episode_0113

The King of Trolls.

That monster, which Erica’s party called this, is not a typical monster, as you can tell just by its name.

To call it the boss monster of the 6th floor, something is a little lacking, so it seems it should be seen as about the level of an elite monster.

Anyway, due to the characteristics of such monsters, it is difficult to find them by ordinary means.

Similar to other floors where the structure always changes greatly, the structure of the 6th floor also changes every time, making it virtually impossible to hunt such special monsters professionally,

If you happen to find that monster, you are lucky.

So if you encounter it, you must remember that location somehow. Even if you can’t catch it yourself. Whether you sell that information, or find someone who can help you like this and hunt together.

In Erica’s party’s case now, it was the latter.

However, it was unknown whether they could definitely catch it.

“Was it about a week ago, I found a rotten pillar where this King of Trolls appears?”

“Rotten pillar….”

“It exists. If you find it later, even if you don’t necessarily catch it, you’ll be able to get something by selling the information to explorers you meet by chance.”

“But there will also be explorers like us who have entered the 6th floor for the first time.”

“Then you sell the information double. If they’ve made it to the 6th floor, they’ll have that much common sense.”

Usually, exchanging such limited information is also a profit.

That’s why the higher up you go, the harder it is to find information about the labyrinth.

Furthermore, since fake information is rampant, it’s hard to know what is real.

In the first place, less than 1% of all explorers make it up to floors 6-7 of the labyrinth. And fraudsters are abundant in any world.

“Connections are indeed important.”

“Right? This is how we become closer!!”

Erica, who has become a little closer. She wasn’t like this originally.

Well, there’s nothing bad about me having a close high-level explorer connection either, so it’s truly the best choice, where there’s only mutual benefit.

“But, with this much chaos, how will we find it?”

The black smoke has somewhat disappeared, but the world is covered in volcanic ash. Fortunately, the volcanic ash covered the lava, so except for where the lava was originally visible, it is fine.

“Of course, there’s a way for that.”

Yuria walked forward slowly a few steps, then finally raised her right hand high.

Then, a single red thread 쭉 appeared from her little finger, and extended long to the side.

“Is it the power of her card.”

“[Red Thread]. If it’s on the same floor, you can find the connected target wherever it is.”

“It would usually be useful when tracking a runaway monster or human.”

Grace, who was beside me, her eyes sparkled.

It seems she’s gotten a card she wants to acquire.

Of course, aiming for the power an explorer wants is practically impossible. But at least knowing which card it comes from wouldn’t hurt.

Immediately, Grace approached Yuria and satisfied her curiosity.

“Follow.”

As Yuria smiled broadly and cleared the way, everyone began to follow behind her.

*

The 6th floor after the volcano swept through it once is not as bad as expected.

That is, except for the mass outbreak of monsters and the slightly increased toxicity of the rain.

Considering that the former among these is virtually another situation that happened to overlap by chance, it means there are no disadvantages after the volcanic eruption except for the rain.

If so, what are the advantages?

They are as follows.

First, there is the flattened forest.

The forest that was swept away and burned by intense volcanic activity now leaves nothing behind, providing an open view.

Rare ores found among the volcanic ash in between are the second.

It is truly a dream land where you can see ores with 딱 봐도 expensive and shimmering colors as you walk.

Lastly, the amount of monsters has decreased, making movement easier.

However, this time it overlaps with the mass outbreak of monsters, so it doesn’t show much.

“So usually during these times, it’s easier to find explorers. Specifically, there are also specialized explorers who only target the day after this volcano erupts.”

“They stay holed up in the safe zone for a week and only come out at times like these to mine ores, you know? But this time it erupted early, so they’ll probably say it’s even better.”

This was something I already knew to some extent.

The fact that although the weather on the 6th floor is harsh, various rare minerals and materials appear, so there are also explorers who specialize in mining them.

Therefore, there was no reason why we shouldn’t do that work.

We carefully observe the ground along the way.

Walking around with my head buried in the ground, it really looks funny to behold.

It didn’t take long before a large, blackened pillar started to become visible in the distance.

And Yuria’s red thread was also heading there.

Anyone could predict that that place was the destination.

“As expected of a rotten pillar, it’s extremely black.”

“It wasn’t like this originally, perhaps it became like this as the volcano passed?”

Since Erica’s party said they didn’t know about this situation, I realized once again that they don’t know everything either. We walk towards the black pillar.

However, as we got closer, I realized there were other explorers nearby.

To be exact, two explorers.

“Who are you?!”

The two explorers quickly became wary upon seeing us and shouted.

One was holding a spear, the other a bow.

Since we had already discovered each other, moving forward without speaking any further is a signal to start a fight.

We quickly stopped.

And then Erica looked at me and nodded nod nod.

I, who had been following a little behind, came out to her side.

“We are explorers formed by two parties meeting by chance and combining!”

As for why she suddenly said this, the symbols revealing the identity on each party’s clothes were different.

Our 6 people had the emblem of the Blue Sun Clan, while Erica’s party next to us had a different symbol.

Explorers generally just pass by when they encounter each other, but in a situation where they might clash like this, it is courtesy to inform as much as possible about themselves.

Those who cannot explain themselves are usually likely to be looters.

Therefore, the two on the opposite side also exchanged glances, and soon the man holding the spear shouted.

“We are the Black Leg Clan!! We found this pillar now and left briefly in front of it to call other clan members. We’ll be back soon!!”

The explorers who spoke like that while consistently being wary of us.

However, even during this short conversation, a lot of information can be inferred.

They not only knew what the use of this rotten pillar was, but also deliberately informed us that there were more clan members.

So there was an unspoken pressure for us to back off on our own, since we weren’t people who knew nothing.

“What a mess. We should have come a little earlier.”

Erica scratched her head vigorously and laughed.

Since someone has already claimed it, we can’t ask them to give up the spot.

That’s why I thought we would just turn back.

Yuria stepped forward one step and raised the finger of her right hand.

And then the red thread is revealed.

The red thread winding around the rotten pillar.

“We found it first a while ago, and this is the way we came back! This can prove it!!”

Said Yuria, who started throwing a tantrum.

Erica also pondered for a moment and joined.

“You guys also went to get more clan members because your current strength of 5 wasn’t enough, right? We’re the same. We found other explorers nearby and returned here!”

“Th- then what was the reason for deliberately leaving everyone? Couldn’t you have left 2 people like us!”

“You all know the volcano erupted, right? How many people could you leave in that situation?”

“That…”

The atmosphere started to shift towards our side.

Erica’s party becoming 싱글벙글.

They continued the pressure as it was.

However.

‘Is this okay?’

No matter how you look at it, there’s a problem on our side for leaving the spot, and withdrawing is correct based on the rules, but.

Perhaps because of the rarity of that monster called the King of Trolls, Erica’s party also seemed to have no intention of backing down at all.

“…It seems the remaining 3 people over there went quite far. If we’re going to do it, maybe pushing forward quickly is right.”

Grace whispered in a small voice.

“But, isn’t it morally right for us to back out of this?”

“Where is such a thing in the labyrinth? Ivan, I always feel you’re too kind.”

“…….”

“What if you caught the King of Trolls and an incredibly good artifact or card came out? Are you just going to stand by idly?”

Now I think I understand why explorers are always fighting and quarreling with each other.

Even if it were me, if there was an item worth hundreds of millions right in front of my eyes and I could take it, would just a few people come into view?

“If you cross that line!! We will take it as making our clan an enemy!!!”

“Hey, we were the ones who claimed it first, you know? Should we go to the guild outside and have a proper trial?”

“Hey! Who are you?! Do you know how many other clans we know?”

“Ah, Yuria. It seems there are only 2 people around them, so at this level, even if they were attacked by a monster and died, wouldn’t it not be strange?”

As if they could no longer tolerate Erica’s threat, which was virtually a threat to kill them, the Black Leg Clan members.

Shot something towards the sky.

A red flare.

Seeing that, Erica’s brow narrowed.

“You know what this is, right?! It’s a guild item used when encountering looters!!”

“But we’re not looters.”

“Someone trying to take away the spoils we’re trying to get is a looter!!”

The atmosphere becoming increasingly sharp and heated.

It seemed that an irreversible situation would truly occur if things continued like this.

“…Erica.”

I already thought we had become quite close, but my favorability rating is dropping somehow.

Just as I was about to intervene to resolve the situation.

“Eitt!!!!”

Yuria shouted and moved her hand.

Then the rotten pillar connected to the red thread 움찔.

“Oh?!!”

At the same time as the two explorers near the rotten pillar distanced themselves, the rotten pillar began to crumble.

And immediately, the ground began to shake as if an earthquake had occurred.

“What did you do?”

“I forcibly summoned it. You stalled for time well.”

Could it be that this was the goal from the beginning?

As if the conversation with those two explorers wasn’t very important, we quickly prepare for battle.

Once the monster has appeared, it’s more important how much you contributed to the battle than who claimed the spot first.

That’s why the two explorers who were guarding the vicinity also blocked us from approaching as much as possible.

“…It’s brutal.”

Watching the explorers moving for their own benefit in a short moment, I thought that it is indeed not easy.

Just then, a gigantic hand pops out from the place where the fragments of the collapsed rotten pillar are.

A hand 3 times bigger than an ordinary troll’s hand.

As expected, that wasn’t the end; after the second hand kept coming out, a troll slowly started to rise onto the ground from the broken earth.

“Follow me in!!!”

As Erica shouted and ran forward, the rest followed behind her.

Then, the ground immediately began to rise behind us.

The ground that instantly surged up became sharply discarded thorns, starting to block the surroundings.

“You should have told me earlier. I almost got impaled.”

“Sorry.”

The surging thorns encircled the surroundings in a circle, like an arena.

Inside, only the 12 of us and 2 members of the Black Leg Clan remained.

The explorer holding the spear slammed the ground with a BANG! and then.

“Damn it. I knew this would happen and tried to hold out as much as possible.”

It seems he probably knew this would happen.

And also that they wouldn’t be able to do anything once we activated the monster.

“We’ll share the reward for 2 people. Because you guarded the pillar well.”

At Erica’s words spoken mockingly, the explorer holding the spear tried to swing his weapon.

However, Khairek was able to stop it by stepping on it with his foot.

“Unfortunately, this is the life of an explorer.”

“……Tch.”

The other explorers retreating.

“Surely they wouldn’t attack us from behind, right?”

“…That’s true.”

“I’ll stay with them.”

Since we already hit them in the back of the head, the enemy can also hit us in the back of the head at any time.

Of course, there are only 2 of them, and if they attack first from there, they’d have to be prepared for death. But shouldn’t you always assume the worst?

All the vanguards except Grace stepped forward, and everyone drew their weapons, ready to fight the King of Trolls at any time.

However, the King of Trolls just stayed put where it first appeared, only staring at us.

If it were an elementalist’s deck, it seemed like it would be good to hit it hard once and start.

Of course, what I’m using right now is an elementalist’s deck.

“Wait a minute, everyone wait.”

I immediately drew 5 cards.

[Meditation (0)] [Eternal Light (4)] [Asceticism (0)] [Heal (1)] + [Blessing of Light (1)]

Oh, the best hand was drawn.

Immediately, I first used [Meditation].

“…What are you doing?”

As I suddenly started praying, everyone was bewildered.

However, I immediately threw the second card.

[Eternal Light]

As the clusters of light that emerged from the sphere of light formed in front of my hand successfully settled on everyone’s bodies, at the same time.

“Here I come!!!”

Erica shouted and charged towards the King of Trolls.

First, Khairek’s arrow flew and attacked the King of Trolls’ heart.

But.

Ting!!

And bounced off with a ting!! sound.

The King of Trolls’ eyes opened wide.

And then the King of Trolls’ skin began to rapidly turn black.

“What is it?”

At the same time as Erica, who was running, muttered, the King of Trolls disappeared from sight.

Immediately, I quickly spread my senses to find the King of Trolls, but.

What was sensed was the explorer holding the spear, who had somehow approached beside me.

“These bastards…!!!”

Surely they aren’t going to attack us?

However, seeing the King of Trolls appear by tearing through space in front of me, I realized that the explorer with the spear wasn’t targeting me.

As his spear struck the King of Trolls’ body, a massive shockwave was unleashed, sending the King of Trolls flying far away to be impaled on a thorn.

We were all bewildered by what happened in an instant.

“Did they have that kind of skill?”

“The King of Trolls couldn’t possibly….”

While everyone was trying to grasp the situation.

The explorer holding the spear shouted loudly.

“You guys don’t even know what happens when a rotten pillar meets a volcanic eruption?!”

“That….”

Only then did Erica look at the King of Trolls with an “aha” expression.

“Surely it wasn’t that the rotten pillar met the volcanic eruption and turned black?”

“I thought you knew it came intentionally after the volcanic eruption. You stupid idiots!!”

The explorer with the bow had also arrived beside the explorer with the spear.

She quietly notched an arrow on her bowstring and shot an arrow at the King of Trolls.

The arrows flying, splitting into countless branches.

The King of Trolls tears through space and escapes into it.

“Everyone snap out of it!! That guy isn’t just a slightly strong monster you know!!”

“Then what is that?”

The explorer holding the spear said, spinning his spear.

“[Troll of Death]. It’s a boss-level monster that rarely appears when specific conditions are met.”