NOVEL NEXT Chapter 28
“Come on, Creave, stop sulking and calm down. You know you messed up, right?”
“I know! I know! But seriously, throwing punches in front of other parties? Do you have any idea how much they must have laughed at me?!”
“True. It’s one thing to talk things out, but violence in that situation was totally unnecessary. You both messed up, so let it go, okay? We’re just on the first floor, and the mood is already like this?”
Seri tried to gently soothe Creave and lighten the party’s atmosphere.
I can’t take this anymore.
“Seriously, throwing punches? If a fight broke out there, you would’ve been dead. Just remember, I saved you, okay?”
“…Are you done talking?”
“The two women behind us, just because one was a witch, the other was Yeohee’s little sister. Do you know what that means?”
“Yeohee’s sister? The white-haired girl we saw earlier?”
“Yeah! I happened to run into her while visiting the guild. It’s probably spread through word of mouth by everyone who was there. You haven’t heard?”
Honestly, I was a bit spooked at the killing intent that suddenly spread that day. Damn, even thinking back on it sends shivers down my spine.
“Still… if a fight breaks out in the labyrinth and someone dies, no one would even know who did it, right?”
Sigh. I can only exhale in disbelief while listening.
“Come on, even if there had just been a knife fight, what’s the problem? We were outnumbered anyway, so what’s to stop us from killing them and serving them as labyrinth food?”
I can’t believe I’ve gone on two expeditions with this idiot in my party.
“Hey! Hah. How was I supposed to know that an adventurer who’s made it to the 27th floor could come up with some wacky method to find out about a murder?”
“Oh!”
“And I’ve heard that high-ranking nobles supposedly have rare items that can revive anyone who dies. An eponymous deep adventurer like that certainly must have one, right?”
I absentmindedly shook my head and raised my right hand to my neck.
“What do you think will happen if we say we killed them after they revive?”
“Tsk… you have a point.”
Another sigh escaped me at the look of the clueless fool.
Should I just kick him out of the party as soon as we return and look for a scout again?
“And most importantly, the eyes of the man who looked to be the leader. That really got to me.”
“His eyes? They were a bit unique, but what else was there?”
“Yeah, they shone a golden color, and he was good-looking, but his eyes gave off this vibe… Gyak!”
Sigh, Seri, even you? Seriously, everyone’s being ridiculous.
“It’s not that! After you made that slip-up, when that man put his hand on his sword hilt, he had this look like he was absolutely certain he could kill us right there.”
Yeah. That was a level of certainty that couldn’t be ignored.
“Unless he’s an idiot, usually only an overwhelming powerhouse would have that kind of confidence out of nowhere, or someone who perfectly gauges the difference in level between himself and his opponent.”
I shook my head and clicked my tongue.
“If he were the former, he wouldn’t still be stuck on the first floor, so I’d say the latter is the case. I don’t know what traits he has, but I definitely don’t want to fight someone who has a clear read on me.”
I know nothing but his outer appearance, while he’s figured me out and prepared? Terrifying.
“Now do you understand why I said you shouldn’t have been so reckless earlier? They say in the labyrinth, it’s better to keep your mouth shut. Please remember that, and let’s move again.”
Speaking of which, the gear I was wearing was pretty impressive.
“I might not be qualified to say this since I’ve never been past the fifth floor, but in my opinion, that man is not someone who would just stay low.”
Finishing my thoughts, I began leading my party members again.
*
After passing Luke’s party, we were smoothly making our way along the path indicated by the curse without any fuss.
Even when we encountered other adventurer parties, it seemed like the problem really was with that moron Creave…
There were a few times where they’d give a brief look of bad luck or us staring at each other without saying a word, then just move on.
Even when we occasionally fought monsters, there were no issues taking them down.
Just like right now.
“Kyaaaak!”
“Kyi!”
Scratch. Swish!
“Kyeek!”
“Kyeeah…”
Shaking the blood from my sword, I said, “The ratman said we need to cut off their tails, right?”
“Yeah! Goblins need their ears, ratmen their tails, and kobolds their snouts!”
Ratmen look like giant bipedal mice, and like goblins, their individual combat strength isn’t very impressive at all.
I cut off the tail and bagged it before moving on again when we suddenly ran into another party blocking our path.
Five tough-looking guys, covered in tattoos. Their vibe didn’t feel right at all.
‘Something feels off. We need to hurry past to avoid unnecessary trouble.’
After briefly locking eyes with the red-haired adventurer at the front, I tried to move past without saying a word.
One of the hulks watching us pulled out a piece of paper from his bag and whispered into the ear of the apparent leader.
“Hey, hold on for a second?”
Before we could take a few steps, the red-haired adventurer blocked our path with his arms, scrutinizing us.
“Yeah, you lot. I knew I was right to bring something just in case! Look at this! Oh man! This works out pretty well, huh? Let’s take our time here.”
What the hell is he rambling about? Why is he staring at us like that?
First, I’ll check his info.
────
[Gospel]
[Strength: D+] [Agility: C-] [Durability: D+]
[Stamina: D+] [Magic Power: D-] [Luck: D]
[Characteristics] (Fold)
Intermediate Dagger Skills
Innate Madness
Hunting Time
Ankle Cutting
────
What the hell. Is he C-ranked?
────
[Innate Madness (C)] [P]
A man with an inherent flaw in his humanity. Inside him lies a beast filled with madness, starving.
─When inflicting damage to hostile entities, stacks of ‘Madness’ can be accumulated. The damage of all attacks increases based on the stacks, up to a maximum of 5.
─When inflicted damage to a hostile entity puts them in a dying state, he loses his mind and enters a ‘Frenzy’ state.
─In the ‘Frenzy’ state, the technique he holds changes automatically for a limited time.
────
────
[Hunting Time (D)] [A]
The techniques of a group known as human hunters. They are incredibly treacherous and brutal, marking their prey before playing with and pursuing them every time they begin hunting.
─Activation phrase: ‘The hunt begins.’
─The marked target receives additional weak damage ignoring defenses from the user.
─When the user pursues a marked target, their agility increases by one stage.
─Targets of higher level than the user cannot be marked.
────
────
[Ankle Cutting (D)] [A]
Cuts the prey’s ankle to reduce mobility. Depending on the amount and strength with which it’s done, this vicious technique is used only for hunting.
─User can employ the ‘Ankle Cutting’ technique.
─The target of the technique suffers from slowed, bleeding, or cutting states, along with fear status effects, depending on the user’s skill level.
────
I quickly checked the guys behind that Gospel, and most were just slightly stronger than Creave from earlier.
Dammit. Where the hell are the guards?
Is there any point to inspecting entrance if human hunters’ remnants are casually roaming first floor? Did they use some kind of enchanted illegal magical item to manipulate things?
‘Yeriell, do you hear me?’
—Yeah, I hear you well.
Thank goodness I learned how to communicate via telepathy the day before entering.
For now, I need to play it safe and be very careful.
“Why block our path all of a sudden? Do you have some business with our party?”
‘Don’t move, just listen.’
‘Those guys seem a bit suspicious, so I checked their stats.’
—And?
“They do have some business. To be precise, it looks like things have just gotten serious. Handsome fella.”
‘Those guys aren’t your average adventurer party. They’re all human hunters, and that red-haired one is stronger than I am.’
“Let’s cut to the chase since I don’t want to waste time here. What seems to be the issue?”
‘Since they’re blocking our way and wasting time, it seems like they’re planning to kill us. But why? Why would they suddenly turn on us after almost letting us pass? What’s on that paper?’
—It seems… it might be because of me.
“Yeah! Now that you mention it, there’s no point in dragging this out.”
Gospel pointed at Yeriell and said: “Hand over Yeohee’s sister. Then we’ll let you and the witch go. Since we’re already in the labyrinth, we don’t want to waste energy over nothing.”
—It’s probably about that incident when my sister found that human hunters’ large hideout and ripped it to shreds. What do we do…?
Fuck. We only have two party members, and one is being asked for while the other is supposed to just give her up? Just hand her over, and they’d let us go?
Damn.
Why do all the losers I run into have to interfere with my human relationships?
These fucking bastards, I won’t give her up. Even if I die, I won’t hand her over.
“I can’t do that. Do you really think a guy who would abandon his comrade to save his own skin deserves to enter the labyrinth? Would you give her up so easily?”
‘Yeriell, if you’re thinking anything weird, erase it from your head right now. No matter how strong that guy is, there’s no way I’d give you up and run.’
—Ugh. I get it.
“Puhuh, well, I didn’t really expect you to give up easily. You’re right. A guy willing to give up to be safe isn’t worthy to even enter the labyrinth.”
Other than Gospel, the rest of the group seemed weak.
That guy’s stats are a bit higher than mine, but the difference is not that significant, so if I can utilize my traits, I might just stand a chance.
His eyes sparkled as he showed his teeth while laughing.
“But if you don’t want to give her up… then you’ll just have to die, I guess?”
‘Yeriell! Your shield now!’
“Protect us with the Holy Light Shield!”
[Divine Shield]
Swoosh.
Clang!
“What?! You blocked this?!”
Nice! Yeriell successfully blocked the dagger thrown by the scrawny guy behind us.
These bastards are serious about this. It seems like one side has to die for it to end.
Then first, I need to immobilize that guy throwing ranged attacks to make this easier.
As I drew my sword, I focused.
Crackle. Crackling—
‘Lightning.’
Bam—!
“■■■■!”
“Ghk!”
“What the hell, how could a priest use thunder magic?!”
The guy hit by the lightning collapsed.
I don’t know if he’s dead, but judging by his twitching body, he won’t be getting up for a while.
The other two around him were grabbing their aching spots and groaning as if shocked by the electric blast.
Zing—
Ugh. A strong headache hit me from the backlash of using lightning magic.
“Wow, the young lad really has some talent. I thought you were just a swordsman, but you can use magic too?”
Gospel, noticing my grimace, had just realized the thunder strike was my doing.
“Ghh. If you’ve got more tricks up your sleeve, let’s see them! You need to give me some time to wipe out my opponents before I kill you!”
Gospel laughed as if he could kill me no matter what I did.
“Sure. I’ll give you what you want.”
I gritted my teeth and began channeling mana into my tightly gripped sword hilt.
A low rumble and purple light began to glow from Barak.
Bzzz.
Barak destroys everything.
Ancient purple symbols appeared on the sword and lightning began to crackle around it.
[Body Enhancement Activated]
[All physical stats are increased by one grade.]
Hah… Maintaining Barak’s activation while channeling mana is challenging.
It feels like I’m doing a tap dance while drawing different shapes with both hands.
Thanks to my core, my mana is continually overflowing from within, so I don’t face any physical problems.
But managing the body-enhancement while forcibly heightening my spirit with my mana…
Dammit, now is not the time for complaints.
“Oh, that sword is quite the temptation. It can’t be a unique weapon, but at least a B rank, right? Where on earth does a rookie get such a powerful weapon?”
“If you want it so bad, come try to take it… now!”
Kclang!
“Oops, aren’t you feisty? I was going to give you more time, but you started it first?”
“Damn you, let’s go!”
With my attack, the battle began.