldn’t cross over to this side.

Not long after, the battle ended, and we finished clearing everything by releasing the Yetis that were in the waves one by one.

Immediately, the fortress began to shake, and something rose as the center opened.

“Is it a monster?”

“…It’s not.”

I was watching tensely, wondering what would happen.

Suddenly, a treasure chest appeared, right there.

““………….””

Everyone silently stared at the treasure chest.

What kind of nonsensical thing is this?

It’s an unimaginable occurrence within a labyrinth.

Because it’s usually a given to get rewards after defeating monsters.

Therefore, feeling both a sense of incongruity and strangeness simultaneously, I slowly opened the treasure chest.

Inside it were many rewards.

Cards, magic stones, and even artifacts.

With such a splendid lineup, the feeling of strangeness vanished without a trace, and the explorers immediately began to enjoy themselves.

“See, the information I got was right!!”

“Three purple cards…!! We’re incredibly lucky!!”

“Moreover, what is this? Is it a shield? It’s exactly what I needed.”

While everyone was watching the inside of the box like that.

Noah slowly approached me.

And then, as she quickly rubbed the air with her hand, the vision blurred for a moment and then returned to normal.

A magic that blocks sound, she likely learned it from her master.

“…It’s a black magician.”

“I thought so.”

The sudden appearance of monsters without any signs.

Furthermore, the strange terrain and changes created in the labyrinth.

Usually, if you point to black magicians for doing things like this, you’re right.

“But they said their power has diminished a lot.”

“…Indeed. Moreover, they are too friendly. It’s like they’re deliberately giving information to explorers and giving rewards.”

“Well, black magicians would have no interest in such things.”

“Then can you find the person who did this? It seems like they did this after seeing us come.”

“…Follow me.”

Leaving the others who were busy looking at the rewards, Noah and I left the spot.

After exiting the fortress, Noah immediately began to walk towards the horizon visible far away.

And then she immediately extended her hand into the air.

Noah’s right hand entered a subspace.

“Hey, come out.”

Immediately, one person popped out of the subspace.

One woman, wearing a black robe and having a gloomy complexion, who anyone would say was a black magician just by looking.

She tumbled over and over on the snowy ground just like that, and immediately, seeming like she was about to attack, she tried to move her hand, so Noah attacked.

When the Avatar’s Scythe struck right in front of the black magician! With a gasp! sound, the black magician raised both hands and waved them wildly, signaling surrender.

“S-save me!!! I actually did a good deed, you know?!”

Although her eyes weren’t visible, hidden by the robe, her harmlessness could be felt just from her mouth.

Any hint of that peculiar black magician’s slyness or craziness was gone, and at her reaction, which was like a regular person’s, Noah withdrew her scythe for now.

Thereupon, the black magician grinned and just sat down, looking up at us.

Due to the hood and angle, her eyes weren’t visible, but her mouth was grinning. While she seemed harmless, it was clear that she wasn’t someone with normal thinking.

“Hehe. How was it? The information I spread.”

“As expected, you did it?”

“From the explorers’ perspective, there’s nothing bad about it, right?! Anyway, we scatter some leftover items, and we also earn some money to use outside.”

“Then couldn’t you just sell cards or things like that? You don’t have to do something that would get you caught like this.”

“Do you think *we* can join a guild? To sell cards or magic stones, you need to join a guild and have an explorer’s license.”

Thinking about it, she was right.

Since the guild handles all purchase and distribution of magic stones and cards, and you aren’t even given the qualification to handle them unless you’re an explorer.

It’s right that black magicians would do this to earn money.

However.

“Doing things like this is fundamentally forbidden for black magicians, isn’t it? And….”

Immediately, Noah put a finger into the black magician’s mouth.

And then she made her open her mouth and examined her tongue.

Noah, startled, suddenly shouted.

“Why don’t you have that thing where you die if you say something wrong?”

“Ebebe….”

The black magician, unable to speak properly because Noah’s finger was in her mouth.

Noah said sorry and quickly removed her hand.

“Ah, I’ll take my hand out.”

But because her hand was full of saliva, she wiped it discreetly on the black magician’s robe.

“Because we are the Monster Research Society!”

“……What?”

The black magician said cheerfully.

Immediately, Noah fell into thought, holding her chin as if she had grasped something.

The result that came out not long after.

“Actually, not all black magicians are in the same organization.”

“That’s right! To begin with, we haven’t even seen other black magicians.”

“Ivan, the black magicians you generally know are all called [Legion of the Evil God]. I thought that was just their name. It turns out it was probably used to distinguish them from other black magicians.”

“To begin with, except for the Legion, they are all small groups of less than 20 people!”

Certainly, just because it’s a religious order doesn’t mean everyone is under the Saint.

There are also those who simply faithfully believe in their religion and express goodwill.

Even Kit in our clan isn’t just a regular priest, is he?

“We, the Monster Research Society, don’t really know much about fighting, and are only composed of black magicians who research how to create giant monsters. So, honestly, we’re not good at fighting.”

“So you can see them as a moderate faction.”

“Though there might not be many of them. Since black magicians, unless someone is on their side, just kill even other black magicians.”

“That’s right! So you’ll spare me, right?! It’s too hard being chased by the Legion, by the Order, and by the Guild!!”

Although I thought, if that’s the case, wouldn’t it be better to just not research monsters?

Just then, the black magician immediately stuck herself to the ground and began to beg.

No matter how you look at it, it didn’t seem like the first or second time she had done this.

Furthermore.

“Here, this is a rare card, I’ll give you one.”

The black magician even offering a bribe.

Moreover, her mindset didn’t seem bad either.

Since she said she’s a moderate faction, I wondered if we really needed to fight.

“But is there any guarantee you won’t cause any trouble later?”

“It’ll be fine.”

As soon as I pressured the black magician, Noah said it would be fine instead.

“I’ll manage her well. I also wanted to meet a black magician in a similar situation as me.”

“…Huh? You were a black magician? Sniff sniff. I can’t tell.”

Thereupon, Noah summoned a rat monster the size of a person from a subspace.

A bipedal rat monster that could never be seen in the labyrinth.

However, its body seemed somehow toon-rendered, without a grotesque feeling, and looked similar to some mascot.

The black magician, seeing that appearance, was startled!

“Ooh! How did you carve it so elaborately?! Your skill is considerable?”

“…Hmph, I’m quite good.”

Noah also grinned at hearing a compliment after a long time, so there seemed to be no need for me to interfere.

Thinking about it, Noah is also a black magician. It didn’t seem like a bad idea to build her own faction and take over the black magicians entirely.

By gathering all the scattered wandering black magicians, or something like that.

“Alright, you can go now. Next time, deceive them a bit more elaborately. Try putting the cards inside the monsters. Then it might even…”

“Ooh! That’s also a good suggestion…”

As I watched the two talking excitedly, I was able to sense the presence of the explorers walking out of the fortress in the distance.

Since it wouldn’t be good for their meeting to be revealed for now, I immediately changed my Joker Card.

[Terrain Manipulation]

After lightly setting up a wall, I slowly approached the group.

“Where’s Noah?”

“She said there was something she needed to look into.”

“Ah, I see…”

When I said this, the group members all nodded, understanding the situation.

Just as I was wondering how to make excuses to the other explorers.

The Dwarf laughed heartily with a satisfied expression.

“Haha! As expected of magicians, they have a lot of curiosity!!!”

“…That’s right.”

Since everyone knew that Noah fought like a martial artist by coating her hands with mana, they simply dismissed it as the unique curiosity of magicians, thinking it was nothing much.

“We are planning to leave now. Will you come with us?”

“No. For now, we plan to look around this place a bit more.”

“Then we’ll go first!”

Just as the two parties were gathering their respective rewards and about to leave.

Suddenly, the Dwarf turned back.

“Ah, right, you said you wanted to go to the 6th floor, didn’t you?”

“Yes.”

“You lot are definitely capable enough. You didn’t fall short compared to us, a 6th floor party!!”

The Dwarf said that and then left.

Only when they had all disappeared out of sight far away did Noah return.

“Did it go well?”

“Yeah. But is it okay to tell them this?”

“Tell them.”

“Okay.”

Noah immediately told the party members about what had just happened.

Thereupon, everyone was surprised.

However, they acknowledged it to some extent.

“Since it’s not like all black magicians belong to just one organization.”

“Well, that’s a natural thing!”

It seemed like it would pass smoothly, but.

Out of nowhere, Grace flinched.

“Wait, just a moment. Did I just fund a black magician organization? This will be legally problematic.”

“That’s why I said to be careful from next time.”

“…Yes.”

The journey resulting from the unheard-of information about the land of Yetis ended like this.

And.

5th Floor Safe Zone, in front of the portal going up to the 6th floor.

“Is it really okay to go in?”

“The Dwarf said it’s okay, didn’t he? We were already planning to come to the 6th floor and prepared for it from the moment we first entered.”

“Even so…”

“Let’s go in for now. If something happens, we can just come back outside.”

Grace’s expression hardened as if she was worried, but.

Everyone else was full of motivation.

It was precisely because the battle on the 5th floor had been too unremarkable.

1 against 5. Since everyone except Grace agreed.

“…Then let’s go up.”

Grace also took a deep breath and finished preparing, eyes wide open.

“Then let’s go!!”

We head to the 6th floor.