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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 37
Chapter Title: New Allies
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Vwooom—
The moment I regained consciousness, the world slowed down.
My thoughts kept gravitating towards *that [Being]*, but I didn't have the luxury for that right now.
For now, I needed to focus on the situation before me.
‘Where am I right now?’
The top of a building that looked like a colossal fountain.
I was soaring high towards the labyrinth's ceiling with the fiercely spouting water from there, only to fall back down.
Even when the Nuisance Party approached me at the inn, a sliver of consciousness remained.
I remembered them approaching me amicably and tearing a scroll that transported us to a fountain.
‘My body is recovering instantly.’
As soon as the fountain's water touched my body, vitality surged. Even in this slowed world, I could feel my wounds healing in an instant.
Strength naturally returned to my body. Fortunately, I was still gripping my axe tightly.
I scanned the ground for a landing spot. Several people were mixed together. Somehow, all their faces looked familiar.
The Nuisance Party, and Delusio's Party.
‘That damn bitch.’
My blood pressure still spiked thinking about how that woman dropped me on the 5th floor. Gripping my axe tightly, I shifted direction mid-fall.
My eyes met Delusio’s, who was staring blankly, mouth agape.
“Mother...”
A vulgar curse escaped my lips. Did she realize she was screwed?
CRACK!
“Aaaaargh!!”
A piercing scream echoed. It was because I had swung my axe as I fell, leaving a pretty mark on Delusio’s neck.
Thud!
Thanks to that, I botched my landing and slammed into the ground, my left hand grotesquely twisted, but it wasn’t a major issue.
I dipped my hand into the fountain water for a moment, and when I pulled it out, my twisted wrist was back to normal.
It seemed the water spouting from the fountain was far superior to most potions.
‘Is the fountain somehow connected to *that [Being]*?’
The fact that I encountered *that [Being]* right after tearing the fountain teleportation scroll raised many peculiar questions.
‘I can’t figure it out now, so I’ll think about it later.’
The desire to accumulate more knowledge and information grew.
“Gurgle, choke, gurgle...!”
I turned my head at the dying gurgle.
Delusio was desperately clutching her head, which was almost severed from her neck, and drenching her neck in the fountain water.
Perhaps because it was a truly fatal wound, the healing speed was noticeably slower than my wrist's.
Splash— splash—
“No, don’t, gurgle— Don’t come!”
As I slowly approached, axe in hand, wading through the fountain water, she yelled, blood streaming from her mouth and neck.
“What are you doing! Gurgle, you bastards! Qu-quickly, stop that bastard!”
Delusio clutched her nearly severed neck with one hand and crawled disgracefully through the fountain to escape me, barking orders at her subordinates.
She didn't seem to have any intention of fighting herself. Of course, if she fought in that state, her neck would fall off and she'd die.
But no one here was properly listening to her.
Neither the Nuisance Party nor Delusio’s lackeys. They were all staring at me as if mesmerized.
‘It must be because of the light that enveloped me when I fell earlier.’
If it were me, I’d probably be stunned and unable to do anything if a man in a helmet, wrapped in light, suddenly appeared and started cleaving people with a blood-soaked axe.
“Come if you want. The first one to come will get a pretty chop.”
As I raised my axe and warned them, the lackeys, snapping back to reality, each grabbed their weapons.
But time only passed in a meaningless standoff; no one dared to step forward easily.
“......”
I could hear the sound of someone nervously swallowing their spit from here.
It was only natural, if anything.
In their eyes, I was no longer a weakling explorer who had been rolling around on the 2nd floor, but some unidentified entity who had returned alive from the 5th floor alone.
“Ah, ahh...!”
“The axe, the axe...”
Jelvin and Mercy, whose fear of me had already reached its peak, were practically having seizures.
The growing anxiety, amplified by the two of them, spread throughout all the lackeys.
“If you calmly put down your weapons and beg for your lives, I won’t kill you here.”
With the addition of appropriate threats and persuasion, they eventually lost their will to fight and began laying down their weapons.
“You, you bitches...! How much have I fed you for you to fall for such a threat— ”
“You, shut up for a bit.”
CRACK!
“Guh-haaaarggh!”
This time, Delusio screamed as the axe plunged into her collarbone.
She writhed, clutching her neck and collarbone, a truly pathetic sight.
Her face, covered in tears and snot, came into view.
“H-Hee-hee.”
It was quite satisfying to see the brazen bitch, once full of malice, now contorted in terror.
As if possessed, I lowered myself and met Delusio’s gaze.
My blood-soaked greathelm-clad reflection was mirrored in her fear-filled eyes.
“I have some questions for you.”
There were things I wanted to ask Delusio.
‘I need to find out about either her backer or the Puppet’s Curse.’
[◆ 26221st Puppet’s Curse]
– Delusio has become the 26221st puppet.
She had the Puppet’s Curse in the 20,000s.
Her level and sophistication were significantly higher than Deluna, who was in the 90,000s and didn't even realize she was a puppet, or Jelvin and Mercy, who were in the 80,000s.
‘Was Densi in the 1,000s?’
Densi was weaker than Delusio. But her number was higher, so the numbers probably weren't based on immediate strength.
If so, the most plausible theory right now was:
‘Is it based on growth potential? Possibility? Is that how they're ranked?’
Densi, despite wasting her time as a slave, possessed various Blessings with high growth potential.
‘Even if Delusio doesn’t know about the curse, I need to find out about her backer.’
Delusio, supposedly a Reformed Explorer, was too openly reckless. Her actions were practically those of an outlaw.
This contrasted sharply with Jelvin and Mercy, who trembled at my threats, fearing their Reformed Explorer status would be revoked.
‘She acted as if her Reformed Explorer qualification could never be revoked.’
The situation was a little different from Deluna's case. That woman at least made a show of trying to handle things quietly.
Because she was also a Reformed Explorer. She knew that if her actions were exposed, her qualification would be revoked.
‘And Deluna’s backer was Vesta, an outlaw from the Bloodz Clan.’
That case proved that an outlaw backer couldn’t interfere with a Reformed Explorer’s qualification. So the possibilities narrowed down to one.
‘There’s a backer for Delusio within the Explorer’s Guild.’
And what's more.
‘A backer who might know about the existence of the Puppet’s Curse.’
Otherwise, there was no reason to treat Delusio specially.
It was just a guess, but it was quite plausible.
The truth, I would find out slowly from now on.
“Qu-questions...?”
“Yeah, questions. You better answer well. Unless you want to die.”
“Ugh... I don’t know what kind of crazy shit you’ll try. But it’s futile. As long as I keep drinking the fountain water, you can’t kill me.”
Delusio seemed to have lost some brain cells from the lack of blood flow to her head.
Did she really think my axe strikes would be slower than the fountain’s healing?
It was partially true.
‘A truth that’s about to be hammered into her.’
WHAM!
“Cough!”
My fist landed in Delusio’s stomach. The one who took the direct hit slumped forward, drooling thin saliva.
I had no intention of killing her immediately. Dead men tell no tales, right? She could go when she went, but she had to spill everything she knew first.
“Good. Keep soaking yourself in that water. That’ll be your lifeline.”
From ancient times, the easiest way to extract truth was torture.
But Nam Su-jin, a pure man who grew up learning excellent character education and moral ethics from modern times since his orphanage days, didn’t know much about such scary and dangerous things.
Meaning, since he hadn’t hit many people, he might hit some weird spot and send them to their grave instantly.
But with healing water, that could be prevented to some extent.
“Choose wisely. Either speak comfortably now. Or beg for your life later while you speak.”
“I-I’ll speak. I’ll speak now. I don’t know what you want me to say, but I’ll tell you everything I know— Cough!”
“What? Your lips are pretty sealed. You need another hit.”
“I-I said I’d speak— ”
Delusio’s lips were quite sealed. Seriously, I punched her in the gut over ten times, and she didn’t even flinch.
WHAM! THUD!
Each hit released my stress wonderfully.
‘Still, for pure impact, Densi was the most satisfying.’
Perhaps because I kept a crazy masochistic pervert by my side, I felt like I was developing strange tastes.
After an hour passed like that.
“P-Please, let me speak... I’ll say anything...”
I was finally able to open this stubborn one’s mouth.
***
The answers to the interrogation were roughly as expected.
“Puppet...? I know about the puppet shows in the Outlaw District, but I don’t know about any such curse.”
Even Delusio, who had a curse in the 20,000s, wasn’t even aware of the Puppet’s Curse.
‘Well, Densi, who came from the Outlaw District with a curse in the 1,000s, was the same.’
I didn't expect to easily find an answer, so I just nodded.
“Ba-Base! Base Javan! That woman approached me first when I was an outlaw! Saying I should become a Reformed Explorer and live a new life!”
I also learned about the person presumed to be her backer.
Base Javan. The Explorer’s Guild’s Reformed Explorer Program Instructor.
“She kept bothering me for days, saying I was too talented to rot as an outlaw, so I eventually went through the reform program.”
She was the one who made Delusio, who had been a ruined outlaw since way back when, into a Reformed Explorer.
“Even if I caused trouble, that woman covered it all up. Base Javan wasn’t a high-ranking official, but she wasn’t a low-level employee either, so she could conceal things to that extent. She always handled my troubles like that, unlike the others.”
Base Javan was quite a corrupt instructor. Did the Explorer’s Guild know about her misdeeds?
“No, they wouldn’t. ...Probably. That’s why her neck is still attached, I guess.”
Right. No matter how messed up the Explorer’s Guild seemed, they wouldn’t openly condone such criminal corruption.
“Jelvin and Mercy were also party members she assigned. Besides us, there are quite a few others who became Reformed Explorers because of Base Javan. Del... something.”
“Deluna?”
“Oh. Right. That bastard.”
At that point, I was half-certain.
‘Base Javan. That person can identify the Puppet’s Curse.’
It was strange. How could someone without a Status Window identify a curse that even those afflicted didn't know about, a curse that even those with the curse didn’t know about among themselves?
‘Even if they can’t see it as intuitively as a Status Window, do they sense those with the curse through some kind of innate feeling?’
I wanted to confirm it. Like throwing out bait.
What would happen if I deployed Strategic Densi in front of Base Javan?
Anyway, thanks to her, I gained some decent information.
‘Rough personal details about Base Javan and various corrupt dealings. This is excellent.’
Just as I was pondering how to use this information.
“I-I’ve told you everything. Please, please forgive me now. I-I’ll live like a mouse in the Outlaw District from now on...”
Delusio, kneeling and begging, came into view.
How absurd. This son of a bitch.
She tried to screw me over, telling me to go to hell, and now that *she* might be screwed, she wants forgiveness?
“Did you say everything? Nothing else to spill?”
“Yes! Yes! I’ve told you absolutely everything I know! Now, what’s left is information even my subordinates know— ”
“Is that so?”
CRACK!
Phew.
I wiped the dirty blood from my axe.
“There has to be one example. How dare you stab me in the back. Don’t you agree?”
“Y-Yes, yes...”
The Reformed Explorers, whose eyes were wide with horror, trembled and nodded.
I approached Jelvin and Mercy. They seemed to be beyond mere fear, almost hyperventilating.
Tap, tap.
I lightly tapped their cheeks with the blood-stained side of my axe and spoke.
“Keep your people in line. Report that Delusio unfortunately died in an accident. It’s common in the Labyrinth, isn’t it?”
“Yes, yes...!!!!”
“And if you run, you know what happens, right?”
They nodded frantically.
I’ve been slowly realizing lately that appropriate fear is quite an excellent means of control.
It’s a bit annoying that if you only give fear, they might rebel, so you also need to offer carrots, but not right now.
“...It’s all over now.”
I turned my head and saw people who had their backs turned, covering their eyes and ears, staring at some distant part of the Labyrinth.
The Nuisance Party.
They had no desire to get involved in the series of events and had been like that ever since I started interrogating Delusio.
“We’ve got enough Labyrinth experience to roughly figure out what happened. Reformed Explorers are all the same, after all.”
“I know Ms. Diana’s staff wouldn’t act thoughtlessly... but we’d rather not get caught up in troublesome matters. My apologies.”
For them, it was a wise decision.
And I really received help at the perfect timing.
“There’s nothing to apologize for. Just the help you gave in the Hobgoblin Village is something I don’t know how to repay.”
I bowed deeply to express my gratitude.
At the pub, they were just obnoxious nuisances, but in the Labyrinth, they were ideal explorers worthy of respect.
“Why take it so seriously! The Labyrinth is dangerous enough as it is, we just help each other out as fellow explorers.”
“If you really want to repay us, buy us a beer when we get out!”
“You, don’t pee milk when you’re drunk. That’s seriously disgusting.”
“Eh... But if I don’t do that, my presence fades.”
“Ahem. As a priest, I abstain from alcohol, so perhaps a non-alcoholic beverage...”
They laughed and chatted for a moment, then extended a hand to me with an offer.
“If you’re not accompanying those Reformed Explorers, how about coming with us?”
“With you?”
“Yes. You seem to be alone, and we’ve finished our business on this Labyrinth trip and are about to ascend to the surface. Any profits earned on the way will be equally divided among the five of us.”
After thinking it over, there was no reason to refuse.
I firmly grasped the dwarf’s outstretched hand.
“Then, I look forward to working with you for a while. I just realized we haven’t properly introduced ourselves. I’m Balkan.”
“I’m Joy Hog. And what do you mean, ‘look forward to working with us’? Considering how you slaughtered those hobgoblins, it feels more like *we’ll* be getting help.”
“Indeed, that sight was incredible...”
“Honestly, even I was so scared back then I almost peed milk.”
“Manage your mammary glands well, you big baby.”
Hahahaha.
We laughed, clasped hands, and crossed the ascending portal to the 4th floor.
***
Jelvin, Mercy, and the remaining lackey Reformed Explorers from Delusio’s party immediately lost strength in their legs and slumped to the ground after the helmeted warrior left.
“C-Crazy, crazy bastard... Truly a crazy bastard...”
“I-I’m so scared... What do we do now...”
“I don’t know, damn it... We have no choice. We just have to obey.”
Axe. Helmet. Axe. Helmet. Crazy axe. Crazy helmeted axe man.
Jelvin, who had been having nightmares every night because of that man lately, barked at the Reformed Explorers.
“Did you all see what Delusio went through and how she died?! If we don’t obey that, that bastard’s words, we’ll be toast in an instant!”
There was no rebuttal. Everyone was acutely feeling the difference in power.
They instinctively knew that even if all of them attacked, they couldn’t defeat the man in the helmet.
It was fine if their will was broken. A deep sense of dread had settled in their hearts.
“...Let’s live like mice for a while. Please.”
Please, may that crazy bastard not cause any more trouble.
***
Two weeks passed.
Perhaps it was because of the immense amount of unfair treatment I had received, or perhaps because I had leveled up quite a bit.
Even the 4th floor, which was said to have a sharp increase in difficulty, was surprisingly easy to clear.
The Nuisance Party being much more experienced also played a part. Their level of situational response was simply different.
I once again felt the importance of an experienced party.
And as we were about to move to the 3rd floor.
[Current Enslaved: Densi (LV.14)]
I opened my Status Window while standing guard, feeling a bit bored, and noticed Densi’s change. She had gained 5 levels since we parted ways.
‘Excellent. She truly is my reliable investment.’
Perhaps because of the distance, I couldn’t see her Blessings and Curses, but it was an unbelievable growth rate.
I wondered if Densi’s potential was this high. It was so fast it raised some questions, but it was a good thing. Investing early is always the answer.
Admiring that, I passed through the 2nd floor, where this Labyrinth trip had truly started to go awry, crossed the escape portal on the 1st floor, and emerged from the Labyrinth.
“......!”
Without time to marvel at the dazzling sunlight and the scenery of Labyrinth City Valerius, which I hadn’t seen in a long time, a thrilling sensation, like an electric current, coursed through my entire body.
‘No way?’
Reflexively, I checked my Status Window.
My lips curved upward without me realizing it.
“Oho. That reaction... Balkan, don’t tell me?”
“Yes.”
“Kuh. Another cause for celebration.”
They say there’s light at the end of the tunnel after hardship.
[Currently held Blessings and Curses: 3]
My third Labyrinth trip, which had been exceptionally tough.
I had acquired a new Blessing.
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