WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Mordor
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Surviving the Frozen Dark Fantasy as a Genius Mage ◈
Chapter 102: I’ll Tell the Story of Doing It Alone in the Forest with a Beautiful Priest
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With the clear chime of the Coin, the monsters blindly pursuing the living retreated.
Twisting fate was something only I could do in this world.
It was a gamble, but its power had grown stronger.
‘It’s one thing for magic to get stronger, but this is the first time the Coin has improved!’
My joy was brief.
I furrowed my brow.
Fuck, if I had this earlier, it should’ve appeared when we were fighting the boss.
With two Coin tosses, the success rate was a whopping 75%.
‘Then I might’ve been able to stop that dwarf bastard from panicking!’
I was complaining despite being given a gift, but I cursed the Coin again and sighed.
We had made it through the crisis, but it was only temporary.
Daisy and I had been separated from the others and left behind.
We needed to find a fundamental solution to this situation.
‘The monsters will come again.’
It was three in the morning.
Three hours remained until Memorize.
Could we hold out until then?
“Let’s move for now, Daisy.”
“Okay.”
Drip, drip.
Shhhhh.
The drizzle had become a downpour before I knew it.
Daisy and I pulled oilskin robes over our gear, but the rain was so fierce they did nothing.
Huff, huff.
It hadn’t been long since our fight with the Fallen Nun.
My already depleted stamina began draining faster as the temperature fell and mud clung to my feet.
[Die, die, die. You worthless game-addict bastard.]
[Why are you still holding on? Just follow your mother and die already.]
The auditory hallucinations, the Emerald Forest’s field effect, continued whispering in my ears.
Yeah, sure.
Of course, a hardened Korean gamer like me wouldn’t be fazed by something this weak...
[Sorry. I only ever thought of you as a friend... It’s awkward when you jump to conclusions like this.]
Aaaaargh, fuck!
Those auditory hallucination bastards had even evolved enough to dig up memories I wanted to forget.
Crackle!
That wasn’t all.
In the jungle, where nothing but the sinister sound of rain could be heard, I suddenly sensed someone nearby.
Thinking it was a monster, I turned while gripping my staff.
A woman was hanging from a rain-soaked tree.
Her shirt and shoes were stained with blood and filth.
Long black hair hung over them like a ghost’s.
Above the rope around her neck, the outline of a pale face flickered atop a grotesquely stretched neck, its bones broken from hanging.
Thud.
It was a familiar face.
The grotesquely thin wrist bore the watch I had once given her as a gift.
...
The woman who had been dangling from the ceiling stood there staring at me, then grinned.
[Why are you still alive? Let’s die together. With me. Okay?]
Of all things...
This was the one thing I least wanted to see...
[Why did you survive and leave only me behind?]
[You promised me...]
I kept moving, leaving the muttering woman behind.
That was only an illusion created by the Emerald Forest’s field effect.
A lie without substance.
“Ian.”
“Hm?”
Then Daisy’s head twisted around 360 degrees.
A woman with long hair and the back of her skull smashed in was suddenly standing before me, grinning so widely her mouth seemed split apart.
[Give up already and die with Mommy.]
A revolting hand with broken fingernails twitched.
The woman grabbed my throat.
I raised my staff and prepared a spell.
Ice Spike...
Just as I was about to fire it.
“Ian?”
A clear voice rang out.
Instead of eyes full of resentment and curses, Daisy tilted her head and looked at me with innocent eyes.
“...”
I sighed, lowered my staff, and spoke to Daisy.
“Daisy. Hit me in the head once.”
“Huh?”
‘I almost killed Daisy.’
Because I had fallen for an illusion.
Even if the Labyrinth’s darkness had deepened, even if my body wasn’t in normal condition, this was the kind of stupidity a genius mage should never commit.
“Out of nowhere?”
Daisy looked flustered by my request, then gently pinched my cheek without hurting me.
“How could I hit you? I’m not Elena.”
She smiled softly as she said it.
“You saw something, didn’t you? I did too. But... I could overcome it because I was with you.”
Haa.
Her warmth cleared my clouded mind.
Screeeech!
The woman who had been clinging to Daisy let out a shriek and crawled backward on all fours.
Crack, crack, crack...
She still glared at me with blood pouring from both eyes, as if she hadn’t given up on us.
“Fuck off, you stupid bitch. Who do you think you are, trying that shit on a genius like me?”
I raised my middle finger and spat curses at her.
How dare a bitch who did that because she had neither the confidence to raise a child nor the courage to die alone.
“Ian... C-calm down!”
Even through the brutal struggle, we kept moving.
Yet despite our hopes, we couldn’t find a portal.
‘It’s five in the morning.’
‘One hour until Memorize.’
-Die, die, die, die.
-Kihihihihi.
Splash, splash.
In the deepening darkness, auditory hallucinations and visions continued tormenting us, while footsteps sounded between them.
Those weren’t insubstantial phantoms.
Uuuugh...
Sinister shadows emerged through the fog.
Corpse Soldiers that inhabited the third floor had noticed us and were closing in.
‘We’re surrounded.’
I swallowed hard.
‘I have no spells, and the Invisibility Helmet is still on cooldown.’
‘There’s no more time to search for a portal.’
Haa... Do I have any choice?
It was a desperate situation where an ordinary person would have given up long ago, but I still had one option.
After making my decision, I chose to use it.
* * *
Elsewhere in the Emerald Forest, where ominous fog writhed.
“You fucking idiot!!! You threw a fit over getting your eye torn up a little?!”
Elena grabbed Gimlius by the collar and shouted.
It wasn’t just a small injury.
His entire eyeball had been burned away by vicious acid.
Wicked curses and foul energy swirled around them.
Still, none of that was anything more than an excuse.
Having come to his senses and remembered his mistake, Gimlius could only lower his head with a devastated expression.
“I’m sorry.”
Smack!
Even that sight disgusted Elena, and she struck Gimlius.
“Elena!!!”
Hans stepped in front of the fallen Gimlius and restrained the fuming Elena.
“Move! If that bastard hadn’t made a mistake, we wouldn’t be in this mess!!!”
Hans gritted his teeth at those words.
She was right.
In the Labyrinth, every person had to fulfill their role.
Gimlius made a mistake in that process, and it had worsened the situation, compounded further, and led to the worst outcome: the party being split apart.
Even if he hadn’t done it willingly...
This was Gimlius’s fault.
“I’m sorry... I-I’m not as strong as you all...”
Gimlius searched with trembling hands for alcohol that wasn’t there.
Like Ian and Daisy, every person’s soul carried the twists and scars of their own life.
Gimlius was no different.
In the past, he had lost a friend and companion because of his own mistake.
After that, Gimlius had drowned himself in drink.
It was a common story, but one the person living through it could never forget.
“Martiana... I really... This time, too...”
Elena clenched her teeth as she watched him.
If he had shouted back in anger, she could have thrown a punch or drawn her sword, but he was like that, so she could do nothing.
After months together, they had formed a bond as well.
“Fuck!”
Elena eventually struck an innocent tree.
She hit it so hard that her gauntlet crumpled, and blood spattered through the rain.
Ian being alone with Daisy, that vixen, was no longer the problem.
Ian was in danger. Ian could die.
You’re in danger somewhere I can’t see?
I can’t protect you?
You’re a weakling who can’t do anything except magic, so I have to protect you.
Elena’s green eyes shook.
[Elena’s mind wavers.]
“Now isn’t the time for us to be doing this. Let’s find the two of them.”
Hans, the calmest among them, tried to mediate.
“Ian!!! Daisy!!!”
Soon after, the three set out to find the missing pair.
“Get out of our way!!!”
For days, they fought monsters in the thick fog.
Huff, huff.
Yet despite their efforts, they could find no trace of the two.
Even when they asked Expedition Party members they occasionally encountered, they only shook their heads.
Eventually...
“Wait. Elena, hold on.”
“Why?! Huff, huff. We don’t have time for this...”
Hans stopped Elena and spoke in a cold tone.
“We need to make a choice.”
“What choice?”
“Do we keep searching like this? Or do we escape on our own?”
“What kind of bullshit is that!!!”
“Stop being unreasonable, Elena!”
They had fought monsters across the vast third floor without a healer or mage, tormented by visions and auditory hallucinations.
Their armor was in tatters, their sword blades were dull, and both their stamina and mental strength had reached their limits.
“If we keep this up, we’ll die before we find them.”
“So what!? You’re saying we should leave Ian behind?”
Elena looked at Hans with a cynical smile.
“Hans. I thought well of you until now, but I guess I was wrong. Behind that face that never shows what you’re thinking, you’ve been harboring thoughts this vile? You’re throwing away comrades we fought beside so easily?”
They were exhausted and emotional, pushed to their limit.
Sharp words of criticism flew between them.
“You cowardly bastards! If you want to leave, then fuck off yourselves!”
Even the remaining party could have splintered, but Hans took a deep breath and tried to reason with the furious Elena.
“Listen, Elena. Ian is the brightest and wisest person I know. The Ian I know would have been capable of overcoming the crisis, even without spells.”
Ian might have found an Escape Portal.
Of course, finding one didn’t guarantee it would lead straight to the city. It could lead to another region.
Or a lower-floor portal might have appeared.
“The two of them might have already crossed into another region. Or they may have returned to the city.”
If so, the three of them were completely chasing the wrong trail.
“If the two have gone to another region, they may need our help there. Even if they’re still here, it would be better to gather more people outside and form a search party. Ian is a promising talent of the Magic Tower, so it’ll be easy to gather people.”
“...”
Though he said that, Hans couldn’t be certain either.
He wondered whether he was only rationalizing this because he didn’t want to die.
“Elena. You don’t even have the strength left to hold your sword, do you?”
“...”
Tremble, tremble.
“If you die here and Ian sees that, do you think he’ll be happy?”
Was he really as cowardly as Elena said?
But... no matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t come up with a better solution.
‘If it were you, Ian... you would’ve thought of a better way...’
Hans felt disgusted with his own inadequacy, but he believed this was for the best.
Grind.
Elena bit her lip until it bled, then made her decision.
“I...”
* * *
Fuck.
I was sure a portal would appear if we went just a little farther, but that little bit remained out of reach.
Was my sense of direction being disrupted?
‘I bet everything on a thread of hope.’
‘I feel like a stranded person wandering in search of an oasis.’
In the end, sighing, I rummaged through my things and pulled out a small shard of glass.
Damn. I was going to sell it for a high price or use it when I reached the upper floors...
“What’s that?”
“A magic item the boss dropped. If I use this, I can open a portal for certain.”
After killing the Fallen Nun, the boss of the Emerald Forest, Elena had picked up the Cursed Man-Eating Sword.
The other magic item was this [Glass Shard of the Rift].
“What? If you had something like that...”
Daisy swallowed the question of why I hadn’t used it earlier.
“The problem is, it won’t open an ordinary portal.”
There was one small problem.
Putting aside the fact that it was rare and too valuable to waste, the mirror shard could only open a Secret Dungeon portal.
When used, it opened a portal leading to a Secret Dungeon one floor below the current floor.
Third floor meant second floor.
In other words...
“You want to open a Secret Dungeon now?”
The monsters in a Secret Dungeon were about 1.5 times as strong as the monsters normally found on the floor where the portal opened.
On top of that, Secret Dungeons were full of troublesome gimmicks.
‘The equivalent of floor 3.5.’
It was like shoving our heads into a tiger’s jaws to escape a lion.
And we were alone, with no companions, just the two of us.
But...
Graaaargh!
The fog split apart, and Corpse Soldiers rushed out.
-Give up and die already... Kihihi.
-Go be with Mommy~
The auditory hallucinations and visions were worsening, and we had run out of spells.
‘If we enter a Secret Dungeon, these penalties will disappear, and we can hold out until it’s time for Memorize.’
‘My spells will still work even on the fourth floor, so that isn’t a problem.’
Besides, at Daisy’s and my current level, exploration wasn’t impossible.
As a genius mage and veteran player, I judged this to be the most rational way out.
Clang!
Daisy barely blocked the spear thrust of a Corpse Soldier.
“Okay! Ian! Let’s go!”
I threw the glass shard into a puddle.
Splash!
Strange ripples spread, and the muddy water changed color, forming a small portal.
‘There are three Secret Dungeons on the second floor.’
‘Raging Torrent Valley, Storm-Tossed Waters, and Forgotten City.’
There was no way to know which one would appear.
“Daisy!”
“Okay!”
I grabbed Daisy’s hand, and we leaped into the portal.
Gurgle, gurgle.
My vision blurred as if I had dived underwater, and above us, Corpse Soldiers and phantoms flailed their arms as they reached down.
“Heh. Bye, you idiots. We’re leaving.”
Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet.
Soon, the portal’s colorful light and floating sensation subsided, and the damp grassy smell of the Forest of the Dead vanished.
The salty smell of seawater tickled my nose instead.
Shhhhh.
“Pwah!”
Along with the solid feel of ground beneath my feet, a vast sea reflecting sunlight like jewels spread before us.
The deck of a ship swayed with the waves.
[Ian has arrived at Storm-Tossed Waters, the Secret Dungeon of the Salt Cave!]
[Exploring an outer dimension with only two people, a genius mage truly does things differently from the start!]
We had escaped the immediate danger, but...
‘Of all places, it had to be here.’
I shook the water from my hair and looked around.
Footnotes:
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