Chapter 7: The Exit Room
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 7: The Exit Room
“Caleb…?”
Yernil glanced at me sideways.
“Why… why did you refuse?”
“You don't want to join our party?”
The Dwarf frowned.
“That's right. The exit gate only lets four people through, doesn't it?”
“Hmm.”
At that, all three of them fell silent, as if I'd made a critical point.
“He’s right.”
The exit gate is extremely unstable. Once one person passes through, it collapses and disappears within five minutes. And since each person accelerates the collapse, the absolute maximum who can pass through at once is four.
When the gate vanishes, a new exit room forms in another random location on the same floor, and you have to start searching all over again.
“For a slave team, you seem to know a lot about the Labyrinth.”
If I hadn't known, they would've just killed the spider and gone through the gate themselves, right? Leaving us to fend for ourselves?
Anyway, in the Labyrinth, only the naive get screwed.
“What’s your name?”
The Dwarf asked with a grin.
“Caleb.”
“Right. But Caleb, my friend. Think carefully.”
The Dwarf switched tactics, now trying to persuade me.
“We don't need an archer. We just need one ‘wizard’.”
That brought a certain bald guy to mind.
“A chance like this doesn't come often for you. A chance to challenge an exit room with a proper team of adventurers, not a slave team. You guys might have survived a day in here, but how much longer can you last? I know it's not easy to let go of the hand of a girlfriend you've spent a whole night with, but try to think rationally.”
In short, he was telling me to cut my losses with Yernil and leave with them.
“…”
Yernil, realizing what was happening, her eyes widened to twice their size.
*
Oh, yes! I want to get out of here right now, too!
At the sweet temptation before me, a fantasy unfolded in my mind.
I’m sorry, Yernil, but our adventure ends here. You're a ridiculously talented archer, but I was just an ordinary office worker. Risking my life fighting in a place like the Labyrinth was never my thing! I'm the kind of person who should be lying on a soft mattress in a warm house. So I want to leave right now. I’m sorry. But don't feel too wronged. If you were in my shoes, you would've ditched me too, right?
I defeat the Venomic Spider with the Dwarf's party, Yernil is left behind, sobbing, and I escape this hell first!
Oh! I can't believe it! I can actually get out of this shitty Labyrinth where I could die at any moment! This fresh air and warm sunlight! This is the life!
‘How about a drink to celebrate our return!’
At the cheerful Dwarf's suggestion, we'd head to a tavern together.
‘I'd never turn down free booze!’
And just as I'm chugging down beer and getting into some random game the Dwarf likes…
Suddenly, assistant instructors from the magic university show up and grab me by the shoulder.
‘Sorry, but you're still a slave. You haven't paid off your debt, have you? The magic stones you've collected are chump change.’
Oh, crap.
Escaping the Labyrinth right now wasn't the real problem. The real problem was something else.
‘You have to go back into the Labyrinth.’
And this time, I fail my party-gacha roll.
Pulling an archer like Yernil in the first place was a miracle.
With a cowardly, stupid, jack-of-all-trades archer, warrior, and rogue with stats all over the place, I start to struggle on my own.
Why didn't anyone notice the slave wizard team sneaking up behind us?
Why doesn't anyone know how to intercept enemies in the steam? Just kill one of them!
Doesn't anyone have something like Sound Mapping? Huh? Why is your special ability 'Gluttony'? So what if your strength goes up, you're an archer! You're just wasting more food!
And why the hell is the so-called warrior scared to stand in front with a shield, you crazy bastards! I'm losing my mind!
The girl I know volunteered to use a shield for the team despite her low strength!
Just when I'm about to lose it with these trolls, I'll come across a corpse on the road.
I'll check to see who it is, and… oh, no.
Yernil!
There was no archer like you.
Only after the flowers wilted did I realize it was spring…
*
After indulging in that brief, frantic fantasy, I felt my face grow pale.
“I have no intention of switching teams.”
“Huh?”
The Dwarf, the Beastman, and the Priestess all looked surprised. They must have assumed I'd jump at the offer. That's how much trust people have in a criminal slave from the magic university.
“Gasp.”
As a bonus, Yernil was also staring at me with a completely shocked expression.
I feel like some kind of ridiculously loyal, manly man.
“Instead, how about this?”
If escaping alone just means I'll end up back in the Labyrinth anyway, I might as well rip out the root of the problem right now.
This was actually a golden opportunity.
“You hire us.”
“Hi…re?”
The three of them stared, wide-eyed.
“Puhahaha!”
Suddenly, the Dwarf slapped his knee and burst out laughing.
“So, you won't covet the exit gate, but you want payment for taking down the spider? You want us to formally hire your slave team?”
“That's right.”
“Khahahaha! You're an interesting one. Alright, how much do you want?”
“Ten thousand gold.”
The amount must not have been as amusing, because the corners of the Dwarf's mouth dropped.
“Kehek!”
A strange sound came from Yernil. Her pupils were shaking as she stared at me.
“Caleb! T-Ten thousand gold!? Do you have any idea how much ten thousand gold is!?”
The expected profit if we sold everything we'd gathered on the first floor for a full day, including the magic stones and Avison's backpack, would be around 2,000 gold.
I'd heard that my and Yernil's debts to the magic university were 3,000 gold each.
Therefore, 10,000 gold was a pretty large sum. That's why the Dwarf's expression had twisted into that of a grumpy goblin, but if we succeeded, we could clear our slave status and wouldn't be thrown back into the Labyrinth unless we volunteered. Probably.
And it was an amount worth trying to ask from these guys.
First, their party is skilled enough and financially well-off enough to have a priest, who are notoriously expensive, in their ranks. They can afford 10,000 gold.
Second, judging by their conversation and appearance, the three of them are already exhausted. They want to escape the Labyrinth as soon as possible.
Third, and this is the important part, they've cast a soul preservation spell on Avison. They're short on time because they have to come back and find him to resurrect him before his body deteriorates too much.
And finally, the safety measure.
“If the priestess swears an oath on this in the name of the Goddess Nathaniel, we will help you.”
The fact that she used soul preservation magic, and the cross symbol on her necklace, gave me a good idea of her denomination. They can never break a covenant made in the name of their goddess.
“Hmm…”
The Dwarf was lost in thought.
“What's there to think about? It's not like there are any other wizards around,” the Beastman rogue said.
“Nine thousand gold.”
There we go.
The Dwarf had started negotiating.
“Ninety-five hundred.”
“Ninety-three hundred.”
“Ninety-five hundred.”
“Agh. What's your name again?”
“Caleb.”
“In all my life, I've never seen a slave wizard demand ten thousand gold as a combat fee. Ninety-five hundred just to set the ceiling on fire? This price gouge is so big you could use it as a helmet for a troll. We're taking a huge loss on this deal, but…”
He hefted his two-handed axe and slung it over his shoulder.
“Let's do it. We have no choice. You're confident in your Fireball spell, I take it?”
“Of course.”
“Then let's get this oath over with.”
The Dwarf glanced at the priestess. She then clasped her hands and, as if in prayer, announced to everyone:
“From this moment on, I, Priestess Emma, make a covenant in the name of the Goddess Nathaniel. We, party members Birtanen, Jikal, and Emma, promise to hire the party of Caleb and Yernil for 9,500 gold. The condition for this contract's fulfillment is the escape of Birtanen's party through the gate, and it will be voided if either party is wiped out. We swear not to harm each other's party during the execution of this contract. Representatives Birtanen, Caleb.”
“I acknowledge the above and swear a firm oath,” the Dwarf said, placing a hand on his chest.
“I swear.”
I played along. To be honest, the oath meant nothing to me since I didn't believe in the Goddess Nathaniel, but it seemed important to them.
“Alright.”
The Dwarf gripped the doorknob.
“Ready?”
“Let's go.”
Click!
The door to the exit room opened.
*
The moment I stepped inside, I began analyzing the exit room's layout, the target's location, and the terrain.
The room was about 15 meters wide, 15 meters long, and looked to be at least 10 meters high. The ceiling was incredibly tall, like a Gothic cathedral.
The whole place was dim, and cobwebs plastered the ceiling, walls, and floor so densely that it was hard to make anything out.
A horribly old, abandoned house.
That was my first impression.
The air was thick and dry with dust. There was a musty, rotting smell.
‘Can't see it.’
The target, the Venomic Spider, was nowhere in sight. It was probably hiding somewhere among the webs on the ceiling.
The damn game design had colored the monster's body a dark brown similar to the ceiling, giving it ridiculously good natural camouflage.
‘Neutral objects?’
I strained my eyes, desperately scanning my surroundings. I spotted a few oak barrels in a corner of the room.
A red bomb symbol was painted on them.
They were filled with explosives.
“Be careful not to step on the webs on the floor,” the Dwarf said.
“It's hard to get your feet free if you do.”
In-game, stepping on a web would inflict the ‘Slow’ status.
Stepping on two would cause ‘Bind.’
“We need to find the spider,” I said to the Dwarf. We had to find the damn thing to start attacking, right?
But the Dwarf shook his head.
“Your job is to burn all the webs on the ceiling. You don't need to find the spider—”
“Kiiieeeek!”
Found it.
A monstrous shriek echoed from one side of the ceiling. Everyone's gaze shot in that direction.
Shwaaaak!
…followed by a sound like cream being squeezed from a pastry bag.
But what came flying at us was nothing so sweet.
“Watch out!”
Swish!
The Dwarf swung his two-handed axe with all his might, batting the web away.
If this were a game, a ‘SUPER SAVE’ message probably would have popped up.
“Hurry up and burn all the webs on the ceiling! We need to get that thing down on the floor!”
“Kiiieek!”
After shooting a web net at me, the Venomic Spider was already moving to a new position at incredible speed.
Its spit-and-run tactic was annoying in the game, but experiencing it in reality felt truly awful.
‘But I know its location.’
The webs on the ceiling were shaking. Beyond them, I could clearly make out a dark silhouette squirming.
I raised my wand.
[Your turn.]
[Action Points: ■■■■]
*
The Venomic Spider is fast, but if I confirm its direction and snipe it, I can hit it.
Boss monsters have a ton of health, so I need to deal as much damage as possible in a single turn.
When I played the game, I'd use a buff potion like Alchemist's Fire on the wizard to boost their flame damage, but I don't have anything like that now.
‘But I do have the Hourglass.’
In the game, this would have been impossible because cooldowns don't progress within a single turn.
“Fireball.”
[Action Points: ■■■□]
But now, cooldowns do tick down.
I wait five seconds, then cast the spell again.
“Fireball.”
[Action Points: ■■□□]
[Your turn. Time remaining: 50 seconds]
Another five seconds.
“Fireball.”
[Action Points: ■□□□]
[Your turn. Time remaining: 45 seconds]
A final five seconds.
“Fireball.”
[All Action Points have been consumed.]
[Ending turn.]
[The Hourglass has been flipped again. Cooldown: 60 seconds]
*
Honestly, if I were the Dwarf, I'd be too pissed off to sleep at night over paying 9,500 gold just to set the ceiling on fire.
But don't feel too ripped off.
For the sake of my future reputation in the Labyrinth City, I fully intend to pull my weight in this raid.
Like this.
BOOM! KRA-KOOM!
Four fireballs from a wizard who'd dumped all his stats into Wisdom shot out like a machine gun.