Chapter 51: The Monument
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 51: The Monument
The Labyrinth is too easy.
How can this be!
Is this really my story?
The symbol of misfortune, the poster child for getting screwed, the victim of a shitty game who was abducted while playing—my Labyrinth runs, which have always been like walking on thin ice amidst the threat of death both inside and out, are this easy?
‘Seriously, this is practically an idle RPG.’
A torch helmet, a steel parasol, a flame-enchanted dagger, a keen eye, sound mapping, and a magic shortbow.
Once I put together a solid set of equipment and skills like this, the 3rd Floor is a cakewalk!
“Get them all!”
“Money, money!”
“Opening the parasol!”
“I hear something over there!”
“Let’s go!”
“Hurry up, boss!”
“…”
Our party, doped up on greed, had already gathered an enormous amount of magic stones and items.
And on the evening of our third day in the Labyrinth.
We climbed a small mountain about 500 meters high and, on the flat plateau at its summit, we made another important discovery.
“It’s a monument.”
The real reason I came to the 3rd Floor.
I found the monument at the mountain’s peak.
[Monument of Mass Annihilation]
The monument, engraved with this name, was a staggering 10 meters tall and 4 meters wide, with a thickness roughly equal to my height.
It radiated a grand, overwhelming pressure.
“Should we camp here for the night?”
The sun still lingered between the snowy thickets and ice walls, but I suggested a slightly early rest.
I needed to decipher the monument.
However…
‘The monument is so big, my neck is going to fall off from looking up at it.’
I guess I should use the practical magic stored in my ring for times like this.
“Transcribe.”
I tore a page from my notebook and transferred the monument’s message onto it.
A string of characters copied itself from the monument in a flash of magic, settling onto the paper.
It was as neat as if it had been printed.
{PIC:}
“That’s a very strange message,” Yernil said as she stirred soup in a pot.
“And there are three strange boxes, too, boss.”
Back Attack pointed below the monument as he grilled bacon.
Sure enough, three boxes were placed there. The stone boxes were connected to the monument’s base and couldn't be detached.
The boxes themselves were part of the monument.
“It’s like a message transmission game,” Yernil said.
“From here, it’s Success, Maintain, or Fail! Right? Heh heh.”
Look at you, cracking jokes in the Labyrinth now.
“What kind of game is that?” Back Attack asked.
“It’s a game Caleb and I played at the Berten estate party.”
Yernil gave him a brief explanation of the game, including the part where I bet two pieces of magic equipment on it.
“Wow, boss, you’ve got some serious guts. Want to go to the back-alley gambling dens in Sohen with me after this Labyrinth run?”
“No, thanks. I was 100% certain I would win that game at the Berten estate.”
“Really?” Yernil asked, her eyes wide with surprise.
Of course, it was real.
No matter how skilled the professors were, if you removed the level and magic tome grade differences and made it a purely tactical battle, I would win.
And I had a hidden card up my sleeve.
Even if I was hit with all sorts of unfair interference and pushed into the worst-case scenario, I wouldn't lose. Because…
“There was a way to guarantee a Great Success.”
“What?”
“Is that even possible?”
Yernil and Back Attack asked, their jaws dropping.
“Yes. But well, that’s not important right now.”
I crossed my arms and focused once more on cracking the code.
“…”
The two of them seemed to read my mood and, not wanting to disturb me, went back to their cooking.
“But Caleb, didn’t you say this monument has already been interpreted?” Aimus asked.
“That’s right.”
Professor Dalstream interpreted it.
I had also read his thesis before coming here. It went something like this:
1. The Silver Dagger Federation are minions of the Labyrinth Master, a term referring to the monsters that appear in the Deep Layer.
2. The meals and songs within the Labyrinth refer to the Labyrinth adventure itself. Meals mean resting and camping, like we’re doing now, and songs mean incantations.
In other words, the Silver Dagger Federation forbids the act of adventuring through the Labyrinth by repeating a cycle of rest and combat.
Why?
To stop people from descending into the Deep Layer.
3. The monument speaks of Otherworld Possessors. If they descend to the Deep Layer and defeat the Labyrinth Master, their lingering regrets will be resolved.
4. Then, the Otherworld Possessor will cast off their false body as a sacrifice, and their soul will ascend and return to their original world.
…That was more or less Dalstream’s interpretation.
“But the code itself was never deciphered.”
All monuments are fundamentally composed of metaphors, and by interpreting them correctly, one can gain information about the Labyrinth.
Just as Professor Dalstream did.
But deciphering a code is a different story.
“It will probably be deciphered if we put something into those boxes. The monument might change and present new information.”
That’s why I came here.
Dalstream’s interpretation is the basis for Isel’s current attempt to descend into the Labyrinth’s Deep Layer. The Enver Club also shares a similar view to some extent.
Although concepts like ‘regrets’ or ‘sacrifices’ were interpreted to Dalstream’s liking, they probably accept the part about what happens to the false body when the Labyrinth Master is defeated.
Why? Because in the game, the game ended when you killed the Labyrinth Master.
‘But if we move on to deciphering the code, a different story might emerge.’
I needed to confirm that beforehand. Before making contact with the Enver Club or Blackdog.
The problem was, I didn’t know what to put in the boxes.
I had encountered countless monuments in the game, but this was a first for me.
It was probably a monument that first appeared on developer difficulty. Which meant I had to be the first one to solve it.
Should I put in a silver dagger?
Or should I, a false body, personally… hmm… no, surely not.
Codes like this usually involve finding hidden words.
For example, reading it vertically.
‘Sil-For-Eat-Com-Reg-Fal-Bo-Of-Qua.’
Nope, not at all.
Then what about reading it diagonally?
‘Sil-of-the-ne-fed-tion. Ver-ret-is-of-bo. Dag-al-to-deep-by-rinth.’
Definitely not.
How about reading every second character?
“Caleb! Time to eat!”
Yernil shouted as she ladled soup into our bowls.
Let’s eat first.
*
The two in charge of the meal decided to sleep first.
Aimus and I were on watch.
I was still focused on deciphering the code when…
“Caleb.”
Aimus’s light tap on my shoulder brought me back to my senses.
“Someone’s coming.”
It was a green-skinned demi-human, just over a meter tall. It had a beak for a mouth and a shell on its back.
‘A Kappa.’
They were probably the most peculiar race among the demi-humans found in the Labyrinth’s abyss.
And behind the Kappa, a tall, Eastern swordsman appeared.
“Hijikata.”
“Hello, Caleb.”
Hijikata greeted us from a distance.
As they drew closer to the campfire, one more person appeared behind him.
‘A fox spirit!’
And a skilled one at that, with three tails.
She waved at me, her tails swishing gently.
“Hi there.”
“Hello.”
I now understood why Hijikata’s party hadn’t consulted me about finding the sanctuary, even though they were interested in the ossuary.
It was because of the fox spirit.
They usually live near Wyndham, so seeing one in Sohen is extremely rare. To think there was one in Hijikata’s party.
Fox spirits have a racial trait that allows them to track souls, much like canine beastfolk can track scents and feline beastfolk have night vision.
They were probably planning to find the ossuary by tracking its soul.
“I’ve heard a lot about you. They say you’re an incredible wizard.”
The fox-spirit woman showed interest in me and sidled up to my side.
“I’m not that amazing.”
“I don’t know about your skills, but you have a cute face.”
The campfire light twinkled in her eyes as she gazed up at me.
“I wonder if your liver is pretty and cute, too?”
She said, lightly tracing my side with her finger.
“Don’t mess with me.”
“Not surprised? A lot of people in Sohen are scared of fox spirits, saying they steal livers.”
“Well, I’ve met people who were scared of me for killing a fox spirit.”
“Oh.”
“She got you there, Soyul.”
Hijikata chuckled and came to stand beside us.
“Caleb. I see you’re looking at the 3rd Floor monument.”
“Yes.”
“I’ve seen many adventurers study the monument on the 3rd Floor, but no one has ever deciphered the code. Not even the Archmage, Professor Dalstream.”
Hijikata said, gesturing to the monument.
“You’d probably get a reward from the Adventurer’s Guild if you succeed.”
“Caleb might be able to do it.”
Soyul said with a smile in her eyes.
The Kappa, who had been listening quietly, chimed in, its gills flapping.
“He even took down a 4th-floor wizard, after all. Papapa!”
Wait a minute.
*
I know there was a clash, based on the messages we exchanged.
But Antonelli could have escaped. In fact, he was about to use a Stair Scroll.
But he says they ‘took him down.’
Does that mean…
“Did you see the wizard’s corpse?”
“Yes.”
“When did you see it?”
“This morning.”
“The body was completely intact?”
“Yes. Corpses don’t decompose easily on the 3rd Floor of the Labyrinth.”
No…
What nonsense is this swordsman spouting?
“Hijikata, there’s no way the wolves wouldn’t have torn the body apart. It’s been three whole days!”
“It’s probably because your party swept through and cleared out the nearby Frost Hunters and wolves as you advanced,” Hijikata replied.
“When the area is filled with monster corpses, other monsters smell the blood and avoid it. They don’t come near.”
So that’s what you think.
You don’t know, do you?
You’ve only ever used the elevator since you first came down to the 3rd Floor, so you have no idea!
“Frost Hunters are smart. They patrol the area near the stair gate frequently.”
What Hijikata just said is usually correct. In a normal field.
But the area in front of the stair gate is different.
That’s where 2nd-floor adventurers come down, so from the Frost Hunters’ perspective, they are the most tender and sweet prey.
They need to eat adventurers too. From their point of view, would they target Hijikata or Birtanen?
It doesn’t matter if there are monster corpses nearby or not. They periodically visit the front of the 2nd-floor stair gate.
That place is a hotspot for Frost Hunters and wolves.
“And if there’s an adventurer’s corpse in that spot, they’d naturally feed it to the wolves. After three days, there shouldn’t be a body left!”
“Th-then…?”
Hijikata finally fell into confusion.
The fox spirit and the Kappa also looked bewildered.
“Then why was the body still there?”
How should I know!
But one thing is certain.
Something is wrong.
Fuck, something is seriously twisted right now.
By now, that corpse should have been completely devoured by wolves, who would have chewed up even the bones like candy.
‘Why was the body still there, untouched?’
I’ve had this shitty feeling before.
It was when Yernil and I were wandering the Labyrinth for the first time and found the second exit room.
Back then, I couldn’t understand the sight of a lone Black Hornet larva left in front of the exit room.
The answer to that was the Exit Boss, Back Attack.
And there must be some shocking reason for this absurd phenomenon now.
Under what circumstances would the Frost Hunters and wolves patrolling near the stair gate not touch that corpse?
1. Someone was continuously guarding the body.
2. They didn’t think it was a corpse.
Is number 1 even possible?
For example, could Antonelli’s main party from the 4th Floor have come up, found the body, and are now lying in ambush while searching the area?
No.
That’s impossible.
Because the note Hijikata sent me was still there.
If Antonelli’s comrades had come and seen that scene, they would have raised hell when Hijikata’s party arrived.
The possibility is even slimmer if it was a party other than the 4th-floor main group.
What kind of lunatics would camp out next to another party’s wizard’s corpse for three days?
Then, scenario number 2.
Does this even make sense?
It’s a corpse whose head was chopped off by Birtanen’s axe.
A Frost Hunter sees that and thinks, “Huh? That might not be a corpse?” A wolf pup thinks, “That might not be a corpse, so I shouldn’t eat it!”?
This…
‘This makes sense.’
Ah.
I’m so screwed. Fuck.
No wonder things were going too well until now.
Is this my punishment for putting things on auto-hunt? I’m going to lose my mind.
“Caleb, what is it?” Aimus asked, seeing my face turn paler by the second.
“We’re in big trouble. We shouldn’t be camping here and trying to decipher some monument.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I think… Antonelli’s soul has entered the 3.5th Floor Ossuary.”
No one understood.
“What…?”
Hijikata’s eyes narrowed.
The fox spirit and the Kappa looked just as confused.
“I’m saying Antonelli became an Exit Boss before he died.”
One of the rules of the Labyrinth.
When an adventurer is seized by the Labyrinth Master’s madness and becomes an Exit Boss.
What kind of adventurer does that happen to?
The strongest adventurer on that floor.
For example, a 4th-floor adventurer who was active on the 3rd Floor.
This is the only possible explanation for this situation. Antonelli was seized by madness just before his death.
Then I need to check the remaining time.
The time left until it’s no longer a corpse.
“Hijikata. Did you happen to see anything strange about the 4th-floor wizard’s head? Like the severed part of the neck squirming and reattaching itself, like an undead?”
“What…?”
Hijikata’s face went white.
“His head… was severed…?”