Chapter 21
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 21
Chapter Title: Ant Nest? (5)
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Not long after heading down the left path.
I advanced, running my hand along the cave wall in case I might stumble upon another magic stone enchanted with teleportation magic.
"Whew…."
A musty stench hung in the air due to the poor ventilation from the walls closing in on all sides, and the place was oppressively humid.
'A labyrinth with a Giant Ant as its boss, yet it has a magic stone capable of teleporting someone to a dungeon of this scale.'
It still didn't make sense, even as I pressed forward.
Drawing on my knowledge from my past life, magic stones linking to underground labyrinths only appeared in upper B-rank dungeons.
No matter how I racked my brain, there was no explanation unless someone had deliberately installed a teleportation stone—or some other artificial interference was at play.
As I groped along the wall, I soon arrived at a wide-open space.
'…What is this?'
The surroundings somehow felt brighter.
No, they definitely were a little brighter.
There were shiny objects scattered everywhere.
Faint but emitting multicolored lights, they clung to spots along the labyrinth walls, subtly painting the darkness like watercolor.
'What the hell are these things?'
Orange, blue, green.
Curious about these variously hued, glowing objects, I approached the wall.
And once again, I couldn't help but be stunned.
'No way—these are all magic stones?!'
And not just any; they were quite rare ones.
If refined, they were valuable enough to imbue weapons with useful enchant attributes.
Was this place some kind of magic stone labyrinth?
'What kind of magic stone is this one…?'
Among them were some I'd never seen before.
Either completely unknown to the world or unseen even in my past life.
'Something related to teleportation magic? Or….'
I held my sword up to one unidentified magic stone embedded in the wall.
And tapped it a few times.
-Ting. Ting.
Nothing happened.
No reaction meant it wasn't rigged with trap magic.
'…Should I mine it?'
It felt like something I couldn't just pass by.
It was my instinct telling me so.
As I mulled it over—
-Whirr!
-Thud!
"……?!"
I reflexively jerked my head to the side.
Something had flown past, grazing the side of my head.
Thanks to the brief killing intent and the flow of qi from my reconstructed dantian, I'd dodged by a hair's breadth.
What had skimmed by and lodged into the wall was a single stone pebble.
I hadn't avoided it perfectly; a trickle of blood ran from my ear.
I whipped around toward the direction it had come from.
"Kieek…."
…A goblin?
Less than a meter tall with grotesque green skin.
No mistaking it—a goblin stood in the opposite tunnel, glaring at me.
Oddly enough, it clutched a pickaxe in one hand.
Why was a goblin here?
These were a race that made their homes in windy hills or forests—deep in an underground labyrinth like this?
Something was off.
"Kieek! Kieeeee!"
Oh no. Looked like there was no time to think.
The goblin was charging at me like a maniac, its face twisted in rage.
"Hup—!"
-Slash.
-Thud, plop.
I twisted my body and effortlessly severed the head of the goblin lunging at me.
Blood spurted from its headless neck, soaking the cave floor.
"What the hell is a goblin doing in a place like this…?"
But that was when—
"Sss ssss!"
"Kieek! Kieeeee!"
From the tunnel the first goblin had emerged from, two more monsters appeared one after another.
One was a spider-type monster, a Big Spider. From memory, a lower B-rank beast.
The other was a goblin archer nocking an arrow.
'What kind of ridiculous combo is this?'
I was baffled.
Already shocked that a B-rank Big Spider had appeared—and alongside a goblin, no less.
Goblins and Big Spiders weren't symbiotic.
They had entirely different habitats and zero connection between them.
Unrelated monsters would fight to the death if one encroached on the other's territory, yet here they were, coming together…?
This was something I'd never encountered in the game.
A sense of dissonance washed over me, along with questions.
"Sss ssss!"
Without giving me time to think, the Big Spider barreled toward me at a ridiculous speed.
Its eight legs skittering rapidly evoked the image of a cockroach.
Pushing aside my doubts, I gripped my sword and assumed a stance.
"Kieee!"
"……?!"
As the Big Spider closed in, the goblin archer in the back drew its bowstring toward me.
'What—is it cooperating?!'
Moments later, the Big Spider leaped at my upper body.
"Sss ssss!"
"Ugh!"
I barely blocked the Big Spider with my sword and withstood its weight.
"Hrngh!"
Then, channeling all my strength, I hurled it down onto the cave floor.
-Splat!
"Sss s…!"
The Big Spider flipped over, writhing in agony.
But that wasn't the end of it.
"Kieeeek!"
The goblin archer finally loosed its arrow.
The instant I saw the bowstring snap, I took a quick step to the right.
"Krrk!"
-Shwick! Thunk!
A clean miss by a hair.
The arrow buried itself in the wall where I'd been standing moments ago.
"Annoying…."
"Kieek! Kieee!"
"……?"
The moment I sidestepped away—
The goblin archer came rushing up, panting, and took up a defensive position right where I'd been.
That's when I noticed something strange.
'Why go to the trouble…? It would've been far safer to snipe me from the distance it just shot from.'
Soon, the recovered Big Spider righted itself and eyed me warily once more.
This didn't look like a quick fight.
"Sss! Sss ssss!"
"Kieek! Kie!"
"Heh…."
First things first—I had to survive.
Setting all my questions aside for the moment, I gripped my sword and readied myself again.
"Pant… pant…."
It had been a grueling battle.
Whenever I went for the Big Spider, the goblin covered it with its bow.
Whenever I focused on the goblin, the Big Spider swooped in to overwhelm me.
A Big Spider teaming up with a goblin? This was a first.
If my skill level had been even a notch lower, I might've been overwhelmed before I could neutralize the Big Spider quickly.
…What in the world is this labyrinth?
Stepping over the corpses of the goblin and Big Spider, I walked over to the spot where the goblin archer had stood.
"Whew…."
I let out a sigh, then stared thoughtfully at the magic stone still embedded in the wall—the one I hadn't mined earlier.
'…That first goblin was trying to defend this spot too, wasn't it?'
Was it because of this magic stone right in front of me?
Both the initial goblin and the archer.
They'd all seemed intent on protecting something here.
And the only thing worth protecting in this spot was this magic stone….
"……."
A stone emitting a white glow.
It was intriguing that a magic stone could shine white.
Usually, they only gave off multicolored lights….
Curiosity piqued, I reached out toward the magic stone.
The instant my fingertips brushed it—
-Whoosh!
"……!"
At the sudden intangible shift, I yanked my hand back immediately.
The magic stone's light had changed to blue.
"W-what…?"
I checked my hand and body.
No visible changes. But it felt like a bit of my mana had been siphoned away.
Flustered, I looked back at the magic stone.
It was still embedded in the wall, shining brightly as before.
The only difference was that it had been white before and was now blue.
"…A mana-absorbing magic stone? That's weird. Guess I should mine it after all."
Conveniently, I had the pickaxe from the goblin.
I figured I'd pry it loose and examine it properly later.
I picked up the pickaxe lying next to the goblin's corpse.
Then swung it with all my might at the mana-sucking magic stone.
-Clang! Clang! Clang!
Stone chips rained down as the magic stone finally popped free and clattered to the floor.
I scooped it up and examined it closely.
"……."
No mana drain this time.
But the light remained blue.
"No clue what it is… but for now."
I pocketed it.
I had no more time to spare. I needed to find my comrades.
Monsters had shown up here, so there was no guarantee they wouldn't over there.
I sheathed my sword, took a swig of water from my bag, and pressed on into the darkness.
My steps a little more hurried than before.
"Monaka! Monaka!"
"……."
"Snap out of it! You can't pass out here!"
"……."
In a deep, uncharted section of the underground labyrinth's heart.
Amid endless caverns filled only with darkness, Monaka had lost her mind.
Naturally so—Andrei, her longtime comrade she'd grown close to over many adventures, had been gruesomely crushed to death right before her eyes. How could she not be shattered?
C-rank adventurers specialized in relatively safe requests, hunting low-tier monsters.
They were safer than higher ranks.
So she'd never witnessed someone being pulverized alive.
"Monaka…."
Zeke grabbed her shoulders with both hands and shook her.
"……."
No response.
"Urk… damn it!"
Zeke slammed his fist into the stone floor.
-Thud!
-Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud….
The impact echoed through the cave.
"I need to find Victor. We can't do anything like this…!"
Zeke hoisted the slumped Monaka onto his back.
Gripping his sword in one hand, he advanced down the tunnel.
His heavy footsteps echoed lonely in the deep cavern.
"Haa, haa…."
How many minutes had passed?
As he traversed the depths—
"Sss ssss!"
"Sss! Sss ssss!"
Unidentified sounds echoed from somewhere.
"What was that?!"
Zeke raised his sword warily toward the source.
"Sss ssss!"
The sounds grew closer.
Zeke swallowed hard.
Soon, the chilling screech—like nails on a chalkboard—made his ears ache.
Then the source revealed itself.
"Sss ssss!"
"…Big Spiders?!"
It was a monster Zeke knew all too well.
B-rank Big Spiders.
Not even half the size of a Giant Ant, but armed with a deadly venom that inflicted excruciating pain and instant death upon a bite.
Their nimble agility made even veteran B-rank adventurers tread carefully.
"Not one, but two…?"
Zeke gritted his teeth and tightened his grip on his sword.
He spoke to Monaka on his back.
"It's okay… it's okay, Monaka! I'll… somehow…."
That was when—
"“Sss sssss!”"
From the tunnel the Big Spiders had emerged from, multiple more joined in a cacophony.
Not one. Not two.
At least five, by the sound of it.
No sooner had the noises rung out than a swarm of Big Spiders merged with the two already facing Zeke and revealed themselves.
"Sss ssss!"
"Sss! Sss ssss!"
"N-no…."
Zeke's pupils trembled.
Fear gripped him. This wasn't something raw courage could overcome.
He glanced at Monaka on his back.
She stared blankly into the void with unfocused eyes.
"……."
In that instant, Zeke quietly set Monaka down on the cave floor.
He whispered to her.
"S-sorry, Monaka… I swear, I… I swear I'll come back for you!"
Zeke bolted back the way he'd come at full speed.
And screamed.
"Kkhuk, hwaaaaaah!"
His howl was no cry of helplessness or rage for failing to protect her.
It was merely the primal wail of an infant crushed by terror.
"Sss sss…."
"……."
The pack of Big Spiders approached the prone Monaka.
For some reason, they didn't attack, merely circling her.
"Sss, sss sss."
"Sss ssss."
The Big Spiders seemed to communicate among themselves.
Soon, one from the pack poked its head forward and hoisted Monaka onto its back.
It turned and slunk back into the darkness whence it came.
The rest of the pack trailed after it, one by one, vanishing into the shadows.