WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Mordor
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Surviving the Frozen Dark Fantasy as a Genius Mage ◈
Chapter 43: The Wizard's Boss Rush
──────
Thud! Boom!
What Ian summoned through the dimensional gate was a Blue Drake.
It was as large as a house, a creature that lived on snowy plains and coasts and breathed Frost breath. Though it was only a drake, it was still a monster classified as a higher species of the fourth floor.
‘That should be enough...’
Every time the dragon moved, the stone chamber shook as though an earthquake had struck. Divine Power spells and sword strikes flashed, while the dragon's sharp claws carved sinister grooves into the walls.
The scale of the battle was on an entirely different level. It was overwhelming.
“Gasp, gasp!”
The survivors used that opening to catch their breath.
“God...”
“Fuck... What the hell did Ian do?!”
“So that mage summoned that dragon?”
“A dimensional gate...”
“Then it's on our side?”
They were still stunned by the situation, but they had found a sliver of hope.
“No. Its dragon blood simply recognized the most dangerous presence.”
Darnen, a skilled dark mage, understood what was happening.
“The enemy of our enemy is our ally, then!”
Elena had been wrapping a bandage when she suddenly panicked.
“Ian! Where are you going?!”
Ian, who had caused all this, suddenly ran in front of the Drake.
Kyaaaaaak!
As if on cue, the Drake unleashed a Frost breath at Hodrick.
“Ian!!!”
“Don't come!”
“What?!”
He even stopped Elena from rushing after him.
“What are you doing?! Explain yourself...”
“There's magic!”
“What?”
“Th-there! There's magic in thereeeeee!”
...No way.
Darnen stared at the silver-haired mage who called himself a genius while wielding spells from three affinities, rushing toward the Drake with crazed eyes.
She understood why he was doing this.
Really? He was really going to do that? In this situation? Risking his life?
Darnen had always taken pride in herself as a promising mage of her people. Yet when she saw that man crawl into a dragon's breath, her own talent and resolve suddenly felt pitiful.
“They say madness and genius coexist...”
* * *
This wasn't enough.
That thought came to me instinctively.
“Iaaaaaan!”
Ignoring Elena's scream behind me, I spread my arms and pushed myself into the dragon's breath.
Just far enough that I wouldn't freeze solid. With Arcane Barrier raised, I moved in little by little along the outer edge.
Crack, crack.
Of course, the barrier shattered instantly under the dragon's breath, and my entire body began to freeze over.
Huff. Huff.
Still, I clenched my teeth and endured it.
‘If it's a dragon's breath, the Frost Grimoire should love it!’
I was doing this for momentum.
No, I was doing this to get a new spell!
Thump... Thump...
As my heartbeat slowed, my mind somehow grew clearer. I could feel the blue Grimoire inside me rejoicing.
‘Give me a spell!’
And just as expected, it gave me a fragment of new insight.
‘There it is!’
[Ice Spear]
Finally.
The moment I confirmed that the blue Grimoire had produced a new spell, I threw myself out of the breath and rolled across the floor.
Cough! Haa!
At the same time, I performed Memorize on the spot.
‘When I get a new spell, I can Memorize it regardless of the time...’
Ah, it didn't matter anyway.
“It's six in the morning.”
A grin spread across my face. In my hand was a huge, thick, sharp wedge of Frost that Ice Spike couldn't compare to.
“Now, take this too, Uther!”
Hodrick was barely holding back the Drake's breath with a barrier of Divine Power.
I threw Ice Spear at him.
Crash!
The moment the Frost spear, nearly two meters long, collided with the light barrier, the balance tipped.
The barrier that had been so solid shattered like glass, and the Paladin's ironclad armor was pierced.
“Grrk...”
“Gaaaaah!”
Lightning, Arcane, and a storm of Frost flashed together.
I poured every remaining spell into the staggering bastard.
Kyaaaaaak!
Seizing the opening, the Drake crunched down and swallowed the Paladin.
* * *
Grrr.
With a sound like metal being crushed, the dragon let out a satisfied belch.
But it wasn't over yet.
When a monster-versus-monster battle ended with one side victorious, what was left?
Thud! Boom!
“F-fuck...”
“Do we have to kill the dragon now...?”
The Drake's sinister eyes fixed on us. I crawled away across the floor and shouted.
“Everyone, be careful!”
“That'd still be better! If it's a Drake, then at least...”
Be careful of the Drake? Not a chance.
“Phase Two!”
A Guardian wasn't something that died so easily.
The moment I finished speaking, the Drake's triangular eyes went unfocused and rolled back.
Kyih?
In the next instant, its eyeballs burst, and disgusting tentacles sprouted from its nose and mouth.
Thud!
With the sound of grinding metal, Hodrick stepped out from the fallen dragon's mouth.
He still gave off that unpleasant aura, but he no longer resembled a Paladin. His entire body had been crushed and melted, with strange lumps of flesh pulsing inside it.
Ugh... Ah...
It was called Phase Two, but it was closer to a final death throe.
Having expended every Divine Power spell, he had become a mass of flesh. He no longer possessed sharp swordsmanship or a god's authority.
U-aaaaaah!
Maybe because of the aftereffects of the breath, I couldn't even move a finger.
Gasp. Gasp.
I'd done all I could.
Now I had to leave the rest to them.
“Ugh...”
I collapsed.
“...”
Darnen looked guilty for a moment, then blew up the corpses of the dead slaves and Expedition Party members.
“Everyone! Kill it!”
The elf swordsman missing a leg, Gimlius who had awakened after passing out, the one-armed slave warrior from the dark elf side, Hans with his dagger, Elena, and everyone else still alive charged forward.
“Aaaaaah!”
It wasn't a proper battle so much as a desperate struggle.
They tackled it, bit it, clung to it, and pissed themselves in terror.
“Cough!”
Daisy had no Heal left, and all the potions were gone.
Hodrick's wounds continued to pile up, but our side began falling one by one as well.
“Gasp... Huff...”
Elena was the last one standing.
“I can't let this chance that idiot Ian gave us go to wasteeeeee!!!”
A reddish aura suddenly burst from the blood-soaked Elena.
The Berserk spell within the Bracelet of Wrath had activated.
“Aaaaaah!”
With red eyes, Elena charged Hodrick.
She swung her sword even as tentacles pierced her, severing his right arm.
Clang!
When her sword broke, she grabbed an axe from the floor and swung it.
The brute strength of a Berserker consumed by rage smashed into the gap between Hodrick's helmet and gorget.
The greatsword Hodrick swung in a spasm severed one of Elena's arms.
But Elena traded an arm for his head. She repeatedly slammed the axe into Hodrick's skull, then tore it off like a kettle lid.
Kraaaaaah!
[Sir Hodrick, Meia’s Corrupted Paladin finds peace.]
“Thank you...”
The Secret Dungeon had been cleared.
* * *
A holy radiance rose around Hodrick's corpse.
His body was grotesque, but the Paladin's soul shone with pure light. He bowed his head toward us, then ascended.
The mass of light gathered in the air and formed three beautiful crystals.
Grace Stones, the most valuable items in this Secret Dungeon.
Thump.
That wasn't all.
I leveled up.
Excitement welled up inside me as my capacity as a mage grew another step.
‘I can engrave one more spell.’
That brought the total number of spells I could use to seven.
The sealed stone chamber door opened, and a portal appeared beyond it.
It was blue, nearly sky-blue.
A guaranteed return portal.
“Fuck...”
The rewards were good. Escaping was good.
But none of that mattered right now.
“El... Elena...”
Holding onto my shivering body, I called out to Elena, my friend from the orphanage.
Grrr...
Elena, who had lost an arm, gripped her bloodstained axe in her remaining hand and glared at me.
Her eyes no longer held their usual bright green. She had lost her reason.
Even though the fight was over, Berserk had not worn off.
“Elena! Snap out of it...!”
Kraaaaaang!
Elena, out of her mind, charged me.
[Heads/Tails]
The coin spun.
‘Heads!’
[Tails]
[Insight]
[High probability of an ending where I get split in half.]
“Eek!”
Fuck, after coming this far, I was going to die to that idiot elf!
I covered my face with my arms and slowly opened my eyes.
Clang!
Elena had collapsed with a dull thud.
“Ghk.”
“Huff! Huff!”
Behind the fallen Elena stood Daisy, breathing hard with a bloodstained mace in her hands.
“Ian! Are you okay?!”
The best way to end Berserk was physical force.
It was a good thing I'd taught her that beforehand.
“Thanks... Nice one, Daisy.”
Elena had only been knocked out. She was safe.
“Elena, I'm sorry... I had no choice... No, that's not the point! Wait a little longer! I'll Memorize right now!”
It had only just passed six in the morning, so Daisy tried to engrave fresh Divine Power spells and heal us.
“I'm fine, so Elena first...”
Thunk!
“Huh?”
Daisy's eyes widened, and she stumbled before collapsing.
“Huh?”
A small bolt was embedded in Daisy's thigh.
“Ha ha.”
The one who appeared with that ominous laugh was Drian, the dark elf assassin.
He had hidden himself with Night Crow’s Cloak, obtained from the Jailer Captain, then waited through the battle before revealing himself.
“You worked hard putting up that fight. Thanks to you, everything went smoothly.”
Holding a small crossbow, he smiled in satisfaction as he spun a bloodstained dagger in his other hand.
Everyone else was down from the aftermath of the battle with Hodrick. Elrond, the elf mage who had been in good condition, was already on the floor with a bolt lodged in him, vomiting black blood.
“Cough!”
Poison.
“Summoning a dragon and trying to take the Guardian down with it. You had the skill to justify your arrogance. I'll acknowledge that much and grant you a clean death.”
That cowardly plaster-faced bastard.
He waited until everyone was unable to fight, then stabbed us in the back?
It was exactly what you'd expect from a vicious dark elf.
But I was a thorough genius mage.
I'd saved a spell for this.
[Magic Missile]
There was only one left, but he was a wreck too, limping from his injuries. If I caught an opening...
‘But Darnen is the problem.’
‘She's in the best condition among us.’
As I considered it, my eyes widened.
“Oh, what's this? Are you going to help? Good...”
“Stop.”
“...”
Someone had stepped in front of me.
“Huff... Huff... Weren't they comrades who fought alongside us?”
It was the man whose arm had been taken by the Jailer Captain because of Drian.
The one-armed slave I'd saved by telling Daisy to use Heal.
“We're all alive because of them... If you've got any humanity, you can't do this.”
“What nonsense is this, idiot?”
“You goddamn dark elf bastaaaard!”
The one-armed slave charged Drian.
My plan had worked.
His spirit, betraying his master to keep his conscience, was admirable. But Drian casually fired his crossbow and pierced the one-armed slave's throat.
Gurgle.
The man collapsed.
“Pathetic.”
Feigning composure to hide his own wounds, Drian spun his dagger again and limped toward me step by step.
Then someone else stepped between us.
“Drian.”
“Ah, Darnen. You're up?”
It was Darnen, the dark elf mage.
What was even more absurd was her reaction.
Like the fallen slave warrior, she said the same thing.
“Stop.”
“What?”
“I said stop.”
Drian's smug expression twisted.
“...Ha. I've followed your words until now because of the Elder's orders, but I can't take it anymore. Are you playing around? You lowborn mongrel. If we wipe out these bastards, it'll all be ours. So why the hell...!”
The moment Drian flew into a rage...
Arde
Darnen shattered a catalyst and cast a spell.
Dark flames erupted.
Whoooosh!
“A-aaaaaah!”
At Drian, her fellow dark elf.
───────!
Drian tried to scream something, but his vocal cords had already been devoured by hellfire, so no sound came out.
Instead, burning away the last of his life, he rushed at Darnen.
Thud!
Darnen picked up the slave warrior's sword from the floor and cut off the burning Drian's head in one blow.
“...”
Clink.
The bloodstained necklace around the dark elf assassin's neck fell into her slender hand.
The beautiful elf, pale-skinned with her silver hair tied back, wiped the blood from her face and clicked her tongue.
What the fuck? A sudden family fight?
Darnen was an NPC and an oddball for a dark elf, but I had never encountered a route like this even in the game.
As I stared in confusion, Darnen took one of the Grace Stones rolling across the floor.
Then she searched through the corpse of the Eternal Guardian, the original boss of this stone chamber, who had been killed by Hodrick.
She took out a book that gave off an ominous glow.
The Necronomicon.
It was a powerful artifact that couldn't even be compared to the magical items from before. Normally, it would have appeared as the Guardian's loot along with the Grace Stone.
“I need this item, so I'll be taking it.”
Darnen said that to me, opened her robe, and slipped the Necronomicon between her heavy breasts.
Instead...
“I'll leave this behind.”
She left behind the magical equipment stripped from Drian's corpse.
Night Crow’s Cloak, along with several bottles of antidote.
It was as if she were adjusting the shares like a real Expedition Party member.
Cough, cough!
‘Elena!’
‘No! Daisy first!’
“Daisy!”
I hurriedly treated Daisy with an antidote, then asked Darnen as she walked alone through the portal.
“Why save us after killing your own companion? Like he said, if you'd killed us all, there would be no witnesses and you could've taken every reward.”
If I had been the player behind the monitor, I would've done that.
And dark elves would have done the same one hundred times out of one hundred.
Darnen fell silent for a moment at my reasonable question before answering.
“I never liked his way of doing things.”
“...”
“Because I'm a good dark elf.”
What, was she like a gay man attracted to women?
It was an impossible mystery.
And...
‘Doesn't she know there's still one more reward hidden here?’
“See you.”
Darnen disappeared beyond the portal.
I finally relaxed and collapsed.
“Phew.”
I survived.
Footnotes:
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