Chapter 9
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 9
Chapter Title: Floor 2 - Lv. 25 Excavation Site Sentry (1)
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Thinking about it, the kingdom approach section was basically tutorial-level difficulty back in the game days—nothing too serious.
No matter how much more realistic it got or how the difficulty ramped up, even if travel and rest ate up a ton of time.
If you kept at it diligently for over a decade, it was hard to stall out without ever knocking on that door.
Unless you'd completely given up and stopped honing yourself, that is. The Hunter was showing the marks of a pretty seasoned Exile.
In cases like this, those people usually hadn't fully shed their humanity.
"Looks like you've lived with Fairies a lot."
The Hunter fell silent.
That was answer enough.
Veterans often called it "falling into the Fairy's trap."
To me, this Hunter, the Girl, and even those bound prisoners were all just NPCs. But the Hunter thought differently.
"......It was the previous Run. I spent seven years in the Grove Fairies' village on Floor 24."
The tutorial was long.
Even if you never reached the kingdom, layers often spawned that were livable alongside NPCs.
That's why most Exiles gave up on heading to the kingdom.
For the desperate, a heard-about paradise couldn't compare to the comfort right in front of them.
Not that the kingdom was much of a paradise anyway.
So, NPCs who saw themselves as players tended to settle in those spots.
Or rather, they spawned with those memories intact.
"Happens a lot. Grove Fairies are genuinely good folks, so living with them... well."
You could be happy. All stunningly beautiful, kind, gentle, warm.
To some, it'd be paradise itself.
But that wasn't the point right now.
"So, you can't kill Fairies?"
"Honestly, yeah. They were my comrades, my neighbors."
"They're different Fairies anyway. You know you can't meet those NPCs again."
"The heart doesn't always follow logic."
The Hunter's face twisted as he said it.
The look of someone knowing his own words were nonsense.
The same world didn't respawn, letting you reunite with those people. It never happened.
Exile common sense: Don't get attached to NPCs.
Of course, it wasn't that simple.
In this near-infinitely looping life, without some attachment, you might go mad.
"Well, take your time thinking it over. You can kill Orcs, right?"
"Yes. No... well. Sigh."
His condition wasn't great.
"We were gonna hit the Orcs first anyway. Depending on the situation, we might end it there and leave the Fairies be. We'll decide then."
"Thanks."
Not the most efficient, but guys like him were necessary now and then.
Watching him kept you from forgetting what it meant to be human.
On the flip side, the Girl wasn't surprised or opposed to wiping them all out.
She just smiled, like it'd be fun.
Me and the Girl were the weird ones.
She'd been off from the start, and I'd gone strange after wandering the Labyrinth for about 97 years.
Three days passed.
Plenty of time before Sudden Death.
The wild Goblins in the farming zone were numerous, but we finished the basic farming way ahead of schedule.
Thanks to the capable Hunter.
He sighed a lot, saying it reminded him of home.
Both his first home in California and his second—the Fairy village from the previous Run.
Both were coniferous forests like this.
Familiarity always boosted efficiency.
But it also brought unwanted nostalgia.
The Hunter grumbled often.
Randomly generated terrain sometimes triggered déjà vu.
Made you think the vanished past was recreating itself right there.
But after realizing a few times it was different, you gave up.
I had.
I spotted too many signs this was a game world.
Since scouring every corner of the forest wrapped up quickly, we decided to raid the Orc outpost the next day.
Before the recon, we reviewed our haul.
First up: the Fairy bow the Hunter carried.
His crossbow was nearing the end of its lifespan. Crude from the start—Floor 1 gear.
Durability wasn't enough for long-term use.
The Fairy-made bow, though? Top quality. No appraisal skill, but testing it showed slight aim-correction magic.
A magic item, blue-named in game terms.
Should last several more floors.
We'd get tons more after raiding the Fairy village anyway.
The captured Orc and Fairy became the Girl's EXP that same day.
Her skills were good, so they went painlessly.
The Hunter looked deeply depressed, so we gave the Fairy a proper burial.
Not efficient, but if it eased someone's mind, it was tolerable inefficiency.
Cold truth: The Hunter wasn't talented enough for my clear plan.
Just a temporary ally we'd part with eventually.
So, how we treated him didn't matter.
Just an NPC we'd never see again.
But I was human too.
There were lines I wouldn't cross to keep that humanity intact.
Treating NPCs as humans meant upholding standards—for my own sake.
I didn't want to forget what I—what humans—were.
Long Labyrinth stays blurred your sense of self sometimes.
I was human.
Still.
The Girl remained bubbly.
Even by my limited standards, she was mentally abnormal—in a brilliant way.
No need to manage her mentality. Couldn't be easier.
Seemed no guilt over killing, maybe not her first time.
Modern terms: antisocial personality disorder, aka psychopath.
But in this abnormal world, abnormal was normal.
As a prime Labyrinth native, she'd cause no issues while I shared my knowledge.
She obeyed like a loyal pup, no hidden agendas—which was scarier.
Pure? Hmm. They say history's worst killers had a certain purity.
Anyway, I'd planned to take her to the end, but she needed little minding. No real payoff there.
Count it as good news.
Checking my weapons, I counted shotgun shells. Minus the three from Floor 1, seven remained intact.
Over the past three days, I'd handled most fights with melee.
Barely used the double-barrel shotgun, so durability was fine.
The Girl fiddled with the shotgun. She'd taken an interest after our recent shooting sessions.
The Hunter glanced warily at her. She'd eyed his crossbow hungrily.
Not surprisingly, she hadn't blown her newbie cover.
Anyone thinking "newbie" while watching this high school girl unleash bloodbaths had issues themselves.
The Girl whispered to him out of earshot.
"Why collect so many weapons?"
We'd looted from wild Goblins and crudely crafted more, piling them up. Fair question.
"You like that dagger, right?"
"Yeah."
The starter dagger had drunk plenty of blood. Mostly Goblins and wildlife so far.
Taught her about backstabs, and she mastered it scarily fast.
Wild Goblins would slice like veggies no matter how they swarmed.
"Its durability's running out soon."
"Huh? Doesn't look it."
No cracks, no chips. She'd maintained it well.
But weapons were consumables. Especially extreme in this Labyrinth.
"Labyrinth rule. No matter how well you care for them, after a bit, they just shatter—crack!—out of nowhere."
"Even if it looks fine, not much left?"
She grasped it quick, like with Healing Potions' effects.
Physics bending a little? Everyday in the Labyrinth.
"Weapons are consumables."
"I know that."
"Way more extreme than you think."
Example time?
"Ever hear of Excalibur?"
"Yeah, the legendary sword?"
"Tough, right?"
"Yes."
And it was. Solid adamantine, insanely durable.
Adamantine would've rewritten human history if real— that tough.
Heard an Exile from a modern Earth-like world lament how it invalidated his old job.
The Labyrinth applied mostly real physics.
Breaking adamantine on purpose? Near impossible.
"As a weapon, it'd last to Floor 50 easy."
But once its weapon lifespan ended, it'd shatter in a final critical judgment.
Of course, only if used as a weapon.
As a tool—like a carving knife for a dead dragon—it'd stay sharp for centuries.
Weapon durability here was separate from physical durability.
Some hyper-unreal mechanic.
I knew it was just game code.
"What do you mean 'used as a weapon'?"
"Attacking things that give EXP when killed, basically."
I gestured to myself.
"Look at me—carrying all this stuff, right?"
After the horrific muscle pain that second morning, boosted stats improved my stamina.
So, shotgun plus three or four melee weapons. Throwing daggers too—Goblins carried tons.
"You should pick a few backups you like."
The Girl pouted.
I got it. The starter dagger had great durability for early game.
Just a short-reach melee issue, worlds apart from Goblin loot.
She rummaged and grabbed sidearms. The Hunter, flasks filled, distributed them.
Flasks, but weird ones worth emphasizing.
Always spawned near Healing Springs, one per person. Glass bottles, indestructible unless you chucked them yourself.
Sole function: hold spring water.
No other way to carry it.
Refillable Healing Potions, basically.
Spare lives in the Labyrinth.
The Hunter bundled food pouches and torches on his back, plus sundry gear.
Looked like a proper pack mule.
I grabbed a bomb fruit too. Stuffed a pouch with plant-fiber "cotton" I'd spun thin, stored it carefully to avoid accidental booms.
The Girl whispered again.
"What are we hunting?"
Her eyes sparkled. Always cheerful, but battle-hype lit her up more.
"Know what a Griffin is?"
"Yeah. The ones Dwarves ride while hurling hammers?"
Huh, old-school gamer tastes? Griffin first meant hammers.
"That's it. Probably."
The Floor 2 Griffin was a hidden boss tier. Overpowered for the floor, tough normally.
But I had a plan.
Slightly nagging doubt, though.