[Translator: Dawn]
[Proofreader: Karane]
I got into the wagon heading for the De Munt castle west of Asparagan and gazed at the colorful landscape stretched out in the scene.
The cool, pleasant wind blowing on my face occasionally mixed with some stinging ones, making me close my eyes.
Inside the wagon, sitting on the opposite side, Sharan looked at the crystal ball and arrows alternately, trimming each arrowhead one by one, and putting something on it.
Realizing my gaze, she carefully looked at me and smiled.
"I did some research on 'Circuit Wiki' and it says that the Commuds are weak to poison, they're very sensitive to smells."
Next to her, Guile and Swordsman were also busy keeping a careful eye on me.
They were treated like MVPs by the information guild members and also received a mission of difficulty that they had never been on so I was able to partially understand their attitudes.
However, their attitude was a pain for me to deal with. I had no intentions to be rude nor carry them through the mission like I was carried back in Langeru against the dragon.
Rather, I had to learn from them who are used to 'raids' and 'parties' in games where players had to play tightly united.
"Do you know anything more about the Commuds?"
Sharan looked at me blank for a moment after hearing my question. Guile and Swordsman who were next to her were also looking at me.
"We are a party, right. If we don't work together, clearing this mission isn't going to happen."
I spoke in a calm tone looking at each one of them.
This was to remove any possibility for the party members to either rely on me or feel discouraged from me.
And they all looked at me in a serious manner, as if they sensed my intentions from my eyes.
Soon, Guile opened his mouth as he untangled the chain armor tangled around his body.
"I looked it up on the wiki and was able to retrieve some information that other players decided to share. Basically, they have scales all over their body like reptiles. More detailed information was being sold to the information guild so I wasn't able to get anything further than that."
He got up from his seat, called for his inventory, and pulled out a book. The title of the book was 'Mountain animals'.
"I like to collect books for a hobby."
He blushed shyly as he opened his book to show a page from it.
"And fortunately, I found some information about the Commuds in a book I happened to own."
On the page Guile showed me, there was a scaled lizard-like monster standing with its back rounded.
And there was something written beside the picture in beautiful handwriting. I read it down slowly.
"Commuds, It is a creature belonging to the family of deep mountain monsters, and basically lives in a herd. Up to a dozen or so animals are active in groups. As an aggressive and intelligent creature, it will even kill its own kind if it does not belong to the herd it lives with."
And at the moment,
< 'Commuds' has been added to the monster encyclopedia. >
Since it was the first time I had read a book in
Everyone knows how important books are, and they seemed to be considered very important even in this virtual reality game.
Sharan added some explanation after that.
"According to the wiki, a 'Wyvern' rank scale means that there are at least 500 individual animals that formed a herd."
Then, Swordsman opened his mouth while fiddling with the hilt of the sword that was worn around his waist.
"That would mean that there are 500 of those lizards living in a group, instead of the usual amount."
The shoulders of the party members trembled as if they were thinking of an overwhelming amount of the monsters.
When we first received the quest, we felt that the content of the quest was easy compared to the reward. 5500 gold was a huge amount of 550 million won when converted into cash, and it was a huge amount even in virtual reality.
However, after confirming the reality of this huge quest, Sharan, Guile, and Swordsman have now realized the true meaning and fear of the 5500 gold.
"There must be someone who rules over them."
Swordsman was a father who had a son that was in high school. In anticipation of the sharp insight that came from his age, we focused our attention on him.
In addition to the game sense and the physical abilities, in this virtual reality there required someone who could provide insight and foresight with years of experience.
Sharan, Guile, and I had to learn this through playing the game. However, that wasn't the case for Swordsman.
"Furthermore, if they are located in the deepest parts of the mine, it must be hard for them to breathe. It will get harder to breathe as we go down further."
Sharan was in charge of the party back when we had to defeat the troll, but this time, Swordsman was in charge due to his insights and charisma.
"Others are reluctant to do it, but I've worked in architecture before. For so long that my body becomes like a stone the moment I even touch a little bit of cement."
He turned to look at me with a cheeky smile on his face.
"But I was able to get to where I am today thanks to that, so if I can help, using every little knowledge I had, I'd be happy to do so."
Guile clapped his hand with the gauntlet once. After a short burst of 'clank', Guile started to speak in a busy manner.
"We have to assign roles to everyone. Sharan is the one and only ranged carry in our party, so she has to get the high ground on the map as soon as possible.
And if that poison really is effective, then it will be like being in a party with a mage that learned how to use AoE offensive magic."
"So you're saying that I'm going to be dealing damage this time?"
"You will take the role of a damage dealer and a scouter, so you can tell us where they're coming from."
"Alrighty."
Sharan nodded her head at Guile's directions. It didn't matter who was older or not in this situation.
We had 5500 gold on the line on this single quest, so every member had to trust each other in order to bring this mission to success.
"We will have to keep the crystal ball out of the inventory so we can communicate in real-time."
Swordsman brought his crystal ball out of the inventory.
"Roger that. I'm going to be supporting you all. The magics I've learned so far aren't really helpful when it comes to dealing damage, but they are quite useful when it comes to supporting people in combat."
"Alright, then. Guile is our support."
Swordsman nodded.
"Then I will stand by Mose's side guarding and supporting him."
I dropped my chin without realizing it after I heard Swordsman's words.
"What…"
Sharan, Guile, and Swordsman looked at me with eyes full of trust.
"Right decision."
Sharan nodded her head with her arms crossed, and Guile followed after to do the same.
"First off, Mose has an AoE heal so that will allow Mr.Swordsman to get a buff automatically, which will lead to him having an easier time protecting Mose."
Sharan raised her thick eyebrows and opened her mouth.
"At any rate, Mose, you are the core point of our party."
"We are much weaker compared to Mose, so we have to keep him in his best condition until we reach the center of the colony through support."
After Swordsman's words, Guile spoke up in a shy manner.
"This plan may seem like we're completely relying on you, and we are, but we are trying to follow the best plan we could think of. So please."
No, that's not it.
There was one thing wrong with what Guile just said.
"You're not quite completely relying on me. In other words, this operation wouldn't work without 'you all'. I am in your care. I'll try my best in this operation."
I made eye contact with my colleagues one by one. I am no more than just one of the party members who have been given a role, just like them.
Many hours have passed since we were having an eager discussion relating to the quest in the wagon.
***
Reaper Scans
[Translator – Dawn]
[Proofreader – Karane]
Join our Discord for updates on releases! https://discord.gg/reapercomics
***
Our discussion was put to a stop as soon as the wagon stopped moving. The driver with a wrinkly face got off the driver's seat and opened the door.
"We have arrived in De Munt Hill. The biggest scaled mines around here. I wish you the best of luck."
I got out of the wagon and couldn't keep my mouth shut at the scenery that unfolded in front of my eyes.
A huge building with a blue roof was shining like a jewel with colorful mosaic windows that I had only seen in cathedrals.
The building was built on the mid-slope of a huge mountain. The coachman pointed a finger somewhere.
"That is the entrance."
"Entrance…?"
At Guile's question,
"Yes. That is the entrance to the mine, also known as the 'Emerald Road'."
The coachman got back onto his seat as he answered. Then he tipped his hat at us for a farewell and slowly left off.
There was nothing else more to say. We moved out steps towards our destination. The traces of mining were evident at the entrance of the artificially cut mountain.
As we got closer to the building, a glass floor with a deepsea-like mysterious color began to appear on the floor.
As we entered the building, with a magnificent background sound,
A set of words appeared in my sight. From the ceiling, walls, and floor of the building, jewels in colors that seemed to hold nature itself are embedded in every direction. This place was like the cradle where all the jewels in the world are born.
Even without speaking to each other, we could tell that we were mesmerized by this superb view that almost felt sacred.
As we continued walking inside, there were no more walls, floors, or ceilings that glittered like jewels.
The solid entrance made with hardened gray sand was a tunnel drilled deep into the mountainside. On the pillar by the entrance was a sentence written in majestic handwriting.
[ The gifts of the underworld rise above the earth and cover our bodies. ]
We moved into the dark entrance and walked on as we pondered the words in our heads. Inside the mine, there was a musty smell of mold, the cold and strange wind blowing from inside, and the darkness getting thicker.
And amidst all that, Guile carefully pulled something out of his inventory.
"O, Bellica. Beyond the horizon of the world, the omnipotent God raises her head just in time for the time of promise. I shall use the fragments of your almighty light to defeat this darkness."
Guile's voice echoed around the place as if he was talking into a karaoke microphone. As soon as he finished his spell, an exploding light beamed out of his hand.
That light completely gnawed away the darkness that had encroached on us.
Then, I was able to find the cold gray bricks I had never seen before and the spiral staircase that went down without a single error.
"This is called the 'Shining stone'. I paid a good fortune for this thing."
Guile took the lead as he firmly grabbed the shining stone in his hand.
I was surprised at how calm and collected he was, compared to himself back when he was crawling with his butt against Black Mountain.
"Shorten your footsteps, keep your steps light and fresh. If you take steps too hard, it can cause dust. We don't know what kind of debuff this dust will give us."
Swordsman whispered from behind us. We headed down with tension doing as he said.
Eventually, as Swordsman had mentioned before, breathing started to become difficult. The unique damp smell of the basement was so intense that it felt like moss was growing inside my nose.
"I guess they weren't exaggerating when they said the 'biggest scale'."
Guile, who reached the end of the stairs, stopped us with a trembling voice. He then put the stone he was holding back into his inventory.
Contrary to my expectation as we lost the light source, it was actually quite bright enough for us to see with bare eyes.
The moment I saw the scenery over Guile's shoulders,
"Wow!"
I couldn't help but exclaim out loud.
As I entered the center of the jaws of the colossal stone building of the Colosseum, which was stacked like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, I couldn't get my mind straight, moving my head up and down.
"They must have fired something powerful to pierce through from the top of the mountain to create this. And they built a structure like this to serve as a support and kept going underground in order to dig for materials."
Swordsman looked down and opened his mouth.
"But now the owner has changed, right?"
Sharan nodded and ran her slightly sweaty hair behind her neck.
"Now then let's head down."
As soon as Swordsman finished speaking, Sharan flashed her eyes like a cat and pointed her finger at a certain place.
"There's a staircase there."
As we were about to move cautiously,
We were as stiff as children caught in a prank. We were not able to nor were we allowed to make any noise whatsoever.
And that was because,
We could hear something from down below.
It was small.
But there were a lot of them.
Although noisy,
Yet quiet.
This was when we realized,
The ones causing that noise are the enemies we had to face.
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