Chapter 53
Chapter 53
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 53
Chapter Title: 6th Floor (5)
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"Prurrr..."
A death rattle echoed from the severed head of the boss Minotaur that had tumbled across the floor.
The [Darkness] that had infested its body vanished without a trace under the Blessing of Radiance. Soon after, it dissolved into particles of light and melted into the air.
Thud!
Something dropped at his feet. A glossy, smooth crystal shard.
The Minotaur's soulstone.
Normal monsters left behind corpses when they died, but if they dropped a soulstone, they vanished completely like this.
"Prurrr...!"
The remaining Minotaurs flew into a rage at the sight of their leader's head flying off right in front of them.
"Fireball!!"
Kaboom!
Right on cue, Lamel finished his chant. A massive fireball swept through the Minotaur pack in one go.
Its raw power fell short of the Flare Ellie had unleashed, but it packed enough punch to send them rolling on the ground in agony from their roasting flesh.
The savory aroma of cooking meat wafted through the air.
He uncorked another potion vial and took a swig. The fatigue crashing in after using Blessing of Radiance had been forcibly restored.
"Time to sample some Labyrinth beef."
The slaughter wasn't over yet.
Professor Mangkostil had successfully rescued the students and escort explorers who'd fallen to the 8th floor.
He'd gotten lucky. The spot they'd dropped into had relatively few monster spawns.
Rather than trying to clear the floor on their own, the escort explorers and teaching assistants had wisely chosen to hunker down and wait for the professor, who'd noticed the anomaly.
Thanks to that, Professor Mangkostil was able to save them with minimal casualties.
But casualties there were.
"Ugh... Professor... Professor...! M-my arm, my arm..."
"...Just hang in there a little longer. If it's only a limb missing, we can reattach it."
A student who'd lost an arm, another with a broken leg. Some of the kids were already injured.
At least none of the wounded were nobles or kids from influential families—that was a small mercy. But what gnawed at Professor Mangkostil wasn't political fallout.
The students' faces twisted in pain burned into his eyes. Meanwhile, the explorers looked relatively unscathed.
Professor Mangkostil spotted traces of them liberally applying potions to their own wounds.
"...Not a single potion left for the students? I seem to recall providing ample supplies."
"We had no choice either. This was the 8th floor, not some picnic spot. Two floors below the target, and they fell because the students blundered into a teleport trap. Supplies burned through way faster than expected."
It all made sense.
In an emergency, it was sound judgment for the battle-hardened explorers to hoard more supplies to hold out longer.
And if you traced the root of this mess, blame lay with the student who triggered the trap and the teaching assistant who failed to supervise.
'...I get that the escorts did their best in the crisis...'
Having been an explorer himself once, Professor Mangkostil knew full well how sensible and ethical these escorts were.
The field was rotten with types who prioritized their own survival above all, even on paid gigs.
Compared to those scum, these folks were saints.
But even so.
'It still leaves a bitter taste.'
Professor Mangkostil swallowed his words.
'Yeah. Expecting explorers to take losses protecting others perfectly is rare to begin with.'
Demanding more from junior explorers would've been asking for thugs.
If he wanted miracles, he'd have hired mid- or high-rankers.
"We'll judge the contract's success later. For now, let's head up to the 6th floor."
"Yes, sir."
As the party ascended to the 7th floor and began scouting it, a sharp buzz pierced Professor Mangkostil's head.
His doll's communication function had activated.
Figuring there was news, he accepted the call. The moment he did—
– Professor! P-please, save us! Save—!
Click.
The line cut off abruptly.
Professor Mangkostil's blood ran cold.
No need to guess—something bad had gone down.
"Pick up the pace! Hurry!"
In a flash, they bypassed the 7th and dropped near the central area of the 6th, with Mangkostil shielding the wounded students.
And then.
'Blood...?'
He winced at the thick stench of blood wafting in.
"Sniff. Sniff sniff. What the hell? This the 6th floor? Smells like Minotaurs."
"Minotaurs? Those are 7th-floor monsters! How'd they get down here?!"
"Beats me! But the scent's strong. Kinda funky too? Special variant maybe?"
At the words from an escort with the Scent Discrimination Blessing, everyone snapped to attention.
Sure enough, something had popped off on the 6th floor.
"The smell's coming from the central area."
Until now, the party had stuck to gathering in the center before pushing forward.
"...No way."
The heavy reek of blood mixed with a monster scent that had no business on the 6th floor. And coming from that direction, too.
Predicting what had happened was child's play.
'No! It can't be!'
In an instant, Professor Mangkostil's mind flashed to the worst: escort party wiped, students slaughtered.
The desperate plea from that student before the comms cut echoed in his head.
'Please, God, let it not be true. Let my fears be wrong...!'
Flying at top speed, Professor Mangkostil charged into the central area, chant at the ready.
Amid the choking blood stench, what entered his eyes was...
'Corpses?'
Piles of corpses stacked high.
Not human. Monster ones—Minotaurs, haphazardly dumped in a heap.
"P-Professor! The professor's here!"
Students and teaching assistants gazed at him with relief.
Contrary to his nightmare scenario, they were spotless, without a scratch.
'That many Minotaurs, and not a single injury?'
The mystery cleared up fast. A loud voice boomed across the central area.
"H-hey, two soulstones...!"
"What the hell! Insane luck, Balkan! You're the best!"
The blind dwarf and the arm-crippled cow beastkin.
"Kyaa-hoo! We're rich now!!"
"The Wisdom God was watching over us!!!"
"Grulk!"
The blood-vomiting harpy, cat beastkin, lizardgirl, and the rest of the escort explorers.
"A-ack. It hurts. Hurts! Put me down already, you bitches!"
They were tossing around a helmeted man soaked in blood and covered in wounds like he was crowd-surfing.
"You've had a rough one, Mr. Balkan."
As the party members' excited crowd-surfing wound down, and he was rubbing his throbbing limbs while chugging a potion, Professor Mangkostil approached. He'd just gotten the briefing from the teaching assistants and academy students, a broad smile on his face.
"From what I hear, something serious went down, but thanks to your party's sacrifice, it all worked out. The students are all safe because of you."
Yeah. Of course they were. Everyone but us had hunkered down in barriers.
Technically, he was more like a temporary party member, but the vibe wasn't right for nitpicking, so he just nodded.
"Just doing my job as an escort. No need to bow so low."
The elderly grandma professor bending at the waist in thanks was straight-up awkward. He tried to brush it off politely.
But Professor Mangkostil just laughed even louder, full of admiration.
"Haha. Not just skill, but responsibility and humility too? Impressive. Back when I was your age..."
And then he launched into his life story.
It was dressed up in fancy words and metaphors, but boiled down to this:
Back in my day~ Man, explorers were total assholes. So I quit that crap, studied my butt off, and became a professor. Still full of unromantic jerks these days, but you kids seem decent. You've got talent. Keep it up. And thanks for saving our family. The kids are cowards, must've been tough, huh? Good job.
A familiar day-laborer uncle vibe emanated from this academy professor stranger.
She'd been kinda distant at first, but after seeing him work, suddenly treated him nice like she was afraid he'd bail.
"Haha... yeah..."
His body ached all over, and listening dragged on like it might drive him mad.
Still, this wasn't some random Joe—this was prime academy professor networking.
He mustered his focus and tuned into the professor's words.
"What's that guy's deal? Why's he chatting one-on-one with the prof that long?"
"Heard a weird Minotaur came down from the 7th to the 6th, and that dude smashed 'em all solo. Not a single student hurt."
"What kinda bullshit is that? Floor migration? Minotaurs? You expect us to buy that?"
"Buy it or not, look at those Minotaur corpses. See the axe marks on the necks? Dude's got an axe on his belt. Axe-wielders ain't common."
"Hmm... If that's legit, kinda jealous."
But focusing was impossible.
Escort explorers and students were gathering, whispering about him and the professor.
The explorers' gazes, usually just leering blankly at bodies, were shifting.
To something like a skilled rookie—or the equivalent.
"My womb's pounding... Feels like I'm ovulating..."
"First time being protected by a guy. A stud like that... Wanna fuck him—no, get fucked by him..."
"Don't care about his face. A man who shields like that? Might not suck..."
Even the students, trembling in fear when they'd first arrived at the center, were muttering wild stuff.
"Hey. You lot, come with me."
Ellie, face full of irritation, dragged off the girls rubbing their thighs together and vanished somewhere.
She returned with mana shimmering in her hand. What the hell had gone down in that short time?
"......"
Ellie met his eyes, yanked her hat down, and whipped her head away.
Her pointy elf ears twitched.
"Anyway, what I want to say to you, Mr. Balkan, is this."
The professor's speech, dragging like a principal's assembly drone, finally neared its end. He refocused on her words.
The professor made him a somewhat unexpected proposal.
The students and one escort explorer who'd fallen to the 8th floor with Joy Hogg's party—suffering near-fatal injuries—had recovered at the 5th floor fountain with healing waters and rejoined the 6th.
For the next week, they stayed on the 6th floor, waiting for the students' field investigation to wrap up.
"Ellie. What the heck are you even doing?"
"...You sure you wanna hear the explanation?"
"Nope."
"Thought so? Most people don't get it. I'll summarize it in the report later."
"Three-line summary?"
"How do you sum this up in three lines...? Fine, I'll try."
Even staring openly, he had no clue what she was doing, so he just followed her orders.
Standing around holding monster corpses or blankly watching Ellie wave her hands in the air, manipulating mana or whatever.
Sticking close, chatting bit by bit, he felt his relationship with Ellie inching back to normal.
But the core misunderstanding lingered. He stayed quiet, biding his time.
And today, opportunity knocked.
One student and one escort explorer pulled night watch duty each.
And tonight, it was him and Ellie.
There'd been a similar chance before, but she'd ignored him, leaving him to awkwardly ramble through the night alone.
Crackle— crackle—
Separated by the campfire they'd lit for warmth, he faced Ellie.
The beautiful elf girl with red hair and red eyes.
Also Diana Ordia's foster daughter.
"...Mister. I've got a question."
She spoke first. A first for this Labyrinth run. He'd always initiated before.
His heart leaped; he nodded eagerly.
"Sure. Ask away. Anything."
"...Anything? You said I could ask anything first!"
"Uh... yeah."
What kinda question needs that much buildup?
He swallowed nervously, waiting for her red lips to part.
"...Mister, are you..."
Ellie, tense-faced, fidgeted with her fingers for ages, glanced at him slyly, then asked cautiously.
"...my foster dad? Like... Daddy... right...?"
"...What?"
What the hell kinda nonsense is that, Ellie?