159. Woke Up in Hell

“Ugh…”

Just how long was I unconscious?

It seemed I lost consciousness shortly after successfully summoning the Three Evil Women.

My entire body ached, and every joint in my fingers hurt so much that moving was difficult.

“Shion! You’re awake!”

“Uh… Yuria? Huh? What the… What’s going on…?”

My vision was blurry, and when I rubbed my eyes, I saw something strange.

Why were monsters swarming toward us?

And what the hell is that over there?

“The Saintess?”

Didn’t she say she was going to hunt heretics? Why is she here?

Wait, what? What’s happening… Huh?

“Rafnel?!”

Rafnel, being healed by Paramelle, and the Druid Association president, standing up while dripping bloodied saliva. Wait… is he even alive?

BOOM-!!!

“Guh!”

An explosion loud enough to rupture eardrums echoed through the air.

It looked like the Tower Master had hurled an oversized fireball like a bomb at the monster fighting the Saintess.

The heat was overwhelming.

‘What the hell is that thing?’

How is it still standing after taking a hit like that?

What kind of monster can go toe-to-toe with the Saintess?

At the very least, it seemed like a giant-class monster, but upon closer inspection, it also looked vaguely human.

-Shion. Shion, can you hear me?

“Helena? What the hell is going on…?”

-While you were unconscious, a Demon King emerged from the 7th Floor. It’s one we’ve never seen before. Likely a calamity born from an adventurer who drifted into the 7th Floor, but I’m not entirely sure.

“Huh? No, why would something like that… Even if it’s based on a human, how can it regress so easily?”

-Perhaps because we stimulated the labyrinth first, making it easier for it to ascend.

In other words, because we forcibly summoned the Three Evil Women to manipulate the labyrinth and interfere with the monster spawn rate, the labyrinth responded in kind.

And the result of that is the Demon King before us.

-We’ve learned something new from this. If you forcefully alter the labyrinth’s rules, the labyrinth will retaliate. Perhaps the labyrinth’s malice is akin to its immune system.

Translating Helena’s words from a modern perspective:

The labyrinth is like a massive living organism, and the malice tormenting adventurers within it is its white blood cells. Meanwhile, adventurers who recklessly invade and disturb the labyrinth are like viruses or bacteria.

Either way, interfering with the labyrinth’s rules is no different from spreading malignant cells. So, the labyrinth deployed a countermeasure far beyond the usual, and that countermeasure is the rampaging Regression Demon King before us.

“That’s not the important thing right now! What are those monsters?! They just keep coming!”

-The Saintess manifested a fragment of the Goddess within the labyrinth to stop the Demon King. As a result, the labyrinth’s malice seems to have gained greater power to interfere with adventurers. It appears summoning a god was also considered cheating.

“So, the more we cheat, the more the labyrinth cheats back?”

-Exactly. You’ve grasped it perfectly.

Summoning the Three Evil Women to manipulate the labyrinth was already cheating, so the other side had justification to summon a Demon King. But now that the Goddess has been summoned, the labyrinth has retaliated even harder.

It all seemed complicated, but the outcome was simple.

While I was unconscious, a Demon King ascended from the 7th Floor. If we hold out for about two hours, it’ll either weaken or return below.

The problem is that surviving those two hours is nearly impossible, so the Saintess cheated again by manifesting the Goddess within the labyrinth. In response, the labyrinth’s malice summoned hordes of monsters and sent them after us.

“So, the goal of those monsters and the Demon King is to destroy the pillars?”

-No. Their goal is to kill you.

“Huh?! Why?! Why me again?!”

-Because you’re the medium who brought the Three Evil Women here. Their objective seems to be killing you and erasing the owner of the Spirit Eye.

“Tch…!”

Again? It’s always me?

Why is it always me? Why does everyone lose their minds trying to kill me the moment they see me?

I was so frustrated and resentful that tears welled up. Every time I try to do something, this damned world throws some bullshit at me.

“I’ll help Yuria for now.”

-Good. That’s the right call.

Honestly, I didn’t have the courage to intervene in the Demon King’s fight. Getting caught in the crossfire of those monsters would just get me killed for nothing.

Besides, that Demon King bastard was weirdly fixated on me. If I got too close, it would probably risk death just to take me out, so it’s better to stay far away.

“Yuria! I’ll help!”

As I got closer, I saw Lady Leah and the rest of the party mixed in among the adventurers.

“What about Roy and Logie?”

“Roy is dead!”

“What?!”

Fragments of the Black Iron Golem were scattered around.

It didn’t seem like the monsters of the underground city could have shattered Roy’s Black Iron Golem like that.

Did the Demon King do it?

-Logie was blown into the Garden Section. She’s probably still alive.

‘What the hell…’

So much happened while I was unconscious.

-Focus on the monsters in front of you for now.

‘Yeah…!’

All sorts of monsters from the underground city were charging at us in a chaotic swarm.

Yuria was swinging her chain sword to cover as wide an area as possible, but it wasn’t enough.

We were being overwhelmed. Monsters were pouring in like mad from the gates connecting each section.

The Saintess and the Tower Master were busy holding off the Demon King, so they couldn’t help here. The Vine Beans were torn apart for some reason, making it difficult to block even a single gate.

I summoned a hypercube and ordered it to automatically intercept the surrounding monsters.

“Kyaaaah!!”

“Fuck! Lady!!”

Meanwhile, Lady Leah was surrounded by a group of hobgoblins. She was in immediate danger-I had to save her.

Damn it, the lady’s about to die-where the hell are Rika and Rien?!

‘Ah…’

Rika, mangled by monsters.

And Rien, slumped beside her, already dead.

Traces of their desperate struggle were visible around them. They had taken dozens of werewolves down with them before finally succumbing.

-Those whose will broke… They’re all dead…

I heard that the Saintess summoned the Goddess, creating a Sanctuary of Resurrection.

This sanctuary affected the entire Central Section, and anyone within its influence could deny their own death.

Inside the Sanctuary of Resurrection, even if you died, you could deny that fact and temporarily postpone death.

But that wasn’t easy. Those who couldn’t deny their deaths collapsed.

The moment their will broke, the Sanctuary of Resurrection stopped working properly.

The Inquisitors were holding on through sheer willpower, even as their heads were being severed.

But expecting ordinary adventurers to possess such superhuman endurance and fighting spirit was unrealistic.

Most would assume they were dead the moment a blade pierced their vitals.

And so, those who couldn’t deny their deaths perished.

Those who succumbed to pain and accepted death couldn’t delay it either.

Most adventurers were swept away by the monster horde, and some corpses were even mutilated.

Total annihilation was imminent. At the very least, I had to save the lady.

“Raaaah!!”

I didn’t raise a shield.

I didn’t need one anymore.

I charged at the hobgoblins faster than they could react. I wouldn’t give them any distance.

I’d kill every last one of them.

“Kyaaah!”

A hobgoblin bared its fangs and swung its club. Just before it could smash my skull, I lashed out with my left hand, snatching the weapon away.

I stored the club in my spatial pouch and immediately retrieved it, slamming it into the hobgoblin’s face with the same force it had intended for me.

Blood, chunks of flesh, and teeth sprayed across my vision, but I had no time to wipe them away.

“You fucking bastards!!”

I stored the collapsing hobgoblin’s corpse in my inventory and hurled an axe at another goblin about to stab the lady in the back, hitting it square in the head.

At the same time, I stretched both hands forward and fired the arrows I had stockpiled in my spatial pouch.

Arrows Roy and I had spent all day collecting. The arrows, retaining their kinetic energy, shot toward the goblins surrounding Lady Leah, turning them into pincushions.

In an instant, I fired dozens of arrows, clearing the goblins around her before rushing to her side.

“Lady!”

“Shion… Oww…”

A long gash ran down her left arm.

And her stomach was soaked in red.

She was covered in stab and slash wounds. Her face was pale-she had lost too much blood.

She had slaughtered countless monsters, but the sheer numbers were overwhelming.

“We need to call for help…”

But there was no one left to help us.

The strongest fighters were all tied up holding off the Demon King, and while the Vine Beans were pushing back the monsters, they were struggling.

“Lady, hold on. If I bring Erika, maybe you can…”

“Erika… is here…”

“Ah… Ahh…”

Erika was already dead too.

So all the healers were wiped out?

Where’s Paramelle?

-Right now, she’s healing the Tower Master.

“Lady, drink this first.”

I pulled out all the healing potions I had.

I couldn’t just let her die like this.

‘What I need to do now…’

Recover the adventurers’ corpses to prevent further desecration.

Gather Yuria and the surviving adventurers and protect them.

“We need to regroup with Yuria. Can you stand?”

“Yeah. The potion helped.”

“Then, Lady. Wear this.”

“Huh? This is…”

“The Ring of Spiritualization. Use it to escape if things get dire. Don’t worry about the side effects-just use it.”

“Got it. What about you?”

“I’ll be fine. Go to Yuria. And we need to find Logie-she was blown into the Garden Section.”

“Okay. Underst-”

BOOM-!!!!!

“Tch…”

As if things couldn’t get worse, they did.

A deafening roar came from a direction other than where the Demon King and Saintess were fighting.

At the source of the noise stood three monsters.

-A manticore… a chimera… and a minotaur…

The boss monsters overseeing each section of the underground city had appeared.

“Ha. Haha…”

A hollow laugh escaped me.

Most of the adventurers were already dead.

The Saintess’s decision to summon the Goddess was correct-if she hadn’t, we would’ve been wiped out by that nameless Demon King long ago.

But now that the labyrinth had unleashed a monster wave, the remaining adventurers were as good as dead.

No, they were already dead. Now, the real concern was their corpses being completely destroyed, preventing them from ever resurrecting.

-There’s no time to hesitate. Make a decision.

Helena’s words snapped me out of my thoughts.

There was no room for hesitation anymore.

“This better work.”

I pulled out a scroll and tore it without hesitation.

Gon once told me something.

If a battle descends into chaos, with enemies and allies indistinguishable, sometimes the best move is to plunge everything into even greater chaos.

If your side is clearly losing, creating more disorder can slightly improve survival rates and open up new possibilities.

That’s what he said.

The scroll I tore was Spirit Summoning.

The vengeful spirits of all the adventurers who died nearby would gather.

Well then, let’s see you handle this.

If you’re going to flood us with monsters, I’ll retaliate with the souls of the dead.

“This isn’t cheating.”

I didn’t summon a god, nor did I try to forcibly alter the labyrinth’s rules.

This is just a legitimate tactic.

-Kyaaaaaaaah!!!!!

The resentful wails of vengeful spirits echoed through the labyrinth.

The cries of monsters, the death throes of adventurers, and the ghostly shrieks blended into a symphony of hell. There was no distinction between life and death here.

Right now, in this place, the boundary between life and death had collapsed.