86. Pacification Ritual (9)

The white flames incinerated the hobgoblins in an instant.

Even though one hobgoblin was annihilated, the embers still blazed.

“Kieeeek!!!!”

The Monsters shrieked.

The Monsters, who seemed not to have noticed the Holy Barrier, only began to flee in terror as if realizing they had picked the wrong opponent, after seeing the goblin ahead of them instantly turn into a handful of ash.

But the embers did not let go of those who tried to defile their territory.

The white embers gradually spread.

The embers that burned the hobgoblins and then scattered went to the skeletons, and the embers that clung to those skeletons went back to the hobgoblins.

Numerous Monsters became entangled and burned up as if purified by the white flames.

Watching the Monsters burn in the Holy Barrier, Balkan felt Bernie in his hand become slightly hot.

Thump! Thump!

And even Ignorion, in the trash can carried on his back, was having a seizure.

“Ugh, ugh…”

Ignorion’s intermittent screams could be heard, but unlike those Monsters, they were not desperate screams on the verge of death.

[Are you okay?]

When Balkan asked Bernie back in his mind, Bernie let out a snort and replied.

[Being inside a barrier like this is tens of times less painful than when you directly injected Divinity as punishment. Right now, it feels like taking a half-bath in lukewarm water.]

The power of the Holy Barrier was enough to instantly annihilate low-level Monsters from the upper floors, but for a Demon itself, it seemed to be just enough to soak in warm water.

Ignorion, a Demon Worshiper, seemed to be in more pain than Bernie, but he was still somehow enduring it.

“Still, it’s not bad power, right?”

“Yes. It’s good.”

Balkan nodded to Serif, who seemed to be subtly seeking praise.

There aren’t many Demon Worshiper-level beings, and for most Monsters of a certain level, the Holy Barrier would be a great help.

“Hehe. Then let’s keep going. We need to set up barriers on other floors too!”

As if her motivation had flared up at that answer, Serif, in a more energetic voice, encouraged the others.

***

Two days later.

Contrary to their worries, the Pacification Ritual proceeded smoothly.

Eight teams descended the Labyrinth, spreading Holy Barriers in the main passages of each floor and near the Portal.

“We’ve finished clearing the Monsters near the 14th-floor Portal.”

Our team had already descended to the 14th floor.

At Jubel’s words, who approached while cleaning his curved sword, Balkan nodded.

While the two Priests spread the Holy Barrier, it required immense concentration, so they cleared the nearby Monsters before spreading the Holy Barrier.

But just as goblins had appeared as soon as the Pacification Ritual ended on the 5th floor, a similar event repeated this time.

Hwarurururuk-!

“As soon as we spread the Holy Barrier, Monsters are swarming again…”

Nate Elin, seeing the Monsters of the 14th floor burn and disappear in the flames of the Holy Barrier, clicked his tongue with a ‘Tsk’.

Although the Holy Barrier possessed excellent power, it was not omnipotent.

Because after burning more Monsters than its limit, its Divinity would run out, and the barrier itself would disappear.

“There are simply more Monsters on this floor.”

“Hmm… It feels like they’ve increased by more than half.”

“What’s more, they’re particularly aggressive towards Master-nim. It was always like that, but this time it’s especially so.”

Rubia, Nuer, and Denji also spoke of what they had felt while exploring the Labyrinth.

Having crossed the threshold of death multiple times in the Labyrinth, their senses were rarely wrong.

Balkan also shared a similar perception.

‘The number of Monsters has increased, they’ve become more ferocious, and they are more vigorously seeking males from whom they can obtain the seeds of reproduction.’

The reason for all these phenomena was one.

“It seems the Monsters have already begun to be affected by the Omen Phenomenon.”

In line with the Labyrinth’s period of drastic change, the Monsters’ survival instincts had been extremely stimulated.

“The Omen Phenomenon, which changes the Labyrinth’s environment, is fatal not only to humans but also to Monsters. To survive, they will rush in more viciously and aggressively, trying to breed and leave behind their species.”

Serif also nodded and then spoke.

“Thank you all for running tirelessly for two days. The next floor is the 15th, so let’s rest for a night and then head to the 16th floor.”

Although they had the help of Portal Magic, breaking through from the 1st to the 15th floor in just two days brought great fatigue, so the party members cheered at the long-awaited declaration of rest.

But such relief vanished the moment they crossed the Portal heading to the 15th floor.

“Are you crazy?! Why should we protect the Labyrinth! We’re explorers! We came here to earn money!”

“That’s right! Screw your petty justice!!”

“Don’t go to other floors to earn money, but protect the 15th floor? Then you should give us a fitting reward!”

“Now, just a moment, explorers…! Please don’t be like this, let’s at least have a proper conversation… Kyaak!”

Because as soon as they landed near the Explorer Association in Eden on the 15th floor, explorers with fierce expressions were witnessed shouting violently and protesting.

An association employee, directly hit by an explorer’s punch, fell back, and the place they landed was, by chance, into Balkan’s arms.

“Ugh…! Th-thank you… H-huh! B-Balkan Explorer-nim?”

“What in the world. What’s going on?”

Balkan, without taking his eyes off the explorers who were shouting with their Weaponry raised high, asked.

“Ugh…”

“It’s Balkan. The Association Leader’s disciple, and even a Saintess…”

Some of them confirmed the faces of the party members who had just arrived on the 15th floor and lowered their weapons, but there were still others who continued to shout defiantly.

“Since when did the Explorer Association, which freely roamed the Labyrinth, become the royal family’s wild dogs!”

“As explorers, we have the right to be paid our worth!”

“We will not yield to the Explorer Association’s tyranny!”

“Even in a situation like this, they’re only trying to look out for themselves…”

The association employee in Balkan’s arms looked at the shouting explorers with a pitiful expression, then gazed at Balkan.

That gaze was quite different from when they looked at the explorers shouting with their swords drawn.

Not just a simple explorer, but one who had saved many citizens and explorers, building up good deeds, and who held the status of the Association Leader’s disciple, it was an expression that seemed to be seeking help from such a person.

***

The number of explorers was too vast to count, but.

The vast majority of explorers had only one reason for entering the Labyrinth.

They, who worshipped gold and power, looked only to wealth and strength, and plunged into the Labyrinth, where all sorts of dangers lurked, like moths to a flame.

For that, they did not care about the risk of their bodies turning to ash.

An intense obsession with power, money, and authority.

It could also be said to be the basic qualification of explorers who set foot in Eden on the 15th floor.

“Eden is in danger right now.”

Lohain, the acting deputy association leader employee, who guided the party to the association’s reception room, said as he brought out tea.

“On the surface, they are preparing for a Monster defense battle in anticipation of the Omen Phenomenon. It’s the same for Eden, but… the conditions are more difficult.”

The reason was easy to understand.

“Unlike the surface, Eden is inside the Labyrinth.”

At the quick answer, Lohain nodded.

“Monsters pouring in from the 16th floor, Monsters that might enter from the chaotic 14th floor, there’s a risk of being sandwiched and overwhelmed by both sides.”

‘The Sloth Demon and the peace treaty made by the Mother Earth Goddess’ fragment only prevents Monsters from appearing on the 15th floor itself.’

Preventing Monsters that flowed in from other floors would be difficult.

“Eden is the only human settlement in the Labyrinth. If Eden is swept away by this Omen Phenomenon, who knows how many decades it will take to restore its infrastructure…”

A situation where the Labyrinth’s only dwelling, built up over decades, might collapse.

In the current situation where mid-floor Monsters might surge to the surface, what kind of Monsters would Eden on the 15th floor have to face?

‘At least Monsters from the late mid-floors, and in the worst-case scenario, Monsters from the 30th floor might even pour in.’

Even if a Holy Barrier was spread, it would barely serve as a breakwater.

“Even when we tried to negotiate with some of the remaining medium-to-large clans and merchant groups in Eden, as the Omen Phenomenon approached, they repeatedly revised the contract terms more maliciously, and now they were demanding unilateral contracts as if they had completely taken the position of the dominant party, which was what that protest was about just now…”

Balkan asked Lohain, who was clutching his forehead as if his head was about to explode.

“What kind of unilateral contract is it that they’re acting like this?”

“To pay them 60% of the 15th-floor land owned by the Explorer Association, according to the rank and number of Monsters they kill…”

“…What, are they going to wage war with the Association?”

“They’re aiming for the Association’s interests. They absolutely refuse to take a loss. If they protect Eden, they profit; if they can’t protect it, they’ll participate in Eden’s restoration project, or they’ll think they can continue to drive a harder bargain against the Explorer Association, which will have suffered great damage…”

It was truly the mindset of bastards obsessed with money and power.

Since they could abandon reason and pretend to be crazy, that’s probably how they made a living on the mid-floors.

“Now, the Omen Phenomenon is truly not far off, and we need to sign a proper contract even now… But they are still delaying the contract. And if we really sign such a contract, the future of the Explorer Association will be…”

Haaaaaaah……

Lohain sighed and looked at Balkan.

More than a mere employee, the Association Leader’s disciple, who had virtually received some authority from the Association Leader to protect the city, was in a more suitable position to make decisions.

“…Ugh.”

Balkan let out an exasperated sigh for no particular reason.

-Disciple. You are to support the Order with Eden’s explorers.

And he recalled what Idelbert had said before leaving.

‘I thought he spoke so easily, but…’

In the end, like this again, he’s exploiting his disciple.

What a cunning Master-nim, black both inside and out.

“Where are the heads of those clans and merchant groups?”

“Ah! As it happens, the protest was in full swing, so they’ll all be gathered in one place!”

At Balkan’s question, which was close to an acceptance, Lohain’s face brightened as he replied.

“Are they strong?”

However, at the subsequent question, Lohain couldn’t help but tilt his head.

“Hmm, there are two merchant group leaders who retired as intermediate explorers, and three clan leaders who were former advanced explorers, but why suddenly ask that…”

“They’re all women, right?”

“Uh, yes…”

“How leisurely.”

Stroking the Incubus’ horn hidden inside his helmet, Balkan nodded, and vowed that when he returned to the surface later, he would smash his Master-nim’s pink Back cunt as much as he had been exploited as a disciple, and then stood up.

As if things weren’t bad enough already in this fucked-up world.

He had no intention of just standing by and watching those who chased only gold, power, and authority, and caused chaos in the city where his child would be born.

“Let’s go negotiate.”

Now he had both the power and the justification to act that way.

“A ‘negotiation’ that will be good for everyone.”

Ososo.

Hearing the party leader’s voice, Jubel, who shivered, muttered softly.

“That guy, it’s not a negotiation, he looks like he’s going to cause a ruckus…”