Chapter 107
Chapter 107
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 107
Chapter Title: Nymph Cultist and Pluto's Underground Labyrinth
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Adventurers affiliated with the guild have their work broadly classified into three categories.
First, there are those who get paid in money and contribution points to escort people or subjugate monsters. So-called mercenaries would fall into this group as well.
Most of what these types do involves wielding weapons to kill or take down living creatures.
In a way, it could be called the primary business of the Mars Guild, which places great emphasis on primal violence. That's why the Mars Guild is overflowing with rough-looking mercenaries and the like.
Then there's the second category: investigation teams driven by the pursuit of uncharted landscapes and new discoveries. If we compare to old Earth, they'd be exactly like the explorers active from the 19th to 20th centuries.
These people roam across continents, treacherous valleys, and jungles to uncover the mysteries of this world that still hold so many secrets.
This is mainly the domain of the noble adventurers from the Minerva Guild. In fact, doesn't the "adventure" in adventurer fit perfectly with this?
Discovering new creatures, minerals, plants, and compiling bestiaries, or witnessing new terrain and expanding knowledge and maps—that's what adventure truly means.
Anyway, let's skip past that.
What I really want to talk about is that the third main job for adventurers is tomb raiding in the Pluto Labyrinths.
That's right. Tomb raiding in the labyrinths.
This is a hot pursuit for everyone, regardless of Minerva Guild or Mars Guild.
They scour the Pluto Labyrinths, slay the monsters slumbering inside, bring rare artifacts to the surface, and put them on the market. That's it, simple as that.
It's like the gold rush era when European powers tore apart every mountain—guilds and adventurers alike can't get enough of this jackpot work.
That was tomb raiding in the Pluto Labyrinths.
And as for me, Hassan.
Frankly, I'm a total newbie who hasn't even taken baby steps in mercenary work or exploration.
But when it comes to raiding Pluto Labyrinths, I could proudly say I knew as much as any Bronze Tier adventurer out there.
I'd followed Elfriede as a porter into those labyrinths over a dozen times, after all.
And from my experience, I could confidently declare this.
Having five people enter a labyrinth raid was blatantly inviting danger.
"So, Hassan of Samaria. Are you telling me now that we should drop one person?"
After I voiced my opinion, Hippolyte, who had been leaning against a corner of Sodomora's west gate, narrowed her brow.
She looked exhausted, like a teacher who'd just heard tattling from students. She clearly didn't like my suggestion.
"We have less than an hour until the labyrinth expedition departs. What nonsense is this all of a sudden?"
"You've been an adventurer for a long time, so you must know the Pluto Labyrinths well yourself, Lady Hippolyte. Seven or eight might be fine, but isn't five a bit risky?"
"Ah, Hassan. Now I get what you're saying. You're talking about the difficulty scaling with party size, right?"
"Yes."
As expected of a high-tier adventurer, she grasped my point immediately. The Pluto Labyrinths aren't just static structures—they're like living, organic body parts that move and breathe.
Because of that, the number of traps deployed and monsters that appear can increase based on the number of entrants.
If I had to compare it... well.
It's akin to dungeons in games where difficulty ramps up as your party size grows.
That's why even kingdom knight orders and large-scale expeditions can't conquer them. The more people, the exponentially harder it gets!
From what I knew, the thresholds for difficulty spikes were multiples of five.
So the difference between four and five people was huge—like switching from Easy to Normal mode, or Normal to Hard. Not an exaggeration at all.
The Mars Guild's upper echelons planning this expedition couldn't be ignorant of that. I had no choice but to question Hippolyte like I was protesting.
Her response?
"If raiding the labyrinth were easy, it wouldn't be karma—it'd just be a stroll. Where's the fun in that?"
"Fun...?"
"Exactly. Fun. Fun comes in many forms. The fun of slaughter. The fun of injury. The fun of growth. And the fun of rewards."
What the hell—fun in so many varieties? Fun in getting injured? Who's having fun getting hurt?
"Uh, well. Lady Hippolyte, you have a very broad perspective on fun."
"Perspective..."
Perhaps thinking my reaction was lukewarm, Hippolyte glanced around to check if anyone was listening, then continued.
"Samaritan. You seem to know a fair bit about labyrinths. Your opinion makes perfect sense. But you know one and don't know two."
"What don't I know?"
"As I said earlier, karma only has meaning if it's difficult. The harder the difficulty, the more karma accumulates in your body, elevating your human stage."
"You're saying higher difficulty means higher rewards?"
"Right, you're quick on the uptake—good. Five is actually the ideal number for raiding a labyrinth. Silver Tier adventurers like me, and heroes with gold necklaces, have always done it that way."
In Hippolyte's view, five was the perfectly balanced number for reaping big rewards from heightened difficulty.
It was, perhaps, utterly conventional wisdom.
But that only holds if all five are a tight-knit party and everyone pulls their weight.
Top, mid, jungle, bot, duo... when you're counting five like that.
"This expedition's participants were all carefully selected promising talents from the guild. As long as everyone plays their role, there won't be any problems."
Hippolyte replied with unnervingly casual ease and left.
* * *
It was still the chilly hour before dawn, with a hazy gloom lingering.
Four people were already waiting for me at the west gate.
The first I noticed was Luna, sitting slantwise on a massive luggage bag she'd set on the ground, looking around.
"Hassan! Over here!"
Seeing Luna waving enthusiastically made me feel a little relieved.
Better than diving headfirst into unfamiliar ground with no one I know. Starting with at least one ally is preferable.
"Everyone's here."
At Luna's words, I quickly scanned the faces gathered for this expedition. One armored dwarf. One witch with a short staff. And the nymph cultist Paranoya.
Gugit.
When our eyes met, I saw something like anger flicker in the cultist's crimson-tinged eyes. Why's she mad right off the bat? I wondered.
"Ah."
Then I remembered—Hippolyte had revealed that I was the one who subdued Skizo yesterday.
Even a dumb cultist would have enough sense to realize I wasn't a devotee of Pluto.
Did he feel betrayed or something?
Damn, bad vibes before we even start.
Like running into a teammate from last game who trolled, got flamed, and queued dodged—only to match again. Exactly that vibe.
The tension of not knowing what insane crap the guy I cursed out would pull this time.
Not just that—the stares fixed on my face made me feel like I was suffocating. Group project leader? Hate it.
"Ahem. Alright, then. Since we'll be together for days possibly, let's do introductions. I'm Hassan of Samaria. Somehow ended up as party leader this time."
I racked my brain for what else to say, but nothing came. Awkward silence fell, broken only by Luna clapping cheerfully like she was having fun.
Then, just like our first meeting, Luna shouted boldly.
"I'm Luna, daughter of Ideophe! The great daughter of the night, Luna—that's me! Nice to meet you all!"
"Hmm, from Ideophe, huh."
Unlike the tepid response to my intro, Luna's got a small murmur of admiration. It came from the Paranoya cultist, who'd been quietly glaring at me.
"If you're from Ideophe, do you know Somnia?"
"Of course! I bashed her head in! This obsidian dagger and talismans? Snatched 'em from Somnia."
"W-What?"
"Ahem, uh, alright, next. Who's next..."
No point riling up a party member cultist. Could end in disaster before we start, so I hastily interrupted Luna and the cultist to mediate.
"Next, you there, dwarf sir. Tell us about yourself."
"Me? M-Me?"
At my words, the dwarf—who'd been fiddling with his ox-horned helm—shuddered. Then he fidgeted like he was deeply embarrassed.
"Ahem, uh, self-introduction. Ahem... Ahem..."
He had a massive red beard and was armed with a huge double-headed axe, yet he seemed super shy?
"Having to introduce myself out of nowhere feels kinda indecent. Haha, what should I even say? Never thought about it."
"Just say whatever."
"Whatever, right, got it. Uh, I'm Didier, son of Trogzir. No girlfriend yet... M-My type is a woman like goddess Vesta. Broad-minded and warm like a hearth. The kind who doesn't nag if I'm holed up in the forge for two days, but brings meals right on time."
"Ah-."
What the hell—this half-pint suddenly yapping about girls? But in a world where people aren't used to intros, floundering makes sense.
Even I, veteran of countless group projects, never got comfy with awkward self-intro time.
"Height taller than me is fine, but weight's gotta be on the lighter side—"
Still, watching Didier ramble on about his ideal woman's figure made my heart sink.
We had three women in the party, and all shot him icy glares! This was going south fast!
"No, Didier, uh, what should I say. Got any special skills? Talents?"
"Ah, talents. Well... I like making pancakes. Real damn good ones. Drop some Basquir beehoney on Sodom Plains flour—delicious."
Pancakes, huh. Impressive skill!
But dude, then what's with the double-headed axe? Kitchen tool?
"Yeah, that should do it. Now the last one..."
Swoosh.
The long-haired sky-blue female mage. And the crimson-short-haired nymph. I pondered briefly, but the cultist's piercing glare was getting annoying.
"Next, nymph. Your turn."
"M-Me?"
The nymph cultist Paranoya jumped, clearly not expecting her name called.
"I-I need a bit to think. Uh, um... I'm Necromancer Paranoya... B-But once I can't use Lord Pluto's mana, I can't do necromancy anymore... S-So what am I? What can I do? What do you think?"
Why ask me? How should I know. Don't dump your intro on me.
Suddenly, I worried if this nymph could pull her weight in the dungeon. Hell, would she even sabotage us out of spite instead of playing her role?
Maybe we should've vetted more, I thought.
"Paranoya, we can check what you can do once we're in the labyrinth."
Luna, who'd been silently listening to intros, spoke up to the cultist.
"Check?"
"Yeah! Nymphs are loved by the gods, so you can do anything!"
"R-Really? You think?"
"And nymphs make great potion ingredients! If you don't know what to do, come to me! I'll use you well!"
"Eek!"
Shit, she's done for.
That left just one.
I decided to hear the last one's intro and end this bizarre PR time.
"Alright, you there, mage lady. Last up, your intro..."
"Hmph. I don't listen to those weaker than me. Remember that, barbarian."
What a BlackWarGreymon wannabe bitch.