episode_0111

Erika’s party, who are a bit wary of us. Even if we are comrades who fought together risk our lives on the 5th floor with Kai’s party, who was formerly a party member. That is, only excluding Noah. During the 5th floor incident, Noah was outside the labyrinth. So actually, even if we were with Erika’s party, I had tried to hide Noah’s power as much as possible. However, given the situation, there was nothing I could do. Now, where should I start explaining? And how much should I explain? While I was thinking about various things, Erika’s party spoke first. “It was strange from the start that there were 6 of you, not 5. If there isn’t a proper explanation, we have no choice but to part ways here.” In other words, if there’s no convincing explanation, the relationship ends here. Once this volcanic eruption passes, we’ll go our separate ways. If that’s the case, I should at least reveal that Noah is related to black magic. I turned my gaze to look at Noah. Noah nodded her head. I thought I had received permission that way and was about to explain. “I am the apostle of the evil god.” Noah suddenly came out as evil. No, isn’t it enough if she’s just a black mage who joined temporarily or a black mage who defected? I look at Noah in surprise, but she doesn’t seem to care at all. However, instead, Erika’s party panicked at the sudden evil coming out. “Oh no! Has Kai’s party been brainwashed by the evil god?!!” “We should have been careful from the start!!” Erika’s party immediately drew their weapons and were ready to fight at any moment. In fact, this is an extremely typical reaction from explorers. Even if I was there, our clan members who easily accepted Noah are amazing. I don’t know if Noah knows that. She walked slowly and approached Erika’s party. Erika flinched for a moment at her extremely relaxed appearance. Fortunately, she didn’t overreact and just kept watching Noah. As if Noah knew that, she glanced at Erika’s side once. Then she opened her mouth. “The evil god is trying to take my body. So I ran away. Under the Tower Master.” “…I see.” “And while I’m at it, I’m acting together with Evan, the Tower Master’s disciple. I can’t say the details.” When she said that, Erika’s party members exchanged glances with each other, and then, as if they had made up their minds, they put away their weapons. “I get the general idea.” “Then you can be quite helpful with this request too!” “I wondered why you seemed to know a lot.” The reaction changed in an instant. Really, when you see something like this, it’s truly a cheat code. Once again, I expressed my gratitude to my master in my heart. Since the tension had eased, everyone prepared to rest. Although we didn’t do much today. Was it because of one short but intense incident? I was extremely tired. Meanwhile, I was looking around the interior. “By the way, it’s better than I thought. I heard there were places like this, but I didn’t think it would really be safe from volcanic eruptions and monsters.” “Right?” Erika was by my side before I knew it. As expected, it’s the unwritten rule for party leaders to rest while their subordinates work. “I heard it’s safe because it’s completely separated by magical means. But the drawback is that you can’t go outside until the commotion outside ends.” “Who would be outside at a time like this?” “I heard that excellent high-floor explorers or deep-floor explorers just ignore it and go up to the upper floors?” “Well, that…” When you talk about people who are outside the normal range, it naturally doesn’t make sense. I decided to endure it a bit because I still had a lot to learn, rather than being curt. “Do volcanic eruptions like this happen often?” “No, as I said before, it happens once a week, but this time it happened about 4 days ago. I thought something was strange.” Erika turned her head and glanced at Noah, who was chattering. “It seems like it’s because the evil god’s daughter ran away, and they’re trying to catch her.” “But there wasn’t this kind of interference until we came to the 6th floor.” “Then, surely…” As if Erika had a hunch about something, she pulled me and headed towards the client. “Hey, take out that book for a moment.” “This? It’s here.” The client, with a good-natured expression, immediately took out the book. Erika, holding the book, approached Noah. “Since you don’t have to hide your power anymore, can you analyze this perfectly?” “…That much is possible.” Noah immediately accepted the client’s book. And then, not just looking at it like before. Noah, who drew out dark mana. Then the pages started turning automatically. “Well, there’s nothing special? It’s literally just a book.” I thought she’d found something because she was making such a fuss. But there was nothing like that, it was just an ordinary book. Of course, that’s why the church didn’t confiscate it and just gave it back. “Maybe it’s just that the volcanic eruption on the 6th floor is critical.” “From now on, when we enter the labyrinth, we can only think of the evil god’s interference as a necessity.” I was prepared, but thinking that this kind of unreasonable hardship pops up every time I enter, it seems like it won’t be easy. “From now on, to go up to the next floor, we’ll have to go up only when we’re more certain.” Labyrinth exploration in the future also didn’t seem like it would be easy.

* After the volcanic eruption that lasted for about a day passed, the door of the shelter opened by itself. It was covered in a bit of hazy smoke, so I was a little scared to go out. As Erika’s party confidently went out, we had no choice but to follow behind. When we came outside, a stuffy smell first stung my nose, and hot air flowed warmly in and out of my lungs. I also thought, maybe this isn’t over yet? Actually, I had also considered going out of the labyrinth in the middle. However, it was not only a problem that the portal to go outside didn’t open inside the shelter. The thought that if we missed this opportunity, it would become difficult to get information from Erika’s party, who are active on the 6th floor and above. Anyway, we are explorers who must always head upwards. As we were passing through the forest that had completely burned down to ash. Suddenly, Yuria, Erika’s party’s guide, snapped her right hand! “It seems there are still a lot of monsters left.” The environmental conditions that raged as if to kill humans seemed to have no effect on the monsters. That is, the mass outbreak of monsters is still being maintained. This was actually not such bad news. Yesterday, we had to run away from monsters because the volcano was bombing in real-time, but that’s not the case now. So, at the words that legitimate farming time had appeared, everyone’s faces lit up. While a mass outbreak of monsters is a disaster, it’s proof that there are many people who actually like it. Sniff sniff. However, Grace’s expression, who was sniffing the air, darkened. “It looks like it’s going to rain any time now. And it seems like it will be even more severe because the smell has gotten worse than before.” It was already a localized torrential downpour that caused chaos just by getting hit slightly, but there was a possibility that something even stronger could fall. When I asked Yuria if it originally felt like this. “Indeed. Originally, once the volcanic eruption passed, it would be as if nothing had happened again.” “Something is definitely strange. Is it because of the evil god’s direct intervention?” In any case, it didn’t feel like things were going well. However, staying in one place without anything to do was too inefficient. Just in time, we decided to legally hitch a ride. Clank! 『Deck has been changed.』 『Current Deck: Paladin’s Deck』 『Time until next change possible: 0:59:59』 The Paladin’s Deck, appearing after a long time. Compared to the Elementalist and Rogue decks, it was a shield-only deck, so the timing to farm was a bit awkward. Now is the right time. 『Deck List』 『Paladin’s Deck』 [Slash] [Slash] [Defense] [Defense] [Defense] [Baptism (1)] [Holy Strike (2) – Vanish] [Heaven’s Gate (2) – Power] [Lord’s Mercy (1)] [Austerity (0)] [Blessing of Light (1)] [Prayer (0)] [Celestial Aria (0)] [Wall of Purity (1)] [Trial (Cannot Use)] [Offering to God (0)] [God’s Shield (1)] [Guardian (3) – Power] [Heal (1)] I had been gradually removing basic cards from the shop floors thinking I would use them someday, and now the perfect opportunity arose. On the 6th floor, the quality of farming isn’t bad, and furthermore. Now, if I just cover these environmental factors, Erika’s party will do everything. “First, let’s find a place to shelter from the rain…” “No. I can stop it.” I immediately set a Joker Card and used the card at the very top. [Blessing of Light (1)] – Gain a powerful shield. Add 1 [Regret] card to your hand. Light burst from my body, and a shield in the shape of a round sphere was cast around me. Perhaps because it was Blessing of Light enhanced by the effect of [Cat’s Paw], it felt much thicker. However, this is a disadvantage. Rain comes from the sky, and the shield’s durability is fixed, so if it breaks from an irrelevant attack, it won’t be able to block the rain when it’s needed. Therefore, I adjust the shield. Not in the shape of a sphere, but in the shape of an umbrella blocking the sky. That’s how I made the shield into an umbrella. And then, I looked at everyone with a “how’s this” kind of feeling. Unlike our party members who were like “Wow, that’s amazing!”, Erika’s party members were looking at the shield a bit blankly. When I asked the reason. “You know our former party member. Remember?” “Ah, that mage.” The mage who used shields to protect us on the 5th floor. Sadly, he lost his life, but thanks to him, we were able to survive. “Because it’s magic similar to what Johan used, it suddenly reminded me of the old days.” “Besides, Johan used it similarly to what you just did, Evan. We never had trouble with rain on the 6th floor back then.” If that’s the case, things are quick. Because it means rain can be blocked even with a shield like this. “Is this much enough to block it?” “Plenty.” Since Erika’s party declared it. Now, my role for a while became an umbrella. “Monsters are approaching!!!” Just in time, Grace detected monsters. To be precise, they had also found us and were running towards us. “That is…!!” Flames visible even through the hazy smoke. To be precise, giant monkeys covered in flames all over their bodies were charging towards us. “Prepare for combat!!” Everyone quickly drew their weapons. Simultaneously as Yuria, who had quickly evacuated the client, passed by. Cling! 『You have been ambushed! Combat begins, draw 4 cards.』 『Energy 5/5』 『Joker Card – Draw 1 designated card additionally on the first turn.』 [Defense (1)] [Baptism (1)] [Prayer (0)] [Heal (1)] + [Blessing of Light (1)] Wow, seeing low-cost cards after only seeing 2 and 3 cost cards usually is surprising. However, there isn’t much I need to do this time. I immediately play one card. [Blessing of Light] Now, the shield unfolds naturally like an umbrella. Although it’s not raining right now. It’s right to eliminate rain that’s dangerous just by touching it in advance. I place the Blessing of Light in the sky and quietly observe the situation. Crazy monkeys charging towards us, burning flames in various parts of their bodies. Their size is a bit larger than an orc. However, just looking at that, they don’t seem like much. As expected of a 6th-floor monster. This guy also had something. “Be careful, they can breathe fire or gather it in their fists!!!” As soon as Erika’s voice spread, a monkey far away shot fire towards me. As expected, targeting the mage is a tactic that even a monkey can understand, I suppose. However, since that flame was similar in power to the fireballs I use. [Defense] A shield-shaped barrier that appeared in front of the flame flying towards me. It lightly blocks the flame from the fire monkey. ‘It seems a bit sturdier than before.’ I knew that even with the same card, the power would change slightly depending on my capability. But since it’s a card I’m using after a long time, I feel it even more strongly. “Kkiiiik!!!” Kai’s arrow precisely struck the forehead of the fire monkey, which was raging because its attack was blocked. The fire monkey that vanished. Indeed, Kai’s attack power is almost approaching the high floors, I’d say. Especially the [Cyclops Bow] he received when he went to the Empire this time was key. To the extent that it’s impossible to even compare it with the weapon I found for him on the lower floors. In any case, thanks to everyone’s efforts, I was able to finish the battle without doing anything. Cling! 『Please check the card reward.』 It’s a status window I see often. But this time, the feeling is different. The first card of the middle floors or higher entering the Paladin’s Deck, which only had low-floor cards. What kind of card will enter, I wonder. Drumroll. When I quickly tapped it. [Eternal Light (4)] – Summon a sphere of light that lasts for 3 turns, providing shields and blessings to nearby allies. [Holy Explosion (5)] – Create a point of light and detonate it. [Wave of Light (3)] – Create a wave of light that blesses and heals everyone within it. It’s here! A new card! Which one should I choose?