WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Mordor
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Surviving the Frozen Dark Fantasy as a Genius Mage ◈
Chapter 16: First Trip to the Labyrinth
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It was difficult at first, but people eventually adapted.
Instead of rushing ahead as she had before, Elena coordinated with Daisy and Dize. The two had learned the monsters' movements as well, responding with sharper attacks and defenses.
“Hyah!”
Rather than thrusting, Daisy swung her spear in a wide arc and struck a monster spider. As it flinched, Dize braced his legs and drove his spear into the fallen creature.
Two more rushed in through that opening, but Elena bought time by batting them away with her shield and sword instead of going for fatal blows.
“Now!”
Dize and Daisy held off the other monsters while Elena finished them off.
As long as there weren't too many, the fights were manageable.
What we had to watch out for were the spiders that hung from trees before dropping down, along with the other monsters that lived in the Warm Forest.
Venomous Larva.
Screeech!
A creature the size of a child, like a wrinkled rhinoceros beetle grub, sprayed acidic fluid in every direction.
“Urgh!”
Equipment corrosion.
Fatal injuries.
It was a troublesome monster for rookie parties with no ranged attacks, but it was no problem for this genius mage.
“Everyone, back off.”
[Ice Spike]
Frost bloomed over my staff, and a chilling light flashed.
The creature thrashed as it sprayed acid, then died with an Ice Spike driven through it.
“As expected of Ian!”
“Magic really is amazing!”
“Button-clicker...”
I ignored the big-eared unbeliever.
‘That makes two Ice Spikes used.’
I checked how many magical parchments remained within me.
Three hours had passed since we entered the Labyrinth.
It was three in the afternoon. I couldn't use Memorize until six the next morning, which meant we had to last another fifteen hours.
‘One Ice Spike, one Magic Missile, one Frost Burst.’
‘And the remaining support spells.’
I really had to conserve them now.
We might even need to avoid fights.
“Our teamwork is getting better.”
“Yeah. The spiders are... ugh, still creepy, but after seeing them so much, I don't think they're impossible to kill anymore...”
Their gloomy expressions from before had disappeared.
Everyone was showing more confidence.
We already had over twenty Mana Stones in our bags, though they were only Ninth Rank. That was about one silver coin's worth.
“Huff, huff.”
The problem was stamina.
No matter how much they had trained while crossing the snowfields, they were still rookies.
They had been walking around in thick padded clothes in this hot weather, sweat pouring down their bodies. Their arms and legs ached from swinging their weapons. Even Elena looked tired, so how much worse must it have been for the others?
“I’m hungry...”
I found a clearing without webs and told everyone to rest.
“Let's take a break.”
We sat around the clearing without lowering our guard. We lit a fire, which insect- and beast-type monsters feared, and chewed on dry jerky and bread.
“The exit was north, right?”
The way out of the Warm Forest on the first floor was simple.
Head north.
Of course, we didn't have an expensive item like a compass, but there was another way. Check the base of any nearby tree and head toward the side where the rings were packed more tightly.
That was what they taught in the Guild's beginner class too.
“Why the side where they're closer together?”
The Guild hadn't explained the reason.
“Trees form rings like that when they get less sunlight. That side is north.”
“Ah.”
“Trees on slopes have different rings, so focus on trees growing on flat ground.”
I had suddenly ended up teaching an elementary school science lesson.
Still, the students somehow knew even less than that. They could only nod in admiration.
“Ian really is smart!”
“If we keep moving for about a day, we'll find the next portal.”
There could be an Escape Portal along the way, a portal to the next floor, or even a portal to another area on the same floor.
Randomness.
That was the Labyrinth's most frightening aspect.
Dize, who had been listening to my explanation, looked worried.
“Then what if we enter a portal thinking it's the exit, but it takes us to another floor? You said the monsters get stronger too! Won't we all die?”
“That won't be a problem. Portals to the next floor are a different color. Even if one takes us to another area, the next portal after that will always be an exit.”
“Ah!”
Unless we stumbled into somewhere like a secret dungeon, that was.
“Since it's our first time, we'll leave as soon as we find an exit. We might end up in another area, so we need to play it safe.”
I decided not to push us too hard.
Unlike in a game, there were no retries here. And aside from me, they were all rookies.
There hadn't been any problems yet.
Well, except for...
“What the hell! When did you eat this much, Elena!?”
Elena had already eaten a third of the food we brought.
Munch, munch.
“Mm?”
With a piece of meat stuck to her lips, Elena tilted her head as though she had no idea what she'd done wrong.
“You need to eat to have strength.”
“That’s true, but you need to think about what comes later!”
Most monster corpses were poisonous.
Forest areas had edible things like fruit, but places like ruins and sewers had absolutely nothing to eat!
‘The first floor is short, so fine. But the deeper we go, the more carefully we'll have to ration food!’
Food was just as important in the Labyrinth as torches!
‘I knew she ate a lot, but this much!?’
‘Does she have some kind of big eater trait!?’
“There's still plenty left, so it's fine...”
“From now on, your food will be rationed.”
“Boo! Don't oppress free people!”
Perhaps Elena had learned even the nonsense I usually spouted. She protested, but I confiscated the dwindling food bag and handed it to Daisy.
“Never give it to Elena.”
“Y-Yeah!”
Anyway...
After filling our stomachs and taking turns napping to recover some strength, we set off again.
Every now and then, I borrowed Dize's spear to knock down fruit hanging from the trees.
“What is this?”
“It's called Miran Fruit.”
Each floor and area of the Labyrinth had its own ecosystem, and it was possible to find special items that grew only there.
The Miran Fruit from the Warm Forest, for example, drove dwarves and brewers wild.
It made incredible beer when brewed with barley.
Its price was...
“Three copper coins each.”
“What!?”
“Three loaves of bread?”
“It's more expensive than a Mana Stone!”
“Get it? Pick up every single one you see.”
“Okay!”
Dize looked doubtful.
“They didn't teach us this at the Guild...”
“A genius mage knows everything.”
I brushed it off with the confidence of a veteran player.
“As expected of Ian!”
We were moving along while earning a decent bit of extra income when Elena quietly raised her hand.
Her expression was more serious than it had been whenever we faced monsters, and there was good reason for that.
“Monsters?”
“No, people.”
“If they're people, why...”
I covered Daisy's mouth.
“Shh.”
Monsters weren't the only things to be careful of in the Labyrinth.
* * *
The Labyrinth was vast, but it wasn't difficult to run into other Expedition Party members.
Sometimes they could help you. Other times, they brought disaster.
The other side must have noticed us too, because the commotion soon drew closer.
We came across a party of two men and two women.
By coincidence, they were the people who had attended the Guild's beginner class with us.
“You guys are...”
“You attended that class with us, right?”
We stayed alert just in case, but the other party lowered their guard first.
Was he their leader?
A blond young man with a youthful face approached first. He wore leather armor and carried a round shield and longsword, properly equipped from head to toe. He offered a handshake.
“So you guys entered the Labyrinth this time too! Nice to meet you! I'm Arthur!”
“...”
Elena had no social skills whatsoever, as expected of an orphan. Dize and Daisy were intimidated by the others, who were bigger and far better equipped than them.
‘Tsk, tsk. They're too timid.’
In the end, the only normal one among us had to step forward and take his hand.
“Nice to meet you. I'm Ian.”
“You look about our age... Did you come from the same city too?”
A large man carrying a heavy shield and an axe.
A kind-looking woman in pure white robes.
A sharp-looking woman with her hair tied in a ponytail, holding a bow.
I felt a sense of kinship with them that I hadn't felt with other Expedition Party members. They had undoubtedly felt the same when they looked at us.
“That's right. We're from South Sunlight Village.”
“No wonder. It's impressive that four of you made it here alive.”
We spoke for a while, then Elena and the sharp-looking female archer both turned toward one side of the forest at the same time.
“They're coming.”
Arthur casually raised his longsword and gestured with his head.
“How about we deal with the monsters first?”
Rustle, rustle!
Giant spiders and grubs burst from the bushes.
There were ten of them.
“Everyone, get ready to fight!”
Arthur's party and mine immediately stood back-to-back and faced them.
Crunch!
Sword light flashed, and arrows flew with sharp whistles through the air.
It was a number that would have forced us into a hard fight or made us run if we'd been alone, but with four more people, the battle was easy.
Arthur's party was stronger than I expected.
“Phew. Ian, right? Your spells are incredible.”
I had to use my last Ice Spike on an acid-spitting grub that exploited an opening, but this was still an easy win.
‘No wonder they're so confident.’
“You're pretty good with a sword too. Looks like you trained somewhere.”
“I've done all sorts of work back in the city.”
Arthur flicked the fluid from his sword and looked off into the distance as if remembering the past.
“One person died while we crossed the snowfields, but... we became stronger.”
“Dize... Ian!”
My gaze snapped toward the voice.
“I-I think I'm dying... Uuuugh!”
Dize had been injured in the battle just now.
A giant spider had sunk its fangs deeply into his shoulder. His gambeson kept his arm from being torn off, at least.
“Let me see.”
I examined Dize's wound.
It was swelling and changing color...
Fuck, it was poison.
This was worse than I thought. We had brought antidotes for situations like this, but with Dize's weak constitution, he would be bedridden for at least half a day.
“Ian, am I dying...? Am I going to die? Sob.”
“Hey, idiot. Quit exaggerating. You’re not dying, so just endure it for a bit. Elena, the bag!”
“Okay!”
I was about to heat the dagger taken from a dead Expedition Party member in the fire and give emergency treatment when Arthur's party approached.
“Wait. Can we take a look?”
“What?”
“Rami here knows how to use holy spells.”
There was a priest among people who had only just become Expedition Party members, and on the first floor at that?
Wasn't that completely overpowered?
As I stood there stunned, the sharp-looking female archer spoke to Arthur.
“Wait, why should we heal someone who isn't even in our party?”
“We still have plenty of spells prepared with Memorize. Besides, even if it's temporary, we fought back-to-back together.”
“But we don't know what might happen...”
“Narita.”
“...Do what you want.”
The archer named Narita gave in after Arthur urged her.
Arthur called for Rami again, and the kind-looking woman placed her hand on Dize's wound before casting a spell.
[Heal]
A white light shone, and Dize's face, twisted in pain, brightened in an instant.
It was the power of a holy spell.
“Huff, huff... Ah... Thank you...”
“Don't mention it.”
Wow.
So this was how Heal worked in real life.
It didn't even seem like a high-ranking spell, but it was far more effective than I expected. As the party leader, I thanked Arthur's group.
“Thanks, Arthur. You saved him.”
“It was nothing. In return, we can take some of the Mana Stones that dropped from the monsters as the treatment fee, right?”
Was that his real goal?
Still, it was cheap for one use of Heal.
“What? That's practically robbery...”
I covered Elena's mouth and nodded.
“Of course.”
After settling up, we were about to part ways when Arthur looked at me regretfully and spoke.
“Hey, want to hunt together?”
“You want an alliance?”
“Yeah. We'd have to split the loot, but if we hunt together like this, won't the profits increase? We have a priest, and you have a mage, so it would be safer too.”
He probably wanted my abilities as a mage.
A party without a mage would have trouble killing monsters like acid-spitting grubs.
‘Even with arrows, they'd need to land several shots to kill one.’
‘That’s too wasteful.’
“Arthur!”
The female archer who had objected shook her head at us.
She didn't seem to trust us, especially Dize and Daisy.
Hah. The nerve.
We didn't want this either.
“Hey, Elena's a better shot than you. Hehe.”
“Thanks for the offer, but we'll be moving separately. We're looking for an exit, not hunting.”
“Really? Can't be helped.”
Arthur's party didn't press us further and left.
Elena nodded as if I had made the right choice, but Dize asked regretfully,
“Why did you refuse? They're really good fighters. And they used Heal on me, so they don't seem like bad people.”
“If we want to reach the exit, wouldn't it be better to travel with them and split up later?”
He was right.
But there was a big problem.
“They're not bad fighters...”
I watched Arthur's party disappear, then shook my head.
“They're taking the Labyrinth too lightly.”
They were too confident.
‘This is a place where even veterans with years of experience can die in an instant.’
In the Labyrinth, you always had to be careful and humble.
There was a reason people said a trolling ally was scarier than a monster.
“Hmm...”
After that, we continued moving, killing or avoiding the one or two monsters that appeared at a time.
When night finally fell, we lit a campfire and prepared to camp.
“Plant the torches as far away as possible! No blind spots! Two people take watch at a time! Even if we nap during the day, this is better!”
The most dangerous moments in the Labyrinth were right after using a portal to teleport, and at night like this.
Monster attacks became more frequent and the monsters grew stronger, and the coins that foretold an Expedition Party's fate spun more often.
We made every preparation, finished a simple meal, and fell asleep.
Perhaps because our first trip into the Labyrinth had been so exhausting, everyone was snoring away when...
“Something's coming.”
Elena, who was standing watch, gripped her sword tightly and whispered.
Daisy and I jumped to our feet.
But it wasn't a monster that appeared.
“Huff, huff...”
Heavy breathing.
The figure staggering toward us from beyond the darkness, where the flames flickered ominously, was someone we knew.
“You’re...”
Narita.
She was the female archer from Arthur's party, whom we had separated from only a short while ago.
“S-Save me...”
Spin.
A special power only I could see.
The Coin of Fate spun.
Footnotes:
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