Chapter 116 - Reunion (4)

Erwin Fornacci de Tersia.

She was currently in the Witch's Forest, together with her older sister, Daria.

“Ugh... I'm so dizzy...”

“You'll be fine once you get used to it. When you do, try focusing on the sounds.”

There was a simple reason she had ventured all the way into the Witch's Forest while hunting on the third floor with her sister. She had recently begun training as a Scout, so they were taking advantage of the last day before the Labyrinth closed to enter the forest.

“Even if you don't become a professional Scout, you need to know how to find your way as far as the fourth floor.”

“Ugh...”

Her sister was an experienced Scout. Thanks to the knowledge and tricks of the trade she had passed on, Erwin could already navigate the lower floors by herself.

But the Witch's Forest was different. It was unusual terrain where you could find your way only by relying on your senses.

“Well? Can you hear it?”

Following her sister's instructions, Erwin concentrated on the sounds around her. Other races had to specialize in a particular sense, whether smell or sight, to avoid getting lost in the Witch's Forest, but...

THUMP!

Apparently, elves had no need for that, thanks to their naturally keen hearing. Her sister had explained that, while roaming this place as freely as their own front yard would be difficult, any elf could at least find the portal to the fourth floor.

THUMP!

As she closed her eyes and listened, she began picking up faint sounds she normally never heard. The razor-sharp wind, the rustle of branches whipping about, monsters howling, the scrape of sharp weapons...

Examining them one by one, she found a sound distinctly unlike the rest.

THUMP!

A deep, heavy sound, like a beating heart. This had to be the sound of mana pulses her sister had mentioned.

“That way...”

When she pointed in the direction of the sound, her sister gave her a proud smile.

“Well done. Shall we go, then?”

Erwin continued finding her way by concentrating on the sound. At times, she focused so intently on her hearing that she failed to notice approaching monsters, but her sister stepped in each time, so nothing went wrong.

How much time had passed?

THUMP!

The mana pulses grew louder. Now they made her ears feel stopped up even when she wasn't trying to listen. Just as she thought she could stop paying attention to the sound...

[“Good work, Rotmiller.”]

Erwin frowned at the voice she suddenly heard. She didn't know who Rotmiller was, but...

“Huh?”

“What's wrong all of a sudden?”

The voice saying “Good work” sounded familiar. How could she put it? It resembled that voice she had missed so much, gruff yet warm.

‘Could it be...?’

Even as she told herself it couldn't be, her legs were already moving toward the voice.

“Erwin? Where are you... Stop...!”

Her sister called something from behind, but she didn't hear a word as she moved forward as though entranced.

Had about a minute passed?

A broad clearing opened up, revealing an enormous tower hidden within the forest. A group of explorers stood before it.

One dwarf, two humans, one Therianthrope.

And... a barbarian.

Of course, his appearance was nothing like that of the person in her memories. He wore gleaming armor like a seasoned explorer, and his shield was far larger and finer. A helmet hid his face.

But...

“M-Mister?!”

Erwin knew instinctively. That was him.

“Mister!!”

Belatedly, she shouted loudly enough to echo through the entire forest, but the barbarian never turned around. He had already been halfway through the portal when she spotted him, and now he had vanished completely.

So Erwin ran, ready to plunge into the portal after him at any moment.

“Erwin!”

She raced forward with an agility incomparable to when she had roamed the first floor, but her sister soon stopped her.

“... Let go! I have to go in—”

“Get ahold of yourself!!”

“Mister is right there...”

“Are you going to keep being unreasonable? You didn't even get a proper look at his face!”

Erwin was at a loss for words. Only now did she realize how her behavior must have looked.

But...

“I... know. I just know!”

“And what if you're wrong? The fourth floor is dangerous for just the two of us. Besides, what do you know about those people who went in ahead?”

“Th-that's...”

It was a question she hadn't considered. She was already certain, after all. Yet she had no confidence she could explain this unmistakable resonance in her heart to her sister.

So she simply tensed her arms, trying to break free.

“N-no...!”

The portal turned red. Even if she entered now, she could no longer go to the same place as those who had entered ahead of her.

“Why! Why did you stop me?!”

“Because of course I would! I told you that following someone into the fourth floor could get you treated as a plunderer, didn't I?”

“But... it was Mister...!”

Erwin pressed her lips tightly together. Something like fury welled up from deep within her chest, but she let out a long breath and pulled herself together.

‘Yes, it's all right. At least I know he's alive...’

For now, she decided to be content with that. If she hadn't been mistaken today, if he really was alive...

‘... I'll see him soon.’

They would surely meet again.

* * *

「You have entered the fourth floor, Sky Tower.」

* * *

What was that voice?

It sounded like someone was calling me...

‘Could that have been Erwin?’

I stiffened in surprise. She was the only person I could think of who would call me Mister. Still, that didn't really make sense either.

‘No, what are the odds?’

I'd already reunited with my teammates in this vast Labyrinth. It was hard to imagine another coincidence piling on top of that. It must have just been other explorers talking among themselves.

Anyway, it wasn't something to worry about now.

“Bjorn, what are you doing? Get moving!”

A space of roughly 130 square meters. A stone chamber with a tightly shut door in each wall.

Sky Tower.

Here, the first trial began the moment you entered. In other words, monsters came pouring out.

[“SKREEEE!”]

Seven rank nines, three rank eights, and one rank seven.

Monsters found on the third floor attacked us in a pack, regardless of their usual habitats. This was why I normally called this place the Training Tower. With so many different kinds of monsters appearing, EXP was easy to come by, and you could face attack patterns from combinations you'd never encountered before.

‘An orc Shaman, a Stone Golem, a Living Armor, and a dullahan...’

We'd gotten a ridiculous combination right from the start.

「Living Armor has cast [Armament Enhancement].」

The Living Armor wrapped itself around the dullahan as though using its body as a host.

「Orc Shaman has cast [Fervor].」

「Dullahan's Physical Resistance is tripled for 10 seconds.」

The dullahan's Physical Resistance was already fucking high, and now it was practically a solid rock. Meanwhile, the Stone Golem kept using [Suppression] to dish out debuffs.

“VEHELLLAAAAAA!!”

While Misha and Rotmiller took out the rank-nine trash mobs first, the dwarf and I formed a shield wall to hold off the dullahan. Their lineup put all its eggs in one basket, but with two tanks, holding out was easy.

‘Besides, high Physical Resistance doesn't mean much against us.’

Our main damage dealers were Dwalki and Misha. Dwalki was a mage, so that went without saying, and Misha's cold damage had skyrocketed now that she was properly following the freezing swordswoman build.

“Hmm, was this always so easy?”

The dwarf tilted his head when the battle ended in a flash, even though all he'd done was serve as a meat shield.

“Doesn't that mean we've all gotten stronger, nyah!”

“Hehe, that spell I just used was one I learned recently. What did you think?”

No matter how strong a tank got, it never really showed. Damage dealers, on the other hand, were in a line of work where even a little growth was obvious.

As for Scouts...

“Ahem.”

Well, they were barely counted as part of the fighting force to begin with. You could safely say a Scout had done their job just by getting us to our destination on time.

And monsters weren't the only things on the fourth floor, either.

「You have completed the trial.」

Once all the monsters were dead, the tightly shut doors swung wide open. Each door bore its own engraved symbol.

Courage, Wisdom, Fate, Patience.

Normally, we would have opened the Stairs of Courage and fought random monsters, but...

“We don't have much time, so we should climb as quickly as possible.”

For now, we chose the Stairs of Wisdom. The trials in Sky Tower grew harder with each one you cleared, and the Stairs of Wisdom was a route that let you climb five floors at a time.

With our strength, we'd need to reach at least the twentieth floor before the hunting started getting worthwhile.

「You have chosen the Stairs of Wisdom.」

And so we walked into darkness like a bottomless abyss. The route was confusing, there were traps, and monsters appeared now and then, but with a professional Scout like Rotmiller, there was no danger.

BOOM!

When we reached the sixth floor after about an hour, the door we'd entered slammed shut, and monsters charged at us. Unlike on the first floor, there were three rank sevens among them, but things never got particularly dangerous. Their lineup was pretty lousy compared to the previous one, too.

“Hmm, there are no Stairs of Wisdom this time.”

After finishing the hunt, we had no choice but to take the Stairs of Courage. Fate had far too many variables, and as for Patience... everyone shook their heads in unison.

‘Well, fighting monsters a few more times is less trouble than doing that.’

Maybe it would be different in a game, but here, with the reality patch applied, the trial of Patience was something everyone avoided.

You got hot, cold, sad, and dredged up shitty memories.

「You have chosen the Stairs of Courage.」

Anyway, we climbed the stairs to the seventh floor. Monsters appeared, and that was that.

The battle ended easily, but the firmly shut doors showed no sign of opening. That was only natural. When you chose Courage, you had to wait four hours even after killing all the monsters.

“Well then, let's rest and replenish our courage!”

The dwarf's jokes aside, we were exhausted from crossing the Witch's Forest, so we spent the break without any complaints.

There was no real need to keep watch. Monsters didn't respawn here, and once the portal changed color, no other explorers could enter.

“Whew, let's get going, then!”

After sleeping for four hours, we chose the Stairs of Wisdom again and climbed the tower. That brought us all the way to the twelfth floor.

But what the hell was this?

[“GRAAAARGH!!”]

We froze at the sight of the lone monster planted squarely in the center of the stone chamber.

THUD!

An enormous body over four meters tall. Huge fangs jutting from its mouth. Grayish-white hide covering bulging muscles.

And a spine bent like a hunchback's, with grotesquely broad shoulders.

“A t-troll...?”

“Why is that thing here...?”

A troll. A monster ranked among the nastiest fuckers even in rank five.

If the deathfiend was the “newbie shredder,” this bastard had more than earned its role as the “keyboard breaker” for seasoned gamers.

‘This bastard can show up here?’

I had plenty of memories of hammering my keyboard hard enough to sound like shotgun blasts because of this bastard, too.

Maybe it was those memories that made the curse slip out on its own.

“Motherfucker.”

I'd wondered why things had been going so smoothly even after meeting a Hans. Had it all been leading up to this?

‘Fuck, I didn't think it'd be a monster this time.’

Plunderers weren't the only things you had to watch out for in the Labyrinth.