Chapter 209 - Leader (2)

It was a coincidence. Their laughs just sounded alike. The world was a big place—surely more than one person could have the same habit?

None of those thoughts even crossed my mind.

The instant I felt that familiarity, I accepted reality.

'Clown.'

A member of the Observer of the Round Table, and the one who seemed the most knowledgeable and skilled of the bunch.

That was who this man was.

'I figured he was from Noark, but I never imagined we'd meet like this...'

I was finally face-to-face with Clown, whom I'd been so curious about. But I wasn't remotely pleased to see him.

No, quite the opposite...

'I'm fucked.'

What now? He looked strong as fuck.

Would he let me go if I told him I was Mr. Lion?

'Not a chance.'

I threw away that sudden moment of weakness.

Not only would that be tantamount to coming out as an evil spirit, but... the person Clown respected was Mr. Lion. Not some scrub of a barbarian.

The moment my identity came to light, he'd lose interest in me and become furious.

So I shouted, "Prepare for combat!"

A head-on breakthrough.

As long as you could overcome your fear, it could be the best solution, anytime, anywhere.

"Now you're acting like a barbarian!"

He gave me an amused look.

Had that helped bring her to her senses, too? Raven immediately chanted an incantation.

"Derva Timunes."

It was the team voice spell. Since we were facing a person rather than a monster, she must have thought to activate it first as soon as she heard my order.

"Tsk. How boring."

Clown didn't seem pleased to have his entertainment taken away.

Not that his feelings were my problem.

"Everyone, get behind me!"

Even as I gave the swift order, I used Gigantification to block the passage.

That was one advantage of the first floor's Crystal Cave. Though it varied from passage to passage...

CLACK.

Most were narrow. Narrow enough for one giant barbarian to plug up.

"Behel—RAAAAAAA!!!"

I called out the ancestral god's name as if to shake off my fear. Then I raised my shield just high enough not to obstruct my view and focused every nerve on his movements.

THUMP!

My warrior's heart began beating at just the right pace. Warm blood circulated rapidly, filling my body with vigor.

At least I felt like I wouldn't die without putting up a fight.

"Mr. Jandel, we can't attack like this either!"

I firmly dismissed the mage's concern.

"Don't."

"What?"

"We don't know who he is. First, we need to find out what he can do. Until then, don't make a move."

Information was the most important thing in a fight against another person. How had they combined the countless Abilities and items available, and what kind of class build had they developed?

Without knowing that, it was hard to respond appropriately.

"But...! He's a monster who killed a knight. And you're going to find out all by yourself?"

What else were we supposed to do?

"This is the most efficient way."

I was a tank. I could take an unknown attack and survive.

But they couldn't. For them, an unexpected blow was far more likely to mean game over.

"It's no fun when I can't hear what you're saying."

Before we could discuss our strategy further, Clown spoke coldly and stretched a hand out to his side. At some point, a weapon had appeared in it.

'Mythril.'

An awl emitting a silvery-blue glow.

"Just die."

As his quiet voice rang out, Clown vanished before my eyes.

I didn't lose sight of him for long. This was a straight passage, after all.

'Trying to exploit my blind spot, huh?'

I lowered my shield slightly and saw Clown moving within the angle it had obscured. Honed by countless real battles, I quickly identified his target.

'My thigh...'

In combat, everything was information. We were long past the level of swinging weapons without thinking. Every movement had a reason and an intention behind it.

So why had he aimed for my thigh?

'An assassin-type after all?'

Given the matchup, he must have considered my shield a nuisance to get through. Over the past seven months, it was the first thing I'd upgraded with the money I'd saved after paying off my debts.

'Anyone with a brain would know at a glance.'

A large shield crafted from Moonstone, a tier-four metal. It was durable enough to withstand even a few blows from an Arc sword.

Which meant...

CLANG!

A weapon made from tier-five Mythril couldn't penetrate it.

CLANG, CLANG!

I didn't stop at blocking. I put strength into my arm and shoved.

"...!"

His body was pushed back with barely any resistance. I added another piece of information to my mental file.

Well, this one was obvious enough, but...

'His Strength is lower than mine.'

I began to feel that this might actually be manageable. Seven months ago might have been a different story, but I'd improved in many ways, starting with my equipment.

From the look of things, he wasn't on the Dragonslayer's level.

'Well, he hasn't shown everything he can do yet, either.'

Keeping my guard up, I watched Clown where he'd retreated. I'd blocked the first attack, but letting even one through could be dangerous.

After all, he'd confidently told me to die. That wasn't something you said while aiming for a thigh.

'Poison, then?'

His weapon was likely coated in poison. His Abilities might be poison-related, too.

Still, nothing was confirmed. Even as I made my guesses, I kept every possibility open.

'About time he used one.'

So far, we'd only exchanged a single round of simple physical attacks. Now that he'd been blocked, it was time for a skill.

"Oh, honestly! I wanted to conserve my MP if I could!"

For some reason, I let out a disbelieving chuckle. Never mind his usual exaggerated way of talking.

"... Mr. Jandel! That man's an evil spirit!"

MP?

This crazy bastard wasn't even trying to hide that he was a Player.

'Is everyone from Noark like this?'

Well, they'd already made enemies of the royal family. There was no reason to hide being an evil spirit...

"No, wait. If he's an evil spirit, then could he be..."

Her words made me flinch involuntarily. I had a feeling I knew what Raven was thinking.

Someone from Noark. Skilled enough to kill a knight alone. The most infamous Player in this city.

"The Corpse Collector...?"

It happened the instant Raven murmured that name in a daze.

"Eek!"

I hurriedly turned just my head to check behind me.

「Aveth Necrapethor has cast [Puppet].」

The bodies of the knight and soldiers lying behind us were getting up and lunging at Raven.

'Motherfucker. It really is him.'

There was no point denying it anymore. The Corpse Collector's build was famous.

It was a good class, one I'd played several times myself. Specializing in curses and summoning, with substantial investment in Agility to compensate for its weakness in close combat...

'Agi poison necro.'

An Agility-based poison necromancer.

That was the class of the enemy I now had to fight.

* * *

I'd thought he was an assassin because he'd come at my vital spots with an awl-like weapon.

'A necromancer...'

That had been a clear miscalculation. He'd simply underestimated me and tried a basic attack.

His real specialty lay elsewhere.

'He wasn't nearby by coincidence. He came looking for us.'

Now that I knew who he was, our surroundings began to look different. He'd probably left the corpses there on purpose.

The reason was simple. By leaving them lying around like ordinary corpses, he could use them as surveillance cameras.

Not that it mattered now.

'No need to feel him out anymore.'

I decided to focus on the positives. After fighting the Dragonslayer, I'd gathered information on Orculus, so I knew quite a lot about the Corpse Collector, too.

'Six known Essences in total.'

Of course, that would leave three unidentified Essences, and considering his notoriety, those would be nothing short of a catastrophe for us.

But at least I'd confirmed his class.

"Everyone, fall back! Don't fight them!"

I hurriedly gave the order. Against an ordinary summoner, taking out the summons first was standard practice, but...

"Don't fight them?"

"Getting some distance comes first!"

Each of a poison necro's summons was practically a suicide weapon. Keeping your distance was the foundation of fighting one.

"Aruru, over here!"

"Right!"

Just as Aynar gathered Raven up and prepared to retreat, gray light flashed from the eyes behind the mask.

「Aveth Necrapethor has cast [Curse of Stone].」

Sensation began dulling from my feet upward. The moment it hit, I knew which skill it was.

The Essence of the rank-four monster, Medusa.

TAP, TAP.

Apparently intent on killing me first, he rushed at me again with his awl.

It certainly was an overpowered skill.

'That must be why there were no signs of a fight nearby.'

Even a knight would have struggled to resist a rank-four Essence. Regular knights were usually Level 5, after all. They could hardly afford to invest much in Mana resistance.

'Not me, though.'

The Manticore's Passive Skill, [Heredity].

Over the past seven months, I'd filled all two hundred of its stat points with Mana resistance. Normally, miscellaneous stats rose along with it, but there was a workaround for Mana resistance.

And as a result...

"Behel—RAAAAAAA!!"

My battle cry had evolved to the point where it could replace Fortitude.

「The character's Mana resistance is 400 or higher.」

Plus twenty from the second stage of the Immortal's engravings. Plus eighty from the Ogre Essence. Plus two hundred from the Manticore's Passive Skill, [Heredity].

[Gigantification] and [Wild Outburst] increased Mana resistance by around forty. Add the Earth Dragon's Blessing's additional twenty percent increase...

「The character is granted suppression immunity.」

My Mana resistance temporarily exceeded four hundred, making me immune to suppression-type skills!

「Status effect [Curse of Stone] has been removed.」

The instant the numbness spreading from my feet vanished, I charged forward with my shield raised.

My opponent looked startled, too. Hmm, or was incredulous more accurate?

"Ha! Suppression immunity? Just how much did you invest in Mana resistance?!"

Oh, you flatter me.

Mana resistance was the whole reason I'd paid so much for the Manticore Essence in the first place. Never mind retaining the stats after removing it or anything else.

The two hundred Mana resistance alone would pay dividends all the way into the late game.

'Still, he's fast as fuck.'

I plowed forward like a tank, but true to his Agility-based poison necromancer build, he easily pulled back out of range.

That was what made these bastards such a pain. A summoner's own body was normally their weakness, but with these guys, catching the summoner was hard as hell.

Still, at least he wasn't an assassin.

"Raven! Freeze the corpses!"

"What? Right!"

"And Avman, fire a big one as soon as I give the signal! Make us an opening to escape!"

"... Escape? Can we even do that?"

Who knew? The odds were fifty-fifty.

But we had to try. Those odds were far better than our chances of winning a fight.

"I'll have to put everything into one shot, then. Understood!"

Fortunately, Mister Bear readily followed my orders. He must have sensed it the moment he heard the name Corpse Collector.

Our chances of winning were slim, and even if we did, sacrifices would be unavoidable.

'Of all people, the Corpse Collector.'

He ranked among the strongest members of Orculus. Naturally, I rated him above the Dragonslayer, too.

But...

'Right now, we have a chance.'

By the nature of their class, necromancers weren't particularly good at pursuit. Besides, he was showing a desire to conserve his resources.

'He'll have to keep fighting until the Labyrinth closes. He'll want to minimize waste.'

I was rapidly backpedaling with that thought in mind when it happened.

WHOOOOSH!

Cold reached me from behind. Raven must have cast ice magic to freeze the corpses.

"They're frozen!"

Okay, that was confirmed.

"Avman!"

"Yeah, just say the word!"

Mister Bear seemed ready, too. After briefly telling him the signal for the surprise attack, I asked Raven for one more thing.

"Raven, turn off Voice Control."

"What?"

"Now."

"It's off."

As soon as the team voice spell deactivated, I looked at him and spoke.

"Hey."

"Oh?"

He looked at me as if wondering what I was up to. I continued calmly.

"Do you know the two ways to make someone angry?"

"Hmm? I've never heard of them."

Foreigners, honestly.

I knew he wouldn't.

"The first is to stop talking halfway through."

"I see. What's the other one?"

Clown nodded as if that made sense.

"That's..."

I let my words trail off and deactivated [Gigantification].

And at that instant...

「Avman Urigfried has cast [Enhancement].」

「Avman Urigfried has cast [Hazardous Material]...」

An arrow infused with all of Mister Bear's skills shot across the newly widened passage.

KABOOOOOOM!!

The cave shook as if an earthquake had struck.

FWHOOOOSH!

Watching the flames that had surged up in an instant to block off the far side, I shouted more fervently than ever.

"What are you doing?! Get the hell out of here!"