The Last Adventurer

Chapter 25

[Translator – Prøks]

[Proofreader – Prøks]

Chapter 25. Unique Items (4)

7.

The value of a circle to an adventurer was indescribable.

Once the circle increased, they could use more powerful skills.

At the same time, the number of usable skills also increased.

Even if the same skill was used, its power was doubled, and as mana increased, the number of times the skill could be used, the power it could be maintained, and all aspects increased exponentially.

“The difference between a 1-circle and a 2-circle adventurer is like the difference between a child and an adult. And the difference between a 2-circle and a 3-circle adventurer is like the difference between a person and a tiger.”

The difference was greater than what the adventurers themselves thought.

“Humans and tigers are incomparable. But what if a human becomes a tiger?”

That was the problem.

“Would they be able to hunt like a tiger? They’ve lived as humans their whole lives, so would they be able to become a tiger right away?”

The difference was too great, and they were unable to use their power properly.

As a result, many adventurers who had just circled up to 3 circles were unable to use even half of their abilities.

Of course, they were still strong. So strong that they couldn’t even be compared to 2-circle adventurers. Just as a tiger can kill a human with a flick of its paw.

That was how it was anyway.

No matter how talented they were, or even if they were called geniuses, there was no case where they could fully use their abilities the moment they circled up.

In the first place, it wasn’t a matter of talent. It was a matter of experience.

That’s why.

Squeal!

The sight of the ribbon pigs’ heads being pierced like orange mushrooms by El Paume’s fiery arrow, who had just become a 3-circle.

El Paume had more experience than anyone else.

More than any adventurer in this world.

That’s why the 3-circle circle-up was El Paume’s trump card.

If it was only going to make him moderately stronger, then why would El Paume, who had all sorts of rare items and skill cards, classify it as a trump card?

Of course, this was just El Paume’s perspective.

‘Ah.’

From Kiri’s perspective, who was watching the scene, it was simply incomprehensible.

That’s why Kiri couldn’t come to her senses even after everything was over.

“It’s El Paume.”

But the moment El Paume spoke, that moment was different.

She came to her senses.

“……I need help.”

Her first words after spitting them out were a plea.

“There was trolling here just now. And it wasn’t simple trolling. There was a traitor inside the knight trainee.”

A brief explanation followed.

“This fact must be reported to the Knight. Please. If you help me, I will pay any price. Even my life.”

Finally, the price was revealed.

Upon hearing it, El Paume’s eyes narrowed.

‘It seems it was worth saving her.’

In fact, before El Paume saved Kiri, he had prepared a few scenarios.

The worst of these scenarios was if Kiri came out with a high-handed attitude, talking about the Cygnus Knights’s existence.

This is a matter of the Cygnus Knights, so follow me unconditionally without any complaints! That kind of nonsense.

Surprisingly, there were many such cases.

Unlike adventurers, the Cygnus Knights consisted of knights who followed the orders of the Goddess Cygnus, and they did not hesitate at the means and methods to carry out those orders.

Their way of thinking was different from that of adventurers.

El Paume had experienced this situation countless times.

But fortunately, Kiri was different.

‘She’s a knight.’

She had a sense of mission befitting a member of the Cygnus Knights.

“I will not accept the Knight’s request.”

If that was the case, things would be simple.

“As of now, I have all decision-making authority for this party.”

Kiri’s eyes were filled with determination as she nodded without hesitation to El Paume’s words.

It was because of trust.

‘This adventurer can do it.’

With that trust, El Paume said.

“Then we will eliminate the trolls as of now.”

“What?”

Kiri’s expression changed at those words.

“What do you mean?”

What she had thought possible was to leave the Mystic Gate with El Paume.

And that was common sense.

“The enemies are not ordinary.”

For one thing, those who had trolled here were not just ordinary people.

“There are traitors hiding in the Knight!”

They were like assassins, hiding their breath and causing trouble at important moments.

The motives of these men went far beyond mere profit.

“They’ve made elaborate preparations to kill everyone!”

If things had continued as they were today, the top ten guilds of the port city of Lis would have suffered a devastating blow.

No, the blow had already been struck. The promising young talents they had poured their hearts and souls into raising, the skilled players, had all died without any accomplishment.

The bigger problem was that if things had progressed as the trolls had wanted, the top guilds would not even have been able to grasp the reason for their downfall.

This was the crux of the matter.

If the trolls who had done the trolling here were to escape alive, the world would not have been able to know anything about what they had done.

They would have been able to distort the truth as they pleased.

That was how formidable and calculating they were.

“Do you know how many enemies there are?”

Furthermore, nothing about the enemy, such as their number, level, skill, or abilities, was currently even properly understood.

And yet, they were going to deal with them?

“They could be hiding.”

Decisively, it was extremely difficult at this point in time to distinguish who was a troll and who was not.

A difficult situation in many ways.

Of course, there was only one thing that El Paume could say about it.

“No problem.”

Words that were unbelievable from Kiri’s point of view.

“Hey there, don’t be too surprised.”

Dibo said to Kiri, who was like that.

“The real surprises haven’t even started yet.”

“What?”

“From now on, when you’re with the boss, just give up thinking.”

And that was it.

“From now on, Kiri and Dibo, you two will be the bait.”

The moment he heard those words, Kiri gave up thinking.

8.

When the 100-man Mystic Gate was discovered and the news reached the top ten guilds of the port city of Lis, William received an order.

“Exterminate all adventurers within the 100-man Mystic Gate.”

William had no doubts when he received that order.

“For the sake of the Black Mage, His Greatness.”

It was an order from the great Transcendent who would change the world anew, the god who would set the world right.

At the same time, he had no doubts about the possibility.

It wasn’t because of his faith in the Black Mage.

“You will have fourteen others to help you. We have allies who are hiding in the top ten guilds, abiding their time.”

Fifteen traitors were already in place.

With this alone, the success or failure of the operation seemed to be determined.

If those fifteen put poison in the food their comrades ate, that alone would be enough to end the situation.

The subsequent disposal would also not be a problem.

“We will eliminate all the adventurers and come out to meet you. We barely survived.”

If fifteen people, even the survivors of each party, got together and told the same story, the world would have no reason to doubt.

Of course, that was the biggest reason why there was no room for doubt.

“Take it.”

He received the item.

“The Black Mage, he will help you, William.”

A unique-rank item.

“Your fire magic will become even more splendid.”

An item powerful enough to make a 2-circle mage adventurer equal to a 3-circle mage adventurer.

The moment he received the item, the word “failure” was not even remotely imaginable in William’s mind.

That was why.

“Oh, how…”

William’s eyes, which were dying with his comrades’ bodies in front of him, shook more violently than ever.

A man appeared before William’s eyes.

And the man said.

“Fire Arrow.”

That was the last thing William heard.

9.

“Fire Arrow.”

Along with the words, a fireball that appeared on El Paume’s shoulder was embedded right in William’s face.

There was no scream.

El Paume had hunted as many adventurers as he had hunted monsters.

The era overflowing with monsters was an era where the world’s balance and morality had collapsed, and in such an era, many adventurers became outlaws and looters.

He had no choice but to hunt them down in order to survive.

And he had hunted even more followers of the Black Mage.

As a result, he couldn’t help but know better than anyone how to kill them easily.

It wasn’t a pleasant ability. It wasn’t an ability he wanted to have.

So El Paume didn’t feel any emotion.

“Boss, are you okay?”

“This is the fifteenth.”

“Did you catch them all?”

“Alright.”

Dibo couldn’t help but let out a chuckle as he saw El Paume’s emotionless expression.

Kiri had an expression as if she had forgotten how to speak.

That’s how powerful El Paume was.

“You’re truly amazing.”

“Fifteen, they weren’t as strong as I thought.”

“Of course, they’re just small fries in front of the boss.”

Dibo couldn’t deny even a bit of El Paume’s words.

Of course, El Paume wasn’t spouting those words to show off his strength or to receive praise from Dibo.

He felt no emotion about killing the followers of the Black Mage.

He was simply making a cold judgment.

“Their skills are lacking to have devised a trolling plan of this scale.”

“What?”

If they were planning to troll the top 10 of the port city of Lis, they had to have some sort of trump card.

That was the reason.

El Paume began to take off William’s clothes, who had died.

“You!”

It was Kiri, not Dibo, who reacted to his actions.

“What are you doing?”

She was a knight of the Cygnus Knight’s, and as such, it was unacceptable for her to desecrate the dead, even if they had tried to kill her.

Of course, that was the standard of chivalry.

“A trolling of this scale requires certainty above all else. There’s no way they could have been certain with only this level of ability. They must have had a card that could give them certainty.”

El Paume was an adventurer.

He was also an ultimate adventurer, one who had faced the end of the world to the very last.

‘I need any card I can get.’

With that mindset, he had no intention of passing up an opportunity to acquire a valuable card.

And there was no problem.

“Even so, desecrating the dead is……”

“Kiri, I’m the leader of the party. And the raid isn’t over yet.”

Kiri had neither the power nor the justification to stop El Paume.

In the end, Kiri closed her mouth, and before her, El Paume stripped William of all his clothes.

But nothing particularly came out.

Just a few items he had used.

“Isn’t there anything even in his shoes?”

But El Paume didn’t give up.

No, rather, the moment the item didn’t come out, he was convinced.

“Then it must be inside the skin.”

“Yes?”

“There are cases where items are hidden inside the body. If it’s really precious, there’s nothing more secure.”

He was sure there was a real card.

“So, are you going to dissect him now?”

“Definitely.”

And El Paume didn’t have to go to great lengths to find the card.

“I have Mano.”

Kwoing!

He had a great snail pet.

And Mano did his job admirably.

The moment he climbed onto William’s body, he moved to the upper right side of his chest and began to melt the corpse with his unique acidic fluid.

Then he took out what looked like a feather from inside and brought it to El Paume.

It was a bird feather.

A bird feather with red fur.

“Boss, what’s that?”

An ordinary bird feather, with nothing special about it.

But it was different for El Paume.

The moment he saw it, El Paume knew.

‘I knew I’d find a phoenix feather here.’

The unique-rank item, the Phoenix Feather.

‘Just owning it increases the power of all fire attribute magic by 20%.

Of course, El Paume knew the effect of the Phoenix Feather as well.

‘It’s an extraordinary item. I’ve saved my life thanks to this thousands of times.’

Better than anyone else.

“It’s a unique-rank item.”

“Yes?”

“What did you say?”

Of course, Dibo and Kiri, who had no way of knowing this, reacted with surprise and shock.

Could that feather be a unique-rank item?

To their surprise, El Paume said,

“Then let’s move on to the next operation.”

Casually.

“So, are we leaving now?”

“No.”

“Yes? You said the next operation? We’ve caught all the kids here, so all that’s left is to leave, right?”

“There’s still one more unique-rank item left.”

“One more? No way?”

“Yeah, I’m hunting the boss monster.”

And so, El Paume began his next hunt.

[Translator – Prøks]

[Proofreader – Prøks]