202. Golden Goblins Are the Worst Creatures

‘Fuck fuck fuck, absolute fucking bullshit.’

Only after cursing inwardly for a long time did my anger finally subside.

Seriously, out of all the fucking times, I had to trigger a transfer trap right after escaping.

Even now, thinking back on it, it’s so absurd I can’t even laugh.

And to make matters worse, the place I got sent to was the ancient ruins I had just escaped from.

First, they dumped our party here from the start, and now they’re outright determined to keep us from leaving by grabbing us by the ankles.

In this never-ending chain of bullshit, I could clearly feel the labyrinth’s utterly disgusting and persistent malice.

Isn’t this too much?

Just in case, let me remind you-spiritualization or astral projection is far too dangerous.

‘I know. If I mess it up, I’m dead.’

If it were the 5th floor, maybe, but in a layer not under the control of the Evil Women, recklessly using spiritualization or astral projection would send me straight to my grave.

The labyrinth is watching me.

The moment I leave my body, it’ll probably try to steal it, and if I use spiritualization, it’ll happily start attacking me.

Besides, in ancient ruins, there are creatures with senses sharp enough to detect wandering spirits.

‘You mean the Mana Eaters, right?’

Exactly. They’re especially annoying.

They can chew through magic, devour souls, and if they sense anything they can consume as energy, they’ll eat it all. For mages, they’re practically natural predators.

Well, in the end, you can just blast them away with overwhelming firepower.

Pria explained that the only way for a mage to deal with a Mana Eater is to overload it until its stomach bursts.

The Mana Eaters Helena and Pria described are eyeless monsters-just torsos with forelimbs and massive jaws big enough to chew up a person in one bite.

These creatures float around in a semi-spiritual state and have an uncanny ability to sniff out mana or souls to attack.

They react insanely to magic, going wild and devouring spells, making them extremely dangerous if the party has a mage, shaman, or any magic-based member.

If I summoned Helena or called Pria here right now, these things would go berserk and charge at us.

First, let’s erase your scent. Before the Detector catches it.

‘Got it. This is truly the worst situation.’

The Detector, true to its name, specializes in long-range detection, with an extremely developed nose and ears to track targets by scent and sound.

Its physical abilities are ridiculously high, and its nails are grotesquely long-if I get caught, I’ll be torn to shreds.

I quickly pulled out a scent remover from my inventory and sprayed it all over myself.

This’ll completely mask my scent for about an hour.

‘I envy Yuria’s ability.’

If I had Yuria’s scent-removing skill, I wouldn’t have to worry about the Detector’s nose at all.

Unfortunately, I have to reapply this stuff every hour.

Let’s start moving for now.

‘Yeah, I should. I need to regroup with the party quickly.’

The real reason this situation is the absolute worst is that with me stranded here, our party’s supply line has been cut off.

Since I, the porter, was carrying most of the supplies, my party members are now wandering the labyrinth without any resupply while searching for me.

If they find a transfer stone before finding me, they can escape, but if we keep missing each other, things will get really messy.

Still, we prepared for this in advance, so at least there’s that.

‘Right. We anticipated something like this. I just hope the others stick to the plan.’

Ever since we heard about transfer traps, we’ve been preparing for this exact scenario.

Each party member was given three days’ worth of rations, and we agreed that if we got separated, we’d prioritize finding a transfer stone to escape.

Rather than risking everyone’s life searching for each other inside the labyrinth, the first one out should request rescue from the 5th floor.

Right now, my party is probably looking for a transfer stone, not me.

Getting out first and calling for help is the easier way to save me.

‘I hope everyone’s safe.’

They’ll be fine. They’re strong.

‘Yeah, I guess.’

But with me gone, our party has lost its only proper healer.

Ulysses can substitute for Helena as the mage, but Pria was our only healer.

‘I wish I could just use a teleportation scroll. But that’s not an option, right?’

At least wait until you’re out of the ancient ruins. The mana fluctuations here are too erratic-if you mess up, you’ll slam into a wall and die.

‘What a fucking shithole.’

I have one teleportation scroll, but of course, it’s unusable inside the ancient ruins.

For now, I just need to get out, but since mapping isn’t working, I have to rely on the left-hand rule to navigate alone.

‘It’s way bigger than I imagined.’

The interior might be larger than the labyrinth city?

There used to be a map, but the Cataclysm must’ve changed everything.

‘I guess the terrain is completely different from back then?’

The ancient ruins lived up to their name-pointlessly grand.

I passed through halls with countless pillars, a throne-like stone seat, and rooms filled with rusted weapons.

“……”

Just as I was about to leave the weapon-filled room and enter the hallway, Helena urgently told me to hide inside a crate.

A Detector must’ve been prowling nearby.

I hear the Detector’s distinctive cry. Hold your breath soon.

‘Got it.’

As Helena said, I held my breath.

Detectors are insane monsters that can pick up even the sound of breathing and human breath odor at close range, so I had to cover my nose and mouth and stay silent.

The only saving grace is that they’re like CCTV for the ruins-they don’t need sleep or rest, so they don’t stay in one place for long.

It’ll leave before I suffocate to death.

Screeeech.

‘Fucking hell!’

I was praying it would just go away when the door slid open, and the Detector stepped inside.

Through the gaps in the crate, I could see it walking past me.

‘Disgusting piece of shit.’

Its pitch-black torso was even more emaciated than I expected, and it walked using its long arms like legs.

Where its face should’ve been were two holes that must’ve been its nose and pipe-like tubes where its ears should be.

It must smell and hear through those. It had no eyes or mouth-probably because it’s literally a ruin’s sentinel.

Screeeeeech!

Since it had no mouth, it made a kettle-boiling sound through its nose before passing by me and leaving.

‘Fuck. My heart’s pounding like crazy.’

Honestly, I don’t think I’d lose in a fight against it.

The problem is, if I fight that bastard, every vicious monster nearby will swarm me, and if a Watcher gets involved, that’s a real issue.

Frankly, even as I am now, solo-hunting a Watcher would be tough.

Just how strong are Watchers? They’re monsters that can single-handedly slaughter the 5th floor’s boss monsters and casually behead Medusas.

The last time one was summoned in the labyrinth city, it was already half-dead from Moira beating the shit out of it, so I barely managed to buy time by risking my life.

If I had to fight a Watcher alone right now, it’d be way too much.

Though I could still kill it. But Watchers don’t travel alone.

They move in pairs or trios. That’s one of the reasons they’re such a pain to hunt.

They don’t operate solo.

Killed one Watcher? That means you still have one or two more to deal with.

That’s just impossible.

If you’re really worried, summon me and Helena. We’ll just camp here and slaughter everything. You’re immune to curses anyway, so why be so scared?

‘You want me to lose limbs for no reason? Why take the painful, hard path?’

I’ll reattach them for you!

‘You just want to see blood, don’t you? You think I don’t know?’

Hmph. Acting all fragile. Can’t even let me have a little fun.

Pria just loves fighting.

Like she said, we could camp here and clear the ancient ruins, but…

The losses would be too great.

No, let’s try to get through this without suffering too much.

Every time I’ve been screwed over like this, I’ve either lost a limb or died-it never ends well.

‘How much longer until I get out? Feels like I’ve been walking for hours.’

Seems like we’ve gone deeper than expected. At least we haven’t run into monsters-that’s a relief.

I’ll admit, your danger sense and evasion skills are impressive. You hide better than a rat.

‘Ah! The potion that turns you into a rat!’

I still have that potion Rafnel gave me, right?

If I turn into a rat, maybe I can escape faster?

Being a rat would let you slip through tight spaces, sure.

But doesn’t that potion have side effects?

‘Ah.’

The side effect is growing fur.

And developing a fetish for furries.

Oh my. Looking at me like that is a bit…

‘No! I haven’t even drunk it yet!’

Well, Pria and Helena are technically furries.

No. Let’s stop these degenerate thoughts.

Just imagining this makes me feel like I’m losing my dignity as a human.

If you really want it, I’ll accept even this form. Ahem.

‘Accept what?! What the hell are you talking about?! Even if I became a beast fucker, sticking it in a dragon’s genitals is insane!’

Tsk. This kid. I’m offering you a special chance, and you react like this? Ahem.

This woman… seems to like men more than I thought?

No, it’s a joke! Just trying to lighten the mood! If I were to do it, I’d want to be in human form!

Your jokes are terrifying, Helena-nim.

Still, it did ease the tension a bit.

Now, I just need to escape.

I walked for another hour and a half after that.

Meticulously avoiding monsters with insane evasion maneuvers.

But then…

Kee-kee.

“……”

Why is there a Golden Goblin here?

And it’s grinning at me.

No idea what it’s planning, but…

I should probably kill it fast-

KEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-!!!

The Golden Goblin suddenly started shrieking, slamming the walls and floor like a madman.

I could feel pure malice radiating from it.

A malice that didn’t care what happened to itself-it just wanted to kill adventurers by any means necessary.

“Ah.”

BOOM!!!

The wall burst open as a Detector lunged out and smashed the Golden Goblin mid-rampage, tearing it apart.

The goblin’s shredded corpse splattered everywhere, and the Detector let out another kettle-like screech before mercilessly smashing everything around it.

The noise.

Monsters will swarm here.

Shion! Summon me now!

Damn it! That fucking goblin bastard!

Pria’s scream and Helena’s furious shout.

The Golden Goblin had just shat all over our plans.

Monsters are converging from all directions.

A forced ruin defense.

I summoned Pria and Helena.

If I want to live, I have to hold out.

Until no more monsters come.