Chapter 76
Chapter 76
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 76
Chapter Title: Isolation
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Isolation.
A peculiar rumor was making the rounds.
The daughter of the beastkin king, Cheong Yurang.
Word was that she was staying with a man.
"Nonsense. There's no man worthy of her."
"You didn't come here after hearing some weird rumor, did you?"
The beastkin dismissed it as unbelievable hearsay.
And they had good reason to.
Who was Cheong Yurang?
The daughter of the beastkin king, a being whose lineage was thought lost forever.
The most valiant and swift divine beast, Fenrir.
She had inherited its bloodline.
Though deemed a forgotten existence, among countless generations of bloodlines, only the beastkin king possessed it.
And she was the first in five hundred years.
Was it because she bore the blood of such a divine beast?
From childhood, she was extraordinary. Born wielding the winds, she could even tap into the wind powers unique to the elf tribe.
And that was just the beginning.
At level 1, she felled a level 2 being. At level 2, she took down a level 3.
She hit a wall at level 4 during her level 3 days, but still.
That was Cheong Yurang.
Those around her mostly praised her to the skies.
Naturally, her personality grew arrogant.
No, in this case, it wouldn't be wrong to say she'd developed a temperament befitting her prowess.
The pride of the beastkin.
A being destined to become a hero no matter where she went.
That was Cheong Yurang.
"For someone like her to fall for a man? What utter rubbish."
"Probably came after hearing rumors from those human scum."
"Hmph. The ones spreading tales of reaching level 3 in a mere three weeks. And recently, at that."
"Level 3 in three weeks? That's too specific for just a rumor."
"Hmph. No way some race without special traits pulls that off."
As they chattered on like that.
The beastkin fell silent. The source of the rumor had arrived.
Screeech.
The moment the door opened.
Every beastkin in the guild doubted their own eyes.
'A dream?'
'Why does she have that expression?'
'Why does sis's clothes smell like some strange man...?'
The pride of their race wore an expression they'd never seen in their lives.
*
The party Cheong Yurang introduced me to.
I wore a baffled look the instant I saw its members.
And understandably so.
Most of them were complete strangers.
'...Why the glasses?'
No, not glasses exactly.
He had the beastkin hallmarks of tail and ears, after all.
"Why are you staring at me like that?"
"No, you just remind me of someone I know..."
"Hmph. Impossible. There's no other handsome guy like me out there."
"......"
Not just his looks, but his personality reminded me of Glasses too.
'Guess I'll call him Glasses B for now.'
-Another one of those guys in the world?
The holy sword reacted to my inner thoughts.
His looks were a bit off, and his speech was weird, but he seemed like a good kid deep down.
In any case, we set off quickly.
Getting to the labyrinth was a breeze.
Probably because of Cheong Yurang—we were the first ones in.
"Let's move out."
And the beastkin labyrinth I saw for the first time.
Even the air felt different.
What I saw was a towering sky.
And.
"...The sea?"
-Be careful. The beastkin labyrinth isn't like the ones you know.
No, even so, a sudden ocean?
'How are we supposed to get down?'
Fortunately, there were stairs leading to what looked like a beach.
The rabbit beastkin who spotted them smirked at me.
"Heard you were the human guide, so I had high hopes. But you're even worse than I thought."
"Mayu, you trying to get left behind?"
"......"
But Cheong Yurang shut her down immediately. She really was a good kid.
"Then let's quickly take down the boss and go."
The boss of the first floor in the beastkin labyrinth was a massive crab.
We dispatched the giant crab in seconds.
I turned to Cheong Yurang and said,
"You can tell me now, right?"
"Hm? Tell you what?"
"The exact details of the request."
At my words, everyone around us went quiet. They stared at Cheong Yurang with looks of utter disbelief.
"...Sis?"
"Ah, r-right. I've been so busy lately, I forgot to explain properly."
"......"
Busy? She was the one handing me water when she had nothing to do, or giving me towels...
-Now she shows her true colors. Finally see through that woman's intentions?
"No, sis, even so, how could you forget something like that..."
"Sorry."
Cheong Yurang said with a dejected look.
At that expression, the girl called Mayu's face softened right up.
"Well, if it's you, sis, I get it."
"......"
Is this party really okay?
*
"You're aware of the anomalies happening in labyrinths lately, right?"
Cheong Yurang said in a serious tone.
I had no choice but to know.
'I've been through every single one of those anomalies.'
Honestly, if someone suspected our party because of it, I couldn't blame them.
We'd encountered way too many irregularities.
-That's the mark of a hero. Truly splendid.
'...You're just praising anything now, aren't you?'
-Nonsense. Trials that can't kill a hero only make them stronger. So that [Disposition] for stirring up incidents is something to welcome.
'I hate it enough to die.'
In any case, since most of those anomalies involved us somehow, I nodded.
"It's happening in our labyrinth too. No idea why, but suddenly people who entered stopped coming back."
"The guild seemed pretty crowded for something like that."
"It's still just precursors. Thanks to the adventurer guild in the human branch, we noticed the signs early and acted."
More things like the Nightmares or Dark Knights, huh.
'That's gonna be tough.'
-You took down Nightmares and Dark Knights?
The holy sword, reading my thoughts, freaked out.
-How the hell did you manage that? Your swordsmanship is impressive, but not enough for those.
I couldn't tell it that.
Our time together wouldn't last forever anyway.
The moment this thing passed to someone else, my secrets might leak.
'...It's a secret.'
-Hmph. Call it a secret all you want—once you're with me, it'll come out soon enough.
'Then figure it out yourself.'
We headed down to lower floors. The weird part was, we'd descended from the beach, but beaches kept appearing.
-The labyrinth's mysteries. Here, space and time twist together—a world where common sense doesn't apply.
We made it down to the fifth floor like that.
'...Even in the Cradle labyrinth, I could only reach the fourth.'
Didn't expect to get this far here.
As I thought that while descending further.
Crunch.
A strange noise started coming from somewhere.
I went on alert first, and Cheong Yurang approached me.
"Find something?"
"Heard a weird sound."
"On the fifth floor, it'd be Abyssal Crushers at most. Blue carapace, long tentacle-like legs for attacking foes."
"Even so, that's no different from the ants crawling out of your labyrinth."
Crunch crunch crunch crunch.
A sound like something chewing. This time, not just me—enough others heard it that everyone got into defensive stances.
"Th-this is weird! There's too many—way too many?!"
"Can't get a proper count on their numbers!"
Pale faces reported from all directions. Cheong Yurang gulped.
"We need to run."
"...Abandon floor exploration. This is a job for the king!"
Only then did they start fleeing in all directions. The rabbit girl called Mayu, me, Cheong Yurang—we began to run.
'...Running won't solve this.'
-Sharp as ever. Too many enemies.
'At least...'
Hundreds, easily.
Dozens I could handle somehow, but over a hundred? Impossible.
The moment the line breaks even slightly, the whole party wipes.
'And this.'
Even surpasses that number by far.
You don't fight numbers like this.
No matter how great or steadfast the person.
'Taking them head-on.'
Would just break you.
-Hmph, rubbish! A hero wielding me would cleave through that many monsters in one swing.
'...That's a hero for you.'
I ignored the holy sword and kept running.
Around me were Cheong Yurang, Mayu, and Glasses B.
'...Everyone else.'
Had scattered.
Which meant I could see it.
Bone-like bugs.
Pure white bugs filling the horizon.
"Hold them back! We have to protect Lady Cheong Yurang no matter what!"
Some of them were drawing attention by blasting magic, volunteering as bait.
"Don't worry about us."
Cheong Yurang said through gritted teeth.
"You're our honored guest. Focus on surviving."
"Sad but true—Lady Cheong Yurang's right. I'll protect you both with my life, so don't worry."
Glasses B said, pushing up his glasses.
Of course I planned to.
Cheong Yurang thought too highly of me.
'Gotta survive somehow.'
I'm the most important one here, after all.
I took a slow breath.
'No escaping anyway.'
We'd barely reached the middle of the beach, and the enemies already blanketed the horizon.
Even if we broke out in the worst case.
'The third floor might have them too.'
Maybe even more, and deadlier things.
In that case.
'Need to make a safe space here.'
-Quick thinking. But how?
'...Gonna dig underground.'
-Hm?
The holy sword sounded puzzled. I reached my hand toward the ground.
'Plunder.'
Plunder.
It stole all the sand from the space below.
I left over 30 meters to withstand the monsters passing overhead.
-Whoa? A space-related gift?
Luckily, Plunder stole an absurd amount of area.
'That'll hold us for a while.'
I shoved Cheong Yurang, the rabbit beastkin, and Glasses B inside, then refilled it with sand.
Just in case, I poked some air holes too.
"Creating a space like this in an instant... Impressive."
"How do you wield space powers so quickly? No, maybe it's earth-related."
"You get it? Then shut up."
I snapped curtly at Cheong Yurang's words and ran a hand through my hair. My head throbbed.
'...From plundering so much at once.'
The headache was brutal. Something felt like it was dripping from my nose too.
"N-nosebleed? A-are you okay...?"
Cheong Yurang said something, but I blacked out.
*
Me, Cheong Yurang, the rabbit beastkin called Mayu, and Glasses B.
These four of us were stranded in the labyrinth.
As we pondered how to escape.
"Y-you. I h-have something to s-say."
"Yeah?"
"P-put this on m-my neck."
"......"
I stared in bewilderment.
Because what Cheong Yurang handed me.
Was a dog collar.
"...?"
What the hell?