Chapter 42
Chapter 42
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: 4th Floor Hidden Labyrinth (4)
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Saintess Ayran.
She was a girl who had lived her entire life driven by a sense of mission.
Born in a small village on the outskirts of the kingdom, she had come to see herself as someone special ever since being chosen as a saintess.
Pursuing the mission bestowed upon her, she arrived in Labyrinth City.
There, she met dozens of saints and saintesses in similar circumstances to her own.
"......"
Their shabby appearance, so different from what she had imagined, had shattered some of her illusions...
Yet she had still lived her whole life guided by that sense of mission.
"Um... would it be alright if I just offered a single prayer?"
She simply couldn't pass by the 4th-floor columbarium she had stumbled upon by chance.
She knew full well it was little more than for show.
She couldn't even tell if there were actual bodies buried beneath it.
Nevertheless, she had resolved to be devout.
"Then let's finish scouting and take a short break."
The knight, the party leader who knew her well, led the way into the columbarium with those words.
- Kyaaa...
Ghosts flitted about inside the columbarium, but they couldn't even approach Ayran's miracles.
Their party specialized in the 5th floor and was highly skilled.
Dungeons grew vastly more difficult with each floor ascended or descended.
Even if the columbarium was filled with ghosts, they couldn't pierce Ayran's miracles.
After a light scout...
"Then let's rest over there."
The knight pointed to a massive tombstone at the edge of the columbarium.
"If there are no other monsters besides ghosts... we can use this place as a safe zone from now on."
From the 4th floor onward, finding safe zones was essential due to the dungeon's nature.
Ghosts couldn't deal physical damage, so if they could fend them off, this spot would be perfect for catching their breath.
"The scenery makes it look like a boss might pop out any second."
The shaman quipped lightly in response to the knight.
It was common knowledge that the 4th floor had no boss.
The obvious boss room contained only a hidden gate to the 5th floor—no sign of the boss itself.
Overwhelmed subtly by the columbarium's gloomy atmosphere, the party members soon relaxed and prepared to rest.
They didn't remove their armor in case of emergency, but even a brief respite for their fatigued bodies was a blessing.
The knight sat first, leaning against the massive tombstone.
The others gathered around in a loose circle.
"Would you like this?"
"Ah, thank you."
"I'll set it in front of the tombstone. The state is a bit off, but it'll make it look proper."
As Ayran prepared to pray for the deceased, the mage handed her a few red flowers.
He must have picked them nearby—the stems dripped with a red sap.
"Blood...?"
"Ah, I must have cut myself a little. It'll heal on its own without a miracle, right?"
The mage gave an awkward little laugh.
His hand indeed bore a small cut from thorns, with beads of blood forming.
But not only his wound—the flowers themselves oozed something like blood.
"I'll put them here!"
As she pondered, the mage placed the flowers before the tombstone.
The others pulled light rations from their subspatial pouches and ate.
'...Whatever. No need to overthink it.'
Strange things happened in dungeons all the time.
Ayran shook her head to clear the stray thoughts and approached the tombstone to pray.
She closed her eyes, intending to offer condolences for those who had died in the dungeon.
That was when.
- Rumble!
The ground began to shake violently.
Feeling the tremors, her party members all leaped to their feet.
"Behind me!"
At the knight's sharp command as he drew his sword, the party swiftly formed up.
Ayran channeled her mana to the max, ready to respond to attacks from any direction.
But.
- Crack!
"U-Uwaaaah!"
The floor caved in, and a massive maggot burst from below, jaws gaping wide.
With no time to flee, the four party members were devoured by the enormous creature.
When they came to again.
"Are you alright?"
"...I'm fine for now."
"I'm okay too."
It was a very familiar sight—the interior of the dungeon.
"Ayran?"
"Y-Yes? Ah, yeah... I'm fine too."
Quickly adapting to the sudden change, the party first scouted their surroundings.
"...Looks like we have to press forward."
But with only a narrow corridor ahead, they had no choice but to advance.
Dungeons normally had an exit gate right behind when entering a new floor.
None was visible here.
With the knight at the front, the party pushed onward.
- Crunch!
"Hoo."
Proving they were still on the 4th floor, the corridors teemed with undead.
But as a party that mained the 5th floor, Ayran's group cleaved through them without much trouble.
"...Hold."
Reaching the corridor's end, the knight halted upon spotting the massive creature ahead.
Had they already been detected?
Whooo-
Black smoke enveloped the knight at the front.
"Grk-!"
Before Ayran could react, the knight's body was yanked toward the giant creature ahead.
"F-First, let's join him!"
At the shaman's words, the remaining three charged down the corridor into battle.
A vast plaza opened up, with a massive skeleton standing at its center.
The skeleton, at least 3 meters tall, manipulated black energy gathered in its right hand to drag the knight—
Then hurled him far away.
"D-Divine blessing!"
Boom-
Fortunately, a shield went up just before he hit the ground.
Rising unscathed, the knight hurried back to the front lines and reformed ranks.
"Looks like... the boss."
The knight eyed the giant creature ahead.
Though only bones remained, the 3-meter skeleton's eye sockets flickered red.
No equipped items visible—it had to be a mage or similar.
"How's your condition?"
"Yes... my apologies."
"Not your fault. Anyone in front would've been pulled."
Whooo-
The shaman scattered raised mana across the floor.
Small blades of grass began sprouting sporadically from the ground.
"Shall we fight?"
"No choice!"
A spell that yanked the knight bodily.
With a foe that could cast it, fleeing was a last resort.
Getting singled out mid-retreat would spell doom.
Whooo-
Then the boss's left hand glowed red.
It thrust its hand forward.
- Whoosh!
Crimson-black flames engulfed the knight.
His body flashed with light as he braced.
Clang-
The knight's shield, wrapped in the mage's and saintess's barriers, fully withstood the boss's flames.
"Now!"
Crunch-
At the shaman's shout, tough vines shot from beneath the boss, binding its movements.
Simultaneously, a spear of lightning materialized above the mage and pierced the boss.
Zzzap-
After the brief stun, the boss remained pinned by vines as the knight's sword assailed it.
Each time the vines snapped, the shaman's mana spawned new ones, halting the boss anew.
Whooo-
As the boss's right hand darkened again, the shaman was flung far away this time.
"Thanks!"
A timely shield let her weather the attack unharmed.
Soon after battle joined.
- Krhihihi...
- Uuooo...
With the boss's sudden laughter, undead began rising from the floor.
Veterans who had faced countless bosses up to the 5th floor, they instinctively knew this signaled a phase shift.
"Fall back for a sec!"
"Yes!"
The knight nearly got surrounded, but the shaman's support let him withdraw smoothly.
The charging undead fell quickly after.
A party that farmed the 5th floor wouldn't falter to 4th-floor trash mobs.
After swiftly clearing the undead, they reengaged the boss.
"It's manageable!"
"Exactly! No way we drop on just the 4th floor!"
The fight was easier than expected.
Even a boss—four of them could handle it. That meant they had grown.
Clearing undead and pressing the boss, their movements flowed without hesitation.
After the second exchange.
Whooo.
The boss swung its right hand, infused with black energy again.
"Incoming!"
"Yes!"
Ayran reflexively raised a shield.
But...
"Huh...?"
Darkness fell before her eyes.
A powerful mental corruption debuff, accompanied by blindness.
"P-Purify!"
She swiftly cast a miracle to cleanse her mind.
But...
"Ugh..."
The others lacked her mental fortitude.
The sudden corruption rapidly worsened the party's status.
Ayran cast more miracles to heal them.
But this was mere first aid.
Mental damage accumulation had limits even with clerical healing.
"Attack first!"
Sensing the growing disadvantage, the knight shouted, and the party unleashed indiscriminate strikes.
Their power held—at least the blows landing chipped away substantially at the boss's health.
And then.
- Krhihihihi.
With that eerie laugh again, more undead poured forth.
The boss itself stood motionless in the center, hardening amid surrounding blood-red crystals.
But...
"What's that...?"
Among the rising undead, an anomalous figure joined them.
A skeleton knight gripping a ferocious sword with both hands, radiating menace.
- Clatter.
It shoved through the undead horde and charged straight for the party's knight.
Clang-
Swords clashed, sparks flying.
A brief clash of wills ensued, but the knight yielded first.
- Uuooo...
Surrounded by encroaching undead, he shuddered reflexively and missed the skeleton knight's move for a split second.
"...Huh?"
Slash-
With that, the skeleton knight breached their lines and severed both of Ayran's hands as she prepared protective miracles.
"Argh, aaaah!"
The formation dissolved into chaos.