Chapter 233: Resurrection
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 233: Resurrection
Even outside a world where reality and illusion are in constant flux, knowledge gained through experience in the physical realm is rarely certain.
For example, the empirical knowledge that “all swans are white” was accepted as truth for thousands of years across Europe and Asia, but didn’t a Dutch explorer travel to Australia and discover black swans?
Absolute truth. An unchanging reality. Do such things truly exist in this world?
There is one path by which a mortal can reach it.
Reason.
For instance, a straight line is the shortest distance between two points, or a circle is the set of all points equidistant from a single point.
This kind of knowledge isn’t acquired through experience.
It is reached purely through calculation in the mind.
It is a priori judgment, a fragment of truth.
However, one person’s computational ability might only extend to a judgment like “1+1=2,” while another’s might encompass number theory, geometry, linear algebra, and topology.
Let’s imagine, then, a hypothetical.
What if a transcendent being’s computational ability was so immense that it encompassed realms beyond human imagination, grasped all the truths of the universe, and could construct an entire world within its mind based on perfect geometric knowledge? And from that, what if it could prove all physical theories and calculate every chemical and biological principle, phenomenon, future, and reality down to the subatomic level?
In that case, which could we call the “real world”? The one inside the transcendent being’s mind? Or the ground upon which that being empirically walks?
And one more thing.
What proof do we have that the world we live in isn’t the inside of its mind?
“The world was born from the God-King’s reason, and it was destined to be handed over to the Labyrinth Master, but a great error occurred in the process. Now, Wizus and the Labyrinth Master are both struggling to pull this world into their own reason.”
Eulparyeong launched into a lengthy explanation.
“Those who are incorporated into one of their minds won’t even know it has happened. They are mere puppets, moving as their master imagines.”
He was unusually talkative today.
And a little happy.
“They must have reached a point that someone like me cannot even fathom.”
“I don’t understand a word of this. So, can you save him or not?”
Hyedam had no interest in this kind of bullshit.
“If you can’t do it, I’ll find someone else.”
“I can,” Eulparyeong said.
“As long as his time hasn’t run out.”
“Time?”
“Time is important in this world, Hyedam. The law of time supersedes all other laws.”
The Labyrinth Master more often used the word “turn” instead of time.
If one’s turn hadn’t ended, something like death was trivial. The law of time, or the law of the turn, took precedence over things like the laws of life, aging, sickness, and death.
“If Caleb’s turn isn’t over, he can definitely be revived. But not here.”
He was moving quickly with Hyedam and Caleb’s body. They had climbed the stairs and were now wandering through the 9th floor.
There was a surprising lack of monsters.
That was because the Labyrinth Master was leading all his forces in a march toward the surface.
The now-empty 9th floor held only Eulparyeong, Hyedam, and Caleb’s corpse.
“Where exactly are we going?”
“To the root.”
From the 4th to the 9th floor of the Labyrinth, each had a special area.
In order, they were the Ironworks, the Oasis, Bearhim’s Garden, the Void Waterfall, and the Primitive Altar.
And the special area on the 9th floor was…
“The root of the World Tree.”
The 9th floor was a barren wasteland and battlefield, overrun by the legions of hell. They fought amongst themselves even when left alone, much like the Lizards and Orcs of the west.
The entire floor was filled with corpses and cemeteries, and the wails of banshees echoed through the air. And in the midst of it all stood a colossal World Tree, feeding on the loss, sorrow, and death.
It was so massive that its top was out of sight; at best, one could only observe the roots and the base of the trunk that broke through the surface.
“That World Tree is also connected to the Labyrinth’s waterways. It drinks the water from the fountain. Caleb’s soul should be somewhere in that fountain, so all we need to do is bury his body by the tree’s root.”
Eulparyeong explained.
“Then Caleb will emerge with his soul restored.”
It was a method to retrieve a soul that had been devoured by the Labyrinth and sent to the fountain.
Eulparyeong, being well-versed in ancient magic and medicine, knew of such things.
But was this plan to resurrect Caleb based on Eulparyeong’s own knowledge?
Or was some other entity directing Eulparyeong to act this way?
It was an incomprehensible question for Eulparyeong.
“Once he regains his soul, his body will be swiftly restored, and he will be resurrected. For now, just follow me.”
Hyedam felt a flicker of doubt.
“Bipa and Mugol said they were going to sacrifice the Possessors at the Primitive Altar on the 8th floor to retrieve a god devoured by the Labyrinth.”
But if a god’s soul could be retrieved with such a simple method on the 9th floor, why would Bipa choose such a complex and difficult path?
“Because the gods’ time has already run out,” Eulparyeong said.
“Didn’t I say that in this world, the law of time supersedes all else? The gods’ time is up.”
What would happen if one tried to use the root to resurrect a god despite that?
“They’ll end up like the Nine-Tailed Fox.”
The Labyrinth Master had likely taken the fox bead that appeared on the 10th floor, buried it at the root, and stored the Gumiho’s soul within it.
All to harm Caleb or Hyedam, who he knew would one day come looking for it.
“There it is! The tree… is…”
A moment later, having found the root, Eulparyeong witnessed an astonishing sight.
A giant human footprint was pressed into the ground near the root.
As far as Eulparyeong knew, no humanoid monster of this size existed in the Labyrinth.
And that wasn’t all.
“A branch is broken.”
It looked as if something had plummeted from an upper floor.
As if someone had stepped on a “fall trap” and dropped.
Something strange was happening in the Labyrinth.
“Ah, sorry, kids. I can’t let you hold me any longer.”
The Trap Cobra raised his hands.
“To be honest, a bystander like me finds this all a hassle and would rather not care who wins, but…”
He looked down at Greg the Barbarian, Birtanen the Dwarf Warrior, and Bernard the Paladin, who were holding him down in the Oasis.
“…when the Labyrinth Master calls, I have to go.”
“You’re not going anywhere!” Abbison shouted defiantly.
“We’ll hold you here!”
“That’s why I let you hold me for so long. Let me go now. I’ll get in trouble if I don’t head out soon.”
The Trap Cobra’s method of escape was, in fact, simple.
“Fall trap.”
He was the master of all the Labyrinth’s traps. Digging a hole under the Oasis that led down to the 6th floor was child’s play for him.
“…!”
“No way!”
“We’re falling!”
The startled adventurers screamed as the Trap Cobra rode the current of the cascading waterfall downward.
“Grab onto each other!”
“It’s the mushroom forest below!”
“We have to land on the mushrooms! Caleb said that’s how he survived! According to Caleb’s report…”
“Birtanen! I’ll use Leap on you!”
“Come here, Remus!”
“Nathaniel! Why do you keep giving me these trials! Tell me what you want from me!”
Fortunately, the area below was densely packed with giant, well-grown mushrooms.
The adventurers all bounced onto the soft mushroom caps, landing without injury.
However…
“Hijikata?”
Birtanen looked down from a mushroom and gasped.
“It’s Hijikata’s party!”
And he could see the party of Romkier, the barbarian chieftain. They were in the middle of a desperate struggle.
“What’s this?”
A giant ox with a single horn looked up at the mushrooms and snorted.
“Isn’t that the barbarian who ran from me earlier?”
“Ran away?!” Greg the Barbarian shouted, his temper flaring.
“I don’t run! I’m coming down now, let’s go another—”
“Just stay still for a second!”
Remus, the Halfling crossbowman, clamped a hand over his mouth.
“Good. I’ll wipe them all out. Don’t interfere, you snake bastard,” the One-horned Ox said to the Cobra on the mushroom.
“Another Inter-floor Lord has come down?”
Romkier wiped the blood from his mouth and sighed.
“Looks like some allies have come down, too,” Hijikata said.
“They all look like a bunch of misfits,” Romkier said frankly, a little stunned by the One-horned Ox’s overwhelming power.
He had handpicked the most skilled fighters from the Ash Citadel in the Labyrinth City of Madurai, yet his four-person party couldn’t handle that single muscle-bound ox.
“Tsk. I’ve got to do something before that cobra gets involved.”
“Wait… a minute.”
But the Cobra had no intention of joining the fight.
Having fallen to the 6th floor, his head was spinning.
“Who made these traps?”
“What traps?” the One-horned Ox shrugged.
Traps were fundamentally under the Labyrinth Master’s domain.
And the Cobra had been granted the right to use them.
But it wasn’t an exclusive right.
Any member of the Labyrinth, if they possessed sufficient wisdom and understood its principles, could create traps.
Like the beetle that had dug a trap to drop Caleb’s party from the 5th to the 6th floor.
The Cobra controlled all traps, but he wasn’t the only one who could wield them.
“But the White Lion is dead. He said the others would die too. That moron ox is too stupid to know how to use these. The Gourmet Whale should be attending the Master right now…”
The Trap Cobra muttered, terrified.
“There are too few Inter-floor Lords left… The Master wouldn’t have done this himself…”
“What are you mumbling about?”
The One-horned Ox furrowed his brow.
“Ighaim!”
The Cobra called the One-horned Ox by his barbarian name.
“We have to get out of here!”
“What?”
“We have to get somewhere safe! We have to at least get off the 6th floor. And…”
The Cobra slid down the mushroom and pulled at the One-horned Ox.
“That spot in front of the stairs is a definite no-go!”
He pointed to the stairs leading to the 7th floor.
A new trap had recently appeared on the 6th floor. A fall trap. The Cobra could feel it. The trap’s location was ‘Bearhim’s Garden.’
Someone had stolen Bearhim’s body from there. To the 7th floor.
After drifting through the water for a while, another fall trap.
Dropped to the 8th floor, then another fall trap.
The body fell to the 9th floor.
Right in front of the root of the World Tree.
Thud.
“What… are you talking… about…”
Thud. Thud.
The sound of footsteps ascending the stairs was ominous.
From below, someone of immense power revealed themselves.
“Fuck.”
Even the belligerent One-horned Ox felt his breath catch in his throat.
“Bearhim…?”
The four adventurer parties felt their minds go completely blank.
Pop.
Pitter-patter. Pat!
Mushroom spores began to scatter from all directions. From behind Bearhim, the Gardener popped out.
The Deep Layer Army was numerous, but they were slow.
While they were climbing from the 9th to the 8th floor…
Bearhim, through some unknown means, had gained a moment of time and plummeted through the fall traps. All the way to the 9th floor.
There, he found his soul and was resurrected.
Just like the nemesis who had betrayed and murdered him.
And now, he had climbed back up the stairs, faster than the Deep Layer Army.
“Is it Wizus?”
The Cobra hissed, his voice strained with tension.
Only Wizus or the Labyrinth Master could move Bearhim’s body like this. But the Labyrinth Master wouldn't have.
And no matter how great Wizus was, how could he use the Labyrinth’s traps unless he had been devoured by it?
“Force of Fungi.”
Bearhim began to cast a spell.