How to Survive as a Mage Inside a Game-Chapter 38: Ruins Exploration (4)

Calling him a veteran didn’t even begin to cover it.

No matter how skilled an adventurer was, unless they were the one who had built the ruins, how could they know all this?

Making it this far without setting off a single trap wasn’t luck—it was a miracle.

Eril elbowed Pakion in the ribs.

"Hey, Pakion."

"...Yeah?"

"When this expedition’s over, we’re bringing him into the party. No way we’re letting a guy like that get away."

A full 180 from the skeptical attitude she’d had when they first agreed to take Karl along.

"She’s right. We need him. That’s just ridiculous talent... What did you even bring back with you?"

Kroc and Aris, listening nearby, nodded in fierce agreement.

Pakion understood how his teammates felt.

Dungeon and ruin exploration was dangerous no matter how seasoned you were.

Being an adventurer was always a gamble with your life.

But if someone like that joined the team...

Originally, Pakion had wanted to observe Karl’s skills firsthand before deciding if he should invite him to join them.

That thought felt laughable now.

With ability like this, they should be begging him to join.

Karl was more valuable than any treasure they’d ever found.

What the hell do I offer him? Doesn’t seem like he cares much about money...

Even as he drifted into those thoughts, Pakion didn’t let down his guard.

A sudden foul smell caught his attention, and he spotted something odd on the wall. His eyes sharpened.

He turned his head—and saw Karl looking at the same thing. Their eyes met.

Pakion gave a sheepish smile and raised his hand.

"Hold up."

The team halted as he approached the suspicious spot.

A green lump stuck to the wall in a corner. Droppings. Traces of a living creature.

And anything living inside a dungeon or ruin wasn’t going to be some friendly critter.

It meant monsters were nearby.

But the droppings didn’t match anything in Pakion’s knowledge, so he turned to Karl.

"Any idea what kind of monster it is?"

Karl shook his head.

Even with all his game knowledge, he’d never identified a mob by poop shape.

"We should be careful. Judging by the size of that pile, whatever dropped it wasn’t small..."

Pakion rose from his crouch, a little tense, and passed word to the mages and knights behind them.

"A monster... I’ve heard the ones that live underground are drastically different from surface creatures."

"They are. Their forms and abilities are often bizarre. Don’t let your guard down."

The expedition pushed on—and soon reached a massive chamber, like a central node.

The walls were riddled with small tunnels, creating an eerie atmosphere.

"Wait... over there..."

Just as Pakion predicted—they ran into a monster.

It was the first creature encounter of the expedition, and it hit hard.

"...Spider?"

Someone murmured.

A black abomination clung to the ceiling, splaying its whip-like legs wide.

It was enormous—about the size of two adult humans.

It looked spider-like, but unlike a spider, its body wasn’t divided into head and abdomen.

It was just a grotesque mass of meat with dozens of legs crammed together.

"That’s a Burrow Creeper."

Karl’s face twisted in disgust as he spoke.

Late Level 20s, insect-type monster.

Its main features: a hardened exoskeleton and venom secreted from the tips of its legs.

Everyone turned to him.

"You know what that is?"

"Yeah. Looks horrible, but it’s not that dangerous. You just have to watch out for the venom on its leg hooks and—"

Skreeee...

The Burrow Creeper twitched its antennae and let out a sickening screech.

Karl scanned the surrounding tunnels.

"They’ll be here soon."

"...They? Who?"

"Insects tend to swarm. This one’s the same. Once it finds something it sees as prey, it sends a signal and brings in a horde."

Sure enough, a rising wave of presences swelled from all directions, and the mages and knights tensed.

"If we’re going to keep moving forward, we’ve got to clean them out here. Otherwise our rear’s not safe. Get ready for battle!"

Skreee-eeee-eeee!

A torrent of Burrow Creepers exploded from every tunnel, a never-ending black waterfall.

"Circle up, form a perimeter!"

Tobaz’s voice rang out, and the «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» mages quickly fell into a circular formation.

"Use fire and lightning magic if you can! Don’t go overboard—we could bring the chamber down!"

CRACKLE! BOOM!

What followed was spectacular.

The mages unleashed waves of flame and electricity in all directions.

With each flash, Burrow Creepers rained down from the walls in clumps.

Screeeeech!

Still, there were simply too many. Some reached the ground.

And those—those were the knights’ job.

"Careful of the venom from their leg tips!"

Blades glowing with aura, the knights moved to intercept, slicing down Creepers that hit the ground.

But their long, whip-like legs made it difficult to reach the body for a killing blow.

Killing them wasn’t hard, but they didn’t have time to finish each one.

Seeing the knights struggle, Karl shouted again.

"They’re sensitive to weight balance! Even if you only cut off a bunch of legs, they’ll lose mobility—focus on that!"

"...!!"

The knights immediately changed tactics.

They hacked off legs in clusters, then moved to the next target.

The effect was instant.

The maimed Creepers, unable to balance, toppled over and writhed on the floor—effectively out of the fight.

Almost done.

Karl watched from the center, also keeping tabs on the three suspicious figures.

They were all actively engaged in the battle. Nothing sketchy yet.

Then again, the chaos wasn’t quite enough to cover for sneaky behavior.

Still... that girl’s not bad.

[Lv.28]

[Firstborn of House Dante]

Lady Rosariel, the marquis’ daughter.

She wasn’t at the frontlines, but she was steadily cutting down Creepers from the middle ranks.

She was being guarded by a knight, of course.

Whizz! Twang!

Eril, too, was firing arrow after arrow.

Each one flew with terrifying force, piercing even the tough exoskeletons of the Creepers crawling down the walls.

Normal arrows wouldn’t cut it, but Eril was no average archer.

Her enhanced strength through aura refinement, combined with the monstrous tension of her Steelwood Bow, made punching through their bodies a non-issue.

The floor was soon littered with Creeper corpses.

The fight was over.

Knights moved between the bodies, finishing off any Creepers still twitching.

The priests began checking the expedition members for injuries.

"Thanks to you, that went a lot smoother."

Some of the knights came to thank Karl after cleanup was finished.

He accepted the gratitude with a modest nod.

"We should rest here a bit before moving on."

With the battle behind them, the group decided to take a short break in the chamber before continuing.

* * *

The expedition went smoothly afterward.

Karl continued spotting traps with ease, and any monsters that appeared were quickly dealt with.

While the Slot Adventurer Group held their own, it was mostly thanks to Karl.

"If things keep going like this, we might make it to the inner sanctum without much trouble..."

Pakion murmured.

And he wasn’t the only one who thought that. The entire expedition team was thinking the same.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

"......"

But Karl couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off.

It wasn’t because he’d spotted anything suspicious.

It was the opposite.

It’s just... too obvious.

The pattern of the ruins was textbook.

So much so that it felt staged.

Like the real thing was hidden, and what they were walking through was just a hollow shell meant to be seen.

"...Huh?"

As they pressed forward, something appeared ahead.

A massive stone door, its surface covered in chaotic geometric carvings.

"First, check for traps."

Rumble.

They cautiously pushed the door open, and as they stepped inside, the expressions of the expedition members lit up.

A chamber even larger than anything they’d seen so far.

It looked like they were roughly at the midpoint—but that wasn’t the important part.

In one corner of the chamber, a pile of objects that clearly weren’t ordinary stones or debris.

"...Artifacts!"

Someone shouted in excitement.

This chapt𝙚r is updated by freeωebnovēl.c૦m.

It was the first real reward they’d seen since the expedition started.

"Alright, let’s all calm down and gather here."

Since the Earth School had discovered the ruins, the initial rights to the artifacts belonged to the mages.

They would handle inspecting and dividing the loot however they saw fit.

"Hmm..."

Karl didn’t pay them any attention.

Still feeling uneasy, he wandered around the chamber, checking it over himself.

And then someone suddenly approached him.

"Are you not interested in the artifacts?"

Karl turned.

It was Lady Rosariel.

Her knights were stationed a short distance behind, probably under orders not to come closer.

[Lv.41]

[Spy of House Pluton]

Karl glanced briefly at him before shifting his eyes back to Rosariel.

He wasn’t sure why she was suddenly interested in him, but he gave a slight nod and replied.

"We have no rights to the artifacts. We were hired purely as guides, with payment agreed upfront."

"Hmm..."

She nodded thoughtfully.

"Still, you seem unusually indifferent. You could at least pretend to care."

"I tend not to look at things I can’t have."

"...Haha! You’re quite the strange one."

Karl had no idea what she found funny, but he gave a polite chuckle.

"By the way, your skill is truly impressive."

"It’s nothing. Just what’s expected of an adventurer."

"No need to be so modest. I’ve always been interested in this line of work, and I’ve met plenty of so-called adventurers. Most of them are just mediocre drifters..."

Rosariel moved in closer, talking away.

"Do all traps follow some kind of pattern? How do you find them so easily?"

"That spider thing—you called it a Burrow Creeper, right? Have you fought those things before?"

"Actually, I barely convinced my father to let me join this expedition. He finally gave in because my birthday’s coming up—guess this is an early present, haha."

God, I said I’m not interested.

Karl hid his irritation and continued scanning the chamber, half-listening.

After a pause, Rosariel’s tone grew a bit subdued.

"You find me annoying, don’t you."

"What? Ah... not at all."

"Oh, please. I’m bothering you. Sorry about that. I hope we can talk again—when you're not busy."

She seemed a bit sulky as she stepped past him.

"...!!"

Karl realized it too late.

CLANG!

Suddenly, spikes shot out from the wall, completely filling the spot where Rosariel had just been standing.

She would’ve been impaled.

If Karl had pulled her back even a second later, she’d be dead.

"...My lady!"

Rosariel stood frozen, staring blankly at the wall.

Meanwhile, Karl frowned.

The knights had rushed over, swords drawn and pointed at his throat.

But then Rosariel snapped out of it and quickly called them off.

"What are you doing?! He saved me."

"......"

The knights slowly lowered their swords.

Still shaken, Rosariel straightened her clothes and composed herself.

Then she turned to Karl, her voice trembling slightly.

"Thank you... I owe you my life. I’ll repay this debt when the expedition’s over."

Karl almost said something but held back.

If he refused, she’d probably latch onto it and keep talking.

"My apologies. I was on edge, given the setting."

The knights who had drawn on Karl also offered apologies, clearly embarrassed.

Except for one.

[Lv.41]

[Spy of House Pluton]

The bastard was glancing at Rosariel like he’d just lost something important—and glaring daggers at Karl.

Oh, come on.

Karl let out a silent laugh and spoke.

"Sir Knight, did I offend you in some way?"

"...?"

"You seemed to be glaring at me just now. And the look you gave the young lady..."

At his words, Rosariel also turned to eye the knight, confused.

The knight stammered, flustered, and waved his hand.

"W-what are you saying? That’s a misunderstanding."

"Oh, I see. My apologies."

The commotion drew others over.

"Is everything alright? Anyone hurt?"

[Lv.38]

[Apostate, Worshipper of a Dark God]

Outwardly a kind priest—inside, a demon-worshipping lunatic—approached with concern.

"No, we’re fine."

Karl answered curtly and stepped back.

A spy, a cultist.

Sure, the dark mage was trouble, but these two were just as bad.

If they’d just show their true colors, he could deal with them properly.

Karl’s eyes drifted to Tobaz in the distance. But then...

"...?"

Why the hell was Tobaz smiling?

A chill ran down his spine.

"Everyone, a moment of your attention."

Tobaz’s voice echoed, just a bit too cheerful.

All eyes turned to him.

Still smiling, Tobaz suddenly spoke up, out of nowhere.

"Thank you all for your hard work getting this far."