Chapter 30
The first floor of the Great Labyrinth.
Fwoosh.
A torch flared to life in the darkness.
Karin held the torch and looked around.
The party members drew their respective weapons and kept watch around them.
Karin spoke.
“We transferred to a point far from the second floor. Let's go.”
“Understood. Move out.”
The holy knight took the lead, with Karin and Roynel behind her. Ahiman and Jeong Yushin brought up the rear.
The group strode through the dark cave without hesitation, moving quickly as though they knew the place well.
They traveled at a brisk pace for about two hours.
“Enemies. Five hobgoblins.”
“Kreeek.”
“Kikeke.”
The goblins' ominous noises and Karin's warning echoed through the cave.
“Understood.”
The holy knight grasped the zweihander slung over her shoulder with both hands and charged.
Karin followed close behind the holy knight, and Roynel nocked an arrow to her longbow.
The holy knight swung her greatsword horizontally.
Whooosh!
“Keeeek!!”
The greatsword tore through the torsos of three hobgoblins at once.
Splaaat.
Blood splashed onto the holy knight's helmet, but she paid it no attention.
Karin sprang forward and swung her dagger.
With a light swing, the dagger sent the hobgoblin's head flying through the air.
The remaining hobgoblin turned to flee, but it was too late. The arrow Roynel fired pierced its back.
Yushin, watching, nodded impassively.
‘This is what a mid-rank explorer should be like.’
“Move out.”
The holy knight set off without even bothering to wipe away the blood.
They walked on again.
Perhaps four hours had passed.
Sweat trickled down Yushin's forehead.
‘Wow. Seriously. This is no joke.’
He felt like he was going to die from exhaustion. It felt as though he were carrying four full military packs at once. He raised his head toward the slope that kept descending.
He gritted his teeth and kept walking.
He had received one gold coin and fifty silver coins as payment.
He couldn't let on that he was struggling.
Perhaps because of the week-long labyrinth closure order, there were many hobgoblins attacking them.
Combat was the only time Yushin could stop and rest.
Shuaaak!
Blood from the hobgoblins splashed across the cave wall when the holy knight swung her greatsword.
A sword stroke etched with law and order.
Even while resting, Yushin's eyes shone as he took in the holy knight's battle.
After the short battle ended, they moved on again, passing the hobgoblins' corpses.
He didn't bother collecting their ears.
Yushin looked back at the hobgoblin corpses several times with regret, but the party did not stop.
Karin's party walked without rest and reached the far end of the first floor.
A large stele was visible in the center of the cavern.
“Whew.”
Yushin's body was drenched in sweat. His legs trembled, and a sweet, stale odor wafted from his mouth.
He was barely managing to keep his feet planted on the cave floor.
But he did not collapse.
If his body had not been strengthened through leveling up, he would not have been able to hold out.
“Let's rest here for a while.”
The holy knight, Gilsion, said.
‘As expected of a holy knight.’
Yushin stole a glance at Gilsion.
Karin crossed her arms and spoke.
“Rest on the first floor? Are you already tired? Is it because you haven't been in the labyrinth for a while and haven't adapted yet?”
...
Karin gave a short laugh and turned to Yushin.
“Ska, do you want to rest?”
Karin's sharp gaze stabbed at Yushin.
‘I have to earn the money I took.’
“I can keep going.”
Yushin answered calmly.
“That's what he says. Do you think I hired a porter because I have money to burn?”
Gilsion approached the stele without a word and placed a hand on it.
Sssss.
A red portal and a blue portal appeared in front of the stele.
Karin entered first. Gilsion followed, then the elf Roynel and the mystic Ahiman, in that order. Finally, Yushin adjusted the load on his back and stepped into the portal.
They arrived on the second floor.
Nothing had changed.
Karin's party started walking again, and hobgoblins and black slimes attacked them.
Gilsion, Karin, and Roynel took the lead in repelling the monsters.
Ahiman and Yushin only watched from the rear.
The group pressed steadily onward.
It felt as though they had walked for half a day without resting.
Just before dry foam started coming from Yushin's mouth, they found a shelter.
“Let's rest here for today.”
Karin said.
A small chamber in a gap between the cave walls.
The group entered.
Yushin unloaded the pack on his back and distributed it among the party members.
Then, moving his creaking body, he spread a blanket over the shelter entrance to block it and planted a torch in the center, securing it in place.
Gilsion removed her helmet.
Yushin's eyes widened.
A beastkin with silver fur.
Judging by the delicate lines of her face, she was a woman.
Judging from the ears drooping with sweat, she was a dog beastkin.
‘Her voice was definitely hoarse, though.’
Looking closely, he saw a knife scar on Gilsion's neck.
‘So that's what it was.’
Yushin understood and turned away.
His body was too exhausted to spare any more interest.
He untied his walking boots.
The soles of his feet stung; it seemed a blister had burst.
He massaged his legs and loosened up his body.
He drank water and chewed jerky.
Seeing Yushin wolfing down his food, the party members one by one took food from their backpacks and began eating too.
After the quiet meal, it was time to decide the watch shifts.
“Since we have alarm magic, we don't need to set a watch separately, do we?”
Ahiman said.
Gilsion frowned.
“I think it would be better simply to set a watch.”
“Stand watch yourself. I need a good night's sleep.”
Ahiman replied.
“Don't fight. Gilsion, are you going to be like this every time? Just accept it.”
At Karin's rebuke, Gilsion shut her mouth.
Ahiman closed their eyes and began muttering.
Yushin's eyes lit up.
Was it the mystic's magic?
What kind of magic was it?
Curious, he listened closely to Ahiman's incantation.
“O great 𐒗𐒚𐒥𐒚𐒠𐒏 who walks among the stars and the universe, your faithful servant wishes to dwell within the holy precinct of 𐒥𐨀𐨩𐩓𐆉𐅗𐆃, so watch over this place beneath 𐆅𐆉𐅯 and 𐠖𐠫𐠱.”
For a moment, the torchlight dimmed.
A bizarre darkness and silence settled over the shelter.
‘What the hell?’
The hairs on the back of Yushin's neck stood on end.
A strange shadow flitted across his eyes.
And then.
He felt it with his body.
In a distant place.
From the graveyard of the universe beyond the universe.
The gaze of that which walks between dead stars.
His body began trembling uncontrollably, beyond his control, and his teeth chattered.
Beyond the faint torchlight.
Things bizarre and blasphemous danced in the shadow cast on the shelter wall.
He realized.
To keep his sanity, he had to look at a person.
He had to turn his gaze away from something beyond cognition and look at something smaller and familiar.
He barely turned his neck and looked around.
Gilsion was gripping the hilt of her sword tightly and glaring at Ahiman.
Karin and Roynel had their eyes closed as though they were used to this.
[Abyss Realm]
When Ahiman's incantation ended, its presence vanished.
No.
It was still lingering faintly. Right here.
Yushin's hand was trembling faintly.
Something was making a faint scratching sound inside his head.
What on earth had happened?
He had thought it was alarm magic.
Had it been a misunderstanding?
‘Was Ahiman a dark mage?’
Ahiman opened their closed eyes.
Their pupils were completely pitch-black.
“Barbaroi.”
Ahiman grinned at Yushin.
“What is it?”
“I just called you.”
‘This bastard is making me uneasy.’
His fingers itched.
The magic he had witnessed was beyond cognition, and murderous intent bubbled in his mind.
Yushin removed his helmet and ran a hand through his black hair.
In contrast, Gilsion pulled her helmet down and spoke.
“Barbaroi. That was Ahiman's prank. Don't let it bother you.”
Karin said with a laugh.
“Gilsion had the same look on her face the first time it happened to her.”
Roynel added with a faint smile.
“Barbaroi, you're impressive. Gilsion drew her sword and flew into a rage, threatening to kill Ahiman.”
Ahiman chuckled.
Only Yushin couldn't laugh.
‘What is this sudden heartwarming atmosphere?’
Yushin, exhausted to the limit, leaned his body against the wall.
“Yes, yes. I'm going to sleep.”
He wrapped a robe around his body and closed his eyes.
He heard the party members murmuring about something, but he couldn't make out what they were saying.
He was too tired.
* * *
“Ska, wake up.”
Someone shook Yushin's shoulder.
When Yushin opened his eyes, Karin stood some distance away.
“Ah, did I sleep for long?”
“Yeah. You slept like the dead. Could you put that sword away?”
Yushin looked down at his hand.
A sword was clutched in it.
He didn't even remember when he had grabbed it.
Thinking carefully, he seemed to recall grabbing it before bed last night.
All the party members were awake and eating breakfast.
Yushin got up, tidied his place, and stretched.
His leg and thigh muscles were stiff as though packed with stones.
His feet were swollen, and his back and shoulders were sore.
But he did not let it show.
After loosening up thoroughly, he drank water and chewed the remaining jerky.
Yushin accepted the party's packs and carried them on his back.
Maybe it was just his imagination, but it was bearable.
He replaced the torch and finished preparing to depart.
Karin held the torch and spoke.
“Let's go.”
Karin's party advanced through the darkness without hesitation.
One day. Two days. Three days.
Nothing changed. Karin's party kept killing monsters, and Yushin kept carrying the luggage and moving forward.
They passed the second floor and cleared the third.
They reached the fourth floor.
One more floor and it would be the fifth.
The edge of the surface levels.
Once he cleared the fifth floor, he would shed the shell of a novice explorer.
But anxiety outweighed the excitement pounding in his chest.
Karin had said it last time.
A new monster had appeared in the labyrinth. But over the past few days, they had seen nothing but hobgoblins and black slimes.
‘Is it farther ahead?’
Karin, walking with the torch in hand, stopped. Yushin stopped thinking.
Karin sniffed the air, her ears perking up.
“Several hobgoblins. Two hobgoblin warriors. One hobgoblin shaman.”
“That's a lot.”
“Prepare for battle. Ahiman, get ready.”
“Understood.”
As they waited while maintaining formation, the laughter of hobgoblins came from beyond the darkness.
“Kikeke.”
“Kk-k-k.”
Yushin swallowed dryly. His desperate battle with a hobgoblin warrior was still vivid.
He had risked his life fighting like a demon even against one, and there were two.
Even though he tried not to tense up, his body tensed on its own.
They were here.
Swarming hobgoblins emerged under the torchlight.
A hobgoblin warrior had something tied to its shield.
Yushin clicked his tongue when he saw what was tied to the shield.
A naked woman.
He couldn't tell whether she was alive or dead.
The hobgoblins charged with shrieks.
“Ahiman!!”
Karin shouted.
“𐒗𐒚𐒥𐒚𐒠𐒏!!”
A huge portal opened above Ahiman's head, and a bundle of tentacles shot out.
Emitting an ominous aura, the tentacles tore through the horde and seized the hobgoblin shaman.
Graaak!
The captured shaman twisted its body this way and that, shrieking.
But it failed to escape.
Crrrunch.
As the bundle of tentacles constricted the shaman's body, the sound of breaking bones echoed through the cave.
But it did not end there.
The bundle dragged the shaman right in front of the party.
“Gueeek.”
With every bone in its body crushed, the shaman vomited thick gobs of blood from its mouth.
Shuaaak!
Gilsion's sword cleaved the hobgoblin shaman's body precisely in half.
“Here we go!!”
Karin shouted.
The hobgoblin warriors charged with their shields held out in front.
Roynel's arrow flew with a thunderous boom.
Bwooom!!
“Gueegh!!”
The arrow pierced the hobgoblin warrior's head, then came to a stop only after skewering the hobgoblins behind it like meat on a skewer.
Overwhelming power.
Yushin's eyes widened and his mouth fell open.
‘This is a mid-rank explorer?’
The remaining hobgoblin warrior hesitated, then held out a ‘person’ as a shield.
Gilsion rapidly stepped around to the side of the hobgoblin.
The blind spot of the shield.
Gilsion swung her greatsword from that blind spot.
From below upward.
Fwoooosh!!
The greatsword sent the hobgoblin warrior's thick arm flying.
“Kieeeek!!”
Clang!!
The arm went sailing a long way before falling to the cave floor.
Blood gushed from the severed stump like a fountain.
“Hraaah!!”
Karin leaped high and landed on the hobgoblin warrior's shoulder.
Slash!
Two crossed daggers flashed, and the hobgoblin warrior's head dropped to the floor with a thud.
Shuaa-aa-aak!!
Blood sprayed like a fountain from the cross-section of the severed neck.
Karin leaped again and landed on the ground.
Not a single drop of blood stained her body.
Both hobgoblin warriors were dead.
The rest were just rabble.
After that, it was a one-sided slaughter.
They cut, crushed, and killed.
The hobgoblins' screams and groans echoed, while blood splattered against the cave walls and their dying cries spread into the distance.
The battle ended quickly.
Not a single one escaped. Every last one died with its head and heart pierced by Roynel's arrows.
Gilsion approached the two women tied to the shield.
Yushin also approached to examine them.
He could recognize one of the two.
It was Alon.
The female dwarf he had met in the novice explorer class.
Gilsion removed her gauntlet and pressed a finger beneath Alon's nose.
After a moment.
Gilsion shook her head.
She wasn't breathing.
‘I see.’
She was dead.
They hadn't been particularly close.
Still, having spent a week learning and joking together in the same class, Yushin felt bitter about Alon's death.
“Was she someone you knew?”
Gilsion asked Yushin.
“Yes. We were classmates in the novice explorer class.”
“Don't be discouraged or grieve. It's an explorer's fate.”
“I'm not that upset.”
Yushin drew the line.
He was only bitter.
Alon's half-closed eyes remained fixed on empty space.
Yushin approached and closed Alon's eyes for her.