Chapter 15: Three Will Come (2)

“……”

Drip, drip, drip.

Transparent liquid dripped from the tips of Evie's drenched hair, one drop at a time, onto the floor.

The ground beneath Evie's feet was already past the point of being merely damp from the falling water, with a puddle nearly forming.

Evie's expression, standing in the middle of it… I'd rather not mention it.

While I was rescuing the bitten Evie, Rine had dealt with the Mimic in one fell swoop with a combo of 「Water Bomb」 and 「Lightning Bolt」.

At that time, Evie had been hit by the Water Bomb as well, so the transparent liquid currently covering her was definitely water.

The saliva of that Mimic, which was wide open like a clam shell with its long tongue sticking out… probably not a single drop was mixed in.

“……I wanna go home.”

For Evie's honor, I decided to think that all that liquid was 100% pure, clean water created by magic.

So for now, let's just pretend not to see the parts that look strangely sticky and viscous for water.

“……Hey.”

“Y-Yes?”

“I've been thinking about it… doesn't it seem like I'm the only one going through all the hardships here?”

So she finally noticed… or not.

“No way. I'm having a really hard time too.”

“What did you do? From singing and dancing?”

“Watching my one and only friend suffer makes me feel like my heart is being torn apart.”

“Should I tear it in two, you bastard….”

“But this dungeon and I are a bad match.”

To be precise, undead monsters and my Charisma-focused bard build were fundamentally a poor match.

First of all, most undead only took half damage from mental-type attacks like 「Vicious Mockery」.

Skills like 「Word Command」 didn't work at all.

Because they couldn't hear in the first place.

The reason 「Vicious Mockery」 worked on things like goblins, who didn't share a language, was because they were, after all, living beings.

With a brain, a mind, controlling the body.

But undead were already dead.

It meant that they effectively had no brain (mind) to be hurt by my harsh 「Vicious Mockery」 or to submit to 「Word Command」.

So, according to the lore, mental damage skills shouldn't work at all, but perhaps thinking it was too much for game balance, they only took half damage.

And this dungeon, the 「Drunkard's Tomb」, was a dungeon where all the monsters, except for that Mimic, were undead.

Well, of course, even so, I could still deal with mob-level enemies like those skeletons with a half-damage 「Vicious Mockery」.

It was just that the efficiency dropped drastically due to the limitations of a single-target skill.

Therefore, it was much more efficient to cast a song buff on the evasion tank Evie to increase her evasion rate, rather than dealing damage with 「Vicious Mockery」.

“In short, you're saying you're pretty much useless here, so you'll just keep singing like you are now, is that it?”

“Hey, no way.”

I waved my hand as if to say 'of course not', and then immediately gave a thumbs up.

“I'll join you for a light dance, if you'd like.”

“If you get stabbed in the back in the middle of the night, just assume it was bound to happen.”

Anyway, that's why I would usually avoid undead dungeons like this… but this one was an exception.

If only for the rewards I could get from clearing this place.

“Well, enough with the jokes. Let's get the money.”

“You think I'm joking?”

And to get one of those rewards, I smirked and gestured with my chin towards where the Mimic had been.

“What was I thinking, doing this… huh?”

At that, Evie also noticed the reason and tilted her head.

The long tongue and sharp teeth that had been there until just a moment ago had vanished without a trace, and only an ordinary treasure chest—firmly shut again—was left.

“Wh-What? Where did it go?”

Despite that, Evie, perhaps because of her recent experience, wore a wary expression and, after putting some distance, started to poke it with her foot.

“…!”

Almost at the same time as she flinched back at the suddenly opened chest, Evie's eyes widened.

“Is this for real.”

Then, as if nothing had happened, she ran to the chest and crouched down.

It was understandable.

Because what had been a hideous monster until a moment ago had become a real treasure chest.

One that was truly filled to the brim with sparkling gold coins.

“H-How much is all this…?”

Evie, who had swallowed hard, still in disbelief, began to scoop up a handful of gold coins from the chest to feel them.

At a glance, it contained more than the gold coins that had been piled up on the gambling table yesterday.

“It really has become a treasure chest.”

Rine, also intrigued, had approached Evie's side at some point and was looking into the chest together.

Not every treasure chest you encounter in a dungeon turns out to be a 'win' like this.

In fact, if you looked at the ratio, there were probably more duds.

But, Mimics were different.

“How is this possible? It was definitely a monster just a moment ago.”

In the case of treasure chests that appear after hunting a Mimic, it was a guaranteed win like this.

Why?

“They say it's what's left after the adventurers eaten by the creature are digested.”

“……”

Evie's excited expression, as she was collecting the money from the chest, suddenly hardened, and the gold coins she had been holding in her hand clattered down as if sand were slipping through her fingers.

“Don't worry. You won't get cursed or anything for taking it.”

“Wh-Who said I'm scared of ghosts or anything?! I'm not scared at all, okay!? Jeez!”

Evie hurriedly picked up the fallen gold coins and protested, but unfortunately, as long as she couldn't do something about her wandering gaze and trembling hands, she wasn't very convincing.

Also, I just said 'curse' and didn't mention the word 'ghost' even once, but for Evie's honor, I decided to pretend not to know this time either.

In fact, if you think about it, the skeletons we blew up earlier were fundamentally closer to ghosts.

Is it the difference between being able to physically beat them up and not being able to?

The difference in a sense of powerlessness?

“Anyway, let's take everything we can.”

Well, no matter how much I thought about it, Evie's hands, which showed no sign of speeding up, wouldn't get any faster, so I took a sack and crouched next to Evie to start picking up the gold coins from the chest.

“In a dungeon, it's finders keepers.”

* * *

「Drunkard's Tomb」.

As I mentioned a moment ago, the main monsters in this ruin-type dungeon located west of Stout were mostly undead.

Skeletons that had guarded this tomb from the beginning but were now only bones, or the relatively recently born zombies… which were the corpses of adventurers devoured by the dense magic that filled this dungeon.

--

[Environment] Success

--

You recall the habits of the undead.

Most undead have had their brains destroyed and cannot think or act on their own.

Therefore, unless they are a special individual, they are known as a hive, controlled by a single consciousness—a concept commonly known as a 'hive mind'.

To put it simply, that Vengeful spirit (grudge), in this case, the 'dungeon boss', is playing a solo RTS (real-time strategy) game.

Therefore, if you defeat the master of that consciousness—the 'grudge'—that moves the undead, you will be able to wipe them out.

This also meant that if you defeated the boss, the undead army would all turn to ash together, but at the same time, it meant that the reactions of those skeletons and zombies were bound to be slow.

In game terms, their Dexterity stat wasn't very high.

“Why the hell do I have to be the only one going through this torment──!?”

It means that the evasion tank strategy of putting a high-Dexterity character in the front was very effective this time as well.

“Waaah!? ──Hey! Blow it up! Shit, hurry up and blow it away!!”

──Kwaang!!

A 2nd Circle fireball exploded spectacularly.

And not long after, a flood of experience gain notifications popped up, threatening to cover my entire field of vision in an instant.

It was a thrilling sight to see, as always.

“Hoo─ I love the smell of fireball in the morning.”

“What did you do to be acting so cool!?”

What did I do?

I sang 〈Ride of the Valkyries〉.

Bam-pa-pa-ba-ba

Bam-pa-pa-ba-ba

Unfortunately, Evie, who didn't appreciate my efforts (?), threw a small stone that hit me on the head with a thud, along with that shout.

“Haa… ha… that damn entertainer bastard……”

Then, Evie, who had walked out through the dense smoke with a limp body, soon leaned against a nearby wall and collapsed to the floor.

Just then, I felt a tug on my sleeve and turned to see, as expected, Rine looking up at me.

“Did you like the smell of fireball?”

“Hmm?”

“If you wish, I will wake you up every morning by casting a fireball from now on.”

“What? Ah, no, don't do that. I was just kidding….”

What kind of crazy way to wake up is that.

“…Is that so? I apologize.”

“No, you don't have to apologize…”

Rine still had her usual expressionless face, but there was a subtle sense of disappointment.

Seeing that, I almost said I had changed my mind… but no matter what, that was too much.

In any case, we had passed another stage like this.

It meant that a time of reward was waiting.

A treasure chest.

This time it was a real chest, not a Mimic, and it was firmly locked.

In other words, it was Evie's turn.

And before she picked that lock, “Stop.”

--

Evie

[Perception] Success

--

It seemed there was something to take care of first.

As you could tell from Evie, who had been approaching the chest, stopping dead in her tracks and holding out her hand to tell us not to come closer.

“It's a trap.”

There are three main ways to deal with a trap when you encounter one in a dungeon.

First, disarm the trap itself.

This method takes the most time and has a high risk if the disarming fails, but if successful, it's the safest method.

Second, avoid the trap.

As soon as you find the trap, you turn your back without even looking at it, or you accurately locate it and move carefully to prevent the trap from activating.

Third, activate the trap.

It's the worst option, but it can be used if it's a one-time trap or if there's no other way.

And all three of these were only possible after figuring out what kind of trap it was.

Through [Investigation].

--

[Investigation]

Difficulty 13

--

[Investigation] was an Intelligence stat-based check.

Evie's initial Intelligence stat was 6.

And thanks to one of her traits, 「Keen Senses」, which gives a bonus equal to half of the relevant stat on additional check rolls after first succeeding on a [Perception] or [Intuition] check, she gets an additional bonus of 3.

On top of that, “From head to toe, o──”

“If you sing that song again, I'll just push you in and throw you away.”

“Okay, bye…”

I was about to sing a 「Song of Wisdom」 to make her feel refreshed and clear-headed, as if a yodel song fresh as a vitamin was making her full of life and making her work go well… but that was eventually scrapped due to her own refusal.

--

INT Bonus +6

??? +3

--

Therefore, Evie's bonus was 9.

Now, all Evie's dice had to roll was a 4 or higher.

--

⚂

Failure

--

“Aww, really!”

Evie, who had been carefully observing the floor in front of her on one knee, eventually got up in a huff as if to say 'screw it'.

“Hey! That, that dumb song you were singing earlier keeps ringing in my head! I can't concentrate, I can't concentrate!”

“It's a song that increases intelligence.”

“Bullshit!”

It was an unfair accusation, but well, I could understand where she was coming from.

The reason I chose that song was because it was the first thing that came to my mind, and naturally, something highly addictive popped out.

Anyway, Evie had noticed the existence of the trap but failed to identify it.

But it didn't matter.

“Wanna take a look, Rine?”

Because we had Rine.

Rine's initial Intelligence stat was 14.

So without even calculating other buffs, as long as she didn't roll a 1, it was fine.

Rine, who had nodded silently, slowly stepped forward and, as if just quietly looking down at the floor.

--

⚄

Success

--

“I can feel a faint magic. It seems to be a trap that operates by ancient magic.”

As expected, it didn't seem to take long for her to succeed in identifying it.

“Do you know what kind of trap it is?”

Rine, who had nodded again, pointed her finger somewhere.

“There is probably a magic circle installed on that floor. If you step on the bricks in that section, it seems to be a structure where other magic circles installed on the walls on both sides will react and release magic.”

“A pressure plate trap, huh.”

It was the most common type of trap you could see in a dungeon.

The kind where sharp spears shoot out, arrows fly, or fire is spewed, or electricity flows when you step on a switch on the floor.

This time, it seemed to be the latter, the magic type, not the physical type.

But just because it was common didn't mean it wasn't dangerous at all.

Being common also meant that it was that effective.

To the extent that there were countless cases of people dying instantly from underestimating them.

“You heard that, Evie?”

“I have ears too, you know?”

If there isn't a professional's touch, that is.