Volume 2 - CH 39

“Tsk, that damn Guild! Doing a shitty job like this! We are going back to our original route for now!”

Celt shouted out, turned around, and started walking fast.

With this many mistakes with our map, our original route is starting to seem suspect too….

Or maybe not; until we left our designated route, something like this where we didn’t even know where we were on the map didn’t happen.

If we go that way, then we should at least be able to reach our rendezvous point….at least I would like to believe so.

“Will you be at the front this time? I would appreciate it if an agile Hunter would be the one to lead….”

“You are just slow as hell, Heavy Knight! Don’t just stand there, get in front of me!”

Just when Celt thought he was able to seize the leadership position, something happened to take the wind out of his sails, so he must be fairly mad.

“…..at first I thought Celt-san was kind of scary, but maybe he’s just a bit clumsy. I’m starting to feel a certain kind of kinship with him.”

Luce whispered in secret.

It seems Celt was able to hear her, because he turned around to glare at Luce with a severe expression.

Luce quickly faced forward with awkward movements, desperately trying to laugh it off with an obviously fake laugh.

It was then that Celt’s face went white.

“There is a damn monster incoming! It must’ve come from one of the branches in the corridors.”

About the same time Celt managed to ready his bow, a strange looking swordsman appeared from around the corner.

It had no head, but even so, it was still taller than me in that state.

Its body was full of stitches, crudely connecting three arms to its body.

Each one was holding a sword.

Its warped and eerie appearance spoke volumes about how dangerous this monster was.

――――――――――――――――――――

Monster: Patchwork

Level: 67

HP: 228/228

MP: 66/66

――――――――――――――――――――

A Patchwork…..

An enemy that’s stronger than the Dream Lord of the Centipede Pit, the Rock Centipede, which was 【Lv：60】.

My level went up since then, but this monster doesn’t have an unfortunate weakness like the Rock Centipede either.

Also, this monster is even more dangerous than its level would suggest due to its stats and Skills.

“Eeek! J-just what is that monster!”

Luce let out a scream.

“….that’s an unpleasant monster to come out at a time like this. That’s the sentry of the Graveyard of Sorrows. There is always a single one of them in the Dungeon and it can detect adventurers in a wide range and wanders the place looking for them.”

The size of the Dungeon is pretty vast.

What’s more, there are twenty adventurers that entered the Dungeon at once this time.

Counting all that, having this guy fixate on us and even catch up just as we find ourselves in a dead end cannot be called anything other than rotten luck.

Normally, the Patchwork is extremely slow, so it’s not that hard to shake it off.

Fighting a Patchwork is not recommended to begin with, so running away as soon as you come across it is the generally accepted method of resolving the situation.

Since most of the time when you come across it you will get chased by it, it can be called a gimmick that bolsters the horror vibes of the Graveyard of Sorrows.

However, this is a dead end unfortunately.

Even if we tried to run away, we would need to get past it, and the Heavy Knight and Priestess have slow moment speeds.

Although they are still faster than the Patchwork, it takes some time to put enough distance between them.

If we were to run around with that guy glued to our backs, then we would most definitely run into another monster before long, getting us surrounded.

“We’ll need to defeat it….”

The Patchwork has low Agility, but has high other stats in turn, and it’s also pretty blessed with Skills.

It’s an opponent who can take away your entire HP in a blink of an eye if you let your guard down.

This will be a hard fought battle, but there are four of us here.

“Celt, hurry and come back here!”

I shouted as I ran towards Celt.

“….don’t blame me for this, o-okay? This is only an unavoidable fight for you two who have low agility. The very first thing they teach you after you join the Guild is to avoid unfavorable fights.”

Celt turned back to us with a tight expression.

Just as I processed his words, Celt bent forward and curled into a crouch, then kicked off from the ground and sprinted in a zig-zag.

“[Fleeing Hare]!”

A Hunter’s Skill.

It momentarily increases the user’s movement speed in exchange for being defenceless in the meantime.

It’s mainly used to put distance between the enemy and the user, or perhaps straight up run away altogether.

The Patchwork swung one of his blades in reaction to Celt’s movements, but it fell short by just a bit.

He neatly landed behind the Patchwork.

“Celt, you…..!”

“Th-this is not my fault…..In an abnormal situation like this it’s better to have even one more person survive! There is no way I would be able to fight a Three Armed Reaper! You all need to find some way to escape too!”

Celt has retreated.

He must’ve known how terrifying the Patchwork was.

Although the Patchwork is pretty high level, the reason why it’s scary is something else.

With its high Attack, it can deal enormous damage if you take one wrong step.

Especially its [Death Sword] Skill can deal an absurd amount of damage and it’s very hard to avoid too.

It’s the characteristic Skill of the Patchwork.

If we simply go by its Status, four people should be able to surround and defeat it, but even in the game, there was a high rate of death among the adventurers that went against one of them.

At that moment, a second Patchwork appeared suddenly in front of Celt.

“Ah, aaah……?”

A blade of the Patchwork mercilessly sent Celt’s body flying.

Celt impacted the wall with his back, then crumpled to the floor while moaning in pain.

It seems he was cut near the waist, at least that seems to be where the blood stain originated.

“Ugh, ughaaah! It hurts! This really huuurts!”

“E-Elma-san! Didn’t you just say that there is supposed to be only one of those!?”

“…..that’s how it should be. This must be because of the Monster Pool.”

The original reason for calling a Raid Quest in the Graveyard of Sorrows was because Kalos wasn’t able to deal with it due to the Monster Pool event happening here.

A Monster Pool event is when monsters appear en masse in a Dungeon, causing some of them to group up when they otherwise wouldn’t or a special monster to spawn when the criteria for it haven’t been met.

Now, a second Patchwork has appeared.