Chapter 103: The Underground City is Mine

A heretic with a much larger build than others approached me.

“I heard you called for me separately. What task do you have for me? I will follow any order.”

He regarded me as the right-hand man of the priest Paynel.

“It’s nothing special, but because your soul is more valuable than others’, we’re going to conduct the ascension ritual in an unusual, special way.”

“Ah…! Is that true!”

“Yes, now. Kneel before me and sit.”

“I obey!”

The man, enthralled by the fact that he was special, knelt before me without any suspicion.

I placed my hand on his head and told him to relax.

“Release all tension. Ease your mind. And offer. Offer yourself.”

“I offer myself..! For true ascension. I will go to Arha’s side..!”

“Is that truly your will? Will you really give up everything?”

“Yes! I will offer this life to obtain salvation!”

The man, seemingly extremely immersed in this situation, said he would offer everything to me while shedding tears.

To extract someone’s soul with the soul chain, you need to either beat them to the brink of death or make them give up on their own.

Now, this man has given up on himself.

The chain wriggled. It means I can interfere with the man’s soul.

I think I can extract the soul. I immediately shot the chain at the heretic.

“Ugh! Kuuugh..!! What, what is this..!”

“You’re going to see Arha. Endure it. At the end of this pain, you’ll be able to face the god.”

“Is, is that really true..!”

“Trust me. It’s the final trial. At the end of this, you’ll be able to receive salvation.”

“Ah, I understand!! Kuuuuugh…!!!!”

The man endured the pain.

Admirably, he’s willingly giving his body to me.

‘It’s almost done.’

When I judged that I had extracted most of the soul from the heretic’s body, I inserted the swordsman’s soul into the heretic’s body.

The body swap was successful.

The heretic’s soul was bound by iron chains and sucked into me, and the swordsman inside me poured into the heretic’s body.

It was a successful exchange.

-Ooh…! Arha…? Huh? Where.. Where is this..

-A newcomer has arrived. Welcome. This is neither hell nor heaven.

-Huh? Uuuh? Why is the Apostle here…?

The heretic who was dragged into me and Paynel confirmed each other’s presence. Only then did the heretic bastard realize something was wrong and start throwing a fit. Ignoring him, I looked at the swordsman who had taken over his body.

“Cough.. Cough. Khahak…”

“Hey, are you alright?”

“Have I… Have I really come back to life..?”

“Yes. Although it’s a heretic’s body.”

“Ha. Hahahahaha!!! Resurrection.. To think I’d be resurrected!”

The man who entered the heretic’s body clenched and unclenched his fists, checking his body.

Then, with a face full of joy, he started writhing in happiness.

“It’s much. Much better than my original body. Ah. It feels like, like I’ve been reborn. To perform such an impossible miracle. Are you.. Are you an incarnation of god?”

“Huh? An incarnation of god?”

Wouldn’t the incarnation of god be the Saint over there, beating up the cursed book with Paramel?

“First, lower your voice.”

“Ah, yes.”

“Your name was Roy, right?”

“That’s correct. Swordsman Roy. A Silver Badge adventurer.”

“From today, you’re a labyrinth monitor.”

“Pardon? What’s that?”

“It’s a role that manages the underground city. I created it. You’ll have colleagues soon.”

“Colleagues. Good. A role that manages the underground city, is it.”

“Yes. After the Great Shift, Labyrinth City is facing various crises. So you could say it’s the perfect time for a big job.”

Labyrinth City, which has fallen into a state of influx evaporation and economic panic.

If this situation continues for long, even the existing adventurers will all disappear.

That’s why we’re conducting this subjugation. To increase the influx of adventurers through unlimited purchases and revive the stagnant economy of Labyrinth City.

I’m trying to maximize the stability of adventurers here. Currently, Silver Badge adventurers are not trying to go down to the 6th floor. They’re all scared of dying. The 6th floor is so difficult that they won’t go down even though there’s a lot to gain.

Moreover, the long time it takes to go down to the 6th floor also played a big part in why adventurers don’t try to go below the 5th floor.

So I’m trying to make the 5th floor human territory. The 6th floor will become safer if many people flow into it. My goal is to drastically reduce the difficulty of the 5th floor to make adventurers explore the 6th floor.

The 6th floor needs to be properly penetrated to provide the foundation for me to go down to the 7th floor.

This is not the time to consider my personal gain. I must go down quickly and stop the labyrinth’s nightmares from flowing out anymore.

“So, you see, I’m trying to preempt the underground city first.”

“Preempt the underground city, you say?”

“Yes. I’m going to get my hands on the central district first.”

The central district of the underground city is a place that everyone who comes down from the upper levels passes through.

If I eat this up first, I’ll gain tremendous advantages for future labyrinth conquests.

To say it again, in a position where I need to go down beyond the 6th floor to the 7th floor and beyond, I must eat this up no matter what.

“Huh…”

“Since the detailed plans are still only in my head. You just need to guard the central district.”

“Understood.”

“The contract period is 10 years. Let’s make it so you can go up to the surface once a week.”

“Good. I will serve with utmost loyalty.”

Ten years might seem long, but for someone who had a 0% chance of resurrection, this much should be acceptable.

If even a corpse remained, the order would have used the Elixir of Resurrection, but Roy didn’t even have a corpse left.

‘I’ll increase the numbers starting with this guy.’

If I try to take over the underground city, the leadership of Labyrinth City probably won’t leave me alone.

They don’t want the labyrinth to be controlled by anyone.

‘I need to bring the Tower Master and Guild Master to my side.. and get Raphanel out of the hole-in-the-wall shop.’

The Magic Tower ultimately moves according to the Tower Master’s will.

If I make a contract to pre-purchase rare demon materials, the Tower Master will probably side with me.

Moira, the Guild Master, will also turn a blind eye to my deviation if I present benefits. In Raphanel’s case, I just need to persuade him that it’s time to break the restriction on entering the labyrinth.

‘The order might directly stand up and denounce me, but..’

To prepare for that time, I need to curry favor with the Saint too.

‘She’s already halfway over.’

By telling her she could remain as a great person in history and letting her step into the labyrinth expansion project, there’s a very high chance the Saint will take my side.

‘What’s left are the opposition from various guilds and adventurers. And the nobility of Labyrinth City.’

What ultimately makes Labyrinth City run are the guilds.

Adventurers hunt demons and sell the materials collected from them.

It’s ultimately the merchants of Labyrinth City who distribute these outside.

‘To make the underground city a strategic stronghold, I need to meet with the merchant union.’

They don’t want anyone to monopolize the labyrinth.

I needed to meet them, inform them of my plan, and ask for help.

‘As for the opposition from adventurers…’

Adventurers want freedom.

They want to hunt freely and go into the labyrinth freely.

Controlling the underground city could bring opposition from adventurers.

Even if the Guild Master is on my side, it’s not like she can unilaterally give orders to adventurers.

‘I need to find a way to turn the adventurers’ public sentiment to my side. Haah.’

Various plans popping up in my head.

It’s a headache trying to execute them one by one. But the important thing is that I need to make the underground city my base camp and gain as much benefit as possible. That will make conquering the labyrinth easier.

At the very least, I need to gain the authority to manage and supervise this place.

“It’s almost over.”

“It seems so. Are those two the last?”

“Yes. They’re the end.”

As I was pondering future tasks, Helena approached. Of all those heretics, almost all have died and now only two remain.

“Do you know how many have died so far?”

“I don’t know since I wasn’t counting. Does Halsi know?”

“About six hundred have died. That’s quite a lot.”

“Huh. Six hundred.”

“This probably evaporated most of the lay believers they had. Now all that’s left are the executives, two apostles, the Black Saint, and the Yetis.”

As Helena said, most of the manpower they controlled has evaporated.

Those in other places probably have no idea what’s going on here right now.

“You two are the last!”

“Waaah!”

“Finally! It’s our turn..!”

At the point where only two bastards remained, Raphael took off the mask he was wearing.

“Long live the Goddess!”

“…Eh?”

“Goddess..?”

“Yes, you maggot bastards. Now, do you see this light? It’s Holy Light.”

“….????”

“You’ve been deceived.”

At Raphael’s words, the two remaining heretics looked at him as if they couldn’t understand what was going on.

“I’ve sent all you useless workers to the Goddess’s side, so suffer eternally in hell.”

“This is!!!”

BANG!

Raphael smashed the skull of a heretic trying to escape, then twisted the neck of the one who was trembling.

With this, all the heretics who became sacrifices were killed.

They were neatly stacked in my inventory.

“The cleanup of the flooded area is roughly finished.”

“The powerless worker class has collapsed. Now all that’s left are heretics who know how to fight.”

“Saint. What will you do?”

“The time for decision has come again.”

Since we’ve wiped out the worker class, the heretic bastards have now lost the foundation of the underground city.

All that’s left are about 40 heretics.

“I want to kill all the apostles, but it would take ages to find them. Let’s go up for now. We’ve achieved our primary objective. Let’s take a rest and hunt the giant.”

The Saint made her decision.

We caught the Blue Apostle and hunted most of the heretics hiding in the underground city, so we should consider the goal achieved.

Of course, two apostles, the Black Saint, and the Yeti tribe remain, but we never intended to go down below the floor division of the underground city in the first place, so we can start going up now.

There are no more heretics to sacrifice, so the remaining ones will slowly wither and die.

“By the way, seeing you withdraw so easily, it seems you’re quite satisfied.”

“Huhuhu. This is the first time I’ve massacred heretics so exhilaratingly. They’re usually so good at hiding. Hahaha! I’m satisfied. It’s all thanks to you, Porter.”

“It’s nothing.”

The Saint looked very satisfied.

This person seems to need to crack at least two heretic heads a day for food to go down her throat, so she must be in a good mood after being able to kill so many this time.

From the Saint’s position, it’s like she got to eat a heretic special meal.

I was quite satisfied with this too. Now let’s go up above the floor division. Of course, it would be difficult to go back up the well we used to come down, so we needed to find another exit.

‘Paynel. Guide the way.’

-Alright…

Paynel was more reasonable than I expected.

He keeps trying to gain sympathy with annoying emotional appeals, but he quickly becomes docile after I tear off and reattach his limbs a few times with the soul chain.

‘If you behave well, I’ll let you attain Nirvana.’

-Are you trying to send me to the Goddess’s side..! You vicious bastard!

‘I don’t believe in the Goddess. What I mean is, if you listen to me well, I’ll help you die normally. Then you might go to the side of the god you believe in.’

-What? You.. Is that.. really true? You’ll just kill me?

‘I have no reason to lie. Shouldn’t proper rewards be given to slaves who behave well?’

-You’re completely seeing me as a slave…

‘It’s the truth. So, are you not going to listen to me? Do you want to wander in limbo forever? Don’t you want to die normally?’

Right now, I have the right to decide this bastard’s afterlife.

He had to do his best to please me no matter what.

-What…. What should I do?

‘I’m going to possess you into a vine bean.’

-What? A bean?

‘Yes, a bean. To be precise, a plant-type demon.’

By now, labyrinth vines should have grown in the central district.

It’s been about a day since they were planted, so they should have grown enormously eating mana.

‘Vine beans are demons too.’

Raphanel had said.

Vine beans are ultimately demons too. And I could possess spirit bodies I captured with the soul chain into targets I wanted.

I can possess them into people or demons.

‘I’m going to put you into a vine bean. Use the vine bean’s body to protect the central district until we return. You have a colleague too, so protect it together. It’s an order. If you refuse, I’ll put you in a rusty dagger and abandon you at the bottom of the lake forever.’

-Damn it..

If I put Paynel into a vine bean, it will create a vine bean that can use curses.

The combat power will increase even more. It will effectively block monster waves.

Then while our party goes up to rest, Paynel and Roy will be guarding the central district.

‘Oh right, and you have a transfer stone that can go directly from the 5th floor to Labyrinth City, right?’

-You even found out about that..

‘Where is it?’

He hesitated to speak, hemming and hawing.

‘If you don’t tell me, you won’t die peacefully. You see how the situation is going, right? You’re all going to die at the hands of the Goddess Church order anyway. Don’t be stubborn and just tell me. Do you think that Black Saint or whatever will protect you? If they bring down all of Labyrinth City’s forces, you’ll all just be swept away. Didn’t you see over 600 people get slaughtered by our hands?’

-Oh Arha.. Forgive this mortal’s sin… The transfer stone directly connected to Labyrinth City is below the Spire District.

He says the transfer stone is below the floor division of the Spire District. Using that, we can go up directly to Labyrinth City.

That means, conversely, there must be a transfer stone in Labyrinth City that can come down directly to the 5th floor underground city, right?

‘Where should I go to travel directly from Labyrinth City to the underground city?’

-In terms of Labyrinth City… Probably if you enter the sewers below the eastern red-light district.

So the transfer stone was below the eastern red-light district.

If you take that, you can go down directly to the 5th floor.

A new entrance connected to the labyrinth. If this fact is revealed, the eastern red-light district will probably be swept away.

It’s not like I went there often anyway. If the hole-in-the-wall shop next to the red-light district gets swept away too, it’ll be easier to bring Raphanel to my side, so it’s actually better.

As a result of strengthening my ability by meeting Helena, the situation has worked out too well.

After overcoming bad luck, good fortune follows.

Now if we just kill the giant, we can go up.