Chapter 135
Chapter: 135
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>Translator: penny
>Chapter: 135
>Chapter Title: Labyrinth (4)
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Kroooargh!
The massive beast’s roar filled the cavern.
Gone was its awkward initial appearance. The menacing aura it now exuded was comparable to that of a glacier troll lurking deep in the demon realm.
Orden backed away with a grimace, wary of the giant lycanthrope.
He had already slashed at the beast with his sword several times. Yet whether due to its thick hide or some other reason, it looked unscathed, without a single visible wound.
He had distinctly felt the blade bite deep, but he couldn’t comprehend this outcome at all.
“...!”
Boom!
With no time to even think, the enormous greatsword came crashing down toward him again. The stone floor shattered, sending fragments flying in all directions.
Orden dodged the strike perilously close and dove deep into the lycanthrope’s side. Seizing the moment as it hesitated while pulling its embedded sword free, he thrust his aura-infused blade swiftly into its leg.
Stab!
But the beast didn’t even flinch. It swung its fist straight at him.
“…No reaction at all?”
Orden ducked urgently, his eyes widening in shock.
Did it not feel pain? Yet his sword had clearly pierced deep into its thigh—why didn’t it bear even the slightest wound!
In the meantime, Prince Mores leaped between them. He used the deeply embedded greatsword as a foothold and dashed along the beast’s thick forearm. Then, lightly springing upward, he slashed downward with Nutcracker in a long arc.
Slash!
The slender gray blade deeply gashed its carotid artery.
‘This has to be a critical hit!’
So Orden thought, but astonishingly, the beast turned toward the prince without any sign of damage. There wasn’t even a trace of blood where the sword had struck its neck.
The lycanthrope immediately swung the greatsword in its other hand ferociously at the prince.
“…Your Highness!”
The unexpected counterattack came, but fortunately, as if anticipating it, the prince kicked off the beast’s shoulder and leaped away.
He landed steadily beside Orden and said,
“Doesn’t seem to have any vital points? It looks like damage is applied purely honestly.”
Orden was dumbfounded by the prince’s dry assessment.
“Your Highness, something’s off! This lycanthrope seems to be regenerating like a troll. With no idea where the vitals are, how are we supposed to…?”
But the nonchalant prince tilted his head at him.
“Huh? No, your attack just now was pretty good. Its HP dropped quite a bit?”
“…Pardon?”
“There’s an HP bar above its head showing its life force. Can’t you see it?”
Above its head?
Only then did Orden notice that the long glowing bar above the beast’s head had shortened slightly compared to before.
He had ignored it, not knowing what it was.
“…That’s its life force?”
“Yeah. No wounds or bleeding effects means this is like an old-school game’s rule set.”
“Old-school game… what?”
“Or maybe it’s because we’re minors, so minor protection mode is on?”
Orden couldn’t grasp what the prince meant.
No, more importantly—
“You’re the only one here who isn’t an adult!”
Orden burst out, and the prince stared at him in bewilderment.
“Is that what matters right now?”
“…No, I…”
“…Incoming!”
Before Orden could reply, the prince called out softly.
A massive body leaped toward them.
Red eyes trailed a long afterimage, then whoosh! The greatsword swept horizontally in a wide arc.
Orden barely ducked under it, but the wind alone made his whole body tingle.
As he rolled across the floor to create distance, the prince had already retreated far away.
Maintaining ample spacing while trading blows, it was clear he had faced such giant beasts more than once or twice.
‘…How is that possible?’
Orden readjusted his stance and wondered.
A genius swordsman inured to labyrinth sea beasts since childhood, yet this bizarre battle uniquely exhausted him.
The giant beast’s center of gravity seemed to shift constantly, exhibiting movements hard for him to predict. Its joint range of motion also deviated slightly from what its form suggested.
Moreover, its arm extension length varied oddly with each swing, as if its shoulder dislocated and reset. Given its size, this created substantial gaps.
These inconsistencies constantly gnawed at Orden’s nerves.
“Hoo…”
And there was another issue.
His aura depleted relentlessly with every swing.
For some reason—perhaps Scartafino’s trick—consumed aura didn’t recover here.
“No need to rush. Damage is accumulating steadily even from small hits.”
Prince Mores approached the panting Orden and cautioned him offhandedly.
“So conserve your aura. The air here is extremely thin on it, making recovery tough.”
Orden looked at him incredulously.
What was this? Those excessively calm eyes.
He had thought the prince a pampered greenhouse flower who rarely left the palace, yet now he resembled a veteran from Sigismund territory, lifetime spent subjugating sea beasts.
That was when.
Thud. As the lycanthrope stepped toward them, its presence grew heavier.
Beep. A sharp warning pierced his ears.
[Lycanthrope Lord is greatly enraged!]
Kraaaargh!
The staggering beast suddenly arched back and unleashed a terrifying roar.
* * *
The vast cavern was already a wreck.
The mutt had rampaged freely, swinging its dual greatswords and nearly collapsing the chamber. The rounded walls and stone floor were scarcely intact.
Yet the torches illuminating the interior burned undamaged in place, which was oddly miraculous.
“…Hah, hah.”
Seongjin watched Orden steady himself, gasping raggedly.
He was holding his own impressively against a first-time boss mob, proving he was no pushover. But repeated glancing blows in the prolonged fight had torn his clothes and left blood trickling from various spots.
Not just that—having expended most of his aura, he even staggered occasionally.
‘He can’t drag this out much longer…’
Seongjin, by contrast, had some leeway. His habit of keeping distance against giant monsters and diving in opportunistically worked well.
Gehenna’s beasts moved so bizarrely, after all.
Take Vantara Moth larvae, for example. How varied the range of tentacles emerging from their hyper-flexible hides.
‘And the more I watch, the more its movements resemble Blatta Mantis…’
Of course, appearance aside.
At least this one was a cute mutt with no more than four legs.
Gehenna beasts, barring some bipedal types, were mostly arthropod-like, usually with over six legs.
Blatta Mantis was a massive insectoid beast wielding powerful mantis-like forelimbs. But its sleek, jet-black chitinous form resembled a cockroach more than…
‘…No, stop thinking. Ruins my appetite again.’
The whole superhuman squad suffered anorexia for days after fighting it.
[You okay? You keep comparing it to that beast, but Blatta Mantis was pretty strong-tier.]
‘One-on-one, no swarm? Sure.’
Seongjin’s stats had dropped terribly from his prime, yet oddly, he felt no crisis against this thing.
An inexplicable confidence that he could handle it somehow, no matter what.
‘Guess I’ve gotten pretty laid-back…’
Inconceivable for his hunter days self, who approached combat meticulously.
Maximize intel on enemy strength, form squads and plans on objective data.
He despised reckless berserkers charging in thoughtlessly.
[Who turns into the craziest berserker when blood’s up? What nonsense.]
‘That was when I had no choice. I was plenty prepared otherwise.’
[Hmm, really? Or maybe you think your dad’ll fix anything that comes up.]
‘…Maybe?’
Seongjin blinked.
Thinking of that man did make it click somehow.
‘Yeah, could be.’
A strange feeling.
Did everyone with parents live with this mindset?
As he pondered, a sharp beep blared.
[Lycanthrope Lord is greatly enraged!]
Simultaneously, the mutt began shuddering as if electrocuted.
Its intensifying presence felt ominous, and suddenly it howled deafeningly at the air.
Kraaaargh!
Orden’s eyes widened in alarm. The lycanthrope’s blue fur instantly turned violet as its body writhed and swelled.
Too dramatic for mere muscle flexing. Its volume expanded in empty space?
Unlike the shocked Orden, Seongjin’s reaction was simple.
‘Oh, boss phase 2.’
[…Laid-back suits you.]
‘Look on the bright side. Remaining HP says we won’t hit phase 3.’
Finally, a purple mutt 1.5 times larger slowly rose before them.
Grrrrrr…
Long protruding white fangs. White steam rose from its longer, sharper muzzle.
The red eyes glaring at Seongjin’s group burned fiercely, almost aflame.
“…What in the world.”
As Orden gasped, the lycanthrope’s ears twitched.
And then.
“Hey! Watch—”
Boom!
No time to warn—Orden’s body slammed into the stone wall. The violet beast had swung its greatsword at blinding speed, flat-side battering him away.
“Urk…”
Embedded like a siege ram, Orden groaned lowly.
He had wrapped himself in aura, staying conscious—a mercy—but the impact was too severe to rise immediately.
Grrrrr…
As the growling mutt approached slowly, emitting low frequencies, Seongjin steeled himself.
‘…No helping it.’
He had planned to take it slow, wary of the Holy Emperor’s scrutiny, but now he had to push.
Seongjin exhaled, aura-wrapped his legs, and kicked off explosively.
Before the startled lycanthrope could react, he vaulted onto its back and swung Nutcracker.
Swoosh. He gashed its back wide, then before it could turn, planted a foot on the wall and launched toward its leg again.
Slash! Nutcracker plunged deep into the backward-bent knee joint, twisting viciously.
It swung its greatsword diagonally in haste, but Seongjin, nearly hugging the floor, slipped past perilously and kicked off again. The blade carved its underbelly long.
Kraaack!
Unable to track Seongjin, the beast flailed its greatsword irritably.
Seongjin used Nutcracker, now embedded in its head, as a pivot to spin, then deeply slashed one massive shoulder blade.
“...”
Orden sat dazed before the wall, pain forgotten, staring blankly.
It was dreamlike.
Seemingly minor hit-and-run strikes, yet the prince wasted no motion in retreat, stabbing deep each time.
Proof: the lycanthrope’s remaining HP dwindled steadily.
The prince’s spacing.
Initially facing him, Orden had sensed his spacing narrower than his sword reach.
Now, he realized his grave mistake.
The prince’s spacing transcended mere distance. Rebounding walls became his footholds; beast-made furrows, protective barriers.
Everything in his sight was his domain.
The entire area was already the prince’s spacing.
“Hoo…”
Finally, as the prince landed and exhaled deeply.
Thud!
The hulking monster, seeming invincible, collapsed to the floor.