No.50 Transfer Labyrinth (1)
I'd briefly wondered if the Totem's performance was surprisingly underwhelming, but this time it seemed Dang Gyu-young had nailed it. Anyone else wearing it probably would have walked right past me without a second glance.
"Hey, you're getting some mileage out of that suit today, huh?"
"I'm fond of all-black, as you know."
"Mm, it's got something?"
But for all her teasing, Dang Gyu-young seemed genuinely pleased, circling around Battle Suit Kim Ho with a delighted grin.
"......Hm?"
Then she suddenly froze, grabbed my arm, and pulled it toward her, staring down in silence. More precisely, at the Cumulus Cloud Bracelet on my wrist. Against the all-black outfit, the white band did stand out rather conspicuously.
"......Kim Ho."
"Yes, unnie?"
"......Why is the bracelet white?"
Her eyes bore into me, demanding answers. The warm, cozy atmosphere was chilling fast.
I decided that owning up candidly beat evading or making excuses.
"I swapped it, just this once. The effects are different."
"Wait, wasn't that a couples item?"
"They come in pairs."
"Who did you swap with?"
"Seo Ye-in."
"......"
Dang Gyu-young's lips jutted out in a pout. Then, sulking outright, she demanded,
"And what do I get?"
"Shall we get a matching set too?"
"We really should."
"Let's think about it later."
Items like that didn't just spring into existence because you wanted them. Seeing Dang Gyu-young's anger ease a little, I swiftly changed the subject.
"So, about tomorrow's dungeon—"
"Smooth subject change. Very slick, very slick."
Dang Gyu-young gave my shoulder a light slap, then faced me with a sulky expression and asked,
"......Tomorrow's dungeon, what?"
"I need to supplement the strategy guide."
"By all means, go ahead. Wait, you can actually do that?"
"I can."
I'd only brought it up because it was possible in the first place. The revisions had been finished ages ago.
I pulled out a stack of paper slightly thicker than Seo Cheong-yong's official strategy guide. Dang Gyu-young took it and flipped through it with a brisk whir of pages.
"This is way better."
If the original guide had mapped out some thirty to forty percent of the Transfer Labyrinth, this one covered seventy percent or more. It even addressed all the corners the first version had skipped over, making it far more polished in every respect.
The reason it wasn't a hundred percent was that I'd deliberately left some of it out.
Give them only what they need.
The Subjugation Force's goal was to reach the boss room as efficiently as possible. Burying them in details about hidden pieces would only muddy the waters.
Besides, I intended to enter the Transfer Labyrinth again someday myself. What should be hidden had to stay hidden.
There was one more reason I'd gone to Dang Gyu-young first with this, too. She seemed to catch on quickly, giving the guide a little shake.
"You want me to hand these out?"
"As you know, I can't exactly move around freely."
It was necessary to raise the Subjugation Force's efficiency with a revised guide, but I was in a position where I had to keep my abilities under wraps as much as possible. Lee Sudok and Seo Cheong-yong only knew about my Ten Thousand Poisons Immunity Bestow—they had no idea I was the one manufacturing these guides. Revealing more of my hand now would be a poor choice.
"Sure, fine."
It was a reasonable enough request, and Dang Gyu-young gave a small nod. Then a fresh question seemed to occur to her.
"But even if I hand these out, I don't think anyone's going to buy it."
The original guide alone was the product of Seo Cheong-yong and a whole crowd of faculty members putting their heads together. Even if something better existed, there was the unavoidable question of whether one could trust a strategy guide of unknown origin.
I answered with a shrug.
"Their loss if they don't."
I had nothing to gain or lose either way, so I had no intention of begging anyone to trust me. The original guide wasn't so bad as to be useless, after all.
Dang Gyu-young seemed to reach a similar conclusion, tucking the guides away into her inventory.
"Alright, I'll hand them out and see."
"A revised edition?"
Jegal So-so tilted her head. The other club presidents Dang Gyu-young had summoned reacted much the same way.
Jeong Chong-myeong asked, "Where did this come from?"
"Sorry, that I can't tell you. Whether you trust it or not is up to each of you to decide."
Dang Gyu-young refused firmly and handed out the guides to the presidents—specifically Jegal So-so, Jeong Chong-myeong, and Kim Gap-du, the ones participating in this subjugation battle who had some sort of rapport with her.
"......"
"......"
For a long while, everyone kept their mouths firmly shut as they studied the guide. Only the occasional rustle of turning pages broke the silence.
Jeong Chong-myeong was the first to speak.
"Impressive. This is more than worth taking seriously."
"I'd say it's good too."
Jegal So-so nodded along. The real reason, however, differed somewhat from Jeong Chong-myeong's.
This is Kim Ho's work.
She remembered the other strategy guides Kim Ho had shown her before—the Feathered Serpent Altar, the Black Snake Gang, the Gathering of Evildoers. And the style and structure of the guide in her hands were strikingly similar to those.
Then it's trustworthy.
Not long ago, Paeng Mi-ryeong had returned from clearing the Gathering of Evildoers and praised Kim Ho until she was blue in the face. Thanks to him, she said, she'd barely suffered at all—unheard of for a B-rank dungeon. Someone with that level of intelligence network might well have a lock on even an A-rank dungeon. How he'd obtained the information remained a mystery, but that wasn't a problem for right now.
Meanwhile, Kim Gap-du put a question to Dang Gyu-young.
"Do you trust it?"
"Yeah, I do."
"......Is that so. Then I'll trust it too."
Kim Gap-du said only that much and fell silent. The thing he'd merely suspected had hardened into certainty.
He and Dang Gyu-young weren't exactly close, but having attended the same school all the way into their third year, he'd come to know certain things about her. One of them was that the people Dang Gyu-young truly trusted could be counted on one hand. The ones she'd declare she believed in outright were fewer still.
Narrowing the circle that far, a single junior she'd been unusually fond of lately drifted across his mind.
......It leaves a sour taste.
All he could do was hope that, this time too, the elixir would prove worth its price.
In the end, the majority of the club presidents Dang Gyu-young had summoned agreed to study the new guide. Meanwhile, Jeong Chong-myeong voiced the question that had just occurred to him.
"So, is there nothing you want from us in return?"
Useful information was bound to carry a high price tag. And information that analyzed an A-rank dungeon in exhaustive detail would be worth an absolute fortune. Surely no one would distribute something like that without expecting anything back.
That's why I asked too.
Dang Gyu-young passed along, word for word, the answer Kim Ho had given her at the time.
"He says, 'Stay safe, and come back alive.'"
"......That's all?"
"Yep, that's it."
"......"
The presidents exchanged silent glances for a long moment. Then, one by one, smiles crept onto their faces.
"......Well then."
"We'd better come back alive."
Tuesday evening. The Subjugation Force assembled in front of the Dungeon Hall.
I had changed my appearance using the Totem of Mimicry. Dang Gyu-young pretended not to know me, but she nonetheless managed to position herself casually close by. In truth, protecting and concealing me was part of the role assigned to her in the first place.
Naturally, Lee Sudok and Seo Cheong-yong had already caught on that our relationship was reasonably close, and having been informed that I'd revealed my identity to her, Lee Sudok gave the order.
"Dang Gyu-young. Assist him more closely."
"Understood."
Dang Gyu-young answered with impeccable formality. Only the corners of her mouth were twitching faintly upward.
Before long, Seo Cheong-yong cast a measured glance around and spoke.
"Looks like everyone's here. We depart now."
And he led the way into the underground floors. The expedition members followed in a crowd, boots clanging down the spiral staircase. The descent didn't last long, though—Seo Cheong-yong soon turned off, guiding us into a vast chamber.
The perimeter of the room was crowded with an intricate arrangement of magical implements and machinery, and at its very center, a massive magic circle glowed with a faint light. The elaborate inscriptions were subtly familiar.
Mass Teleport.
Given the enormous distance between the F-floor and the A-floor, the plan was to move the entire force in one go using this. Back when I was running around with Shin Byung-cheol, we lacked the clearance to use even the elevators properly, let alone teleportation circles—but moving with the Subjugation Force, we could afford luxuries like this.
As the expedition filed into the chamber, the staff on standby exchanged greetings with Seo Cheong-yong.
"Teacher Seo. Good of you to come."
"Thank you for your hard work as always. We intend to descend immediately."
"Yes, sir. Preparing now."
They bustled about, operating the magical implements, and some of them sent word somewhere. Meanwhile, the Subjugation Force, following Seo Cheong-yong's instructions, stepped onto the magic circle. Soon it drank in an ever-brighter radiance, until at last it was blazing with light near-blinding in its intensity.
- FWOOSH!!
By the time the light died down, we were standing in a chamber much like the one we'd just left. The staff on standby bowed their heads to Seo Cheong-yong in identical fashion.
"Good of you to come."
After a brief exchange of greetings with them as well, Seo Cheong-yong led the expedition out of the chamber—and the A-floor opened up before our eyes. Compared to the floors above, its expanse was somewhat cramped, but each of the gaping dungeon mouths radiated a pressure that could not be lightly dismissed.
"......"
Perhaps because of that, roughly half of the third-years were already showing signs of nerves. Even Dang Gyu-young beside me took a small, steadying breath. Lee Sudok, meanwhile, eyed me—perfectly relaxed—with a look of mild bemusement.
We hadn't walked far before the Subjugation Force came to a halt before the teleportation portal.
"Faculty first. Melee types, enter in sequence."
At Seo Cheong-yong's direction, the staff vanished one by one into the portal. My turn came around the middle of the line, since I was moving together with Lee Sudok and Seo Cheong-yong. A few steps forward, and darkness swallowed my vision whole—we had been transported to a place utterly devoid of light.
There are usually at least a few torches.
Apparently even those had gone out. Before long, someone cast a spell, and a floating orb of light rose to illuminate our surroundings.
- FWASH,
The first thing to meet my eyes were walls of aged brick, like those of some medieval fortress. They enclosed all four sides without a single gap—this much was certain: we were in a sealed space. And straight ahead—
- Clank, clank,
Dozens of knights in heavy armor were advancing on the Subjugation Force. Though encased in armor, their forms were oddly inconsistent, and they gleamed with a grimy, blackish sheen.
So they've all been devoured.
Just as everyone suspected, this dungeon had already finished being fortified by the Witch of Decay. Every monster inside had been eaten by the Oubleks. Given how formidable the base material was, these had to be entirely different creatures from the Oubleks we'd faced before.
"Battle stations!"
At Seo Cheong-yong's shout, everyone snapped into their positions with drilled precision. The front line raised a wall while the rear line readied ranged attacks. The members still entering through the portal were startled for only an instant before slipping straight into combat formation.
- Clankclankclank-!
In the meantime, the Dark Oubleks picked up speed and charged headlong, crashing straight into the front line.
- KRA-KOOM-!
The result of the collision was utterly one-sided. The Subjugation Force took not a scratch, while the majority of the Oubleks were either crushed in a single blow or sent sprawling. Gathered here were nothing but hand-picked experts—this outcome was only natural. Ranged attacks rained down in pursuit, ravaging what remained of the monsters' formation.
Of course, there was no way the Witch of Decay hadn't anticipated this. The shapes of the armor knights seemed to sag and melt—
- KABOOM!
- KA-BOOOM!
Then they detonated all at once, scattering black liquid in every direction.