Chapter 29
Chapter 29
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 29
Chapter Title: Manners Make the Man #3
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-Crunch!
"Kreuruk!"
"Kobolds are a pushover, as expected."
One of the hunters voiced his thoughts as he finished off the last remaining monster.
His gaze turned to the rest of his party, who had been fighting alongside him.
Four in total.
The number of people wasn't what mattered.
What counted was who those people were.
'Lakia Bells. She's the real deal.'
Her origins were infamous.
She was the legitimate heir of a massive tribe from a brutal world that worshipped the Black Dragon and adhered strictly to the absolute rule of strength.
"Hmph. These monsters are nothing compared to the ones back home."
"Heh heh, impressive as always. You must've hunted monsters outside the tower too, Lady Lakia Bells."
"In 'Kar Matia,' it's just everyday life."
Lakia Bells replied matter-of-factly.
Kar Matia.
One of the worlds that had earned a notorious reputation among hunters.
And true to her background, Lakia Bells was putting on a dazzling performance.
She had already taken down over ten kobolds.
"On to the next."
"Now the real fun begins!"
They made their final preparations at the entrance to the forbidden zone.
From the forbidden zone's outskirts onward, the mana resistance grew fiercer, and the mental distortions intensified.
For any hunter who wasn't sufficiently seasoned, it meant they could succumb to the tower's madness without even realizing it.
"If you can't keep up, get lost. Follow on your own."
'Goddamn, the world's so fucking unfair.'
The hunter who had been bowing and scraping up front quietly cursed the injustice of it all in his mind.
"..."
Lakia Bells turned to look at the hunters groveling before her.
They had matched her pace perfectly so far, without a single complaint.
They recognized the clear gap in strength and were acting accordingly.
"...Tch."
Yet she felt an odd twinge of displeasure.
The source of that emotion was a memory of one man.
The coward who had nullified her mana with dirty tricks and humiliated her in front of everyone.
'That sneaky bastard. I'll show him the difference in our levels.'
But that ended here.
From the forbidden zone on, it would come down to pure hunter skill.
The monsters there were infused with mana, making them far stronger. And for that weakling hunter from a mana-less world, the mental strain alone would be unbearable.
'...With overwhelming superiority.'
She planned to use this chance to completely crush that arrogant hunter's nose.
Earth was a world without mana or monsters, or so she'd heard.
To Lakia Bells, who had fought for her life since childhood, there was no weaker, more pathetic world.
That was why she couldn't acknowledge the man named Kim Do-yoon.
"Hmph, weaklings."
Lakia Bells muttered scornfully as she effortlessly dispatched another monster.
The party pressed deeper into the forbidden zone.
"...Where's the object, I wonder."
"According to my sisters' info, we need to find the altar and structures in the forbidden zone."
"Your sisters, you say..."
"No way. The ones up in the tower's upper floors—"
"That's right."
The party members swallowed hard at Lakia Bells' confirmation.
The high-ranking hunters dominating the upper floors were practically idols to them.
'Gotta make some connections here somehow.'
While one hunter racked his brain for a way to network, another focused on the object's location.
"Theme Stages are stories woven from the tower owner's memories, right?"
"Exactly. Spot the object, and the 'story' unfolds right away. The trial begins."
"So the key is to never approach it."
Lakia Bells nodded.
Even with her fiery temper, she knew how to exercise judgment.
'Rush the object, and you're dead.'
It was advice straight from her sisters.
The object wasn't one of the floor's monsters. It was not to be treated as an enemy under any circumstances.
A memory from the past flashed through Lakia Bells' mind.
'Little sis. You're a real pain in the ass, but we trust you'll listen to your big sisters on this. We don't want you dying on us.'
Under their chilling gazes, Lakia Bells had no choice but to nod.
'Hmph, unnecessary worry.'
She dismissed it as pointless fretting.
She wasn't so feeble as to fall on a floor like this.
"Alright, then. Let's go find that altar..."
As she turned to stride forward with her usual swagger, Lakia Bells spotted something.
In a dense thicket of the forest.
-Rustle.
"...?"
Something white poked out.
"What the—"
"Huh? What is it..."
The other party members followed her puzzled gaze.
"Ho-he."
The white thing wriggled and made a sound.
Looking closer, it was the crown of someone's head.
Hair that gleamed like it absorbed pale moonlight.
Along with an innocent giggle like a child's, 'it' finally revealed itself.
-Shrustle.
"Ah."
Lakia Bells instinctively raised her weapon.
It wasn't due to the suddenness of it.
"Hee-hee."
"...!"
Instinct.
The instinct honed from a life of constant battle began to warn her about the foe.
"O-Object."
"Why is that thing here?"
Hunters weren't idiots.
Everyone had the object's info memorized.
A fragment of the Progenitor's memory.
It took the form of a young girl with pale white hair and blood-red eyes.
"R-Run!"
"L-Lakia Bells! That's seriously dangerous. We need to evacuate now!"
"...No, it's too late."
Lakia Bells steadied her trembling chest and glared at the object.
The story had already begun.
For some reason, the object that should have been dormant in the altar's underground prison had activated.
And now it was wandering right toward their party.
"Th-Then."
"We need to link up with the other hunters. Otherwise, we're dead."
"You think that'll just let us leave...?"
The Progenitor's memory fragment exuded an eerie calm even now.
Its peaceful demeanor felt all the more unnatural.
In the heart of the forbidden zone, where monsters could burst out any second.
A childlike figure grinned at the hunters as if out for a casual stroll.
"Hey. Are you fanatics too?"
"..."
"Wanna play hide-and-seek?"
Mana rippled.
Something coalesced in the darkness behind her, poised to lunge at its prey.
-Snap!
And then.
"...!!"
Before she could even react, Lakia Bells' final memory was the mana from the Progenitor binding her legs.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "The story's started?"
Do-yoon's question made the terrified hunter nod frantically.
"Th-That woman got taken. In an instant, without any resistance...! She's probably suffering something horrible right now. Oh god, what do we do? If it happens to us too... I don't wanna die! I don't wanna die!"
Do-yoon scowled at the hunter whining like a child and smacked him on the forehead with a sharp thwack!
"Ow!"
"Quit sniveling and think about calling the other hunters first."
"Wh-What good's calling them now?! Even if a hundred rookie hunters like us gathered, we couldn't touch the object!"
"Idiot."
Do-yoon finally let the insult slip.
"Who said anything about fighting the object? Did you sell all the info from that first meeting room or what?"
To clear a Theme Stage, you had to advance the 'story.'
The story's core was the object, so you ultimately had to connect with her.
He didn't care what happened to the woman who'd been rude to him.
He was just curious about the object's movements after leaving the area.
"...Do-yoon."
The fox-eared beastkin hunter approached him from behind.
"This is dangerous. We should fall back for now..."
"And then what?"
"...Huh?"
"The trial's already started, and we don't even know where the activated object went. If we can't find it anyway, we're all screwed."
"But didn't you hear? The object attacked hunters. We can't negotiate or cooperate right now."
"And all the other hunters have already entered the forbidden zone anyway."
"..."
"Do those hunters know? That the object's activated and attacked—kidnapped—another hunter?"
Fall back for safety?
Not a bad idea. But that judgment was too shortsighted.
What if the other hunters provoked the object too?
'Gotta save them.'
He didn't like them, but he couldn't let the lives they'd risked to get this far go to waste.
"So you're saying you'll head into the forbidden zone like this?"
"If you don't wanna go, stay here. I'm going in to rescue the other hunters."
"Y-You're insane. You'll get taken by the object and die too! You wanna die?!"
"You're not getting it, are you?"
Do-yoon grabbed the terrified hunter by the collar.
"You're guiding me."
"...Wh-What?"
"Hoeeee...! If you ever meet me in a Theme Stage, you have to remember this...!" Recalling the words of the object's original source, Do-yoon stepped into the forbidden zone.