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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 33
Chapter Title: The Fifth Floor
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"Ah, ahh..."
Densi sat blankly on the floor.
After the intense yellow light that seemed to swallow the world faded, everything before her eyes vanished.
The 5th-floor explorers who had suddenly appeared and picked a fight were gone.
"Master..."
Her master, who had sacrificed himself to protect their party from them, was gone too.
All of them, gone.
It wasn't simply that they couldn't escape and were consumed by the transfer trap.
Densi recalled her last moment with him.
"Farewell."
His figure, faintly smiling as he was swallowed by the bright yellow light.
He had pushed them out of the trap's range. The ones who should have been swallowed by the transfer trap were Densi and Jeremy, not him.
He had sacrificed himself, protecting his party from the 5th-floor explorers and the transfer trap.
But he couldn't protect himself.
"Ugh, ugh..."
Her head spun. Her chest felt heavy. It was hard to breathe properly.
The vast majority of slaves regained their freedom by losing their masters.
If Densi were truly a slave, she should have been jumping for joy right now.
But Densi couldn't. She had, after all, become a slave willingly.
Her body felt weak. She just stared blankly at the spot where he had vanished.
'Is this... real?'
Perhaps she was dreaming. Was she having a terrible nightmare in the soft inn bed he had kindly provided?
But the warmth still lingering on her back, the missing dagger from her waist, and the wailing of another party member beside her, all reminded her that this was reality.
Just then, a small light emanated from Densi's waist.
More precisely, it was the map tucked into her belt. The map artifact Nam Su-jin had given Densi to look at.
Densi unfolded the map as if entranced. The dazzlingly bright map had stopped glowing, and its contents were gradually changing.
In a corner of the map, which had previously only shown the geography of the 2nd floor, a different landscape began to appear.
The terrain there, separated like a minimap, had a completely different structure from the 2nd floor.
"...Could it be? The 5th floor...?"
Densi instantly realized the answer. One of the three clustered markers had dropped precisely onto that unfamiliar minimap.
'It's Master's location. Master is here.'
Densi instinctively understood. The map was reflecting his location, pointing it out with a marker.
"...Is that true?"
Densi shared the information with Jeremy. His reaction was intense.
"We-we need to go save him quickly. It's the 5th floor, of all places. No matter how strong Big Brother is, the 5th floor is too dangerous. We have to go to the 5th floor and save Big Brother."
Jeremy was also in a state of panic.
At the time Anya died and he lost his will to live, he couldn't properly compose himself in the face of the man's sacrifice, the man who had reawakened his purpose in life and set him back on track.
That's why he didn't realize how absurd what he had just blurted out was.
Go to the 5th floor? With this strength? If other explorers heard that, they'd just think it was another way of saying 'suicide.'
Not only were they short on supplies like food, but they also lacked the skill to even reach the 5th floor.
Why was Balkan's party able to reach the 2nd floor at a similar speed to the 5th-floor explorers?
Thanks to Densi, who uncovered all the traps? No. Thanks to Jeremy, the spearman? Even less so.
It was because there was a warrior who, axe in hand, led the charge, slaughtering monsters in an instant.
With him, who accounted for over 70% of the party's combat power, gone, Densi and Jeremy were now in a life-or-death situation just clearing the 2nd floor.
Go to the 5th floor in such a situation? They'd be lucky not to die as soon as they entered the 3rd floor.
...
...
There was no answer. Even if they went outside and requested a rescue team, the chances of the request being accepted were low.
The Explorer's Guild wouldn't invest so heavily in mere low-level explorers.
If they told the staff, they'd surely just be told, "He probably died, so find someone else."
It was truly a hopeless situation. Even if they wanted to go themselves, they lacked the ability. There was no chance of a rescue team being formed.
Densi and Jeremy deeply felt their helplessness. They couldn't offer him any help right now.
Why had he sacrificed himself in the first place? It was to protect the party, to protect them, wasn't it?
Densi and Jeremy bowed their heads, trembling. They felt only loss and powerlessness.
They, themselves, could do nothing.
[Do you desire power?]
It was then that Densi heard a woman's voice in her head, one she had never heard before.
"W-what?! Who's there?!"
"De-Densi...?"
Densi looked around. All she saw was Jeremy, his eyes swollen from crying. There was no sign of anyone else.
[I'll ask again. Do you desire power?]
But the woman's voice continued to echo in her head.
A voice that held an offer so tempting, it was impossible to refuse.
Power? Yes. What Densi yearned for most right now was power.
If only she had been a little stronger, none of this would have happened in the first place.
She would have torn apart any threat that came his way.
"I desire it. I desire power."
Densi trembled, shouting into the empty air.
"The power to save Master, no, even stronger. The power to never lose Master again!"
At Densi's answer, the voice in her head fell silent for a moment.
Soon, the voice echoed in Densi's head once more.
[Come to the deepest part of the Labyrinth City's underworld. There, I will grant you the power you seek.]
***
My limbs felt like they were shattering. My entire body tingled.
At the same time, my senses were abnormally heightened.
An unusual amount of blood rushed to my lower body, and the strange sensation on my skin felt unusually erotic.
Breathing roughly at the unfamiliar sensation, the first thing I saw upon opening my eyes was...
"Krrrlk!"
None other than a Goblin.
"What the hell!"
I immediately punched the Goblin in the face, then quickly jumped back to assess the situation.
Similar cries, similar green skin, but a completely different appearance from the Goblins on the 1st or 2nd floor.
'Hobgoblin?'
A height comparable to an adult woman. A much faster speed despite the larger build.
Ugly, sagging breasts like an old woman's, and a Goblin face equally wrinkled.
If all the evil in the world were gathered, would it look like that? Its appearance was truly beyond hideous.
...?
But something was wrong. It was very, very strange.
Normally, that hideous sight should have made me nauseous, but I felt a strange arousal.
To put it politely, blood was rushing to my lower body; to put it vulgarly, my dick was hard.
'Fuck. Did I have such a taste? No. That can't be.'
I wasn't sure exactly since I'd been unconscious, but I must have been subjected to some kind of trick.
*Drip—*
Suddenly, saliva dripped from my slack jaw. I quickly wiped it, and saw that the saliva was faint pink. What was this? Had I drunk something?
Pushing aside my questions, I quickly assessed the situation.
Helmet? Gone. Axe? Gone. Breastplate? Gone. The food in my backpack and Diana's jerky? Gone too.
Either all my equipment had been taken while I was unconscious after falling to the 5th floor, or I was just wearing a single pair of underwear.
Looking at where I presumed I had been lying, there was only a bottle half-filled with pink liquid.
It was darker than the color of my saliva I'd just seen. I probably got hard because I drank that.
"Krrrlk."
The Goblin in front of me growled lowly. I couldn't tell from the monster's expression, but it almost seemed to be smirking.
"Krrk."
Suddenly, the creature lay down on the floor and spread its legs wide. Fuck. I saw something I shouldn't have. My mood instantly turned like shit.
But it was a chance. I instantly rushed forward, intending to snap the Hobgoblin's neck.
But then, something strange happened again.
My body didn't obey my will; it moved on its own towards the Hobgoblin and began stroking its head.
'Fuck. What the hell is this?'
I couldn't help but curse. What was this fucked-up situation? What had been done to me?
"Krrk. Krrrk-krrk."
When the creature cried out again, my hand moved on its own and began pulling off the Hobgoblin's straw skirt.
"No. This isn't it. Fuck no. Stop. Just stop!"
In deep panic and disgust, I bit my tongue so hard it felt like it would sever, and my body instantly froze.
At the same time, my head began to ache as if it would split. It felt like my brain was being mashed like pulled pork, no joke.
"Ughh—!"
"Krrk. Krrk."
Every time the Hobgoblin opened its mouth, an unimaginable pain would strike. As if telling me to shut up and obey its commands.
I gritted my teeth and endured, thinking, 'Fuck off.' I'd cried only a handful of times in my life, but tears welled up in my eyes.
Perhaps as a result of my endurance, my body began to obey me again.
It felt like control over my body had shifted from the Hobgoblin back to me.
I stopped pulling off the skirt, immediately stood up, and stomped on the neck of the Hobgoblin, which was still lying with its legs spread wide.
"Keeaaak—!"
Though it was stomped on with full force by a man who was 2 meters tall, 96 kg, had 55 in skeletal muscle mass, and 15 in Strength stats, the Hobgoblin somehow endured for two whole minutes, tearing at my foot, scratching, and putting up a hell of a fight.
*Crunch—*
Still, I finally managed to break its neck. I collapsed onto the floor.
My leg, torn and gushing red blood from how hard it had been scratched, didn't even register.
'This is the worst.'
It was a feeling worse than anything I could have imagined. To obey a Goblin's command.
"What the hell was that, seriously?"
I looked at the bottle containing the pink liquid.
Was it some kind of Labyrinth-made aphrodisiac? I didn't know. Regardless, it was humiliating.
'This must be the 5th floor...'
The transfer trap seemed to drop people randomly onto the corresponding floor, like a portal.
But even so, to nearly be violated by a Hobgoblin the moment I regained consciousness... I would have rather been violated by Delucio.
'Densi and Jeremy... they must be safe, right?'
They have to be. What did I sacrifice myself for? I hoped my guaranteed skyrocketing safe-asset stocks would grow well.
This was no time for idle thoughts. Now was the time to focus solely on survival.
I left the Hobgoblin's corpse behind and surveyed my immediate surroundings.
If I had Zirnier's helmet, I could have expanded my perception further, but it was nowhere to be seen right now.
'The structure... it's like an ant's nest.'
I was inside a small cave.
I cautiously peeked my head out of the cave, where faint light entered, and saw dozens of other caves around.
Some caves were wide, others small, but there appeared to be at least thirty of them.
Muttering sounds came from below. That meant there was a lower level.
I craned my neck further to observe the geography. A massive ant's nest, spanning three levels. I was currently in a 3rd-level cave, looking down.
Its scale was enormous at a glance. It was as if four or five Goblin lairs had been clustered together in one place.
Even a rough estimate showed dozens of Hobgoblins roaming around the plaza-like area on the 1st level below.
"Help me! Please help me!!! Please! Anyone, please!"
"Krrk! Krrrellk!"
There were men being transported, tied by their arms and legs to a long pole, like whole roasted pigs.
"Hyaaah! Give me pussy! More! Give me more pussy! Hit my dick with pussy more!"
At least five men were being gang-raped by dozens of Hobgoblins.
"Krrk. Krrrk-krrk."
"Ugh, th-that, I don't want that! I don't want that! Don't do that!"
"Krrrellk."
A Hobgoblin held a bottle containing the pink liquid to the man's mouth.
The man, being raped, momentarily regained his senses and resisted, but the moment a little of the drug entered his mouth...
"Hngh."
With a short scream, his eyes rolled back, and he went limp. Then, suddenly, his body convulsed wildly like a live octopus.
In response, the Goblin on top of the man's waist began to thrust its hips more violently.
The man couldn't react at all, just drooling pink saliva like an imbecile.
Amidst the copulating Hobgoblins, a Hobgoblin carrying a staff appeared.
A shaman wearing a grotesque necklace made of skulls and male genitalia.
The copulating Hobgoblins bowed their heads to the shaman Hobgoblin.
"Krrro-ro-ro-krrk-krrk-krrrellk."
As the Hobgoblin shaman mumbled something, a pink light extended from its staff and touched the imbecilic man.
A pink tattoo began to be etched onto his body.
The man, now tattooed, forgot even the slightest resistance and began to offer himself to the Hobgoblins.
'Fuck...'
It was a horrific sight.
The difficulty suddenly shot up too much. Escape from here? Are you fucking kidding me?
It was absurd, but what could I do? All I could do was accept it.
There was no time for complaints. It was more productive to plan my escape from here.
First, I needed to retrieve my equipment. Especially my backpack and Zirnier's helmet.
My backpack contained precious food. If I didn't have food to climb from the 5th floor to the 1st, I'd just starve to death.
Zirnier's helmet goes without saying.
Not only would it be impossible to find another item like it, but the power of perception would shine even brighter in such complex terrain.
"Krrk-krrk?!"
"Krrrolk."
Even without Zirnier's helmet, I could still use perception. Hearing cries nearby, I retreated for a moment.
The sounds faded again, as if they had passed. I poked my head out once more and saw the Hobgoblins that had just gone by.
Only their backs were visible, but I confirmed that those Hobgoblins were dragging backpacks, clothes, and polearms.
'Unfortunately, they don't seem to be mine.'
Still, if I followed them carefully, I might find a cave where they stored their belongings.
I moved cautiously.
I will surely survive the 5th floor of the Labyrinth and get out.
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