The Last Adventurer

Chapter 104: The Phantom Thief (1)

1.

“Proceed as planned.”

When El Pam announced his intention to hunt the Pharaoh Snake with only his party, Pir did not object.

“We’ll do the same.”

Instead, they prepared.

“Prepare for the possibility that El Pam’s party fails.”

It was more rational and wise to consider El Pam’s potential failure than to try and persuade him otherwise.

In other words, Pir was certain.

‘There’s no way they’ll succeed.’

The probability of El Pam’s party capturing the Pharaoh Snake alone was close to zero.

The reason he didn’t stop them, didn’t try to persuade them, was simple.

‘But El Pam’s party would never do anything reckless.’

The greatest ability of El Pam’s party was not anything else but survival.

So Pir was sure that El Pam would not take an extreme, all-or-nothing approach, but rather one that would allow them to try again later.

‘The opportunity will come.’

Above all, the situation was definitely not bad.

‘There are no monsters.’

Now that the Pharaoh Snake’s mummies had been dealt with, surely another chance would come.

Of course, he didn’t take the situation lightly.

He prepared thoroughly.

To be able to respond quickly if El Pam’s party failed, Pir himself, and no one else, observed the situation from the closest possible vantage point.

‘Good heavens.’

Thanks to this, Pir was able to witness it.

‘They’re actually doing it?’

El Pam’s party was hunting the Pharaoh Snake with surprising ease.

In fact, there was nothing special about the method itself.

The warrior drew the monster’s aggro from the front, the ranged dealer attacked, and the healer supported the warriors. It was a textbook strategy, nothing special at all.

Moreover, El Pam’s party wasn’t using any special skills.

That’s why Pir was even more surprised.

‘This perfectly?’

It was proof that El Pam’s party’s fundamentals were on a different level, a different dimension, from other adventurers.

‘They weren’t this good last time?’

Crucially, the level of El Pam’s party that Pir remembered was nowhere near this high.

Except for El Pam, the rest were merely competent.

And that wasn’t so long ago.

This meant they had achieved tremendous growth in a short period of time.

In fact, it was unbelievable.

It was possible to grow one’s abilities by obtaining items or through special opportunities.

But fundamentals were just that, fundamentals. They were like a tree that could only be grown with time and training.

That’s why…

‘Just as expected.’

El Pam was confident in hunting the Pharaoh Snake.

No, from the beginning, El Pam was only worried about the mummies poisoned by the Pharaoh Snake’s venom. He was never concerned about hunting the Pharaoh Snake itself.

‘There’s no need to fear the Yellow-rank Mystic Gates anymore.’

There was no boss monster among all the boss monsters that appeared in the Yellow-rank Mystic Gates that could threaten El Pam’s party.

Of course, there was an exception.

‘Except for the Martyrs.’

The Martyrs were as dangerous to El Pam as their existence implied.

They were beings that broke the rules.

Anyway, the hunt was over, and El Pam no longer cared about the Pharaoh Snake.

Pirst, El Pam approached the Pharaoh Snake.

Kyuu!

Then, the snail Mano, who had been hiding until now, revealed itself and quickly headed towards the Pharaoh Snake.

It then took an item from the dead Pharaoh Snake’s chest.

“It’s a ring?”

What appeared was a ring.

El Pam immediately recognized the identity of the ring.

“It’s Poison Legion.”

The 4th Circle poison attribute magic, Poison Legion.

Also known as the Deadly Poison Zone magic, it was a magic that turned the surroundings into a deadly poison zone, as the name suggests.

It wasn’t a Unique rank.

“Poison Legion, that’s amazing, isn’t it?”

It was Epic rank.

“Isn’t this what poison attribute mages want the most?”

However, it was as difficult to obtain as a Unique rank item.

That’s how useful it was.

The fact that it created a poison zone right away made it more useful than other poison attribute magic.

But its greatest utility was this.

“It creates flammable poison.”

The poison created by Poison Legion had the flammable property of exploding when it came into contact with Pire.

It was the perfect poison magic for El Pam.

In fact, El Pam was looking into various places to obtain Poison Legion.

He was willing to pay any amount of money.

Yet, he couldn’t get it.

The owners of the items containing the Poison Legion magic wouldn’t give them up even for a fortune.

That’s how hard it was to get.

‘That’s why the poison was so strong.’

On the other hand, it made sense that the Pharaoh Snake’s poison had an effect just by being sprayed.

If the Pharaoh Snake’s poison was mixed with the Poison Legion magic, the place where the poison was sprayed would become a deadly poison zone.

‘Unexpected.’

Anyway, it was an unexpected harvest for El Pam.

But El Pam was not happy about it.

He didn’t care much.

He couldn’t use it.

“Boss, it’s a portal.”

A portal appeared above the Pharaoh Snake’s corpse.

‘I wonder what kind of preparations Phantom Thief has made.’

A portal leading to Phantom Thief.

2.

There were 65 of them.

Pir, including himself, was the number of adventurers who came out of the portal.

It was a large number.

A whopping 65 people survived an encounter with the Pharaoh Snake, that absurd boss monster?

Anyone who heard the story would applaud without hesitation.

The details of the adventure were even more incredible.

If they were to hear the tale of encountering and defeating followers of the Black Mage, a hundred out of a hundred would dismiss it as a lie.

That’s how remarkable their achievement was.

That’s why…

‘They made it back alive.’

The faces of the returning adventurers were filled with excitement.

It wasn’t that they didn’t mourn the deaths of their comrades.

Many shed tears in grief.

But the excitement at the end of an adventure was unavoidable for adventurers.

Especially this adventure, which was no ordinary one.

‘From a request by Phantom Thief.’

A quest commissioned by one of the Six Heroes, no less.

Even Pir couldn’t help but be excited by this fact.

No, Pir was even more excited because of who he was.

‘Now I can meet a hero.’

Pir was the one who admired and was obsessed with the Six Heroes more than anyone else in Maple World.

For him, the chance to meet one of the Six Heroes was more exciting than anything else.

That’s why…

Ping!

In his excitement, Pir failed to notice the wire hidden around the Mystic Gate’s exit and stepped right on it.

‘Ping?’

And the moment he heard the pinging sound, something being pulled and plucked, Pir finally remembered.

“A trap…!”

That there was no reason why there shouldn’t be something here.

Fwoosh!

But before Pir could finish his sentence, gray smoke started spewing from all directions.

It was instantaneous.

As it was already an enclosed space, the area where Pir’s party was located was quickly filled with smoke.

“Cough!”

“Ugh!”

Rough coughs were heard from all around.

Some quickly covered their faces with cloth or masks. Pir was one of them. He held his breath and covered his face with a cloth.

But Pir knew.

‘Damn it.’

That this was a pointless act.

Since he had already inhaled the smoke, all he could do now was buy a little time.

And the potency of the poison was far stronger than Pir had imagined.

Thud!

Pir’s comrades, who had inhaled the smoke, began to collapse on the floor like puppets with their strings cut.

‘So fast?’

It meant the poison was truly deadly.

Pir clenched his teeth at this realization.

‘I was too careless.’

Thinking back, it was none other than Rick who had joined them, concealing his identity as a follower of the Black Mage.

This meant the Black Mage’s followers could have easily set a trap.

Despite this, despite being fully aware of this possibility, Pir had failed to prepare.

Naturally, the price was disastrous.

‘Am I going to die like this?’

A single moment of carelessness, and as a consequence of that carelessness, Pir had to pay with his life, as well as the lives of all his comrades.

‘I’m sorry.’

Pir apologized to his fallen comrades.

With all sincerity.

‘I’m so sorry.’

The moment he asked for their forgiveness, that was the moment.

Snore!

‘Huh?’

He heard a sound.

Snore!

‘Snoring?’

An unmistakable snoring sound.

Surprised by this, Pir looked at his fallen comrades, and one of them tossed and turned before scratching his belly.

He started sleep talking.

Only then did Pir realize.

‘Sleep!’

That this poison wasn’t meant to kill.

“Hmm.”

At that moment, a man appeared before Pir.

A man dressed in extremely flamboyant attire.

Attire fit for a party at the royal palace, the most striking of which was a black mask resembling a bird’s beak.

And beyond that mask, blond hair and purple eyes could be seen.

‘Ah.’

That was as far as Pir’s thoughts went.

Thud!

Pir couldn’t hold on any longer and collapsed.

Snore… Snore…

And then, with a gentle snore, he fell into a deep sleep.

The man who had appeared shook his head at the sight.

“Tsk.”

The man clicked his tongue and muttered to himself.

“To have caught the Pharaoh Snake, their skills must be top-notch, but to be so careless…”

The man’s voice was filled with disappointment.

“It’s a shame. They couldn’t solve the last problem.”

The man then stood before Pir.

Snore, snore…

He took out a letter he had prepared and placed it in front of the sleeping Pir.

“You’ve worked hard to get this far. The rewards will not disappoint.”

The man then gave a light bow.

“Though it can’t compare to the price of your dead comrades’ lives.”

And with those sincere words, the man fell silent for a moment.

‘I’m sorry.’

He sought forgiveness from those who had died.

After a while, the man raised his head.

A look of bitterness was evident in his eyes.

He knew better than anyone how sorry he was that innocent lives had been lost because of him.

In other words, the man was that desperate.

‘But it can’t be helped. What I need now isn’t just a skilled adventurer.’

He needed to be so desperate as to conduct such a trial, knowing that there would be casualties, to select people through such a difficult test.

‘An adventurer who can replace me.’

The man’s eyes filled with sadness as he spoke these words in his heart.

He knew.

‘There’s no way such an adventurer exists.’

That it would be impossible to find an adventurer to replace him.

‘I did something unnecessary.’

That he had done something unnecessary after all.

‘Something unnecessary.’

With that regret, the man rose from his spot, glanced once at the sleeping adventurers, and then turned his back.

He took a step towards the entrance he had come from.

That’s when it happened.

Ripple!

The man’s steps stopped.

He had to stop.

The man then turned his head.

And he saw it.

‘The portal hasn’t disappeared?’

The Mystic Gate’s portal was still emitting a yellow light.

It meant there was still an adventurer on the other side.

It wasn’t something to be overly concerned about.

The Mystic Gate’s portal remained active even if adventurers survived on the second or Pirst floor.

And usually, they would inevitably face death for various reasons as time passed.

Then the portal would disappear naturally.

But what if that wasn’t the case?

What if the adventurer beyond was intentionally not coming out, waiting for the right time?

The moment the man had that thought, that was the moment.

Swoosh!

The portal rippled, and an adventurer emerged.

A man wearing a mask that covered his entire face.

The man who appeared thus found the masked man in the smoke-filled space without any hesitation and approached him.

“My name is El Pam.”

El Pam bowed his head as he introduced himself to him.

“Phantom Thief, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”