Chapter 289: Prison Break Labyrinthos! The King of Villains Who Destroyed the Dungeon Appears…!
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 289: Prison Break Labyrinthos! The King of Villains Who Destroyed the Dungeon Appears…!
Having hurriedly completed Ariadne’s Thread, we were fortunately able to escape the dungeon.
Actually, yeah. Well. To be honest, even I think I have no excuse this time, so I should just quietly reflect on my actions.
An unpleasant memory suddenly resurfaced and I got way too worked up, but I really went overboard. If things had gone even slightly wrong, it could have led to a major disaster.
“Um, is that… going to be okay…?”
…Well, technically speaking, a major disaster had already struck.
Right before our eyes, the dungeon Labyrinthos was collapsing.
The sight of the labyrinth scattering into particles of light amidst a massive roar was quite a spectacle, but the fact that the dungeon had collapsed meant we had no idea what happened to those who failed to escape.
In a truly optimistic scenario, they might have been flung into another world. Thinking realistically, all those criminal scumbags inside were likely wiped out.
“…You’ve certainly caused quite a scene again, Cadet Kang So-hyun.”
“I still made sure to grab the Elf’s treasure and the diary.”
“Sometimes, for the greater good, a small sacrifice is unavoidable.”
…If the ones who died back there weren’t criminals, you wouldn’t be letting this slide so coolly, would you? Right? You’re not just ignoring the fact that people died over a diary, are you?
“…Anyway, what do I do now?”
I probably shouldn’t try to claim that Labyrinthos was naturally designed to vanish once the dungeon was cleared, right?
My head was already starting to throb at the thought of how complicated things were about to get.
Sure enough, people from the Association spotted us and were rushing our way.
Running away would only make things unnecessarily complex. If people who were supposed to be caught in a dungeon collapse showed up at the Academy as if nothing happened, we’d be caught immediately.
Let’s just apologize honestly.
“What on earth happened here!? This! Did you people do this?”
“Well, you see…”
But just as I was about to explain the situation—with a tiny bit of seasoning added—something bizarre happened.
A pillar of black light erupted through the debris of the collapsed dungeon.
“…What is that?”
“…Was that another one of your devices, Junior?”
“No, I wish it were, but I honestly have no idea.”
Then, from the spot where the black light broke through, the criminals we assumed had been vaporized along with Labyrinthos began to crawl out.
Uh, oh? This is a serious problem.
However, instead of scattering and fleeing in an orderly fashion as I expected, the criminals knelt and began to prostrate themselves toward the black light that had facilitated their escape.
And the thing I thought was just black light slowly began to reveal its form.
It was hard to see clearly because it was draped in something like a cloak and its face was hidden, but it was unmistakably human in shape.
“Did you see, everyone? This is but a fraction of the Authority of the God I serve…!”
Then, it started spouting nonsense.
“The God who heard my prayers has finally granted my wish! He has destroyed the dungeon that oppressed us and allowed us to step back into the world!”
No, seriously, what is he talking about…?
“If you join our order now, you too can become like me…!”
The Association monitor stared at the scene with an incredulous expression before turning his gaze toward me.
“…So, am I to understand that that villain over there destroyed the dungeon, and you were forced to escape?”
No, actually? I’m the one who broke it.
“That is correct, human! Listen well!”
…But somehow, the monster floating in the sky heard what the official said and answered before I could.
“Before me, who has received divine grace, a mere dungeon like this holds no meaning…!”
“…I need to contact the Association. A mass breakout of villains.”
“Though we flee now because our strength is depleted from the escape, we shall return! O world…! Let us go! Brothers and sisters…!”
My mind, which had been half-gone due to the monster’s show, finally snapped back to reality, and I was able to grasp the situation.
That masked man probably wanted to take credit for this chaos to recruit followers.
And as the actual culprit, I honestly preferred if the responsibility for this mess didn’t fall on me.
Perhaps, just perhaps—even if no one else knew—this was a situation where the two of us could have a mutually beneficial relationship?
“He’s right! That villain destroyed the dungeon, and we almost got into big trouble too!”
Aisha, who had been gauging my reaction, must have sensed my internal conflict because she blurted it out boldly.
“…Is that true?”
I worried the others might contradict her, but unfortunately, the Chairperson was trembling like a student afraid of having her belongings searched, and Baek Seol had already entered ‘actress mode,’ glaring up at the monster in the sky.
As for my Master, I couldn’t tell what she was thinking; she seemed too preoccupied with stroking the bottle of Nectar and brooding to point anything out.
The con artist was keeping quiet for fear of being exposed as an outsider, and the Wolf was already by Aisha’s side, barking vigorously at the monster in the sky.
…There’s no turning back now.
Suddenly, as I looked up, I felt like I made eye contact with the monster.
Then, amazingly, while continuing his performance, the monster made a hand signal that only I could see.
No matter how I looked at it, the meaning of that signal was clear.
Deal?
Who the hell is this guy? Was there someone like this in the 1st Timeline?
Since it was already too late, I nodded. The man burst into a loud laugh and used magic with exaggerated flair, opening a massive portal in mid-air.
“Hahaha! O world! You had best wait in fear for the day we reveal ourselves once more…!”
…Opening a portal of that scale meant he was quite skilled.
Why haven’t I seen him before?
After the numerous villains vanished into the portal, the silence was broken by a sound.
“Aaaaagh…! F-fuuuuuuuck…!”
It was the sorrowful cry of the Association employee who was now destined to write an incident report.
And so, due to a terrorist act committed by a mysterious, nameless villain, Labyrinthos—one of the three great hells for superhuman criminals—collapsed, and a horrific accident involving a mass breakout occurred.
Well, uh. I’m really sorry.
It’s not much of an apology, but I’ll catch them all again before they cause any major trouble.
Thus, we were able to successfully(?) conclude our trip to the dungeon, which had seen an unexpectedly high number of accidents, and return to the Academy.
* * *
Despite the fairly large incident, the night after our safe return to the Academy…
Lee Ha-ru, sitting alone with a drink, stared blankly at the bottle containing the Nectar.
How should she describe her current feelings?
No, she was happy. Of course she was happy, but it felt a bit surreal.
To think that simply drinking this would make the terrible disease—the one that had tormented her all her life and that she thought would eventually claim her soul—vanish.
It hadn’t been long since she said she would wait without expectation, yet she was dumbfounded by the image of her disciple who had delivered such a clear form of salvation.
She never imagined he would keep the promise she made while drunk so quickly, nor did she expect him to show such a side of himself.
Perhaps, just as she had relied on her swordsmanship, she had been afraid to hope and fail again, fearing it would become a new source of despair. The emotions that had flickered in his eyes the moment she pushed away his kindness…
The emotions that had burned in his eyes as he quietly listened to the ghosts clinging to this elixir denounce him…
They were undoubtedly regret and despair.
And they were a despair and regret that had burned for so long that they had not only scorched his entire being but had also become thick and encrusted.
“And I suspect I am part of the reason for that.”
Just what kind of circumstances did her disciple have that made him look at people with such sad eyes and fulfill others’ wishes so easily?
It wasn’t just her.
Looking at the attitudes of those around him, most of them had likely had similar experiences.
How could he be like that?
“Are you a fallen deity, or perhaps a traveler who has defied time?”
The things he had achieved were enough to make such impossible thoughts cross her mind.
But because of that, she hesitated to simply drink the medicine herself.
If it could solve his problems, wouldn’t it be more right to use it for him?
That was the thought that occurred to her.
Well, the hesitation lasted only a moment.
This wasn’t like her.
She was flustered by the sudden salvation, but it was wrong to reject pure kindness, and even more wrong to run away from a debt of gratitude.
Even if she tried to return it, he wouldn’t use the Nectar for himself.
Above all, if she refused, wouldn’t he be hurt?
In that case, it was right to take the fortuitous encounter for herself.
Rather than refusing out of a sense of burden, it was a hundred times better to use the strength gained through this encounter to repay the favor.
When she opened the bottle, an indescribable, intoxicating fragrance wafted out.
Truly, it was a treasure any human would covet.
Suppressing the urge to gulp it down, she savored the first sip, letting it flow into her body very, very slowly.
She had to focus on fully absorbing the vast energy of this spirit medicine without letting a single drop go to waste.
The elixir, which contained absolutely no impurities, felt as though it could raise one’s realm just by being consumed, but she couldn’t be satisfied with just that.
She took another sip of the remaining Nectar.
The divinity of the Nectar spreading through her body melted the mana stones lodged in her heart and dantian. The vast mana that had been clumped in the form of stones dissolved into the divinity, becoming a massive wave.
A wave so intense and violent that it might completely burst her body if she let her guard down for even a second.
Now, she had to adapt to this intensity.
She didn’t resist it, but she couldn’t just let it run wild either.
She had to focus on destroying only what needed to be destroyed, breaking through what was blocked, and completely melting her body down before reshaping it into the desired form.
The third sip.
It was time to reconstruct her completely broken bones and meridians into an ideal form.
If she failed to control it and reverted to her original shape, the energy would be wasted, so she had to visualize the ideal form very carefully and minutely.
However, for the first time, the process came to a halt.
What was the completed form she envisioned as her ideal?
If it was something familiar, was it the plum blossom? She felt that was slightly off.
It was familiar, but for her, the plum blossom had actually been a secondary choice, not her first.
Was there a form closer to her essence, one that could project her life?
She had to remember what she wanted to become.
She wanted to become a hero and help people.
Yes, if possible, she wanted to be a source of hope for those in a similar situation to her own.
Because she had yearned for warmth to deny her coldly freezing body, she wanted to be that warmth for others as well.
Suddenly, a boy came to mind.
A boy who was frozen much more coldly than she was, walking through a darkness where not a single step ahead could be seen.
Yet, he was also a boy who never stopped resisting the cold and the dark.
I see.
It seemed she wanted to be fire.
Just as she had been today.
She wanted to be an intense light that those in the darkness could look upon and naturally find hope in, and a warmth that could warmly embrace and heat those shivering in the terrible cold.
Therefore, she desired fire.
Adding her newly found longing to everything she had built up until now.
A flame.
Literally, she visualized a flower made of fire.
She drained the rest of the Nectar and converted all the intense energy into heat, but it was more bearable than she expected.
Following the principles she had learned while training in the Plum Blossom Sword Technique, she didn’t try to control it but let it flow naturally. The fierce heat began to find its own place, and her body transformed into an ideal form even more perfect than she had imagined.
When she finally absorbed all the energy and opened her eyes…
The room was filled with the sweltering heat she had emitted and the fragrance of flowers.
“Hmm.”
To check if anything had changed, she drew her sword. In addition to her usual familiar energy, she could see a still-unfamiliar aura coating the blade.
Next, with a bit of tension, she checked her physical condition. The symptoms of Mana Stone Disease had completely vanished.
Only then did it feel real that it was truly over, but surprisingly, no tears came.
She thought she wouldn’t be able to stop herself from sobbing once she was cured.
Perhaps because other thoughts were more prominent now, she couldn’t cry.
Yes, beyond the fact that her illness was cured and she had stepped into a new realm…
The impulse settled in her chest was so fresh that she had no room for other thoughts.
Her heart was beating rather violently.
“This is trouble. I didn’t intend for this to happen.”
She doubted if it was a mistake, wondering if her heart was just fluttering because of the massive change, but the same symptom didn’t occur unless she thought of him.
Who she wanted to embrace with the warmth she had gained, who she wanted to be of help to.
As she thought about those things, he suddenly came to mind.
In addition to the grace she had received, the affection she usually felt for him wasn’t small either, so in a way, it seemed natural.
So, it seemed.
“I think I’ve fallen for him.”
It felt as though spring had finally come to her heart, only after the plum blossoms had fallen.
…Ah, well. Despite having so confidently said she had no room for such things, she didn’t expect this to happen the moment she found some breathing room.
What was she going to do? She felt so sorry for Cadet Han-hee.