115 Tues Reunion (3)
9th afternoon.
“You have entered the Pilgrim’s Path on the third floor.”
After searching around the northernmost part of the land of the dead for over a day, we found a portal and reached the third floor.
‘… … Next time, I will not enter without a searcher.’
We decided that we could reach the 3rd floor with just the two of us if we took the route to the land of the dead… … .
Nevertheless, the absence of explorers played a major role.
If it hadn’t been for sneaking up on a group of explorers passing by just in time, I’d still be wandering around.
“Ugh, I feel bad every time I come here.”
Anyway, after such hardships, I arrived at the jet-black estuary.
This is the starting point for the Land of the Dead route, a field characterized by a thin ditch that flows in dozens of branches.
Oh, by the way, the gutter smell is a bonus.
“Then go.”
Since there was no explorer, I continued to look at the compass and moved in the ‘northeast’ direction.
As I was doing this, I soon came to a dead end.
In other words, now you have to dip your feet in that murky river and cross it.
“… Can’t you pick it up?’
tt, just to go somewhere comfortable.
“… Only this time.”
“Wow! really like? Thank you!”
Crossing the river with Misha on her shoulders.
It is about 5m wide and the water depth is just below the knee.
As I crossed the river carefully so as not to fall over, the damp ground continued forward like a road.
However, the moment I was about to move on.
[Geruk! Gereuk!]
[Gel, gel-!]
As if following the sound of the river passing by, the monster creeps out.
“Bjorn, that’s the Frogman over there.”
program man.
A grade 8 monster that looks like a frog and walks on two legs.
For reference, something like a harpoon is used as a weapon.
It may seem funny because of its small size, but because of its high agility, there are many explorers who are careless and go to the goal in an instant.
The skills are also a bit annoying.
‘… plaguy.’
These guys don’t get along well with me.
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My mace is powerful enough to blow up Deathpind’s head with one shot… … .
If you don’t get it right, it doesn’t make any sense.
Whoo-!
A frogman who steps in the air and leaps once more to easily avoid my mace.
I immediately dashed and hit him with my shield, but it didn’t really mean anything.
「The attack was missed by [rotten slime].」
The shield made contact with his body, but instead of making a dull sound, he slid as if sliding.
[Gel-Gel!]
are you having fun?
Nemil.
These guys had absolute evasion correction limited to blunts, so for me they were difficult enemies regardless of their rank.
Well, there was no problem with Misha.
“Nyaha! Stay out of the way!”
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Misha, who laughed as she watched me being teased by the Frogman, took out her sword and started dancing the sword in earnest.
[Geruk-!]
Although he was a Frogman with considerable evasion correction for his blade… … .
Because our test is an ice test.
[?!]
A cut in the thigh is not enough, the lower body that freezes.
dump.
The frog cub, who had been running for a few minutes, fell to the floor.
“Misha, wait a minute!”
“yes?”
“I will.”
Puff-!
After that, it seems to relieve some stress.
Originally, it was a monster to catch with magic, but the level difference was so great that the battle wasn’t too difficult.
[Gel-Gel!]
[Gerr! Gereuk!]
How long has it been since you moved while catching the programmers like that?
[22:57]
I checked the time and slowly started looking for a place to camp. Fatigue is exhausting, but this is a place where you have to take a break every set time.
“Bjorn, is the water getting colder?”
“I’m still looking for you, so don’t look at me.”
After exploring the surroundings for about 30 minutes, a resting point appeared. Unlike estuaries that were dark, the mounds were reddish and not muddy and soft.
As if all the explorers nearby had gathered, about thirty people were already seated at the point.
‘I came late and lost all the famous places inside.’
Reluctantly, I took a seat by the waterside where the smell of the gutter was direct. The soil isn’t wet, so the water won’t fill up here.
As we dried the wet legs first before laying the blanket, the water level began to rise rapidly.
[00: 00]
Okay, it’s midnight now, so it won’t fill up any more. Since this state will continue for the next 6 hours, I slept with Missha first.
There were a lot of people around, so there were several teams that took a break without setting up a vigil, but… … .
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Maybe you don’t know
‘I met Hans a few days ago, so be careful.’
It was time to rummage through my backpack in order to fill my stomach with snacks like that.
“Ha ha ha! This friend, cheer up! Is there any tree that can’t be cut down ten times?”
“However… As you know, she—”
“Hey, everyone is sleeping, why not be quiet?”
“Ahaha! Sorry! Be careful in the future!”
A familiar voice was heard in the distance.
And was it before you went to sleep?
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Misha, who had been rolling in the blanket, abruptly got up.
“This is Hikurod’s voice… … ?”
Seeing that I was thinking the same thing, I don’t think I heard it wrong… … .
Huh, how did all these coincidences happen?
***
It’s rare to meet someone you know in the labyrinth.
First of all, each floor is incredibly wide, and because of the darkness in the labyrinth, even when the lights are turned on, the visibility is less than 10m in radius.
Well, it’s a ‘clan’ that divides into several parties and enters, from which floor to what time they meet and go up the floor… … .
‘It must be these guys.’
Surprisingly, the owner of the voice he heard was a dwarf.
Next to them were Dwalkie and Rotmiller.
“Hikurod? Is it Hikurod?”
“… Missha? Bjorn? what! Why are you here!”
“Wow, it must have been our team’s fate!”
What are the odds of meeting each other by chance without an appointment?
“A request? Didn’t you say you made a request? How do you do that?”
For a while, both admired the wonderful coincidence, the dwarf had expressed his doubts.
I must have felt something strange.
We were the only ones who came into the labyrinth for an escort request.
I turned around as I had already said.
“Oh, if that’s the case, it’s already over.”
“Are you done?”
“The thing I had to do was on the first floor. As the labyrinth was closed, the client returned to the city first.”
“Oh, did you?”
The dwarf nodded his head without any doubts whether it was for an understandable reason.
Now it was our turn to ask a question.
“Then why are you here? Didn’t I say you’d only be on the second floor?”
As far as I know, these three were supposed to do a simple collection quest in the rocky desert.
But why is it on the 3rd floor, and unexpectedly, at the jet-black estuary connected to the land of the dead?
“Ah, that’s because the stone golem’s inner core came out earlier than expected. I’m here to do one more quest that I’ve received in case you didn’t know.”
But, I think I should have told you ahead of time if I had planned from the beginning to the third floor, but… … .
“Ha ha ha! If that was the case, you wouldn’t have stopped me from doing it!”
Well, that’s right.
Tank 1, Mage 1, and Explorer 1 are probably a bit insecure about their combinations. That’s not what we’re talking about who came to the 3rd floor with Tank 1 and Close Deal 1.
“… So what is your request?”
“This time, it’s a collection request. All you have to do is save the two eyeballs of the Frogman Shaman. Since we met here, would you like to join us?”
“How much is the completion amount?”
“Two million stones. Of course, if you are involved, the proceeds will be divided into exactly five equal parts.”
If it’s 400,000 stones per person, that’s not a bad level.
If you sell other by-products other than the eyeballs, your income will increase.
Of course, he’s not a regular programmer, he’s a shaman, so the question remains as to whether he can break the quest… … .
Well, that depends on luck.
“summer solstice.”
Still, after meeting Hans, I was worried about going together, so I agreed. After all, do you have to do it with two people to do nothing more than hunt a frogman?
If the quest ends early, we could suggest that we all go to the 4th floor together.
“Haha, then come on. If I talk more here, I think I will get hit with a knife.”
There was a lot of glare between the other teams who were taking a break, so he stopped talking and went on a break.
‘Thanks, I’ll sleep five hours.’
This is an advantage when there are many people.
The bedtime is short, and the bedtime is increased.
[06:00]
As time passed and the morning of the 10th day dawned, the depth of the river went down and we left the resting point.
Then he wandered around and devoted himself to hunting.
‘After all, there should be one explorer.’
As I felt it again, the explorer was a position that raised the quality of the labyrinth life.
“If you go there, there will be a river, so come here.”
As if memorizing the entire terrain, Rottmiller guides along the optimal route.
I’ve been roaming around for so long, and I’ve been past the waterfront less than three times.
“Hmm, I’m afraid again… … .”
Soon after, after killing one more shaman in four hours, we lost our appetite.
A corpse that disappears leaving nothing behind.
This is a disadvantage of collecting quests.
If you use ‘distortion’ magic on a monster, there is a very low probability that you can acquire the monster’s corpse completely, but… … .
Essence and Mana Stones do not drop.
‘Hey, I’m already thinking about working hard later.’
Equipment and consumables production, etc., towards the latter half of the game, the need for by-products from monsters increases.
For example, just looking at the spirit engraving.
You can solve it with money up to step 6, but after that you have to collect the materials yourself.
‘… … Let’s go and think about it then. If you have money, you can entrust it to an exchange or a quest to supply it.’
Anyway, as much as the movement became easier, the battle became easier.
Rotmiller’s arrow, Dwalkie’s magic.
And even Misha’s ice cutting.
“… … It’s something I’ve been wanting to ask for a while, but what the hell is this?”
Rottmiller questioned the frozen Frogman, but this was no problem either.
[Cold Condensation] and [Ice Crushing] aren’t that great of a skill.
“Oh, that? This time, the spirit number has evolved!”
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Misha gives an answer in a natural way, just as she told me in advance.
“Hot, is that real? Is this enough to be promoted to level 6?”
“Miss, Missha! Congratulations!”
Everyone knew that Misha signed a contract with a cold-type spirit beast, so no one doubted it.
No, it’s only natural that you wouldn’t have thought that we were going to lie in the first place.
‘Every time I do this, my conscience is stabbed.’
what to do though
have to accept
The fate of a person living as a demon.
“Rotmiller, I think the water is filling up… Are you okay?”
“Don’t worry, the safe zone is right next door.”
The 10th day came to an end, and the water slowly started to fill up, but thanks to Rotmiller, who memorized all the surrounding terrain, I filled the time and went hunting until the end and went to camp.
“uh… … .”
“Is this right? What happened now?”
“Yeah, it seems like that.”
As soon as we resumed our exploration, we hunted the shaman we encountered and we were stunned.
A corpse that did not disappear even though an arrow was pierced through the neck and collapsed.
“Yeah, I guess we’re in luck on our journey because Missha is here!”
“Fufu, this friend’s bean pods. In my opinion, this is not because of Misha, but because of that friend of Bjorn. Does that friend get lucky?”
Dwalkie and the dwarf are the main culprits anyway.
In just two days, the shaman’s corpse was obtained.
Well, it’s a bit too much to say that you’ve still got it?
“Um, but how about this?”
“Gee, wait. I will use magic for now.”
First of all, Dwalky used the ‘preservation’ magic to prevent the corpse from decomposing.
But that was the end.
It would be impossible to put the whole body in the bag.
“Misha, you use a sword, so you’re good at something like this, right?”
“Hey, what are you talking about, you dwarf! Me, I’ve never done anything like this before! Rather, you should? You said you also ordered a stone golem?”
“That, that… The Stone Golem was just a matter of taking out its inner core… … .”
Even if all other by-products are thrown away and only the eyeballs are dug, dismantling work is required.
And I had no experience with any of these things.
Except for the all-rounder Rotmiller.
“Stand out. I will do it.”
Rottmiller sighed, and skillfully dismantled the shaman’s corpse with a sculpting knife.
Have you ever done this often when you were on the ‘collection team’?
“As expected, Rotmiller, you are the best!”
“Oh, the same day… … Ugh, I’ll be looking elsewhere for a while… … .”
30 minutes?
Under Rotmiller’s skillful touch, the shaman’s body was shredded into muscles, veins, and internal organs and placed in a box.
“Then what are we doing now?”
The third-floor pilgrim’s path will be closed after the 15th day is over. In other words, there are still three days left.
I spoke as if waiting.
“The request is over, how about going to the 4th floor?”
“Um, sure… It’s a pity that the whole team got together for a long time, but it was only on the 3rd floor… … .”
“Rotmiller, what do you think? Do you think you will be able to get to the 4th floor anytime soon?”
Rotmiller closed her eyes as if she needed time.
After all, it would take a lot of thought to get to the portal in the heart of the Witch’s Forest through various regions in three days.
“It’s tight, but how do you think it’s possible?”
It was a little strange.
Originally, I was planning to break the crack and catch monsters and then return to the city.
‘After all, it’s never been as planned.’
Somehow, I made it to the 4th floor.
***
The three-day itinerary that followed was tougher than I expected.
First of all, the amount of time I slept decreased drastically, and I only invested the rest of my time in moving.
Even the movement was set at a warning level… … .
As the days went by, the faces of the co-workers grew thick with fatigue.
However, the goal was achievable.
“The character has entered the special area.”
“Field Effect – The Witch’s Forest is granted.”
I’ve already passed the witch’s forest three times.
When I first came here, Misha and I were alone in distress and went through all kinds of hardships… … .
There was nothing to be afraid of as long as Rotmiller was there.
“Everyone, please follow me.”
As much as it happened last time, they connect each other’s bodies with ropes and run through the Witch’s Forest quickly.
And how long has it been?
[20:31]
A little over three hours left until the third floor closes.
“You’ve worked hard, Rottmiller.”
We stood in front of a huge tower located in the heart of the Witch’s Forest. A colorful portal in front of a huge door that looks like the entrance to the tower.
“Now, come in!”
It was a moment to wait for the color to change in preparation for an accident and then enter at the same time.
“Ah, uncle?!”
A faintly familiar voice could be heard from afar.
Erwin best girl