Chapter 61
Chapter 61
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 61
Chapter Title: Labyrinth Conquest
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Rasiel's Garden. It looked like every single person stationed at Rasiel had turned out.
Scattered among them in stark contrast stood the members of Dante.
On the platform before the ornate fountain stood the kindly middle-aged man Alman and the sharp-featured Rohan side by side.
“Did you all sleep well last night?”
Alman’s voice echoed through the garden.
“…….”
He knew full well about the clash between Dante and Rasiel the night before, yet he asked anyway.
Unlike the uncomfortable reactions from Dante, Rasiel’s response was explosive.
“Yes, sir!”
The voice carried the crisp snap of iron discipline.
“Good.”
Alman seemed satisfied with that.
“Dante. I imagine you didn’t sleep deeply.”
Rohan was quick to follow, his low and solemn voice cutting in.
“The night before a hunt is always too exciting to contain.”
A smirk.
Rohan flashed a grin.
It sent a strange ripple through Dante and a peculiar tremor through Rasiel.
“A hunter gives his all even when hunting jackals. I see you not as hunters, but as true warriors.”
Thud!
Dante stamped his foot.
“You are the true warriors, the true blood of Demorus.”
“Gonna be.”
Someone muttered.
Even so, Rohan pressed on.
“Victory will be yours.”
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Dante’s stomps threatened to shake Rasiel’s garden to its foundations.
They shared the same roots, yet they were worlds apart.
“Alright, then.”
And today, they would face each other as enemies, weapons drawn.
“I’ll now announce the format of the exchange match.”
Exchange matches had always been decided by the hosting organization, based on proposals.
In cases like this, it was standard for Rasiel to set the format.
“As you know, for this exchange match, Dante has chosen the format.”
But this time was different.
Rasiel had wanted to give the candidates time to prepare, and in exchange for that time, Dante had claimed the right to decide the format.
It felt potentially disadvantageous, yet struck a strange balance.
“What’ll it be?”
“Team battle?”
“One-on-one?”
“Tournament?”
People murmured in anticipation of the format.
Gulp.
At this moment, every candidate stared at Rohan, tension etched on their faces.
Everyone but two.
Smirk.
Damus and Sein excepted.
“It’s a labyrinth conquest.”
“……!”
Labyrinth.
“A labyrinth…?”
“They’re making the candidates conquer a labyrinth?”
A stir rippled through the regular members.
Even among the three great organizations like theirs, conquering a labyrinth required deploying multiple combat units.
It wasn’t something a handful of candidates could just waltz through.
“…….”
Dante’s mood had grown heavy too, it was true.
That was the weight of the name labyrinth.
Not because its interior was some hopelessly tangled maze.
-It was a place you entered and never came out of.
That level of danger was why it was called that.
But something felt off.
“Pfft.”
“Heh heh.”
Laughter drifted from one side.
“Have they lost their minds?”
Dante’s candidates scowled at Rasiel’s reaction.
Were they so terrified of the labyrinth’s name that they were scared witless?
“Kekeke.”
Rasiel’s candidates leaked eerie chuckles, struggling to stifle them.
“Dante!”
Rohan shouted.
“Feeling unsure?”
And the answer to that was set in stone.
“We’re confident!”
The lives they’d lived, the time they’d spent.
Everything they’d received from Dante.
With all that, there was nothing they couldn’t overcome.
“Any objections from Rasiel?”
Rohan turned to Rasiel.
“Well, hell gets easier after a few rounds.”
“……?”
One of Rasiel’s candidates muttered something incomprehensible.
Clap!
Alman clapped, silencing the crowd.
“Alright, then. We’re heading out to the selected labyrinth. Everyone, finish prepping and gather up.”
*
*
*
A labyrinth conquest was something that had scarcely ever happened in Demorus history.
More precisely, it was rare as an exchange match format.
The three great organizations had used it to settle disputes among themselves, pouring their efforts into it.
That made the labyrinth conquest a time-honored and meaningful format.
“I can already hear the screams.”
Before the labyrinth.
“If you’re gonna beg for mercy, do it now.”
Dante called out to Rasiel’s candidates.
“Once you’re inside, it’ll be too late.”
“What’d you say?”
The candidates cupped their ears like Sein.
“Whew, back here again.”
“Again? They’ve been acting like they’ve been inside before.”
“Pathetic.”
Dante saw Rasiel’s reactions as childish bravado, desperate not to lose face.
“What’s the rating here?”
“Gray.”
“Ah…. Gonna take a month, huh.”
“But maybe we’ll get out quicker this time.”
To Rasiel, Dante was already beneath notice.
“…….”
They just chattered among themselves, spouting cryptic nonsense.
“Don’t get riled up.”
Damus soothed them.
“Have you forgotten the humiliation you suffered from getting shaken by cheap taunts like this?”
“Damus….”
“It’ll be soon enough.”
There.
The rippling blue waves of light marked the labyrinth’s entrance.
“Humiliation…”
Smirk.
Damus’s lips curled in a vile sneer.
“We’ll repay it in there.”
Nod.
“Save your rage.”
Damus strode through Dante’s candidates like he was Rohan himself, doling out words.
Pat, pat.
Tapping shoulders as he went.
“Rage shines brightest when unleashed at the right moment.”
He passed them all, a satisfied look on his face.
Come to think of it, something had been nagging at him.
Since last night, Sein hadn’t been fully visible.
“Yawn.”
Then, a yawn leaked from among Rasiel’s candidates.
“Why’s that guy so down?”
Rasiel’s candidates didn’t bother watching Dante’s eyes, but they were definitely watching Sein’s.
“……Kinda unsettling.”
“It’s that lich bone from last time.”
Lich bone?
“Kid chewed it up and got sick or something….”
“The lich bone?”
“Crazy…. The thought to even eat that….”
More incomprehensible talk.
“They chased him like a rat from dinner till morning before he calmed down.”
“Ah. We’re screwed.”
Rasiel seemed to steel themselves for something.
“Let’s end this quick.”
“Yeah. Quick.”
And that’s when it happened.
“Is everyone ready?”
Rohan and Alman stood side by side, addressing the candidates.
“As you know, once you enter the labyrinth, no aid from outside is allowed. Everything that happens inside is off-limits for discussion, and to achieve the goal and survive, anything goes.”
The lightened mood grew heavy again.
Yes, this was it.
This was what they must never forget.
“Whether you kill or not, just do whatever. Why drag it out?”
The essence of the underworld.
Sein stepped forward from the candidates.
“Let’s wrap this up fast. This time I’ll yank every hair off that parasite’s head.”
“Commence entry.”
*
*
*
Rasiel entered the labyrinth first.
It was Dante’s concession, having chosen the labyrinth conquest format.
Entering first held an advantage, so this was Dante giving Rasiel a slight edge.
“Rasiel all entered. Confirmed.”
One of Rasiel’s members signaled.
Now.
“Dante.”
Thud!
“Enter.”
Dante’s turn.
Faces hardened with resolve.
Armored not like underworld denizens, but like battlefield soldiers.
Fierce determination boiling over.
Clank, clank.
Dante advanced toward the labyrinth with heavy steps.
“Priority one: Kimo enters.”
The plan was already set.
‘Rasiel’s lot won’t know what hit them the moment they step inside.’
The mana density inside differed from outside.
The far higher concentration overwhelmed the untrained.
Smirk.
Only Dante, with their rigorous training, would adapt quickly.
Even so, leading with master-class main family scion Kimo was for.
“Secure the path.”
To guard against any surprise Rasiel attacks.
“Midway, Vita.”
And Damus would enter last.
Twelve in total.
Dante’s garden candidates filed in, team by team.
Shh.
Watching them vanish, tension eased instead.
This bizarre pressure would soon lift.
‘That place is my battlefield.’
Where Damus Demorus would be fully reborn.
-Damus.
Rohan had tipped him off in advance, only to him, about the labyrinth conquest.
-The underworld tackles labyrinths because they’re that dangerous.
Labyrinths were heir territory, not candidate turf.
A privilege granted to Damus, who’d had no such training in the organization.
-But the real reason is different.
Clank.
-In the labyrinth…
Yes, in the labyrinth.
-You can obtain treasures that awaken blessings.
Vmmm!
Before he knew it, Damus stood at the rippling labyrinth entrance.
Everyone else had entered.
And by stepping in, he would be reborn.
By fully awakening his last weakness: his blessing.
Thud.
He took a step.
Damus’s world began to shed its skin.
Colors and lines swapped, the boundary between life and death crumbled.
The faint light faded into thick darkness.
Thud!
The labyrinth’s mana pressed down on his body.
“Urk.”
But like in training, Damus regulated the mana, senses returning.
And.
Roar!
What he saw was a world ablaze.
“……?”
The labyrinth entrance held few dangers.
No monsters, no traps.
Which meant.
“You fuckers!”
“Damus-!”
Vita’s voice echoed from midway in.
A scream near hysteria.
“It’s Rasiel! They’re here!”
Clang!
Shadows flickered through the flames.
There stood grinning faces.
“Welcome.”
Rasiel’s candidates.
“First time in a labyrinth?”