Episode 29 Crack (3)
When playing [Dungeon and Stone], you will encounter countless instances of ‘internal conflict’.
And the cause of ‘internal strife’ is ‘money’.
While research may be the top priority for a financially well-off wizard, the reason explorers enter the labyrinth is to make money.
But now this wizard bitch has touched on that very thing.
“You want all the Guardian’s spoils?”
The dwarf no longer smiled kindly.
His voice was quiet, and his eyes, revealed through his thick fur, were gleaming brightly.
“Do I look like a cripple?”
In an instant, the air becomes cold and still.
And did you feel it?
Crunch.
A human male places his hand on the hilt of his sword.
It seems he is not just a simple transporter.
Raven opened her mouth, breaking the heavy silence.
“… Instead, I will give you all the magic stones that come out of the crack.”
“You’re telling me to just pick up the scraps and eat them.”
“… Do you think that’s a reasonable calculation? It’s not like those things will always come out.”
Although he tried to hide it, Raven’s face clearly showed a look of confusion.
I guess I didn’t know there would be such a hostile reaction…
I thought she was an innocent woman.
Shouldn’t this have been expected?
The Guardian’s spoils are nothing less than the flowers of the rift.
Among them, the ‘Number Item’ would be an incomparable treasure to the dwarf.
“Number items cannot be compromised.”
“… Okay. In return, I will take the Guardian’s essence. And please acknowledge ownership of any other discoveries made using my knowledge.”
“Okay. Then let’s roll the dice equally and take the Crack Stone.”
Oh my god. What the hell is fairness?
The two of them started fighting among themselves for their own interests, paying no attention to me or Ainar.
My head hurt as I watched it.
I even thought that it would have been better to clear the cracks with the beginners on the first floor while shedding blood.
At this rate, we’ll end up having to pick up and eat the crumbs from the cracks that have formed.
This is how sad it is to be powerless.
“Bjorn.”
“I know what you’re thinking, but just stay still for now.”
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“i get it.”
The things I need to do become clearer.
I need to get stronger.
Whether those damn things kick the ladder away or not, you have to figure out how to climb up.
Only then can we defend our rights like them.
Of course, that’s no reason to give in today.
“for a moment.”
“… … ?”
As I opened my mouth, the two people who were talking in a much more gentle atmosphere turned their gazes toward me.
“You can take care of the essence and number items, but we’ll take the crack stone.”
“You’re being greedy.”
“Do you think there’ll be a problem without two Barbarians?”
The eyes are very sharp.
Shit, everyone smiles so nicely when we first meet.
Yeah, well I just took a stab at this.
“Okay, don’t give up the Crackstone. Instead, give us priority for two Essences, excluding the Guardians.”
“Okay. That much.”
“Me too.”
As expected, Raven and the dwarf readily complied with my request.
This must have been the Maginot Line.
At their level, there wouldn’t be any essence that attractive if it weren’t for the Guardian.
“Then shall we go now?”
“Good, I was just sitting there and my body starts to ache already! Hahahaha!”
After the tuning was over, the magician and the dwarf laughed and showed their good-natured side as if nothing had happened.
Scary little explorer pups.
***
How long did it take to climb the mountain path along the castle visible between the ridges?
Upon reaching the entrance to the citadel, we were met with two winged demon sculptures.
“It’s a gargoyle statue.”
Grade 8 monster gargoyle statue.
It is a tricky monster that usually stays still, but when an enemy comes into sight, it becomes active and uses ‘Petrification’.
The general strategy would be for one person to sacrifice themselves to receive all the ‘petrification’, and the rest to defeat the gargoyle statues to lift the curse…
Amazingly, we now have a wizard.
“Kyaaaaah—!”
As the dwarf and I approached, the gargoyle opened its eyes and spread its wings.
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At the same time, my lower body instantly turned to stone, but it didn’t last long.
“Arteena Viar.”
Raven chanted the ‘Remove Curse’ spell, and the battle began in earnest.
Ainar and I took one, and the dwarf took the other.
Boom!
The short dwarf swung his hammer like a madman and smashed both of the gargoyle’s legs.
And as the gargoyle fell to the ground, he smashed its head with a hammer as if he had been waiting for it.
Is that the dwarven way?
It’s quite manly to work from the bottom up and honestly.
Well, we were on the same level.
“You guys are doing pretty well!”
The time it took to completely destroy the gargoyle statues didn’t vary much.
We are also confident in close combat.
“You defeated the gargoyle. EXP +2”
The two gargoyles disappeared into the light and dropped magic stones, but there was no need to pick them up.
It rose up on its own and quickly landed in a large cannon.
“I will collect the magic stones and distribute them to you from time to time.”
“If you could do that, I’d appreciate it! Hahaha!”
The dwarf didn’t seem to be worried that the wizard would steal the magic stone or anything.
Well, I doubt a wizard would risk his life for such a small sum of money.
“Then go quickly!”
The dwarf made his way through by smashing an old wooden door with a hammer.
Is this where the real dungeon begins?
I followed him inside, feeling a strange sense of emotion.
“I guess we need some light.”
“Reate.”
A sphere of light rose above Raven’s hand, illuminating the dark room.
The space I am currently in is an outer checkpoint.
A place where various administrative tasks were performed, such as checking the luggage of carriages and the identification of passersby before allowing them into the castle.
“Ugh.”
As if drawn by light and sound, rotten corpses rise from under the closet against the wall or under the table and approach.
“It’s a dead man.”
Deadman.
A level-less monster that doesn’t even spit out magic stones, let alone experience points.
Even their corpses don’t disappear.
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Except when spitting out integers.
“Since it’s just an attack, biting and scratching, I’ll conserve my magic power.”
Although there was no magical help, it didn’t take long to tidy up the room.
“Would you please come upstairs while I open the door, Mr. Murad and Mr. Yandel?”
“I’ll take care of it right away! Hahaha!”
As we followed the dwarf up to the second floor, a space that looked like a shared bedroom appeared.
Likewise, there were about ten dead men, but since the space was wider than the first floor, it was easier to clean them up.
Thud! Thud!
We quickly cleared the second floor and climbed up the ladder to the rooftop without much conversation.
There were about fifteen Deadman soldiers wearing rusty armor and a slightly large-sized commander.
It’s a bit weird to call it the first boss…
This is the guy you absolutely have to catch to proceed.
“He’s just bigger, but he’s no different from other Deadmen. Let’s get rid of him quickly! Hahaha!”
This time, we quickly cleaned up the area and searched through Commander Deadman’s clothes to pick up the hornpipe.
When I came back down to the first floor, the iron door on the other side was already open.
“It’s really reassuring to have a wizard.”
With light coming in from both sides, the windowless room became quite bright, but it was meaningless.
All work at the outer checkpoint is done.
Now it’s time to cross the 50m long bridge.
“Watch your step, Raven.”
“Oh, thank you.”
The bridge, which had collapsed intermittently, was cut off about 20 meters from the castle gate.
It’s not like it broke over time or anything.
It was designed that way from the beginning.
Phew oh oh oh!
As I blew the horn I had acquired in advance, the drawbridge began to come down with a rattling sound.
Of course, not only this… … .
“The Mercury magic circle that has been dormant for a long time is activated.”
“Bjorn! The water is rising from below!”
The character for “Haeja”.
Water also began to rise from the furrows dug around the walls to prevent invasion by foreign powers.
Dark, red blood.
This is why this place is called the ‘Bloody Citadel’.
The sky is red and the ground below is also red.
But there must be something else that heightens the fin-de-siècle atmosphere.
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“Bjorn! Hand! There’s a hand writhing over there on the surface!”
“Don’t be nervous, they’re dead men.”
“Huh, who said that they were nervous?”
As blood rose to the bottom of the bridge, the dead men who had been struggling on the surface began to crawl out.
The drawbridge hasn’t even come down one-fifth of the way yet.
The concept of this part is simple.
—Hold on until the drawbridge comes down.
If it was a game, this message would have appeared.
“Ugh.”
Although there were no specific instructions, everyone started responding by pushing away the Deadman or striking him with their weapons.
Crunch! Crunch! Crunch! Crunch!
Although Deadman is a non-ranked monster, he is a rather difficult opponent here on the bridge.
If you fall down, it’s game over.
“It’s all done.”
After about a minute, Raven completed the magic spell.
“Witterna dertu!”
A direct translation of the spell name would be something like ‘blade storm’.
A strong gust of wind spread out from our dense formation, grinding up the dead men in an instant like a blender.
Doo doo doo doo.
The dwarf let out a gasp as he looked at the bridge that was now covered in the corpses of dead men.
“… That’s amazing.”
“They’re just dead men. What are they?”
Despite his humble words, Raven’s eyes were filled with pride.
But it didn’t feel particularly arrogant.
This isn’t a part you can easily get through without a wizard with a wide area of effect.
After that, I was roughly beating up the dead men who occasionally crawled up onto the bridge, and the drawbridge that had been slowly coming down finally met the bridge.
Kuuung!
The first chapter of the Bloody Citadel is over.
So absurdly easy.
***
Now that we’ve crossed the drawbridge, there are three chapters left.
Urban battle on the outer wall.
The dungeon of the inner wall.
The devil worship room of the castle.
“This is interesting.”
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Raven entered the castle and his eyes lit up as he saw the ruins.
As if a treasure was unfolding before my eyes.
“A blacksmith shop, a tavern, an inn, a church, stables used by merchants… Most of these remains appear to be public facilities.”
The dwarf chuckled.
“Is that so surprising, Miss Raven?”
“Of course. There were no farms or residences on the mountain path we came up or inside the castle. That means there were no farmers. Aren’t you curious? What did everyone eat and live in this fortress city built in such a remote mountainous area?”
“There must have been alchemists in this dimension too. They must have turned magic stones into bread like we do. Hahaha.”
“… Certainly, that hypothesis is the most plausible among scholars.”
“Haha! Is that so? Even educated people all think similarly, I guess!”
“But Mr. Murad, that’s not the only interesting thing. The long drawbridge, the high walls, the citadel was built very practically. Who on earth were their enemies?”
The dwarf, who had been accepting at first, grew weary and distanced himself as the conversation dragged on.
“I really don’t understand why you’d be curious about something like that. After all, it’s all made-up space.”
“Since it is a created space, it is certain that ordinary people who have not properly studied dimensional science may think that way—”
“Stop it, Miss Raven, the monsters are coming.”
As I was walking through the city towards Naeseong, monsters soon appeared.
Starting with the Deadman, then the Skeleton Archer, Mages, Ghouls, and the 8th-grade monster, Deathfiend.
The level of the entities that appear is not much different from the Land of the Dead, but the scale is very different.
A flock consists of at least several dozen animals.
“Everyone, please gather around me.”
Moreover, if you are dealing with one group, another group will approach upon hearing the sound.
Less than a minute after encountering the first group, hundreds of monsters surrounded us on all sides.
But at that moment.
The ‘blade storm’ we had seen earlier swept through the surroundings again.
Shh …
As expected from a magic spell for Yanghak, it didn’t completely erase everything like before.
Some ghouls survived with only a limb cut off, not to mention the Deathfiends, who were synonymous with defense and regenerative power.
but…….
“I’ll leave the remaining monsters to you.”
There is no doubt that the work of several people was accomplished by simply wiping out the dead men and skeletons that made up more than 90% of the group.
“Einar!!”
When I shouted loudly, Einar came running.
The target is Deathfind.
The hunting method is… … .
I guess I don’t need to explain it in other words.
A quick glance is enough.
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“Behel—raaaaaaaaaaaaa!!”
After hundreds of breaths, I’ve reached a point where I barely make any mistakes.
Namely, (genuine) double barbarian tackle.
thud!
The dwarf looked horrified as we lifted both legs and slammed them on the ground, smashing Deathfind’s head in.
“… Have you hunted like this before?”
A look that said, ‘What kind of savages are these?’
“Is there a problem?”
“None. As expected of Barbarians, they’re quite, quite cheerful! Ha, haha!”
It’s not embarrassing now, but it’s a little funny.
The dwarves’ fighting style wasn’t particularly noble or anything.
“Raviod Eheltun.”
There were seven Deathfiends left, but they were easy to hunt thanks to Raven’s ‘Wound Wound Curse’.
Deathfiend, whose passive skill ‘Physical Preservation’ was sealed, wasn’t that difficult of a monster.
“I think I know why everyone says wizards are amazing… … .”
Did you really feel the presence of a single wizard in just two battles?
Ainar muttered in a dejected voice.
Raven didn’t say anything in response, but when I looked closer, I saw the corners of her mouth twitching.
Looks like he’s happy to be looked up to.
The dwarf added a word.
“Haha! Certainly, the range of things you can do changes when you have a wizard.”
I agree with that too.
If I had been playing ‘Bloody Citadel’ with a party of 5 beginners, I would never have thought of a head-on confrontation like this.
Even if it took dozens of times longer, the number of monsters would have been gradually reduced from the outskirts.
“Hmm, well… That’s why you study so hard. Of course, talent is also necessary.”
Raven twisted her body slightly at the continuous compliments.
The character is slowly taking shape.
A gifted magician who pretends to be humble but likes to show off, and is more than that, passionate about magic and research.
I’m starting to get a feel for how to handle it.
“I’m going to wander around for a bit and get some research material. If it’s okay, could you all help me out?”
“Thanks to Miss Raven, we have some time left, so of course I should help. Hahaha!”
“thank you.”
Afterwards, we searched through the rubble of the city, collecting antiques, books, soil, metal, and the flesh and bones of dead men.
“Thanks to you all, we finished early. Now, let’s move on to the next one!”
I was dazed for a moment.
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Huh? Wait, it’s over?
You’ve killed all the monsters and searched the surrounding area, so why don’t you take it?
“What are you doing there? Why don’t you come quickly?”
… Surely you all don’t know?
That easy-to-find thing that appears when you break the fountain statue?
