Chapter 90: A Feast of Cruel Absurdity
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 90: A Feast of Cruel Absurdity
A monster from the 7th floor had appeared in the 5th-floor Underground City.
The magical power it radiated shook the surrounding area, and the Dungeon Trolls, who had once reigned as the masters of the garden, began to flee in terror.
"A—A Giant! It’s a Giant!!"
"A... Aaaaah...!"
The heretics collapsed, their will to fight utterly shattered by the Giant’s appearance.
They had never intended to summon a Giant here in the first place.
Their plan had been to drag up a single Watcher from the 6th-floor Crystal Cave and bring it under their control.
However, they had failed to realize the tenacity of those who sought to regress. An entity from the 7th floor, waiting for its chance, had sent the Giant upward instead.
It was to increase the mana density of the 5th floor.
It was to make it easier for the monsters of the deep layers to ascend.
The Giant was a perfect mass of mana, a monster optimized for terraforming its surroundings.
The masters of the 7th floor looked up and mocked the heretics who were howling in fear.
"Kuaaaaah!!!"
"This is insane!!! Why is a Giant here?!"
The altar in the Garden Section, where the heretics had gathered, exploded.
The sacrifices were all consumed and vanished in black flames, and from beyond those flames, the monsters of the 7th floor jeered at the heretics.
If you were granted a second life by the blessing of the Labyrinth, you should have lived quietly like the parasites you are, clinging to its walls.
How dare you try to manipulate the Labyrinth as you please?
Mere humans. Lowly, pathetic insects.
—Kee-hehehehe!!!!
Since you opened the gates to the lower floors without knowing your place, pay the price.
You have drained a poisoned chalice. Now, spray your blood in every direction and die.
It was a delight born of pure malice.
Countless demons dreaming of regression were watching the heretics.
Knowing nothing, the heretics had pulled a monster not from the 6th floor, but from the 7th-floor "Utopia."
They couldn't even fathom how many lives they had sacrificed just to pull a monster from the lower floors.
But one thing was certain: the heretics had failed to control the Cyclops.
Freed from any semblance of control, the Giant looked around.
Bugs.
The place was crawling with bugs.
Small, weak, filthy, and hideous bugs were looking up at him.
Their faces were twisted with terror.
And the vermin scurrying away looked quite appetizing.
Gurgle.
He was hungry.
This place had a low mana concentration.
It was stifling to breathe.
He was hungry, and he was uncomfortable.
Rage welled up, and the Giant swung his hand.
BOOM—!!!!
The outpost in the Garden Section where the heretics had been trembling was pulverized. Bodies were mangled beyond recognition and sent flying to the very edge of the sector.
Splat—!!
The corpses of the heretics slammed into the walls of the Garden Section, flattened like meat patties.
In this cramped, suffocating little city, the Giant roared and went on a rampage.
"KUAAAAAAA!!!!"
A Cyclops is a simple, ignorant creature.
Though wicked and arrogant, they aren't particularly intelligent.
It was a mid-boss class monster of the 7th floor that relied solely on its ignorantly powerful physical abilities, its innate, overwhelming magical power, and the monstrous strength in its hands.
It wasn't that it was smart; its sheer physical scale was simply nonsensical.
An unstoppable force.
The heretics couldn't even hope to slow the Cyclops's stride.
"Shit!! The trolls are deserting!!"
"Get out of the way! You idiot! Don't block the trolls' path!!!!"
"Kyaaaaah!!!"
Feeling extreme terror at the appearance of the impossible monster, the Dungeon Trolls broke free from the heretics' control and began to flee, crushing everything in their path.
The heretics fleeing alongside them were pushed aside and trampled to death by the trolls, and the Giant then stepped on the corpses of the fallen heretics.
The garden was collapsing.
With the appearance of a titan that didn't fit the scale of the Underground City, the garden was being destroyed, and the aftermath spread throughout the entire 5th floor.
Monsters in other sectors were also affected. Driven into a frenzy, they began to run wild, breaking free from the heretics' control.
This was what a monster from the 7th floor represented. It exerted influence just by existing.
This was why even Platinum Badges hesitated to descend to the 7th floor.
The power balance of the monsters crawling out from there was broken to this extent.
It wasn't a zone meant to be conquered in the first place.
Everything below the 6th floor was an endangered species protection zone; it wasn't a place for humans to trespass.
"S-someone help... hic. My body... my body won't move... fuck..."
"W-w-what do we d-d-do...!!!"
"Mom..."
The Dungeon Trolls weren't the only ones paralyzed by fear.
The nine adventurers were also frozen, wailing under the Cyclops's intimidation.
Those who met the one-eyed Giant's gaze trembled, unable to tear their eyes away.
The Giant's Binding Spell.
The Giant's intimidation that bound the bodies of its prey. Those with low mental strength found it nearly impossible to break free from this pressure.
'This is insane.'
Among the adventurers who were panicking and unable to move, Sion was the only one who could still act.
It wasn't simply because his mental strength was high like the Inquisitors'.
It was because the binding spell of the Three Villainesses tied to his heart was stronger than the Giant's.
[Until you enter the deepest part and soothe our grudges... you cannot die.]
"I know. I know...!"
Sion slapped his own cheek and started moving again.
He ran past the Saintess, who was glaring at the Giant, and gathered the Vine Beans he had planted in the ground, stuffing them into his pouch.
This place would soon be scorched earth. If he left them, the Vine Beans would surely die. It was a waste. It was better to plant them elsewhere.
BOOM—!!!!
The ground shook again.
With every step the Giant took, the 5th-floor Underground City trembled. Furthermore, the creature threw and smashed everything it could get its hands on.
The impact reached below the layer division, causing sinkholes to form and the floor to collapse in various places. Debris thrown by the monster flew in all directions, tearing down the Garden Section.
"Saintess! What do we do?! Saintess!!!!"
"...."
The Saintess was speechless at the Giant's appearance.
It wasn't because of fear or dread.
It was because the situation was so absurd.
How could things get this twisted?
It felt as if the Labyrinth itself had stepped in to throw her and her party into the abyss.
From the moment they entered the Underground City until now, bad luck had been dogging their every step.
She thought she could endure most forms of "bullshit" the dungeon threw at her, but this was too much. This was far beyond the pale.
'Can I fight the Giant and win?'
If asked if she could take down the Giant alone, the Saintess was confident she could.
However, she wouldn't come out of it unscathed.
To be left in a near-death state in a Labyrinth crawling with heretics after fighting a Giant? That was nothing short of suicide.
"Saintess!! Hurry!! Something's wrong!! Give us an order...!!!!"
"Porter. Just a moment... be quiet."
Sion, who had been shouting at the Saintess, shut his mouth.
After calming Sion down, the Saintess brushed her hair back and looked at her team members.
Rosier and Paramel were in a state of total panic.
Paramel, the youngest and weakest among the Inquisitors, was whimpering in terror at the 7th-floor nightmare, and Rosier’s hands were shaking at the Giant’s roar. No matter how much potential they had to become Platinum Badges, they weren't adventurers who had actually descended to the 7th floor.
Therefore, it was only natural for them to panic like this. If anything, the Porter, who was moving and speaking normally, was the outlier.
"If I get out... I'm definitely retiring..."
Meanwhile, Sasaro had made up his mind to retire once this journey was over.
Being an Inquisitor was no job for an old man.
At that moment, Raphael, who was standing next to Sasaro, gripped his weapon tightly and prepared to charge at the Giant.
"Raphael! Stop!"
"Ah. Ah... Saintess."
Raphael, who had been letting his fighting spirit rise as he succumbed to his primal instincts, quickly snapped back to reality.
The moment Raphael clashed head-on with the Giant, he would be crushed. Yet, he had tried to charge anyway.
It was because his heart was pounding, commanding him to kill the Giant.
The barbarian's innate hatred for giants had been suppressed by the civilized reason of the man Raphael had become.
"Now, from this moment..."
The Saintess gave her orders.
She shouted at her panicked subordinates.
"First, Raphael, kill the adventurers who are too paralyzed by panic to move! Sion, collect the bodies! Sasaro, Rosier! The heretics are coming! Prepare yourselves!"
The Saintess judged that the adventurers could not make it out of here alive.
She immediately ordered Raphael to kill them. Realizing the Saintess's intent, Sion shoved all the scattered luggage into his subspace pocket and then picked up the adventurers as they fell to Raphael's hand.
"And Paramel!!!"
"Yes!!!"
"Get your head on straight and kill the heretics..."
The heretics were approaching.
"Th-this is bullshit!!!!"
Meanwhile, seeing his comrades die before his eyes, Max forced his body to roll away, escaping Raphael's grasp.
He refused to die just to avoid paying 200 gold. No, he couldn't pay it.
Even if he died here, it was better to be stepped on by a monster than to be in debt to the Church.
"I can move, so don't touch me!!!"
"Then hurry up and either kill your comrades or wake them up!"
"Shit, shit, shit!!!!"
Max felt like his head was going to explode.
Once he resolved himself to die, he was able to break free from the Giant's gaze, but that was his limit.
His head spun, and blood poured from both nostrils.
It was a powerful mental attack.
"That goddamn Giant... I... I'm not going to die like this!!!!"
Max pulled a dagger from his pocket and stabbed it into the back of his left hand.
Blood spurted out, and the pain snapped him back to his senses.
"Hail!! You old man!!! Wake up!!!"
Max immediately slashed Hail's thigh with the knife.
As blood sprayed, the middle-aged adventurer, Hail, let out a choked breath and collapsed.
"Grab Roca and let's run!!!"
"What about the Saintess's party!?"
"I don't know, damn it!!! Just run!!!!"
Hail and Max deserted.
Max felt that if he stayed with the Saintess, he didn't know what other disaster would befall him.
Yes, he had lost his judgment. He couldn't think straight, and his usual hatred for the Church impulsively drove him to flee from the Saintess.
By the time Hail, Max, and Roca disappeared beyond the thickets of the Garden Section, and four adventurers had lost their lives to Raphael and been sucked into Sion's subspace pocket...
The heretics arrived at the Saintess's location.
"There's the Saintess!"
"Kill her at all costs. Even if you can't, at least get a stab in! Even if we die! It's a win if we can just kill the Saintess...!"
Even in their crazed state, the heretics swung their weapons at the Saintess.
The chaos intensified.
Paramel and Sasaro swung their weapons at the charging heretics, while Rosier guarded Sion's back. And in that gap, Sion saw something.
"Huh?"
A massive boulder was flying toward them. It was a rock thrown by the Giant.
BOOM—!!!
The immense mass crushed everything in Sion's sight. The heretics were all swept away, turned into minced meat.
It was a total mess. He felt like he would truly die if he stayed here. No matter how strong the Inquisitors were, they couldn't block that. Before such overwhelming mass, humans were nothing more than bugs.
"Porter!!!"
"Ye—yes!!!"
"We're retreating to the Central Section!!! Take out the oil bottles and throw them behind us!"
"What? Ah! Yes!!!"
Sion followed behind the Inquisitors, hurling oil bottles in every direction. He threw them, dropped them, and fired them off as fast as he could.
As many as possible. As far as possible. He threw them everywhere to ensure the fire would catch well.
Then, just as his arms were starting to ache, the Saintess fired something toward the rear.
"Just die, all of you!!!!"
The Saintess screamed as she ignited her Holy Fire.
The flames spread through the garden.
The fire, which would swallow the Giant, the Dungeon Trolls, and the terrified heretics alike, blazed fiercely with no sign of dying down.