The Last Adventurer

Chapter 11

[Translator – Prøks]

[Proofreader – Prøks]

Chapter 11: Test (2)

4.

“The more scars a Mystic Gate has, the more dangerous it is.”

Most adventurers considered Mystic Gates with many scars to be the most dangerous.

“However, the most dangerous one is the Mystic Gate with no scars at all. No one knows what’s inside.”

But the experienced adventurers thought differently.

“That’s why the parties came out.”

That’s why adventurers started to organize parties in earnest.

Of course, the concept of parties existed in the past.

Adventurers of different professions would form parties to fill in each other’s weaknesses and go on adventures.

However, after the advent of Mystic Gate, the roles of the party became more systematized.

The Adventurer’s Association, based on the various materials brought by the adventurers and their own research and investigation, has already stated in the Adventurer’s Association rules:

It is strongly recommended that at least 4 people enter when attacking Mystic Gate, including 1 warrior, 1 mage, 1 archer, and 1 pirate or thief.

It wasn’t just a recommendation, it was a strong recommendation.

And it was worth it.

According to the Adventurer’s Association’s research, a 4-person party with this composition has a 125% higher survival rate than a 4-person party without it.

In any case, forming a 4-person party is the most basic thing to do, and the adventurers’ combat methods have also developed to suit the 4-person party.

The warrior faces the monsters in front, and while they are blocking, the archer and the mage attack from behind, and the thief and the pirate support the battle in various ways. That’s the basic idea.

Dibo also knew this fact.

He was an aspiring adventurer.

He was also a quite promising one. This was thanks to his excellent natural combat sense. The only thing that prevented him from becoming an adventurer was that he had not awakened his circle.

Anyway, Dibo had been studying and training to become an adventurer warrior, and he was still doing so now.

‘What is this?’

But then, Dibo’s common sense was shattered.

‘That’s a mage?’

El Paume, he shattered his common sense.

It wasn’t surprising that he had caught over twenty orange mushrooms by himself as a mage.

That was quite possible.

Especially for a mage who used area-of-effect magic, even more than that could be done in a single breath.

Even so, what surprised Dibo was the method.

The fact that he had caught them all with a single spell, Fire Arrow.

It was natural to be surprised.

However, Dibo didn’t just stop at being surprised.

‘Is it telekinesis?’

Instead, he tried to analyze what El Paume had shown him.

‘This boss is not ordinary.’

Dibo went even further and took out his calculator.

After a while, he finished his calculations.

“Boss, you’re amazing! I’ve never seen anything like it! Wow, with your abilities, Mystic Gate would be a piece of cake. Ah, wait a minute. I’ll go get the magic stones from those mushroom guys right now.”

He decided to follow El Paume.

El Paume was not surprised by this.

‘As expected.’

Dibo’s reaction was exactly as he had expected.

It was not difficult to predict.

The way Dibo was acting now was the basic thing that an adventurer should have.

When faced with something they had never seen before, they should not be afraid, but rather calculate the benefits and grab it without hesitation if it is profitable.

Of course, that was a dangerous way to be.

If you wanted to save your life, it was common sense to be sensitive to anything you saw for the first time and keep your distance.

However, all the adventurers who have made their mark on Maple World history, starting with the first adventurers, have done so in a dangerous way.

Dibo was one of them.

Anyway, it was what El Paume was hoping for.

“Boss, I’ve got all the magic stones!”

Now Dibo wouldn’t ask any more questions.

“Then let’s smash the Mystic Gate!”

And so, Dibo, who was standing in front of the Mystic Gate, stepped into it without any hesitation.

El Paume followed suit.

Then the world they were looking at changed.

The lush forest disappeared, and in its place, a bleak, tawny landscape greeted them.

The only thing that remained were the stumps of the old trees, their trunks having been cut down.

The moment he saw it, Dibo shouted.

“Watch out!”

As soon as he finished speaking, the stumps began to move on their own and rise above the ground.

They used their roots as legs to stand firmly on the ground.

And the remaining stumps split vertically, revealing an eye.

“Stumps, huh.”

Stump

A stump is a tree-type monster that normally looks like a stump, but moves when it finds prey. Once it approaches its prey, it wraps its roots and branches around it.

Just looking at the description, it doesn’t seem like a very strong monster.

“Here comes a real pain in the neck.”

However, stumps are one of the most troublesome monsters for adventurers.

“It’s hard to even stab it with a sword.”

For one thing, its defense is on a completely different level than slimes or mushrooms.

And that’s to be expected, since it’s not easy to split even a fixed log with an axe.

And the size of a stump is that of an adult male, or even larger. The thickness of its trunk is also such that two adult males would have to hug it at the same time.

It’s practically impossible to deal proper damage with a mediocre sword or knife.

“Once you get caught in those roots, it’s hell.”

Another thing is that the strength of a stump’s roots is too powerful for most adventurers to handle.

Only warrior adventurers with items that have skills that increase strength and stamina, such as physical training skills, can handle it.

“And then there’s the ranged attacks.”

It goes without saying that an archer’s bow or a mage’s magic wouldn’t be able to penetrate its thick trunk.

Even if they did, the cost would be high.

After all, a warrior’s stamina, a mage’s mana, and an archer’s arrows aren’t free.

Of course, there were exceptions.

“Well, they’re good food for the boss.”

That’s right, fire-attribute mages!

To El Paume, they were a laughably easy opponent.

“I’ve got a good opponent.”

“Of course!”

That’s why Dibo had a more relaxed smile than ever.

‘With the boss’s abilities, the stumps are child’s play. I’m going to suck the honey out of this Mystic Gate. Let’s see, the distribution was 7 to 3, right? Wow, if I do well, I’ll make a lot of money from this Mystic Gate alone? Yeah, it’s time to relax a little. I’ll pay for the black plague treatment and living expenses.’

El Paume spoke to Dibo, who was smiling.

“It’s a good time to practice Polearm.”

“Huh?”

5.

There are many aspiring adventurers in the world.

Among them, the most common are warrior adventurers.

It’s no wonder that mages can’t practice before they cast magic.

On the other hand, warriors can practice basic training as much as they want before awakening their circle.

The first thing that such aspiring warrior adventurers learn is the sword and shield.

To be precise, they learned how to use a shield.

“You can’t just replace your body if it gets worn out, but a shield is different. You can always replace it with a new one if you have the means. That’s why you need to know how to use a shield. When you’re fighting monsters, your shield is your life.”

No matter how great an adventure you have, it doesn’t mean anything if you die.

Of course, there were exceptions.

“That is, until body strengthening skills like Iron Body, Warrior Mastery, and Iron Wall came into being.”

If you had acquired a skill that made your body harder than steel, then the situation would be different.

However, that’s only a story after you’ve awakened your circle.

Dibo was the same.

Ever since he had aspired to be an adventurer, he had practiced using the sword and shield every day, without fail.

‘Damn it, Polearm.’

He had never even held a weapon called a Polearm before.

‘You want me to catch that with that?’

And the opponent was the stump, a monster that was a nightmare for warriors!

‘The boss is crazy.’

To be honest, this was crazy.

Moreover, the Polearm was one of the most difficult weapons to use among all the weapons.

Unlike a spear, it had a very heavy spearhead on the end. The center of gravity was completely different from other weapons.

‘I’m not a natural genius at using a Polearm like some kind of Polearm warrior.’

And yet he was being told to fight with it?

‘Damn it, there’s no way I can even swing it properly!’

It was ridiculous and absurd.

‘How am I supposed to…?’

Crack!

‘Huh?’

But the moment he picked up the Polearm and swung it, Dibo could feel something strange.

‘What is it? Why is it so easy?’

For one thing, it was easier to swing the Polearm than he had thought.

Because it was light, he could swing it freely.

Crack!

‘Wow, the power is no joke.’

And the power that came out when he swung it was on a different level than when he swung a sword.

Crunch!

Every time the Polearm moved, the stump’s body was torn apart like it was facing a chanterelle mushroom.

Above all, Dibo felt it.

‘This distance is no problem.’

Thanks to the long reach of the Polearm, he felt a sense of security that was completely different from when he held a sword.

Such a sense of security led to confidence.

“You’re done.”

And Dibo was the type who could burn with confidence more than anyone else.

After all, Dibo was the type who was strong in front of the strong and even stronger in front of the weak.

“I am Dibo, the hero of Lis Harbor!”

And so, with the Polearm he had first picked up, Dibo began to overwhelm the stump.

He started to show an amazing sight.

‘Crazy, why am I doing this?’

Even Dibo himself was amazed.

Of course, El Paume was different.

‘As expected.’

The title of Aran’s disciple is not something anyone can have.

No, not just anyone, but Dibo was the only one in the history of Maple World to have that title.

Dibo even had another nickname.

‘He’s a hero killer.’

The one who killed Aran, one of the six heroes.

Some say that Aran gave his own life, but El Paume could say for sure.

‘Giving up my life means that there is someone who can replace me.’

Because Aran acknowledged Dibo, that’s why he was able to give up his life willingly.

‘The Six Heroes, they are true heroes. They are willing to do anything to save the world.’

He could say that because he knew the weight of the word “hero.”

In any case, this was for sure.

‘It won’t be difficult to train Dibo.’

There was no need to give Dibo any special training.

He just needed to hunt repeatedly.

The same was true for El Paume.

From now on, there was no need to worry about anything.

‘All we have to do is hunt.’

El Paume raised his head, determined.

Thud!

The stumps that had been rooted in the vast wasteland began to pull themselves out of the ground with their roots, drawn to the sound of battle and the screams of their comrades.

They began to make strange noises.

“Brats.”

Dibo smiled when he saw it.

“You’re coming here on your own feet to be the sacrifice of this Polearm warrior, Dibo!”

He looked confident.

Thud!

“Huh?”

But soon, Dibo’s expression changed as he saw the number of stumps appearing increase.

Urrrgh!

And then, the moment a scream far more powerful than any of the stumps could have produced rang out, Dibo turned his head in the direction of the sound and shouted.

“Damn it!”

Unlike the stumps that were only stumps, a single old tree appeared in its full form.

A huge old tree that was a full 10 meters tall.

“Stumpy!”

The moment Stumpy, a powerful individual among the stumps and classified as a boss monster, appeared.

“Boss, let’s run!”

At that moment, Dibo no longer burned with fighting spirit.

He was not the only one.

Stumpy’s strength alone was incomparable to that of a stump.

“It’s not even affected by fire!”

But the most difficult thing was that Stumpy had a strong resistance to fire attribute attacks.

That meant that even El Paume was no match for it.

“Fire Arrow.”

“Huh? Boss? You’re going to try to catch it?”

But El Paume prepared for battle.

“You can’t even put a hole in its body with a Fire Arrow, can you?”

Dibo questioned the fact.

Of course, El Paume knew too. That it was impossible to pierce Stumpy with Fire Arrow.

Even so, El Paume did not back down.

‘I would have backed down if I was 1st Circle.’

There was no reason to.

‘It won’t be different if I’m 2nd Circle.’

Becoming 2nd Circle did not simply mean that he could use more mana and stronger magic.

‘Because I can use two 1st Circle spells at the same time.’

Now El Paume could use Fire Arrow and telekinesis, two spells at the same time.

In other words, El Paume was able to do that.

“Fire Arrow.”

“Huh?”

The task of summoning one more Fire Arrow while using telekinesis.

“Fire Arrow.”

“Oh!”

And the task of moving two Fire Arrows at the same time with telekinesis.

[Translator – Prøks]

[Proofreader – Prøks]