The Rebirth Of The Hero’S Party’S Archmage [EN]: Chapter 23

23.

“What’s your name?”

“Rain.”

“Tch, I knew someone would ruin my mood from the start! You really live up to your name! You little rain shower.”

“Actually, my name is Sun.”

“W-what? Don’t lie! Your ID will show everything!”

As I bickered with the archer Rem and ventured deeper into the Red Mountains, the surroundings became increasingly desolate, and eerie cries echoed around us.

Two potions I had bought beforehand jingled from the belt around my waist, and I held my staff in my hand.

Bart told me he would protect me, so I shouldn’t be afraid, but the reason I was silent wasn’t because of nervousness, but because of an intense sense of déjà vu.

“…….”

The sweltering heat of the Red Mountains and the constant chatter of my party members beside me… Suddenly, the backs of the Hero’s party flashed before my eyes, and a corner of my heart ached.

“Brother, is this your first time adventuring today?”

“Yeah.”

“Are you familiar with the habits of the Rat-Spiders?”

I wasn’t familiar.

I used to hunt the ‘Ancient Ones’ who served the Lords of the Abyss. I didn’t feel the need to know about the monsters left behind on this continent.

“You only need to know that they are divided into ruling and subordinate classes.”

Bart said.

According to their explanation, Rat-Spiders are divided into queens, soldiers, and workers.

“Workers are pests that gnaw on trees, but they run away at the sight of humans. Only the soldier class attacks humans.”

“What about the queen?”

“She forms a colony and commands the Rat-Spiders under her. Catching the queen is said to be the same as catching a thousand Rat-Spiders.”

Then, Rem, who was walking ahead skillfully, tracking the traces of Rat-Spiders hidden in the bushes, scoffed.

“Don’t even think about catching her. Only skilled adventurers like Bart and I can catch her in a party. Besides, she never comes above ground.”

Yeah, I have no intention of catching her.

That was until I found out about the reward for subjugating the Queen Rat-Spider.

* * *

Rat-Spiders are large and have a gruesome appearance.

As the name suggests, imagine a rat’s head on a spider’s body.

But there was something more cunning than a rat and something that stirred more primal disgust than a spider.

“Eurgh!”

The ax blade, sharply tearing through the air, severed the monster’s flesh and caused a rain of blood.

Screech……!

Screech……!

And the sound of the air being torn flew away, dragging a long tail, and when that sound ended, an arrow was accurately lodged between the rat’s eyebrows, causing death throes.

“Yes! That’s twelve!”

As soon as they arrived at the hunting ground Rem had scouted, Bart and Rem began to slaughter Rat-Spiders with fierce momentum, and their skills were extraordinary even by Rain’s standards.

“Bart, there are many other adventurers! Don’t even think about resting!”

“I know!”

Perhaps because adventurers are a group that shares information, the hunting grounds were crowded with other adventurer parties spaced about 50 meters apart.

─Wow, how much is all this?

─Is money being duplicated?!

Sitting under the shade of a tree, yawning lazily and watching the scene, I couldn’t help but feel bored.

“Do I really not have to fight? You said we’d split the profits 4 ways.”

The novice priest Sammy, leaning against a tree and reading a bible, smiled gently.

“Yes. Later, you can light the fire when we camp. Or get water.”

“That’s it?”

“From the start, the two of them didn’t intend to make you fight when they recruited you into the party.”

“What are you talking about?”

Rain retorted indifferently, interlocking his fingers behind his head and lying down on the grass. It’s so hot, really.

“As I said before, the two of them just want to help. They did the same for me before.”

Sammy needed to earn money to take the priest exam, and the two of them heard about it at the tavern and forcibly put him in the party.

“I’ve already earned the money to take the exam, but I’m still doing this. You can feel the love of the gods when you’re with them.”

So that’s it.

So they’re the type to help others. Are they good people? Like Rista did.

– Let’s go, Rain.

Come to think of it, the smile he gave when I decided to trust Bart earlier seemed similar to Rista’s… Wait a minute.

“Sammy, do you know about Toureina?”

“How could I not know her?”

“Has the church branded Toureina as a heretic?”

Heretic… Sammy tilted his head, and just as he narrowed his brow as if something had come to mind.

─Kkeu, Kkeuaaaaack!

A desperate scream echoed, and the movements of the adventurers who had been moving excitedly stopped simultaneously.

Thump… The ground shook from the heavy weight. The eyes of the adventurers who stared at the source of the sound dilated extremely from tension.

Something big and frightening was approaching, and in its blood-soaked maw, an adventurer was being chewed, screaming in agony.

“W-what is it?!”

“C-crazy!”

Big.

It’s crazy big.

I thought it was about the size of an adult man, but that guy was twice as tall as Bart.

“Q-queen? On the ground?”

The seasoned adventurers felt cold sweat soaking their hands and feet. The inexperienced adventurers screamed and ran away, stepping back.

“No! Don’t show your backs!”

Silver-ranked adventurer Bart shouted urgently.

「The Rat-Spider’s danger level changes depending on whether it is under the queen’s control.」

So it is written in the Great Adventurer Ryutehim’s 『Adventure Log』.

「Usually, they are just a disorganized rabble, but as the ‘military’ moniker suggests, when the commander—the queen—is nearby, they transform into a killing machine that moves more precisely than the mechanical devices of the dwarves.」

The queen’s mark was engraved in the eyes of the Rat-Spiders, and they began to emit a gruesome phosphorescence.

The novice adventurers either didn’t see those eyes or didn’t hear Bart’s voice.

The Rat-Spiders pounced on the fleeing adventurers and sank their teeth deep into their necks.

“That’s why novices are…!”

Rem opened the lid of the gourd he was wearing on his waist and poured every last drop into his mouth.

Rain, who was standing up and checking the situation, couldn’t help but whistle.

‘Alcohol, Keys’s archery…?’

The basics of Drunken Archery are, needless to say, intoxication.

The power of the archery that can be used changes depending on the degree of intoxication, and drinking a whole bottle means raising the power to just before the limit in one go.

However, the risk is also certain, and there is a risk of vomiting or becoming unconscious during combat.

‘Interesting. Let’s see your skills.’

And three arrows were instantly placed on the bowstring.

Screech……!

Each arrow flew strangely wriggling, piercing the heads of the Rat-Spiders that were attacking the adventurers.

“Don’t space out, get up and fight! Unless you want to die!”

At Rem’s shout, the adventurers who had wet themselves at the threshold of death grabbed their weapons with trembling fingers.

“Rem, it’s meaningless to catch the small fry. We have to catch the queen.”

“I know! Sammy! Heal those novices! Rain, you protect Sammy!”

“A, alright!”

Before Sammy could answer, Rem placed five arrows on the string at the same time, aimed at the queen, and plucked the string.

Screeeeeech……!

The arrows flew in parabolas, each upwards, to the right, to the left, and downwards… but surprisingly, the points of impact were the same.

‘Keys’s simultaneous impact shot…!’

It was a shooting method now widely known as the secret technique of Drunken Archery. The queen, whose left eye was crushed, screamed in pain.

“Grrrrrr……!”

“Grrrrrr……!”

Dozens, no, hundreds of Rat-Spiders rushed at Rem at the queen’s command.

“Huuuuh!”

But there was a giant who collided head-on with that wave of flesh, and that was Bart. With one swing of his ax, a dozen Rat-Spiders were minced into pieces, scattering flesh and blood.

And through the gaps opened by the ax swings, Rem’s arrows flew in, piercing the heads of the Rat-Spiders.

Finally, when a path was opened, Bart grabbed the double-edged ax with both hands for the first time and leaped forward, kicking off the ground.

“A-amazing!”

“As expected of Bart the Ebony!”

“Why is that monster still a silver rank?”

The leg strength that launched his entire body, clad in plate armor, so high was truly enormous.

With a shout, Bart vertically slammed the ax blade down on the queen’s crown. The gravity from the heavy weight added power to Bart’s strike.

Everyone expected that strike to bisect the queen… but the ax, which seemed to tear through the tough hide and break the skull, stopped abruptly in mid-air.

‘What is that…?’

Bart felt something was wrong with the warrior’s intuition, while Rain felt a familiar chill running down his spine and shouted urgently.

“Bart! Dodge! Drop the ax! You’ll die if you get hit by that!”

As soon as Bart heard those words, he let go of the ax and rolled to the side.

It was a close call.

Bubbles were bubbling from the cut surface that the ax blade had torn apart, and a dark blue poison poured out forward.

Gurgle……!

Bart’s prized ebony ax liquefied and dripped onto the ground as black water, and the plants that the smoke touched withered.

On the other hand, the queen’s wound was healing in an instant.

“What is that? Super-speed regeneration…?”

In Rem’s eyes, which were blinking blankly, a light of astonishment, not tension, spread for the first time.

And the queen pounced on Bart, who had lost his weapon and was defenseless.

Bart managed to avoid being bitten by grabbing the queen’s maw with his armored hands, but the difference in strength was clear.

“Ugh, Uaaaaagh……!”

The armor crumpled and his arm bones broke, and Bart let out a painful groan.

“Bart!”

Rem dodged the Rat-Spiders’ attacks and shot arrows at the queen, but it was useless.

With the single-minded determination to kill Bart, the queen ignored the arrows embedded in her body and brought her maw closer and closer to Bart.

‘That’s definitely…’

At that moment, Rain’s face turned pale for an even more serious reason, and his fingertips froze.

‘Dark poison… that nasty chill and disgusting stench.’

I can’t not recognize it.

Dark poison is a poison that erodes the soul, a terrifying ancient power of the abyss used by masters of black magic.

The reason why the Fire Dragon’s Maiden, Friede, the best cleric of the time, belonged to the Hero’s party.

The reason why the Great Mage Rain had to enter a dormant state with the magic called Juyeoso Gyeodaeban [a powerful sealing magic].

Wasn’t it all because of the danger of that dark poison? Then there’s a possibility that there’s a master-level black magician nearby who strengthened the queen….

‘Black magic that strengthens monsters? Are there remnants of the Black Church left in the world?’

Rain quickly inhaled and asked Sammy, who was healing the adventurer whose neck had been bitten, by chanting sacred verses.

“How much…?”

“Pardon?”

“That, how much is it…!”

There was no need to intervene in this situation. No one would criticize me for not intervening.

I just wanted to run away.

More than anything, I didn’t want to fight an entity that wielded dark poison. Intense trauma was consuming my brain, and my breathing was getting faster.

“Ah, it’s probably worth about twenty gold coins! As I said before, it has the same effect as saving a thousand, and it’s hard to catch because it’s deep underground… normally!”

This body is not yet complete.

If I have to use Juyeoso Gyeodaeban again because of one mistake… and if I wake up alone in another world again….

The thought made me shudder.

“Twenty coins, okay, twenty coins…!”

The only reason I’m interfering here is for the money I need. If I divide that by four, I’ll have enough to buy a book on the black market.

‘This action is not because of altruism or loyalty to the party….’

It’s just for the money, for me.

The Great Mage rationalized his actions in that way, wetting his parched lips with dry saliva.

In fact, it was Bart’s smile and Sammy’s voice that were crossing in his head that made him do it.

– As I said before, the two of them just want to help you.

It’s not because I’m grateful either.

It’s just that if that idiot dies before me again, I’ll have bad dreams.

“…Magic circle construction, 4 stars.”