abcnovels
Chapter 66
Chapter 66
Chapter 66
[Translator – Prøks]
[Proofreader – Prøks]
Chapter 66: The Gambling Board (3)
5.
“It’s a deal. We’ll be the bait.”
The moment El Pam uttered those words, the adventurers began to rapidly weigh their options.
And they could quickly anticipate what El Pam would say next.
“In return, we’ll receive five unique items.”
Therefore, when those words came out, Hassan and the other adventurers who heard El Pam’s proposal weren’t surprised.
Far from being surprised, their eyes turned cold.
They knew.
“You’re talking nonsense.”
El Pam’s words weren’t worth considering, let alone listening to.
It was obvious.
Hassan had said earlier,
“I told you earlier how many people we need.”
He said they needed at least ten people.
Not just any ten people, but ten people who had undergone sufficient training.
They had even internally agreed to recruit more adventurers if necessary.
“And you’re saying just five of you will be the bait?”
It was impossible for El Pam’s party to do that.
“Most of you are only 3rd Circle?”
In everyone’s eyes, El Pam’s party was the weakest among those who entered this Mystic Gate.
Normally, they wouldn’t have been able to enter at all.
There was only one reason why they could enter.
“Are you getting cocky because of Jack Richie’s legacy?”
El Pam’s party possessed extraordinary items.
But utilizing them effectively was a different matter.
In any case, the adventurers’ opinions were clear.
They didn’t want to entrust their lives to El Pam’s party.
Especially not by giving them a unique item as a reward!
El Pam responded to their opinions,
“You’re thinking too complicatedly.”
“Complicated?”
“We become the bait and distract Head Hector. If we succeed? Everyone can escape through the exit. If we fail, you can retrieve the items from our corpses.”
At that proposal, Hassan and the others changed their expressions.
They began to weigh the options they had previously dismissed as absurd.
Around that time, El Pam looked at Divo.
Divo tilted his head at the gaze.
With an expression that asked, “Why are you looking at me?”
But the others were different.
The moment Hassan and the other adventurers followed El Pam’s gaze to Divo, they immediately understood.
‘Jack Richie’s legacy!’
They understood the meaning behind El Pam’s words about item retrieval.
At that moment, there was no more weighing of options.
“Can you really do it?”
They asked the question, and El Pam answered,
“As I said, whether we can do it or not isn’t important. If we fail, you can draw lots then. Again, our party isn’t interested in the lottery. If each party gives us one unique item, we’ll gladly become the bait. And we’ll choose those unique items.”
The reactions changed at those words.
Just giving a unique item meant they could give any suitable one.
But choosing?
“Are you kidding me?”
It was unacceptable.
“We’re not asking for anything excessive. Strengthening our party’s power is crucial for this bait operation. In other words, we’ll only accept items that we can actually use. My comrades are 3rd Circle Awakened.”
But everyone was convinced by the following explanation.
“We’ll exclude unique items with skills above 4th Circle from our choices. We don’t have a thief in our party, so we’ll also exclude thief items.”
The stronger their power, the higher the success rate of the bait.
In that situation, El Pam delivered the final blow.
“Again, we’re not taking them away. You can retrieve them if we fail.”
6.
At El Pam’s proposal, Hassan and the other survivors on the 3rd floor began to discuss among themselves.
El Pam’s party did the same.
“Boss! How can you suddenly come out like this? Huh?”
El Pam’s proposal was unexpected.
Naturally, Divo complained.
“Suddenly we’re the bait? Does that make any sense?”
“It’s too dangerous.”
Kiri sided with the complaint.
“Yeah, it’s too dangerous. We don’t even know the situation properly yet, right?”
Minerv agreed as well.
“That’s right. It’s very dangerous.”
Even Ralph stepped forward.
The remaining three comrades were surprised by that fact.
‘Him?’
Ralph, who would usually be happy about El Pam’s bargain, was acting like this?
“Even if we got 5 unique items and an additional 1 million mesos per person, it would have been a good deal. We could have earned at least 200 million mesos.”
Of course, the three weren’t surprised anymore by the following words.
Anyway, their complaints were valid.
They didn’t know the current situation, what kind of guy Head Hector was, or how many Hectors there were.
Of course, they understood El Pam’s intention.
“If we get unique items and strengthen our power, the situation will change.”
The reason El Pam demanded unique items.
The opportunity to properly strengthen their power didn’t come easily.
“But isn’t this a situation where we need to strengthen our power?”
However, interpreting it differently, it meant that even El Pam thought it was impossible with their current power.
It meant it wouldn’t be easy!
At Divo’s cry, El Pam spoke clearly.
“That’s right, it’s not easy.”
At those words, the expressions of the remaining four hardened.
El Pam had always shown them confidence.
‘The boss is like this?’
The confidence that if they trusted him, he would give them the answer.
‘Is it really that difficult?’
This was the first time he emphasized the difficulty to this extent.
“It’s a life-or-death situation. But we have to do it. If we’re chosen in the lottery, we’ll have to go out without any power-ups.”
And at those words, everyone realized.
‘This is it.’
The reason why El Pam made the proposal.
‘It’s better to secure items and strengthen our power.’
El Pam had chosen to increase their chances of survival, even if only slightly, rather than rely on the luck of not being chosen in the lottery.
Around that time.
“El Pam.”
Hassan spoke to El Pam on behalf of the remaining adventurers.
“Let’s make a deal. Choose your unique items.”
7.
The situation progressed quickly.
First, choosing the items was done quickly.
They didn’t have to choose expensive items, but items that could immediately strengthen their power.
“Five confirmed.”
Two items for Kiri, two items for Ralph, one item for Minerv, a total of five items were chosen.
It was a huge deal.
This meant that El Pam’s party had become a party where everyone owned at least two unique items.
Of course, it wasn’t free.
Far from it, the moment the item handover was completed, Hassan spoke with colder eyes than ever.
“Lure Head Hector at least 1 kilometer away from the exit. We won’t move until then.”
It was a warning.
A warning to faithfully fulfill their role as living bait.
Leaving that warning behind, Hassan’s party and the other adventurers retreated.
Quickly.
When only El Pam’s party remained after the adventurers disappeared, Divo spoke up.
“Wow, they disappear like ghosts, like ghosts. Looks like they don’t want to die.”
Divo was smiling as he spoke.
“Let’s do this properly.”
It was a forced smile.
“It won’t be easy, though.”
A smile despite knowing the worst-case scenario.
It wasn’t just Divo.
None of the others were frowning or making stiff expressions. Everyone was smiling.
“Well, was it ever easy?”
“Come on, it’s fine. When I used to do this, there were even worse situations. Stop whining.”
“We got what we deserved. Danger comes with mesos.”
Everyone smiled with determination.
“Boss, say something too. Something cool.”
El Pam said to them,
“It’ll be easy.”
“Yes, of course. It’ll be easy. Ea… what?”
Divo asked in surprise at those words.
“What, what did you say?”
“It won’t be difficult.”
“Ah, no, what are you talking about? Just a moment ago, you said it would be very difficult, not easy?”
El Pam replied to the question,
“That was a lie.”
He said that saying it wouldn’t be easy was an act.
“With the other adventurers listening, if I said it was easy, there’s no way they would agree to the deal.”
Hearing the reason, all the comrades stared at El Pam with blank expressions.
That’s when,
“Come on, it’s fine.”
Minerv chuckled and said,
“You don’t have to say things like that. Don’t feel pressured. Do you think we’d be scared of something like this?”
She seemed to think El Pam said those words on purpose to encourage them.
And that was a reasonable thought.
No matter how they thought about it, luring the thousands of Hectors and their leader, Head Hector, wasn’t an easy task.
But El Pam was different.
“We’re going to create a route. And we’ll place pouches filled with Hector’s blood on that route.”
He told them his plan.
“Then, from 2 kilometers away, I’ll shoot Apollo’s Fire arrows at Head Hector. One in the right eye, one in the left eye.”
“He’ll be filled with rage. Then, Minerv will attack and burst the blood pouches placed on each route in sequence. The smell of blood will make Head Hector and the Hector pack move. Naturally, we can lead them in the direction we want.”
When they heard the plan, the members of El Pam’s party could immediately picture it in their minds, and the moment that picture formed, they couldn’t think of it as difficult anymore.
Because with El Pam, it was possible.
His Apollo’s Fire arrows could inflict significant damage on Head Hector, and he could accurately hit both eyes from that distance.
“The pack’s purpose is to protect the king. The moment the king is attacked, their behavior pattern becomes very simple. You can be sure of it. They can’t help but instinctively react to the smell of their comrade’s blood.”
Also, using the smell of blood, they could lure the Hector pack and Head Hector.
“Wow.”
Divo exclaimed in admiration.
“As expected of the boss!”
As a result, El Pam gained five unique items from this easy task.
“Amazing!”
Of course, the most joyful thing was that they didn’t have to risk their lives.
As always, for adventurers, their own lives were more important than any item.
“As the boss said, it won’t be difficult if it goes like this.”
Naturally, everyone’s faces relaxed and smiles appeared.
“Escaping won’t be difficult.”
“Of course.”
“The problem is what comes next.”
“Huh? Problem? Is there a problem?”
El Pam said to them,
“After everyone escapes, we’ll stay behind and hunt Head Hector.”
Far from escaping together, they were going to hunt that absurd boss monster.
“What? No, why?”
Divo was startled by those words.
Enraging and luring was completely different from fighting. It was like the difference between playing with a child and fighting a beast barehanded.
It was a completely different thing, incomparable.
Moreover, hunting Head Hector meant inevitably hunting the thousands of Hectors in the pack!
It was dangerous.
No matter how skilled El Pam was, it was dangerous.
El Pam knew it too.
“Yes, it’s not easy.”
“Why do we have to do it?”
The reason El Pam wanted to do this difficult task was simple.
“Because the Gamble is still valid.”
[Translator – Prøks]
[Proofreader – Prøks]