Chapter 31: I want to go to the second floor (3)

Chapter 31: I want to go to
the second floor (3)

Every
time I look at the status window, I wonder.

Everyone’s
stats are all jumbled up.

Every
time you level up, your stats are randomized, so some people have
higher or lower stats, while others have more evenly distributed
stats.

Everyone
has their own strengths and weaknesses, but everyone except me has
one thing in common.

‘Every
time you gain a level, your stats increase.’

It’s
as if your body needs time to adjust to the increase in stats.

My
question is this.

[Free
Points: 5]

‘If
I invest 5 stats in a single shot, will my body be able to keep up?’

Athletic
gains require a period of waiting. This means that torn muscles need
time to reattach and grow.

[Agility:
(2+10) → (7+10)]

Agility,
a word that literally means to move quickly.

So,
what happens to my physical body when my Agility stat increases
dramatically?

The
answer to my question came quickly.

A
rain of arrows rained down from the ceiling.

-Thud,
thud, thud.

My
body, right after investing the stats, ticks to zero in a matter of
seconds.

‘It
feels like I took a step up. My body evolved.’

I
felt a radical increase in the speed at which my body moves.

From
the speed at which my muscles gathered strength, there was a clear
difference.

“Ugh-!”

“Kaaak?!”

The
hand that held Grumpy swung with all the force it could muster, and
she was thrown straight forward.

Jeremy
didn’t let go of her grip, either, and the two of them flew out of
the trap area like a streak of lightning.

At
least they were alive.

I
looked up and saw a dense rain of arrows. I’m standing in the center
of a circular rain of arrows.

A
second ago, I would have somehow managed to survive this rain of
arrows.

‘But
I wouldn’t have dodged it completely.’

I
don’t know about my armored head or torso, but I’ve probably taken
three or four arrows in my legs and arms.

And
the potions I have now can’t heal that much damage. At that point,
exploring the second floor would have been quite a challenge.

And
as for Grumpy and Jeremy?

I
couldn’t afford to save them, so of course they would have turned
into hedgehogs.

By
comparison, how about now?

-Bam
bam bam bam!

A
rain of dozens of arrows pierced the stone floor, sending chills down
my spine.

We’re
alive. All three of us are safe.

‘That
was close.’

It
was a close call, to be honest.

A
moment’s delay in judgment and execution, and I’d be circling the
Jordan River tourist trail, hand in hand with the lives I killed.

“Brother!”

Jeremy
gasped and grabbed my hand.

“Consideration
for your party before yourself! Quick thinking and action! Hmph⋯
I’m still a long way off⋯!”

Jeremy,
whose life was saved by my efforts, clung to me in tears of emotion.

“If
I’d been hit by an arrow, even Anya in the backpack would have been
seriously injured⋯!”

Ah.
So that was the problem, let it go. You’re suddenly so overbearing
and creepy.

“Crazy⋯
Crazy⋯
Crazy⋯
I’ve never been like this before⋯”

Grumpy
looks quite unhappy that she fell into a trap as soon as she entered
the second floor.

Well,
it was normal for her to react like that after being nearly pierced
through the head with arrows before she had time to detect and
confirm the trap.

“You
saved my life, master, and⋯
I apologize. I didn’t notice the trap.”

She
bragged about the second floor being her territory, but from the
start, she slipped up and had an anxious, intimidated expression.

She
immediately bowed low to me and a shiver ran down my spine at first
glance.

It
wasn’t the sexually excited tremor I’d seen before. It was a darker,
slimier shudder, a shudder of negative emotion.

For
a moment, I remembered Deluna’s dog-like thrashing.

The
way she’d been beaten until her eyes were black and puffy, unable to
say a word.

“What.
A slave is supposed to be protected by his master.”

“⋯?”

A
slave is his master’s property. I’m supposed to protect my own
property, not entrust it to someone else.

I
patted the bewildered Grumpy on the head, then walked over to what
had become an arrow field and pulled out an arrow embedded deep in
the stone.

The
arrowhead was smeared with a purple liquid. Poison, apparently. The
Labyrinth was serious about screwing with explorers.

“This
should do the trick. And don’t be intimidated, you’ve got a long way
to go.”

Her
eyes narrowed momentarily as I offered the arrow and comforting
words.

“⋯Yes⋯”

Denshi
smiled faintly as she accepted the arrow.

***
*

-Tadadak!

The
three stones thrown from Grumpy’s hand landed on the ground.

-Tada,
tada, tada.

Each
time, her ears twitched.

She
puts her palms over her ears to hear the sound better, and since
she’s squatting on the floor, she looks like she’s imitating a
rabbit.

“Don’t
touch the tiles over here and the tiles on the wall over there. Just
follow my path.”

She
stepped carefully, avoiding certain stone tiles.

Jeremy
and I quickly followed in her footsteps, stepping over the tiles.

“Phew.
That’s it. I don’t think there will be any traps for a while.”

“⋯How
do you know that from throwing rocks on the floor?”

I
asked curiously, and she flicked a stray strand of hair behind her
ear and gently touched her own auricle.

“When
you throw a stone on the floor, it makes a very faint vibration, and
it travels along the walls, floor, and ceiling, often making a
strange rattling noise somewhere.”

Grumpy
said as she picked up a rock.

“I
don’t know the exact workings of the Labyrinth Traps, but I can tell
you that wherever I hear that sound-“

Whiz-!

She
throws the rock hard at the wall tile she was talking about earlier.

Click.

The
tile is pressed down slightly.

Thud!

The
floor we were on a moment ago folded in half, revealing a pit.

“Like
this. This is where the trap is.”

I
sneak over and look down into the pit, where dozens of sharp spears
are stuck with their blades pointing up.

“”Ohhhhh.””

I
and Jeremy could only stare in awe. This was the kind of trick that
only someone with exceptionally good ears could pull off.

“The
trickiest ones are the arrow traps with muffled sounds and the
transition traps with no sound at all⋯
I’ve only seen them
once, so I don’t know how to recognize them.”

“Transition
traps?”

That
was a shitty name for a trap. Where else in this shitty labyrinth
would it transition to?

“It
depends on the color, but sometimes there’s a transition trap that
takes you further down. In fact, the last time I went down to the
third floor with Deluna’s party, I got caught in a transition trap. I
almost died back then⋯”

Grumpy
shrugged her shoulders as if she didn’t even want to think about it.

“It’s
a good thing I fell on the third floor, or I wouldn’t be here⋯”

The
difficulty of the Labyrinth increases sharply with each floor that is
a multiple of four.

The
difficulty increases from the 4th, 8th, and 12th floors.

For
this reason, the 4th and 8th floors are also known as the Wailing
Wall for beginner explorers.

“⋯That
is a dangerous trap.”

“Exactly.
One wrong step and you’ll fall to the bottom of the fourth floor, and
that’s the end of your life.”

“But
wait, you got caught in it? Your party stepped on it?”

“Oh.
The transfer trap is an area trap. Light spreads out, and if you
touch it, you’re caught in the trap immediately.”

The
most dangerous trap in the Labyrinth, where if you’re unlucky, you
could be caught in something someone else stepped on.

Due
to the nature of the Labyrinth, which requires you to climb back up
the way you came through the Ascension Portal, falling into a
Transition Trap can leave you waiting to die with no answers.

‘What’s
the difference between this and a descent portal?’

Is
it just the difference between a trap and a portal? Isn’t it safe to
assume that they are the same portal or trap in the sense that you’re
descending a labyrinth?

‘I
should research portals as well⋯’

I
don’t even know how to start, it just disintegrates and metastasizes
as soon as I touch it, so what the hell am I supposed to check?

“⋯Hoo.
Let’s go.”

“Yeah!”

I
sighed unnecessarily and started walking. I’ll have to check out the
library when we get back to Valerus.

***

Zzzzzzzz!!!

I
plunged my axe into the goblin’s neck. There was a slight jerk, but
with a little more force, the goblin turned into a go\blin.

‘Tougher
than a ground floor goblin.’

It
wasn’t unbeatable, but I could feel the goblin’s level increase.

“Whoa.
Huh.”

[Jeremy
LV.5]

It’s
been three days since we entered the Labyrinth and it had been a
little over two days since we entered the second floor.

Jeremy
has already gained two levels on this trip to the Labyrinth.

Perhaps
it’s the efficiency buffs, but it’s clear that the monsters on the
second floor give more experience than the monsters on the first
floor.

“Woman’s
body is cursed⋯
this rotting
mass of fat, woohoo⋯
every time I move, my breathing is ragged⋯”

Jeremy
exhaled harshly, perhaps because he was unfamiliar with fighting in
his altered body.

Well,
great power comes at a great price.

[Nam
Soo-jin LV.6]

[Free
Points: 1 point]

[Bonded
Slave: Denshi (LV. 8)]

Grumpy
And I have leveled up, but our progress is slow.

‘Let’s
take it slow. No need to feel like we’re being chased.’

“We’ve
come quite a ways already. We’re near the center of the second floor,
would you like to take a break?”

“A
break sounds good.”

“Great!”

We
moved on, resting and exploring as appropriate, and had already
reached the center of the second floor.

Since
the first drop was at the beginning of the second floor, we had
succeeded in reaching the center in two days.

“At
this pace, I think we’ll reach the center in three more days. With
two first-timers on the second floor, that’s pretty fast, and
honestly, it’s faster than when I was at the Deluna party.”

The
main theme of the second floor is traps. Aside from the addition of
traps, there’s no dramatic difference from the first floor.

“Ah.
If you sit on it, you’ll get…”

-Click.

-Chaaaahhh!

“Heeeeeeee!”

Jeremy
tried to sit down on the floor and fell into the net trap, dangling
in midair.

I
sighed and cut the netting with my axe.

“Thanks,
brother.”

Aside
from the more silent or non-damaging types of traps, the main
challenge of the second floor, the traps, were largely bypassed
thanks to Grumpy.

Dealing
with monsters like goblins wasn’t too difficult either.

Honestly,
the most dangerous time I was on the second floor was right after the
transition.

My
party was fine on the second floor, so I figured I could set the next
objective a little higher.

For
a moment, I thought about going all the way to the third floor this
time, but I shook my head, thinking that would be too greedy. It’s
best to play it safe and take it one step at a time.

‘Please,
let it end smoothly as it is⋯’

If
this labyrinth run ended safely, there were many things I wanted to
do.

I’d
like to go back and prepare for the third floor, visit the library,
and, oh yeah, take a bath, since I’ve only been wiping myself down
with a towel.

I
also missed Diana’s hot soup.

I
haven’t eaten the jerky yet because it’s a waste, but just holding
the string bag gives me a strange feeling of strength.

After
a short rest, we resumed our walk.

***

“Damn.”

The
master of flagging returned.

“That’s
a transition trap.”

Grumpy
muttered as she saw the yellow portal stuck in the air.

A
transition trap. A trap that explorers must avoid at all costs.

“Judging
by the color, it’s a trap to the fifth floor.”

I
had no intention of going through it, but the destination made me
want to avoid it even more.

The
fifth floor. I can’t even begin to imagine how hectic it will be.

I
hadn’t even made it to the third floor, let alone the fourth floor,
where the difficulty level rose sharply, and I didn’t want to go to
the fifth floor.

“Well,
that’s good. I found it first. We just need to avoid the transition
traps, so let’s go!”

Grumpy
flinched for a moment and it didn’t take me long to realize why.

Seven
people got caught in it. The number is seven. Somehow, it’s just like
lucky seven.

But
the information that an explorer was coming wasn’t all bad news.
Common sense tells us that even if you find a transition trap, 90 out
of 100 times you’ll avoid it.

“Woohoo~
super lucky~ it’s a transition trap on the 5th floor, right?”

“I
can skip the pesky third and fourth floors. Good job.”

With
a hellish probability, ten were caught but these were people who did
not fear transition traps.

They
either had to go past the fifth floor in the first place, or they
entered the Labyrinth for the fifth floor.

Transition
traps are a terrible disaster for lesser explorers, but for others,
they can be a super-fast elevator that skips all the hassle.

But
it’s still okay. We can just ask them to wait until we’re out of
range of the transition trap.

“What,
do you know him?”

“⋯Yes,
I know him very
well.”

‘Son
of a bitch.’

[Zelvin
LV.11]

[Mercy
LV.9]

There
was a familiar face on the other side, walking this way.

Zelvin
and Mercy, the rehabilitated explorers who had tried to rape me, only
to break down and run away.

“Nice
body. You look like you’re ready to f*ck.”

“Oh,
no. You can’t touch him.”

“What?
Why?”

The
two bitches paled as soon as they saw me, but the bitches around them
didn’t seem to mind.

They
stare at me with lustful eyes, and it’s obvious that their minds are
filled with thoughts.

“Grumpy,
looks like you’ve used up all your luck.”

Yeah.
I never counted on luck in the first place. I’ve always been the
furthest thing from luck.

If
I want to get the results I want, I have to earn them.

I
gripped the negotiation tool in my hand tightly.

People
often refer to this great tool of conversation as an axe.