Chapter 49: The 6th floor (1)

Chapter 49: The 6th floor
(1)

Conversation
is the most basic way humans communicate with each other.

It’s
how we clear up misunderstandings, mend fences, and organize our
relationships.

“Ellie.”

“⋯⋯”

That’s
when you’re willing to talk to each other.

If
you’re not willing to talk, you can’t even begin to communicate.

Ellie
bit her lower lip and avoided my gaze.

I
had a pretty good idea what she was thinking.

‘A
stepmother she doesn’t get along with, and a guy she’s been sleeping
with in her room.’

It’s
not an easy misconception. It was also a misunderstanding that needed
to be corrected.

“I
think you’re making a really big mistake, Ellie, because yesterday-“

But
I didn’t finish my sentence.

“Attention,
students. Please assemble for a moment.”

A
voice called out from the distance. It was the academy professor in
charge of this sixth floor. Damn, why now.

Ellie
jumped to her feet as soon as she heard the voice.

“Ellie.
Wait.”

I
grabbed her wrist and tried to talk to her.

Ellie
immediately shook my hand away. Her bloodshot red eyes looked up at
me with a sleepless look.

“⋯Mister.
You don’t have to make excuses.”

“No,
not an excuse.”

“My
stepmother, she’s a good person objectively speaking. It’s just that
I’m a bit of a foolish idiot, so she treats only me this way. I
didn’t know you had that kind of relationship with my stepmother. I
hope you both have a wonderful love together.”

Ellie
blurted out the words and ran off to the professor.

Left
alone, I sighed in disbelief.

The
reaction was more negative than I expected. I didn’t know where to
begin.

“Balkan.
Check this out. It’s yours.”

Just
then, Joy Hog walked up to me and handed me a backpack.

Okay.
Time to get back to work. I’ll save the conversation with Ellie for
another time.

I
rummage through the backpack and find most everything I need.
Intermediate potions and preserved food.

“Good
quality, huh? Intermediate potions and tons of food.”

“For
an academy like this, they don’t skimp. That’s good.”

I
also brought some of Diana’s jerky, just in case, but it turned out
to be a waste.

“So,
who’s next to you?”

Beside
Joy Hog stood a woman in a robe.

“This
is Ms. Gelsia, an assistant mage who will be supervising the students
we are escorting this time.”

“Thank
you for the escort. My name is Gelsia, and I specialize in
intermediate wind elemental magic.”

Assistant
Mage Gelsia scanned my body with a gaze as quick as the wind, and the
corners of her mouth twitched up as she spoke.

We
gave a moderate chuckle and rejoined the rest of the party.

One
dwarven tank, one axe warrior, one swordsman, two wizards, one
cleric, and one porter.

It
was the closest thing to a perfect party I’d ever seen.

‘Plus
five apprentice mages, though they’re treated as extras.’

“Don’t
be arrogant at all. Investigating the phenomenon and scoring high is
important, but your safety is more important than that. Listen to
your escorting explorers, you never know what dangers lie ahead in
the Labyrinth, you all know that, right?”

The
professor’s voice sounded in the distance.

For
some reason, it sounded like an elementary school teacher instructing
a group of children on a field trip.

The
students, who were listening to the professor with blank faces,
dispersed and headed to their assigned parties.

Five
students approached our party.

“Good
luck. Explorers!”

“Oh,
please keep us safe⋯”

“Wow.
Male explorers⋯”

Thankfully,
there were no students who looked like they were going to make
trouble.

“Okay.
We’ll take good care of you. We’ll take you safely to the sixth
layer.”

“Don’t
get into any trouble, okay?”

“Yes!”

The
last thing I expected to be bothered by on this trip was a fight with
a student or assistant mage, but there was no sign of that happening,
at least not yet.

“⋯Hmph.”

Ellie
still avoided my gaze.

But
that was just as well. It meant she was the only thing I had to worry
about, aside from the dangers of the labyrinth itself.

“Come
on. Hand in hand. Let’s go in.”

The
maximum number of people the portal can recognize as a party is
fifteen.

Any
more than that, and you’re all scattered and dropped into the
Labyrinth, even if you’re still in physical contact.

For
this reason, not everyone can cross the portal at once.

As
the number of people in the group grows, power distribution is
essential.

‘That’s
why the Academy has five escort explorer parties.’

Another
party of escort explorers was already dragging students across the
portal and into the labyrinth.

The
Academy students and the party members stood in a single file
formation, each holding hands.

I
moved to the far right end of the formation and offered my hand to
the girl standing to my left.

“⋯⋯”

“Come
on, Ellie. If we don’t hold hands, we’ll split up. Are you going to
leave me behind?”

The
girl was, of course, Ellie. Ellie stared at my hand and helmet with
narrowed eyes.

“⋯It’s
not like that⋯”

“Ellie.
If you don’t want to, can you switch seats with me? I’m so nice.
Hehe.”

The
dog beastman student standing next to Ellie looked at me and smiled
sheepishly.

Ellie’s
face frowned and acted quickly.

“No.
I don’t like that.”

Squeak!

Her
grip on my hand tightened, and she looked up at me.

“⋯This
is the first time, mister.”

“Okay.
Take care when you go up to the second floor.”

“⋯⋯”

Ellie
didn’t answer but she was still holding my hand tightly.

Our
party crossed the portal just like that.

***

“Luckily
we landed in the center of the floor. There’s no need to move.”

Gelsia,
an assistant mage, unfolded the map.

It
wasn’t just any map. It was a map specially created by the Academy.

It
was an artifact map that showed the structure of the Labyrinth up to
the eighth floor and was even enchanted to track the location of the
Academy students.

“The
students in the other parties have fallen not far from the center, so
it looks like they’ll be in the center in a day or so.”

“Well,
there’s nothing to do in the meantime, so let’s go around the
neighborhood and clean up the goblins.”

“Sure.
I’d better tell the students to take a break.”

The
cow beastman swordsman, Jubeel, who was gazing at Gelsia’s map with
covetous eyes, and the cat beastman, Hitolis, who was watching the
students as they absentmindedly looked around the labyrinth, took the
lizard girl porter, Gregor, and went to patrol the surroundings.

“This
is the first time I’ve ever been so still upon entering the
labyrinth.”

“Indeed.”

Joy
Hog, I, and the harpy mage Lammel stayed behind to escort the Academy
students.

Normally,
upon entering the Labyrinth, explorers would run straight to the next
level, but we did not.

We
did so at the behest of the Academy’s Professor Mankostil, a man with
a strange name.

–
No matter what, please prioritize the safety of the students.

The
professor put their safety first.

He
demanded the safest way to explore, even if it meant a terrible drain
on time and supplies.

“If
you fall through the portal and land somewhere in the floor, the
entire party will immediately join you in the center of the floor⋯

Except
for those who fall near the edge of the floor, everyone will converge
on the center of the floor without exception.

Then,
if everyone on that floor is confirmed to be alive, head to the next
floor.

“I
guess there’s a reason they were so generous with the supplies. If
this was just a party of explorers trying to hunt down beasts instead
of an escort, who else would waste so much time?”

“Still,
it’s not without its drawbacks, I suppose… if we have a lot of
them, no matter what shit happens, we’ll have a way to break it down
by sheer numbers, which is the safest way to look at it.”

“That’s
true⋯”

We
killed time, moderately wary of our surroundings.

Soon
the group of Jubeel, out on patrol and goblin hunting, returned to
report.

“They
said an omen occurred last week, and I saw a monster I’d never seen
before. For a first-floor monster, its patterns were quite varied.
But still, it’s just the first-floor level.”

Jubeel
sounded unconcerned, but Priest Hitolis looked very worried.

“There’s
something else weird… Beneath the newly appeared monsters, there
was this creepy and horrifying black something writhing.”

We
listened to them and nodded.

“Hmmm.
The omen must have brought a new monster.”

“Maybe
there’s a new trap pattern on the second floor, we’ll have to be
careful.”

It
was to be expected. Omens were said to bring disaster and change to
the Labyrinth.

The
explorers who entered the Labyrinth last week would have felt the
tsunami of change firsthand.

We
enter this week, when the Labyrinth has stabilized somewhat, so we
won’t be drowning in the tsunami.

“Ah.
Here they come.”

Over
the next three hours or so, the other escorted explorers began to
gather in the center.

“Twenty-three,
four, five⋯
students are
here, so let’s head up to the second floor.”

The
Explorers nodded as Professor Mankostil counted the students.

A
group of thirty or so explorers who passed at least the sixth level
passed by so the new beast was no match for them.

The
group reached the end of the first floor in one night and began to
cross the descent portal.

“⋯⋯”

Paaaaaaan-!

The
back of my head stung strangely, and Ellie turned sharply, startled.

“Uh,
Gregor. Do you mind if I stand on your right?”

“Eh?
Sure, whatever. Whatever.”

I
switched places with Gregor and stood next to Ellie.

Then
I held out my hand toward Ellie.

“⋯I
thought I told you that was the only time, mister.”

“Take
care on the third floor. Ellie.”

“⋯⋯”

No
need to rush.

Rushing
to heal the wounded will only cause more pain for those who pry open
the wound.

I
just have to take it one step at a time, lowering her guard a little
bit.

“⋯This
time, for real, for real, this time⋯!”

That
will be the first step to reconciliation between this wounded mother
and daughter.

“⋯Crazy
male. It’s not enough that he has master, but also a mother and
daughter⋯”

I
ignored Gregor’s alarmed voice.

***

In
the sticky darkness, the two dolls tangled up and engaged in a
vicious copulation.

Pow!
Pow!

“Heo,
heo, heo, heo.”

The
figure was human-like, but the being was not human.

The
minotaur, a humanoid beast with a bull’s head and muscular brown
skin, lifted its back in response to the man’s pleading voice.

Sticky
fluid dripped from the minotaur’s lower half.

The
man’s eyes were already half-closed from the pheromones the creature
emitted. His brain was already failing him, ruined by the pleasure
beyond its limits.

There
was a reason why he, a mid-level explorer on the 13th floor, was only
on the 7th floor.

He
was on his way back to the surface after a long journey through the
Labyrinth.

The
party was exhausted from the grueling trek, supplies and food were
running low, and the party was stretched to the limit.

Of
course, the most fundamental cause of this was the unexpectedly
disastrous omen.

Struggling
with new and unfamiliar traps and beasts, the party eventually
dispersed, and alone, he met the fate so many male explorers often
experience.

He
had become the seedling of a monster.

The
Minotaur smiled twistedly as it received the superior sperm of a man
who had worked hard and reached the rank of Intermediate Explorer.

The
seed of the beast would grow to exceed the limits of its birth,
depending on the quality of the man who transgressed.

“Purr.
Purr.”

The
Minotaur gazed at her seeds, now adults. The sperm was superior, and
their growth was extraordinary.

Pfft!

The
Minotaur’s thoughts were interrupted on the seventh floor. The last
thing she saw was her own seeds wriggling in front of her.

The
minotaur, born of a 13th-level explorer, the seed of a monster that
had casually killed its own mother and filled its belly with its own
tears, approached the fallen man.

The
armor of the thirteenth-level explorer was draped over the body of
the minotaur that had surpassed the seventh-level monster’s birth.

“Purrrrr.”

The
minotaur cried low, and the rest of the seeds shook their heads.

The
minotaur watched in satisfaction, then turned to the light in the
distance.

A
large, circular light that pulsed and glowed with red and blue
colors.

It
was what explorers often called the Ascension Portal and the Descent
Portal.

Upon
seeing it, a very hazy [darkness] shrouded the feet of an
extraordinary minotaur from birth.

If
it were a normal monster, it would feel instinctive caution and
wouldn’t even touch it but the minotaur put his hand in.