Chapter 10
Chapter 10
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 10
Chapter Title: Chapter 1 - Floor 1 #9
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[Chapter 1 - Floor 1 #9]
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The Great Labyrinth devoured the world.
The world became part of the Great Labyrinth, and its reach expanded day by day.
Half of the world was consumed.
Sky and earth and sea. People and animals and gods.
All became part of the Great Labyrinth.
The five goddesses were all within the Great Labyrinth.
Nearly all the gods under the five goddesses had also taken positions inside the Great Labyrinth.
As a result, beings outside the Great Labyrinth conversely found it hard to sense the gods' blessings.
The same held true for the angels, who served as the hands and feet of the five goddesses.
A land completely burned away.
In the place where a branch of the Hall of Radiance—the collective of angels serving the five goddesses—had stood, nothing remained but lingering ashes.
The Angel Leader who had commanded the branch was dead.
The hulking brute gripped her slender, elongated neck as if handling a doll. He closed his eyes and traced the lingering mana.
Angels who had escaped the branch via emergency teleportation.
Ironically, they had fled into the Great Labyrinth.
The brute opened his eyes.
He singled out one trace amid the many.
Kill the angels. Annihilate the Hall of Radiance.
The brute took a step forward.
Toward the Great Labyrinth.
&
Cheon-ho was inwardly flustered by the sudden change in environment.
A corridor evoking medieval sewers stretched straight ahead before abruptly giving way to a sky.
It was a cloudy, ash-gray sky choked with dark clouds, but a sky nonetheless.
Lucille, however, insisted this place was still inside the Great Labyrinth.
It merely resembled a sky—a ceiling existed somewhere beyond.
An ash-gray sky over ash-gray earth.
Scattered across the ground stood structures resembling ruins.
"Some of those ruins might have springs. I read about it in the records."
It was fairly good news.
Most of the ruins lacked roofs but had walls, at least.
They seemed suitable for camping.
"Let's proceed with caution."
Murmuring lowly, Cheon-ho took the lead once more.
His wristwatch read five o'clock in the afternoon.
Evening was approaching.
'No, that's not the important part.'
Cheon-ho turned toward the sound his ears had caught. In the distance, things were approaching with creaking noises.
"Skeletons."
Lucille spoke rapidly, her tone tense.
True to her words, the skulls were shambling closer.
Judging by their size and shape, they resembled goblin or Giant Rat skeletons.
'Real fantasy.'
How did things without muscles even move?
Cheon-ho stowed the kukri and dagger he had been holding and extended a hand to Lucille instead.
"The Wrecking Hammer!"
"Yes!"
Lucille swiftly retrieved the Wrecking Hammer from her inventory. She had clearly anticipated he'd want it the moment skeletons appeared—her movements were incredibly quick.
'Make this quick.'
Gripping the Wrecking Hammer, Cheon-ho shifted his breathing. He closed in on the shambling foes and swung mercilessly.
[Experience gained.]
[Experience gained.]
They were weak, so the experience was modest. But they shattered with every blow, which was honestly fun.
[Hammer Combat Lv1 acquired.]
In the midst of swinging the Wrecking Hammer with gusto, Cheon-ho suddenly froze. A chilling prickle ran up his spine.
"Hero! Be careful!"
Lucille cried out right on cue.
Cheon-ho whipped his gaze around and spotted a monster charging straight at him.
'A monster?'
It was too vague a term, but nothing else fit.
It was huge, first of all.
Like the others, it was nothing but bones, yet its head reached two meters high.
"It's a Cockatrice Skeleton!"
A monster with a chicken's head and body, and a serpent for a tail!
His father had mentioned a similar beast in stories. Cheon-ho quickly averted his eyes from its head, focusing on its legs.
"Meeting its gaze inflicts a paralysis curse!"
Lucille shouted, squeezing her eyes shut.
This matched his father's tales too.
Of course, being a skeleton, it had no real eyeballs, but glowing lights burned in the sockets. Meeting that glow would surely paralyze him.
So Cheon-ho watched its feet.
The feet connected to the body, so tracking them revealed its movements.
Crunch!
With a bizarre sound, it stabbed its beak into the ground.
Unlike the other skeletons, this one was incredibly agile.
Cheon-ho rolled across the ground to dodge its charge, then rolled again in succession. The serpent on its tail lashed out, fangs bared.
His father had said it.
Monsters with heads on both the main body and tail had two brains, so sowing confusion on both sides made them easy prey.
But that wasn't feasible right now.
Instead, Cheon-ho opted for his own method.
"Kreee!"
The bony creature shrieked and turned toward Cheon-ho. Rather than springing up, he crouched low and reached behind his waist.
"Kree!"
It kicked off the ground. At the same instant, Cheon-ho whipped his hand like lightning.
Whirr!
What Cheon-ho threw was a hunting bola.
Stones tied to both ends of a wire, a primitive tool that used centrifugal force to wrap the line around a target's legs and topple them.
The wire tangled around the Cockatrice Skeleton's legs.
Ideally, it would bind both legs and bring it down, but that proved too much.
All it accomplished was halting its advance.
But that was enough.
The moment he threw the bola, Cheon-ho had already kicked off the ground. Keeping his eyes on the feet, he envisioned where its head and neck would be. He swung the Wrecking Hammer straight for that spot.
Crack!
With a sharp crack, its neck bone shattered. The connected head tumbled to the ground. With its legs bound and head gone, the body staggered and collapsed.
"Lucille! Don't look!"
Shouting, Cheon-ho kicked the Cockatrice head away.
Lucille covered her eyes with both hands. Cheon-ho swung the Wrecking Hammer again to finish the remaining serpent.
Crunch!
He smashed the junction linking serpent and chicken.
The snake twitched, then went limp, motionless.
[Level up.]
[Hammer Combat Lv2 achieved.]
"Huff."
Cheon-ho finally exhaled.
He had even drawn on his inner energy for a one-shot kill, leaving him winded.
"Hero! Are you okay?! Hero!"
Lucille shouted, still covering her face.
Her demeanor struck him as oddly cute, and he chuckled before clearing his throat to compose himself.
"I'm fine. You can open your eyes."
Only then did Lucille lower her hands. Seeing Cheon-ho unharmed, she let out a relieved breath.
She hurried over to him.
"It's a relief it weakened as a skeleton. Judging by its size, it seems like a hatchling."
"I see."
'A two-meter hatchling?'
And it had weakened upon becoming a skeleton—what did that imply about its original strength?
Cheon-ho masked his unease.
"If there are hatchlings, a mother might be nearby."
"Oh, no, I doubt it. It's not a full adult, but not a complete juvenile either. Plus, it's a skeleton."
"Right."
Come to think of it, being bones already, a "mother skeleton" would be absurd.
"Anyway, among the skeletons that could appear around here, this one's among the strongest."
"Seems so."
It had appeared last, and no new skeletons emerged after its defeat.
Likely the boss of the local area.
"Then let's find a spot nearby suitable for camping."
"Yes, Hero."
Cheon-ho first gathered the Cockatrice Skeleton's bones and stored them in his inventory.
No mana essence or items dropped, which was disappointing, but for some reason, a smile filled his face.
Then, some thirty minutes later.
Having found a ruin with a small spring, Cheon-ho and Lucille hurriedly prepared camp.
Cheon-ho started by blocking the entrance.
He piled ruin debris into barricades and strung wire across the opening to deter easy approaches.
Fortunately, it had a roof, so sealing the entrance should make it safe enough for one night.
"Now, let's get to the rest."
As Cheon-ho smiled and spoke, Lucille unconsciously nodded with a tense expression.
'Current time: 6:20 p.m....'
There was much to do. Not a minute or second could be wasted.
Cheon-ho began by converting the helmet into a pot.
He ripped out the lining, bent the nasal guard at a right angle, and connected it to a suitably carved wooden piece.
For the connection, he used packing tape.
'Father always said you could do anything with packing tape.'
That's why rolls were stocked in the kitchen, wardrobe, shoe rack, desk, and bed.
Of course, it was just a temporary fix.
Packing tape and its adhesive were weak to heat.
He planned to use it only until he found proper nails.
Lucille watched Cheon-ho's handiwork with blank eyes, then asked in a similarly dazed voice.
"Hero?"
What are you doing right now?
What are you making from the previous Hero's helmet?
Anyone could tell at a glance.
But accepting it was hard.
'A pot! He's making a pot!'
Why?
Why a pot from a helmet?!
It's equipment left by a legendary hero!
As if responding to Lucille's silent scream, Cheon-ho turned to her. With a clear expression, he said.
"Lucille, cast a purification spell on it."
"Uh, y-yes."
Lucille's pink purification magic enveloped the helmet—no, the pot.
'I'm sorry, truly sorry!'
As Lucille silently apologized to the nameless hero, Cheon-ho moved on to the next task.
There was truly much to do.
He gathered debris to build a makeshift stove.
He collected firewood, lit a fire, placed the pot atop, and filled it with purified spring water.
'Tch, small capacity.'
The helmet was fairly large, but still felt inadequate as a proper pot.
No helping it.
This was all he had.
Cheon-ho then pulled the Cockatrice bones from his inventory.
'Time to make bone broth.'
The flavor in boiled chicken came from the bones and skin, not the meat.
A Cockatrice was a chicken, at any rate.
Cheon-ho smashed the wing bones with the Wrecking Hammer and dumped them into the pot.
'Wish I had onions.'
Musing inwardly, Cheon-ho began the next task while the bone broth simmered.
He built another stove, placed the Steel Kite Shield atop it, and lit a fire.
Leftover Giant Rat meat from lunch.
But something took priority now.
'Only one pot, so the kite shield will have to serve as a griddle.'
Its inner side was slightly concave, after all.
Cheon-ho placed the butchered Giant Rat fat scraps atop the Steel Kite Shield.
Soon, a savory aroma wafted as the white fat melted into oil.
Cheon-ho collected the oil in an instant noodle cup container. He added lye water, stirred thoroughly, covered it with cloth, and sealed the lid with wire.
'No idea if it'll work, but worth a shot.'
What Cheon-ho was making now wasn't food.
A primitive form of soap.
Some oils suited soap-making, others didn't, so he planned to experiment.
Lucille, witnessing all this, thought once more.
'What kind of person is he, really?'
The more she watched, the more fascinating he became.
What on earth had his life been like?
And one more thing.
'It smells good.'
Unconsciously swallowing, Lucille glanced at the pot—no, the helmet—no, the pot.
Just boiling Cockatrice Skeleton bones, yet a delicious aroma rose.
Cheon-ho sprinkled salt into it.
He tasted it simply with chopsticks and even drew a faint smile.
Gulp.
Lucille swallowed again.
Then came a sound tantalizing her ears.
Sizzle—
Fresh Giant Rat meat went onto the griddle—no, the Steel Kite Shield—no, the griddle.
Cheon-ho salted the Giant Rat meat too.
This time, he pulled one item from the many in his inventory.
Labyrinth potatoes.
Among the provisions from the Rat Hole storeroom, the ones Lucille deemed barely edible.
Crunch crunch.
He peeled the potato skins.
Sliced them thin and fried them in the pooled oil at the griddle's center.
The pot bubbled as bone broth simmered.
On the griddle, meat sizzled, and thin potato slices crackled crisply, releasing a savory scent.
[Cooking Lv5 achieved.]
[Cooking taste improves further.]
Truth be told, even Cheon-ho's culinary skills struggled without proper seasonings or spices.
But the Labyrinth World's system—the cooking level—extended a helping hand.
'Huu, huu.'
Lucille kept gulping relentlessly.
The grotesqueness of boiling and eating Cockatrice Skeleton bones had long faded from view.
She wanted to eat.
Quickly.
Cheon-ho turned to such a Lucille. He handed her chopsticks, delivering a fatal blow.
"Try the broth."
"Yes."
Irresistible temptation.
Opening her mouth like a baby bird, Lucille sipped the deeply infused Cockatrice Skeleton bone broth.
It was hot.
Warm.
It seeped into her weary body.
If pressed, it healed the soul?
The day's fatigue melted like snow.
"Ahh, ahhhh...."
Lucille let out an involuntary moan of delight. Cheon-ho smiled triumphantly.
"Tasty?"
"Yesss♥"
So what if it was Cockatrice Skeleton bone? If it tasted good, that was enough.
Lucille answered honestly with a blissful face. Cheon-ho eyed the pot.
'Thank you. I won't forget you.'
To the previous hero who left the pot.
Lucille felt the same. Clasping her hands, she offered a prayer to the previous hero.
'Thank you for leaving the pot.'
Not a helmet—a pot.
Anyway, a pot.
Cheon-ho and Lucille looked at each other. They beamed innocently and began their meal.
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[Chapter 1 - Floor 1 #9] End