Myryans (2)

Only now, with a party properly equipped to explore the dungeon, could we finally fight a Myryan properly for the first time.

Three water-attribute Myryans suddenly burst up from the floor as if they had appeared out of nowhere, raising clouds of dust.

The Myryans charged at high speed with a crisp, crunching sound.

Hugo and Inex, who had already spread their senses, held the line steadily.

Naruan pushed off the ground and began to fend off the remaining Myryan, and the formation seemed to stabilize.

But just as Simon finished casting his spell and released it, the problem began.

In truth, representatives are usually chosen for excelling in a particular field, except for unusual cases like me and Lee Hyo-ju, who are Earthlings.

Those who live as magic-type representatives were originally mages, granted powers related to magic by their patron god and training their skills; the warrior, summoner, and cleric types are similar.

Simon was probably the same.

From what I vaguely remembered hearing before, Simon had been a promising mage before becoming a representative and, despite various circumstances, was called a genius.

And as if to prove that, he completed his spell even faster than Arun.

Choosing the lightning attribute, which is relatively effective against water, was a good decision.

However, the Myryan’s outer shell has a gently rounded hemispherical structure, meaning the ratio of lightning absorbed to lightning reflected is fifty-fifty.

Hugo and Inex were also wielding steel weapons vulnerable to lightning.

Finally, the lightning spell’s tendency to scatter unpredictably happened inside this narrow tunnel, like a burrow.

Simon’s mistake, combined with the spell’s incantation, meant we heard the screams of our comrades before the Myryan.

“Call Lightning!”

“Ah, no!”

“Kraaaah!”

“Guh—!”

Thung— Tanggrang.

After the summoning word for the lightning, Arun’s cry rang out, followed by Hugo and Inex’s screams and the sounds of their equipment clattering to the ground.

“Hazel, defend! Spirits, heal! Arun, Lee Hyo-ju, support!”

With that short command, they lunged forward and struck the two Myryans whose bodies were stiffened and immobile from the lightning magic.

Placing a Massacre of Thousands full of chaos on the joint between the Myryan’s head and body, they struck it down in one blow, separating the head from the torso.

“…Space Separation. Sever!”

I felt the space around the two injured people shift behind my back.

“Song of Loyal Heart.”

Chorarararak—!!

A tremendous number of talismans flew past me, arcing toward the still-dazed Myryan and embedding themselves in its joint.

“Transmute— Impact!”

With Arun’s following magic and the talismans Lee Hyo-ju had set, the Myryan died with a final gasp.

Perhaps because of Arun’s spell, mashed flesh and bodily fluids oozed out between the segments.

Seeing me finish off a Myryan, Naruan hooked a side blade between the segments like a collar and ripped roughly, finishing the last Myryan.

The two who were healed by Mae Young-ryeong’s treatment began to regain their senses.

By contrast, Simon was wandering in a daze.

“Haa…”

All he could do as he watched the long way ahead was sigh.

Simon had expected his magic to nicely roast the Myryan and watched the lightning strike.

But the ones getting nicely roasted were not the Myryan, but his comrades Hugo and Inex.

He didn’t even notice that he had dropped his staff from his right hand amid the shock.

Someone’s voice called out—faintly…

“Simon.”

“……”

“Simon!!”

“…Huh?”

Sjaak!!

A blaze of heat flashed across his left cheek.

When he raised his head through the pain, Kim Han was looking at him with a calm gaze.

When had he moved here?

The party was sorting the area, and he and Kim Han had been pushed to the rear.

“Get a grip.”

Was it infused with divine power? Kim Han’s voice struck his chest.

Only then did he recall Hugo and Inex, who had been hurt by his spell moments ago.

“…I’m sorry.”

“You’re sorry… Well, you should be sorry. Now, tell me—what are you sorry for?”

The noisy bustle around them suddenly went quiet.

He could feel the gazes of the party cleaning up nearby.

Is he asking because he doesn’t know? He even felt a flicker of resentment toward Kim Han, whom he’d always liked.

Right—just admit it already!

“I misused my magic… and hurt my comrades…”

He couldn’t bring himself to finish the sentence. To think he’d make such a mistake…

He braced himself for Kim Han’s harsh criticism to follow.

“That’s not what you did wrong. Because of the Myryan’s unusual body shape, your attack could have harmed comrades. In Battlefield of the Gods, fights with full information are rare. Sometimes you have no data on the monster or beast to handle, and the opposing representative’s intel may be wrong.”

“……”

Simon couldn’t speak—actually, it was more accurate to say his thought process wasn’t functioning properly.

“Every time that happens, are you going to stand there stunned and give up the fight? Your only mistake in that fight was not preparing your next spell immediately. Two people fell, but we’re still in training. So they won’t die. As long as they don’t die, potions and Mae Young-ryeong’s healing can bring them back alright.”

It was similar to something the tower master and my mentor once said.

“A mage should be proud of failures. Even if a spell fails, you can use that failure to pierce the opponent’s information.”

“I’m sorry.”

Simon finally apologized to Kim Han with a clear head.

He silently watched Kim Han pat his shoulder and head to the wounded, and felt someone sit beside him.

Even without looking Simon knew who it was—the strong scent of water. It was Arun, that frivolous man.

Arun sat exaggeratedly close to Simon and began drawing something on the ground with his silver staff.

“Look. Here, here, here. I checked the carcass. So there are three parts. Three spots where you can deal enough damage to overwhelm its attributes. They’re a bit narrow but long. Hit this segment. But Call-type spells have poor accuracy, right? So double-cast Arrow or a low-level spell to give sufficient hits.”

Was that roughly drawn, unidentifiable picture supposed to be a Myryan?

But Simon couldn’t understand Arun suddenly approaching and offering help out of the blue.

“…Why?”

“Why? Because you’re comrades. And there are only two mages—you and me. If it’s urgent we have to use finishing moves. Honestly, I didn’t know they were like this. Not so much strong as just annoying. Water’s my specialty, but I’m not bad at other elements either.”

This man… Simon had thought him a foolish fellow who wandered smiling, half-hearted with magic and flirtatious with women, but he was unexpectedly serious about magic.

He had thought himself, once promising in the tower and pushed into becoming a representative by a god’s threat, special—and assumed Arun would be easy to catch up to.

Yet in the meantime this man had examined the carcass and suggested a way to hunt Myryans.

“I’m sorry.”

“For what? It’s not like I got struck by lightning.”

At Arun’s words, Simon managed a self-deprecating smile, found his staff, and began jotting something down beside Arun’s scarcely drawn sketch.

“…From here like this, how about doing it like this? Penetration or cutter-type spells should deal enough damage, I think.”

“Really? Then let’s try it later. Oh, by the way—how many cutters can you manifest?”

“Six if I don’t push it. If I push a bit…”

“No, don’t push it—six is okay. Got it.”

Six cutter spells isn’t much. And their size is about a palm, so if six could finish the beast it wouldn’t have been this hard.

But Arun patted his shoulder in a tone that said it would be enough.

“And cheer up. I once attacked while trying to help Mr. Kim Han too. Mr. Kim Han fainted then as well—he’s just remembering when he passed out. Mr. Kim Han said it just now: they won’t die. Let’s blast them. They won’t die. Like Mr. Kim Han did… Ugh!!”

Simon looked up in surprise as Arun collapsed flat on the ground and met Lee Hyo-ju’s cold gaze.

“Cut the nonsense and get ready to move. And if Mr. Kim Han hadn’t stopped you that day…”

With that suggestive remark Lee Hyo-ju left, and Arun clutched the back of his head, got up, and grumbled continuously.

“Damn. Cold-blooded witch, ugh! Really!”

Seeing Arun and Lee Hyo-ju, and Hugo and Inex smiling at him, Simon felt some weight lift from his chest.

After snickering at Arun approaching Simon, Kim Han went over to Hugo and Inex, who had just come to.

“How are you feeling?”

“Haha, it’s tingly. I’m getting addicted.”

“I’m fine.”

“Really? If you like it that much, Hugo, I’ll personally ask Talis to bless you with lightning magic once a day.”

Did my words echo through the cave to the back?

Talis was grinning like a pervert at Hugo while holding blue crackling lightning in one hand as if he’d summoned lightning magic.

“Ah, no! Absolutely not!”

My joke and Hugo and Talis’s banter softened the mood.

Simon was indeed at fault. A mage must calculate many things before using magic—spells can become team-kills.

Moreover, Call-type spells shouldn’t be used in such narrow spaces.

Because they literally summon lightning, their hit rate is low and they can deflect unpredictably like now.

But what Kim Han told Simon was sincere.

In Battlefield of the Gods, you often lack information about the enemy, so even if your attack harms allies, quickly finding a solution and finishing the enemy is the way to save your comrades.

Simon and Arun’s coordinated moves to make up for the initial mistake were excellent.

They took it down more easily than you’d expect for the Myryan that had been nicknamed an “annoyance-inducing beast.”

Of course, the two representatives rampaging at the front were getting more and more battered.

After that, it was nothing but battle after battle.

As Kim Han had warned, it really was like an anthill—an annoyingly large number kept coming. No wonder Jimnas trailing behind grumbled, “This is a pain.”

Finally, the end of the first passage.

One side was blocked by a wall, and at the base of that wall a stone emitting a lustrous blue light caught our eyes.

“Let’s clear just that one and rest. Do you see the thing glinting near the wall?”

“Yes.”

“That’s the item that enhances their elemental power and one of the reasons they came here.”

Even after he spoke, Kim Han did not move to take the gem.

As the party wondered why, the blue gem began to stir, trembling.

And just when it seemed the gem floated in midair, it slowly started approaching the party.

“Prepare for battle.”

The members clambered to their feet and drew weapons, but had no clear idea what they’d be fighting.

“Look ahead.”

He lifted his right leg and stomped a stance.

Using divine power to blow away the dust rising from the floor, shapes around the gem finally began to appear.

A Myryan about one and a half times larger than the ones we’d seen before strode toward the party.

While Hugo and Inex moved to block the Myryan, the mages prepared their spells.

The representative who attacked the Myryan first was Mae Young-ryeong.

“Summon Sturdy Magal Bow. Power Word, Stun!!”

“Huh?”

Kim Han was surprised by the unexpected spell Mae Young-ryeong cast and stared at her; she turned shyly to Talis.

Did Talis supply the magic? Even so, Power Word spells require very high cognitive power…

“Ah! It’s a beast, right.”

It was a spell combination possible because the opponent was a beast, not a representative.

The Myryan, acting as a mid-boss, couldn’t come to for a while, and the party’s attacks began to pour in.

“…Wind Cutter! Combine.”

The six wind blades Simon summoned began to spin fiercely in the air.

Soon the six palm-sized blades merged into a single blade about one meter in diameter.

And at the same time,

“Transmute—! Designate Sharpness target—!”

Mana pouring from Arun overlaid onto the enormous rotating wind blade and onto the weapons of Naruan, Hugo, and Inex.

Naruan, like an acrobat, climbed onto the huge Myryan, drove a forceful sickle into a joint, and slid down the Myryan’s round shell like a slide.

The Myryan, just recovering from stun, met a pathetic end as its gaping torso was pierced and passed through by Lee Hyo-ju’s “Transforatio.”

“Oh yeah! Got it, got it! Boss! Did you see that? Huh?”

“Yeah, I saw it. Move aside.”

He approached the giant Myryan’s halved body, fed divine power into his sword, and stripped off the shell.

They pulled out the blue gem lodged in its head and extracted the elemental core from its heart.

Finally, they dug into the brain and after a long rummage found a crystal slightly larger than a gold coin.

“Gather.”

Gathering the representatives, he pulled out variously sized “Enhancement Stones” found in the Myryan’s brain.

“This is the very thing they said only comes from Myryans before entry. Take one for now.”

He handed Hugo and Inex Stamina Enhancement Stones (stat increases 9 and 6, respectively),

Arun and Simon received Cognition Enhancement Stones (stat increases 4 and 5),

Naruan and Hazel got Strength Enhancement Stones (stat increases 5 and 5),

Mae Young-ryeong and Lee Hyo-ju received Luck Enhancement Stones (stat increases 2 and 2).

Then he urged them to eat them.

Perhaps because they’d just seen the Myryan’s brain being rummaged through, they hesitated to bring it to their mouths… well, not everyone. In my previous life I couldn’t eat it at first…

Naruan said, “I’ll eat well,” and popped it into her mouth; one by one others followed, and even Lee Hyo-ju casually put hers in, chewed, then looked at me in surprise.

“Amazing, isn’t it? These are ‘Enhancement Stones’ that only drop from Myryans and boast abysmally low drop rates.”