Chapter 57 - Witch's Forest (4)

The slew of curses hanging over me had vanished. In their place, though, words of malice kept ringing in my ears.

["Die! Die! Die! Die! Die!"]

Yeah, not happening.

["Motherless bastard!"]

Yeah, I have a mom in the real world.

["Heeheeheehee! Heehee!"]

I smiled, largely tuning out the voices that came every few seconds. They were a little annoying, but so what? They were just auditory hallucinations. No amount of cursing from them could actually hurt me, and thanks to them, hadn't the real curses disappeared without a trace?

'Besides, every line they use for these supposed mental attacks is absolute crap.'

If they were going to do this, they could at least try harder. No originality, no sincerity. Though the others apparently felt differently.

"Bjorn! How can you laugh off insults like these, nyah? Have you gone mad, nyah? They've been so noisy my head's been hurting this whole time, nyah!"

Misha, the dwarf, and Rotmiller had all been to Witch's Forest before and were holding up relatively well. Dwalki was the problem.

"... Urgh, uuurgh."

His eyes were unfocused and his cheeks drawn. He looked ready to empty his stomach at any moment. Well, this environment certainly could make a person motion sick.

'I didn't expect it to feel like this. Fascinating.'

[Hallucinations] and [Directional Dyslexia] made everything look warped. I would look to the right and see what had been straight ahead, and my sense of distance was fuzzier than usual. It was like seeing the world through a convex mirror.

"Hurk, bleeegh!"

Eventually, Dwalki couldn't hold it in any longer and threw up thick stomach acid. A little concerned, I asked, "Can you cast magic in that state?"

"You're mean, Bjorn, nyah. Your teammate's suffering, and that's what matters more to you, nyah?"

What was she on about now? Last time he threw up, she'd told him to grow up or something. Sigh. This was why you had to avoid getting attached to people. It stopped you from making rational decisions.

"Misha, I wasn't asking you. Well, Dwalki? Your answer?"

"D-don't any of you w-worry. My magic will be perfectly... Bleeergh!"

Hmm. Best to assume we had no magic until he adjusted. Why did mages have such weak stomachs? As I clicked my tongue at this utterly incomprehensible sight, Rotmiller looked at me in wonder.

"Still, this is impressive. Even a mentally resilient barbarian would normally struggle at least a little on their first visit..."

Well, I'd heard that too. But things had been so miserable earlier. As I laughed it off, sure enough, the dwarf stepped up for his dear friend Dwalki, hiding his concern behind gruff words.

"Tsk, tsk. That's what comes of sitting at a desk all day. No wonder you're so frail."

"Now, listen here. By mage standards, I exercise quite regu—"

"Never mind that. Let's rest a little until you adjust. We barely slept last night, either. The fatigue must be making it worse."

"Your consideration... I won't forget it."

In the end, we decided to stay near the entrance until Dwalki adapted to the environment. I didn't particularly object. Whatever else, having a mage was important here, and I needed to replenish at least some of my depleted stamina too.

"I'll stand watch. The rest of you get some rest."

The moment the dwarf finished speaking, I sprawled on the ground to rest. Even taking out my sleeping bag was too much trouble. But what was this now?

"Bjorn, you see..."

Just as I was about to get some shut-eye, the dwarf sidled over and spoke in a near whisper.

"About that Miss Elisa from earli—"

I was wide awake. What the hell was he saying?

"Not Miss Elisa. That bitch."

"Oh, r-right. Anyway, about that bitch. The more I think about it, the more I feel I've met her somewhere before..."

What? I'd thought he was talking nonsense as usual, but this sounded fairly important. I sat up to listen, and after a moment's hesitation, the dwarf spoke.

"Remember how I went to the Guild to raise my explorer rank on your advice? Someone beside me asked me all sorts of questions while I was filling out the application."

"I'm tired. Get to the point."

"Thinking back, I believe that was her."

Whew. Much better when he kept it brief. Though it still left something frustrating unexplained. I calmly asked him another question.

"Then why didn't you recognize her immediately?"

"Well... she looked so filthy compared to when she was in the city. A-and her c-clothes were torn all over!"

Ah. He'd been staring so hard at her tits that he hadn't gotten a proper look at her face. Still, that finally answered one question: why Elisa's group had targeted us.

'It was all because of that item.'

No. 3112, Guardian's Wristguards. An expensive Numbered item that sold for a whopping fifty million Stones at the Trade market. Since it had been an application for promotion, he must have written about it there. That was more than enough motivation for a plunderer. After all, the more money, the better.

'So we'd been targets since then...'

With this new information, previously unseen chains of cause and effect took shape in my head. Most of our team meetings had been held in taverns. If they'd wanted to, finding out we planned to take the Beasts' Lair route wouldn't have been very difficult. They could have arrived ahead of us and laid a trap.

"Sigh. They say treasure always invites disaster. Doesn't this prove that saying all too well?"

The dwarf heaved a deep sigh. He seemed to be hoping for sympathy, but unfortunately, he'd picked the wrong person. Treasure invites disaster, my ass.

"Don't blame the wrong thing. This is all your fault for filling out the application where everyone could see it."

"A-are you blaming me now? You were there too!"

True, but how was I supposed to know I needed to supervise him even while he filled out a form? At my contemptuous look, the dwarf clamped his mouth shut as if he'd run out of things to say.

'Good grief...'

I didn't bother saying any more. It was already in the past, anyway. Spending that time getting even a little more rest was the more rational choice.

* * *

Our rest didn't last long. Barely enough time for a bit of shut-eye, really. Monsters appeared before even thirty minutes had passed, forcing us from our sweet slumber. Actually, was "us" the right word?

"You certainly slept well."

"How can you sleep with all that noise, nyah?"

Apparently, I was the only one who'd slept deeply enough to dream... They just didn't know how good they had it.

"Never mind that. Where are the monsters?"

"Over there."

Looking where the dwarf pointed, I saw winged humanoid figures. Palm-sized ones, for the record.

"Fairies."

Fairies, rank-9 monsters. Their only skill was to release poisonous dust containing a narcotic substance, and in the game, they were non-aggro mobs. However...

"A troublesome one right off the bat."

Fairies gathering in one place like that meant that thing must be nearby too.

"Are we fighting it?"

"Well, it's not something we see often. And our friend Dwalki seems to be feeling better now."

So we were fighting. Fine by me. It was a monster I hadn't earned EXP from yet. And if it dropped an Essence, we'd hit the jackpot. I didn't need its Essence now, but it was rare enough to fetch a high price in the bidding, regardless of which of us absorbed it.

"Then, once everyone's ready, I'll draw it out."

After our brief preparations, the dwarf raised his war hammer and took his stance. Then he used his signature combo.

「Hikurod Murad has cast [Lightning].」

「Hikurod Murad has cast [Unleash].」

Lightning Unleash, as I called it. As he swung his hammer, the crackling current shot out in the shape of a cannonball, mercilessly bursting the physically immune fairies.

「You have defeated a Fairy. EXP +1」

Whatever else, I was a little jealous of that. It would be nice to have an elemental damage skill like that myself.

"Kieeeeeek!!"

Anyway, the instant a dozen or so fairies burst apart, a chilling sound came from far away. A roar like hundreds of beasts crying out in rage. Before long, the creature emerged from the darkness, its footsteps as heavy as its bulk suggested.

THUD!

A rank-7 monster, the Half Troll. As the name suggested, it wasn't a real troll. It looked more like a halfway mix of human and troll. It appeared only in Witch's Forest and had a habit of stalking fairy swarms. Unfortunately, even I didn't know why. No matter where you looked in the game, that bit of lore was nowhere to be found. Anyway, enough of that.

"Grrrr..."

Standing about two and a half meters tall, it lowered itself warily and stared at us. But true to its monstrous nature, its patience didn't last long.

"Kaaaagh!!"

The Half Troll swung its enormous club at us for slaughtering the fairies it had so diligently followed. Specifically at me, even though the dwarf was right beside me.

THUD!

Heavy. It felt even heavier than an Ayantro from Steel Stone Valley. Well, although both were rank 7, Ayantros lived in packs, so perhaps that was only natural. It had been a while since my arm had ached like this.

I smoothly tilted my shield and let the Half Troll's club slide off to the side. Its aggro naturally shifted from me to the dwarf.

A handy trick you could use only with two tanks on the team. After all, it wouldn't be fair if I did all the hard work, would it? I'd also been taught that teammates shared their burdens.

"Kaaaagh!!"

With another shriek came a second swing. The dwarf caught it on his little shield and let out a low groan, as though the pain had sunk into his bones. Only then did I realize one more thing.

"Urgh..."

Oh, right. He didn't have Pain Tolerance. This was one of the biggest reasons warrior types avoided Witch's Forest. Warriors routinely took beatings on the front line, but here, [Pain Enhancement] multiplied that pain several times over.

'And on top of that, more than half the monsters are immune to physical damage, and they even use mental skills...'

Rotmiller hadn't tried to give the dwarf and me the first and last watches last night for nothing. In Witch's Forest, warriors inevitably bore the brunt of every hardship. With my Pain Tolerance stat, though, I could more or less take it in stride.

'Turns out Pain Tolerance is fucking broken.'

Life really was full of blessings in disguise. The Corpse Golem Essence I'd absorbed by chance kept proving enormously useful.

WHOOSH!

The Half Troll swung its club again. Unlike me, the dwarf stubbornly met it in a contest of strength and shouted, "Is that magic ready yet?"

Not yet. As we all knew, his chanting was slow.

"VEHELLLAAAAAA!!"

The dwarf looked to be struggling quite a bit, so I struck the Half Troll with my mace to lend a little help. Of course, it didn't accomplish much.

THWACK!

Its solid bones and muscles barely budged at a single mace blow. And half or not, it was still a troll. Its regeneration was phenomenal. Though nothing compared to a Vampire's, of course.

「Leor Wuerv Dwalki has cast the rank-8 support spell [Freeze Intensify].」

「The power of the next freezing spell increases greatly.」

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

As the dwarf and I amicably bounced aggro back and forth, the spell was finally completed. Dwalki's finishing move: enhanced Ice Spear.

FWISSH!

An ice spear twice its usual size flew into the Half Troll's abdomen. In sheer power, its output was beyond anything the rest of us could match. Watching it, though, was infuriating.

'When is he going to develop some sense?'

I'd given him advice last time, yet he'd put the spear somewhere useless again. A hit to the heart or head might have killed it in one shot. Why was he so wasteful? Was aiming really that hard?

"Kieeeeeeeeeek!!"

The Half Troll thrashed and screamed in pain. That didn't last long, of course.

「Half Troll has cast [Frenzy].」

「Pain temporarily disappears, and Physical stats increase greatly.」

Despite the spear lodged in its gut, the Half Troll started flailing even more energetically, like a live fish out of water. Ugh. This was why we should have killed it in one hit.

'... He'll improve someday, right?'

I sincerely hoped so. Otherwise, there was no point in going through all this trial and error.

"Aah! Too shallow, nyah!"

While we faced off against the rampaging Half Troll, Misha drove her poisoned dagger toward its heart. Unfortunately, the blade was too short to pierce its thick muscles. The bolts fired by our Scout, Rotmiller, barely managed to embed their tips in its hide.

'So we have no choice but to wait for another spell.'

Whatever else, Dwalki was our hardest-hitting damage dealer. Our team's weakness was painfully clear once again. Our tanks were sturdy enough to withstand the Half Troll's [Frenzy], but our damage dealers couldn't keep up. It wasn't a problem we could fix right now, though.

"It's ready! Stand back!"

After about ten more minutes of this grueling struggle, Dwalki unleashed his finishing move again. Fortunately, this time it hit the head.

「You have defeated a Half Troll. EXP +3」

With its entire head blown away, the Half Troll turned to light and vanished. Naturally, the Essence we'd hoped for wasn't there. Only a single fist-sized magic crystal dropped to the ground.

"What a shame. That's not a monster you see often."

Misha and Rotmiller smacked their lips, perhaps having secretly gotten their hopes up. I understood. Before absorbing the Vampire Essence, I'd have been drooling over it too. Rank-7 regeneration Essences weren't common. Well, I'd become someone who could no longer settle for that sort of thing.

[07 : 13]

Morning, just after the start of day four. We'd reach the fourth floor tomorrow, and that was when the real journey would begin. Rank-6 monsters appeared there too. I wanted nothing more or less than a single rank-6 Essence to absorb.

* * *

"Let's get moving, then."

After defeating the Half Troll, we decided to resume our journey. Everyone was visibly exhausted from staying up all night, but Witch's Forest wasn't a good place to rest. We'd concluded that we should push ourselves for a day to reach the fourth floor sooner. However...

"Explorers."

Just as we were about to set off again, unfamiliar explorers emerged from the darkness. It wasn't particularly surprising. Even in Witch's Forest, we'd lingered near the entrance long enough for another group to arrive. But there was one problem.

'One, two, three, four...'

What? Why were there six? Teams generally consisted of five members at most, because Unity magic only worked for up to five people. And yet this was a six-person explorer team?

Suspicious, I studied the unfamiliar explorers' faces and spotted one that looked strangely familiar. Unfortunately, she seemed to recognize us too.

"... Explorers! It's them! They're the ones who killed my companions!"

Fuck... I genuinely hadn't seen this coming. Our entire team stood equally dumbstruck at her words.

"The star that rises at dusk shall guide my way..."

The man who appeared to lead the other explorers slowly traced a holy sign. Judging by the Followers of Leatlas merch plastered all over his body, the bastard was apparently a genuine religious nut, a rarity even in this world.

Goddammit, that fucking bitch was lucky. How had she even found someone like him in the Labyrinth?

"O God, grant me the strength to vanquish these evil wretches...!"

Apparently, talking wasn't going to get us anywhere.