Chapter 69: Catch Them (7)
by Shini
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.
0 Comments