NOVEL NEXT Chapter 104
Close your eyes and endure.
‘Is everyone hanging on properly?’
Right now, we’re being transferred somewhere by unprecedented power.
Like dust helplessly sucked into a huge vacuum cleaner.
No matter how much I struggled, my body felt heavy.
All I could do was close my eyes tightly and recite the actions I need to take once this moment ends.
‘Are we going back to where the barrier was? Or will it randomly send us somewhere? I hope we land near a portal, if possible.’
Ah… my consciousness is fading.
Other people say that things like portals and magic become less impressive after the initial few times, but I don’t know why I always feel something strange.
Like my body stretching or drifting off somewhere like a water slide.
Doesn’t it feel like a giant is picking me up and throwing me?
Now I’m like dust being sucked in?
‘Is it just because I’m from Earth? I don’t know.’
Maybe I actually have a talent for spatial stuff, which lets me feel things more acutely than others.
Haha. Thinking that way makes me feel a bit better.
Hidden—
*
“Ugh!”
I regained consciousness without realizing.
Usually, at times like this, I wake up with a jolt while lying down.
This time was different. When did I start standing?
‘Well, my body is fine. My gear and backpack are intact. What about the others?’
I looked around for my companions.
“Kie?”
“…?”
I couldn’t see the trio, but instead, there was a goblin right next to me.
And this little guy is holding two daggers.
One in each hand. Just like a goblin assassin.
‘Just like a goblin assassin… but that’s exactly what it is, isn’t it?’
With twin daggers and a sleek body, his eyes are filled with venom. Right.
“Ke-rek.”
Clang!
As the stealth completely broke, I effortlessly blocked the dagger coming from behind.
“Ke, kek!”
The goblin assassin staggered, clearly flustered by the failed attack.
No, he wasn’t flustered; he pretended to be startled for a follow-up attack.
A shabby trick.
The glinting dagger was zeroing in on my lower flank.
If there’s one unfortunate thing for him, it’s that it’s all visible to me.
Swish!
I tilted my waist slightly and gracefully dodged.
With the critical hit failing, he turned his back and fled.
“Kek, Ker.”
Scrape.
The pure white sword smoothly split the goblin’s flesh, even bisecting the vertebrae.
The hand feel is amazing? It’s different from other weapons.
Clap clap!
I recalled my sword and slapped my cheeks.
‘Now I feel like my body belongs to me. I don’t know why I still feel so dazed as if I didn’t just wake up from a dream.’
[Chaos says you’re finally coming to your senses.]
Since I felt no presence around me, I just started muttering to make sure Chaos could hear.
“Was it ugly in your eyes, Chaos? I felt a bit off, like I hadn’t fully woken up.”
[Chaos adds that your eyes were unfocused.]
“Geez. What the heck is going on?”
[Chaos apologizes, saying it’s only natural that you dropped somewhere other than near the barrier since multiple transcendents’ spaces collapsed.]
But the next floor is a bit…
[Chaos apologizes again for not understanding why you fell alone.]
“What’s going on that I’m the only one who fell to the 4th floor? I’ve never seen anything like that in the books.”
The 4th floor.
A layer where various mutated goblins appear, and where our party’s previous journey came to an end.
Compared to the previous floor, there are additional mutations like goblin assassins, goblin gladiators, and goblin suicide bombers.
Thanks to these distinctions, I could identify the next floor immediately upon seeing the assassin I just caught.
By the way, warriors and archers are in English in the books, while gladiators and suicide bombers are in Chinese.
In other sections, sometimes words have nuances from languages like Latin or German, but I don’t know English.
‘…Maybe it’s easier to think that one language is translating the world’s language as it pleases.’
After all, spells and traits are all different. Digging deeper will only be tiring.
Right. What’s important now isn’t the names of monsters, but the fact that I’m standing on the 4th floor of the Great Labyrinth.
And that I can’t see my companions no matter how much I turn my head.
After recovering the ears and shabby daggers from the goblin assassin’s corpse, I calmly came to a conclusion.
It’s been quite a while, and since they haven’t appeared, it might be better for me to move on.
‘Yeriell, can you hear me? If you do, respond!’
…Okay. It seems that the transmission is impossible due to the distance.
Zzt.
Trying to contact Adelaya also seemed pointless.
‘Maybe it’s because they fell at different timings, so let’s wait just a bit longer.’
I found a flat area and sat still.
Thirty minutes went by, then one hour passed.
“…”
After checking my wristwatch to confirm exactly three hours had gone by, I decided that waiting any longer would be meaningless.
I leapt up and stretched.
[Chaos asks if you’re going to move now.]
“Of course. I can’t just stay here any longer.”
One thing worries me: the worst-case scenario.
‘What if I ended up alone on the 4th floor while my companions are looking for me on the 3rd floor?’
“Ha…”
Once you go up a floor, there’s no way to go back down. Even if there is, I have no way of knowing.
I have no choice but to believe that they fell with me.
I chose a tall tree extending upwards and slowly climbed.
Surrounded by mountains, grass, and trees.
“Damn.”
And right next to it, there’s a huge settlement.
I can’t believe it. If we all landed here together, we could have jumped straight to the 5th floor, right?
‘Damn this Great Labyrinth. Just stop screwing with me, please!’
I was so dumbfounded that I wondered if the bad luck activation message had popped up and I missed it.
I steadied myself against a thick branch and took out the compass and map from my backpack.
Alright, I’m roughly near the northern edge by the settlement.
Each direction has a portal, and there’s a large settlement at each corner.
If my trio without me is somewhere on the 4th floor, what would they do?
‘They’d probably look for me or try to use an escape portal. One of the two.’
Veronica has already been an adventurer up to the mid-levels, and she has considerable experience exploring labyrinths with another fixed party.
If it’s her, even if the other two act emotionally, she should be able to guide them in the right direction.
Besides, it’s clear that Veronica, who has only her own backpack, would want to return, especially with a gap in their numbers.
“Let’s run. There’s no way but to run like hell.”
The target is to run sequentially towards the portals in the east, west, and south as much as possible without resting.
If I keep sending transmissions while I’m on the move, I should receive answers when I get closer.
My skill stats, including magical power, stamina, and agility, are at least four or five levels higher than theirs.
If I run as little as possible, I can catch up to them, no matter where they are.
Whoosh!
With a compass in one hand, I started running, constantly channeling my magical power.
*
“Akko!”
“Are you alright?”
“Uh-huh. Hehe, I messed up my landing this time. But where is this? This isn’t where the barrier and stone tablet were?”
“Everyone, lower your voices. Something feels off.”
Veronica whispered as she looked around.
“Indeed, it’s different from the 3rd floor.”
“Really?”
“From the 5th floor onward, the area splits again, so it seems like we’re on the 4th floor. We accidentally skipped a layer.”
Lumia added with a stiff expression.
“Not only that. No matter how I look around, I can’t see Aren.”
“Ehh? You’re right! He wouldn’t just wander off without a word, right?”
“Veronica, do you know anything about this situation? Even a guess?”
“I arrived similarly to you all. So now we need to figure things out.”
Rustle.
Veronica brushed aside the surrounding foliage and spoke.
“Other than where we landed, there are no signs of crushed foliage or trampled weeds. And since there are no traces of monsters or traps set up, this is likely deep in the forest.”
“Yeriell, that earring. You shared it with Aren to communicate telepathically, right? Try it.”
“Ah, right! Okay!”
Yeriell closed her eyes and concentrated for a few seconds.
Her complexion gradually grew pale, and the corners of her eyes trembled.
“Ah, this won’t do! If the connection is severed, it means the distance is incredibly far.”
Tears began to trickle from Yeriell’s eyes.
“…What do we do now? Sob, sniff.”
She had never felt this anxious since their first venture into a labyrinth.
Even when she was separated by the Layered Ruler, the voice coming through the transmission had reassured her, allowing her to endure and wait.
Moreover, the trials she originally had to overcome alone were manageable thanks to Aren’s strong support.
Circus not included, since they got news late.
For a moment, she felt like a lost child holding onto someone’s hand.
In this perilous labyrinth, it’s bad enough that Aren fell alone, but she didn’t even know where he was.
The world felt shaky, and the ground beneath her vanished.
Thump.
Pull.
Lumia stretched Yeriell’s cheeks.
“Uh?”
“Get a grip. If this doesn’t work, next time I’ll slap you.”
Stretch.
“Hey! That hurts! Just stop pulling!”
“Both of you, stop! I think we’ve started figuring out what to do.”
After Yeriell gently rubbed her reddened cheeks, she asked.
“Did you think of a way to find Aren?”
“No. That’s unlikely. Rather, it might be better to use the portal to escape. I’ll explain just once, so listen carefully.”
Nodding along, Lumia listened carefully, while Yeriell, looking sad, focused her ears.
Priest, dark sorceress, sword-fighting vanguard.
The combination is fine, but the absence of attackers is significant, and most resources are with that group.
Since there’s no way to locate them, at least he wouldn’t go up the layer alone. So if he wandered around and got tired, wouldn’t he try to escape?
As you all know, his skills are outstanding. He should somehow reach the portal alone.
So let’s set our goal on escaping, and Veronica explained it patiently.
“B-but, what if we miss each other? Aren would definitely look for us for days if he had to.”
“If we had sufficient food, we might’ve settled in one spot, waiting for him to come. But that’s just it.”
Veronica pointed to Yeriell’s earring.
“When we get closer, that earring will react. But right now, aside from my backpack, I don’t have anything at all. You get what I mean?”
Thump thump.
She opened her backpack.
“See? With this, we can’t last even 4 days if we share it among three of us.”
“…In the end, you’re suggesting we runaway and leave Aren behind, right?”
With that offhand comment from Lumia, Veronica became furious.
“Do you think I want to pretend to be rational and keep a cool head?”
“…”
“I’d also prefer to find him, even if it meant eating monster meat or starving to death! But Aren wouldn’t want that!”
“I’m sorry. I must have let my emotions get the better of me. It was a slip of the tongue.”
“Ha… I’m also sorry for raising my voice. I haven’t had such instances since I gained this trait.”
With the extra compasses, map, and provisions packed away, it wasn’t a problem to find the path to the nearby settlement.
“Then let’s assume everyone understands. Let’s get moving.”
Creak.
Veronica spoke quietly.
“Lumia, next time we explore, you should learn some public magic too. Something like the Guiding Compass or Party Bond.”
“W-well, strictly speaking, I’m kind of a magus without a foundation, so I won’t even be able to access the Magic Tower.”
“No. You can get in through Aren or my connections. Don’t worry; when we return, we’ll go together. The curse will gradually be resolved, too.”
“…Thank you.”
“It’s strange we’re having to deal with this on the 4th floor, not even the 10th. This labyrinth seems so expansive and odd.”
With Veronica’s lament on why only one person fell separately, they resumed their journey.