Chapter 126: B-Rank Labyrinth — Tower of Trials (2)
On the third floor of [Tower of Trials], where an open-field environment had been recreated, Bartimir and Moon Expedition Group One were fighting fiercely.
“Blackie, run to the left!”
A command delivered directly through the mental resonance effect of [Yippee Yippee, Friends Friends!].
“Understood!”
Pendrick dashed out at once.
He was holding a single-edged sword in both hands rather than Astrimia.
It was the masterpiece-grade sword used by the demon monster warrior who had attacked the Moon Expedition in [Cherry Cherry Orchard].
It had no special effect, but it was absurdly sturdy.
“Come at me!”
The pig beastman swordsman who had appeared as their enemy brought his greatsword down.
Pendrick immediately swung his single-edged sword upward.
Whoosh!
With the sound of wind splitting, Pendrick’s sword traced a clean and expansive arc.
It was a systematic sword art completely different from the shabby, clumsy style he had shown until now.
It was [Fierce Gale Swordsmanship], the martial Mystery taught to him by Brunelda, the wild swordsman of the Northern Continent.
Clang!
The single-edged sword and the greatsword collided.
Kwaaaa!
“Kh—!”
Shockwaves burst outward.
Pendrick failed to hold his ground and was thrown backward.
“Trainees! Is this all you have!”
The pig beastman swordsman shouted, then brought the greatsword down toward the fallen Pendrick.
“Ah!”
Bartimir instantly cut in and took a defensive stance, wrapping both arms in the demonic energy stiffened by [Flow Condensation Syndrome].
Slash!
Both of Bartimir’s hands were severed at once.
He had twisted the trajectory of the greatsword and avoided a fatal wound, but the pig beastman swordsman did not stop his assault and immediately raised the greatsword high again.
“Bartimir!”
Marlin, who had been hidden with [Brites Stealth Art], was startled and threw a hidden dagger.
The pig beastman swordsman casually knocked the hidden dagger away with his thick forearm, then brought the greatsword down over Bartimir’s head.
“…We give up the challenge!”
At that exact moment, Lucius, who had been supporting the team members from behind, hurriedly shouted.
“For a trainee to yield to adversity of merely this degree!”
A booming voice, presumed to belong to Fist King Graik, rang out through the air, and in the next instant, the entire Moon Expedition stood before the main gate of the tower again.
They had declared forfeiture midway and been thrown back outside.
“…This isn’t easy.”
Bartimir muttered as he touched his hands, already restored by the curse [Treacherous Companion].
This made it their eighth failed attempt already.
“…I’m sorry. I think I got too greedy.”
“Yes, you did make a mistake.”
Bartimir patted Pendrick on the back as he apologized.
“But we’re getting better and better, so don’t get too discouraged.”
“Understood. I’ll do it properly next time!”
“Cheer up, Pendrick!”
“Asmi, keep your eyes on me!”
“Okay!”
Marlin, who had been sitting collapsed on the ground from exhaustion, turned away after watching the two lovers cling to each other in public.
She had gotten pretty close to Pendrick and Astrimia by now, but even so, it was still not easy to look at scenes like that with composure.
“Lady Marlin, is your body all right?”
As she quietly caught her breath, Lucius, the priest she had thought was the hope of the Moon Expedition, spoke to her.
“My wrists ache a little.”
“Shall I heal them for you?”
“No. It’s still fine.”
“If the pain gets any worse, even a little, please tell me immediately. Healing Mysteries are not all-powerful either.”
“Okay….”
Lucius sat down beside Marlin.
“How does it feel to be clearing a B-Rank labyrinth? Isn’t it difficult?”
“…Honestly, it’s really hard.”
[Tower of Trials] was structured so that when they defeated the enemy that appeared on each floor, they were immediately transferred to the floor above.
Because of that, they had to keep fighting exhausting battles without rest.
“The enemies that appear are already hard enough to beat even if we all work together, and on top of that we don’t even get to rest properly….”
Marlin imagined herself getting struck down by an enemy again for no reason, shook her head, and let out a sigh.
“If Priest Lucius hadn’t been here, I might already be dead. Just like Kar said, [Tower of Trials] really, really is a hard labyrinth to clear.”
Even for Marlin, who as a beastman was naturally sturdy, this was not an expedition easy to endure at her still-young age.
She had prepared herself to suffer, but that did not make the exhaustion in body and mind any lighter.
“Still, it’s okay.”
Marlin clenched both fists and spoke.
“Kar must have brought me to this labyrinth because he knew I could definitely overcome it.”
Kar enjoyed his own suffering, but he was not the sort of pervert who snickered while watching others suffer.
…Probably.
“Your faith in Sir Kar is very firm.”
“I’m sure I’m not the only one. Don’t the others feel that way too? Don’t you, Priest?”
“…Of course I trust him too.”
Lucius, who had flinched for just a moment, answered gently.
“Sir Kar is someone who will one day succeed in clearing [Nightmare Dungeon]. I am certain of it.”
“……”
Marlin looked down silently at her slightly dirtied hands.
Because clearing [Nightmare Dungeon] still felt like a story with no real substance to it yet.
“…More importantly, I’m a little worried about Bartimir’s condition.”
At Lucius’s words, Marlin quickly raised her head and looked at the pure yet slightly wicked demon.
“……”
Bartimir was standing there blankly.
His eyes were faintly furrowed, and his lips were pressed tightly shut.
“I fear that, after so many consecutive failures, he may be feeling the heavy responsibility of serving as the temporary squad leader.”
“…That’s probably not it.”
Marlin rejected the priest’s statement without even thinking about it.
“There’s no way he got quiet because he was discouraged!”
If this had been Kar, how would he have reacted in a situation like this?
He would surely have said something ridiculous like, Isn’t this truly the greatest labyrinth? We get to keep challenging it and suffering until we win!
So Bartimir, who shared the same disposition, was probably thinking something very similar.
“Everyone, listen to me.”
At last, Bartimir, who had remained silent for quite a while, spoke.
“I think the will of the Fist King left in this tower dislikes trainees who give up halfway. You all felt that too, right?”
“Yes.”
Every single time they had declared forfeiture so far, they had heard an enraged shout from the air.
“But when we re-challenged it, we didn’t hear any voice at all. I guess it doesn’t want to make people abandon the desire to climb the tower. Since it’s a facility for training.”
The demon’s mouth, partially covered by bandages, curved into a grin.
“In that case, let’s try this. We’ll keep challenging it up to the third floor, which is our current limit, and then give up. Again and again.”
“…What? Then what about breaking the record?”
“I’m not saying we should just stay stuck like this.”
Bartimir held up the bundle of papers Kar had given him before they entered the labyrinth.
“Until the three of us get used to the homework Mom gave us. Until then, we’ll just keep repeating the challenge up to the third floor. Let’s focus not on ‘clearing the labyrinth,’ but on the reason the Fist King built this tower in the first place.”
“That’s a good idea.”
Lucius smiled faintly.
“To raise the expedition’s overall power. That was the reason Sir Kar pushed for exploring [Tower of Trials].”
Kar had not actually given Moon Expedition Group One any orders to uncover the Hidden Piece.
He had only told them to train properly in the labyrinth.
“We were so blinded by the goal of the Hidden Piece that we almost lost sight of the true purpose, ‘training.’”
“You… knew that and just kept watching, didn’t you?”
“Yes. It seems Sir Kar was taking even Bartimir’s mental growth as a squad leader into consideration.”
“Mm, I think you’re right.”
The demon admitted it readily, then looked around at the team members.
“In any case, for the time being, let’s focus only on the homework Mom gave us. We’ll keep going up to the third floor, fight that pig beastman from earlier, and then give up. Repeatedly!”
Seeing the vivid energy in Bartimir’s eyes, Marlin nodded.
As expected….
Bartimir was not the kind of explorer who would yield to hardship.
If anything, he was the type who liked it even more when the road toward results was difficult.
Just like Kar.
“All right then, we rest for ten more minutes and then challenge it again!”
Only then did Bartimir flop down flat on the road and start resting.
“…Ugh.”
Marlin watched the demon, who had already fallen asleep thanks to the effect of [Sudden Nightmare], and then spoke.
“Priest, if I want to clear [Nightmare Dungeon] by following Kar, do I need to become like Bartimir too?”
“Hmm….”
Lucius thought for a moment, then shook his head.
“There is no need for that. If all the explorers in the same expedition share the exact same disposition, that is actually not a good thing.”
“Why?”
“If the entire group thinks the same way when facing an extremely dangerous trap disguised as something ordinary, wouldn’t that lead to total annihilation? It is, in fact, a very common kind of accident.”
The thoroughly prepared priest turned his gaze toward Pendrick, who was hugging Astrimia.
“Just as Pendrick raises the expedition’s spirit with his unique sociability, Lady Marlin only needs to take on the role that only Lady Marlin can fulfill. There is no need for you to become like Sir Kar.”
“…It would be hard to become like him in the first place.”
“That is true. So all the more reason you must find your own path.”
“I guess so.”
Absentmindedly taking out the dagger [First Breath] and turning it over in her hands, Marlin sank into thought.
Something only I can do….
Nothing appropriate came to mind right away.
But strangely, she did not feel frustrated.
Rather, she felt a little relieved.
Why do I feel good…?
Only now, at last, Marlin was beginning to become an explorer in her own right.
“Take this!”
A large orc swung a hammer down at me.
A strike that would have burst my head beautifully if it landed.
Slash.
Rosalia sprang out from my shadow, cut through the shaft of the hammer with her dagger, and immediately drove a kick into the orc’s solar plexus.
“Kh, not bad….”
The orc did not get to finish speaking.
Crunch!
Rosalia’s downward kick landed on his shoulder, and the orc crumpled on the spot.
That attack had probably shattered his shoulder bone.
“…Trainees these days are impressive!”
Not long later, the orc slowly rose again and laughed heartily.
The residents of the Northern Continent were not such narrow-minded creatures that they would grumble at a trainee over something as minor as having their bones crushed.
“I’ll guide you willingly. Follow me.”
The orc resident led the way with a friendly grin, as though he had never picked a fight with us in the first place.
“We’re here. This is it.”
They reached the destination quickly.
A building built in the rough Northern Continent architectural style, overall resembling a cave.
When I looked at the sturdy-looking door, Truthi hurriedly displayed some words.
《The entrance to [Trial Sewers].》
“Inside this building is a sewer system built by some ancient kingdom. The terrain itself has changed since then, and under the influence of [Tower of Trials], it has become a labyrinth, so now it is used as a training ground for trainees.”
The orc curled one corner of his mouth upward.
“If you go in and keep advancing, enemies will occasionally appear, just like in the tower.”
It was a peculiar phenomenon caused by the information stored in the tower flowing into the sewers together with mana.
The reason it had been judged C-Rank was because its difficulty was clearly lower than that of [Tower of Trials].
“Unlike the tower, the enemies that appear will be around your level or only slightly weaker. If you defeat every enemy that appears and make it all the way to the end, you’ll be able to come back out again. Explanation over!”
“Thank you.”
I bowed to the kind orc and stood before the main entrance.
“Let’s go in.”
When I grabbed the handle and turned it, my vision lurched dizzyingly for an instant.
By the time it returned to normal, I was already inside the building.
《C-Rank Labyrinth — Trial Sewers》
《A small labyrinth accessible only through [Tower of Trials]. That orc already explained everything in detail, so I’ll skip it. Do your best.》
“It really is exactly the same as entering an ordinary labyrinth.”
Abel’s tail swayed lightly beside me.
“Did this building and the sewers themselves become a labyrinth?”
“That’s right.”
Keeping a hand on Abel’s shoulder, I looked around the interior.
The building was completely empty.
Its size was about that of a moderately large chamber.
In the floor was a staircase leading downward.
“Sometimes, inside a labyrinth, there are smaller labyrinths like this that are much more compact than ordinary labyrinths. Isn’t it very small and cute?”
Clunk, clatter.
Rosalia tried forcing open the doors and windows, but they did not budge at all.
That was because the labyrinth’s boundary was limited to the inside of this building and the sewers below it.
“Noona, come over here.”
Calling Rosalia, who was glaring at the window with a dagger in hand, I started down the stairs.
“As we proceed, enemies will appear one by one. If we defeat twenty of them in a row without losing even once, we clear it.”
The clear condition was the same as [Tower of Trials], except with double the number.
The difference was that they did not have to fight the battles continuously, and the enemies were easier to handle.
On top of that, because it was a small labyrinth generally easier than normal labyrinths of the same rank, its difficulty was practically at the very bottom of C-Rank.
That was why it wasn’t very fun.
Yoonji, who had constantly watched me play the game, used to criticize it harshly too, calling it “a not-difficult labyrinth that doesn’t suit Oppa’s taste.”
“It’s a little dark….”
Once they had gone down far enough, an arched corridor stretching straight ahead appeared.
Since it had long ago lost its original function, there was not the slightest trace of moisture.
“Can you hold this for me?”
I handed the exploration Magic Stone lamp I had prepared in advance to Abel and kept walking briskly.
Step, step.
The three of us were walking side by side when—
Saaa!
With smoke pouring up from the floor, an enemy suddenly appeared.
It was a muscular lizardman with a spear resting on his shoulder.
“Greetings, trainee.”
《Spearmanship Specialist Knight Srax (Lizardman, 38). He possesses fairly decent skill.》
The lizardman knight Srax looked at us and took up position in the center.
“Come.”
“Understood. But please wait just a moment.”
“That is fine.”
That was what made sapient enemies convenient.
Monsters attacked them the instant they appeared.
“Noona, please learn this.”
I took a Mystery Tome out of Yeongdae’s subspace and held it out to Rosalia.
《First-Tier Mystery Tome — Sullen Calves》
《Once learned, it slightly strengthens leg power, but makes the calves a little thinner.》
One of the Mystery Tomes obtained from [Library of Sin].
It truly was a Mystery that suited Rosalia, who frequently used kicking techniques, perfectly.
“……”
After I explained what kind of Mystery it was, the taciturn assassin quietly took it and quickly read through it.
“Will you fight now?”
“Please wait just a little longer.”
Then I said to Abel,
“You watch Lady Rosalia’s fighting style closely. Especially her kicking. It is a skill you will need to learn from now on.”
“I… have to learn kicking?”
“That’s right.”
A cook had to fight using only their feet.
If flames could come out of their legs too, so much the better.
“For reference, you’ll later learn the martial Mystery related to kicking from Lady Charlotte, so for now, just try to get a feel for what kind of fighting style would suit you.”
“…I will concentrate.”
As soon as I took one step forward, the lizardman Srax gripped his spear with both hands.
“Are you ready now?”
“I am. Thank you for waiting.”
“Good. Then here I come!”
Against the lizardman charging in with a kick of his feet, I boldly stepped forward.
Thunk!
The spearhead pierced into my solar plexus.
An intense pain that instantly made it hard to breathe.
“…Ahaha!”
Unable to hold it in, I burst into laughter, and in that moment, Rosalia appeared behind the lizardman and slashed with her dagger.
Slash!
Unable to react to the surprise attack, the lizardman’s head was severed and dropped to the floor.
“Noona, that was excellent.”
They had already defeated the first enemy.
All they had to do now was win nineteen more times in the same monotonous way.
“Shall we keep going, then?”
A labyrinth that could be cleared simply by diligently taking attacks head-on with my whole body.
And so began the conquest of the dopamine detox labyrinth, [Trial Sewers].