Chapter 21: E-Rank Labyrinth – Grave of the Earth Elf (2)
Chapter 21: E-Rank Labyrinth – Grave of the Earth Elf (2)
Marlin was gripping her stiffened tail with one hand.
…I want to get out.
To be honest, she was scared.
At first, what frightened her were the insane cultists that kept crawling out of the darkness on all fours.
Especially because of their creepy laughter and bizarre body movements that looked closer to insects than humans, there had been several moments when she nearly ran out of the labyrinth.
Scrape. Scrape. Scrape.
“Ah, here they come again.”
But now that she had somewhat adapted to the labyrinth, the thing that triggered fear had changed.
“Seniors, I have prepared my humble body as a visiting gift, so please tear into it to your heart’s content.”
— Kyaaah!
The deranged elf cultists that had rushed over immediately began biting into Kar’s body as he stepped forward.
Shoulders and wrists. Both calves.
Even though he was being bitten in four places at once, Marlin’s patron only wore a thoroughly satisfied smile.
“Is it that delicious? If you don’t eat slowly, you might get indigestion.”
The moment he finished speaking, the cultists twisted their bodies violently before collapsing to the floor.
Squirm. Squirm!
They lay sprawled on the ground, eyes rolled back to show the whites while their limbs flailed wildly. It was a grotesque sight, but Marlin no longer felt anything from it.
“Perfect timing. Marlin, let’s take two each.”
Kar popped open a stamina potion and gulped it down before casually firing spider-web needles straight into the elves’ foreheads.
“…Okay.”
Marlin obediently slit the monsters’ throats with her dagger while cautiously watching her patron’s expression.
His slightly sleepy eyes and the faintly twisted smile that always hung on his lips looked exactly the same as usual.
Looking closer, he even seemed somewhat more radiant than normal.
His entire body had been soaked in poison, and he had allowed the cultists’ attacks to land on him. How could he possibly look like that?
Don’t tell me he’s already gone insane…?
As Marlin slowly edged away from her patron while thinking of a plausible explanation, she quickly shook her head.
Kar had not lost his mind.
Even though he worshipped two Evil Gods, constantly made jokes with a blank expression, performed human sacrifices with a subtly excited look, and seemed to enjoy horrifying pain…!
Surely his sanity had not completely collapsed.
Wasn’t that obvious when compared with the insane cultists appearing in this labyrinth?
— Kyaaah!
Another deranged cultist crawled toward them on all fours from the darkness, drool streaming from its mouth.
Just look at that thing. Anyone could see it was completely insane.
That’s what real madness looks like!
Even if it had not appeared as a monster, conversation would have been impossible.
Kar, on the other hand, could converse normally and even form emotional connections.
There was absolutely no reason to fear him.
Crunch! Crunch!
“Haha, senior. Please bite a little more gently. That is my precious thigh.”
“……”
After slitting the throat of an elf monster, Marlin wrapped her tail around her own wrist.
Come to think of it, it would be stranger if he wasn’t insane.
Didn’t that mean he was doing all of this while perfectly sane?
…That’s even scarier!
While she was absentmindedly stroking her tail, Kar finished off the remaining monsters and straightened his back.
“Let’s go, Marlin.”
“Y-Yes…!”
The two began moving again.
Beyond the range illuminated by the candle, nothing could be seen, yet Kar walked without hesitation as if he perfectly understood the labyrinth’s structure.
“Marlin.”
After walking silently for a while, Kar suddenly spoke.
“Why are you so quiet? Are you scared?”
“I was at first, but now it’s manageable.”
“If you feel like you can’t endure it, tell me. I’ll end the exploration immediately.”
“…Even if we don’t find the Hidden Piece?”
“It would be a shame, but what can we do? If you’re scared, we can’t keep exploring.”
“……”
Marlin briefly fidgeted with the hat Kar had bought her before entering the labyrinth, then spoke bravely.
“I’m not scared, so it’s fine to keep exploring!”
Whether he was insane or not did not matter.
Kar genuinely cared about her and Abel. He treated them with consideration, unlike the other adults they had encountered.
For now, that alone was enough.
The exploration was proceeding smoothly.
— Kyaaah!
After leaving the first underground floor and descending to the second, the welcoming ceremony from the senior cultists greeting their junior became even more violent.
Crunch. Crunch.
Their bodies were bitten all over, the overly enthusiastic welcome caused the seniors to collapse from poisoning, and then their throats were slit.
The process repeated again and again.
After trial and error, the hunting method had become completely optimized, so no unusual problems occurred.
It should be soon.
Levels could be raised through repeated combat, work, or rituals.
I had already carried out three human sacrifices, and Marlin had accumulated experience fighting alone in the Fire Ant Nest.
Both of us should level up soon.
“I’m starting to feel more relaxed now. At first I was a little flustered.”
Marlin, whose expression had been stiff the whole time, now casually flicked the blood from her dagger.
“That’s a relief. You were trembling at the beginning, so I was worried.”
“When did I ever tremble?”
Marlin lightly punched my side with her small fist before suddenly pricking up her ears and lowering her posture.
— Kyaaah!
— Heeheehee!
Soon two Earth Elf cultists emerged from the darkness.
“Ugh, these annoying things again!”
Just like before, I poisoned them first. I handed one to Marlin and dealt with the other two myself.
…Here it comes.
The moment I drove a web needle into the forehead of a senior preserved within the labyrinth, an overwhelming surge of exhilaration swept through my body.
A sensation that heated both body and mind as it passed through them.
《Congratulations! : The rank of your soul has risen by one stage!》
I had leveled up.
“Kar, I think my level went up…!”
“Mine too.”
When I held out my palm, Marlin giggled and slapped her hand against mine.
“Wait. When your level increases… your stats rise depending on what kind of experiences you had, right?”
“That’s right. All that studying paid off.”
“Hehe!”
The total stat increase when leveling up was three.
The distribution happened automatically, but it varied depending on how experience had been accumulated.
I touched my right eye and murmured.
“Report which values increased. Include Marlin’s as well.”
The Eye That Perceives Truth immediately displayed text before my vision.
《Due to the bold conduct you displayed while offering tributes to two Evil Gods, and the combat style in which you threw your entire body into battle, your Faith, Charm, and Vitality have each increased by 1.》
《Due to repeated combat using dagger techniques and throwing techniques, Marlin’s Strength increased by 1 and Agility by 2.》
Thanks to the careful guidance so far, both of us achieved ideal stat increases.
Marlin’s strength had increased unnecessarily, but since she was a natural jack-of-all-trades anyway and the most important stat, Agility, had increased, it was not a bad result.
“And when your Soul Rank rises, the effectiveness of Mysteries increases slightly as well. The hierarchy itself doesn’t change, but the same Mystery becomes far more efficient and powerful when used by someone at a higher level.”
“Ahh….”
Once a level reached 8 or higher, even the famously weak fire-type First-Tier Mystery Fireball could unleash destructive power nearly comparable to hellfire.
“Then could we defeat a Sneaking Ghoul now?”
“No. You still can’t. So keep trying.”
“Can’t you at least say something nice in moments like this?”
“Of course you can win. Even fighting with one hand, you could easily tear ghouls apart!”
“That’s way too exaggerated.”
“You’re really a picky child.”
With my grumbling assistant beside me, we began descending the stairs.
“This is the third underground floor. Unlike before, Level-2 enemies appear here, so don’t let your guard down.”
“But Kar, shouldn’t we rest soon?”
“We should.”
Thanks to the Membrane That Defers Wounds working overtime, my headache had grown beyond a dull ache. It now felt like thorns stabbing into my skull.
Still, if I had not possessed a way to recover mental energy, I would never have planned this hunting method in the first place.
“See that corridor near the end of the stairs?”
“Yes. It looks like the entrance to a room without a door….”
“It’s a resting spot. Let’s take a short break there.”
Since this was a labyrinth, it was not a completely safe zone, but it was at least a place where one could rest somewhat comfortably.
“You can also activate the Hidden Piece there. Though this time we’re not the first ones to discover it.”
“Huh? Didn’t Kar’s Evil God teach unknown information that hasn’t been revealed to the world?”
“That’s true, but this labyrinth is extremely popular. The Harmony Church has already analyzed it hundreds of times and uncovered all its secrets.”
In other words, there were no longer any truly “hidden” pieces left.
“So we can’t sell the information this time?”
“Marlin, if you start obsessing over money at such a young age, you’ll grow into a miser people point fingers at.”
“……”
While calming the ferocious girl who tried to scratch me with her nails, we entered the doorless room swallowed in darkness.
“But this labyrinth isn’t the type where the Hidden Piece loses its value just because it’s widely known.”
Lighting the torch hanging near the entrance with a match from the candle set pushed back the darkness and revealed the interior.
A wide space with dazzling golden walls engraved with intricate geometric patterns.
In the center was a massive pile of gold coins and multicolored gemstones.
“Wow!”
When the money-obsessed teenager Marlin widened her eyes and tried to run forward, I quickly grabbed her arm.
“Wait. Don’t approach recklessly.”
The third basic rule every explorer must learn.
Objects and structures placed inside labyrinths without reason do not exist.
“What happens if you approach?”
“Check for yourself.”
I pulled out a spider-web needle and tossed it onto the floor.
Clank!
Suddenly the floor opened, splitting the entrance and the treasure pile apart.
“Like that.”
“……”
Marlin leaned forward and peeked into the hole, frowning.
“You said there wouldn’t be complicated traps.”
“It reacts when you approach. Isn’t that a very intuitive trap?”
“…I guess it is.”
“Wait a moment. The real thing is over there.”
I led my visibly disappointed assistant toward the wall carved with countless complex patterns.
“Find the circle with numbers inside it.”
“Let me see….”
With her sharp sensory stats, Marlin quickly pointed to a symbol at her eye level.
It was a circle with numbers from 0 to 9 arranged along the edge.
“Here it is. Is this the one?”
“Yes. Good job.”
After patting her shoulder, I immediately reached out.
2 – 8 – 0 – 3 – 8 – 2.
If the numbers were touched in exactly this order, the hidden element would open.
Normally you had to search the entire third underground floor to find the password piece by piece, but a veteran player who had poured far too much time into the game could boldly skip such tedious steps.
Clunk.
The center of the golden wall opened, revealing a hidden space.
On the left lay several stone slabs engraved with different images on the floor.
On the right stood a shabby-looking elf.
The elf, who had been examining a parchment spread across a desk, turned his head toward us.
“More guests…?”
《Labyrinth Wraith Ermentaz (Earth Elf, 235 years old). A ghost from the past trapped within the labyrinth. Presumed to have some connection to these ruins, though the truth cannot be known since it is not a real living person.》
A labyrinth wraith.
Unlike the Earth Elf cultists who had fallen into monsters, this one was treated as a person—essentially an NPC.
If you offended this elf, you could not use the hidden element.
“What business brings you to this ruined temple of the Earth?”
I placed a hand on Marlin’s head and bowed together with her before speaking politely.
“Greetings. We would like to loot every valuable item in this temple. Would you be willing to cooperate?”