Chapter 117

How to Catch a Monster

Thick dust rises up.

Gray smoke fills the view completely.

Cough! Cough!

The sound of Backstab coughing.

“Is everyone alright?”

Aimus looked around.

“Who would have thought the parasol would fly away.”

Honestly, I didn’t know it would have this much power either.

The destructive force is greater than the Corpse Explosion Scrolls I know?

It seems like what that guy pulls from his palm might not be ordinary scrolls.

Even in the game, scroll power was unrelated to the user’s stats and was influenced by the creator’s wisdom value. Of course, this was limited to items made by wizards in the city.

Scrolls produced in the labyrinth have no concept of a creator, so their power is also a random value.

However, there was still a predictable scale that followed some degree of normal distribution, but these Corpse Explosion Scrolls seem to be outside the range of that normal distribution curve.

‘Are White Lion’s scrolls made directly by the goddess of gifts and scrolls?’

That might be possible.

“I can’t see ahead well. Everyone stay alert!”

I shouted immediately.

White Lion wouldn’t be dead yet. How do I know when I can’t see? Because the annex’s structural transformation hasn’t been undone.

Swoosh!

I unrolled a scroll to try to see through the dust with the Watcher, but there was nothing visible inside.

“Damn.”

The Watcher got caught in the explosion and blew up.

Since I have the scroll, I can resummon it after some time passes, but I can’t use it right now.

“Ugh…”

Dalstream got up while holding his waist and making groaning sounds, as if he’d twisted it.

“How could mid-layer adventurers use such…”

He coughed several times.

“Such aggressive tactics… No, more than that, how did you handle the scrolls, Caleb? How did all the scrolls explode from that small blade fragment. Heh, well I’ll be.”

Then he seemed to remember something and looked startled.

“W-wait… Caleb. Has your party been… Fighting like this continuously in the labyrinth?”

The old professor’s eyes showed pupil earthquakes.

“It’s similar.”

Aimus answered instead.

Somehow, if it had been Isilof or Meldini, I would have gotten a lecture up to the third verse right now.

“That’s not what’s important. We need to find White Lion!”

I was nervous he might have escaped, but there was a reason Dalstream was relaxed.

“Don’t worry. I’ve captured and am watching him.”

Blue light glimmered in the old professor’s eyes.

Arcane Vision.

It’s something that Elf wizard NPCs occasionally come out with as a special ability.

With that ability, he can see through darkness, dust, or fog, so Dalstream seemed to have already found White Lion long ago.

He pointed his wand toward the deep interior where the dirt dust was settling.

Now I can see too.

Indeed.

‘His durability is insane.’

I knew he’d be alive, but to withstand it standing on two feet.

No. He’s really not an ordinary monster, is he?

“…Grrr…”

But White Lion also suffered serious critical injuries.

First, one arm was blown off.

The right arm he’d extended to grab the blade fragment was gone right below the shoulder.

And blood was gushing out from his entire body in amounts that seemed impossible. It felt miraculous that he could stand with that much blood loss.

The monster’s mane was dyed red.

“Haha!”

Suddenly Backstab burst into laughter.

“Hey! Did you get your hair dyed? Now you’ve become a Red Lion?”

“…”

“You know what you look like now? Those pink-dyed dogs that beauty salon ladies raise. You know what I mean?”

Backstab is tea-bagging!

“So when I threw the blade fragment, you tried to fetch it? Kya. Shit, can’t help that. That’s instinct encoded in your genes, right? Yeah~ But it was a bomb.”

“Cough.”

White Lion spat up a handful of blood.

“How exactly…”

He grabbed the wall and regulated his breathing.

“How exactly… How did you do it?”

While glaring at me as if to kill.

Honestly, it’s a bit scary.

“When you released the Spider Doctor… I knew you weren’t ordinary but… Cough.”

White Lion spat another handful of blood.

He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and panted.

“…”

“…”

Then a brief silence.

The tension was so sharp it felt like it would cut skin.

Dalstream stared at White Lion without even moving.

Aimus tensely gripped the bent iron rod.

Backstab was also acting tough, but instinctively seemed to sense it.

That victory was still hard to be certain of.

The reason is simple.

‘Dalstream’s Spirit Lake has been dispelled.’

The professor had changed the Spirit Lake into shield form at the end to create a buffer zone from the explosion’s blast pressure, and thanks to that we didn’t suffer any particular injuries, but that was it.

Since the professor’s own body was thrown backward, his concentration was eventually broken. Even if he had maintained concentration, the duration would probably have been up anyway.

So to summarize, the current situation is this:

An Archmage who can’t use 8th-tier magic plus three 4th-floor adventurers.

The opponent is a critically injured deep-layer boss-class, rogue-type monster.

The win rate would be about fifty-fifty?

Sigh.

Shit.

Shouldn’t other people be coming by now? Meldini, Isilof.

Magistrate sir. Chrome!

What is everyone doing?

***

“What are these bastards?”

Chrome pressed his forehead as if he had a headache.

“Did you guys just agree to go all out openly now?”

“You attacked our assembly leader first.”

‘Growling Chihuahua’ bared her cute teeth fiercely and tapped her wand on her palm.

“Was that cat bastard I was fighting your assembly head? I thought one side was a monster and the other was a wizard disguised with that as a motif. Were they the same person?”

“Don’t play dumb. You knew everything. We also know you talked about White Lion to your Black Dog comrades.”

“Right. Chrome. And you also spilled to the Magistrate several times, didn’t you? We know everything.”

Broccoli With Soy Sauce said.

“What are all these people? Chrome. Do you know them?”

The Magistrate tensely pointed his sword.

He seemed quite bewildered by the suddenly encountered wizard duo.

One was a tall, sturdy man, but instead of a face, he had broccoli attached to his head. With red sauce smeared on it.

And one was a woman of small stature, but instead of a face, she had a Chihuahua face hanging on her head. In a pose showing teeth and going grr!

“How many times did I tell you? There are rat bastards hiding in the university.”

Chrome got angry.

“You people! I don’t know what your identities are, but if you intend to interfere, I won’t let you off.”

Legal Officer Delpin shouted bravely.

“We’ll naturally interfere. White Lion is somewhat important to us too. But where did Nimue and Rococo go?”

The Chihuahua asked.

Nimue is a deep-layer wizard of the Frostian race, and Rococo is a former archbishop of the Sanfriel Temple, both Chrome’s party members.

“White Lion and you guys too, are you fans of those two? Why do you keep looking for them.”

“Just. Nimue is pretty! Kyaah!”

The Chihuahua acted cutely and charmingly.

“I wanted to fight Nimue if we were going to fight, not the disgusting green monster.”

“Crazy bastards and bitches. But did assembly rat bastards also stick to Meldini or Isilof’s side?”

“A few went.”

Broccoli nodded.

“Sorry, but we don’t have time.”

The Magistrate said.

“That explosion from earlier didn’t seem ordinary. If you’re going to interfere, I’ll execute you.”

***

Unfortunately, the arm White Lion lost was his right one, and the Scroll Gate is attached to his left hand.

Spit.

White Lion bit a scroll from his palm to his mouth and pulled it out.

To go that far because he has no hand, that guy is definitely at his limit now.

“What scroll is that?”

Dalstream said tensely.

“What do you think?”

White Lion smiled and pulled out another scroll.

Holding two scrolls in his hand.

The demon stares at us intently.

I can roughly guess what scrolls those are.

‘Designated Position Teleportation scrolls.’

That’s all it could be.

There are almost no spells that can instantly teleport Maria from the university to Guild Inn Branch 2.

At most, Dimensional Flash?

But Taoist magic is difficult to make into scrolls by nature, so it was probably Designated Position Teleportation magic.

Magic that designates a specific position and can instantly teleport to that point at any time.

For example, if you designated the Magic University lobby, you could always move there like a designated portal. The distance restriction is very generous, so you could even go to distant other cities, but there’s a fatal problem.

‘You can’t change the designated position.’

Since one magic slot corresponds to one specific position, actual magic demand is very low. Maybe only people who do business traveling between distant cities would use it.

But…

‘When you pull it as a scroll, you can designate the position as you want when you pull it?’

This time the inn branch 2.

Next time the Magic University.

Then Windham.

Then Plandor. Like this?

Sigh. Really, Scroll Doraemon is an overpowered ability. No. It’s not like he’s Hong Gil-dong either.

Because of that, I was convinced that it would be almost impossible for the professors to catch White Lion.

Unless you pour out fatal damage in one shot to kill him, if he just pulls out one scroll and escapes, you can’t catch him.

But there’s one question.

Why did he pull out two scrolls if he was going to run away?

“Honestly, I didn’t expect to be cornered this much.”

White Lion said.

“But still, I can’t fail.”

He has no intention of running away.

This guy’s tenacity is also insane.

Pop!

White Lion used Leap Ambush.

‘He’s coming!’

His target is still Dalstream.

If I know that, I can create an opening by landing a hit.

Thanks to that monster bleeding heavily, he’s in ‘wet’ condition.

“Superconductivity.”

I chant as if laying magic in advance. The moment White Lion’s figure disappears, reflexively.

I need to stun him.

Even if just for a moment. Please!

“…”

Damn.

It failed.

My level is too low.

***

That situation unfolded at tremendous speed in a very brief instant.

White Lion arrived behind Dalstream, and my Superconductivity hit but failed to cause electrocution.

And in the monster’s left hand were two scrolls.

One is for himself, and the other is to use on Dalstream.

He’s trying to take the professor to his hideout and kill him.

“…!”

Aimus and Backstab fought well so far, but couldn’t do more here.

Both had expressions of being unable to get their bearings from the sudden ambush.

It can’t be helped. This is the gap between mid-layer and deep-layer.

But.

‘Dalstream.’

The archmage’s skill was far more outstanding than I had thought.

I’m not the one protecting him.

Dalstream was protecting me.

‘Superconductivity.’

Dalstream also had exactly 100% the same thought as me, having laid magic in advance behind me.

That naturally missed.

But just before White Lion’s scroll touched Dalstream’s nape.

“Superconductivity.”

The old professor made a near-miraculous movement, twisting his wand’s direction by 90 degrees to land a hit on White Lion.

Really in the blink of an eye.

Crack!

A roar-like scream from the monster erupts. The deep-layer wizard’s Superconductivity was incomparably more intense than what I used, and the electrocuted White Lion’s body swayed.

It’s so unbelievable even seeing it with my eyes that I can’t believe it.

That’s possible without the hourglass gimmick?

No wait. Setting other things aside for now…

‘Where did the Superconductivity cooldown go?’

Various stories I’d heard since possessing come to mind.

Among wizards, those with tremendous talent occasionally, when in ultra-high concentration, unknowingly ignore the cooldown of magic chanting.

Weren’t there people like that even before I was possessed?

It’s an uncontrollable talent, a miracle that bursts at the extreme of a wizard’s concentration.

This is the first time I’ve actually seen it.

Not a hourglass fake, but the real thing.

‘Ultra-high-speed casting.’

Though he’s long past his prime and now retired from adventure, that peak master’s vast experience and tremendous wisdom created a reversal at the crucial moment.

Flutter flutter.

The two scrolls the monster dropped flew up in the air.

And I…

***

In the game, when you kill a Magic Tower Lord, they drop spirit fragments on the floor and disappear.

And the player must consume action points to remove those fragments.

Otherwise, the Magic Tower Lord returns from the fragments.

But if you remove those fragments, they can’t return. And the person who removed the fragments.

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

[Action Points: ■■]

The Killing Momentum special ability is applied.

I was already about to flip the hourglass anyway, but thanks to Dalstream beating him up alone, it became a bit easier.

Now I should use my final card too.

The thing I told Backstab to bring.

Let’s end this now.

White Lion.