Chapter 170
Chapter 170
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Slumber Labyrinth
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The Slumber Labyrinth was located roughly in the middle of the city.
It hadn't always been there originally,
but I'd heard the city had expanded around the labyrinth over time.
Marie steered the carriage toward the labyrinth.
Now that we were a proper adventurer party, it was time to tackle it.
The walls within the city.
A strange new sight appeared.
Passing through those walls, a massive circular building came into view at the center of a slightly depressed basin.
The walls encircled the basin around that building.
"They must have built it to prepare for monsters bursting out from the labyrinth, right?"
Otherwise, there'd be no reason to erect walls around the labyrinth specifically.
The entrance to the building was swarming with people.
Armed folks were showing entry permits to the soldiers at the entrance and heading inside.
We left the carriage at the carriage stable and made our way to the building entrance.
The soldier checking permits flinched when he saw me and Lilliana, but we all passed smoothly and entered the building.
Overcrowding aside,
shops lined the outer walls of the building, giving it the feel of a shopping mall.
"The labyrinth's first floor is underground. Those planning to use the teleport magic circle for the deeper levels should head to the second floor."
A pretty receptionist at the central desk was guiding adventurers.
"Oh ho. They even have a teleport magic circle. Seems like they've put a lot of effort into this place."
Lilliana commented with interest.
They'd said the labyrinth was bizarrely massive, and sure enough, it even had a teleport circle installed.
It was our first day.
We planned to start light with the first floor as intended.
Descending the stairs to the basement, a vast space supported by countless pillars appeared, with numerous caves lining the walls.
Hunting parties descending underground were vanishing one by one into those caves.
Judging by the entrants' gear and mana levels, the first floor seemed like a beginner hunting ground in game terms.
We picked one of the caves and plunged right in.
A pitch-black cave without a single light greeted us.
Luna cast a light spell.
After trudging through the gloomy cave for a while,
a satisfying quest completion message popped up.
Eliminate the Corrupted Beings in the Labyrinth
Mid-tier Corrupted Being eliminated: Skill Point 1
High-tier Corrupted Being eliminated: Skill Point 5
Top-tier Corrupted Being eliminated: Skill Point 10
Transcendent Being eliminated reward: ??
A barrage of lengthy messages filled my vision.
The new quest resembled the zombie world one somewhat... but where did the low-tier Corrupted Being quest go?
And there was this unfamiliar Transcendent Being quest that caught my eye.
Reward unknown, too.
"Party Creation skill? What's that?"
I decided to check the details later once we were back and cleared the messages from view.
"Ho... the space is distorted here."
Lilliana remarked as she surveyed the surroundings.
"Space is distorted?"
"Yes, this isn't the underground of Slumber."
Like a gate?
No gate veil in sight.
Some sealed gates resembled this environment.
Back home, nearly all sealed gates had been cleared.
Cleared sealed gates were usually managed by the conquering guild or nation.
Similar yet different somehow.
-Kiruk. Kiruk!
Monsters appeared shortly after entry.
Small stature, elongated claws.
Glistening dark red skin.
A familiar sight.
"Goblins? They look a bit different though... creepy little bastards..."
Ayla grimaced as she spoke.
She swiftly nocked an arrow, and the goblin's head was pierced in an instant, dropping dead.
Similar to the monsters hunters called goblins from F-Rank dimensional rifts back home.
Lilliana and Luna closely examined the fallen monster.
"A monster I've never seen before... intriguing."
"Definitely an odd one."
Lilliana stored the monster in her subspace.
Planning to dissect it, huh...
We pressed deeper, dispatching sporadic monsters along the way.
The cave resembled an ant colony.
Perfect structure for getting lost.
"Can we find our way back?"
It wasn't a simple path.
The thought hit me late.
"No problem."
Ayla assured me.
Was she just smart?
Or as an elf ranger, did she have some pathfinding ability?
Trusting her, we advanced further.
We encountered another adventurer party.
Connected caves?
Or had they entered ahead of us?
None wielded aura or mana.
They eyed our group—weird looks mostly at Lilliana—then slunk away cautiously.
A human wandering in a black dress in this hellhole would raise eyebrows.
Deeper in, more monsters swarmed us.
In a small cavern, we spotted a party under attack.
-Tak. Tak.
A strange monster I'd never seen before.
Glowing eyes in the dark.
Big head, childlike at a glance.
But its mouth stretched unnaturally wide, lined with saw-like sharp teeth—its main weapon.
Two men, one woman.
Probably four originally...
One lay half-eaten on the ground.
The two men fought desperately with sword and spear.
The woman in robes with a staff looked like a mage.
Neatly tied black hair.
Upon closer look, a cute, pretty third-circle mage—out of place with those guys.
"Kraaak!!"
"Charles, bro!!"
A monster latched onto Charles's thigh.
-Slash.
The young man swiftly severed the monster's neck from its body clinging to Charles's leg. But the head stayed attached.
"Kugh!"
Charles painfully pried off the head. A chunk of flesh was gouged out.
The mage woman watched anxiously, fidgeting helplessly.
"Out of mana?"
Spotting us, the young man cried out desperately.
"P-Please help us!!"
Party members glanced at me.
Ayla and Luna seemed indifferent since they were humans.
Marie and Lilliana awaited my decision.
Pathetic bunch,
but the men aside, that mage girl was too valuable to die here.
I decided to help her.
Extended my hand and chanted.
"Gravity."
A dozen or so monsters floated into the air from my spell.
They flailed helplessly midair.
I clenched my fist, compressing them into a clump.
A small mana orb formed at the tip of the staff in my left hand.
Sealed cave.
Had to control the power or risk burying ourselves alive.
"Explosion."
The small Explosion shot from the staff tip, colliding with the clustered monsters and detonating.
-Boom!
The monsters shattered into pieces simultaneously.
-Splatter!
Blood and flesh from the exploded monsters rained down on the heads of the party I'd just saved.
Suddenly drenched in gore, they wore stunned expressions.
"Eww~ What a messy way to do it."
Ayla scolded, but I'd saved their lives—that was job done. Getting dirty was their problem.
More than that, I marveled at my spell's power.
Item buffs were key, indeed.
Smoother chaining than before—satisfying.
"Heh."
"What's with the 'heh'? Using crude telekinesis and calling it Gravity, striking all those poses..."
Lilliana's cute grumbling fell on deaf ears.
Get there any way you can, as long as you arrive.
Something shiny on the ground caught my eye.
F-Rank mana stone size.
I levitated it over with telekinesis.
"Over a dozen kills, and only one stone? Bad luck."
"Hm? They said mana stones are inside monsters— that's what you meant. Fascinating."
Lilliana noted upon seeing the stone.
The rescued party's eyes locked on it.
"You wouldn't be claiming this as yours, would you?"
"N-No, sir!"
The young man I'd saved hurriedly denied, bowing. Then he suddenly knelt before me.
"Please save us!!"
"Huh? I just did."
"Forgive us, but we lack the strength to exit the labyrinth now. If you leave us, we'll end up monster chow."
I looked them over.
The young man and mage seemed fine, but Charles had a nasty leg wound.
The mage was mana-dry, combat-incapable.
Conclusion: young man carries them both out alone.
The mage girl approached and bowed to me too.
"Please."
Her ample cleavage peeked from her sagging robe neckline.
Bloodied from my explosion, but pretty face.
Too fine a beauty to die in this dungeon.
"......I'll show mercy."
"Th-Thank you."
Nothing more to see on the first floor anyway—just weak monsters.
Seen enough; time to head back today.