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[Translator Jjescus]
[Proofreader Zain]
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Two cold bodies rolled on the icy ground.
At the forefront, the commander of the expedition force, Casper, raised his right hand without uttering a word. The mbers of the Expedition force, waiting for the command, stepped back, forming a defensive formation.
Casper clenched his jaw. The severed neck on the ground, sharp and smooth as if cut by a keen blade, belonged to an unard individual. No weapon in sight. The movent was too fast to follow with the eyes, but judging from the dynamic, it was clear that the assailant had struck down the victim with bare hands.
The Langger Blue Hawk Expedition Force, considered the elite even within the Empire. Among them, Casper was known for his unparalleled destructive power. Despite receiving a blow from the most powerful force, the victim remained unhard, as if mocking death itself by just lowering his hand to sever the neck. The fact that the assailant anticipated the use of magic by the knight indicated a profound understanding of impending doom.
Monster Who are you?
Because you guys are my enemies.
The corners of the monsters mouth lifted, likely a smile intended to disrupt the opponents composure. Despite Casper noticing, he couldnt shake off the confusion. Was that smile genuine or just an act? Based on past experiences, it was impossible to discern. If not human, then what could the true identity of this creature be? Vague thoughts suggested only a dragon.
A dragon?
Huh? Have you seen one before?
An answer laden with annoyance. At the piercing remark, Casper was montarily silenced. Indeed, it couldnt be a dragon. The colossal monster he encountered in the forbidden land expedition led by the forr hero Vern didnt behave in such a manner. A perfect being, always arrogant and haughty, exuded authority with every gesture and word. At least the monster before him didnt seem authoritative.
Moreover, that supposedly formidable lizard wasnt that strong.
Even the previously proven phrase pierces through dragon scales had no effect.
No, the important thing is not that.
With a nonchalant attitude, Casper turned away from the approaching monster. Most of the remaining Expedition force mbers were struggling to grasp the situation.
Commander, give the order
The deaths of two have dampened the morale of twenty.
The problem wasnt the deaths themselves but the lack of any achievent from those deaths.
As confident as they were in their skills, the confusion had spread. Expedition force mbers with dazed eyes, unable to easily accept the situation, looked solely at Casper. Everyone awaited orders, placing their lives under Caspers command since they couldnt make judgnts themselves.
In such a situation, what command should be given? What order could lift the morale that had fallen to the ground?
No, now is not the ti to issue orders.
From now on, I will take the forefront.
Casper, with a drawn sword, intoned in a low voice.
There was no need for complex thoughts. This fight wasnt about subduing an unknown monster and restoring peace to Liage. This was a dungeon.
That monster was a dungeon monster. Nothing more.
This is a dungeon expedition.
So, the only thing to consider is winning.
The eyes tainted with fear swiftly transford resolutely. In a brief motion, Casper, with the Zweihnder in hand, released a surge of cold air. Without adding further words, Casper glanced over his comrades behind him. All eyes were on him. Glances were exchanged.
Lets go.
There was no thunderous charge order to break the enemys montum. Casper simply struck the ground before anyone else. His troll leather boots imbued with wind-type magic. The protective light that erged behind him unfolded two pairs of wings. The mbers of the Expedition force followed suit.
You guys, Patrick would probably love this. Hes into this kind of stuff, you know? Fighting with the single-minded determination to win, regardless of the odds. But you know.
Devourer observed the approaching group and casually loosened his neck.
If you die, theres nothing left, whether its conviction or nonsense.
Casper, the first to approach, swung his sword. The colorless blade aid for Devourer. Devourer deflected the attack with his body, then swiftly retaliated with a swing of his right hand. Casper narrowly avoided the strike. In the montary lapse of Devourers stance, another knights attack ca in.
With a thud, it only pierced through flesh.
Three.
The monster, gripping the knights head, slamd it against the ground, creating a loud bang. Fragnts scattered as a shield-bearing knight deflected them. Devourer tore through the shield effortlessly, grabbing the arm of the shield-bearing knight.
Four, five.
Devourer, still holding the arm, brought it down on another knight. The clash of tal on tal echoed loudly, and the blood of two splattered in all directions.
Imdiately after, Devourers vision shook slightly as he received a blow to the back of his head.
Kill in an instant
Six.
A black thorn erged from behind Devourer, piercing the abdon of an Expedition force mber. Suspended in the air with the thorn impaled, the mber spurted blood with a gasp.
Then, a hidden explosive magic in the corpse struck Devourer.
A thunderous explosion engulfed Devourer. Smoke filled the air. Taking advantage of the chaos, two spears thrust in. With a thud, only the sound of one spear piercing was heard. When the dust settled, the lifeless bodies of the two lay exposed.
Blood adorned the ground abundantly. Corpses piled up slowly. The onslaught that had raged like a storm began to lose its montum. Uncertainty crept into the eyes of the survivors. Once again, the powerful swordplay of the Expedition force mbers aid diagonally at Devourer.
But it was futile. Devourer casually swung his arm, causing the abdon of an Expedition force mber to burst with a simple gesture. The mber fell to the ground, groaning.
Kuh, ugh
With a crunch, Devourer stepped on and crushed the head as a finishing touch. Expressionless, he muttered to himself, No thrill at all, after dismantling the skull.
Ah, how many were there?
As Devourer finished speaking, a shadow cast over his head.
In a leap that defied gravity, Casper thrust his sword downward directly above Devourer.
At least, thats what he thought.
?!
His vision trembled.
Crack!
The airborne body hit the ground multiple tis, rebounding like a spinning top. Only after flying for several dozen ters and finally coming to a halt did Casper snap back to reality. His body creaked. Every part of him felt sore, and he could tell from the blood-soaked state that his entire fra had been torn apart. If it werent for his well-trained physique, it would have been impossible to discern any recognizable form.
What just happened
This ti, he didnt see it again.
Groans escaped Caspers lips as he struggled to rise. Gazing towards Devourer in the distance, he noticed Devourer looking back at him, an expression that seed to say, You managed to survive. Even amidst Caspers descent, so knights found themselves impaled by the enigmatic black thorns.
Ha, hahaha. Dont play around!
Despite being the acknowledged elite Expedition force of the empire, relentlessly pressing forward without a monts pause, they were reduced to barely a handful. It hadnt taken even a minute for this situation to unfold.
At this rate, its completely
Just then, Devourer, in the distance, chuckled. His laughter conveyed a ssage to Casper.
Pathetic, is what it said.
No, we are the elite Expedition force of the empire. Everyone gave their all, and now there are barely five of us left.
Elite.
So?
It didnt take a minute for the situation to reach this point.
Thats why its a complete
Devourer, in the distance, chuckled again. That laughter was saying to Casper,
Utter defeat.
Utter defeat.
Devourers smile whispered once again.
Aaaarghhhh!
The rationality that upheld sanity gradually dwindled, turning into a dot before disappearing entirely. Casper scread in an incomprehensible roar as he charged towards Devourer. Both hands tightly gripping his sword, putting every ounce of strength into it.
I must cut. I must cut. I must cut.
Bend.
It must be severed, even a little breath must be left for that mysterious monsteronly then it wouldnt be utter defeat. He leaped. He leaped with all his might. Show the mightiest technique.
Provide the ultimate strike that even the Royal Guards of the Crimson Spear of Roa couldnt imitate. Its not an utter defeat. Its not utter defeat
Ha.
Devourer sighed.
Casper, who was sprinting towards Devourer, ca to a halt. More precisely, he was thwarted. Caspers desperate efforts ended right there.
With a single finger, Devourer blocked Caspers sword, then reached out and seized it.
The blade shattered into hundreds of pieces like falling autumn leaves.
Hu, huk!
Devourer, who destroyed the sword, held Caspers head frozen in place with his right hand.
Ever so slowly, Devourer lifted Caspers face in that position.
If you just gave up a bit of resistance, it could have quietly faded away. Gasped Devourer.
Devourers voice was several steps lower than the lowest pitch a human could produce. If death had a voice, it would undoubtedly sound like this.
You know, . In reality.
There was no ntal space for pondering the aning. Caspers face turned deathly pale. He seed to age rapidly, as if drained of vitality. All he could do was leave behind one final command.
Vengeance
With a squelch, the sound of bursting accompanied chunks of flesh raining down.
* * *
Reinforcents.
I cant win.
The wizard sprinted.
I cant win. Cant win How can you fight and win against sothing like that?!
Suppressing the collapse occurring in his mind, the wizard sprinted. It was the mont when the undefeated Casper collapsed relentlessly.
[Vengeance]
This word echoed rhythmically in his mind. Survivors of the Langger Blue Hawk Expedition Force fled in all directions. Their actions were not guided by normal thought processes. It was pure instinct, moving the body a beat ahead of reason.
Vengeance, vengeance, I need vengeance
As if cursed, the wizard murmured the sa words while running. He ran until his breath was caught under his chin. Every ti the cry of Casper, etched into his mind, echoed, his stomach churned.
In the curiosity within terror, glancing back slightly, the monster was still there in that spot. The monster didnt pursue. However, no matter how much he ran, the distance didnt seem to be increasing.
Repeating the cycle of running and running, the wizard eventually collapsed to the ground.
A sensation of leather t his hand.
He raised his head. What touched his hand, outstretched as he fell, was soones leg. He raised his head further.
Now leave it to us.
Ah
Over a hundred individuals clad in Imperial Defense Force attire were present. There were reinforcents from the nearby magic tower Red Gate, and elite Expedition forces from various locations had joined as well. The wizards eyes widened.
Reinforcents. It was the reinforcents they had been eagerly awaiting.
Help, please help Help! Please, please help!
The wizard grabbed at their pant legs, stumbling and pleading. The words struggled to co out, hindered by the overpowering fear.
As the wizard was being cald down, the reinforcents gathered from various Survey Rose locations marched towards the monster. Each one carried the sa pride as the Langger Blue Hawk Expedition Force. Each individual was an elite in their own right.
Reveal your identity.
Do you have sothing more interesting to say?
At the front, a human inquired, and a grumbling response could be heard. The monster, as if tired of it all, squinted its eyes. Its pupils were black.
And the monster said, Ah, there are too many of you to deal with one by one.
Uttering a word as if annoyed, it raised its right hand.
The wizard witnessed it.
The monster was casting a spell. The magic circle forming the basis of the spell was truly for a simple spell. Even though it was ant for basic magic, the monsters casting was amateurish. The lines were crooked and uneven, indicating clumsiness and immaturity. Moreover, the ti it took for the magic to activate was so slow that it seed impractical in actual combat.
The wizard knew what kind of magic it was.
It was a low-tier magic called Breath of Fla Fairy.
Certainly, it was a rarely used, inefficient low-tier magic. Furthermore, the wizard knew sothing else. That magic shouldnt possess such a massive amount of mana.
However, it was too late to convey this fact to everyone.
Flas erupted from Devourers right hand, directed towards the wizards location, the gathering point for reinforcents.
It was a place where reinforcents were clustered.
The field of view was dyed white.
Phase 6.
Oh, finally youre here. Or not? Is it faster than I thought? Well, whatever. If Ive been waiting for a long ti, isnt it late to arrive now? Ah, I never thought Id end up talking to myself like this.
The Primordial core, the only one present, was as quiet as a cave where human presence had been absent for centuries. It wasnt an exaggeration; the only sound was the dripping of water from stalactites.
After a mont of quiet, I thought about closing my eyes for a while. Still, as expected, I couldnt fall asleep even if I lay down.
[Do skeletons sleeping make sense? Ill take care of your share too, so you guard the dungeon until my share.]
Only Devourers voice, which used to mock on an imaginary day, echoed heavily in my head.
Waiting silently, lying prostrate, for humans had beco so frustrating that it felt like I might die.
At first, without thinking, I counted sheep, then the number of stalactites hanging from the ceiling, then asured the speed of droplets falling from the stalactites to decimal places, but even that got boring, so I rolled on the floor.
After thinking about what to do, I went to et 116 Black Tentacle. However, as if the core was forcibly woken up by soone, just as soone forcibly wakes up anyone, the undulating thing hurt so much that I ran away sneakily. Frustrated to the extre, I went to et the Antropophagus Main body in Room 5, but this unintelligent plant, without thinking about chattering, imdiately opened its mouth, so I kicked it away and returned.
It didnt fly far because it was heavy for a plant.
By the way, what is the boss doing I gave him Deura, so hes not fooling around in a strange place, right? No way. No matter how stupid the boss is, he wouldnt be that reckless. Yeah, boss is mature, acting like that would be stupid
As Patrick self-criticized, thoughts of his past actions flashed through his mind like a lantern in the dark.
Calling it a waste of ti, he still had the energy to engage in other activities. No way, no way. It wont happen. But why does the more he thinks about it, the more uneasy he feels?
Hopefully, our boss wont do anything strange in strange places.
After gathering his awkward hands in prayer towards the entrance, Patrick drew the sword stuck in the ground. It was brilliantly shining, a sword that looked completely different from when Tanabella first held it, demonstrating how well it was polished.
It emitted a silver radiance befitting a silver blade. The red decorations around the blade smoothly reflected the dim light in the dark cave.
The sound of approaching footsteps grew closer. There were around 30 people, at least. He thought there would be more, at least over 50, but it was fewer than expected. How much did they underestimate?
Well, I guess I should go see for myself.
Ending his self-talk as if questioning himself, Patrick walked towards the entrance.
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[Translator Jjescus]
[Proofreader Zain]
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