Chapter 127: The 12th floor (3)

Chapter 127: The 12th floor
(3)

“Under
the power of the divine light, may the Mother Goddess bless you.
Temperance of sexual desire.”

At
the prayer of Hitolis, a faithful priest of the virginity-oriented
Cult of Mother Goddess, a powder of light descended upon Ellie’s
head.

Ellie’s
dazed expression changed for the better, drooling from her mouth.

“Is
that the miracle that priests and paladins use to suppress their
lust?”

“Indeed.
Sounds like a bunch of obsessive virgins.”

Joy
Hog and Lammel looked at Hitolis and nodded.

“Hitolis.
Did you suppress the full effect of the aphrodisiac?”

Hitolis
shook her head in confusion at my question.

“I
gave her some first aid, but the Labyrinth’s aphrodisiac is very
strong.”

She
swallowed the last part and looked at Ellie.

The
nape of her neck and long elfin ears were still red, proof that the
effects of the aphrodisiac hadn’t completely worn off.

“Is
there anything else we can do?”

“There
are only two ways out of this: we can either make a quick trip to the
fountain on the tenth floor of the Labyrinth and bathe in its healing
waters, or-”

Hitolis
left it at that and swallowed hard.

She
seemed very reluctant to speak in her own words.

Seeing
the look on her face, Jubeel opened her mouth.

“Or
poke it deep into her womb with a baby-producing stick, and chew it
cool.”

“Lord,
Jubeel, you’re so vulgar!”

“Well.
Did I say the wrong thing?”

“T,
you didn’t say anything wrong, but you did say something wrong.”

“What
are you going to do, Balkan?”

The
party’s eyes turned to me, the only clean slate in the party.

“This
stimulant is quite effective. Once you start, you will have to have
sex in this spot for at least three days and nights without sleeping.
Of course, it must be vaginal sex. Only when the uterus is filled
with semen will it be recognized as ‘real sex’.”

Once
you’re in a relationship, you’re in it for the long haul.

I
weighed the risks of the relationship, the fatigue that would come
afterward, and the dangers that would arise during the relationship.

“Let’s
get to the 10th floor as fast as we can.”

“Tch.”

The
rest of the party clicked their tongues. Well, they were just being
verbal.

“I
thought about it carefully. Masturbation might be fine, but in a
labyrinth, having sex is too risky.”

Sex
in the Labyrinth, with all its dangers?

I
didn’t have to think long to realize it was insane.

‘If
you have tremendous confidence in your abilities, then you might not
know.’

Sadly,
this was not true for me today.

Having
made my decision, it was time to move.

“I’ll
carry Ellie. My back is light thanks to the subspace backpack.”

“No.
I’ll carry her. It’s not safe for you to lift her.”

“What?”

I
was about to pick Ellie up with room to spare, but Joy Hog stopped
me.

“What
good does a female who has been on estrogen get from being carried on
your back and smelling the stinky scent of a male who hasn’t washed
for a week?”

“Don’t
try to seduce Ellie, who is barely holding on to her senses. It’ll
only speed up ovulation and make her even hornier.”

“Come
on, her breasts pressed tightly against your back muscles, it’ll be
dangerous⋯”

“Yeah.
It is dangerous..”

Joy
Hog, Lammel, Hitolis, and Jubeel, the four female party members all
nodded in agreement.

“⋯⋯Yes,
well. Okay, let’s go.”

I
scratched the nape of my neck in embarrassment.

The
Labyrinth it’s not so easy after all.

***

Still
on the ninth floor, Ellie’s sticky moans echoed through the
labyrinth.

“Ellie.
Just a little quieter. I know it’s hard, but hang in there.”

“Whew…
Yeah…”

Ellie
replied, gasping for breath.

As
much as we’d like to speed up, it’s hard to do it.

The
ninth floor is a little smaller than the average floor, but it has a
higher percentage of traps.

It
feels similar to the second floor, but the level of traps is much
higher than it was seven floors ago.

We’ll
need to tread carefully at all times to avoid dangerous traps such as
beast traps, arrow traps, detonators, and transition traps.

“Six
minotaurs up ahead!!!”

“Purrrrrr!”

On
top of that, there were oncoming monsters to deal with.

No,
not goblins or other mobs, but minotaurs.

If
I hadn’t had my cognition fully activated, I would have been in a lot
of trouble with the surprise attack and traps.

The
minotaur horde, realizing the ambush, immediately charged at us.

“Purrrrrrr!”

In
response, I pulled Bunny from my back and swung it at the first
minotaur to jump in.

-Zzzzzzzzzzzz!!!

With
a resounding crack, the minotaur’s upper torso was ripped off.

The
explosive power from her enormous size and weight was already beyond
the power of a normal axe.

“Purrrrrr!”

The
vanguard lunged forward and the instinctively terrified minotaurs
paused for a moment.

No
doubt, it was a golden opportunity.

“Lammel!
Now!”

“Fireball!”

With
a short shout, Lammel unleashed her magic.

The
minotaurs hit by the blazing fireball let out a terrible scream and
the two furthest forward were killed instantly.

The
remaining three were engulfed in flames.

“Purrrrrr!”

The
three flaming minotaurs charged like warriors facing death.

As
if to say, “Feel our pain.”

-Pow!

Joy
Hog, who had left Ellie with Hitolis, knocked two of them back with
her shield.

“Purrrrrrr!”

“Don’t
you dare!”

One
broke through the restraint and Jubeel charged him, but.

“What?!”

The
blade, surrounded by a cloudy sword energy, failed to strike the
minotaur’s neck and bounced away.

Immediately
afterward, the flames surrounding the minotaur gradually died down.

Magi
was revealed on the left side of the body.

“Hitolis!”

“The
forces of Mother Goddess.”

Hitolis’
Holy Power buff.

Jubeel’s
blade is imbued with the holy power of pure white light.

[Blessing
of Radiance]

I
joined in, and I cast my own Blessing of Radiance on Bunny.

[Aaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!]

I
could hear Bernie’s screams, but for now, I focused on the situation
and swung my axe.

Zzzzzzzzzz!

Jubeel’s
sword sliced through the minotaur’s magi stained neck, and my axe
sliced through its waist.

Joy
Hog soon followed.

-Thud!

The
battle was over, and I drove my axe into the ground.

“We’ve
still got a way to go to the descent portal. Maybe we should rest
here for the night.”

“Why
don’t we just rest for a while, grab what we need, and make a quick
trip to the tenth floor?”

Joy
Hog shook her head at my suggestion.

“I’d
love to, but Hitolis and Lammel are at their wits’ end. It’s
dangerous to move any further today, and we might run into another
trap up ahead. This area seems to be trap-free, so it’s a good place
to rest.”

Clerics
and mages have lower stamina than the main combatants, and when their
stamina drops, the entire party’s performance suffers.

Going
forward with less than full stamina and conditioning could put the
party in greater danger than I had imagined.

The
leader of the party is Joy Hog and she spoke reasonably and
convincingly.

Still,
there was a nagging feeling in the pit of my stomach, probably
because I was worried about Ellie.

“I
see, I was being overly ambitious.”

“It’s
okay. It’s the owner’s daughter, I get it.”

Joy
Hog was a fairly common-sensical and decent dwarf when she wasn’t
drinking.

Fortunately,
she was sympathetic.

Afterward,
the party butchered the minotaur’s carcass, stripped it of its most
profitable parts, and prepared to set up shop.

“Ugh.
It’s the ninth floor after all. Good quality minotaur hide, huh?”

“Four
of them were burned to a crisp, but I guess they’re still a little
salty. As expected, the pay is different when you get close to the
middle class.”

I
looked around at Joy Hog and Jubeel cleaning up the byproducts,
Lammel preparing a quick meal, and Hitolis tending to Ellie, then
back at Bunny.

‘After
the fifth floor, and again on the sixth, there’s a monster with
magi.’

The
frequency of encounters was similar to the previous labyrinth, but
there was one oddity.

During
this labyrinth exploration, I have not once seen a monster with magi
below the 5th floor.

Is
that really a coincidence?

[You’ve
fallen into this state, so you’ve influenced the labyrinth in some
way, haven’t you? Huh?]

Tsk!

[Keuhieeeeet?!]

I
wiped the blood from the blade of my axe and slapped the golden
ornament with my blessed hand, making it vibrate and let out a low
moan.

With
Gluttony slain, no magi monsters will appear below the fifth floor.

Though
it was only speculation at the moment, it was quite plausible.

‘Idelbert
said that she would reveal the secrets of the Labyrinth to me when I
become a top-tier Intermediate explorer, so I should be able to get
answers to many questions then.’

So
for now, let’s just worry about growing to a higher realm.

“A
vibrating axe. That’s interesting.”

“Might
be useful.”

Each
of the party members looked at the axe in admiration.

Certainly,
it’s not as majestic as it looks.

“Isn’t
it cool, she’s shy even though she looks like this.”

-Taaaaah!

[Hiiiit⋯!]

I
flicked the gold ornament so they could get a better look at Bunny.

[⋯Hooh,
you stupid, foolish bastard⋯
Heheh⋯
Hooh, you’ll regret it, blood, mortal subject⋯
How dare you use this body
like a lowly whore⋯!]

Hoooooooo!

[Hooooooong?!]

“Oooh.
Balkan, you’re touching it so hard.”

“⋯What
is it? Why is water actually coming out of the axe blade?”

“Hmm.
A substitute for drinking water? That’s a great feature. I won’t have
to worry about dying of thirst in the Labyrinth.”

[⋯⋯]

After
a reasonable amount of deliberation, I put the stunned Bunny back on
my back.

We
ate a light meal and retired to bed.

Except
for Ellie, I was the first one to go to bed, and I woke up according
to my usual routine.

“Hoo,
hoo, hoo, hoo.”

After
a night’s rest, the other party members recovered, but Ellie’s
condition worsened.

“Heh,
heh, heh.”

With
her mouth open in a daze, Ellie reached out and flicked her nipple
with her own hand.

Koooooowwww!

“Huh?!
Hiiit?!”

With
a powerful splash, her skirt rose slightly and then sank.

Even
Jubeel was frightened, and the hand of a misguided genius was upon
her.

The
results were plain to see.

Overnight,
Ellie’s skirt had soaked through and had already faded.

I
swallowed hard and walked over to the disheveled woman.

“⋯Ellie.
Are you okay, are you awake?”

“Yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah.”

“How
many fingers do you see?”

I
held up one finger in front of Ellie and waved it.

“Oppa’s
dick⋯?
Uhhhh.”

He
seemed to be losing his mind.

Ellie’s
eyes narrowed as she realized the embarrassment of her absurd answer.

She
pressed her wizard hat down tightly to hide her face.

“Do
you think you can hold out?”

“I
can stand it⋯
I’m sorry for being a burden⋯”

Ellie
replied, tightening her grip on the hand that was unconsciously
moving to her nipple.

“It’s
okay, it’s not a party that’s going to collapse because you’re a
burden, just relax.”

She
seemed sad that she had caused trouble to the party, so I patted her
on the head to tell her not to worry.

“Heeeeeeeee?!”

Ellie’s
whole body shook, and she cried out.

“⋯⋯”

I
looked at Ellie’s condition, which was worse than I could have
imagined.

Ellie
again received the miracle of sexual abstinence from Hitolis.

We
resumed our trek back up the ninth floor, and after half a day of
traveling, we reached the end of the floor.

We
found a portal to the tenth floor, but Ellie was too foggy to take a
magic sample.

“Joy
Hog. Hold on.”

I
called Joy Hog over to talk to her separately.

“⋯What
do you mean, if you go to the tenth floor, you might pass out
for a while?”

She
looked at me with a questioning look on her face.

When
I had reached the 5th floor through the transition trap, I had been
knocked unconscious and passed out.

The
tenth floor is a multiple of five, the second floor after the fifth.

It’s
a place that [the one wrapped in light] told me was dangerous.

There,
I didn’t know what else could happen to me but it’s good to be
insured against anything.

“It’s
a bit complicated to explain. It’s not that I don’t want to, I just
don’t know where to start.”

“⋯Hmm.
The multiples of 5 can be skipped with the fountain scroll, so that
shouldn’t be a problem. Got it.”

Joy
Hog nodded, unperturbed by what might have seemed like a questionable
statement.

The
trust we built up over time had paid off.

It
was nice to have a trusted party in times like this.

“Come
on, then.”

Holding
onto each other to keep from falling, we stepped through the descent
portal to the tenth floor.

-Whoosh.

With
a slight feeling of floating.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

At
a speed barely perceptible to me, a tremendous impact hit my body.

“Kahak?!”

“What,
what, Balkan⋯”

The
party members’ voices quickly faded away.

In
an instant, my entire body relaxed.

-Kudududud.
Dududududud.

Unusual
sounds came from my joints, muscles, etc.

“Ugh!”

Along
with tremendous pain, enough to send my consciousness flying.

I
desperately clung to my fading consciousness and through the
unexpected pain, I quickly scanned my surroundings and racked my
brain to assess the situation.

‘There
are no enemies around.’

That
meant I wasn’t being attacked from the outside.

In
other words, something was happening inside my body.

“⋯⋯”

I
collapsed, unable to scream, and stifled the vomit that was about to
rise.

[???’s
blessings respond to your growth.]

[Reorganizing
your body to be more efficient.]

An
unfamiliar phrase flashed before my eyes.