I Received a Confession(?) from the Abandoned Priest
The labyrinth always exceeds expectations by a ridiculous margin.
You know what I mean. Information piles up until it becomes statistics, and those statistics eventually harden into accepted fact.
But the reality now staring me down was nothing short of devastating.
“Didn’t the books say a Venom Ent only has five cores at most?!”
It was information taken straight from Dungeon Strategy Guide for Every Floor!, a book every explorer reads.
Yet the number of green cores embedded in the creature’s roots was...
“Twelve is way too many!!!”
The labyrinth had clearly decided to kill me. My luck must have hit rock bottom the moment I was turned into a woman.
“Kyahahahahat! I’ll pop you too—!”
There was no time to stand around in shock. The person next to me was already causing chaos.
“Lucia! Watch the branches! They’re venomous!”
“Kihohohohuhit—!!!”
Lucia’s eyes had completely rolled back. Golden mana wrapped her fists as they crushed the Venom Ent’s massive trunk. Every thud and crunch sent hard bark exploding outward.
“Listen to me! Please!”
But Lucia didn’t seem to hear a single word. She didn’t even look like she wanted to.
A bizarre constitution that converted fear into aggression once it passed a critical threshold. I still had no idea how anyone could call someone like her a priest.
“Damn it! Those baby birds earlier were the same. Is going berserk some kind of trend lately?!”
I had no choice but to close in on the Venom Ent. We had come too far to abandon her now, and I didn’t want to waste the three-gold Green Herb Mina had prepared for me.
‘Anyway, with Lucia drawing its attention, this is my chance!’
Wind Blade
A sharp green aura swirled over the dagger’s blade.
Shuk—!
It sliced through the branch and stabbed the core hidden inside with perfect precision. With a clear ring, one core vanished.
Lucia’s contribution was just as impressive. Her healing mana acted like a lethal poison against the Venom Ent.
‘Forcing toxic tissue to normalize?’
Cells that should have been rotting were forcibly regenerated. The bio-energy exploding out in the process brutally crushed the monster’s own body.
‘It’s such a weird method, but the effect is way stronger than I expected.’
While Lucia tore up the front lines, I slipped through the gaps and cut the cores.
One.
Two.
Three.
Every time a core burst, the Venom Ent let out a grotesque shriek.
Kuuuuuuu—!
But Lucia was far too excited. She kept pushing deeper, advancing all the way to the base of the tree.
“Pull back! I need time to harvest!”
Even my warning went unheeded. She only laughed and smashed more branches.
“Dieee!!! Dieee!!! Huhuhihihit!!!!!”
“Listen to me!!!”
We bickered like that while destroying about seven cores.
Kuuuung!
Suddenly the air grew heavy. The remaining five cores began flashing in unison.
‘Berserk mode?!’
It was a common trait among most boss-class monsters. Once their vitality dropped below a certain point, they grew ferocious and unleashed powerful skills.
Based on the Dungeon Strategy Guide for Every Floor!, I guessed...
“Lucia! Hold your breath! It’s about to release poison mist!”
My prediction was correct.
Pssssshhhhh—!
Poison mist sprayed from the remaining cores all at once. Thick smoke swallowed the forest in seconds.
“Ugh!”
A powerful shockwave slammed into us at the same time. Lucia and I were sent flying helplessly deeper into the woods.
“Krrgh…!!!”
“Kyaaak!!”
“Urgh…”
After rolling across the ground several times, I finally regained my balance.
“Cough…”
My throat felt like it was on fire. My eyes stung and my lungs screamed with every breath.
The poison emitted by a boss monster from the second-floor poison-mist forest was beyond imagination.
‘Damn it… even breathing hurts…’
With trembling hands I searched the bag at my waist. The wet cloth Mina had given me met my fingers. I quickly pressed it over my mouth and nose, taking small breaths.
“Hoo… Hoo…”
The pain squeezing my lungs continued, but it was better than nothing.
‘Where’s Lucia?’
In the distance I spotted her collapsed on the ground, eyes spinning. I endured the pain and walked over.
‘No visible external injuries… That’s a relief.’
I forced the cloth over her mouth as well.
“Mmph, mmph…!”
“Breathe through it! Don’t pass out!”
Lucia thrashed for a moment before her eyes focused. The madness had vanished, replaced by a face pale with fear.
As the thick mist began to clear, she tearfully poured out apologies.
“I-I’m sorry…! I’m really, really sorry…!”
I swallowed my anger and gripped her shoulder hard enough to bruise. Lucia flinched and shut her mouth.
“If you rush ahead on your own one more time, I’ll abandon you for real. Understand?!”
“Uuuu…!!!”
I wasn’t bluffing. In the labyrinth, an uncontrollable party member was a walking disaster.
“Uuuu… Yes…”
Lucia nodded, looking like she might burst into tears at any second.
I turned and examined the area ahead.
Kuo0000—!
The Venom Ent roaring in the distance was still perfectly intact.
‘Five cores left. It’s berserk, but not impossible to destroy.’
For an efficient fight, we needed clear roles.
I glared at Lucia and gave the order.
“I’ll target the cores. You draw its attention from the front.”
Lucia was far better suited for the vanguard. The bizarre combat instinct that awakened when her fear reached its peak, the power to gather healing mana in her fists and directly destroy toxic tissue—it was practically a natural counter to the poisonous monsters of the second floor.
Lucia stared at me in shock, eyes wide.
“But I’m a priest?!”
“Where the hell do you see a priest?!”
Lucia closed her mouth. After watching her smash tree trunks with her fists moments ago, she clearly had nothing to say.
“Listen carefully. One mistake and we’re finished. It’s already too late to run. Got it?”
“Y-yes…!”
“While I’m aiming for its cores—”
“I just need to hold it back, right?”
“Exactly. You’re quick on the uptake when you’re sane.”
“Uu… Hehe…”
“That wasn’t a compliment!”
“Ueeee…”
Lucia hung her head, looking dejected.
It really was a strange combination. Not long ago I had been scraping the bottom, and now I was commanding the party while the priest played main tank.
Still, this was the best we could manage right now.
KUO000000000!!!
That was when the Venom Ent began moving again. Its roots tore through the earth, slithering toward us like snakes.
Creak— Crunch—!
“Alright! Since it’s come to this, let’s go all out!”
“Yes!”
Lucia bit her lip. A bizarre golden light began swirling in her eyes once more.
The decisive battle had begun. For the first time, we executed a proper coordinated attack.
Lucia drew the Venom Ent’s attention from the front.
“D-don’t come…!”
Tears welled in her eyes and her voice shook, yet her feet never retreated.
Then her fist flew.
Thud!
“N-no… come closer…!”
Thud thud!
“No, don’t— hi… hihihihihihit……!!”
“Get a grip!!!!!”
“Ah, yesss!!!”
Her screams were desperate, but her fists were reliable. The moment golden mana pierced the trunk, the Venom Ent’s toxic tissues burst from within.
I didn’t miss the opening.
‘Basic Tactics: Wind Blade.’
Wind Blade
My vision cleared and I began reading its attacks. I sliced through obstructing roots with Wind Blade and charged in.
Slice—!
The dagger cleared branches and cut the core inside.
One.
Two.
Three.
Each destroyed core gave Lucia more confidence. She seemed to realize she was no longer dead weight.
“Lucia! Left branch!”
At my shout she twisted reflexively.
“Hiyah!”
Her golden fist smashed the left branch. With a crunch, the hidden core was exposed. I leaped into the opening and sliced it in one clean stroke.
“Good! That was perfect!”
“Heh… R-really?!”
“It was! Keep hitting it!”
“Y-yes!”
Finally the last core revealed itself at the center of the massive trunk.
I pushed Wind Blade to maximum output.
“This is the end!”
CRAAAAAACK!!!
The green aura tore through the heart of the poison tree. A gigantic green core emerged from within.
“Lucia! There!”
“Hut…?!”
Her face was still terrified, lips trembling. But her eyes remained steady.
“That’s an order!”
Lucia’s ears perked up. Golden mana surged explosively around her fist.
“Smash it——!!!!”
And then,
“DIEEEEEE!!!!!”
BOOOOOOM—!
Her fist slammed directly into the core. The impact rang through the forest.
Crack…
CRAAAAAAAAACK———!!!
The center of the Venom Ent began to collapse. Its branches drooped powerlessly. The massive poison tree slowly lost balance and crashed down.
THUD—!
The ruler of the second floor.
Venom Ent subjugation: success.
The forest after the battle was eerily quiet.
Lucia and I stood without speaking for a long time. Then, as if by agreement, we both collapsed to the ground at the same time.
“Haa… Ha…”
My entire body screamed in protest. Fighting a floor boss in this feminized body really had been too much.
“Wow… We actually beat it.”
I turned to look at Lucia. She was staring blankly at her blood-soaked fists.
“You’re pretty amazing, you know.”
“Heh… That’s the first time anyone’s ever said that to me…”
She smiled happily, her face stretching into a silly grin.
I stood and began collecting loot from the Venom Ent’s corpse—its magic stone, sap, rare roots, and core fragments.
‘This is a huge success financially.’
Even old branch chief Gallidus would have to shut his mouth when he saw this much loot. Of course, it still felt cheap compared to the price we had paid with our lives.
We began the trek back to the surface.
Lucia stuck close behind me, fidgeting and constantly watching my expression.
“What? If you have something to say, say it.”
I refused to ignore the uncomfortable gaze.
Lucia flinched and twiddled her fingers.
“I-it’s nothing…! It’s just… I don’t know if it’s okay for someone like me to say this yet…”
“What is it? Stop being so frustrating and just tell me.”
Lucia lifted her head and looked me straight in the eye.
“Um… Miss Nixie.”
“I’m about to explode from frustration, so can you please get to the point?”
“W-would you…”
Her voice trembled slightly.
“Would you… go out with me…?”
…?
“What the hell is this now?”