11. Rescue
-------------------------------------
Translator: JayM
Chapter: 11
Chapter Title: Rescue?
-------------------------------------
Hours passed since they lost their way.
It was only natural since Dean, their navigator, had run off.
He also took the map with him.
The torch was growing weaker.
Three were still unused.
They stumbled through the maze-like cavern, relying on the faint torchlight.
It felt less like an escape and more like a search for a place to die.
Especially…
When they heard goblins' laughter echoing from the other passageways, death felt even closer.
But this time, the laughter sounded different.
“Hee hee hee.”
It sounded clearer, younger.
More human.
“Dean?”
Anne said, her voice trembling with disbelief.
“Skar! It’s Dean!”
“Calm down.”
Anne was overly excited.
Putting aside how he had survived in this darkness, his laughter sounded unnatural.
Could it be a goblin trap?
They might have set up crude traps on the floor, or they could be waiting to ambush them with arrows and spears.
He couldn’t just ignore those possibilities. However, he had Anne.
If it was a trap, he could leave Anne behind and run.
If it wasn’t, he would have another bait to use.
He made up his mind and slowly approached the source of the laughter.
He threw his nearly extinguished torch at the direction of the sound. It was almost useless now anyway.
A man was crouched in a corner of the passage, facing the wall.
“Dean?”
Anne ran over and grabbed Dean’s shoulder.
There were no traps.
There were no pressure plates targeting their feet, no arrows flying from the darkness.
“Dean? Dean, snap out of it!”
“Hee hee hee.”
Anne turned Dean around to face her.
Dilated pupils.
Thick saliva dripped from his mouth.
It was obvious.
He had gone mad.
He had succumbed to the madness induced by the “darkness,” the absolute law governing the surface levels of the Great Labyrinth.
No one was immune.
If you spent too long in the darkness without light, this was the result.
“Hee hee hee!!”
“Dean!”
Anne shook him and slapped him, but Dean only continued to giggle.
‘This won’t do.’
Jeong Yoo-shin approached Dean and searched his pockets.
He found a crumpled map.
He unfolded it.
He wasn’t a professional navigator like Dean, but he could use the rudimentary knowledge he had gained from the new explorers class to estimate their location.
“Shit.”
He cursed involuntarily.
They were in the outer regions, far from the central area.
This was the area where goblins were the most common.
The outer areas of the map were covered in sketches of goblin faces that Dean had drawn. They were needlessly cute, which irritated him.
“Damn it, why did he draw goblins on the map? Is his brain filled with rainbows?”
“Dean always loved to draw. He was timid, but he had exceptional observation skills.”
Anne’s voice was filled with affection and sorrow.
“Let’s go.”
He had the map.
He felt a glimmer of hope that they might survive.
“What about Marie?”
Anne asked cautiously.
Jeong Yoo-shin froze.
It seemed she had found a different kind of hope.
“We’re in more danger than Marie right now. We’re running low on torches. Do you want to end up wandering around like Dean? Even if we hurry, it’ll be a close call.”
“Marie is useful. She can use healing magic, and she probably has plenty of supplies.”
“Supplies?”
“I saw the goblins take her bag when they attacked her.”
So that was why one backpack was missing from the ambush site.
Still…
“Are you sure Marie still has her supplies? You’re exaggerating. Don’t get your hopes up.”
“Marie’s bag has a candle.”
“A candle? Like a wax candle?”
“It’s a sacred item bestowed by the Earth Mother Goddess’ temple. It’s given to trainee priestesses in case they run out of torches. It’s not an ordinary item; rather, it’s a holy relic. Are you sure we can make it from here to the central area, and then to the transfer point at the next level, with only three torches?”
Anne’s words were convincing.
Except for one thing.
“How are we going to find her?”
“…”
“How are we supposed to find her in this vast labyrinth? Answer me. If you say we could get lucky or that we might find some clues, I’ll rip your tongue out.”
Jeong Yoo-shin’s question silenced Anne.
He thought to himself,
‘Should I just end this here?’
He tried to convince himself that he was just using her as bait.
His conscience was playing tricks on him.
But this charade had to end.
Even Confucius, Buddha, and the Pope would concede and tap-dance their way to sainthood for him after witnessing this level of self-sacrifice.
Just as he was about to tell her they should part ways, Anne spoke.
“Alright. We’ll look for Marie later. Now that I think about it, it does seem like wishful thinking. I’m sorry.”
She was perceptive.
He felt a strange sense of disappointment.
“Okay. Let’s get out of here first. The best course of action is to ask the Explorers Guild for help.”
He took a rope from his backpack and tied it around Dean’s waist.
Since he couldn’t drag Dean by the hand, he would have to drag him with a rope.
When Jeong Yoo-shin pulled on the rope, Dean followed along while drooling.
“I’ll do it.”
“No, I’ll do it. You need to use your bow.”
Anne offered to take the lead, but he refused. He had a clear reason for placing Dean behind him.
Something they both knew.
Lack of trust.
He could almost feel Anne’s scheming thoughts.
‘Anne, you’ve been possessed by a demon.’
He imagined a one-eyed Maitreya Buddha tap-dancing in his head.
‘Namo Amitabha. Asurabalbalta*. Please don’t even cough.’
He was prepared to use Dean as a shield and cut Anne’s throat the moment he heard the twang of her bowstring.
As if she had read his mind, Anne walked cautiously, keeping her distance.
They walked for hours with this strange tension.
After a forced march without proper sleep or food…
They found a rest area in the outer regions.
Light flickered from the entrance.
Someone was inside.
Creak.
The careful drawing of a bowstring.
Simultaneously, Jeong Yoo-shin’s long sword flashed from its scabbard.
His eyes met Anne’s.
“Goblins.”
“How did you know?”
“An archer needs good eyesight and hearing. We’ll hear them if we get closer.”
Anne was right.
As they approached, they heard the laughter of goblins coming from the rest area.
Were they having some kind of feast?
He heard the sounds of flesh slapping against flesh and smelled the stench of blood.
Squish, squish.
“Kee kee keh keh!”
“Keh keh keh keh.”
He peeked inside.
A scene of predictable carnage.
Five to six goblins were violating three women.
He couldn’t tell if the women were alive or dead.
The goblins were brutal. The women, their eyes vacant, were being treated like corpses.
Marie was among the women being assaulted.
Her clothes had been ripped to shreds, but he recognized the necklace symbolizing the Spirit Church on her neck, her short brown hair, and her slender frame.
It was Marie.
He felt a bitter taste in his mouth.
Eight goblins.
‘Should I just pretend I didn’t see anything?’
Even with a surprise attack, how could two people take on eight goblins?
They weren’t in their peak condition either. He hadn’t used enough potions, and his arrow wounds were still throbbing.
Anne was in an even worse state. Blood was seeping through the bandages on her abdomen.
Anne tapped him on the back.
The cautious touch seemed to carry a glimmer of hope, and he sighed inwardly.
They switched places.
Anne peeked inside, gasped, and covered her mouth with both hands.
Jeong Yoo-shin knew.
The fight was inevitable.
He had one question, though.
He didn’t understand why the goblins had lit torches.
Did they want to keep their victims conscious?
He didn't know. But it didn’t matter. He would kill them all either way.
Jeong Yoo-shin pulled Anne’s shoulder.
He met her gaze filled with sorrow and rage.
He explained the plan using the hand signals he learned in class.
[You take out the four further away with your bow. I’ll handle the four closer to us.]
A look of confusion appeared in Anne’s eyes.
‘Shit.’
For a moment, he forgot that she hadn’t taken the new explorers class.
‘But if she’s an archer, she must come from a hunting family. Shouldn’t she know hand signals?’
He swallowed his doubts.
He leaned in and whispered in Anne’s ear.
“Kill the four further away. I’ll kill the rest.”
“Okay.”
He had already extinguished his torch and drawn his sword.
Dean’s mouth was gagged with a rope, so they were ready for a surprise attack.
Jeong Yoo-shin and Anne exchanged a nod.
They charged in.
He kept low to the ground as he ran so as not to obstruct Anne’s line of sight.
“Keeek?”
The nearest goblin looked up.
Flash!
With a glint of steel, the goblin’s head flew through the air.
‘One down.’
Simultaneously, an arrow flew and struck a distant goblin in the chest.
Several goblins, startled by the commotion, stood up.
He swung the edge of his shield, breaking a goblin’s neck.
Crack.
The goblin collapsed, its tongue lolling out.
He smashed another goblin’s head with the pommel of his sword and kicked the last one in the stomach.
Thump!
A sickening thud and the goblin flew backward.
Meanwhile, Anne’s arrow found its mark, piercing the last goblin in the chest.
“Krreek!”
Thud.
The goblin clutched its chest, let out a final cry, and collapsed.
Jeong Yoo-shin approached the goblin with the caved-in stomach.
It was vomiting blood, but it was still alive.
He stepped on its neck with his work boot.
Crunch.
As he looked around to make sure there were no other survivors, Anne ran to Marie and embraced her limp body.
“Marie! Marie!”
Marie was in bad shape.
Her body was covered in semen and one of her eyes had been crushed by a blunt weapon, leaving a mixture of mangled eyeball fragments and dried blood.
He poured some disinfecting wine on her wound, cleaned away the debris and blood, and bandaged her.
“What about potions?”
“I used them all.”
At her skeptical look, he showed her the empty potion bottles.
By this point, her suspicion was almost frightening.
He was certain she would stab him in the back without hesitation if given the chance.
Anne cleaned the semen off Marie’s body and held her close.
Anne tried to speak to Marie several times, but…
“Uh… Eh… Eh…”
Marie’s mind seemed to have completely broken. She only made strange, intermittent sounds like a broken doll.
‘Hee hee hee ahn uh eh eh.’
A mad friend and a broken friend.
They survived, but their future looked bleak.
Of course, a bleak future was still a future. They had to survive this first.
He searched the goblin corpses and the scattered backpacks for useful supplies.
Fortunately, he found Marie’s backpack.
As Anne had said, it contained a candle and a candlestick.
‘It’s huge.’
It was only slightly smaller than a torch.
“If we could just find Karl…”
Anne’s mumbling sent shivers down Jeong Yoo-shin’s spine.
“Karl is dead. Like this.”
He held up the goblin with the crushed head.
“His head was caved in, and his eyes popped out like a crab’s. I told you this.”
“…”
“Don’t you believe me?”
Disaster was one step closer.
-------------------------------------
T/N - Smooth, Mr. MC. Also, I have no idea why he's imagining so many religious figures tap dancing in this chapter.
*So for this one, I tried to google it but the only reference I found was a reddit post. So take it with a grain of salt.
By Narahae:
“Apparently it's Sanskrit. Here's an explanation I found about it:
Asura: A demon in Hindu mythology known for its belligerent nature. Often used as a metaphor for something ugly, chaotic, and terrifying.
Balbalta: All objectives or purposes. A term appearing in the Shrimala Sutra.
"Asura," a demon from Hindu mythology known for its belligerent nature, is often used metaphorically to represent something ugly, chaotic, and terrifying. "Balbalta," meaning "all objectives or purposes," is a term found in the Shrimala Sutra. The combination, "Asurabalbalta," is often used as a good luck charm or incantation, though its precise meaning is somewhat obscure. Similar to the Buddhist mantra "Namo Amitabha, Namo Guan Shi Yin," which when directly translated means "I take refuge in Amitabha, I take refuge in Guan Shi Yin," "Asurabalbalta" doesn't form a complete sentence but rather serves as a spiritual invocation.”
-------------------------------------