Repaying the Lizardmen's Favor
What should I do to repay the favor the lizardmen showed me?
The first thing that came to mind was improving their village, but there wasn't much I could actually do for them.
The lizardmen were basically content with their current lives anyway, and I didn't have any real way to help beyond that.
I considered going outside the labyrinth and bringing back items from the surface world, but anything from outside gets absorbed by the labyrinth if left inside too long, so that wouldn't work.
I'm no expert in construction or crafting either, so elevating the lizardmen's standard of living anytime soon seemed like a pipe dream.
The most I could offer them was probably clearing out the nearby threats.
But even that had its limits.
Wolves and the like were annoying pests to the lizardmen, sure, but their biggest enemy was none other than the hunters.
These hunters kept pouring into the labyrinth no matter how many you killed, so even if I wiped them out, it would only be a temporary fix.
Plus, killing hunters just attracts even higher-ranked ones— that was a given.
I couldn't guard them around the clock, so I needed a more fundamental solution.
Another option was to help the lizardmen grow stronger myself, but while I had a status window, monster growth wasn't something that happened overnight.
I'd have to think more about that one.
I already had some plans in mind anyway.
Mulling over how to repay their kindness like this, I spent the night in their village.
True to Wise Scale's word about giving me the utmost hospitality, I received treatment fit for royalty.
It had been ages since I'd tasted Surprise Bird eggs, and the nostalgia hit hard.
I'd have to grab a few on the way back.
Feed some to Snow and Suli.
Of course, I wouldn't forget To Soon-i's share either.
The next day, as soon as dawn broke, I left the lizardmen's village.
It was a bit regrettable, but unlike the old days when I couldn't be sure of seeing them again, now I knew we'd meet once more, so there wasn't much lingering sorrow.
My goal wasn't reunion with the lizardmen in the first place—it was revenge on those three. No time to stay longer.
Bidding farewell to the deeply saddened lizardmen, I departed the 18th floor.
My destination: the uppermost floors of the labyrinth, where the gate to the outside world awaited.
Leaving the Forest Zone behind, I reached the Upper Zone.
Since the floors narrowed as you went up, I didn't get lost much and found the gates without issue.
Hunter presence was thick near the gates anyway, so navigation was a breeze—just follow the crowds.
Unlike other zones that felt outdoors despite being inside the labyrinth, the Upper Zone truly felt like an interior space.
A dim, cave-like darkness.
A maze of twisting paths.
Perfect for getting hopelessly lost if you had no sense of direction.
And for me, without a human body or tongue to use for scent-tracking, it felt a tad daunting.
As I'd noticed climbing up, I'd relied too much on my tongue all this time.
The gloom wasn't an issue, though.
I could use fire magic or the clairvoyance of my Magic Eye to see clearly even in pitch black.
Besides, hunters with torches dotted the maze everywhere, lighting it up plenty.
Just tailing them solved the pathfinding problem too.
Lucky me.
That said, weren't there way more hunters than three years ago?
Double the numbers from my porter days, at least.
I was curious, but didn't dwell on it.
Nothing to do with me.
The Upper Zone's main monsters were goblins and kobolds—the poster children for weakness.
Kobolds edged out goblins in strength personally, but the difference was negligible.
Slimes popped up often too, but those ambiguous G-rank "monsters" weren't worth bothering with.
Even civilians could handle the Upper Zone with basic gear.
For hunters, it was a training ground before diving into the real labyrinth depths.
That said, plenty overlooked one key fact: no matter how easy, this was still the labyrinth.
A few years back, a bunch of hunters active here got massacred.
An unusually powerful area boss had appeared.
The one that turned the Upper Zone into a bloodbath: the Minotaur.
A humanoid monster with a bull's head, occasionally spawning as an area boss up here.
Usually C-rank, but that specimen was A-rank caliber.
An unprecedented high-rank threat for the Upper Zone.
Hunters here couldn't even put up a fight.
Higher-ups eventually took it down, but the casualties left rookie numbers depleted for years.
And why bring this up now?
"MoooOOOOO───!!!"
Because one had appeared right in front of me.
An A-rank level one, no less—the freak of nature kind.
Was I running into every damn area boss on these climbs?
As I muttered internally, the left head chimed in: "Dunno, idiot─"
The right head, as always: "Hung─gry…."
It'd been ages since Snow Mountain Zone—prime beef had it excited.
It was throwing a fit, demanding we eat it right now.
I wanted to indulge the right head too, but…
"Everyone, get back! This thing's at least B… no, A-rank!"
"Damn it…! Is the nightmare from five years ago happening again here?!"
"It's fine, everyone! We've got an A-rank hunter here!"
"Ooh! An A-rank hunter!"
"We're saved! We're gonna live!"
"Jihye, Dad'll make sure to come back alive!"
Too many hunters around. About 150, give or take?
"…That'd make things way too messy."
"That's exactly why it'd be a big deal…."
The Hwarang Guild mess and that time I went full form in the Forest Zone had already stirred up the hunters. No desire to massacre here too.
My original plan was quiet revenge and slip out.
"…Circumstances happened. What can I do?"
I sighed softly at the left head's nagging disguised as snark.
This one lived for teasing me, apparently.
"…Anyway, let's watch for now. There's an A-rank here, so no need for me to step in."
The right head seemed a bit disappointed but knew when to hold back and didn't whine more.
"…Yeah, yeah, got it."
With that rough negotiation settled, I quietly observed.
Sure enough, someone stepped forward as that shout had promised.
Her aura was unmistakably A-rank.
'Pretty strong…?'
I quietly admired the female hunter advancing.
She outclassed even Song Myung-sin or Han Ji-woo from before.
'Give her a shot, and S-rank's no pipe dream.'
Hard to gauge her age with that weird mask, but if she was young, SA-rank was plausible.
"Raid leader, first area boss takedown, huh."
"Thought it'd be a Forest Zone one… not Upper Zone. World sure is unpredictable."
"Don't get cocky, even if it's Upper Zone. It's still a solid A-rank monster."
Her apparent comrades followed one by one.
Four total, including the A-rank— all skilled.
"All B-ranks closing in on A…."
Decent gear too. Maybe from a major guild.
Ignoring chatter from the back, the lead female hunter strode forward calmly.
Gripping a longsword oversized for her frame, she faced the Minotaur squarely.
Her masked face looked up at its bull head impassively.
The Minotaur snorted furiously.
"…Let's make this quick. Got me craving beef now."
"That's what you say with the area boss right there, raid leader?!"
"MoooOOOOO─!!!"
With the enraged Minotaur's bellow, the battle between hunters and beast began.
The hunters' clash with the Minotaur ended anticlimactically.
Having a same-rank hunter in the mix helped, but her supports' movements were sharp too—that sealed it.
Monsters often outpaced hunters at higher ranks, but relatively speaking.
The beast that nearly recreated that old massacre did nothing noteworthy before perishing pathetically.
I'd have taken it down without them, sure, but as a fellow monster, I felt a twinge of pity.
Made me wonder if I'd end up the same someday.
'…Can't stop thinking about that. Gotta get stronger—way stronger. So no one even dreams of challenging me.'
SS-rank.
No—even beyond.
That fight became a chance for me to rededicate myself.
The hunters dismantling the Minotaur got to work immediately.
Figured its bulk would take time, but they were surprisingly swift.
The A-rank especially—practically soloed the butchering.
She surpassed full-time butchers or carriers.
Once done, the onlookers who'd gathered midway—realizing it was safe—dispersed.
Overhearing chatter amid the exodus gave me some intel on them.
A six-person unaffiliated raid party.
Two were absent this time, but they usually ran as six.
They'd risen meteorically since debuting a year ago.
The A-rank raid leader always masked, stirring endless rumors.
Burn scars untreatable even by healers; hideously ugly face; cursed gear you can't remove once worn—the works.
Beyond gossip, info was scarce.
Her teammates' details leaked, but the leader? Name, age—nothing.
A true enigma.
That mystique probably fueled the wild tales.
"Kinda sticks in my mind."
I muttered watching the masked woman move off with her group.
Couldn't place why, but she nagged at me oddly.
"Nonsense. As if I'd… And why tell Snow? What's she got to do with it?"
"…Shut it, you're annoying. Time for us to move."
I ignored the left head's snark.
Part of the same body, so no muting this endless nagging.
Wish there was a mute button.
Thus, with the masked hunter still nagging at me unresolved, I headed upward.
And finally, emerged from the labyrinth.