Chapter 91: Labyrinth(3)
Chapter 91: Labyrinth(3)
Barikmeteo was soaring through the sky.
The sight of the monster, with its massive wings and the head of a lion, was intimidating in itself.
Barikmeteo descended from the heavens to where the masked man stood. He had no idea how many days he’d spent flying around, searching for the masked wanderer.
Irritated, Barikmeteo growled.
“You. Why haven’t you been answering my calls?”
Without even glancing at him, the masked man replied dismissively.
“Because it was obvious you were going to ask for some troublesome favor.”
“…”
He’d hit the nail on the head.
But it wasn’t as if he could go back empty-handed now.
“If you’re a member of the Organization, you should cooperate a little.”
“I’m handling the tasks the Organization assigned me just fine on my own. Why don’t you worry about yourself instead of meddling in my affairs?”
“…”
“It’s a pain. You handle it yourself. Don’t go asking others for help.”
“I’m saying this because I can’t handle the hero on my own. That hero bitch… she’s no ordinary foe. Elena didn’t choose her for nothing.”
“…”
The masked man recalled a memory.
The image of Lina he had seen through the black smoke. She was certainly no ordinary piece of work.
“The hero is an obstacle to our plans. She sniffs out our operations like a ghost and interferes. She’s already taken down two of our locations.”
“Both of which were under your management.”
“…”
“‘They’ must be starting to put pressure on you, right? With two of your hideouts destroyed, it must be hard for you to even make your monthly tribute.”
“…”
“So you swallowed your pride and came to ask me for help? Pathetic.”
“You could be next. I don’t know how, but the hero seems to know a lot about us.”
The masked man looked at Barikmeteo.
This lion, a walking ball of pride, had set that pride aside to beg for help.
That’s how cornered he was.
Frankly, it didn’t matter to him whether Barikmeteo lived or died, but as the beast said, he could be next.
If Barikmeteo manages to take out even one member of the hero’s party… things might get a little easier for me.
“Do you have a chance of winning?”
“Nassen said he knows of a useful weapon. We’ll see once I get it from him.”
“You’re trusting that moron?”
“Nassen was the one who found the White Witch’s Seal. The bastard has a knack for finding good items. Of course… once this is over, he’ll end up in my stomach.”
“Heh heh. Figures.”
“Idol Worshipper. If you help me, we can defeat the hero.”
“It’s not a hundred percent, is it? Right?”
“…”
An awkward silence fell.
The only reason Barikmeteo hadn’t been caught by the heroes so far was because he had wings.
If he fled into the sky, not even the heroes could follow.
But that was it. Barikmeteo didn’t think he could actually win against them.
If only I’d caught that annoying man last time…
The failure to capture him stung deeply.
An intermediate-level mage might have been able to shoot him down with magic while he was flying away.
“‘They’ are also keeping a close eye on the hero, Barikmeteo.”
“I’m aware of that much.”
The hero was systematically interfering with the Organization’s work.
This meant that the very reason for the hero’s appearance was to stop their plans.
“Fine. Since ‘They’ are watching, I’ll lend you my strength this one time. In return, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t bother me again.”
“…Thank you.”
The masked man handed Barikmeteo a few small stones.
Barikmeteo looked at them and grinned with satisfaction.
*
A labyrinth within the dungeon.
Inside, Lina’s party heard a strange scream.
Moooooo!
“Get the hell away from me! You crazy bull bastard!”
It was Nassen’s voice.
Though they couldn’t see him, Nassen was somewhere in the labyrinth. And quite close, at that.
Kerry took out a Magic Storage Orb. It was an orb the party was now well acquainted with.
“This is a Magic Storage Orb containing a tracking spell. It’s only good for one use, but… it should be able to find Nassen.”
Tracking magic wasn’t omnipotent.
It had a limited range. But since they were close enough to hear Nassen’s voice, it would definitely work.
Fucking bastard. I’ve got you now.
If skills and stats were the same, then there was strength in numbers. Justice always wins by ganging up on the enemy in the name of love and friendship.
“Should I use the tracking magic?”
Lina nodded. The rest of the party agreed.
Kerry activated the spell.
As the wave of mana spread out, he began to feel the structure of the labyrinth.
A complex, tangled maze formed in his mind.
Within that labyrinth, he could also sense Nassen, who was facing off against a Minotaur.
“Everyone, follow me!”
“Kerry. You must stay with me. There could be traps,” Victoria said, sticking close to Kerry’s side.
The party ran, following Kerry. Fortunately, there were no traps along the way.
At last, they found Nassen. He was grappling with a Minotaur.
“You stupid bull-head. It’d be best for you to leave while I’m asking nicely.”
Moooooo!
If dungeon bosses ran away just from being threatened, no one would have any trouble.
Natasha ground her teeth.
Thankfully, perhaps due to her skills being sealed, she didn’t go berserk.
“Natasha, you can’t fight alone right now. Understand?”
“I know, Husband.”
Her skills and stats were currently sealed.
They needed to approach with the utmost caution. The best plan would be to stab Nassen in the back while he was fighting the Minotaur.
Cowardly? When it’s justice against evil, nothing you do is cowardly.
In stories about heroes, the villain always gets ganged up on and dies, but no one ever calls the heroes cowards.
It was the same principle.
“Let’s hide and ambush the bastard when he gets close. That’ll be the surest way.”
“…”
The party didn’t seem to like the idea.
Such pointless stubbornness. They didn’t have the luxury of worrying about their pride right now.
CRASH—
The Minotaur swung its fist at Nassen.
Nassen threw himself to the side, narrowly dodging the blow.
Every time the Minotaur’s fist hit a wall, cracks spiderwebbed across the stone. Its destructive power was immense.
Even Lina might be left half-dead if she took a single hit like that. After all, her health was only at 10 points right now.
Lina’s party prepared an ambush at the end of the corridor Nassen was fleeing down.
The Minotaur was chasing him from behind. At the fork in the path, Lina’s party lay in wait.
Your luck runs out here.
After they dealt with Nassen, the Minotaur would remain, but they could probably manage to escape.
“Damn it. Fucking crazy bull.”
Nassen cursed as he threw himself forward.
It was a T-junction. Lina’s party was waiting for him on both sides.
As Nassen emerged from the passage, his eyes met Kerry’s.
“Long time no see, you skeletal piece of shit.”
Normally, a head-on fight like this would have been unthinkable, but here, Kerry had nothing to fear.
After all, Nassen’s skills and stats were sealed, too.
“You annoying man! How did you get here?!”
“Fuck you. Shut up and die.”
Kerry swung his sword down.
Nassen blocked it with his spear. Since even their strength stats were the same, he struggled just to parry Kerry’s blade.
“Well done, Sir Kerry.”
In that instant, Lina’s sword flashed from the side.
Her blade was so fast it was hard to believe they had the same stats. What is this? A difference in technique?
Nassen was pinned, unable to move while blocking Kerry’s sword.
Lina’s blade sliced across his side. Blood gushed from the wound like water from a burst faucet.
“Kugh…!”
“Die! You murderer of my tribe!”
Natasha also rushed Nassen from behind and plunged her scimitar into his back.
Not just once, but again and again, shk, shk, shk, she stabbed his back like a madwoman.
“Aaaargh!”
Nassen screamed in agony.
Kerry yelled at Natasha, who was frantically stabbing Nassen.
“Natasha! It’s dangerous! Get back!”
The moment Kerry shouted, Natasha quickly backed away.
Moooooo!
The Minotaur that had been chasing Nassen had arrived.
The Minotaur slammed Nassen with a fist like an iron lid. Nassen’s body went flying, hit a wall, and tumbled to the ground.
That’s gotta hurt like hell.
To think Nassen’s end would be so anticlimactic.
It would have been more satisfying to capture and torture him properly, but there was no time for that now.
Moooooo!
The Minotaur was now targeting the party.
“Let’s run for now.”
“But… I haven’t confirmed he’s dead! He’s the type who won’t die even if you cut off his head.”
“We have no choice right now, Natasha. The Minotaur is right there with him.”
“It won’t be too late to come back and finish the job later.”
“…Yes! Husband.”
It left a bad taste in Kerry’s mouth, but it couldn’t be helped.
Right now, their only option was to flee from the Minotaur.
Moooooo!
“My ears hurt! Can’t you follow us quietly?!”
It’s not like it couldn’t run without screaming.
Kerry had assumed the Minotaur’s bellows were the sounds of it chasing them.
But that wasn’t it.
“S-Sir Kerry.”
The party, who had been running for a while, slowly came to a stop and looked back.
The Minotaur was screaming in pain.
Its body and Nassen’s were merging in a grotesque fashion. No, to be more precise, it looked like Nassen was absorbing the Minotaur.
“Haaa… haaa… So that bull bastard thought he could just smack me around, did he?”
The Minotaur, now completely fused with Nassen, spoke with Nassen’s voice.
“Because of you lot, I was forced to resort to this.”
Not stopping there, Nassen tossed a pill into his mouth.
Lina’s party didn’t know it, but the pill Nassen was taking had been created from the life force of the villagers he had massacred.
It came with side effects, but it was better than being eaten by Barikmeteo.
The body of the Nassen-Minotaur hybrid began to grow rapidly.
Its already bulging muscles started to swell to grotesque proportions.
Injecting a natural gym rat like the Minotaur with steroids. That’s a huge insult to gym rats everywhere.
“That evil bastard!”
“Kerry, don’t you dare get in front of me.”
Its already massive body suddenly doubled in size.
“Isn’t that totally broken? How can he just fuse with a dungeon boss? And he’s even juicing!”
And here we are with all our stats at 10 points. It’s absurd! This other world is so damn absurd.
“…Complaining won’t change anything.”
Is there no one who can sympathize with my outrage?
Nassen, now a giant taller than the labyrinth walls, looked down on Lina’s party. This felt incredibly dangerous.
“…Sorry for hitting you earlier.”
“…”
I offered a gesture of reconciliation, but of course a juiced-up gym rat would have no mercy.
Or so I thought.
Nassen ignored Lina’s party and headed for a tall altar in the center of the labyrinth. With his massive frame, he simply smashed through the dungeon walls, moving in a straight line.
Kerry remembered that the Doll Ginseng was on that altar.
So he’s after my Doll Ginseng. There was no way in hell he was giving that up.
“Let’s go after him, Lady Lina.”
“Yes, Sir Kerry. But what can we do against something that large…?”
“That’s not like you, Lady Lina, sounding so weak.”
“…”
“We talked about it before we entered the dungeon, didn’t we? Why would Nassen come into a dungeon? What else could it be? He must have come here because he needs power. So if he reaches that altar he’s heading for… Nassen might become even stronger than he is now.”
“!”
Lina’s eyes lit up as if she finally understood the situation.
“We must stop that from happening.”
“Exactly, Lady Lina.”
“Husband, stay back. That thing is for me… no, for us to kill!”
He was planning on staying back anyway. He’d only be a burden, and besides, Kerry had something else to do.
Lina’s party took off after Nassen.
For some reason, watching Lina’s party with their swords drawn against the giant Nassen, he could almost hear an epic BGM playing.
You know, the BGM from that manga where they fly around slicing up giants.
“But Sir Kerry, as it stands, we have no way to stop Nassen.”
“Just… just buy me some time, and I’ll figure something out.”
Lina nodded at Kerry’s words.
Kerry split off from the group. He unfolded the dungeon map and started running toward the altar.