Chapter 199: 16th Floor (6)

Chapter 199: 16^th
Floor (6)

“Help
me…Help me…”

A
desperate voice echoed from beneath the full plate armor woman’s
helmet.

A
sorrowful voice that seemed to contain all the world’s sadness and
pain.

A
voice crushed before an overwhelming power.

A
voice filled with endless curses and lamentations that exploration
failures often cry out in their final moments, always heard somewhere
in the labyrinth.

In
moments of crisis, when the party is destroyed by powerful enemies,
the voice of those who survive alone in despair grabbed my ankle, the
kind of voice commonly uttered by such survivors.

Just
as I was about to take a step toward her, as if entranced.

“Grrrr!
Grrrrrrr!”

The
pack of Bone Jaguars that had been thrusting their hips on top of the
man until just moments ago growled at me.

“Grrrrrrrr!”

“Kieeek!
Kiek!!”

Not
just the monster seeds waiting their turn, but all the monsters
raping the man in other cages collectively roared as if threatening
me.

Not
for the male they had exploited until they were sick of breeding,
used and violated to their satisfaction.

For
a fresher, superior existence.

To
take the seed of one who could give them far more superior offspring,
and to crush them underneath themselves.

-Clang!
Clang!

The
monsters sank their teeth into the iron cages that confined them,
drooling profusely.

“…”

Something
was strange.

Monsters
with reproductive organs instinctively try to take males, but they
don’t act this extremely unless in heat.

But
these monsters seemed to have all their nerves focused solely on
mating. As if it was their very reason for existence.

-Clang!
Kang!

The
Bone Jaguar pack was the first to break their cage.

The
monster seeds born from Bone Jaguars and humans rushed forward with
reinforced bone teeth, shattering the sturdy iron cage to pieces,
trying to take the fresh male.

Two
Bone Jaguars, moving much faster than normal ones, approached in a
pincer attack, splitting to the left and right.

“Grrrrrr!”

The
Bone Jaguar that approached from the left was already right in front
of me.

It
had been quite a while since I’d imbued magical power into the
artifact hand axe in my left hand.

Aiming
the axe at the creature’s head, I chanted briefly.

“Enlarge.”

-Kuuuuung!

“Grerererek!”

The
Bone Jaguar that took a direct hit from the instantly enlarged
artifact axe was split by the blade.

The
sharp axe blade split the Bone Jaguar’s head in two.

-Kuung!

When
the axe finally hit the chamber wall raising dust, the Bone Jaguar
was dead, split in half.

My
right hand wasn’t idle either.

The
teeth of the Bone Jaguar that rushed from the right were blocked by
Bunny’s axe blade.

-Crunch!

“Gr,
ek?”

The
axe blade, reforged with relic alloy and gluttony’s soul stone,
wasn’t even scratched by the Bone Jaguar’s bone teeth.

Rather,
when the Bone Jaguar realized its bone teeth were starting to break,
casting a suspicious glance, the axe had already left its mouth and
was heading for its neck.

“Guh-“

-Shriek!

The
Bone Jaguar that couldn’t even finish its cry was struck down to the
floor.

Cracks
formed in the stone floor tiles, which began to soak up dark red
blood.

“Grrrrrrrrr!”

When
I pulled the blood-soaked large axe from its neck, the last remaining
Bone Jaguar rushed in.

If
the superior monster seed had fallen, this one that had been focused
on mating until just now stood no chance.

-Shriek!

After
butchering three Bone Jaguars in an instant, I looked toward the
other cages.

“Kieek…”

“Grorok…”

Perhaps
their strong survival instinct had suppressed their mating urge.

The
monsters that had been staring at me with instinct-filled eyes just
moments ago now desperately turned their heads away and resumed
raping the men trapped in the cages.

As
I was about to pass through the torn cage, my eyes went to the man
who had been in the Bone Jaguar’s cage.

The
empty eyes characteristic of men violated by monsters. Though it was
too late to save him, there were many strange things around him.

There
was a dog bowl placed by his head.

Inside
the dog bowl were hard, dry bread crumbs.

Perhaps
because of that? Though I didn’t know how long the man had been here,
he wasn’t so emaciated that his bones showed.

The
same was true for the men in other cages.

My
brows furrowed, separate from seeing the naked man.

‘This
is the worst.’

The
setup was like livestock farming rather than treating humans.

Despite
being confined in cages, their legs were bound in shackles, and
numbers were written on their right shoulders as if labeling
merchandise.

I’ve
seen people treated like this before.

Slaves.

Fusilini
and Aldente, who had been captured by the back alley turf clan, had
almost been marked with slave numbers in similar cages.

Perhaps
there was some strange connection between whoever created this
bizarre place and the back alley turf clan.

“As
expected.”

Idelbert,
who was looking around the desk near the cage, muttered quietly while
looking at the papers on it.

“Bad
feelings never seem to miss the mark.”

At
those words, I turned my attention to the papers she was looking at.

There
were messy writings scrawled in handwriting that showed no care for
neatness. But that didn’t hinder me.

The
language of this world was immediately translated and revealed its
meaning to me.

[Eternal
Sleep Body Experiment Record #1145]

[The
breeding between Bone Jaguar, Wyvern and males has failed. Another
failure today. Is the approach of breeding monsters and humans to
create superior bodies wrong? Perhaps it is.

The
sperm of ordinary men couldn’t overcome the monsters’ dirty magical
power and mana-filled genes. No matter what, monsters are born. Then
what answer should I seek?

Should
I capture men with stronger genes? But now I’m not satisfied unless
the man is considerably strong. There’s no progress in today’s
experiment. But I will continue experimenting.

Everything
is for the one and only sweet dream.]

“…What
is this…?”

My
mind went blank the moment I saw the words written on that paper.

Am
I reading this correctly? Forced breeding between men and monsters?
My head became dizzy.

“Master.
This is…”

“Yes.
It seems to be experimental records written by a Sloth worshipper.”

So
that means, as expected.

“It
seems this place is both a hideout and laboratory for a Sloth
worshipper.”

The
worry became reality. Idelbert, with a hardened expression, waved her
hand.

-Swoosh.

At
that, the desk near the cage and the experimental records and samples
on it were all sucked into her personal subspace.

“We’ll
need to investigate this thoroughly after we get to the surface. For
now…”

“Ugh,
uh…”

A
voice we had momentarily forgotten cut between us two.

“We
should hear that one’s story first.”

“Yes.”

Putting
aside the troublesome matters for now, we headed toward the full
plate armor woman who collapsed in front of the boss room door.

“Hey.”

“……”

When
I grabbed her shoulder and shook it, her head swayed lifelessly.

“Master.”

“Right.
Here’s the potion.”

At
my words, Idelbert took out a recovery potion from her personal
subspace. Though she hadn’t given a recovery potion to Grumpy, the
situation was quite different now.

After
respectfully receiving the potion, I removed the woman’s helmet to
reveal red short hair.

Though
bloodied, it was quite a pretty face. Perhaps she was even nobility.

I
opened the woman’s mouth with my hand and carefully fed her the
recovery potion. Before long, the woman opened her eyes with a cough.

“Cough,
kaheck!”

“Are
you feeling more conscious now?”

“Y-yes,
thank…kaheck. Thank you…”

After
drinking the potion and opening her eyes, she kept bowing her head
repeatedly.

Previously
there had been signs of wariness, but now she just kept bowing her
head and repeating words of thanks.

“What
exactly happened here?”

“…urp,
uweeeeek!”

At
the brief question, the woman started convulsing.

The
woman quickly turned her head and, as if recalling terrible memories,
began vomiting everything in her stomach onto the floor.

“Hick,
huu…! Uuuuugh…!! Sorry, I’m sorry… I’m sorry…”

The
red-haired woman collapsed over her own vomit and began sobbing with
suppressed moans.

The
other party members I had encountered before were nowhere to be seen.
Of the four, only she collapsed here.

Seeing
her repeatedly apologizing to someone who wasn’t here, I could
roughly guess what had happened.

Total
party wipe. A common occurrence in the labyrinth.

But
I didn’t have the luxury to leisurely contemplate someone else’s
pain.

This
mysterious relic warehouse, no.

The
Sloth worshipper’s laboratory was quite unpleasant after all.

“What
happened?”

“…J-just.
We just thought it was a relic warehouse. Just… an ordinary…”

When
I asked again as if interrogating, the woman began to speak.

“Angelisia…our
party’s mage said she knew about relic warehouses well. She said
finding a relic warehouse in a place like this was incredible luck,
and after entering the warehouse, she even blocked the entrance
again. Because if anyone found out, there would surely be
conflict…”

What
would have been the greatest luck in normal circumstances turned to
despair in an instant.

“We
certainly could have turned back. The strange unease I felt while
walking down the corridor grew stronger when we saw those cages and
monsters. But, the boss room was right ahead, right? We could get
relics, right? The rest of the party members all agreed, so…”

As
they progressed through the relic warehouse, the sense of unease grew
stronger, but the greed for relics grew even more intense.

If
relics from the upper floors (floor 1-10) traded for high prices,
what about relics from the middle floors?

Even
the most rational person would find it hard to resist the temptation
of countless riches, let alone if they were explorers.

It
could be said that entering the boss room of the relic warehouse was
a predetermined outcome.

“We
shouldn’t have…What’s beyond there isn’t an ordinary boss…
uuurp…”

The
red-haired full plate armor woman retched again. She collapsed onto
the spot after spitting out even her stomach acid.

The
recovery potion could only heal physical injuries, not restore basic
stamina.

I
turned my gaze from the collapsed woman to the boss room door.

If
they were using even the relic warehouse as their laboratory, would
they have left the boss room ordinary?

There
must be something in there too.

[Sniff
sniff. Here it is. There’s a smell coming through the door crack!
It’s been a while since I’ve smelled something this stagnant. It
smells much more delicious than those succubi who stole your women’s
bodies back then.]

Bunny
giggled in my head.

More
delicious than the two mid-rank succubi who had followed the Lust
worshipper.

[Is
it strong? Is it weak?]

[Hmm.
It’s nothing to me, but for you as you are now…]

Bunny
stretched her words in contemplation, but couldn’t answer quickly.

I
waited for her words while quietly staring at the boss room door
before me.

“…Huh?”

My
thoughts stopped midway, and a blank voice came out.

That
door seemed to be very slightly open…

Only
then did the strange sense of unease fall into place.

The
fact that the full plate woman before me knew about the inside of the
boss room meant she had already gone in and come out once.

Through
the slightly open boss room door crack, something came out.

-Thup.

My
eyes turned to that thing that appeared through the boss room door
crack and grabbed the full plate armor woman’s ankle.

It
was a hand.

A
bizarre hand that evenly mixed the reptilian fingers of a wyvern, the
bone claws of a Bone Jaguar, human skin, and black demonic energy…

Like
a chimera.

-Whoosh!!!

That
hand instantly dragged the full plate armor woman into the boss room.

-Kiiiiiiiiiing!

My
body was already swinging an axe wrapped in dazzling radiance.