Chapter 129: B-Rank Labyrinth — Tower of Trials (5)
Brownmane, Vice Guild Master of the Hyena Guild, never carried out unsafe plundering.
His targets were only explorers weaker than himself.
And whenever he attempted plunder against an expedition party, he always made sure his side outnumbered them.
This is ridiculous….
The lifeblood of plunder was safety.
Holding fast to that belief, he had always avoided situations that put strain on body and mind as much as possible.
That was why, despite his eight years of experience as an outlaw, Brownmane could not help but be flustered now.
I can’t see anything.
The already dark sewer had been swallowed in total darkness.
Even with the Hunter-class Mystery that allowed him to see through darkness, he could not see even an inch ahead.
Was it a Cultist-class Mystery?
No, there was no way a Mystery granted by an Evil God could possess such absurd performance.
Crack!
Lightly striking the ground with his whip, Brownmane shouted loudly,
“Don’t panic! Gather in one place! In the end, it’s just a cheap trick borrowed from the power of an artifact!”
At the shout carrying the vice guild master’s strength, the Hyena Guild members immediately gathered in one place and pressed their backs together.
“Use your detection Mysteries and watch your surroundings! They’ll definitely take advantage of the darkness to launch a surprise attack!”
If they responded calmly, it would be fine even without vision.
Since most of them were Hunters specialized in search and detection, a stealthy ambush should have been impossible.
“…….”
Silence settled.
How long had they remained there with their bodies tense?
Thud.
A sound broke through the silence, something flying in and lodging into flesh.
Then light returned.
“…Don’t leave me behind!”
On the now-bright corridor floor, one guild member was shedding tears and reaching toward empty air.
“Huh?”
“…What?”
And after the tiger beastman boy, even the cultist and the assassin had disappeared, leaving no one at all in front of them.
Saaaaa.
Before they could gather themselves from their growing confusion, darkness rushed in once more.
Thud, thunk.
The same sounds as before rang out, and then the surroundings brightened again.
“Ahhh, the monster….”
“I-I don’t want to be eaten!”
This time, two guild members were writhing.
Their grotesque figures, staring into empty air and shrieking, were more than enough to horrify Hyena Guild members who had done nothing but “easy plundering” all this time.
“Do not panic.”
As unrest spread, a guild member who had been quiet finally spoke.
Beast Tamer Pierre.
A rising force who had cowed the Hyena Guild through sheer terrifying capability.
“We all watched the guild war footage before coming here, did we not? Cultist Kar serves several Evil Gods at once. If that is the case, then something like this is entirely possible.”
It was a claim roughly on the level of saying that enough dogs could defeat an elephant.
But now that they were directly entangled in Cultist Kar’s bizarre tactics, no one could dismiss it as nonsense.
Especially since those words had come from that cool-headed Pierre.
“And the reason the guild members are showing abnormal reactions is likely due to an Assassin-class Mystery. It would be better to identify the direction the attacks are coming from and counterattack immediately.”
“…Pierre is right! Don’t be afraid. Stay calm and deal with it!”
Saaaaa.
The surroundings were swallowed in pitch-black darkness again.
Preparing for the assassin’s hidden strike through the darkness, Brownmane used a Butcher-class Mystery and concentrated all his senses on sound.
“Aaaagh…!!”
But his subordinates’ screams kept him from hearing properly.
Soon the area brightened again, and more victims had been added.
The same thing repeated two more times.
Damn it!
Brownmane bit down on his lip.
No solution came to mind.
If only the Guild Master had come too, he would have immediately seen through the enemy’s trick and launched a counterattack!
Slash! Crack!
The sounds of something being cut and smashed began to ring out now and then.
The pained screams of the tamed beasts under the Beast Tamer class also echoed loudly.
“Vice Guild Master.”
The surroundings brightened again.
At some point, the only people left standing were Brownmane and Pierre.
“It seems Cultist Kar handles stranger Mysteries than expected. We should withdraw for now.”
“That seems best….”
Retreat was disgraceful, but even more disgraceful was getting beaten down by a target of plunder.
Now was the time to pull back.
“…Wait.”
The horse beastman vice guild master had just turned to flee when he froze.
“Stop.”
In the corridor opposite them, another Pierre was standing there.
“Oho, so it’s [Transformation], the same trick used during the guild war.”
The Pierre standing beside Brownmane lifted a brow.
“Even while wearing my form, there is no sense of dissonance at all. It is as if I’m looking into a mirror.”
“What nonsense you speak.”
The Pierre in the corridor gave a faint smile.
“You are Cultist Kar, are you not? Even so, I must admit the Mystery and the acting are flawless.”
“You truly are shameless, Cultist Kar.”
“That is what I should be saying.”
“Have you heard the rumor that the Ires sisters grind their teeth in anticipation of protesting if they ever meet you?”
“Hoho, then you should avoid them as much as possible.”
Listening to the two Pierres exchange that indifferent conversation, Brownmane felt his head spin.
He had no idea at all.
Which one was the real Pierre, and which one was Cultist Kar.
…Stay calm.
No matter how perfect it looked, [Transformation] was still a Cultist Mystery in the end.
There had to be a flaw somewhere.
Once he calmed his confusion and observed carefully, he did indeed notice a slight difference.
The Pierre beside him was expressionless, as always. The one in the corridor had a crooked grin at his lips.
“That one’s the fake!”
Snap!
His whip flew out and wrapped around the Pierre in the corridor.
Then barbs sprouted from it as well.
“…That does sting rather nicely.”
Even though his neck was being constricted and the barbs were causing pain, the attacked Pierre only kept grinning.
That made Brownmane all the more certain he had judged correctly.
He already knew from the guild war footage that Cultist Kar was the type to enjoy pain instead.
“Pierre! Finish him off.”
“Understood.”
The Pierre standing beside him drew out a weapon.
Not the axe he usually used, but a dagger with a blade curved like a crescent moon.
“…Huh?”
“Hmm, you noticed?”
Just as Brownmane finally grasped the situation a little too late and tried to lash his whip at the Pierre beside him—
Crunch!
Rosalia dropped down from above and drove a downward kick straight into Brownmane’s head.
A perfectly landed blow.
The horse beastman vice guild master could not endure it and blacked out.
“…….”
Once Rosalia straightened up, Kar released [Transformation] and returned to his original appearance.
Then he raised both thumbs.
“Noona is the best.”
“Kirururuk!”
The small monster with the oversized ears was darting around violently.
At a speed that could not possibly be followed with the eyes.
Whoooom!
Then, without warning, it dove straight down and struck with a headbutt.
“…Kh!”
Pendrick barely managed to throw himself aside and dodge.
But he was a little too slow, and the headbutt grazed his shoulder.
That alone had enough force to tear muscle and flesh to shreds.
“…Are you all right, Pendrick?”
“There’s no problem. It stings a little!”
Pendrick answered with his usual refreshing smile, but anyone could see his body was in poor condition.
The others were the same.
Every team member had suffered at least one serious injury somewhere.
If Lucius had not been there, they would already have lost their lives.
“…It’s coming again!”
But because they had fought without sparing their bodies, they were now becoming accustomed to the enemy’s rapid movements.
Whoooom!
The monster dove again.
Thanks to the extended battle, they were now quite used to its movements, and all it did was launch straightforward charges.
“I can see it all now!”
Bartimir, the target, thrust his fist out.
A fist imbued with the essence of [Rock Shattering Art] collided with the monster’s headbutt.
Crack!
The result was the demon’s defeat, his petrified hand shattering.
But since he had countered it properly, the monster too lost its bearings and drifted backward sluggishly.
“Where do you think you’re going!”
Marlin, who had been in hiding, appeared and slashed with her dagger.
[Brites Dagger Art].
The swiftly hidden arc of the dagger cut off one of the monster’s ears.
“Kiruruk!”
Because of the gap in strength, it could not inflict serious damage, but the monster’s body tilted to one side, losing balance.
Ding.
As Lucius rang his bell, several layers of barrier spread out and enclosed both the monster and the team members.
An aggressive use of barriers, preventing the enemy from escaping.
“…At last, we’ve got an opening.”
Pendrick, having stored his single-edged sword into [Hall of Swords], gripped Astrimia’s hilt.
The homework Kar had given him was only to refrain from using Astrimia until reaching the tenth floor.
This was the tenth floor, so he could draw her now.
“Asmi!”
“Yes!”
Starlit aura gathered along the blue-green blade.
And black internal energy wrapped around his arms and legs, used according to the methods he had learned from Hugestis, the dog beastman martial artist.
Pendrick charged at the monster and swung Astrimia, now wreathed in rippling aura.
[Fierce Gale Swordsmanship].
First Wind, Gale Slash.
Kwagagagak!
Pendrick’s clean diagonal slash, carrying the full force of his power, tore through the monster’s body with the sound of violent wind.
“Kiruruk….”
The monster’s bisected body soon vanished into the air.
Marlin, clutching her swollen ankle, carefully spoke.
“…Did we kill it?”
“Marlin, your expedition knowledge is really far too lacking.”
“What now?”
“Didn’t you know there are monsters that revive if you say things like that?”
“R-Really? I didn’t know…!”
Fortunately, the disaster of the monster reviving after being split in two did not occur.
“Excellent!”
At last, a booming voice presumed to belong to Fist King Graik rang out through the air.
“To think you broke through to the tenth floor in only seven days! You will become stars of the Northern Continent in the future! Congratulations!”
Bartimir plopped down where he stood and grumbled,
“Stop congratulating us with words and give us a present.”
“Very well!”
“…Huh?”
Chiiing.
A grayish-brown gate appeared in the middle of the wasteland.
Rumble!
Beside the gate, a large stone monument and a chest rose up from the ground as well.
“The chest contains [Mark of Trial]!”
The voice thundered loudly.
“If you wear it, the speed of all forms of training increases by about twenty percent, so make good use of it!”
“Uh… thank you?”
When Pendrick bowed his head, the voice in the air grew a little louder.
“It’s nothing worth thanking me for!”
“…So you really did have a sense of self?”
“And beside it is the Stone of Records! If you place your hand on it, you may learn one Mystery possessed by one of the enemies you have faced up to now!”
The hidden reward of [Tower of Trials].
Lucius’s eyes widened.
“It is a valuable reward that repays all the hardship we endured.”
“Nice…. Was this how Kar felt?”
Marlin smiled brightly for a moment, then denied her own words.
“Actually, maybe not. I’m sure whatever I’m feeling right now, this ‘sense of pride,’ is something fundamentally different from what he feels….”
“What does it matter!”
Bartimir lightly tapped the crown of Marlin’s head, then approached the Stone of Records and placed his hand on it.
“Oh, so this is how….”
Watching that, the other team members also stepped forward and placed their palms on it.
Then the appearances of the enemies they had faced until now, along with information on the Mysteries they used, began flowing into their minds.
“…Hm?”
Pendrick, smiling as he checked the detailed information on the Mysteries, suddenly widened his eyes.
Astrimia, held in his arms, tilted her blade slightly.
“What is it, Pendrick?”
“…….”
Pendrick stayed silent for a moment, then whispered softly,
“The Mystery Saint Seraphina used when she eavesdropped on every word spoken inside the temple… its name was [Sky Ear], right?”
“That’s right, wasn’t it? Why?”
“It’s just that….”
“It’s on the list.”
Bartimir, who had already finished making his selection, answered instead.
“That last monster we fought had a Mystery called [Sky Ear].”
“Really? That’s a curious coincidence.”
“A coincidence….”
“Why are you reacting like that? Isn’t it not particularly strange for a monster to have learned the same Mystery as an intelligent being?”
“That’s true. But….”
Bartimir looked up into the air with an odd expression.
“It says [Sky Ear] is an exclusive Mystery possessed only by the monster ‘Sky Broad-Ear.’”
“…What?”
What did that mean?
Why did Saint Seraphina possess the Mystery [Sky Ear], which was supposedly held only by a specific monster?
As Astrimia shook in confusion, Bartimir let out a small laugh and turned toward the gate.
“If we ask Mom, she’ll tell us the answer immediately anyway, so let’s not bother thinking too hard about it.”
B-Rank Labyrinth.
[Tower of Trials].
“Cleared at laaaast!”