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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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“J-Johann, my magic… is disappearing.”
We froze on the staircase, engulfed in complete darkness, our ears perked at Shuri’s words.
Unable to use magic? That was the last thing I wanted to hear.
In a party consisting of one swordsman, two mages, one shovel-wielder, one cat burglar, and one patient, losing the mages’ ability to cast spells was like having a gun malfunction.
I issued a command to the group before any other unforeseen circumstances arose.
“We’re going back up.”
We cautiously climbed back up to the point where the magic started working again and cast Illumination. After securing enough light to see our surroundings, we huddled together and discussed the situation.
“Shuri, how did your magic disappear? Did your mana become unresponsive? Or did you feel it being drained away?”
I asked, drawing upon my instincts as a gamer who had once played this game. Shuri tilted her head, puzzled by my question, then answered,
“It felt like it was being drained away.”
“It could be Mana Drain.”
“Mana Drain…?”
Perinne, the future Archmage who had received early education, seemed to know about Mana Drain, her face filled with bewilderment.
It was understandable.
Of all things, Mana Drain?
It meant there was a monster with the ability to absorb mana down there. Most likely the boss. Even after ten years, I could still remember how much of a pain in the ass that trait was. The ability to absorb the surrounding mana and prevent magic from being cast.
In the game, monsters with Mana Drain were resistant to magic and drained your mana with every attack, so it wasn’t good news for us. I hadn’t expected this kind of cheap shot at the last minute.
It felt like the monster placement was deliberately designed to counter our party composition. This wasn’t going to be an easy clear. In the end, I had no choice but to suggest we go back upstairs.
We couldn’t fight without a solution to Mana Drain.
“We’re going back up.”
Back at the point where the light magic worked, we exchanged troubled glances and sighed.
Out of the frying pan, into the fire, as they said.
This meant that Lewis and I might have to take down the boss on our own. Fight in the pitch-black abyss below without Illumination? I had no intention of committing suicide. We huddled together again and exchanged ideas. I couldn’t come up with any brilliant solutions.
“I can use the lamp I have to provide some light. The problem is Mana Drain… we’ll have to search the area below to find an answer.”
“Mana Drain here? This is too much…”
“Isn’t there a way to counter it? Like a way to dispel it…?”
“There’s a chance, but we don’t have time.”
“What? Why are you back up here?”
Hearing our voices, Sif approached us. She tilted her head after listening to our explanation, then suddenly came up with a solution.
“Why don’t we lure it up here? Adventurers often use bait to trap monsters.”
…Oh.
“Sif, that’s a brilliant idea. There’s no need for us to fight on their turf. I’ll add three more gold coins to your bonus.”
“Really?”
“Have you ever heard me go back on my word?”
This wasn’t a game. Even if the dungeon operated like one, we had to break free from our preconceived notions. I looked at Sif with newfound respect.
I thought she was all about stealing… but I was wrong.
Anyway, Sif’s suggestion was excellent.
If we could fight on our own terms…
I gripped the handle of the shovel strapped to my back and extended it. If we could lure it up here, there was a way to cheese the boss fight.
“Gather around. I’ll explain the plan.”
The final briefing began.
“Will this be okay?”
“I don’t know.”
“Huh?”
“Don’t worry about useless things and focus on the plan.”
“Okay…”
I understood why she was worried about Lewis, who had gone down with the lamp, but now wasn’t the time for concern. It was time to squeeze out every last drop of mana and maintain the spell.
I looked at the trap I had set up right in front of the stairs.
A trap ten meters in diameter and five meters deep. The pit, a product of my relentless digging, was large enough to trap anything short of a Hydra.
And…
I shifted my gaze from the trap to the ceiling.
A massive icicle hung from the ceiling. A collaborative effort between Perinne and Shuri, utilizing Perinne’s water magic to shape it and Shuri’s magic to freeze it.
Since it was already a physical object, it wouldn’t be affected by Mana Drain, except for losing its buoyancy.
I moved to the bottom of the statue to prepare for Plan B, just in case. I wiped the sweat from my brow and spoke to the two mages, who were struggling to maintain the spell.
“Focus all your mana on increasing its size. It’ll be here soon-”
Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump!
Heavy footsteps. Something was moving beneath our feet. I instinctively knew it was the boss. Had Lewis encountered it? I waited, trusting in the protagonist’s tenacity.
Rapid, erratic footsteps grew louder. At the same time, a deafening roar reverberated through the air, threatening to drown out the sound of Lewis’s footsteps. The sound grew closer, relentlessly pounding on the staircase.
I looked back and forth between Shuri and Perinne and shouted,
“Lewis is coming up! Hold on a little longer!”
“Yes!”
“Got it!”
Earth-shaking footsteps. Explosions. Roars. Screams. All kinds of sounds bombarded our ears from below. I counted in my head.
One.
“Almost thereeeeeeeeeeeeee!”
Two.
I thrust my shovel into a crack in the statue I had prepared beforehand.
The shovel slid effortlessly into the crack.
Three.
A grotesque creature, stitched together from human parts and tentacles, shaped like a giant, appeared, smashing through the staircase along with Lewis.
The Patchwork Golem extended its arm, made from a human torso, towards Lewis and lunged forward.
Gotcha.
The Patchwork Golem’s body plunged downwards. The trap, unable to support its weight, collapsed. Looking at the creature, its head the only visible part, I shouted,
Now!
“Shuri! Perinne! Release the magic!”
“Yes!”
The giant icicle plummeted, succumbing to gravity. Even in a fantasy world, the brute force of mass couldn’t be ignored. With a roar from the golem, the icicle impaled the creature in the pit.
Screams, blood, smoke.
The icicle melted away. Despite being impaled, the Patchwork Golem struggled to escape from the pit.
What a tenacious bastard. I kicked the handle of the shovel I had wedged into the crack at the base of the statue. The mithril, living up to its hefty price tag, dug deeper into the crack.
One more time.
Twice.
Three times.
“Johann!”
Four times.
Five times.
That’s it. The massive statue, unable to withstand the strain, began to tilt. And the direction it was falling…
Directly above the pit.
Checkmate, you monster fucker.
The ground shook as if an earthquake had struck, kicking up a cloud of dust. I squinted, pulled the shovel out from the statue, and jumped down.
Dead or alive?
The Patchwork Golem’s voice, having suffered a triple combo of trap, icicle, and statue, was weak.
Was it dying? I watched the barely visible boss, pinned beneath the statue, while checking on the two mages, who were slumped on the ground.
It seemed like they couldn’t cast any more spells. Even Lewis, who had somehow managed to position himself next to Shuri, looked exhausted.
“It’s… over… right?”
Whose voice was that?
Damn it.
What a tenacious bastard.
I stared at the horrifying creature, its body half-crushed, as it struggled to push the statue off and escape from the pit. To think it was still alive after being mangled like that, truly a testament to its monstrous nature as a patchwork of human parts.
Determined to finish it off for good, I climbed onto the fallen statue and gritted my teeth.
You stubborn bastard.
“I want to go home, you son of a bitch. Crafting.”
The edge of the statue transformed into a cluster of sharp spikes, tearing through the Patchwork Golem’s body. The already grotesque creature became even more horrifying, but that was exactly what I wanted.
Die.
Just die already.
It was absurd that it was still moving even after a third of its body had been ripped apart. It seemed like it didn’t have the strength to escape from the pit anymore, but…
“Crafting.”
Die.
“Crafting.”
Please.
“Crafting.”
Damn it.
“Crafting…”
You bastard.
“…Crafting!”
I didn’t stop using my skill until the entire statue had become a giant spike. Only then did the Patchwork Golem cease its movements. Or maybe it was still alive, just completely impaled.
It was so tenacious that I wondered if it was even possible to kill it.
But it had been silent for five minutes, so it should be dead. At least, that’s what I thought.
“…I think it’s finally over.”
“We’re alive… We’re alive! Shuri!”
“Lewis!”
I could genuinely smile at the protagonist couple’s PDA.
We were the victors.
All that was left was to go home.
Sif, who had reappeared with Viola on her back, carrying the “Filial Piety Back Breaker,” grinned and said,
“I’m looking forward to my reward~”
“Yeah…”
Of course, you are.
“Good work.”
I chuckled, placed my hand on Sif’s head, and ruffled her hair. Startled by my touch, she blushed and swatted my hand away,
“It’s rude to touch a girl’s hair!”
“Sorry.”
“No, it’s not that I don’t like it…”
I couldn’t tell if her bashfulness was due to the reward or something else.
Well, let’s keep things positive.
“We’re going down. If that golem is really dead, there should be an exit below.”
They wouldn’t throw in another cheap shot at this point, would they?
“Was this a prison to contain that thing?”
Broken chains and a river of blood. That was what the now magic-accessible boss room consisted of. We would have had a hard time fighting here. The ankle-deep blood would have restricted our movements.
It was a recipe for disaster without a healer and a tank.
“A bit anticlimactic for a boss room.”
I looked around. Shuri’s light magic illuminated the room at maximum brightness, but there was nothing remarkable besides the same symbol we had seen on the back of the corpse’s neck etched everywhere.
So, the notebook was our only reward? If we could decipher it, we might be able to obtain some valuable information, but…
A bit disappointing.
The rewards were lacking in flavor.
Weren’t there any rewards for clearing the rift?
“You’re right. There’s no treasure chest. They said dimensional rifts offered better rewards than regular dungeons, even though they’re more difficult to clear…”
Damn it.
It’s still alive.
“We’re going back up. That Patchwork Golem is still al-”
Oh, shit.
We all turned our heads towards the stairs at the familiar roar. We heard splashing sounds coming from the darkness. The roar was weaker than before. Shuri’s light magic immediately illuminated the creature’s location.
“That’s…”
“Horrifying.”
“I agree.”
A grotesque sight appeared before us of a small figure attached to a giant arm. To think it was still alive after all those cheap shots. I couldn’t help but curse. The only saving grace was that the small body couldn’t swing the arm.
I didn’t know if it was regenerating or if this was all that was left, but the sight of it crawling towards us using its arm was utterly disgusting.
Give it a rest.
Seriously.
At least it seemed like Mana Drain had disappeared or weakened.
“Prepare for battle.”
Their mana should have recovered to some extent, so a few spells should be enough to disable it if we severed its fingers one by one.
I exchanged glances with Lewis. As expected of the quick-witted protagonist, he immediately understood my intentions and drew his sword.
“We’ll take it down in one go.”
“Yes!”
Without hesitation, we charged towards the Patchwork Scraps. Lewis to the right, me to the left. The giant arm was the left one, so I was in charge of dealing with it. The creature’s left arm writhed and spewed blood at me as I approached.
I dodged the projectile by twisting my body and plunged my shovel into its pinky finger. The mithril, known as the strongest metal in the world, lived up to my expectations once again.
The pinky finger was severed.
Its movements were noticeably slower than before. Lewis’s sharp blade swiftly sliced the small figure attached to the arm in half.
Does it hurt?
We’ll put you out of your misery soon, so just wait.
We relentlessly attacked the arm, dismembering it piece by piece. The arm, too slow to catch us, clumsily attempted to grab us, but we effortlessly dodged its attacks and continued to dismantle it.
Despite being reduced to just a middle finger, the stubborn creature stubbornly tried to attack us, waving its remaining digit around.
Pathetic.
Should we end this for good?
“Fire!”
“Fireball!”
Shuri’s fireball exploded inside the hole we had created by relentlessly attacking the arm.
The creature screamed in pain as the smell of burning flesh filled the air.
We continued to focus on severing its blasphemous middle finger.
There was nothing more helpless than a hand without fingers.
Finally, after we severed its middle finger, the arm ceased all movement as if it had given up.
I kicked the arm a few times with my foot before declaring it dead.
“It’s really dead.”
“Th, then the rift…”
As soon as she finished speaking, we heard something fall from the ceiling.
“Ugh, this is gross…”
I wholeheartedly agreed with Sif.
A box wrapped in human skin? Enough with the creepy concept, please.
I’m going to get a complex!
“I’ll open it, so everyone step back.”
I was the most qualified to handle it, as I could react immediately if it turned out to be a mimic.
And I was the one who had to “distribute” any loot, after making sure to snag anything good for myself, of course.
I suppressed my disgust and opened the box.
“…What’s this?”
“…A book.”
Was the creator of this dungeon obsessed with tentacles? Why was the cover adorned with tentacles? And why was it chained?
“Doesn’t that look ominous? Are we really allowed to take this with us?”
“I, I think it’s a, a grimoire…?”
“If it’s a grimoire… it must be incredibly valuable!”
Considering it was a rift reward, it made sense. I picked up the book. A sticky sensation clung to my hand.
Fuck.
I shoved the book into my backpack and looked at the rift, which was slowly starting to close.
“Haa… It’s finally over.”
I sighed in relief, staring at the status window that appeared in the air.
It was time to go back to our beloved home.
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Thanks for the chapters!