WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Mordor
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◈ Surviving the Frozen Dark Fantasy as a Genius Mage ◈
Chapter 104: Storm-Tossed Waters
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“Daisy.”
“Mmm...”
“Are you dead?”
“Honestly, Ian... It’s still too early for me to go into Lady Meia’s embrace.”
Fortunately, nothing happened while we rested.
When I woke Daisy and opened the door, one of the twin archer brothers was standing at the entrance.
Was his name Cole or Kenny...?
“Hey. Things looked cozy in there.”
He waved, and I asked him.
“What is it?”
“The party leader asked me to stand guard for a bit. You two are a mage and a priest, so you’re especially vulnerable while resting. Who knows what the vampire and those noble bastards might do?”
Damn, what was with that dragonkin old man?
I was touched.
“Come on. It’s about to start.”
Cole or Kenny, I had no idea which. Cole-Kenny wore a wide-brimmed hat low over his face and headed out of the cabin.
When we followed him outside, rain was falling.
Shhhhh.
The waves churned, and the ship rocked from side to side.
Urk.
Naturally, my seasickness got worse too.
“Hey, you’re here.”
Dragonkin Argus, the Barbarian Ulric, the Cole-Kenny brothers, the silent Shaman, the vampire standing apart, and the noble party were all gathered on deck.
Creeeak!
The ship moved toward its destination on its own.
All we had to do was protect it.
“Those people don’t seem willing to share information.”
Argus, the party leader, pointed at the still-uncooperative nobles.
“They don’t want to split the rewards.”
“That’s just like Expedition Party members. Still, seeing how they won’t even share the bare minimum, I don’t think they understand how dangerous an outer dimension can be.”
The arrogance and pride unique to nobles.
This was not good.
As I thought that, one of the archer brothers, who had been looking around from behind the mast, shouted.
“They’re here! Those bastards!”
* * *
Storm-Tossed Waters, the Secret Dungeon of the Salt Cave.
Simply put, its theme was a kind of defense mission.
We had to keep the ship safe until it reached its destination.
The first obstacle was a pirate attack.
“Y-yarrr!”
A small dot appeared among the rolling waves and grew larger in an instant.
Soon, an old ship with a sinister skull figurehead charged toward us.
[If you fail to stop the pirate ship’s charge, the ship’s durability will decrease!]
‘The mobs themselves are nothing special, but the pirate ship’s charge pattern is troublesome.’
“Ian! Can you stop that ship!?”
The vampire who supposedly wielded blood magic was nowhere to be seen, and there was no mage among the nobles.
Turkan, the Shaman who could control the weather, did not seem to have any means either.
“Leave it to me.”
In the end, I was the only proper mage who could deal with this situation.
[Ice Armor]
I covered myself in Frost armor in case of projectile attacks.
Then I aimed at the charging pirate ship and burned another spell parchment.
[Arcane Ray]
Flash!
Destructive, sinister light shot from my hand, cutting through the harsh sea wind and rain.
...!
Several shadows aboard the pirate ship were struck and disintegrated without even managing to scream.
It did not stop there. I adjusted its trajectory.
Bzzzzzzzz!
The light I fired shattered the pirate ship’s mast and helm, forcing the vessel to change direction entirely.
Creeeeak!
The charging pirate ship stopped five meters away from ours, rocking from side to side.
‘Phew.’
I had stopped that huge ship with a single spell.
I put away my staff and smiled.
The more I explored the Labyrinth, not just researched magic, the stronger my spells became.
“...!”
“That much power without even using Lightning magic...!”
The other Expedition Party members stared in shock.
Heh. Amazing, right? Worship this genius mage.
“Fuck this!”
“Kill them!”
But it was not over.
Shouts came from the wrecked pirate ship, followed by a rain of arrows.
Ice Armor prevented me from taking any damage, but small boats emerged from the pirate ship and slammed into the stern. Grappling hooks flew onto the deck.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Thanks to me, we had avoided a head-on collision, but the pirates aboard the ship were still full of energy.
They nimbly crossed on ropes. Their hair and beards were thick and unkempt, while their grinning teeth were not merely yellow, but black.
‘They look truly vicious!’
Even goblin bastards seemed cleaner than them.
“People?”
Every monster we had encountered in the Labyrinth until now had been grotesque.
But when humans appeared, several people, including Daisy, looked flustered.
I calmed Daisy down.
“Assume they’re fake.”
They were humanoid mobs that appeared from time to time.
Beings bound to the Labyrinth.
Some races, such as dark elves, could break their shackles and leave the Labyrinth, but these bastards were not like that.
“A woman!”
“Kill them!”
The pirates were quick and violent, but the Expedition Party members here were no pushovers.
“Wipe them out!”
The moment the pirates stepped onto the deck, a powerful blast of wind struck them, and the falling rainwater burst apart.
Blood was mixed within it.
Argus swung a greatsword as tall as he was and cut three pirates in half at the waist in one stroke.
“Kill the big one first!”
Barbarian Ulric deflected the pirates’ arrows with wind tattoos, then swung his axe. He split a pirate from shoulder to lower body, showing the owner his own entrails.
“Gyaaaah!”
“Hmph. Weak.”
The pirates who occasionally tried to exploit openings against the rampaging pair with lassos and such were sniped by the twin archers stationed in the crow’s nest.
Shhhhh.
Dodging pirate arrows in the heavy rain, moving nimbly between precarious masts, and drawing their bowstrings was no ordinary feat.
‘They said they had fought together often. Their coordination is clean.’
“Raise your shields!”
The noble party, made entirely of swordsmen, fought in a shield formation with their backs to each other.
They looked like an army.
It was unsuitable for the Labyrinth, but stable.
“Is that the leader? Move.”
In particular, the blue-haired young man leading them used exquisite swordsmanship to slaughter Iron Mask, the captain of the pirate ship, in an instant.
Splurt!
Gurgle...
The battle ended without Daisy or me needing to do anything more.
‘Well, this is only the first area.’
“As you said, Ian, we kept a few alive.”
Argus spoke while shaking blood from his greatsword.
Perhaps because I had shown my ability, the mood had become much warmer.
“Thanks.”
I walked over to the bound pirates.
There was something I wanted to test as a mage.
“Hey. Why did you attack us?”
“To plunder.”
“Did you know we were Expedition Party members?”
“What’s that?”
“Warriors from Labyrinth City, Labyrinth.”
“What’s that?”
“Then I’ll change the question. Do you know about the Seven Kings sleeping in the Labyrinth?”
“What’s that?”
Plunder or death.
Like NPCs programmed with predetermined answers, the pirates could say nothing beyond certain words.
Tch.
Unlike ordinary Labyrinths, Secret Dungeons had various interactions.
In game terms, there were hidden stories. I had asked them in hopes of uncovering the Labyrinth’s secrets, but received no proper answer.
When I shook my head, Ulric immediately smashed their heads.
Since they still looked human, Daisy wore an uncomfortable expression.
“Are these people beings oppressed by the Labyrinth too, like Sir Hodrick, the Paladin?”
“I interrogated them to find that out, but I guess it’s not something we can learn so easily.”
Unlike Daisy and me, the Expedition Party members were more interested in something else.
They grinned as they headed for the pirate ship. Soon, their hands were full of glittering gold.
“Hahahahaha! This is incredible!”
“This is what an outer dimension is all about!”
The pirate ship was loaded with gold coins and jewels.
They were valuable enough to make us immediately forget our complaints that pirates did not drop Mana Stones.
‘They really are ancient in style.’
The gold coins were of a different design from the currency used in the city.
Turkan, the Shaman who had not participated in the battle, examined the coins and signed.
“...”
“What does that mean?”
“He says that although the design is different, the purity is higher! In other words, they’re expensive!”
“Ooh!”
Argus’s party rejoiced.
I felt the same.
Fuck, now that things had come to this, I would make a fortune and return in glory.
But then a problem arose.
“You lot. Hand over that treasure chest.”
The nobles made that demand.
Argus answered sharply.
“What the fuck are you talking about? You people collected treasure too.”
After seeing us gather treasure, they had gathered some themselves. But perhaps because their haul was smaller, they were getting greedy.
The middle-aged knight named Pierre snorted and threw a fit.
“Our young master killed their leader. The balance is not right.”
“He was just a common thug. We would have dealt with him ourselves even if you had not stepped in.”
“Would you really have? Do you have any way to prove it, dragonkin?”
“We’ll find out after I smash your heads in.”
The nobles from Castle were arrogant.
Grrrrr.
And Argus’s party, veteran Expedition Party members, had the fiery tempers of dragonkin.
“Please stop! Do we really need to fight each other in a situation like this?”
“Priest, stand back!”
Daisy, a priest, stepped in, but the tension did not ease.
Seeing that, I sighed.
‘What a bunch of uncivilized medieval people.’
Could they not compromise a little and cooperate?
“If you wanted to argue over the division, you should have settled it clearly from the beginning. You were the ones who refused to deal with us and acted separately.”
I stepped in to mediate because I wanted us all to escape safely.
“Besides, I stopped the ship’s charge in the first place. Without me, that pirate ship would have crashed into us long ago, smashed this ship apart, and turned us all into fish food.”
In truth, this ship would not break that easily.
But no matter how I looked at it, the noble party did not seem to know much about this outer dimension, so I said it anyway.
“...”
Knight Pierre’s momentum weakened after seeing the authority of the Magic Tower and the power of my spells.
“Magic Tower mage. I acknowledge you. But what did that Shaman over there do? What did he do besides count coins?”
Pierre pointed at Turkan.
“...”
Even after being humiliated, Turkan did not break the vow of silence.
Ulric, looking displeased, interpreted Turkan’s signing.
“Hmph. He says the time will soon come to show the greatness of the Master of the Deep Valley.”
“What?”
Rumble!
At that moment, the sky suddenly darkened, and the rain intensified.
The pirate ship with the grappling hooks broke free amid the rough waves and was swept away.
“Aaaah!”
[The storm has intensified!]
[Cursed Serpent King!]
[The sea god’s curse is raging!]
Everyone staggered as the ship pitched violently, but the previously still Shaman Turkan stepped forward.
Boom boom boom boom!
Turkan beat a drum, shook ritual tools, and performed a strange dance. Mystical magic spread outward from Turkan.
Then something amazing happened.
Shhhhh...
The violently crashing waves.
The rain pouring down from the sky.
Crash!
Even the occasional bolts of Lightning from the raging storm avoided only the ship we were on.
‘So Turkan really is a proper Shaman.’
My eyes gleamed.
If this went well, that might be possible.
“Wow...”
“What is this...?”
The noble party looked flustered by the mystical sight.
Their leader, the blue-haired young man, remained calm.
But the problem was not over yet.
“How was that? Did you see... Damn! They’re here!”
One of the archer brothers, who had been keeping watch, pointed at the water.
We turned and looked out at the sea.
Shhhhh.
Beyond the pitch-black horizon.
Something writhed and began taking shape amid the dark, surging waves.
At first, it looked like debris swept along by the water, but a closer look showed otherwise.
Slither...
Fins rising like saw blades beneath the surface wriggled.
The creatures, which swam freely through the violent tidal currents as if they were home, split the water.
Dark blue shadows twisted through the seawater with grotesque flexibility, then turned precisely toward our ship.
Dozens of unpleasant round eyes flashed at once amid the huge waves.
“Kiiaaaah!”
These were not pirates.
They were the masters of this sea, creations of the cursed deep.
“Fishfolk!”
They charged at us with a speed on an entirely different level from how they moved on land.
“Everyone, be careful! Fishfolk are stronger in the sea!”
Argus was right.
Fishfolk received a 1.5 times racial bonus in water.
A monster suited for the second floor instantly became a terrifying monster of at least the third floor.
“Grrrk!”
Boom!
“Ugh!”
A warrior who blocked a harpoon thrown by a fishfolk harpooner from the surface staggered with gritted teeth, unlike usual.
And that was not all.
“There are merfolk too!”
‘There are higher species among them, they have large numbers, and attacking them in this water is difficult.’
The Cole-Kenny brothers, who boasted ghostly archery, fired arrows. But they were not enough against fishfolk that moved freely through the harsh storm and hid among the waves.
“Increase speed!”
“Stop them from climbing aboard!”
If even the archers struggled, all the swordsmen could do was wait for the creatures to attack the deck.
‘This is why this place is troublesome.’
A difference in advantage based on the environment.
‘This is when a mage steps up.’
I stepped forward.
“Hey! Mage of Thunderfall! You know you cannot use Lightning magic, right!?”
Argus spoke to me.
Thanks to Turkan’s shamanism, the storm passed around our ship. But the rain had already soaked the surrounding area, and we were drenched as well.
If I used a Lightning spell in this situation, we would all become roasted meat.
But...
“Would this genius mage not know that?”
“Hm?”
Smiling, I called Turkan.
“Turkan.”
“...”
Turkan did not speak, but perhaps he understood what I meant. He gestured that it was possible.
Good.
“Let’s begin.”
Boom boom boom boom!
Turkan silently offered a prayer to the god he served.
The drumbeat sounded, curse talismans shook, and a warm wind blew from somewhere, drying the moisture around us.
[Arcane Barrier]
With a barrier raised, I burned another spell parchment.
[Charge]
A bright yellow aura rose around my body.
An amplification formula that strengthened the power of the next Lightning spell.
Then...
[Chain Lightning]
Crackle!
A destructive mass of light flashed with a tingling sensation that felt as though my entire body were burning.
A single massive bolt of Lightning shot from my hand, tearing into branches through the air and rampaging like a predator with a will of its own.
“Kiiaaaah!”
Electricity amplified to its limit spread through the dark green seawater in every direction, burning the fishfolk’s brains and internal organs.
The desperate screams of fishfolk trying to climb through the waves tore through the sea wind.
Boom!
A brief explosion.
Soon afterward, dark red blood floated to the surface amid the lingering, crackling current.
The fishfolk charging madly at the ship had been thoroughly roasted from the bottom up by a single spell, floating belly-up in the water.
“...!”
The stunned Expedition Party members and the noble party, whose mouths hung open in shock.
Basking in their reverent gazes, I lightly shook my staff and smiled.
“I told you. I’m a genius mage.”
It was common sense that Lightning was strong against Water.
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