Chapter 169: 13th Floor (5)

Chapter 169: 13th Floor (5)

Labyrinth
ecologists often say this:

Floors
like the 13th floor, where only one species of monster exists, were
most likely places where various species of monsters were mixed
together in the distant past.

People
who hear this ask:

Then
why does only one monster exist here now?

Labyrinth
ecologists answer like this:

“Because
they all got eaten!”

Rumble—

The
fiercely trembling ground urged them to move faster.

The
Sand Worm, a colossal worm monster, flexible and smooth, with an
unimaginably enormous body, was the one and only monster species on
the 13th floor.

Whenever
that creature wriggled its body beneath the sand, the ground shook,
and the sand supporting their feet began to collapse.

“Nyah!”

“Kyaaak!”

Cat
priest Hitolis and mage Fusilini tumbled across the sandy ground.

Even
physically superior Rubia and Jubeel were struggling to keep their
balance due to the sand sliding under their feet.

There
was only one person who could move right now.

“Lammel!
Take care of Nuer!”

“Okay!”

“Thoo-tata!”

Leaving
Nuer to Lammel, who was laboriously flapping her harpy wings in
low-altitude flight, I quickly turned back the way we came.

The
sandstorm had crept up to our noses.

Clang!
Clang!

Sand
rattled against my helmet, creating a noisy din, and grains of sand
slipped into my eye holes, making me squint.

Even
with my vision limited, I activated perception and located the two.

I
successfully reached the two who had fallen and grabbed them.

“Huat…?
M-Mr. Balkan!”

“Heh…!”

I
tightly fixed the two light-bodied women between my arms,
concentrating all my senses on my feet planted firmly in the sand
again.

Running
at full speed in a vibrating and collapsing desert was no easy task.

A
single misstep could twist my ankle, and at any moment, hollow sand
could give way, causing me to fall.

But
I trusted my senses.

And
I had confidence in my body’s performance.

I
felt my five senses connect to every muscle in my body.

I
focused entirely on the act of running.

Planting
my feet steadily on the ground, I ran faster than anyone else.

Paaang!

The
more I kicked off the sandy ground, the clearer my vision became.

Proof
that I was escaping the sandstorm stirred by the Sand Worm—

Thud!

“Guh…!”

Unexpected
pain made me snap my eyes open.

It
was a searing, burning pain radiating from my thigh.

I
barely managed to keep my balance, avoiding a fall, but my speed
slowed significantly.

Turning
my gaze, I saw a familiar knife lodged in my thigh.

Perkins.
That damn woman’s knife.

“Kuhahat!
You idiot bastard! Are you so desperate to get eaten in my place!?”

In
the distance, I saw Perkins laughing while running away.

A
flash of anger surged through my head.

“That
bitch!”

Fueled
by the determination to take her down, I ignored the pain and tried
to run again.

Rumble
rumble rumble!

The
ground vibrated once more.

The
sand beneath my feet began to drain rapidly, and sharp teeth started
to rise from beneath the sand far away, surrounding the world like a
crashing wall.

“Kuhahat!
I’m safe now! You guys are dead—”

At
the moment when Perkins, her face full of delight, sneered at us
while climbing the Sand Worm’s teeth—

Wham!

“Guaaargh!!!”

Rubia
charged in with her massive shield, shoving Perkins straight into the
Sand Worm’s mouth.

“Kuhuk,
cough, cough! You b—!”

Perkins,
who was mocking us while standing atop the teeth, rolled onto the
sand, staring pale-faced as the Sand Worm’s teeth blocked her way
forward.

“You
damn it! No! Nooo!!!”

Clang!
Clang!

Even
as she struck the Sand Worm’s teeth with her knife, the giant
monster’s teeth did not budge.

Perkins,
overcome with despair, was sucked into the Worm’s stomach along
with the sand.

Rubia
didn’t even spare her a glance, immediately running back toward us.

“Everyone!
Hold onto this girl tightly!”

Her
voice was full of certainty.

Now
that I think about it, she was also the first to realize the
vibrations were caused by the Sand Worm’s movements.

—Look
over there. It’s the armored roll-bun noble girl. The one who
survived after being eaten by a Sand Worm!

Rubia
had a history of surviving after being swallowed by the Sand Worm.

Since
she had willingly thrown herself into its mouth again, she must have
had a plan.

For
now, we had no choice but to trust her.

Hitolis,
pouring a healing miracle onto my thigh with a pale face, and
Fusilini, who had been watching the surroundings, both approached
Rubia and grabbed onto her.

I
also wrapped my thick arms tightly around her.

“Huat…!”

Rubia
inhaled sharply, squeezed her eyes shut, and shouted as she gripped
her shield tightly.

“Shield
to Protect My Lord!”

Woooong—

Thick
magic burst from Rubia and her massive shield, forming a colossal
circular barrier.

Crunch!

The
Sand Worm’s teeth closed completely.

Slide—!

We
were sucked straight into the monster’s stomach.

A
brown world covered entirely in sand.

Occasionally,
horrific scenes passed by.

Limbs
floating helplessly, separated from their owners.

Lower
bodies, missing torsos, were dragged along by the sand, while upper
bodies without legs pounded futilely against the barrier.

Countless
corpses that had been swallowed whole by the Sand Worm.

Swoosh—

The
head of an adventurer, his face twisted in terror as he met his final
moments, slid past the barrier.

A
red streak of blood smeared across the barrier.

Seeing
what could have been our future without Rubia, Fusilini and Hitolis
turned pale.

Crash!

Every
time the sand battered against the barrier, blue magic sparks flew.

Even
as the colossal currents of sand swept us along, the ultimate shield
Rubia had created endured everything.

“Well
done, past me!”

While
inwardly praising myself for recruiting Rubia into the party, I
simultaneously cursed myself for not taking down Perkins sooner.

Thunk!

The
barrier touched the sandy floor.

Passing
through the violent sand currents and countless floating corpses, we
had arrived at a relatively stable place.

“W-What
is this place…?”

“Ugh,
the smell…!”

A
place dark and foul-smelling, much like a sewer.

“That’s
the colon of the desert worm.”

“The
colon?”

“…Ah,
it’s the place where it absorbs moisture from undigested prey and
turns it into waste.”

“The
place where it makes poop?”

“………Th-That’s
correct…”

At
the straightforward question, Rubia nodded in embarrassment.

“We’ve
passed all the dangerous sections! We just went through the digestive
sand fluids that melt and break down prey, so now we just have to
walk straight ahead!”

Meaning.

“We
walk through the colon and come out of the desert worm’s butt,
right?”

The
moment Rubia vigorously nodded her head up and down—

Rumble,
rumble, rumble, rumble!

The
pink folds covering the world trembled and writhed violently.

Creak,
crackle, creak!

The
pink colon walls squirmed on all sides, mercilessly crushing the
barrier.

“W-What
is this?!”

“Eek!”

Fusilini
and Hitolis shrieked in horror at the wrinkles pressing against the
barrier.

Every
time the colon walls pressed against the barrier, its once sturdy,
spherical form was squished like sticky rice cake.

“It’s
alright!”

Rubia
shouted as if to reassure us.

With
the colon pressing from above, below, and all sides, even standing
space disappeared.

After
sticking close to the ground for several minutes, the colon walls
finally began to return to their original form.

Inside
the now somewhat calm colon, Rubia stood up, brushing the sand off
her armored dress.

“Whew…the
desert worm’s colon sometimes trembles like this. It could crush
us, but as long as I’m here, there’s no problem!”

With
one hand covering her mouth, Rubia let out a confident Oh-hoho!
and pushed out her chest, encased in heavy armor.

Not
only was she skilled, but she also possessed extensive knowledge of
the labyrinth.

‘This
must be why party members are so important the deeper you go.’

Having
a reliable shield ahead felt immensely reassuring.

“But
the girl’s magic isn’t infinite, so I can’t use Shield
That Protects the Lord
too often.”

Shield
That Protects the Lord.
It seemed to be the name of the barrier she’d just used.

Rubia
said this as she tapped the still-active barrier surrounding us.

Even
at best estimates, we probably had three or four uses left.

“We’re
not dying in a worm’s belly. Let’s get out of here.”

I
had no intention of being crushed to death inside a giant worm’s
guts.

The
idea of hearing, ‘That
guy? He died in a worm’s belly, crushed to a pulp,’
was too embarrassing to even think about.

“Balkan,
is your thigh okay?”

“Yes,
it’s fully healed.”

I
nodded at Hitolis’ question.

The
leg that had been stabbed by Perkins’s knife was fine now.

What
happened to her, I wondered. Did she dissolve and die in the
digestive fluids?

I
shook off the pointless thought quickly. We had no time to waste.

The
colon was taller than my height by two head-lengths and just wide
enough for two people to walk side by side.

Because
of that, we moved in a single file.

Rubia
led the way, clearing the path, Fusilini and Hitolis took the middle,
and I brought up the rear, protecting them as we made our way through
the dark colon.

Even
though I was at the back, my height ensured I could clearly see what
was happening up front.

Squelch!
Squelch!

With
Rubia’s barrier gone, the damp sand squelched underfoot, sticking
to our greaves.

The
foul stench of decaying corpses filled the sand, and every breath
carried that disgusting smell into our lungs.

“Ugh,
ack–!”

“Hitolis,
are you okay?”

“I-I’m
fine– Ugh…”

While
Rubia, Fusilini, and I, whose sense of smell wasn’t sensitive,
managed fine, Hitolis—a cat beastkin—gagged with every step.

But
there was no choice. None of us knew magic to block out smell. We
could only hold our noses and press forward.

After
walking along the subtly writhing colon walls for about two hours,
Hitolis, having somewhat adapted to the stench, muttered worriedly.

“Will
Jubeel and Lammel be alright? And the others too…”

It
was a needless worry. Our situation was the worst of all.

“They’ll
be fine. They were out of the desert worm’s range.”

Knowing
Jubeel and Lammel, they would have been sure we’d make it out alive
the moment Rubia jumped into the worm’s mouth.

“So
all we have to do is trust the remaining party members and survive.”

“…Yes!”

At
my words, Hitolis nodded with a much calmer expression and looked
ahead.

We
walked further for a while longer.

Then,
far in the distance, a light began to appear.

It
wasn’t the white light of the outside world.

It
flickered red and blue, like a gas burner flame.

“Huh,
the smell…?”

“Sniff,
sniff. Huh? It’s fragrant… no, it smells tasty…? What is this?”

On
top of that, the stench that had filled the colon disappeared,
replaced by a savory smell, like meat cooking.

Not
just the smell, either.

Sizzle–!

A
sound echoed, like meat being seared on a heated frying pan.

Zap–!

And
then, I sensed a presence entering my detection range.

It
was someone I’d met somewhere before.

Quite
recently, too.

“…Belle?”

The
moment I called the name of the strange girl I’d met on the 5th
floor, someone far ahead turned to look at me.

And
in the darkness, my eyes met hers—Belle, the girl who had grown
familiar in my memory.

“Oh,
we meet again.”

Leaning
against the colon wall, grilling meat, Belle waved at me.

My
gaze shifted to the items at Belle’s feet.

A
small frying pan, a blood-soaked knife, a cutting board, flickering
flames, and—Perkins thickly sliced into steak portions.