The Barrier Dissolves
The ground rumbled. Thud. Crash.
“Everyone, stay alert!”
Hearing Victor’s shout, I steadied myself to keep from falling. After defeating Efusio and receiving all the rewards, the terrain seemed to be shifting once more.
‘Yeriel. Yeriel, can you hear me?’
I waited a moment after speaking, and Yeriel replied in a rush.
—Aren!! Are you safe? You’re not hurt, right?!
Listening to her worried, adorable voice, I felt the exhaustion in my body and mind melt away in an instant.
‘Don’t worry. I didn’t get injured badly enough to need healing or potions.’
I glanced around.
“Not only did we survive, we even gained traits! I can’t wait to return to the city and get them verified at the cathedral!”
“We really hit the jackpot. …Still, I think I’ll need at least a month or two to rest in the city.”
“Yeah. Even though that thing’s dead, its creepy face and cries are still vivid in my mind. Forget the labyrinth—I need a break. At this rate, I’ll be too scared to even step onto the first floor as an adventurer.”
“Alright, enough with the gloomy talk! Everyone, return to your parties and focus on getting back to the city!”
‘Thanks to our joint success in defeating the floor guardian, everyone’s laughing and chatting now.’
—I’m so glad…
‘What about you and Lumia? Any trouble while I was gone? It’s already been several hours since we got trapped here and started fighting.’
I checked the cheap watch I’d bought at the general store. Whew—during the battle everything had moved so fast I hadn’t noticed how much time had passed.
—Yeah! Aren, you remember that obvious white barrier that appeared in the central area, right?
That it did. I could still vividly recall the halfing whose eyes had rolled back as he tried to run out, only to burn to death the moment he touched it.
—So we were just pacing around anxiously. Then the floor guardian showed up, and the terrain that had been shifting and rumbling… turned out to be…
Turned out to be what?
—A bunch of the paths on the first floor had been altered so that walking them would lead you straight to the central area! That’s why there are tons of adventurers gathered outside the barrier right now, besides us.
What? I’d only expected people to gather because they could see the barrier—I never imagined entire paths would reroute here. If adventurers who were already in the central area had been randomly teleported in pairs from nearby parties, that meant at least twenty separate parties—maybe more—were now clustered outside in groups of three or four.
And that wasn’t all. Some parties had probably come simply out of curiosity about the anomaly on the first floor after spotting the barrier from afar, not because they were searching for missing members.
‘Are you two really okay? With just the two of you looking like that, I doubt every adventurer out there will just look the other way.’
Our party only had two people, and neither of us had the gear or presence of mid-floor adventurers. Maybe they’d avoided us because of Lumia’s Arar curse?
We’d been trapped inside, fighting for our lives together. I just hoped no one outside was causing trouble.
—Heh, calling us beauties is embarrassing. You’re such a charmer, Aren!
Yeriel giggled for a moment before clearing her throat and continuing.
—A few people tried to pick a fight, but Lumia stepped up, and some of the forcibly split parties had strong, level-headed members, so it was fine.
I could roughly guess which parties she meant.
‘Whew. That’s a relief. Anyway, I got it. I don’t know how it looks from out there, but the barrier’s fading right now. You’ll be able to see us soon, so just wait a little longer.’
—Hup. I figured things were resolved when you suddenly sent a message, but this is great news! …Ah. People are starting to move after seeing the barrier grow faint!
I called over Victor, Laysia, and Heinz, who were still excitedly examining their unique items.
“The reason I gathered the three of you is because I have a means of communicating with my party members within a certain radius.”
I shook my head once and pointed at the barrier.
“Since the floor guardian has been defeated and all rewards distributed, the barrier should disappear soon now that it’s fading.”
I gestured at the ground and walls.
“Apparently the paths on the first floor have been restructured to converge on the central area… which means countless adventurers—including those from your original parties—are waiting just ahead.”
Heinz frowned and spoke up.
“The barrier is still fading as we speak. The moment it vanishes completely, things are going to get chaotic.”
Adjusting his glasses, he continued.
“Adventurers are the type to cling to profit and pride. In situations like this, even a minor dispute can easily escalate into a full-blown fight.”
He stroked his chin, thinking, then shook his head.
“Our parties and the martial artist’s group are probably mediating with force for now, but… if dozens of adventurers pour out all at once the second the barrier disappears…”
It would be absolute pandemonium.
“So what I’m suggesting is—since we’ve all fought together—wouldn’t the three of you, being the strongest here, be able to maintain order if you stepped in?”
For example, Laysia making an example of one or two people, Victor using his Barbarian’s Roar, Heinz deploying earth magic, and so on. Draw everyone’s attention, establish an order, send them to rejoin their parties, then disperse them down their respective paths.
After roughly explaining and asking for their cooperation, all three nodded.
“Fine! I was planning to rest at the shelter today anyway. I can handle something like that.”
“Very well.”
“I’ll help too!”
The effect of the Prison of Gathering has completely ended and it has disappeared.
A murmur rippled through the crowd.
“The way’s open! We can leave now!”
“Out of the way! I’m sick of the first floor. I’m going first!”
Victor has activated Barbarian’s Roar.
“Uwooooooooh—!”
Kwaaaaaah!
“Ghk.”
“Aaaagh!”
Ignoring the few who foamed at the mouth, Victor looked around and spoke.
“We went through the trouble of defeating the floor guardian and even received our rewards. There’s no way I’m letting some punks who did nothing but show up at the end cause trouble and ruin everything.”
Thud! Victor slammed his greatsword into the ground.
“Everyone. Under the mediation of the three of us, you will exit one by one, rejoin your parties, and then leave. Understood?”
He glared menacingly at the crowd.
“If anyone has objections or complaints, step forward now instead of whining later. …No one? Then I’ll take that as everyone understanding.”
He gave me a nod, declaring that I would go first.
‘No resistance. Good.’
One-Hit Wonder
Malice
Crouching Bear
“You there. If you’re going to wait up ahead, I told you to stay quiet. Do you find other adventurers amusing?”
“Yes, yes. When a mid-floor adventurer speaks, us first-floor folks should shut up and listen!”
Smack!
The man who had grabbed me tried to play it cool as he spoke.
“I came because I’d never seen anything like this on the first floor and thought there might be something to scavenge, but it’s just a bunch of kids. …Hey, brats! It’s open! Let’s go up!”
What the hell?
“You go too. The sooner everyone’s out, the faster Victor and Heinz can rejoin their parties. I won’t ask what happened inside—that’s for them to tell.”
A stern-looking middle-aged priest mediated, then addressed me. So he was part of Heinz and Victor’s party.
I bowed my head in thanks and walked toward the two girls who had been watching me with worried eyes.
Thud.
“Ugh, I was first.”
Lumia hugged me without hesitation.
“I was lonely. Are you hurt?”
“Uh, I’m fine. More importantly, everyone’s watching—can you let go for now?”
I understood her joy—without me her curse would flare up again—but the stares from countless adventurers were painful.
“Okay, I was just so happy that—”
Lumia suddenly sniffed the air, ears perking up.
“…A strange woman’s scent. Who is it?”
“Wh-what?”
Yeriel looked startled.
Without missing a beat, I opened my mouth.
“A lot happened inside… I’ll tell you on the way. Let’s get out of here first.”
Both of them nodded.
We slowly made our way through the crowd of adventurers.
Alright, time to move quickly.
Two portals came into view.
It had taken several days to reach the southernmost portal. It felt strange that my first voluntary labyrinth expedition—excluding the forced intrusion into the third floor—would end on the first floor. But my armor was in poor shape, and I needed time to get used to my new equipment.
“Let’s go.”
Finally… my first return from the labyrinth.