Chapter 50 - Teammates (Part 4)

 

When recruiting teammates, a lot of importance was given to skills. However, there were other qualities that were no less important, such as trust. In other words, were they reliable? Of course, when everything was going smoothly, it wasn't a problem. In this case, everyone could just laugh, smile and be happy. But when was it different?

Whether you can trust your teammates to cover you during the worst-case scenario is another question.

Perhaps it's not even about trust, but about their true nature.

Such things could not be found out about another person, no matter how many times you read their profile or communicated with them. The true character of a person was hidden deep inside. I hoped that we would never have to show each other our true selves. It would be better for everyone.

"No matter how many times I come here, I can't get used to the smell!"

"Hahaha!" I laughed. "Dvalki, are you okay?"

"Please don't talk to me-...!

Turning away from the vomiting Dvalka, I quickly looked around. I was now on the 2nd floor in the sector inhabited by the Blade Wolves, which could only be accessed through the eastern portal on the 1st floor: the Beasts' Lair. As the name implies, it was inhabited mostly by beast-type monsters, and that was probably why it smelled bad. Very bad.

"Rothmiller, are you okay?" I heard that you have olfactory essence.

"Thank you for bothering me, but I'm fine. This is not my first time here.

- I see.

Was it the leisure of a researcher with 8 years of experience? This man gave me peace of mind, just by his presence. Although I needed to look after him a little more.

"By the way, when will our mage come to his senses?" I need to earn money..." Misha showed no empathy for her teammate's suffering and only cared about her own interests. I was about to add another comment line to the character rating tab in my head when I paused.

Hmm, am I not the same?

"Dvalki, come to your senses. How much more time are you going to waste? I snapped.

"Exactly, exactly. If you feel bad about a little thing like this, you can't be an explorer. Magus! It's time to grow up! When I shot him with a word, Mike immediately agreed with him in a teasing tone.

However, upon hearing this, Dvalki showed an unexpected reaction.

"You're right. I have to behave like an adult.

Has he always been like this?

To be honest, I thought he would just come up with some ridiculous excuse or get angry in response.

Dvalki continued:

"Let's go."

"But are you okay?"

"It's definitely not easy. But I don't want to become a burden to my team just because it's my first time here, and I'm a mage.

"I didn't say you were a burden..." Mike was startled by the unexpected apology.

Dvalky stood up, looking much more exhausted than before, and muttered with a determined air.

"I cannot disgrace the name of Baron Martoan.

— ... Hey! Are you pretending to be a nobleman again?! I will never fall for this!

"Hahaha!" Let's hurry up. I'm all right now!

Seeing him cheerful, as if he had always been like this, Mike got angry, realizing that she had fallen for his trick again. With that, we slowly began to move forward.

Brown announced:

"From now on, everyone, please follow me. Although this area looks flat, there are many holes.

Hikurod looked around.

"Yam?" I don't see any...

"They're usually filled with mud, so it's hard to tell. If you walk without looking, it is easy to fall into them.

— ... Rothmiller, we trust you.

The Beasts' Lair had a canyon relief with narrow paths and high cliffs on both sides. Explorers crossing this map had to wade between maze-like rocks to find their way.

Although there are no traps here, it is even more important to have a Scout on this floor.

For reference, the monsters that appeared here were Blade Wolves, Wall Moles, Sabertooth Tigers, Werewolves, and Vulkars, and most of them lived in caves on the rocks. Usually, explorers, whose main purpose was hunting, went into the caves and cleared them of monsters. However, our goal was to get to the 3rd floor, so we just walked by.

[You killed the Giant Bladed Wolf. Experience +1]

[You killed the Sabertooth Tiger. Experience +2]

[You killed the Werewolf. Experience +2]

[You killed the Wall Mole. Experience +1].

Moving fast, we killed monsters hanging out near the caves along the way, and soon it was time to take a break. There were 3 hours left before the beginning of the 2nd day.

[20 : 58]

We spent the whole day moving around the map, but without Scout Brown, it would have taken twice as long to get here.

"The entrance is narrow. You can camp here," Brown nodded.

We cleared the Wall Mole burrow and began to prepare it as the basis for our camp. Hikurod, Brown, and Misha were researchers with years of experience, so the preparation for the camp was instantaneous.

Even Dvalki, who had so far made no contribution other than the creation of drinking water, shone its light on them.

"Since we have [Alarm] magic, one man should be enough for the Night's Watch," Brown said.

"Why do we need the Night's Watch?"

"Dvalki, it's not because I don't trust you, so don't be offended. As you know, it's not just monsters to be wary of in the labyrinth. To become a real researcher, you need to always be on your guard.

Hikurod suggested:

"Brown can be on duty first, because he did the most work today, and then we can take turns on duty.

"Wait, when am I supposed to be on duty?" Dvalki asked.

"Leave it to us." And you rest," Hikurod assured him.

The mage was excluded from night duty. This was done not so much because of his weak endurance, but because it was customary.

Researchers gave out rewards according to merit, and the magic of [Alarm] was considered the share of one person.

In truth, this custom probably arose from the need to satisfy the needs of a magician.

In any case, if one person was on duty every 2 hours, the night was incredibly comfortable. To think that I was getting 6 hours of sleep... Compared to working together, it was just heaven on earth. Of course, this was due to the fact that you had to share the same number of parts of the loot, but this could be compensated by hunting stronger monsters.

***

"I, the great mage Riol-...

"Stop sleeping and wake up, mage!" Mike shouted.

— ... Is it already morning?

"I don't know, but I know it's time to wake up.

2nd day, 5 am. The first night passed without problems, despite my worries.

The monsters were detected by [Alarm] magic 4 times while Hikuroda was on duty, and one day we were approached by a group of researchers, which made us all wake up, but it was the norm.

"Since Dvalki has already adapted to the maze, we'll increase the speed a little," Brown announced.

Dvalki asked:

"Is there any need to hurry?"

"It's better to arrive at the 3rd floor as early as possible to set up camp.

Starting on Day 2, we cut down on unnecessary chatter and focused only on movement. Of course, every few minutes there were monsters blocking our way, but I was glad of that.

[You killed the Moonstone Bear. Experience +1]

[You killed the Queen of the Wall Moles. Experience +1]

[You killed the Blood Blade Wolf. Experience +1].

By this point, I've killed all the rank 9 monsters in the Beast Lair. Since it was my first time here, experience points were accumulating quickly. Of course, I didn't have a separate "Experience" scale.

If you count all the monsters I've caught so far...

There were exactly 40 of them. If you add the bonus for killing a high-ranking mutant and the bonus for killing the Guardian, you get 44.

I still have a long way to go to reach Level 4.

As the level increased, the required experience points increased exponentially.

Level 2 required 6 points, level 3 required 30, and level 4 required 150. Of course, experience points didn't increase fivefold with each level, but it's safe to say that the difficulty felt even higher. This was just a +1 increase for monsters of a higher rank, but if there were no monsters to hunt, then even supplying them became impossible.

Well... I shouldn't rush to level up.

My current level was 3; I could absorb up to three essences. In other words, there was still room for one. Of course, I didn't expect another essence to appear before I reached level 4. Dungeon & Stone wasn't all that friendly.

Best Game Consoles

 

Of all the games, why did I have to play such a game?

I began to regret my choice, but to no avail. After all, I was a pervert who felt more alive the higher the difficulty.

"Everybody get ready," Brown called. "From now on, we will meet high-ranking species, and their number will increase dramatically.

This happened about half a day after following Brown. The terrain, or rather, the color of the rocks, changed from reddish-brown to black.

Is this the beginning of the second half of the journey?

Rank 9 monsters didn't spawn here. However, no one, including me, was very worried about this.

"On the 2nd floor, there are still only rank 8 monsters!" Mike chuckled.

Our team had an average rank of 7. Whatever teams they were in in the past, they were active at least on the 3rd floor. Well, I'm a beginner, but I was an exception because I've been here many times when I've played the game.

Misha added:

"By the way, Bjorn, you haven't been to the 3rd floor yet, have you?"

"So what?" I replied, expecting her to start arguing, but Misha sincerely admired it.

"Amazing. It took me a whole year to go up to the 3rd floor!

It made me feel bad.

— ... I was just lucky.

I didn't want to think much about it, so I answered evasively.

Then Hikurod joined the conversation.

"One year for the 3rd floor?" And how long did it take you to get to the 4th floor?

"Hmm, 2 years?" I think it took that long.

"As old as me."

"Hey!" It's not fair! You have less experience than me, but you have Rank 6!

"On the contrary, Miss Karlstein was born into a good family!"

"Hey!" I told you not to talk about my family!

Sensing that the conversation was about to turn into another long argument, Brown stepped back and intervened.

"Both of you, stop it.

It was the same voice and expression as before, but why did I feel that this time it was more... Upset?

However, if I had heard this when I was busy working at the entrance, I would have been angry too.

I ignored it without thinking.

***

[You entered the Pilgrim's Path on the 3rd floor].

A little after noon on the 2nd day, we entered the 3rd floor, having received the correct instructions from Brown. It was a bit of a shame that I couldn't hunt many rank 8 monsters in the Beast Lair, but they weren't just active on the 2nd floor.

Someday I will have another chance.

Shaking off my disappointment, I focused on the current situation.

"Rothmiller!" Recede!

At the moment, I was in the Pilgrim's Path on the 3rd floor. Along this path, I was on Ironstone Hill, the starting point that connects to the Beasts' Lair.

Immediately upon entering, we encountered two rank 7 monsters.

"Dvalki!" Use the magic of [Corrosion]!

It was easy to imagine the Iron Troll as a wild warthog with iron tusks. It was about 5 times the size of the wild warthog on Mount Jiri.

[Riol Varb Dvalki cast an 8th tier spell, [Corrosion]].

As Brown, who first entered the portal, avoided the monster and retreated, Dvalki immediately cast a spell. Immediately afterward, Hikurod and I rushed forward, and each of us struck down the monster with our shields.

*Bam!*

A strong blow fell on the shield. My past shield would have dented at the moment of impact, like a dwarven's shield is now.

[Hikurod Murad cast the [Emergency Restoration]].

"Bjorn, why are you looking at me all of a sudden?"

"I'm not jealous.

Honestly. If you had used a hard shield from the beginning, you wouldn't have had to rebuild it every time.

"What are you talking about?" In any case, Bjorn! Don't push them away, just stop them moving!

"You don't have to say it twice!"

The Iron Troll's active skill was [Weight Balance]. Its effect was immunity to blows. This was also the essence that Hikurod possessed.

[Hikurod Murad applied [Weight Balance]].

Do you have a conscience?

The anger in the barbarian's body flared up with renewed vigor. Perhaps that's why, instead of waiting for the other crew members to attack, I swung my mace and struck the Iron Troll in the jaw.

'Behellaaa!!aa

*How-how-how!*

The steel tusks that were put into the state of [Corrosion] were shattered with a single blow.

"Come to me, essence!" Mike, who jumped on my back without permission, plunged a dagger into the head of the Iron Troll.

[You killed the Iron Troll. Experience +3].

At the moment, it was one. I was about to do the second one, but I stopped and watched for a while. Dvalki was casting a spell, one of the few offensive spells he had.

[Riol Varb Dvalki cast an 8th rank spell, [Ice Spear]].

The Ice Spear flew into the Iron Troll's abdomen.

If he had pierced the head or heart, it would have been a one-hit murder... But detailed feedback can be given later.

*Blow!*

The battle ended with Brown approaching the falling Iron Troll, holding a crossbow to his forehead, and firing an arrow. Of course, there was no essence, although there was no need to worry about that now.

A monster right in front of the portal?

It looked like there was a son of a bitch nearby.