WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Mordor
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Surviving the Frozen Dark Fantasy as a Genius Mage ◈
Chapter 96: Back to the Labyrinth
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Amid the pouring water and hot steam, Darnen’s gray, naked body gave off an alluring yet obscene air. A black brand on her back writhed like a snake as it absorbed the moisture.
“Phew.”
Darnen had safely escaped the Black Market and returned to the Veliar Family estate. She sat in a chair, drying her wet hair.
Her face flushed from the heat, Darnen fanned herself as her thoughts drifted to the adventure she had shared with the “friends” she had just parted ways with.
Underlings of a dangerous secret organization, the underground auction house, and attacks by elves. She had faced situations where even several lives would not have been enough.
Yet Darnen gladly called it an adventure and thought it had been fun.
There had been friendship, camaraderie, and laughter even amid the hardships.
Unlike dark elf society, where everyone watched and doubted one another, never knowing when they might be stabbed in the back.
“Next time, too...”
Darnen’s faint smile froze.
“The estate has been rather noisy lately.”
A dark elf entered through the open door.
Only the elders of the eight families that led the clan could enter Darnen’s room without the Veliar Family heir’s permission.
A tall, elderly dark elf leaning on a staff.
It was Daimond, Darnen’s teacher and a necromancer.
“You’ve been getting up to some interesting things.”
Daimond smiled gently, unlike a dark elf, but Darnen replied warily.
“I crushed the others and secured my position as heir. I acquired the Kazak Family’s treasure and even their underlings. Is that not enough?”
“Of course, it’s an excellent achievement. But it seems you’re becoming too involved with humans.”
“...”
Daimond was indirectly telling her to keep her distance from them.
Normally, that obedient child would have understood the meaning and nodded.
But unlike before, Darnen said nothing.
She resisted.
That was what mattered.
Daimond clenched the slave collar around Darnen’s neck.
“...Kgh.”
The brand engraved on Darnen’s back flared up.
Her eyes widened, and she staggered before finally collapsing to the floor, gasping for air.
Thud.
The groans leaking through her clenched teeth showed just how much pain she was in.
“It would be troublesome if you began harboring foolish hopes, Darnen. My daughter.”
Daimond looked down at Darnen with a parent’s heart that did not want to do this to their daughter, yet with the severity of a disciplinarian.
‘Daughter?’
Darnen gave a hollow laugh.
Daughter... What kind of parent put a collar on their daughter and used her like a slave?
And had all eight elders take turns doing it?
Darnen gritted her teeth, but soon gave up the will to resist.
It was resignation born from long experience, knowing she could not escape this fate no matter what she did.
“I know... I know that much.”
“Yes, you must serve the clan. You must devote everything to the clan. You must become a star that enlightens every foolish being in this world. Do you understand?”
“Argh...”
“Do you understand?”
Daimond continued the suppression spell, which was almost like torture.
So she would never forget her duty.
* * *
Every time someone entered the Labyrinth, the teleportation location was random, and the terrain changed because of the Contraction Period.
No matter how broad or detailed a map was, it was useless.
But Mind Map, Hans’s new ability, was different.
When activated, it displayed the surrounding terrain in his mind. Places he had visited appeared in greater detail, while even places he had never been to showed their basic terrain.
‘It’s like the game’s minimap!’
“For now, the radius is around twenty meters. I can make it wider, but then the ability won’t last as long, and the map becomes blurry.”
It had drawbacks, but their exploration speed naturally became much faster.
[Ian’s party has broken through the Warm Forest on the first floor!]
A route that had once taken a full day was reduced to half a day.
Of course, that was not only thanks to the ability. Hans’s outstanding sense of direction played a major role as well.
‘If Hans gains an ability related to finding portals, we’ll be even faster.’
Keeping losses of food and consumables to a minimum, we soon entered the second floor.
Creak. Creak.
Vast darkness and jagged rocks.
An enormous swamp connected by flimsy planks greeted us.
“The Rotting Swamp.”
Sickening humidity and the stench of rotting mud filled the air.
Hans looked around with a lantern in hand, then asked me, “Will we look for a Secret Dungeon?”
“We should.”
In the Rotting Swamp, Raging Torrent Valley appeared as a Secret Dungeon.
Its mechanic was rather tricky, but it was a decent place with a high chance of treasure chests appearing at the end.
‘The Contraction Period follows a fixed monthly schedule. It occurs on the first floor during the first week, the second floor during the second week, and the third floor during the third week.’
‘Today is December 17th.’
‘On average, it takes six to seven days to find the next portal on the third floor.’
Since exploring the third floor took a long time even when escaping, I had deliberately entered after the second floor’s Contraction Period ended.
‘If things get tangled up and another region appears, we’ll have to stay on the third floor for at least two weeks.’
From the third floor onward, the timing of entry had to be handled differently, which was why I chose this date.
For the next six days, until the third floor’s Contraction Period ended, we planned to search the second floor for a Secret Dungeon portal.
Of course, a genius mage and seasoned Dungeon of Death veteran like me was not about to run around until my feet caught fire doing mindless grunt work.
“First, we need to find an altar. Not one shaped like a U or V, but one shaped like a W.”
Like Prisoner’s Tower last time, there was a way to artificially open this region’s Secret Dungeon.
Awooooo!
“Five Gnolls ahead!”
“Leave them to me!”
We dealt with the hyena men that kept appearing as we explored the Rotting Swamp.
“It’s not on the bridges. We need to search the land.”
Then, in one of the areas of solid ground among countless monster villages, I found the altar I had been looking for.
Bubble. Bubble.
A pot full of human flesh soup.
Between grotesque idols decorated with human skulls on skewers, I prepared the ritual at a stone altar.
‘A Gnoll Shaman’s Mana Stone, melted victims’ eyeballs, mud from the deepest part of the swamp, and the Mystic Dimensional Gate spell.’
A secret art that only an Arcane mage could use.
“Kiyaaah!”
Crackle!
With my magnificent battle cry, a dimensional gate opened.
Its writhing surface resembled a raging current.
This was definitely the passage to Raging Waterfall, the Rotting Swamp’s Secret Dungeon.
“A portal!”
“Everyone, get ready! We’re entering right away!”
We were about to enter the Secret Dungeon.
Awooooo!
“Gnoll archers behind us!”
At that moment, monsters appeared and arrows flew toward us.
“Ignore them and go in!”
I blocked the arrows with my shield and was about to enter the portal.
Rustle.
The portal suddenly vanished.
* * *
“...W-What? Why did the portal disappear?”
Elena touched the empty altar with a blank expression.
“What is this? What the hell?! My money!!!”
Gimlius jumped up and down with his short limbs.
“...”
Ha. Because of these bastards.
Knowing what had happened, I grimaced and fired Lightning at the rushing monsters.
[Chain Lightning]
Crackle!
Kerrrk!
Leaving the charred monsters behind, I let out a sigh.
“Looks like all the slots were filled.”
“What?”
“It means there are others besides us who know how to open the Secret Dungeon.”
Secret Dungeons had entry limits.
For Raging Torrent Valley on the second floor, the limit was fifteen people, or three parties.
Unfortunately, in that brief moment before we entered, all the slots had been filled and the door closed.
“Or another portal might have opened naturally somewhere else.”
In other words, our luck and timing had lined up horribly, and we missed it!
“You’ve got to be shitting me.”
“So we got nothing?”
“That’s right.”
Once a Secret Dungeon opened, it could not be opened again until it was cleared.
It also had a respawn time.
“Hmm...”
“Fuck! If it weren’t for these bastards!”
Elena and Gimlius stomped on the monster corpses in anger, while Daisy watched Hans nervously.
“If only I had found the altar a little sooner...”
This man was blaming himself again.
I thought gaining a new ability would give him some confidence.
“It’s not your fault, Hans.”
I’d be lying if I said it did not hurt.
Still, I shook it off and chuckled.
‘Yeah, this is what the Labyrinth is like.’
No matter how much knowledge I had or how thoroughly I prepared, not everything went the way I wanted.
‘This shitty feeling, like there’s fog right in front of my eyes.’
Vast darkness.
The smoke rising from torchlight, the smells, the sensations, the textures.
The thrill of the unknown and the fear it brought made a shiver run down my spine.
‘It’s been a while.’
That was what the Labyrinth was.
‘I call them primitive medieval people, but the ones living here aren’t pushovers either.’
“...That’s true.”
“It’s unfortunate, but there’s nothing we can do.”
“What do we do now, Ian?”
Since this was only the first region, we could go to another second-floor region and try for a Secret Dungeon again.
But what if we had to return to the city afterward? We might find a portal to another region, of course, but...
‘We’ve already spent a considerable amount of time.’
Having made my decision, I led the party.
“This place is a bust. Let’s go to the third floor first.”
Rumble! Rumble!
The portal to the next floor, where the Contraction Period was underway, shook unstably.
We rested, then entered the third floor once the portal stabilized.
* * *
The third floor had gone by in a blur because of the Floor Master and Secret Society attacks, but it actually had many hidden elements.
It was more expansive than the first or second floor.
Whoosh.
When I opened my eyes, a humid wind, different from that of the Rotting Swamp, swept over me.
The grassy scent unique to vegetation filled my nose.
We had been teleported into the heart of a forest.
But the atmosphere differed from the Warm Forest region on the first floor.
The surroundings were filled with dense, skeletal trees twisted into grotesque shapes, vines, and spiderwebs. Even sunlight barely reached the ground.
Drip. Drip.
A faint mist and gentle rain mixed with the thick vegetation, falling not in a clear, fresh green but in a pale, unpleasant light.
“The Emerald Forest.”
The Emerald Forest was named for its appearance, which resembled the color of a cloudy jewel.
It was a place we had not been able to properly explore before because of the Floor Master and the Labyrinth’s fusion.
“Hmm, we got off to a bad start. Isn’t this a place where Ian’s spells won’t be able to show much of their power?”
As Gimlius said, the Emerald Forest was a counter to someone like me, who possessed Arcane, water, Frost, and Lightning spells.
Since it was called the Forest of Death, undead-type monsters appeared here.
‘Forgotten Soldier, Mold Man, Ectoplasm.’
‘Undead have tremendous resistance to Lightning and Frost by default.’
In other words, aside from Arcane spells, my means of dealing damage were restricted.
Of course, I had learned new spells for situations like this, and I had fusion spells through the Tome of Starlight, but...
‘Unlike regular spells, fusion spells consume two or even three spell parchments by default.’
Unless I needed to unleash serious firepower, I should avoid using them during exploration.
“That’s true. But it’s not a problem.”
My gaze turned toward Daisy, a pure woman with brown hair dressed in a spotless white Priest’s robe.
“We have a Priest.”
With Daisy, we could handle the Emerald Forest’s shitty environmental gimmicks to some extent.
Dungeon of Death had never been a world designed for someone to dominate alone.
You recruited companions with different traits to deal with a wide range of situations and environments.
“Y-Yes!”
Perhaps feeling the weight on her shoulders, Daisy gripped her mace firmly with both hands.
‘This might actually be better.’
It was more difficult than the other two regions, but I was glad we had gotten the Emerald Forest.
I could purify the cursed holy relic we got from the underground auction house here.
‘First, we need to find a Shrine.’
Then we would enter the citadel and defeat the field boss.
Just as I thought that,
Ooooooh!
A gloomy cry echoed from beyond the pale forest.
[The Breath of Death that has seized the forest coils around Ian’s party.]
[Sluggish Steps, Shaken Mind, Drained Vitality]
Pale light fell over us, and I felt my blood run cold.
Then, beyond the faint rain, mist, and bluish light, shadows writhed and emerged from the forest.
“Everyone, prepare for battle!”
They were here.
Footnotes:
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