Chapter 12: Arrows and Magic (7)
Once the damage rate exceeded 50%, the ruins began to collapse rapidly.
Even as they ran through the passage, pillars and walls cracked, pouring out dust.
“Be careful!”
Bow and Artier barely avoided the falling debris and continued running.
“Turn right here, then straight ahead!”
The silver lining was that they no longer needed to worry about traps or monsters.
The traps were all broken or destroyed, and the monsters guarding the paths were also panicking from the falling debris.
“There!”
Shortly after, Bow pointed somewhere.
One person was running toward them.
‘Coming this way?’
Soon, a man who looked completely out of his mind appeared.
“Ugh, uwaaah! Who the hell are you!”
[Lv.3 Troublemaker Tomb Raider (Low-Rank)]
As soon as the tomb raider saw Artier, he freaked out and threw something.
It was a bomb with a shortening fuse.
Pit!
But Artier immediately cut the flying bomb's fuse and rushed at the tomb raider, twisting his arm.
“Uwaaah!”
“Don’t you know the ruins are collapsing because of those bombs?”
If it weren’t for these guys, the quest would have been several times easier.
“There’s only one set of footprints. Where are the others?”
Bow glanced at the ground, drew an arrow, and aimed it at the guy’s neck.
“Hiik!”
Under the killing intent of a stronger opponent by a whopping 5 levels, the tomb raider broke out in cold sweat and couldn’t regain his senses.
“Answer. Where did they go?”
“G-God…….”
“God?”
“God’s wrath swallowed everyone……!”
The tomb raider glanced sideways at the path he had come from, unable to erase his anxious expression.
“We have to run! We have to escape!”
Boom!
“Aaah!”
“I didn’t ask about that.”
Bow’s expression was hidden by the fox mask. But the veins bulging on his forearm showed how angry he was.
“Answer only what’s asked. What is God’s wrath?”
“Uuuu……. God, God will swallow me.”
“Not answering?”
“I’m already done for. Hehe, ehehe…….”
“…….”
Unfocused eyes.
A smile like he had lost his mind.
It seemed impossible to have a proper conversation.
Thwack!
Instead of an arrow, Bow punched the tomb raider’s head and stood up.
“Nothing’s going right.”
“The lowest floor doesn’t seem far.”
Artier said while looking around. Probably just a bit further, and there would be the final reward room.
That’s when it happened.
“Krooooooo!”
A chilling roar that shook the entire ruins.
The roar didn’t resemble any beast, monster, or even Hellmorph, so Bow and Artier froze in place for a moment.
“What was that just now?”
“I don’t know either.”
As far as Artier remembered, there was no monster that roared like that.
‘What is it? A monster I don’t know about?'
In the meantime, Gerard and Jeina joined them.
They must have heard the roar too, as their expressions weren’t good.
“Let’s get out quickly. Something feels off.”
“No, the guy didn’t have what I’m looking for on him.”
Despite Gerard’s suggestion to leave, Bow ran forward.
“If you’re going back, go alone. I’m heading to the lowest floor.”
“Bow!”
And so, Bow ran ahead.
“What on earth is in these ruins that makes him act like that?”
“Let’s follow for now.”
Gerard looked at Artier.
“What? There?”
“At this point, escaping before the ruins collapse is impossible.”
[The ruins are collapsing!]
Remaining time: 15 minutes 28 seconds
‘It’s ambiguous.’
Even if they ran back through the shortcut now, it would take 20 minutes.
“Gerard, you have a return scroll, right?”
“I do, but…….”
“I’ll pay for the scroll, so if it gets dangerous later, use it to escape.”
“Sigh, alright.”
Thus, the party followed Bow deeper down.
Running through the dark passage, they saw a beautiful door adorned with gold leaf wide open ahead.
Artier, Gerard, and Jeina jumped inside the door.
“This is the lowest floor of the ruins…….”
The final room of the ruins wasn’t a treasure vault filled with golden light.
All around were bookshelves.
Like a library, the shelves standing everywhere were packed with old books.
“Huh? Isn’t that the stone tablet the client mentioned?”
Jeina pointed to a small stone tablet standing in the center.
“It seems so.”
“Great! I’ll make a rubbing!”
“But where did Bow go?”
Artier looked around.
There hadn’t been any forks on the way here, so Bow should definitely be here.
“Bow?”
Artier quickly picked up visible items nearby and searched between the bookshelves, but he wasn’t there.
“Gerard, shall we look for Bow?”
“…….”
“Gerard?”
Artier turned around.
Gerard, who had been watching the situation from behind just moments ago, had disappeared.
‘What?'
Artier drew his sword and stayed alert all around.
Belatedly, he recalled the chilling roar they had heard before entering.
“Jeina!”
“Huh? What?”
Artier hurriedly returned to Jeina’s side and stayed vigilant.
“Gerard disappeared.”
“What?”
Only then did Jeina put down the cloth she was pressing and pick up her axe.
“Did you sense any presence?”
“No, but I was just talking to Gerard moments ago. He just shut up to focus on the rubbing.”
“In that short time?”
Gerard and Bow were high-rank mercenaries.
Though Gerard’s actual attack means were currently only the basic magic Mana Bullet, his years of accumulated experience and danger detection abilities hadn’t vanished.
‘A veteran’s experience doesn’t disappear easily.’
It meant a stealthy ambush that even they couldn’t notice.
“Be careful, Jeina. Don’t stray from my side.”
Artier placed his non-sword hand on the ground and pushed mana into the earth.
Then, the mana spread across the floor in all directions.
[Using skill]
Detection (Basic Magic): Identifies heterogeneous elements within the range touched by mana.
Detection magic belonging to basic magic.
But it was used more than most attack skills.
Because it was a skill applicable in most situations, like item farming, enemy detection, trap identification.
‘The reason ambushes or traps are hard in this game. Everyone and their dog uses this.’
Of course, it was a skill added for game convenience, but in terms of performance, it rivaled high-rank skills.
‘Alright, where are you!’
Artier closed his eyes and concentrated. Then, the surroundings began to look like they had a black-and-white filter.
The first thing he felt was Jeina right beside him. And sparkling lights between the numerous bookshelves. Probably items hidden in the final room of the ruins.
‘There must be an enemy somewhere?’
Artier concentrated again, searching the entire room for life signs excluding himself and Jeina.
“……Nothing?”
But shortly after opening his eyes, only a despairing word came from Artier’s mouth.
“What do you mean?”
“Nothing. Not to mention life forms nearby, I can’t even sense Gerard or Bow.”
“That can’t be?!”
It hadn’t taken long from when Artier detected the anomaly to using detection magic. Escaping the space in that time was impossible.
“Were they forcibly teleported?”
“But teleportation is magic too, so traces would remain?”
“…….”
None of her words were wrong.
Even a top-tier mage couldn’t completely erase mana traces from teleportation.
“There are about two possibilities.”
“What are they?”
“First, if my detection magic isn’t perfect.”
Artier hadn’t learned basic magic long ago.
But Artier was using the skill based on memories and experiences from playing the game.
In fact, there was no feeling of the skill failing or being blocked.
“And the second is…….”
The detection skill’s range was only about 2.5m up and down.
Artier looked up at the ceiling.
He realized now that the ceiling was extremely high. To the point where the light from the luminaries didn’t reach.
“They physically escaped my detection range quickly.”
Thup.
At that moment, a sound was heard.
A very faint and small sound that he wouldn’t have heard if his nerves weren’t on edge like now.
Artier turned his head. And there…….
“!”
He saw Jeina’s entire body bound by something like a long tongue. Jeina was instantly pulled up into the air.
“Jeina!”
Artier immediately kicked off the nearby wall and jumped up.
Whoosh!
But Artier’s sword only sliced through the empty air where Jeina had disappeared.
And right after, another monster sprang out and flew toward Artier.
‘Fast!’
A speed far beyond human reaction time.
In the blink of an eye, monsters surrounded Artier from all sides.
‘I can’t block them normally.’
Artier’s eyes flashed as he aimed his sword.
Kagagak!
And with abnormal speed, he instantly parried all the monsters’ attacks.
‘Good thing I learned this skill.’
[Perfect Counter (Lv.1)]
Grade: Hidden
Effect: Slows time around you excluding yourself for 0.75 seconds, and counterattacks during the duration deal 100% additional damage. This effect activates only when attempting a counter.
A hidden skill obtainable from the Tin Guardian’s gem.
It was a skill that gave wings to Artier, who mainly used parrying.
Kagagak!
‘Stone? Not living beings?’
Confirming the sparks, Artier’s sword moved over five times in an instant.
The monster moved in all directions to exploit blind spots, but it was meaningless.
[Perfect Counter activates!]
Artier’s sword had already altered the monster’s path and slashed through its long body.
“What are these guys……?”
Artier kicked the severed monster away.
Surprisingly, the monster’s body, which had made a stone-like sound when struck with the sword, no longer had that hardness.
‘No info pops up, and no rewards. Maybe not monsters?’
Crunch!
“Ugh?”
While looking at the monster stuck in the ground, Artier suddenly felt a sensation tightening his body and a feeling of strength draining from his whole body.
‘Got me!’
Completely subdued and unable to move, Artier began to ascend at a tremendous speed that made it hard to breathe.