Chapter 65 – The Field Boss (Part 1)

 

I slept soundly for 12 hours. When I woke up, Misha for some reason slept on my stomach and drooled again.

In any case, we had quite a lot of time left, so I organized our loot. I checked what was in the backpack, removed the rest of the gear from the three enemies, and put it all into expandable backpacks. I was lucky that Misha also had one. After stuffing all the equipment, they became quite heavy, even despite the magic of weight reduction.

This should be enough as compensation for all the hard work.

Leaving Mike to sleep, I took out some dried meat and chewed it. Well, if she woke up and was hungry, she could take care of herself.

After eating, I simply wiped my body with a cloth moistened with water.

I even shaved for the first time in a long time.

Now I look more like a person.

After all the wood in the fireplace was burned, there was nothing to do, so I went outside and sat down on a rocking chair. A faint smell of blood wafted from the serene grass field. Basking in the sun and letting my thoughts flow, I slowly closed my eyes.

Suddenly, I remembered a religious jerk whose head had been smashed in his sleep...

The entrance must have closed by now, so I don't have to worry about that.

Everything was calm.

At least as long as I'm here, I'm safe. Yes, that's all that matters.

"Bjorn, wake up." You must at least eat something. Otherwise, your stomach will hurt!

When I opened my eyes, Misha was shaking me by the shoulder. I looked at the watch and saw that it had been another 14 hours since I had last checked it.

"Here, even if you have no appetite, eat!" Mike divided some dried meat and bread and put it in my mouth. I had already gotten up once in the middle of sleep to eat, but since I was hungry again, I took this. "Are you going to sleep more?"

— No, I don't.

"Mmm, okay. Oh, that's right! But how do you know that if you put people in the fire, you can stay here longer?

"I read it in a book.

—... Bjorn, do you like smart girls?

— That's right.

After we finished eating, I gave some half-joking answers to Misha's questions and checked the fireplace. Judging by the power of the fire, we had less than an hour left.

*Click*

I closed the watch and fastened it well in my clothes. Having stretched my body, which had been sleeping for a long time, I began to prepare for the exit. It was too early to claim success, but my heart felt a strange relief.

That day has really come.

The 15th day was about to begin. In other words, if we hold out one more day, we can get out of this cursed forest and return to the city.

So let's focus till the end.

[The Witch's Hut is closed.

As always.

"B-Bjorn!" What is going on?

"Damn...

Because it's not over until it's over.

***

[The 5th sacrifice was offered in the Hut]

[The 6th sacrifice was offered in the Hut]

[The 7th sacrifice was offered in the Hut]

[The special condition of the Seven Sacrifices is fulfilled. The Lord of Chaos, Riakis, has begun to wander around the floor].

***

As soon as we left the hut, I felt the changes in the forest with my whole body.

[Witchwood] Field Effect Canceled]

I could see straight ahead. All hallucinations disappeared. It was light enough for me to see far away without the torch.

— B-Bjorn...?

The ceiling emitted an ominous red light. In addition, the spirit type monsters that we saw everywhere in the forest had completely disappeared.

It was the first silence I had encountered since entering the Witchwood.

I bent down and touched the ground.

*Dddddd*

I felt a slight tremor in my fingertips. There was no longer any need to confirm or deny the situation. I knew the reason for this phenomenon.

—... This is the Lord of the Floor.

It was a monster that acted as a kind of field boss. In the game, he was called the Lord of the Floor. On each floor, there was one lord with a different nickname. With the exception of a few floors, most of them were called using a trigger.

"Lord of the Floor?" Don't tease me. I heard that there is no Lord Floor on the 3rd floor!

"It's not that he doesn't exist. It's just that the method of summoning is kept secret.

In the case of the Crystal Cave on the 1st floor, it was common knowledge that after the 3rd day, when more than five people gathered, the Lord would appear with a certain probability.

However, the Lord of the 3rd Floor was different. The royal family and guild considered the method of summoning him to be top secret and even issued a new law to severely punish those who summoned him without prior notice.

According to the books, this was about 150 years ago.

"Did the guild keep it a secret?" But why?

"Because if some madman decides to summon one, it won't end in a few deaths.

The Lord of the 1st Floor would disappear as soon as he killed the one who activated the trigger, but the Lord of the 3rd Floor was different: Riakis, the Lord of Chaos.

[Erosion has begun. All the monsters on the floor have disappeared into chaos.

This guy not only affected the entire 3rd floor.

[Riakis, the Lord of Chaos, began to wander around the floor].

When summoned, he wandered through the labyrinth and massacred until he died. To make matters worse, movement between floors was also blocked.

[Portal temporarily disabled due to erosion].

This meant that it was impossible to even escape to another floor. When I explained this, Misha's complexion turned white.

"Then what is it?!" If this was a secret, then why did the Lord of this floor appear now?

Ах, э... э...

Should I tell her the truth or not? I was a little worried, but the decision was not difficult.

"Probably because of us.

It would be better to make her an accomplice. Whether she is a savior or not, it would be more effective in keeping a secret.

"Us?" I don't understand...

"We burned the bodies in the hut. This is one of the conditions.

When I kindly explained this, the reaction was delayed.

— ... Was it a method of summoning?! Bjorn! What the hell have you done?!

No, I didn't know that everything would be like this either. Even the books I read in the library said that only a few people knew about it, and the last time Riakis was called was more than 10 years ago. So I thought that nothing bad would happen even if we burned three of them.

, but who would have thought that someone had already burned four?

I couldn't help but curse this absurd coincidence. But who am I to blame? After all, it's my fault that I didn't imagine the worst. So, in that sense...

"Misha, give me one more promise.

"A promise?"

"You must not tell anyone that we have summoned the Lord of Chaos.

It wasn't summoned after the preparations made by the giant clan. Obviously, there would have been a lot of deaths. But if it becomes known that this happened through our fault ...

They will force us to take responsibility in some way.

Slowly realizing our situation, Misha drew a line.

"M-we?" What do you mean? It was you who burned the bodies!

And very sharply, so that even her pronunciation was very clear.

This upset me a little. After all, it was she who said that she would serve me as a benefactor and repay me until she died. In any case, if she wanted to do that, I had no other choice. I had to corner her a little.

"Do you think the Guild will believe that?" No, even if they believe it, the result will be the same. To quell this anger, the more victims, the better.

"Ugh...

Well, based on that reaction, I didn't think I needed to threaten her with false testimony.

"If you understand, then distract yourself. We'll be lucky if we can die in the city at all.

— ... Ok. Then what should I do now?

The answer was simple.

"Run."

First of all, we needed to get out of here as far as possible. I never thought I'd leave this place like this, but...

It would be safest to go there first.

It was time to leave the Witchwood.

The way out of this cursed forest was simple. Since the anomalous state [Disorientation] had disappeared, we only needed to move in one direction by following the compass. The problem was that the entire 3rd floor was teeming with new types of monsters.

"Bjorn!" Something is haunting us!

"It's the Spirit of Chaos.

For the record, the Spirit of Chaos didn't even have a ranking. It did not drop any mana stones or essence.

"We have to take care of that.

The Spirit of Chaos was a preemptive monster, and once he was attracted to the aggro, he would follow him to the end.

— ... Can we catch him?

Misha seemed apprehensive about hunting a monster she had never seen before. True, ignorance in this place was tantamount to death. I, too, learned, dying countless times in the game.

"The attack power is high, but that's all. Don't worry, it will disappear with one elemental attack.

— ... Is this reliable information?

— Yes, I read it in the book.

"Good.

Relieved to hear the characteristics, Mike secured the spear enchanted with holy water. She then directed it towards the Spirit of Chaos, which was slowly following us.

*Clap!*

The spirit exploded with a single blow of the spear. Something that looked like slime soaked the ground, turning it black.

[The Spirit of Chaos has been destroyed, and this place will be eroded].

Standing on this ground would cause chaos-type damage over time, but there was no need to worry about it. We haven't hunted Lord Floor here, and not a day has passed since he was summoned.

After today, the labyrinth will close, so we can simply ignore the rate of erosion.

At least, this was a positive factor. Although the Lord of the Floor was summoned out of nowhere, the clock struck 00:01. The 15th day has just begun. If we can survive the next 24 hours, we can go back to...

"Hey!" Help me!

Just as we were about to leave the place, a researcher ran up to us from afar. There were no comrades-in-arms, but I did not wonder why he was alone. The dozens of Chaos Spirits following him were an explanation enough.

"B-Bjorn?"

"What are you worried about?" Run.

Grabbing Misha's trembling wrist, I ran in the opposite direction from the man who asked for help. Because of this, we had to wander a little, but what can we do? It was better than attracting aggro.

"Agh, ah!"

Apparently, he was already at the limit. I turned to look back at the short scream and saw that the researcher had fallen.

"Help!"

Damn, our eyes met.

— B-Bjorn...?

"Don't look back.

I tugged at Mike's wrist and looked ahead again.

"No!" N-Don't go!

The cries of despair were drowned out by the sound of the wind in my ears. I muttered briefly to myself:

"Be strong. If it were the other way around, do you think he would stop for you?

"But! It's our fault that the 3rd floor has become like this!

Well, I had nothing to say to that.

Deuce...

I felt dirty, as if every aspect of my personality had been exposed. But it was only a fleeting feeling that could be experienced one day. We had to do what we had to do.

This should be enough.

After walking for some time to the south, we turned east again and set off. Throughout the forest, you could see the corroded earth and the bodies of the explorers. The more I saw them, the more I only looked forward and ran.

*Pop!*

This was after we had been moving for about an hour, tearing apart the Chaos Spirits that were following us. The forest was coming to an end, and a plain with an open view opened up before us.

I thought it would take at least 7 hours...

Were we really on the eastern edge of the forest? We left it much earlier than expected.

We were lucky.

Soon we quickly passed the plains and entered the Orc colony. How much time has passed since then?

"Now, now, that's it. Please calm down and follow the rules!

As expected, a large number of people gathered there.