I Became a Veteran Who Has to Stir Up Trouble to Survive - Chapter 63

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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[063] Elf Forest
Those meeting Malton for the first time easily mistake him for a good-natured young elf.
With his handsome face always wearing a carefree smile and his kindness extended to everyone, he appears nothing but a man of virtue.
But I know his true nature.
‘Malton is no such frivolous fool.’
During the game era, I witnessed firsthand how he wielded various daggers as naturally as his own limbs, hunting humans with ruthless precision.
The mace is not Malton’s weapon of choice. If anything, it’s quite the opposite.
He’s a monster concealing multiple hidden skills and stats, and for reasons unknown, he was banished from the Elf Village.
A cold executioner and hunter.
Everyone wears a mask in this world, but Malton’s is unusually thick.
His virtuous and upright nature is no lie, but coiled within his abyss lurks something dark and sinister.
And now, a trap designed by such a man? It must surely be something extraordinarily cruel, psychologically manipulative in the most insidious ways.
“Oh, a garden of this scale underground? It’s quite remarkable. Like viewing a miniature of the Medaolinum Dungeon… Hmm? Doran, why are you looking at me like that?”
I grasped Malton’s shoulder as he leisurely admired the surroundings and asked seriously.
“Malton, does this place remind you of anything? Traps, perhaps…?”
“This is my first time seeing this place. How would I know?”
“Humor me… If you had designed this place, what kind of obstacles would you have prepared?”
“Hmm… Obstacles, you say… For instance.”
Malton stroked his chin, his gaze fixed on the well-maintained trees and benches nearby.
“People who’ve endured harsh trials getting here would naturally want to rest in a place like that. If it were me, the moment they approached there…”
Whizz—!
In an instant, as a tree root hidden in the grass was disturbed, an arrow came flying from somewhere.
But Malton didn’t even blink, catching the arrow shaft as easily as one might swat a fly.
Tap.
“…Something like this?”
Malton smiled faintly, displaying the poisoned arrowhead.
“…Yes, remarkably accurate. Almost too accurate, in fact.”
I swallowed hard.
‘As I suspected… This confirms it.’
This space was undoubtedly created through collaboration between my past self and Malton.
Which means ahead, in this garden, I must face the vicious traps that prime-era Malton had prepared.
“…Malton, would you mind taking the lead this time? If you notice any hidden traps or anything suspicious, warn us beforehand.”
“Understood. Well then, shall we proceed? For some reason, this place suits my tastes quite well. Fascinating.”
As Malton took the lead, we followed close behind, tensed and vigilant.
An artificial garden sprawling beneath a domed ceiling.
Dense forest, a gently flowing stream, and flowers of unknown varieties blooming in profusion.
Were one ignorant of the lethal traps concealed throughout, this place would be a paradise of unparalleled beauty.
Then, Karen discovered a small stone tablet nestled among the flowers and cried out.
“Huh? There’s a rule stone over there!”
“Don’t approach it!!”
When Malton shouted, I quickly grabbed Karen’s robe.
In that instant, a blade hidden beneath the flower bud shot out, grazing dangerously close to Karen’s eyes.
As I turned around with the color draining from my face, Malton muttered softly.
“Hmm… I had a feeling there might be traps lurking about… quite the fortunate coincidence.”
“….”
After deflecting the blade and carefully examining the stone tablet, I found these words inscribed upon it.
[Within this Garden of Memories, there exist no written rules whatsoever.]
[The blood and flesh you shed through trial and error shall become your lessons, and those lessons shall become the rules themselves.]
“Y-yes, as befits the final chamber, the difficulty has certainly escalated, hasn’t it?
Radi swallowed hard at the ominous warning.
But I interpreted the tablet’s message differently.
‘In other words, there are no rules whatsoever—only a space brimming with pure malice.’
How typical of Malton, with his deeply twisted nature.
I patted Malton’s shoulder and announced to my companions.
“This Garden of Memories appears to be laden with traps, so don’t let your guard down. And since your instincts seem particularly sharp here, I’ll need you to take point, Malton.”
“Leave it to me. …I don’t know who designed this garden, but I suspect our temperaments align remarkably well.”
What unfolded afterward was nothing short of a nightmare.
Steel pine needles rained down like arrows, and logs that seemed perfectly harmless suddenly came crashing down upon us.
Silent poison darts flew from all directions without warning, and floors that collapsed beneath our feet were merely standard features.
But the real problem lay elsewhere.
“D-damn it!!”
While traversing what appeared to be a vegetable garden, the solid earth suddenly flooded with water, transforming into a viscous swamp.
I reflexively reached for a vine hanging before me to escape, but Malton cried out urgently.
“Stop!”
The vine I was about to grasp writhed, and as if disappointed, it flicked its tongue and vanished into the forest.
The swamp, which had been devouring everything with relentless force, halted precisely at waist height.
“I sensed something alien about that vine. The swamp was a decoy—the real trap is that vine disguised as a serpent. It exploits the human instinct to grasp at straws, doesn’t it?”
Beyond that, there were places designed to be grabbed while falling that had adhesive spread across them, with venomous darts launched toward the direction of evasion.
Touching hidden trap wires in the grass would cause oil to spill, and avoiding the oil would trigger flames to erupt.
Layered traps twisted not merely double, but triple and quadruple over.
Unlike the previous rules that tested wisdom and problem-solving ability, these were malicious traps that seemed to mock and ridicule human desperation and survival instinct.
‘What in the world did this bastard Malton design…!’
I shuddered and pressed myself close behind Malton’s back.
“An ordinary person would choose the left path here. So the right path should be safe, one might think… but what if the real answer is actually the left path?”
A coin toss confirmed the left path was indeed correct.
“Here, they’d be lured into jumping over obstacles, and there’d be an interception device in midair… but if someone crawled through instead, I’d have blades protruding from the floor. If I were designing it, that is.”
The moment I threw my shoe, a steel hammer hidden behind a tree shot out.
There were blade traps embedded in the floor as well.
“Oh… this is a rare flower you can only see in the Elf Village. How curious… but it casts hypnosis if you approach too closely, so absolutely avoid meeting its gaze.”
As Malton identified hidden traps with astounding accuracy, I personally verified each one.
Karen and Radi could only follow behind me with their mouths agape.
“W-what exactly is that elf? I thought he was just ridiculously strong, but to navigate these traps so effortlessly…?”
“Malton’s insight is certainly remarkable… Though I’ve never seen him take such an active role before…?”
By relying on Malton’s senses to navigate the traps, we managed to escape the Trap Forest far more smoothly than anticipated.
And then we encountered the sight before us.
“Is this the final destination…?”
Upon the Broad Hill stood a single colossal tree, towering as if to pierce the heavens.
Beneath the ancient giant that demanded we crane our necks until they ached, a small side door caught my eye.
Just as I moved forward, drawn by an instinctive pull, Malton stepped in front of us.
“Wait, everyone stop. That’s dangerous.”
Malton, who had been smiling throughout our passage of the traps, wore an unusually hardened expression.
I immediately understood upon seeing what Malton was pointing at.
Behind the massive tree, a vine-like plant bearing an enormous flower bud was coiled around the trunk, its head peeking out.
I remembered this plant well—I had struggled to deal with it in the past.
｢[Malevolent Vine Hydra] encountered!｣
｢A carnivorous plant equipped with petals possessing formidable physical and magical resistance! Should you be swallowed by those enormous petals, the powerful digestive juices will dissolve you without leaving a single bone!｣
｢The level gap with the monster exceeds 50! Exercise caution against instant death!｣
Like a true hydra, when its stems are severed, new ones sprout from the cut, allowing it to multiply—a horrifying creature.
Unless overwhelmed by devastating firepower that destroys even the roots in one strike, it will endlessly proliferate and consume the land.
There is a method of sealing it by cutting the flower bud immediately, but that requires complex preparation.
However, this time, conveniently, instructions for conquering the monster were provided.
[Instructions for defeating the guardian of the Garden of Memories.]
[The first flower bud can be dealt a fatal blow by striking it with a gauntlet.]
[The second flower bud can be destroyed by piercing the ovary with an arrow.]
[The third flower bud will wither upon contact with holy power.]
[The fourth flower bud will have its petals fall away upon contact with demonic energy.]
“These instructions are quite straightforward. Perhaps they imposed restrictions because the creature is so powerful.”
“It seems the plant must be eliminated for the door to open… but requiring specific abilities is unprecedented.”
“Could this also be a trap?”
Malton, Radi, and Karen each offered their thoughts while examining the parchment placed upon the tree trunk.
However, having glimpsed the secrets of this mansion, I could only feel bewildered.
‘Why do these instructions exist at all?’
These rules were designed by my past self and my companions, crafted in preparation for the possibility that I might return in the distant future.
Therefore, most could be resolved by shifting perspective or borrowing the strength of the companions who designed these traps.
But this one is different.
A gauntlet and bow, holy power, and demonic energy.
All four were abilities our Party currently lacked.
‘Moreover… holy power can only be wielded by divine messengers, yet it demands demonic energy that only demons use?’
Summoning the wielders of two forces as incompatible as water and oil to one place was essentially presenting an outright impossible challenge.
In other words, solving this by the straightforward methods written in the rules was impossible at present.
So then, how exactly am I supposed to break through this impasse?
I glared at the Side Door ensnared by the malevolent vines, gritting my teeth.
The final destination of this journey lies before my eyes. Close enough to touch if I merely reached out.
‘I can’t possibly return empty-handed after coming this far…!’
Wracking my brain and desperately squeezing out a stratagem to overcome this crisis, I suddenly recalled a brilliant idea.
Don’t we already possess it?
A power so deviant from convention that it defies rules entirely, and one fundamentally opposed to plants.
“Karen, I require your assistance.”
“My assistance? What brings this on…?”
“Prepare an incantation from this moment forward, and at my signal, unleash a fireball at maximum output. The target is the heart of those vines….”
“Wait, wait. I understand what you’re thinking, but…”
Karen cut me off mid-sentence.
“You don’t realize—that thing is a monster approaching triple-digit levels. Moreover, those petals possess formidable magical resistance, so no matter how much power I pour into intercepting it, completely incinerating it is impossible.”
“That’s fine. The moment before the plant snares its prey, when all the flower buds bloom wide open, if I strike with magic at precisely that instant, I can damage it all the way to the roots.”
And I shall be that bait.
Upon explaining the plan, Karen stared at me as though I were mad.
“…Are you in your right mind? To stimulate those flowers simultaneously, you’d have to walk incredibly deep into that thing…! You won’t take more than a few steps before that monster devours you alive! Even if you miraculously succeed, you won’t last even a second against my magic before you’re reduced to ash.”
“That’s acceptable.”
“Are you absolutely obsessed with dying…?! I’m a flame-born mage of the Ignas Family, for crying out loud! The moment it grazes you, you’ll become nothing but cinders!!”
“Well, we won’t know until we try.”
As someone who has lived through ages, I understand everything—from how the malevolent vines detect prey, to what unfolds the moment it recognizes me.
I’ve already devised a way to survive Karen’s magic.
‘Now it’s time to witness the end of this Mansion…!’
I advanced with absolute confidence.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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