Chapter 197
"This is... Hercyon?"
Generally, magic armor with the function of transforming into full plate armor when activated from its base form was collectively called Hercyon.
Typical full plate armor had low usability because it was difficult to put on and take off, inconvenient to move in, and had to be custom-made to perfectly fit the wearer's body.
The armor dropped by the goblin was different in form, but its basic structure was clearly that of Hercyon, the magic armor.
"Crazy, even if it's Hell Mode with adjusted difficulty, Hercyon as a reward on the 11th floor?"
Zeke shook his head and checked the information on the Hercyon.
―Armor Information―
Description: Light armor favored by elves.
Unique Ability: Lightweight
Special Note: Light and sturdy, making it easy to carry.
"Armor favored by elves? But why was a Hobgoblin wearing this?"
Zeke examined the armor closely.
He put on the breastplate and tried activating the Hercyon.
The Hercyon reacted and transformed into armor.
Zeke examined the armor covering his body.
It felt different from when the goblin was wearing it.
"It's not full plate armor, but light armor. Is it because it's something elves use?"
Looking at the materials that made up the armor, it didn't seem to be made of any precious metals like mithril or orichalcum.
'It seems to be an early form of Hercyon, different from the Empire's Hercyon. The structure is much simpler.'
Zeke deactivated the Hercyon and stored it in his inventory.
"I'll have to show this to Master Paynun when I get out of here. Maybe he can unravel the secrets of Hercyon that no one has been able to solve."
Zeke grew increasingly curious about the true nature of this labyrinth.
Going down the stairs again, Zeke had to deal with a relentless onslaught of monsters.
Orc warriors, enhanced lizardmen, gnoll warriors, ancient kobolds - the types of monsters were diverse.
As he descended to the lower floors, the levels of the monsters gradually increased, and at the same time, the experience points Zeke gained also increased.
Since Healing Factor and Infinite Stamina were restricted, he had to take breaks from time to time, so it took quite a while to defeat the monsters.
'This reminds me of my Highlander days.'
Back then, he would sometimes lie in wait in one place for a week, waiting for his target monster.
Zeke calmly dealt with the monsters, reviving his senses from his past life, and before he knew it, he had reached the boss room on the 30th floor.
As he entered, a kobold in a robe swung its staff and bombarded Zeke with magic.
Crash!
Zeke dodged the magic unleashed by the mage and rolled to the side.
'Its casting speed is fast. This will be tricky.'
Zeke used a health recovery potion and then equipped Hercyon.
Clank!
As soon as he equipped Hercyon, Zeke charged towards the kobold mage.
"Kyaaaak!"
Magic flew towards Zeke at high speed.
Crash!
Although the magic cast on Hercyon didn't activate, the orichalcum almost completely nullified the kobold mage's magic.
Slash!
The kobold mage, struck by Zeke's sword, instantly turned to ash and scattered.
Clank!
As soon as the battle ended, Zeke deactivated Hercyon and gasped for breath.
"Whew. Just wearing this drains my strength."
Zeke took a moment to catch his breath and then checked the artifact left by the kobold mage.
"An ancient kobold mage's staff. Looks decent."
After securing the artifact, Zeke recovered his stamina and carefully descended to the 31st floor.
However, the 31st floor felt different. The atmosphere had changed when he moved from the 10th to the 11th floor, but this time it felt even more ominous.
Zeke frowned at the eerie energy permeating his entire body.
'What is this?'
It felt like the air was thick with a sticky, unpleasant energy.
Zeke brushed his hand against the wall. A sticky mucus was smeared on the wall.
'It doesn't seem to be poisonous.'
That's when it happened.
He saw something approaching from down the hallway.
Zeke hid himself and looked around.
Thump, thump, thump!
Several large figures in armor appeared.
The armor, which looked very crude and heavy, was of a type he had never seen before.
'Monsters? I've never seen monsters wearing such heavy equipment and moving in groups.'
One of the figures approaching Zeke removed the helmet that was covering its face.
It was the face of a race he had never seen before, something like an orc, but also like a human.
Then, the figure who had taken off its helmet opened its mouth and spoke to those behind it.
"■■ ■■■!!"
It was a language Zeke had never heard before, even though he understood most of the languages on the continent.
'System, translate that.'
[Ancient Orc language detected.]
[Translating language.]
Zeke was surprised to see the message that appeared in the system.
'Ancient Orc race?'
At the same time, the Orcs' language was translated into the continental common language.
[Ah really, Squad Leader, there's nothing here!]
Then the Orc who had taken off his helmet suddenly struck the head of the Orc who had just spoken.
[Ugh!]
The Orc, who seemed to be the superior, stomped on the other Orc who had fallen.
[You little…! Why don't you become the Squad Leader!]
[Ugh!]
The superior Orc vented his annoyance and beat his subordinate to his heart's content, then stopped the violence and ordered the beaten Orc to do something.
The beaten Orc got up and took a strange posture, bowing his head to the ground and placing his hands on his waist.
'What is he doing?'
[Repeat after me. I am worse than goblin dung.]
[Ugh. I am... goblin... dung...]
[Look at your voice. Do you want to die?]
The strange repetition continued for a while.
Zeke, watching this, realized that the Orcs' behavior was similar to the hazing that often occurred in mercenary groups.
'The title Squad Leader is also mainly used in mercenary groups. I don't know if it's a simple correction due to the system translation or if it's the actual term.'
In small mercenary groups, apart from the mercenary leader, the rank among the members was determined by the order in which they joined.
However, large mercenary groups with over a thousand members couldn't operate that way.
So they were divided into units of ten, one hundred, and one thousand, and given the ranks of Squad Leader, Centurion, and Chiliarch to manage the members. Most mercenary groups in the Central Continent operated under this system.
He wondered why the ancient Orcs had the same organization as mercenary groups.
While Zeke was watching them with questions, the Squad Leader ordered his subordinate around a few more times and then moved to another location with his unit.
Zeke, concealing his presence, followed them to assess the situation.
As he followed the Orcs, Zeke witnessed something surprising.
Bam!
The Orc unit was defeating monsters that appeared here and there.
The Orc warriors, clad in crude heavy armor and freely wielding huge axes, exuded a powerful presence.
The monsters defeated by the Orc warriors also turned to ash and disappeared.
[Move out.]
Following the Orc warrior called the Squad Leader, they moved to another location.
Zeke, following them, realized one fact.
The monsters appearing on the 31st floor were not Orcs.
Looking closely, mutant fungi were roaming around.
'Why are the ancient Orcs going around killing monsters?'
With questions in mind, Zeke continued to follow the Orcs and found out the reason.
He confirmed that a village of Orcs had been built in the open space on the 31st floor.
'Huh?'
Rex Turunn's advice didn't mention anything about Orcs settling in the labyrinth.
'Is it because of Hell Mode? This is so different from what I heard.'
Although he was bewildered, Zeke didn't have time to waste here.
He had to defeat the boss on the 31st floor and move further down.
'Would I get experience points for defeating the Orcs too?'
After a brief moment of contemplation, Zeke decided not to provoke them since he wasn't sure.
If he messed with them, the Orc warriors would swarm him like bees, and if he didn't gain experience points, he would only waste his energy.
With his abilities restricted, Zeke moved as cautiously as possible.
He opened the map to find the location of the boss room. On the map, the boss room was located on the other side of the village.
Since he couldn't use stealth skills, he lowered his body as much as possible, concealed his presence, and tried to cross the village to enter the boss room on the other side.
The Orcs, who had built hut-like barracks haphazardly, weren't particularly vigilant, but they had at least a few people stationed near the boss room.
Just as Zeke safely passed through the village and was about to sneak into the boss room,
One of the Orcs, who was dozing off while on guard, spotted Zeke standing in front of the door.
[Intruder! There's an intruder!]
At the shout, which was closer to a battle cry, the Orc warriors sleeping in the barracks immediately jumped out with their axes.
'Oh no...'
Zeke hurriedly threw open the door to the boss room.
Rumble!
Seeing the Orc warriors charging with fierce eyes, he quickly entered the stone chamber.
Thud!
He thought the door would close when he entered the boss room, but it remained wide open.
Rolling his body, Zeke entered the room and faced the boss monster inside the stone chamber.
―Ferocious Mutant Fungus Level 35―
The Ferocious Mutant Fungus, dripping with red bodily fluids, was three times larger than other mutant fungi.
Kyaaaak!
The Ferocious Mutant Fungus opened its giant maw wide, spitting red fluid towards Zeke.
At the same time, he heard the Orcs' battle cry from behind.
Roar!
The boss monster was in front, and the Orc troops were rushing towards Zeke from behind.
Zeke aimed Bahamut at the boss monster first.
"You first!"
Woooong!
An Aura Blade surged from Zeke's sword.
Dragon Slayer True Dragon Swordsmanship
Chapter 3 Verse 2
Crescent Moon Slash
The crescent moon that flew from Zeke's sword bisected the Ferocious Mutant Fungus's body.
Keeeek!
The boss monster screamed and vomited bodily fluids.
However, tentacles sprouted from the severed area and it slowly began to regenerate.
"This guy...?"
Zeke swung his sword once more at the Ferocious Mutant Fungus.
Crash!
The boss monster, its tentacles severed by Zeke's Aura Blade, writhed in pain and sprayed bodily fluids everywhere.
Just as Zeke was about to deliver the final blow to the boss monster with his Secret Technique,
[Die!]
An Orc warrior swung a huge axe from behind.
Clang!
Zeke swung his sword and parried the Orc warrior's axe.
Then, he immediately activated his Aura Blade and cut down the Orc warrior, heavy armor and all.
[You have gained 55 experience points.]
'Oh.'
He gained far more experience points than from ordinary monsters.
'Should I have lured them out one by one and dealt with them first?'
He had avoided them because he thought there would be no experience points, but now that he had gained so many experience points, he felt regret. However, now was not the time to worry about such things.
The body of the fallen Orc warrior turned to ash and disappeared, just like the other monsters.
[The cursed soul of the ancient Orc warrior escapes the Fighting God's Domain.]
'Why this message...? Are the Orcs different from other monsters?'
Meanwhile, the Mutant Fungus, having recovered, charged towards Zeke.
Keeeek!
Wriggling, it swung its tentacles, with sharp thorns protruding from them, towards Zeke.
Whoosh!
Zeke dodged the tentacles, raised his Elemental Power, and prepared to use the Elemental Sword.
'The Elemental Sword consumes a lot of mana, so I need to minimize the output...'
He activated the Fire Enhancement.
Whoosh!
Pure flames surged from his sword. As he had expected, without Infinite Stamina and the Gluttony skill, his mana was consumed incredibly quickly.
"Cha!"
Zeke resolved to finish this quickly and unleashed pure flames towards the boss monster with Fire Enhancement.
Crash!
The pure flames that burned everything completely incinerated the Mutant Fungus.
Keeeek!
The Mutant Fungus screamed and turned to ash, disappearing.
However, there were no reward experience points or random boxes.
"Is there no reward unless I defeat it with a direct attack?"
The reward conditions were quite demanding.
Moreover, he realized a bigger problem with the Elemental Sword.
Mana consumption was far greater than he had expected.
"I'll have to refrain from using the Elemental Sword. If I'm not careful, I'll be the first to collapse from exhaustion."
At that moment, the Orc troops charged towards Zeke.
Zeke gripped Bahamut and sharpened his senses. It felt like the senses from his past life were returning.
Roar!
Clang!
Zeke parried the axe with Bahamut and immediately thrust his sword into the axe wielder's neck.
[Gah!]
The Orc, stabbed in the neck, collapsed with a strange smile on its face.
Zeke cut down all the Orcs rushing towards him in the same way.
Slash!
"Haaa!"
He shouted and focused on the battle itself, swinging his sword again and again.
Come to think of it, this was his everyday life in his past life.
Zeke felt his mind calming down as he recalled the intense sensation of battle that he had forgotten.
His body loosened up, and his sword movements became more natural.
It felt like wearing perfectly fitting clothes for the first time in a long time.
"Whew."
When he came to his senses, the fallen Orcs were scattered all over the boss room.
The dead Orcs all turned to ash and scattered.
Zeke approached one of them who was still breathing.
"Hey, Orc. What are you guys?"
The Orc, leaning against the wall and gasping for breath, looked at Zeke with surprise.
He opened his mouth.
[May the Bearer of Blood and Madness remember our glory.]
