Chapter 222. Seven Rooms (4)
—You change so much by the situation.
Chi-Woo’s eyes widened. What was Philip going on about now?
Philip muttered like he was talking to himself.
—In desperate situations, you pull yourself out of trouble by mustering all you can and more and somehow manage to survive. But in situations that are actually doable, you try to crawl back to safety because one thing you tried doesn’t work.
—I really can’t predict what you will do.
Philip shook his head while tsking.
—Don’t I always tell you?
Philip pointed at the battle that was ongoing.
—Think. Observe carefully and make your own judgments. What do you think is going on?
Chi-Woo wordlessly moved his mouth and thought, ‘They seem to be even…’
—Really? Look at them more closely, especially that guy named Dalgil.
With Philip’s hint, Chi-Woo soon realized what Philip was trying to tell him. Unlike his usual self, Dalgil was swinging his club with one hand, and his left arm seemed to hang loosely by his side. Chi-Woo recalled how Dalgil had been struck by the tentacle when he opened the door. The situation appeared different from then on. Dalgil had stopped advancing and became completely preoccupied with defending. Ru Amuh tried to aim for openings, but the monster played on Dalgil’s weaknesses and strengthened its guard against Ru Amuh. There would only be openings if Dalgil pulled the monster’s attention away; the situation was progressing in the opposite direction.
Flick! Simultaneously, a tentacle struck at the team members from the back.
“Watch out!” Although Ru Hiana managed to hurriedly parry the tentacle away, her face darkened. The hit made it clear that the monster had the ease to attack the other team members while dealing with both Ru Amuh and Dalgil. In other words, they were at a disadvantage, and their situation was worsening by the moment.
‘I see.’ Chi-Woo nodded after hearing Philip’s explanation. This was what it meant to read the situation.
—Okay, how about you look at your surroundings?
In preparation for another attack that could suddenly fly in their direction, Ru Hiana was on high alert. Hawa threw daggers at the monster from time to time, but eventually ran out of them and was left standing while gnawing her lip. Bogle also stood around not knowing what to do and helplessly clutched onto his staff.
—Those two are at a disadvantage. Somebody needs to quickly jump in to help them. The only one among the four who can—
Philip twirled around and pointed at Chi-Woo.
‘But Captain Dalgil told us not to step in rashly—”
—Ah yes, he did say that rather than doing something as crazy as running at a golem unprepared, you should just stay put.
Philip shrugged and continued.
—Then, instead of acting rashly, you should think before you act.
‘About what…?’
—Think carefully. That buhguhbu already told you the answer before. Remember what he said about how an expedition team was one body? You should trust the team more and rely on them.
“!” A flash of realization passed through Chi-Woo’s eyes. Yes, there was no reason for him to personally kill this monster. Thus, the next moment, Chi-Woo suddenly jumped out. Hawa was about to reluctantly follow him, but stopped when she saw what he was doing, and Ru Hiana swallowed what she was going to shout at him; instead of running straight to the monster, Chi-Woo was running diagonally.
The fleshy monster instantly realized that another person had joined the battle and shot the four tentacles it had held back for situations like this. Pop!
Then it became shocked when it saw its tentacles burst as Chi-Woo widely swung a shining club. Though the tentacles immediately regenerated, the monster sensed a great amount of mana that it couldn’t ignore. It quickly assessed that this wasn’t an enemy it could underestimate and flung out all its remaining tentacles. And as the number of tentacles flying his way increased to six or seven, Chi-Woo swung his club faster. The tentacles poked, stirred, and moved all over the place. As Chi-Woo fervently fought them, he was filled with admiration for Ru Amuh for dealing with twenty tentacles by himself.
Chi-Woo didn’t know what would happen if he let a tentacle hit him just once, but he didn’t back away. Exorcism mana wasn’t the only weapon under his belt. Synesthesia was another cheat-like skill he’d acquired through sharing, and his senses told him when and where the next tentacles he couldn’t see would attack. Thus, Chi-Woo was able to strike and blow away the monster’s tentacles and advance slightly forward.
The monster seemed to be caught off guard. It was getting pushed back even though it had used all the resources and powers it could, and it appeared that its enemies would soon reach its main body at this rate. It could focus all its tentacles on one opponent, but that would create an opening to the others. Its metaphorical hands were tied. Like how Chi-Woo had been forced to act when the golem aimed for Bogle, they were forcing the monster to make a decision this time.
A short while after, Chi-Woo felt the senses caught by his synesthesia disappear. The tentacles attacking him were quickly withdrawing, and his path became clear.
‘It’s giving up on me?’ This was an opportunity. Chi-Woo poured exorcism mana into his ghost-busting club and ran forward. And this time, he felt his extrasensory perception tingle instead of synesthesia.
Slick!
Tentacles poured out everywhere like a fountain. It was an attack the monster made by withdrawing even the tentacles striking Dalgil and Ru Amuh. Although his brain rang frantically, Chi-Woo remained calm and remembered what Philip had told him. He needed to think. If he had rushed forward at this opportunity, he would’ve been struck by the attack without achieving much. But this time, he had anticipated that this opening might be a trap and immediately backed away. With a one-second difference, the tentacle missed him and meaninglessly struck the ground.
Chi-Woo rushed forward again and struck the tentacles that were backing away, destroying a considerable number of them. This was the result of reading his opponent’s actions beforehand. Thus, the monster hesitated for a moment even though its tentacles had regenerated again, and Chi-Woo’s companions didn’t miss their chance.
Kieeeeeeh! The monster’s screams rang across the room. Ru Amuh and Dalgil had seized the moment of weakness to strike a blow at the monster. It didn’t die then; its flesh was unexpectedly strong even though Ru Amuh was aiming to rip it to shreds with strong winds. Writhing in pain, the monster was about to quickly flick Ru Amuh away when—! Bam! With a loud explosion, the monster’s main body turned into tiny pieces of remains and scattered everywhere. Dalgil had struck the monster while its focus was on Ru Amuh. The restlessly moving tentacles stiffened and limply fell to the ground. The monster was finally defeated. Dalgil closed his eyes, and Ru Amuh let out the breath he had been holding in. It had indeed been a tricky battle.
Chi-Woo looked at the scene a little bit in disbelief. The battle that had been dragging on suddenly met its end, so easily with another person’s participation. This was the result of someone who usually took the role of the main attacker taking a support role.
—How is it?
Philip said while smiling.
—Do you get it now?
Philip noticed that Chi-Woo had been the main attacker in many of their battles. When he clashed with great demons, people around him matched his moves and supported him. But in this expedition team, the situation was completely different. Chi-Woo couldn’t be the main attacker inside the Narsha Haram unless their enemy was someone from the Demon Empire. This meant he needed to act as a support. Since it was different from everything he had done up until now, Chi-Woo received quite a shock; but with a little push, he was able to show results. And although he was a support, he played a pivotal role for the two main fighters to truly display their powers. In some ways, he was the key to this victory.
Philip said proudly.
—See. Look at you, man. You do well when you think.
Philip ruffled Chi-Woo’s hair. Though there was no real contact, Chi-Woo smiled slightly in reaction. For some reason, his head felt clearer now.
“You covered my share. Thank you. I was actually reaching my limit, but thanks to you, I was able to take a breather,” Dalgil said and added, “By the way, your movements were very swift. How can you evade so well even though you are a priest? It’s surprising.”
Chi-Woo smiled. Dalgil had firmly made up his mind that Chi-Woo was a priest. There was nothing holding him down anymore. Chi-Woo thought he got a sense of what to do now. The desperation he had felt in the beginning and forgotten after he improved his powers seemed to be coming back to him.
While Dalgil clearly wanted to ask more about Chi-Woo’s movements, he couldn’t when Bogle made a fuss about checking his left arm. Like Philip had guessed, the monster had inflicted Dalgil with an internal injury the moment he opened the door.
“It seems it took away your muscles.” Like Bogle said, the tentacles sucked away the muscles in Dalgil’s left arm so that he could only swing his club with one hand. Bogle was worried since they couldn’t bring back muscles that had once been lost, but Dalgil remained strong.
“I can swing my weapon with one hand, and I can always train my muscles again.”
Everyone got their equipment and got ready to leave again. Although someone mentioned looking through the monster’s corpse, the idea was shot down. It didn’t seem like there would be anything worthwhile, and even if there was, nobody wanted to search inside the mess of flesh. Thus, after the expedition team finished their preparations, they opened the door leading to the second compartment.
***
The second compartment was a maze filled with traps. When Dalgil passed through one part of the ground, a floor tile suddenly disappeared. Hawa almost fell because of that, but thanks to her swiftness, she succeeded in escaping it. Chi-Woo saw Hawa’s face as she got caught, and surprisingly, it had been emotionless even while falling. Hawa proceeded to explain that she learned about traps during her assassination training in her youth.
Next, the walls on both sides suddenly narrowed in. Dalgil quickly swung his club around and halted the walls until everyone escaped. If he hadn’t done that, they would’ve all been crushed to a pulp. And after resuming their march with a heavy heart, the expedition team finally reached the second door. It was a white door as before, but they couldn’t find any symbols on it. The expedition team took a deep breath and opened it. They didn’t see any monsters inside, but a long, rectangular altar.
“…A long sword?” As Dalgil said, they saw a sword on the altar. At a glance, it looked like an ordinary, simple sword. But upon closer inspection, it was clearly not the case. After Bogle checked that there was nothing that could harm them, Dalgil carefully approached it and grabbed the sword. Even Dalgil, a member of the buhguhbu tribe—often called the masters of blacksmiths—thought it was a formidable and unusual weapon. The swords were clean and fresh like they had just been taken out of a forge, and its blade radiated an indescribable holy energy. When he placed his hand on it, he felt a light breeze flowing out. But Dalgil hadn’t even been an apprentice blacksmith since he had focused on his pursuit as a warrior. He handed the sword to another for inspection.
Bogle, with all sorts of miscellaneous knowledge at his disposal, studied the sword carefully and said, “I think it’s a magic sword.”
“A magic sword?”
“Yes. I don’t feel holy magic, but there seems to be an everlasting magic cast onto it. We will have to seek a mage to get the exact details…”
“If that’s true, this is amazing.”
The expedition team had struck a gold mine. They didn’t know the exact worth of this sword, but the fact that it was a magical weapon raised its value by at least tens of thousands of royals. If there are other good abilities added to it, its price would only rise further. Dalgil took back the sword from Bogle and nodded, but suddenly, a question came to his head. Why were the gods giving them equipment during a test?
“I think God Mamiya may have arranged this for us.” Bogle gave his opinion. “Although this is the Narsha Haram, it’s different from the one in the mythical times. God Mamiya made a bet with God Miho then, but that’s not the case right now.” Since Dalgil came to this place to undergo a test from Mamiya, Bogle claimed that it was only natural for this Narsha Haram to differ from the one in the past.
“Even though this is the first floor, it’s the Narsha Haram we are talking about. This sword may be given to us to prepare us for the next room, or to reward us for all the suffering we have faced to come here.”
Dalgil nodded, but then his face stiffened again. Perhaps this was also a test in itself. For the expedition team that had been working hard to advance together, a treasure dropped out of the blue. It might have been different if seven treasures had dropped so that they could all share, but with one treasure, only one person could get it. It was a great trigger to stir up trouble. Greed existed not only among heroes, but all races. Though all Dalgil needed was a token, others might not feel the same. Thus, Dalgil was a bit anxious about the situation. After organizing his thoughts, he handed the longsword to Ru Amuh.
“I think it is best for you to use this sword,” Dalgil said while glancing at Chi-Woo. A weapon cast with permanent magic was very rare. It would only be natural if everyone coveted it, and Chi-Woo was someone who had every right to claim ownership of it among the expedition team. However, Chi-Woo didn’t disagree with Dalgil’s actions. He even clapped to congratulate Ru Amuh. Dalgil thought Chi-Woo was purposefully acting like that for the team, and his liking for Chi-Woo deepened even further.
Ru Amuh looked flustered. He didn’t exactly know what the weapon could do yet, but he could sense this was no ordinary sword as soon as he held it. He had been pouring the minimum amount of mana into his old, steel sword that looked as if it would break any moment. With this sword, it seemed that he would be able to fight freely as he wished.
“A monster came out of the first room, but a treasure came out of the second,” Dalgil then said, “Perhaps after we pass the third room, the fourth room would give us another treasure.”
The look in the expedition team members’ eyes changed then. There was nothing more encouraging than a tangible reward.
“We will earn several treasures and a token from the first floor! And then we will return to Shalyh city victoriously!” Dalgil shouted while raising his hand, and the expedition team cheered. Their morale had been steadily declining as they accumulated battle wounds, but it rose again in an instant. It was the same for Chi-Woo.
He looked at the door expectantly and thought, ‘In the room after the next room, I wonder if a weapon for me will come out?’