368 - Broadcasting Genius Han Se-Ah 3
TL/Editor: raei
Schedule: 5/week
Illustrations: Posted in discord
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Ellis headed to the top floor with the grand ambition of leeching a salary, only to find the Adventurers' Guild deserted. The city was suffering from the Knights' actions. A junior clerk frantically organized paperwork, his face tense with worry.
In contrast, the low and mid-rank adventurers bustling about since morning seed perfectly at ease. Any commotion would likely be just squabbles over temporary party distributions, completely unrelated to the clerk's anxiety.
This had to an bad news had co down from above.
"I'd like to hear about the 51st floor."
"Huh? Why would you- Oh! It's Sir Roland!" The clerk's gloomy expression brightened noticeably as she looked up at .
Her change in deanor was quite adorable, prompting comnts to pop up in the chat. It seed the saying about Adventurers' Guild receptionists being hired for their looks rang true. The petite, brown-haired clerk, reminding of a squirrel, handed over the docunts without hesitation.
The number 51 imdiately caught my eye. Below it were ominous words: damage report, missing persons, casualties.
"Hmm... I wonder what made them think they could handle that floor."
"What happened?"
"Looks like so mid-rank adventurers who went up as workers got greedy and entered the 51st floor. They must've thought they could escape if needed after hearing it was a plains."
The knowledge that the 51st floor was a vast plains identical to the 1st floor had beco a dangerous lure. The docunts detailed how these adventurers had carelessly entered the area.
About six parties, totaling forty people - reckless mid-rank fools who'd increased their numbers beyond the average party size - had let their guard down at the sight of the plains. Only two survivors remained. The rest were either missing or dead. And the monsters that had annihilated them? Goblins.
...Goblins?
"Goblins? Forty mid-rank adventurers were defeated by goblins?" I couldn't believe it.
"It says there were so orcs mixed in too," Grace pointed out. "Maybe the survivors' testimony was distorted by panic?"
Grace and Katie had sohow materialized on either side of to peer at the docunts. Irene, standing a step back, made a small sign of the cross, praying for the souls of the dead adventurers.
Han Se-ah, though not approaching directly, placed her cara over the docunts and began slowly reading through them, engaging in conversation with her viewers.
These were mid-rank adventurers, trained to a level that normal civilians couldn't hope to beat even if reborn - like professional martial artists or kendo instructors. And they were killed by goblins, who are about as threatening as elentary schoolers with kitchen knives?
This was closer to news of a UFC champion being ambushed and killed by five neighborhood punks wielding rocks. I couldn't help but doubt my eyes.
"What kind of goblins... What? A legion?"
The chat exploded with comnts.
-Looks like they're coming in hard to celebrate the start of Season 2.
-Right? It's about ti for sothing like a Demon King's army to show up. How long are they gonna keep using regular monsters?
-Goblins lol. Teacher Roland's sky-high throw is still circulating in shorts.
-Goblin legion with orcs and centaurs, what's next lmao.
-The goblin shot put has conquered my algorithm.
However, my doubts were quickly resolved as I read the lower part of the docunt.
While the basic setup of plainss and goblins was the sa for both the 1st and 51st floors, the levels were naturally different.
An army of goblins ard with long spears and shields, orc javelineers commanding them, and centaur cavalry used as scouts. At this point, calling them a monster legion would be more accurate than just goblins.
"Javelineers in a fantasy world?" I wondered aloud.
Han Se-ah's eyes were sparkling ominously. "Orc javelineers? Aren't javelineers like bomb-throwing tanks? I rember combining javelineers with musketeers in that modern warfare ga we played before."
Orc javelineers. Terrifying monsters who advanced while hurling alchemical bombs tied to wooden sticks, leveraging their superior physical abilities. They had apparently broken through the adventurer parties' defenses by indiscriminately throwing everything from concussion grenades to flashbangs, tear gas, and Molotov cocktails.
"It's hard to understand just from the docunts," Han Se-ah said. "Why don't we scout around the 51st floor gate using my magic as a test?"
Her gaze was fixed on the part that said 'throwing various explosives'. The strear, suspiciously passionate about bombs, had encountered monsters specializing in using them.
Sure enough, her eyes began to sparkle as she insisted on going to the 51st floor imdiately.
The rest of the group had no particular reason to object and nodded in agreent.
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Raei Translations
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Perhaps BB Gas retained a shred of conscience, as the gate to the 50th floor had already been completed during the Season 2 tutorial period.
Speaking with an employee, I learned that floors 41 to 45 were the Harpy Kingdom's territory, while floors 46 to 50 belonged to the Harpy Empire. They had agreed not to encroach on each other's territories. The harpies weren't bent on killing their own kind, and with the vast skies and food issues resolved through trade with humans, they seed to have reached a peaceful agreent.
The imperial harpies still harbored deep-rooted hatred for wingless humans, but the one who had ascended to the throne as the empire's empress was that crazy princess we'd seen before, Podarge.
"The imperial harpies are more docile than I expected."
"Well, humans killed the monster from the depths, so what can they do?"
"I heard from the guild that the harpy princess we saw before purged all the discontented harpies."
Apparently, she had broken the wings of any harpy who expressed dissatisfaction upon her ascension to empress and thrown them into the pit of the depths. It seed unlikely that the Harpy Empire would antagonize humanity.
Thanks to this, we passed through the 50th floor without any disturbance and arrived at the 51st floor.
A verdant plains swaying in the breeze, warm sunlight, and fluffy white clouds occasionally providing shade welcod us. It really did seem no different from the 1st floor.
"Wow... This scenery brings back mories."
"Of fighting with the temporary party leader?"
"Ah, not that! I can barely rember why we fought back then now."
After nudging the nostalgic Grace, I set a direction and we moved forward. In a vast field without any information, the first step ultimately relied on luck and intuition.
The wind was cool and the sunlight warm. It was a landscape too beautiful to imagine as the site where dozens of people had been massacred just days ago. Still, despite their relaxed expressions, I could see my companions hadn't let their guard down, likely due to their experience as the hero's party.
With our formation back to normal now that we were no longer on narrow mountain paths, Grace took point at the front. Han Se-ah and Irene followed behind, while Katie brought up the rear. As we set out across the plains in this formation, we got a bite almost imdiately.
"Soone's running towards us," Grace warned. "Looks like the centaurs we saw in the docunts."
"Did they spot us before you sensed them?" I asked.
"We noticed each other around the sa ti, I think."
In the distance, in the direction Grace pointed, we could see clouds of dust rising.
To think their scouting abilities rivaled those of a 5★ detection-specialized character. No wonder the mid-rank adventurers had died without a peep. Actually, it was impressive that even one had made it back alive.
If up to the 50th floor was a space where mid-rank adventurers could risk their lives to earn money, then from the 51st floor on, it seed to be a level where mid-rank adventurers risked their lives and simply died. Still, they might be fine coming as support for high-rankers.
"Kiyaaaaaaah!"
"Yaaaaaaah!"
"Humans! It's humans!"
I lowered my stance slightly while gripping my shield. Then I heard Han Se-ah's voice from behind.
"I'm going to test out so advanced magic, so hold your position, Roland."
"Got it," I replied.
If I rembered correctly from what I'd seen on her stream, she had learned Call Lightning as a single-target nuke, followed by Summon Ice Storm as an AoE CC skill.
Mana condensed in her staff, swirling about, and my body responded with a shiver. Whether she was trying to expand the range or apply so variation, her mana moved much more than usual. Even the chat speed slowed down, as if preparing to explode with excitent.
The centaurs, trampling the plains grass as they charged, seed oblivious to Han Se-ah's mana. With the lower body of a horse and the upper body of a human, they'd decorated their torsos with dye-painted tattoos like barbarian warriors.
"Break through! Break through!"
"Kill the human mage!"
They must have instinctively grasped cavalry strategy. After all, cavalry that loses its speed is no different from archers without arrows.
However, thanks to Grace's quick detection, Han Se-ah's magic was completed even faster.
"Summon, Ice Storm!"
A small whirlwind blood. A tiny gust that started right beneath the centaurs' hooves suddenly erupted like an oil-soaked fla.
The blue vortex, barely reaching the height of a person's shin, gaped wide like a sinkhole opening up, swallowing all the charging centaurs. Hundreds of mana-infused snowflakes spun fiercely along the vortex, pumling the enemies' bodies.
"M-must... run..." one of the centaurs gasped.
The centaurs, their bodies frozen a deep blue and lips turned black, staggered out of the storm and collapsed onto the plains with heavy thuds.
"Ah, mana overload..."
And Han Se-ah, who had been under Katie's protection, also collapsed with a thud.
Was she really trying to hustle so money?
...Please tell that was the case.
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