WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Mordor
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Surviving the Frozen Dark Fantasy as a Genius Mage ◈
Chapter 35: Something More Dangerous Than the Pitch-Black Ones
──────
After getting the coin to work, I called Gimlius.
“Gimlius.”
“What is it?”
“What are you drinking right now?”
“Just something ordinary to wet my throat, that’s all.”
Gimlius lowered the iron flask from his lips.
There wasn’t a trace of agitation in his casual tone.
I narrowed my eyes.
“It’s alcohol.”
“...”
Gimlius fell silent.
Elena, whom I’d thought was asleep, opened her eyes and spoke.
“I thought I could smell something faintly.”
The Labyrinth contained everything humans could imagine.
It was a place packed with every terrible thing beyond imagination and evil itself, and those making their way through it could never endure by ordinary means.
As long as they could keep exploring, no one cared whether Expedition Party members drank alcohol or shoved opium down their throats.
But if it interfered with the expedition, that was another matter.
“Isn’t that right?”
This bastard was seriously drinking on duty?
“That’s true. But when have I ever harmed the party?”
Hmm, that wasn’t wrong. Moderate drinking could even...
“Hic!”
I closed my mouth just as I was about to agree with Gimlius.
Fuck, look at him.
He was drunk!
“You crazy dwarf bastard! How many fingers am I holding up?!”
Elena held up her fingers as she looked at the hiccuping Gimlius.
Just as she was questioning him...
Tinggg.
The coin suddenly spun.
[Heads/Tails]
What?
Why was the coin activating again?
Was Gimlius about to do something unexpected?
I looked at Gimlius’s drooping eyes, then at the bubbles boiling up beneath the planks, and made my judgment.
No.
This had to be...
“Ambush!!!”
I shouted and rolled the coin.
‘Heads.’
[Tails]
Fuck.
Crack!
At the same time, spearheads shot up from beneath the wooden planks.
The coin had failed, but I was unharmed.
“Ian!”
Elena grabbed me and rolled away with me.
“Ambush!”
“A-an ambush?!”
Fortunately, Hans and Daisy also spotted the spearheads jutting up near them, sprang to their feet, and grabbed the weapons beside them.
The problem was...
“Arghhhhh!”
Gimlius.
His armor kept it from being fatal, but his drunken state had made him react a step too late, and he fell into the swamp.
Splash!
Since we had tied ourselves together with rope, our bodies began to get dragged down as well.
The things that had thrust up the spearheads emerged from beneath the swamp.
Three snake-headed humanoids with smooth scales.
Lizardmen.
Keeeeek!
“Arghhhh! Save me!”
“We need to save the dwarf first!”
Elena and Daisy gripped the rope tightly with both hands and pulled.
But dragging up a heavily armored dwarf wasn’t easy.
Splash!
The three Lizardmen who had ambushed us were also leaping out of the swamp and rushing toward us.
“Urgh!”
[Ice Spike]
My Ice Spike and the quarrel Hans fired struck two Lizardmen.
But the situation didn’t improve.
Awooooo!
Gnolls suddenly emerged from the darkness beyond the Lizardmen.
‘Lizardmen and Gnolls attacking together?’
I frowned at a situation that should never have happened.
Monsters had territories too.
Lizardmen and Gnolls weren’t hostile to one another, but they didn’t cooperate either.
The only variable that could cause something like this was...
“Damn it. Of all times... Hans!”
Hans threw the lit torch.
Kehong, kehong!
Five Gnolls charged through the retreating darkness beneath the faint trail of fire, and one of them stood out.
I spotted the halberd in the creature’s hand and its red fur, then gritted my teeth.
Awooooo!
No wonder their movements had seemed strangely organized.
Taif of Wrath.
In other words, a halberd wielding a Gnoll.
‘Fuck, that ridiculously overpowered weapon came looking for me on its own.’
I shouted at the cause of our ambush.
“It’s a Mutant!”
* * *
A Mutant.
In game terms, a Named Monster.
A superior species with greater cunning, stronger physical abilities, or special powers than ordinary monsters.
Well, we were fucked.
Just when it seemed like the expedition would go smoothly, we ran into those dark elves. Then I thought we’d gotten through it by using our wits, but a party member pulled a troll move and brought another crisis down on us.
Should I have looked into him more carefully?
No. It had been the best choice at the time.
What mattered now wasn’t regretting the past, but dealing with the present.
All right, think.
How could we get through this?
First, I needed to objectively assess our situation.
‘Damn it, if it weren’t for those dark elf bastards, I’d still have Lightning Arrow.’
I only had two spells left.
[Arcane Barrier] [1]
[Rising Water Jet] [1]
Daisy only had one Heal left as well.
And the Gnolls were charging from less than ten steps away.
At their speed, they would reach us within three seconds.
One Lizardman remained, so Elena and Hans still hadn’t pulled up the dwarf.
At this rate, Elena would give up on rescuing the dwarf and move to stop the Gnolls.
But she couldn’t hold off all five, including the Named Monster.
She would be pushed back in an instant.
Then Daisy would let go of the rope and use her one Heal.
That would let them hold out for a moment.
Hans would try to pull the dwarf up in that gap.
But as a Scout, there was no way he could rescue a dwarf soaked in swamp water and weighed down by iron armor alone.
Even if I helped, my pathetic strength wouldn’t be much use.
Roaaar!
Thud!
[Elena has died.]
[Daisy has died.]
[Ian...]
In the end, the front line would break, and our heads would be crushed in an instant.
I had the coin, but that was a gamble.
Believing the coin could turn this situation around when there was no clear choice between heads and tails was the kind of insanity only a Kangwon Land gambler would entertain.
Then there was only one answer...
‘My spells.’
[Arcane Barrier] [1]
[Rising Water Jet] [1]
I recalled my remaining spells.
Putting Arcane Barrier aside, Rising Water Jet was originally a spell that sprayed water from the tip of a staff.
It was a support spell used to supply drinking water or put out small fires.
But what if I applied it differently?
‘Could it work?’
‘It feels possible.’
‘No, it will work.’
If I didn’t want to be torn apart by Gnolls and end up in a jar of human flesh, I had to make it work.
Having made my decision, I reached inside my robe.
In my hand was a bluish pebble.
I lightly crushed the water-soaked pebble that served as my catalyst and threw it.
Then I cast the spell.
A catalyst’s role was to help a spell discharge more smoothly.
The water energy inside this pebble was so faint that it was cheap trash, so it wouldn’t help much...
‘But for a genius mage like me, it’s enough.’
The moment I burned the spell parchment, blue magical letters flashed through my mind.
Mana blooming from the pebble resonated with my mana and gave form to the mystery.
‘Rising Water Jet.’
The jet of water didn’t burst from the tip of my staff.
Kwoooong!
Instead, the rotten water of the swamp erupted like a fountain beneath the Gnolls’ feet.
Kehong?!
The footing beneath them shattered under the powerful water pressure, and four charging Gnolls fell into the swamp.
“Argh!”
Elena and Daisy pulled the dwarf up in that opening.
“Cough! Huff! Huff!”
“You idiot! If you’re awake, grab your shield and block!”
The instant they saved the dwarf, Elena shoved me behind her and raised her shield.
A terrifying whistle cut through the darkness.
The Named Monster Taif leaped high and brought their halberd down.
Bang!
The force of a muscular beastman weighing well over a hundred kilograms, combined with centrifugal force, dented Elena’s iron-reinforced oak shield in one blow.
“Ghh...”
Elena’s stance collapsed and she staggered, but she somehow regained her balance and avoided falling into the swamp.
“Elena!”
“Arghhhhh!”
Just as the Mad Taif swung their halberd again to drive Elena back, Gimlius charged in from below.
Bang!
The dwarf, elf, and Gnoll fought fiercely atop the unstable footing.
“Ian! What should we do?!”
“We’d only get in the way. Let’s guard the rear.”
I stopped Daisy, who was debating whether to join them, and let out a rough breath.
Hans had his crossbow aimed as well, but the three-way fight was too fierce for him to find an opening.
“Whew.”
I had done almost all I could by taking out four Gnolls.
With only one spell left before becoming a wand stand, all I could do was offer advice using my veteran knowledge.
“Be careful! When their health gets low, they use a strange grace!”
The grace I meant here was basically a skill in game terms.
The skill used by the Mad Taif lived up to its name...
‘Berserk!’
Kraaaaah!
Taif, who had been getting pushed back by Elena and Gimlius’s combined assault, had their fur stand on end and their eyes turn red.
“W-what is that?!”
“It’s coming!”
Taif scattered red energy around themself, then swung their halberd with even greater force.
Bang!
‘Strength becomes 1.5 times normal. Defense is reduced by half.’
The biggest problem was that their aggressiveness rose sharply once they entered Berserk.
As Taif charged without caring about getting hurt, the two were pushed back in an instant.
Splash!
“Urgh!”
To make matters worse, one of Elena’s legs slipped between the wooden planks, and one of her shoulders had been smashed by the halberd.
“Elena!”
[Heal]
Daisy used her last healing spell.
I prepared my final spell and shouted.
“I’ll make an opening, so aim for their vital spot!”
“Got it!”
Watching the path of the wildly swinging halberd, I snapped my fingers.
“Now!”
[Arcane Barrier]
The translucent force field I created beside Elena blocked the halberd.
Crackkk!
Arcane Barrier was shattered almost immediately by the Berserker’s brute strength, but...
“Arghhhhh!”
It was enough for the talented elf swordswoman to seize the opening.
Crunch!
With the shattered barrier behind her, Elena’s sword pierced the red-furred Gnoll’s neck.
“Uoooooh!”
Gimlius’s axe tore through their flank and spilled their guts.
Graaahhhh!
True to their name, the Mad Taif thrashed around wildly even with a sword lodged in their neck and their intestines pouring from their side...
“You fucking bastard!!!”
Elena tackled Taif to the ground, grabbed the thrashing beast by the neck, and shoved their face into the swamp.
“Pile on! Hold it downnn! Hans!!!”
“I’m coming!”
They held Taif there until their struggling ceased and their life left them.
Keh... keh...
Even a Berserker couldn’t survive after all the blood had drained from their body and they could no longer breathe.
* * *
After the battle, we sat down to catch our breath, covered in blood and sweat and unable to even think about collecting Mana Stones.
“Huff, huff.”
“Whew. Whew.”
I had become a wand stand.
The very definition of helplessness.
But worse than the emptiness inside me was...
“Gimlius.”
The dwarf bastard who had pulled that troll move.
“Fuck, you dwarf bastard.”
I didn’t even speak politely to Gimlius anymore.
“Are you addicted to alcohol... no, booze?”
“I do drink more than others... Otherwise, I can’t focus, and my hands shake...”
Perhaps sober now, Gimlius wiped his mud-covered face as he answered.
So he had a drunkard quirk.
He had probably made mistakes because of this habit and been kicked out of other second-floor parties too.
“You definitely demanded a 30% share.”
“That’s right...”
“Fuck that. You’re demoted to 20%.”
“...All right.”
Gimlius nodded, apparently aware of his mistake.
The Named Monster’s appearance had been an unexpected variable, but if Gimlius hadn’t been drunk, he might have noticed the Lizardmen’s ambush. Then the battle could have gone much more smoothly.
‘That was close.’
‘If my spell or Elena’s timing had been off even once, we would’ve all been wiped out.’
Mistakes deserved fitting penalties.
Considering the dwarf’s troll move, cutting his share by only 10% was far too merciful.
But since we hadn’t finished the expedition yet, pressing him too hard could make him do something drastic.
Still, leading a party required rewards and punishments, so I punished him by cutting his share.
The real reason I was laying this groundwork was...
There was enchanted equipment among the dead Mad Taif’s belongings.
‘After hardship comes happiness.’
Loot acquired.
Footnotes:
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
