97. Labyrinth
97. Labyrinth
Crunch— I stomped a bug crawling across the floor and clicked my tongue.
"Ugh, fuck."
"Bleeegh...!"
It had been roughly four hours since we started wandering the Labyrinth.
Four hours...? It wasn't exact, but since I'd swapped that thing out about twice, four hours was probably right.
"Hurk... huff... Hey, don't you think they're gross?"
Stella, who had already thrown up four times, staggered and let out a groaning sound.
"Not really."
"You're seriously not right in the head either... bleeegh!"
I'd said they weren't really gross, but they were gross. No, more than gross, they made me feel filthy.
It was because of the bugs crawling across the Labyrinth floor.
If they were ordinary bugs, I wouldn't feel this filthy, but these things were different.
First of all, they were big.
A locust body the size of a watermelon, with a human head... a head that imitated a human head attached to it.
A head with eyes, nose, mouth, ears—everything.
They couldn't speak, but they made a grotesque "graaah" sort of cry, or a "smack smack" lip-smacking sound, or a "clack clack" sound of teeth clashing.
On top of that, they had expressions.
When they spotted us, they smiled brightly as if they'd genuinely met fellow humans, and when I tried to kill them, they lunged at my ankles with terror-stricken faces to bite.
Their blood was dark red. The smell was fucking awful too. It got through Stella's purification magic. That was why Stella had thrown up for the fourth—no, now the fifth time.
Their name was Human-Faced Insect (人面蟲).
Monsters that only appeared in the Labyrinth, created by the hands of the Labyrinth.
Their purpose was to mess with the minds of humans who entered the Labyrinth, just like now.
In fact, the sounds they made affected human minds. So I'd told Stella not to listen to the sounds the Human-Faced Insects made when we encountered them.
Thanks to that, Stella and I only had our stomachs slightly turned while our minds stayed perfectly clear.
"Hurk... hic... bleeegh..."
Or not? Was I the only one with a clear mind?
I glanced back. Stella's eyelids were red. I couldn't tell if it was tears from retching or if she'd actually been crying.
"Even if you want to turn back now, it's already too late."
I handed Stella a tissue and let out a snicker.
"Hic... I know..."
"Then you should've listened when an adult told you."
"What are you talking about? Who's an adult? Your birthday's later than mine."
"You and I have different amounts of life experience."
"You stayed home every single day, and you're saying that...?"
Stella let out a weak "hmph," roughly wiped her tears, and sighed deeply.
"I have no idea which way to go... Do you?"
"Me neither."
"But aren't we being way too relaxed?"
"We're walking hard, aren't we?"
"No... Pina's in danger. But... can we really just keep walking like this without knowing the direction?"
"It's fine. Those bastards can't kill Pina."
"...How do you know?"
"I read a lot of books."
"If you don't want to tell me, just say you don't want to tell me. Do you have to answer so half-heartedly?"
"If I say I don't want to tell you, you'll just nag again."
"Nag... nag? When have I ever nagged?!"
Leaving behind Stella, who didn't even realize how much she nagged, I kept walking.
Even after walking for a long time.
No wind blew. The flow of Demonic Energy was faint, and the flow of Mana was stagnant. The only smells were the stench of sewage and the shitty fishy reek the Human-Faced Insects gave off.
There were no hints anywhere for finding the Labyrinth's path.
Still, as if to show that the direction we were heading wasn't wrong, the number of Human-Faced Insects blocking our way increased the further we advanced.
What had been crawling out one at a time became two, then three.
Now even groups that looked like whole extended families were crawling out.
Grandma, grandpa, dad, mom, son, daughter.
A Human-Faced Insect extended family crawling out with horrifyingly cheerful faces.
When Stella first saw that Human-Faced Insect extended family, she hesitated to kill them. So I killed them instead.
Thanks to that, my legs were still smeared with the blood of the Human-Faced Insect extended family.
"So... isn't it about time you told me?"
"Told you what?"
"Why you came to a place like this to find Pina. And... what kind of trouble you caused that some stranger I don't even know gave me that information. What you're going to do about Shivria, and who exactly is at the end of this Labyrinth..."
"You sure have a lot of questions."
"That's because you won't explain anything. How can you not explain a single thing? But still, right now, we're, you know? Companions in the Labyrinth together!"
After saying "companions," Stella's face flushed pink.
"Speak properly. I was going to tell you as soon as we entered the Labyrinth, but you immediately threw up all the food you'd just eaten—"
"Aaaah! Ah! Ah-ah!! Ah! Ah!! Don't say it!!!"
Stella's pink cheeks flared bright red, and she screamed "Gwaaaaah!" while clamping her hand over my mouth.
I immediately pushed her hand away and scrunched up my face.
"Ugh, fuck. Don't touch me with the hand you wiped your puke with."
"Wh-wha-what?! No! It didn't get on me! It's clean! Look! It doesn't smell either! I washed it clean with Cleanse magic!!"
"Does Cleanse make it all better? You have to scrub it squeaky clean with soap for it to count as washed."
As I said that, I remembered the strong body odor I'd smelled in Stella's room earlier.
This girl, no way.
"Hey, you. Then... no way, do you normally not bathe properly and just finish with Cleanse?"
Stella's expression went rigid.
"...No?"
"That's a yes. How often do you wash? Every few days?"
"I-I wash every day...?"
"Once every three days?"
Stella averted her eyes.
"Once every four days?"
Good lord.
"W-well... it's not like I have to bathe... Cleanse is f-fine. I wash my clothes once every three days too... Of course, I wash them right away if I sweat, but... um..."
"Good heavens. You wash once every four days...?"
Stella's body flinched.
I pinched my nose with my thumb and index finger.
"...Gross."
"Aaaaaah!!! I'm not gross!! I'm clean! I don't smell, and I change my underwear every day! This is just... yeah! It became a habit back when I was in Ge Vihenum, so I can't help it!!"
"Fine, just don't cling to me."
"I'm not gross!! I'm not grooooss!!!"
Stella, her face dyed bright red, flailed both arms.
"Wizards from the Magic Tower have no choice but to wash with Cleanse because of their research! And most people active on the front lines of Ge Vihenum do that too! So I'm not gross..."
"Wash properly. Change your underwear on time too. I'm saying don't wear your bra an extra day just because it doesn't smell. When I saw your laundry earlier, your panties and bra didn't match."
"Aaaaaah! Wh-wh-wh-wh-wh... when did you—when did you see that!!"
If I teased her a little more, Stella's face looked like it would explode. I giggled, stopped teasing, and stretched with a big yawn.
"Haaah— hnn... Feeling a little less tense now?"
"T-tense? I wasn't tense from the start?"
"Wow, impressive."
"Grr...! Stop teasing me! Is now really the time for that?!"
"You were so scared, so I helped you relax. Thanks to that, your dry heaving stopped too, didn't it?"
Stella raised an eyebrow, rubbed her chest a few times, then nodded very slightly.
"Yeah...? The stench feels weaker too?"
"Since your mind's settled, your Mana flow gets more precise, so your purification magic is easier to maintain."
"Hmph... I know that too, okay? That was just me talking to myself!"
"Sure. You're the best."
"I really hate you. You're annoying. You're insufferable."
"I hate you too."
I shrugged, tightened the bandages wrapped around my hands, and started stretching my stiff lower back by twisting side to side.
"Do you have Mana to spare?"
"Yeah. I'm full."
"Can you use 4th Circle magic proficiently?"
Stella narrowed her eyes.
"Of course."
"Be honest. If you're surprised or panicked, you could make a mistake, right?"
"...Honestly?"
"Yeah."
"A-a little? In a frantic combat situation... I'm still not confident. But that can't be helped! It hasn't even been a week since I reached the 4th Circle... A-any other Wizard would've struggled for a month, you know?"
"What if I protect you so they can't lay a single finger on you?"
"Huh...?"
Crack— pop— I loosened my stiff neck and rolled my shoulders. Thanks to this damn period, my aching body refused to loosen up.
"...Th-then, it'd be fine—no, it'd be fine."
"Good."
"Why are you suddenly asking that...?"
I finished stretching. I rummaged through my pocket, popped a peppermint candy into Stella's mouth, and said quietly.
"Prepare your strongest one. Time... hmm. In 30 seconds."
"What...?"
Leaving Stella with her dumbfounded expression, I turned my back. I steadied my breathing and sharpened my Mana.
The Mana flowing through my acupoints surged fiercely.
In the windless Labyrinth, cherry-blossom-colored hair fluttered.
And then.
[Grrr...]
A sound that seemed like it could only come from vocal cords pierced with hundreds of needles echoed from the far side of the Labyrinth.
"...Huh? That cry..."
Not the pathetic Human-Faced Insects that had appeared so far—a real Monster was approaching us.
A familiar stench filled the air.
The stench of reptiles mixed with a fishy smell.
"Reminds me of the Entrance Exam. Right?"
"Th-they don't seem like... ordinary Lizardmen?"
"Right. They're elites from the start. Count... five of them? Textbook."
Stella held her breath.
She gripped the staff hanging on her back tightly with trembling hands.
"Now 20 seconds."
"Wh-what do we do?"
"What do you mean, what do we do? I said prepare your strongest one."
"Can a mere 4th Circle spell kill elites in one shot...? Those things... are completely different from the Lizardmen we saw at the Entrance Exam."
"Who said kill them in one shot? If one shot doesn't kill them, then two, three, four. Just keep firing until they're dead."
"...But."
I clenched my fist and took one big step forward.
"Just like at the Entrance Exam, those bastards won't be able to touch you."
"...Okay."
The moment my words ended, Stella's Mana bloomed behind my back. Mana denser than an ordinary 4th Circle Wizard's tickled the back of my neck.
At the same time, —twang! A sound like a bowstring snapping rang out. Not an ordinary bowstring. A greatbow. At that sound, Stella sucked in a startled breath. As if her concentration had broken, her violet Mana wavered.
"Focus."
I.
Stepped in front of Stella. I raised my right arm lightly. I wrapped Aura around my hand. Clenched my fist.
Exhaled short and thrust it forward.
BOOM—!
The Aura coiled at the tip of my fist exploded outward. A massive sound shook the earth. The greatbow's arrow—an arrow so bizarrely huge it was closer to a spear shaft—embedded itself at my feet.
I'd meant to shatter it.
Tch, I clicked my tongue and checked on Stella.
She was deathly pale with her eyes squeezed shut, but her Mana was gradually stabilizing. It looked like her spell would complete in time with what I'd said.
I calmed my tingling arm and faced forward.
Their forms came into view.
Bright yellow reptilian eyes that gleamed with intelligence.
The power I felt from them seemed comparable to the Basilisk we'd faced at the Entrance Exam.
Five of those things in total.
[KKKKKRRRRRRRaaa―!]
"They really are different from the Entrance Exam."
Listening to their unpleasant cries, I wrapped Aura around my entire body once more.