episode_0022

22. 1st layer

“D…let’s go in aaaa…”

“Are you okay, Unnie? Should I go and rest for a bit?”

“Ah…Nooo…”

I caught a momentary glance between Robin and him and a smile, but it would be strange if I saw people right nearby being transformed into demons and then disposed of as pieces of meat in an instant.

I reassured Tanya, Roy, and Robin, who were feeling nauseous and a little tired, by explaining to them that quirks were something that only happened when you were really unlucky, and then entered the level transfer hall.

“Hoo… Brother Cain, you can catch level 1 monsters, right? Right?”

“If you don’t overdo it, you can catch it easily.”

“Come on! Sister!! Trust me!!”

“Ahahaha…”

“…..”

The three of us, Robin, who was trying his best to be bluff while being conscious of Tanya, Roy whose face was now completely black, and Tanya whose legs were shaking, followed me into the hall.

“Wow… Is that a portal?”

“Yeah, just pick anything shiny and take it in.”

Hundreds of red and gray portals could be seen in the vast open space with no other structures, and people could be seen coming and going through them.

“Hey, what’s that portal that turned gray?”

“Sister, be honest. Are you seriously trying to explore the labyrinth?”

“Ehehehe… Aww! I dozed off for a bit during class~”

When I asked Tanya in an awkward tone, she acted cute and avoided the question.

“When a party enters a portal, it turns gray like that until they return, and no one else can enter. And when they move inside a layer, the portal there also turns gray, and it takes at least three days for it to change color before they can return here.”

“Ah…. So if I go in, I can’t come out right away and have to stay for three days?”

Tanya spoke with a tearful face.

“Oh, so you can either wait until then and take the portal back here, or explore and find a portal to the next level.”

In fact, after 24 hours, the portal in the layer will activate and you can return, but I lied in case I got hit in the back of the head.

The three of them nodded their heads to me, so I guess they never listened to the training from the beginning.

“Huh? Then what is that?”

Pazuz-

I looked at where Tanya was pointing and the portal that had turned gray had changed to red, but no one was coming out of the portal.

“What the heck. The party that entered was completely wiped out.”

“Ah…..”

“”…..””

Honestly, looking at their attitude so far, I should be worried about them returning alive rather than stealing it.

I turn my head to look behind me and see Robin and Roy again looking nervous about what I just said.

“First, I won’t force you to hunt monsters since you’ve received protection and all your statuses are 1. I’ll just teach you mapping and simple exploration methods, so don’t worry.”

“I will only trust our Cain!”

“Brother! Please teach me how to fight!!”

“….”

“Hey, there’s a portal over there. Let’s go.”

There were so many people crowded around the portals near the entrance that I had to go in for a while before I found an empty portal and approached the three people.

“Go. You might get dizzy.”

“…..Gulp!”

We all went through the portal together, hearing the loud sound of someone swallowing saliva, though we didn’t know who it was.

Claude, you sometimes go to tinkering parties and break equipment, break a few potions, and stuff like that, so how could anything happen?

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“Woweeeek!!!”

“Woof!!”

“Brother.. Me too… Woof!!!”

The feeling of going through a portal… is a bit of a fucked up feeling, a mix of the bladder-tingling and dizzy feeling you get when riding a roller coaster and the slight floating feeling you get when riding an elevator.

I’m used to it so I’m not really affected, but the three people with the same status as normal people were thrown to the floor as soon as they entered the labyrinth and it was chaos.

“Heeeek.. Cain is tired~”

Wow!

Tanya, who quickly recovered after seeing the demonized person die earlier, threw up enough and had nothing left to vomit, and ran into my arms.

As the scent of flowers wafted through the air, I hugged Tanya’s body as she was held in my arms. While Roy and Robin were busy throwing up, I reached into Tanya’s robe and gently stroked her butt.

I squeezed her buttocks with moderate force and caught Tanya’s slender buttocks covered by thin hot pants in my hand.

“Hic! Hehe.”

As I continued to knead Tanya’s butt, who had a pretty, thin body like a Western model compared to the Korean women with chewing gum log pelvises in her past life, I was startled for a moment, but then I saw Tanya’s face smiling brightly as she made eye contact with me.

“Sister, stay on my left.”

“Huh? Why??”

“If a monster appears, you have to fight it.”

“Ah… Got it!”

And then, Tanya, who was frightened by the word ‘monster’, quickly got up, and Roy Robin, who was clinging to my left arm, and patting each other on the back, got up.

“It’s dark…”

“……”

Robin’s voice shook slightly, as if he was nervous, as he turned his back on the portal that had turned gray and looked out into the dark passageway.

“Um.. Since I don’t have any luggage, do you want me to hold the lantern?”

“Huh? Lantern?”

“Yeah, since there are few party members, the person in charge of the rear or the porter can hold a lantern from behind and light the way. It’s bright enough even if you hold it from behind.”

“Ahhh.. Roy! Lantern please!”

“….uh..”

Then Roy takes a lantern and some oil out of his backpack and hands them to Tanya.

“This…this is…”

“Fill in the oil like this….”

Hwaruk-!

The portal’s color was gloomy, but the light emanating from it made it brighter than the dark labyrinth passages filled with only glowstone.

I show the three people sitting around me how to use the lantern.

“Mr. Roy, please give me the parchment and quill.”

“Yes..Yes! Here!!”

“Since Mr. Roy is holding a shield, let’s take a tanking position and take the vanguard… Robin is also in the vanguard, and since Tanya is equipped with a dagger, let’s take guard and map from the rear.”

“Cain? What is Mapping?”

“What is mapping?…”

Although none of the three of them showed any particular will to explore the labyrinth, I pretended not to know and started to regroup while kindly telling Tanya why mapping was necessary and other things.

“There are certain areas around the portal where monsters won’t invade. So let’s finish up the maintenance first and then leave.”

“Brother! Are there any monsters that appear on the first floor? Haha…”

Robin, his fear having subsided a little, drew his sword and asked me.

“Let’s learn how to properly explore first and then respond.”

“Oh! Yes…”

“Cain, Cain is a thief, so you can’t be separated from me, okay? Got it?”

“Oh, I got it, sis. Did you hear the explanation of how to map it earlier?”

“Okay… I’ll try!”

With the roles divided and the battle formations in place, we were ready to explore.

In front is Roy. To Roy’s right is Robin.

And Tanya and I stood at the back, relying on the light of the lantern Tanya was holding, we left the portal area and walked into the dark passage.

Thud thud-

As we walked, everyone became silent, to the point where even the light coming from the portal was barely visible when looking back.

There are many monsters that are sensitive to sound, but they are all so tense that they start talking to Tanya to ease their tension.

“First of all, the monsters on the first floor have low intelligence.”

“ in?”

“Just a simple wild animal…think of them as dumber than a wolf.”

“Really?”

Tanya tilts her head at my words, wondering how smart the wolf is.

“Wolves are quite intelligent among beasts.”

And as if answering Tanya’s question, Robin mutters in front of her.

“Yeah, but the monsters that appear on the first floor are a bit… different for each monster, but they don’t have enough intelligence to be annoying.”

“I see! And what else is there, Cain?”

Keruk-

“Shh, sister, turn off the lantern and everyone stop.”

“Ouch! Ugh…ugh”

Kikrik-

As soon as a low rumble is heard in the distance, he orders Tanya to stop Roy and Robin.

“Everyone, there’s a monster nearby, so stop for a moment and don’t move until your eyes adjust to the darkness.”

“…..”

The other three also stood there in a tense posture, as if they had heard the monster’s cries.

“Don’t be too scared, there’s still some distance. Look at the faint light coming from the glowstone embedded in the wall, and look at the dark place deep inside, and roll your eyes here and there.”

As the labyrinth’s terrain changes with each relocation, the real mapping begins from the point where you first encounter the monster.

There are monsters that move around, but usually the presence of monsters means that the place is terrain and not a passage.

It could be a small open space, or it could be a large open space with numerous passageways.

Or it could be a place where reconnaissance was sent.

Once a battle breaks out, there is a possibility that other monsters will gather nearby after hearing the sound, and what if the lantern is also shining? It is only natural that the battle will become more difficult.

So we all turned off our lanterns and stood still in a dark place to acclimate to the dark.

“Whew…”

“Don’t be nervous.”

“Ugh…huh!”

As soon as Tanya turned off the lantern, she realized it was dark and ran into my arms. I put my hand between her torn robes and gently stroked her buttocks and waist.

Tanya, who was trembling with fear at the thought of actually meeting and fighting a monster, seemed to calm down at my touch.

As he touched her bare skin revealed between her hot pants and armor in a slightly lewd way and Tanya’s breathing became ragged, he noticed that Roy and Robin were also looking around as if their vision had adjusted, and he gently pulled Tanya out of his embrace.

“Goblin.”

“Goblin?”

“Oh, he’s as small as a child, but he’s aggressive.”

“I think I’ve heard of it. Brother, isn’t it weak?”

“A weakling is weaker than a normal adult male.”

“Then..!”

“Instead, they move in groups.”

He told me to be very alert because I don’t know if the goblin I’m hearing the sound from is alone or if there’s a group of them huddled together in an area.

“Then…”

“Usually, they eat men and use women as surrogates to give birth to their offspring. They’ll end up giving birth to nothing but goblins until they die.”

“Eek!!”

Information about the monsters that appear in each class has been organized to some extent by compiling information accumulated over hundreds of years.

Goblins… weren’t much different from the ones in the subcultures I saw in my previous life.

There have been instances where an all-female exploration party would enter, get captured by goblins, get raped, and barely manage to return alive on their own, but… no explanation was given to that point.

“Whew… I’ll go first and take a look.”

“Cain.. Are you okay?”

“Then, level 3 is enough.”

When I told her about the seed, Tanya trembled and I patted her head once before moving forward.

“Robin, Roy, just in case, get ready to run near the portal. The monsters won’t come that far, okay?”

“Yes… Brother… Gulp!”

“….you?”

“Well, goblins aren’t that big of a threat. If there are too many of them, you’re in danger, so I’ll go check first.”

I took a quick step towards the goblin to check the performance of the increased skill status.