Chapter 10
Chapter 10
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 10
Chapter Title: Harvest Time
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After meeting and greeting Martin and the three team members he’d brought, Lee Si-woo bitterly regretted his decision to ask for three more men in addition to Martin.
He hadn't gotten a bodyguard, but a chatterbox with a motor for a mouth.
“You know those damn elves, right? Ah, their 1-star Talent is ‘Beauty,’ isn’t it? Is that why every single one of them is so handsome or beautiful? But does it end there? Of course not. Unfairly, their 2-star Talent is the Blessing of Mana. Fucking hell, giving a broken-ass Talent like that to those pretty pieces of trash… Aren’t the gods just too much? There’s a limit to favoritism, you know.”
The chatter was so incessant that Si-woo’s eardrums were starting to ache. He forced a bitter smile.
It was torturous to hear facts he already knew from the Common Sense Pill all over again.
But if he said he already knew, he might attract unnecessary suspicion.
He was caught between a rock and a hard place.
“Ah, you might not know what the Blessing of Mana is, right? It’s a Talent that not only lets mana accumulate more easily in the body, but it also allows them to handle mana more skillfully than other races. But what’s really nuts is that it’s more effective than the human 2-star Talent, Physical Enhancement.”
Feeling it would be rude to just listen, Si-woo had no choice but to play along.
“It’s better than Physical Enhancement?”
“Yes. Physical Enhancement simply improves your physical abilities in proportion to the amount of mana you’ve accumulated. That’s it. But… the Blessing of Mana lets them mimic that through control. In other words, ours is a passive skill, while theirs can be used as an active one, even if it’s a bit more cumbersome! That’s what I’m saying.”
“And since their mana accumulates more easily, the absolute amount will be vastly different later on… It sounds like a superior version in many ways.”
“Exactly. That’s why it’s so hard for humans to surpass elves, no matter how much we struggle.”
Deciding it was better than suffering through the lecture, Si-woo steered the conversation toward a topic he found difficult to grasp even after taking the Common Sense Pill.
“Talents are fixed for each race, correct?”
“That’s right. And that’s why we humans are treated as an inferior species. Pisses me off.”
The talkative young man, Ewin, was a likable person who treated Si-woo, an outworlder, without prejudice, but his foul mouth was a definite drawback.
Si-woo asked.
“But why are humans treated so poorly? From what I’ve overheard, they have many buff-type Talents, like the 4-star Talent ‘Leadership,’ which increases the abilities of all those contracted to them by 1.3 times. With their large population, shouldn’t humans have no reason to fall behind other races?”
“Ah, so you know about Leadership? Wow, you catch on quick. Where’d you hear about that? Was it Sir Kyle? Well, yeah… you’re right, Sir Si-woo. It’s not like humans have low potential, so it’s strange that we’re treated as an inferior species.”
“Far from low, it’s high. They have a Nine-Star Constitution, after all.”
“What, you know about the Nine-Star Constitution, too? Whoa… did this guy find some kind of information hotspot or something? You’re no joke.”
It was commonly known that Talents could be awakened up to 9-stars, but not every race could awaken a 9-star Talent.
Most races couldn’t even awaken a 5-star Talent, let alone a 9-star one.
For example, a Tarantula had a Three-Star Constitution; no matter how hard it tried, 3-star was its limit.
“Yes. That’s why it seemed strange to me. A race with high potential that grows stronger in numbers is treated as inferior? Hmm… are they perhaps being held in check?”
Ewin sighed, his face darkening.
“It’s closer to being lynched than held in check. We’re treated much worse. Hah, what good is high potential? Because of these weak-ass bodies, we either die before we can grow or end up as slaves to the ruling class.”
Si-woo’s eyes gleamed.
Taking a Common Sense Pill didn’t reveal everything.
The knowledge it imparted was superficial, barely scratching the surface.
That was why Si-woo wanted more detailed information.
“I heard there’s a concept of ‘levels’ here. Roughly how big is the difference, based on that?”
By now, Ewin no longer found it surprising that Si-woo knew about levels.
“I can’t say for sure, but a werewolf would easily be over level 10, even if they had no mana like you, Sir Si-woo. They’re just built completely different. Strength, agility, stamina. Even bone density and lung capacity, everything.”
Hearing that, Si-woo began to understand why humans were treated so poorly in this world.
On Earth, although humans were physically weaker than predators, they reigned at the top of the food chain due to their vast intelligence gap.
But here, it was a different story.
Civilization, language, technology—none of it was exclusive to humans, and to top it off, they were innately lacking.
“Wait! Quiet down, you chatterboxes.”
At Martin’s serious tone, the two team members who had been dozing against the wall lifted their heads.
Krrrrrr.
A low, guttural vibration, like the growl of a beast, echoed through the labyrinth.
Instantly recognizing it as a sign of the harvest, Martin screamed at the two men near the wall in a voice that tore through the air.
“Get away from the wall! Now!”
The moment Martin’s roar fell, the labyrinth walls began to tremble.
The two team members, finally grasping the situation, scrambled to get away from the wall, but it was too late.
Thousands of tentacles shot out from the wall, which had split open like a gaping maw, and pierced through their chests.
Shunk!
The men, chests impaled, coughed up blood and reached out their hands.
Just before their feeble fingertips could touch Si-woo, the tentacles that had pierced them split open like spring flower buds.
Fwoosh!
Their bodies, torn apart like paper run through a shredder, rained down in pieces from all directions.
The foul, fishy stench of flesh, which had landed like snow on Si-woo’s cheek and shoulder, assaulted his nostrils like a potent perfume.
Kyaaaa-
With a low cry, the tentacles devoured the chunks of flesh and organs that had fallen to the floor.
As Ewin staggered back, dumbfounded by the grotesque, slovenly sounds of the meal, Martin roughly slapped his back.
“Snap out of it, you bastard! You want to die too?!”
Startled back to his senses, Ewin scrambled to Martin’s side like a chick.
Martin’s sharp gaze shifted to Si-woo.
However, there was a reason Martin had taken care of Ewin before the weaker Si-woo.
Unlike Ewin, who was in a state of panic from the shower of viscera, Si-woo had already taken out an artifact and was holding it in his hand.
It was less surprising than it was strange.
No, it was beyond strange—it was bizarre.
‘This bastard… what the hell did he do before? Does this even make sense?’
Anyone, yes, even a veteran of a hundred battles, would have found it hard to hide their agitation in the face of such an abrupt death.
Even Martin, who had survived several ‘harvests,’ had struggled to keep his wits about him just now.
But this man was different.
He was calm and composed to an unnatural degree.
As if he’d been surgically stripped of fear and terror.
Swallowing dryly at the sight of the blood-splattered Si-woo rolling the artifact in his palm as if it were a walnut, Martin spoke.
“There are no safe zones during the harvest. If you stay in one place for too long, you die! So we have to keep moving… Dammit! Ewin! The floor….”
He didn’t need to say more. Thanks to his Crisis Detection Talent, Si-woo had sensed the change in the floor even before Martin and had forcefully kicked Ewin in the back.
“Ugh!”
The moment Ewin tumbled to the ground from Si-woo’s sudden kick, the spot where he’d been standing split open, a maw flicking its tentacle tongue.
Having saved Ewin, Si-woo moved nimbly before the tentacles could target him.
An eerie chill ran up his spine and then through his entire body.
‘The left wall.’
The Crisis Detection Talent granted Si-woo a tactile sense for danger.
If a threat was on the floor, the hairs all over his body would stand on end, pointing in that direction. If a threat approached from behind, a sharp chill would prickle the back of his neck.
Was it because he could pinpoint which direction the tentacles were coming from?
Deciding it wasn’t a crisis worthy of using the artifact, Si-woo pocketed it and said.
“This way.”
As Si-woo took the lead, Martin followed closely behind, asking.
“You’re leading? Hey! You don’t even know the layout of the labyrinth!”
“Don’t worry. I may not know the layout, but I know where it’s safe.”
“How… is that possible?”
Si-woo smiled faintly and spoke in a soft tone.
“Have you forgotten it was a magician who sent me here?”
Martin’s expression stiffened at the heavily implied words.
“You… you have more than just an artifact, don’t you? You’re hiding something else.”
“Right now, survival is the priority, so let’s save the questions for later. Tentacles from the walls at nine o’clock and three o’clock simultaneously. Can you handle the ones at three o’clock with your spear?”
No sooner had Si-woo spoken than tentacles shot out from both walls, blocking their path of retreat.
Martin’s eyes flashed with a steely glint as he fiercely thrust his spear in a straight line.
With a sound that tore through the air, thousands of tentacles were bisected, collapsing to the floor.
As the thousands of severed tentacles writhed on the ground like worms, Ewin, overcome with disgust, instinctively stopped in his tracks.
Smack!
Without a word, Martin slapped Ewin across the face.
The unsparing blow burst the inside of Ewin’s cheek, and a trickle of blood ran from the corner of his mouth.
His mind clearing as if doused with cold water, Ewin met Martin’s gaze in silence.
Finally, Ewin gritted his teeth and followed Martin.
As he trudged forward, squashing the tentacle remains, Ewin glanced at Si-woo’s back.
‘Fuck, how can a human with no mana be so fearless? Is he insane?’
Ashamed and angry with himself, Ewin forced himself to get a grip.
After that, things went smoothly.
They were able to press forward somehow, with Si-woo calling out dangers in advance and Martin dealing with any threats they couldn’t handle.
Through this process, Si-woo marveled at the usefulness of his Crisis Detection Talent.
Without it, he would have died a hundred times over.
‘This… is incredible. It’s so useful, it’s hard to believe it’s only a 1-star Talent.’
The ability was practically no different from a certain movie hero’s spider-sense, which made Si-woo wonder.
He couldn’t understand how Anetium, despite having such a great Talent, had been so helpless against the humans.
However, Si-woo soon caught what he had been missing.
He realized that due to Anetium’s house-sized body and sluggish reflexes, it wouldn’t have been able to dodge even if it knew an attack was coming.
‘Ah, so I can use Crisis Detection far more effectively because my body is so much smaller than a Tarantula’s. Hmm… the Hall system of Barathrum. This thing is something else. It feels so good it’s almost unfair.’
Crisis Detection was an excessive Talent for a large, slow Tarantula.
In a way, it was like pearls before swine.
Then again, perhaps that was why the gods had granted Crisis Detection to the Tarantula.
Just like how an ant, despite having the physical ability to lift 30 or 40 times its own body weight, is still crushed under a human’s foot.
But the Hall, one of Barathrum’s systems, scoffed at such laws of the world and altered them to Si-woo’s liking.
Finally grasping the absurdity of what he held in his hands, Si-woo moistened his dry lips with his tongue.
‘Allowing a human to possess the wings of a bird and the strength of an elephant. So that’s what Barathrum is. Huh, now I understand why that magician is after me. And… I know he will never give up.’
After forcing his chaotic thoughts into order, Si-woo, who had been running until his mouth tasted of metal, rounded a corner and raised a hand to halt the group.
“Wait, there’s someone here.”
From the far end of the ravaged labyrinth passage, a woman with brown, straight hair came running with about half a dozen people.
Spotting them, Si-woo raised an eyebrow.
It was Rei, the boss of the Pure Tribe, along with Kyle and the other survivors, running toward them from the opposite direction.
Martin, who was behind Si-woo, waved his hand in greeting.
“Yo~ Boss! Team Leader Kyle. Glad to see you made it out alive.”
Kyle, who was following closely behind Rei, flinched when he saw Si-woo.
Their gazes met. The moment he saw Si-woo, Kyle cautiously caressed an object in his pocket.
Ignoring Kyle’s sticky gaze, Si-woo stepped forward with his characteristically friendly smile.
“I understand the desire to catch up and share stories… but the situation isn’t exactly ideal for that. How about you follow me? From now on, I will guide you to safety.”
Surprised by Si-woo’s composure and smile even in this filthy situation, but more annoyed by his absurd words, Rei asked again, her tone tinged with irritation.
“Guide us to safety? You? What kind of nonsense is that?”
Martin spoke up.
“Boss, this guy can tell where the tentacles will come out in advance.”
At those words, not only Rei but everyone, including Kyle, fixed their gazes on Si-woo like arrows.
As their distrustful eyes pressed down on him, Si-woo shrugged and casually stepped to the side.
And just like that, tentacles shot up like a fountain from the very spot where he had been standing.
Startled, Martin cursed as he sliced through the tentacles that had erupted from the floor and were now licking the air like the tongue of a giant beast.
“Damn it, could you give a little warning when they’re about to pop out? You nearly gave me a heart attack! Use your turn signal, please!”
Ignoring Martin’s whining, Si-woo said.
“As you can see, I have a rather special ability. So, even if you feel uneasy for now, I’d like you to follow me. Of course, I know it’s hard to trust me based on this one instance… but isn’t even an unreliable guide better than no guide at all?”
Along with his charming voice that pleasantly stimulated the eardrums, the corners of Si-woo’s eyes and mouth curved into a fan shape.
Perhaps because of his handsome features, it was a gentle smile that had a way of easing one’s tension, even in a frantic situation.
But why?
Others might not have, but Kyle could tell.
‘A poisonous mushroom.’
A repulsive smile, like a poisonous mushroom that looks beautiful but is deadly to consume.
No, in some ways, it was far more loathsome than a poisonous mushroom.
A poisonous mushroom is born that way, without a choice, but that smile was clearly crafted.
He was certain.
That smile, that charming voice—every single part of it was the result of countless hours of training to bewitch people.
‘Lee Si-woo…’
Kyle, who had been silently glaring at Si-woo, suddenly shuddered.
It was only for a moment, but he had met Si-woo’s smiling face head-on.
Seeing the black pupils, barely visible through the narrow slits of his smiling eyes, Kyle’s mouth went dry.
The eyes crinkled in a smile, yet the pupils within were barren, utterly devoid of mirth.
Feeling an ominous chill from that contradictory smile, Kyle instinctively touched the object in his pocket.
The box he had brought from the surface. Using the object inside as a talisman, Kyle spat on the ground and muttered inwardly.
‘Damn bastard…’
However, Kyle didn't realize.
Until the moment he spat his curse and looked away from Si-woo, Si-woo’s gaze had never once left him.
Tenacious, as if obsessed with his every single move.