Chapter 128: B-Rank Labyrinth — Tower of Trials (4)
“Truly splendid! I’ll be sending you to the tenth floor shortly!”
The members of Moon Expedition Group One stood there blankly, unable to rejoice in their victory.
“Ugh… this is so hard.”
Marlin spoke while barely forcing strength into her trembling legs.
“It’s hard just to stay standing now….”
“Me too.”
Pendrick and Bartimir were not in very good condition either.
Nine consecutive victories.
Moon Expedition Group One had made it this far by defeating nine enemies that the entire group barely managed to overcome even when working together.
They had barely maintained the streak, but every team member had already been pushed to the limit.
“…Please keep going.”
Lucius cast healing Mysteries and blessings on the team members.
They did not produce any dramatic effect, but their bodies recovered a little at least.
“Tenth floor!”
Soon, with that booming cry, they reached the tenth floor.
A wide-open wilderness.
A landscape typical of the Northern Continent.
It was a fitting battlefield for the final floor.
“…Sleepyhead, your role is the most important now.”
Bartimir lightly thumped Lucius on the back.
“Support and heal us, and if it looks like someone’s going to die, shout ‘I forfeit’ right away.”
If that happened, they would fail to claim the Hidden Piece for beating the fastest-clear record.
Because it would take quite a long time to treat their battered bodies and challenge it again.
“It’d be a shame, but that’s still better than someone dying.”
“That’s right. The one leading an expedition must never be greedy.”
“So this was another lesson Mom intended to teach us…!”
“…Maybe?”
It felt like he was rating Kar a little too highly, but Lucius affirmed it for now.
Kar was an intelligent being through whom Arteine had manifested the will of protection.
He was surely someone who would one day accomplish something extraordinary, so Bartimir’s thinking was not entirely wrong.
“Let’s go. This is really the end now.”
Bartimir smacked both cheeks hard with his palms, then shouted,
“We’re here!”
Soon after, the final enemy appeared from the far side of the wasteland.
“Kyirik?”
The final enemy facing Moon Expedition Group One on the tenth floor of [Tower of Trials] was a tiny monster with unusually large ears.
“Kiriiiik?”
It was no bigger than a rabbit.
Its appearance was simply cute.
Its presence was pitiful.
After finishing his quick assessment, Bartimir spoke with a smile.
“It’s incredibly strong. Be careful!”
“Well, it’s the tenth floor, so of course it is.”
“It’s not just because of the floor!”
The demon with the sinister face continued while his shoulders trembled from excitement rather than fear.
“Mom told me that your expedition knowledge is still way, way, way, way, way too lacking.”
“…Did she really say that?”
“That’s not the important part right now. Listen carefully.”
Bartimir glared at the monster while clasping his trembling hands together.
“If a monster that looks that weak appears during a high-rank labyrinth expedition, especially in an important situation like this, you absolutely have to run. It’ll be monstrously strong.”
An enemy that looked weak was a powerful enemy.
It was a lesson about labyrinths that explorers must never forget.
“If it looks weak, isn’t it just weak?”
“You really are….”
Before Bartimir could even finish speaking, the monster suddenly disappeared.
“…[Compassion of Protection]!”
Having received the command through mental resonance, Lucius immediately wrapped the team members in a gray protective barrier.
Boom!
Something crashed down from above a moment later.
It was the small monster that had appeared as their enemy.
It must have shot high into the air, then dropped down and attacked with a headbutt, because its head had cracked the protective barrier halfway through.
“Blackie!”
“Yes!”
Pendrick leapt upward and swung his single-edged sword.
But the monster had already opened up a wide distance again.
“Wow, it really is fast.”
Bartimir smiled as he tightly gripped the bandages in both hands.
“Everyone, don’t lower your gua—”
Bang!
Just as he was about to issue another order, the monster flew in and slammed into Bartimir.
It was a strike faster than most arrows.
Marlin, who had been horrified into thinking her sinister-but-kind demon noona had died, soon widened her eyes.
“…You’ve got a temper, don’t you?”
The monster rolled along the ground, then sprang away again, while the hands Bartimir had raised in defense crumbled into powder because of the petrification caused by his disease.
He had blocked it by raising both arms at the last instant.
“…How did you know?”
“I think this thing only aims for the head. It flew at your head earlier too.”
Had it?
Marlin recalled the scene just now, but she could not really tell whether that had truly been the case.
“Fortunately, it’s strong, but its fighting style is simple.”
“We’re lucky, then?”
When Pendrick said that with a breezy smile, Bartimir curled one corner of his mouth upward.
“We are lucky. It’s good that the last enemy isn’t one of those impossible ones that kill the mood.”
“…That would’ve been the better option?”
“No more chatter. It’s coming again, so focus.”
The final enemy was strong.
But not so strong that they could not win.
Not against the team members who had grown considerably through all this training.
“It’s coming again! Barrier!”
“Yes!”
“Blackie, attack the moment the barrier cracks!”
“Understood!”
The end of the clear was drawing near.
“Abel, while we’re waiting for the outlaws, could you prepare a meal?”
Even if a fight with outlaws was coming, we could not skip a meal.
Wasn’t all this for the sake of making a living in the first place?
“Understood.”
Abel took out his exploration cooking tools from his bag, laid them out, and began preparing the ingredients.
The first ingredient he handled was Yellow Springs Cow meat.
It was too tough to eat as-is, but once refined with cook-class Mysteries, it boasted quite an excellent flavor.
“It looks delicious. I feel like overeating.”
“That means you plan to take about three bites.”
“Oh, come on. I’m not a baby. How could I live on just that?”
“……”
Abel skillfully made the seasoning and started marinating the meat.
That was when it happened.
Step, step.
The sound of footsteps came from farther down the corridor.
Several people were approaching.
They were not even trying to hide their presence, openly advancing in a group.
“…….”
Rosalia, who had been resting while leaning against the wall, slowly walked over to me and drew numbers in the air.
“Eleven? The same number as when we were exchanging messages.”
When I held out a hand, the kind assassin grabbed my wrist and pulled me up, then tapped her own head.
“You’re asking whether I have a strategy to overcome the difference in numbers, and if I don’t, you’ll beat me up yourself. Is that what you mean?”
“…….”
Rosalia clenched her fist and lightly held it out toward me.
As a frail cultist, I had no choice but to shrink back, so I took her fist and lowered it.
“Of course I’ve thought of something.”
I placed a hand on Abel’s head as he was preparing Rosalia’s poisonous herb salad.
“Abel, from now on, you must not look at our side.”
“Why not?”
As I stared down the corridor where the footsteps were growing closer, I spoke in a low voice.
“Because we have a cruel, terrifying, dreadful secret method that will bring all of them down without us getting hurt in the slightest.”
Children were forbidden from watching what was about to happen.
“…Sponsor, then shall I just keep preparing the food this time too?”
“What a commendable thing to say.”
It seemed the mindset of a cook had now settled into his head to some degree.
As I vigorously ruffled his small head, I answered,
“Normally that would be the right thing to do, but this time there are too many of them. I’ll hide you, but just in case, make sure you hold the kitchen knife tightly in your hand.”
As I patted Abel on the shoulder, a group finally emerged from beyond the corridor.
Lightly dressed explorers, the majority of them beastmen.
At their front was a greasy-looking horse beastman hunter.
《Outlaw Brownmane (Horse Beastman, 23). Vice Guild Master of the Hyena Guild. As a Butcher-class individual obsessed with slaughter, caution is required.》
“Hey, blond half-elf over there. Are you Kar, Cultist of the Twisted Truth?”
I immediately shook my head from side to side.
“No. I’m Baltazar, a human thief. I think you’ve got the wrong person.”
“That’s enough nonsense. We already know everything.”
Standing tall and proud, Brownmane let his thick whip hang long at his side.
It was a weapon that made my whole body tremble just by looking at it.
Of course, I was trembling because it was very, very frightening.
“You were the one who got rid of the Black Sword Guild Master, right?”
The horse beastman vice guild master continued while making the whip writhe like a snake.
“Personally, I don’t care whether a thief like that lives or dies, but orders came from above. So you’ll have to come with us.”
“A kidnapping?”
“If we absolutely had to classify it, I suppose it’d be that sort of criminal act.”
“That worries me a little.”
As I thought about the various things that might happen if I followed the Hyena Guild, darkness naturally clouded my vision.
“You’ll probably tie me up and imprison me. After that, you’ll make me pay with my body for destroying the Black Sword Guild. To think I’ll have to suffer such humiliation just because I happened to be born a half-elf whose looks are his only asset….”
As I lowered my head while hugging myself with both arms, Brownmane let out a short laugh.
“…I don’t know what kind of nonsense you’re imagining, but we won’t be doing anything like that.”
“Then what sort of thing are you planning to do?”
“I don’t know either. Probably just torture you for revenge until we get tired of it, then pull out your organs and sell the rest of your corpse in the black market in District Four.”
“Ah, so you people are more predictable and wholesome than I expected.”
“…….”
Brownmane narrowed his eyes and began glaring at me.
The other Hyena Guild outlaws wore similar expressions.
“In any case, I suppose I’ll have to resist as much as possible from now on. I really don’t want to suffer gruesome torture. It’s horrifying just to think about.”
“…….”
Rosalia tilted her head slightly and looked at me.
Why are you looking at me like that? Haven’t I told you several times already that I’m not someone with the strange taste of enjoying pain?
The only agony I desired was the kind that came on the road toward valuable results.
If it was just meaningless suffering without any reward, I wanted no part of it.
“…I’ll make you one offer.”
Brownmane flicked his long hair back once and looked me in the eye.
“If you come quietly, I’ll guarantee your companions’ lives.”
“Is that so? Then I suppose I need a moment to think.”
After seriously considering it, I answered,
“Then I’ll make you an offer too.”
Crackle!
Black lightning danced wildly from my right hand.
“If you surrender quietly, I’ll grant you the right to choose which Evil God you’ll be offered to.”
“…Hah.”
Brownmane snorted and glared at me.
“I guess all that success you had in the guild war has gone to your head.”
“Oh dear, you noticed. But to be fair, weren’t my achievements the sort that justified being openly proud?”
“Well… I can’t exactly say no to that. It really was impressive….”
The horse beastman vice guild master nodded to himself briefly, then glanced back at his men.
“But there are only three of you, and eleven of us. You’re no Targon, so do you really think you can overcome a difference in numbers like this?”
“Three? There are only two of us.”
“…These days, cultists can’t even count?”
Brownmane laughed and turned his gaze to the side.
Then he flinched.
Abel, who had been standing there nervously just a moment ago, had vanished from everyone’s sight.
“Well?”
Wearing a light smile, I spoke again.
“Two, isn’t it?”
“…What did you do?”
“I did nothing. I merely received a basic education in arithmetic. It’s never too late to learn, so how about applying to an academy in District One even now?”
“…….”
Brownmane was no amateur outlaw who would fall for such obvious provocation.
In truth, whether there were three of us or two changed nothing.
The fact remained that the situation overwhelmingly favored them.
“I don’t want an unnecessary fight either. But since you insist on being uncooperative, there’s no helping it.”
Soon, the horse beastman vice guild master gave orders to his guild members.
“Take your positions. We finish this quickly.”
“Got it!”
“Yep!”
A shield-bearing warrior and a tamer with trained beasts stepped forward, while the rest of the guild members spread out freely.
It looked sloppy for the moment, but once battle began, surrounding the explorer and tearing them apart in an instant was the Hyena Guild’s specialty.
“The Guild Master wants you taken alive, so I’ll rough you up just enough.”
“Oh dear, heavens above.”
In horror, I hurried over to the red-haired elf.
“Noona, I’m scared. Please save me.”
“…….”
The elf glanced at me, gave a small shake of her head, and gripped her dagger in reverse.
“That elf is an assassin. Stick close to her so she can’t hide.”
Assassins were weak in frontal confrontation.
Cultists could be subdued easily enough if you just beat them down with force.
Only two people.
And both were classes with glaring weaknesses.
This was a battle they could never lose.
That was probably what they were thinking.
“Well then, regrettably, there’s no helping it.”
Sending instructions to Rosalia through telepathy, I stretched out my right hand, from which the black lightning had subsided.
A small object formed in my palm, which I raised toward the ceiling.
A round sphere topped with an ornament symbolizing an eclipse.
“…What is that?”
Brownmane’s eyes widened.
“A Great Sacred Relic…?”
The hidden reward from [Battlefield of Sun and Moon].
A Great Sacred Relic that could not be brought out of the labyrinth if you only fulfilled the normal clear conditions.
[Orb of Lumerlan].
“Ta-da! Correct.”
Whoosh.
As soon as I conveyed my will into the Great Sacred Relic, darkness abruptly fell over the corridor.
Pitch-black darkness where one could not see even an inch ahead.
Wriggle.
In an environment that pleased Lady Leria, I spoke quietly.
“Since you refused my goodwill, I’ll simply choose for myself and offer you up.”
The blood banquet for the Evil Gods had begun.