The 31st Piece Turns the Tables
chapter-169

Fwooosh…

He hunted.

[Koko’s Unique Skill: Gifts of the Wild activates.]

[Koko gifts you with a portion of his prey’s, Hos, the Sharp’s, stats.]

[You receive the Gifts of the Wild.]

[Your Intelligence increases by 2.]

Kieeee!

And hunted some more.

[Koko’s Unique Skill: Gifts of the Wild activates.]

[Koko gifts you with a portion of his prey’s, Isa, the Cool’s, stats.]

[You receive the Gifts of the Wild.]

[Your Dexterity increases by 2.]

“Haah…”

Pant pant…

Over several days, Seol had been expanding his search area on Alcatron’s B4 Floor through Koko.

‘I haven’t heard anything, even though it’s been three days already.’

The expedition party had roughly 100 members when it began.

Despite the numbers suggesting that at least one person should have arrived by now, Seol still hadn't encountered anyone.

Seol was now surmising a reason why.

‘Either something happened upstairs, or…they’re regrouping before heading down.’

Alcatron was vast.

It was to the point that even “vast” wasn’t enough to describe its size.

As such, the odds of regrouping the completely scattered expedition party were extremely low.

‘Then... the best chance of success would be to gather on the stairway headed down.’

Gather on the upper floors to head to the lower floors together.

Given the prisoners’ strength, it wouldn't have been a difficult conclusion for the expedition party's leaders to arrive at.

‘I would’ve done the same thing.’

In fact, if he could, even Seol would have headed up to regroup with the expedition party.

However, it was extremely difficult to do so in his current situation. Right now, he was doing his best with what he had.

Pant pant pant…

“Good work, Koko.”

Pant pant…

Seol ran his fingers through the back of Koko’s neck.

Koko, who seemed like such a gentle dog, was, in fact, the predator of Alcatron’s B4 floor.

“...Did he get a little bigger?”

Koko had grown, almost as if Seol had intentionally fattened him up.

Even though it wasn’t particularly important, as Koko could clearly control his own size, it was evident that he had indeed grown.

‘After all, I’ve grown as well.’

Seol’s stats were increasing at a rapid pace, all thanks to hunting down the prisoners scattered throughout the 4th floor.

Koko’s unique skill, Gifts of the Wild, was responsible for his swift growth.

‘Though I wouldn’t have been able to grow this much if it was only that.’

Seol’s Monster Cooking was also steadily increasing in proficiency.

Not to mention, valuable ingredients were scattered everywhere around him. All he had to do was cook and eat them to increase his stats.

- He’s practically printing more stats!

- He’s ‘pretending’ to work hard to hunt. He’s ‘pretending’ to pick difficult Adventures. I want to punch his stupid face 😠

- Snowman is invincible.

- And Koko is a god.

- That was a nice combo. Now, take this and get away from here.

‘In the end, it’s a win-win for both Koko and me.’

Seol’s stats had grown to the point where there was a massive gap between his stats and those of the other high-ranking transferees.

‘At least triple… maybe even quadruple their stats?’

Seol’s stats had risen to the point where even he was beginning to be confident in their disparity.

Pant pant pant…

Even so, Seol had a slightly dissatisfied look as he glanced at Koko.

‘Still, it would have been best for me to fight directly if I want to hone and improve my combat senses.’

Though Koko did increase his stats, since Seol wasn’t fighting his opponents himself, he was losing the experience of fighting against stronger opponents.

Seol thought that was quite unfortunate.

‘Still… it’s not like I’m just playing around.’

Seol’s cooking skills weren’t the only thing that had improved on this floor over the past 3 days.

Glooooow…

Flap flap flap…

Like a magician pulling pigeons out of their hat, black energy writhed in Seol’s hand before transforming into crows and scattering away.

Seol had created at least 10 crows in an instant.

Over the past few days, Seol had been researching ways to handle his creations, as well as techniques related to them.

Seol had already used this ability extensively during the Alcatron Expedition. Nevertheless, he continued researching it in hopes of potential growth, and his efforts were duly rewarded.

[Awakening! Your creation awakens a new skill.]

[Your creation awakens Stealth.]

Faade…

The crows slowly faded into thin air.

In a dark place like this, having crows with Stealth and the Eyes of Foresight was essentially no different from having stealth reconnaissance drones all around you.

‘I should also come up with a way to use them in combat as well.’

Seol could clearly feel his concentration increasing as he gained more experience controlling his crows. However, he had yet to test the effects of his heightened focus in combat.

Regardless, Seol had learned one thing through using his crows as scouts. Alcatron was unimaginably massive.

This was something that even Ner, an involuntary resident of Alcatron, agreed upon.

“Here? Yeah, it’s stupidly large! It’s probably even bigger than B1.”

“So, does Alcatron get bigger the further down you go?”

“Uh… probably?”

The first image of Alcatron that popped up in Seol’s head was a pyramid.

‘I could also think of it as a cone too, but... I can understand the need for space, but isn't this place too big?’

Seol was beginning to feel more annoyed about the size than anything.

Not to mention the multiple times he could have potentially died if Ner hadn’t helped him.

‘I haven’t been able to rest at all ever since coming here.’

Seol sensed something was wrong with his deal with Frannan.

Seol's task was to help find Libra and ensure their safe return. And unfortunately, in this current situation, maintaining positive thoughts was difficult.

‘There’s a good chance Libra is already dead.’

Even if he was an archmage, going missing in a dangerous place like this meant there was a high probability of his death.

However, now that they had already entered, the expedition party had to at least confirm the lowest floor before making their way back, as Ner had also mentioned.

Seol had completed the time he allocated each day for scouting.

‘Is it almost time to sleep now? I… don’t want to sleep, though.’

Each time he tried to sleep in Alcatron, he continued to have strange dreams.

It was almost like someone was behind a curtain, trying to speak to him.

- ……

The voice spoke in a strange and unique language. Though Seol asked Karen and Karuna after he woke up, even they did not recognize it.

“Still, I was able to scout a lot today.”

Seol had discovered the door to Floor B3 today, but he hadn’t been able to approach it.

It was because way too many prisoners were roaming around it.

That was the biggest reason Seol couldn’t rendezvous with the other members on the upper floor.

‘I should start luring out some of the prisoners to thin out their numbers tomorrow…’

Seol resolved to do so, regardless of how long it would take.

* * *

Translator - goguma

Proofreader - Karane

* * *

A man gripped his bloodied stomach as he leaned against the wall, looking toward a troll and a woman before asking them a question.

“What the hell… are you two?”

“We are passing members of the expedition party,” answered Mael.

“Why are you just… passing by… Can’t you see I’m injured…?”

“You haven’t requested us for help yet. I assumed you would be upset if we helped you before you asked.”

“Who would be upset… urgh… krgh…”

The man huffed as he gritted his teeth, clearly angry.

The clearly upset man was the leader of the Steel Lion Mercenaries.

"See?" said Chameli, standing next to Mael. "We were right, weren't we?"

“You were…” said Mael. “The Steel Lion Mercenaries Leader I knew wasn’t like this…”

The man grimaced as he began to yell at Chameli.

"Open your eyes, Vicar Chameli! Trolls are our enemies! He will end up changing his mind to eat us. I promise you!"

"It seems your mind is clouded by prejudice. Such excessive worries are merely delusions."

“Hah… Prejudice?”

Steel Lion gritted his teeth harder as he began to growl.

"If acknowledging my experiences is considered prejudice, then I shall gladly live with it for the rest of my life!"

“What did you just say…? Your experience…?”

“My family… were all eaten by trolls.”

“......”

"My father was a peddler, skilled enough to trade with a neighboring troll tribe. But it was his skill that ended up killing our family."

“Don’t tell me…”

"It's exactly as you think. The trolls we traded with held us captive and took not only his wares but also our lives. I managed to desperately escape, but I was the only one. Do you understand now? Trolls are... trolls are monsters like that."

Suddenly, Mael made an animalistic growl as he slowly approached the Steel Lion.

“Grrrrrrr…”

“M-Mael?”

“Grrrrrrrrrr…”

“See! He’s finally revealed his true colors—”

Slide.

Mael stuck a finger into his mouth.

"I have something stuck between my teeth. Oh, shoot, that’s quite a large one. Alright, I’m fine now. It finally came out. This is why tusks are so annoying."

“Mael… you scared me.”

"Haha, I'll make sure to warn you ahead of time next time, then. I wouldn't want to scare you."

“Vicar, don’t be fooled! He’s…”

Mael stuck his face in front of the furious Steel Lion.

"Don’t be mistaken, human. I don’t mind if you dislike my race, but don’t impose your hatred onto others."

“What?”

"Just as you don’t place bandits on the same scale as priests, don’t judge all trolls the same way."

Slap!

With a loud noise, Mael stuck something onto the Steel Lion’s abdomen.

“Argh! Wh-what did you just…”

"I used a potent herb. However, it's also a type of poisonous plant, so you'll be fine once you wake up. Why don’t you use that time to rein in your temper tantrums?"

“You…”

Flutter…

The Steel Lion’s eyes began to close.

Mael, carrying him over his shoulders, then spoke to Chameli.

“Let’s go.”

Step… Step…

It didn’t take long for them to find the entrance to the lower floor.

“Yo! You’re late.”

“Frannan? And Yofimba?”

“We’re here as well.”

The place was crowded with people, roughly forty in total.

“You two are probably the last ones. Mostly because we can’t wait any longer than this.”

“How long have you been waiting here?”

“Ten days.”

“......”

"It's a relief that nothing strange happened on B3. If something did, we wouldn’t have been able to gather like this. But... did he not come with you guys either?"

“Who are you… Ah!”

“My disciple,” said Frannan, with a stiff expression.”

“Sir Frannan, I have something to say…”

Mael then began to relay his experiences on Floor B2.

“What? So that earthquake made my disciple fall through a hole in the ground? Bwahahaha!”

"Yes, unfortunately, that is the truth."

“It’s fine. I’m sure that he’s fine.”

“What?”

“You’ve seen it too, haven’t you? He’s more resilient than a fucking cockroach.”

Mael smirked after hearing that.

“Yes, I have as—”

“Hey, friendo! Have you finally arrived?”

“Yofimba!”

The disheveled dwarf, Yofimba, hurried over to Mael before grabbing his hands.

"Haha. I was just about to get tired of debating archaeology with fools who don’t know a lick of it. Thanks for surviving, Mael."

“I should be the one who’s thankful, Yofimba.”

"Now, I shall share everything that I've uncovered, as well as every potential theory, with you!"

"How amazing! That sounds so nice!"

"We are currently in a very amazing place!"

Frannan then gave them a glance.

“Hey, you two. Read the room. A lot of people have died.”

“Ah…”

“Y-You’re right.”

There were forty people, not even half the original number of the party when it was first formed.

However, it was still too early to give up.

There was still a fire in all of their eyes, eyes filled with both despair and madness.

They all seemed desperate to head further down.

“We were a bit slow, but… let’s head down.”

“We’re departing now! I’m sure all of you know this already, but the prisoners become more dangerous the further we head down! Believe in each other and stick together! If you get separated… you’ll die.”

Step… step…

The energy grew denser as they headed down.

“This is… demonic energy.”

“I don’t understand this place at all…”

"Even if we simply bring back the information we gained here... it will turn the world upside down."

“Haha, I don’t know… Let’s see if we can go back first—”

Frannan’s expression stiffened.

“Incoming.”

“Prepare yourselves!”

Slither…

Slither slither…

The moment they stepped foot on Floor B4, they were greeted by a pair of massive eyes.

It was a colossal snake.

It was a monster whose silhouette was more than enough to strike fear into the expedition party. The pressure it exuded also wasn’t normal.

That colossal snake was currently slithering toward them rapidly.

"God damn it... Once again, it's another monster I've never seen or heard of before. What a warm welcome, huh?"

“It’s not just one… There’s two of them.”

“They’re both coming here. Did they spot us?”

“Everyone, prepare for battle—”

“Damn it! Run away! They’re running away!”

“Running away? What? What are you talking abou—”

“Hurry back upstairs! Something’s… Something’s coming!”

Fwooosh!

With a flash, a howl echoed throughout the floor.

Graaaaaaaah!

Krhhh…

“It already killed the two of them! It’s going to kill us after the snakes!”

Slither…

After catching the large snakes that even frightened the expedition party, the mysterious black monster eventually caught up to them as well.

Crunch…

Drip…

Crunch! Crunch!

It only took an instant for the snakes to be rendered into simple chunks of meat as the monster ripped and tore into them.

Frannan quickly came to a realization.

The moment they turned their backs to that monster, the monster would simply slaughter them all.

“...It’s too late. Everyone, go back upstairs.”

“Aspect Magician Frannan!”

“I’ll buy time. So first…”

Suddenly, he heard a voice from the darkness.

“This voice… Frannan?”

"Oh my god... It's you! You're alive! Come, hide over here!"

Fade…

Seol appeared from the darkness.

Despite being on the 4th floor, Seol smelled like meat as if he had been eating and sleeping well. In fact, even his hair looked well-groomed.

“What?” asked Seol with a confused look on his face.

“We have to go back upstairs! Once it finishes its meal…”

Grrrrr…

The black, furry monster reappeared before Frannan realized and was rapidly approaching him.

“...It will be us next.”

“Next? There is no ‘next’.”

Seol put his hand forth, at the monster.

“Koko, come here, boy.”

“What are you…”

Pant pant…

Shrink…

The massive wolf slowly shrank until it was just slightly bigger than a human.

“...Are you the one behind this?”

"Yes, I just barely finished clearing up all of the prisoners near the entrance. Where are the others? Don’t tell me you came here by yourself."

From behind, Frannan and Seol began to hear a torrent of shouts and cries.

“We can’t let Aspect Magician Frannan die like this!”

“To think he sacrificed himself for us…”

“If we’re going to die, we die together! We agreed to not split up!”

The expedition party, which previously fled without resistance, was quickly returning as if they had regretted their decision.

“You heard that, right?” said Frannan. “Let me take the credit… alright?”