Your Majesty, Dinner Is Ready. – Chapter 154 – South Continent Expedition

Author: Cireng

Chapter 154 — South Continent Expedition — Land of Frozen Ice (4)

Whoooooooosh—!!

The blizzard raged violently. As if it intended to blow away everyone in sight.

“Hahahahaha!”

Along with the heavy snowfall and frigid wind, eerie laughter surged endlessly from every direction. Pendrick cut down one of the Snow Replicas imitating Karr and let out a wry laugh.

“…It really feels strange having Captain as the enemy!”

“Be careful!”

At Astrimia’s warning, Pendrick swiftly retreated. A faint streak of black lightning sliced through the air a moment later.

“As expected of the peerless genius swordsman of the Eastern Continent, Sir Pendrick.”

The Snow Karr, whose waist had been severed in half earlier, smiled faintly with only his lips. Before anyone realized it, his body had already completely regenerated.

“That absurd regenerative ability, seriously…!”

Astrimia inwardly clicked her tongue.

“Lord Snow Karr? Would you tell me where your weak point is? If you do, I’ll let you enjoy all the hardship you love so much!”

“Trying to exploit my personality, are you? As expected of Lady Astrimia, whose strategy shines as brilliantly as her dazzling beauty.”

“Oh, come on! Stop stating such obvious facts!”

“…Asmi.”

Pendrick shook his beloved back and forth.

“You just had your weakness exploited.”

“…Oops!”

“Hm, what a shame. I almost had you.”

Snow Karr extended his right hand without looking disappointed in the slightest.

Crackle.

A streak of black lightning shot toward them. Pendrick effortlessly deflected it with Astrimia, whose blade was wrapped in a starlight aura. Although its regenerative ability was somewhat inferior compared to the real Karr, it was still extraordinary.

Thankfully, everything else about it was far less impressive.

“Its soul rank is roughly Level 4, but its physical abilities are much lower!”

“Correct. As expected of someone whose intellect rivals her overwhelming beauty–”

“That won’t work anymore!”

Hummm…

Astrimia’s second star, Merak, began to shine.

Shhhhhhh—!!

The summit of the snowy mountain was engulfed in blue light. The already sluggish movements of the Snow Karrs caught within it became even slower. And their weak points glowed blue as well.

Their hearts. More precisely, the mana stones function as their hearts.

“Everyone! Aim for the places glowing blue!”

Pendrick shouted with all his might as he assumed the opening stance of [Raging Gale Swordsmanship].

Snow Karr nodded.

“My heart certainly is my weak point. If it’s pierced, I’ll become intoxicated by the electrifying sensation spreading through my body and lose the ability to think normally.”

“…You can’t think normally even when you’re fine! Pendrick, let’s go!”

“Right!”

Against the raging blizzard, Pendrick’s gale began to howl.

***

Meanwhile, Bartimir and Tilda were relentlessly cutting down Snow Replicas at the very front.

“Die, you fake Mom!”

“You fake Gold Crow! Take this in the real one’s place!”

Crunch!

Thud!

A fist and a dagger pierced straight through the hearts of two Snow Karrs.

“…Hah… hah.”

“Hah…”

Despite having their fatal weaknesses struck… they looked pleased. Their bodies soon crumbled away. Then immediately afterward… four more Snow Karrs rose from the snow.

“How could you punch your own mother so fiercely?”

“Honestly, I don’t dislike such filial impiety.”

“Lady Tilda, is this your revenge for impersonating us during the guild battle?”

“Sniff… You’re truly too cruel.”

Two of them blushed for some reason. The other two pretended to cry.

Bartimir and Tilda exchanged glances, cold sweat running down their faces.

“…Don’t tell me they keep spawning?”

“…Is this a nightmare?”

***

Slash.

Marlin was also fighting desperately with her dagger, [First Breath]. Rosalia remained beside her the entire time, protecting her at Karr’s request.

“Marlin… to think you’d betray me, your patron…”

A Snow Karr, whose heart had been pierced, looked at her with eyes full of heartbreak.

“…You’ve already used that line on seven people over there.”

“Oh, is that so? Then I suppose I should just die.”

Snow Karr quietly melted away.

Then… two more Karrs appeared.

“I’ve returned as an undead to take revenge on you, Marlin.”

“Sister, please discipline this naughty child for attacking her patron!”

“…Ugh, this is driving me crazy!”

Terrified, Marlin hid behind Rosalia.

“……”

Rosalia spun around and eliminated both Snow Karrs with a roundhouse kick before hugging her little thief sister and leaping backward. Four more monsters were already forming where they had been standing.

“…Sis… is this really okay?”

Marlin instinctively realized it. Even though the Snow Karrs weren’t particularly impressive aside from their regeneration… at this rate, defeat was inevitable.

***

“…Veldora. It won’t end.”

Lael, the Woodland Elf ranger of the Nunun Bear Love Guild, fired arrows continuously from the rear while grimacing.

“Thanks to the Moonlight Expedition’s swordsman, we discovered the weakness that nullifies their regeneration… But it doesn’t matter. There are only more monsters now.”

“……”

Veldora bit her lip. Monsters that continued to be summoned no matter how many were killed. A fighting style that resembled Gold Crow’s, who regenerated regardless of how much damage he suffered. If that was the case… then the strategy wouldn’t be much different either.

— Changing strategies from this point onward.

Through the voice-transmission device hanging near her mouth, Veldora addressed every explorer.

— Everyone, focus solely on preventing the Snow Replicas from reaching the Expedition Leader’s location. The wisest way to fight the original Karr was to never think about defeating him in the first place.

If provoked carelessly, he was a cultist who made his attackers suffer in return, like a skunk or porcupine. Avoiding the fight entirely was the best option.

— And Gold Crow. You’re listening, aren’t you?

Standing on tiptoe, Veldora stared toward the far end of the battlefield, hidden by the blizzard.

Lightning crackled. Flames roared.

Karr was locked in a fierce battle against the leader Snow Replica created through the strengthened dungeon, one possessing abilities completely identical to his own.

— We’ll hold them back. Defeat the leader as quickly as possible.

Ordinary monster hordes scattered once their leader disappeared. The Snow Replicas were artificially created, so they likely didn’t behave exactly the same. But at the very least, buying enough time until the Expedition Leader completed his research should be possible.

— Stop enjoying yourself and focus only on defeating it! Please!

Unfortunately… Veldora’s shout never reached him.

Physically, it did.

Mentally, it entered one ear and immediately exited the other.

“Please hurry into my embrace and rest in silence, Lord Snow Karr.”

“Please give up and bury yourself beneath the snowy mountain already, Real Lord Karr.”

They were far too busy with their lovers’ quarrel.

***

Snow Karr was truly a heartless monster.

Why couldn’t he understand my feelings? I merely wanted to preserve only his head and whisper romantic poems filled with love to him until the end of the world.

“I hate you.”

Whoosh!

I swung a spiderweb wrapped in black lightning like a whip. With Agility equal to mine, Snow Karr naturally failed to dodge.

His right arm was severed. It regenerated immediately.

“I hate you just as much for ignoring my sincere feelings.”

Whoosh!

An identical spiderweb wrapped in black lightning came flying toward me.

Naturally… I couldn’t dodge it either.

Slice.

My left shoulder fell off. I quickly picked it up and reattached it, allowing it to heal at once.

“At this rate, this will never end.”

“I completely agree.”

“How about we settle for a draw and reconcile with a kiss?”

[The Wise One finds this a refreshingly novel sight… but far too bizarre.]

Crackle… crackle…

Lord Lidni and Lord Su’eje were headed in the same general direction, though clearly to different degrees.

“Though perhaps this isn’t quite the right place.”

The negotiations collapsed.

Fwoosh!

Snow Karr released flames from his left hand. A blazing wall instantly blocked my vision.

Whoosh!

A spiderweb wrapped in black lightning shot toward me from the left. Just as I prepared to transform the struck area into lightning using [Black Lightning Blossom]… the attack passed right through my body.

An illusion created with [Eye That Whispers Falsehoods].

“Where are you looking?”

A spiderweb flew in from the right and wrapped around my neck.

“That’s merely my illusion.”

Bzzzzzzzt!

Black lightning surged through it, burning my entire body. The web tightened around my neck, strangling me.

Electrocution. Suffocation.

Two different kinds of pain joined together in perfect harmony to assault me.

“Feels wonderful, doesn’t it?”

Snow Karr stepped through the wall of flames while casually waving the web extending from his right hand.

“…Perhaps because you’re also ‘Karr,’ you understand my tastes far too well.”

Being cornered by a monster imitating myself… It was a delicacy one could experience only within a dungeon.

“Try crawling on all fours like a dog. I can also grant you the humiliation of being taken for a walk.”

“That is certainly a tempting proposal.”

Crackle!

Even while we chatted casually, black lightning continued surging through me without pause.

“If you surrender now, I’ll cherish you as my pet Half-Elf.”

“Regrettably… I must decline.”

Had this been an A-rank dungeon or higher, perhaps. But I couldn’t let my life as an explorer end in a place like this. I grabbed Snow Karr’s web with my right hand.

“Instead… I’ll make you into my pet monster.”

I began controlling the black lightning flowing through it using [Black Lightning Blossom].

Children of Lord Sue’je, return to the place where you were born.

“A resisting pet Half-Elf… that’s not bad either!”

He was using [Black Lightning Blossom] as well. The violently surging black lightning suddenly hesitated, wavering back and forth. A fierce tug-of-war over control of the lightning. Our [Black Lightning Blossom] was the same rank. And I was the one being strangled.

Under normal circumstances… that would have been true.

Bzzzt!

The black lightning frantically surged back and forth along the web.

Then…

[No congratulations! – [Black Lightning Blossom] has reached Rank 5!]

At last, the Exalted One’s power advanced another stage.

Rank 5.

A stage where both output and control increased dramatically.

“So this was your goal!”

The black lightning that had wandered aimlessly now obeyed only my will, turning against the very master who had created it.

The first limitation of the leader Snow Replica. Once a Mystery had been copied, it could grow no further.

As black lightning relentlessly electrocuted him, Snow Karr calmly remarked,

“As expected of me.”

“As a reward, shall I comfort you with my lips?”

“Attempts to seduce me are futile. I am a cultist who separates public matters from private matters more thoroughly than anyone.”

Love could wait until after I subdued him and preserved only his head. Maintaining [Black Lightning Blossom] with my right hand, I raised my left.

Fwoooosh!

Brilliant crimson flames burst forth. While still being electrocuted, Snow Karr likewise raised his left hand and released fire.

The traditional anti-fire tactic. Fighting fire with fire.

“Your resistance is meaningless. Though I do happen to enjoy that very tactic myself.”

However, the two flames failed to evenly oppose one another. My fire completely devoured his.

Snow Karr’s second weakness. He couldn’t copy the effects of artifacts.

My [Death · Flame · Transformation] was linked to both [Ember of Glory] and [Hand That Grasped the Ember]. Its firepower existed on an entirely different level.

“…Hahahahaha!”

As his entire body burned, Snow Karr burst into loud laughter.

Apparently activating [Life · Reverse · Cycle], his body repeatedly melted away before regenerating at incredible speed.

“I can’t possibly be the only one who gets to enjoy this stimulation!”

Snow Karr opened his mouth as wide as possible. From within… a long tongue shot toward me.

A Mystery learned from the grimoire obtained in the Library of Sin… [Bewildering Tongue].

Bzzzzzt!

The Exalted One reacted with intense disgust. This was precisely why even the real me avoided using it whenever possible. While I briefly lamented this behavior that had forgotten a cultist’s true duty, the tongue wrapped around my waist.

Whoooooosh!

A chilling wind blew from the tongue.

[Evil Freezing Wind].

He was expelling the accumulated sinister energy within his body through his tongue. It was an impressive application of Mystery.

But… I’d already thought of that method long ago. Naturally, the countermeasure came to mind just as easily.

Click!

With a cheerful mechanical sound, my prosthetic arm transformed.

A mode known as… Rainbow Reflection Mode.

“Is it finally my time to shine?!”

Along with the lively voice of the golem, the palm of the prosthetic began absorbing the [Evil Freezing Wind].

Although my body was already frozen, compared to the comprehensive ice-element suffering package I’d experienced in the Ultimate Frost Battle Emperor Clan’s ruins… this was downright adorable.

“……”

Watching the prosthetic function, Snow Karr gazed at it meaningfully. I understood exactly what that look meant. There was no way I couldn’t.

Even though he could continue resisting, he intended to abandon the fight here, defying the blizzard’s will.

“You launched your ultimate desperate attack, only to have it cleanly countered before suffering total defeat. That’s the highest form of adversity… one not easily abandoned.”

“…Hah… hah…”

To suffer crushing defeat and then be cryogenically preserved by your enemy… How enviable.

Understanding Snow Karr’s feelings perfectly, I absorbed as much freezing wind as possible before extending my left hand.

“Now… please enter cold storage.”

Shhhhhhhhhh—!

The absorbed [Evil Freezing Wind] erupted forth with amplified power. Snow Karr didn’t even attempt to dodge. He merely spread both arms wide.

Then… he gave me a thumbs-up.

“I feel somewhat sorry for the blizzard. But perhaps becoming a pet monster isn’t such a bad fate after all.”

I wholeheartedly agreed.

Whoooooosh!

The blizzard raged as if trying to stop us. But it was already too late.

“Hahahahaha!”

Laughing with all my might, Snow Karr was engulfed by the freezing wind and froze solid.

The leader had been subdued.

— Half-Elf….

Suddenly, the emotionless voice of the blizzard emerged from the mouths of every ordinary Snow Karr.

— The blizzard hates the Half-Elf even more now!

Voices echoed from every direction, openly expressing their hatred toward me. Now, they contained unmistakable anger.

— The leader’s foolishness is regrettable. But the blizzard has another measure prepared.

Rumbleeeeeee!!

An unbelievably enormous Snow Replica rose from the middle of the snowy field. It took the form of a gigantic penguin. The Ultimate Frost Battle Emperor Clan… the very beings who had created the blizzard that induced delirium.

[Giant Snow Replica (Level 6)]

[A Snow Replica imitating the Ultimate Frost Battle Emperor Clan. It is the new leader. Its enormous size alone makes it extremely dangerous, so be careful!]

‘…A second dungeon enhancement?’

Brand-new content.

— This… is the blizzard’s true trump card.

The colossal Snow Replica, large enough to overlook the ruins, began walking forward with thunderous footsteps.

— The snowy mountain shall become the Half-Elf’s grave.

It’s sheer size and overwhelming presence. A creature that enormous would itself be a natural disaster simply by walking.

I merely nodded and created a Falsethy.

“Master, you called?”

“Go tell Lady Veldora.”

It was undoubtedly powerful. But the blizzard had poured everything into creating that single being. If we stopped it, that would be enough.

“Simply endure. Buy as much time as possible.”

“So you’re going to solve it while we hold out?”