READ NOVEL ONLINE Chapter 15
Chapter 15
The adventurers were in shock after the unexpected death of the thief Blet. But the bigger problem was that they faced a trial that made Blet’s death seem insignificant.
“I’m hungry…”
“Shh, forest troll…”
“We have to run…”
They knew the identity and the countermeasure of the monster. But their legs wouldn’t move.
They felt like they had to say something, so the warrior Garek muttered.
“What about Blet?”
“He’s dead. Leave him. His corpse might distract them.”
The old archer’s judgment was accurate.
He rummaged through the thief’s belongings and took something out.
“When I count to three, jump back. I left some marks. If you fall behind, I’ll leave you. If you survive, find the marks and get out.”
He was meticulous and cold.
If this place was a normal dungeon, his plan would have worked perfectly.
“One… two… three!”
Boom!
The smoke bomb exploded and the smoke scattered in the forest. At that moment, they saw the adventurers running away through the gaps in the smoke.
Roar!
Roar!
“Grrrrr!”
The forest troll chased them with a furious posture. The ground shook with every step.
“Aaaah!”
“Run! Don’t look back!”
Crack!
The forest troll stepped on Blet’s corpse and paused for a moment, then ran again.
Troa was worried about the fast pursuit.
Should he signal them to split up?
But that would be the same as telling the mage and the priest to die.
He had to find the marks.
First, find the marks…
“Damn it.”
“Troa?”
“I can’t see the marks.”
“What do you mean…”
“What do you mean!”
The marks were gone.
The marks carved on the trees, the marks carved on the rocks.
Even the stakes he had driven in.
All gone.
Or was it that the marks had disappeared?
“This scenery… I’ve never seen it before.”
“What?”
“I’ve never seen this scenery before.”
Troa’s words were like a declaration.
There was no luck of finding the exit in a short time.
They had to survive.
First, they had to survive.
They all had the same thought.
And the way to do that was…
“Let’s live to see!”
“Damn it! Troa!”
“Just survive somehow.”
What if they had fought the forest troll? Maybe three of them would have died and one would have lived.
Instead, they chose to run and sacrifice one to save three.
The party lost its cohesion and scattered.
When the camp collapsed in the dungeon, the ones who were targeted were the priest and the mage who had weak steps.
The rear guards.
“Huff… huff…”
“Let’s… let’s go together!”
“I don’t want to die… I don’t want to die…”
The mage Remi and the priest Sylon paired up and fell behind.
“Grrrr…”
The forest troll’s face appeared, breaking the trees. They felt an overwhelming fear from that grotesque face, and their legs lost strength.
“Ugh…”
“Remi! Grab my hand!”
“My, my legs…”
The forest troll was close.
The mage Remi pulled the priest Sylon’s hand and got up.
And then, she poured magic into their clasped hands and paralyzed Sylon.
“Wha?”
“I’m sorry… I’m sorry, Sylon.”
“You… liar…”
Sylon cursed with his trembling body.
“You snake-like bitch!”
“Die for me. I’m sorry! I’ll pay you back if I live.”
“Damn you! Me…”
The scream faded away.
Remi ran with all her strength.
Squelch…
Splat…
The horrible smell of blood and the sound that Sylon left chased Remi closely.
“Huff… huff…”
“Remi! Over here!”
A cave.
A cave.
Troa and Garek gestured.
“Over here! Hurry!”
“Hurry up! The thing is behind you!”
“Huff… huff…”
Rooooar!
Crash!
The forest troll appeared with a loud noise.
“Grab my hand!”
Boom!
Three people ran into the cave.
The party was now only three.
“What about Sylon?”
“…”
“…Yeah.”
Troa spat at the giant pupil that stared at the cave.
“Spit! We’ll be trapped here until he leaves.”
“Sob… sob… What did I do wrong…”
“Remi, pull yourself together. We’re alive for now.”
Garek asked Troa.
“What happened? The marks…”
“They moved.”
“…The marks?”
“The forest.”
“You’re kidding, right?”
“No, it’s possible.”
“How is that possible? I’ve never heard of…”
He stopped talking.
He remembered the legendary being that could move the forest.
“Black…fairy?”
“Probably. There’s nothing else.”
“That’s…impossible. Weren’t they extinct?”
“Who knows? I only know what I’ve seen and learned.”
“If it’s a black fairy…”
Remi hugged her knees and muttered.
“Seven Sins…”
“…Remi.”
“We stepped into the territory of the Seven Sins… We did. It doesn’t make sense otherwise…”
Troa added.
“Remi might be right.”
“Troa!”
“But we don’t need to be scared. We’re not here to fight the Seven Sins.”
“Then do you have a way?”
“Let’s think about it when the sun rises. Rest for now.”
It was already late, and they had to rest until the forest troll left.
“The inside of the cave…”
“Reconnaissance is impossible for now. We need to wait for the thing outside to leave. We need to set up a sentinel stone and avoid making any noise.”
“Yeah, we’ll be fine if we’re quiet.”
The mage Remi said sarcastically, but soon fell into a deep sleep.
It was hard to resist the sleepiness after the tension was gone.
…Come on-!
Beep beep beep-!
Crack-!
It was a strange dream.
He heard the alarm of the sentinel stone and something breaking in his dream. He opened his eyes to the unpleasant noise.
He realized that the noise was Garek’s head being smashed.
“Gal…rek?”
Krrrrr…
Krrr…
In the darkness of the cave, he saw glowing eyes and an axe dripping with blood.
“Oh, orc… orc…”
She couldn’t handle two mature orcs by herself. She needed Troa by her side…
Rustle…
Remi looked at the entrance of the cave.
It was Troa.
Troa was the most experienced person in the party, and he quickly assessed the situation.
He left his seat for a moment to check the forest troll’s surveillance, and an accident happened.
The only ones left were Remi and Troa.
They couldn’t handle two orcs in a narrow cave like this.
At that moment, Remi and Troa’s eyes met.
“…”
Boom-!
Troa ran away as soon as he met Remi’s eyes.
“No, no! Take me with you!”
The mage was a burden when the party was broken.
Troa decided that and left Remi behind.
“Don’t, don’t come! Don’t…”
Crack-!
“Huff… huff…”
Troa was tired too.
A lone archer was powerless.
But he could try to escape.
He ran and ran.
The scenery kept changing.
As much as he ran, no, more than that, there were changes.
But it felt a little strange.
The scenery changed very fast.
‘…Am I running that fast?’
That was impossible.
If he had that skill, he wouldn’t be in this trouble.
Then…
Woody.
“…Oh my god.”
Dudududu…
Even though he stopped, the scenery changed.
The forest kept changing its appearance.
The trees moved, the old paths were cut off and new ones appeared.
“Haha…”
The forest moved.
He knew it, but seeing it was different.
He couldn’t express his feelings with a hollow laugh.
A woman with copper skin stood on the path made by the trees moving to both sides.
She had pointed ears and emerald eyes.
She was a black fairy, only left in legend.
Death sentence.
“Can I ask you one thing?”
Nod…
“Is this the land of the Seven Sins?”
The black fairy queen looked at Troa with curiosity and shook her head.
“Please leave.”
“Wait…”
Pshuuuuuk-!
A sharp branch pierced Troa’s throat.
Squeak-!
His head floated.
[Soon, Chapter 1-1 Newbie Adventurers will end.]
[The dungeon defense mission is over.]
[Mission result: Troa and 5 others dead]
[You get the intruder’s belongings as a reward for the dungeon defense mission.]
[You get 2,000 magic stones from the intruder’s belongings.]
[You get the Calhail Great Forest Pass from the intruder’s belongings.]
[Intelligence activity is open.]
* * *
Tap…
Tap…
The black fairy queen came to me with Troa’s head.
“As you ordered, I did it.”
Nod.
Ariel stepped aside.
One of the things I wanted to get from episode 1-1 was confidence.
‘This squad is not bad.’
Four-star and five-star.
Their power was important, but the adventurer party was smashed without even fighting properly.
‘I wanted to see more of Ariel’s power.’
Ariel’s combat power was on the weak side among the five-star line. But she had a high recruitment rate because of her bizarre trait that covered the whole battlefield.
‘The changing terrain of the forest… It was definitely scary.’
I hope the next adventurers who come here are a little stronger.
“Mori.”
The doppelganger Mori came to my call.
“Yes.”
“Disguise yourself.”
“Who do you mean? That old corpse?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm… Okay.”
Squish…
Mori transformed into the dead Troa.
“Spit… The blood-stained equipment might be a bit noticeable.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Then.”
“We leave here tomorrow morning.”
“Who… me…”
“Three. Me and Bill and Mori.”
“…Hehe, it’ll be fun. Where to?”
Tomorrow will be the most exciting day since I came here.
“Riudira.”
“Where is that?”
“A human village.”
“Hoo…”
Lucifer intervened.
“Faust, I want to go with you…”
“Stop. I’ve already decided.”
“But…”
“Lucifer, you stay here and guard the dungeon.”
She bit her lip slightly.
The expression change was very brief.
“I understand.”
After finishing the meeting and leaving the seat, I thought about what would happen tomorrow.
‘Thanks to the intelligence activity, I have an excuse to leave.’
Intelligence activity was a feature that was already updated when Lemegeton opened, and it automatically opened when the first episode was finished.
This feature was created to make the users feel the Lemegeton world more huge and three-dimensional.
‘I’ll do some other activities as well.’
Tomorrow, I’ll go outside for the first time since I came to the dungeon.
* * *
“Yawn…”
“What’s with this guy’s yawn…”
“My hangover won’t go away. Ugh… Did I drink too much?”
“Be at peace.”
The two village guards chatted and bickered.
They looked at the direction where three adventurers appeared.
It was the direction of the great forest.
“Hmm? You…”
“Haha…”
“Has it been ten days? Since we left here.”
“Something like that. Anyway, we decided to stop by the village since we wasted our time. We have some things to supply.”
Swish…
The guard looked at the two next to Troa. Only humans could pass through the village.
Fortunately, they didn’t have black hair or black pupils. They didn’t look like much of a threat to the village.
“Who are these two? I’ve never seen them before.”
“They’re herb collectors, but they got lost on the way. I took a personal request to escort them to the village.”
“Hmm… Do you have a pass?”
They exchanged passes.
They were the belongings of the dead Remi and Blet.
“…Okay. Pass!”