Chapter 73: The Labyrinth of the Bandit King #4

Chapter 73: The Labyrinth of the Bandit King #4

Adrenaline surged through my body, and my heart pounded wildly.

The task was clear.

Killing people.

It was what Rodrigo did best. I liked it better than the bothersome things like labyrinth exploration or tracking down criminals because it was much easier to understand.

If I killed Dread, this whole nightmare would end.

“Where are you, you son of a bitch?”

Strangely, I felt good.

Perhaps it was because there were fewer things to worry about, and only one simple, clear task remained.

All I had to do was to split Dread’s gut with this vengeance-filled sword.

At some point, I found myself chuckling. White foam dripped from the corners of my mouth.

“Found you.”

I found Dread’s trail at the end of a corridor.

I knew it by smell. The stench of disgusting sweat, the smell of dried semen. It was Dread’s smell.

All my senses were heightened. I felt like a killing machine specialized in murdering people.

Rodrigo stepped into the dark corridor, feeling a strange sense of exhilaration.

The smell grew closer.

“Where are you rushing off to, huh?”

Dread flinched in surprise when Rodrigo appeared.

His eyes flickered nervously. His gaze lingered once on Rodrigo’s unusual face, and then on the sword in his hand.

“⋯What’s wrong? Do you have a grudge against me?”

“Are you kidding me? You murderer, you son of a bitch.”

“Murderer? Me? What kind of bullshit are you talking? I was tracking him too! The one who killed the cleric!”

“That’s what you’d say.”

Rodrigo didn’t pay attention to Dread’s words.

It was the excuse of a cornered specter. The repertoire was predictable. I wouldn’t be fooled anymore.

Rodrigo raised his sword. Dread’s face turned deathly pale.

“Are you really going to do this?”

“Come at me, Akasha.”

“You’ve completely lost it.”

Dread reached into his green cloak.

Swish-

The cloak fluttered, and a hidden weapon flew through the air.

‘He’s finally showing his true colors, this bastard!’

Rodrigo genuinely believed that Dread had attacked first.

Clang!

The hidden weapon was deflected in all directions by Rodrigo’s swift sword strike.

Rodrigo lowered his upper body and charged forward rapidly.

Dread’s pupils narrowed to pinpoints.

Dread fumbled in his cloak again. Just as he was about to pull out another dirty weapon.

Slice-

Dread’s hand was severed before it could emerge from the cloak. Blood droplets splattered on the floor, and the severed hand rolled on it.

“Kyaaaak! You son of a bitch!”

Dread’s scream echoed loudly in the low-ceilinged tunnel.

Dread ran away, clutching his severed arm.

“Stella! Stellaaaa! It’s him! Rodrigo, this guy killed Windy-!”

What are you talking about? You’re the murderer.

Rodrigo’s anger boiled to the point where his head felt like it would explode. This shameless specter bastard. Was he going to keep acting until the very end?

Dread couldn’t finish his sentence. He couldn’t even escape.

Rodrigo pounced on Dread, who was running away, like a wolf.

Slice, slash-!

Rodrigo repeatedly slashed Dread’s back in an X pattern.

Dread collapsed on the floor, his one good hand outstretched. He convulsed like an insect and then his breath ceased.

‘Is this the end?’

Rodrigo gasped for breath. With his blood-dripping sword hanging limply, he stared blankly at Dread’s corpse.

He thought the disguise would disappear upon death. But Dread’s corpse didn’t revert to Akasha’s original form.

Doubt arose in Rodrigo’s mind.

‘Why is his corpse still like this?’

The question filled his mind, but he couldn’t find the answer alone.

His thoughts drifted and scattered like a small boat on waves.

He wished someone would answer for him, but there was no one.

‘Anyway, I survived.’

Dread might have been innocent. But what did it matter? He would have eventually tried to kill Rodrigo.

In the end, it was only a matter of time. It was a fight of who would kill first, and Rodrigo had won.

Rodrigo deserved to survive.

***

‘Is it really over?’

Rodrigo asked himself over and over.

‘That can’t be.’

The answer was obvious.

His memory was still hazy, and the crisis was not over.

Rodrigo’s sword still craved blood. Fresher, redder blood.

‘There’s still someone I need to kill.’

Rodrigo walked through the tunnel, muffling his footsteps.

Only his eyes faintly glowed in the darkness.

‘I have to kill Stella.’

Everyone other than himself was an enemy. Then the conclusion was obvious.

If I want to live, I just have to kill everyone else.

It didn’t matter anymore whether the others were Akasha or not. If I kill them all, one of them must be Akasha.

I can’t believe I couldn’t figure out this simple answer until now.

Rodrigo stopped abruptly.

Ahead, he saw Stella reading inscriptions carved into the wall.

She didn’t seem to have noticed Rodrigo’s approach yet.

‘Good.’

This makes things simple. There’s no need to hide my intentions and wait for an opportunity.

I have to end it now. Right at this moment.

Rodrigo crept stealthily behind Stella, holding his breath so as not to be heard.

‘If it wasn’t Windy and it wasn’t Dread, it must be you. Stella, it’s you. You are Akasha.’

One step, then another.

Rodrigo’s heart pounded like crazy. He was worried his thumping heart might be heard.

Just a little closer…

If Stella notices and turns around before then, I’ll have to draw my sword immediately.

Hoo- Hoo-

Heavy breaths escaped through his tightly clenched teeth.

Now, one more step…

Scrape.

A pebble on the floor skittered.

In Rodrigo’s eyes, Stella turning around appeared in slow motion.

“Uaaaaa-!”

Rodrigo let out a monstrous roar and grabbed Stella’s neck with both hands.

The 195cm tall man squeezed the girl’s neck with all his might.

“Die, die, damn it!”

Stella’s body was lifted into the air like a rag doll. Her legs dangled powerlessly in the air.

Thump-

One of her shoes came off and fell at Rodrigo’s feet.

Only then did Rodrigo release the strength from his hands.

Thud.

Stella collapsed on the floor without even a single scream. Red handprints left by Rodrigo were clearly visible on her white neck.

“It’s over. This is… the end. Heh, hehe.”

Rodrigo laughed weakly.

Windy, Dread, Stella.

He had eliminated all the threats to him.

Now Rodrigo was safe. Specters were ultimately no match for Rodrigo…

But why did Rodrigo’s heart still feel uneasy and anxious?

Rodrigo squeezed his eyes shut and opened them again. He roughly wiped his dry face.

‘It’s not time to rest yet.’

He realized.

Akasha’s specter was still wandering the labyrinth.

Rodrigo gripped his sword again. Stella’s corpse, which he had just killed, no longer captured his attention.

Rodrigo’s eyes were already looking beyond Stella, somewhere in the darkness.

‘Do you think I’ll be defeated? Don’t make me laugh… I will definitely kill you. I’ll kill you before you can defeat me.’

Rodrigo felt eyes watching him from the darkness.

As if enjoying, as if mocking…

Sometimes it felt like one person, and sometimes like countless individuals.

Rodrigo nodded his head like a broken doll and slowly walked into the labyrinth.

**

Gasp, gasp-

Rodrigo’s lying body trembled incessantly.

This meant he had reached the climax of the nightmare.

I lifted Rodrigo’s eyelids. His rolled-back eyeballs were shaking wildly from side to side.

“It’s not time yet.”

Sighing, I placed a cold compress on Rodrigo’s forehead.

Next to Rodrigo, Dread and Windy lay unconscious in the same way.

Akasha’s curse, “Illusion of Doubt.”

I expected it wouldn’t be easy for even S-rank adventurers to escape, and it turned out to be true.

‘It was like that in the game too.’

The worst trap event that could lead the party to annihilation if not handled carefully.

There were more than one or two occasions where cherished party members fell into an eternal, unconscious state due to this curse.

In a life-threatening situation that was closing in by the second, amidst the fear that Akasha’s specter was mixed in the party, one had to reach the correct conclusion to escape the illusion.

That conclusion was realizing that the target to be killed was oneself.

In other words, the one who needed to be killed was oneself.

Hints were given. The ancient text at the entrance of the dungeon, “You can only escape by dying.”

Of course, even if one pondered the meaning carefully, reaching the correct conclusion wouldn’t be easy…

Even I, who knew the curse’s content beforehand, am not in a position to boast.

I myself made wrong conclusions more than five times based on my memories and wandered in the curse.

Thanks to the Lich’s “Immortality” trait, which allows resurrection even after death, I was able to attempt suicide relatively quickly compared to others.

“It wasn’t easy.”

I sighed deeply once more.

To escape the illusion with manipulated memories and realize reality might require immense luck.

It was a curse that could end one’s life forever if trapped in the illusion.

“Cheer up, everyone. You all show promise, so you’ll be able to escape.”

I looked down at the party members’ faces.

They were fortunate.

Because I, who knew the method to break the curse, was with them.

Including Rodrigo, in their illusions, there is Stella, meaning myself, Estel, who calmly provides hints without being swept away by the situation.

Of course, even with a guide, it won’t be easy, and perhaps they might have to repeat thousands, tens of thousands of illusions.

But still, I believe they will escape someday.

I stood up.

The party members wouldn’t face an immediate life-threatening crisis if left alone for a while.

Even if it’s agonizing in the dream, their physical bodies aren’t dying in reality.

In the meantime, I should go claim my reward.

This is the lowest level of the labyrinth.

The golden door before me shone with a radiant light. It was the door that had captured my attention since earlier.

The final room where Akasha’s treasures await.

I pushed open that door with both hands.