Chapter 62: Too Good to Be True
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 62: Too Good to Be True
In the game, the party members I control are never seized by madness.
The ones who become the Labyrinth Master’s slaves and appear in the exit room are all NPCs.
At some point, they just poof and disappear, only to reappear in the exit room.
The mechanism behind that process was a mystery, which was exactly the kind of content that stimulated the desire for a challenge in a veteran player like me.
How do they become Exit Bosses?
In the course of researching that very question, I learned one thing.
‘When the exit room has no Exit Boss, an adventurer seized by madness will appear in the empty room.’
So, after defeating an Exit Boss, I would deliberately leave the exit gate alone, keeping the room empty, and observe the process of adventurers being overcome by madness and transferred there.
Based on those experiments, I was certain.
‘Soyul is inside this exit room.’
But…
Fuck, why am I so anxious?
*
Did I miss something?
Having arrived in front of the exit room, I tried to trace the source of this shitty feeling creeping up from the tips of my toes.
Let’s review the sequence of events one more time.
The extermination of monsters using the monolith.
The destruction of Antonelli’s soul vessel.
Soyul becoming the Exit Boss.
Using the time of Antonelli’s appearance to locate the sanctuary and acquire the ossuary.
Everything was flawless.
Aimus and Hijikata, whom I’d sent ahead in case other adventurers tried to mess with the exit room, were also guarding the door diligently. Not that anyone had shown up.
Everything had gone exactly as predicted.
I hadn’t missed a thing.
All that’s left is to retrieve Soyul.
Simple, right?
“…”
I think I finally understood the source of my anxiety.
‘It’s because things are going too well.’
This was less a strategy and more of an experiment.
That’s why, when Soyul disappeared, my true thoughts had slipped out.
‘Holy shit, it actually worked.’
But what were the actual chances of this succeeding?
Back Attack on the 1st floor.
Antonelli and Gildal on the 3rd floor.
Was Soyul really on their level of overwhelming power?
No, she wasn’t.
Of course, considering the unique circumstances on the 3rd floor right now, it was logically sound. And in the game, adventurer-turned-Exit-Bosses who took advantage of an empty room had appeared several times.
‘But for it to actually work…’
It was going so well that it made me nervous.
The current situation felt like a parent gaming the system, registering their address in a rural village just to exploit a special admissions loophole for farming and fishing communities to get their kid into a top university.
And the Labyrinth of Unfairness, this Abyss of Betrayal that had tormented me until now, had failed to filter that out and had simply followed the bait I dangled?
That’s what was bothering me.
The very fact that Soyul could become an Exit Boss through the monster wave’s special admission.
They say developers get anxious even when their code runs perfectly, agonizing over why it’s working. I was in the exact same boat right now.
“Boss, aren’t we going in?”
But at the very least, it was a fact that Gildal had woken up. It was a fact that Soyul had vanished with a poof. And it was a fact that a new, light green ossuary had appeared.
Seeing all that, the most rational conclusion was indeed that ‘Soyul had become the Exit Boss.’
Unless something was happening that was beyond my common sense.
“Let’s go.”
Let’s stop overthinking and see for myself.
Whether it’s really Soyul inside.
Or if this was all a trap laid by the Labyrinth, and a surprise monster party would greet us the moment we opened the door.
Click.
I opened the door to the exit room.
Inside was…
*
It was Soyul.
Just like Back Attack before her, she was sitting quietly on a large iron chair.
“Phew.”
A sigh of relief escaped me automatically.
Have I been backstabbed by the Labyrinth so many times that I’ve developed some kind of compulsion?
A disease where I get anxious when things go too well. How absurd.
“She’ll attack if we approach.”
I said, holding up the ossuary.
“On my signal, we rush in together. Aimus and Hijikata, you two subdue her. Then, all we have to do is get close enough to open the ossuary’s lid. The madness will fade quickly, and she’ll regain her senses.”
“Understood.”
Aimus gripped his iron staff, his expression tense. Hijikata pointed the body of his two-handed sword forward.
“Let’s go!”
The moment we all charged forward.
“Huh?”
“She’s not reacting, boss.”
“…”
We reached the spot right in front of Soyul, but she didn’t move.
Back Attack, Aimus, and Hijikata relaxed, lowering their weapons.
“Is it because she just became an Exit Boss?”
“All sorts of strange things have been happening today.”
“This is probably the first time so many unprecedented events have overlapped on the 3rd floor.”
“Should I open the ossuary?” Back Attack asked.
“Heave-ho.”
Hijikata had already lifted Soyul into his arms.
And I…
“Wait a minute.”
Cold sweat trickled down my spine.
Something was wrong.
Something was twisted. What was the problem?
“She hasn’t been seized by madness…”
This Labyrinth is a fucking godforsaken place.
You can’t predict a single thing, right up to the very last moment.
“She doesn’t have the Labyrinth Master’s mark on her forehead!”
Antonelli, revived as a Lich, had it. Gildal had it. Back Attack had it.
But Soyul didn’t.
“What the…”
The three of them blinked in confusion. So did I.
My mind went blank.
No matter what scenario I considered, I couldn’t make sense of the situation…
“Huh?”
Back Attack vanished!
“Back Attack!”
I whipped my head around and saw him tumbling to the ground with a clatter a few meters away, just outside the exit room door.
“What the fuck is this?!”
He quickly scrambled back into a fighting stance. But…
Fwip!
This time, Aimus was sent flying, landing in a heap next to Back Attack.
“Wh-what the!”
A bewildered Hijikata clutched Soyul tightly with one arm while grabbing his two-handed sword with the other.
And when his turn came.
‘A spider web!’
I finally saw it.
An incredibly fine spider web, stuck to Hijikata’s back, contracted with immense tensile strength, yanking both him and Soyul at once.
Out of the exit room door.
“Caleb!” Hijikata yelled as he was thrown to the ground outside.
And just as Back Attack and Aimus tried to rush back toward me.
SLAM!
The door to the exit room slammed shut.
“…”
Right.
This made more sense.
There was no way my Labyrinth would be this easy.
It wasn’t the Labyrinth Master who took Soyul.
I think I know whose ossuary this is, too.
I quickly snatched the jar that was rolling on the floor.
“Come on out.”
Fortunately, this wasn’t as dangerous as a surprise monster party.
I’d have to talk to him to get the details.
Assuming he’s someone I can talk to.
“Come out. Spider Doctor.”
From the ceiling of the exit room came a scuttling sound, the sound of spider legs crawling.
*
Thud!
The thing that dropped in front of me was a monster as massive as Gildal. Its lower half was that of a spider, while its upper half was a gentleman dressed in a suit.
He wore an old-fashioned shirt, a cravat decorated with ornate lace, and a fedora.
Brushing the dust from his black jacket, the Spider Doctor gave me a slight bow.
“A pleasure to meet you, Caleb. I played this little prank because I wanted to meet you.”
The pitiful Spider Doctor.
He was the figure on the 3.5th floor’s flag.
Though he wasn’t crying like in the picture.
“Were you the one who restored Gildal’s soul?”
“That’s right. Isn’t it a relief that the master of the 3rd floor wasn’t some whale that does nothing but eat all day, or a raptor with a personality disorder, but me? How fortunate that I happened to be a doctor well-versed in ancient healing magic and medicine.”
The Spider Doctor pointed to himself.
“Even in my era, separating mixed souls was a task that required extraordinary skill. I can do that. When the foxfire flew, I was in the tree and subtly… mixed in my magic.”
“Why did you help Gildal?”
“It was a reward. Because you activated the monolith’s magic, I was freed from my curse.”
Isn’t this form usually the result of a curse?
“I was originally a part of the 3rd floor of the Labyrinth. My soul was shattered into tiny pieces and existed within the ‘eyes.’ But now, I have moved into the ossuary.”
He pointed to the ossuary in my hand.
I see.
So he didn’t even have a body before.
“Caleb.”
The Spider Doctor got to the point.
“You are the first 3rd-floor adventurer to ever try and swindle the Labyrinth Master. Though you didn’t succeed.”
“…”
“It was very impressive. And since it was something no adventurer had ever attempted before, you were hesitant to get your own hands dirty, so you decided to experiment indirectly using Soyul? If a problem arose, Soyul would take the fall, and you yourself would be fine, is that it?”
“That’s not it.”
Who does he think I am, Antonelli?
Compared to an insane experiment like harvesting souls for an ossuary, wishing ‘I hope Gildal can be saved’ is a common story in the Labyrinth.
How many people in the Labyrinth’s history have prayed to save their party members?
“The worst that could have happened to Soyul was becoming an Exit Boss, and that was actually what we were hoping for.”
“Please don’t misunderstand. I’m not blaming you. On the contrary, I want to applaud you. On this battlefield called the Labyrinth, someone eventually has to take the role of commander, and it’s usually people like you who do.”
“…”
“Gildal, Soyul, Hijikata, Gadozumi, your party members. People like them are all just pieces on the board. The players moving them in the grand game are people like you. I’m saying I was impressed by how you moved the piece named Soyul.”
“What do you want from me?”
“Find my real body. In return, I will tell you a secret about the Otherworld Possessors.”
The Spider Doctor declared with confidence.
“It will be a very tempting story.”
*
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Aimus pulled on the door several times, but it wouldn’t open.
CRASH!
Slamming his body against it didn’t work either.
“The hell is going on?!”
Back Attack brushed the spider web off his back.
“What kind of web is this…? A Venomic Spider? This is ridiculous.”
“Caleb!”
Hijikata pounded on the door.
“Say something! Boss!”
“Can he even hear us from in there…?”
The three of them hung on the door, pulling, pushing, and kicking in a frenzy.
But the door remained firmly shut, not budging an inch.
“Let’s send a message to Yernil and Gadozumi first. We should at least let them know what’s happening here,” Hijikata said.
“Got it!”
Back Attack took a message-sending wand and a notepad from his bag.
And just then, Soyul woke up.
“Ugh…”
“Soyul!”
As Hijikata rushed over, she immediately asked.
“Gildal?”
“He’s awake.”
“Really!?”
“Weren’t you captured by the Labyrinth Master? You don’t have the mark.”
“I don’t know. The moment I shot the foxfire, my body suddenly felt like it was floating…”
Soyul rubbed the back of her neck.
“Did something bite me? It was pitch black, I couldn’t see anything. But where’s Caleb? He said he’d come for me.”
“He’s in here.”
Aimus thumped on the exit room door.
“Can’t you do something with magic?”
“I’ll try. Alluring…”
The moment Soyul raised her fox marble and began to chant.
“Foxf—mph!”
Back Attack quickly clamped a hand over her mouth.
Because the door to the exit room had just swung open.
“Caleb!”
The group rushed over to greet him.
“Are you okay?”
“What happened in there?”
“…”
Caleb didn’t say much.
“I’m fine. Let’s go. Soyul. You need to go see Gildal now.”
*
The city of Sohen was on high alert.
It was because of the shocking news brought by Birtanen, a 2nd-floor adventurer party.
“A monster wave has broken out on the 3rd floor!”
The Labyrinth Union was in an uproar, immediately beginning to summon any adventurer of the 5th floor or higher they could find.
“Still, thanks to you all getting out and reporting it quickly, we might be able to save a few parties.”
A secretary of the Labyrinth Union was organizing the information from Birtanen’s party.
The gate connecting to the 2nd floor was already overrun, the numbers were in the thousands at each occupied point, no one yet knew the reason for the wave, and so on.
“It seems your party is missing a wizard? Was that friend also a victim of the wave?” the secretary asked Birtanen.
He was talking about Antonelli.
“That’s not it. I’ll submit a separate report later. More importantly, please send support to the 3rd floor quickly.”
“The Temple, the University, the Adventurer’s Guild… we’re contacting every organization, so let’s just wait for now.”
“There’s a benefactor of our party on the 3rd floor.”
Birtanen’s brow furrowed.
“That’s common enough in the Labyrinth. A little less common than enemies, though.”
The secretary filled out the paperwork nonchalantly.
CRASH!
It was then that someone kicked open the entrance to the Labyrinth Union.
It was a Halfling wizard.
“I’ll go to the 3rd floor!” he shouted.
He was an overwhelmingly powerful figure to be volunteering to clean up an incident on the 3rd floor.
“Professor… Meldini, isn’t it?”
The secretary’s eyes narrowed.
Then, the door burst open again and another adventurer rushed in.
He was none other than…
“Bernard?”
The Lizard Paladin clenched his fist and yelled.
“Nathaniel has given me a new revelation! To descend to the 3rd floor, save my benefactor, rectify the situation, and spread the name of Nathaniel far and wide…!”
“Secretary!”
Meldini pushed past him and ran to the counter.
“Is the elevator available for immediate use? Surely you won’t try to stop me from going?”
“No, of course we’d be grateful if you went, Professor, but… you should form a party first…”
“My favorite student is on the 3rd floor!”
“Huh?!”
Suddenly, Birtanen, standing to the side, let out a scream, having spotted something.
Four patients had just come through the 2nd-floor exit gate.
“Y-You all!”
They weren’t a 2nd-floor party. If they were, Birtanen would have recognized their faces.
“Are you 3rd-floor adventurers?”
“Yes. Hah. We barely made it out alive.”
But the real reason for Birtanen’s shock was something else.
He had already met a group of escapees who came from the 3rd floor to the 2nd.
But these weren’t the faces he had seen then.
They were complete strangers.
Which meant…
“Wasn’t the gate to the 2nd floor overrun? Did you break through?”
“Ah.”
The adventurers delivered the shocking news.
“The wave has stopped. Some 3rd-floor party activated a monolith, wiped out all the monsters, eliminated the cause of the wave, and ended it. Then they brought us to the 2nd floor with a torch helmet.”
No one in that room could understand what had just happened.