94. Three Goals

“First, we have three objectives.”

The Saintess looked at us with an expression that suggested she was troubled.

Then, she held up three fingers and showed them to the Inquisitors and me.

Three objectives arbitrarily decided by the Saintess.

“First. Hunt the giant that has taken root in the Garden Section.”

As soon as the Saintess finished speaking, Paramelle flinched.

“Ugh… That’s a bit…”

“Paramelle. Scared?”

“Can you even say that, Raphael… Of course I’m scared… You’re the only one who feels any fighting spirit toward that giant…”

“Paramelle, unfortunately, I also feel a fighting spirit toward the giant.”

“Ugh… Two crazy people in one place…”

Paramelle stared at the Saintess and Raphael as if they were insane.

Sasaro, too, seemed to agree with Paramelle, clearing his throat with a ahem.

Sasaro, ever since the giant appeared, seemed to have lost some of his usual vigor.

Given how he kept saying he wanted to retire and live out the rest of his days in peace, it seemed he also had no interest in hunting the giant.

“Paramelle and Sasaro seem opposed to hunting the giant. What about you, Logie?”

“I will follow the Porter-nim’s opinion.”

“Good. Two in favor. Two opposed. One abstention. That leaves you, Porter.”

“Me?”

“Yes. Your choice will decide the outcome. Whether we proceed with the first objective-hunting the giant-or abandon it. You decide.”

Suddenly, the decision was in my hands.

Of course, I didn’t want to fight the giant. Why the hell should I fight that insane thing in the first place?

No matter how much that giant was a terraforming monster sent to increase the mana concentration on the 5th floor and make it easier for the 7th-floor monsters to rise, I had no intention of fighting it right now. I came here to hunt heretics, not to kill giants.

“I think fighting the giant is a bad idea. If you want to fight the giant, send me back to the surface first. I came here to collect heretic corpses, not to fight giants. Or at least pay me hazard pay worth more than my life.”

“Hmm. Two free resurrections?”

“Eh?”

For a moment, the Saintess’s offer was tempting.

Two free resurrections?

Wait, does that mean even if I die, they’ll drag me back and revive me? For free?

What if I don’t die at all?

There’s no rule saying I have to die during the giant hunt.

If I don’t die? If I don’t die, then I get two free resurrections as a bonus, right? Can I pass that up? Two free lives.

Of course, there’s also the possibility that my body could be wrecked beyond the point of resurrection.

But the possibility of not dying during this giant hunt clearly exists too. If that happens, I’d get to use the Art of Resurrection twice for free.

“Ah, wait a second. Two free resurrections. That’s… tempting. Hmm. Uh, Saintess-nim.”

“Yes. Speak.”

“By any chance, can you resurrect someone else for free too? Doesn’t have to be me.”

“Mmm. Well, sure. Two times. Two free resurrections, as promised. I swear on the Goddess’s honor as the Saintess.”

“…Alright. Let’s hunt the giant.”

“W-wait a minute…!”

“Whoa. Giant hunting, huh.”

At my decision, Paramelle and Sasaro looked like they wanted to die.

Well, I have a plan too.

‘If I can control the vengeful spirits of adventurers…’

I might be able to use them to successfully hunt the giant.

Moreover, I currently have three special scrolls I bought from the Magic Tower.

‘A teleportation scroll that lets me move anywhere within the same floor. An object teleportation scroll that can send any object within 10 meters anywhere. And a spirit summoning scroll that can gather all nearby spirits.’

Teleportation and object teleportation, if used well, could instantly kill the giant. And if I use spirit summoning to gather all the vengeful spirits, I might be able to mass-produce troops.

Add the Ring of Spiritualization to that, and with the right positioning, killing the giant might actually be possible.

“Good. Then, before we leave the labyrinth, we’ll take down the giant.”

The Saintess grinned and folded one finger.

Raphael also looked oddly pleased.

These battle-crazed lunatics.

“Now, the next objective. The second objective is to descend below the floor split and kill the Blue Apostle, who is presumed to have summoned the giant.”

“Below the floor split?”

“Yes. Below the floor split in the underground city.”

“Whoa…”

Originally, our target was the heretics above the floor split.

Wiping them out and concluding the first extermination campaign was the original goal of this labyrinth expedition.

“After seeing the giant summoning incident, I think just killing the small fry and leaving isn’t the right approach. We can’t afford to give them even a moment’s respite.”

“Really? We’re really going down?”

“Yes. Let’s change our approach-deal with the three most important targets first and hunt the remaining small fry at our leisure.”

The Saintess wanted to quickly eliminate the most critical figures first.

“No matter how many small fry there are, summoning a giant is impossible. The priority is to take out the ones responsible. Who knows what atrocities they’ll commit next?”

That was undeniably true.

After pulling off something this insane, it was only natural to be on high alert.

No matter how many underlings we kill, if the core figures remain, there’s no telling when they might summon another giant.

Whether the giant summoning was intentional or an accident, the fact that they could summon one meant we needed to eliminate the key figures as quickly as possible.

“But Saintess-nim. Who exactly are these three notorious figures? And what’s this Blue Apostle?”

“According to the Church’s intelligence, the underground city has three key figures: the Red Apostle, who oversees the ‘Ability Extraction Ritual’-stealing adventurers’ abilities and injecting them into heretics; the Blue Apostle, who summons monsters from the deeper layers; and the Green Apostle, who brainwashes and indoctrinates heretics. They were active even 30 years ago.”

The Red Apostle, who kidnapped and tortured adventurers to harvest their abilities and distribute them to heretics.

The Blue Apostle, who summoned 6th-floor monsters to the surface, wreaking havoc and turning the city into ruins.

And the Green Apostle, who brainwashed the kidnapped and trained them into heretics.

These were the three Apostles the Church had identified. And on top of them, there was also a new bastard who could infinitely respawn heretics and a third faction with the technology to perfectly control monsters.

“Killing all the heretics is important, but if we let even one of these three slip away, it’ll leave a bad aftertaste. We need to kill all three and drag their corpses back to the surface. At the very least, we should get two.”

The mission had shifted from slaughtering all the heretics to prioritizing the assassination of key figures.

I agreed. Fighting them today made it clear-no matter how many useless idiots we kill, the ones who just know a bit of curses and fling dark magic around, it’s meaningless.

Only by taking out the real heavy hitters can we stop this dirty exploitation.

The problem was that these three, being core figures, were gathered below the floor split in the underground city.

“Um, Saintess-nim. You do know that the area below the floor split in the underground city is a maze that changes daily, right?”

“I’m aware. But the light will guide us.”

“The light…?”

“Yes. They’re people I’ve killed before. I can track their locations with the ‘Book of Sinners.’ Even if they’re resurrected, they’re still the same people. My ability can find them.”

“Ah.”

One of the Saintess’s abilities, the Book of Sinners. With this, she could roughly track the Apostles’ locations.

She could only track one at a time, but the most urgent target right now was the Blue Apostle, who summoned the giant.

“I started tracking them during my meditation earlier. I already have a rough idea of where they are.”

Fortunately, the Saintess had already pinpointed the Blue Apostle’s location.

“No matter what, we must kill the Blue Apostle, who summons monsters from below, during this expedition. If we fail, who knows what state the underground city will be in the next time we come down?”

All the Inquisitors nodded.

“Ha. That makes sense.”

I couldn’t disagree.

Whether the giant’s appearance was the heretics’ doing or not, the fact that they could drag lower-floor monsters upward was dangerous in itself.

“Then let’s make killing the Blue Apostle our top priority.”

“The problem is getting below the floor split.”

“Exactly. To go below, we need to find an entrance. Excluding the Garden Section, which is blocked by the giant, and the Central Section, which has no way down, we’ll have to search the remaining four sections for an entrance.”

“Saintess-nim, where exactly is the Blue Apostle located?”

“Below the Lake Section.”

Of all places, the Blue Apostle had taken up residence below the newest section, the one with the least information.

To kill him, we’d have to descend beneath the lake.

“Let’s look for an entrance in the Lake Section.”

“Ah, wait a second.”

“What is it, Porter?”

“It’s just… this is purely speculation, but I think there might be another faction besides the heretics.”

Before entering the Lake Section, I shared my speculation with the Saintess and the Inquisitors.

It seemed likely that some unknown force controlling the variant leaders had allied with the heretics.

“Indeed. It is odd that mere heretics would have the technology to dominate the Watchers of the 6th floor and control variants. Not just summoning them, but outright dominating them.”

“If they came through a transfer stone connected to another location outside the labyrinth city… But ordinary people wouldn’t be able to adapt to the underground city’s mana concentration and would collapse…”

“As Paramelle said, unless they adapted to the mana from the 1st floor downward, it’d be impossible.”

“Wait. There is a group that fits…”

Paramelle pulled out a notebook and began flipping through it.

“This is… an old record… Ah, here. Either heteromorphic races from uninhabited zones or the barbarians beyond the border are recorded as having exceptionally high mana adaptation.”

“Wait, are barbarians like me being referred to here?”

“Ah, no. These are far more distant than barbarians. A race closer to monsters than humans. They practice cannibalism… It says they wield the mysteries beyond the border. They’re called Yetis or Snowmen.”

Yetis. Hairy savages.

Snowmen living even farther than barbarians.

‘And what’s this ‘border’?’

I’ve heard of uninhabited zones a few times. They’re called lands where humans cannot live, uncharted territories untouched by civilization.

The border must be one of those uncharted regions.

“Hmm. If the transfer stone is connected there… That could be troublesome.”

“Maybe the heretics and the Yetis have allied. They might see each other as kindred spirits since they both worship ancient gods.”

“Understood. Let’s deal with the third faction after killing the Blue Apostle. Their ability to control monsters is already enough of a nuisance.”

With that, we discussed the first objective-hunting the giant-and the second-assassinating the Blue Apostle.

That left the final objective…

“But Saintess-nim. What’s the third objective?”

“That’s the hardest one. Getting out of the labyrinth with all limbs intact and our sanity in one piece.”

“Ah…”

“Isn’t that always the hardest objective in a labyrinth expedition?”

I couldn’t argue with that.

Escaping the labyrinth with all limbs intact and our minds unbroken.

That is the most important objective.

“Alright, then. Let’s rest for a bit before heading to the Lake Section. That unscheduled meditation took a lot out of me. Closing my eyes doesn’t actually relieve fatigue, you know.”

Before moving to the Lake Section, we decided to take a short break.

The Saintess judged that resting properly for half a day before moving would be best.

During the break, Paramelle busily scribbled in his notebook, Raphael lay down and snored, and Sasaro and Logie leaned against the wall and dozed off.

The Saintess went to reinforce the barrier around the Garden Section. She said we should rest, but she was the busiest one.

It was quiet. Everyone was spending their time in their own way. Silence filled the air.

‘Well, since we’re resting, I might as well test this.’

Before resting, I decided to try out the new function added to the Bracelet of Growth-mana removal.

If the mana is really removed, will I undergo mana adaptation?

‘Oh…!’

Closing my eyes and focusing, I felt something sticky clinging to my skin disappear, replaced by a refreshing sensation.

The same feeling of clarity I get when leaving the labyrinth. The mana drifting around me had completely vanished.

‘Ugh…’

And then, the pain that followed the refreshment.

Mana adaptation.

‘Level 8.’

I had reached the next stage.

In terms of levels alone, this was high enough to descend to the 7th floor.

Reaching Level 8 meant I could now endure the mana concentration of the 7th floor.

‘Headache… The ability too…!’

I was worried I might not gain an ability, but-

As the mana adaptation completed, knowledge flowed into my mind.

Information about my newly acquired ability was imprinted in my brain.

“This is…”

The Ability Fixation Bracelet’s effect had properly activated.

[Soul Chain]

A new ability to enhance my Spirit Eye had been added.