Chapter 181 - Jinx (1)

Hans Krissen.

That name sounded familiar.

"Oh! Bjorn! That man's definitely the one from...!"

I remembered even without Misha telling me. Various summoned creatures were already appearing around him.

"He's a summoner!"

One attack summon and three support summons, averaging rank seven. After identifying each individual creature, I sighed.

'No wonder he looked familiar.'

That ruled out even the possibility of a look-alike.

Hans G.

The guy I'd concluded was a Player because he knew Riakis's patterns and the conditions for a Death Knight to appear.

'Fuck.'

What had happened after I met this guy last time?

A troll appeared on the fourth floor and nearly fucking killed us all.

Player or not, a Hans in this world was no different from a plague.

STEP.

My heart turned cold.

I had to kill him.

That single thought consumed my mind.

"Mr. Jandel? Why have you been standing there—"

I dashed forward harder than ever before, as though that brief pause had only been to build momentum.

THUD!

Leaving clear footprints in the hard ground, I closed the distance between us in an instant.

Hans G didn't just stand there watching.

[SKREEEE!]

A lizard let out a shriek and spewed flames. More precisely, it was a fire-element attack summon called a Naimpi.

WHOOOOSH!

As expected of a rank-seven summon, its flames weren't particularly threatening, but buffs from the support summons followed, explosively increasing its firepower.

SIZZZLE!

Scorching heat seared my skin.

So what?

"VEHELLLAAAAAA!!"

I covered my upper body with my shield and relied on Fire Tolerance for the rest as I charged through the flames. It might strip off some skin, but everything had its priorities.

CRUNCH!

My mace, carrying the full strength of an Ogre, made a satisfying sound.

Hans G collapsed, his head bursting apart. Apparently it counted as an instant kill, because he dissolved into light before his body even touched the ground.

"Wh-what are you doing!"

Raven shouted at my complete departure from our agreement.

I understood why she was angry, but there would be time to explain later.

"Stay back!!"

I barked the order as I hurried toward my teammates. Then I finally drew the breath I'd been holding.

"Huuup!"

There.

I'd encountered a Hans, but I hadn't breathed the contaminated air.

So everything would be fine.

No, it had to be—

"Wait, is it poison?"

Uh, not exactly...

How was I supposed to explain this?

"Yes. For now, we're abandoning this route."

"What? Wait, it really is poison? I didn't notice any sign of it..."

"Enough. Just hurry up and come."

Rather overbearingly, I led the team back the way we'd come.

Was it strange to see me acting like this? Raven followed without complaint for now, but for some reason her expression was grave.

"This should be far enough."

After about five minutes of walking, I stopped.

But just as I turned around to explain what had happened...

"Whoa!"

My foot caught on a protruding rock, making me stagger badly. Somehow I regained my balance before falling, but...

Even this didn't feel like a coincidence.

Had the Hans effect already begun?

Right, it wasn't even the real guy. It was a doppelgänger. Maybe this little bit of bad luck would be the end of—

"Jandel! There's something else up ahead!"

At Mister Bear's shout, I quickly looked ahead again.

Two doppelgängers were approaching.

The reason I knew they were doppelgängers at a glance was simple. Both figures emerging from the darkness had the same face.

'Fuck.'

I squeezed my eyes shut, then opened them.

The sight before me hadn't changed.

Was this hell?

"I'm... K-Kri... ssen."

"Han, s... K, rissen..."

Hans was being duplicated.

* * *

It went just like the first time.

Stronger flames be damned, I charged straight in and smashed their heads apart.

Naturally, I held my breath while doing it.

"Everyone, hold your breath. We're breaking through!"

"Wait, what?"

"There's no time to explain!"

With no way back, I held my breath and hurried through the passage.

Only once I thought it should be safe did I stop and check on my teammates.

"Bjorn, your eyes are scary!!"

"What on earth is going on? No matter how I look at it, I don't think that was poison. Was it someone you knew?"

My teammates couldn't hide their confusion at my uncharacteristic behavior.

"Yes. I knew him."

Forcing myself to calm down, I explained everything one step at a time: that the doppelgänger we'd encountered was named Hans, and all the terrible things that had happened whenever I met a Hans.

"I-isn't that a disaster!!! What do I do? I breathed!!"

Aynar already knew about the 'Hans education' I'd given the barbarians. After hearing the stories behind it, she anxiously bit her nails.

"... This isn't something we can dismiss as mere imagination."

Like any superstitious explorer, Mister Bear looked uneasy too.

And Raven...

"What? What do you mean, you can't dismiss it as imagination?"

She sat there with a look that said, 'What bullshit are these people talking?' before bursting into laughter.

"Pfft, pffffhahaha!"

Was she a psychopath?

How could she laugh in this situation?

"Seeing you like this, Mr. Jandel, you really are a barbarian after all."

"That's racial discrimination."

"Oh, sorry if it sounded that way. But... p-pffhahaha! If you're that worried, should I give you a mage's blessing?"

A mage's blessing?

There hadn't been any such thing in the game.

When I tilted my head, Raven explained gently, as if speaking to a child.

"When a mage visits a poorer neighborhood, the children crowd around and beg them to share their good luck. That's a mage's blessing."

... So it was just empty words?

"I don't need it."

"Why not? At least it could put your mind at ease."

Still giggling, Raven said she wasn't entirely joking and told me about a certain study.

Something about how strongly believing in something could affect the body?

It sounded like she meant the placebo effect...

Seriously, what did she take a barbarian for?

"Do it."

"Okay. Wait, really? Ah, how did this go again? Could you bend down for a moment?"

I simply plopped down on the ground. With a reasonably solemn expression, Raven touched my shoulders in turn, as though knighting me.

Then she added some uncharacteristically warm words.

"Everything will be all right. You have my good luck now."

I wasn't sure about the luck.

Still, some of my reason seemed to be returning.

Thinking about it, this was only a jinx after all.

Had there been a Hans around when I met the Dragonslayer?

"Oh, come on! Pull yourself together already! You're our team leader, Mr. Jandel!"

Raven was right. I needed to get a grip.

Even if the Hans effect really existed, meeting the real Hans was inevitable now that we'd entered the rupture.

All I could do was be more careful than usual.

"Me too!! Do me too!!"

"Could I go next... nyah?"

"Ahem. Me as well, please."

Perhaps because my expression had improved so much, my teammates gathered before Raven like baby birds.

"Sigh... Fine. Everyone, line up."

Despite her sigh, Raven blessed each person in turn, even adding words of encouragement.

Had she always been like this?

I felt like I'd glimpsed an unexpected side of her.

"Now, tell me. You wouldn't have killed them without a plan, Mr. Jandel. You already know quite a bit about this Hans person, right?"

"To some extent."

After the blessings, I took some time to share what I knew: which Essences Hans Krissen possessed, and who his teammates were.

"An elf archer, a human warrior, and a mage, then?"

"That's how it was when I last saw them."

"That's only four people."

"Since they entered a rupture, they're most likely a five-person team now. They probably filled the last spot with a Guide."

Fourth-floor ruptures opened on one of the stages from twenty-five onward. Without a Guide, finding one before it filled up was next to impossible.

"That does sound likely."

After I explained what I knew about his teammates as well, Raven nodded, looking relieved.

I could guess what she was thinking.

Unless something had changed drastically since then, Hans G's team was clearly weaker than ours.

"Then we don't have to worry about them playing games with the shares."

"We're the ones who should do that."

"If the situation allows. We still know absolutely nothing about the third team, remember?"

We wrapped up our discussion of Hans's team and resumed exploring.

Fortunately, we must have put some distance between us and him, because only copies of our own team appeared after that.

'Tsk. I wanted to get a look at the third team in advance too.'

Perhaps our routes didn't overlap. There was no sign of that unidentified team.

Still, wishing wouldn't change anything.

"Oh! Another magic crystal chest!"

We spent the entire day roaming the cave, opening the occasional chest we found.

They were the main rewards for the first chapter, Shadow Cave.

No matter how many doppelgängers we killed, they never dropped magic crystals or Essences. This was how things were balanced out.

'Still, it's a little strange.'

In the game, I'd accepted it as simply how the system worked.

But experiencing it in reality made it feel out of place.

It felt like an actual game, if that made sense.

["There's a hypothesis circulating in academic circles these days that the Labyrinth wasn't discovered, but created."]

It occurred to me that what Raven had once said might be true. If someone had created it, that would explain its structure.

'What even is this world in the first place?'

Was it a game, or genuinely another world?

The question I'd had since my first day waking up in this body circled through my mind again. But as always, I folded it away and buried it in a corner.

The clues I had weren't enough to answer it yet.

Wasting energy on pointless speculation wasn't rational.

"All the chests around here have already been opened. There are hardly any doppelgängers either. What do you want to do?"

"Didn't we agree you'd make the decisions here?"

I shrugged and left the decision to Raven.

She would say what I would have said anyway.

"Hmm, then we should rest here today and head to the very center after we wake up."

That's right.

"Why?"

"Because the other teams are probably already gathered at the center. There's no reason to camp together, is there?"

A safety-first judgment befitting a mage.

I particularly liked that it was grounded in distrust of other people.

"What? Do you have something to say about my decision?"

"Not at all."

"Hmm, you're looking at me strangely..."

"I was thinking how fortunate we are to have a mage like you on the team."

I meant it.

She would never know how much easier my life had become since she joined.

"... Flattery won't get you anything."

Sure, and yet her shoulders were already up to her ears.

We made the simple preparations for camp and took turns keeping watch, bringing day eight to an end.

And so began day nine.

[05 : 07]

Waking a little earlier than usual, we headed toward the very center of the cave.

We didn't get lost.

We'd only stayed in this area for the chests; finding the center was extremely simple.

We just had to follow the passages where weeds grew.

We trudged onward.

The closer we got to the center, the more grass and moss covered the walls. Before long, a vast cavern opened up before us.

"The latecomers are finally here!"

Ten explorers were already gathered there.

"Oh! Y-you're here! Mr. Jandel!"

Ah, of course Hans G was among them.

* * *

Had they spent the night here?

When we arrived, the explorers were busy tidying up the clutter around them.

First, I gave everyone a thorough once-over.

'Hans G's team is exactly as expected.'

There hadn't been any replacements; all four were the same explorers I'd seen back then.

The unfamiliar woman over there would be the new recruit.

'As for that group... '

I wasn't sure.

A dwarf, a Therianthrope, and three humans.

Their equipment was more or less on par with ours. The only notable thing was that they all looked on edge.

Actually, considering we were in a rupture, even that wasn't particularly unusual.

"Who's your leader?"

The dwarf approached.

He was the one who'd mocked us for being late the moment we arrived.

"Ah, M-Mr. Jandel is probably the leader. He's the p-person I told you about."

"The one called Little Valcan?"

"Y-yes."

Had they already introduced themselves?

After saying a few words to the dwarf, Hans G turned to me and acted friendly.

"G-good to see you. I never imagined we'd meet here. D-do you know how surprised I was when I m-met your doppelgänger, Mr. J-Jandel?"

"Stop."

"... Pardon?"

"Don't come any closer."

I lowered my voice, halting Hans's approach.

As far as I was concerned, this was the perfect distance between us.

This world didn't even have face masks, after all.

"Your identification tags?"

Turning my attention away from Hans G, I addressed the dwarf.

For some reason, however, Hans G answered.

"Ah, haha! I-I've already checked their tags, so you d-don't need to worry—"

Really?

Hearing that from you only makes me more nervous.

"Identification tags."

Ignoring Hans completely, I repeated myself. The dwarf smirked and made a demand of his own.

"Show yours first."

Was he trying to start a power struggle?

I wasn't inclined to back down, but confirming their identities came first, so I pulled out my necklace and showed him.

"Your turn."

At my demand, the dwarf's group also pulled out their necklaces for us to see.

"There. Satisfied?"

"... Yes."

I nodded.

Just then, Raven's voice sounded in my head.

Voice Transmission Magic, used to communicate in secret.

["Mr. Jandel."]

Right. You noticed too.

["These people aren't from the city."]

These bastards were from underground.