Chapter 17
Chapter 17
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 17
Chapter Title: Labyrinth (5)
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Kairel just kept running endlessly.
"Huff... huff..."
He relied on the faint light of his torch in the dark passage, running endlessly.
When he hit a dead end, he turned around and ran again.
When the path blocked again, he changed direction once more and ran.
"Please...! Huff...! Please...!!"
Then, light would start to appear.
A faint light that sprinkled hope of survival.
"Please—!!"
But when he reached it.
Kairel collapsed to the ground, screaming.
"Damn iiiit—!!!"
Blocked again.
By a sinister barrier glowing blood-red.
This was the fifth time.
At this point, even Kairel knew.
That he was completely trapped in this labyrinth.
And he knew exactly who had imprisoned him and his comrades here.
'How... how could a mere mongrel like that...!!'
Number 17, the battle slave who had been their target.
The bastard had set up barriers here and was hunting them down.
And while Kairel sat despondent at the fifth exit.
Thud, thud...
"Eek...!!"
Footsteps echoed from behind him, and Kairel whipped around in terror.
What emerged was a mongrel resembling the Tyrant's form.
He had imagined his shape in the darkness.
"B-Bastard..."
But what appeared was no monster.
Thud, thud...
Drip...
It was a dwarf.
The quarter dwarf who had never once called the elf himself "Captain."
One arm torn off, one eye gouged out, yet staggering toward him, calling him "Captain" while shedding bloody tears.
"What... what happened to you..."
"S-Save... The mongrel... th-that mongrel..."
He didn't need an explanation to guess why the man looked like that.
The reason Kairel asked was simple.
—Why was he still alive in that state?
Like the first three, he should have had his head lopped off and died long ago.
Yet here he was, walking toward him with only an arm and an eye missing.
"C-Captain... save me..."
"Who the hell's your captain...!! You filthy dwarf!!"
Thwack—!!
Kairel kicked the approaching quarter dwarf away.
Regardless of the reason, if this guy had made it here alive, the mongrel bastard was surely following right behind.
This wasn't some pitiful subordinate.
He was poison.
The deadliest kind, fatal in a single sip.
"N-No...!! Don't go...!! Save me...!! Save me—!!!"
Kairel kicked the quarter dwarf aside and bolted away desperately.
'This monster bastard...!! He's hunting us...!! He's enjoying this...!!'
The situation was clear now.
The mongrel slave had gained Draconian power.
He pushed aside questions of how that was possible logically.
The bastard had sealed the labyrinth with that power.
Then let them run, hunting them down.
Tormenting those who clung to hope for survival, simply enjoying it.
"No, no, no way...!! Not here...! I'm not dying here...?!"
He didn't want to die.
Kairel still had so much he wanted to achieve.
Once this mission ended, he was about to gain the right to live as a full elf, not a disgraceful half-elf.
"I will...! I swear I'll escape...!!"
Kairel ran forward frantically, tears streaming down like a child.
And this desperate flailing of Kairel's.
Was the moment Number 17 had most desired.
"......"
"......"
Kairel halted his death sprint at some point.
Not because of a wall.
Something more despairing than a dead end.
A evil dragon stood before him, staring coldly with red glowing eyes.
Thud, thud, thud.
I'm dead.
That single word flashed through Kairel's mind.
"Uwaaaaaah—!!!"
Snapping to his senses, Kairel spun around and tried to flee the opposite way.
—Or tried to.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [Skill 'Thread of the Wind' activated.] ⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡ Thread of the Wind Whirrr!!
Slash.
"Gaaaaah!!!"
In an instant, the axe that had left the mongrel's hand sliced Kairel's leg as if possessed by a will of its own.
Kairel tumbled to the ground, blood gushing as he screamed.
"D-Don't come...! That's an order—!! Don't come!!"
Bzzz!!
Kairel activated the restraint collar's paralysis magic stone, his face drained white.
But.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [Trait 'Soul of the Tyrant' resists magic.] Thud, thud, thud.
"Wh-What...! Don't come...!! Stay back!!!"
The restraint collar had lost all meaning now.
And with his last hope gone, Kairel hurled the magic stone away and crawled across the floor.
"Spare meeee!!! Please—!!!"
Unable to escape, Kairel had only one option left.
Begging for mercy.
Anyone watching would scoff.
Just hours ago, he had sneered at the mongrel slave's screams.
Thud, thud, thud.
But Number 17 didn't mock him.
He simply walked toward him with endlessly cold eyes.
Crunch.
"Gaaaaah—!!!"
The axe severed four of his fingers in one swing.
And from Number 17's tightly shut mouth came a voice.
"—Speak."
It wasn't the mongrel's voice Kairel remembered.
A heavy presence that shook the soul within his flesh.
From Number 17's voice emanated the aura of a great being impossible for a mongrel.
"Who ordered you to kill me?"
"Please...! Sniff...! Please spare me...! Mercy...!!"
Kairel couldn't make a sound judgment amid the pain in his hand.
That foolishness prolonged his suffering.
Slash.
"Gaaaaaaaah—!!!"
The elf's screams echoed through the labyrinth.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [Ancestor 'Eternal Teacher of the Fairies' coldly regards her descendant.] Even the ancestor he had always trusted and relied on.
Was not on his side in this moment.
"Next, your eyes. Then I'll show you your guts. After that, I'll burn out the other eye. —Answer."
Only then did Kairel snap to his senses, forcing open his tear-soaked mouth.
"E-Elena...! Elena Silbaren...!!"
"......"
"She's a pureblood fairy noble...! She...!! Sniff, she ordered me... t-to kill you...!!"
Elena Silbaren.
Number 17 committed the name to memory.
Then he opened his mouth again to ask Kairel.
"The reason."
"......P-Pardon?"
"Why did she order my death?"
He knew who.
But the why remained unknown.
And unfortunately.
It was a fact Kairel was utterly ignorant of.
"I don't know...!! I really don't know...!! I swear!! I swear on my great grandmaster Elisis, I truly know nothing—!!"
"......"
"It's true...! Huhuhu..., please..., please spare me...!!"
Kairel clung to the mongrel slave's leg with his thumbs alone, pleading.
He still wanted to live.
He didn't want to die here.
Even if it meant living out his days limbless, tended by others.
He wanted to live.
And the usual Number 17 might have spared him at this point.
But.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [Ancestor 'Dragon that Scatters Karmic Flames' slowly opens its eyes.] The being boiling Number 17's blood wouldn't allow it.
"Excellent."
"Y-Yes...?"
"Your loyalty is truly excellent."
Number 17 rose, red eyes gleaming.
Kairel glimpsed hope, not grasping the meaning.
"Moved by that loyalty, I'll send you off painlessly."
But seeing the axe raised high, he realized his hope was delusion.
"Wait, wait wait wait—!! I really don't know!! I truly know nothing!! Please!! Please—......!!!"
The axe moved swiftly, silently.
Its blade reflected red bloodlight, illuminating the labyrinth.
And the voice begging for life fell silent forever.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ My vision was overtaken by red light, and suddenly, it brightened.
"Ugh...!!"
I twisted in agony, clutching my axe and collapsing to the floor.
"Damn...! What the hell...!"
My head was a mess.
Like I'd gotten blackout drunk and had a nightmare.
Dizzy, nauseous.
And then I realized.
"This is......"
Six heads lay before me.
Three severed elf heads, three severed dwarf heads.
All familiar faces.
Every one of them dead, mouths agape in torment, bloody tears in their eyes.
"......"
Seeing those heads, the nightmare-like memories surfaced one by one.
Only then did I grasp what had happened.
'Rahart's power, huh...'
Right before falling into the trap pit.
I'd clearly seen the message about Rahart's gift descending.
Then my vision went red, and hazy memories followed.
"It went... according to plan? Nah, total disaster..."
A hollow laugh escaped me.
I'd anticipated Rahart's nature would lead to carnage, so I knew it'd be brutal.
But not to this extent.
This was pure berserker mode.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [Ancestor 'Eternal Teacher of the Fairies' gazes at you worriedly.] [Ancestor 'The Creating Mortal' fiddles with his hammer.] [Ancestor 'First King of the Beastkin' perks up his tail.] They all looked worried about me.
Notably absent: Rahart.
'Yeah, not the type for friendly messages.'
To reassure the concerned ancestors, I spoke to the air.
"It's all over now. So..."
And then.
"......Cough!"
An insane pain I'd never felt surged from my chest through my whole body.
"Gaaaaaaaah—!!!"
I clutched my chest, rolling on the ground.
'My body...!! It's tearing apart...!!'
But no blood emerged, despite the agony.
Then I realized.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [Ancestor 'Eternal Teacher of the Fairies' covers her mouth, eyes tearing up!] [Ancestor 'The Creating Mortal' grips his hammer tightly!] [Ancestor 'First King of the Beastkin' bares his fangs!] The ancestors weren't worried about me facing the gruesome scene as a berserker.
They feared the aftermath once the berserker state ended.
"Gaaaaaaaah—!!!"
I screamed loud enough to shake the labyrinth.
It wasn't enough for the pain.
This wasn't physical agony from my body.
No human flesh could endure this; I'd have gone into shock and died.
—This pain originated from my soul.
'Is this...!! The 'unworthy' penalty...!!'
I quickly pinpointed the cause.
Just recently.
When I'd whined to the ancestors about not giving me proper power, their message:
[Unworthy]
'No achievements...! And I used Rahart's power like that...!!'
One needed accomplishments to handle an ancestor's power.
Unprepared, I'd taken Rahart's raw force.
Rebound was inevitable.
Hell, surviving was a miracle.
"Grgh...!! Huff..., huff..."
Fortunately, the pain ebbed with time.
Enough to barely move, anyway.
As it subsided, I set my goal.
"Back to... the Colosseum..."
There's a clinic there.
The clinic has a Seraphim healer.
She could fix this pain somehow.
Besides, I had a time limit.
If I didn't return to Parion in time, the poison needle in my collar would fire, killing me.
"...Huff, ...huff, ...f-fast."
Veins bulging on my face, I used the axe as a crutch to stand.
I had to move.
No time to writhe in pain.
To live, I had to move.
Thus, I dragged my staggering body out of the labyrinth.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "Karga~, you're pacing the walls again."
"......"
"Just a labyrinth scout, no need to worry that much."
"......"
Karga stared at the forest from the wall, stone-faced, ignoring her sister Taira.
She just stood arms crossed, fingers twitching restlessly in frustration.
'Day three already...'
Her slave should return soon.
A mere mongrel slave.
One whose death wouldn't matter.
Yet for these three days, Karga's heart had been unbearably uneasy.
Of course, she knew why.
This anxiety stemmed from worry for Number 17 battle slave.
'He should be here by now...'
What if something happened in the labyrinth?
If so, his return would be delayed.
If delayed..., Number 17...
"Tch..."
"Kargaaa~."
"Mistress, why... why put a poison needle on that guy specifically..."
"No choice, kiddo~. Without it, slaves would just plot escapes."
"You don't do it to mercenary slaves."
"Those are long-term deployments, kiddo. Put a death timer on those sons..."
It was then, as Karga unusually argued with her sister.
The sunset ridge,
the dark forest before it.
Normally pitch-black, nothing visible.
But Karga saw it.
"Hup...!!"
A faint figure.
A familiar man stumbling from the forest, axe propped on the ground.
Karga yelled urgently at Taira.
"Sister—!! Call the relief team now!!"
"Wha?! What's up?! You, acting like this...!!"
"Hurry—!!"
"O-Okay!"
Normally, Karga minded her half-blood status and never overstepped with pureblood Taira.
But seeing Number 17 in dire straits, Karga raised her voice like a little sister for the first time.
And at her sister's sisterly reaction, Taira grinned happily, bounding across rooftops shouting.
"Relief team—!! Get here quick!! We got a guest—!!"