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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 49
Chapter Title: The Labyrinth Expedition
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Conversation is the most basic way for people to communicate with each other.
Through conversation, misunderstandings can be resolved, wounds can be healed, and relationships can even be ended.
“Ellie.”
“......”
But that's only when both parties are willing to talk.
If there's no will to converse, communication cannot even begin.
Ellie bit her lower lip and avoided my gaze.
I could roughly guess what Ellie was thinking.
‘Her estranged foster mother, and a man getting busy with that foster mother in her room.’
It was a truly difficult misunderstanding. And one that absolutely had to be corrected.
“Yesterday… Haa. Ellie, I think you're really misunderstanding something big. What happened yesterday was–”
But I couldn't finish my sentence.
“Students, please gather for a moment.”
Someone shouted from afar. It was the academy professor in charge of this expedition to the 6th layer. Damn it, why now of all times?
As soon as Ellie heard that voice, she sprang up, attempting to move away.
“Ellie. Just a moment.”
I grabbed Ellie's wrist, trying to initiate a conversation, but.
*Whack!*
Ellie immediately shook off my hand. Her bloodshot eyes, hollow from lack of sleep, stared at me.
“...Mister. You don't need to make excuses.”
“No, it’s not an excuse.”
“My foster mother. Objectively speaking, she’s a good person. It’s just that I’m a foolish idiot, so she only treats *me* this way. I just didn’t know you and my foster mother were in that kind of relationship. I hope you two have a good love.”
Ellie blurted out those words and ran towards the professor.
Left alone, I let out a blank sigh.
Her reaction was more negative than I expected. I felt lost, unsure how to approach her.
“Balkan. Check this. It’s your share.”
Just then, Joy Hog approached me and handed me a backpack.
Right. It’s time to focus on the task at hand. As for talking to Ellie, I’ll just have to seize any spare moments I get.
Rummaging through the backpack, I found it contained most of the necessary supplies. Preserved food, including intermediate potions.
“Good quality, huh? Intermediate potions, and so much food.”
“The academy doesn’t spare any expense on things like this. It’s a good thing.”
I’d even brought the jerky Diana Ordia had made for me, just in case, but it turned out to be unnecessary worry.
“So, who’s the person next to you?”
A woman draped in a robe stood beside Joy Hog.
“This is Ms. Gelsia, an assistant-level mage who will be supervising the students we’re escorting.”
“Thank you for the escort. I am Gelsia. My specialty is intermediate wind magic.”
Assistant Mage Gelsia swiftly scanned my body with a glance, then subtly curved her lips upward as she spoke.
We exchanged brief introductions and joined the rest of the party members.
One Dwarf Tank, one Axe Warrior, one Swordsman, two Mages, one Priest, and one Porter.
It was the closest to a perfect composition I had seen among parties.
‘The students are treated as non-combatants, but there are also five apprentice mages.’
“Do not, under any circumstances, act arrogant or reckless. While investigating phenomena and earning high scores are important, your safety is even more crucial. Please follow the instructions of the escorting adventurers. You never know what dangers might lurk in the Labyrinth. Understood, everyone?”
The professor’s voice echoed from afar.
For some reason, it felt like an elementary school teacher instructing children on a field trip.
Students, who had been listening to the professor with indifferent faces, dispersed and headed to their assigned parties.
Five students approached our party as well.
“Please take care of us, Adventurers!”
“Ah, please protect us safely…”
“Wow. It’s a male adventurer…”
Fortunately, there were no students who seemed likely to cause trouble by acting rash or cocky.
“Alright. We’ll be counting on you too. We’ll get you safely to the 6th layer.”
“Let’s get there safely without any incidents! Got it?”
“Yes!”
The most annoying part of this Labyrinth expedition, I thought, would be a power struggle with the students or assistant mages, but so far, there was no sign of such an issue.
“...Hmph.”
Ellie still avoided my gaze, but.
But perhaps it was for the best. It meant that, aside from the inherent dangers of the Labyrinth, Ellie was the only thing I needed to worry about.
“Alright. Everyone hold hands. Let’s head in.”
A portal can recognize a maximum of 15 people as a single party.
If that number is exceeded, even if physical contact is maintained, everyone will be scattered throughout the Labyrinth upon entry.
Therefore, not everyone can cross the portal at once.
As the number of companions increases, the dispersal of forces becomes essential.
‘That’s why the academy hired five escort adventurer parties.’
Other escort adventurer parties were already leading students across the portal and into the Labyrinth.
The academy students and party members stood in a single file, each holding hands.
I went to the far right end of the line and offered my hand to the girl standing on my left.
“......”
“What are you doing, Ellie? If you don’t hold my hand, we’ll be scattered. Are you planning to leave me behind?”
The girl was, of course, Ellie. Ellie looked at my hand and my helmet alternately with hollow eyes.
“...That’s not it, but…”
“Ellie. If you don’t like it, want to switch places with me? I’d love to. Heh heh…”
A dog beastkin student standing next to Ellie grinned faintly at me.
At that, Ellie’s expression immediately contorted into a frown.
Ellie acted immediately.
“No. I don’t want that.”
*Squeeze!*
She gripped my hand tightly, then looked up at me.
“...Just this once, Mister.”
“Alright. I’ll be counting on you when we go up to the 2nd layer too.”
“......”
Ellie didn't reply, but.
*Tight grip—*
She was still holding my hand tightly.
Our party crossed the portal like that.
***
“We’re lucky to have landed in the center of the layer. No need to move unnecessarily.”
Assistant Mage Gelsia unfolded a map.
It wasn't just an ordinary map. It was a specially made map from the academy.
It was an artifact map that could show the Labyrinth’s structure up to the 8th layer and even had magic to track the academy students’ locations.
“Students in other parties also landed not far from the center. It looks like they’ll reach the center in about half a day.”
“Then, since there’s nothing else to do, should we clear out some goblins nearby?”
“Yes. It would be good to tell the students to rest for a bit and then go.”
Jubel, the cow beastkin swordswoman who gazed at Gelsia’s map with eyes like she was looking at coveted treasure, and Hitholys, the cat beastkin who watched the students absentmindedly surveying the Labyrinth’s interior, took Gregor, the Lizardgirl porter, and went to patrol the surroundings.
“It’s the first time we’ve just stayed still right after entering the Labyrinth.”
“Indeed.”
Joy Hog, I, and Ramel Lois, the Harpy mage, stayed to guard the academy students.
Usually, upon entering the Labyrinth, one would immediately rush to the next layer, but we didn’t.
This was due to a request from Mangosteen, an academy professor with a suspiciously grand name.
– Under any circumstances, please prioritize the students’ safety.
Because that professor prioritized student safety,
they demanded the safest exploration method, even if it was a bothersome process that consumed a tremendous amount of time and resources.
‘If a party lands somewhere in a layer after taking a portal, all parties immediately converge on the center of that layer…’
With the exception of landing near the very edge of a layer, everyone gathers at the center of the layer without fail.
Afterward, once the survival of all students in that layer is confirmed, they proceed to the next layer.
“There was a reason they gave us generous supplies. If we were just an adventurer party hunting monsters instead of an escort, who would bother wasting this much time?”
“It’s not all downsides, though. If you have more numbers, no matter how messed up things get, there’s always a way to overcome it with sheer force of numbers. Thinking about it that way, it is the safest method.”
“That’s true…”
We passed the time, keeping a moderate watch on our surroundings.
Soon, Jubel’s group, who had gone out on patrol and goblin hunting, returned and reported.
“They said the omen occurred last week, and there was a monster I hadn’t seen before. Its patterns were a bit varied for a 1st layer monster. Though it was still only 1st layer level.”
Jubel said it as if it were nothing special, but Hitholys, the Priest, had a very horrified expression.
“And… another strange thing was, beneath the feet of the newly appeared monsters, something horrifying and grotesque, black in color, was shimmering.”
We listened to their observations and nodded.
“Hmm. It seems new monsters have appeared because of the omen.”
“New trap patterns might have emerged starting from the 2nd layer. We should be careful.”
It was roughly what we had expected. The omen that was said to bring disaster and change to the Labyrinth.
Adventurers who entered the Labyrinth last week might have directly faced that tsunami of change.
But since we entered this week, after the Labyrinth had more or less stabilized, we wouldn’t be flailing in the tsunami.
“Ah. They’re starting to arrive now.”
About three hours later, other escort adventurers also began to gather in the center, one after another.
“Twenty-three, four, five… all the students are here. Then let’s head to the 2nd layer.”
At Professor Mangosteen’s words, after she counted the students, the adventurers nodded.
With about thirty adventurers, each skilled enough for at least the 6th layer, moving together, no new monster, whatever it was, could stand a chance.
The party reached the edge of the 1st layer in a single night and began crossing the descent portal.
“......”
*Stare—*
My back of the head felt strangely prickly, so I looked, and Ellie, startled, quickly turned her head away.
“Gregor. Can I stand on your right?”
“Huh? Yeah, sure. Do whatever you want.”
I swapped places with Gregor and stood next to Ellie.
And I extended my hand towards Ellie.
“...I distinctly said, ‘just that once,’ Mister.”
“I’ll be counting on you for the 3rd layer too, Ellie.”
“......”
There’s no need to rush.
Forcing open a wound, claiming to heal a wounded person, only leaves greater pain.
One must simply approach step by step, gradually lowering their guard.
“...This time, truly, truly just this once…!”
That would be the first step towards reconciliation for this mother and daughter, both burdened with wounds.
“...Crazy male. Not content with just the owner, but her daughter too… both mother and daughter…”
I simply ignored Gregor’s horrified voice.
***
In the sticky darkness, two figures tangled together, continuing their messy copulation.
*Thump! Thump!*
“Guo, guooooo…”
“Help, he… lp me… Stop, stop… Hieekk…”
The being resembled a human, but it was not human.
The humanoid monster with a bull's head and muscular brown skin, a Minotaur, indifferently lifted its hips at the man’s desperate pleas.
Sticky bodily fluids dripped from the Minotaur’s lower body.
The man, saturated by the pheromones the monster emitted, already had his eyes half-rolled back. His brain, broken by pleasure beyond its limits, was no longer functioning properly.
There was a reason why he, an intermediate adventurer from the 13th layer, ended up in such a state on merely the 7th layer.
He was in the midst of returning to the surface after completing a Labyrinth expedition.
Exhausted from the arduous Labyrinth journey, and with supplies and food running dangerously low, the party had been pushed to its limits.
Of course, the most fundamental reason things turned out this way was the unforeseen disaster: the omen.
The party, bewildered and struggling against new and unfamiliar traps and monsters, had somehow scattered, and he, left alone, met the fate common to many male adventurers.
He became the monster's breeding vessel.
The Minotaur, having received the superior sperm of a man who had reached intermediate adventurer status through hard work, twisted its lips into a smile.
The monster’s seeds, depending on the caliber of the violated man, grow enough to surpass their inherent limitations.
“Purrr. Purrrrrr.”
The Minotaur looked at its seeds, which had now matured. Perhaps because of the superior sperm, their growth rate was unusually fast—
*Thwack!*
The 7th layer Minotaur’s thoughts ceased there. The last thing it saw were its own seeds squirming before it.
The monster’s seed, a Minotaur born from the 13th layer adventurer, which had nonchalantly killed and devoured its own mother to fill its belly, approached the fallen man.
The gear of the 13th layer adventurer was now adorned on the Minotaur’s body, a Minotaur that had surpassed the natural limits of a 7th layer monster.
“Purrrrrrr.”
As the Minotaur, wielding the gear, let out a low growl, the other seeds bowed their heads.
The Minotaur gazed at the scene with a satisfied expression, then turned its eyes towards a light visible in the distance.
A large, circular light, shimmering with red and blue hues.
It was what adventurers commonly referred to as ascent portals and descent portals.
Upon seeing it, a very faint [Shadow] fell beneath the feet of the Minotaur, which was extraordinary from birth.
Towards it, which an ordinary monster would have instinctively avoided touching due to an innate sense of caution,
the Minotaur reached its hand into.
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