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Chapter 44. Crimson Balrog (3)
7.
‘We must save as many lives as possible.’
El Palm, he thought when he received the task.
‘But it’s impossible against the Crimson Balrog.’
No matter how much you think about it, at least half of them are bound to die.
The reason I thought that way was not because I didn’t trust the Knights of Signus or Tiger Eye Viola.
‘I will fully cooperate, but.’
I didn’t think they would be uncooperative.
If he had no intention of cooperating, he would never have given El Palm this many choices and time in the first place.
‘The Crimson Balrog is a clever fellow.’
The problem was a monster called Crimson Balrog.
‘If the situation is unfavorable, he will persistently target the weaker side.’
El Palm was never confident that he could protect the entire Order of Signus from the Crimson Balrog.
In reality, the difficulty of hunting monsters and protecting comrades from monsters was higher.
That was why I kept in mind more than half of the victims.
‘Rather, it’s a headache if it gets in the way.’
In other words, El Palm was confident in his ability to hunt, so he made plans early on.
Let’s go out on a solo attack with only our own party, excluding Viola and the Signus Knights.
It wasn’t really a breach of contract.
The contract with Oz, the commander of the Knights of Fire, was to help conquer this Mystic Gate and minimize casualties.
So, El Palm was proposed to Viola on purpose.
It’s dangerous, so we need to secure the route.
So the suggestion is that you need to know the location.
In fact, El Palm already knew where this place was, so there was no need to hear an explanation.
All I needed was an excuse.
If you find and attack the Mystic Gate location, which is treated as a top secret, without asking Viola, you will be under a lot of suspicion.
‘The necklace.’
Of course, there was an additional mission given to find the necklace.
Actually, this was a concern.
It was difficult to even ask what kind of necklace it was.
If I had asked, it would have been more like raising suspicion.
So originally, my intention was just to find every necklace, every necklace I could find.
But not anymore.
‘It’s a necklace, and the Lion King is looking for it.’
The moment El Palm saw the name of Lion King Van Leon, he no longer hesitated.
‘If it’s something that special, it’s actually easier to find.’
Because it’s a bit easier to figure out what the Signus Knights led by Viola are looking for inside.
Of course, this was El Palm’s idea.
“boss!”
The situation was different for El Palm’s colleagues.
Even trying to conquer the area without the Knights of Signus is frankly beyond common sense.
“Boss, this is the Lion King’s property!”
Moreover, this was not just any Mystic Gate.
It was a place where you could incur the wrath of the Lion King the moment you attacked it.
In many ways, it is something that cannot be helped but be difficult to attack.
In fact, other adventurers would never have complained like this.
I would have just left the party here or run away.
“No matter how much I think about it, I can’t understand why they would just attack here.”
But the El Palm Party was different.
They had experience.
“Boss, what did you decide to receive?”
“Yeah, you get something extra, right?”
“That’s a very important part.”
That El Palm wouldn’t just do it for free.
El Palm was happy to tell us about it.
“We decided to receive a reward based on the number of survivors of the Knights of Signus. If we save everyone, we’ll receive about 200 million mesos.”
And the moment they heard that, everyone said,
“Oh, then we should go in alone.”
“There’s no reason to bring customers in and make them bleed.”
“I thought I’d get around 100 million mesos, that’s amazing!”
Of course, not everyone understood.
Kiri was different.
“What will we do with the Lion King’s wrath?”
El Palm answered that question.
“This Mystic Gate conquest is led by the Knights of Signus. We are merely adventurers who provide assistance. Above all, our current identities are fake. There is no way that their anger will come to us.”
There’s nothing to worry about.
“Now that I think about it, that’s true.”
In other words, that was it.
“Then let’s go in right away.”
The most important question, whether El Palm could conquer this Mystic Gate, was not raised.
There was no way I could throw it.
“What’s there to hesitate about when you have a boss?”
El Palm, because his skills were never questioned.
That is why El Palm Party stepped through the Mystic Gate without any questions.
thud!
“shit.”
And they could face it.
“It’s a golem!”
8.
Which monster would you most like to avoid?
In response to that question, adventurers mentioned a wide variety of monsters. Maple World was full of truly terrifying monsters.
If you were to ask the question, “Name 10 monsters you would like to avoid,” everyone would list their monsters.
And in most of those mouths, that monster will be mentioned.
“If I had to pick 10 monsters to avoid, golems would definitely be on the list. They’re a real pain in the ass.”
The golem was a very troublesome monster.
From the beginning, its very nature was bound to be a headache.
“Attacking a boulder is something that no matter what profession you are in, there is no answer.”
A giant made of stone moving, it was a terrifying thing to even imagine.
“Wizards especially.”
Among them, the one who had the most trouble dealing with golems was the wizard.
There was nothing much to imagine.
It was beyond imagination how pointless it would be to throw ice arrows, fireballs, poison mist, or lightning at a boulder.
That’s why the Golem was given this nickname.
“He’s not called the wizard killer for nothing.”
A monster that no wizard can catch, the natural enemy of wizards!
thud!
On the first floor of Mystic Gate, it was the golem that came out to greet the El Palm party.
“shit!”
That was why Divo started cursing as soon as he saw the golem.
“It’s a golem!”
Because it was a situation where I was facing the worst monster I could ever face.
Of course, that doesn’t mean I lost my fighting spirit or anything.
The golem was definitely a troublesome monster.
“The boss is just breathing behind the scenes.”
In particular, El Palm, a wizard, is practically out of power.
In other words, that was it.
“I’ll take care of everything.”
In addition to El Palm, there were four other outstanding adventurers in the El Palm party.
This means that if you want to catch a golem, there is nothing you can’t do.
“At first glance, it looks like just a stone golem, so it shouldn’t be difficult.”
Above all, the golem that appeared now was the lowest grade stone golem.
Compared to Dark Stone Golem, Mix Golem, or Ice Mix Golem, it is just a laughable opponent.
There was no reason why the rest, except El Palm, could not be caught.
“Everyone, stand back.”
“boss?”
But rather than backing down, El Palm pushed his colleagues back.
“You’re not going to catch it with a cold beam, are you?”
Apparently El Palm had some magic that could even penetrate a golem.
“Isn’t that incredibly difficult?”
But considering the effort that went into it, honestly, it was better to just leave it at that.
“You should rest. It’s the worst when the boss gets tired.”
The most important thing is that El Palm’s power must be avoided at all costs in such a way.
El Palm knew it too.
Furthermore, El Palm also knew that golems came from here.
Still, I thought there was no problem.
It wasn’t difficult to defeat the golems that came out here with just your own companions.
“No, there’s no need to waste your energy here.”
“yes?”
It definitely was.
“Twinkle Flash.”
El Palm, until he acquired the magic of light.
9.
“There are three main reasons why light magic is difficult to use.”
Phantom Thief.
“One is that light is very difficult to perceive. Fire is hot, ice is cold, poison is deadly, and lightning is stinging. It is quite easy to sense the substance. However, light is different. Since the substance is difficult to sense, the magic disappears in an instant. It is very difficult to maintain.”
He gave El Palm an item imbued with the magic of light, Twinkle Flash, and also gave her some advice.
“The second reason is speed. It’s harder to sense this entity than any other magic. Even faster than lightning. But if you use lightning magic, the entity is still effective, right? On the other hand, light magic disappears the moment the user loses concentration. That’s why you usually hear that even if you can only make it fly 10 meters, it’s used properly.”
Actually, it was meant as advice, but it was actually bad advice.
“The third reason is the most annoying. Light magic can pass through any object. For example, let’s take a golem. It can pass through the golem’s body and only hit the core deep inside. The problem is that if you don’t control it properly, it can just pass through the core. How do you control it? I don’t know. I’ve never used it before.”
Because it was no different from saying that the magic given to El Palm was practically useless, that it was useless.
Of course, I didn’t really mean to just spit out bad words.
“Instead, there was this girl I knew named Luminous who was really good at using light magic. She gave me some tips, so if you want to know, I’ll tell you.”
The reason Phantom Thief brought up that story was to give some really good advice.
“As long as the salary is right.”
But it’s not free.
“But you should at least do the basics. Then, just try to maintain a distance of 10 meters. If you can’t even do that, then the advice is meaningless.”
But unfortunately, the advice of the thief Phantom meant nothing to El Palm.
“Huh? Wait. What is this?”
The reason was simple.
“Huh? How did you fly 100 meters? No, wait.”
El Palm, he doesn’t need advice.
It was literal.
“You just flew exactly 100 meters?”
El Palm has mastered the magic of light from the beginning.
Perfectly, without even trial and error.
“Have you ever used light magic? Is this your first time?”
Even El Palm had no experience.
The phantom thief let out a hollow laugh at that sight.
“What a pity.”
And then he clicked his tongue.
“I can’t believe I’m blowing this opportunity to sell advice. What a shame, what a shame. Enough. You can go now.”
After saying those words, the thief Phantom watched El Palm leave with a smile.
‘Luminous.’
At that moment, the words of Luminous, the magician of light and darkness who was one of the heroes like himself, came to mind.
The phantom thief had asked him a question.
If you find it so difficult to handle light magic, please give me some advice.
‘You said it.’
And Luminous answered that question.
‘If you need advice at this level, it’s better to give up the magic of light.’
The magic of light is a magic that cannot be handled without innate talent and cannot be mastered through effort.
When he heard that, the phantom thief laughed inwardly.
But not anymore.
I knew it the moment I saw it.
‘You were right.’
Luminous’ words were true.
That’s why.
Luminous has a smile on her face.
‘El Palm, I guess we can expect a little more from that guy.’
Now that I’m sure.
‘Because that’s the only thing that can threaten him at the green-ranked Mystic Gate.’
fantasy,
