Chapter 162
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 162
Chapter Title: ???? Layer - Abyss (2)
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Day 3.
The first day had been about securing the bare minimum for survival, and the second day about gathering intel and sorting out a place to hole up.
Now on the third day, the immediate goal was securing weapons.
There wasn't much left that could even be called a weapon, so it had to be done.
A good number of the guns had gone missing or been damaged.
Out of the 200-odd soldiers, most were unarmed.
So they had to scavenge. The goblins scattered in all directions, each carrying their own light source.
There were still no signs of the abominations stirring.
How long these things had been hibernating determined their reactivity.
In this run, parties venturing into the four-digit layers of the Abyss seemed extremely rare.
I could get a rough sense of it. The challengers must have dried up in the kingdom. Old kingdoms often ended up that way.
Once a society was built that could sustain itself internally without seeking anything from the outside, that was it.
From then on, Labyrinth exploration shifted from a means of survival to a means of profit.
With that level of infrastructure in place, this run's kingdom was probably something close to paradise, surprisingly enough.
It no doubt had its own pile of problems, though.
Since we'd crashed on the layer's outskirts, there weren't many abominations around our makeshift outpost.
But to find proper gear, we'd have to push deeper in.
The goblins didn't flinch even at these bizarre monsters they'd never seen before in their lives.
They had the Goddess's blessing with them.
On top of that, the youngest's monstrous strength shone through. He was the perfect guy to take point on something like this.
With all equipment offline, an all-strength tank's raw power was basically human heavy machinery.
The goblins showered him with fervent admiration.
The youngest's pious faith left a deep impression on them too.
Of course, being a member of my party helped, but even so, his devotion created excellent common ground with the goblins.
Even Arcana chuckled wryly as she spoke to me.
[Our kind's long-held wish was always physical toughness. A greenskin-sized build, sturdy body, terrifying strength, and unwavering faith. There aren't many goblins who could dislike a human like that.]
To most of the soldiers, the youngest looked like a dazzling holy knight of the Goddess.
Honestly, it was a sentiment I had trouble understanding. In any case, he enjoyed massive popularity and successfully directed the search operation.
A racial preference for macho types, huh. Tough crowd.
The truth was, the youngest had always been pretty popular up to now. But most situations had been urgent, and we'd been rushing through, so it hadn't really registered.
Overall, the scams and psychological breakdowns common in the Abyss weren't happening here.
The environment was harsh, sure, but the goblins seemed to embrace it. This was the Goddess's domain they'd dreamed of, after all.
Even without searching long, the human bulldozer that was the youngest dug through the debris, advancing the excavation.
"This doesn't look like our stuff. I mean, our universe's, that is."
The Abyss was the Labyrinth's trash bin. Bits of odd layers shattered by sudden death or worn-out subspaces poured in here.
Most things here were relics from some exile or NPC.
And only a tiny fraction of failed exiles' belongings ever reached these depths.
If something had sunk this deep, it wasn't junk you could dismiss.
The higher the value, the deeper into the Abyss it sank, becoming some explorer's loot.
The Girl found a new weapon.
"Durability's a bit iffy, but it's an adamantine dagger."
"Whoa... Just holding this, I can feel the attack power. I'm invincible now."
The youngest found a new shield too. Or rather, it wasn't exactly a shield.
It was more like a door.
"Nice grip."
"Huh, you call that a grip?"
"If you've got the strength to wield it, isn't a stupidly sturdy door slab better than some fancy shield designed for handling?"
No idea what world spat out a mithril door like this. Looked like a prison cell... but no clue.
There were no facilities to work mithril, so we just slapped on a temporary handle. The youngest was thrilled.
The goblins started treating that door like a holy relic.
Why pray to that thing? Fewer people praying at me was nice, though.
The Girl tilted her head curiously.
"The goblins keep calling me an angel. Why?"
"Well, that's kinda..."
Where the hell had the 15th layer's card gone?
This was driving me nuts.
Day 4.
The abominations showed no signs of stirring yet. No telling how long they'd been hibernating here.
These deep Abyss layers had decent farming potential, yet no one came. Made me wonder what was going on in the kingdom.
The kingdom's sole devotee of the Goddess—the angel—had mostly been left to her own devices rather than tasked with intel gathering.
She was probably swamped with whatever else she was ordered to do.
Plus, she drew massive attention wherever she went, so no helping it.
Questions lingered. But the situation suited me fine. We could probably turn this into a full fortress before the abominations woke.
Among the surviving troops were engineers. Not scholars, but field experts at cobbling things together on the fly.
And here, the youngest showed off again.
"The gang I ran with wasn't rich, so scavenging junkyards to make weapons was routine."
Now he was starting to feel like a slum priest or something.
A vicious-looking bald brute pulling off such a benevolent smile.
And so, makeshift cannons and walls went up.
"Maybe I was fated to become a devotee of the Chaos God here from the start."
The youngest laughed, saying the tech from his world was barely different from the goblins'.
That line pretty much confirmed he wasn't from the Labyrinth's 'outside,' but he seemed content.
Nothing was certain anyway.
Needed to discuss with Arcana.
First things first: recover the bone dragon. Then we could hold our ground.
But the living darkness made searching tricky.
We could only perceive things within light's reach.
[If needed, I'll whip up a spell to push back this darkness temporarily.]
"I can do that too. But the efficiency sucks. Can't go around popping flares like illumination rounds."
Too much to find. Way too much. This wasn't about farming anymore—it was survival.
We had to hold out here, scavenge gear, mod it, and crawl back up to the three-digit layers.
If we made it that far, we could reconnect with the Goddess.
Escape wouldn't be hard then.
She was probably waiting impatiently for me already.
The Girl was starting to feel a bit anxious.
Recent events had been a nonstop parade of novelties, one after another each day.
Just when she'd think she was getting used to it or had a rough idea, something new would hit.
The Hunter and the little mage had accepted it with resignation. Their goals weren't far off.
The old man took it with curiosity. He reveled in the endless weirdness and unknowns.
For the youngest, it was just living his faith. He saw it as atonement for his sins—no room for doubt or need for it.
The ever-nervous kid had at least been someone the Girl could relate to.
Until recently, anyway.
Lately, the kid's focus was magic only. Stuck to the old man all day.
The Girl studied magic too, but as a warrior-assassin building practical aptitude, her direction differed.
And honestly, she couldn't keep up with pure theory anyway.
In the midst of it, the Girl started feeling isolated.
She was the only one feeling confusion and fear amid the freakish chain of events.
She knew why. She was the only one here chasing Uncle's back as her goal.
The others just followed. None aimed to stand beside him.
His bar was too high—reality's limits became an insurmountable wall.
Her screw-ups on the last layer had her self-esteem scraping bottom too.
Couldn't be helped. The 13th layer, she'd been a bystander.
On the 14th, she failed when it mattered, nearly causing disaster.
None of it was what she wanted.
She'd thought she'd caught up somewhat, getting used to the Labyrinth's combat and systems.
But Uncle's position remained distant as ever.
Of course, she couldn't just mope.
The more amazing Uncle seemed, the deeper her feelings grew. She felt it clearly.
Did she have a thing for competent guys? At first, it was just a good first impression.
Confident and handsome.
Then, endless adversities and conquering them.
Honestly, even if he were a woman, she'd have fallen.
And his bottomless strength.
Not just raw specs—he toyed with enemies like it was nothing.
She thought she could win, but in a real fight? Probably not.
The Girl couldn't imagine Uncle losing to anything.
That was how he seemed to her.
The Goddess saw him differently, apparently.
「Just knock him flat. The guy's denser than he looks. And clueless about his own fragility. You gotta step back to see it.」
Objectively, a perfect leader. Ideal in every way.
But ultimately, an act.
Just a man.
That's why she'd roped in the kid under the family-game pretense.
The Goddess said everyone needed a mental stabilizer.
She'd nearly died without finding hers.
「Yeah, I've lived a while. But still.」
Yet she wanted to watch.
Life as a challenger exile had been fleeting.
Realizing she'd never even reached the starting line before the end, then becoming a god.
That's what the Goddess said.
「You're all just leaning on him. I'm not there. Words alone can't provide true comfort. People need to depend on each other to stay human. Your Uncle's this party's stabilizer, but what's comforting him? What keeps him in this run? He wants to see the Labyrinth's end. So I can't let him waver.」
She'd also given him motivation to stay this run. The Goddess wanted the Labyrinth's depths too.
Couldn't let him break.
If signs appeared, she'd nip them early.
The Girl smiled and shot back.
"You say that, but you're just a good person, Goddess."
「Just in a position to do good deeds. Humans try to be good in environments that allow it. I was picked for the evil god's throne, so probably wasn't that saintly.」
And added.
「Honestly, doesn't have to be love. Just attachment. He might bail to the next run if he decides it's no good. I can't watch that. Tie him down a bit. Love's even better. What better chain? 」
"Can't you say it nicer? Chains?"
「Whatever. He cares, clearly? Knock him down, he won't refuse.」
The Nature God endorsed the scheme too. Dramatic love lines woven in.
Packaged as family play for now.
The Goddess kept nagging afterward.
Here, the Girl was the hesitant one.
"Ugh, embarrassing."
The Goddess was baffled first.
Nature God was floored too.
"But... this is my first love... At first I was too busy, but being together so long... Anyway, if I jump him, what next? What do I even do...?"
The gods accepted it as plausible. But past actions still drew flak.
Her "I don't know" got sighs.
No one bought it, anyway.
"Argh! I only know romance from novels and comics! So graduate first. The shield thing was that too."
「Hmm... Solo too? 」
"Would you approach a kid skipping school to hunt monsters, Goddess?"
Her mope convinced them of her sincerity. They permitted more mental prep time.
When push came to shove, her heart's brakes locked up.
And time passed until finally.
The day she'd have gotten her diploma.
No gods constantly watching here.
Perfect setup.
But when it came to trying, courage failed. So she consulted the closest peer around.
"...Sis?"
The little mage eyed her like, what nonsense is this?
The Girl surrendered.
"Truth is, I'm the younger one. Forgive me."
The little mage snickered.
"Then for now, I'll be the sis?"
"Yesss..."