Chapter 133

[GRRRR...]

“Don't be so disappointed. I told you, you can't fit into the labyrinth. Guard the magic circle here instead.”

Losing its power hadn't changed the labyrinth's physical shape, after all.

“We'll be back soon.”

According to Irurin, the labyrinth's passages were barely wide enough for two people to walk abreast. The ceiling was also so low that they would have to stoop, leaving far too little room for Fensir.

[GRR...]

Fensir folded his ears back in disappointment, then nodded at Woojin's words.

“The magic circle is fully charged.”

Having said goodbye to Fensir, Woojin stepped onto the magic circle where the others had gathered.

Irurin's magic circle did more than connect the Dark Forest to the central continent. Using the former portal sites as coordinates, it also allowed large groups to travel at once.

WHOOOOSH!!!

Light rose from the magic circle.

* * *

“You have entered Kaisha's tomb.”

Opening his eyes and looking around, Woojin found himself murmuring those words. It was a sort of ritual to remind himself once more that he wasn't inside the game, but...

“Haha, we've entered what used to be Kaisha's tomb.”

Goun seemed to take it as a joke. Woojin looked at Goun and nodded.

“You've changed a lot.”

“My appearance? Haha, yes. I did have a chance to get it healed... but I left it as it was.”

Goun sounded a little self-conscious.

“I don't just mean your appearance.”

Since gaining enlightenment, Woojin saw the world a little differently. His eyes could now pierce through to the essence of things.

The aura he sensed from Goun...

In his memories, Goun had been nothing more than a delicate elf—Ruen's steward, quick to tears. Now, however, Goun possessed the sharpness of a well-honed sword.

“I'll be counting on you.”

“Oh, I should be the one saying that.”

Goun scratched at that head with the same awkward air as before.

CLANK.

The labyrinth's door opened.

“Be careful, everyone. Just because the labyrinth has lost its power doesn't mean there aren't any monsters.”

Dungeons that had lost their masters sometimes became habitats for other monsters. In other words, there might be creatures inside that weren't the dungeon's original summons and had nothing to do with it.

Like the Faceless Monster in the Goblin Nest.

'In the game, this labyrinth was a dungeon for players in their fifties.'

It remained uncleared not because its summoned monsters were too difficult, but because of the challenge of navigating the labyrinth itself. Losing its power hadn't changed its passages.

The labyrinth was still a labyrinth, and now they also had to prepare for whatever monsters might be inside.

Perhaps... it had become even more difficult.

“Let's brace ourselves.”

Woojin stepped into the dungeon.

His second dungeon expedition in the other world had begun.

* * *

“What do you think?”

They had entered the labyrinth on high alert, but contrary to their fears, they hadn't encountered a single monster in over an hour.

“... I wish something would show up.”

“Agreed.”

The problem was that they had done nothing but walk the entire time.

“I'm sleepy...”

Despite their initial resolve, the empty labyrinth was gradually wearing away their tension.

“Keeping my nerves on edge for nothing has worn me out,” Irurin said, rubbing her dry eyes. “Why don't we take a short break?”

Everyone agreed.

“I'll start a fire.”

Goun took several small stones from a backpack. When two were struck together, the stones glowed red and instantly caught fire.

“This is taking longer than I expected.”

“We have to map the labyrinth as we go if we don't want to get lost.”

Irurin spread out the map she had been drawing and showed it to the group. It was surprisingly detailed considering she had drawn it while walking.

'If I take this back, nobody will ever beat my time-attack record.'

Entertaining that frivolous thought for a moment, Woojin loosened his tension-stiffened body.

They had no idea how much farther they would have to go to finish it, but even the map they had so far proved that this place truly was a labyrinth. The passages tangled together like a spiderweb.

'Now I see why people didn't bother clearing it.'

Even if they managed to navigate all those complicated passages, they couldn't claim the real reward without the burial chamber key. Naturally, people had lost interest.

“Did you always know how to make maps?”

“Of course not. I learned through practice. Besides, I was the only one who could do this sort of thing.”

They said they had cleared quite a few dungeons during Woojin's absence. They had succeeded in finding survivors that way, but then came the problem of obtaining arms and armor to turn those survivors into a fighting force.

Without even a base, they certainly had no smithy where they could manufacture weapons. That was why they had turned to dungeons.

“We cleared dungeons and equipped the elven army with the gear we found.”

“With loot drops? They looked too well equipped for that.”

“Actually... that was thanks to Lady Irurin's magic.”

Goun glanced at Irurin.

The look seemed to seek her permission. When she nodded, Goun drew a dagger and scraped a gauntlet. Astonishingly, the silver gauntlet instantly turned a dull, rough brown.

“It's an illusion. The equipment we find in dungeons is inevitably mismatched.”

“Still, we're fortunate. Even with the world coming to an end, there are plenty of dungeons left.”

Were they fortunate?

Irurin wore a self-mocking smile.

To equip hundreds of elven soldiers, they must have cleared dungeons until they were sick of them. Her skill at mapmaking was merely a by-product of those efforts.

“Don't worry too much,” Irurin said as she tucked the map inside her clothes. “You said that on your first visit here, you stayed for days, yet when you returned to your own world, not even a few minutes had passed.”

The second time had been no different. It had taken him some time to regain consciousness after defeating Ratan, yet hardly any time had passed in the game.

“You said your companion might be in danger, didn't you? I understand wanting to get back quickly... but rushing will only ruin things.”

It was true that Woojin had grown impatient watching them advance slowly through the dungeon, mapping as they went. It had taken well over a day to get from Baldoa to the labyrinth with them.

Covering a distance that practically spanned the continent in a mere day was fortunate, but worry for Ruen still kept him from finding peace of mind.

“Have faith in your companion. Anyone who travels with you couldn't possibly be weak,” Ruen said.

Woojin gazed at her.

“Oh, of course, I'm not just selfishly saying that to put my own mind at ease.”

She couldn't possibly know that the person he was worried about was her game-world self, but her words sounded almost like a request to trust her.

“Right... she's certainly not weak.”

“She'll be all right. When you disappeared, Master, I went to the Summoned Creature Space first, remember?”

Woojin knew what Setsuna was getting at. Like summoned creatures, mercenaries automatically moved to a waiting room when their contractor logged out, unless given special orders.

'If that's what happened, that would be a relief... ' *

Woojin couldn't easily compose himself. There were always unforeseen variables.

KABOOOOM!!!

And those variables could arise in reality, too.

“... Huh?”

Goun lowered that head with a blank expression.

RUMBLE...

The wall Goun had been leaning against crumbled, revealing something long and sharp within it.

It was a spear.

It had burst through Goun's chest along with the collapsing wall.

“Cough...?”

Goun stared at the spear in bewilderment.

“Ghh... guh...!!”

Blood trickled from the corners of Goun's mouth, followed by coughing fits that brought up mouthfuls of dark red clots.

“Goun...!!!!”

Ruen hastily raised her bow.

CREAAAK...!!

A sharp arrow of light formed on the taut bowstring. Just as she was about to release it, the spear impaling Goun began lifting its victim into the air.

“Stop!! You'll hit Goun too!!”

[GRRRR...]

A harsh growl sounded behind Goun. Cunningly, the creature hid behind its victim, using Goun as a shield.

“Setsuna!!”

They had fought in concert so often that Setsuna instinctively cast a skill the moment Woojin called her name.

His body blurred and vanished.

[GRRK...!!]

In an instant, he struck from behind the creature.

“Hup!!!”

Woojin drove his sword into its back with all his strength.

Its old armor broke, accompanied by a grating scrape.

[SKREEEE!!!]

But something was strange. When he twisted his sword sideways, it met no resistance.

'The armor is empty inside...?'

At that moment, the creature turned its head. Astonishingly, its head rotated a full 180 degrees, and its sharp teeth lunged for Woojin.

CLACK! CLACK!!

Woojin hastily pulled back, and its teeth snapped noisily together in empty air.

'Undead...?'

Inside the helmet, a skull without a scrap of flesh stared at him, hissing.

The creature was grotesque. Its long, crocodile-like snout held dozens of small, sharp teeth.

“It's a Dragonfang Soldier!!!”

A monster made from dragon bones.

Since Kaisha's tomb was a labyrinth created by a dragon, it wasn't strange to find a dragon-related monster here.

“Why is that thing still here...? Could it be... the labyrinth hasn't lost its power?”

But that was precisely the problem.

“Kraaagh!!!”

The creature pulled its spear out of Goun and charged Woojin.

“Setsuna!! Heal Goun!!”

“Yes!!”

“Prasio...!!!”

At Irurin's incantation, a wall of flame sprang up between them and the Dragonfang Soldier.

[GRRK?]

The Dragonfang Soldier hesitated briefly, then stepped into the flames as if they were nothing.

KABOOM!!

At that moment, Ruen, who had been waiting for an opening, sent an arrow through its chest. With a deafening boom, the arrow passed through the creature and embedded itself in the wall.

Through its shattered armor, they could see the ribs the arrow had smashed apart.

[GRRRR...]

As the creature growled, its broken bones astonishingly began knitting back together in an instant.

Incredible regeneration?

No. This wasn't its own ability.

At that moment, Woojin remembered the information about it on the website.

“It feeds on mana...! Stop!!”

Since the creature had seemed a long way off, he hadn't read its entry closely, and it had taken him a little while to recall it.

Its estimated level was in the high eighties. It was a top-tier monster found only in places like the Revla Mountains, where the ancient dragon Skaja had its lair.

“This monster has nothing to do with the labyrinth.”

Kaisha's tomb was a dungeon for players in their fifties. A Dragonfang Soldier shouldn't have been here. Even in this other world, where level restrictions didn't exist, the types of monsters inhabiting dungeons remained the same.

'A monster that came from outside, unrelated to the labyrinth.'

As Irurin had warned at the start, a dungeon that lost its power could become a habitat for other monsters.

But...

'Dragonfang Soldiers are summoned creatures.'

They weren't born naturally. Someone had to create them using mana.

Which meant...

'This... is someone's doing.'

Woojin tightened his grip on his sword.

Someone had reached the labyrinth before them.