I crossed the portal that had opened next to the Troll statue and entered a new space. It didn't take me long to confirm where I was.
The cold air moved under my feet. The ice walls refracted light as if they were made of transparent glass.
...It's the Glacier Cave.
This was where I met Mr. Bear and killed Jencia, the Noark player. That being said, it's not like I was nostalgic for this place. I had already felt all those emotions when I went in earlier to kill Tyrant Tarunbas.
Anyway, that means this is a crack in the first floor...
Thanks to that, I had another proof of support. Just like entering the Bloody Citadel, the hidden chief Duke Cambormere could appear with a very low probability, that meant that some other cracks also had hidden chiefs. The Guardian Troll who was here to defeat was another such case.
«I'll think about it after I see it», I murmured to myself.
After organizing my thoughts at the entrance, I advanced through the tunnel, and soon, the narrow hallway expanded into a huge area, although for now, I couldn't see the Troll.
As I thought... the boss room is different too.
I took a brief look at the area before the boss showed up. In Cambormere's case, instead of a Death Knight, there was a coffin in the Bloody Citadel. There was also something different about this space.
The three orc brothers encased in ice pillars acted as appetizers before the real chief appeared, but they were not here, nor was Tyrant Tarunbas's portal. And there was another key difference.
What happened here?
The frozen room was full of corpses.
The bodies were crushed and the limbs amputated to the point that it was difficult to see what they had originally looked like, and each was stacked on top of the others like a mountain.
What was not difficult to see, however, was that these were imperial soldiers. It was thanks to the blood-stained symbol on the flag, the insignia I had seen in Doppelganger Forest and in the cave where I fought Captain White Dreadfear.
It seems that the imperial army was everywhere.
I suppose that, compared to a country on Earth, they would be like England.
In any case, the space was not only filled with imperial corpses, but also with monster remains. Ice Orcs, Frost Wolves, Yetis, and so on. Along with the monsters that appeared naturally in the Glacier Cave, there were also some other entities.
Do you say that Tarunbas...?
I could even see the corpse of the original Glacier Cave Guardian, Tyrant Tarunbas, but I couldn't see the club he used to carry.
That? Where does that crunch come from?
It didn't take me long to see where the disturbing noise had originated.
Crujido, crujido.
The much larger mountain of corpses that was situated in the center of this space trembled. Listening closer, I also heard something else.
Trago.
Now, I heard something swallowing. It happened when I curiously approached the pile.
«¡Graaaaa!»
Something covered by the mountain of corpses roared as he stood up.
He was easily more than four meters tall and horribly large canines protruded from his mouth. Excluding the fact that it was much larger than an ordinary Troll, it had most of the same features.
Well, also except for the fact that his skin is black...
I was a modern K-Barbarian who would have been called a racist if I talked about something related to skin color. Therefore, my attention was focused on something else.
He's holding the club.
As he held a corpse in one hand and ate it as a snack, his other hand was on the club, the same one that Tyrant Tarunbas would have originally carried. By the way, the club also had a designated name.
No. 9712, Snowfield Club.
As it was an item numbered with a very high number, the weapon had the simple effect of dealing cold damage in addition to its normal damage.
¡Boom!
After swallowing the «appetizer» in one gulp, he walked towards me menacingly. Still, I tried to start a conversation calmly.
«I am Bjorn, son of Yandel».
¡Bum!
As I spoke to him letting him know my peaceful intentions, the Troll stopped walking, then looked at me and tilted his head.
«¿Grrk...?»
Would you be able to talk to this one too?
That hope was shattered a second later.
«¡Graaaaak!»
Although he had only said my name, the Troll let out a monstrous roar and began to charge at me.
As expectant as I was, my disappointment was also immeasurable. I sighed. So I couldn't talk to this one. Watching him eat the corpses limb by limb, a part of me was waiting for this result.
Well, it was still too early to give up.
¡Vwoong!
I quickly dodged the club and tried to speak to him again, this time in the ancient language, just in case.
«(Calm down. I don't want to fight with you. My name is Bjorn, son of-)»
«¡Graaaaak!»
Damn, that didn't work either? I didn't have much left now...
«¡Graaaaak!»
My next move was to try to talk to him imitating what he was saying, but nothing worked.
In the end, I used the last trick I had. If Rafdonian, the ancestral language, did not work, or the word returned to it, there was only one thing left: talking to our bodies.
"Bam!
I hit his chin with my hammer as he charged at me.
Many people in the modern world had trouble controlling anger. As with them, if he showed a clear power difference between him and me, perhaps he would regain his sanity.
But it seems that didn't work either.
Although I hadn't used Swing because I was worried it would die in one hit, the Troll only got angrier and charged at me more fiercely. It was similar to the behavior of normal monsters who acted aggressively until their life force faded.
Alright, then I'll give up trying to talk to him now.
After concluding that my primary mission would be impossible to achieve, I focused on my secondary mission of gathering information about this thing.
¡Vwoong!
The wielding club created shock waves as it passed through the air. As he did so, his weapon did not begin to glow nor did it produce any special effects. However, even with that... No, thanks to that, I was at least able to recognize what I was doing.
…¿Es Swing?
A Troll was wearing Swing. It was quite surprising, but I stayed calm and focused on deducing the reason.
An elite boss...
The Glacier Cave Troll was an elite boss. That's why he could use the essence of another creature. Just like Vampire Cambormere could use Nightplar's Shared Pain, this guy could use the ogre's ability.
Of course, that wasn't the important part.
...Wow, so it does exist.
It was something he had been curious about for a long time. The strength of an ogre with the regeneration of a Troll: if a monster had both qualities, what would it be like? Now, the realization of such an imaginary monster was before me.
However, it is not that impressive.
Maybe it would have been different if it was a Troll Essence Ogre, but an Ogre Essence Troll was more boring than I expected.
Hmm, or maybe I had gotten too strong. Honestly, if I had faced this guy instead of Cambormere as my first crack, Bjorn Yandel's story would have ended that day.
So let's check it out.
I kept hurting him and watched the Troll fight. I thought I needed to get as much information as possible to make it easier for those who came after me. Of course, even doing that, the battle ended quite quickly. I guess it only lasted thirty minutes. Except for the fact that the Troll's cooldowns disappeared when the cave darkened at the end, there was nothing to distrust about this Troll.
[You have defeated the corrupt beast Kurdui.]
[Bonus for defeat of Elite Chief. EXP +1]
[Guardian defeat bonus. EXP +3]
As I crushed the Troll's head with my hammer, the portal opened, and I ignored the rainbow essence that fell once again as I left the area.
***
After defeating the Troll, I went to defeat all the rank 5 monsters among the unconfirmed monsters, but I didn't get any extraordinary gains.
Duke Cambormere was the only one I could talk to.
There must be a reason for it. Surely...
But no matter how much I thought about it, I couldn't even come up with a decent theory.
Why was he able to talk to that old man?
What was the difference between him and the other unconfirmed Guardians?
Was it just luck?
There was no way to know, but I decided to put the mystery aside for the moment and focused on removing the statues.
I cleared the White Temple, the third floor crack, which I had been putting off until now. It was strange, but the Knight of the End of the White Temple didn't say anything he would say in the game and just charged me. The same thing happened with the crack on the fourth floor, which I challenged after borrowing equipment that might be useful to her.
«You... are also here... to kill me...?».
The Doppelganger should have said something like that, but he didn't say a word either and just started fighting me like any boss would.
That, and that the structure of the battle against the boss was completely different. He was curious how he would have to get around the trick of having to attack him from both inside and outside while the Doppelganger took the form of a team member.
And how... is this supposed to be cleared up?
The Doppelganger immediately transformed into me to fight, and even used Self-Replication to gain numerical advantage over me. However, the situation was not so desperate. After all, the Doppelganger couldn't copy numbered objects.
Aegis Wall.
El Demonio Kraul's Crusher.
In addition to these two basic items, he had the Wilderness Outlaw, which countered humanoid monsters, and many other pieces of equipment that he had borrowed before coming here.
After using everything to the fullest, I was able to defeat the Doppelganger. It took me about seven hours.
[Has defeated a un Doppelganger.]
[Guardian defeat bonus. EXP +3]
The seal of the Doppelganger, which was originally to be kept tightly closed, broke from the beginning and, in that state, had seen its Crystallization pattern more than thirteen times. However, since I had my entire team, no attack fell on me no matter how many there were, so I was able to eliminate the boss.
Damn... I thought I was going to die.
After going out again and informing everyone about the battle process with the Doppelganger, everyone was speechless when they found out that he had fought for seven hours straight. It seemed that my desperate battle had left its mark, since, luckily, no one came to say that I would challenge the boss. On the contrary, they were impressed and speechless.
«The essence of the Doppelganger... It's tempting, but I'll have to give it up».
«It's not a monster you can defeat alone».
«Honestly, I'm surprised that it's possible to defeat the Fourth Floor Rift Guardian alone».
«But... Does it seem that this time you have not eaten the essence either, Your Honor?»
True, that last question was something I had thought about too. The Doppelganger essence was highly valued. It was useful regardless of the person's class.
But I need the slots.
It's not that I would be much stronger if there were two like me, and it's not that numbered objects could be copied when I used a cloning ability. Also, Self-Replication needed an essence like Amelia's Dual Control to get some kind of synergy, so I gave it up.
I don't know what I might find, so I need to keep at least one slot open.
In any case, after the battle with the Doppelganger, I spent the entire day lazing around and resting. I watched the expedition group as they did so, and things had taken a pretty interesting turn.
«Oh! You're back! That's a relief!»
«P-priest! Please look at this wound!»
Adventurers who chose to passionately challenge each other entered and exited the portals at all hours, while knights, wizards, and priests took a step back to spend their time doing their own things. They didn't need experience or essence. Still, the magicians, who focused more on the scholarly side of things, were also quite interested in our situation.
«Lord Baron, are you going to challenge the Golden Ruins tomorrow?»
«Sí, use haré».
«I'm curious... What will the Golden Ruins be like? And what is beyond that closed door?»
The magicians' main concern was to wait for my next actions. They didn't seem to care about the stone statues that had already been cleared.
[You have defeated the Golden Fang Kalpion.]
[Guardian defeat bonus. EXP +3]
And so, after resting all day, I braved the crevice of the fourth floor, the Golden Ruins, just as I had planned after breakfast, and returned after about three hours. However, it was not as desperate a situation as the Doppelganger. It was just the fate of a tank.
Hah... I wish I had an attacking ability.
Oscillating and demonic crusher. Since I at least had those two, I was able to defeat him in the end, but ripping Kalpion's scales off one by one definitely took me a long time. Furthermore, since he was not a humanoid monster, Desert Outlaw was unable to help me.
...Still, I could only kill him because I'm a tank.
Honestly, it was quite common in role-playing games. If a well-created tank had good matchmaking, it could defeat bosses alone that other classes couldn't. That, of course, assuming there was no time limit.
So, excluding the unconfirmed Guardians, only the statues on the fifth floor remain...
When my gaze turned to the Guardians on the fifth floor, everyone's attention also fell on me. Most of them looked at me expectantly, but the eyes of the Anabada Clan members were more nervous.
«We are sure... that there are two portals that open through the cracks of the fifth floor, right?».
«That's right. I wonder who Baron Yandel will take with him to the crack».
I took a look around. Amelia had a neutral expression as Erwen looked at me expectantly.
Do you think we're going on a picnic or something?
Missha seemed quite nervous, and Ainar avoided eye contact with me as soon as I looked at her. For some reason, she seemed even less motivated today.
But hey, I had already decided who I was going to take. I walked past everyone else and came across a person. «Raven Hall.»
«...Sorry?»
It seemed like I had never expected to be elected, but I didn't need to say much.
«I need you.»
This was the essence of a fifth floor Guardian. Of course I needed to take it in a magic vial.