STGB Episode 424

Teaming(2)

The sealing of active skills.

No need for lengthy explanations—it’s one of the worst penalties imaginable.

Well, even so, it’s probably better than ending up blind like James Carla.

‘It might have been better if I’d lost an arm like old Didi instead.’

A penalty so crippling that losing an arm might’ve been more advantageous in terms of combat effectiveness.

But there’s nothing to be done.

What can I do when the dice I’ve thrown have come up like this?

I can only hope that the enemy’s dice results are messed up too.

‘Besides… aside from my penalty, it’s not bad.’

In fact, the [Soul Extraction] pattern is quite a tricky one.

Especially for positions like support type or mages. Being damage dealers, they must have landed many finishing blows, and now they have to fight and win alone without the frontliners they’ve always been with.

But…

‘I guess all have them have lived kind lives’

Both priests made it out safely. Three out of the four mages are awake, and among the support type, only Akuraba is still unconscious.

‘Perhaps the fact that our mages spent a long time at the Mage Tower worked in our favor.’

Considering this, the gamble seems to have paid off.

Even though we were comrades who endured this expedition together, I have no idea what kind of lives these people have lived before.

Clack, clack.

The sound of hard footsteps echoed through the ice cave.  As we moved to get as far away from the entrance of the Glacier’s Eye as possible, I noticed movement on one of my shoulders.

“…Mister…”

“You’re awake…”

Feeling deep relief, I carefully set down Erwin.

She stumbled slightly, but seeing that she could balance herself, it seems her legs weren’t taken as a penalty.

“How do you feel? Is there anywhere that hurts?”

“I’m not sure….”

Erwin looked dazed. Something must have happened inside the trial, but I didn’t press her for details. Right now, figuring out what her penalty is comes first.

“Damn it.”

After testing for bad penalties among the random ones, I let out a big sigh.

“The eighth one….”

Unfortunately, Erwin was also on the unlucky side.

「All resource recovery for Erwin Fornacci di Tersia is now restricted.」

No resource recovery—simply put, her MP, natural power, or any other reserves could only be spent, not replenished.

“…Save your strength unless it’s absolutely necessary to protect yourself.”

“Yes… I’m sorry…”

“There’s nothing to be sorry about. It happened that way; it’s fortunate that you even woke up.”

Anyway, as time passed, the others who had fainted woke up one by one.

“I’m sorry for the inconvenience. I will walk on my own from now on.”

Fortunately, Melend Kaislan received a minor penalty.

“Ugh…! Why is this…”

Ravien, who was restricted from using weapons, placed her hand on her sword and shuddered as if electrocuted.

“Um… Why is everyone not speaking?”

Tsion Iriven, the archer from Team 2, had lost his hearing.

“That place… it was truly horrifying.”

Akuraba’s face was ghostly pale.

Now, only two remain…!

When 25 minutes had passed since the [Soul Extraction] pattern began, there were only two people left.

Amelia and the mage from Team 2, Mackelly Rayathers.

“Please… wake up. We need you…”

As time ticked away, the team members cast anxious glances at the two still unconscious.

I felt like I was going crazy too.

“Why on earth is she not waking up….”

She definitely didn’t die there. If she had, her heart would have already stopped.

Thump, thump.

Time continued to tighten around my heart. How much more time has passed since then?

“Mackelly, there’s only one minute left now. Please, hang in there….”

At the time when there was one minute left until the [Soul Extraction] pattern ended.

“Mm…”

“Emily!”

Amelia finally opened her eyes. And…

“……Damn it.”

The other one could not open his eyes.

***

Eighteen survivors.

However, the number of combat-capable individuals is much smaller.

Because many team members, including myself, received significant penalties. It’s fair to say that our fighting power has been cut by more than half.

“Then how is it on the other side?”

Just as they say happiness is relative, so is misfortune.

「The Glacier Wizard Kariadea gains new power proportional to the total amount of souls absorbed.」

It was now over 30 minutes since Phase 2 had ended.

How many of them were still alive on the other side? And what kind of penalties had they received?

‘Frankly, I hope they all just died fighting the boss.’

…But realistically, that’s unlikely.

Kariadea isn’t a monster that pursues beyond the Glacier Eye’s perimeter.

The place where we were fighting was the summit of the Glacier’s Eye.

I don’t know how many have woken up, but by now they all must have left the Glacier’s Eye.

“Dragon Slayer… I wonder what happened to that bastard.”

Well, I don’t know.

Because he is the one who killed the ancient dragon who acted as the elder of the Dragon Tribe.

Even back then, it was only thanks to an ambush that he succeeded, so there’s a possibility he couldn’t win even in a half-weakened state.

In the first place, it’s not like he would only fight the ancient dragon, right?

I don’t know, but he must have killed in the thousands.

“Wait, hold on.”

 

While thinking briefly about the Dragon Slayer, my body suddenly stiffened.

 

“Shit, then in that guy’s field, Dwalki must have appeared too, right?”

The thought alone soured my mood.

At the same time, another thought crossed my mind.

The people who appeared in my illusion-couldn’t they have been someone’s one and only precious loved ones?

“…Maybe this is because of [Soul Extraction]. I’m overthinking everything.”

I shook myself off these thoughts and opened my eyes.

Woosh—!

Warm flames crackled nearby.

The priest knelt in front of the flames and recited prayers repeatedly, while the others offered silent tributes.

This was, at least, one silver lining.

We now had the luxury to hold a proper funeral for our fallen comrades.

Crackle, crackle.

The flames infused with the mages’ firepower instantly melted flesh and skin, and the remaining bones were subjected to distortion magic. Then the warriors crushed them finely and stored them in pouches.

After hoping that this would provide even a small comfort to his surviving family.

“…..”

With that, the brief funeral was over.

The warmth of his body, briefly retained by the intense flames, dissipated in the cold wind.

So, it’s time to return to reality.

“……Jandel, what will you do now?”

As Kaislan spoke to me, the gazes of the team members focused on me.

After all, the plan I had shared only covered up to this point.

That when the [Soul Extraction] begins, the first ones to awaken were to grab the others and flee. There were no instructions beyond that. But…

“If we continue to keep our distance like this, we might be able to hold out until the closing date.’

Judging by the stony expression on his face as he spoke, Kaislan already knew what I was thinking.

Perhaps that’s why he tactfully brought it up first, so that I could speak more comfortably.

“But Jandel, you must know. Even if we run away like this, in the end, we’ll reach a cliff.”

“A cliff? What do you mean? Isn’t this all over now?”

At Kaislan’s words, one team member flinched and raised his voice.

“You said we could hold out until the closing date, right? Isn’t that enough? What are you worrying about?”

I’m sorry to those who really thought this was the end, but we haven’t overcome the most critical hurdle yet.

If that were the case, I wouldn’t have called this a ‘gamble.’

“….”

As Kaislan gave me a silent glance, I smiled bitterly and stepped forward.

Yes, no matter how capable Kaislan is, I can’t leave this to him.

“We will not run away like this. Or rather, to be precise, we cannot run away.”

As soon as I finished speaking, the team members’ eyes widened.

Gazes filled with shock and doubt.

“…What’s the reason?”

It’s simple.

“Because the enemies that appeared from behind earlier are the Rose Knights.”

“Are you saying we won’t be able to shake off their pursuit?”

“No, that’s not it.”

“Then what do you mean…?”

Since they didn’t seem to understand my words, I continued.

If we returned alive, the royal family would have brought out the excuses they had prepared, saying that something happened to the main force, so they couldn’t come to rescue us—but they’d still be glad we managed to return on our own.

They would have pretended not to know, trying to cover the sky with their hand.

And…

Ignoring the truth—that was our only way to survive.

“Ignore…? What do you mean?”

“If we pretended not to notice that we were being used as expendable pawns, the royal family wouldn’t take extreme measures.”

It might be cowardly, but that was my plan.

“But we can’t use that method anymore.”

“……”

“Once the Rose Knights report what happened here to the royal family, they will surely try to eliminate any potential troubles.”

“…Couldn’t they try to negotiate with us to silence us?”

Well, yes, that possibility exists. But…

“Do you really think so?”

“….”

There was no reply.

Then someone else brought up a new question.

“So, what now? If we’re not going to die here, shouldn’t we at least make it to the city?”

It was Puta Rickerburn, a member of the Duke of Keallunas’s family.

I found it somewhat commendable and amusing.

“I didn’t expect someone who was giving up to say that.”

“You dragged us here by the scruff of our necks. After all that hardship, do you think we’d give up here?”

Well, he’s the guy who showed his resolve by cutting off his own arm when breaking through the Glacier’s Eye.

It wouldn’t be fair for him to die. I smirked.

“It was a compliment, so don’t take it too sensitively. And I never said we should give up in the first place.”

“Ah…”

At my words, he realized and opened his mouth, and I quickly continued.

“Don’t worry too much, everyone. There’s a way.”

“A way?”

“Yes, if no one returns alive, who would know what happened here?”

Of course, they might suspect, but there’s a clear difference between having circumstantial evidence and having actual proof.

Therefore…

“From now on, we will kill both the Noark people and the Rose Knights.”

From now on, we will be the ones to cover the sky with our hands.

Will we run away like this?

Or will we stand and fight once more?

Reaching a consensus on this was quicker than expected.

“I… I don’t know what the right choice is.”

“Haha, it’s nothing unusual. Most of the situations we’ve faced so far have been the same.”

“But in every moment, he made the decision.”

“Bjorn Jandel, trusting your choice—that’s my choice.”

“Same here. It might seem a bit cowardly in your eyes, but for someone like me, that’s more comfortable.”

With the expedition’s decision made, everything became clear.

We wandered inside the cave, deploying detection magic in various places, and hunted monsters using distortion magic to secure food supplies.

“This is… surprisingly edible?”

Monster meat was unexpectedly edible, although some were so terrible that we deemed them inedible.

“Never mind the taste, but it’s a shame to waste these by-products. If we could take them, we could sell them for a high price.”

“We have no choice. We need to lighten our load as much as possible now…”

We had to discard all the valuable by-products obtained through distortion magic, holding back our tears.

We didn’t have the luxury to carry such things when we had to carry our comrades who had difficulty moving.

It was when half a day had passed like that.

“Mr. Jandel! Mr. Jandel!”

Marone, the mage from Team 5, came running, urgently calling my name.

When she is like this, there is only one reason.

“Did the detection magic activate?”

“Yes, yes…! It activated!”

The news Marone brought fell into three categories.

First, the good news.

“It’s the Rose Knights. Only ten of them are left!

Their numbers had been significantly reduced. It seems they suffered significant damage, probably because they killed people as easily as eating meals…

“What was the condition of the remaining ones?”

“Well, that is…”

The second was ambiguous.

“Four of them were being carried by their comrades as if they were in bad shape. One was limping on one foot.”

Just as a third of our expedition suffered severe penalties, they also suffered considerable damage.

Does this mean the penalty scores are tied? Well, since we don’t know the actual situation, it’s too early to say for sure.

“Anyway, that’s not what’s important!!”

The third and final piece was bad news.

And not just any bad news.

It was news that could be called the worst.

“For some reason, those people are moving together with the Noark people…!”

Water and oil have mixed.