This chapter is brought to you by anubisscans. More updates on our website.
Support us by reading at anubisscans.com.
120
Shrieeeek—!
The Snow Drake’s cry shook the fortress.
Avantgarde, watching the sight, could not help but open his eyes wide.
“A reverse scale……!”
The flame that burst from the arrow embedded near the jaw clung stubbornly and would not come off.
That drew a fierce reaction from the Snow Drake.
Bang—!
Boom—!
The creature, beginning to contort its whole body, smashed the terrain indiscriminately.
“Ugh!”
“What did you hit!”
The players battling the creature were thrown off by the sudden change in the enemy.
But it was not an entirely bad turn of events.
“Its movements have simplified! Focus on Blood’s strike points!”
Mars, making a rapid assessment, immediately issued the instruction.
A monster this powerful was actually easier to find openings in when it had lost its composure.
Thump—!
Players starting to charge at the Snow Drake again.
Black Dragon and Liwei, who had been at a distance, also mixed in and entered the battle.
Boom boom boom—!
Mars and Blood’s continued assault kept generating cracks between the scales.
Liwei, timing his window, threw his aimed spear with force.
Whoosh—!
A spear surging forward with enormous momentum, dispersing shockwaves.
Piercing through the gap between scales, the strike embedded itself in the Snow Drake’s foreleg.
Screech—!
The creature, already writhing from the reverse scale’s pain, took the full force of that impact as well.
It drew a far more violent reaction.
Crack crack crack—!
Ice spears beginning to appear in the air above in disarray.
Their count numbered in the hundreds.
“Son of a——!”
“Everyone dodge!”
Eyes wide, the players recalled the carnage from before.
Getting hit by those meant no survival.
They absolutely had to dodge.
That was the only thought.
Whoosh—!
Magic launched immediately.
Its speed even greater than before.
Boom boom boom boom—!
The ice spears came plunging down into the fortress floor at random.
The three who had retreated following Black Dragon’s instructions were, remarkably, completely unaffected.
Bang—!
Boom—!
Ice spears driven in with tremendous force demolished all manner of cover.
Black Dragon standing within those gaps was dodging the magic with uncanny precision.
Movements as though reading where the spears would fall.
“Ugh!”
“Son of a——!”
Other players tried to dodge as well, but it was beyond them.
The mounting casualties were difficult to even tally.
“This is absolutely——!”
Gorik ground his teeth and glared at the ground where the Snow Drake stood.
Even amid this chaos, the heirloom was still clearly visible to his eyes.
Ding—
Just then, an alert chimed in Avantgarde’s ears.
A message immediately appeared before him.
「Black Dragon」
「When the floor beneath the Snow Drake collapses, please use the first card marked with a star. It will move you to the heirloom’s location.」
“……?”
Avantgarde was taken aback.
Because the simple content written in the message described something impossible.
‘What he said he’d resolved… could it mean……’
These cards were items obtained in the rural village of Bananba.
Their critical flaw was that they teleported randomly.
That was the result not only of circulating information, but also of personal experience using them.
And yet Black Dragon’s explanation carried a nuance as though one could move to a designated coordinate.
Twang—!
While thinking that,
a sharp sound cutting through the wind rang out.
Screech—!
The bizarre cry that followed was the Snow Drake’s.
Avantgarde shifted his gaze and confirmed the area beneath the creature’s jaw.
A new arrow was embedded there.
Bang—! Bang—!
The Snow Drake, consumed by pain and fury, raged even more violently.
The tail that had begun to swing wildly naturally struck the ground as well.
Thump—!
Black Dragon’s figure dashing this way and that through those gaps was conspicuous.
Under the influence of the debuff, evading attacks by a hair’s breadth.
Movements with no wasted motion, as though predicting the enemy’s movements.
Watching that sight, Avantgarde gripped the card and turned his eyes.
“I’ll relay Black Dragon-nim’s plan.”
He conveyed the message’s contents to Kim Jaeha and Gorik.
“…That can be done?”
“You’re saying there’s a magical tool like that?”
The two looked at the card in surprise.
A message carrying not possibility but certainty.
Black Dragon was not someone who would speak idle words.
Bang—!
Gathered within the card’s effect range, they watched the Snow Drake’s rampage.
Repeated stomping and tail sweeping.
As that force gradually became uncontrollable, one more arrow flew.
Thud—!
This attack too, aimed at the reverse scale, embedded itself precisely in the scales.
Zenon’s attack, having hidden his body in a gap in the ice wall.
Screech—!
The Snow Drake let out a howl at the tremendous pain that came again.
Then suddenly the creature rotated its body and swept its tail in a wide arc.
Whoosh—!
A great arc traced through the air.
Unlike before, it came plunging down toward the ground.
Bang—!
The tail that had driven deep through the ice sat still for a moment.
And as a faint light burst from the gaps—
Sharp ice shot up from the ground across a radius of several dozen meters.
Boom boom boom boom—!
A wide-area attack of enormous scale, enough to fill the entire field of vision.
Crack—!
Avantgarde came face to face with ice that had shot up right in front of him.
Had they strayed even slightly from the shelter position Black Dragon had indicated, or moved even a moment early, death would have come for them.
“What in the——!”
“Anyone who didn’t die instantly, recover first!”
The players’ casualties were massive.
Unlike the ice spear magic, it had been something there was no way to react to properly.
Boom—!
Just then, the Snow Drake, writhing from the reverse scale’s pain, stamped its foot.
At the same moment, the ground underwent a change.
Rumble rumble rumble—!
The ice floor that had been erupting irregularly could no longer hold its unstable structure and collapsed.
And something slid through the gap in the cracked floor.
The dwarves’ heirloom that had been placed beneath the Snow Drake’s belly.
“Moving!”
Having confirmed the sight, Avantgarde used the first card without hesitation.
Flash—!
Light instantly bursting forth, a magic circle was drawn on the floor.
When it completed, the vision of the three wavered.
Shhk—
A pitch-black screen that fell for just a brief moment.
A new scene appeared right after.
“Did it… work?”
“Where is this……”
Kim Jaeha and Gorik looked around surveying their surroundings.
All around was nothing but broken ice and structural fragments of the floor.
From above, the sounds and vibrations of battle were reverberating.
“…The heirloom!”
Gorik, who had moved first, found the silver hammer lying upside down.
Quickly approaching, he carefully lowered himself.
Hum—
A sound like metal resonating.
The heirloom reacted strongly the closer Gorik came.
“Phew.”
Having spent so long desperately searching for it, memories of the past flashed through his mind.
Drawing a deep breath, Gorik reached out and gripped the handle.
Flash—!
A five-colored radiance enveloping his body, as though declaring him the true owner.
Kim Jaeha, watching that scene, felt a slightly complicated emotion.
‘…I absolutely couldn’t have done it alone.’
It was he who had first found the token and the achievement.
Relying on that fact, he had gone searching for dwarven metallurgy — but looking back, every action had been meaningless.
If not Hanbit, who else could have created this situation?
No one came to mind.
“We achieved the objective. I’ll inform Black Dragon-nim right away.”
Avantgarde immediately began composing a message.
Kim Jaeha, who had been watching Gorik still deep in emotion, shifted his gaze back to the surroundings.
At that moment.
Boom—!
A large explosive sound followed by tremors from above.
“Ugh!”
Ice fragments from a floor that suddenly collapsed.
Kim Jaeha, losing his balance, fell through the gap in the crack.
Thud—!
Having dropped several meters, he landed face-down.
If it had been as deep as a crevasse, he would have died on the spot.
“Are you alright!”
Avantgarde called down to check from above.
“My body is fine, but I don’t think I can climb back up! Everything around me is slippery…….”
Just then, Kim Jaeha’s gaze landed on something in the wall.
A crystal in the shape of a snowflake buried among ice fragments.
Head tilting to one side, he carefully extended his hand.
And the moment a mysterious chill made its presence felt clearly—
Ding—
A message appeared alongside the alert.
[You have seized a treasure of the Snow Drake.]
[The master of the snowy mountains grows furious.]
***
“……?”
Hanbit, in the middle of the fierce battle, was taken aback.
Because a message he had no memory of appeared suddenly before his eyes.
“What? Who picked something up?”
“Someone grabbed the heirloom in the middle of all this?”
“Isn’t it those guys who were with Black Dragon?”
-Hehe;
-So it turned out that way.
-It was our guys who took it, right?
-Don’t doubt it.
The other players thought of the dwarves’ heirloom.
Given that the section chief had tried to touch it and met his end, it was natural to think that was the treasure.
But Hanbit’s thought was different.
‘It’s not the dwarves’ heirloom.’
The Snow Drake only showed strong attachment to beautiful and dazzling treasure.
The heirloom’s significance was great, but its appearance was ultimately nothing more than a hammer.
It was not the sort of object that would rouse the creature’s fury enough for a warning message like that.
Ding—
Just then, a message arrived with an alert.
「Avantgarde」
「Black Dragon-nim! The heirloom has been safely obtained, but how should we handle this warning message?」
A report that the heirloom had been obtained as planned.
Welcome news amid the confusion — but there was still insufficient information to assess the message situation.
“It says it’s furious? What’s going to happen?”
Liwei, who had landed nearby, also asked.
Despite the continued intense battle, his passion was burning even hotter.
“That would be…….”
Shhk—
Just then, the Snow Drake, which had been moving violently, suddenly wrapped its massive tail around its own body.
Then it raised its head and opened its mouth wide.
Flash—!
A snow-white crystal forming above it.
It began to rotate rapidly, generating a gentle wind.
“What is that?”
“A sphere?”
The puzzled voices of players reached him.
But seeing the sphere, Hanbit let out a breath of relief.
‘Thank goodness.’
He had been worried a major variable might arise — but the Snow Drake used exactly the skill Hanbit had anticipated.
Originally a wide-area skill that activated when the fury from the reverse scale reached its limit.
The cause of that fury had simply gained one more addition — there was no problem with the plan.
Hanbit sent a reply to Avantgarde.
「Please use the second card. I’ll get ready to escape the fortress.」
