episode_0031

The remaining one woman could not be identified.

It was because her face was severely damaged.

“Let’s go.”

Karin urged the group.

“Are we just leaving like this? What about the corpse?”

Karin answered Jung Yushin’s question.

“She’s already dead. If she were alive, I would take her, but a corpse is just luggage. If you’re really bothered by it, go to the association and tell them. Tell them a dwarf you know has died.”

“Understood.”

“Don’t forget. We are an investigation team. Not a corpse recovery team.”

“Yes.”

Gilshion looked at Karin.

“Karin, shouldn’t we examine the stratum more thoroughly? There’s no need to rush through the stratum so quickly.”

Karin shrugged her shoulders.

“What business would we have on such a shallow floor?”

“There are still many novice explorers who haven’t returned. Shouldn’t we at least ‘investigate’ the reason for that?”

“Another investigation team will do it. We have more important things to do.”

“…”

Gilshion gave up persuading her and remained silent.

Roynel and Ahiman didn’t seem interested and didn’t open their mouths.

“Let’s go.”

With Karin’s urging, the party moved forward into the dark cave.

They walked for several more hours and had two more battles.

The battles were an overwhelming massacre on Karin’s side.

Jung Yushin had nothing to do but stand in the rear and safely protect himself.

So he followed the trajectory of the swords wielded by Karin and Gilshion with his eyes and stored their movements in his head.

There were parts of Gilshion’s and Karin’s movements that he didn’t understand.

Gilshion’s greatsword would move at a bizarre speed, and he would sometimes miss Karin’s movements for a moment.

Was it the power of the engraving? Or the power of leveling up?

He was curious, but he didn’t ask.

He was a porter, not a companion.

The third battle had just ended.

They walked again, stepping over corpses and blood.

Time passed, and Karin’s party reached the end of the 4th floor.

A large hollow with a transfer stone.

Buzzing.

People were gathered and swarming in the hollow.

Their faces were familiar. They were the investigation team parties he had seen a few days ago before entering the labyrinth.

Most of them were high-ranking explorer parties.

The black-haired Barbaroi was also visible, but he was talking to his party members, so their eyes didn’t meet.

“What’s going on?”

Karin entered the hollow and opened her mouth, and attention was focused on her.

A navy-haired man pushed through the crowd and came forward.

“Karin, aren’t you a mid-rank explorer? Why are you here so fast?”

“Hans, you guys are just slow. Why are you gathered here without going to the next stratum?”

The navy-haired man, Hans, pointed to a stele.

“The color of the portal has changed.”

As Karin approached the stele, the crowd parted and made way for her.

As if the parting of the crowd was a natural occurrence, Karin walked naturally and arrived in front of the stele.

Jung Yushin was curious and slightly craned his neck.

A black portal was rippling in front of the stele.

Hans said to Karin, who was standing close to the portal.

“Karin, don’t do anything rash.”

“I haven’t done anything.”

“Go back. This is not a place for a mid-rank explorer to interfere.”

“Is it even possible for the great high-rank explorers to be hesitating at the entrance to the 5th floor?”

Hans’s expression hardened.

A tense atmosphere began to circulate between Karin and Hans.

Sensing that something was wrong, Gilshion, Roynel, and Ahiman stealthily moved closer behind Karin.

At Gilshion’s chin gesture, Jung Yushin also approached and stood next to Karin.

Hans said.

“This is the first time the portal color has changed. It’s only natural to approach cautiously. Don’t portray the high-rank explorers here as cowards. Even if you are the daughter of the Beastman Union representative…”

“Beastman Union’s daughter what?”

Karin glared at Hans. Hans closed his mouth.

“I started as an explorer and have never received any help from my family. Everything I enjoy now, I have built with my own hands. Why does my identity suddenly come up? Answer me. Hans.”

Hans sighed.

There was such a rule in the labyrinth city, but Karin’s status was high enough that even the prominent families of the Eastern Union couldn’t compare.

Hans was a high-rank explorer, but he knew his place well.

Even if he retired and did well, the best he could hope for was the commander of the city’s knights. If he were to obtain a strange negative engraving, even that commander position would be lost.

The cost of removing negative engravings was also increasing exponentially, so he was slowly considering retirement.

He didn’t want to provoke the Beastman Union representative’s daughter and suffer disadvantages.

Hans took a step back and said.

“I’m sorry.”

“Hmph.”

Karin smiled, twisting her lips.

At that moment, the floor began to vibrate.

Rumbling.

Someone among the high-rank explorers shouted.

“Earthquake!!”

“Suddenly?!”

“Prepare yourselves!”

However, the next event happened before people could prepare.

All the torches in the hollow began to flicker.

It was as if the candles placed on the altar were flickering in the face of a sudden cold wind.

People looked around and began to buzz.

“Wh…what’s happening?”

“The earthquake is getting stronger.”

That was exactly it. The vibration of the floor was getting stronger and stronger, making it difficult to stand properly.

“The portal is strange!”

Someone pointed to the rear and shouted.

“Fall back!!”

The black portal was throbbing like a heartbeat.

Seeing that, Karin flinched and took a step back, bumping into Jung Yushin, who was close to her.

“Karin!!”

Gilshion and Hans shouted urgently and reached out their hands.

But it was too late.

The black portal, which had swelled up, swallowed Karin and Jung Yushin.

Everyone was speechless at the sight they had never seen or heard of before and could only open their mouths.

The black portal returned to its original state. Karin and Jung Yushin were not there.

“Crazy!!”

“The portal swallowed people!!”

Voices filled with shock echoed through the hollow.

The high-rank explorers grabbed Gilshion, who was recklessly trying to enter the black portal, and stopped him.

“Let go of me!!”

Gilshion shouted loudly and moved his body, but the high-rank explorers didn’t budge.

“Leader, what do we do?”

Someone asked Hans.

Hans, the leader of this labyrinth investigation team, got a headache.

“Team 1 goes back and reports. The remaining Team 1 stays here, and all three teams, including me, will go in.”

“Are you sure?”

“We were going to go in anyway. Besides… never mind.”

The investigation team leader Hans recalled a woman in his mind and swallowed hard.

The current representative of the Beastman Union and the head of the Red Wolf tribe.

One of the labyrinth city committee members.

The Ice-Blooded Queen.

Ingrid Redtail.

Even if Karin was just a mid-rank explorer, she was the daughter of the Beastman Union leader.

If they left her like this and Karin were to die, there was no guarantee that they wouldn’t be retaliated against later.

“Tell us everything, Leader.”

Rumbling.

The intensity of the earthquake was getting stronger.

“No time! Do as I say!”

Hans shouted.

People began to move busily.

Hans approached Gilshion. Silver eyes gleamed between the helmets.

Hans opened his mouth.

“We’re going in too.”

“We have to go in now!”

Gilshion said urgently.

“No. We’re going in after the earthquake stops. The portal is unstable. We don’t know where it will pop out.”

“Tch!”

A grinding sound came from inside the pressed helmet.

Hans looked up and glanced at the stele.

‘Will the two of them be able to hold out? It would be fortunate if they fell to the 5th floor.’

* * *

It felt like I had a long dream.

There was a convenience store, and there were family and friends.

A closed factory that had been abandoned for a long time, with only weeds growing without people.

There, I lit a bonfire and danced, holding hands with blasphemous and bizarre shadows.

And.

Jung Yushin opened his eyes.

Someone was holding a torch and looking down at him.

It was Karin.

Jung Yushin stared blankly at Karin’s ears.

“Are you awake?”

“Where is this?”

“5th floor.”

“Have I been here long?”

“Well? I don’t know. I think I wandered around for about 3 hours before I found you.”

Had he been in the dark for 3 hours?

“It’s a relief I haven’t gone crazy.”

“Yeah. It’s a relief.”

Jung Yushin got up from his seat.

The floor was damp with moisture, and the surroundings were quiet. It was still a cave.

Karin said.

“If you go a little further, you’ll reach the end of the cave.”

“I see. Shall I hold the torch?”

“No. I’ll hold it. Let’s go.”

Karin took the lead, and Jung Yushin walked behind her.

The two walked in silence for a long time and reached the end of the cave.

They passed through the exit and came outside.

Outside the cave was a wide basin shape.

When he looked up, the ceiling was so high that he couldn’t tell where it was. It was like a starless night sky.

He lowered his gaze.

In the distance, he could see a city submerged in darkness.

A city quietly sleeping in a huge underground hollow.

He had learned about it in the last hour of the novice explorer class.

The Forgotten City.

Engrave.

Rumors and speculations were rife, but it was a city that had never been recorded in history. It was an unknown city that even elderly elven historians who had lived for a long time had never heard of.

It was a vast area, and he had heard that it was swarming with high-ranking hobgoblins.

The last gateway that novice explorers face and the starting line for mid-rank explorers.

He came as a porter, but he felt a small sense of accomplishment.

Karin approached and said.

“The transfer stone is inside the city’s central district. We have to move to the outskirts as much as possible and then enter at once when we see an opportunity.”

“Are you going to use the transfer stone?”

“If necessary. Anyway, the more options, the better, right?”

“Shouldn’t we wait for the others first?”

Karin snorted.

“Who’s going to come save us? Don’t trust explorers too much.”

“Couldn’t Karin-nim’s party come to save us?”

“I can expect it. I can also have hope. The problem is that there’s no guarantee they’ll definitely come.”

“Are you saying the party won’t come?”

“I’m saying the party might ‘not’ be able to come. There was an earthquake, right? And did you see the black portal? There’s no guarantee that they’ll transfer here either.”

“But let’s wait a little longer…”

Karin’s face hardened coldly.

“Why do you keep relying on others?”

‘What the fuck?’

Jung Yushin’s expression also hardened.

It was clearly a common-sense suggestion.

He couldn’t understand why she was so intent on taking risks and moving forward. It felt like an obsession.

‘What on earth is she thinking?’

A few days ago, Darmong had casually told him.

Karin Redtail.

The daughter of the Beastman Union representative.

Karin’s father had reportedly died a violent death in a mysterious attack before Karin was even born.

The details of the attack had not yet been revealed. Darmong seemed to know something more, but he was reserved.

Karin was the strongest rookie who had risen to the rank of mid-rank explorer in just 3 months.

Only 3 months.

Looking back, Jung Yushin and Karin had arrived in the labyrinth city around the same time.

Jung Yushin was struggling in the monster dismantling area.

Karin had quickly pushed forward with the power and wealth she had accumulated up to this point.

The starting point was different from the beginning, and their identities were different. Their perspectives on the world were also different. Their races were also different.

Jung Yushin could not understand this Red Wolf beastman. What her purpose was. What thoughts she had.

You can know ten fathoms of water, but you can’t know one fathom of a person’s heart.

He realized a little that a person’s heart was also a labyrinth.

Karin glared at Jung Yushin.

What she couldn’t understand was the same for Karin.

This Barbaroi, who looked perfectly normal, was strangely timid.

When they first met, he was surrounded by slave hunters in the forest, kneeling.

In their second meeting, he was bowing his head to her.

In their third meeting, he was facing her with a confident demeanor, so she thought he had changed, but it was a misunderstanding.

This Barbaroi was the same. He was a man who hid behind others like everyone else.

As she became aware of that fact, Karin felt inexplicably annoyed.

Two men and women faced each other with a torch between them.

“Are you doing this because you want more money?”

Karin smiled, raising her lips.

Jung Yushin glared at Karin.

“…”

“Are you unhappy because you came as a porter but ended up fighting? Is it because it’s not profitable, so you want more money?”

“…”

“I see. In the end, you’re just that kind of person too. A person who tries to suck honey from behind while I take the lead. Darmong must have misjudged you. Why would he help a guy like you?”

Jung Yushin opened his mouth.

“Okay. Let’s go. Into the city.”

He spat it out as if chewing it.

“Will you be okay without getting paid more? How can you be so wronged?”

Karin sneered.

“Your mom raised her daughter well.”

At Jung Yushin’s casually uttered words, Karin was speechless and opened her mouth.

Veins popped out on Karin’s forehead.

As if she had never heard such words before, Karin’s eyes burned with anger.

“Wh…what?”

“Are you deaf too?”

Jung Yushin put down his luggage.

The person who made people kneel and lick their boots could not be normal.

Incomprehensible.

They might have to fight with knives.

The atmosphere was getting increasingly tense.

Karin put down the torch.

In the open space outside the cave, two men and women stood a step apart, glaring at each other.

“Your liver must be outside your belly.”

“It must be convenient. You’re an independent explorer when it suits you, and when it’s disadvantageous, you’re the Beastman Union leader’s daughter. Just pick one.”

“How dare you!!”

Karin gritted her teeth.

Jung Yushin’s fingers tapped the scabbard.

Karin is a mid-rank explorer.

He had seen her overwhelming skills with his own eyes.

Even if he took the initiative, there was a high possibility of losing the fight.

But he couldn’t back down.

It was because Karin had insulted Darmong’s kindness.

That insult was sweeping down on Jung Yushin’s efforts to survive in the labyrinth city.

Karin growled.

“If… if you get out of here.”

“Get out and what? Can you survive? How can a girl who doesn’t know what’s in front of her and just dives in headfirst survive?”

Jung Yushin sneered and took a stance.

A touch-and-go situation.

Karin clenched her dagger.