Chapter 74
Chapter 74
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 74
Chapter Title: Getting Out Alive (3)
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The axe, stretched to its absolute limit, slammed into the gaping maw of darkness.
The impact tore the head of the darkness-shrouded entity straight into the labyrinth's ceiling.
The far end of the fifth floor shuddered violently.
Dust from the ceiling, untouched for who knows how long, rained down thickly, clouding the air around them.
Even with an impact strong enough to shake the labyrinth, the creature showed no real damage.
Instead, it gaped its jaws even wider and charged slowly toward the fountain.
Like a toothpick jammed in a snake's mouth trying to swallow its prey, the axe blocking its jaws shook precariously.
"Fireball!"
From behind came a terrified scream, followed by two spheres wreathed in flames shooting forth.
The fast-fired orbs struck the roof of the creature's mouth near the axe blade. A blast of hot wind erupted, scattering black smoke.
Ramel and Fusilini's combined attack.
The devastating strike that had even suppressed the eighth-floor sorcerer Minotaur shrouded in shadow's [Darkness].
"...No way."
"No damage at all...?"
The attack scattered meaninglessly, inflicting not even a scratch on the incomprehensible being that was darkness itself.
I kept my eyes fixed on it and shouted to the party members around me.
"Everyone, get out of the fountain! It's targeting the fountain!!"
For whatever reason, it was gunning for the fountain.
With its massive jaws wide open, it tried to swallow the fountain into the abyss-like darkness of its belly, where only void could be seen.
And right now, we were inside that fountain.
While the enlarged axe held its jaws apart, we had to escape outside to survive.
Snapping out of their shock at my yell, the party members gripped their weapons desperately and bolted from the fountain.
"B-br, uh, ahh, ah..."
"H-huh, heh, heek..."
But even that wasn't easy.
Hitolis and Hopf.
The two clerics who had beheld the darkness-shrouded entity had eyes wide as if torn open, mouths agape, bodies trembling uncontrollably.
As if facing something far beyond comprehension, they did nothing but giggle madly, losing their minds.
Joey Hog and Aldente hoisted them up and ran.
Splash! Splash!
As they leaped through the healing waters, the previously still surface of the fountain rippled.
The churning waves signaled the dire urgency.
"Balkan! What are you doing! Get out quick!!"
Jubel, carrying the slow-footed mage Ramel on his back, yelled with a desperate face.
Fuck. Of course I want to run too.
But it's precarious. The thing's biting force was no joke.
Zirnier Besil's Double-Edged Axe rattled.
The relic-alloy blade was still holding, but the handle groaned as if at its limit.
'If I pull the axe out now, we're all getting eaten and die.'
For the party's survival, at least one of us had to hold this axe in place.
And besides.
My ace in the hole, sort of.
'Will it work?'
Honestly, I was anxious.
This was on a whole different level from the captain Minotaur.
That darkness felt more malicious and repulsive than even Diana's curse.
'No. Don't think like that.'
Worrying is a luxury. It has to work. Face it with that mindset.
I focused on the sensation in my fingertips and drew forth the blessing.
A white light immediately settled in my hands. It spread along the axe's handle, dyeing the massive blade pure white.
Something unknown shrieked, tearing at my eardrums.
Something trickled from my ears. Probably blood.
The blade fully bathed in radiance began piercing the darkness's palate bit by bit.
A clear sound of penetration rang out, one that hadn't been audible before.
Seizing the chance, I poured all my focus into the blessing.
'It's working, little by little!'
The brighter the radiant light grew, the more the creature writhed in agony. But the backlash on me was severe too.
My vision gradually turned red.
From the enlargement and now the Blessing of Radiance, my body was under immense strain.
But I didn't stop.
Not even as a splitting headache pounded my skull and blood vessels burst in my eyes.
Not even as vomit brought the fishy taste of blood to my mouth.
Not even as blood from my ears and nose dripped down my helmet, staining the fountain's healing waters red.
I endured with one thought: kill this bastard.
'I'm getting out!'
Out of this fucking labyrinth! After killing this thing!
'Alive!'
Finally, the sound of flesh being pierced echoed.
I blankly lowered my head.
A blood-soaked sword protruded from my gut, having stabbed clean through my belly.
A searing pain boiled up from my back, as if scorched.
Through my dulled ears came the paladins' mutterings from behind.
The bastards who'd been blankly brainwashed just moments ago—how the hell? Well, they were paladins, so maybe not impossible. But at this exact timing. You fucking worthless shits.
"...!"
The paladin who'd stabbed me from behind twisted the blade in my gut.
Grinding my teeth through the pain, I kicked him hard with my right foot.
A sword immediately plunged into my side. The blade entered from the left and burst out through my right hip.
At the same time, I felt nerves burning from my spine to my brain.
The immense pain blacked me out for a split second.
It was less than a second, but the cost was huge.
The five paladins' swords plunged into my abdomen.
The axe, losing its radiant light, began shrinking back to normal size.
"--Kan! Balkan!"
The party members' voices echoed faintly from afar.
The good news was they sounded distant. At least they'd made it out of the fountain. That much was a relief.
Now I needed to escape too.
But my body wouldn't respond.
Impaled on the paladins' swords, I stared blankly upward like they were.
The massive serpent's maw, surrounded by darkness, began to close.
Am I dying here?
'Just like this? So pointlessly?'
I'd accomplished nothing.
Not even finding my sister.
I wouldn't keep my promise to Diana to come back safe.
"No."
I pulled myself together.
I absolutely couldn't die so meaninglessly.
My deathbed would be in ripe old age, surrounded by wife, sons, daughters, and grandchildren on a warm bed.
Not on the cold, filthy, disgusting, malice-filled dirt floor of this labyrinth.
I poured every nerve into the blessing at my fingertips once more.
The maximum power I could muster.
Fired at the creature--
My vision drowned in darkness.
Joey Hog's party stared blankly at the incomprehensible entity before them.
It resembled a house-sized serpent or a lump of blackened fat.
Perhaps because Balkan had blocked it with his axe, the entity failed to swallow the fountain.
Instead, right in front of it, it worked its jaws furiously, as if chewing something thoroughly before gulping it down.
The seven investigators.
And Balkan, who had bought time for the party to flee.
Those who'd seemed leagues beyond them were devoured in an instant.
"Ahh, ah..."
"Hee, heehihi..."
The maddened voices of Hitolis and Hopf colored the quiet end of the fifth floor.
Finally, a swallowing sound rang out. Something bulged down the entity's torso.
The entity emitted an unknowable sound.
They could only think it was a monster that had just finished a deeply satisfying meal.
The monster gazed at the fountain for a moment, then turned its eyes to them.
The gaze of one eyeing its next prey.
Joey Hog and Gellen's party members all paled, holding their breath as they backed away.
Even at the far end of the fifth floor, the portal was quite a distance.
No matter how hard they ran, they'd get caught by that thing.
"...Balkan sacrificed himself for us."
Having decided, Jubel raised his sword.
The blade, cloaked in dull sword energy, pointed toward the entity—but the tip trembled uncontrollably, unable to aim true.
Watching him, Joey Hog squeezed his eyes shut.
And after a moment's hesitation, swallowed hard.
"...Then. We gotta do something too."
Joey Hog gripped his shield tight. Behind him, Ramel raised his staff.
"You guys, you're serious?"
Aldente muttered blankly at the sight.
By his standards, this situation was impossible.
If someone sacrificed themselves, you run. Why face it head-on? Especially against something like that!
"Fuck! We're scared shitless too, okay? But."
Jubel snapped back angrily.
No one here was in their right mind.
Even after years as explorers, they'd never heard of anything like this, let alone experienced it.
Terrifying. Horrifying. Incomprehensible. Mind-shattering. On the verge of pissing themselves. Desperate to flee.
But more than those foul, sticky feelings.
"Losing a party member helplessly... that's way worse."
The entity gazed indifferently at their resolve.
Its reaction almost seemed like mockery.
Then, the darkness writhed.
I'm floating in darkness.
Am I dead?
Is this the afterlife I've only heard about?
It feels like swimming through a cesspool of loathsome emotions.
Dark. Cold. Stuffy, unpleasant. Like sleep paralysis, I can't even move.
Soon, even consciousness begins to fade.
Sinking deeper into the ocean.
Deeper.
Into ever deeper darkness.
Sinking endlessly, until a strange sensation gently pried my eyes open.
'...?'
Amid the profound darkness, there was a tiny hole.
And through it, a faint light leaked.
Drawn like a moth, I swam toward it. Pure instinct.
The darkness immediately grabbed at me.
It morphed into human arms, bird wings, serpent tails, desperately trying to hold me back.
I shook them off frantically and pressed toward the light.
My struggles paid off. The more I thrashed, the closer I got.
Finally, I touched it.
From a gap smaller than a finger, pure white light poured out.
Darkness pervaded the world.
The light, trapped within, streamed outward through the tiny crevice.
Inside that hole, I met the eyes of the woman watching me.
The mysterious being cloaked in light, who had warned me that multiples of five floors were dangerous.
The woman peering through the gap sighed deeply, as if exasperated beyond words.
The light was too intense to make out clearly, but instinct told me that was her reaction.
Her muffled voice carried a tone of worry.
That warmth settled strangely deep in my chest.
The woman kept speaking.
Her emotions seemed to swell mysteriously.
The darkness reacted at once, trying to block the light-emitting hole.
I reached out toward the darkness. To keep the light from being obscured. So I could hear more from Her.
The light piercing the darkness enveloped me.
"Huu, kuhup..."
Joey Hog stanched the bleeding from his devoured right arm and looked around.
Jubel had lost his left arm and sword, flung against the fountain.
Ramel was paling as his right leg and staff were eaten.
Hitolis and Hopf were still mad, and Aldente had become a burst slime puddle.
Party annihilation.
Common in the labyrinth.
They were all still breathing, but who knew for how long.
"Haha."
A laugh burst out unexpectedly. Had terror finally driven me mad too?
'Guess this is the end for me.'
Joey Hog turned from the writhing massive darkness and gently closed his eyes.
He wanted his last moments peaceful.
As he accepted death and reflected on his life—
A horrific screech shook the labyrinth. His eyes snapped open.
But he immediately squinted.
Light.
Dazzling light poured from the darkness-wreathed entity.
Precisely, from the axe mark gouged into its torso...
'Axe scar?'
As the sound of flesh tearing rang out again.
The entity screamed.
Its massive body rolled in agony.
The glare intensified. The light beaming from its body doubled into two streams.
Another gap had opened.
When the third rending sound echoed, Joey Hog beheld the unbelievable sight and gaped blankly.
An axe wrapped in blinding light, enough to blanket all the world's darkness.
Sliced through the entity's torso and faced the world.