395 - Hero Party 5
TL/Editor: raei
Status: 5/Week Mon-fri
Illustrations: Posted in discord.
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The exploration was smooth sailing—too smooth.
The kingdom and empire's rcenaries, their eyes glazed over from the shower of gold coins from terrified nobles, had already paved the way.
Sure, monsters spawned randomly, but their cycles weren't that short. Getting threatened by additional spawns once or twice during a fight was one thing, but who'd enjoy the ga if it happened five or six tis a day? If they spawned that frequently, we'd be moving in groups of 10 or 20 instead of 5-person parties.
"Why can't we even see a single goblin?" Katie grumbled.
"It's alright, Katie," Irene soothed. "Maybe a terrifying ogre is waiting for us at the end of this peaceful road. The Goddess always has a plan."
The path to the 51st floor from the Harpy Territories was peaceful because the Harpy Guards patrolled and abducted any spawned one-horned goats and shadow leopards as potential livestock.
And the prairie zone starting from the 51st floor was, of course, neatly cleared by our fellow adventurers as we moved from verified safe zone to safe zone towards the gate. Even goblins, when you wiped out a group, could earn you gold coins. Who'd ignore that?
It was us who were peculiar, ignoring monster groups to complete quests or advance to the next floor. Average adventurers prioritized dealing with the walking coin purses in front of them over the next floor's gate.
The result of that ruthlessly engulfed our party.
"But we're already on the 53rd floor, and still not even once..." Katie's voice trailed off. "No, we're about to reach the 54th floor, so surely now."
"Yes, that's right," Irene reassured her. "Don't be too impatient. The day will co when you'll finally draw your sword and shine."
Katie's lips jutted out as she grumbled, and Irene patted her shoulder, soothing her gently. Grace and Han Se-ah seed to be holding back laughter, their jaw muscles visibly tense, while our temporary party of three nodded in understanding of her disappointnt.
Was 'avant-garde' the right word to describe nodding while doing squats?
"So this is the training thod of those Temple Knights, huh?" one of them asked.
"Ssshh― That's right," Manaashi hissed with laughter. "I don't have legs like humans, so I can't do it."
Manaashi started training his arm muscles using a large food sack from Han Se-ah's inventory as a dumbbell. Learning from him, Lukius and McDonagh began squatting using their scabbards like poles behind their shoulders.
What the hell was this sight?
Was there so kind of Confucian dragon or old-fashioned dragon living inside ? No matter how safe this area was, seeing this chaotic scene made my head spin.
"Sohow, with three more people, it feels more lively, like we're on a trip," Han Se-ah observed.
-If fifteen more stars were added, it'd feel like a trip
-Seeing her lips jutting out and cheeks puffed up makes wanna pinch 'em so bad lol
-So this is why my mom used to say "duck butt, duck butt" when I threw tantrums
-And in the midst of all this, turning the safe zone into a gym, what the fuck lol
-Longsword squats and rice sack dumbbells, are they insane or what lol
Despite my confused state of mind, Han Se-ah and the viewers were all smiles. With the pouty kid, the comforting mom, and Manaashi educating the gym newbies, there was plenty to see.
To be honest, it might have seed a bit racially insensitive, but... seeing a muscular black naga doing arm exercises with a grain sack felt more like a circus act than a workout.
The cultishly popular black naga Manaashi certainly wasn't ant to be mocked, but there was a strange charm that made you stare blankly when you watched. A giant naga nearly 3m tall coaching two muscular n on weightlifting, how could you not watch...?
Was this so kind of muscle-gazing trance instead of fire-gazing?
"The Temple Knights' training thod seems really well-structured," Lukius comnted. "In our territory, we didn't know about such systematic thods, so we just used things like logs."
"The Empire's similar," McDonagh added. "I learned the horse stance when I was with my family, but I didn't know about such systematic muscle training thods."
-Is Manaashi doing it right? Since his lower body's a snake, I can't really criticize, fuck lol
-I'm really curious if the guys having a fit are fashion lifters or real lifters
-They should make people verify their three big lifts before chatting, for real lol
-For real lol, gotta shut their mouths with proof (three big lifts 35)
-Are you watching the stream during rehab, dumbass? With three big lifts of 35, you couldn't even lift water, let alone rice
As the viewers' reactions drifted off in that strange direction, even the last day on the 53rd floor passed without incident.
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Raei Translations
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"Goblin horde ahead, but the numbers are quite large," I warned. "As expected, their numbers increase as we climb the floors. There are three with heavy footsteps, but not at the ogre level. ...Could it be three units led by orc javelineers rged into one group?"
"Finally!" Katie exclaid.
As we reached the 54th floor, our saint mom gently patted Katie, whose lips were sticking out like a duck's bill.
While so parties had quickly entered after hearing the news, most were still busy scouring the 53rd floor, so not many had imdiately entered the 54th floor. Well, in a world without smartphones and with no adventurer carrying a magic tool directly connected to the Adventurers' Guild.
Thanks to this, after using the gate from the 53rd to the 54th floor, we were greeted by an empty prairie with nothing in sight. A completely different landscape from floors 51-53, where people sward every safe zone, investigating and turning them into campsites.
So monsters would be roaming in large groups like that.
"So at least three groups have rged, huh," Han Se-ah mused. "They say the tower gets tougher as you climb."
"Ssshh― Still just a ragtag bunch," Manaashi hissed. "It'll just take longer to deal with them."
"Harpies followed by goblins, the order of real combat experience seems a bit off," Irene observed.
Our three temporary companions also readied themselves for battle, thinking of supporting Katie from behind. Apparently, they were quite excited after hearing her boasts for days and seeing the mana-imbued blade under the pretext of sword maintenance.
If goblin infantry units were rging and orc javelineers were teaming up, I guessed the mid-boss on the 55th floor might be so kind of supply base, as the viewers suggested.
I still didn't know why people were being sucked into the tower, but this seed to be a gimmick where you face a massive army using high-ranking adventurers and rcenaries as temporary allies due to the increased influx. It was the most plausible theory created by the viewers' collective intelligence and made sense from a gaming perspective.
"Even if their numbers increase, our response remains the sa," I instructed. "I'll charge in first, so scatter and spread them out. Provide ranged support at your discretion."
"Got it, Roland," Han Se-ah confird.
Realizing that if we delayed any longer, they'd notice us, and Katie might get upset, I pulled my helt down tight.
Narrowing field of vision, pounding heart, the sensation of cool mana coursing through my veins. As I slightly lowered my head and gripped my mace and shield, Katie's soft murmur of a request passed by my ears like the distorted voice of a broken radio.
Then, using the electrifying omnipotence that could tear steel like paper with bare hands as a signal, I kicked off the ground and charged forward.
Kyeeek?
Gyaaak?!
Kwaaang!!!
With each step, I shattered the ground, creating clouds of dust. As I made sounds closer to explosions than footsteps, startled goblins pointed their spears at us like hedgehogs, and an orc with bulging neck veins pulled out sothing long from his waist.
"Ssshh! Enemy commander, I got one!" Manaashi called out.
"Nice hit!" Han Se-ah cheered.
But that feeble struggle ended before it even began. A long spear flew like a teor over our heads, completely crushing the head and chest of one of the three javelineers before embedding itself in the ground. Following that, an arrow pierced through both a palm and a bomb handle.
With and Manaashi pushing in like tanks from the front, and chaos erupting from behind due to the misfire of a bomb drawn but not thrown.
The goblin formation, only knowing how to solidify their ranks and pressure the enemy with shields, crumbled in an instant. As Manaashi said, once the orc javelineers disappeared, they beca nothing but a ragtag bunch.
"Wow, how much is all this worth? As expected of the hero's party!" Lukius exclaid.
"Lukius, let's focus!" McDonagh called out. "...But man, that sword is really cool!"
"I should get so enhancent stones for myself after we deal with these guys!" Lukius added.
First, , charging in with my shield, and Manaashi, who couldn't hold back and threw his spear at the orc javelineer before ramming in alongside , trusting his scales.
If the two lee tanks broke the goblin formation, the role of the other three swordsn was to penetrate from the sides.
Again today, Lukius used his longsword like a short spear, gripping the blade with one hand and stabbing fallen goblins repeatedly, while McDonagh struck stumbling goblins with his shield and gauntlet before finishing them off with his arming sword to the face.
While both showed performances worthy of their 5★ status, it was Katie who stole the spotlight, capturing the attention of our group and the viewers.
"This, is, really, amazing!!!" she shouted.
Perhaps due to her excitent, she let out exclamations with each swing of her sword, unlike her usual self.
Normally, a sky-blue aura would surge, making the surrounding goblins cower, but with the special enhancent stone applied to her weapon, the ice attribute debuff was beyond imagination. It wasn't just chilling the air; along the sword's path, blue mana crystals sparkled, clinging to nearby goblins like frost settling.
The small-bodied goblins were heavily ard with thick armor and shields, but with the icy blue frost of mana crystals settling on top, even those not cut by the sword ended up collapsing to the ground.
They tried to swarm around Katie to block her movents, but... with their feet bound by ice crystals, they looked no different from livestock crawling into a slaughterhouse of their own accord.
'Did the slow effect evolve into a bind? As expected of the ice attribute.'
It was a terrifying power that made realize once again that the ice attribute was unbeatable.
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