Chapter 19
Chapter 19
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 19
Chapter Title: To the Upper Layer
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I gazed at my hands, stained with blood, atop a mountain of gnoll corpses.
More precisely, at the mana enveloping my hands.
'Still a long way to go.'
My body, enhanced by mana, was in peak condition.
I could feel its prowess firsthand from how effortlessly I'd crushed the labyrinth's top-layer monsters like insects, but I myself wasn't all that satisfied.
Wrapping my body in mana to strengthen my flesh.
It was certainly a fine technique, but it was nothing more than a basic skill anyone with mana could pull off.
And its limits were clear as day.
Those who'd reached a certain level could cloak their entire bodies in mana like a suit of armor, but all I could manage was to cover one arm.
That was why I was in such a hurry to reach the upper layer.
Because once I got there, I could accelerate my growth.
'Almost there.'
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ Gnoll Shaman defeated (Complete) Gnoll Warrior defeated (Complete) ??? (Incomplete) 'Just one more to go.'
I turned my gaze far into the distance.
Huge boulders stood in a row, shrouded in thick fog all around them.
The pale mist writhed like a living creature, yet instead of expanding like it was drawing a boundary line, it stayed put in place.
That was why the labyrinth's western region was called the Fog Mountains—because of that fog.
It was the source of all the rumors in Labyrinth City about a fog-shrouded zone that devoured people, one from which no one ever emerged alive.
They said you'd wander endlessly and vanish without a trace.
That was why most explorers, upon spawning in the western region via portal, either skirted around the fog or used the dimension gates installed throughout the labyrinth to head elsewhere.
"Well then, shall we?"
I knew the ironclad rules for surviving the labyrinth.
The dangerous path was the one an explorer had to tread.
Charging in blindly was for fools, but if you planned ahead and prepared countermeasures, challenging it head-on would bring you closer to the labyrinth's truths.
And so, unlike other explorers, I stepped right into the fog.
Shaaa!
In an instant, the thick fog lunged at me like a beast eyeing its prey.
By the time I came to my senses, I couldn't see a thing around me.
Only the dense fog blocking my view ahead.
I ignored it and kept walking forward.
'Always so dreary in here.'
I disregarded the fact that I could barely see ahead through the fog.
This place was always like that—what mattered was the courage to press on into the unknown without fear.
How long had I walked like that?
Suddenly, the rippling fog began to thin, and faintly, the shape of a building came into view.
Upon seeing it...
"Ah, wrong way."
I turned around and headed in the opposite direction.
Once trapped in this fog, there was one crucial fact to remember.
'Never let yourself be lured by what you see before your eyes.'
As anyone who's watched horror movies or read comics would know, anything blatantly marked as an "exit" was guaranteed to be a trap.
Charge in blindly, and you'd loop the same spot forever until you starved to death.
So I did the exact opposite, like a contrarian.
Defying the intentions of whoever had conjured this fog was the top priority.
As I briskly moved my feet, a strange laughter echoed this time.
"Ehehehe!"
The eerie sound, like a ghost's wail, sent chills down my spine.
The creepy, unpleasant sensation dominated my mind, making it feel like someone was stalking me from behind.
Look back, and there was only the thick fog.
Look forward again, and the voice repeated from behind.
Most explorers caught in panic here would either freeze in place or flee in terror.
And I knew that was the wrong move.
No matter how much you ran, you could never shake it off.
So what do you do?
The answer was simple.
"Hey, long time no see. Wanna show your face?"
Turn around and charge straight toward the sound the moment you hear the laughter.
"Kieeeek!"
A shriek like a woman's scream made my brain ring.
My head throbbed with pain and a splitting headache.
The closer I got, the worse the noise became.
But I didn't stop walking.
This was a warning.
A notice not to come closer.
Coming from the bitch causing these anomalies in the labyrinth.
When your enemy begs you like that, you just do the opposite.
Don't run away in fear—face it head-on with courage. That was the key.
In the labyrinth, that approach was far better for survival.
"Knew you'd be here."
"Kieeek!"
A ghost in the form of a woman.
A monster clad in a long white dress, with a pale face and hollow eye sockets.
A banshee.
The culprit behind the thick fog enveloping the area shrieked nonstop as I drew near.
"Western monsters are noisy compared to other regions."
The top layer's monsters were often variants of those found on the surface world, and they made up the majority.
But the top layer had its signature monster.
Ghosts.
A type of undead monster.
The souls of the dead wandering the labyrinth, twisted by curses into vengeful spirits.
Like the wraith knights in the center, or the reapers in the east.
In the top-layer regions, these ghost-type monsters appeared as elite mobs.
They typically guarded the entrances to the upper layer, repelling intruders into the labyrinth.
Using stealth, mental attacks, and all sorts of tricks to endanger explorers—a real pain for the labyrinth.
'Take this one down, and that finishes the request from Orobas.'
The banshee was one of the labyrinth's cursed vengeful spirits, specifically a heretic bearing the demon's brand, as the bastard had mentioned.
"Kyaaak!"
'Screeching like that because physical attacks don't work, huh.'
Above all, their defining trait was being spirits.
Physical blows had minimal effect.
You needed a mage's spells or a priest's holy power to deal proper damage.
That was why every explorer party included a mage.
Unless you used something special like an artifact, that was the only way to tackle them.
'Tough to kill in my current state.'
Of course, not being a mage, I couldn't use the orthodox methods.
I could wrap my body in mana and strike, but that was a secret art for strengthening the flesh—different from magic.
"Kya aaah!"
"Ugh, what lungs on you."
The banshee bitch seemed to realize that too, not fleeing but screaming at me with all her might.
Her wails carried a curse in themselves; anyone who kept listening would slowly go mad, their mind shatter, and their soul separate from their body.
Her screaming at me was her way of trying to split my soul from my flesh and possess my body.
Even I, who'd cleared the labyrinth's end multiple times, would eventually have my soul torn away if I kept listening, so I had to shut it down fast.
How?
The answer was surprisingly straightforward.
How had I taken down that wraith knight again?
"Ka...!"
"Yeah, yeah, I know you're a great singer. Just die already."
Slash!
A straight vertical line carved into her.
The moment it etched into the banshee's spirit body, she split clean in half.
A transparent sword was now gripped in my hand.
The wraith knight's sword.
A weapon that could turn spirits or flesh alike into Swiss cheese without discrimination.
'Nothing beats this for handling spirits.'
On my first labyrinth dive, my goal had been saving Aren from the wraith knight.
Even so, I'd deliberately saved her first, then turned to deal with the wraith knight.
Sure, I wanted the elite monster's mana stone, but my real aim was this sword.
With it, I could send the top layer's wandering spirits straight to oblivion equally.
"This baby's my ticket straight to the upper layer."
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ Gnoll Shaman defeated (Complete) Gnoll Warrior defeated (Complete) Banshee defeated (Complete) Quest from Demon Orobas completed. Along with the status window alert, a blue stone dropped from the sky right in front of me.
"If you're gonna give something, at least hand it over politely."
Unlike a mana stone, it had a different shape.
Mana stones were jagged and rough, but this was smoothly polished and round.
The reward for the Path of Shadows: a leap stone, which let you jump straight to any layer you wanted upon entering the labyrinth.
Limited to layers you'd visited before, but it skipped the tedious trek there—a fantastic item.
In game terms, it was like a shortcut.
Shooo.
As the banshee dissipated, the surrounding fog began to lift.
My field of view cleared, revealing stairs leading downward.
Bonus: I picked up the purple mana stone the banshee dropped upon death.
"Another mana stone? This one's special."
Elite mobs had a 50/50 shot at dropping one, and when they didn't, it was infuriating—but getting one like this? I was grateful.
And that wasn't all.
Omens of my luck were popping up all over the labyrinth.
"Never thought I'd see this plant on the top layer."
Around the entrance to the upper layer bloomed flowers bearing round, dewdrop-like fruits like berries.
I recognized them instantly.
Dawn Bud.
A flower that typically grew on the upper layer, rarely appearing on the top one.
The odds of finding it up here were abysmal, yet they were blooming in abundance right at the upper layer's entrance.
I'd thought I'd seen every environmental change in the labyrinth across my regressions, but I'd been wrong.
Was it because, unlike before, I'd started paying attention to the heroines this time?
Not sure, but changes different from my past loops were catching my eye.
'Not bad at all.'
What fun changes awaited me on the upper layer?
Well, I'd find out when I got there.
...
Somewhere on the upper layer.
"Haa... haa..."
A girl dragged her exhausted body forward by sheer force of will.
She staggered like she might collapse any second, but she gritted her teeth and endured.
Focusing solely on moving ahead.
Strapped to her back was another girl who looked just like her.
A girl sleeping peacefully, eyes closed as if lost in a sweet dream.
No visible external wounds, but something alien and bizarre was happening to her arm.
Tzzzz.
On her snow-white skin bloomed flowers of every color, using her arm as a flowerpot and growing vigorously.
The blood-soaked girl laboriously turned her head to gaze at the face of the girl on her back.
"Don't worry, Sis."
Breathing was a struggle, her legs wobbling like they'd lost all stability, but she never stopped walking, not even for a moment.
"I'll... I'll definitely save you."
In her wake, along the path strewn with petals, only thick bloodstains mingled with footprints remained.