The Last Adventurer
Chapter 45

[Translator – Prøks]

[Proofreader – Prøks]

Chapter 45. Mushmom (1)

1.

“The relationship between adventurers and monsters is like rock-paper-scissors. There’s a counter for everything. And adventurers usually have the upper hand. No adventurer would bring paper to a scissors fight.”

Adventurers say,

“That’s why Mystic Gates are dangerous. You never know what the opponent will throw at you. Of course, experienced veterans prepare for everything. Nine times out of ten, their preparation pays off.”

They say you’ll encounter it while adventuring in Mystic Gates.

“In other words? One out of ten times, you’ll face a nasty situation.”

The worst moment.

“Like zombie mushrooms, for example.”

One of the most representative examples was zombie mushrooms.

First of all, zombie mushrooms themselves were very difficult monsters to deal with.

Ordinary monsters died from excessive bleeding or other reasons when their limbs were cut off, but zombie monsters could only be killed for sure by destroying their magic stones.

Over time, they would revive using the mushroom’s unique vitality and replenish their numbers.

“Especially for pirates, zombie mushrooms are like kryptonite.”

The most troublesome of all were the pirates.

The reason was simple.

“There’s no weapon more useless against zombie mushrooms than a gun.”

Guns were valuable because they could inflict fatal wounds no matter where they hit.

But zombie mushrooms were different.

They could move as long as their magic stone was intact, even if their whole body was riddled with bullet holes.

This was the worst situation for pirates, who already had to waste time waiting for their guns to cool down between shots.

Of course, not all pirates were like that.

Bang!

Golden Eye Miner.

Her shot accurately pierced the zombie mushroom’s forehead, right where the magic stone was located.

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But that wasn’t the only ability she could display.

“Magnum Shot.”

She used Magnum Shot, a skill that unleashed a barrage of bullets.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

And every time her gun fired, a hole appeared in the forehead of a zombie mushroom.

Incredible accuracy!

Never missing a target, this was the reason why Miner earned the nickname Golden Eye.

Furthermore, she wasn’t alone.

The pirates accompanying her were also different from the average rabble.

In keeping with the era of Mystic Gates, her party consisted of adventurers from various classes.

Thanks to this, Miner’s party was able to fight properly in the sudden battle against the zombie mushrooms.

Screech!

“Damn it!”

However, the damage was greater than expected.

It couldn’t be helped.

“There are too many!”

The number of zombie mushrooms rushing towards them was so great that it was pointless to even try to estimate.

They were like a wave.

Moreover, the environment they were in wasn’t favorable either.

The forest, filled with darkness enough to be called a moonless night, was overwhelmingly disadvantageous to the adventurers.

Bang!

When the gunfire finally died down, Miner could see.

“Casualties?”

“…Five are dead.”

The result: 5 dead out of 70 crew members.

It was a dismal outcome for the first battle.

What was even more dismal was that this was just the beginning.

What would happen next was something that shouldn’t even be imagined.

At this point, there was only one thing Miner could be sure of.

“El Paume, your side must have been wiped out.”

2.

Swish!

Dibo’s polearm instantly split a zombie mushroom in half.

As it was split, an orange magic stone was revealed, and Dibo mercilessly stomped on it with his foot.

Crack!

That was the end.

Silence fell upon the fierce battlefield, and in that silence, Dibo looked around.

“Wow.”

At that moment, a sigh escaped Dibo’s mouth.

‘This is insane.’

The sigh wasn’t because the situation was bad.

‘The boss is crazy.’

The reason for the sigh was El Paume.

‘That’s an unbelievable speed. Killing thousands of zombie mushrooms with just Fire Arrow.’

With that sigh, Dibo looked at a zombie mushroom nearby.

There was only one wound on the mushroom’s body.

A hole between its eyes, right in the middle of its forehead, was all there was.

‘And he aimed only for the magic stone.’

That fact gave Dibo even more goosebumps.

It was common for mushroom monsters to have their magic stones between their eyes, but that didn’t mean the location was exactly in the middle of their forehead.

Moreover, the magic stone was only slightly bigger than a thumbnail.

Hitting that with Fire Arrow?

It required pinpointing the exact location.

Of course, it was possible.

You could see the location of the magic stone using clairvoyance magic.

‘But Ralph said using clairvoyance magic isn’t easy, right? You can’t use it for long.’

However, clairvoyance magic wasn’t a type of magic that could be used so relentlessly in common sense.

In fact, El Paume didn’t use clairvoyance magic for that long.

El Paume only used clairvoyance magic for a brief moment.

About 3 seconds.

During those 3 seconds, El Paume looked at the zombie mushrooms, identified the location of their magic stones, memorized them, and then aimed for them.

That was the secret.

A secret that no one else could replicate.

It was a secret that could only be achieved through countless near-death experiences by someone born with an innate talent that couldn’t be achieved through talent alone.

“Dibo.”

“Yes, boss.”

Moreover, this wasn’t all that El Paume had prepared.

“How’s the performance of the snow troll leather armor?”

“Amazing.”

The defensive power of the leather armor made from the snow trolls El Paume had hunted was astonishing.

It was comparable to most steel armor.

On the other hand, it was incomparably lighter than steel armor.

Of course, it wasn’t an invincible armor.

“The zombie mushrooms’ teeth don’t even pierce it.”

However, the zombie mushrooms’ attack power was quite weak compared to their hunting difficulty.

“You really prepared thoroughly.”

Naturally, El Paume had the snow troll leather armor made knowing about the existence of the zombie mushrooms.

“But you must have spent a lot of money making this. How much did you spend?”

“1 million mesos per set.”

“What?”

“It cost quite a bit because I wanted to make them quickly.”

Even paying a hefty price.

In fact, it wasn’t a wasteful expense for El Paume.

Four sets would only cost 4 million mesos, wouldn’t it?

From El Paume’s perspective, it wasn’t an expensive cost at all, considering it was the price of their lives.

Of course, that was from El Paume’s perspective.

“Are you crazy?”

Ralph immediately said with a surprised expression.

“You spent that much money just to make armor?”

It would be surprising if the item itself cost 1 million mesos, but spending 1 million mesos just to process it into armor?

It was something they couldn’t understand.

No, it was beyond just not understanding; it was something to be worried about.

“Boss, is it okay to spend money like that?”

“No problem.”

El Paume wasn’t too worried about it.

“I’ll get the armor cost back after the adventure.”

“Huh? Wait a minute, you’ll get it back? From who?”

At Dibo’s question, El Paume stared at him intently.

That look said it all.

Who he was going to get it back from.

“If you don’t like it, you can take it off.”

Of course, no one took off the armor at those words.

They felt it.

That in this place, the snow troll leather armor was like their life, and taking it off was like throwing their life away.

“Hey, no way.”

Dibo said with an awkward laugh, trying to smooth things over.

“So, what do we do now?”

Dibo naturally changed the subject.

“We hunt zombie mushrooms.”

There was no objection to those words.

Currently, everyone, including El Paume, had secured their safety with the snow troll leather armor, and they also had the firepower to take down any number of zombie mushrooms that came at them.

“Let’s go on a rampage!”

There was no reason to refuse hunting zombie mushrooms.

“So how many are we going to hunt?”

“All of them.”

“What?”

Of course, El Paume wasn’t planning on just a simple zombie mushroom hunt.

“We’re hunting all the zombie mushrooms here.”

3.

Adventurers’ evaluations of zombie mushrooms were very harsh.

First of all, the battle wasn’t easy. The pressure from thousands of zombie mushrooms swarming in was beyond anything you could imagine.

“Damn this stench!”

The stench was also a problem. Most zombie mushrooms were revived from dead ones, so the smell of decay was overwhelming. Surprisingly, this was a fatal factor. It wasn’t just a matter of wrinkling your nose.

“Ugh!”

It was enough to make your head split and feel nauseous.

It was more fatal than being poisoned by most toxins.

“Get a grip! Even a small wound is dangerous!”

Moreover, zombie mushrooms were poisonous.

To be precise, it wasn’t poison but contaminants from rotting corpses, but the effect it had on wounds was no different from poison.

“They’re coming again!”

Furthermore, the relentless onslaught of zombie mushrooms gave the adventurers no time to rest.

There was also this.

“Damn it, these guys aren’t even worth the money!”

The fact that there was no reward for such a difficult battle.

Normally, the profit that adventurers earned from catching monsters was mostly from magic stones.

However, due to the nature of zombie mushrooms, where the magic stone had to be destroyed to kill them, it was impossible to obtain intact magic stones.

It meant gathering the broken magic stone fragments, but in a battlefield where it was difficult to even survive, it was impossible to do such a thing.

That’s why…

“Retreat!”

Miner, the moment she realized zombie mushrooms were appearing, had already discarded the option of hunting from her mind.

“Find the exit as quickly as possible!”

She only had one option in mind: move on to the next stage.

It was a wise decision.

‘Damn it, where is it?’

The problem was that she couldn’t find the exit to the next stage.

In fact, finding the exit was a matter of luck.

It was a matter of luck, not ability.

“They’re not chasing us anymore.”

“How many survivors are left?”

“43.”

But the price of that misfortune was more fatal than expected.

‘If we go to the second floor like this….’

Moving on to the next stage, where there would be even more terrifying monsters, with their forces weakened like this?

Of course, they still had to move on to the next stage.

‘As long as it’s not zombie mushrooms, we have a chance.’

Zombie mushrooms were a bad matchup for Miner’s party.

“Let’s take a rest for now.”

As Miner entered a rest period, her mind was heavier than ever.

And they didn’t have much time to rest.

“Let me know when the zombie mushrooms come.”

“Th-They’re coming!”

“Damn it.”

The zombie mushrooms didn’t give Miner and her crew much time to rest.

What was even more dismal was that the rest time would inevitably decrease further.

There was only one way to increase the rest time: to completely destroy the zombie mushrooms.

But Miner’s party was currently running away, avoiding engagement with the zombie mushrooms as much as possible.

So Miner was certain.

‘I wish we could rest properly for about 30 minutes.’

She thought that within 30 minutes, the zombie mushrooms would swarm them again, and they would have to run away once more.

“Any zombie mushrooms around?”

“No sign of them yet.”

However, even after 30 minutes had passed, the area around Miner’s party was still filled with silence.

“We’re lucky.”

Miner thought it was a stroke of luck.

“Let’s rest a little longer.”

“Yes.”

There was nothing wrong with a longer rest.

“…How much time has passed?”

“Over an hour.”

However, when the rest time exceeded an hour, that’s when Miner felt something was strange.

“Let’s rest a little longer.”

But she didn’t refuse the rest. She thought this sweet rest would save their lives.

“Keep resting until we can’t anymore.”

She wanted to take full advantage of this opportunity.

When six hours had passed, even Miner couldn’t just rest anymore.

It was something she couldn’t understand.

“…Organize a search party.”

“How should we form the members?”

“Three, including myself.”

She led three of her crew and searched the surroundings.

And soon she could see.

“Ah.”

Countless corpses of zombie mushrooms scattered throughout the forest.

Someone had practically wiped out all the zombie mushrooms here.

That was why they hadn’t been attacked.

However, even with the clear evidence in front of her, Miner couldn’t easily believe it.

There was only one thing that could have produced this result: El Paume’s party.

‘But how?’

But to achieve this result with just a four-person party?

How was that possible?

Miner, confused by this question, then saw it.

“You’re late.”

El Paume’s party was positioned in front of the exit they had been searching for.

[Translator – Prøks]

[Proofreader – Prøks]

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