Chapter 51 - Outcast Team (1)

“Rotmiller, is there anyone nearby?”

Had he been harboring the same suspicions as me?

Without complaint, Rotmiller closed his eyes, then opened them again. His pupils contracted into ovals as he surveyed our surroundings.

「Braun Rotmiller has cast [Body Warmth Search].」

Body Warmth Search, the Lizardman Scout's Ability.

It worked much like a modern thermal camera. It had been a fairly useful skill in the game, too. Stealth or no stealth, this skill alone could detect anything alive.

“There's no one nearby.”

Rotmiller deactivated his Ability and gave a brief answer.

“But judging by the smell, someone was here until quite recently.”

He possessed no fewer than two Essences that boosted his Smell stat, so his assessment was unlikely to be wrong. I asked him a few more questions.

“How recently?”

“There's some margin for error, but with this much scent remaining, I'd say around two minutes at the very most.”

“Meaning there's a very good chance they left after watching us fight?”

“... Yes.”

Rotmiller nodded bitterly, and the dwarf, who had been listening in silence, cut in with alarm.

“Wait, are you saying someone deliberately targeted us?”

“They probably weren't targeting us specifically. They were simply waiting for anyone to take the bait.”

Rotmiller didn't deny it. He went on to explain that luring monsters to the front of a portal was a common tactic among plunderers.

Apparently, they considered it a low-risk method of plundering.

'They really are ingenious when it comes to dirty tricks.'

An ambush using monsters, timed for the moment explorers were most vulnerable: just after they emerged from a portal.

A total wipeout was the ideal outcome. One or two wounded was good enough. If the explorers held out unscathed, the plunderers could simply withdraw for a while and wait for their next prey.

“Rotmiller! Shouldn't we hunt them down and make them pay, nyah? Killing plunderers earns us money, doesn't it, nyah?”

“Even so, finding them would be difficult. We can't sit around here forever, either... And above all, we have no evidence. If we're careless, we could end up being falsely accused ourselves.”

“Grr, dead men tell no tales, nyah!”

Having learned the whole story, Misha hissed in indignation, but the dwarf made a coolheaded decision as our leader.

“As a matter of common decency, we'll briefly return to the second floor, leave a warning about plunderers in front of the portal, and move on.”

“A sound decision.”

After fulfilling that bare minimum of our duty as explorers, we left the vicinity of the portal. Naturally, we continued discussing plunderers as we walked.

But the more I heard, the stranger it sounded.

“You're amazing, Rotmiller, nyah. I never even knew people used tricks like that, nyah.”

“I'd only heard about it myself. This is the first time I've actually fallen victim to it.”

“Well, it's not like running into plunderers is common, nyah!”

Uh, what the hell were these people talking about?

Feeling completely out of place in this explorer conversation I couldn't relate to at all, I asked a few questions.

And discovered something shocking.

“Me, nyah? Maybe eight times over five years, nyah? One was a teammate, and the rest were all small fry, nyah!”

Only eight times in five years?

Fuck, weren't plunderers supposed to be an everyday occurrence for explorers?

“Well... I have heard there was a time like that, about 150 years ago, nyah!”

Misha explained that after the death of the first king, also known as the Immortal King, various policies had drastically reduced the number of plunderers.

But I couldn't accept that. There had to be some mistake.

Otherwise, none of this made sense.

'Once in Crystal Cave, once in Goblin Forest, twice in a row in the Land of the Dead...'

Including today, I'd encountered plunderers five times in the past three months.

Then what the hell did that make me?

When I told them this to get their opinions, everyone, Rotmiller included, gave me a peculiar look.

“Just how many sins did you commit in your past life, Bjorn, nyah?”

“Hahaha! Perhaps we only encountered plunderers today because you're here!”

“...”

I had nothing to say.

What kind of life had I been living?

Without even the energy to argue, I walked on in silence, until Rotmiller sighed and spoke.

“Stop teasing him, everyone. We all know Miss Karlstein has exceptionally good luck, don't we?”

“Ah! I knew that was—!”

“I encounter plunderers about once every three months myself. Don't let it bother you too much.”

Ah. Uh. Hmm...

I appreciated him trying to comfort me.

But that still wasn't five times in three months.

* * *

「You have defeated a Wormstone. EXP+2」

「You have defeated an Iron Falcon. EXP+2」

「You have defeated a Steel Valley Guardian. EXP+2」

* * *

The third floor, Pilgrim's Passage.

The floor all routes ultimately led to, whether through the Land of the Dead, Goblin Forest, or Beasts' Lair.

Each route had a different starting location, so to encounter explorers from other routes, you effectively had to follow the paths to the center, where the portal to the fourth floor stood.

'They said reaching the center takes three to four days on average...'

And that was when you focused solely on traveling. The third floor was that incomparably larger than the floors we'd passed through before.

As such, apart from the floor's name, Pilgrim's Passage, its individual monster habitats had names of their own. One was Steel Stone Valley, where I was now.

“We'll camp here tonight and move on to the next area tomorrow.”

We began setting up camp at the boundary where one region ended. We had chosen this in-between location because overlapping monster territories meant relatively few monsters roamed through it.

“By the way, Dwalki, are you all right? You've been looking rather grim for a while.”

The dwarf, whose bedtime preparations consisted of spreading his sleeping bag on the ground, addressed Dwalki.

Rotmiller, Misha, and I all listened in while pretending not to.

We were curious, after all, why this chatterbox kept looking like he'd bitten into shit.

“... Have I?”

“I could be mistaken, but that's how it looked to me.”

“I see...”

Dwalki nodded with a bitter smile. After a moment's hesitation, he opened up.

“I know how this will sound. You'll probably think me naive and childish. But... to be honest, it shocked me.”

“Shocked you?”

“No, it would be more accurate to say it shattered my illusions. I've heard stories of explorers ever since I was little... but none of them mentioned things like this.”

Explorers who killed other explorers.

And explorers who, in turn, said there was money to be made killing those explorers.

Certainly not a reality full of dreams and childlike wonder.

“Eek, what I said earlier was a j-joke, nyah!”

“Joke or not, it makes no difference. If I continue working as an explorer, won't I eventually have to kill someone myself?”

At those words, we all fell silent.

“...”

“...”

Any reassurance we offered now would be a lie.

The dwarf, Misha, Rotmiller, and I had all killed people before.

And if Dwalki stayed in this line of work, the day would inevitably come when he shared that experience.

“So I've been preparing myself. All the way here...”

His murmur was much more composed than I'd expected, and I asked him a question.

“And how did that go? Have you resolved to do it?”

“I have. But... I don't know whether I'll be able to go through with it when the time comes.”

Dwalki's resolve was full of turmoil. He had no confidence in himself, and he dreaded that moment.

But...

“That's enough.”

If anything, I thought this was better than the idiots who made promises they couldn't keep, only to whine that they couldn't do it when the time came.

Perhaps thinking along the same lines, Rotmiller, who had been listening, added a remark.

“It's important not to overestimate yourself. That sounds far more dependable to me than a claim that you can do it.”

“D-does it?”

Looking at Dwalki's sheepish expression, Rotmiller smiled warmly, as though regarding a young man walking the same path as himself.

“You know it's something you must do, and you've made up your mind to do it. I'm certain you'll manage when the time comes.”

“I sincerely hope so...”

“Hahaha! Cheer up, my friend!”

The conversation ended with the dwarf giving Dwalki a hearty slap on the back.

But just as we had settled the watch order and were about to lie down...

“Wait, could you all spare a moment?”

Rotmiller suddenly called us together.

“I know getting as much rest as possible is best for the team, but there's something I'd like to show you.”

“What is it?”

In answer to my question, Rotmiller looked at Dwalki.

“That this work isn't all hardship and horror.”

After checking his watch, Rotmiller headed to a cliff near our campsite. We followed, not knowing what he intended.

All we could see was the usual darkness. The Labyrinth's darkness, which swallowed even lamplight, always obstructed explorers' sight.

“Didn't you have something to show us, nyah?”

“Just wait a moment. Only a moment.”

Seeing Rotmiller answer while watching the time, I suddenly had an inkling and took out my own watch.

[23 : 59]

One minute until the third day began, when the monster population reached its peak.

The second hand ticked onward.

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5...

I closed my watch and looked into the darkness beyond the cliff. Before long, spheres of silver light appeared in the distance.

There were too many to count, all rising from the ground and drifting skyward like dandelion seeds.

The dark Labyrinth gradually brightened.

Only then did I understand the high, hilly terrain of this place called Steel Stone Valley.

“Only explorers who arrive early get to see this. Quite the spectacle, isn't it?”

Hills.

In other words, this was high ground even within the Labyrinth.

The darkness usually made that hard to appreciate, but once the countless lights swept it away, the vast third floor spread out before us in a single panorama.

Mountains and fields, rivers flowing between them.

Dense forest, and at its center, a towering spire stretching all the way to the ceiling.

A sight you could never see if you spent your entire life within Raphdonia's walls.

Dwalki, who had been gazing blankly at it all, murmured.

“... I think I finally understand a little of what explorers mean when they say the world is vast.”

I raised my head to the sky.

It was only a solid ceiling, of course, but at that moment, it truly seemed like the sky.

An open night sky with the Milky Way spread across it.

Of course, that moment was fleeting indeed. It took only about a minute for the spheres of light rising from the ground to reach the ceiling and disappear, one after another.

“No one knows why this phenomenon only occurs on the third floor.”

There were plenty of theories.

That the Labyrinth dimension's mana became oversaturated at the start of the third day and was released. That it was a blessing from God.

Everyone accepted whatever they wanted to believe.

But Rotmiller spoke decisively.

“Whatever the reason, one thing is certain. Once you see this for yourself, you stop caring why it happens.”

“That's true, nyah! I'd heard about it, but this is my first time seeing it myself, nyah! Normally I'd be fast asleep in my sleeping bag, nyah!”

“Hahaha! Something tells me our friend won't get any sleep tonight!”

Eventually, the light vanished completely, and the Labyrinth was wrapped in its usual darkness once more. Everyone except me, who had first watch, climbed into their sleeping bags and went to sleep.

However...

“...”

It was a long time before the breathing of sleep came from Dwalki's sleeping bag.

* * *

Morning came.

Not that our surroundings actually grew brighter.

It was morning by the clock, anyway.

[08 : 10]

After packing up camp, we walked downhill for quite some time, leaving Steel Stone Valley behind.

Then we reached our first destination.

“Here we are. The Orc Habitat begins here.”

The Orc Habitat.

Of all the regions on the third floor, this had the largest monster population. One distinguishing feature was that only monsters of grade 8 or higher appeared here.

'Unless we're heading straight to the fourth floor, there's no better hunting ground.'

It was the second-most difficult region on the third floor. But if my expectations were correct, we wouldn't face any serious danger.

Our party composition was good enough to operate on the fourth floor, after all. We had a mage, and the other three besides me had originally been fourth-floor explorers.

“Let's work together here for a while first, then decide what to do next based on the results.”

After adjusting our formation, we stepped into the immense forest.

Though all that adjustment amounted to was moving Rotmiller to the rear, with the dwarf and me taking his place.

“Murad, a group of orcs is approaching from one o'clock.”

True to its reputation as a popular, monster-dense hunting ground, we encountered a group of orcs after only a short walk, despite still being on the outskirts.

“Oink, oiiiink—!”

It was a standard group: four orc warriors, one archer, and one shaman.

“Just as we practiced!”

We took up the formation we had rehearsed together.

Its name: Formation A.

The dwarf and I held the front firmly while Misha, our melee damage dealer, moved freely through the shield wall, prioritizing enemies that came close.

「Leor Wuerv Dwalki has cast the grade-8 offensive spell [Ice Spear].」

Since orcs didn't particularly require curse magic, Dwalki focused solely on dealing damage.

The same went for Rotmiller. Once combat began, he concentrated on providing support with his crossbow from the rear.

But he had one additional role.

「Orc Shaman has cast [Fervor].」

「Orc Warrior's Physical Resistance is tripled for 10 seconds.」

If a monster bypassed our shield wall and headed for the rear, he was to protect Dwalki, the most vulnerable member of our party.

“It's the Fervor hex! Be careful!”

“Dwalki! Get behind me.”

“Understood!”

An orc warrior under [Fervor] ignored us and charged at Dwalki, and Rotmiller pulled out his shield to block it.

Of course, as a Scout, he didn't have the physical capabilities to defeat an orc warrior one-on-one...

“Whew, that gave me a fright, nyah!”

But all he needed to do was buy a little time using his main weapon, a crossbow, along with his buckler, dagger, firebombs, and so on.

Then Misha could come to his aid, or Dwalki could attack with magic.

「You have defeated an Orc Warrior. EXP+2」

「You have defeated an Orc Archer. EXP+2」

「You have defeated an Orc Shaman. EXP+2」

Our first battle with the orcs ended without incident. It took about eight minutes in total. We suffered no injuries, but the fight had taken longer than expected.

'We really are lacking damage.'

We had a Scout and two shield warriors. And orcs had fairly high Physical Resistance even among grade-8 monsters.

Of course, we did have a mage, the undisputed king of damage dealers in this world, but...

Dwalki wasn't from the Magic Tower.

His entire repertoire of grade-8 offensive spells consisted of [Ice Spear], which only damaged a single monster.

'Well, we brought him along for his curses rather than his offensive magic in the first place.'

A mage's value wasn't limited to powerful offensive spells.

There were favorable and unfavorable matchups between explorers and monsters. With a mage on the team, however, you could actively engage a much wider variety of monsters regardless of those matchups.

'Still, we're only slow. We're pretty solid in terms of safety...'

There were shortcomings, but all things considered, this was a fairly good team.

“Then let's head farther in.”

We continued fighting our way toward the center of the Orc Habitat.

The deeper we went, the more orcs appeared in each group. One group even included an Orc Great Warrior, a grade-7 monster, but...

「You have defeated an Orc Great Warrior. EXP+3」

We managed to kill that without difficulty, too.

But shitty things always happened just when everything seemed to be going smoothly.

We had settled into a spot and were busily hunting group after group of orcs when it happened.

“Ihenero Teuntain.”

Suddenly, a low, resonant incantation sounded from beyond the distant undergrowth.

And—

KABOOOOM!

A flaming meteor crashed down, blasting apart the group of orcs we were about to hunt.

“... Fuck?”

What fresh bullshit was this?