WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Mordor
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Surviving the Frozen Dark Fantasy as a Genius Mage ◈
Chapter 100: 3rd Floor Field Boss
──────
A world themed around deep, dark labyrinths.
Even in Dungeon of Death, the Coin was crucial, capable of deciding life or death by the narrowest margin.
Depending on the strategy, I could have chosen to hold. Still, judging by Gimlius's condition, even if I had held after failing the Coin toss, the outcome probably would not have been good.
Ha, what a fucking garbage RNG game.
'Why can't he do it?'
[Cool-headed judgment, knowledge, eloquence, and charisma]
[Ian is an exceptional leader and mage, but he has one flaw.]
[He judges every situation by his own standards.]
[That is just what geniuses must be like.]
* * *
"Aaaaargh!"
"Dwarf! Snap out of it!"
His wounds had healed.
"I can't see! I can't see anything! Ughhh!"
But Gimlius was still in a confused state, swinging his axe wildly at everything around him.
Whoosh!
There was none of his usual precision in those swings. It was nothing but a desperate struggle.
Far from killing monsters, he wounded Elena when she tried to help him.
"Fuck! You bastard! Get a grip!"
"Daisy!"
I gave Daisy an order.
"Gimlius, calm down!"
[Purification]
Daisy used the Purification she had been saving on Gimlius.
"Argh! Get away from me!"
He was no longer merely confused. He had progressed to the next stage: panic.
No spell could dispel that.
'He has to overcome it himself...'
Dungeon of Death was a game built around cooperative party play.
No matter how powerful a mage, warrior, or Priest might be, no one could handle everything alone in the Labyrinth's ever-changing environment.
"I-I'm not a loser... I'm not a loser! Martiana! Ugh!"
With one frontliner out of action, Elena's burden grew heavier.
What had been an easy fight changed in an instant.
"Gimlius! Get a hold of yourself!"
[Magic Missile] + [Ice Spike] = [Ice Missile]
[Arcane Ray]
Crackle!
I unleashed spells to push the monsters back and rescue Elena and Gimlius from danger.
"Back! Fall back!"
As I gritted my teeth, a thought crossed my mind.
Why had things turned out like this?
I had cast Ice Armor instead of Arcane Barrier so Gimlius, our frontliner, could move more easily.
I had dealt with most of the Ectoplasms using spells.
We had enough consumables and equipment. We had enough experience, too.
The plan had been perfect...
No. It had not.
I thought about Gimlius as an individual.
-Gimlius had relied on alcohol ever since we first met.
-Gimlius had overcome his fear of the Labyrinth with alcohol.
-But I had advised him to quit drinking. If he wanted to rise higher, he could not depend on it so much.
'I overlooked the fact that Gimlius... that other people's mental strength was not as strong as Elena's or mine.'
In other words...
This was my mistake.
I had measured everyone by my own standards because they had all been keeping up well.
I had not fully understood each party member's personality.
I had said I would not let my guard down, but without realizing it, I had done exactly that.
[Hero Kerio suddenly died on the first floor.]
[Aaah!]
'The Labyrinth was a place where even an outstanding hero could die from one small mistake.'
Kihihihihi!
Pale, glowing women who had been raped, murdered, and burned at the stake, their deaths filled with bitter resentment.
The Spectrises let out eerie laughter and spat curses.
[Status Ailment: Fear]
[Hans steels his resolve and resists it, but his arm trembles slightly.]
There was no retreat.
The entrance was blocked, so whether we liked it or not, we had to finish this here.
I gripped my staff tightly and burned a parchment.
'This is not the time to regret what has already happened!'
[Ice Spike]
Having made my decision, I fired another spell and killed a Spectris trying to possess Elena.
Crash!
These were the spells I had left.
[Magic Missile][2] [Arcane Barrier][2] [Frost Burst][1]
[Ice Spike][3] [Rising Water Jet][2][Arcane Doppelganger][1]
[Ice Armor][1][Ice Spear][2]
[Mystic Dimensional Gate][2]
Daisy had one Blessing and one Holy Flame left.
She also had three Heals and two Purifications remaining.
"Everyone, get a grip!!! We'll kill her ourselves!!!"
My shout pulled everyone out of their confusion.
"Daisy!?"
"We need even one more frontliner right now!"
Daisy, who had been at the rear, rushed forward.
[Blessing]
[Holy Flame]
After buffing herself, she gripped her mace and shield, smashed through the Corpse Soldiers, and stood back-to-back with Elena, who had been getting isolated.
"Hey! You're useless... Ngh."
"Don't let your pride get in the way, Elena! I'll watch your back, so focus!"
It was a good decision.
"Come on!!!"
Rather than being intimidated, Elena's fighting spirit flared.
Thanks to Daisy, Elena no longer had to worry about attacks from behind. Light flashed from her mace.
Boom!
Her mace shattered in a destructive burst of light, sweeping away the undead.
Elena immediately drew the spare sword at her waist and charged forward bravely.
[Elena's fighting spirit is blazing.]
[She seems to know no fear.]
"Hans, snipe the ghosts with silver arrows!"
"Alright!"
Excluding Gimlius, who still had not regained his senses, the four of us began the boss battle.
Crash!
We were giving it everything we had, but could the world really be overcome through willpower alone?
At that moment, the Ice Doppelganger caught in the vines of the demonic statue shattered.
"The One desires a sacrifice."
The Fallen Nun used the Mark of Sacrifice pattern again.
[Arcane Doppelganger] + [Frost Burst] = [Ice Doppelganger]
I used the fusion spell again to get through it.
'That used up all my Arcane Doppelgangers, and I have one Frost Burst left.'
Fuck.
Every time I lost a spell, it felt as though my blood were drying up.
The situation turned against us in an instant.
'I'd also engraved a dimensional gate.'
I had prepared a gamble in case of an emergency.
Like when I had summoned a Drake or an Ogre before, I opened a dimensional gate in the hope of getting lucky.
[Mystic Dimensional Gate]
[Mystic Dimensional Gate]
But the Coin did not appear.
[Stone]
[Stone]
As if my luck had run out, the dimensional gates only spewed out junk.
Whoosh!
Ten minutes passed.
Uuuuuuu!
The horde of corpses surged toward us.
In that precarious situation, Gimlius still had not regained his senses, and Elena, our only frontliner, was exhausted.
[Heal]
Divine spells could not do anything about physical fatigue.
"Huff, huff..."
The Holy Flame Daisy had cast had run out as well, so we no longer had the advantage.
The Fallen Nun had taken considerable damage, but it still was not enough to land the finishing blow.
Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!
Fuck.
Just as it seemed we had nearly dealt with all the monsters she had summoned, the summoning pattern activated again.
"Can't we destroy that fucking bell?!"
Annoyed by the bell ringing ominously, Elena pointed at it with the tip of her sword and shouted.
"Impossible!"
As long as the Fallen Nun lived, that bell could never be destroyed.
Whoosh!
The torchlight dimmed, and the darkness thickened.
Blood and sweat ran down our chins, the chins of the living, while death's chill slowly tightened around our throats.
Crash!
To make things worse, the Ice Doppelganger I had summoned shattered, and the Mark of Sacrifice bared its fangs again.
"Offer up the dwarf, Ian! You don't have any spells left now!"
Elena was right.
I no longer had any Arcane Doppelgangers, so I could not cheat my way through the sacrifice pattern.
"That's..."
Daisy, covered in wounds, hesitated.
"..."
I considered it, then walked toward Gimlius, who was trembling in the corner.
Instead of grabbing his head, I picked up his Flaming Axe and tossed it to Elena.
"No! We can hold out for one more turn!"
"What?!"
More precisely, I made that decision because we would eventually be worn down to death if things continued like this.
"Hans!!! The oil flasks!"
"...Alright!"
Realizing what I meant, Hans tilted his head to dodge an arrow and opened the pack on his back.
'Let's do this.'
At this point, it was all or nothing.
I pulled Black Oil Flasks from my pack and threw them throughout the cavern, which was filled with writhing vines that moved as if alive.
Crash!
Then Hans and I used the torches to set fire to the trail of spilled oil.
Whoooooosh!
The Forgotten Citadel was full of twisted vegetation.
Blazing flames rose everywhere, turning the place into a hell of fire in an instant.
Kyaaaah!
Had the Fallen Nun not expected something this insane?
As her sanctuary burned, the Fallen Nun glared at me and let out a shriek.
What the fuck? What?
I faced her and screamed back.
"Kraaaaaah!"
Now it was a wager over whether she would die first or we would.
* * *
The grotesque vines covering the walls writhed and screamed.
Even the darkness steeped in the undead's curses and resentment had to yield before the raging blaze.
In exchange, the cavern quickly began to boil like a furnace.
"Cough, cough."
My eyes stung from the thick smoke as I coughed and looked around.
Flames were the natural enemy of these corpses fused with corrupted vegetation.
The Corpse Soldiers were melting and collapsing, slowly but surely.
Uooooooh!
"Good! I'll kill every last one of you!"
Elena held the Flaming Axe in one hand and a sword in the other. She cut down the weakened corpses as she closed in on the boss.
[Frost Burst]
[Ice Armor]
Hans and I were at the rear, but I kept casting defensive spells on Elena and Daisy while firing out Frost.
Otherwise, Elena and Daisy, standing at the heart of the flames, would burn to death.
Even that was not easy.
"Kill..."
Kiiiiiiik!
At the Fallen Nun's command, the burning Corpse Soldiers rushed at us in the rear as well.
"Run, Ian!"
Hans set down his crossbow, drew his sword, raised his shield, and stood in front of me to fight the monsters.
But he was a pure Scout with little combat ability.
He could not stop more than six rank-seven monsters on his own.
A gap inevitably opened, and curse-laden arrows flew through it.
[Arcane Barrier]
Crash!
Ignoring the chilling whistle of the arrows, I hurriedly formed a barrier.
I managed to block the arrows, but the Corpse Soldiers that had approached in the meantime lunged at me.
"Fuck!"
In a panic, I put on the Dark Warden's Helmet I had bound.
[Invisibility]
My body vanished in an instant, and two spearpoints that had lost their target slashed uselessly through the air.
Sniff, sniff.
The undead were not creatures that identified their enemies by sight or sound to begin with.
Sensing the presence of the living, they twisted their heads grotesquely and charged at me again.
"Get lost!"
Of course, that brief opening was enough time for me to prepare a spell.
[Ice Spear]
Crash!
The spear of frost pierced one Corpse Soldier and slammed it into the floor.
I had aimed for the other one as well, but it gave up an arm and charged at me.
'The flames threw off the Ice Spear's trajectory.'
The Coin spun.
[Heads/Tails]
'Heads.'
[Heads]
The Coin toss succeeded.
The spear swung by the Corpse Soldier could not pierce my armor.
After the heavy impact, it could not endure the flames and collapsed with a shriek.
Kiiiiik!
Phew.
As I breathed a sigh of relief at the luck the Coin had granted me, my eyes widened.
"...!"
An arrow shot through the flames and smoke struck me.
"Ngh."
Even after this successful Coin toss had twisted fate, I could not block every blade and spear flying at me from all directions.
'My armor tore, so that one hit me squarely.'
"Ian!!!"
"I'm fine, so..."
Fuck, I wanted to say I was fine, but a proper hit to the gut took my breath away. It felt like my insides were twisting and my mind was turning blank.
Ghh...
How did frontliners endure this kind of pain every time?
I wanted to tell them I was fine, not to worry about me, and to rationally order them to finish the boss, but...
"Kill her! Kill her!!!"
Uoooooh!
I rolled across the hot ground to avoid the horrible burning corpses rushing at me and shouted.
"Elena!!! Daisy!!!"
Kill her!!!
"Aaaaaaargh!!!"
Elena activated her Speed Boots, ran up a wall, stepped nimbly across the monsters' heads, then launched herself through the air like an acrobat.
Her sword, coated in Holy Water, slashed across the Fallen Nun's upper body.
Kyaak!
[Ice Spear]
As I rolled along the floor, the spell I fired drove the Fallen Nun into the wall as though nailing her neck to a cross.
Boom!
Finally...
[Magic Missile]
The sphere I fired with trembling fingers shattered the nun's head.
...Thud.
The battle was over.
'Fuck, I nearly died because that dwarf acted like a troll.'
I let out a breath and glared at Gimlius, then my eyes widened.
Huh?
[Amid a companion's mistake, his own arrogance, and the Labyrinth's ever-changing malice, Ian has leveled up.]
Translucent visions had suddenly appeared before my eyes.
Whirr.
One card shaped like the Coin.
One card engraved with a Scale Weight.
And another card engraved with a Book.
A total of three cards spun before my eyes.
What was this?
Even I, a seasoned Dungeon of Death player, had never seen anything like it.
Footnotes:
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
