TW-Chapter 8

Exit Room (2)

That scene was like an inverted carpet bombing. Four lightning bolts shooting up into the sky struck the ceiling one after another, causing explosions.

Burning spider webs and rotten wooden ceiling board fragments.

The cascade of debris pouring down looked like a waterfall made of fire.

“What the hell is this······.”

“How did four shots go off at once······.”

“Was I the only one who couldn’t hear the incantation?”

Even the dwarf party trio froze momentarily at that shocking scene.

“And the destructive power is incredible, too!”

Of course it would be. Sure, I might be a bit lower level than the dwarf party, but instead, I put all my points into wisdom.

In terms of damage output, it’s quite effective even on the 2nd floor.

Let alone firing four shots at once······.

“Gaaaahhh!”

The Venomic Spider was screaming as it plummeted down.

Not to be outdone by that scream, I shouted with all my might.

“Everyone snap out of it!”

The Venomic Spider falls from the ceiling when it takes a major hit that reduces its health by more than 1/3 in one go.

From experience, you need to deal burst damage during this opportunity to increase your chances of winning.

So now is not the time to be standing around gawking!

Thwip!

The first to react was, surprisingly, Yernil.

That talented one intercepted the falling spider with an arrow in mid-air. Her accuracy was definitely worth applauding, but.

‘Like a toothpick.’

Goblin bows and arrows can’t deal meaningful damage to a Venomic Spider.

“Yernil doesn’t need to fight, so wait over there.”

I pointed toward the oak barrel and gave her instructions.

Now, the spider that had fallen to the ground was writhing and struggling while making horrible sounds.

The center of the exit room floor.

The flames attached to the monster’s body spread in all directions.

“Priest!”

I also shouted to the priest.

“Magic barrier!”

“Ah, understood.”

Now it was the dwarf and beastman’s turn.

“Rush in as soon as the barrier is up! Before it regains its senses!”

“Rookie! Don’t give orders! I know what to do!”

The beastman snapped back angrily, seeming hurt in his pride.

“Under the goddess’s palm!”

The priest’s incantation erupted.

A bluish barrier enveloped everyone’s bodies.

“His personality’s a bit like that. This guy.”

The dwarf pointed at the beastman and chuckled, then shouldered his axe and charged forward.

The beastman’s body also turned into mist, and he went through the flames – the ‘Leap Ambush’ skill.

And seeing the stimulated Yernil also trying to run toward the oak barrel.

“Wait!”

I quickly grabbed her.

The area around the oak barrel hadn’t caught fire yet, so the direct path was completely filled with spider webs.

“But the barrier!”

Yernil pointed to her own body and jumped up and down.

She was so urgent that she communicated with single words like a five-year-old, but I understood what she meant.

She meant we should break through the spider webs while we have the barrier, right? If we miss this timing, will the barrier disappear?

But Yernil. That barrier blocks burns, but can’t block spider webs.

So….

“Step on this to go, Yernil!”

Right in the middle of the straight line between Yernil and the oak barrel, I threw my backpack onto the spider webs.

A perfect stepping stone.

Thud!

As Yernil hopped over like a deer, stepping on the backpack, I immediately switched wands. To the fanatic’s wand.

“Move with invisible hands.”

I lift the backpack that had fulfilled its role with telekinesis. Since it’s my most precious possession right now, I can’t leave it in the flames.

But.

‘As expected, it won’t come off.’

Like stretching cheese sticks, dozens of spider web strands from the floor stuck to the backpack.

But that’s fine. I just need to keep pulling like this with my telekinetic grip. When the fire spreads, it’ll break off on its own like cheese snapping.

That’s taken care of….

‘I need to pay attention over there.’

The dwarf and beastman were trading blows and pummeling the spider.

Now it’s about time.

Of course, there’s no health bar like in the game, so I don’t know exactly how much health the spider has left, but I can roughly estimate.

Crack!

One of the spider’s largest legs was severed by the beastman’s cutting skill.

“It’s going to explode!”

At the same time, the fluorescent poison sac in the spider’s abdomen began to swell.

“Constellation Shield!”

The priest summoned a shield in front of the dwarf and beastman as if she’d been waiting, and both men crouched down, pressing their bodies against the shield.

‘The dwarf party knew this pattern too.’

The Venomic Spider casts a poison sac explosion when its health drops below 30%.

Usually, that’s the standard response, but there’s a better way.

“Ice Spike!”

What’s inside the poison sac is liquid, and when an Ice Spike is embedded, it freezes.

Of course, the exit boss is high level so it might resist the freezing status effect, but right now it’s on fire and surrounded and getting beaten up, so there should be a penalty to its resistance.

“Kiiiek!”

A strange moan rippled from the convulsing monster.

White frost settled on the poison sac where the ice was embedded. The swelling stopped and began to contract.

Got it!

“It’s not exploding! Come out!”

The priest’s eyes widened, not knowing about this method.

And I….

“Come out quickly!”

Shit, this is frustrating.

The poison sac won’t explode! You crazy bastards!

“But….”

The beastman and dwarf were still cowering behind the shield. Since this was their first time in such a situation, they couldn’t be sure whether the poison sac would explode or not, so they were acting like this.

This is maddening.

If this had been a turn-based battle where I controlled everything, it would have been over already.

If I give them more time, the spider will shoot its web to the ceiling and escape by climbing it.

It’ll be annoying if we miss it.

[Turn-based Hourglass cooldown: 14 seconds]

The hourglass still had 14 seconds left.

The telekinetic wand is being used on the backpack, so that won’t work. Ice Spike is on cooldown. Should I put this away and use Fireball? But if the spider tries to escape with its web, I’ll need to use Fireball then to burn it down and make it fall. It’s better to save it for now, after all. Then if I use Lightning Shock? What if it escapes while I’m switching wands?

This is really frustrating.

“The poison sac won’t explode! Attack! Please!”

Then someone attacked. Yernil did.

Thwip! A toothpick-like Goblin arrow flew over and stuck into the spider’s side.

“Not Yernil!”

“Eek! I’m sorry!”

No. There’s nothing to be sorry about.

Anyway, you dwarf and beastman bastards like Olympic Boulevard during rush hour!

“Get out there and hit it, please!”

“Hup!”

Whether he heard me cursing internally, the dwarf finally mustered courage and jumped out.

The way he raised his axe reminded me of a skill I knew.

Axe technique 2nd grade skill. Log Splitting.

Crack!

What split was the chitin shell instead of logs?

A small moan flowed from the monster.

And the sound of tissue and endoskeleton being crushed.

Body fluid spurting out, legs going limp.

“We…..”

The dwarf’s face brightened.

“Got it! It’s over!”

….Seeing him say such things, he really doesn’t know much about spiders.

***

“Wh-what’s that! Look over there!”

The beastman who had been approaching the spider’s corpse suddenly pointed at the ceiling and screamed.

Feline beastmen have ‘Night Vision’ as a basic racial trait. He witnessed the scene unfolding in the dark shadows high up on the ceiling.

“What is it?”

The dwarf couldn’t see it.

“What’s there?”

The human priest couldn’t see it either.

Of course, since I’m human too, I can’t see it either, but I know what it is.

Venomic Spider boss battle phase 2.

Hundreds of egg sacs are hatching, and baby spiders are pouring out.

But don’t worry. There’s someone else besides the beastman who can grasp the situation.

The Sound Mapping talent.

The toothpick firing specialist.

“U-uh…..”

Yernil trembled at the horrible scene unfolding on the ceiling.

“Yernil! Roll the oak barrel this way! With all your strength!”

Behind her was an oak barrel filled with explosives.

I placed you there to use it here.

“Hup!”

Yernil quickly toppled the oak barrel and pushed it with all her might.

The flames on the floor had already burned through all the spider webs and self-extinguished by this point. The oak barrel rolled across the floor covered with soot and ash until it.

“You want me to throw it?”

Stopped at the dwarf’s feet.

“Yes!”

“But I can’t see the location.”

The dwarf said as he shouldered the oak barrel.

“Over there! Over there!”

The beastman pointed at the ceiling and jumped up and down.

“Even if you tell me like that, I can’t…..”

“Priest! Weapon Light on Yernil!”

“So it shines even in darkness.”

The priest quickly chanted the incantation. Then Yernil’s arrowhead began to sparkle. Yernil understood exactly what I was trying to make her do.

“Mark the direction!”

The glowing Goblin arrow flew toward the ceiling.

The dwarf tracked its trajectory and swung his arm like a shot put athlete.

“Hup!”

The arrow chased the spider swarm gathering in front of the egg sacs.

The oak barrel chased the arrow.

I aimed the Fireball wand in that direction.

[It’s your turn.]

[Action Points: ■■■■]

I used a bit of a cheat.

I’m not a genius archer like Yernil, who can intercept flying objects in mid-air.

“Fireball.”

“Fireball.”

“Fireball.”

This time I only shot three, fine-tuning the direction.

***

After the massive explosion, the corpses of burned baby spiders and oak barrel fragments poured down like volcanic ash.

“Silent casting and ultra-high-speed casting again…..”

The priest had a dazed expression.

“Success.”

Well-cooked baby spider corpses crackled like crackers under the dwarf’s feet.

I picked up the backpack I had barely rescued with telekinesis during the battle and slung it over my shoulder.

‘Ugh, frustrating. It’s easy but frustrating!’

Ambivalent feelings arise simultaneously.

When catching bosses with a slave team in the game, you have to do all sorts of crazy things, but catching it with a skilled party was definitely easier.

The frustrating part?

‘These bastards don’t listen to orders at all!’

Of course, I understand. If I were the dwarf or beastman, I wouldn’t have listened to a slave wizard’s orders either.

But in the game, I controlled everything comfortably in turn-based mode, and now that I can only move my one body in reality, honestly, it’s infuriating.

When the dwarf and beastman were cowering behind the shield, I really wanted to smack them hard on the back of the head.

If the spider had gone to the ceiling, I don’t know what would have happened to this battle. You bastards. It would have hidden on the ceiling, recovered health, and hatched baby spider eggs too.

“Hey, rookie, what exactly are you?”

The beastman, unaware of others’ inner thoughts, was deeply moved.

“How did you stop the poison sac explosion?”

“If you embed an Ice Spike in the poison sac, it freezes and won’t explode.”

“I thought you were trying to blow that up and kill us all by shooting magic at the poison sac!”

“Ah. I didn’t think of that. If that had happened, the gate would have been ours.”

When I played along with the joke, the beastman raised both hands.

“Ha. You got me there.”

He patted my shoulder with a much softer expression.

“Sorry for yelling earlier. Someone like you is qualified to give orders.”

“I’m honestly impressed.”

The dwarf came running over with an entranced expression and hugged me tightly.

“What exactly did you use to do?”

I just smiled bitterly.

I don’t know what I used to do either.

“I’m just a Magic University slave.”

“Ha, you don’t want to talk about it, I guess. That’s understandable. Who doesn’t have a story?”

My story is clicking the new game button while scratching my thigh in my underwear.

“Hey, look at this!”

The beastman rogue pulled out a magic stone from inside the Venomic Spider’s corpse and held it up high.

An E-grade about the size of a palm.

“The sale proceeds will be distributed to you two at a 40% rate in addition to the 9,500 gold.”

The dwarf said as he pocketed the magic stone.

“Thank you.”

“But I really didn’t think we’d catch this without anyone dying.”

He said as if amazed.

“To be honest, I agreed to that contract thinking you two would die.”

“······.”

Yernil’s expression became haggard, but I had roughly expected this.

Probably the beastman and priest had also considered that possibility.

The contents of our contract were ‘not to harm each other’, not ‘to protect each other’. They had no obligation to necessarily protect us from the exit boss.

The possibility of a slave wizard and archer without proper armor dying in the chaos was quite high, and probably this unreasonable extortion fee was partly for that reason too.

“Did you calculate that far and charge such a high amount?”

The dwarf asked, smacking his lips.

“I did consider it.”

Additionally, the thought that we had to protect our own bodies followed.

To be honest, it was rather unexpected that the priest also put a magic barrier on us.

After the Fireball, I thought we’d just be left alone.

“Still, I think it was worth the money.”

“Right. This much is definite. But it’s not over yet.”

“I know.”

“What’s not over? The gate appeared, didn’t it? Now settle up with us.”

The priest explained to the beastman why it wasn’t over.

“Settlement is done in the village.”

Yernil’s eyes widened as if she realized something had gone wrong.

“The village….?”

Right now, only those three can return to the village, can’t they?

“The contract condition was for our party to ‘cross the exit gate’. The contract isn’t completed until then.”

The priest said to her like driving a nail.

“B-but the exit gate appeared now, right? We just need to cross it, right?”

“Correct. However, contracts must be followed precisely. The contract is completed only when all our party members arrive at the village. Settlement will be done there.”

“What if we can’t make it to the village….?”

“If either party is completely wiped out, the contract becomes void.”

“…..”

Yernil opened her mouth as if she’d misheard.

“Y-you calculated that far and made a contract with us…..!”

“I did consider it.”

The dwarf shrugged his shoulders, looking at me.

The possibility of a third-rate slave duo escaping the labyrinth on their own? Approach zero.

Yernil covered her mouth at the dwarf’s cunning.

“Did Caleb know?”

She asked me this time.

“Yes.”

“Really!?”

“It’s only natural.”

Naive Yernil.

Did you think earning 10,000 gold was easy?

We can’t receive money here.

Why?

Because adventurers carrying around 10,000 gold each aren’t common to begin with. Yernil has no sense of their economic capacity, so she seemed to think we could receive money now.

This is the general and cruel rule of high-value contracts made within labyrinths.

Settlement is naturally done in the village.

There’s no compensation for those who can’t return.

But conversely, since that ‘survival risk’ is also factored into the price, service costs within labyrinths can soar abnormally high like now.

“Ha. So that’s how it is?”

The beastman rogue, who seemed as naive as Yernil, grinned after grasping the situation.

Seeing that he didn’t know this, the beastman is also a labyrinth beginner.

“I did encourage us to do it, but I was honestly a bit surprised when our miser readily accepted 9,500. There was a reason?”

The beastman pointed at the dwarf with his chin and asked.

“I’m just diligently managing the party finances!”

The dwarf protested. The beastman patted my shoulder.

“Rookie. Make sure you survive and return to the village to get your money.”

“Yes.”

“Money is precious, of course, but now it would be more precious if a talent like you died. Come back and definitely beat our dwarf in the sucker-catching competition.”

“Yes. Place your bet on me.”

“I like your jokes too. I really like your style.”

The beastman thoroughly ruffled my hair.

“Well, shall we get going?”

The priest pointed to the exit gate.

Cross that and it’s the village.

Not for us, though.

“Wait a moment.”

I stopped the three of them.

I still had some deal with them.

“This backpack. It belongs to your colleague. Mr. Abisson.”