“How much is this?”
“Since it’s in good condition and doesn’t break easily, it will likely be quite expensive.”
I wanted to hear the specific price range for something that was said to be expensive.
Everyone seemed really happy when they rescued (?) the Golem Core. Even the nobles were excited.
“Hmm… since the Golem core will be sold at auction, the exact price hasn’t been set yet. It’s almost like the price is what people are willing to pay? Since it contains a powerful energy, it will need to be properly appraised before the price can be determined. However, given its excellent condition, if it is appraised as a high-grade energy core, it could be worth enough to buy an entire castle. This means our team will make a profit from these two cores.”
“Oh.”
Princess Lasiell must have spent a lot of money assembling the expedition team.
The items we used weren’t cheap, they were all high-quality, and each member was highly skilled. The labor costs alone must have been enormous, and the equipment was top-tier, so it was clear that unimaginable amounts of money had been invested. But now, these two energy cores could offset that cost entirely.
I understood why everyone had been so thrilled.
‘Now that the investment has been recouped, it’s time to start making a profit!’
The gatekeeper, who had provided this jackpot, probably sparked excitement about what other treasures might be hidden in the castle.
The team quickly took a rest to regain their energy and urged the leader to open the door.
“Are you sure you’re all okay? We could start after lunch, it wouldn’t be too late.”
“How can we waste a whole day catching just two of those creatures? We need to conquer at least the first floor today!”
Looking at the towering castle, it seemed like there were at least five floors.
It seemed inefficient to end the day after catching just two gatekeepers.
I chatted with Melody, the sister, while the others were preparing for the attack.
While they had been resting, I had been working non-stop and was only now taking a break.
“Once we start fighting, the castle will probably be completely destroyed, right? It’s bittersweet thinking of destroying such a beautiful castle.”
The ice castle inside the labyrinth gave off the impression that the Winter Queen, who uses magic, might live there.
“I actually found it eerie.”
Melody gave an unexpected impression as she looked at the castle.
“Do you find it eerie?”
Everyone else had said it was beautiful…
“Maybe it’s because I vaguely felt the presence of monsters swarming inside.”
“!!!”
“There are many of them. Once the door opens, all the monsters inside will likely rush out.”
“…Do others know how many there are?”
“They should know.”
I felt a sense of unease after hearing Melody’s blunt answer.
I hurriedly ran to the leader.
“Melody said there are a huge number of monsters inside the castle. If you already know, that’s good, but I thought I should still mention it.”
“There are a huge number of monsters inside? Can you give me more details?”
As expected, the leader didn’t know!
“I think you should ask the sister. I was just passing along what I heard.”
Just as I spoke, Melody, the sister, came running behind me.
The leader approached her and got the full details on the number of monsters.
“Roughly speaking, I think there are more than 150.”
“Are you talking about just the first floor?”
“No, just the first floor. If we’re talking about the entire fifth floor, there are probably more, around 500, or even more. I’m not sure.”
“……”
The leader seemed at a loss for words, his lips twitching before he sighed.
“That would have been a disaster if we opened the door without knowing. Thanks for letting us know. If you learn anything similar in the future, please let us know again.”
“I wasn’t sure about the exact number, and I thought you’d have a good idea, so I held back… That was a mistake. Understood.”
Hearing that there were 150 monsters on just the first floor, the leader seemed to realize the plan needed to be changed.
“Everyone, disband!”
“Eh?”
“Disband?”
“What about the conquest?”
Complaints arose among the team members who had been preparing for battle.
“They say there are 150 monsters on the first floor of the castle.”
“150?!”
“Is that even possible?”
“It seems the interior is much bigger than we thought…”
When the castle gate is opened, we won’t know what monsters will come out.
And now, there are so many?
The good news was that our team had a member who could move nimbly in situations like this.
“I’ll go do a reconnaissance and return.”
“Be careful.”
Getting close to the castle was a risky move.
Normally, we would have done reconnaissance first, but we had been planning to attack because of the high risk involved in not knowing.
I prayed for a safe return and gave him a buff.
“Your buffs are the best, priest. Thank you.”
Watching him slowly distance himself for reconnaissance, Melody, the sister, spoke.
“Are you worried?”
“He’s going alone to a place where 150 monsters are sleeping. How could I not be worried?”
“He’ll return safely.”
“Yes, I hope so.”
Unfortunately, my wish didn’t come true.
Clang!
“What was that?”
Everyone anxiously watched the castle.
At that moment, the sound of ice windows breaking came from the castle.
If only one had broken, we wouldn’t have heard this sound.
As dozens of ice windows shattered, something suddenly jumped out from inside.
“Ugh?”
Then, the scout, who had been heading toward the castle for reconnaissance, was seen running toward us with blood dripping from his left arm.
Although it was too far to see clearly, his expression looked very urgent.
“Prepare for battle!!!!!!!!”
The leader was the first to draw his sword from his waist.
Amidst the frantic movements of everyone preparing for battle, the leader was about to rush forward to save the scout who was running hard.
“Leader!! You can’t!”
Fortunately, someone urgently grabbed the leader.
“If you go like that, you’ll be caught and die!”
“I’ll handle it.”
The wizard, who had been preparing for battle, stepped forward and stretched out his hand.
A strange flow of air appeared about 50 cm in front of his hand, followed by the sound of wind, similar to what you’d hear during a typhoon.
‘Wizards are amazing.’
If wizards could use such magic as easily as skills, the world might have already been ruled by wizards.
Of course, the gods wouldn’t allow such a thing.
“Haah! Haah!”
When wizards use magic, they need a lot of time to use another spell.
On top of that, once they’ve exhausted all their mana, they can’t do anything until their mana regenerates, which is a critical disadvantage.
The wizard’s magic succeeded in blasting away the monsters that were closely following the scout.
The scout, seeing the brief gap, didn’t waste any time.
With all his remaining strength, he gritted his teeth and ran toward the group.
When the leader caught him in front and they both reached a safe spot, the scout collapsed onto the ground, panting heavily.
“Heh… heh… damn it! Heh… almost died… heh… heh!”
“What happened?”
After catching his breath enough to speak, he explained.
“The little bastards… they were waiting for us… heh… inside… there’s a ton of them. Ugh, I almost died. When I looked up at the ceiling… heh… I made eye contact with one of them, and I got chills! It even grinned like a human!!”
“…Good thing we did reconnaissance. If we had gone in like that, we would have been wiped out by them.”
“Yes! We’d all be dead! That place is their den! A den!”
It was a situation where we almost walked into a trap ourselves.
Melody, the sister, basically saved our party.
“Monsters approaching from the front! They’re about to collide with us!!”
“Shields up!”
We didn’t have time to keep listening to the scout’s report.
The monsters that had chased the scout outside the castle were now charging toward us.
‘Is that a bat?’
The red eyes and long wings stood out clearly.
One of the creatures, which resembled a bat, had white fur, unlike the usual black-furred bats.
Perhaps the surrounding white environment had caused its fur color to naturally change.
Moreover, the size of the creature was so huge that it couldn’t be mistaken for an animal.
The monsters flapped their wings and charged toward us.
‘How do we defeat all of them? Even Yi Sun-sin wouldn’t be able to handle this.’
The surrounding area was completely white, all thanks to the bat monsters.
If it had been snowing, it would have been peaceful and beautiful.
But this wasn’t snow; it was monsters, and instead of falling gently, they were charging toward us at a terrifying speed.
What’s more, the numbers were overwhelmingly unfavorable to us.
Even though I could see them with my own eyes, I couldn’t believe how many there were.
‘Are you telling me these guys are only 150?’
Honestly, it seemed like there were more than 150.
The other side had an enormous number, but we were only a handful, which was a big problem.
“Aren’t we supposed to run? And you want to fight?”
“Idiot, if you turn your back now, we’re all dead!! You think everyone is fast on their feet?!”
Given the situation, the leader couldn’t help but curse.
But no one pointed out that it was rude.
Who wouldn’t want to curse in a situation like this?
We could die, after all.
And then…
The monster horde finally collided with our team.
“Fall back! It’s too dangerous!”
“Yes!”
-Swish!
Monsters were flying toward me, but Melody, the sister, was protecting me with a solid defense.
If we had decided to run, she would probably have picked me up and jumped away.
“These bastards have weak resistance!”
After a single clash, it seemed like the monsters weren’t as strong as we thought.
Just as the leader had shouted, the real problem was the sheer numbers; it didn’t actually take much effort to kill them.