Chapter 36
Chapter 36
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 36
Chapter Title: 10. I Want to Go to the 2nd Floor (8)
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Lizardgirl Gregor stared blankly at the scene before her, shuddering in awe.
The helmeted man. The inn's part-timer. And the male who'd handed her a crushing sense of defeat.
After losing to him in that arm-wrestling match, Gregor had kept grinding away at honing her scales.
She'd turned down recruitment offers from mid-tier clans, heading deeper into the labyrinth's lower floors to grow stronger.
By sheer luck, she'd landed a spot as a porter for a seventh-floor party, getting a front-row seat to battles on a whole new level.
And now she'd reached the fifth floor. This place had reeked of menace and chills right from the start, yet that man had gotten here long ago.
"Wait, why's this kid here? And all by herself?"
The cow beastkin Jubel blurted out in confusion. She was the one who was always hammered at Diana's inn, leaking milk everywhere.
"That doesn't matter right now. Look at those wounds—they're way too severe."
The cat beastkin Hitollis carefully checked over Balkan's thigh and the rest of his body.
"Low-grade potions won't cut it. We've used up all the fountain water, and it'll be a bit longer before I can pull off a healing miracle."
"...He won't hold out that long."
Dwarf Joey Hogg muttered gravely.
He was still breathing for now, but his heart could give out any second. His consciousness looked hazy at best.
"...Let's use a fountain teleport scroll."
Gregor—the porter with the backpack—mumbled hesitantly. The entire Joey Hogg party turned to glance back at her.
"No way. What're you even saying, Gregor?"
The fountains. Even amid the labyrinth's blanket of mysteries, those structures stood out as special.
They only appeared at the far ends of floors that were multiples of five, gushing out that mystical healing water—like potions in their purest form.
Just like the safe zone on the fifteenth floor, they were one of the labyrinth's rare features actually helpful to explorers.
Some explorers even called them the labyrinth's conscience.
It was like the place was tossing explorers a bone to offset the nightmare difficulty spikes every multiple of four floors.
No wonder a few thought that way.
"You know how pricey fountain teleport scrolls are, right? Those mystical scrolls you can only use on multiples-of-five floors! Priceless relics that rip open portals beyond human comprehension! You have any idea what they cost?!"
It all came down to the fountain teleport scrolls.
Just as the name implied, they tore open portals straight to the fountains.
And fountains sat at the dead ends of their floors. Those ends had both ascent and descent portals.
Meaning you could skip right over the multiples-of-five floors—with their bizarre setups and brutal difficulties entirely detached from the rest.
Plus, you got that soothing fountain water for healing on top.
In a labyrinth soaked in blood and terror, fountain teleport scrolls were pretty much the one and only godsend letting exhausted explorers catch a break.
"Th-that's just one silver coin...!"
"Yep. One silver coin. Pocket change for us. Great idea, Gregor."
And the miracle of those scrolls? They went for a measly silver coin each. Reason? Supply way outstripped demand.
Fountain teleport scrolls were scattered all over multiples-of-five floors. Abnormally, absurdly plentiful.
So unless you were like Joey Hogg's crew—chasing something ultra-specific like a shaman hobgoblin's staff—hardly any explorers bothered properly clearing those floors.
The fifth floor was especially notorious, tougher to crack than the sixth or seventh.
A zone the vast majority skipped entirely. No profit in it for elites, pure suicide for rookies.
Even parties too broke for a single silver could snag scrolls by scouring the monster village entrance passages thoroughly enough.
Tear one, warp to the fountain, bail on the fifth floor.
But every now and then, you'd get explorers snagged like this.
"Either too green fumbling around the entrance and got nabbed, or tripped a transfer trap."
"...This guy's the trap type."
Joey Hogg's party figured Balkan must've hit a transfer trap and dropped into the fifth solo.
"What a unlucky son of a bitch. Three years exploring and I've never eaten a transfer trap."
"Nah, that's just you being lucky, you cow bitch."
"Both of you. Enough chit-chat. Let's move."
Tsss!
Priestess Hitollis ripped the fountain teleport scroll, and a portal glowing yellow bloomed open.
Any explorer gunning past the fifth floor treated those scrolls as must-haves, so Joey Hogg's crew naturally packed extras.
"Snagging the inn's mascot for a single silver? That's a steal."
"Gonna hit up the boss later for a complimentary ice-cold beer."
Cow beastkin swordswoman Lamel slung Balkan over her shoulder as she spoke.
The whole Joey Hogg party clasped hands and stepped through the portal to the fountain.
They clocked three changes the instant they crossed.
First: the scenery. They were suddenly standing in the heart of a massive circular fountain.
The healing water spewing from it mended their weary bodies in seconds.
"Tch. Nah."
"Figures. Kid just hit second floor anyway. No way he'd have a fountain scroll. Must've bit it down here. Heh. Suits me fine."
Second: those seven roughneck regenerated explorers they'd spotted last time, standing guard right by the fountain.
No mystery why they looked so thuggish—anyone serious about legit exploring steered clear of types like that.
Still, nothing out of the ordinary up to here. But the third change? That threw them.
"...Wait. Where'd the kid go?"
Cow swordswoman Lamel muttered in bewilderment.
The party system should've registered him and pulled him through too. But he was nowhere in sight around the fountain.
The whole world dazzled blindingly bright. I stood beneath it—or maybe lay there.
'Wait, lying down?'
Hard to tell. My senses weren't firing right. But...
'...Warm.'
Standing or flat on my back hardly mattered. Right now, I just wanted to soak in that gentle warmth a little longer.
My vision faded bit by bit, old cherished memories bubbling up.
—Oppa. Lay your head here. Right here.
—Why ditch the perfectly good pillow for your thigh?
—Ah, just hurry up. I'm thanking you. It's the only thing I can do.
It was one of those days after grinding overtime, stopping by little sister Soeun's hospital bed.
She kept patting her thigh insistently, and I caved, sinking my head into that soft, plush warmth.
Then I felt fingers stroking my hair. Warm ones, slender and delicate, gently combing through.
—Thanks as always, Oppa.
Those words swelled my chest. Ah, at least all this wasn't for nothing.
I'd never chased grand dreams in life.
Just a simple, happy one. No more starving. Sister healthy again. Warm home to crash in. That'd be plenty.
The day before I got isekai'd into the labyrinth.
'Ah.'
I snapped to. Right. I'm in the labyrinth right now.
Tears? Through my slightly fogged vision, pure white light seeped in.
'...Huh?'
Tried glancing around, but my head wouldn't budge. So I just stared straight ahead.
I lay in light. Pure, dazzling white—beautiful, warm light.
But the lit area was so confined.
Beyond it, total darkness everywhere.
Like the dark had forcibly caged the light.
And I was inside that light patch. No clue what was going on.
But for some reason, that nightmare from before flashed back.
A world of pure darkness, a tiny speck of light within.
And inside it, smiling at me...
'Soeun.'
—Srrk.
Something warm brushed over my head as I lay there.
An incredibly familiar touch. Warmth. Longing. Love.
I turned my head just a fraction, and a [being] swathed in light filled my sight.
It was giving me a lap pillow, stroking my hair.
Was the light too blinding? Or pure instinct?
Either way, I knew on sight: this being utterly transcended my grasp, something utterly beyond mortal ken.
But it didn't scare me. No terror.
That hand gliding over my hair held zero malice.
"—"
Who are you?
Wanted to ask, but my mouth just flapped silently—no voice came.
The light-wrapped being stirred faintly.
Its expression twitched into a smile? Hard to tell—the glow was too fierce.
Then its mouth cracked open slightly. Or so I guessed.
[■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■]
I could tell it was trying to tell me something.
But I couldn't make it out clearly.
The voice sounded like a chaotic mashup of countless creatures' cries and tongues. Static-laced noise drowned half of it.
[5th floor's ■■ ■■■ too dangerous. Spec■■ for ■■.]
Still, I focused every nerve in my ears, straining to catch even fragments.
And bit by bit—very bit by bit—my ears tuned in, letting words come through.
But then.
Woooong—
The light-filled zone shuddered violently.
Darkness clawed at it, ready to shred it apart any second.
The light-being grew frantic.
It started doing... something. Way beyond what I could perceive. And suddenly, I plummeted into the dark, drifting away from the light.
My body wouldn't move an inch. But I forced it anyway, stretching desperately toward the glow.
Pure instinct. I craved more of that longed-for warmth.
Darkness closed in. Light receded farther.
I flailed in the void again, clawing toward the light.
Futile thrashing. I didn't have the strength to climb out of the abyss yet.
From the impossibly distant light, the being spoke one last time.
[Stay safe. ■■]
"Tch. Well, no way the punk made it this far anyway."
Derucio clucked his tongue in relief.
What the hell had he been so afraid of?
'Yeah. Weak-ass punk from the jump. That sleazy spear fucker banking on cheap ambushes.'
Sure, he'd taken a hit from getting careless. But if he'd just kept his head, he could've handled the guy easy.
Hell, more than that—he'd have pinned him down, dragged him off, and turned him into a cumdump for the whole labyrinth run.
Confident he could've conditioned the bastard to PTSD at the whiff of pussy.
'......'
But deep down, without realizing, Derucio thought:
'...So how do you explain him dropping my two goons like it was nothing?'
Weaker than him or not, they were solid fighters. And he'd nearly decapitated them before they could twitch.
An inexplicable anxiety kept bubbling up inside.
If he really bought that the guy was weak, there'd be no reason to stand guard like this.
The second that transfer trap dumped the punk solo onto the fifth? Game over.
Tear a fountain scroll, patch up, grind the labyrinth like normal. Done.
But Derucio hadn't.
Couldn't.
That gnawing dread slithering up from his gut had him hunkered at the fountain, waiting for 'that guy' to show.
Just in case. One-in-a-million shot.
If the bastard somehow punched through to the floor's end, smash him flat on sight.
But that wait was over now.
'Impossible.'
Two days of stewing, and Derucio had his answer.
No way a lone rookie explorer dropped on the fifth clawed his way out alive. Odds flatlined at zero.
"Let's roll! What're you waiting for?!"
Things felt weirdly quiet around him.
His bellowing underlings. The party that'd just warped in.
All of them gawking blankly at one spot.
'...What?'
Derucio followed their stares upward naturally.
And his jaw dropped slack.
"Mommy...!"
Atop the fountain.
The absolute pinnacle of the labyrinth's fifth floor.
A man wrapped in blinding light plummeted like a shooting star.
"Mommy's my line."
Bloody red axe—smeared gore head to haft—plunging alongside.
"You motherless bitch."
Craaaack!