Chapter 24 - Marauders (Part 1)

 

A rank 9 mana stone is equal to one piece of stone bread. In other words, each of them has a value of about 20 stones.

What about an 8th rank mana stone? Unfortunately, one Death Fiend only cost 5 Goblins.

"What?" Are you saying that it's only 100 stones?!

— ... Including summoned Ghouls, we have 300 stones.

Of course, even with that in mind, there was no denying that the number was low, especially considering that we had just risked our lives for this.

"Bjorn... How much did the bread we ate in the inn cost?

— ... I remember that it was about 300 stones.

"Then... it means that I will be able to taste its sweetness every time I catch the Fiend of Death!

Obviously, the cream pie we used to eat became a new unit of measurement for Ainar. Of course, if you divide the earnings by 8:2, you get 0.2 sweets per Death Fiend... But I decided that it was better not to tell her about it.

"Bjorn!" This is not the time to stand here. Hunt! Let's go hunting!

The disappointment did not last long. I smiled as I saw Einar show enthusiasm again. In this regard, working with a barbarian was not bad.

I liked Ervena as a friend, but the minus was that she was passive in everything. It was much easier to motivate this way.

"All right, let's go!"

After that, we continued to hunt around the area in search of the Fiend of Death. If it took more than 20 minutes for each of them, it was almost unprofitable, even if we earned 300 stones, but... The first attempt should always be considered an exception.

"Quahhhhh!!

"Behel-raaaa!"

Every time we encountered the Fiend of Death, we would shout out the name of our ancestral god and race. Then each of us grabbed the leg, lifted it up, and threw the monster to the ground.

We called this strategy "Double Barbarian Throw".

*Bam!*

A fallen Death Fiend became an easy prey. When we struck each monster's head from a distance greater than an arm's length, the monsters soon disappeared into particles of light. All this took about three minutes.

As soon as the monsters hit the ground, they felt the crisis and summoned the Ghouls, making it difficult for us to further shorten this time.

As the hunt continued, the rate at which we filled our pouches with mana stones also increased. However, we were not satisfied and accelerated the pace more and more.

This was due to the fact that on the 3rd day, hunting the Fiend of Death became impossible.

If we hadn't reached the 2nd floor faster than everyone else with the help of a bug, we wouldn't even have dared to fight these guys.

Usually, these guys never travel alone.

Two of them were possible, albeit with difficulty, but groups of three or four monsters would be hard.

[14: 27]

I checked the time and decided to take a break. Although the saying goes that you need to forge while it's hot, accidents always happen in moments of haste.

"Bjorn, I'm thirsty."

"Drink sparingly." The corpse flower will bloom only tomorrow.

"Corpse flower?"

This was the only way to replenish the drinking water supply in the Land of the Dead. When the time came, flowers bloomed on the vines that covered the stone fragments, inside which water could be found if they were opened. When I told her about it, Ainar frowned.

"Bjorn, isn't that unsanitary?"

To be honest, it was. I had heard that it was safe to drink, but I still didn't really want to. However, it wasn't something that someone who slept in a room for 5 people with 10 dirty people should complain about.

"Do you know any other way?"

"No!" I'll drink this!

After resting for about 20 minutes to replenish energy, we continued hunting again. Finally, when we were about to collapse from exhaustion, we caught a total of 70 Death Fiends. This meant that we earned more than 20,000 stones in a day.

This is much better than only hunting rank 9 monsters.

However, the essence I was hoping for did not appear.

"Brutal" wasn't enough to describe the frequency of essence drops.

That is why players had to develop a method of leveling up based on what essence they would get at the beginning of the game.

But the skill of the player determined how well he did it.

In that sense, I was looking forward to it. The Death Fiend Essence was one of the best essences that could be obtained in the early stages.

The problem is that there are no signs of its appearance.

Her active Ghoul-summoning skill, Call of the Dead, honestly wasn't exciting, but her passive skill, Body Preservation, was good enough to make up for it.

Of course, absorbing the essence didn't give a way to regenerate like those bastards...

But since my Imprint of Immortality increased the regeneration rate, my compatibility with the essence was very high.

[02: 57]

I listened to Einar's snoring, checking the time. The day had already passed, and the 2nd was beginning.

From now on, we'll have to fight two Death Fiends at once, but in a way, I felt relieved.

At least, it won't look strange if we encounter other researchers. Again, I'm most afraid of researchers.

— Айнар, вставай.

— ... Oh, I didn't eat!

— It's time to change.

3 hours per person. After resting for a total of 6 hours, on the 2nd day we again unmistakably hunted the Fiends of Death.

"Quauuh!!

On two at once. There were 20 Ghouls summoned by their active abilities, but it was still worth trying. Thanks to the fact that on the first day we learned to cope with them countless times.

*Boom!*

Before the creatures knew it, I rushed forward and knocked one of them to the ground. Then we knocked down the second one. One wrong step can lead to an awkward situation... But when it happened, we ran without looking back.

"Ainar, let's get out!"

"Oh!

Death Fiends moved slowly and had a habit of not chasing if you left their territory, so it wasn't dangerous for now.

*Shhhh!*

Each battle took about 10 minutes. In fact, 3 out of 10 attempts were failures, but since we managed to catch two at once, the profit ended up being the same as on the 1st day.

On the 1st day, even finding monsters took quite a long time.

However, towards the evening of the 2nd day, groups of three began to appear from time to time, and over time, the frequency of sightings also increased.

"We need to get out of this place as soon as possible.

"A wise warrior knows when to retreat.

As the 2nd day drew to a close, we left the realm of the Death Fiends, and with it all regrets. Then we returned to the sticky mud field and found a suitable place to camp.

Around that time...

This is the first time we have met a group of other researchers. It was a group of three, and they were wandering in the dark, relying on a torch, just like us. But...

Only when we got within 10 yards could we see each other.

Ainar said coldly.

"What are you looking at?" If you don't have any business here, fail.

"Ahem, excuse us.

The group passed us and disappeared into the darkness again. It was quite interesting.

*Top, Top*

They had only walked 20 steps forward, and the sound of their footsteps was still faintly audible. But the light of the torch they were holding in their hands was no longer visible.

So that's what it means when they say that most of the floors of the maze absorb all the light.

The brightness of the torch seemed almost impossible to see with the naked eye, even though it was only 10 yards away. While I was pondering this phenomenon...

"Bjorn, we have to move.

Ainar spoke forcefully.

"They know where we are. Walls are convenient, but it would still be safer to find a new camp.

Indeed, she was right. I thought about it too. However, I couldn't adjust to it.

What kind of girl is this? Growls at other researchers to get away...

It was as if she had suddenly changed her personality.

"Bjorn, you can't trust people.

— ... I agree.

Now that I think about it, Einar and I have one more thing in common, besides the fact that we are both barbarians...

Distrust of people.

It seems that something happened to her during the last expedition too.

I'll have to ask about it later.

"Then let's go," she answered.

Soon after that, we packed our things and set off. However, it was difficult to find a place for a camp with the same good location as before.

Are we going to have to compromise on just one wall to protect our backs?

While I was thinking about it...

"Ugh...

A groan was heard nearby.

— !!!! Mm!!!

It wasn't the Banshee. First of all, it wasn't a woman's voice, and...

— ... Wh-wait!

He spoke clearly.

"Help...

Bloody hell. We should have just camped elsewhere.

After the interrupted shout, silence fell.

Einar whispered:

"It wasn't a monster attack.

I know I have ears too.

Rarely did anyone beg for their life fighting a monster. The situation was clear. Someone killed another person.

Damn, what kind of shitty situation is this? I'm not Scooby Doo, his mother.

Not wanting to interfere, I grabbed Einhar's wrist and slowly stepped back.

But the man seemed to feel us.

"Who's there?"

The voice was cold and low. It was rude, but it was definitely a woman's voice.

We held our breath and at the same time froze in place.

But at this moment...

*UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU Boom! Boom!*

Something like a flare shot into the sky, which gently illuminated the space within a radius of about 50 yards. Thanks to this, I was also able to see the eyes of the speaker. The distance between us was less than 15 yards.

... If Ervena was here, she would be able to detect the presence from afar and avoid this situation.

"Hmm, newbies?"

The unknown woman looked at us and came to a short conclusion.

The feeling was mutual.

A dagger dripping with blood.

Four scattered corpses.

— ... Maroder.

The woman calmly asked:

"Is this the first time you've seen such a person?"

— You can say that.

It's the first time I've seen a professional like you.

- I see.

The woman was not even surprised that we witnessed the scene of the murder, and only calmly nodded her head.

For some reason, it seems to me that I knew why.

Marauders.

Professional explorer hunters.

They made a high income by looting explorers' equipment instead of mana stones. Of course, if you are caught, you will be sentenced to death immediately upon returning to the city.

But this rarely happened.

Although it was self-defense, I also killed 6 researchers and didn't get any investigation. From the outside, it was impossible to know what had happened inside the labyrinth.

Only if someone doesn't talk about it.

— ... Ты не носишь маску.

This was the most annoying moment in the current situation.

This psychopathic bitch works as a looter and at the same time openly shows her face.

She was just over 160 centimeters and thin. She had shoulder-length red hair, a tattoo under her eye, and her right ear was half missing. It would not be difficult to find a person with such facial features.

If it were a modern day, the suspect could demand proof... But it was a world where magic existed. This meant that it was possible to distinguish truth from lies without material evidence.

—... Were they your teammates?

"Well...

The woman looked down at the bodies and shrugged her shoulders.

"They might have thought so.

That was why she had an open face. By asking questions with obvious answers, I quickly organized the information I could see in front of me.

A total of 4 corpses.

From the quality of the equipment they were wearing and the fact that there was a Magus among them, I could tell that they were explorers who were operating at least on the 5th floor and above.

In addition, there were no injuries on three corpses.

However, since there were traces of vomit and blood on their lips...

Were they poisoned? And the person who died at the end was resistant to the poison, so he endured a little longer?

I hoped that this hypothesis was correct. The situation would be more deplorable if she was a talented assassin capable of killing four mid-level researchers alone without leaving a single wound.

*Rumble, rumble*

Soon the woman squatted down and deftly removed the equipment from the corpses. She put it one by one in her backpack. The backpack seemed to be enchanted by magic because bulky items fit into it without any problems.

Fear preceded envy. The mere possession of this object made the difference between her and us desperately obvious.

"Barbarian," the woman called out to us.

I didn't answer.

Ainar asked quietly:

"Are we going to fight?"

She was amazing. If it had been Ervena, she would have trembled with fear.

Is it the pride of a warrior to want to fight the enemy, no matter how strong he is?

I answered briefly.

"I'm still thinking."

To be honest, I wanted to avoid the possibility of a fight. The difference in our level was obvious just by looking at the equipment.

If her combat prowess was as impressive as this equipment... Even if we take into account the 2v1 situation, our chances would be much lower.

*Whoo *

The rocket expired, and the light in the sky went out, plunging us back into darkness.

I made a decision immediately.

"Let's run." At full speed.

Pride does not save lives.