Chapter 219: 10th Floor
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 219: 10th Floor
“I think I'll postpone reclaiming my physical body for a while.”
An unexpected answer came from the Spider Doctor’s mouth.
“Postpone it?”
That was completely unexpected.
Wasn't that the whole point of all the hell he's been through?
“That's right. And by reclaiming my body, I intended to free the people of Bimungol, who are bound to the gravestone.”
In the past, the great eruption of the Labyrinth devoured all the remaining citizens of Bimungol, and in return, it turned the Dokkaebi King Healer, Eulparyeong, into the Spider Doctor.
So, what would happen if Eulparyeong were to renounce the power and body of the Spider Doctor? If he reclaimed his original body?
Wouldn't the Labyrinth spit out Bimungol, which it had devoured?
“Is that even possible?”
I was a bit skeptical.
“It is not easy for a human to fathom the profound principles of the Labyrinth. I, too, was unaware of them. Not until I became a part of the Labyrinth.”
“Then will all the people of Bimungol be freed and come back to life?” Yernil asked.
“Not exactly. Their physical bodies perished long ago.”
It was more like they had no bodies, only their souls remaining in ossuaries.
“Even if the Labyrinth spits them out, they cannot be brought back to life. However… they will be able to go where they were originally meant to go. Instead of wandering within the Labyrinth.”
The Spider Doctor wanted to free his people.
“Do you remember when I said I was on no one's side?”
“You said that at the Labyrinth Union's general assembly.”
“To be frank, the Consul's plan is so naive and trivial that you could say it has no chance of success.”
“…”
“No fool would willingly walk into a camp that is clearly destined for defeat. But I am not on the Labyrinth's side, either. Whether an eruption occurs and swallows the surface is of no concern to me. I simply wish to take responsibility for the final fate of Bimungol, which was destroyed during the era of the Nine Kings.”
“I see. But why the sudden change of heart?”
That’s what I was curious about.
Based on what he just said, shouldn't he just go find his original body, free Bimungol, and declare victory? Wouldn't that be the end of it?
“A little.”
The Spider Doctor said, scratching his cheek.
“Because I've started to feel a little hopeful.”
In Eulparyeong's era, the kingdoms that ruled the continent were devoured by the Labyrinth. The surviving adventurers fought to the death, but were ultimately defeated.
A natural disaster that could never be stopped by human strength. That is what the Labyrinth's catastrophic eruption is.
Eulparyeong was someone who had experienced that overwhelming destructive power firsthand. And after it was all over, he came to realize something even more terrifying.
That perhaps the entire affair had been a play unfolding according to the Labyrinth Master's script.
The Wizard King thought, ‘I personally abandoned Wizus, abandoned my wand, and embraced the Labyrinth.’
Eulparyeong found that suspicious.
The Wizard King.
How on earth could such a brilliant man make the insane decision to offer his own kingdom to the Labyrinth?
In Eulparyeong's view, it was not the Wizard King's choice.
“The Wizard King himself probably didn't know. He likely thinks he abandoned his wand of his own free will. But what if, in reality, it was an order given by the Labyrinth Master, who controlled his mind with a much higher power?”
That hit a little too close to home.
After all, when I issue turn-based commands from the Hourglass, my party members, like Back Attack and Yernil, carry them out as if it were their own will.
“This world is like a giant chessboard where the Labyrinth Master and Wizus are playing a grand game. The pieces moving upon it believe they are thinking, loving, adventuring, and fighting of their own free will, but in truth, it is the Labyrinth Master or Wizus moving them.”
“…”
“Perhaps the Wizard King was a piece that passed from Wizus's hand into the Labyrinth Master's.”
That is why the incident during the era of the Nine Kings was not a bloody battle between the continent's monarchs.
It was the Labyrinth unilaterally preying upon the surface.
To use the chessboard analogy, the Labyrinth Master snatched the Wizard King piece and used it to wreak havoc on Wizus's side of the board.
In the end, weren't all nine kingdoms devoured by the Labyrinth?
How pathetic the last adventurers of Bimungol must have looked to the Labyrinth Master as they fought to their deaths.
“Do you remember when I told you that you weren't a piece, but a player in this grand game?” the Spider Doctor asked.
“Yes.”
“To be honest, that was a lie.”
Back then, to the Spider Doctor, I, Caleb, seemed like a very special ‘piece’.
Wizus's trump card after being utterly crushed by the Labyrinth Master.
A sharply honed pawn.
A figure who charged forward with a knight, a bishop, and a queen to reach the end of the chessboard and land a powerful blow on the Labyrinth Master.
“I thought that if Wizus was behind you, I could nudge you a little and use you to find my body. That was the extent of my expectations.”
But now, the Spider Doctor's judgment of me had changed slightly.
“You might not have been a piece after all, but a true player. Perhaps there were three players on this chessboard.”
He said.
“The Labyrinth Master, Wizus. And you.”
He pointed a finger at me.
“I want to watch your game, not the Labyrinth Master's or Wizus's.”
“…”
“And if you win, perhaps your era will meet a different end than ours did, Caleb.”
The Spider Doctor said.
“I will fight on your side. And I will leave after seeing the end of this grand game. Until then, I intend to maintain the power this body holds.”
“Do you trust the Spider Doctor?”
After we parted ways with him, right after we emerged onto the 9th floor.
Aimus asked.
“I don't know.”
I don't trust anyone.
Not unless the Hourglass officially stamps them with 100% reliability.
Lately, I'm even finding it hard to trust myself.
‘Am I really just moving according to Wizus's orders…?’
As a control freak, that part really pissed me off.
If the entire process of the Wizard King becoming a part of the Labyrinth and acting as the White Lion was all the Labyrinth Master's will…
‘Could it be that everything I've done was actually Wizus's will?’
A sliver of doubt crept in.
And one piece of evidence was my memory loss.
One of the Hourglass's skills, ‘Mind Controller,’ allows me to issue commands to party members of a lower level than me. Even commands that go against their own will. In that case, the target enters a state of madness and carries out the order.
It's similar to how the Labyrinth Master handles adventurers seized by madness.
And look at Back Attack.
What did he remember after being freed from being an Exit Boss?
Nothing.
From the moment he was seized by madness by the Labyrinth Master until he was resurrected with his ossuary in the inter-floor village. All his memories from that period were gone.
He didn't remember becoming an Exit Boss and killing the plunderers to save Aimus, fighting me and Yernil in the exit room, becoming an undead after his death and coming to the inter-floor village, or even chewing on Yernil's hair.
He remembered none of it.
Don't tell me I'm a similar case.
Fuck.
That's a horrifying thought.
“Caleb. Look over there!”
Yernil tapped my shoulder.
“It's a staircase.”
We finally found it.
‘The stairs leading down to the 10th floor.’
The magic compass was pointing down. Somewhere at the bottom of those stairs, I must have resurrected Hyedam. The reason for my memory loss lies somewhere down there.
“Again…”
The moment we passed through the gate, all four of us in the party froze.
“It's another staircase!”
Are the stairs on a buy-one-get-one-free sale? We just got down to the 10th floor, and we've already run into another staircase.
There's only one staircase that goes down from the 10th floor.
“It's the stairs to the Deep Layer.”
The Labyrinth Master is calling me!
No. This is seriously creepy. I feel like I'm being stalked by a psychopath.
“Fuck off, you bastard!”
I picked up a rock and threw it down the stairs. A thud! echoed from the gate at the bottom.
“Let's not go in there.”
Our party has gotten incredibly strong, it's true, but we're still not ready to face the Labyrinth Master.
I led the party around the staircase, following the direction the compass needle was pointing.
KABOOM!
The foxfire of the Deep Layer Fox Spirit didn't go out even ‘underwater.’ Instead, it boiled the water away.
And then, a massive bubble erupted. The sea parted. Land was revealed in the depths of the 7th floor's ocean.
“My god…”
Hijikata's party was frozen stiff before that immense power.
“In an instant…”
Hyedam had wiped out all the adventurers from the Fairy Forest.
There must have been Deep Layer adventurers on their side too, but even within the Deep Layer, the difference in level is stark.
“It's a bit of a shame I let the Fairy Matriarch get away,” Hyedam said.
In the middle of the battle, the Fairy Matriarch had suddenly seemed to sense something, her face paling as she dashed into the water. Screaming, “Father!”
In any case, the battle was over.
“We are greatly in your debt.”
Hijikata said, bowing politely.
“It's nothing. We're both from the Eastern faction, so of course I should help. Besides, there's a fellow Fox Spirit here.”
Hyedam smiled, looking at Soyul.
Even though they were both women, Soyul felt her face flush for some reason.
The Fox Spirit shaman from the Deep Layer possessed that kind of power. A beauty and grace that could make anyone she met malfunction and act awkwardly.
“I... I heard you had passed away, but you're safe…” Soyul said.
“I had my reasons for hiding in the Labyrinth.”
“So, where are you headed now?” Hijikata asked.
“To the 10th floor.”
Hyedam, the former guardian of Fox Pass. She now protects the possessors' village.
She has it blocked off with the area-of-effect spell ‘Fox Bewitchment,’ preventing other adventurers or monsters from approaching.
But now, she had left the village behind. The reason was…
“The Fox Marble is moving.”
The marble's movement was unusual. Some magical power was guiding Hyedam to the floor below.
The Labyrinth is strange right now. The place feels as ominous as a volcano spewing smoke just before an eruption.
On the surface, the Consul is organizing an army, and in the Abyss, the Labyrinth Master's loyal servants are gathering.
And amidst it all, a secret hidden somewhere on the 10th floor, a secret no one knew, was calling to Hyedam.
“Caleb said he was going to the 10th floor, too.”
At the information blurted out by the clueless dokkaebi, Gildal, Hyedam's shoulders flinched.
“He's going to the 10th floor? Caleb? Wasn't he on the 6th floor the last time he entered the Labyrinth?”
“But he said he's going all the way to the 10th floor in one go.”
“…”
“And there's a monster on the 8th floor. That's why we came here, to catch up to Caleb.”
“Hyedam!” Gadozumi shouted. “Could you go down to the 8th floor in our stead and help Caleb? There's a monster called the Lancer roaming around there now.”
“Though he might not be on the 8th floor anymore, maybe the 9th or 10th,” Hijikata said.
“…”
Hyedam took a scroll from her pocket.
[Stair Scroll]
She immediately went straight to the 8th floor.
The Root of the World. A Maze of Umbilical Cords.
The 10th floor is a place with few open views. Most of the spaces are enclosed by walls on both sides.
In the Maze of Umbilical Cords, you either move forward or turn back. Usually, those are the only two options.
And then there are the occasional forks, or crossroads. Or circular plazas where multiple entrances appear at once. A maze where you can only move forward until you reach such a point. That is the 10th floor.
It's similar to the one I entered during the game at the Berten estate.
There's no risk of getting lost. We just have to follow the compass needle.
And so, five hours into our search.
“No way…”
A shocking object appeared before me.
“This doesn't make any sense.”
This never happened, not even once in the game.
“A Fountain of Blessing!”
Originally, there are no Fountains of Blessing on the 10th floor of the Labyrinth.
But there it stood, the largest fountain I had ever seen.
And the compass was pointing into the fountain's water.
The sapphire-colored, sparkling water was translucent. I could see the object reflected beneath it.
It was even more shocking than the fountain itself.
“It's a Fox Marble.”