Trapped in a Game That Flopped

Chapter 138

Episode 138

Adam muttered, his blue eyes staring sharply, precisely in the direction I was hiding.

"A rumor has been going around that there are dungeons where the boss monster has disappeared... Was this the reason."

"..."

"The Boss Hunter."

My jaw dropped at the words he added.

'I've already earned a nickname like that?!'

I moved as stealthily as I possibly could.

It seemed that because of the time until respawn, some people had noticed the absence of the boss mobs.

It was then.

As Adam was crouching down to check the liquid his party members were covered in, a single potion bottle floated up into the air behind him.

'No!'

I looked in that direction and shook my head desperately.

But that bastard Elaine, why was he so focused on something I hadn't even told him to do.

He acted on his own, not seeing my signal.

Plop!

With a light sound, and before I had time to think 'oh no,' the liquid inside the bottle poured down onto Adam's platinum-blond hair.

Covered in the dripping, milky liquid, he briefly closed his eyes.

Of course, he obviously did not fall asleep.

Because, a few seconds later.

In the blink of an eye, he drew his sword and swung it behind him like a flash of lightning.

Swoosh!

With a brutal sound, the form of the sword he swung cut through the empty air.

"Gr...!"

'Green Mask!'

Forgetting I was hiding, I barely managed to stop myself from calling out to Elaine.

For a moment, my heart sank at the thought that he might have been cut by Adam's sword.

Fortunately, the realization that he was in an invisible state quickly returned.

While Belisser's Eye is active, the caster exists, yet does not exist.

In other words, it means that even if a physical attack is dealt, it's useless.

Even so, it was undoubtedly a moment that could have been dangerous if things had gone slightly wrong.

'I haven't even crossed the threshold of the final chapter, and he's going to die at the hands of a fellow main character...!'

While I was calming my pounding heart.

Adam roughly shook off the potion trickling down his hair and muttered.

"It seems you can use magic."

Fortunately, he didn't seem to have noticed Elaine's presence yet.

However, seeing him perfectly fine even after being hit by the sleep potion, I became extremely anxious.

'Agh... Why the hell did we overlap!'

I heard he was assigned to the Ogre Dungeon, which is the highest grade, but I never expected he would have already cleared it and be roaming other people's dungeons.

Of course, he was also aiming for victory in the tournament, so it was only natural, but...

'Why the Siren dungeon of all places!'

According to the information Elaine brought, the Siren dungeon was supposedly assigned heroes who were unremarkable for its difficulty.

I naturally assumed Adam would target a dungeon with despicable participants who use foul play, rather than a place like this.

Because wasn't Adam called the upright and pure knight, the 'White Sword God'?

'Upright and pure, my ass, he's just a despicable old fart who targets other people's dungeons!'

Of course, Elaine and I were in the same boat.

I, who had firmly believed in the character's personality, was once again betrayed by this damn game.

'Ha... no wonder there were so many of them.'

Why didn't I feel a sense of unease even after seeing six party members.

I bit my lip, blaming myself for the mistake.

While secretly participating in the tournament with the 'only wreck the boss mob' strategy, the person I wanted to encounter the least was Adam.

He was a hero strong enough to take first place, and there was also the reason that he was Kassel's lackey, but...

The biggest reason was that the sleep potion wouldn't work on that bastard.

"I searched for a tight-lipped apothecary in order to take it myself; how could I not know."

Previously, in the 'Hailey Quest,' he had seemed knowledgeable about sleep potions.

It was likely unavoidable.

Because there was no way that he, being so thorough, would carelessly allow a potion to be used on his only younger sister.

He would have taken it himself for a long time to understand its effects and side effects, and that means...

'Resistance.'

Because there was a high possibility he had developed some resistance to the sleep potion.

Swoosh!

It was then.

Adam, who had been emitting a sharp gaze as if chasing the traces of the invisible Elaine, still holding his sword aloft, suddenly sheathed his sword.

"Well, it probably doesn't matter. You won't be able to hunt the boss in this dungeon, at least."

Then, he gave up on finding Elaine and started walking toward the cave where I was hiding.

'That bastard, he plans to catch the boss first.'

Now that I understood his intention, there was no choice.

I felt sorry for the bastard, but the boss was mine.

"Stun."

I opened my mouth and chanted the skill, as if whispering.

Lv.999 Stun skill has been activated.

Bzz, bzzt!

Adam's steps stopped. Immediately, blue sparks wrapped around his entire body.

Watching it from behind the rock wall, I felt a glimmer of guilt.

'Sorry. Just be a good boy and stay stunned while I catch the boss.'

However.

Bzzzzzt...

Even after all the blue electric currents arcing from his body disappeared, Adam was not stunned.

"It's certain you're a magic caster."

Far from being stunned, he moved his limbs perfectly fine and resumed his stopped steps.

Seeing the bastard walking steadily toward me, I couldn't hide my astonishment.

'Crazy, how is this possible?!'

While I was so flustered that I couldn't even think of running away, just stuttering 'ub-ub-ub'.

Suddenly, that bastard took something out from his breast.

'Pshhhk,' that item, letting off steam and burning black, was something I knew well.

S-Grade Defense Artifact

'Arming yourself with OP items... You despicable bastard!'

It seems he was able to be fine even from my stun attack because of that.

"Tsk. It seems this can't be used anymore."

As if it wasn't a waste at all, Adam tossed the burnt-out artifact aside indifferently.

Fwoosh...

It, which had blocked my attack and burned black, crumbled like powder and vanished as soon as it hit the ground.

"Skill enough to destroy an S-Grade magic tool."

"..."

"Stop hiding and come out. Let's fight fair and square to decide who takes the dungeon."

That bastard drew the sword he had sheathed again and spouted nonsense.

Unless I was crazy, there was no way I would listen to that, jump out, say 'I'm an illegal participant!' and fight that bastard.

Thud, thud.

At the noticeably closer distance, I hurriedly took the miniaturization potion out of my pocket.

Even though he clearly had his ears plugged to avoid the Sirens' voices, that bastard seemed to be using some incredible energy control to sense my presence.

Right now, the only way to hide from that bastard was miniaturization.

But this wasn't a perfect solution either.

Because, in any case, I had to clear this Siren dungeon to complete my goal for achieving the rank.

'What do I do now? Hit him with stun again?

Or just run?'

I quickly racked my brain to think of other dungeons, but no suitable place came to mind.

Of course, there was also the method of going to about four more mid-to-high-grade dungeons, just as I had been doing.

However, according to Adam, rumors of a 'Boss Hunter' were already circulating.

It didn't seem to be known that it was Elaine yet, but if the tail is long, it's only a matter of time before it's stepped on.

But then again, if I hit him with stun again, there was no knowing how many more artifacts that bastard had...

'Time keeps flowing... I can't just keep dealing with this bastard forever.'

It was time to make a decision.

But before I could even do that, a murderous aura washed over my head.

Slice!

"Ugh!"

I, who had ducked my head to avoid the blade flying in by a hair's breadth, freaked out seeing the sword lodged 'Thunk!' right above the crown of my head.

Flutter...

The hem of the robe's hood, cut instead of my head, fluttered and fell.

Even though it wasn't Lumiekar, to think it could cut through the NPC-exclusive shabby robe, which had defense comparable to S-Grade.

As expected, that bastard was indeed armed with broken items.

"So you were here."

A cold voice dropped down along the blade stuck near my head.

I opened my tightly shut eyes and raised my head.

Unlike the sword, which was stuck diagonally in the corner, Adam's figure was hidden by the bent rock wall and couldn't be seen.

That bastard probably hadn't been able to confirm me with his own two eyes either.

But being this close, finding each other was only a matter of time.

Crunch!

As proof, that bastard began to twist and pull out the sword stuck in the rock wall.

"Stop hiding like a coward and come ou..."

The moment that bastard was about to turn the corner and find me.

I ended up downing the miniaturization potion.

Poof!

With a small explosion, black smoke shot up from my body.

However, Adam, befitting Kassel's number one lackey, didn't miss that fleeting moment and seemed to have caught a glimpse of me.

"The Princess of Solenia...?"

Adam, who had been muttering the stunning title with a somewhat blank expression, suddenly stiffened.

It was probably because of my figure, which had suddenly vanished as if I'd sunk into the ground.

In reality, I had 'sunk to the ground' and was plastered against the rough rock, looking up at the now-giant Adam-bastard.

As if he couldn't have dreamed I'd become tiny, that bastard was looking around with sharply honed eyes.

It was probably harder for him to notice right away because his ears were plugged.

Seizing that opening, I hurriedly turned around and ran toward the cave entrance.

But dammit, because my body was small, the short distance felt leagues away.

'Pant, pant! Fuck, I'm going to get caught at this rate!'

No matter how thumb-sized I'd become, humans are bound to be sensitive to worm-like things squirming and moving.

Besides, was that Adam-bastard any ordinary human.

He was a broken character, to the extent that he could detect a hidden presence and swing his sword.

It was when I was desperately running, pouring out sweat disguised as tears.

"Uuht!"

Vwoom.

Suddenly, the ground beneath my feet felt empty, and my body was lifted, dangling, into the air.

When I came to my senses, I was suddenly flying through the air, placed on top of something invisible.

I could immediately tell what was going on.

"You thon of a bitch! Why're you doing thome'ing I didn't even athk you to do!"

I fumed, kicking wildly at the floor, which I presumed to be Elaine's hand.

I cursed, but moving via Elaine, reaching the cave entrance was instantaneous.

Just then, something with an acrid scent was pushed next to me.

It was an onion, as big as my body.

30 minutes. Failure. Cave. Run.

Seeing the squiggly handwriting written on it, I was dumbfounded.

'What. 30 minutes have already passed, so we have to run away quickly?'

I wondered what the hell he was doing, showing up only now, and it seems he was carving this crap into an onion.

That bastard seemed to think that after the full two hours passed and the Sirens woke up, something terrible would happen.

But something like that wasn't a problem at all.

'If it comes down to it, I can just kill them all.'

Besides, one hour and 30 minutes was more than enough time to catch the boss mob.

The time it would take was 10 minutes at most.

"Using petty tricks again. It's useless. Either reveal your identity and fight fair and square."

"..."

"Or surrender, even now."

If only that machine-like bastard, who was relentlessly chasing me, walking steadily toward the entrance, wasn't here.

"Hey, take your earplugth out."

I said to Elaine, mimicking the action of taking out earplugs.

As if he understood, he lightly tapped my head twice.

It was a signal that he had done as I'd ordered.

"Throw me toward that bathtard. And put your earplugth back in."

I muttered quickly, pointing toward Adam.

As if he didn't understand my words right away, Elaine just hesitated.

"Hurry! I thaid throw me!"

In the end, after I threw a fit, roughly kicking away the onion slice that only had annoying words written on it, the scruff of my neck was finally lifted carefully.

"Aim prethithely for that bathtard'th head! On the count of three..."

As I dangled in mid-air, giving specific directions, Elaine faithfully carried out those words.

Except he didn't even give me time to count to three.

Swoosh!

Without even a moment to prepare myself, I was shot toward Adam like a rocket.

'Aargh! You son of a bitch...!'

I desperately held back a scream and ground my teeth at Elaine.

Whoosh, whoosh, the surrounding scenery blurred past at a tremendous speed.

Finally, the bright platinum-blond hair was right in front of my nose.

"Hm?"

Adam flinched, as if he felt something flying over his head, but he didn't look up to check.

He probably thought it was a common bug.

For me, it was a huge relief.

Because I was planning to grab that bastard by the hair.

I spread all ten of my fingers wide and, not missing the soft platinum-blond hair flashing past, grabbed on with all my might.

"Uht! What...!"

At the feeling of his hair suddenly being pulled, a groan escaped for the first time from that bastard's mouth, which had been as stoic as an NPC's.

Whoosh!

I immediately avoided the giant hand swinging at me and quickly jumped down to the nape of that bastard's neck.

Whack.

Because of that, Adam ended up smacking his own head with his own hand.

"Hehe."

A laugh burst out on its own from the satisfaction.

As if he'd realized it wasn't a bug, a chilling killing intent radiated from Adam's body.

"Hiding and launching pitiful, prank-like attacks. You coward."

He spat out in a cold voice.

My conscience pricked me, but right now, I had no choice but to hear such things.

Because I, too, was not in a position to be picky.

I quickly ran toward that bastard's ear.

Earplugs made from S-Grade Cork

Seeing that even his earplugs were coated in broken-item-goodness, I felt a twist of jealousy.

Plop!

I grabbed it, which was stuck in firmly, and shouted as I pulled it out with all my strength.

"The botth ith mine!"

In a miniaturized state, just as the body shrank, so did the attack power.

It was a type of penalty.

Because of that, even if I used a skill now, it would be difficult to catch Adam or the monsters.

However.

"Tthun."

It would be enough to wake up the sleeping Sirens.