Chapter 55: Nothing but Laughter
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 55: Nothing but Laughter
“Theodora, have you ever been to the 2nd Stratum?”
“About three times. The 13th Floor was my limit.”
The air here was stagnant, trapped by walls on all sides, leaving a persistent, damp, and unpleasant odor. One wrong step could trigger traps—arrows or spears—springing from every corner. We were in a constant standoff with skeletons wielding rusted, ancient weapons; a single scratch from them promised a full-course meal of sepsis and tetanus.
Their actual combat power was negligible, but the visual unpleasantness was significant. The lack of sunlight acted as a natural debuff, making one prone to gloom, while the constant sounds of running water or dripping droplets grated on the nerves.
The sheer amount of irritating white noise kept me on edge.
“A dead end…”
Unlike the 1st Stratum, the 2nd Stratum was crowded with other explorers, which added to the mental fatigue. In the 1st Stratum, the vast plains offered few obstacles, so everyone just headed straight for the portals, making encounters rare.
Unless you were on the 8th Floor where hunting parties roamed, or the 5th Floor where people occasionally hunted Alpha entities, you almost never ran into other explorers in the 1st Stratum.
“Theodora, there are people at the fork to the right.”
“Yeah. I heard them too.”
It was a party of four, advancing with lanterns at the front and rear. The moment they spotted us, they drew their weapons and shifted into a defensive stance.
“What? They’re just people…?”
“Y-you guys! Why are you walking around without any lights?!”
“I can see just fine without them.”
Since the two of us were wandering around without even a lantern, we must have looked incredibly threatening to other explorers.
“Beastkin…? I guess beastkin can see well at night….”
“Is that it? Wait, you’re not a beastkin, are you?”
“My eyes are similar. So, put the weapons away.”
“Ugh….”
Most explorers were frantic about their own safety, desperately trying to protect themselves. However, I’d heard there were occasionally crazed bastards who weren't so cautious. As a two-person party, we had to be more careful.
“We’ll just pass through quietly. What’s the path ahead like?”
“It’s a dead end. We’re heading left, so would you mind moving aside?”
“Sure.”
Whenever other explorers were around, I tried my best to keep my tail tucked and act like a normal person. There was no benefit to leaving a lasting impression.
“Theodora. Let’s go.”
“Okay.”
Fortunately, the portals in the 2nd Stratum were located at the very bottom of each floor. This meant that as long as we ignored the stairs going up and kept taking the ones going down, we would eventually reach the portal.
Though there were dead ends everywhere, the 2nd Stratum was a maze of numerous paths and interconnected tunnels. There wasn't just one "correct" way to the portal.
Furthermore, the 11th Floor didn't have many threatening monsters. Just the occasional sewer rat that would chew through your pouch to get at your rations while you rested, or the boneheads we’d seen earlier.
Compared to the 13th Floor, where mid-boss class monsters known as Elite Entities began to lurk, this was practically a walk in the park.
Flutter!
“Birds? There are birds in the 2nd Stratum?”
“They’re bats. They don’t really attack, but they carry a lot of diseases. It’s best not to get close to their droppings or the air they kick up when they flap their wings.”
“Bats, huh…?”
Bats. This place really was a shithole.
“Wait, bats?”
“Aven? Where are you going?”
“Hold on a second.”
I focused my heightened hearing and slowly approached the sound of flapping wings. High up on the distant ceiling, they were huddled together, shitting away.
From what I knew, bats used a sense different from humans to find their way.
Didn't they have the ability to emit ultrasonic waves and measure distances or identify paths by sensing the echoes reflecting off walls?
“I don't think I've ever seen a bat at the dismantling workshop.”
“That’s because they’re useless….”
I guess there wasn't a Chinatown in Calax. Bat meat clearly wasn't popular.
I pulled a Lizardman scale spear from my subspace, disconnected the parts, and gripped it tight before hurling it toward the ceiling with all my might.
Whoosh!
Thud!!
“What are you doing?!”
“Just wait.”
Most of them fluttered away, but three or four had been grazed by the spear or knocked unconscious by the impact and fell to the floor. I walked over, used the mouth I’d formed at the tip of my tail to devour one that looked to be in good condition, and then stored the rest.
“What did you just do…?”
“Bats are great at navigation.”
Theodora was looking at me as if I’d completely lost my mind, but this was all for the sake of conquering the Labyrinth.
“The cochlea… Ah, this is it.”
Most bats emit ultrasonic waves through their mouths and use their highly developed auditory organs to detect the reflected waves, gaining information on the location and distance of surrounding objects. If I could just figure out how to use this ability properly….
“I can hear it.”
“Hear what?”
“The path is that way.”
I could now identify dead ends or see what was around a corner without having to walk all the way there. It seemed these bats living in the 2nd Stratum were a unique species that emitted ultrasound through their noses.
I didn't need to do anything weird to my face, though. I just formed an ultrasound-emitting organ at the tip of my tail and listened.
Click, click-clack.
The ultrasonic waves fired from my tail bounced off the walls, echoing back to my ears. Judging by the loud reverberation coming from the left path, it was definitely a dead end.
“Follow me.”
“Ah, right. Okay.”
Explorers in the 1st Stratum were generally mild-mannered. The natural environment wasn't eyesore-inducing, and the open spaces with fresh breezes were good for one's mental state.
Above all, most explorers active in the 1st Stratum lacked proper combat skills, or if they had them, they lacked proficiency. They were passive explorers who lacked confidence in their own abilities.
In contrast, from the 2nd Stratum onward, you began to see veterans who possessed at least one meaningful combat skill. About 70% of the explorers in the 2nd Stratum were in the stage known as the ‘Peak of Foolishness,’ where they were overconfident in their skills.
They were hostile and overbearing toward anyone they met in the Labyrinth, seized by a reckless confidence that they could win any fight without any real basis.
Added to the fatigue from clearing the 1st Stratum and nerves frayed by constant combat, the psychological phenomenon known as ‘deindividuation’—caused by traveling in fixed parties—played a major role, making them prone to aggression.
The biggest issue was anonymity. Due to the dark spaces and cramped corridors, people began to think that even if they committed murder, no one would ever find out.
Taken together, the 2nd Stratum was the place where crimes, including robbery and murder, occurred most frequently.
“Theodora. Why did you trust me enough to ask me to come to the Labyrinth with you anyway?”
“Huh?”
At the question, Theodora briefly reminisced about their first meeting.
* * *
There were several reasons why she had so easily suggested a party to Yoo Eon. The biggest reason was a trait unique to beastkin: the ability to perceive the primitive communication methods of animals that don't use verbal language.
Yoo Eon, who had acquired the characteristics of beast-type monsters like Direwolves and Ursus, was—unintentionally—communicating quite actively with beastkin.
He was radiating his current emotions through the mana residue leaking from his body. To put it simply, Yoo Eon’s current state was no different from that of a young child.
At their first meeting, the Yoo Eon captured by Theodora’s senses was like a young beastkin unable to control his emotions. To Theodora, who had been trained to hide her emotions since she first learned to speak, Yoo Eon was a very peculiar sight.
‘Disappointing! There’s nothing interesting!’
That was the first emotion of Yoo Eon’s that Theodora’s senses had picked up.
“What did you just say?”
“What? Me?”
“Yes, you.”
The man expressed his emotions with his entire body the moment she spoke to him.
‘Flustered! I’m flustered!’
Yoo Eon’s emotions were palpable through the scent her nose caught. Seeing that he had clearly never been taught how to hide his scent, Theodora felt a surge of curiosity.
‘He’s not… a child.’
At first, she wondered if he was a young beastkin, but that wasn't it. He was tall, with a physique like a well-carved sculpture, and he carried the scent of a male that only comes after secondary sex characteristics have developed.
It was a strange contrast: a body that radiated the thick scent of an Alpha entity, paired with reactions as innocent as a young child’s.
“I’m telling you, I didn't say anything.”
“I heard you loud and clear.”
“What did I say to you? I really didn't say a word.”
“You said there was nothing useful.”
“What does that have to do with you? Is talking to oneself forbidden in this neighborhood?”
With every word they exchanged, his emotional shifts were laid bare.
‘I’m angry! I’m mad!’
“Why wouldn't it have anything to do with me?”
“What are you even talking about? What does the fact that there’s nothing useful in this huge material shop have to do with you picking a fight with me? Are you the owner of this shop or something?”
“Yes.”
“Oh, really? I’m sorry.”
His emotional state matched his words exactly.
‘I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!’
A man who smelled like an Alpha, triggering an instinctive urge to submit, yet showed the clumsy side of a naive child. It was a bizarre combination.
She had spoken to him several times since then, and he was a completely different breed from the other men she had dealt with.
‘It’s fascinating. How can someone be such an idiot?’
The people she usually met were two-faced, calculating every word, and experts at testing and probing others. To Theodora, Yoo Eon’s transparency was simply entertaining.
* * *
“Just… because?”
“Just because?”
“Yeah. Just because….”
Of course, she had no reason to explain the details and ruin this entertaining spectacle.
“Is that so? Still, don't go around trusting people so easily.”
Theodora caught the scent radiating from Yoo Eon.
‘I’m worried! I’m worried about her!’
“Pfft, okay.”
At his words, a small smirk escaped her. All she could do was laugh.