WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Mordor
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Surviving the Frozen Dark Fantasy as a Genius Mage ◈
Chapter 20: Ruined Prison on the 1st Floor
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My vision went dark, then my senses seemed to float away.
It wasn't as bad as the first time I took a portal, but it still made me sick to my stomach.
That wasn't the problem right now.
I let out a sigh when I saw where we had ended up after the transfer.
“Ha…”
They say a genius's path is full of hardships.
“W-Where are we…? Cough, cough.”
The stench of damp mold and old dust was strong enough to make my nose hurt.
Beyond the torchlight lay a gray-black space made entirely of stone, iron bars, and trash.
“It's the Ruined Prison.”
Another area on the first floor.
“Fuck.”
Dize looked crushed when he heard it wasn't an Escape Portal.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuuuuuck…”
No, he had completely lost it, so Daisy covered his mouth.
“Mmph!”
“Dize. Ian said to shut up here.”
For even kind Daisy to say that, she had to be on edge too.
“Good job, Daisy. Dize, silence in the Labyrinth.”
“…Sorry.”
I looked around.
The stone room was packed with dust and assorted junk, its ceiling sealed in stone. There were only two entrances, doors at the front and back.
To explain the overall structure of the Ruined Prison…
“Countless rooms are randomly arranged, and Expedition Party members who get transferred here wander through them.
“The monsters here are low-level undead like zombies, skeleton soldiers, and ghosts.”
“Like Draugr?”
“Right. Just more of them.”
The monsters themselves were basic, but there were traps, and the corridors and rooms were narrow. If monsters appeared, fighting them was unavoidable.
Oh, and one more thing.
‘Torches are essential here.’
Unlike the forest, without light, the area's gimmick caused auditory and visual hallucinations.
The Expedition Party Guild had repeatedly emphasized that light was the most important thing here.
The problem was…
‘We don't have many torches left.’
“Five. Maybe four hours if we're generous.”
After gathering all the torches in the backpack, I shook my head.
“We need to escape as quickly as possible.”
If we kept suffering from hallucinations after the light went out, our minds could break down and turn us into lunatics. In fact, Expedition Party members whose minds had broken could even appear as enemies in ruined areas like this.
‘Unlike the forest, there's nothing here we can use as firewood.’
“Do we move now?”
Elena asked. Even with her right hand fractured, she sounded calm. Her mental strength really was incredible.
“No. I need to Memorize first. We'll hold out here until six in the morning.”
If we were lucky, I could engrave my spells before monsters showed up.
“Daisy, take a look at Elena's hand.”
“Okay.”
“Dize, Narita. Help me block the doors.”
“Got it!”
“…”
“Elena, bear with it even if it hurts.”
“Ugh.”
While Daisy used tweezers to pull frozen splinters from Elena's hand, I piled the junk scattered around the room with the other two and blocked both doors.
‘It's so old that it won't hold for long, but it's better than doing nothing.’
Cough, cough.
“Ugh, dust…”
“What do we do now?”
“Rest, maintain your equipment, and pray those monster bastards don't come barging in.”
Whoosh!
Relying on a single dim torch planted in the center of the room, we regrouped.
“They said blunt weapons work well against skeletons and zombies, right?”
“Yeah. Blades get caught on their ribs, and you have to smash them apart to kill them.”
Elena, Dize, and Daisy searched through the dead Expedition Party members' weapons and armor for anything usable. Narita stared at the belongings left behind by her dead friends.
“…”
The emptiness in her eyes was fucking creepy.
She was probably going over her past choices again and again, regretting them.
‘Should I have just left her behind?’
I sat cross-legged and meditated.
Not to study magic, but to think through every threat and possible situation we might encounter in this Ruined Prison.
After I had been thinking for a while, a clear sound reached my ears.
Whirr.
I opened my eyes wide.
“Hup.”
The coin was spinning.
It felt like it was asking whether we'd be attacked while camping…
‘It's five in the morning! Five!’
Let me sleep, you hardworking bastards!
[Heads/Tails]
No matter how much I shouted, the coin kept spinning.
I made my choice.
‘Heads.’
[Tails]
This damned coin seemed like it would finally help me, then immediately screwed me over.
‘Of course it did.’
The Coin of Fate failed, but the misfortune didn't come right away.
A moment later, though, the torchlight suddenly flickered despite there being no wind, and the temperature dropped.
“Hm?”
Dize, who had been nodding off, suddenly stared somewhere and jumped in fright.
“U-Uaaaaah! T-There… over there…”
A woman's head protruded from the wall where Dize pointed.
It was a grotesque thing that emitted a pale glow even in the darkness beyond the torchlight.
A ghost.
The ones found on the first floor couldn't cast any special spells or curses, but…
Screeeeeech!
‘It draws aggro!’
The bluish woman, her mouth split all the way to her ears, let out a scream.
She was the worst enemy for first-floor Expedition Party members without special spells, mystic powers, or priests.
The same went for me after using all my spells.
‘If only I had spells or silver arrows, I could've dealt with it immediately.’
“You little shit!”
Elena rushed over and brought her mace down on it, but it had physical immunity. Her mace passed straight through and slammed uselessly into the wall.
Clang!
“Ian, this…”
“Yeah, they'll be coming soon. Get ready.”
“Fuck, fuck…”
“Hold them at the doors! Don't stand too close. Push them back when they get in!”
Elena shouted, then perked up her ears and pointed at the door blocked by a broken bookshelf.
Soon, the sounds of monsters began to echo loudly enough for me to hear.
Creak, creak…
The clatter of bone joints.
The scrape of loose equipment dragging across the floor.
They said hearing stirred human fear more than anything else, didn't they?
“At least the snowfield was bright…”
A shiver ran through us.
Beyond the reach of the dim torchlight, the sounds coming from the darkness, where we couldn't see even an inch ahead, were enough to stir our fear.
“Hey! Get a grip!”
Unlike Daisy and Dize, who were trembling but still taking their places, Narita remained blankly seated. Elena slapped her across the face and shouted at her.
Smack!
“…”
Narita stared at Elena for a moment, then stood up and nocked an arrow.
The door shook almost immediately.
Bang!
Bang, bang!
The loose latch broke first, then the wood split apart.
The orange light of the torch in the center of the room barely reached the doorway.
Then they crawled out of the pale cloud of dust at the border between light and darkness.
The first thing I saw was a yellow skull gleaming in the torchlight.
The skin that should have covered its teeth had long since rotted away, leaving only black eye sockets fixed on us.
Clack, clack, clack!
Its jaw hung unnaturally loose, its teeth clicking together. In the darkness behind it, more bony fingers crawled out and scratched at the door.
“Stab them!”
At Elena's command, Daisy instinctively thrust her spear forward.
The spearhead shot through the gap and pushed back the undead struggling to widen the broken doorway.
“Ugh…”
Dize hesitated.
There was one with a rotten leather strap around its neck and scraps of organs visible between its ribs, and another with sticky, horrifying eyes glowing beneath a cracked helmet.
Undead-type monsters, including Draugr, inherently exuded a deathly aura.
‘When stamina and mental strength are low, the deathly aura's encroachment is even more lethal.’
If there were more of them, that deathly aura stacked more easily too.
The cold of the undead, which drove away even the warmth of the torch, and their foul stench.
Dize was naturally timid, and he was exhausted, so he had been overwhelmed.
I had brought the lowest-grade holy water for situations like this, but it was expensive enough that I only had one bottle.
‘It's not time to use it yet.’
Thwack!
“Idiot! Stab them!”
Elena broke through his fear in the most straightforward way possible.
With one hand, she used the end of her mace to crush the skeletons trying to crawl through the gap.
“Stab them! Stab them!”
With the other, she smacked the back of Dize's head and screamed into his ear like a madwoman.
“Hngh, hyaaaaaah!”
Dize finally screamed and thrust his spear through the gap, forcing them back.
The undead howled.
The spear tip struck something hard, and the scratching against the door echoed one after another.
‘Five forty in the morning.’
‘Twenty minutes until Memorize.’
‘At this rate…’
It seemed like we were holding them off well enough.
Bang!
Then, with a sudden crash, half the door shattered and splinters flew everywhere.
Elena and Dize hurriedly ducked and staggered back while Daisy fell on her backside.
“Eek!”
The shaft of her spear rolled across the floor, snapped in half. Its blade was caught between the bony fingers of an armored glove.
“Skeleton Heavy Infantry!”
The culprit who had destroyed the barricade.
A well-armed skeleton, a head taller than the rest crowding the door, pulled both arms back and prepared to swing its flail again.
Elena rushed toward it with her shield and mace raised, but a sharp whistle passed by my ear.
Whoosh!
A few strands of blond hair fluttered through the air.
An arrow that shot past Elena pierced the skeleton warrior between the eyes.
Despite its large frame, it collapsed pathetically to the floor, flailed for a moment, then turned to ash.
Sizzle!
Smoke rose from its skull, and a shining arrow shaft remained lodged in it.
A silver arrow, effective against undead.
“You…”
Elena glared at Narita because she had almost been hit.
Narita ignored her and silently nocked another arrow.
“I don't have any silver arrows left.”
‘If she had those, it would've been nice if she'd used one when the ghost appeared.’
Then again, what was I expecting from someone whose mind had already snapped?
Anyway, that gave us a moment to breathe…
Bang, bang!
Fuck.
The door at the back began to shake too.
“Ha… Hey! You! And Daisy! Light another torch and hold that side!”
“Hngh, hngh. Okay!”
At Elena's command, Narita and Daisy grabbed clubs and ran for the other door.
‘It's five fifty-one now.’
Watching the situation, I shook my head.
‘This won't work.’
The decision came quickly.
The action came even faster.
I left my staff behind, grabbed a club, and went to the rear door.
“Idiot! Stay back!”
Elena shouted, but every hand counted right now.
No matter how I looked at it, I had to step in too.
“Bullshit. Did you forget I'm the second-in-command of the Orphan Gang?”
“You lost to a nine-year-old!”
Ah, don't bring back my PTSD.
“What makes us human is our ability to improve. I'm different now…”
Bang!
“Ghk.”
I went flying before I could finish speaking.
The door shattered, and I couldn't withstand the force of the skeleton's axe.
Ow, that hurt.
“Ian!”
I rolled across the floor, then groaned as I pushed myself up.
“Ugh!”
Daisy strained against a skeleton soldier that had crossed the doorway, blocking its axe with her shield.
Narita fired an arrow at a skeleton that had come right up to her, watched it pass uselessly between its ribs, then drew her sword.
Shing!
Bang!
‘There are more than usual because of the aggro!’
Everyone was tired and injured, in poor condition.
‘If only I had spells!’
‘This goddamn Memorize system!’
The situation was bad enough that I felt as useless as a wand holder.
Outnumbered, we were eventually overwhelmed.
The door gave way.
Undead that felt neither fear nor any emotion crossed into the living's torchlit space.
The ghost screamed as it drifted through the air, and from then on, it became a desperate brawl.
“Aaaaaah!”
I barely dodged a swinging sword and swung my club.
But this weak body couldn't put any weight behind the weapon. Instead, it was nearly dragged along by the swing.
Crunch!
I had clearly aimed for its head, but only smashed its shoulder.
And only a little.
‘Fuck.’
The skeleton soldier's sword came rushing at me as my posture broke.
I took the hit to the stomach and gasped in pain.
“Ghk.”
‘A mere skeleton counterattacked?’
I had thought it was a weakling, but real-life skeletons were different.
At least its weapon was rusty.
It couldn't pierce the thick gambeson I wore.
‘It was a good thing… that I bought new equipment…’
“Hup!”
I grabbed the skeleton's wrist and struggled against it, then shoved it away and threw myself to the floor.
As I rolled and looked around, everyone seemed too busy fighting at least two monsters each to notice anything else.
“Hold on! If we fall back, we die!”
Clang! Crack!
Elena, especially, was facing three well-armed enemies, including a Skeleton Heavy Infantry with the most dangerous flail.
Even then, she managed to smash one of their heads with her mace.
‘She's ridiculously talented!’
Clang!
“Argh!”
Elena tried to use the momentum to push back the others, then suddenly staggered.
Blood ran through her tossed-back hair, and her helmet had been damaged.
Fuck, an arrow!
“An arrow! Light another torch and throw it over there! In front! Light it up! Hurry!”
Elena shouted.
But everyone was too busy fighting.
I was the only one with a hand free.
“Here goes!”
Gritting my teeth, I struck the head of the skeleton struggling beneath me, then took a torch from my bag, lit it, and threw it.
Whoosh!
The orange mass of light arced through the darkness, revealing the skeletons.
The faint glow cast by the flame.
In the dark corridor, an undead archer knelt on one knee, aiming a crossbow at us.
“Helmet… Hngh! It was a good thing I bought one! Just like you said, Ian! Heehee!”
Even though an axe had struck her shoulder, Elena cackled like a madwoman.
“Huff, huff. Is this really the time to say that?! Are you okay!?”
“Not… really. Ngh!”
Because she had bought a helmet on my advice, the enemy's old weapon had failed to deal her a fatal wound.
‘Fuck.’
We were barely holding on, but this would be the end if it continued.
We needed something to turn things around.
And that would be… soon…
There!
I checked that all the sand had run through Mauk's keepsake, the Hourglass, then shouted.
“Six o'clock! It's morning!”
“Six…?!”
Elena immediately understood and shouted.
“Everyone, gather up! Protect Ian!!!”
She kicked away the monsters, grabbed the collars of the panicked others, and pulled them back.
They formed a defensive formation around me and began forcing the skeletons back.
“Hold on! If they push through, we're done!”
“Aaaaaah!”
“Dize, you idiot! Hold the line!”
The sound of metal colliding.
Shouts and screams.
The undead's shrieks.
“Ian! Are you done yet?!”
Fuck, how was I supposed to engrave a spell in this kind of mess?
Memorize normally required tremendous concentration and a quiet environment.
Even for an experienced mage, this was close to impossible.
But…
‘I'm not an ordinary mage. I'm a genius mage.’
‘A genius doesn't blame their tools or environment.’
I sat cross-legged, closed my eyes, and focused.
Every distracting thought, including the fear that my companions might die at any moment and the fear that a stray sword or arrow would fly in and pierce me, quietly settled.
In a vast, pitch-black space like the universe, three differently colored Grimoires glimmered as they sought light.
And my overwhelming mental image bound them in chains and commanded them.
Crackle!
[Faint Light]
[Electric Spark]
[Ice Spike]
[Frost Burst]
[Magic Missile]
Like a dried-up oasis filling again, the spell parchments filled back up.
“Phew.”
I opened my eyes, leaving behind that fullness within me.
Blue mana surged in my gaze.
“You're all dead.”
I raised my staff and cast a spell.
Footnotes:
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