Chapter 43
I’ll translate the chapter into natural English and preserve the required HTML structure, with styled blocks for system text and comments. Then I’ll do a quick consistency pass for names, terms, and paragraph breaks.CHAPTER_TITLE: Chapter 43
It had probably been about two hours since we entered the labyrinth.
Ye Jiram and I had still been making our way through it at a fairly smooth pace.
Having a map made all the difference. Moving forward wasn’t difficult at all.
When the route was laid out for us and every trap was marked in advance, what was there to fear?
That was what I thought as we pressed on.
“Why is this so easy?”
Ye Jiram spoke with a baffled expression.
“Can an A-class Gate really be this simple? And it’s a maze-type one, too.”
Her gaze shifted to me.
“How are you finding the path so well? What, do you have a map or something?”
She’d hit the nail right on the head. This woman had a very sharp instinct.
“What map? I’m just seeing it well.”
“A route you can barely make out even with a light, and you’re finding it just fine. How well can you possibly see?”
I kept finding paths hidden in the dark. Because I did it quickly and without hesitation, Ye Jiram kept sounding more and more suspicious.
“But if you shine a light on it, you can see everything.”
“……”
Well, she wasn’t wrong. Once the light hit it, the path became visible. I was making do with that much.
I don’t really see any need to hide it, though.
Still, I figured it was better to keep anything I could under wraps for now.
Either way, we kept advancing through the labyrinth.
Where does this thing end?
I checked the map again. It was showing us the route, but not the destination.
Do we only find out once we reach the end?
Maybe. In any case, it was enough that the path was laid out for us.
As I was thinking that, we came to a stop.
“What’s this? A dead end?”
“……Hm.”
It was a dead end. Even though I’d followed the map, we’d still ended up here. What was this? Was the map broken?
[There is a lever at the far left and the far right.]
[Pull the levers to open the door.]
Nope. It wasn’t broken.
It was telling us exactly what we needed to know.
“I think there’s a lever on both sides.”
I spoke as if I were checking the wall.
“Both sides?”
“Yes. I think we have to pull them at the same time.”
“……And where exactly are they on both sides?”
“Over there. A little lower.”
“Oh, this?”
“Yes. Let’s pull them on three.”
We each took hold of a lever and yanked it on my signal.
Click. The lever gave way.
Rumble. The wall began to open. It was the correct answer.
“……So that was right.”
“That’s kind of amazing.”
“You know it doesn’t sound amazing at all when you say it like that, right?”
“Let’s go.”
“You don’t even answer me anymore. Unbelievable.”
We stepped through the opening. The moment we did—
[You have entered the lion’s domain.]
[The curse of Floor 10 has been triggered.]
[Achievement unlocked: Labyrinth Pioneer.]
“An achievement!?”
Ye Jiram nearly jumped out of her skin at the word.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“What do you mean, what’s wrong? It’s an achievement!”
I knew that much too, but what was so special about it?
“You don’t know how big of a deal an achievement is?”
“Is it really that amazing?”
“Didn’t you say you came from a superhuman school? They didn’t tell you about achievements there?”
“No. I don’t remember learning anything about them.”
“The schools these days are a mess. Then again, that bald old bastard of a principal only knows how to squeeze money out of people. He’s useless as hell.”
“……”
With casual contempt for the superhuman school, Ye Jiram shook her head.
“When you earn achievements, your synchronization rate rises naturally. You know how hard it is to raise that rate. For other people, getting achievements is like plucking stars from the sky. You really are something else.”
“……?”
Achievements raise synchronization rate? That was the first I’d heard of it.
And besides—
They’re supposed to be that hard to get?
I’d gotten so many that I hadn’t even realized they were rare. In fact, even when I did get them, my synchronization rate didn’t seem to go up.
Is that another one of the God of War’s traits?
“You struck gold.”
“Strictly speaking, you struck gold too, thanks to me.”
“……You really are insolent.”
Ye Jiram snorted, then laughed under her breath.
She must have been pretty pleased with the achievement, because the atmosphere had lightened a bit.
“I came here thinking it might be a little fun, but this is a pretty good haul. And on top of that…….”
The name of the achievement.
“If it says pioneer, that means we’re the fastest, right?”
“Ah.”
Was that so?
Well, we are using a map. Of course we’d be fast.
If there was a method to clear it, being the fastest wasn’t strange at all.
“Let’s wrap this up quick.”
Ye Jiram said with obvious confidence. As if responding to that, my guidebook revealed more of its information.
[A curse has been triggered.]
[Be careful.]
[From here on, the dead will appear.]
The dead?
I frowned, trying to make sense of the words curse and dead when something appeared on the map.
A red circle.
Something was approaching from ahead. The map was telling me that much.
Grraaaaaaah—
Grrrraaaaaaah—!!!
It was an unpleasant sound.
“What now?”
Ye Jiram heard it and swept a hand through the air. Black whip materialized in her grasp.
“Yeah, a Gate shouldn’t be this boring. I figured something nasty would show up. I was about to draw my sword— already did, I guess?”
I was already gripping the Heavenly Demon Divine Sword.
Grrrrraaaaaah—!!!!
The sound grew louder.
[Killing intent detected.]
[Hero’s Super-sensory.]
The two skills activated at once.
“Dirty Fire.”
Ye Jiram flicked the flame she’d conjured at her fingertips into the air.
It turned into a small sphere and brightened the surroundings like a lamp.
As the view cleared, the scene ahead came into focus.
Grrrrraaaaah—!!!
Something that looked vaguely human was coming at us in a crowd.
Zombie?
[Eye of Enlightenment activated.]
[Ghoul.]
As if correcting my guess, the Eye of Enlightenment revealed the monster’s identity. So it was a ghoul—some zombie-like creature out of a fantasy novel.
The problem was—
[Ghoul(??) Suh Yoo-young]
[Ghoul(??) Ten Chaio]
[Ghoul(??) Ben Damon]
There was a name attached to the ghoul. Human names?
I turned my eyes to the guidebook again. There, I found the line that gave me the answer.
[Curse of the dead.]
[Superhumans who die in the labyrinth become the dead and hunt other superhumans.]
“Hah.”
Those who died while exploring the labyrinth became ghouls.
So that was what the curse was. What a shitty place.
And then—
Swish—!!!
“……They’re tough.”
Even after Ye Jiram’s whip struck one of the ghouls, it only suffered a minor wound.
And even that began to regenerate almost instantly.
“Black Moon Thorn Path.”
Ye Jiram slammed her whip into the floor. Black spikes burst up from the ground and skewered the ghouls, pinning them in place for a moment.
But—
Crk-crk-crk.
The ghouls forced their way through as if nothing had happened.
“Ah, now that’s bullshit.”
Ye Jiram let out a dry laugh at the sight.
[Ghouls can only be eliminated by destroying their core.]
While she was stalled, I checked the guidebook again. A core? What the hell was that?
I focused.
Hero’s Super-sensory let me feel an alien energy inside the ghoul’s body.
At the same time, the Eye of Enlightenment pierced through the ghoul’s flesh and found something hidden within.
I see it.
There it was. A red sphere. So that was what needed to be destroyed?
Clink.
I tightened my grip on the sword. It was still heavy in my hand.
Kyaaaaaaah!
Grrrrraaaaaaah—!!!
There were at least several dozen ghouls. Even so, I charged without hesitation.
A normal person would’ve been terrified. Strangely, I wasn’t.
I simply moved forward as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
“Huh? Hey! It’s dangerous—!”
Ye Jiram shouted at me, but my sword was faster than her warning.
Crack.
Rather than cutting, it shattered. As I smashed open the ghoul’s torso, the orb inside broke apart.
Kyaaaaaah……!!!
The ghoul dissolved into dust on the spot.
After hunting a few more, I spoke to Ye Jiram.
“If you smash the orb-like thing, they die.”
“……Orb?”
“Yes. There’s one inside their torso.”
“Hm?”
With that, Ye Jiram coiled her whip back up.
“Black Moon Thorn.”
The whip condensed and took the shape of a spike, which she then launched straight at a ghoul.
Crack—!! A hole was punched through its chest, and its core was crushed.
“Ah, that thing.”
“Yes. That thing.”
“Okay, got it.”
The part containing the orb seemed to be weaker than the rest.
Once we’d figured that out, Ye Jiram and I started slaughtering the ghouls like mad.
Thankfully, it doesn’t seem like the abilities of the superhumans transfer over just because they become ghouls.
Their physical abilities seemed to carry over to some extent, but none of their other powers appeared to remain.
That made the hunt easy enough, but—
……Is this really okay?
[Hunt the dead.]
[Thus, summon the King of the Dead. (33/150)]
Something about the line written in the guidebook felt deeply wrong, like it shouldn’t have been there at all.
* * *
- What the hell? Why is it going that fast?
- The other teams are just stumbling around, so why is that party moving so quickly?
- Isn’t the whole route visible to them? They’re just charging ahead and still getting the right answer.
Kim Hyuk-cheol’s broadcast was heating up fast.
It was Channel 328. The reason was the team pulling ahead of the second-place channel, Channel 122, Hale Irene.
Irene was just wrecking everything in her path and marching forward, maze or no maze.
On the other channels, plenty of people were getting lost or tripped by traps and dying.
At A-class, they were bodies that could endure tank fire, and yet they were getting smashed to pieces by those traps with embarrassing ease.
That meant the difficulty was absolutely not simple.
……And yet they’re just cutting through it?
Against all reason, Ye Jiram’s party was breaking through the labyrinth with ridiculous ease.
Without the slightest hesitation.
The reason was—
- What’s with that guy?
Probably the young man standing next to Ye Jiram.
[The lever over there.]
[This one?]
The youth was guiding them through the labyrinth while apparently controlling Ye Jiram’s route.
He seemed to know every last path.
How was that even possible?
- Is he a scout?
- No scout moves like that. That’s basically map hacks. Is he really just looking at a minimap by himself?
- Map hacks, my ass. This isn’t a game, lol.
It really was no different from map hacks.
Still—
Grrrrraaaaaah!
Once they opened the levered door and stepped into the room, something began to lunge out.
- What the hell, zombies?
- We’ve gone from a Gate to the apocalypse now?
- Fuck, that’s disgusting.
Dozens of ghouls began advancing toward the two of them.
Ye Jiram tried to keep them back with her whip, but—
Swish!
Not a single scratch appeared on the ghouls’ bodies.
Just as it seemed like they might need a different approach, the young man charged in.
Swish!
He swung his heavy sword and cut a ghoul down. Unlike with the Black Night Witch’s attack, the ghoul shattered instantly.
“If you smash the orb-like thing, they die.”
He said it in a calm, matter-of-fact voice.
- Oh…….
The chat reacted differently after that.
- Who is that guy?
- An A-class superhuman, but I’ve never seen him before? He’s Korean.
Interest in the youth began to spread.
Then—
- Ah. I know who he is.
Someone in the chat identified him.
- Lee Jinwoo. The hero of Yeouido. You know, the guy who joined the knight order under Irene.
- Ah.
Kim Hyuk-cheol’s eyes widened as he read the comment.
Lee Jinwoo?
He was the one who had been making all that noise in the news a few days ago. The young man who had protected people in Yeouido by stopping terrorists.
Wasn’t he awakened only a few days ago?
And yet he’d saved people?
He’d received a commendation for that and been transferred into the new knight order.
His rank had been measured as A-class.
Lee Jinwoo, huh?
Kim Hyuk-cheol looked at him with a strange expression.
Meanwhile, the two of them coordinated seamlessly and kept mowing down the ghouls without pause.
And the clear rate kept rising like crazy.
When they entered the room, it had been fifty percent. In no time at all, it shot past eighty, then ninety.
- What, is that it?
- They just run around a maze, kill some ghouls, and that’s the whole thing?
- What the hell, why is this even an A-class Gate? It’s ridiculously dull.
People began posting disappointed reactions.
Kim Hyuk-cheol sighed inwardly.
Easy is good, you lunatics.
A Gate had to be cleared. Everyone knew what would happen if contamination rose and disaster struck, and yet—
They all react the same way.
Dopamine, or whatever else they wanted to call it.
People chased fleeting excitement over actual danger.
That was probably just the price of living in a comparatively safer world now.
It was nothing but safety fatigue.
Though I’m not exactly the one who should be saying that, considering I make my living off it.
Who was looking down on whom here?
Kim Hyuk-cheol let out a faint laugh.
“Don’t be too disappointed, everyone. Clearing it is a good thing, after all…….”
He was just about to continue when—
- What is that……?
- Holy shit……!!!
The chat exploded. Startled by the reaction, Kim Hyuk-cheol hurriedly checked the channel.
And then—
“……What?”
[The lion’s vengeful spirit is being filled.]
[Master of Floor 10.]
[The King of the Dead: Commander Ze has been born.]
[The difficulty of the labyrinth has risen.]
[A → S]
Despair took shape.