Chapter 287: Labyrinth of Change: Labyrinthos (16)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 287: Labyrinth of Change: Labyrinthos (16)
Well, and just as easily, I was able to take down Failed Theseus without taking any damage.
Failed Theseus isn’t a monster with complex patterns; he’s just a simple, powerful monster that’s a bit tricky to summon.
To summon him, you have to complete an ‘incorrect’ version of the legend of Theseus in the reward room, which is located in the opposite direction of the boss room.
In the original legend, Theseus swears to marry Ariadne and escapes Labyrinthos with the help of her wisdom. However, later versions often depict Theseus, having received a prophecy from Dionysus, abandoning her on an island as an offering to the god.
But because Greek and Roman mythology is so open to interpretation, there are various versions. Some say Theseus simply grew tired of her and left, or that he never loved her and only intended to use her for her wisdom from the start.
By combining and twisting these elements, you can construct a story like this:
The one who received the oracle wasn’t Theseus, but Ariadne. Seeing a future where she would be abandoned, Ariadne, consumed by rage, decided to trap Theseus.
Theseus moved forward, trusting the ball of thread she gave him, but the thread wasn’t normal—it was a defective product that would vanish at the slightest hint of heat.
Lost and alone, Theseus died before he could ever reach the Minotaur.
…Well, it’s not like only that exact story is permitted.
As it was revealed later, you just need to complete a story within a logical framework that includes two key points: ‘Ariadne must abandon Theseus first’ and ‘Theseus must fail and meet his death.’
I simply used that specific version because it was how I cleared it in the 1st Timeline.
“…This is absurd. A monster you can only summon by intentionally twisting a legend into a revenge play? How on earth is anyone supposed to deduce that?”
Honestly, I agree with her.
The most malicious part of this gimmick is that the moment you complete the legend correctly, a brilliant light bursts forth and grants you a reward.
Yes, even if you fail to summon the secret boss, it gives you decent rewards like Theseus’s equipment so you don’t even realize you’ve missed anything.
I don’t know who designed this dungeon, but it truly is a spiteful place.
…How did I discover this in the 1st Timeline, you ask?
In the 1st Timeline, that con artist bastard got all smug after completing the legend and getting Theseus’s gear. I got annoyed and started messing up the legend out of spite, and I stumbled upon it by accident.
“Just what is your identity… No, did you say it only makes things tiring if I care? Yes, those words are truly the right answer.”
“…Still, I thought he was a hero in his own right. To be downgraded and treated as a monster… it’s a bit pitiful.”
When Aisha muttered this while looking at the corpse of the fallen Theseus, most of the group turned to look at her with incredulous expressions. Aisha tilted her head in confusion.
“W-what? Why is everyone looking at me like that?”
“Well, I suppose we have to account for the difference in eras, but most Greek and Roman heroes were essentially rapists. Theseus did many good deeds, but he’s also viewed as a murderer because he killed more humans than monsters. He was also a notorious womanizer; in his later years, there was even an incident where he kidnapped a young girl, claiming he’d make her his wife later.”
“…Really?”
“Yeah.”
Actually, I was putting it quite mildly.
Even looking at the story of his separation from Ariadne, every hypothesis except for Dionysus’s intervention portrays Theseus as a total scumbag.
For a moment, I almost felt a wave of self-loathing, wondering who was the bigger piece of trash: me, who was dating multiple women at once, or Theseus, who swapped women out periodically. But surely, I’m not on the level of Greek heroes.
…Right?
“Anyway, only one left now.”
“The boss monster of this place, right? Junior.”
“Yes, it’s finally the Minotaur’s turn.”
“But is the Minotaur here that strong? I recall them appearing as regular monsters rather than bosses outside of Labyrinthos. Isn’t their rank only around a High-tier Species?”
Hmm, how should I explain this to the Chairperson?
“Of course, it’s a bit stronger than a wild Minotaur, but the problem is more about how unpleasant it is.”
“…Unpleasant?”
Given the current members, they probably won’t hesitate and ruin the job, but they’ll inevitably feel a sense of discomfort.
“Just keep one thing in mind. Even if it’s pitiful, it can’t be helped.”
“…Pitiful? The Minotaur?”
“Yes, it’s pitiful.”
Since the myths are such a patchwork, there’s no way to know what the Minotaur was like in the actual legends, but at least the Minotaur inside this dungeon in this world was a truly tragic creature.
* * *
In the deepest part of the dungeon, there was a monster devouring a human who had lost their way and stumbled upon it.
It was a monster born hideous by nature, loved by no one.
Because its upper body resembled a bull, it was called the Bull of King Minos—the Minotaur—more often than the name its parents had given it.
Having never been taught what it should have learned, nor received what it should have been given, the only thing permitted to this hideous monster was to devour the humans offered as tribute.
It wasn’t that the humans tasted particularly good.
It simply ate because it was trapped here and told to eat, and it ate because its innate strength allowed it to easily neutralize any resistance.
— You must eat.
In its memories, the only people it didn’t want to eat were the ones telling it that it must eat.
— No matter how much you hate it, you must eat.
It wasn’t that it particularly hated it; it just had a question.
Why was it being punished by having to devour humans in this place?
However, at the time, it hadn’t learned any way to express itself. Thinking it was simply a task someone had to do, it blankly continued to eat humans.
Even now, having spent so much time that it had truly become a monster, the situation remained the same.
What they wanted from it was to eat humans.
Therefore, its duty was to chew and swallow the things that walked in here on their own two feet.
Another new tribute had arrived.
Touching its belly, it felt relieved that it could probably eat more.
It had never actually felt a sense of fullness, but it felt it would be a disservice to the sacrifice to leave anything behind.
However, this tribute was a bit strange.
Usually, when they faced it, they would tremble or charge while screaming, but this tribute neither felt fear nor screamed.
He simply looked at it with a calm gaze.
Perhaps he wasn’t a tribute? Could he be someone sent by those people who had stopped coming to see it one day?
A small spark of expectation bloomed in its chest.
“Asterios.”
And that expectation doubled the moment its ‘name’ came out of his mouth.
To express this joy, it slammed its fist into the ground and swung its mace, smashing the walls.
“…Yeah, Asterios. I’m sorry there isn’t much I can do for you. So, for the last time, I’ll call your name as much as I can.”
“…Ah?”
For some reason, his expression looked a little sad.
Apology. It hadn’t been taught, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t learn.
That was an action tributes often showed right before being eaten.
It felt its expectation cooling down.
As expected, he was just a slightly unusual tribute.
“You are Asterios. Son of King Minos and Prince of Crete. You were originally destined to live a much happier life.”
King? Prince? What was he talking about?
“But sadly, you were born deformed. Your hideous face and horns, hardened by Mana Stone Disease, resembled a bull, and because you were born with monstrous strength, you were nothing short of a calamity.”
If he was a tribute, there was no more need for talk.
Its role was to eat him.
The moment it reached out its hand to grab the small tribute—
“I pity you. A prince who was forced to eat humans because of some shitty folk remedy. You’re just a child who was abandoned in a labyrinth without receiving anyone’s warmth, all because of a disease.”
Black shadows entwined with red lightning, hacking away at the arm it had extended.
It threw its body back to escape the pain, but the shadows pursued it relentlessly.
What is this? It hurts.
“…Astrape. I obtained it by chance, but it’s the red lightning that is the origin of your name.”
No matter how much it struggled to flee from the agony, the pain did not vanish.
“But just because I pity you, and just because you had no sense of guilt, doesn’t mean the sin disappears. You ate humans, and your father took tributes from enemy nations.”
He was approaching.
Something that wasn’t a tribute, something different from those who used to call it by its name, was coming toward it.
For some reason, it found itself backing away from an emotion it had never felt in its life.
What is this? Why was it, and not the tribute, running away?
Why was it, who had always been the hunter and the breaker, the one being broken?
“So, let’s just say that even though it’s pitiful, it can’t be helped.”
Almost as soon as his words ended, the monster, pierced by dark red lightning, could realize something.
That the emotion it was feeling now was similar to the one it had made the tributes feel.
That the emotion the world called ‘fear’ existed within it as well.
* * *
According to the well-known myth, King Minos’s wife lusted after a snow-white bull that Poseidon had created for Minos to sacrifice. As punishment for swapping the sacrifice, she was cursed with a sexual desire for the bull, and the Minotaur was born from that union.
However, the story of this world was a bit different.
Whether it was a reflection of the author’s taste or for some other reason.
Or perhaps it was simply a reinterpretation of the myth.
The traces of numerous folk remedies attempted to hide and cure the prince who was born with a hideous appearance due to a disease.
A place to imprison the Minotaur, but at the same time, a facility to protect him.
That was the true identity of the dungeon called Labyrinthos in this world.
A story of fools who fed him humans, fed him Elixirs, and even after realizing it was useless, continued to try the wrong methods until they finally turned their child into a real monster.
That was the truth of the Minotaur here.
It’s a part that could be considered quite twisted.
And what could be obtained by defeating this Minotaur was closely related to this story.
Just before Asterios was killed by the assassin Theseus, the King and Queen finally succeeded in obtaining a treasure that could return their child, who had become a monster, to human form.
However, the background of this dungeon is that the Minotaur was killed by Theseus, and the elixir could not be used.
And that elixir was my ultimate goal for coming here.
An elixir that could completely change my Master’s constitution, which even an Elixir couldn’t fix.
Nectar.
The drink of the gods, it grants temporary immortality to humans who consume it, and if taken consistently, it alters their very constitution, allowing them to reach the realm of the gods.
“…Are those really Nectar and Ambrosia?”
“Yes, that’s right. They’re the rewards you get for defeating the Minotaur here.”
They were also the items that had allowed me to reconstruct my completely burnt-out mana circuits in the past, a fortuitous encounter that had allowed me to ascend to the next level.
While an Elixir is a medicine that returns the target to their original state, Nectar is a medicine that can alter the very nature of the target, so it can cure my Master’s Mana Stone Disease.
“Master, please take this.”
My Master, who had been smiling playfully, looked at the treasure I held out and wore a look of great surprise.
“Wait a second, don’t tell me the reason you came here was…?”
“Yes, I came here to give this to you, Master.”
It was the best gift this unworthy disciple could give his Master.
But for some reason, Master hesitated and didn’t readily accept the Nectar.
“…Master?”
She seemed to realize what kind of item it was, so why was she acting like this?
“…Disciple, no. So-hyun.”
“…Yes?”
“Why are you giving this to me?”
…What is this woman talking about all of a sudden?
“Well, I actually know about your physical condition…”
“I know that too. Yes, I figured you knew. What I mean is this. This is something you could use yourself, not just me.”
…Huh?
…Oh?
Now that I think about it, she’s right.
Since this fixes one’s constitution, I can use it too, can’t I?