Chapter 88: Five Stars 3
TL/Editor: Raei
Schedule: 5/Week Wed-Sun
Illustrations: Posted in discord.
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The orc boss seemed more useful dead than alive.
Though capturing it alive would grant a larger reward, the key factor here was the gateway to the 20th floor.
The sooner the expedition to the higher floors of the Tower is shortened, the easier it will be for adventurers to explore the tower.
If the mages divert their attention from creating a gateway to conducting random experiments, if the kingdom were to take the orc that violated the royal forest as a hostage, if the temple were to purify the orc that tainted the blessed land
What if, due to their greed for greater rewards, the gate to the 20th floor is never created?
"Damn it, this bastard."
"Hey, I said I'm sorry."
"You son of a"
It's for this reason I killed the orc boss.
While Rebecca and Han Se-ah were in conversation, I reflected the enraged orc boss's wide-ranging magic attack right back at him.
The malevolent energy swirling in the air met my shield and instantaneously rebounded, ripping its caster apart.
...Can I really reflect any projectile with this shield, even instant-kill abilities?
Regardless, the aftermath was the orc boss sprawled on the ground and a sulking Rebecca with pouting lips.
She nudged her plump lips forward and started to lightly punch me, muttering complaints.
-She's adorable, but a boss would die if they took those hits
-It's as if the sound file got corrupted, lol. Brutal
-Aren't those just light taps? Why is the armor clanging like that?
-This takes me back to my school days
-That must really hurt.
Considering a punch from a 43rd-floor adventurer can bring down a mutant orc in a single blow, it's no wonder every punch makes me wobble.
My body sways left, right, forward, and backward with each of her punches.
This was entirely my fault, so I quietly took the hits.
There was no pain, but my head did feel a bit dizzy.
Rebecca had been waiting for my party members to join before negotiating, but instead, the last hit ended up stolen.
Any adventurer or mercenary would be furious in such a situation.
If she's just giving light taps for that, then I'm really the one in the wrong.
'Has she become kinder since getting the appearance buff?'
To the onlookers, her light taps might seem cute, but to me, it felt like being on the receiving end of a mace.
From Rebecca's point of view, it would feel like a guy she's known for a decade just backstabbed her for the reward.
Saying it was an accidental counterattack probably wouldn't help...
Such an excuse wouldn't cut it.
While her punches appear gentle and cute, they can crush not just a human skull but even those of mutated orcs as easily as a ripe persimmon.
Still, she seemed less upset than expected, her fists not targeting any weak spots.
"This bastard, I was waiting to share. You just gobbled it all up."
"I, I thought it could withstand a hit."
"You were just playing with your shield down there. Forgot how to even touch the enemy, huh? Quite impressive, aren't ya?"
Although it's somewhat ridiculous, Rebecca isn't mad because I stole the last hit and potentially the reward.
She's mad because I killed the mutated orc boss in one hit.
In other words, she's upset because she didn't get to relish the kill.
The steady, echoing sounds of our footsteps, punctuated by the occasional 'clang clang clang', slightly startle the others.
This tense atmosphere stayed as we made our way out from within the pyramid-shaped altar.
"Ugh, that chatterbox old man. I bet he'll blabber about everything later."
Near the end of the dark hallway, at the entrance leading to the top of the pyramid, Rebecca, who seemed to have sensed something, slapped the shield one last time and hurried away.
Despite being a close-combat warrior, does she possess a scout's level of perception?
We all just stood there, dumbfounded, watching her hurried retreat into the woods.
Soon after, Antenor, floating mid-air, approached our group as we descended the pyramid.
Isn't this like escaping a fox only to face a tiger?
His face was pale, drained from extensive magic usage, but his eyes, wide and fervent, glowed with excitement.
To put it kindly, he looked like an ardent scholar.
Less kindly, like a madman with his eyes rolled back.
"I was about to go in after regaining my strength, but you guys are already out, what a pity! What was inside?"
'Regaining strength,' my foot.
He was probably too focused on studying every nook and cranny of the pyramids base to even consider entering.
No mage in this world can resist the allure of the unknown.
Of course, voicing these thoughts would only lead to him incessantly sharing all he knows.
If it's to face Rebecca's wrath, I should lay flat and let it wash over me, but in the case of Antenor, I should share what I know as quickly as possible and bolt.
Once a conversation starts and information begins to flow, the chatter could well extend over a day.
"Inside, there was an orc chieftain who could use peculiar spells. He seemed to know spatial magic since he could summon mutant orc warriors and shamans."
"Huh, an orc summoning orcs. What about the loot...?"
"Hanna? Can you pull out the items from the inventory?"
Lucky for us, the boss monster dropped quite a bit of loot.
Unlike the Full Moon Wolf buried in the dirt, these items lay sprawled on a flat stone floor.
The subordinate monsters simply vanished into smoke, leaving nothing behind.
The most striking piece among the Orc Chieftain's loot was the large, feathered headdress he had been wearing.
There were also various other trinkets: a necklace so long it might hang down to one's belly, and a beaded bracelet that would wind from the wrist all the way up the arm.
Antenor's eyes lit up at the sight of the loot and the mana stones popping out of the inventory.
I could tell he was torn between discussing the spoils or the inventory first.
"Old man, you remember our deal, right?"
"Of course. Creating a gate on the 20th floor sounds fun."
"Creating a gate is fun... Okay, but the gate comes first."
So, I threw out the discussion of the gate like a piece of meat to distract the hungry beast.
I really didn't want to sit through a lecture on how a stone pyramid came to be in the forest.
Han Se-ah even handed me the loot and positioned herself behind me, as if she didn't want to be within Antenor's direct line of sight.
Of course, Antenor didn't seem bothered by Han Se-ah's behavior.
He was just keenly examining the loot in his hand.
He had seen the inventory last time, but this was his first time looking at the loot of an Orc Chieftain.
It was clearly his top priority.
Seeing him like this made me anxious, compelling me to say one more thing.
"I hope you're not planning to delay the gate because you found something fascinating. Please make the gate first and then you can play around with these items."
"Haha, you worry too much. I can easily whip up a gate!"
'That's the problem. If you start other experiments because it's easy, who knows how many weeks you'll be sidetracked.'
Suppressing my rising frustration, I gulped down my impatience.
Even though we're close, I should remain patient for now.
After all, Antenor isnt the type to neglect a request.
The priority right now is to head to the guild.
He's beginning to get restless, frequently shifting his gaze from the loot to Han Se-ah.
-Wow, wow, wow, his mouth is starting to run
-Is Han Se-ah enjoying this? Is she betraying her viewers?
-If we could go back in time, I would have given Han Se-ah a mission to change her class to a warrior
-If you want to skip the mage talk, you have to pay up haha
"Everyone, just shut it for a moment. I'm super nervous right now... I wish I could just faint and be carried all the way to the base. No, I'd rather be dragged all the way than return to the lab."
It seems I wasnt the only one who noticed her uneasy demeanor, as murmurs started to rise from behind.
I mean, if even the great Rebecca stormed off in fear, that says it all.
Everyone seems to feel similar to Han Se-ah.
Kaiden had experienced it once with Rebecca's Mercenaries, while the others had been caught up in it with Han Se-ah in the safe zone.
Although I'm not the party's leader, as a senior adventurer guiding the group, I felt a responsibility to protect our party members, who had now become intermediate adventurers.
It's not about protecting the group from monsters but about shielding them from the eccentric mage's mental attacks, befitting of a tank's role.
"By the way, if you go down beneath that altar, there's a tunnel that seemed wider than the altar itself. It looks like they've dug deep into the ground and done some extensive construction."
"Orcs did not just erect the altar, but also undertook excavation and civil engineering...? Hm, understood. We'll just have a quick look around and then proceed immediately with the gate creation."
By 'a quick look' according to that old man, he means 'summoning all my apprentices and thoroughly inspecting the inside which will roughly take a week.'
But it can't be helped.
I do feel a tad guilty for Antenor's apprentices, but they weren't coerced into their positions.
So, using Antenor's apprentices as our sacrificial lambs, we safely made our way to the 20th floor's passage.
Antenor took the loot, though we kept the magic stone of the Orc Boss, and he'll likely divvy it up with Charlotte back at his lab later.
Rebecca, having vented her frustration on my back and my thighs, would surely return to the 43rd floor.
If we hand over this magic stone to the guild and report to the Knights Division, then the quest should be complete, right?
[Help streamer 'Han Se-ah' clear the main quest 0/1]
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