Chapter 37
My Villains Episode 037
10. 4th floor underground(2)
In the dark underground water.
The sound of water droplets hitting the stone floor, the writhing of a multi-legged insect, and a meaningless howl heard from afar..
In the gloomy atmosphere unique to the sewer, the sound of tense breathing quietly rang out..
The archer, Arnal, felt frustrated by the silence that continued for a while and whispered softly..
“Why did it suddenly stop?.”
“fizzle！”
Arnal closed his mouth in response to Grania's warning..
I heard that Arnal learned archery from his grandfather, a renowned hunter. But, if you're a hunter, isn't patience more important than archery? Why is he so short-tempered??
I pushed aside the random thoughts running through my head and heightened my sense of tension..
Ears with all their attention began to pick up subtle sounds..
“crackle, crackle!”
The sound of a huge rodent. The presence of a group moving along with it..
I was sure there was going to be an attack.
“It's Ratman - he comes here!”
“Ratman? The number is?”
“It seems like a lot! Very!”
“Ugh, damn it. also?”
Grania, who was guarding the rear, grumbled but stepped forward to my right. As soon as she raised her shield, Ellen fired her crossbow without hesitation..
Clang, roar!
Flames erupted just six or seven steps away from where I was standing..
Ugh, what kind of excitement is there over a small firebomb?….
“Yay! It's too close!”
“Uh, sorry.”
Such an insincere apology..
.•.Do you still remember what happened in the morning??
‘I want to yell, ‘No matter how upset you are, you have to do the job right, bitch!’ But, ugh, other people have their eyes on me, so I hold back..
Anyway, thanks to the flame created by Ellen, Grania and I were able to completely block one side of the underground water..
Ta-da-da-da-da-dak.
At that moment, small figures poured out from the corner in front..
When the dirty brown stains were reflected in the ox-eye lantern placed on the floor, Arnal let go of the protest without hesitation..
“Take a picture!”
The Ratman, who was running at the front with the dead horse, was pierced by an arrow and fell to his death, and was cruelly trampled by the feet of his compatriots and disappeared in an instant..
“keep shooting!”
I shouted and stabbed Pulsion into the small gap between the gloves. The blood that flowed from the tip of the knife enveloped the entire blade as if it had originally been there..
Even as Pulsion turned a strange blood red, the procession of rat men pouring out from around the corner continued..
To put it simply, a Rat Man is a rat that stands on two legs, and is a small monster that is no longer around the size of my waist. However, it was natural that even such ratmen would become extremely dangerous if they attacked in droves like that..
Moreover, they use spears, however crudely. Considering the number of rat men, even if you can't avoid just one out of ten, you'll be turned into a needle holder in an instant..
Ugh, that won't work. There are too many, but there are too many.!
“Mr. Luke, order!”
“Everybody hold a sign!”
I did as he said and quickly grabbed the small straw ball attached to the inside of the shield..
At the same time, Mr. Luke shouted lowly in a cute voice..
“Krik-iz bezdny, yaaal—!”
Huh!
‘A long voice called 'Yaaaaal-' rang out, and a seemingly black haze erupted along the underground waterway..
“profit!”
“Chick, crack!”
A faint magical power was attached to the faces of the rat men..
Most of them went crazy and rolled on the floor, some of them ran back the way they came, and some of the worse ones stuck their heads on the floor and were unable to do anything..
Due to the effect of the black magic spell ‘Scream of the Abyss’, an unknown fear originating from another dimension swept over them..
Of course, my colleagues, including me, were not exposed to magical power thanks to having the mark given by Mr. Luke..
I was worried inwardly because Mr. Luke cast the spell a little quickly, but fortunately, no one seemed to have missed the mark. Hmm, it's only been two days, but I'm feeling pretty good..
I thought so and shouted briefly..
“Grania, kill me.!”
With that, Grania and I jumped into the crowd of rat men who were terrified as if they had been waiting..
Dealing with the large rats crawling on the floor or showing their backs was a simple task..
Puuk!
“Squeak!”
Even as he diligently moved his body and stabbed the rat men's necks, he stuck out his tongue inwardly. This was due to the powerful effect presented by ‘Scream of the Abyss’..
‘The fear caused by 'Scream of the Abyss' does not affect inanimate objects or targets with strong mental power. However, for people like Ratman who only believe in the number of people and attack them, it is truly rat poison..
After a moment of admiration, the ratmen who had been shaking their faces like crazy finally dissipated their magic and began to come to their senses..
“hehe!”
“Squeak, crackle!”
As the rat men began to prepare to fight again, Grania maintained a stable posture and carefully retreated. I also swung the pulse for a long time and took a quick step back..
As Grania and I, who were standing next to the fire, closed the line again, Arnal's arrows and Ellen's wind fists flew at the rat men without stopping..
While the rat men were falling down and scattering, a fierce wave was instantly felt..
“Ventus, Ictum!”
With a crackling voice, a wind fist of extraordinary power made a loud sound and shattered the skull of a rat man..
Wagjak!
This guy is overdoing it again.
“hey! I told you to save your mana；”
“…This is okay?”
“Ellen!”
After gaining magic, Ellen sometimes became intoxicated with power without realizing it and started casting spells wildly, so we had to constantly watch over her..
This guy's magic score is quite high.
It's a long time, but that's because you only need to fire about twenty Wind Fist shots or six or seven Fire Arrow shots to run out of mana..
Is it because I raised my voice? Wind fists of weakened power began to pour down..
Huh.
One of the ratmen that was running towards me rolled on the floor with a heavy sound of wind..
The guy who had fainted for a moment stood up shakily, but in the meantime, all the rat men who had been attacking him had turned into corpses..
Sigh! I quickly cut off the head of the one who attacked me and looked around. Most of the more than forty Ratmen were dead, and the remaining six or seven were already running away..
Grania, who was standing next to him, asked as he brushed off the chunks of flesh stuck to the blade..
“I'll chase you?”
“Hmm, well.”
I listened to the footsteps of those running away..
The rat man in the game was quite a nuisance..
If you are hunting a group and lose one or two animals, they will come rushing in and dragging their comrades from somewhere..
The group that had just attacked must have been led by the Ratman who had missed them a couple of hours ago..
“I'm sure they won't bring another group.?”
It was Mr. Luke who answered my mumbling..
“Probably not.”
“why do you think so?”
“No matter how many ratmen there are, it is very rare for them to form large colonies of more than fifty. Especially in the sewers, there isn't much that can be used as food, so this will probably be the end..”
“okay.”
It's a bit disappointing. If you cut off their tails and bring them to the guard, they give you a bounty of one coin each..
I took a deep breath and put the pulse into the sheath. This is because the ratmen's footsteps could no longer be heard..
“Well then, let's just sort things out from here..”
The party quickly became busy due to the absurdity of my declaration..
Looking back on my experience playing Dark World, party hunting was not necessarily better than solo hunting..
This is because as the number of heroes participating in a server increases, the enemy's attack power, defense power, stamina, etc., increase significantly..
Moreover, in the Dark World system, the degree to which enemies became more powerful in proportion to the number of heroes was very steep..
So, if the party combination was not strong enough, it was often better to hunt separately..
To put it simply, efficient party hunting was only possible when the combination of the two heroes exerted more than 2.5 servings of power thanks to the synergy..
But reality was different from the game. This is because the strength of the enemies is constant no matter how many people there are in the party..
Actually, it's obvious. Just because the number of people increases, it doesn't mean that Ratmen suddenly get bigger or come out with better spears.?
For that reason, the party whose number had increased to five was able to break through to the fourth floor of the sewer in an instant..
Me and Grania are warriors, Arnal is an archer, and Ellen and Luke are spell casters..
Not only did the numbers increase, but the combination was also good, so there wasn't much of a crisis..
‘If there was a swordsman specializing in the 'ninjutsu' class and a paladin specializing in the 'prayer' class, it would have been a standard party composition.….
Of course, it's still stable enough..
Is it because Grania, who is good at using a shield, and I, who has the physical strength of a superhuman, are blocking the line? Dangerous situations rarely occur..
Moreover, this advantage of large numbers was not limited to battle alone..
The types and amounts of supplies that can be carried have increased dramatically, and it has become possible to be sufficiently alert in various directions even while moving..
In addition, the efficiency of work processing has increased because labor can be divided appropriately even when clearing up the battlefield, as it is now..
While I was pouring water on the fire I had made to block the access of the ratmen, I saw Mr. Luke approaching the waterway and stopped him..
“Mr. Luke. I'll pick up those bodies..”
“Um, is that okay? The water is dirty.”
“it's okay. Because I'm going to rescue you with a knife.”
Mr. Luke nodded politely and walked towards Grania..
Grania was cutting off the tails of the rat men and gathering them together, and Arnal, who had finished retrieving the arrows, was helping her..
While I was moving four or five Ratman corpses that had been rescued from the canal, I found Ellen standing there indifferently..
Since he wasn't of much help in this matter, he was tasked with keeping watch in all directions while the battlefield was cleared..
That was the reason why a flaming arrow was floating above the palm of one's hand..
♦••Still, seeing him sitting alone makes me feel grumpy..
“ hey.”
When I lowered my voice, Ellen was startled and frowned..
“What? why?”
“•••after. no. Let's talk a little later.”
Ellen's eyes shook violently, as if her cold tone had had much of an effect..
As I left him behind and dragged the tailless ratmen, Mr. Luke, who was standing in front of the pile of squirts, smiled bitterly..
“You also have a secretly naughty side..”
“It's a bad corner.?”
“The unknown causes people suffering. Look at me. Isn’t Ms. Ellen’s agony conveyed to here?.”
When I glanced back at those words, I saw Ellen rolling her eyes here and there, looking restless..
•••Did it work? I'm proud.
I tried to suppress the laughter that was about to burst out and put on a serious expression..
“That's on purpose. You must also be able to think about your actions and reflect on them..”
“What kind of action are you talking about??”
I frowned as I piled up the sheets..
“It doesn't really matter if you tickle normally, but you can't do that during battle. I'm worried that I'll have an accident someday..”
“I'm angry too?”
“Well, it's not like I'm angry.….”
As I trailed off, Mr. Luke swept away three or four crude wooden spears with his foot and said,.
“Still, please be kind. The reason Ellen seems so fierce is probably because she has been hurt a lot in her life. Shouldn’t someone comfort that wound?.”
“yes? Haha, have you figured that out already? “In two days?” Mr. Luke shook his head and answered with a very serious expression in response to the question mixed with laughter..
“then. You can tell just by looking at it.”
“Well, Ellen isn't a difficult character to understand - but you don't need to worry too much. You're the one who does when you need to, and gets harsh when you need to..”
“Of course, I'm not worried about abilities or anything like that. How dare a villager like me look down on the wizard of La-Palais Palace? but… I'm just crying because I'm so sorry to see him acting like a kitten looking at his owner's eyes. It's different from what it seems.”
•••It's a kitten that pays attention to its owner. Even if you look at it wrong, it seems like you've been looking at it wrong for a long time..
While he was thinking that, Mr. Luke was looking back at Ellen. Before he knew it, something whitish had been overlaid on his pale walls..
He muttered in a voice filled with wonder..
“I don't know what to call it. Shiny gemstone? Sprout of a giant tree? No, would a fresh flower bud be better? Looking at the stains, it seems that life has not been very smooth, but even so, the light has not faded.
didn't.”
“If someone takes good care of it, even small stains will be brushed off in no time. Then you will be more pure than anyone else... You'll get a strong soul.”
“You said that again..”
see the soul.
If I had heard this on Earth, I would have thought it was some kind of pseudo-bullshit, but since it was Luke saying it, I couldn't just ignore it..
Of course, Mr. Luke is - unofficially - a necromancy who controls the dead.?
“Because I am surprised every time I see it. Miss Ellen must have been born with some special bloodline..”
Come to think of it, there was a quest to regain the power of the ancestors in a unique scenario for the elemental wizard..
Considering that he robbed a dragon's nest during that quest, Ellen's ancestor must have been a great person..
But you only say things like that when you see Ellen. What do I have? Phoenix is also a hero in his own way..
“But Mr. Luke. I am something else
“Can’t you feel it?” "•••huh? “What do you mean?” Mr. Luke, who had a blank expression on his face, finally turned his head towards me..
“my soul.”
“Oh, your soul?”
•••What is it? Why do you look like you just woke up from a dream? I feel bad for no reason.
“Um, I don't know anything special..”
“•••Is that so??”
“That's right. However - your life must have been quite difficult. “I see several stains that are firmly stuck.” It's a stain. I'm not saying this to make you feel bad, but it feels uncomfortable somehow..
But whose soul did Mr. Luke see belong to? Phoenix? Or Kim Seung-soo?
I'm not sure. I want to ask if it's the soul of this world - but that won't work.?
Mr. Luke seemed to have interpreted my strange expression as disappointment and quickly added,.
“Oh, of course, Phoenix-kun must also be born of noble blood. You have the most outstanding physique of any blood magician I have ever seen. Maybe it's the lineage of Zahak, the mythical hero..”
I'm not even a dog, but I'm praising my pedigree. I don't mean to say this with any other intention, but it feels a bit strange..
Mr. Luke, who was lifting the tailless ratman, suddenly burst into laughter..
“Heh heh. Speaking of which, it’s really interesting..”
“yes? Which one do you mean??”
“You and Miss Ellen. A soul that will never exist again and a body that resembles a hero. Isn’t it a strange fate for two people like that to meet and become colleagues??”
While saying that, Mr. Luke looked at me and Ellen in turn..
Then he glanced and smiled, a look of pride spreading across his face as if he was appreciating an excellent work of art..
•••This old man doesn't seem to be normal either..
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