A Possessor’s Strategy Guide in a Trash Game

Chapter 11: Arrows and Magic (6)

Before the party lay a spiral staircase that endlessly descended downward.

“Wow, climbing back up later will be quite the workout, huh?”

Jeina giggled as she tossed out the joke, but the others couldn't laugh at it.

That was because the staircase extended endlessly into the unfathomable depths.

“Not exactly amusing.”

Gerard honestly expressed his feelings.

“Let’s use this. I happened to bring it, so it works out well.”

At that moment, Artier pulled something out.

It was a small rolled-up parchment.

“A scroll? Haste?”

“No.”

Instead of answering, Artier handed the scroll to everyone.

After unrolling it and checking the contents, Gerard's face turned pale.

“This is a Slow Fall scroll. You're saying we jump down there now?”

“Yes. Is there a problem?”

“Of course! We don't even know what's down there.”

“Oh, that?”

Instead of answering, Artier grabbed the nearby railing.

“I’ll go first, so follow me.”

And he threw himself down the staircase.

“Ah, Artier?”

The surprised Gerard hurriedly called out to Artier, but he was falling at an incredible speed.

Just as it seemed he would crash horribly into the ground, Artier tore the scroll with a rip.

Paat!

Then, feathers made of light swirled around Artier, and soon his falling speed slowed down.

“Wow, that looks fun?”

“Jeina?”

“It’ll save time, which is good.”

“Even Bow?!”

Before Gerard could say anything, the others also threw themselves down.

The three who went first were waiting for Gerard from the unfathomable depths below.

“Captain, hurry up!”

“…….”

Gerard was at a loss for words as he alternated between looking at the scroll and down below.

“Ha, who knows what could happen, jumping without thinking…….”

In the end, Gerard also leaped.

As the dizzying sensation of floating enveloped his body, Gerard felt his body momentarily stiffen.

“Da, damn.”

He hurriedly tried to tear the scroll with his trembling hands, but in the meantime, he was rapidly approaching the ground.

“Ugh, uwaaa!”

“Huh? What's wrong with the captain?!”

Just as Jeina, sensing something wrong, ran to catch him, Artier pulled another scroll from his bosom.

“Target, Gerard!”

Paat!

Bright light feathers burst from Artier's hand and enveloped Gerard.

Gerard's body slowed down abruptly, leaving exactly 30cm from the ground.

“Heuk…….”

Gerard regained his senses belatedly, but soon after, the magic was released, and he fell straight onto the muddy floor.

“Keuk!”

“Good thing I bought an extra one.”

Artier smiled awkwardly and tossed the vanishing scroll fragments into the air.

“I didn’t know you were afraid of heights. Sorry.”

“Captain, you hate heights? Scared?”

Jeina giggled as she teased Gerard, who was covered in mud.

“……Ha, let's not talk about it.”

Gerard's face was flushed red as if on fire.

“Let’s move quickly.”

Bow ignored Gerard and Jeina like that and looked around.

There was no marionette-like figure blocking the way as before. However, an endless deep gorge blocked their path.

“Is this not the way?”

“No, look over there.”

Artier extended his hand and pointed somewhere.

Where his hand pointed, a bridge in a semi-transparent form, like a mirage, was visible.

Artier reached out toward the bridge, but his hand passed through the air without any resistance.

“It’s indeed an illusion. But this seems to be the only path we can take.”

“What about using a Slow Flight scroll like before?”

“There’s only one left, and it’s not flight, it’s fall. Using it here won’t get us across; we’d just go down.”

Artier said while pointing down the gorge.

Falling to the bottom of the gorge, where the floor was invisible, was as good as death.

“Artier, there’s a stele here too.”

Jeina pointed to a stele standing in the middle of the illusory bridge.

“If we pull it out like before, maybe the bridge will appear?”

“Hmm…….”

Artier checked the sign's contents and made a strange expression.

‘Of all things, this one.’

The trial on this sign was randomly determined, but the possibilities were fixed.

Among them, the one this time wasn’t difficult.

“Move as many marker stones as the number of companions. Then the path will open.”

Artier read the contents inscribed on the stele aloud.

“Marker stones? You mean these?”

Gerard lifted something from the ground.

Upon closer look, some of the stones scattered like gravel around were sparkling and shining in the darkness.

“They’re different from the marker stones we commonly use. But the usage seems similar.”

“Where do we move them to?”

Jeina asked.

“Over there.”

Artier extended his hand and pointed far away, beyond the bridge.

On the palm of a kneeling statue, a sparkling silver plate was placed as if intentionally.

“It seems we put the marker stones there.”

The distance was easily over 50m.

It was too far to throw something in.

“Bow, can you tie a marker stone to an arrow and drop it onto the plate?”

However, Bow shrugged and stared at him blankly.

It was as if he didn’t understand Artier’s intention at all.

“Why do I have to do that?”

“……?”

What was this sudden reaction?

But upon hearing Bow’s next words, Artier realized how foolish he had been.

“Just use magic. I didn’t learn the bow to do clown tricks.”

“Ah!”

This game was set in a world where magic was commonplace. But Artier, who didn’t have related skills yet, had unconsciously excluded magic altogether.

‘Come to think of it, there are basic magics that can be used without skills, right?’

Thinking about it, it was time to proceed with the tutorial for that feature.

“Come to think of it, Artier might not know. You should be able to use basic magic too. It’s a kind of innate ability our ancestors left us.”

“How do I use it?”

“Well…….”

Gerard showed a troubled expression.

“It’s hard to explain. It’s an ability you naturally realize as you grow.”

‘Huh?’

Artier was momentarily flustered and froze.

Originally, companions didn’t explain basic magic like this when describing it.

Hold down the Q key and select the basic magic to use!

The tutorial in was roughly like that.

Artier, who had played hundreds of times, knew all the basic magics he could learn.

But now that the game had become reality, it was different.

‘So how do I use magic?’

Wielding weapons well wasn’t difficult.

In reality, with effort, one could hone techniques, and even in the game, combat skills came naturally.

But magic was not like that.

It wasn’t as if he could use magic by recalling the sensation of pressing keyboard keys with his fingers.

“Uh…… First, try gathering mana in your hand.”

With a puzzled expression, Artier looked at his hand.

Since he was told to try, he attempted it.

“Umm…….”

“No, that’s not it. That’s just exerting force.”

Gerard grabbed Artier’s shoulder and arm as he fidgeted his hand unnecessarily.

“Physical strength starts from the heart, but mana spreads from the head. So it goes from the head, down the nape, to the hand.”

“From the head?”

At those words, Artier closed his eyes and concentrated.

As soon as he thought of sending something down from his head, a tingling sensation came, followed by a headache like when gulping cold water.

“Ugh!”

“That’s a symptom when you suddenly try to move mana.”

Gerard patted his back.

“Now, try emitting the mana from your hand. You’ll figure out the rest on your own.”

“Ahh…….”

Artier watched a cool, mist-like energy flowing from his arm.

The pure white mana light scattered quickly if he lost focus even a little.

But when Artier concentrated clearly and extended his hand, the mana took clear form and lifted the marker stone on the ground.

“Yes, well done.”

As soon as Gerard’s words ended with a smile, an information window appeared before Artier’s eyes.

[You have acquired basic magic.]

From now on, you can use Telekinesis, Mana Bullet, and Detection.

‘Interesting.’

The feeling of a cold and refreshing sensation flowing down the spine. And the experience of it coming out through the hand was certainly a new and mysterious one.

Seeing Artier happily tossing the marker stone into the air, Jeina laughed heartily and said.

“Your expression just now was exactly like before you lost your memory!”

“Me?”

At those words, Artier dropped the marker stone and asked back.

“Your joyful expression was the same? You really are our cute youngest.”

Jeina said with a giggle.

But Artier could not laugh along.

‘Similar to my appearance before losing memory?’

Before losing memory meant before Taehun came to this world.

The time before Taehun became Artier, when the original Artier lived ordinarily as a low-rank mercenary.

In other words, the time when it was someone else, not Taehun.

‘Was the original Artier similar to me? … … … What does this mean?’

Was he himself related to the past Artier?

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing.”

When Jeina made a puzzled expression, Artier immediately cleared his thoughts and smiled.

‘Anyway, it’s not something I can figure out by worrying now.’

Artier looked around.

Gerard was sending marker stones across the bridge with hand gestures, and Bow, who had already finished his, was tapping the ground with his foot, arms crossed.

“Is the chit-chat over? Then let’s cross now.”

“Ooh, if you rush like that, in my haste, I might drop you.”

“Before that, an arrow might be stuck in your head?”

Whether Bow was serious or not, Jeina shut her mouth.

“Let’s go quickly. Even now, the tomb raiders might be destroying the ruins.”

“Got it. .”

Artier lifted the marker stone in the same way as before. And sent it flying far across the bridge.

Once he got the hang of it, casting the spell wasn’t difficult.

Drrrrr…….

When all the marker stones were placed on the plate, instead of the illusion, a wide stone arch bridge revealed itself.

.

“It’s so easy it’s disconcerting.”

The party crossed the bridge like that and arrived at the other side of the gorge. Then, an enormous door slowly opened, revealing a passage.

“The air has changed.”

“It seems we’re connecting back to the original ruins from here.”

Artier looked around the passage where the rock color had changed.

Whether they intentionally used ore that absorbs light, despite the glowing luminaries constantly circling, it was hard to see ahead.

“It’s dark…….”

“They must have made it this way to hide traps.”

At Gerard’s words, Bow took the lead and began scanning the surroundings.

After looking at the floor and checking the ceiling, Bow suddenly knelt and picked something up.

“There it is.

“Can you dismantle it?”

“No, no need for that.

“What?”

To Gerard’s question, Bow showed something.

It was a rope that looked like someone had cut it with a knife.

“Someone already destroyed the trap and went in.”

[Bow is using a skill.]

Tracking (Lv.1): Tracks the traces of the most recent creature that was.

“15 minutes ago.”

“15 minutes ago……!”

“It’s right under our noses?”

“Let’s chase them quickly!

Boom!

At that time, with a loud noise, the corridor shook greatly.

And at the same time, a red warning message appeared before Artier’s eyes.

[Caution! The ruins' damage rate has exceeded the critical point!]

Ruins Damage Rate: 50%

The ruins have started to collapse.

Please escape the ruins before they completely collapse.

Artier gritted his teeth seeing the damage rate rising faster than expected.

Stone debris began to began falling from the ruins’ ceiling.

“Damn! Is it already too late?”

Gerard shouted as he deflected the falling debris with his shield.

“Everyone, turn back! If we take the shortcut…….”

“No. The raiders would have left enough time to escape too.”

Artier, cutting off Gerard’s words, looking at Bow.

“You know which way the raiders went, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Let’s achieve our goal and get out before the ruins completely collapse.”

“What? What nonsense is that? Hey, Artier!”

Before Gerard could say anything, they turned the corner and disappeared from sight.

“Damn it……. Jeina, let’s at least secure the retreat path ourselves.”

“Wow! It seems fun, so I’ll go too!”

Jeina smiled brightly and chased after them.

Gerard, left alone suddenly, punched the nearby wall repeatedly and then followed belatedly.

“You fools! This isn’t a game!

Gerard’s desperate cry echoed, but there was no one around to hear his voice.