Chapter 65: Backflow

“Hm? Didn’t you hear something-“

“Shh.”

I extended my arm to stop Rica, who was about to get up.

We must not answer.

That is not a person.

My instinct is telling me.

Absolutely.

No matter what, we must not answer that thing.

“What? What is it?”

“Everyone, lower your voices. And don’t answer.”

My companions closed their mouths and watched my reaction.

Soon, a voice was heard again from beyond the wooden planks.

Chillingly, it was an emotionless voice.

-Hey there. Isn’t there anyone? Hello.

As I thought.

That’s not human.

Listening carefully, it was certain.

There’s no intonation in the voice.

No emotion was conveyed in the voice.

It’s strange, isn’t it?

A woman wandering the labyrinth alone?

Even if she’s Gold Badge rank and can wander the upper levels alone, it’s suspicious.

Why would a Gold Badge adventurer bother talking to us?

There’s no reason to speak to us at all.

Because the labyrinth is the best place for murder to occur.

Unless it’s a special situation like a conquest team or subjugation battle, it’s basic etiquette to avoid each other if you’re not in the same party.

But the fact that it’s deliberately coming to talk to us means that thing isn’t human.

You shouldn’t answer things that aren’t human.

It’s basic common sense in the Labyrinth City.

“…Surely.. it spoke…?”

“A fellow human wouldn’t ask like that if there are people. They would ask who’s there. Or they would remove the planks and intrude. Whether they have ill intentions or not doesn’t matter. There’s no reason.. to speak like that, waiting for someone to answer.”

“…”

“Damn.. What is that?”

Now everyone realized that the being beyond the wooden planks wasn’t human.

We stared at the wooden planks set up at the entrance for a long time.

We shouldn’t take our eyes off it. We had to keep staring at the entrance until it disappeared.

We’ve recognized you, but we have no intention of talking.

So we’re staring blankly, meaning for you to just disappear.

This is the method to repel that thing.

“Is it gone..?”

“Yes. It seems to have left.”

Soon, the chilling presence beyond the wooden planks disappeared.

“Haah. Haah. Haah. Wh-What. What was that.. Porter-ssi… Please answer..”

Erika, the priestess, seemed to have felt something different from us.

Her lips had turned blue as if frightened.

“Af-After hearing Porter-ssi’s words… It felt different.. Very.. dark.. black.. murky.. Haah. Haah..”

“Erika, calm down. It’s gone. Calm down.”

“Ri-Rica. Rica doesn’t understand because you didn’t hear it. That voice, I thought it sounded familiar. Surely. Surely it’s that voice from back then.”

“What voice from back then?”

“There is no goddess here.”

For a moment, Erika’s voice sounded a bit different.

As if something else had briefly entered her body and left.

The torch lit in the room flickers. The temperature dropped a bit more.

“Surely.. Surely it said that… Next to the dead Rica… That.. That whispered..”

Erika keeps muttering, talking about what happened then.

Her condition was strange.

I immediately took out a small luminous stone from my inventory and waved it in front of her.

This is a new item I bought recently. This will heal Erika’s mind, which has been consumed by darkness.

“Erika. Erika.”

“Y-Yes..”

“Hold this.”

Light gives hope.

The luminous stone is an item that conveys bright energy just by looking at it.

Erika, as if entranced, held the luminous stone and closed her eyes to pray.

A short prayer offered to the goddess.

I sighed while listening to her prayer.

What Erika encountered back then was probably the ‘darkness of the labyrinth’ itself.

“This is my first time encountering it so directly too.”

“You’ve encountered it directly for the first time?”

“Yes. It’s something that can be called the malice of the labyrinth itself. We can call it the darkness of the labyrinth.”

Was it a few months ago?

It’s a story I heard from an archer I went to the labyrinth with once.

When spending the night in the labyrinth, if someone speaks to you at the entrance, you should never answer.

“What if you answer?”

“It will take it as willingness to communicate.”

“Communicate?”

“Yes. What kind of communication, you’ll probably only know after you die.”

Most stories about the darkness of the labyrinth end with the person committing suicide.

That thing is a being that can’t exert physical force.

That’s why it doesn’t attack us directly.

As a tradeoff, it’s also impossible to hunt it.

There was no way to deal with it other than knowing the countermeasure in advance and acting accordingly.

Still, if you know the countermeasure, you can definitely survive, so it’s relatively easy to deal with.

“It’s chilling.”

“That just now wasn’t a ghost or anything..”

“That’s right. That’s a kind of phenomenon.”

It’s the same principle as shadows being created when there’s light.

That is literally the darkness and malice of the labyrinth.

You could see it as a roaming trap.

It was a kind of natural phenomenon that can’t be called a monster.

“Haah. But we’ve driven it away, so it should be fine now. The fact that it appeared means there are no monsters nearby.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, Young Lady. Its purpose is to disturb peace. From what I’ve heard, it’s a phenomenon that crawls out purely to mess with adventurers when there are no monsters around.”

“Aha.. The labyrinth is crazy.”

“As we go down, things like that will crawl out to mess with adventurers without warning.”

“….”

The Young Lady closed her mouth at my words.

Her goal is to go down to the end of the labyrinth.

I want to make her give up, but the Young Lady’s will was firm.

“Going down to unexplored areas is insane.”

“That’s right. It’s insane. But…”

The Young Lady admitted it was insane too.

Continuously going down the labyrinth is insane.

We got off easy because it’s the upper levels.

If it was further down, that darkness of the labyrinth would have persistently chased us.

It’s important to know when to cut your losses and quit.

‘I’m not in a position to dissuade the Young Lady, but.’

I’ve been placed in a situation where I have to go to the deepest part of the labyrinth semi-forcibly.

Because I’ve been marked by the villainesses of the Labyrinth City, I have to see the face of the Labyrinth Master before I die.

I didn’t want to make the Young Lady participate in that journey.

The same goes for Yuria. I don’t want to take Olivia in either.

Isn’t it enough for me alone to enter that deep abyss?

Even if I find companions willing to go die together..

I at least don’t want to take Yuria and the Young Lady.

I’ll have to form my own new party too.

A party composed of people who don’t care if they die at any time.

“Haah. Can we sleep again now?”

“Yes. Now we can really sleep.”

“That’s a relief..”

“Ugh.. Damn labyrinth…”

Rica lay down again and closed her eyes.

As expected of an insensitive female knight, she adapts quickly.

Erika looked a bit scared too, but she seemed to have regained peace of mind thanks to the luminous stone and covered herself with a blanket again, while Rien was already asleep.

Only the Young Lady and I stared into the darkness, unable to sleep.

“Um.. Sion.”

“Yes?”

“Can I come next to you?”

“You’ll smell because we couldn’t wash today.”

“That goes for me too.”

“Do I have to smell the Young Lady..?”

“Hey!”

“I’m joking. Come here. You don’t smell, Young Lady.”

The Young Lady came next to me and sat down, as if finding it absurd.

The Young Lady didn’t have much body odor. Rather, I was afraid I might smell.

“Sion peculiarly has almost no body odor?”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. Is it because you’re an Easterner?”

Maybe so.

Even on Earth, Koreans tended to have faint body odor.

“It’s warm when we’re close.”

“That’s right. It is warm.”

It seemed a bit cold.

But being close to the Young Lady, warmth was transmitted.

It reminds me of when we hugged and slept during the Great Shift.

Back then, I was really clinging to and hugging the Young Lady.

Soon the Young Lady fell asleep leaning on me.

I closed my eyes too.

I need to sleep enough to be able to move tomorrow.

---

The labyrinth exploration with the Young Lady’s party continued smoothly.

Except for the monster wave and the darkness of the labyrinth on the first day, the second day passed without any particular incidents.

Now we just need to spend one more day in the labyrinth before going out.

We came in aiming for 3 nights and 4 days from the start.

“This is a transfer stone.”

As we wandered around drawing the map, we were able to find a transfer stone.

I immediately drew the transfer stone on the map.

The location of transfer stones is important.

“Are we going down?”

“What should we do? What do you all think? Please give your opinions. Whether to go down. Or start going up slowly.”

I asked my companions for their opinions.

They now fight well against gardeners without any problems.

Rica’s combat ability was so high that there was nothing particular to say, and the Young Lady’s movements had improved quite a bit too.

Rien tends to grasp situations well.

Erika is now doing her part properly too, except for the torch incident on the first day.

I think it would be good to go down and see.

“I think we can go down.”

“It seems okay to go down.”

“It might be okay for a short while…”

“I’ll follow the opinion.”

Everyone wanted to go down.

Now then, what choice will I, the party leader, make?

“Let’s not go down.”

“Huh? What. Why?”

“Things have gone too well yesterday and today.”

“Huh? Is that the only reason?”

“Yes. In my feeling, when things go smoothly, it’s the labyrinth’s warning that it’s going to kill one of you soon.”

“No, what kind of crazy talk is that.”

“As a 6-month. No, now 7-month survival expert Porter, I’m telling you this. It feels good? The atmosphere is good? It seems like something will go well? When you have such thoughts is when you should leave the labyrinth. I’ve seen quite a few parties that burst after missing this timing.”

“…”

“No, then why did you ask?”

“I thought maybe one of you would hesitate to go down. Let’s stop this labyrinth trip here and start getting out slowly.”

We could have spent one more night, but it’s fine to leave at the point of finding a transfer stone.

There’s no meaning in spending one more day on hard stone floors anyway.

“This labyrinth trip ends on the 1st floor.”

“It’s always like this in the beginning. You roll around on the 1st floor a few times. Then go down to the 2nd floor. You can take the steps gradually.”

“Alright. Let’s end this labyrinth trip here.”

“Yes. It’s a good choice, Young Lady.”

Everyone seems to understand.

Above all, we were starting to smell as it’s been about 3 days.

We could take out washbasins from our inventories and bathe, but it didn’t seem right to bathe on just the 1st floor of the upper levels, not even in the underground city.

“Well then, now… Huh?”

Just as I was about to reach out to the transfer stone to go up, I sensed a presence.

Something was approaching us.

“Battle positions!”

Rica immediately drew her sword towards the entrance of the room.

“W-Wait..! Wait please…!!! I’m, I’m human!”

The owner of the presence was an adventurer like us.

“Please help..! I have injured companions. I felt your presence and ran here to ask for help! I’ll compensate you sufficiently, so please save my companions. I beg you.”

A female adventurer asked for help.

A novice party must have collapsed.

Even I, experienced in the upper levels, had a few situations that felt dangerous.

A party composed of complete novices could very well burst.

This happens often. Asking for help like this out of the blue.

“What should we do?”

“Well.”

Morally, we should help this woman.

It would be good to help, retrieve any corpses if there are any, and guide them out.

But there were a few things that bothered me.

‘It’s suspicious.’

What if this woman isn’t an adventurer?

Let’s assume the worst case scenario.

First, the possibility that she’s a murderer trying to rob adventurers.

Second, the possibility that she’s a heretic trying to capture and kill adventurers.

Third, the possibility that it’s not even human to begin with.

If we follow this woman and fall into a trap.

We probably won’t die in an ordinary way.

It’s not an unfounded suspicion.

I’m a recent victim of a heretic attack.

It’s sufficiently suspicious.

I almost died, and you’re asking me to help without any suspicion?

That’s insane.

Adventurers are people who should fend for themselves.

There’s no need to help someone who’s not even a party member.

I’m far from being righteous.

I prioritize the safety of myself and my party thoroughly.

You have to stick to this principle of action to live long.

That’s why I asked.

Whether this woman is really an adventurer like me.

Or.

If she’s just something else wearing the disguise of an adventurer.

I had to thoroughly question her.

“Before we help. I’d like to ask a few questions.”

“Hic.. Yes…”

“How many were in your party?”

“Well.. Including me, there were four of us.”

Four people.

The typical number for a party.

“What are your occupations?”

“I’m the guide… One warrior and one swordsman.. And one priest..”

A warrior, a swordsman, a guide, and a priest.

Appropriate occupations. It can be seen as ordinary.

Now then, let’s press on about the priest.

“By any chance, does that priest serve the ‘Goddess’?”

“Ah, no. They said it was the Ancestor God.”

“Ancestor God. Not the Goddess then.”

“Yes.”

Clearly, gods other than the Goddess exist.

Right away, Hachi, who’s a monk, isn’t a believer of the Goddess religion.

Yata the healer also had a separate main god he believed in.

However, since the Goddess religion has the largest influence in the Labyrinth City, believers of other gods also receive help from the Goddess temples.

If not the Goddess religion, which god could it be?

“That.. I’m not sure…”

“You don’t know? You don’t even know your companion’s religion? What if the god your companion believes in is an evil god? What if your companion is a heretic?”

“Well, that.. Since it’s a hastily formed team.. Isn’t it possible not to know well…? Why are you trying to interrogate me…? Are you going to help or not.. If you’re not going to help, please step aside so I can get out.”

“Then let me change the question. Do you believe in the Goddess?”

“What..? Suddenly…?”

“Yes. What do you think about the Goddess? I like the Goddess. How about you?”

“Wh-What does that have to do with the current situation.. You’re a bit strange. If you don’t want to help, just go. I’ll seek help from someone else after escaping the labyrinth.”

“So you don’t believe in the Goddess. Alright. Then what do you think about the Goddess?”

“No, I don’t understand why you’re so hung up on the Goddess when I’m asking for help. So, just step aside please. I’ll seek help from someone else after getting out.”

“No, I’m not interested in your situation. I’m asking what you think about the Goddess. Just answer the question.”

My companions silently glared at the woman.

No one seemed to have any intention of stepping aside.

Rather, their hands gripping their weapons tightened.

Why?

Because that woman couldn’t answer what she thinks about the Goddess.

It would end if she just said one word, “I like the Goddess,” but she can’t bring herself to say that and keeps trying to escape this situation.

Why can’t she say she likes the Goddess?

As mentioned earlier, the Goddess religion has the largest influence in the Labyrinth City.

Because they can use the potion of resurrection, most people in the Labyrinth City are either believers of the Goddess religion or people who are friendly towards the Goddess.

But she can’t answer?

“I love the Goddess. I like the Goddess. The Goddess is the best. Repeat after me.”

“….”

The woman couldn’t repeat my words.

Of course.

“You can’t bring yourself to say it, can you? You heretic bitch.”

The being that heretics hate and despise the most is the Goddess.

She probably couldn’t say “I love the Goddess.”

Idiots.

You can be seen through with just this one question.

“Hahaha! Everyone else tried to help until now. You’re bad adventurers, aren’t you? See you next time!”

The woman fled.

With a grotesquely distorted smile.

Her speed is quite fast.

“Catch her?”

“No. Let’s get out. We’ll lose if we chase her.”

A heretic appeared on the 1st floor of the labyrinth. Moreover, it seems several teams have already been hunted.

To think heretics are roaming around the Labyrinth City and even operating in the upper levels of the labyrinth.

The fact that cockroaches have left their nests and started to become visible probably means they’ve already hatched countless eggs below the underground city.

Their sphere of influence was gradually expanding.

I think there’s a need to move up the subjugation battle.

Furthermore, it seemed time for the Goddess religion’s heresy inquisitors to enter the labyrinth.