Emotion Eater (2)

* * *

The inside of the labyrinth was so dark, you could believe it was underground. And the walls were made of stone, which wasn’t much different from the underground either. But that’s just how it looked; since it was shaped like a ‘tower’ and not a cave, there should have been spatial limitations. Yet, for some reason, I felt like it was endless. I’d walked ‘forward’ for a distance longer than the length of my legs, but the passage showed no end…

“First floor. All clear. Exit secured. Over.”

Still, it wasn’t an endless maze. There was an exit, and the stairs to the next floor were perfectly intact. My first labyrinth in life was an ascending one… I shoved my awkward feelings into a corner and recalled the information. According to the report, the highest record of adventurers was the 7th floor. They couldn’t advance further due to the death of a mage. It was a party of four C-class adventurers.

I was in charge of mapping. I marked the exit, entrance, and the paths we’d taken in front of the stairs. It took time, but there was no urging. They must know how important this was.

“Finished.”

Mapping complete.

I put the pen in my pocket and increased the size of the glowing orb. I could see the space beyond the stairs. I sent a warning with hand signals at the unpleasant gaze I felt from beyond. Shuriel-nim saw the signals and nodded.

“Moving to the next floor. Calvard!”

-Chwaaaak!

Through the orb of light illuminating the labyrinth, the wings of a Giant Bat were torn like paper. I took two steps back to avoid getting splattered with blood and watched the scene. Blood scattered at my feet. It was disgusting.

“Enter!”

When the ranger-born soldier found a trap, Shuriel-nim stepped up to disarm it. Calvard-ssi exercised direct force, and I took care of convenience like securing visibility with my magic. The hands that were free from not holding a lantern gave me more mobility than I could have imagined.

We were able to go up to the 5th floor without much difficulty. Even if the survival rate of C-class adventurers was low, it was still a statistic for adventurers. What difficulty could there be with two professionally trained soldiers, two auronites, and one mage (Archmage)?

However. From the 7th floor, it was different.

“Keuk!”

Shuriel-nim, who rolled on the floor to avoid a sudden fireball, grazed his elbow on a piece of stone and groaned softly. Naturally, our steps stopped, and everyone fell silent.

A magic trap.

All eyes turned to me.

I pretended to be flustered and averted my gaze.

“It’s a trap. There’s probably a magic circle around here…”

I located the position of the spell with a light scan. It was a relatively simple trap that reacted to pressure. The spell absorbed mana from the surroundings over time and recharged. Shuriel-nim spat and got up.

“Good thing we brought a mage.”

I stepped on the spell to erase it and sighed softly.

‘Should I get out of here now?’

The labyrinth was more dangerous than I thought, and the dependence on the mage was high. If I left in the later stages, someone would surely die. Besides, unlike my expectations, I didn’t see any adventurers either.

‘Getting caught by a stupid monster is not my style…’

I want someone with intelligence. Unthinking violence doesn’t elevate emotions, so it’s not my thing. We should enjoy it together, not just me. What’s the difference between that and jacking off? Anyway, it was a series of bad news for me. Now, I couldn’t recklessly leave since they couldn’t proceed without me.

Beyond the 7th floor was uncharted territory as stated in the report, so we took a short break.

“Save the food! Don’t eat the dried rations now unless you want to eat bat meat!”

Leaving Shuriel-nim scolding the soldier behind, I went into the makeshift tent. And I fell into thought. I had no intention of finishing this with my body intact. I recalled Shuriel-nim’s face, reminding me of a certain British chef, as he was yelling.

‘So, I have to solve this with the people here… How do I coax them? How?’

Shuriel-nim didn’t seem like the type to rape or strangle. Not to mention Calvard-ssi. Sex full of love? Yuck. Really, really. That’s impossible. Just imagining it made physiological disgust crawl all over my body.

“Haa…”

Only a deep sigh escaped.

*

From the 8th floor onwards, we had to break through without any information. Shuriel-nim made a whopping five copies of the map and made thorough preparations. We had enough food. Now, we just had to not die.

8th floor. The size of the monsters decreased. However, their destructive power increased. 9th floor. The types of traps diversified. I blocked fatal traps like random transfer spells in advance. 10th floor. Food was lost to primitive traps that didn’t contain mana. As Shuriel-nim said, we had to eat bat meat. The taste was terrible.

11th floor. 12th floor. 13th floor. The floor numbers gradually increased, and the difficulty also increased exponentially. In particular, the monsters no longer approached in the form of living creatures.

For example, while attacking the 17th floor, a goblin’s arm would pop out of the wall.

“Euaaak!”

Calvard-ssi pushed away the terrified soldier and pulled out the arm, frowning.

“How can only a hand come out and attack?”

Clearly, the goblin’s arm moved ‘as if it had a will’, but there was nothing to be seen inside the wall where the arm was pulled out, let alone a goblin. The same was true even when he dug into the wall with his sword energy. It was as if the wall was alive. Everyone could only sigh at the increasingly bizarre structure. Shuriel-nim glanced at the soldiers who were becoming wrecks and said to no one in particular.

“Haa. How many floors are there?”

I was the one who answered the words thrown out like a question.

“…Since the height wasn’t measurable when I looked up, we’ll have to go at least 50 floors.”

“Shibal. You’re telling me to go 30 more floors in this state?”

He scratched his head roughly, even swearing, which he didn’t usually do, and got angry.

“This labyrinth is dangerous. What labyrinth likes to screw people over this much?!”

Certainly… this is my first labyrinth in life, but I could tell that it was full of malice. A structure and traps designed by a madman who only thought about how to kill people more painfully.

Shuriel-nim looked at the soldiers with gloomy expressions and shouted loudly.

“You two!”

“…Yes.”

“Get lost.”

“Huh, yes?”

“Do I have to say it twice to be understood? I’m telling you to go down. The mission is practically over. It’s not our jurisdiction anymore.”

The investigation was over. Not only were the monsters on the 10th floor and above, but even the monsters on the 5th floor were nearly impossible for ordinary adventurers to deal with. In other words, it had no economic value. The risk was too high compared to what you get. Shuriel-nim called such labyrinths defective. So, there was no need to investigate further. From now on, not us, but the Holy See or the lord’s soldiers would intervene and carry out a large-scale subjugation.

“Calvard-euuuu! Take these bastards down!”

Withdrawal order.

However, if you listen closely to his orders, you could notice a slight strangeness.

“Doryeonim.”

“…What.”

“What about you, Doryeonim?”

And what about me?

Did he think I was blocking the traps because I liked it? How painful it was to disarm the traps that made my lower abdomen heat up just by looking at them… I worked my ass off to save them, and now he’s trying to climb the tower alone? It was infuriating. Shuriel-nim seemed to have taken my hardened face in a different meaning and said with a smirk.

“I’m an agent. The sword of Rushellini, the representative of the Holy See. I have a duty to confirm what’s beyond this.”

An absurd claim.

Calvard-ssi knocked on his scabbard and dissuaded him.

“Master. It’s impossible to go ahead without a mage.”

“When did I say I was going alone? This girl is going with me.”

“…We should also ask the adventurer’s opinion.”

“Eugeuk…”

At that moment.

Shuriel-nim distorted his face like a demon.

―Shut uuuuuup!!!

“…….”

“…….”

What did I just see?

Shuriel-nim, who shouted so loudly that the walls vibrated, widened his eyes as if he was surprised himself and grabbed his head. He leaned against the wall, staggering. Calvard-ssi supported Shuriel-nim, who was about to fall, and made a serious face.

“Master! Are you alright?”

“…I’m fine.”

“Let’s go back quickly. This labyrinth… is somehow strange.”

“I, I…”

Shuriel-nim, who trailed off, pushed Calvard-ssi away roughly with a face full of disgust. Like someone whose personality had changed suddenly, he yelled with an expression that was unthinkable for the usual Shuriel-nim.

“Get lost… Won’t you get lost?!”

“…….”

“Calvard. It’s an ‘order’. Take those two and get out of here.”

“Master.”

Towards Calvard-ssi, who couldn’t bear to abandon his master and hesitated to turn his back even after being yelled at like this. He said this.

“If you knew how much money I pour in every month to save your daughter, you wouldn’t hesitate like that, would you?”

With a smile that looked like a villain―

“Get lost. Now.”

―He threatened.

“…I understand.”

Did he say I had a daughter in our first meeting with him? I, Calvard-ssi, and the soldiers didn’t seem to know that such extreme words would come out of Shuriel-nim’s mouth― but from the moment his child was mentioned, Calvard-ssi had no right to refuse. Calvard-ssi, whose face had turned cold, turned around, leading the two soldiers who had become wrecks.

“Wa, wait a minute, Calvard-ssi. Before you go…”

I blankly watched the scene, then quickly came to my senses and created a few small orbs of light and floated them to them. I also gave them the map. How were they going to go back without light and a map? Wasn’t that the same as telling them to die?

‘Why is he like that? Did he eat something bad?’

Shuriel Rushellini. Did he finally go crazy after eating bat meat? Well. He ate bat meat, so he wouldn’t be normal. Just kidding, I thought he was just sensitive because of stress. If it was really because of the bat meat, everyone should have gone crazy.

………

……

…That’s what I thought.

“Follow me!”

-Kkwak!

“Kkyah, euk?!”

When he grabbed my hair, chuckling to himself, and started going up to the upper floor. I realized that things had gone wrong. Shuriel-nim, and the labyrinth. They weren’t normal.