Chapter 165: 13th Floor (1)

Chapter 165: 13th Floor (1)

“I
refuse.”

I
said in a calm tone to the girl spouting nonsense.

Regardless
of what the girl was doing, I had no intention of handing over the
weapons that would protect my life to someone else.

It’s
something that should be avoided even on earth, but in this dangerous
labyrinth, handing over a weapon to someone I’ve never seen before?

That’s
crazy.

And
the woman who made that request is also crazy.

In
fact, the girl should be thankful that she didn’t get her head
chopped off by an axe for no reason.

“⋯ Really⋯?”

The
girl still answered with a cracked voice and stared at me and the
axe.

-Lick.

The
moment the girl’s lips quivered.

Gurgling
–

The
girl’s stomach, which was exactly what it sounded like when her
stomach skin was stuck to her back, made a huge sound.

The
girl stared blankly at her stomach skin and patted her hungry stomach
with her bare arms.

“⋯⋯”

The
girl who had been silent for a moment finally turned her gaze away
from the axe.

“⋯That’s
right. That can’t be. I must have seen it wrong⋯”

And
then she muttered to herself and tried to turn around again.

“Wait.”

I
stopped the girl for a moment.

I
threw a hard stone bread from my subspace backpack to the girl who
turned her head back with a blank expression.

The
girl stared blankly at the stone bread that had settled on her hand
while drawing a parabolic curve in the air, and then looked at me
again.

“It
looks like you haven’t eaten anything, so eat that.”

For
a moment, I thought I had done something useless.

But
what can I do?

A
girl who looked even younger than Ellie.

A
young girl who would be a high school student in Korea, walking
around with a skinny appearance suffering from starvation, no matter
where I was, I couldn’t help but frown.

I
didn’t like the fact that she kept using informal language from the
beginning, and I was also wary of unfamiliar and unknown people but
my feeble sympathy slightly overtook me.

I
recalled something that had become an old memory.

Diana,
who had given me a bowl of warm soup while I was wandering around
labyrinth city and starving.

I
wonder if she had given me soup with this kind of heart.

⋯Diana
must have approached me with a kinder and more beautiful heart than I
did. Anyway,

“⋯⋯”

The
girl who had been staring at the stone bread in silence at my words
bit the stone bread with her chapped lips.

Among
the groceries she brought, the most tough and hard stone bread
required a long time to melt with her saliva, but the girl ate it all
in one go.

-Mumble,
mumble.

A
strange phenomenon occurred to the girl who was chewing the stone
bread.

The
girl’s body, which had been so skinny that her bones and skin were
stuck together, began to swell little by little.

Her
frizzy hair gradually regained its luster, and her body began to
regain the beauty of a woman as fat accumulated.

It
was a change that was made with just one stone bread.

“What
is that?”

“Are
you human?”

“I’ve
never heard of a creature capable of such a thing. Could it be the
effect of a blessing?”

As
I listened to the voices of the party members who were murmuring, the
girl, who had gained weight a little while ago, stared at me straight
in the eye and said.

“⋯Why
did you give me bread?”

Her
voice seemed genuinely curious.

“⋯I
don’t know. Because you looked hungry?”

There
was nothing else to say.

Because
she looked really hungry.

“Ah⋯”

The
girl made an expression as if she had realized something at my
answer.

Since
she looked hungry, I feed her⋯

The
girl who had been mumbling quietly nodded alone.

“⋯What’s
your name?”

“⋯Balkan.”

After
thinking for a moment, she answered.

Based
on the atmosphere, it didn’t seem like she was asking for the
enemy’s name.

“Balkan⋯”

The
girl who had been recalling my name turned around again and
approached the descent portal.

And
before stepping beyond it, she looked at me who was still on guard
and said.

“My
name is Belle.”

I
knew it.

[Belle
LV.47]

[Currently
Belle holds 1 blessing and curse]

Because
I could see it.

“⋯I
will remember. Balkan.”

-Wooooong–

With
a short word, the figure of the girl named Belle disappeared.

She
had gone to the 6th floor.

“⋯Mr.
Balkan. Did you know her? The girl just now. I felt a very mysterious
aura⋯”

“It
was our first time meeting, too.”

I
scratched the back of my head at Hitolis’ question.

She’ll
remember? Because I gave her bread and told her that I was worried? I
don’t know.

But
just like she said, she was a girl with a mysterious aura.

Looking
back, it was also quite crazy to give the girl, Belle, bread.

I
should refrain from doing so from now on.

“There
are so many crazy bastards in the labyrinth, I don’t know.”

“⋯Well.
But since there were no problems, let’s just go our separate ways.”

“Good.
Still, I think it would be better to wait a little while and go
through the portal. We’ll meet again on the 6th floor.”

I
actively accepted Jubeel’s opinion.

The
party headed to the next floor after a day break.

A
week passed like that.

***

“Tatatua.”

“Hey.
Let’s stay still.”

“Tauu.”

I
slapped Nuer’s butt, who was shivering from the bitter cold, and
tightly tied the bundle that was holding her in place.

If
I wasn’t careful with every step in the snowy field of the 12th
floor, I could slip backwards and break my head.

And
as you can see from the fact that Nuer was still in a state of shock
up until the 12th floor, Nuer’s slump didn’t recover even in the
fountain of the 10th floor.

“This
is crazy cold. My breast milk is about to freeze…!”

“Huh,
heh heh. To gain a strong body, you have to endure this level of
cold, sniff, sniff…!”

The
party members, including Jubeel and Rubia, wearing fur clothes and
heating artifact armor, shivered and advanced forward.

In
the meantime, I felt relieved from the cold.

‘The
magic power is definitely there.’

One
of the things Nuer offered as a reward for the quest was an elixir
imbued with the magic power of cold.

The
power I gained by tearing apart a white lion in my dream granted me
resistance to the cold.

-Thump,
thump –

A
mysterious, inexplicable energy was pulsating near my heart.

I
had never touched or handled it myself, but I was certain that this
was the magic power I had only heard about.

Every
time my heart beat, magic power flowed through my body along with my
blood.

‘I
should learn how to use magic power at least in the future.’

Even
if I can’t shoot magic out like crazy, if I use it well, the scope
of battle will be expanded.

-Hoo.

As
I exhaled, the snow crystals falling from the sky of the labyrinth
froze.

If
I slightly mishandled the controls, my body would get frosty, but if
I was alert, it was easy to maintain my body temperature.

“Po,
Portal! Portal!”

“Finally⋯!”

The
party members’ eyes were filled with joy as they saw the swaying
ascending portal.

They
must want to get out of this cold right away.

“First,
let’s get ready and change our clothes.”

I
stopped them and adjusted.

“That’s
right. The 13th floor is really⋯
hot.”

Rubia,
the only one with experience in the middle floors, said as she took
off the fur coat she had worn over her thick armor.

The
terrain of the 13th floor is a desert.

According
to the information I received before entering the labyrinth, when
going from the 12th floor to the 13th floor, the snowfields turn into
sand deserts, and the cool cold air turns into heat that eats people.

Unlike
the snow kobolds who live in groups like goblins, this was also the
place where a single monster that reigns as a desert predator
appeared.

The
party members quickly started changing their clothes.

They
quickly put their fur coats and winter gear into their backpacks, and
they glanced at me while packing light armor and cooling supplies
suitable for the desert heat.

“Why?”

“No,
that. Aren’t you going to change your clothes?”

“I’m
fine as I am now.”

Thanks
to the magic of the cold, I’ll be able to maintain a refreshing
condition even in the heat of the 13th floor, so there’s no need to
take off my armor and take risks.

“Kuaaak!
If you’re the leader, take care of the party members’ mentality
as the leader! How can you not take off your clothes when you’re a
man! Rubia came to the party to observe your erection!”

“K,
keumeum! Hmm! Miss Jubeel! So, girls aren’t particularly interested
in that, the male organ…Heh, ah, anyway, that’s what it is!”

I
left behind Jubeel, who was whining about something useless, and
Rubia, who was hurriedly avoiding my gaze, and changed Nuer’s
diaper before leaving.

Thump.

“T,
that. Can you just leave it here and go…?”

I
shrugged at Hitolis’ question, pointing to Nuer’s diaper lying
under the ice tree.

“It’s
a bit tricky to take, and it’s still warm, so someone who needs it
will probably use it.”

“Is
that so…?”

“Isn’t
that so, Nuer?”

“Bbaengtta-tta!”

Nuer,
who had changed into a new diaper, nodded with a big smile.

The
party members, who had finished their maintenance along with their
changing clothes, held onto each other’s bodies to go through the
portal to the 13th floor again.

Wooooong–

When
we opened our eyes with the floating sensation characteristic of
portal movement, a completely new landscape unfolded before us, like
a desert–

-Wriggle.
Wriggle. Wriggle.

we
felt something wriggling violently under our feet.

It
felt like stepping on a giant liquid monster.

“⋯What
is this?”

“Gasp,
gasp… Gasp!”

Before
we could even observe it, we heard heavy breathing.

As
I turned my gaze, I saw a witch wearing a hood, covered in blood and
trembling.

A
wad of jelly was wriggling in the witch’s arms.

When
I looked at her face, I knew her.

Only
then did I see the jelly differently.

That
wasn’t jelly, it was slime.

They
were the companions of the male adventurer Gellen, who once envied
me, but now had become an idiot.

[Aldente
Lv. 29]

[Fusilini
Lv. 31]

And
the slime Ain tanker Aldente and the wizard Fusilini of that Gellen
party.

Fusilini
held the dying Aldente in her arms and reached out to me with a
desperate face.

“S-save
me…please…”

-Thud.

The
party members quietly looked down at her.

Immediately
after entering the 13th floor we found a dying explorer.