Mr. Back Attack (2)
A poison arrow with destructive power that would be difficult for any creature to withstand on the first floor of the labyrinth sliced through the air.
With a writhing poison sac attached, its venomous fang—far sharper than any goblin arrowhead—was aimed straight at Back Attack.
Because Back Attack's level is far higher, his Agility should also surpass Yernil's. Under normal circumstances, he should have been able to evade Yernil's arrow with a high probability.
But right now, he was frozen.
Crunch!
The poison arrow struck squarely into Back Attack's chest.
If this were the game, you'd see his HP plummet. I can't see it now, but he's at a sliver of life. No matter how big the level gap is, taking four Lightning Shocks, getting caught in a bomb blast, and then eating a poison arrow?
No matter how tough you are, it's time to die. And the reason—
Pop!
—was the sound of the poison gland attached to the arrow rupturing from the impact.
A dark green cloud of poison gas burst near Back Attack's head, like a miniature smoke grenade.
[Poisoned]
If this were the game, that message would've popped up.
What proves the status effect instead is Mr. Back Attack's reaction.
"Cough!"
The exit boss's legs gave out as he collapsed, vomiting a mouthful of blood.
"Done."
It's over.
Now that he's exposed to poison gas, Back Attack will take 20 poison damage per second for 20 seconds.
With the HP he has left, he'll be dead in a few seconds.
All we have to do is survive that long.
'Please.'
Please let it end like this. I'm begging you.
"Hah…!"
Mr. Back Attack staggered and lifted his head, clenching both fists.
"This fucking—!"
I immediately aimed my wand and chanted.
"Ice Spike!"
Back Attack took the Ice Spike head-on and let out a powerful shout.
"Haaah!"
Suddenly, a red light flashed from around his chest, and smoke-like vapor began rising from his body.
"Fuck, seriously…"
I think one of the worst possible scenarios in this game is encountering an adventurer possessed as an exit boss.
There's a reason for that.
Unlike other monsters, a possessed adventurer—
'Adrenaline Rush.'
—still has their special ability from their adventurer days.
"Yernil!"
"Y-Yes… yes!"
"Plan B!"
Clorence, a mage who mainly operated on the 5th floor, was syncing skills with Virtanen and Jikal.
"Our objective isn't labyrinth exploration. It's recovering Abison. As you know. So we're not interested in monster hunting or treasure. We'll run straight for Abison as fast as possible."
Clorence spoke.
"I'll take the lead, so I'd like you all to just follow me."
"A mage at the front?"
Jikal looked dumbfounded, but the power gap between Clorence and the Clorence–Virtanen party was that large.
Because Clorence, whose main hunting ground was the 5th floor, had already unlocked Tier-3 spellbooks.
"Memorize!"
He summoned his memory book and checked the registered spells.
"Yesterday, I adjusted several spell slots to suit 1st-floor monsters. I removed single-target burst spells and replaced them with sustained and summoning spells. For example—"
Clorence pointed his wand at the ground and chanted.
"Living Plague!"
Something began writhing beneath the earth. To Virtanen and Jikal standing above, it looked like veins bulging beneath skin.
"That's pretty creepy…"
Jikal frowned.
"It's like hundreds of giant snakes wriggling underground."
Virtanen marveled.
"Living Plague follows my movement and attacks hostile monsters that enter a 15-meter radius, inflicting severe poison damage."
"What kind of hell is the 5th floor anyway…"
"I plan to keep this spell active and run straight to Abison's location. You just need to stay close. You two have better stamina than me, so that's fine—but I'm a bit worried about the priest."
"Don't worry. Emma's thighs are no joke. She climbs up to the temple slope several times a day."
Jikal joked.
Clorence smiled faintly.
"But Clorence."
"Yes?"
"If we challenge an exit room, it'd be better to use a different spell than that."
"Why?"
"Because a boss with a counter to poison might appear."
"You mean the Venomic Spider? If you killed one recently, it won't appear again for a while."
"No."
Virtanen shook his head.
"Mr. Back Attack."
"Does Back Attack have poison resistance?"
"Not resistance—more like healing. Or overcoming it."
Virtanen said.
"It's a well-known story among first-floor adventurers."
Exactly as expected.
Not with absolute certainty—but as a Plan B prepared for several dangerous possibilities.
"Even if the poison arrow hits, he might not die."
That's what I told Yernil during the briefing.
"But you said the poison damage is enormous."
"He might have a way to remove poison."
There's a basis for that assumption.
The fact that Mr. Back Attack defeated the Black Hornet solo.
Black Hornets are wasp-type monsters with deadly stingers. Not quite Venomic Spider-level, but getting stung still causes serious poison damage.
Did Back Attack really duel a Black Hornet alone without getting grazed even once?
Unlikely.
Black Hornets aren't that easy.
It's more natural to assume he got stung—but didn't die from poison.
So why didn't he die?
Because he had a way to cure poison.
Potions, scrolls, magic, healing fountains, blessings, special abilities.
Which of these could an exit boss like Back Attack realistically have?
We can rule out fountains and blessings. Exit rooms don't have fountains, and a monster-like being like Back Attack wouldn't have blessings.
We can also rule out detox magic—he's a thief, not a mage.
That leaves potions, scrolls, or a special ability.
"We don't know exactly what Back Attack has. We'll have to see for ourselves."
If we don't spot potions or scrolls on his belt—besides bombs—then we can have hope.
"Maybe he used potions or scrolls during the Black Hornet fight and doesn't have any left. Then it'll end easily."
Still, just in case, one request.
"After firing the first poison arrow, let's wait and see."
If he gets hit by both poison arrows and then detoxes, that's the worst-case scenario.
Even if there's nothing visible on his belt, we'll pause after the first arrow.
We'll confirm whether he can detox via a special ability.
If all these worries are just paranoia, and Back Attack has no way to cure poison, he'll die from poison damage.
But if he does detox—
"Then we go with Plan B."
The special ability Adrenaline Rush restores 50 HP and refreshes the cooldown of one Grade-1 skill.
It also immediately removes several negative status effects, such as poison, slow, bind, leg injury, freeze, and stun.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
With both freeze and poison gone, Back Attack charged toward us.
He was insanely fast.
"C-Caleb!"
"Don't shoot!"
Even if Yernil fired a poison arrow now, he'd dodge it.
"But there's ice in front of him!"
She shouted.
"If he slips, I'll shoot!"
"No! He won't slip!"
Back Attack's running form changed—he activated the Careful Steps skill. That lets him run across ice without falling.
If he'd opened with this instead of Wall Walk, I could've countered with the 2-action-point hourglass.
'But there's no hourglass now!'
[Turn-based hourglass cooldown: 3 seconds]
Both the temporary hourglass and the real one still had three seconds left.
To use Plan B, I needed to create distance from Yernil—but how?
Tap!
I jumped onto the icy path instead, dropping to my knees and sliding like a soccer player celebrating a goal—
"Caleb!"
"Wait!"
I flung my body toward Back Attack and aimed my wand.
"Lightning Shock!"
But Back Attack read my incantation perfectly, twisted his step, and dodged the lightning—
"Gaaah!"
He twisted both of my wrists, forcing the Lightning Shock wand and the Ice Spike wand to fall from my hands.
Crunch!
Then he shoved his fist through the gap in the egg shell armor torn open by the throwing dagger and grabbed me by the collar.
Lying on the ground, I tilted my head back and checked the distance to Yernil.
I could see her—standing there with a poison arrow drawn, completely at a loss.
No.
'Not yet.'
Still too close!
Don't shoot! Instead—
"Yernil!"
"Yes!"
"Barrel!"
I shouted it half as a gamble, and Yernil reacted like Pavlov's dog.
"...!"
She reflexively lowered her bow and grabbed the orc barrel.
It was already completely empty—but Back Attack had been burned badly by that thing before, so he reacted instinctively.
Still gripping my collar—
'Shadow Leap.'
Got him.
In an instant, my field of vision shifted.
Back Attack had dragged me out of the egg sac and teleported onto a wooden platform.
My lower abdomen felt hot.
"Hhk…"
"Caleb!"
My head lolled weakly to the side, and I saw Yernil screaming.
It felt like my breath had been knocked out of me.
My mind went blank.
Mr. Back Attack's dagger was embedded in my lower abdomen.
"Glug. Glug."
At some point, Mr. Back Attack had pulled a healing potion from my belt and was gulping it down right in front of my face.
The world seemed to turn yellow.
'Plan B.'
With trembling hands, I pulled a healing potion from my belt.
Four healing potions from the dwarf party, one that had originally been in Abison's pack, and one I picked up while farming.
Six healing potions in total were strapped to my belt.
One of them, that bastard drank.
One of them—I—
Drop.
I barely managed to pop the cap.
Hissss!
Just as Back Attack's dagger came down again, trying to stab my chest and stop me from drinking—
[It's your turn.]
[Action Points: ■■■■]
My turn came back.
This is the worst pain I've ever felt in my life. It feels like my lower abdomen is being torn apart.
The red liquid of the healing potion hovered in midair as I tried to pour it into my mouth—just shy of touching my tongue.
At the same time, Mr. Back Attack's dagger hovered just short of ripping into my chest.
"Heh… heh heh heh."
Right before dying a death this pathetic, maybe I finally lost it—because I started laughing.
I had calculated Plan B's success rate at about 50%.
My death rate was also 50%.
Clear chance: 50%.
If I recalculate now?
My death rate is probably closer to 70%.
But the clear chance?
99%.
"You idiot. The orc barrel was already empty. And even if it had water, Yernil doesn't have the strength to splash it all the way to where we are. She can tip it on the ground, sure—but she can't lift it and swing it."
If I were you, I would've realized it was overweight just from the first two times Yernil used it.
"And if she had poured water there, I'd be Wet too. If I used Ice Spike at close range, I'd freeze myself along with you."
So you should've realized that 'Yernil! Barrel!' was a bluff from the start.
I wouldn't have fallen for it.
You're trash-tier trash, Back Attack.
Other than your level advantage, what do you actually have?
"Yernil still hasn't fired the poison arrow. I told her to hold no matter what until I gave the order."
Our strategy was flawless—and Yernil held perfectly.
"And I also told her that if we entered Plan B, she should fire even if I get caught in the poison gas too."
I pulled my head forward slightly and bit down on the mouth of the healing potion.
"Because I can tank the poison with potions. You piece of shit. We won."
With my left hand, I tore the scroll hanging from my belt.
It was a Magic Armor scroll.
[Action Points: ■□□□]
Watching my action points instantly vanish, I opened my mouth wide over the potion's mouth and spoke to Yernil.
"Yernil. Now."
It's time to go home.
"Shoot him now. Drown both of us in poison gas."
I'll chug potions and endure the poison.
And you'll get hit by the poison arrow and die.
You're not frozen anymore—but you won't be able to dodge it.
Because—
[Your turn has ended.]
[The hourglass is flipped again.]
—because I'm going to grab onto you the moment my turn ends!
Grab!
I clung onto his head with everything I had.
Clang!
The blade he brought down stopped in front of the crimson-glinting Magic Armor instead of tearing through my skin and muscle.
"...!"
Shock and confusion spread across the face of the maddened adventurer.
A scroll activated without any tell.
Magic Armor appearing out of nowhere—of course you'd panic.
"Ghh! Ngh!"
Back Attack thrashed wildly, trying to shake me off.
Back Attack.
How many points do you even have in Strength?
Not zero, probably.
Yernil's stats are absurdly well-balanced.
If you really tried, you could throw me off.
But you don't have the time.
Right?
Clang!
Back Attack stabbed down again—but once more, the blade stopped at the Magic Armor.
When taking physical attacks, if the damage is 30 or less, it nullifies five hits.
70 or less, three hits.
100 or less, one hit.
Pretty insane, right?
Should've saved that throwing dagger nuking skill.
"...!"
Back Attack spasmed violently.
I locked both arms around his head and didn't let go.
Glug. Glug.
I sucked down the potion like a baby with a bottle.
I'm going to watch you die from the front row, Back Attack.
Thud!
A deathly poison arrow buried itself into his side.
There was no antidote potion or scroll on your belt.
You already used your detox special ability.
You don't have any healing potions left.
With nothing but basic attacks, you can't break through my Magic Armor.
Which means you can't steal my potions.
I'll drink every last one and endure the poison.
I won't die.
We're going home.
You were strong—
but we won.