Chapter 73
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 73
Chapter Title: Labyrinth
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Ian handed the permit to the labyrinth guards.
Since the application had already been submitted a few days prior, what followed was just a formality for the guards.
They were cleared through without much delay.
Soon, Ian and his crew came to a halt before the labyrinth's entrance.
A place no one dared approach due to its ominous aura.
At the heart of that foreboding presence, the labyrinth entrance churned with a thick darkness that completely obscured the interior.
Before stepping in, Ian turned back one last time. He scanned his members' faces, locking eyes with each of them.
They all nodded quietly in response.
"Let's go."
Ian took the first step.
Into the darkness where not even a few paces ahead was visible.
A few strides in, and before long, even the lantern's glow was devoured by the shadows.
Sense of direction vanished, replaced by the sensation of plummeting into an abyss—for several seconds.
When he snapped back to awareness, Ian found himself standing in a dark room.
The members behind him staggered for a moment before regaining their composure and looking around.
"This is inside the labyrinth...?"
They had expected to descend some stairs, yet somehow they were here now.
It felt like they'd been whisked away to another place in an instant.
Everyone gripped their weapons, eyes scanning warily.
Ian took a moment to survey the room.
From both his own knowledge and the labyrinth's exploration records, there was no mention of monsters appearing at the starting point.
The very first room was safe.
"This is the exit, so it should be safe."
"The exit?"
"We entered from here. Now it's the exit."
Ian pulled out a blank map. He sketched the current room in the center and marked it as the exit.
The labyrinth was a jumble of tangled spaces.
Every entry led to a different layout, with structures shifting each time—no premade map existed.
They had to chart a fresh one with every delve.
A dungeon where you couldn't predict the space ahead, where the layout changed constantly.
In simple terms...
It was an instance dungeon.
Ian and the crew gave the room a quick once-over.
Barring the stairs leading back to the surface, only one passage connected to the room.
No other way forward.
"Let's move."
They followed Ian's lead, advancing cautiously.
One step toward the first room's sole passage.
They entered a corridor thick with an eerie chill, shrouded in suffocating darkness.
"......"
The lantern's flame flickered, casting unsettling shadows that danced unnervingly.
The layout resembled the practice dungeon they'd explored before, but the labyrinth brimmed with a tense unease—like they'd trespassed where they didn't belong.
At least their training in navigating darkness proved useful.
Staying vigilant, they crept forward step by step until they reached the short passage's end.
-Halt.
Lia, at the front, stopped and signaled.
Ahead lay a wide open space.
No sounds emanated from within, but a prickling chill hung in the air.
A bone-deep cold seeped out, making their bodies tremble.
Ian angled the lantern's light downward to check the floor.
Terrain: graveyard.
Monster type: undead.
Ian quietly lowered the lantern.
This oil-free lantern was handy for traversing passages or resting, but its faint glow offered little aid in combat.
Moments later, torches blazed to life.
Flames spread illumination, unveiling the room hidden in shadow.
The underground graveyard was oppressively silent, as if utterly devoid of life.
Then, very slowly, the dead things lifted their heads from the floor.
"Monsters!"
Rin spotted them first and shouted.
Ghouls sprawled like corpses on the ground rose up, turning their gazes toward the intruders.
The foes were ghouls.
Their hallmark trait: [Blasphemy], shared by most undead monsters.
Landing a solid hit from one inflicted additional erosion.
Several ghouls were rising and shambling closer.
Ian swiftly assessed each monster's traits, pinpointing the priority target.
"Rin! Hit the one in the back first!"
"Got it!"
As Rin replied, Tanya readied the item she'd prepared in advance.
"Throwing it!"
The flashbang launched from Tanya's hand erupted in blinding light.
The sudden glare veiled the ghouls' vision, causing them to lose track of their targets momentarily.
They opened their pre-covered eyes on her cue, and Rin was already positioned behind the rearmost ghoul.
Rin's thrust targeted the ghoul Ian had indicated.
An attack aimed at the enemy's unguarded back.
But since it was their first encounter with the beast...
Even the ambush fell just short of a one-shot kill.
The ghoul impaled by Rin's blade threw its head skyward, body shuddering.
──!!!
"Ugh..."
The struck ghoul let out a cry.
Or perhaps a roar. A scream. The piercing wail ricocheted off the walls, stabbing like needles into their skulls with a nauseating headache.
Rin reeled back in a stagger.
Everyone, Ian included, felt something thick and muddy slithering through their veins upon hearing it.
Mika, the only one who'd felt it before, recognized the energy instantly.
The erosive force behind the labyrinth's curse.
Exactly what Ian had drilled into them time and again: the top threat inside.
"Lia! Advance and cover!"
Lia charged forward, slamming her shield into a ghoul blocking the way.
The ghouls, still disoriented from the flashbang, hadn't locked onto their attackers.
Lia, reaching Rin's vicinity from the rear, swung her sword in a wide arc.
A vivid red gleam flashed as Lia's blade scattered sparks of flame.
The flying embers left faint scorch marks but no real damage—yet every ghoul's gaze chased the flickering light straight to Lia.
"Rin! Go for that one again!"
Rin knew full well why it had to go down first.
She nodded to signal readiness, and Lia struck a blocking ghoul to open a path.
In that gap, Rin lunged rearward once more.
Through the low growls echoing from all sides and the slashing claws.
Rin advanced without hesitation, her body thrusting forward.
In mere steps, her target entered striking range.
The mercenary guild instructors who'd trained her had called Rin's dueling swordplay a total bust.
But they'd praised her eye for openings and her thrusts.
...Possibly just an excuse to offload sword lessons, but either way, Rin spent every training session drilling thrusts all day.
Just as practiced—one step.
Rin's sword shot out.
...Hit!
Toward the ghoul rearing up for another scream, Rin's blade tip struck first.
This time, her sword nailed the vital spot dead-on, halting the ghoul completely.
-Thud!
A ghoul claw flew in haste-overlooked, but Mika's barrier deflected it.
Lia swept in from behind, blocking the next attack on Rin and slashing the ghoul back.
"Right side."
Lia sidestepped to Rin's flank and signaled.
She guarded Rin's rear, absorbing strikes from two charging ghouls.
Meanwhile, Rin dove at the foe Lia had indicated—the lone straggler on the right.
The barrier could hold a few more hits.
Rin slashed head-on at the ghoul. Its attacks rebounded off the barrier, and she carved deep counters into every opening.
After weathering several frontal blows, the barrier shattered just as the ghoul went down.
At the same moment, Lia felled the one she'd been tangling with from the rear.
One remained: the final ghoul Lia had been paired against.
Lia's sword sheared off its arm, Rin's thrust finished it, and the last one crumpled.
Everyone steadied their ragged breaths, scanned the area, then slowly lowered their weapons.
"Haa..."
"Any injuries?"
"Doesn't look like it..."
Rin exhaled deeply, replying with a weary expression.
Their first labyrinth fight. No casualties, thankfully.
Rin eyed the remnants of the monsters they'd just battled.
Tough opponents.
The most aggressive they'd faced yet—fast, threatening in every way.
And now this inexplicable erosion to contend with on top.
If stuff like this kept coming, it'd be the highest-difficulty expedition of their mercenary careers.
"...Not a big deal. At this level."
But the key was, it had gone exactly as practiced.
Not the inescapable nightmare people whispered about.
An enemy within expectations—as long as they stuck to prep and rehearsal.
"I knew you all had it in you."
Of course, it wasn't easy. They'd drilled endlessly.
Thankfully, his old playthrough—clearing everything with just one class per run—paid off now.
The all-porter party had taken months, earning daily "madman" labels on the boards.
But effort never betrayed.
That experience had shaped this expedition plan immensely.
Ian nodded encouragingly to his crew.