(94)
＜ 16. Prisoner and Hero (1) ＞ It
was an unusually long passage. The next floor that doesn’t appear no matter how much you walk. I got out of the arena, summoned Marco and told him everything about what had happened, but I still couldn’t get out of the passage .
As always, Marco’s brief admiration for Andrea’s flair and knowledge. After that, not much else was said between the party .
But Andrea suddenly realized that Tricia was constantly glancing at her .
“… What’s wrong, Trisha ?”
Trisha seemed hesitant to say something. However, when Andrea urged him again, he barely opened his mouth .
“ Andrea, why were you so nice to him ?”
“… who? Oh, that Crusader ?”
Tricia nodded reflexively. Then, realizing that he had said something that was perfect for misunderstanding, as if he was jealous, he hurriedly added a few words .
“ I-I mean… we all saw you stab someone in the back a lot, right? Oh sure, that’s not a bad thing. Because all of them were cheap even if they cheated. But I don’t think I’ve ever seen you show someone such a favor …”
After hearing it, Marco and Emilia, who were like that, looked at Andrea clearly as if they were curious about the reason .
Andrea is in trouble. It’s a playable character, so I couldn’t honestly say it was like that. Andrea eventually took it easy, as she always did .
“ Um… what should I say? After accepting the revelation of the Shadow God, sometimes I have a hunch. Hopefully this person will help me in the future somehow. When I see people like that, I try to make a good impression .”
“…”
“ When I met Priest Emilia, that’s why I asked for help and helped again. I felt the same way when I met that crusader. I feel like if I do a favor now, this person will be useful to us someday .”
Trisha nodded slowly. He seemed somewhat relieved after hearing the explanation, perhaps because he knew that he hadn’t done it out of personal affection .
“ What, was it like that…. If it’s something like that, it doesn’t matter .”
“… what doesn’t matter ?”
Tricia panicked after spitting out her inner thoughts without even knowing it. She evaded her words .
“… Eight, f*ck. there is, something like that Don’t ask .”
Andrea was confused as well. I was concerned about what would happen if something like this flowed. When I turned around, sure enough, Marco was smiling from the back .
‘ That man, if I leave him alone, he’ll try to tie me up with Trisha again .’
Andrea naturally decided to change the topic .
“ Come to think of it, on the next floor, you can finally strengthen the card that summons Marco in three stages .”
The event on the next floor is ‘Forge of Destiny’. It was an event that could enhance a card in three stages. Even though he had already heard this, Marco was taken aback .
Marco opens his mouth with an unwilling expression .
“ Hey, Andrea. Is it necessary to strengthen me? It seems to be strong enough even if I strengthen the other cards …”
“ What are you talking about? Of course, strengthening Marco comes first. There is no card more helpful than calling Marco .”
Hearing that, Marco was restless and scratched the back of his neck .
“ Um, no, that’s a little embarrassing, but I’m afraid I don’t know what’s going to change. I wonder what would happen if I lose my temper and attack you like last time after I’ve been strengthened …”
Apparently, when he met Kraken, almost killing Andrea left Marco with quite a bit of trauma. Andrea gave a bitter smile .
“ Don’t worry, Marco. What happened last time was just extremely unusual. Don’t worry, I’ll take care to make sure that doesn’t happen again .”
“…”
“ Mr. Marco put me in danger only once, but there are countless times that Mr. Marco saved me from danger, right ?”
“… I put you in danger twice, if you count the time you escaped from the galley .”
“ It is, but let’s make an exception for that. Because it didn’t happen inside the dungeon. Anyway, you can’t avoid strengthening to keep advancing through the dungeon. There are very limited ways Marco can become stronger .”
Andrea’s tough attitude. Hearing it, he wasn’t wrong, and if he went that far, Marco had nothing to say. Marco nodded as if he couldn’t help it .
After how long did they walk, the door to the 64th floor finally appeared. It was a stone gate that seemed to have been carved entirely out of stone, and despite the thickness of the thick gate, a strong smell of iron and heat emanated from the inside .
As Andrea took a step closer to the stone gate, a narration was heard in the air .
‘ Forge of Fate. The oldest smithy in the dungeon, where the flames have not gone out and the sound of hammering has not stopped for hundreds of years. Challenger, as long as you don’t go against the blacksmith’s wishes, you will be able to sharpen your weapons even stronger here .’
Just listening to the narration’s explanation, it’s a place where you can make iron and strengthen the weapon you mount. When Andrea first entered this place, she remembered thinking that it would make her weapon stronger .
However, in ‘Dungeon of Infinity’, there was no system to strengthen weapons. Only cards can be strengthened. Maybe it’s because the essence of a deck building game is blurred if you can strengthen your weapons .
‘ But now that the game has become a reality, isn’t it possible to strengthen the weapon ?’
He thought about it, but Andrea shook her head, determined that it wouldn’t be. If such a system had been introduced, there would have been at least one enhanced weapon in the shop, but Andrea had never seen anything like that .
Still, there was no doubt that it was a room that gave a very unconventional benefit in that it did the 3rd level card enhancement without paying anything. There was one thing that bothered me, though .
Andrea called the party before entering .
“ Everyone, let me tell you what to be careful about in this forge .”
Do not touch the blacksmith’s equipment carelessly, do not interfere with the blacksmith’s work, and do not accidentally mention the word ‘giant’ in front of the blacksmith .
The party, who had been listening, tilted their heads as they reached the last part .
“… The blacksmith here is quite an eccentric. But don’t worry too much, as long as you keep what you’re going to protect, it won’t harm you .”
After a firm request, Andrea finally opened the stone door. The heat that came out of the stone gate hit my face in an instant .
A gloomy, dark space. Even though it was quite wide, it somehow felt a bit cramped. It was because of the tools scattered everywhere in an orderly manner. Most of them were hard to guess for Andrea and the others. The only thing I could recognize was a hammer and iron tongs.
In the brazier, red tongues were licking the flames, and the blacksmith standing in front of the anvil was pounding something with a hammer while sweating. And after seeing the blacksmith, the party realized why Andrea had told them not to use the word ‘giant’ .
Andrea and Marco weren’t short either, but they were twice as tall as him. He had a solid build, but he couldn’t cover his pale face even with his beard, giving him a nervous look. It looked like a person with a fairly large liver would avoid it .
The blacksmith didn’t even care about Andrea’s party. The expression of a blacksmith who has become one with the hammer and has reached the state of samādhi (三昧) .
Andrea waited calmly without saying anything. It wasn’t once or twice that I got in the way of that and got frustrated. The party also did not forget Andrea’s request and waited quietly without saying anything .
Did it last like ten minutes? Finally, the blacksmith who put down the hammer straightened his waist and opened his mouth .
“ To wait without saying a word, you must be pretty patient for a challenge .”
“ He’s making something that will go down in history, and you can’t get in the way .”
“ How do you know if the things I made will go down in history or not ?”
“ Well, if you stand like this and wait, you will understand. I’ve waited, but I can’t help it .”
The blacksmith chuckled. Thanks to the good first impression, I was able to bring up the matter of strengthening the card right away without talking in circles .
“ Yes, which card should I strengthen ?”
“ This is it .”
Without hesitation, I handed over the Marco summons. Because Marco had been summoned, the illustration was an empty wilderness. Of course, with his long experience, the blacksmith immediately noticed that it was a card that summoned the man in front of him, but .
However, the face of the blacksmith who was looking at the card gradually hardened. The blacksmith, who had been flipping through the cards and examining them, opened his mouth with difficulty .
“ It’s troublesome. This card cannot be enhanced .”
“ Why ?”
“ This… is not a proper card. Arpan, the things that bastard hastily made are always like this. This card does not have the form of 3rd level enhancement implemented. To put it bluntly, it would be more accurate to say that it is simply empty .”
It was an unexpected problem. It’s a fact I forgot, but ‘Marco Summon’ wasn’t a normal card in the first place. Andrea’s face hardened like a blacksmith’s .
“… That means, even if I strengthen it, it’s no different from now ?”
“ Worse. If you strengthen it now, the summons will disappear forever. There’s no way to lower the level of enhancement, so you won’t be able to get it back .”
Andrea realized what that meant .
When ‘Dungeon of Infinity’ was still in the midst of patching, some of the newly released cards had not been implemented with the 3rd level enhancement. Even after using those cards after level 3 enhancement, only mana was consumed and no effect occurred. It probably means ‘Summoning Marco’ will be like that too .
Meanwhile, Marco, who had been listening to the conversation from behind, turned pale .
Marco has never worried about death since he became a body that can survive even if he dies. The fact that they could meet extinction in a way outside of combat was shocking .
Andrea struggled to calm Marco down, saying that he would never step up. It was only after Tricia and Emilia came together to help out that Marco finally calmed down .
After a bout of fuss, the futility came belatedly. I was expecting how strong it would be if I upgraded to level 3, but it wasn’t there at all… It felt like I was expecting a gift that wasn’t there in the first place .
However, it was unavoidable that this was the case. Andrea quickly made up her mind and decided to strengthen the other cards as well .
‘ I wonder if the shadow imprint is good. …Indomitable will and hiding in the shadows aren’t bad either .’
But while I was thinking about it, I suddenly felt someone put a hand on my shoulder. Only one person here could put his hand on his shoulder at such an almost vertical angle. Andrea raised her head and looked up at the blacksmith’s face .
The blacksmith paused for a while before finally opening his mouth. The proposal he brought out was something that even Andrea could not have guessed at all .
” But… if you absolutely have to strengthen that card, it’s not like there’s no way .”
＜ 16. Prisoner and Hero (1) ＞ End