42 – Cleaning up the black market (2)
The auction was temporarily suspended, and invited guests including VIPs agreed to stay in the castle while our party searched for Yongok. So we had to find Yongok without fail. Therefore, while Kaisius was taking care of those guys, Frey, Clara and I were looking for Yongok’s underground warehouse.
“… No, why is the path like this?”
But we had already come back to the same place several times. It seemed like we were seeing the same place for the seventh time. We marked it so as not to get confused, but if we kept going straight, we always saw the paper with the smiling sun drawn on it.
The childish drawing was a work of Frey’s. It wasn’t me who drew it.
“I’ve seen this face many times already.”
Frey said, narrowing his forehead slightly.
“It seems like we’re lost.”
“It’s not that we’re lost, it’s a maze….”
Although it was a slightly lighthearted conversation, it was actually a serious problem.
Even with Clara, they still got lost like this. It was now at the point where there was a level of disgust towards mazes, given how complicated they had become.
“I’ve already seen this mark 7 times….”
Without realizing it, I furrowed my brow, pondering what to do. Just as I was thinking that, Clara, who had been quietly observing, spoke in a hushed voice.
“…I finally understand now.”
“Huh?”
“…Sorry, I should have realized it sooner. I’ve just figured it out now…”
“No, I didn’t say anything… more importantly, do you really understand?”
“…Yes.”
Clara nodded her head.
During the seven times it appeared, Clara hadn’t said a word, as if all of this was leading up to something.
“… The maze that leads back to this place requires a good understanding of the pattern of the paths. That’s why it took so long…”
“No, you did really well.”
It took seven tries to identify the types of paths and understand how they lead back to this place.
While I and Frey were unaware of that, Clara was calculating it and found the solution.
… It seems like both Frey and I were useless.
“… This way.”
Clara stepped forward, and I and Frey followed behind. Instead of returning to the same place, I cheered when I saw a path we hadn’t seen before.
“You did great, Clara!”
“… Did I do well?”
“Okay!”
It was certainly a good thing. Naha and Frey just walked without noticing anything.
Clara blushed slightly, feeling embarrassed by the compliment, scratching her cheek. Perhaps because her self-esteem was low, she reacted like this even to a simple praise.
“But still, it’s not like I misunderstand compliments.”
I feel like it has improved a lot compared to the beginning.
As Clara followed the path that Clara was leading, there was no longer any going back to the same place in the middle.
Around the time when the thought of quickly escaping from this maze crossed her mind, Frey spoke as if he had found something.
“Everyone, wait a moment.”
At Fray’s words, which told me to wait, I had my doubts, but Clara seemed to understand why. She drew a short sword from behind and said,
“…an enemy.”
Fray chuckled lightly.
“Seeing the gatekeeper, it seems we’re in the right place.”
It must be like that.
Well then, since this useless baggage will be out of the way for a moment, I hope you fight with all your might…
My plan to fade away in the back because there was nothing else to do was completely ruined.
-Warning. The boss monster is appearing.
I was slightly startled by the message announcing the appearance of the boss monster.
‘Why is there a boss monster here when it’s not even a dungeon….’
I couldn’t find any reason to make sense of it.
“Kuoooooooooooooooo───!!”
Soon, an enormous creature with a massive physique appeared, accompanied by a scream that felt like it would rupture my eardrums.
-The boss monster, Minotaur of the Teen Tala Labyrinth, has appeared.
It was a gigantic monster with a human body as its head.
Upon seeing the appearance of the boss with my own eyes, I understood why there was a boss monster here and what the message meant.
The labyrinth had the same name as the organization.
“This maze itself was a dungeon?!”
Most dungeons are located above ground, but occasionally they can be found underground. They are referred to as underground dungeons.
It seemed that the Shah Jarr Royal Family had established their shadow organization on top of this underground dungeon, using the paths of this maze to safely store the treasures obtained through illegal means.
“Curious point is how they tamed the boss monster…
‘That’s the mark of a contract.’
‘…You put a slave contract on the boss monster.’
The proof of the contract appeared where Frey pointed.
It seems that they subdued the boss monster and forcibly put a contract on it. It must have taken a lot of effort, but perhaps because she comes from a royal background.”
-The Minotaur bellows.
“Kroooooooooooo!!!!”
Along with the roar, an indescribable weight pressed down on their bodies. It felt like having a boulder resting on their shoulders.”
From Noble mtl dot com
-Stamina, agility, and strength stats will decrease by a certain ratio.
‘Debuff…!’
I wondered if I was the only one who felt it, but Frey and Clara also furrowed their brows slightly. We needed a warrior to deal with that huge guy, but the problem was that Erin wasn’t here right now.
However, we couldn’t just call Kaisius because he wouldn’t be able to catch up to us in this maze.
In the end, it was the people here who had to solve the problem.
“Alan, give the order.”
Clara said so, gripping her dagger and assuming a stance. Frey nodded after looking at me once.
Minotaur. It was rare for someone not to know this name, as it is one of the most famous monsters in Greek mythology, but I had never encountered it in the game ＜Dungeon In Evil＞.
So, it was difficult for me to know the exact strategy. However, there was one thing that differentiated me from the others here.
＜Monster Information＞
◈Name: Minotauros
◈Species: Half-human half-beast
◈Stats
[Strength: 400] [Agility: 125]
[Stamina: 752] [Intelligence: 10]
[Mana: 259] [Divine power: 0]
◈Possessed Abilities
[Wild Roar (Lv.5)] [Self-Healing (Lv.7)] [Mana Regeneration (Lv.4)]
◈Current Status
-Rage
-Dependent on contract [Contractor: Barman]
It meant that I could see the boss monster’s state in its entirety. Unlike the previous bosses with issues of authority or concealed states, this time the state of the boss monster was revealed.
That is to say, fortunately, the Minotaurus was a weaker boss compared to the Lizard Lord.
Its strength and stamina were notably high, but agility was comparatively low. Especially, its intelligence was close to the level found in dim-witted beasts, if it had an intelligence stat of 10.
The contractor… Barman? I don’t know who that is.
He possesses a debuff characteristic that has been placed on us earlier, along with the ability to recover health and mana, especially with a high level of health recovery.
In that case…
“I have to charge at it, with high endurance and quick wound recovery.”
“We either strike it hard and kill it all at once, or we have to keep attacking relentlessly.”
“That’s right.”
Frey nodded, and Clara also responded as if she understood.
“…I got it.”
At the same time, the Minotaur moved. It ran towards them, wielding a massive club thicker than a human body. It seemed incredibly fast to me, but it didn’t appear that way to these two.
“I’ll go first, Clara.”
“…Okay.”
With a calm voice, Frey took the initiative.
“To the great one, I offer this sword that will save the innocent lamb.”
-Saint Frey activates [Celestial Sword].
Five sacred swords appeared around Frey. Then, each of the five swords struck the Minotaur from different directions.
Crash!!!
The Minotaur swung its club and blocked two swords, but the three other swords that came from a different direction pierced its back.
At the same time, Clara stomped on the ground and swiftly rushed forward.
“Woooooooo!!!”
Then, the Minotaur let out another roar. The weight that was added to the body became much stronger in an instant, and a message appeared indicating that the debuff was applied again.
– Stamina, Agility, and Strength stats are reduced by a certain proportion.
“…Not good.”
Judging from the overlapping weight, the debuff seemed to be a stackable debuff that could be piled up several times.
It was said that the situation became worse every time it roared, and it was even worse because it lowered the stats not fixedly but by “proportion”.
Clara’s movements were still fast, but she seemed to have slowed down significantly compared to when she first ran.
Despite this, she, who was more agile than the Minotaur, inserted her dagger into his arm and used the recoil to spin around and jump high.
-Rogue Clara activates [Assassination: Poison].
The name given in the message was reflected… Is it a real-time patch?
Anyway, Clara’s dagger, newly drawn, was stuck right into the Minotaur’s clown. Although it seemed like Clara was aiming for somewhere else, it got stuck there because of the brute’s big head movement.
“Kraaa!!”
Then the Minotaur let out a scream mixed with pain instead of a roar. From the guessed name “Do-ah,” it seemed like an extremely potent poison was injected in an instant.
As the pierced clown actually started turning pale, it soon began to decay into blackness. Since the poison was injected, the Minotaur had to make one of two choices.
Either recover immediately and continue the fight, or quickly deal with us and choose to recover.
And the choice he made was the latter.
“Krrr!!!!”
Once again, a roar pressed down on us. I have no idea how many times it can be repeated.
Could it be that there are no limits?
“Then if we start with continuous repetition from the beginning, it becomes an invincible boss.”
Even if it’s just repeated ten times, people would all be crawling around.
So maybe it’s because their intelligence is low. They must be dumb enough to balance it out.
After being repeated about three times, Clara seemed to be greatly affected. She had an unusually grim expression. Especially since she has high agility stats, it might affect her even more.
＜Character Information＞
◈Name: Clara
◈Occupation: Thief
◈Stats
[Strength: 60(▼58)] [Agility: 269(▼256)]
[Endurance: 108(▼102)] [Intelligence: 47]
[Magic: 388] [Divine: 0]
◈Possessed Skills
[Trap Disarmament Lv.9] [Stealth Lv.8] [Sixth Sense Lv.10] [Precision Throwing Lv.7] [Poison Mastery Lv.7] [Perception Lv.8] [Evasion Lv.9] [Immunity to Poison Lv.10] [Disease Resistance Lv.7]
◈Current Status
– Beastial Roar stacked 3 times.
Looking at Clara’s decreased stats, it seemed that each stack reduced her current stats by 20 percent.
It was a truly overwhelming debuff. Fortunately, the saving grace was that it wasn’t based on the maximum stat limit.
“If the debuffs continue to stack, it will be difficult to win…”
“…It’s annoying.”
Having said that, Frey emitted divine power.
-Holy Maiden Frey activates [Cure].
Surprisingly, the weight that had been pressing down on her entire body suddenly decreased.
Right, curing debuffs was originally something that clerics could do. I had forgotten about that.
“…I should have done it sooner.”
“I also momentarily forgot about it.”
Did the priest himself forget about it?
“Is it something you can continue doing?”
“Yes.”
If that’s the case, there was a clear method.
“Frei, continue to focus on healing her every time he roars. Just ensure that Clara doesn’t fall behind in speed.”
“Understood.”
“Clara, attack it with the poison like earlier!”
“…Okay.”
With a lighter body, Clara quickly moved. Upon seeing the faster Clara, the Minotaur roared once again, but this time Frei immediately activated a cure to remove the debuffs.
– The outlaw Clara activates [Skill: Poison].
Once again, the dagger, charged with poison, stabbed the Minotaur. This time it pierced its side, causing the Minotaur to scream in pain and swing its club wildly.
Bang! Kwang! Bang bang!
I couldn’t keep up with Clara’s movements, but the problem was me and Frey.
“Wowahk!!”
“Kyak!”
The force of the swinging club was so strong that it caused my stance to crumble. As a result, the swinging club, aimed at Clara, posed a serious threat to us.
“Frey! Shield!”
“Ah, I got it!!”
-Saint Frey activates [Glorious Guard].
Boom!
Fortunately, the shield protected against the club just in time. If it had been any later, Frey and Clara would have become pancakes, enjoying each other’s company.
‘Clara…’
Surprisingly, while dodging all indiscriminate swings of the club, Clara wielded her venom-coated dagger, stabbing here and there.
“Frey, he’ll probably escape and try to recover like this. We have to strike now while he’s distracted.”
“…I know what you mean. Are you suggesting we capture or kill him immediately?”
“Is it possible?”
Frey smiled softly.
“Both are possible.”
She immediately prepared a prayer.
“Oh, great deity, is there anyone here seeking your judgment?”
Frey knelt down and clasped her hands, and a radiant divine power flowed out as she gathered them. If it weren’t for the exposure, she would have looked like a true saint.
“Please render your verdict.”
-Saint Frey activates [Divine Judgment].
Please let me know if there’s anything else I can assist you with.
Kwoong!!
The surrounding air seemed to have changed.
And soon, I was quite surprised. It wasn’t just the feeling of the air changing; the entire scenery around me had completely flipped.
“…What is this?”
There was a golden scale placed, appearing ten times larger than a person. On one side of the scale, there was a Minotaur, and on the other side, a heart whose owner was unknown.
And next to that scale, there was a man with the head of a black wolf, and a man with a thin scroll-like book in his hand, his entire body covered in blue.
“Where is this…?”
“Hush, Allen.”
Freya warned me to be quiet and pay attention.
“In the courtroom, we must maintain silence.”