Chapter 3 — E-Rank Labyrinth: Nest of the Sneaking Ghoul Pack (2)
Chapter 3 — E-Rank Labyrinth: Nest of the Sneaking Ghoul Pack (2)
“……”
Marlin, who had been approaching me, suddenly stepped far away again.
Her face was filled with obvious disgust.
“Where are you going?”
“…I’ll stay here.”
“That hurts my feelings.”
“Please don’t say things like that with such an expressionless face. It’s scary.”
Just what kind of appearance did I have right now to make her react like that?
Come to think of it, I had no idea who I was in this world—or what I even looked like.
Once I escaped the labyrinth, the first thing I needed to do was find a mirror.
“Don’t go too far. It’s dangerous.”
I warned Marlin as she slowly moved farther away and began examining the explorers’ corpses one by one.
Just as the young “expert” had said, they were bodies in the middle stage of decay.
A little unpleasant, but not enough to make someone vomit.
However, what I needed was a fresh corpse that had died recently. These were all unsuitable as sacrifices.
So they’re not going to let me pass easily.
Reality was different from the game. I had hoped things might work out, but it seemed I would have to take a risk to proceed.
“Marlin.”
“Yes?”
The girl who had been standing at a distance approached me again.
“Do you need more bodies?”
“Yes, but we’ll have to move. There won’t be any decent corpses in this plain.”
“Decent… corpses….”
Marlin was briefly speechless and flicked the ground with her tail.
“Then where are we supposed to find them?”
“The ghouls’ dwelling. It’s in the center of the forest.”
“…If we get caught, we’ll die.”
“That’s obvious. Which is why we’ll sneak in.”
Ghouls possessed excellent physical ability and fairly developed intelligence, but in the end they were still monsters.
There were plenty of ways to reduce the chance of being discovered.
“I’m back.”
Right on time, Abel returned.
Both his hands and pockets were filled with round stones.
“Will this be enough?”
“That’s plenty. Thank you.”
Now that we had everything we needed, it was time to move.
“Kids, put these on first.”
I stripped the clothes from the dead explorers and handed them to the siblings.
Even though I thoughtfully selected pieces that roughly matched their sizes, their expressions turned grim.
Maybe the design was too ugly.
《Various filthy and heavily worn clothes. Worthless items that reek of rotting corpses. Do you truly intend to wear them?》
Of course I did.
“The sun’s already starting to rise. Hurry.”
While changing clothes, I noticed Marlin standing still and staring.
“Where are you looking, you pervert?”
“……”
Marlin glanced back and forth between me and the ragged clothes in her hands, then finally moved behind a thick tree to change.
Abel simply draped the clothing over himself like a crude cloak with a scowl.
“Finished?”
“Yes….”
“Let’s go. Follow me.”
I gathered the clothes we had originally been wearing into one place and immediately entered the forest.
The siblings hesitated in surprise, so I reassured them while the foul stench drifted around us.
“As long as you’re wearing those, it’s fine. Ghouls only react strongly to the scent of living humans.”
“Ah, so the smell masks our own scent and prevents them from tracking us?”
“Exactly.”
Young Abel accepted that explanation easily, but Marlin—two years older—was not so easily convinced.
“…What if they see us with their eyes?”
Did I really need to answer that?
I gently patted Marlin on the back while walking forward silently.
“Wait, mister! What if the ghouls spot us?”
“Shh. If you talk loudly, they’ll come running. Their hearing isn’t exceptional, but we should still be careful.”
“…You’re sure this will work, right?”
“Keep walking. If we run into a patrol, we’re finished.”
“……”
Marlin finally fell silent.
Soft footsteps.
Three people were moving, yet barely any sound could be heard.
Not only the siblings but even I was tense.
If we were discovered this time, moonlight would not save us.
《Ghouls are nearby.》
I immediately dropped flat into thick bushes with the children.
Soon, a group of about five ghouls passed by, heading toward the plain where we had left our clothes.
“They definitely came this way….”
“I can smell them faintly!”
“Kihihihi….”
Only after they had moved far away did we leave the bushes and continue.
Avoiding every patrol route I could remember, moving as quietly as possible.
Since we currently had no means of defeating them, avoiding combat was the only path to survival.
“Come out, intruders….”
“Where are you hiding?”
“We know you’re there!”
Every Sneaking Ghoul in the forest was searching for us.
The entire forest reeked so badly that our noses had long stopped functioning.
Detecting monsters by smell was impossible, and the dense trees blocking sunlight left everything dim.
In situations where some of the five senses were effectively sealed, a Twisted Truth cultist who served Lidni truly shined.
《They’re coming from behind.》
Whenever the Eye That Perceives Truth warned me, I moved without hesitation.
Hiding behind thick tree trunks, concealing ourselves in bushes, sometimes even climbing trees.
After a long, deadly game of hide-and-seek where being discovered meant becoming food—
My back was soaked in cold sweat, but we finally reached our destination safely.
“We’re here.”
The northeastern section of the ghoul settlement.
A small building with a peculiar architectural style, located where the forest met the clearing.
It was a storage building used by the ghouls to imprison captured intruders.
《The Sneaking Ghouls’ food storage. In other words, a place where corpses are stacked. A high-quality facility equipped with magical devices that maintain the proper temperature.》
“Don’t let your guard down. There might be more nearby.”
Speaking quietly, I approached the back door of the warehouse.
Marlin followed behind me while crouching low.
Her stiff tail perfectly reflected her tension.
“The smell is terrible. They must be storing corpses here….”
“That’s right.”
A ghoul’s main diet was corpses.
But despite being undead, they surprisingly possessed a rather refined culinary culture and preferred bodies that had decayed to the right degree.
“That’s why they built this warehouse.”
“…So they built it to eat them properly.”
“Exactly. They understand how delicious fermented food can be.”
In a way, it was like a corpse kimchi refrigerator.
They did not just store any bodies either—only carefully selected high-quality “ingredients.”
Despite their hideous appearance, they were oddly meticulous creatures.
“Could you open this?”
“Yes.”
Marlin, a professional burglar of abandoned houses (age fourteen), took out her lockpicking tools and began working on the lock.
Click.
“It’s open.”
Unlocking such a large padlock in less than five seconds.
Her future truly looked bright.
“Abel, keep watch.”
Abel nodded and crouched by the door with his ears raised.
“Marlin, follow me.”
“Yes….”
Inside, cold air filled the warehouse, and piles of explorers’ corpses immediately came into view.
Roughly ten of them.
The labyrinth had only existed for a week, so the number was still relatively small.
I approached carefully and examined each corpse.
Using the wrong body would only waste time, so the selection had to be careful.
Fortunately, I had an assistant who excelled precisely in situations like this.
《Corpse of Wildhorn, guild member of the Tsunami Guild (Sea Bull Beastman, 28). In life he trembled in fear while other expedition members fought. Not in suitable condition to offer to the Wise One.》
《Corpse of Ronpo, poor alchemist (Human, 37). Joined the labyrinth expedition to earn money for alchemy but met disaster. A base human—absolutely unsuitable as an offering.》
Not this one. Not that one.
Reading the floating messages gave me a faint headache.
I pressed my temple with my thumb and continued searching.
《Corpse of Bold, talentless hunter (Human, 26). Despite training since childhood, his Soul Rank remains only Stage 2. However, he is not a bad sacrifice.》
Found one.
A thin hunter dressed lightly, his face still frozen in terror from the moment of death.
“I’m sorry.”
But it can’t be helped.
I need to survive too.
“Please drag him to the center.”
While Marlin laid the hunter’s body in the middle of the warehouse, I began taking ritual items from my belongings.
First, a crow statue with hollowed-out eye sockets.
An idol that had been in my possession since the moment I woke in this world.
Next, the stones Abel had collected were placed around the corpse.
Finally, I lit candles placed at the head and feet.
It was crude, but it formed a simple shrine and altar.
“…Are you starting that now?”
I nodded.
“I’m beginning the offering ritual. If it makes you uncomfortable, look away.”
The offering for the Evil God had to be prepared.
Holding a sharply honed ritual dagger—a standard item for cultists—I began working silently.
Slice. Slice.
The sharp sound echoed through the silent warehouse.
With each movement of my hand, the metallic smell spread, and the dull floor slowly turned red.
This is tiring.
The cheap dagger did not cut well.
The limitation of a starter item.
Even though all I had to do was separate the head from the body, sweat poured down.
“Why are you cutting off the head?”
Marlin, covering her eyes with her tail, peeked at the process and whispered.
She was trembling in fear that ghouls might burst in at any moment, yet she could not suppress her curiosity.
“The one I serve, Lord Lidni, has very particular tastes.”
“Tastes?”
“Like shrimp dishes, they prefer the head removed. If the head remains attached, low-grade knowledge enters the offering, which displeases them.”
“……”
Crack.
While talking with Marlin, the work finished.
Straightening my back, I stretched briefly and lifted the result of my labor with both hands.
It was the hunter’s severed head.
“Whew….”
After wiping the sweat from my forehead, I placed the head on the floor.
Above it floated black text in strange handwriting.
《This human once relieved his frustration at his lack of talent by secretly shooting innocent goblins with a bow. No knowledge worthy of the Wise One resides within him. Separating the head was the correct decision.》
As expected of an offering selected by the Eye That Perceives Truth, he turned out to be a criminal who had murdered the innocent.
People like this made excellent offerings—no guilt required.
Next, I pulled out several teeth from the severed head and placed them onto the body.
Ingredients to create a crunchy texture.
I even had the sense to discard the ones with cavities.
I would have liked to add more ingredients, but this was the limit.
Sprinkling the teeth densely, I placed my hand on the headless body.
Then I began reciting quietly.
“The daily nourishment prepared for the one who holds infinite truth, master of all wicked knowledge and grotesque sorcery.”
The next lines were unnecessarily long and I could not remember them properly.
Back in the game, I only needed to choose the right dialogue options at the right time.
“I’ll omit the rest since you already know it.”
That left only one final line.
I stepped back from the corpse and said softly:
“Lord Lidni, your meal is ready.”