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    Chapter 69: Catch Them (7)

    I
    immediately checked their faces.

    ‘She
    doesn’t look like the montage.’

    They
    were both women, but they weren’t rabbit heads, and they weren’t
    plain-faced women.

    Their
    gear was pretty crappy, too, with nothing but a worn-out javelin and
    a staff that looked like it was about to fall to pieces.

    I
    figured they were probably newbie explorers who had just descended to
    the second floor.

    We
    almost fell into a transition trap as soon as we were dropped on the
    second floor.

    The
    newbie explorers and the rest of the party looked at each other in
    disbelief.

    ‘It’s
    not often that one intuitively senses the moment of moving to a
    different floor, and there’s someone right in front of you when you
    get there.’

    Well,
    that’s one thing. We can’t stay like this forever.

    “Joy
    Hog. Let’s look at the map, see where we are.”

    “Oh,
    sure, sure. Look at me.”

    Joy
    Hog pulled out a map and checked the location but her expression grew
    increasingly bizarre.

    “⋯What’s
    wrong? Is it
    broken?”

    Instead
    of an answer, a panicked voice came out.

    Slime
    Ain Aldente felt suspicious and approached Joy Hog.

    “What’s
    the matter with you?”

    Immediately,
    Aldente’s face contorted strangely.

    For
    a moment, her eyes flicked back and forth between the map and the
    newbie explorers in front of her.

    I
    realized from their reactions that something was wrong with the map.

    “What’s
    wrong? Is something wrong?”

    “The

    marker, right in front of us?”

    On
    the map, the marker that indicates the outlaw’s location is right in
    front of us.

    But
    off the map, in the real world, it’s just two poorly equipped rookie
    explorers with faces that look nothing like the outlaw’s.

    A
    strange silence descends.

    In
    the eerie coolness and stillness of the situation, I quietly turned
    on the status window.

    [Gurmimi
    LV.36]

    [Stamina:(6+1)
    Strength:(15+4) Agility:(17+4) Wisdom:(9-4) Finesse:(10)]

    [Blessings
    and Curses possessed by Gurmimi: 3]

    [Reichem
    LV.22]

    ‘Holy
    shit.’

    I
    don’t know who Reichem is, but her presence with Gurmimi confirms her
    identity as an outlaw.

    I
    immediately drew the twin axes from my belt and shouted.

    “Outlaws!!!
    These are the bastards!!!”

    The
    women in the rookie explorer’s masks laughed bitterly.

    “Oh
    shit. We’ve been spotted already. How’s that helmeted asshole so
    fast?”

    “We’ll
    just have to outrun them.”

    Immediately,
    their façade began to crumble away like dead skin.

    The
    crude equipment melted into thin air and disappeared, revealing a
    rabbit head along with a refined straight sword.

    The
    plain-faced woman behind her held a hobgoblin staff. Those
    tricksters, even their weapons were deceptive.

    Gurmimi,
    the rabbit-headed woman, and Reichem, the plain-faced woman, both
    looked exactly like the faces in the montage.

    “Damn!
    Was it an illusion spell?”

    “Correct.
    Slime.”

    At
    Aldente’s shout, Raychem grinned and touched the transition trap with
    her Hobgoblin Staff.

    Beep,
    beep, beep-

    With
    a tremendous noise, a 100 meter radius immediately turned an ominous
    purple color.

    Ten
    seconds remained before the transition trap was triggered.

    “Gather
    up!”

    The
    party members began to huddle together, touching each other as they
    had prepared in advance.

    Aldente
    and Jubeel in the rear guarded the priests and mages.

    The
    priests and mages of Gellan’s party, led by Hitolis and Lammel, began
    to prepare to respond.

    Gurmimi
    hugged Reichem to her side in the meantime, her thighs bulging as she
    prepared to flee the realm of the transition trap.

    “Run
    away.”

    Of
    course, I wasn’t one to stand still. I moved quickly to block their
    retreat.

    Joy
    Hog and Gellan took up the rear of the outlaws.

    “Don’t
    even think about it. I’m going to beat the shit out of you before-“

    I
    didn’t finish my sentence and swung my axe at Gurmimi’s right thigh
    while Joy Hogg swung her one-handed hammer at Gurmimi’s head.

    However
    Gurmimi blocked my axe blow with the sole of her steel-toed shoe,
    then ducked her upper body slightly to avoid Joy Hog’s hammer blow
    and counterattack.

    “Crack!”

    Joy
    Hog hastily raised her shield, but Gurmimi’s dagger sliced past her
    ear.

    She
    was fast. Blocking two attacks and counterattacking in such a short
    time.

    Although
    I have far more stamina, he has a slight advantage in strength and
    agility.

    ⋯True,
    she also has wisdom and finesse, but it doesn’t matter.

    With
    this much of a difference, there’s no way to stand against a group
    attack.

    If
    we can draw her into a protracted battle and keep her trapped in the
    transition trap, we win.

    Gurmimi
    must have realized this, because she immediately called out to
    Reichem.

    “Talian!”

    “I
    see.”

    Talian?

    I
    thought her name was Reichem when I checked her status?

    I
    questioned, but it wasn’t important right now.

    A
    pink glow began to emanate from the hobgoblin staff held by Reichem,
    the wizard who called herself Talian.

    ‘If
    that touches me, I’m doomed.’

    Horrible
    memories of the Hobgoblin Village came back to me.

    If
    I am hit by that light, I will be reduced to a sperm-wrapped
    vivisection.

    I
    must grit my teeth and avoid it.

    “This
    is the time.”

    At
    that moment, Gellan, who had stealthily approached Reichem, swung his
    sword.

    Yes!
    That bastard! He’s finally doing something!

    -Kaang!

    Gellan
    struck the hobgoblin staff with an exquisite motion and Reichem lost
    the staff in her hand.

    Ping-!

    The
    staff, which had already emitted pink light, fell to the ground.

    Zhiyiyiyiying-

    And
    in that moment, I felt a very familiar sensation.

    The
    world was slowing down, like in slow motion, the extreme focus that
    had saved me in every crisis had returned.

    A
    sperm-wrapped bionic dildo beam was flying straight at me and Gellan
    was laughing hysterically at my predicament.

    Joy
    Hog looked horrified while the priests and wizards chanting miracles
    and magic in the background couldn’t interfere because of the
    suddenness of the situation.

    Aldente
    was stretching her slime arm out towards me and trying to make body
    contact.

    The
    outlaws, who have already started to run away.

    The
    Labyrinth, which continued to emit the noise of a transition trap.

    I
    perceived it all at once.

    Feeling
    my brain burning, I began to make judgments.

    Okay,
    then⋯

    ‘Which
    one should I start with, and how should I do it?’

    Coincidentally,
    I had all the cards I needed.

    [Miracle
    of Serif Adeline’s Mental Barrier Protects You]

    Just
    as the pink light reached me and started to twitch, creating a tattoo
    of corruption, a shield of pure light emerged.

    Tiyiying-

    The
    hobgoblin staff’s vicious abilities were deflected by Serif’s
    miracle.

    Coincidentally,
    in the direction of where Gellan was standing.

    I
    could see his eyes widen as he saw the pink light coming toward him.

    An
    expression on his face, as if he was saying, ‘This is not it, damn
    it,’ came into view as if in slow motion.

    ‘Well,
    well, well, I’m sorry.’

    But
    you were smiling earlier, you fucking asshole. You were aiming for
    me, weren’t you?

    I
    folded my apologies again. He’s not worth the slightest bit of
    concern. He’ll just be an asshole for the rest of his life.

    At
    the same time, I looked at the slime hand that began to wrap around
    my waist.

    Aldente,
    despite being a member of Gellan’s party, was a surprisingly good
    tank.

    She’s
    able to stretch her body to reach me from quite a distance. Thanks to
    this, I’ll be able to travel with the party even if I fall to the 8th
    floor.

    ‘All
    that’s left is those bastards.’

    The
    outlaws have already fled into the distance.

    With
    the pink light problem solved, I felt time return to normal.

    In
    about four seconds, the transition trap will be triggered but they’re
    about to escape from the transition trap area.

    However,
    there’s no one left to chase Gurmimi but me.

    It’s
    very hard to run and catch up with her, who is more agile than me.

    “Then,
    I’ll just have to do this.”

    I
    calmly gripped the axe with both hands.

    I
    pointed the artifact axe, specially crafted for me by Zirnier, at a
    slight angle toward the outlaws’ heads.


    I’ll have to be careful with this one, it’ll drain your magic.

    I’d
    gotten enough instruction from Zirnier the day I got the axe.

    I
    calmly concentrate, feel the coolness of the axe, and extend my
    senses to my surroundings.

    I
    began to gather the magic that had been tickling me ever since I
    entered the Labyrinth.

    No
    one told me how to do it, but it came so naturally, as if by my own
    will.

    I
    must be gifted.

    I
    channeled the energy into the axe like I channeled water into a cup.
    It all happened in an instant.

    I
    gripped the axe, which had begun to tremble, and spoke the initiation
    word to activate the magic forged into the artifact.

    “Enlarge.”

    Kwaaaaaang!!!

    Fuck.
    There was a reason she told me to use it in the Labyrinth.

    The
    crude axe, which was only about 60 centimeters long, had grown to
    nearly 12 meters.

    A
    Zernier artifact, indeed. A simple, tough, and devastatingly
    effective artifact.

    My
    grip on the axe nearly snapped, but I managed to hold on to the
    handle.

    It’s
    not really a handle at this point, more like a pole.

    The
    axe blade hit the ceiling of the Labyrinth with a loud thud, and with
    a tremendous vibration, it began to fall on the outlaws’ heads.

    “What
    the fuck-!”

    Gurmimi,
    who was just about to go out of the transition trap area, hastily
    stopped. If she didn’t stop, she’d be crushed.

    Koooooong-!

    A
    tremendous wind of dust blew in, and the huge, thick axe blade that
    fell from thin air became a wall in itself.

    The
    axe blade had succeeded in blocking the outlaws’ retreat.

    In
    other words, they couldn’t escape from the transition trap anymore.

    “Even
    if we fall to the eighth floor, we should fall together. It’s only
    fair, right?”

    I
    said, smirking at their confused faces.

    Gurmimi
    and Reichem, who had gotten a kick out of the comment, looked at me
    from the distance, their faces twisted.

    “What
    the fuck. You fuckers.”

    You’re
    the ones who got me in this mess in the first place.

    I
    raised my right hand to make the sign language gesture for
    ‘mountain’.

    “That
    crazy-“

    The
    moment the rabbit head with the veins protruding from its forehead
    was about to scream and spit out.

    -Beep,
    beep, beep.

    The
    world turned purple.

    You
    can run but I’ll catch you and put you away.

    That’s
    how we fell to the eighth floor.

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