The Labyrinth's Trap
Barzet spat out a curse beside me. "What the—"
He had every right to. Anyone would react that way if the end of a painstakingly cleared path turned out to be a dead end.
Leon muttered from the other side, "This is the third time already."
"It's a labyrinth, after all," I replied.
Honestly, running into only three dead ends so far might have been lucky. Barzet chewed on his lip for a moment before his expression hardened.
"We should split the group."
"But then we'll lack the strength to push back if we clash with other factions, won't we?"
"We're already at a disadvantage compared to them anyway. Our only real advantage is speed."
In short, that was the idea. Since we'd get crushed in a fair fight against the other groups, it was better to divide our forces and increase our chances of reaching the dungeon's center first. It made sense.
When I agreed, Barzet instantly divided everyone into ten teams. Our team consisted of the usual group, with one of Barzet's mercenary comrades added in.
Barzet's mercenary companion, Hans, extended his hand. "Nice to work with you."
"Don't worry about it."
The moment the teams were formed, we split up at every fork in the path. I left the main group at the second fork we encountered.
"Be careful."
"Don't worry."
Barzet must have been uneasy too. After all, I wasn't a longtime companion of his. Maybe it wasn't just me—everyone else was probably worried about betrayal. But if they let that fear stop them from doing anything, they risked failing a dungeon raid that had started with such an advantageous position. Barzet knew that better than anyone, which was why he was betting on the possibility that I would honor our agreement and splitting the teams. As a safety measure, he'd planted the comrade he trusted most with me. This was the best he could do.
I confirmed one last thing with Barzet. "If we find the dungeon's rewards—"
"Priority rights. I got it."
Before entering the dungeon, I'd negotiated with Barzet in advance. The deal was that if we discovered the dungeon's rewards, I would get to choose one of them first without question. Fortunately, Barzet had accepted the proposal without hesitation. With this, reaching the dungeon's depths would guarantee me the Holy Grail. Assuming we could reach it, that is.
I led my party across the dungeon's maze. A chimera blocked our path ahead. We'd encountered so many that it almost felt nostalgic.
Crackle.
Lightning sparked, and right after, Noa fired his magic. A cluster of lightning amplified in power proportional to the time it had been weakened. The true lightning tore the chimera apart. In terms of raw power, it was easily third-circle magic. As expected from a lightning-attribute mage. It had been impressive even from the second circle.
I praised Noa. "As expected of Noa. Keep working hard on your magic."
"Master. That somehow sounds a little suspicious."
"You're imagining things."
At the end of the passage, a small room appeared. Inside were various precious metals scattered about. I stood in the center of the room and narrowed my eyes. Something felt off. What was it? Finding precious metals in a dungeon was natural, so why did it bother me?
My entire party froze in place. They were matching my suspicious expression and stopping when I did.
"This is already a pretty big haul, isn't it?"
Hans, who had just joined us, didn't notice anything and touched one of the precious metals in the room. That was the moment.
A magic circle rose from the floor. Recognizing the classic pattern, I shouted at Leon, "Take care of Noa!"
Leon grabbed Noa and leaped outside the circle's range. The others tried to follow, but unfortunately, mages lacked the speed of swordsmen. And then—
The world spun.
I lit a lantern and illuminated the dark passage. This place... I wasn't sure where it was, but it was definitely not any path we'd taken before.
"This is troublesome."
Ruina whispered beside me. Aside from her, Hans stood frozen with a bewildered expression, clutching a golden cup. So the two of them had been transferred with me. Then Jerry must be with Ferant?
I clicked my tongue while floating a lantern with Jeogyeng. That Peter Pan syndrome-ridden romantic archmage. After everything else, he even threw random teleportation traps into the dungeon? Did he really think he was the dungeon master or something?
Still, thanks to this, I finally understood why the room full of precious metals had felt off. It was because the reward had been given with absolutely no risk attached. That kind of setup didn't match the romance of a dungeon.
I opened my mouth. "Still, it feels like we're closer to the dungeon's depths now. Let's think positively."
"Are you sure?"
"If not, then too bad."
I moved forward along the passage illuminated by the lantern. I hope the others are okay. I'm a little worried.
*
There were many things that came to mind when thinking about dungeons. Enormous rewards, dangerous traps, powerful guardians. And hyenas blinded by gold on top of that.
Jerry thought to himself as he loaded a band of flames onto his wrist. How did it come to this?
Mages wearing red robes were pressuring him. Beside him, Ferant was panicking and babbling something, but it wasn't registering clearly. Jerry recalled the situation from a moment ago.
Right after Hans or whoever touched the precious metal, Jerry had been teleported to a remote location. The moment he saw Ferant next to him, he'd let out a sigh. Why did it have to be this guy even in a teleport?
Ferant blinked after confirming who he'd been teleported with, then immediately started running his mouth. "Sir Jerry! It seems only the two of us have been teleported to a remote area! In times like this, rather than waiting for rescue, it would be better for us to conduct our own exploration—"
"I already know all that, so please be quiet for a bit."
Jerry calmed Ferant down and floated sparks into the air. Then he focused his gaze on something visible at the end of the passage. That was—
"Sir Jerry! Isn't that the deepest part of the dungeon?!"
"I don't think so."
Jerry moved toward the end of the passage. And then.
A massive library appeared.
"A library, huh."
A library discovered in an archmage's dungeon. At a glance, its value was clearly extraordinary. With an excited heart, Jerry pulled out one of the books on the shelves. Let's see... hmm.
"...It's just a regular novel."
He'd thought it might contain the archmage's great enlightenment, but apparently not. The disappointment was huge. Jerry calmly put the book back.
"Our goal is the deepest part of the dungeon. It's a shame, but we should just memorize this place and head somewhere else—"
That was when flames flew straight at Jerry's forehead. He quickly fired a bullet of fire and shot down the flaming bird. Then he frowned. Who the hell are these bastards?
Step.
Someone walked in through the room's entrance. There were several of them, all wearing red robes. The Red Tower. At the appearance of these monsters famous for their lack of manners and obsession with nothing but magic, Jerry clicked his tongue. Why did it have to be them of all people? They were notorious for being impossible to talk to.
The Red Tower, whose goal was 'to see the end of magic,' was famous for collecting magic. But their methods were so arbitrary that they were even more well-known for that aspect.
"Search the area."
"Understood."
The Red Tower mages began investigating the library without paying any attention to Jerry or Ferant. Jerry shook his head at their arrogant behavior and left the library. After all, they had no interest in anything but magic. If he just naturally stepped aside, there shouldn't be any—
"Where do you think you're going?"
Contrary to his expectations, one of the Red Tower mages stopped him. Jerry smiled softly and answered.
"I'm not interested in the library at all. I was thinking of heading somewhere else?"
"How can we let you go when we don't know what you might have hidden? Wait."
So that's how it's going to be.
"We haven't hidden anything. If you're that suspicious, why don't you just search our bodies?"
The current purpose of Jerry's party in entering the dungeon was the Holy Grail. That's why Jerry had intended to resolve things peacefully rather than create friction with the Red Tower. However—
"There's no guarantee it would be on your body."
"Are you suggesting we hid important materials somewhere in this library?"
"Therefore, wait until we have searched the entire library."
"What nonsense."
How long were they supposed to wait while these people searched such a vast library? Jerry ignored the Red Tower's warning and walked out of the room. At the same time, one of the Red Tower mages floated flames into the air.
"I won't say it twice. Wait."
"Hah."
Jerry let out a short, hollow laugh and turned around. A band of flames loaded onto his wrist. He asked, "What's your name?"
"Latin."
"Latin. Right. My name is Jerry. Remember it."
Bang!
The flaming bullet shot down the flaming bird that had been flying through the air. Latin didn't know it, but Jerry's personality wasn't particularly good either. The fact that he'd held back even once was surprising. Because Jerry was the one whose arrogant personality, with self-esteem that pierced the heavens, had been officially acknowledged by his master—the 8th-circle archmage Adelian Croft.
Jerry's eyes cooled as he declared, "Come at me all at once. I'll end this quickly."
*
"Isn't that Sir Barzet? How did you get here?"
"I fell into a teleportation trap. What about you, Ruina?"
"Same here. What a coincidence."
Ruina, who had been wandering the dungeon for quite a while, showed a pleased expression upon seeing Barzet appear from the opposite side. She shared the information she'd gathered so far.
"It might not be obvious by feel, but if you roll an iron ball, you'll notice the passages are tilted to one side. We're gradually heading downward. We'll reach the deepest part soon—"
As he listened to Ruina's chatter, someone was filled with ecstasy. Soon. Soon, the Scales would be in my hands.