Chapter 49
‘Captain, huh… Whatever. I’ll think about that later.’
For now, the priority was fighting the tree giant.
Usually, high-level monsters like that had strong resistance to status effects.
Even if you hit them with an ice bullet, it would deal damage, but it wouldn’t freeze them. That was the norm.
Still, that didn’t mean the skill was useless.
‘I should use what I have.’
The ice bullet didn’t just freeze—it also packed a strong offensive punch.
It was especially effective against plant-type monsters, who were naturally weak to cold.
You could even see that just by looking at the elemental affinities in that famous monster game with the cute electric mouse.
Ice beats Grass.
He aimed an ice bullet at one of the tree giant’s massive branches.
Naturally, it hit. At this point, landing his shots had become second nature.
But then, something unexpected happened.
“Oh, it froze?”
The entire tree giant didn’t freeze, but the area around the branch hit by the ice bullet froze solid, and the branch stopped moving.
If it weren’t for the skill’s cooldown, he would’ve spammed it to freeze all of its limbs.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t possible.
Just then—
Darren suddenly grabbed Rena by the collar and yanked her back, shouting:
“Rena! You’re supposed to keep an eye on the ground! What are you doing spacing out?”
“…I was about to dodge it, okay?!”
Apparently, Rena hadn’t noticed the sign of a root attack at her feet, and Darren had pulled her out just in time.
She turned bright red and protested in a huff.
Funny—she had said “thank you” to him earlier, but now she was grumbling.
Why was she like that only with Darren?
He had no idea.
Well, at least they weren’t bickering like before.
They could figure it out themselves.
Shaking his head, he fired a fire bullet.
This time, his target was the root that had popped up where Rena had been standing.
It wasn’t just one root, so burning a single one wouldn’t stop the attacks entirely.
Still, if he kept burning them one by one every time the skill was ready, it would wear the boss down.
As the fire bullet hit the root, flames began to spread quickly.
Not quite like dry kindling, but still—wood burns easily.
That’s why forest fires are such a major disaster, after all.
That root was now neutralized.
“Grrrrr…”
Why a plant monster would growl like a big cat, he had no idea—but the tree giant now glared at him, clearly furious over the burned root.
It started crawling toward him slowly.
Its twisted, sticky roots pushed through the muddy ground as it slithered closer.
It was creepy as hell.
“Where do you think you’re going? You’re playing with me.”
Standing in its way, axe in hand, was Darren.
He took the opening Darren created and fired a magic bullet.
It hit—but the thick bark didn’t break. It only left a shallow wound.
From that spot, disgusting black ichor began to ooze out.
“Ugh, not easy…”
He muttered to himself.
Standard bullets weren’t very effective.
Same with Rena’s attacks.
Sure, she could break the thinner branches with kicks and punches, but her attacks didn’t do much to the thicker limbs or the trunk.
The only reason she didn’t hurt herself doing it was because she was magically enhanced.
Without that, she would’ve broken her bones long ago.
The only real options were fire and ice spells, but they had cooldowns, so he couldn’t spam them.
Naturally, that limited their offensive potential.
“Ugh, is there anything we can do?”
“Rena, could you maybe enchant your fists or feet with fire magic and try hitting it that way?”
Rena wiped the sweat from her chin and murmured, prompting him to suggest the idea.
In the game, he usually teamed up with other players to clear dungeons. He hadn’t fought alongside the Hagion Knights—they were NPCs.
So he wasn’t familiar with how Rena fought.
“…I’ve never tried that before, but I think I can give it a shot.”
Rena looked unsure but gave it a try anyway.
A small fireball, the kind commonly used by elemental wizards, formed in her hand.
She then lunged forward, aiming a flaming punch at the tree’s trunk.
Well—tried to, anyway.
Out of nowhere, the tree giant moved with surprising speed, blocking her attack with a leafy branch.
“Damn it!”
Rena cursed loudly.
“Still! It worked, Rena!”
The point where her punch had connected was now burning.
As the flames grew, the tree giant severed its own branch to stop the spread.
Thud—the flaming branch crashed to the ground.
One root down. One branch down.
Bit by bit, they were chipping away at the tree giant’s weapons.
“Ugh… I don’t think I can do that again right away. It’s a heavy strain…”
Rena said painfully.
Her hand was red—she looked to have suffered a minor burn.
“Don’t push yourself too hard, Rena.”
Leo narrowly dodged another root strike and quickly healed her.
As a casting class, it was hard for him to stay mobile and cast at the same time.
The battle dragged on in this fashion.
Sometimes, a party member would get hit by a root attack, but thanks to the antidotes he had handed out earlier, they were holding on.
Eventually, all that remained of the once-formidable tree giant were a few roots and branches.
They were finally at the point where they could aim directly at the main body.
Rena and Darren held off the remaining limbs.
He took aim and fired a fire bullet straight at the tree giant’s open mouth.
And then—
“KIEEEEEEK!”
The flame-infused magic bullet hit the inside of its mouth directly.
The tree giant let out a terrifying scream, writhing in agony.
He felt a little bad.
If this thing hadn’t tried to kill him and his friends, he might’ve actually felt sorry for it.
“Hah… Hah… Is it over?”
Darren stood with his axe, breathing hard.
That line…
Usually, in games, that was the flag.
The moment someone said it was over, it wasn’t.
But thankfully, this time, that trope didn’t come true.
The tree giant began to turn to ash and crumble.
The muddy ground started to regain its natural color.
And then—
The darkness covering the forest began to fade.
The black mist that had hidden the sky cleared, revealing a night sky filled with stars.
And above them—holy white wings spread wide across the sky.
Luminous feathers drifted down from those wings, blessing the once-tainted earth.
It was… breathtaking.
Absolutely overwhelming.
‘Wow… A sight like this could make anyone find religion.’
Even in the game, this had been one of the more impressive cutscenes.
Still, it annoyed him a bit.
He had done all the hard work, but the goddess always swooped in at the end to take credit.
Well, he was the Chosen Hero anyway, so he couldn’t exactly complain.
Even if he wanted to yell that the contract was totally unfair.
“Wow, it’s beautiful! It’s like the stars are falling!”
Leo looked up with sparkling eyes.
It was over.
[Dungeon <Silvagrove Forest> has been cleared.]
A holographic system message popped up, signaling the dungeon’s completion.
His eyes stung with emotion.
Then, another message followed.
[Calculating rewards…]
First Clear Bonus!
Acquired: Memory Fragment – Silvagrove Forest
Huh? What’s this?
Through the falling feathers, a faint green glow began to descend.
It landed gently in his hand.
‘Memory Fragment? I’ve never seen this item before…’
It was a beautiful gem, shaped like a leaf, softly glowing in sync with the mark on his hand.
“Whoa, what’s that, Elaine?”
“I… don’t know. It just appeared suddenly…”
Darren stared at him, stunned. He was just as clueless.
But then—
“That’s a Memory Fragment. It’s an item that lets you recreate the battle that took place here in Silvagrove Forest. I’ve heard it can simulate the fight with a high level of accuracy.”
Adrian walked over casually, providing the answer.
“A battle simulation? Ah—like the one in the training grounds? You use it to recreate fights exactly as they happened?”
Darren seemed to get it immediately.
Leo and Rena, on the other hand, looked confused.
“Wait—we have something like that in the training grounds?”
“Yup. Master told me about it. But apparently, it only works if a Hero blessed by the Goddess uses it. So it hasn’t been activated in centuries.”
Darren explained in response to Leo’s question.
And then it hit him.
‘Oh, this must be how you re-enter dungeons.’
In the game, you could repeat cleared dungeons over and over.
That’s how you learned the layout changed each time.
But here, in reality, you couldn’t just keep fighting the same boss again and again.
That’s why this Memory Fragment existed—to make it possible.
“Ah, of course, only the Chosen Hero can activate the simulation, but I’ve heard that others can participate once it’s triggered.”
Adrian’s explanation brought cheers from the others.
“Awesome! That means we can review this fight anytime and use it for training!”
Rena shouted with rare enthusiasm.
It suited her—she had crushed that training dummy golem with terrifying power.
And then—
Ferdia, who had slowly wandered over, spoke up.
“But hey… aren’t you curious about that?”
She pointed toward something at the center of the clearing.
