episode_0320

Jeong Yu-sin’s party reached the 24th floor.

The environment was the same as before. It was a similar underwater cave, and the salty air clung unpleasantly.

Still, there were a few differences.

One more party member had been added.

Pink hair. Her name was Rain. The guide of the fixed party ‘Aide’.

She was a human woman in her early 20s, with a somewhat vacant impression.

“I don’t know what’s going on at all.”

Rain muttered, walking next to him.

“Yeah.”

Jeong Yu-sin didn’t have much else to say.

Because he didn’t know anything either.

He could guess.

Considering the words the man who had turned into a Fishman had muttered, it was highly likely that a divine being had intervened.

On the day the Song of Homecoming echoes, something will happen again.

However, he didn’t know the name of the god.

It wasn’t in the library’s literature either.

‘A god whose name I don’t know.’

Jeong Yu-sin looked at the wolf beastman walking ahead.

He had a constantly thoughtful face.

He could understand. Even if there were differences, it was ultimately ‘me.’

At that moment.

“Prepare for battle.”

The wolf beastman raised his head and said quietly.

The party members immediately put on their earmuffs and picked up their weapons.

Jeong Yu-sin took the greatsword and took the lead.

As the wolf Scath had said. A group of Fishmen was running from afar.

The guys were moving their mouths and shouting something.

Jeong Yu-sin slung the greatsword over his shoulder and lowered his stance.

A total of 15.

Among them, a Fishman holding a staff stood out.

A Fishman Shaman.

He was famous for shooting a navy-blue magic sphere called ‘Echoes of the Deep Sea’.

If you get hit even once, your ears will open for a certain period. The effect of flesh rotting and blood not stopping is a bonus.

He was a guy to be especially careful of.

Thung!

The bolt fired by Rain flew, but narrowly missed the shaman’s head.

The surprised shaman shouted something and hid among the Fishmen.

‘…’

Jeong Yu-sin stopped trying to gesture and charged forward. He thought it was a waste of time.

I should do it.

[Telekinesis]

He extended an invisible hand and moved it over the Fishman Shaman’s head.

And.

[Sacred Weapon]

Magic that reacted to his will poured out like a flood, traveling along the invisible hand.

A huge golden greatsword was summoned above the Fishman Shaman’s head.

The Fishman Shaman tilted his head up and shouted.

But it was too late.

As soon as he let go, the greatsword fell and pierced the Fishman Shaman.

Thud!!!

“Kee-eck!!!”

Like an insect pierced and fixed with a nail, the Fishman Shaman was pierced and fixed by the greatsword.

The shaman coughed up blood, trembled, and then slumped down.

Instant death since his heart was pierced.

There was nothing more to see.

He charged into the panicked Fishman group and swung his greatsword, rampaging.

When there was space, he grabbed the greatsword and swung it to cut off arms and legs.

When the gap narrowed, he grabbed the greatsword and quickly stabbed and struck like a short spear or longsword.

He deflected the harpoons and cutlasses that the Fishmen swung convulsively with his armor.

Jeong Yu-sin’s greatsword skill raged like a storm.

Tsuaaaaaaack!!!

Cut-off arms, legs, and heads flew through the air and fell to the cave floor.

Screams rang out, and blood and organs soaked the floor of the underwater cave.

In less than 5 minutes, the screams subsided.

Jeong Yu-sin swung his greatsword and cut off the head of the last remaining Fishman.

Swish!!!

The Fishman’s head flew through the air and fell to the floor.

Roll.

Jeong Yu-sin shook off the blood on his greatsword and slung it over his shoulder again.

15 Fishmen. All exterminated.

Thanks to Dietrich and wolf Scath assisting him, the battle ended easily.

‘A, amazing! To exterminate 15 Fishmen so easily!’

Rain approached, her eyes shining, and signed.

Is it that much?

Jeong Yu-sin thought for a moment and shook his head.

He didn’t know what was waiting ahead, so he was trying to conserve as much magic and mental power as possible.

He had never used a technique great enough to be named.

‘Let’s go forward.’

The wolf Scath glanced at the Fishman corpses and urged them on.

Jeong Yu-sin looked down at the dead Fishmen and moved his feet again.

Aren’t they going to eat them?

He thought it was fortunate. The explorers who had turned into Fishmen kept lingering in his mind and wouldn’t disappear.

Is eating an explorer who has turned into a monster cannibalism?

He pondered, but it was difficult to reach a conclusion.

For some reason, he felt even more uncomfortable.

Jeong Yu-sin’s group stepped over the corpses and went into the darkness.

24th floor.

25th floor.

26th floor.

They reached the 27th floor.

He didn’t know how much time had passed.

The party members seemed to sense something and were tense.

Because they were tense, they had no余裕.

Because they had no 余裕, they could only focus on the present.

The wolf guy was increasingly silent.

Dietrich was spending more time looking at the bizarre sculptures placed throughout the cave.

Rain’s expression was dark as well.

Because they had found their companions’ weapons and identification tags in front of the transfer stone on the 26th floor.

And there was a marking scrawled in blood on the surface of the transfer stone.

A request for rescue.

And even initials that only party members could recognize.

‘Do you think they’re really alive?’

To Rain’s sign language, Jeong Yu-sin slowly gestured.

‘I don’t know. They sent a rescue request, so they’re probably alive. Maybe they’ve returned to the city.’

‘…’

Jeong Yu-sin and Rain also knew.

Returning was completely impossible.

How would an explorer leave their weapons and identification tags in front of a transfer stone?

Moreover, they had even carved a mark meaning a request for rescue.

No matter how he thought about it, it was highly likely to be a kidnapping.

Who on earth?

Jeong Yu-sin swallowed the question again and took a step forward.

* * *

Time passed.

Jeong Yu-sin’s party thoroughly explored the floors and arrived at the last floor of the underwater cave.

29th floor.

Jeong Yu-sin glanced at Rain.

It was time to prepare.

Rain’s complexion was becoming increasingly haggard. In fact, her expression had been dark ever since she realized the danger her companions were in.

He was planning to ask for the Lucid Stone when she was at least in her right mind.

And now was the right time.

Just as Jeong Yu-sin was about to touch Rain’s shoulder.

An anomaly occurred.

The wolf Scath pulled out his earmuffs and raised his hand.

“Stop.”

The party members also stopped walking and pulled out their earmuffs.

The wolf Scath, who had been looking around the cave for a long time, frowned.

“Something’s strange.”

“What’s strange?”

To Jeong Yu-sin’s question, the wolf Scath raised his hand and pointed to one place.

“A path that wasn’t there before has appeared.”

A small side path could be seen between the caves filled with blue light.

He could instinctively tell.

That there was something at the end of the side path that had appeared between the caves.

Dietrich’s eyes sparkled.

“It would be good to take a look.”

“I, is it really right to go in there?”

Rain said hesitantly.

Dietrich put his hand on Rain’s shoulder and whispered.

“Rain, haven’t we been going around the floors all this time? But we haven’t been able to find our companions. Then that means one of three things. They’re dead, they’ve returned to the city, or they’re here.”

“…”

Rain closed her eyes and pondered for a moment, then opened them.

“Let’s go.”

“Good. Wolf?”

The wolf guy hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

“Scath, if something strange happens, we have to run immediately.”

After speaking, the wolf Scath put his body into the narrow path first.

The party passed through the narrow path and entered a huge cavity.

Jeong Yu-sin’s eyes widened.

The bizarre sculptures they had seen so far were filling the cavity.

And.

In the middle of the cavity, there was a huge sculpture that was over 20m long.

Beeeep.

As soon as he recognized it, a ringing sound went off in his ears, and he felt a thrill throughout his body.

Jeong Yu-sin quickly lowered his head.

But the image he had seen was vividly etched in his mind.

A sculpture that seemed to have made the Fishman as big as possible was sitting on the floor with its hands neatly gathered.

His knees trembled at the overwhelming majesty.

Crack.

‘Are you showing such a pathetic sight because of just one sculpture?! Get a grip!’

He gritted his teeth and looked up at the sculpture to the end.

No matter how he looked at it, it didn’t seem like a sculpture.

Dried skin and empty pupils.

It was close to a mummy.

It was huge, hideous, and irreverent, but this ‘monster’ was already dead.

At that moment.

Someone tapped his shoulder.

The wolf guy raised his hand and pointed to one side.

A small bonfire was burning in the corner of the cavity.

Was someone here first?

Were there guys who were sane enough to light a bonfire in a place like this?

The wolf guy stopped Jeong Yu-sin, who was about to approach.

“They’re Maze Wanderers. Scath, be careful.”

That figures.

They were definitely insane guys.

Jeong Yu-sin’s party cautiously approached the bonfire.

Around the bonfire, there were three human men and two men and women.

A man in a robe had turned into a Fishman and was tied up with rope.

Thud!!! Thud!!!

A brown-haired woman in a priestess robe was being raped by a middle-aged man.

A middle-aged man wearing tattered equipment straddled the woman in the priestess robe and shook his hips diligently.

The woman, whose priestess robe had been torn off, was staring blankly at the ceiling with dead eyes, without even trying to resist.

“Lica!!!”

The pink-haired woman standing next to her shouted.

The middle-aged man, who had been shaking his hips diligently, turned his head to look at Jeong Yu-sin’s group and grinned, revealing his yellow teeth.

“Hehe. Oh my. How embarrassing.”

But the man didn’t seem to have any intention of stopping his hip movements.

They were different from the Maze Wanderers he had seen so far.

They were the very image of beasts who had abandoned not only the shame that humans have, but even common sense and morality.

The men were staring at Jeong Yu-sin’s party with glossy, deranged eyes.

The man who had been shaking his hips diligently trembled once and pulled out his cock.

“Hoo. Good.”

The man pulled up his pants as they were.

“You…you trash bastards!”

Rain raised her crossbow, her eyes blazing.

But the middle-aged man just shrugged.

“Hey. Calm down. We just saved this woman and this man.”

“Don’t lie!”

“We also got paid, along the way.”

They were quite trashy guys. It was fair to say they were just monsters wearing human skin.

That was why they had turned their backs on the world.

The wolf Scath took a step forward.

“Do you know about this altar? Did you guys make the side path?”

The man shook his head and picked up a bottle of alcohol that was placed on the floor.

“No. We don’t know either. We just stuck our heads in because a path appeared. There wasn’t much there. Except for that creepy mummy.”

Swish.

Dietrich drew his sword.

“I see. You’re just ordinary Maze Wanderers who have gone crazy. Just die.”

Jeong Yu-sin looked at Dietrich.

‘I’m flustered.’

He had been so cool until now, but suddenly he drew his sword.

Amidst the questions, he followed Dietrich’s gaze.

His eyes were fixed on the brown-haired woman.

Of course, her appearance was different, but she was a woman with the same hair color as Dietrich.

‘Could something have happened in the past?’

The man grinned and pulled out a dagger.

“Hehe. I don’t want to fight with the Barbarois.”

And he quickly moved, grabbed the woman’s hair, and held the dagger to her neck.

“Just let us go. We even replaced the broken Bracelet of Union and saved her from the Fishman attack. We deserve this much.”

However.

Dietrich moved like a flash of light and slit the man’s throat.

Tsuaaaaaack!!!

At the same time as the man’s neck flew into the sky.

The Maze Wanderers who were standing behind pulled out their weapons, but they were immediately cut down by Dietrich’s sword.

Thud!!! Thud!!!

Jeong Yu-sin looked at Dietrich with a bewildered expression.

What was that sudden burst of anger?

Dietrich seemed embarrassed by his sudden actions and stammered.

“O…oh. I, I’m sorry. When I…I was thinking about that statue, I felt strangely disturbed… I, I’m not usually like this…”

Rain quickly approached and hugged the brown-haired woman who was lying blankly.

“Lica!”

Rain shook Lica and asked if she was okay, but Lica was just staring up at the ceiling of the cave with her mouth hanging open.

Jeong Yu-sin immediately turned his gaze to the wolf guy.

The wolf guy was glaring at Dietrich and twitching his hand.

He looked like he was suppressing the urge to kill him right away.

Dietrich’s actions were sudden, but they weren’t worthy of criticism.

However.

The wolf guy, who had sensed something in Dietrich’s words and actions a moment ago, was exuding murderous intent.

‘It’s chaotic. It’s chaotic.’

Jeong Yu-sin shouted loudly.

“Everyone calm down! Let’s clean up first.”

“···I understand.”

“Yes.”

Jeong Yu-sin’s group cleaned up the Wanderers’ corpses and laid the man who had turned into a Fishman and Lica down in one corner.

And they sat around the bonfire.

They didn’t feel like eating anything, so they just drank a little water.

Rain was diligently nursing the two people who had lost consciousness.

Jeong Yu-sin looked at Rain and opened his mouth.

“Rain, give me the Lucid Stone now. You have it, right?”

Rain cautiously raised her head.

“H, how did you know?”

“You’ve been fidgeting with your pocket the whole time. Did you think I wouldn’t notice?”

“···Yes.”

Rain took out a blue gem from her pocket and handed it to Jeong Yu-sin.

Jeong Yu-sin fidgeted with the blue gem.

It was bitter. Meeting and parting were natural, but he had to send back the ‘me’ who had come from another world.

Dietrich was desperately avoiding the wolf Scath’s sharp gaze and glanced at the huge mummy.

“B, by the way, it’s strange.”

“What is?”

The wolf guy’s voice was filled with murderous intent.

“That mummy. Don’t you think there’s some powerful force latent in it? Even now, my skin is tingling, and I feel a pressure that is crushing my mind. It might really be a god we don’t know.”

The wolf Scath gritted his teeth and glared at Dietrich.

Grrrr!!!

“That’s a god?! Dietrich, you bastard, you’re really…!”

The wolf guy’s words were cut off.

Because someone had appeared in the huge cavity.

“The young beastman is right.”

When they heard the soft voice, the group’s heads turned sharply.

A woman was standing quietly not far from the bonfire.

Jeong Yu-sin’s eyes widened.

She was wearing baggy white robes.

Short hair with a brilliant platinum color.

Flawless skin.

Slit eyes that made it impossible to know what she was thinking.

And a cute beauty mark near her eye.

“M…i-on?”

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the woman looked exactly like Mi-on.

No.

Should he say that it was Mi-on who had become more mature?

So-called mature Mi-on at her peak.

The blonde woman tilted her head and raised her hand to point at the huge mummy.

“That’s a god, but not a god. To put it simply, it’s the shell of a god with only ability left. The end of a god who was treated as ‘evil’ and embalmed due to the arrogant choice of Ezydras and the Spirit Gods, and disappeared from recognition.”

“Mi-on!!!”

Jeong Yu-sin shouted and stood up from his seat.

“···Barbaroi child, you keep mistaking me for someone else.”

When the blonde woman put her hand on her chest, her baggy robe was pressed down, and the silhouette of her heavy breasts was slightly revealed.

“I am a vassal who serves the true master of the Maze City, the legitimate successor of the Landisier family, and the watcher of the Maze City. Altea Landisier.”

The woman, who introduced herself as Altea, twisted the corners of her mouth.

“Children, you will die here today.”

The quiet cavity.

Mature Mi-on’s declaration echoed.