The Last Adventurer

[Translator – Prøks]

[Proofreader – Prøks]

Chapter 101: Pharaoh (4)

7.

“Poison!”

At Rick’s cry, his subordinates’ first action was to pop the round pills they carried in their pockets into their mouths.

Antidotes.

A medicine effective against various poisons, not just a specific one, and it also increased poison resistance.

Every adventurer would carry three or four of them.

Of course, their effect wasn’t that great.

It only bought a few minutes, or depending on the potency of the poison, a few seconds.

But for skilled adventurers, that was enough.

“Scatter!”

It took only a blink of an eye to distance themselves from where the poison had appeared.

Having distanced themselves from the poisoned comrade’s corpse, Rick and his subordinates looked at each other.

It wasn’t really a situation for discussion.

The moment a comrade was poisoned, the adventurer’s top priority was to leave the area.

That was definitely the case.

The problem was their location.

‘If we move recklessly, we’ll be attacked by monsters.’

Moving in a place overflowing with monsters, without even knowing what kind of monsters were there?

That was inviting danger.

Also, everyone was now wondering.

‘But why were we poisoned in the first place?’

Usually, there needed to be a sign before poison was used.

A monster carrying poison would appear, or a poison arrow would fly.

But their comrade had been poisoned without any warning.

‘Was it magic?’

Of course, if it was poison-attribute magic, the story would be a bit different, but poison magic actually had clear signs when used.

To use poison so silently?

At that point, some of them remembered.

‘Could it be an assassin?’

The possibility that an assassin, hidden in the shadows, had secretly used poison and disappeared.

It was a situation that made their heads spin in many ways.

“Cough!”

A coughing sound was heard.

“Ugh!”

And then the sound of vomiting blood.

It was now certain.

“Adventurers!”

Their enemies weren’t monsters.

It was a perplexing situation.

But the moment they realized their enemies were adventurers, the look in Rick and his subordinates’ eyes changed.

It wasn’t that they didn’t feel bewildered.

But they weren’t bewildered by the fact that adventurers were attacking them.

‘Our identity has been exposed.’

They were followers of the Black Wizard, and it was only natural to be attacked once their identity was revealed.

The bewildering part was this.

‘We don’t know how we were exposed, but…’

The question was why their identity had been exposed.

Of course, they were always prepared for such a situation.

‘From now on, it’s self-destruction.’

The moment they were revealed as followers of the Black Wizard, they were ready to self-destruct.

It was literal.

Even if they survived here, what if another adventurer lived to tell the truth?

Then they would be worse off than dead.

In other words, they had to turn this place into everyone’s grave.

That was why.

“Everyone scatter.”

The Rick party scattered.

The moment they became bombs to disrupt the adventurers clearing the Mystic Gate, not the adventurers themselves.

Needless to say, it was a very effective method.

Divide the troops to catch the scattered members?

What if they were counterattacked?

Or encountered monsters?

Tracking them down wouldn’t be easy.

Also, hunting monsters while missing them was like putting a sharp knife to their necks.

Of course, the biggest reason this method was effective was this.

‘They wouldn’t have expected this.’

It was a situation that those who rushed to catch them could never have anticipated.

That was certainly true.

Except for one person.

8.

‘As expected.’

El Pam, he wasn’t surprised when he saw the Rick party scattering.

‘Just as I expected.’

He had seen countless times what kind of tactics the Black Wizard’s followers would employ in such a situation.

And this method was more effective than he thought.

It meant it was very tricky for the opposing side.

It was true that once an adventurer decided to hide, it was much harder to find them than one might think.

The Black Wizard’s followers were masters in this regard.

‘It’ll be a headache if we leave them like this.’

The bigger problem was their intention.

If they were simply hiding and running away, struggling to survive, they would be surprisingly easy to deal with.

The survival instinct was simpler than one might think.

Also, negotiation was possible.

‘They’re the type who willingly self-destruct.’

But the Black Wizard’s followers were willing to die for the Black Wizard, even considering it an honor.

Leaving them alone was like leaving intelligent bombs that moved on their own.

The same was true for El Pam.

He certainly had the ability to catch all the fleeing Rick party members.

But that process would take considerable time, and El Pam wasn’t alone here.

There were Peer and the adventurers he had hired.

There was every possibility that they would be attacked before El Pam could take care of the Rick party members.

‘It would be dangerous if I were alone.’

That’s why El Pam wouldn’t have provoked them like this if he were alone.

‘Not now.’

In other words, El Pam wasn’t alone.

He had comrades.

Comrades who could conduct excellent pursuits.

‘If it’s my comrades, they can hunt down the Rick party anytime.’

He could trust them.

Therefore, at this moment, there was only one thing El Pam had to worry about.

‘Except for Rick.’

9.

The moment the Rick party scattered, Rick, on the contrary, didn’t move.

He hid near his original spot, holding his breath.

The reason was simple.

‘The guys targeting us will come this way.’

The hunter always passed by the place where the prey had been.

The moment they passed by, Rick planned to eliminate the hunter.

It wasn’t a vague plan.

‘I have the advantage if a battle starts.’

The strongest point of a lightning-attribute mage was none other than their attack speed.

That speed was on a different level compared to other attribute magic.

While a skilled adventurer could see and dodge Fire Arrow or Cold Beam, it was impossible with lightning-attribute magic.

That wasn’t all.

What if multiple people came?

Then he would just use Thunder Bolt.

Of course, lightning magic had the disadvantage of being difficult to handle, but that disadvantage didn’t apply to Rick right now.

It wasn’t unfounded confidence, but rather a well-founded confidence.

That was when it happened.

Swish!

A sound reached Rick’s senses, and he carefully turned his head to look in the direction of the sound.

Then he saw it.

‘El Pam.’

The moment he saw him, Rick could understand everything that was happening in his mind.

‘He sold us out before we got caught.’

Why he and his subordinates were attacked.

Rick wasn’t surprised or angry at that fact.

In a way, it was natural.

Just as Rick had tried to kill El Pam, El Pam must have also been prepared to kill Rick.

Not hesitating to use any means to achieve their given goals, that’s what the Black Wizard’s followers were like.

So there was only one thing to do now.

‘Take him out.’

Removing obstacles to achieve the goal.

At that point, Rick strained his ears.

To hear footsteps.

‘He’s alone.’

The owner of the footsteps that reached Rick’s ears was only El Pam, and no one else.

A mage moving alone, that was strange.

But Rick didn’t dwell on that fact.

It didn’t matter if there was someone else around.

‘I’ll take him out right away.’

For now, El Pam was the adventurer with the highest bounty among those present.

Also, Rick was confident.

‘Thunder Spear.’

The moment he cast lightning magic, the Thunder Spear would hit El Pam before he could react.

So it didn’t matter who was around.

One second, even that was too long for Rick to take care of El Pam.

There was only one problem.

‘The moment I appear.’

Unlike fire or ice attribute magic, lightning magic was greatly affected by obstacles.

So to properly cast the spell, he had to face El Pam without any obstacles in between.

Of course, as mentioned before, one second was enough.

That was why.

The moment the casting was finished, Rick, who had been holding his breath behind a tree, revealed himself.

He looked at El Pam.

“Thunder Sp…”

And the moment he tried to cast the spell.

Crackle!

At that moment, Rick’s body began to tremble as if he had been electrocuted.

No, it was electrocution.

The Thunder Spear that El Pam had used had touched Rick’s body.

‘H-how?’

Rick, bewildered and paralyzed, fell to the ground.

Of course, from El Pam’s perspective, it was only natural.

He had already been watching Rick’s every move through clairvoyance magic.

And he clearly knew Rick’s plan.

So he waited.

For the moment Rick would come out.

The moment that happened, El Pam launched the Thunder Spear spell he had pre-cast at Rick.

One step ahead.

Of course, El Pam knew.

‘He wouldn’t be dead.’

That Rick wouldn’t die from this attack alone.

That mages who could handle lightning attributes had stronger resistance to lightning magic than other mages.

‘Like me.’

El Pam had learned that fact well from Brain Je.

So he prepared.

“Ugh…”

Rick groaned, his whole body paralyzed.

“Fire Arrow.”

El Pam’s Fire Arrow moved towards him.

After that, there were no more groans.

The moment Lightning God Rick, who had brought disaster to the adventurers before El Pam returned to the past, died.

In a way, it was a futile death.

Lightning God Rick, who had been like a plague to adventurers, died so silently, without achieving anything significant.

In other words, for El Pam, it was a more valuable death than ever.

He had eliminated a great enemy, a competitor.

Moreover, Rick was still in 4th Circle, just like El Pam, and their growth rates were similar.

If he had been left alive, El Pam would have experienced several more headaches.

‘Just as planned.’

That was why El Pam had given him the Ring of Zeus.

‘He was too enamored with the Ring of Zeus.’

Rick was certainly a machine-like adventurer.

A machine that prioritized orders.

But the fact that he was fundamentally an adventurer didn’t change.

And any adventurer would be captivated by a new item, especially a powerful one.

Even if not, they would have to actively hunt monsters to at least check the item’s capabilities.

‘Thanks to that, he hid his true power.’

Thanks to that, El Pam didn’t have to show his full abilities in front of Rick.

On the other hand, El Pam was able to closely and thoroughly observe Rick’s abilities from the closest distance.

Of course, the most effective thing was this.

‘It could also make him careless.’

That Rick, intoxicated by this overwhelming power, eventually became careless.

The way he acted just now was proof of that.

If it weren’t for the Ring of Zeus, Rick would never have thought of targeting El Pam.

He would have stayed hidden until the end.

That was the significance of the Ring of Zeus.

In any case, El Pam wanted to eliminate Rick that much.

‘It’s over.’

But even after achieving the desired outcome, there was no particular emotion on El Pam’s face.

Even though Rick had tried to kill him, such feelings were painted over by even harsher days, and he no longer felt them.

Also, El Pam knew.

‘The pressure will be even greater from now on.’

That the Black Wizard’s followers’ attacks would become fiercer.

‘Right now, it’s the Pharaoh Snake.’

Above all, El Pam had to hunt the Pharaoh Snake, a very difficult boss monster.

It meant there was no time to indulge in joy.

As El Pam approached Rick’s corpse, he retrieved the Ring of Zeus from his finger.

Of course, that wasn’t all he retrieved.

‘Thunder Spear and this… Thunder Bolt.’

As befitting his reputation as Lightning Tyrant Rick, Rick had a plethora of lightning attribute magic items.

Of course, El Pam wasn’t too excited about these items.

They were certainly expensive items, but with El Pam’s current abilities, they weren’t items he couldn’t obtain if he wanted to.

That was when it happened.

Squeak!

The snail Mano, which had been in El Pam’s pocket, emerged and quickly moved towards Rick’s corpse.

Then it headed for Rick’s back.

Seeing this, El Pam cut his clothes with the dagger at his waist, revealing a spider tattoo.

And inside the skin where the spider tattoo was engraved, something like a metal fragment could be seen.

At that moment, an emotion appeared on El Pam’s face.

‘Could it be?’

The emotion of surprise.

It was inevitable.

‘Is it a fragment of Astrape?’

It was the moment when a fragment of Astrape, also known as Zeus’ Lightning Spear, appeared.

[Translator – Prøks]

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