WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Mordor
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Surviving the Frozen Dark Fantasy as a Genius Mage ◈
Chapter 101: Left Behind
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The Fallen Nun's corpse, its head smashed in, crumbled into ash.
As the cursed idol she worshipped shattered, the grotesque bell that shared its life broke apart as well.
The sticky darkness that had filled the cavern vanished, and dim light seeped in.
Fwoooosh!
Even so, Ian's party had to move quickly.
The flames consuming the cavern showed no sign of dying out.
Cough, cough!
Daisy, pushed past her limit, coughed from smoke inhalation before collapsing.
"Fuck."
If they stayed here, they would burn to death after going through all that trouble to kill the boss.
"Everyone, stay focused! We need to get out now!"
Elena hesitated as she looked at the unconscious Daisy, then glanced at Ian and tucked Daisy beneath one arm.
"Elena! The items!"
At Ian's words, Elena looked around, then picked up a blackened sword and a Mana Stone from beneath the broken idol.
"Hans! Take care of Gimlius!"
"Got... it! Cough, cough."
"Ugh... Aaaaargh!"
Hans slung his crossbow across his front by its strap, then knocked out the still-rampaging Gimlius. He slung Gimlius over his shoulder and activated Mind Map to find an escape route.
"Everyone, follow me!"
Ian gathered the scattered packs. He struggled beneath their weight, but when Elena helped him, he found the strength to run.
Fwoooosh!
Luckily, Ian's party made it outside before the earthen cave collapsed.
"Huff, huff."
This was their sixth day.
Pale Cyan Light still fell from the sky, along with a light drizzle. Their faces and bodies were covered in soot, as though they had spent days rolling through a mine. Coughing harshly, all of them collapsed onto the ground to catch their breath.
Drip. Drip.
Then midnight passed, bringing the seventh day.
At that point, a fog thicker than usual began to wrap around the Emerald Forest.
"Bleegh!"
Ian had nearly passed out from exhaustion while escaping, so Elena had needed to drag him out by force.
"Heheh, but we made it ba..."
Elena was about to grin mischievously at her childhood friend.
"...!?"
Her eyes widened.
...
Ian and Daisy, who had definitely been beside her, had vanished.
* * *
Whooosh.
"Ian! Daisy!"
The ominous fog had grown thick enough to rise above Elena's thighs.
Though it risked drawing the monsters' attention, Elena shouted for the two of them. There was still no response.
...
Hans, who had tied himself, Elena, and Gimlius together with a rope, spoke with a grim expression.
"It's because of the Emerald Forest's conditions."
By the sixth day, the fog began to thicken. On the seventh day, they would begin to experience visual and auditory hallucinations.
Their sense of direction would be disrupted, and they could lose their way.
"We spent too long in the Forgotten Citadel."
Originally, Ian's party had planned to deal with the field boss quickly, leave, tie themselves together with rope so no one could get separated, then find a portal and either move to another area or return to the city.
The situation had gone wrong and become urgent. The vine cave was burning from end to end, spewing poisonous gas.
Just making it out had been a close call. They had not had the presence of mind to prepare for the Emerald Forest's fog.
"Fuck..."
Elena's expression turned frantic.
"They barely have any spells left!"
A mage and a Priest with no spells had been separated.
They were wounded and in poor condition, too.
This was the worst.
"Ughhh..."
Just then, a groan came from Gimlius as he began to wake.
Elena's murderous gaze turned toward him.
Whose fault was this?
"You fucking idiot!"
Elena, furious, grabbed Gimlius by the collar.
* * *
Cough, cough.
A light drizzle fell over my heated skin, cooling me down.
The damp fog and the scent of wet trees. Compared to the smoke-filled underground cave, the fresh air filling my lungs felt like a different world.
Ah, I'm alive...
No, wait.
With a grave expression, I shook Daisy awake beside me.
"Daisy. Daisy."
"Mmm...?"
Daisy struggled to open her eyes. When she saw the open sky above us, she asked me a question.
"Did we... win?"
"Of course."
"I knew it... I believed in you, Ian!"
Daisy smiled brightly and hugged me.
Her tits were far larger and warmer than Elena's. Her innocent smile was wonderful, but unfortunately, I couldn't fully enjoy any of it.
"No, we're fucked, Daisy."
"Huh?"
"We got separated."
"...What?"
Fuck.
I'd barely fought off that bullshit and won, only for this shit to happen.
After escaping and coming to my senses, Daisy and I were stranded together.
This was probably...
'Because of the Emerald Forest's field effect.'
'It's the seventh day.'
I looked around, then checked the clock in my pack.
12:20 a.m.
It was hard to tell because of the eerie cyan light and rain, but it really was the seventh day.
"W-What do we do?"
Whooooo.
The thin fog had thickened, blocking our view.
The damp chill squeezed at my throat in a way entirely different from the heat just moments ago.
"Ugh."
I was about to answer, but I grabbed my stomach.
The arrow that struck me earlier was still lodged there.
Fuck, that hurts.
"Ian!"
Seeing this, Daisy immediately began first aid.
She washed her dust-covered hands with clean water from her canteen, then placed a handkerchief between my teeth.
"This might sting a little."
We couldn't make a fire, so she sterilized a dagger with Holy Water instead. Then she cut away the blood-soaked clothing around the arrow and widened the wound slightly.
Ugh.
A sharp pain flared through me, and I bit down hard on the handkerchief.
Fuck. This was why arrows were terrifying.
Bruises and sword wounds could be healed with one Heal, but arrows needed separate treatment.
"I'll count to three and pull it out."
"Okay."
Daisy grabbed the arrowhead carefully, her face tense...
"One... Hup!"
Before I could even give permission, she pulled with all her strength.
Yank!
"Screeeech!"
The dizzying pain made me scream.
Didn't you say you were going to pull it out on three?!
"This gets it over with faster."
That was all Daisy said, shamelessly.
Fuck.
Tears streamed down my face.
How did that beast Elena keep fighting after taking several of these?
[Heal]
[Purification]
Sacred light rose from Daisy's hands, and the pain quickly faded.
The arrow had been cursed, so she had to use Purification as well. Still, thanks to that, the wound healed cleanly.
'She said she had been taking lessons at the temple. She's gotten better.'
Even so...
'It fucking hurts!'
When I sniffled, Daisy asked worriedly, "Are you okay, Ian?"
"Of course. A genius mage won't be brought down by something like..."
"Eat this. It'll calm you down."
I was trying to speak bravely, but Daisy placed a honey-coated candy in my mouth, and I shut up.
"Mmm."
I must have looked like a kid lured along by his mom with promises of pork cutlet, only to be taken for a circumcision. Still, the candy's sweetness definitely eased the pain.
"Sorry. It hurt a lot, didn't it?"
Daisy gently rubbed my stomach and even blew on it.
The warmth made me nestle into Daisy's arms and whimper.
"Mhm."
"There, there. You did well. Our Ian worked so hard. That's right."
Whew.
Anyway, now that my wound had healed, we needed a plan for what came next.
"Don't you think the others might be nearby?"
I checked my remaining spells.
"Daisy, what spells do you have left?"
I had one Ice Spike and one Rising Water Jet left.
"Just one Heal."
Daisy's face darkened.
"..."
Trying to find our companions in our current state would be too much.
"We can't call out loudly. It could draw the monsters' attention."
First, we tied ourselves together with rope so the field effect would not separate us again.
Then we checked our supplies.
"Food?"
"Two weeks' worth."
The food, our most important resource, had been divided up in case of emergencies, so we had some to spare.
Beyond that, we had rope, one bottle of Holy Water, oil-treated waterproof robes, and Mana Stones. That was it.
'We used too many consumables fighting the Fallen Nun.'
The most serious problem was that we no longer had spare torches.
'Not having torches in an area filled with undead monsters is fatal.'
The cyan light falling from the sky let us see our surroundings, but lacking light was still deadly.
It would make us more vulnerable to the Labyrinth's darkness and madness.
As I frowned, Daisy listened closely to the sounds around us, hoping to find some trace of our companions.
"Can you hear anything?"
[Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die.]
[It's your fault. I died because of you! I could have lived... Sob.]
[You'll never return home. You'll rot in this Labyrinth with us forever. Hehehe.]
[Do you see those corpses over there? That's your future.]
Instead of my companions' voices, I began to hear the malicious auditory hallucinations spewed out by the Forest of the Dead.
Daisy, too, said something strange with a pale face.
"I keep hearing Elena's voice."
"Huh?"
"No, it's nothing. I'm scared..."
If we stayed here much longer, we would start seeing hallucinations too...
I clenched my teeth.
'This is bad.'
We needed to get out quickly, but the fog was too thick, and without a frontliner, Daisy and I were helpless casters.
Things were not looking good.
'Fuck off, you bastards!'
'How dare you invade this genius's brain!'
I shook my head to dispel the voices and turned my attention elsewhere.
To the strange phenomenon that appeared after we killed the field boss.
"Daisy, can't you see this?"
[Coin]
[Scale Weight]
[Book]
Three cards.
They were still floating in front of me.
"What?"
Judging by Daisy's response, it seemed I was the only one who could see them.
'I have gaming experience, you know?'
A typical medieval simpleton might wonder what this was, but not me.
I had experienced all kinds of media in the twenty-first century.
I couldn't make an exact deduction, but I could roughly guess where this abnormal phenomenon was heading.
'If I choose one of these, it seems like I'll gain a new ability.'
If I selected the coin, would I gain some new ability related to coins?
As I continued thinking, the fog rustled and twisted.
Soon, accompanied by shuffling sounds, dark shadows began staggering toward us through the fog.
"Ian."
"I heard."
'It's them.'
The monsters had noticed something and were coming this way.
Daisy and I couldn't defeat them in our current state.
In that case...
I turned my gaze to the mysterious illusion.
'Of these, the ability I can be most certain about...'
I chose the coin from among the three cards.
Spin.
[Heads/Tails]
A coin suddenly floated up.
'Heads.'
[Tails]
[Failure]
The coin failed without mercy.
Yet another coin was now gleaming before my eyes.
[Toss the Coin?]
[Yes]
'Heads.'
[Heads]
[Success]
The coin succeeded.
The shadows swaying ominously in the fog sniffed around, then disappeared.
...
I could tell what this ability did.
This was...
'Spare Coin.'
[Once per day, toss the Coin of Fate one additional time.]
Footnotes:
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