Chapter 115 - Reunion (3)

The afternoon of day nine.

「You have entered the third floor, Pilgrim's Passage.」

After spending over a day searching around the northernmost reaches of the Land of the Dead, we found a portal and reached the third floor.

'... Next time, I really ought to bring a Scout unless I have no other choice.'

I'd figured the two of us could reach the third floor if we took the Land of the Dead route... but the lack of a Scout had still made a huge difference. If we hadn't secretly followed a group of explorers who happened to pass nearby, we'd probably still be wandering around there.

"Ugh, this place gives me the creeps every time, nyah."

Anyway, after all that trouble, we'd arrived at the Pitch-Black Estuary. This was the starting point for those taking the Land of the Dead route, a field characterized by shallow channels branching off in dozens of directions.

Oh, and the sewer stench came free.

"Let's go, then."

Without a Scout, I kept checking the compass as we headed northeast. Before long, we reached a dead end. In other words, we'd have to wade through that pitch-black water.

"... Can't you carry me, nyah?"

Tsk. Always looking for the easy way out.

"... Just this once."

"Wow! Really? Thanks, nyah!"

I sling Misha over my shoulder and cross the river. It's about five meters wide, with water reaching just below my knees. After I carefully make my way across without falling, damp ground stretches ahead of us like a path.

But just as I'm about to continue...

[CROAK! CROAK!]

[CROAK-CROAK-CROAK!]

Monsters creep out, apparently drawn by the sound of us crossing the river.

"Bjorn, frogmen over there, nyah."

Frogmen. Rank-eight monsters that look just like frogs, except they walk on two legs. They use something resembling harpoons as weapons.

Their small size might make them look harmless, but their high Agility has sent plenty of careless explorers to an early grave. Their skills are pretty annoying, too.

'... What a pain.'

These things are a bad matchup for me. My mace can burst a deathfiend's skull with one blow... but what good is that if I can't land a hit?

WHOOSH!

The frogman kicks off thin air for another leap, easily dodging my mace. I immediately dash forward and try bashing it with my shield, but that doesn't accomplish much either.

「Your attack missed due to [Rotten Slime].」

My shield makes contact with its body, but instead of a solid thud, the frogman simply slides off.

[CROAK-CROAK!]

Having fun?

Motherfucker.

With their guaranteed evasion modifier against blunt weapons, these things were tricky opponents for me regardless of rank.

Well, with Misha here, that wasn't a problem.

"Nyaha! Out of the way, nyah!"

After laughing at the frogman making a fool of me, Misha finally drew her swords and began her deadly dance.

[CROAK!]

Frogmen had a substantial evasion modifier against blades, too... but our swordswoman specialized in freezing.

[CROAK?!]

Not only was its thigh sliced open, its lower body froze solid.

THUD.

The little frog bastard that had been hopping around like it owned the place crumpled to the ground.

"Misha, wait!"

"Hm?"

"Let me."

THWACK!

Whew. That relieved some stress.

Normally, magic was the way to kill these monsters, but the gap in our strength was so great that the fights weren't particularly difficult.

[CROAK-CROAK!]

[CROAAK! CROAK!]

How long had we been traveling and killing frogmen?

[22 : 57]

After checking the time, I began looking for somewhere to camp. Fatigue aside, this was a place where you had to take a break at set times.

"Bjorn, the water's rising, nyah."

"I'm already looking. Don't rush me."

After about thirty minutes of searching, we found a rest spot. Unlike the blackish estuary, this mound had a reddish tinge, with loose, dry soil instead of mud. About thirty people had already settled there, as though every explorer in the area had gathered.

'We're late. All the good spots in the middle are taken.'

With no choice, I settled by the water, where we got the full brunt of the sewer stench. The soil wasn't damp, so the water probably wouldn't rise this far.

As I dried my wet legs before laying out the blankets, the river began rising rapidly.

[00: 00]

Okay, now that it was midnight, the water wouldn't rise any farther. It would stay this way for the next six hours, so I had Misha sleep first.

With so many people around, several teams were resting without posting a watch... but you never knew.

'We ran into Hans a few days ago, too. Better be careful.'

I was rummaging through my backpack, planning to fill up on snacks, when I heard it.

"Hahaha! Cheer up, my friend! Even a tree will fall if you chop at it ten times, won't it?"

"But... as you know, she—"

"Hey, everyone's sleeping. Keep it down, will you?"

"Ahaha! My apologies! We'll be more careful!"

A familiar voice drifted over from a distance. Perhaps Misha hadn't fallen asleep yet, because she suddenly sat up, still bundled in her blanket.

"That's Hikurod's voice, isn't it, nyah...?"

Since she'd had the same thought, I probably hadn't misheard...

Huh. What were the odds?

* * *

Running into someone you knew in the Labyrinth was rare. For one thing, each floor was enormous, and the darkness inside limited visibility to less than ten meters even with a light.

Well, clans that entered in separate parties sometimes met up to climb the floors together, arranging a time and place on a particular floor beforehand, but...

'I can't believe it really is them.'

Amazingly, the voice really did belong to the dwarf. Dwalki and Rotmiller were beside him, too.

"Hikurod? Is that you, nyah?"

"... Misha? Bjorn? What? What are you two doing here?!"

"Wow, our team really must be bound by fate, nyah!"

What were the odds of entering separately with no arrangements and meeting again by chance?

"What about the job? Didn't you say you had a job? What happened to that?"

After a brief moment of marveling at the incredible coincidence, the dwarf raised a question.

Right, he was bound to find something strange about this. We were the ones who'd entered the Labyrinth separately for an escort job.

I gave him the cover story we'd agreed on beforehand.

"Oh, that's already done."

"Done?"

"The client only needed something on the first floor. They returned to the city when it closed."

"Aha, I see!"

Apparently finding that plausible, the dwarf nodded without any particular suspicion. Now it was our turn to ask questions.

"What are you doing here, though? Didn't you say you were staying on the second floor?"

As far as I knew, the three of them had planned to do a simple gathering job in the Stone Desert. So why were they on the third floor, and at the Pitch-Black Estuary connected to the Land of the Dead, of all places?

"Ah, well, we got the Stone Golem's inner core sooner than expected. We came to do another job we'd accepted just in case."

Still, if they'd been considering the third floor from the start, shouldn't they have told me...?

"Hahaha! If we'd told you, you would've tried to stop us!"

Hmm, true enough. One tank, one mage, and one Scout wasn't the most reassuring composition. Not that we had room to talk, coming to the third floor with one tank and one melee damage dealer.

"... So what's the job?"

"Another gathering job. We just need a pair of frogman Shaman eyes. Since we've met up here, care to join us?"

"What's the reward?"

"Two million Stones. Of course, if you join us, we'll split the reward into five equal shares."

Four hundred thousand Stones per person wasn't bad. Selling the other monster parts besides the eyes would increase our earnings, too.

Of course, since we needed a Shaman rather than an ordinary frogman, there was still the question of whether we'd actually finish the job... but that came down to luck.

"We're in."

I agreed because I'd been uneasy about traveling as a pair ever since we'd run into Hans. What would the two of us do besides hunt frogmen anyway? And if we finished the job early, I could suggest we all go to the fourth floor.

"Haha, let's get to sleep, then. Keep talking and someone might stab us."

The other teams trying to rest were glaring at us, so we ended the conversation and settled down.

'Thanks to this, I'll get five hours of sleep.'

That was the advantage of having more people. Shorter watches and more time to sleep.

[06: 00]

Time passed, and when morning came on day ten, the river receded and we left the rest spot. Then we roamed the area, focusing on hunting.

'You really do need at least one Scout.'

I was reminded once again that Scouts improved your quality of life in the Labyrinth.

"There's a river that way. Come this way, everyone."

Rotmiller guided us along the best route as though he'd memorized the entire terrain. Despite all the time we spent roaming, we crossed water fewer than three times.

"Hmm, another dud..."

Four hours later, we killed another Shaman and smacked our lips in disappointment. Its corpse vanished without leaving anything behind.

That was the downside of gathering jobs. Using the spell Distortion on a monster gave you a tiny chance of obtaining its intact corpse... but it wouldn't drop an Essence or a magic crystal.

'Whew. Just thinking about all the grinding I'll have to do later is daunting.'

The later you got in the game, the more monster parts you needed for crafting equipment, consumables, and so on. Take Spirit Seal, for example. Up through stage six, money solved everything, but after that, you had to gather the materials yourself.

'... I'll worry about that when the time comes. As long as I have money, I can get them through the Trade market or put out a job.'

Anyway, combat had become as much easier as traveling had. Rotmiller's arrows, Dwalki's magic, and Misha's icy swordplay.

"... I've been meaning to ask. Just how did this happen?"

Rotmiller did question the sight of frozen frogmen, but that wasn't a problem either. [Cold Concentrate] and [Shatter] weren't particularly obvious skills.

"Oh, that? My Spirit beast evolved this time, nyah!"

Misha answered without missing a beat, just as I'd told her to beforehand.

"Ha! Really? At this rate, you could be promoted to rank six!"

"M-Miss Misha! Congratulations!"

Everyone knew Misha had a contract with an ice-type Spirit beast, so nobody suspected a thing. Well, that was only natural, since it probably never even occurred to them that we'd lie.

'This pricks my conscience every time.'

But what could I do? I had to accept it. Such was the fate of someone living as an evil spirit.

"Rotmiller, I think the water's rising... Are we okay, nyah?"

"The safe zone is right beside us. Don't worry."

Before we knew it, day ten was nearing its end and the water was rising again. But thanks to Rotmiller having memorized all the surrounding terrain, we could hunt until the very last moment before heading off to camp.

"Uh..."

"This is it, right? It worked, right, nyah?"

"I-I believe so."

We froze in surprise after killing a Shaman we'd encountered as soon as we resumed exploring. An arrow had pierced its neck and brought it down, yet its corpse remained instead of disappearing.

"J-Just as I thought! Having Miss Misha with us brings luck to our journey!"

"Hehe, you're utterly smitten, my friend. If you ask me, this is thanks to Bjorn, not Misha. Luck follows that fellow around!"

Setting aside Dwalki and the dwarf's foolish chatter, we'd obtained a Shaman's corpse in just two days.

Hmm, was it too soon to say we'd obtained it?

"Hmm, what do we do with this?"

"W-Wait a moment. Let me cast a spell first."

First, Dwalki cast Preservation to keep the body from decaying. But that was as far as we got. We couldn't exactly stuff the whole corpse into a bag.

"Misha, you use swords. You must be good at this sort of thing, right?"

"W-What are you talking about, you dwarf?! I-I've never done anything like this, nyah! Shouldn't you guys do it? You did that Stone Golem job, didn't you, nyah?"

"W-Well... with the Stone Golem, we only had to pull out its inner core..."

Even if we discarded every other part and only dug out the eyes, we'd still have to butcher it. None of us had any experience with that.

Except our all-purpose handyman, Rotmiller.

"Move aside, everyone. I'll do it."

With a sigh, Rotmiller deftly began dismantling the Shaman's corpse using something like a carving knife. Hadn't he said he'd done this often back when he was on a gathering team?

"You're the best, Rotmiller, nyah!"

"Oh, I quite agre... Urgh. I'll look elsewhere for a moment..."

Had about thirty minutes passed? Under Rotmiller's skilled hands, the Shaman's body was separated into muscle, blood vessels, bones, and internal organs, then packed into boxes.

"So what do we do now, nyah?"

The third floor, Pilgrim's Passage, closed at the end of day fifteen. In other words, we still had three days left.

As though I'd been waiting for this, I spoke up.

"Now that the job's done, how about going to the fourth floor?"

"Hmm, true... It would be a shame to stop at the third floor when we've finally got the whole team together..."

"Rotmiller, what do you think? Can we reach the fourth floor in time?"

Rotmiller closed his eyes as though he needed time to think. Fair enough. Reaching the portal in the heart of the Witch's Forest within three days meant crossing several areas, so there was plenty to consider.

"It'll be tight, but I think we can manage it."

It was a little strange. My original plan had been to clear the rupture, hunt some monsters, and return to the city.

'Things really never go according to plan.'

Somehow, we were heading all the way to the fourth floor.

* * *

The three-day journey that followed was tougher than expected. For starters, we drastically cut back on sleep and spent every remaining moment traveling. We were practically speedwalking, too... so with each passing day, exhaustion grew more pronounced on my companions' faces.

Still, we managed to reach our goal.

「Your character has entered a special area.」

「Field effect - Witch's Forest has been applied.」

This was already my third time passing through the Witch's Forest. The first time, Misha and I had gotten lost on our own and gone through all kinds of hell... but with Rotmiller here, there was nothing to fear.

"Stay close, everyone."

After what had happened last time, we tied ourselves together with rope and made our way swiftly through the Witch's Forest.

How much time had passed?

[20 : 31]

A little over three hours remained before the third floor closed.

"Good work, Rotmiller."

We stood before a massive tower in the heart of the Witch's Forest. A portal of shifting colors stood before a huge door that looked like the tower's entrance.

"Now! Let's go in!"

To avoid any accidents, we waited for the color to change, then entered together. It was at that very moment.

"M-Mister?!"

A familiar voice reached me faintly from afar.