TM-Chapter 34

The Wizard’s Super Save (2)

Next to me is the corpse of a middle-aged monk with half his hair fallen out.

And I have a pair of magic wands.

In front…

“Damn it, really.”

The earthen wall had already disappeared, and the Cumulonimbus cloud was gone too.

The ground had become muddy from being soaked with water, and in front of the collapsed sanctuary, an enormous number of Sentinels began rushing toward us.

“C-Caleb…”

Yernil’s voice trembled with fear as she nocked an arrow.

“Do you have a plan?”

Backstab gritted his teeth and stood to my right.

“I’m going to retrieve that urn.”

“Then I’ll…!”

“No! Stay still! Save your skills and just stay still!”

Just retrieving the urn wouldn’t be enough. Because Aimus had necrosis throughout his entire body, including his heart.

Even if Soul Preservation had been cast on him, his body condition had deteriorated beyond saving. That couldn’t be resurrected. So what to do?

[Turn-Based Hourglass Cooldown: 13 seconds]

I had to endure these 13 seconds first.

Earlier it was okay because we were holed up on the roof… Would this work?

“Dust Explosion.”

I pulled out magic spells indiscriminately.

“Lightning Shock!”

Pabapang!

Yernil also shot arrows.

Kwajik!

Backstab threw a magic throwing knife.

But this wouldn’t be enough.

There were hundreds of Sentinels rushing from the front, while our attacks had only managed to take down a few at most.

[Turn-Based Hourglass Cooldown: 9 seconds]

Time flies!

‘Should I go out and come back?’

No.

That would be a bad move. The Manager is smart. He must have noticed what I’m aiming for.

He would know that I might come back in. He’d probably station Sentinels in front of the gate and wait.

If I went out and came back, I’d die immediately.

I had to finish it here.

“Throw this!”

I handed the bomb to Backstab. It was something the canine beastman thief had been carrying.

It was the most powerful weapon we had, but…

Kwaaang!

At most, it only blew away about ten Sentinels.

The enemies were swarming right up to our noses.

Backstab gripped his dagger in reverse and jumped forward. A thief taking the front line because we had no tank – this was a real mess.

Should we retreat?

“Caleb!”

Someone else jumped in from beyond the gate.

“You go to the temple and tell Nataniel!”

It was the first time that talkative paladin had ever been this welcome.

“I can’t let you die before you receive your share!”

“I can’t believe I’m entering this place again!”

The Halfling crossbow user appeared with a tearful expression.

“The earthen wall is on cooldown. Can I use any magic?”

The dwarf wizard joined in too.

“Come out! Thief brat!”

And the barbarian jumped into the front line.

[Turn-Based Hourglass Cooldown: 7 seconds]

***

It was a gamble.

In a game, I wouldn’t hesitate about this decision.

Because it’s still early on, and if the game crashed, I could just restart.

But now I had to bet my own life.

This was insane.

Think rationally.

Wasn’t it right not to go in?

It was true that I saw a way to save brother monk. But the feasibility was too slim.

But…

[Turn-Based Hourglass Cooldown: 2 seconds]

Still, those three kids were almost at the level of national heroes.

I had seen the face of that child’s mother who came to see off the monk.

How could I return to that person with Aimus’s corpse?

Can you imagine what expression she’d make?

Do you have the courage to face that?

Whether it turns out to be porridge or rice, I had to pull it off.

[Turn-Based Hourglass Cooldown: 1 second]

Why did retired Aimus come on this dangerous journey again?

Because he had been the party leader.

Backstab’s party leader.

Of course, by the time Backstab was possessed by madness, he had already expelled him.

But we all knew.

In human psychology, there are things that bind you beyond such contractual documents.

The reason I jumped in here was also that kind of reason.

[Turn-Based Hourglass Available]

Let’s admit it.

With Yernil back then, and now too.

Sometimes I’m not cold-hearted enough.

***

“Backstab!”

I gave instructions like a machine gun.

“Use Leap Ambush on the Manager!”

I know all four of your skills. You tried to tear my throat with those skills.

Of course, you can’t kill the Manager. But that’s okay. The goal is to get behind the Manager.

“Then use ‘Theft’ to steal his staff!”

You also instantly snatched the healing potion from my belt. This time, steal a weapon with that skill!

“Then come back with Shadow Leap!”

I fed you a cooldown reduction potion to restore Shadow Leap.

The problem was that Theft had a high failure rate.

It would be easy to steal from a squishy wizard like me after subduing him, but it would be difficult against a boss mob like that.

But that was okay too. Because…

“Yernil! Prepare a lightning arrow!”

I had bought Yernil plenty of special arrows.

Trust us, Backstab.

[It is your turn. Time remaining: 60 seconds]

[Action Points ■■■■]

***

Sally’s magic wand Telekinesis contained telekinetic power.

Magic telekinetic force is at a pathetic level of physical strength.

To the extent that it couldn’t even remove a single backpack stuck to spider webs.

That’s how it was in the Venomic Spider boss battle.

Despite casting magic and pulling with all my might, that backpack couldn’t follow the wand and remained tied to the spider web, didn’t it?

What telekinetic force could manipulate was at most the level of untying Yernil’s hair tie.

Or moving an urn that was rolling around in enemy territory, not yet broken, with green light inside.

“Move.”

The hourglass’s beginner skill, ‘Direction Controller’, had no action point cost for moving wands.

Telekinetic force was an instant magic like Lightning Shock.

If I activated telekinetic force during the hourglass turn to grasp the target, and moved the wand.

Dalgerak.

The urn floated up.

Slowly over 60 seconds. As carefully as possible.

Bringing the urn this way.

[It is your turn. Time remaining: 52 seconds]

[Action Points ■■■□]

The action point that just disappeared wasn’t because I ‘cast’ telekinetic force.

Telekinetic force had no casting cost.

Instead, action points were continuously consumed while manipulating.

Well.

If lifting Yernil’s hair tie and lifting a 1-kilogram urn had the same cost, that wouldn’t be reasonable either.

It’s like this in the game too.

When using telekinetic force, the magic casting doesn’t end with clicking on the target. You have to input additional manipulation to proceed.

While consuming action points according to the degree of that manipulation.

[It is your turn. Time remaining: 27 seconds]

[Action Points ■■□□]

Slowly. And carefully.

There was still room in action points.

I had to bring it within four squares.

I could do it.

It was already halfway here.

“Now, Yernil. Shoot the Manager with a lightning arrow.”

So Backstab could steal the staff.

[It is your turn. Time remaining: 10 seconds]

[Action Points ■□□□]

Aimus.

I will never let you die.

Do you know how it’s judged when an allied character positioned next to a party member who’s about to be attacked in-game protects them?

Super Save!

That’s what appears.

Aimus.

You Super Saved our party several times, and now it’s my turn.

[All action points have been exhausted.]

[Ending turn.]

[The hourglass has been flipped again. Cooldown: 60 seconds]

I held the urn in my arms.

This is a wizard’s Super Save.

***

Pung!

A special arrow with magic current wrapped around it using a scroll as a medium hit the Manager of Rest.

A high-level boss like the Manager should normally resist electrocution.

However, that monster was also in a ‘wet’ state right now.

“Keureureureureurk!“

Strange sounds came from the boss’s throat and his legs gave out as he collapsed with a thud.

Kwajik!

At the same time, Backstab’s dagger scratched the back of the Manager’s neck.

Not much damage went in, but what mattered was that Backstab moved to that position.

‘Theft.’

Against the Manager neutralized by electrocution, even Backstab’s skill, much lower level, worked.

The giant magic staff, which was a wand to him but a staff to us, teleported into Backstab’s arms.

And Shadow Leap again.

“That’s enough now! Let’s go back!”

With Bernard and the barbarian desperately blocking enemies in front, and Halfling Remus and Austin shooting crossbows and magic from behind.

Leading the entire party, carrying Aimus’s corpse.

We jumped back into the gate.

***

“Huk… Huk…“

This is really fucking exhausting.

More exhausting than winter training when I was in the army.

“Just in case I’m asking, but no one has any weird fatal injuries or curses, right? If you do, tell me now, damn it!”

“Uh, no!”

“I’m fine! Just scratched a little.”

“I’m okay!”

After catching my breath briefly with answers coming from all directions.

With gratitude toward Sally for being so generous.

[Raise Up Dead Body Scroll]

I took out Sally’s necromancy scroll.

Why did she have something like this?

Seeing that her party member was a puppeteer, that raiding group probably used disguised monsters when hunting 1st floor third-raters.

As if battle dolls and undead were monsters.

They’d make them charge at third-rate parties, then approach saying they’d rescue them and annihilate them.

Obviously.

Anyway, thank you.

“Rise up, Aimus!”

I turned Aimus into undead.

You can’t die yet.

How precious is a strong monk.

And then.

“Undead Restoration.”

I cast undead-exclusive healing magic with that bastard Manager’s staff.

Restoring Aimus’s necrotic heart and tissues.

Having to use such an insane method because we don’t have a high-tier priest.

Even I think it’s ridiculous, but it’s still better than dying.

Right, Aimus?

“Undead Eternal Rest Scroll.”

I had one more besides the one I used on Backstab.

These things are cheap, so Professor Isilof packed an extra one for backup.

“Now I’ll use this to put Aimus to eternal rest, then revive him again like Backstab.”

“But…”

Bernard said.

“Don’t we not have a resurrection scroll?”

A reasonable point.

Resurrection scrolls, unlike Undead Eternal Rest and such, are incredibly expensive, and their quantity is strictly managed by temples.

I received one for this project, and Bernard received one for his mission, but we used both.

On Backstab and Austin.

And urns break the moment you take them outside the labyrinth.

So getting new resurrection scrolls from the temple would be difficult.

But labyrinths always provide what adventurers need most.

Specifically, the labyrinth’s treasure room.

[Compass of Greed]

I took out that artifact and gauged the direction the beeping signal was pointing.

The place we were at wasn’t far from the treasure room.

How about it, Yernil?

Indeed, it’s best to go to the treasure room last, right?

***

Paladin Bernard’s party followed Caleb’s party.

Caleb himself said it wasn’t necessary, but he wanted to further protect that genius wizard who had lost his front line.

That mysterious wizard had a legendary artifact.

A compass that found treasure rooms hidden in labyrinths.

He said it was an item he received as support from Professor Meldini.

‘I see.’

Bernard felt like he understood something now.

Just as he had heard from high-ranking temple priests about how to get down to the 1.5 floor, Caleb had also received support from Magic University professors.

Information about the Manager of Rest, the location of reliquaries.

The compass.

Magic University and temples had a friendly but competitive relationship.

Perhaps Magic University knew much more about inter-floor spaces.

But such things didn’t matter anymore.

What Caleb had accomplished now wasn’t a matter of knowledge or information level.

‘Really…’

Bernard’s shock had now passed a critical point.

‘I can’t see the end.’

Where exactly was the limit of this wizard? Did it make sense that someone who was hit by a 3rd-grade necromancy curse and died could be saved like this?

The battle and escape method at the sanctuary.

Not only had he succeeded in retreating while fighting an impossible battle against much stronger enemies, but he had also completed his own mission and even had the leisure to revive the dead Austin.

And on top of that, he even…

“What… What is this.”

He had even saved Aimus.

“How… Did this happen…”

By throwing his body directly back into the inter-floor space.

Risking his own life and retrieving his soul and means of recovery from hell.

‘Shocking.’

Bernard felt, as a fellow adventurer, like he was looking at some kind of enormous wall.

Although he was such a young and small wizard, he seemed larger than even barbarians.

“Haah.“

Caleb crouched in front of Aimus and rested his tired head on his knees.

“Return the pendant yourself.”