Chapter 533: Escape Plan (6)

Translator: RaidenTL

Chapter 533: Escape Plan (6)

Ba-dum!

Even as my heart began to race, my mind went utterly still.

Corpses.

They were human corpses. And as he showed me this pile of corpses, the chief stood right behind me and told me all about them in his usual emotionless tone. These corpses were his village's biggest secret.

Ba-dum!

Even as a cold sweat began to trickle down my spine, I did my best to keep calm and gather my wits. The chief could have simply told me he didn't want to show me whatever was inside this building, yet he had gone out of his way to bring me here anyway. Which meant he probably wasn't going to just turn around and declare that I knew too much and had to die now.

"What are these corpses?" I asked, voice steady.

"You're calmer than I expected."

"There has to be a reason you'd show me this."

Of course, there was still the possibility that he lured me here to kill me. However, gut instinct was telling me that wasn't the case.

"You're quite intelligent. And correct. I felt that if I showed you this place, I could clear up some of your misunderstandings."

"Misunderstandings..."

I scanned the basement again. It was genuinely filled to the brim with mountains of corpses. However, something was off. In particular, the numbers didn't add up. Even killing everyone in the Silver Lion Clan wouldn't get you this many bodies.

"So who are these people?"

"I don't know."

"...What?" I blinked at him, silently asking him what the hell he was playing at.

"In truth, you aren't the first adventurers to come to this island. Others appeared here before you."

"But then why act like we were the first ones you ever met?"

"Ah, I should make one thing clear first. That wasn't an act."

Was he playing with semantics here?

I furrowed my brow, but the moment I went to retort, the chief added, "You were the first living adventurers I ever met."

"What do you mean?"

"Exactly as it sounds. These corpses were already like this when I found them. Their bodies were mangled, and their arms and legs tangled together. And no matter how much time passed, they didn't rot away. It was like time had stopped for them."

"So you picked up these corpses during the rainy season?"

"No. 'Picked them up' isn't inaccurate, per se... Their falling from the sky is unrelated to the rainy season. The intervals between each fall are much longer." The chief bent over and picked up the head of one of the bodies on the ground, staring at its half-rotten skull with his usual expressionless look. "At its shortest, the cycle is ten to fifteen years, but it can be thirty to forty years when long. Corpses like this fall from the sky on that approximate schedule. And I suspect that this phenomenon could be related to dimensional collapses."

"Dimensional collapses?"

"That's right. The cycles are similar, and one of the journals we recovered from one of these bodies had something about a dimensional collapse written down in it."

He pulled a journal out from his robes and handed it to me, explaining that I only needed to read the last page. Apparently, the other pages were so damaged that it was almost impossible to make out any of the writing.

I opened the book to the last page and read what was written there.

The entire world is crumbling and twisting around me. I think I understand why so many of the labyrinth's veterans call this a calamity. 'Disaster' doesn't do it justice.

Mulk died. Illiya died. Sir Swalki died, and Lady Kwiliane died as well. And I probably won't last long either.

No, I'll definitely survive and go home. I must relay the last words they left behind.

It was the last, determined entry in the journal of an adventurer who likely died shortly after penning it.

I could see why the chief went with dimensional collapse as the most likely culprit. The fact that the last entry in the book was about one was a pretty powerful clue.

Of course, that was another issue entirely.

"So why did you put all these corpses in this basement?" I pressed. "And why did you keep it a secret from us?"

"That part of the story is a little long." The chief waved his hand, and the monster warriors who followed us obediently retreated to give us space.

I mean, they can't even speak our language, so why did he send them out?

Despite the question burning in the back of my mind, I didn't ask him.

"These corpses meant a lot to me. Through their existence, I was able to tell that time was passing in the outside world, and through the records and journals that sometimes appeared with them, I could hear about some of the things happening outside as well."

"So?"

"I began doing research. Trying to figure out if they held even the slightest clue to escaping this damned place. However, I was met with disappointment. I tried everything I could, but these corpses were just regular corpses. The only thing special about them was that they were seemingly frozen in time."

And so, when his final attempt to send these corpses back to the first floor to make his presence known to the outside world failed, the chief stopped his research entirely. He then gathered up all the corpses and stored them down here.

He had given up for the moment because he lost motivation, but he held onto them just in case he could one day find a use for them.

"And then, you all came to the island, right after I had almost given up entirely. You were my final hope."

"So you decided to keep these bodies hidden from us?"

"You were already wary of us because of our monstrous appearance. If I showed you the corpses as well, I worried your misconceptions would overshadow your reason. Even if I had to tell you about this someday in the future, I would've done so as carefully as possible."

However, Amelia had ended up infiltrating this place and seeing what was inside, and he ended up having to tell me the whole truth.

That was the gist of it.

"Did that answer your question?"

"Who knows."

His story wasn't completely unbelievable. However, I also couldn't deny that there were a few parts that I wasn't satisfied with. The fact that he wasn't surprised when I talked to him about the outside world, the fact that he already knew time was passing before I even said so—if this story was true, then most of the questions I'd had about him would be resolved right here and now...

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

But it feels like the pieces were forced into place just well enough to barely make sense.

Come to think of it, there was a fundamental principle that seemed to hold up in all worlds: the best way to hide the full truth was to tell bits and pieces of it.

I opened the book to the last page and read what was written there.

The entire world is crumbling and twisting around me. I think I understand why so many of the labyrinth's veterans call this a calamity. 'Disaster' doesn't do it justice.

Mulk died. Illiya died. Sir Swalki died, and Lady Kwiliane died as well. And I probably won't last long either.

No, I'll definitely survive and go home. I must relay the last words they left behind.

It was the last, determined entry in the journal of an adventurer who likely died shortly after penning it.

I could see why the chief went with dimensional collapse as the most likely culprit. The fact that the last entry in the book was about one was a pretty powerful clue.

Of course, that was another issue entirely.

"So why did you put all these corpses in this basement?" I pressed. "And why did you keep it a secret from us?"

"That part of the story is a little long." The chief waved his hand, and the monster warriors who followed us obediently retreated to give us space.

I mean, they can't even speak our language, so why did he send them out?

Despite the question burning in the back of my mind, I didn't ask him.

"These corpses meant a lot to me. Through their existence, I was able to tell that time was passing in the outside world, and through the records and journals that sometimes appeared with them, I could hear about some of the things happening outside as well."

"So?"

"I began doing research. Trying to figure out if they held even the slightest clue to escaping this damned place. However, I was met with disappointment. I tried everything I could, but these corpses were just regular corpses. The only thing special about them was that they were seemingly frozen in time."

And so, when his final attempt to send these corpses back to the first floor to make his presence known to the outside world failed, the chief stopped his research entirely. He then gathered up all the corpses and stored them down here.

He had given up for the moment because he lost motivation, but he held onto them just in case he could one day find a use for them.

"And then, you all came to the island, right after I had almost given up entirely. You were my final hope."

"So you decided to keep these bodies hidden from us?"

"You were already wary of us because of our monstrous appearance. If I showed you the corpses as well, I worried your misconceptions would overshadow your reason. Even if I had to tell you about this someday in the future, I would've done so as carefully as possible."

However, Amelia had ended up infiltrating this place and seeing what was inside, and he ended up having to tell me the whole truth.

That was the gist of it.

"Did that answer your question?"

"Who knows."

His story wasn't completely unbelievable. However, I also couldn't deny that there were a few parts that I wasn't satisfied with. The fact that he wasn't surprised when I talked to him about the outside world, the fact that he already knew time was passing before I even said so—if this story was true, then most of the questions I'd had about him would be resolved right here and now...

But it feels like the pieces were forced into place just well enough to barely make sense.

Come to think of it, there was a fundamental principle that seemed to hold up in all worlds: the best way to hide the full truth was to tell bits and pieces of it.

His response also didn't answer my biggest question either.

"So you have nothing to do with the Silver Lion Clan's disappearance?"

"That's right. After all, what reason would we have to harm them?"

Hmm... what now?

This would've been so much easier if he'd just backstabbed me. Then I could have responded with "I knew it" and fought him to the death.

Instead, things had gotten quite complicated.

Should I just trust him on this, or should I not?

I had to think it over for a short moment, but the answer came to me quickly.

There's no way I can trust him.

You couldn't trust anyone in the world except your comrades.

All right, well, that's that, then.

What I had to do next was clear to me too.

"Since we hid this from you as well, I won't ask you to take responsibility for your ally breaking the rules of the village or the mistake you made as a result. How about it?"

I responded to the chief's attempt to smooth things over with a loud laugh.

No, to be more precise—

"What a relief. I'm glad we were able to sort everything out."

"Yes. It's good that your misunderstanding was... Huh?"

With a smile, I swung my hammer.

Bang!

An intense impact resonated through my hand as the hammer struck him on his head.

The wound created from this made him bleed all over the place.

At long last, an emotion cracked the chief's detached façade.

"...Why?"

He was too calm for me to call it rage, but he was too animated for me to call it apathy either.

He stared at me with eyes that were full of questions, so I decided to answer him.

The fact was, there were many parts of his story that I couldn't bring myself to trust, and it felt almost like he was buying time here. And something in my gut was telling me that if I gave him that time, he would end up using it to stab me in the back.

There was no reason to provide him with such irrational arguments, though.

After all, a single sentence sufficed.

"I don't like the look of you—that's why I hit you. You got a problem with that?"

A barbarian didn't need any other reason than that.

***

Was the chief my ally or my enemy? If he was an enemy, what was he scheming? Of the things he told me, which were true and which were lies?

There was no need to worry about complicated questions like that anymore. With a single swing of my hammer, this whole complex situation became much simpler. The chief and I were now unable to go back to the relationship we had before. So I would kill him right here and now, and if I failed to do so...

My allies and I will get out of this village.

It was a simple, elegant solution.

However, the chief was still staring at me like he couldn't follow my logic at all. "There was no reason for you to do something so extreme."

His response also didn't answer my biggest question either.

"So you have nothing to do with the Silver Lion Clan's disappearance?"

"That's right. After all, what reason would we have to harm them?"

Hmm... what now?

This would've been so much easier if he'd just backstabbed me. Then I could have responded with "I knew it" and fought him to the death.

Instead, things had gotten quite complicated.

Should I just trust him on this, or should I not?

I had to think it over for a short moment, but the answer came to me quickly.

There's no way I can trust him.

You couldn't trust anyone in the world except your comrades.

All right, well, that's that, then.

What I had to do next was clear to me too.

"Since we hid this from you as well, I won't ask you to take responsibility for your ally breaking the rules of the village or the mistake you made as a result. How about it?"

I responded to the chief's attempt to smooth things over with a loud laugh.

No, to be more precise—

"What a relief. I'm glad we were able to sort everything out."

"Yes. It's good that your misunderstanding was... Huh?"

With a smile, I swung my hammer.

Bang!

An intense impact resonated through my hand as the hammer struck him on his head.

The wound created from this made him bleed all over the place.

At long last, an emotion cracked the chief's detached façade.

"...Why?"

He was too calm for me to call it rage, but he was too animated for me to call it apathy either.

He stared at me with eyes that were full of questions, so I decided to answer him.

The fact was, there were many parts of his story that I couldn't bring myself to trust, and it felt almost like he was buying time here. And something in my gut was telling me that if I gave him that time, he would end up using it to stab me in the back.

There was no reason to provide him with such irrational arguments, though.

After all, a single sentence sufficed.

"I don't like the look of you—that's why I hit you. You got a problem with that?"

A barbarian didn't need any other reason than that.

***

Was the chief my ally or my enemy? If he was an enemy, what was he scheming? Of the things he told me, which were true and which were lies?

There was no need to worry about complicated questions like that anymore. With a single swing of my hammer, this whole complex situation became much simpler. The chief and I were now unable to go back to the relationship we had before. So I would kill him right here and now, and if I failed to do so...

My allies and I will get out of this village.

It was a simple, elegant solution.

However, the chief was still staring at me like he couldn't follow my logic at all. "There was no reason for you to do something so extreme."

"Oh! Really?"

"You care for your allies dearly. Putting them in danger like this isn't like you."

I didn't know what he was basing that declaration on considering he hadn't even known me for all that long, but I had no intention of sticking around to find out.

"Behel—aaaaaah!" I shouted my battle cry and swung my hammer down again.

Boom!

Unfortunately, the chief was ready this time and managed to block my hammer with his sword. However, it seemed that blow had served to finally drive home the fact that I was done talking. "You'll pay for making the wrong decision here," he vowed, his voice low and cold.

Man, that line didn't sound all that cool coming from someone with a fish head. Maybe he needed to take a look in the mirror before he went around acting all high and mighty.

Deciding to do him a favor, I pouted my lips like a fish and mimicked him in a nasal tone. "Wah, you'll pay for making the wrong decision here."

For some reason, his response was a beat late. "...You have lost your mind."

Hmm, well, he could flatter me all he wanted—that didn't mean I was going to go easy on him. Gripping my hammer with both my hands, I put more force behind my thrust, and the chief's sword started to inch back.

Since he's being pushed back when we're both using two hands, he loses to me in strength.

Perhaps coming to the same conclusion himself, the chief ended our deadlock and tilted his sword to deflect my attack to the side.

Bang!

The hammer fell to the ground with a thud. At the same moment, the chief's sword started to glow with a bright white light.

Vwoong!

This was the attack that killed a Hipramajent in one hit. From what I could tell, it was similar to an aura.

But there are too many skills in the labyrinth just like this one.

As a result, I had no way of knowing for sure what the skill he was using was, but to be honest, that was the least of my concerns right now.

[You have cast Iron Fortress. The effect of Evolving Shell has increased by 1.5 times.]

[You gain 75% resistance to bladed weapons.]

It was still just a bladed weapon in the end, right?

Clang!

The sword that had cut through the Hipramajent's head like tofu was blocked by my shield and deflected. And as for the shield itself...

I guess there's a small dent in it now?

Yeah, as always, there wasn't an opponent scarier than one's imagination. Now that I'd experienced his attack firsthand, I could say it was pretty manageable. Well, of course, that wasn't to say everything was smooth sailing.

Vwoong!

His Agility stat seemed to be much higher than mine, as none of my attacks except for my first one landed on him.

[You have cast Eye of the Storm.]

Even using Eye of the Storm, which was especially effective in a small space like this one, I only had a 30 percent chance of landing a hit.

Boom!

And when I did manage to hit him, he didn't take that much damage.

I think his Resistance is pretty low... Looks like his Regeneration is pretty good, though.

The biggest wound, the one I gave him with that first attack, had already completely healed. When I noticed that, I quickly reassessed my strategy.

I can't kill him here one-on-one.

I gave up on trying to kill the chief alone and changed tactics.

"Chief, do you know the top two ways to make someone mad?" I first asked a completely unrelated question to disrupt his flow of thought. He stared at me, baffled.

Shatter!

Just as he was trying to figure out what the hell I was talking about, I pulled out a Molotov cocktail from my sub-space and threw it on the mountain of corpses.

Fwoosh. Dash.

Then, I left the flaming pile behind and sprinted up the stairs.

"Behel—aaaaaah!"

It seemed the basement was pretty soundproof as there wasn't a single monster warrior waiting for me on the stairs, and I made sure to bust up the ceiling as I ran to block the chief's way.

Rumble, rumble!

This town wasn't going to win any awards for its architecture, that was for sure. All I had to do was give it a few whacks, and the entire underground chamber started to collapse in on itself like dominoes.

Boom!

I shook off the debris and rocks falling on me and plowed forward.

Bang!

Thirty seconds or so later, I burst through the trapdoor and escaped above ground. In the living room on the first floor, I found the monster warriors on standby with my allies, who were waiting for me to reemerge.

"Something must've happened down there! We need to go down—"

"(We need to check to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠see if the chief is okay—)"

Both groups stopped talking the moment they noticed me, their mouths falling open in surprise. The first one to recover their wits was Versyl.

"Uh... Mr. Yandel? What's going on right now—?"

What, you can't tell just by looking?

I'd destroyed as much of the basement as I could, but I was sure the chief would be up here any minute now, so I had no time to explain.

Anyone with a functioning brain cell would be able to understand what was going on in a second, anyway.

Crunch!

I bashed the head of the nearest monster warrior with my hammer and shouted, "We're getting out of this village right now!"

"Oh! Really?"

"You care for your allies dearly. Putting them in danger like this isn't like you."

I didn't know what he was basing that declaration on considering he hadn't even known me for all that long, but I had no intention of sticking around to find out.

"Behel—aaaaaah!" I shouted my battle cry and swung my hammer down again.

Boom!

Unfortunately, the chief was ready this time and managed to block my hammer with his sword. However, it seemed that blow had served to finally drive home the fact that I was done talking. "You'll pay for making the wrong decision here," he vowed, his voice low and cold.

Man, that line didn't sound all that cool coming from someone with a fish head. Maybe he needed to take a look in the mirror before he went around acting all high and mighty.

Deciding to do him a favor, I pouted my lips like a fish and mimicked him in a nasal tone. "Wah, you'll pay for making the wrong decision here."

For some reason, his response was a beat late. "...You have lost your mind."

Hmm, well, he could flatter me all he wanted—that didn't mean I was going to go easy on him. Gripping my hammer with both my hands, I put more force behind my thrust, and the chief's sword started to inch back.

Since he's being pushed back when we're both using two hands, he loses to me in strength.

Perhaps coming to the same conclusion himself, the chief ended our deadlock and tilted his sword to deflect my attack to the side.

Bang!

The hammer fell to the ground with a thud. At the same moment, the chief's sword started to glow with a bright white light.

Vwoong!

This was the attack that killed a Hipramajent in one hit. From what I could tell, it was similar to an aura.

But there are too many skills in the labyrinth just like this one.

As a result, I had no way of knowing for sure what the skill he was using was, but to be honest, that was the least of my concerns right now.

[You have cast Iron Fortress. The effect of Evolving Shell has increased by 1.5 times.]

[You gain 75% resistance to bladed weapons.]

It was still just a bladed weapon in the end, right?

Clang!

The sword that had cut through the Hipramajent's head like tofu was blocked by my shield and deflected. And as for the shield itself...

I guess there's a small dent in it now?

Yeah, as always, there wasn't an opponent scarier than one's imagination. Now that I'd experienced his attack firsthand, I could say it was pretty manageable. Well, of course, that wasn't to say everything was smooth sailing.

Vwoong!

His Agility stat seemed to be much higher than mine, as none of my attacks except for my first one landed on him.

[You have cast Eye of the Storm.]

Even using Eye of the Storm, which was especially effective in a small space like this one, I only had a 30 percent chance of landing a hit.

Boom!

And when I did manage to hit him, he didn't take that much damage.

I think his Resistance is pretty low... Looks like his Regeneration is pretty good, though.

The biggest wound, the one I gave him with that first attack, had already completely healed. When I noticed that, I quickly reassessed my strategy.

I can't kill him here one-on-one.

I gave up on trying to kill the chief alone and changed tactics.

"Chief, do you know the top two ways to make someone mad?" I first asked a completely unrelated question to disrupt his flow of thought. He stared at me, baffled.

Shatter!

Just as he was trying to figure out what the hell I was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠talking about, I pulled out a Molotov cocktail from my sub-space and threw it on the mountain of corpses.

Fwoosh. Dash.

Then, I left the flaming pile behind and sprinted up ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the stairs.

"Behel—aaaaaah!"

It seemed the basement was pretty soundproof as there wasn't a single monster warrior waiting for me on the stairs, and I made sure to bust up the ceiling as I ran to block the chief's way.

Rumble, rumble!

This town wasn't going to win any awards for its architecture, that was for sure. All I had to do was give it a few whacks, and the entire underground chamber started to collapse in on itself like dominoes.

Boom!

I shook off the debris and rocks falling on me and plowed forward.

Bang!

Thirty seconds or so later, I burst through the trapdoor and escaped above ground. In the living room on the first floor, I found the monster warriors on standby with my allies, who were waiting for me to reemerge.

"Something must've happened down there! We need to go down—"

"(We need to check to see if the chief is okay—)"

Both groups stopped talking the moment they noticed me, their mouths falling open in surprise. The first one to recover their wits was Versyl.

"Uh... Mr. Yandel? What's going on right now—?"

What, you can't tell just by looking?

I'd destroyed as much of the basement as I could, but I was sure the chief would be up here any minute now, so I had no time to explain.

Anyone with a functioning brain cell would be able to understand what was going on in a second, anyway.

Crunch!

I bashed the head of the nearest monster warrior with my hammer and shouted, "We're getting out of this village right now!"