Chapter 103: Chapter 103 Mafia (2)

Mafia (2)

Honestly, the first thing that came to mind when I saw the bear-like man’s crossbow was…

Is it actually possible to use that as a weapon?

Surprisingly, the answer is yes.

Whoosh!

Contrary to my doubts, the bear-like man skillfully loads the crossbow with an arrow and shoots, aiming precisely for the head.

However…

“Tsk, it blocked it.”

The Yeti avoids instant death by blocking the arrow with both hands.

Of course, it’s literally just avoiding instant death.

Its both hands are skewered by the arrow.

The Yeti groans and tries to pull them out, but the arrows don’t budge.

It doesn’t seem like the arrows are anything special…

‘Could it be [Grappling Arrow]?’n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

There’s a skill that comes to mind, but I’m not sure.

And it’s not something to think about now.

[Kiiiiiiik!!]

The Yeti charges towards us, stomping its feet.

Since both of its hands are disabled, it doesn’t look particularly threatening.

But what’s this?

“You guys take care of the rest.”

The bear-like man slings the crossbow back onto his back as if he’s finished his job.

He could finish it off with just one more arrow, but the reason he’s acting like this is probably because he doesn’t want to work for free.

‘Is it because he’s an explorer? He’s really calculating.’

To prevent any objections to the loot distribution later, I also grab my shield and charge forward.

“…What the hell is he doing!”

I hear Kalson exclaiming in surprise.

It must seem impossible for even a barbarian to block such a monster head-on.

But that’s only for ordinary barbarians.

I form a wall with my shield and stop the Yeti’s charge.

Kwaaang!

A heavy impact is applied, but this much is nothing.

Since I absorbed the Orc Hero’s essence, there’s almost no chance of me being overpowered in terms of strength. And besides, the Yeti is only about 1 meter taller than me.

「Character takes cold damage from [Chills].」

My bones feel cold, but it’s not painful.

“Michelle!”

“Ah, yes!”

Misha, who was momentarily frozen, steps on my shoulder and jumps.

And with the sword she’s now proficient in…

Thump!

…she stabs both of the Yeti’s eyes from bottom to top.

Unlike the dagger she used before, the sharp blade is enough to pierce through the Yeti’s brain.

Thud!

The Yeti collapses to the ground with a heavy thud and disappears into light.

「Killed Yeti. EXP +3」

Unfortunately, no essence drops.

Tsk, if it had dropped, I would have fed it to Misha right away.

‘A dud to start with, huh.’

Excluding the guardian, there are only five monsters left whose essences are suitable for Misha.

“Huh? Why are you looking at me like that? Di, did I do something wrong?”

…One of them will drop, right?

_______________________

“You two have good synergy.”

We resume our journey after the bear-like man’s brief comment. We enter the ice cave and proceed in formation, defeating countless 9th-grade monsters, ‘Frost Wolves’.

Because that’s all there is in this area.

「Killed Frost Wolf. EXP +1」

Anyway, Misha and I did most of the work here.

Well, the bear-like man also killed wolves with his crossbow…

…but it wasn’t comparable to Misha and me.

‘He has high single-target damage, but no AoE?’

We continue to analyze the bear-like man as we navigate the cave, and the first chapter comes to an end.

For reference, it took exactly 6 hours to get here.

Because we had to wander around a lot.

‘…It didn’t appear here either.’

Actually, if I had taken the lead, we could have cleared this chapter in 1 hour. Because the terrain features are the same as the underground prison in the Crimson Fortress.

‘Left, left, right, right, left, 7 consecutive straights, left…’

Pillars appear at regular intervals.

If you use them to navigate, it’s easy to find your way.

But I didn’t do that on purpose to test them.

‘There’s no way this guy, who even knows how to open rifts, wouldn’t have memorized this simple pattern.’

It seems like it’s one of two things.

Either the mafia member is not a player…

…or he’s pretending not to know.

‘Well, if we keep observing him, he’ll eventually slip up.’

Anyway, we move on to the second chapter.

“This cave feels kind of creepy…”

We descend further underground via an ice staircase that appeared at the end of the cave. Even during this process, I’m carefully observing the party’s actions.

There’s a hidden piece here.

It’s nothing special, but if you destroy the third pillar, you get an elixir. It’s an item that increases cold resistance once when consumed.

‘He’s not even taking this…’

We pass the point and descend all the way down the stairs, but no one does anything suspicious.

‘Well, even if he knows, he wouldn’t do something so obvious. He can just come back and take it by himself after everything is over.’

I decide not to underestimate my opponents.

After all, it’s always better to assume that your enemies are stronger than they seem.

Well, at least that’s how I am.

“We’ve come down quite far, but it’s surprisingly bright.”

Kalson murmurs from behind me.

I feel the same way.

The ice walls emit a white light as if the entire cave is made of transparent glass.

“It’s kind of pretty.”

“Yeah, yeah, right? I thought so too.”

“Uh, but what’s that?”

Jensia, who was having a conversation with Misha on a topic that I can’t relate to, points to one spot.

It’s a huge cavern that we encountered after descending the stairs.

A totem-like object is clearly visible in the center.

“Ah! It’s glowing after I touched it.”

“Step back, it could be dangerous.”

“Ah, yes!”

Jensia is flustered, as if she made a mistake. The bear-like man chuckles.

“What are you surprised about? It seems like that’s the key.”

“Key?”

“Well, a few monsters will appear, and then the path will open up.”

Once again, the bear-like man shows his gamer-like way of thinking.

And he’s not wrong.

There are a few things to correct, but…

「A tyrant who has been sealed for a long time awakens.」

…in this chapter, it’s not just a few monsters that appear, but the final boss monster itself.

Of course, trash mobs swarm out first, but…

Drrdrdrdrdr.

The entire space vibrates and starts showering ice dust. And soon, a deafening howl echoes throughout the area.

[Groaaaaaaaaaar—!!]

It’s a roar that’s as intimidating as a Floor Master’s.

「Ancient beasts, sensing the presence of the tyrant, awaken from their long slumber.」

Clang!

The ice walls that were surrounding us start to peel off one by one, releasing beasts.

“Grrr…”

The beasts slowly rise, as if they’re still weak from being thawed.

“Wh, what should we do?”

“Huh, I didn’t expect it to be like this.”

Anyway, while the bear-like man is muttering coolly, I give the order.

“Let’s head towards the stairs. There are no walls there.”

“Right, that’s a good idea.”

The bear-like man agrees with my opinion.

And the battle begins.

In the first wave, about twenty Frost Wolves appear, and from the second wave onwards, 8th-grade monsters also start appearing little by little.

[Kyaaaak—!]

Sabertooth Tigers, Wormstones, which I already gained experience points from in the Beast’s Lair, and Ice Golems, which only appear here.

“I feel like my body is moving slowly…!”

“Oh, it’s not just me?”

Since it’s a monster that emits a slowing aura that stacks over time, I smash them with my mace as soon as they appear.

「Killed Ice Golem. EXP +2」

In the first place, it’s a rift that Misha and I came prepared to clear on our own, so there’s no real danger.

Well, ‘Jenson’ might have had to risk their lives, but…

Still, it’s better than having to deal with another wave before we can even finish them off.

‘It’s a pain in the ass if you start falling behind, but it’s a fairly manageable chapter otherwise.’

We reach the ninth wave after about 30 minutes.

And a Yeti appears once again.

Of course, it’s different from the one we encountered at the beginning.

Back then, it was just a gatekeeper, but this time, it’s more like a mid-boss level, I guess?

[Kroooo-!!]

A Yeti appears along with lower-level monsters.

The difficulty level increases several times just from that, but the one appearing this time is a ‘higher variant’.

In simpler terms, it’s a named monster.

For reference, named monsters have higher intelligence, individual names, and their own unique history…

…and they use other monsters’ abilities.

「Lord of the Snowfields, Katumba, has cast [Suppression].」

This Yeti’s additional skill is the Stone Golem’s [Suppression].

It’s the same one I was hit with by those marauder bastards before.

The way to counter it is simple.

“Keuheok! I, it’s happening again…! Everyone be careful! That bastard is using something strange… Keugh!”

Either get beaten up by surrounding mobs every time you stop, like Kalson…

“Ugh.”

…or bite your tongue to induce bleeding, like Misha was told to do beforehand.

Or…

「Character’s Magic Resistance is above a certain threshold.」

「Completely resists the effect.」

…have the Magic Resistance stat.

[Suppression] is an OP ability that temporarily incapacitates you, so it’s relatively easy to counter.

Well, that’s why it’s an 8th-grade monster, I guess.

“Behel—laaaaaaaaaa!!”

I use [Wild Release] to increase my aggro and charge forward.

I don’t care that ‘Jenson’ is half-dead.

If I can’t defeat this guy before the next wave, even I will be in trouble.

「Character takes cold damage from [Chills].」

As I stand in the center, the Yeti… Katumba, was it?

Anyway, this bastard and all sorts of trash mobs start clinging to me.

But I focus solely on Katumba.

It’s because the 9th and 8th-grade monsters are just tickling me at this point, and…

“Why are you doing that again alone!”

…Misha, whose pronunciation has become even worse from biting her tongue, is also following me and taking care of the surrounding mobs.

With her twin swords, it looks like she’s performing a sword dance—.

「Lord of the Snowfields, Katumba, has cast [Blizzard].」

Was it because I was momentarily distracted?

I couldn’t dodge or block the blizzard he spat out.

My skin stings because I don’t have cold resistance, but…

‘The rest of me is fine.’

Since my body regenerates in real-time, it seems like I haven’t reached the [Frostbite] status. I engage in close combat with the Yeti even more aggressively.

That’s when…

“Run if you don’t want to die.”

The bear-like man whispers to me…

…and my instincts tell me to listen to his warning.

Tadat.

The moment I push off the ground and create distance…

Whoosh!

…an arrow is shot.

And…

Kwaaang!

It explodes in a burst of flames as it pierces the Yeti’s head.

The radius is about 3 meters.

It’s not a very wide range compared to the AoE spells Raven used…

“Wh, what kind of arrow is that?!”

…but all the monsters within the radius are dead.

Therefore, I revise the information I’ve been gathering about the bear-like man.

I thought he was a single-target burst damage dealer…

「Higher Variant Kill Bonus. EXP +1」

…damn it, you had it after all.

AoE.

_______________________

Thanks to the bear-like man’s AoE…

…which I’m not even sure is actually AoE, but anyway…

…the ninth wave ends easily.

And thanks to that…

“Es, essence!”

…we have a settlement time a bit earlier than expected.

We can pick up the magic stones later, but not the essence, right?

“Two essences at once, that’s a good start.”

The bear-like man doesn’t show much interest in the essences.

He just says we can split them among ourselves?

I feel the same way.

At least halfway.

“You two can decide what to do with that red one.”

I’m not interested in the essence of who-knows-whether-it’s-a-Frost-Wolf-or-a-Sabertooth-Tiger.

But…

“We’ll take this one.”

A blue essence is floating in the spot where the Yeti was standing before it died.

Kalson asks in a stuttering voice,

“Is, is that the Yeti’s essence?”

“Yes, do you have a problem with that?”

“N, no way. No.”

As if giving up his greed, Kalson waves his hands exaggeratedly and steps back.

Although his eyes seem a bit disappointed…

Well, if you’re upset, get stronger, right?

It’s a world where strength is invincible and divine.

“Then there’s no problem.”

I then call Misha.

But did she misunderstand something again?

“Congratulations, Bjorn. You’re going to get even stronger!”

“What are you talking about? This is yours.”

“Huh? Yo, you’re giving this to me…?”

Misha, who was offering congratulations with a sincere expression, freezes.

And she asks cautiously,

“I’m not saying I don’t want it, no, I actually really want it… but I’m just asking in case, so don’t misunderstand?”

“Go ahead.”

“…How much do I have to pay for this?”

Does she think I’m some kind of evil boss?