Chapter 216

Episode 216 Discard (5)

Orculis.

A group of famous criminals who rebelled against the royal family.

This group, which has only been created for a few decades, has gained notoriety by committing numerous terrorism and crimes.

The royal family put up a huge bounty and started hunting, but they moved so secretly that they had only killed seven so far.

“Seven of them came…”

Marco Elbern, commander of the 3rd Royal Knights, couldn’t hide his drool after hearing the report from his subordinates.

As soon as the situation occurred, he responded promptly and formed a safe zone in the center, declaring a war situation and seizing command.

The first thing he did was gather information.

I immediately sent a search party toward the second-floor portal, which could be a breakthrough, and until today, I checked and rechecked all the information coming from the front line without sleeping.

As a result, 7 Orcules members were captured.

Screaming Witch Black Claw Lighthouse Keeper.

These three were roaming around the safe zone, killing each other, while the other four were blocking the second floor portal.

‘I guess this was the purpose from the beginning.’

Elvern clenched his fists as if he was cramped.

The three mentioned above are also three, but these four are the biggest stumbling block.

A corpse collector who is more notorious for his bizarre and cruel acts than for being a demon.

An Annihilator who was once the head of a great school, but became a criminal after tampering with forbidden magic.

A blood knight who started as a soldier born in Bifron and gained fame by killing the 1st Royal Knight Commander of the previous generation.

Finally…….

‘traitor.’

Even the guy who gathered those madmen and created a group called Orculis and created a history of countless notoriety and massacres with his own hands.

All four representing ‘the group’ came here.

However, it is not only Orcules to be wary of.

There are countless big criminals who have fled to Noark, and if you combine them, you can’t be confident of victory even if you stick with your strength.

Eventually, after a long silence, Elbern opened his mouth.

“I will cancel the plan to go up to the second floor through them.”

The silence that added to those words began to weigh heavily on Jangjung.

One article raised his voice with difficulty.

“……Soon the 3rd day will start.”

“I know. But since it was confirmed that even the ruinologists came, it’s highly likely that the portal has already become useless anyway.”

“When I come back…”

Elvern closed his eyes as if brushing off his thoughts.

A commander is a position where decisions must be made.

“Gather wizards who can use the portal magic as stealthily as possible.”

You have to make the decisions you have to make.

no matter what sacrifices it takes.

***

Open your eyes and check your watch.

[00 : 17]

One more day passed before I knew it, and it was the 3rd day.

Yesterday there was nothing to do.

Check out the loot you got on the way.

Find an explorer with a repair-related ability and fix the broken equipment.

Standing on a team basis, shift boundaries are also kept.

As soon as the guard duty is over, I go around the neighborhood and collect information.

I’ve also heard stories about Atakelan.

[……Eh, that person?]

I worked hard on Misha and made her open her mouth, but when I heard it, it wasn’t a big deal.

Did you lose your temper for a while because your mentality went out?

He looked at all of us who survived and poured out aggressive words.

But that time didn’t last long.

[At that time, Aruru was really no joke. Even after seeing that you were called in without receiving treatment for doing that, they yelled at me for saying such a thing…… Oh, I heard that I just broke into a cold sweat listening?] Well, when he gets angry, he’s brutal

.

It is still a mystery how such a spirit emerges from such a small body.

[Anyway, that’s all. Even Einar got angry and tried to pull out his sword, but he just swiped and disappeared.]

I am grateful for the actions of my colleague who stepped up for me, but the more I heard the whole story, the more my lips hardened.

yeah they don’t know

The fact that I deliberately put them behind me to slightly increase our chances of survival.

[huh? Why does he look like that?]

[It’s nothing. I’m just hungry.]

Takelan’s anger was justified.

If the formation was formed only with efficiency in mind, more numbers could have survived.

But I didn’t.

I placed the power source behind me which is relatively safe, although more appropriate in the rear. Perhaps Takelan realized that too late, so he acted like that.

‘……It would be better if only I knew this.’

After waking up for a while, I slowly got up and put my sleeping bag in order.

It was busy enough, though. The second day was calm compared to the intense first day.

But that is until today.

“Eh, Mr. Yandel…?”

Raven rubbed her eyes and stuck her head out, probably waking up.

“Did you wake up because of me? I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s just because I can’t sleep…”

“Are you not sleeping anymore?”

At my question, Raven pulled his upper body out of his sleeping bag and took a sitting position.

“What about Mr. Yandel? Are you not sleeping anymore?”

“I can’t sleep either.”

“So you were trying to stand guard alone?”

I smiled and admitted it meekly.

It was funny to say that the situation was the same, but it wasn’t.

“It’s already been 3 days ……”

From the 3rd day, the layer lord is summoned.

The condition is that 5 or more people are united.

Of course, it’s a certain probability, and since over 10,000 explorers have already gathered on the first floor, the possibility of being summoned in front of us is low…

‘Just in case.’

I am the tank of this team.

Even if the hierarchical lord falls right in front of you, you can buy enough time for your colleagues to escape—

uhhhh!

At that time, the ground shuddered slightly, and the achromatic crystals embedded in the cave walls emitted brilliant light.

The color of the glow is blood red.

“Yandel-san, this is…!”

It means that a hierarchical monarch has appeared somewhere.

“What is it!”

Einar and other sleeping companions woke up one after another. The same goes for the other group of explorers who were sleeping nearby.

I calmed down my colleagues.

“Don’t be too surprised. Fortunately, it doesn’t seem like he was summoned near here.”

Where there is a first-tier ruler, there will inevitably be a loud noise. However, there was no such sound, so it would be safe to say that it was a far away place.

“Everybody go to sleep.”

“But…”

“I’ll wake you up if something happens. It hasn’t been long since the guard duty ended.”

“It’s not like you’re tired either.”

“I dozed off a little then, so that’s fine.”

I don’t know if I’ll be able to sleep right away, but I forced my colleagues into sleeping bags and closed their eyes.

The judgment that recovering stamina is a priority.

Maybe 20 minutes passed like that?

Woo woo woo woo …….

As if the battery was discharged, the crystals that illuminated the surroundings went out.

It means that the hierarchical lord has been eliminated.

Of course, it’s still too early to be sure.

Unlike the upper level monarchs who have a long respawn time of at least several months to several years, this guy is resummoned several times.

“Will it be okay from now on…?”

“Don’t worry. If you have 30 proper explorers, you’ll catch the 1st floor lords. In the current situation, wherever they appear, they’ll be dealt with right away.”

In fact, this is also the biggest reason why he tried to join the forces of the royal family by breaking through that desperate road.

If you stay here, you are safe from the hierarchy lords.

Even if it shows up right in front of me, if I hold on a little bit, support will come soon.

“Then ask here.”

“Where are you going?”

“I was wondering if I could get some information.”

“If that’s the case, I’ll do the same…….”

“It’s a waste of manpower. If you can’t sleep, stay up all night by the side.”

As soon as the first layer lord was defeated, I left the assignment and moved to the center.

The respawn time of the hierarchical lord is six hours.

In the meantime, I was going to look around and see if there was anything unusual.

‘Cause there’s nothing else to do

[North 172-21]

Using the marks drawn on the wall by the royal family as a guide to distinguish the terrain, they listened to the conversations of the explorers around them.

“Did you hear? It was the southern passage.”

“You mean the place where the hierarchical lord came from?”

“Yes, they say about 20 people have died by the time support arrives.”

“If you’re going to come out, you’ll come out of the underground cubs.”

The reliability of conversations shared by explorers similar to mine is not very high, but there is a level of information that cannot be ignored.

Still, it was great to know public opinion.

“I don’t know how long I’ll have to stay stuck here.”

“That’s right. In the last speech, they said they would soon open the way to the second floor portal. It’s already been three days.”

“They’re quiet, so I guess I’m getting anxious.”

As expected, the explorers showed distrust in the leadership, which had not been announced since the first day.

By the way, this happened to me too.

‘It must be time to make a decision soon.’

If you calculate that a layer lord is killed every 6 hours, a total of 8 layer lords will be killed in two days.

In other words, it will definitely appear on the 5th day.

‘A large clan even has a Royal Knight Commander, so there’s no way they don’t know that……’

But why is there no action yet?

I am curious about the conversation in the barracks where the meeting was taking place on the day I came here.

‘I’m sure you’ll know that’s what Noark was aiming for…’

Why do you keep holding out here?

Of course, I thought either way would open the way to the second floor.

trudge trudge.

The more I was worried, the more I increased my walking speed.

Then a familiar face appeared.

The guy who first discovered the backpack copying bug and spread it widely within the tribe.

“Karon…?”

“Bjorn, the son of the great warrior Yandel!!!!”

When I first recognized him and spoke to him, Charon immediately got up and rushed at me furiously.

“To meet you here!! You are destined to lead us!!”

I was a little embarrassed, but I was glad to see you, so I accepted the greeting in a barbarian way.

And I asked what I was curious about.

“But who is next to you?”

“The warriors I met here!!”

“You met here?”

I didn’t understand at all.

The barbarian’s backpack copying bug has already been fixed. Although the method was known among explorers, the seeds of low-level explorers dried up after the appearance of a kind of magic tool, an identification tag.

It costs 70,000 stones to get one dog tag.

So I’m sure Karon also joined the 3rd floor team a while ago…

“Where is the team that was there going?”

“Ah, those guys died on the way here! So the soldiers introduced me to the remaining warriors like me!”

Damn soldiers.

A party of 5 barbarian warriors……

It must have been just that they made a team out of annoyance.

“I’m really a little Vulcan! It’s an honor to meet you!! I am Dvan, the second son of Verox!!”

“Oh yes Nice to meet you too.”

After hearing my name, I greeted the excited barbarians and continued the conversation with Karon.

If you haven’t seen it, you won’t know

. You should be able to leave it anywhere

. “

Is that okay?”

The fact that they paid 70,000 stones and received a dog tag and the equipment they are wearing. This alone shows that they are warriors of the 3rd floor

or higher

.

What’s going to happen?”

I told Charon, who was baffled, the area our team was assigned to.

“I’ll tell the magistrate on my way, so you guys go there first. When you see a wizard, politely say that I sent you.”

“Okay!”

“Ah, if you don’t know the way there, ask an explorer around you where you can go. If you yell at me and keep me from sleeping, I’ll answer you even if it’s annoying.”

“Oh!! Indeed!”

That was the moment

when he was about to

leave Karon and his party

and start walking

.

He was gathered with explorers he hadn’t seen before.

Of course,

he lost all his companions on the way here.

“…….”

Takelan stares at me in silence.

His jaw trembles slightly It proved that he was enduring something.

I asked first,

“I heard what happened while I was gone.”

“…….”

“Do you resent me?”

Takelan didn’t nod or shake his head. .Just

standing there staring at me as if enduring it.

It took a long time for his reply to come back.

“No, I don’t blame you.”

An unexpected reply.

Takelan slowly opened his mouth as if letting out his emotions.

“I kept thinking about it. Because that was all I could do. why did i become like this Lena died, so why are you all so happy and smiling? If those bastards hadn’t run away in the middle, Lena wouldn’t have survived.”

“…….”

“No more than anything…….”

“…….

” Didn’t know that.”

“So, did you come to a conclusion?”

“I don’t know. In fact, you are the one who gets hurt the most. You were the one who did the hardest thing. It was a situation where there

was no guarantee that your comrades would be safe.”

Is there such a thing as a

guarantee

?

“I shouldn’t have followed you.”

It felt like a sharp knife was scraping something left inside me.

“But,”

Takelan continued,

“it was I who decided to follow you.” ”

….. ..”

“It was I who voted for you to be the leader.”

“…….”

“When she said she would use multiple teleportation magic, I couldn’t even suggest anything and just watched. …..! It was me.”

Self-hatred.

Seeing him finally blame all the blame on himself, I was seized with an indescribably difficult feeling.

“That’s why I don’t blame you.” “…

I see.”

What should I say?

I couldn’t even throw out a clumsy word of consolation.

However, I

wonder if my hesitation was conveyed ?

“Don’t

sympathize with me.” There will come a day when you will feel it.”

His gaze was no longer directed at me. It

just turned towards the floor.

I

sensed

that the conversation we had to share was over.

No one talked to me along the way.

How long had it passed since then?

The passage widened and an enlarged central cavity appeared.

I first found the executive officer and informed him that Charon and his party had decided to join us.

“Team Apple Narak… ….. Oh, it’s the passage outside the northern district. It’s confirmed.”

This is the end of what I had to do. But I just

turned

around.

The knight who came out of the barracks headed to the place where the administrative soldier who had helped me earlier and glanced at me.

Then he named a total of six schools. ”

Ah yes. You mean a mage belonging to that school? I’ll check the list for now.” Are you

saying you’re trying to recruit wizards because there aren’t

enough priests?

I thought so at first…

After chewing, I found one thing in common:

‘Dimensional door magic.’

A level 4 or higher wizard of that school can open a ‘dimensional door’ that can be used by up to 30 people. The

moment I realized this,

my heart was pounding uncontrollably.

Also

, a conversation I had recently passed through my head. Searᴄh the nôvel_Fire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

It was meaningless to deny it.

[A good commander is not a person who makes perfect choices. He makes choices that have to be made.]

If he was that guy, I would throw them away without hesitation.

I judged them to be of low priority.

All of that.