TW-Chapter 4

Magic University Slave Team

Hope is visible.

I too have become optimistic about survival.

This is because the combination of 10 Wisdom points and the Turn-based Hourglass was much better than I had thought.

Being able to always seize the initiative, and the fact that my destructive power could one-shot-one-kill most enemies on the first floor of the labyrinth, worked out surprisingly advantageously.

Do you remember the moment when I first burned two Goblins to death with Fireball?

At that time, my turn, which had one action point remaining, ended along with the Fireball incantation.

Then there are two possibilities.

First. Magic incantation consumes action points.

Second. Magic incantation consumes turns.

The answer was the first one, as expected.

[It is your turn.]

[Action Points: ■■■■]

“Fireball.”

[Action Points: ■■■□]

When I tried using Fireball again, the action points decreased by exactly one space.

With the Fireball held at the tip of the wand like dew, it was still my turn.

In the game too, all 1st grade magic consumed 1 action point, and if action points remained, the turn was maintained.

[It is your turn.]

Then can I use magic again in this state?

I can.

[Fireball Cooldown: 5 seconds]

As long as this cooldown passes.

The hourglass gives 60 seconds per turn, so after waiting 5 seconds out of that.

“Fireball.”

I activated the second Fireball.

‘It gets pushed out.’

The first Fireball moved about 10 centimeters forward toward the Goblin in front, and a new flame bloomed in the spot where it originally was, hanging at the tip of the wand.

[Action Points: ■■□□]

Action points were consumed by another space.

‘Theoretically, I could shoot four Fireballs in one turn.’

But realistically, I would rarely need to shoot up to four. This is because aiming also consumes action points.

When my neck was almost cut off by a Goblin’s sword at the beginning, I tried to block with my wand but gave up. This was because moving my arm just 3 centimeters would consume one action point.

Physical movement has extreme action point consumption.

That is, if two Goblins are quite far apart from each other like now, all my action points would be consumed just turning my wrist to adjust the tip of the wand.

Therefore…

“Ice Spike.”

I decided to hold a wand in my left hand too. The Fanatic’s own.

[Action Points: ■□□□]

This way, I could deploy magic to both Goblins and still have action points remaining.

Moving my body to end the turn.

[All action points have been consumed.]

[Ending turn.]

When time begins to flow, the suddenly summoned two fireballs and ice spike put on a magical show of fire and ice.

Bang! Boom!

Goblins whose shields flew away, burned up, and became skewered by ice.

The hourglass is the best.

***

“Caleb must have a rapid casting talent.”

Yernil said while picking up magic stones from the Goblins’ corpses.

“What’s that?”

I asked because I genuinely didn’t know. There was no such concept when playing the game.

“Rapid casting is when the delay time between casting one magic and the next is short. Very talented wizards sometimes do it unconsciously when they concentrate tremendously.”

“Is that so?”

“Plus, you seem to have the talent for chantless casting too. Usually, having just one of these talents puts you in the top 0.1 percent, but you have both simultaneously.”

“……”

I unintentionally became a talent prodigy. In fact, I had just dealt with them during my turn.

“That’s why dual wands suit Caleb well.”

According to her, dual wands are very difficult to handle, so only those called geniuses among wizards use this method.

Even with my knowledge, it’s not wrong. In the game too, there were almost no wizards who used dual wands.

Extremely rare even among NPCs, and nonexistent among players.

Why?

Because wizards are so fragile that the standard builds were wand+shield to secure defense, or holding a two-handed staff to have close combat response capability.

However, I experienced that limitation from Hell difficulty onward.

That’s why I developed the dual wand build. Double up on the critical hit increase and wisdom increase attached to wands to push attack power to the extreme.

Then you become the most fragile of the fragile, but you push through with the mindset of killing before getting hit.

It’s similar now that the game has become reality.

I have to use as much magic as possible in one turn and kill them all for me to survive.

That’s why I have no choice but to use dual wands.

“Um, by any chance… Can I use this shield?”

Yernil pointed to the Goblin shield.

She had no interest in the insane build like dual wands. She seemed to want to proceed more stably by holding a shield in one hand.

“No.”

However, the shield wasn’t suitable for her.

“Why, why not…?”

Yernil seemed a bit flustered by the unexpected answer.

The reason it won’t work is because Yernil’s strength is insufficient.

Even if she used a shield, if she got hit once, she likely wouldn’t be able to endure it and would get blown away along with the shield.

How did I know that?

‘Because it took her a long time to bring the oak barrel.’

Calculating that distance and time, when she brought the oak barrel, she was probably in what could be described in game terms as an ‘overweight’ state.

Therefore, her strength is less than 3 points.

Then what about her other stats?

Let me check this opportunity.

“Yernil. Try using Lightning Shock magic on the wall.”

Crackle!

The power of the lightning discharged from the wand was pathetic.

Her wisdom is at most 1-2 points. Maybe even 0 points.

Then what remains are agility, health, and dexterity.

“Yernil, can you try jumping?”

I asked a somewhat stupid-looking question.

“Jump? Of course I… Can. Jump.”

“As high as possible.”

“As high as possible…”

Yernil looked up at the ceiling.

“I don’t think it would work here?”

“?”

“The ceiling is too low. I think I’d hit my head…”

The ceiling height is about 3 meters.

She’d hit her head there with a sergeant jump?

Wait a minute.

“How many meters can you jump?”

“When I was in the Fairy Forest, when jumping onto trees, about… Hmm.”

She squinted and thought before answering.

“4 meters? Or so?”

That’s enough.

Strength less than 3 points, wisdom 1 point or less. Agility at least 5 points or more.

Then I’ll reposition her role.

“Yernil.”

I handed her the Goblin archer’s bow and arrows. It belongs to the Goblins who died from the ice spike.

“Try using this.”

Yernil tied the quiver strap to her shoulder and held the bow.

“Use this too.”

Then I also handed her the Goblin rogue’s dagger I had picked up earlier as a secondary weapon. Yernil tucked the dagger between her belt and pants.

Her appearance changed to look like a clumsy Ranger. This is a hundred times better than a wizard.

“I’ll use the Lightning Shock wand.”

I took the wand from her.

With this, I became a wand collector who had gathered all four wands from our party members.

If I collect just one more, I think I could transform into Thanos and do a finger snap.

While tucking the wand into my belt, Yernil said.

“Actually, I’m more comfortable with a bow too.”

Yernil said.

“Really?”

“I used it occasionally in the Fairy Forest.”

So that’s why she readily accepted the bow and dagger I provided.

Then why did she say she’d hold a shield at first?

“Well… If I use weapons other than a wand, even if we escape, the Magic University thinks I’m useless and sells me to some strange place…”

“Wherever they sell you would be better than the labyrinth, wouldn’t it?”

“That’s true too. But there’s another reason.”

She said,

“What is it?”

“I don’t know well, but… Shouldn’t someone hold a shield? I heard tanks are essential in labyrinth exploration.”

How admirable, Yernil.

Confident in DPS and started as a wizard, but you’d personally tank?

“I thought I should buy time until Caleb shoots magic…”

“But we don’t need a tank right now.”

I rejected her self-sacrifice(?).

There are two main reasons.

One is that based on the labyrinth’s first floor, most field mobs are one-shot-one-kill for a wizard with 10 Wisdom points.

And the other is that the hourglass can cut off most surprise attacks and secure the initiative.

Of course, if attacked from behind it would be disastrous, but Yernil holding a shield wouldn’t be able to handle that either.

So it’s better to increase ranged attack power and suppress frontal enemies before they can close in.

“Let’s go.”

***

Other slave teams from the Magic University.

They are generally dangerous.

Since most of them were thrown into the labyrinth without any separate preparation, most die or give up within the first few hours. Just like how Yernil had slumped down.

After passing that period and reaching this point, usually only anger remains and they become vicious.

Moreover, they were originally criminals. Like how Yernil was a drug offender(?).

So they have no choice but to be dangerous.

Four and a half hours since entering the labyrinth’s first floor.

“……”

Yernil and I were facing off against one slave team.

The opponents were four human males.

Armed with wands given by the Magic University, Goblin swords and shields, and one had a bow.

We slowly moved in opposite directions while maintaining about 10 meters distance and staying alert.

Sweat formed on both hands gripping the wands.

If we aim weapons first, they might feel threatened and attack, so we kept them lowered, but didn’t relax the tension in our wrists. Ready to raise them at any time.

“Don’t take your eyes off them.”

Like the response method when encountering a beast while climbing a mountain, we stared at each other while slowly moving with sidesteps and backsteps.

As we moved sufficiently far apart, the wariness slowly relaxed.

The guys moving away kept glancing at us while continuing to whisper.

“Let’s go quickly.”

I wanted to distance ourselves from these guys.

And about 40 minutes after moving with Yernil.

“Caleb.”

Yernil called me. With a quite anxious expression.

“I think those men from earlier are following us.”

“What?”

“I can hear their footsteps. They seem to have changed direction midway. They’re pursuing us.”

“……”

I don’t hear anything at all.

Of course, this game has the setting that hearing differs according to agility stat differences, but it shouldn’t be to this extent, right?

“Yernil. Close your eyes.”

When she closed her eyes, I picked up three stones and threw them behind her.

Clatter!

“Can you tell how many stones fell?”

“Three?”

“……”

I’m certain.

Yernil has ‘Sound Mapping’ as a special ability. The ability to determine the location or movement of targets by hearing sounds.

Then her statement that the slave team seems to be following us is likely true.

Damn.

Those bastards did have a nasty feeling to them.

“If we get caught from behind while facing monsters, it’ll be really dangerous, so let’s resolve this and move on.”

I took Yernil back in the opposite direction.

“Follow me.”

I had spotted suitable terrain just ahead.

A spacious area about 10 meters wide and long with two large pillars.

The entrance path where enemies would chase and burst in had a floor dug out in a depression with water pooled in it.

The water level was just a small puddle about 20 centimeters deep.

“Wait until the enemies enter through there. Hide behind the pillar.”

I hid with Yernil and waited while lying in ambush.

Step, step.

Now their footsteps reached my ears too.

Yernil had an extremely tense expression, barely able to breathe properly. Honestly, I’d be similar.

‘They’re here.’

Eventually, the men appeared in the passage.

They hesitated briefly, then began entering while splashing through the water.

I quickly jumped out to match that timing.

“Stop!”

I shouted at the top of my lungs. I aimed both wands like twin pistols, and Yernil nocked an arrow to her bowstring.

The guys blocked the front with two shields while aiming bows and wands from behind.

“Why are you following us?”

Other slave teams usually act up because of food.

They try to kill other parties to steal the boiled potatoes the Magic University gave as rations.

But when I first saw them, their potato pouches at their sides were bulging. Then they wouldn’t risk their lives attacking other parties for food.

Just psychopathic murderers?

Not impossible, but if so, would they have lasted this long without killing each other?

Then there’s only one remaining possibility, surely not…

“You.”

The bald guy spoke from behind the shield.

“Hand over that Elf bitch.”

“…!”

Yernil was startled.

I knew this would happen.

Humans tend to seek comfort in primitive excitement when faced with extreme stress and despair.

Especially in a lawless, amoral labyrinth, especially if it’s not proper adventurers but criminal slave teams like these, it goes without saying.

“If you just hand over that woman, we’ll spare you.”

The bald guy made a threat.