episode_0148

The next morning.

Karin clutched her throbbing head and came down to the first floor of the inn.

She had a terrible hangover from drinking too much at Boron’s smithy yesterday.

She remembered being carried into the room on Ska’s broad back, but after that, it was all hazy.

In the inn’s first floor, a blonde woman was sitting at a table, eating food. It was too much food for breakfast.

But the woman didn’t bat an eye and slurped down the food on the table.

Next to her, Ska was sitting with his arms crossed. Did he know that woman?

Karin approached the table.

“Ska…?”

“You’re awake?”

Ska greeted her with a gentle smile. Karin pointed at the blonde woman with her finger.

“Who is that woman?”

“Delia, a vanguard who applied to our party.”

“Huh, when?”

“Last night.”

Delia raised her head, swallowed her food, and held out her hand.

“Are you Karin? Nice to meet you. I’m Delia.”

“I’m Karin. I’m in charge of guiding the party.”

Karin took Delia’s hand.

Since Ska got her, she must be trustworthy.

Still, there was one thing she was curious about.

“Delia, are you a virgin?!”

“Ptooey!!!”

Delia, who had been inhaling food again after the handshake, spat it out. The chewed food from Delia’s mouth flew out and stuck to Karin’s face.

Delia’s face turned red.

“Cough!!! S, suddenly a virgin? What kind of outrageous remark is that?!”

Jeong Yu-shin crossed his arms and looked at Karin.

“Karin, what kind of embarrassing question is that?”

“Sorry.”

Karin took out a handkerchief and wiped her face. That expression and behavior. She’s a virgin.

‘Could there be another rival.’

She was already upset because of her mother, and now a blonde virgin had appeared. Moreover, she was pretty.

Shouldn’t she admit it now?

The virgin corruption engraving is just a bonus.

Ska’s handsome appearance was shaking the hearts of many women.

Karin mentally offered condolences to the poor Delia, who would become Ska’s sex slave.

As Karin sat down at the table, Jeong Yu-shin filled a wooden cup with water and handed it to her.

“Karin, a Great Earth Mother priest named Barion has also joined. He’s a bit of an unusual person.”

“Unusual?”

In response to Karin’s question, Jeong Yu-shin briefly explained about the party members. How they met, what conversations they had, and the meeting they had last night naturally flowed out.

Karin drank the water and wiped her mouth.

“So, you’ve roughly decided where to go?”

“That’s right.”

Jeong Yu-shin’s eyes gleamed as he continued.

“We’re going to the Corridor Zone.”

“Okay.”

Karin answered coolly.

She had explored the Forest Zone and the Corridor Zone while working as an intermediate explorer, so it wasn’t like she was going to a completely unknown place.

“I’m also thinking of ordering more equipment and getting a few requests.”

“Ska, leave the request thing to me. I know a request that makes money.”

Delia patted her chest. Because she was wearing plate armor, only the sound of metal could be heard.

“Really? Then I’ll leave the request to you.”

Karin crossed her arms and looked at Jeong Yu-shin.

“I’m going to the smithy to finish ordering equipment. While I’m there, I should stop by the Pathfinder Association and get some information.”

“Okay.”

As soon as the conversation ended, Karin and Delia got up from their seats.

Is she an intermediate explorer after all?

She was trying to quickly handle the things she was good at.

You could say it was an efficient movement that you couldn’t even imagine in your early explorer days?

Jeong Yu-shin also got up from his seat.

“I’m going to the monster dismantling center.”

“Okay. See you later.”

They each got up from their seats and parted ways.

Jeong Yu-shin took the red single-edged sword and headed to the monster dismantling center.

After greeting the dismantling center employees after a long time and entering the office, Aldaine was sitting in his seat.

“It’s been a while. Ska, your appearance has changed again.”

“You recognize me well?”

“It looks like you’ve grown up as you were when you were a kid? It would be strange if I didn’t recognize you. Anyway. Are you thinking of entering the maze soon?”

Aldaine glanced at the red single-edged sword.

“Yes. I heard that I should return it before entering the maze, so I brought it.”

“Give it to me.”

At Aldaine’s request, he untied the red single-edged sword that was around his waist and handed it over.

“Aldaine, I don’t know if you heard it from Big Nose, but an evil spirit has been attached to the single-edged sword. It didn’t seem to have any problems after I defeated it, but it’s better to be careful.”

“···Is that so?”

Aldaine stroked the single-edged sword and slightly frowned.

“···I see. Thank you for your hard work. If you survive in the maze, come by again. I have a story to tell you.”

“Yes. I understand.”

“By the way, which zone are you entering?”

“The Corridor Zone.”

“Is that so? Good luck. Let’s see each other alive without dying.”

Aldaine leaned the red single-edged sword against the table and waved his hand.

* * *

A week passed.

I was so busy preparing this and that, I didn’t even know how time had passed.

I went to Edel’s pharmacy to buy potions and went to the general store to prepare various exploration supplies.

I gradually increased my food intake and focused on nutritional supplements. I was thinking of creating a state where I could last a little longer in a situation where I stayed in the maze for a long time and ran out of food.

I also went through the process of carrying a backpack and slowly running around the yard to adapt to the weight.

Not stopping there, I deliberately changed day and night to adapt my body. It was because the time I was entering the maze this time was in the evening.

Training that came from the heart to make up for the shortcomings and regrettable parts while experiencing the maze.

Karin shook her head as she watched Jeong Yu-shin’s appearance. It was self-management that she couldn’t even dare to follow, almost close to obsession.

Evening a week later.

The party gathered in one place.

Originally, they were supposed to leave early in the morning, but the time zone was changed with the monster explorers due to the change of the maze committee.

General explorers in the afternoon or evening.

Monster explorers in the morning.

It was the minimum rule set by the Explorer Association to prevent confusing situations.

They each armed themselves and sat quietly at the table.

Jeong Yu-shin was wearing light armor with plates added on top of the leather armor. He wore steel greaves and leather gloves.

The main weapon was a long sword with a bluish glow. A masterpiece created by Einhofer and Boron with great care. He was nicknamed Dog Cutter in the Forest Zone.

The sub weapon was a dagger and a single-edged sword containing ‘Gale’.

The red single-edged sword was returned, and the shield was excluded. Because Delia will take over as the vanguard instead.

The fallen noble Delia was equipped with plate armor, a one-handed mace and kite shield, and an arming sword.

Karin wore light leather armor, two daggers and a crossbow, and a bolt pouch around her waist.

Barion was holding a huge two-handed warhammer.

“Is it okay for a priest to use this kind of weapon?”

-Is there a problem?

Barion shrugged and scribbled on the paper.

“Not at all. I like it even more.”

It’s good to have a strong rearguard. It meant that they could be somewhat free from surprise attacks coming from the rear.

Delia took out two sheets of paper from her chest. Requests selected through party meetings over the past week.

In other words, the requests that remained in the end.

Collection of monster bone fragments.

Collection of antiques.

Both requests were issued by the Magic Tower.

“The Magic Tower tends to be a little more generous in paying rewards.”

“I see.”

Jeong Yu-shin looked around. He had been moving non-stop for a week to prepare for exploring the maze.

The preparation is perfect.

“Shall we go?”

The party members got up from their seats.

* * *

The sun, which had been lighting up the sky, disappeared under the castle walls, scattering the light of the sunset.

Jeong Yu-shin slowly walked down the street towards the west district.

He pushed through the crowds of people and arrived at the entrance of the maze.

Following the guards’ guidance, he stood in front of the magic circle.

He took out a torch and fiddled with the flint he had put in his pocket.

“Hoo.”

He took a deep breath and calmed his mind.

Flash!!!

With a familiar sense of floating, his vision darkened.

Thud!

Jeong Yu-shin came out of the portal and naturally stepped on the floor.

Humid air. Cool temperature.

The surface layer of the maze.

He quickly took out the flint and lit the torch.

Whoosh.

The torch burned and brightened the dark vision.

The party members grabbed their weapons and stood back to back.

“No problem?”

“No.”

“No.”

“…”

Karin looked around.

“We fell close to the transition stone. We’re lucky.”

Is she really Karin?

It was like she knew where she had fallen just by taking a quick look.

“Let’s go. Delia leads the way, followed by Karin.”

The party formed a formation and moved into the dark cave.

They passed by explorers who looked like novice parties and encountered intermediate parties.

They received envious glances and wary glances, but they didn’t stop to greet each other.

It wasn’t that they didn’t have time, but there was no reason to.

The party went straight ahead.

They encountered a horde of hobgoblins, but it wasn’t a problem at all.

Before Jeong Yu-shin could even draw his weapon, Delia stepped forward and swung her mace.

The hobgoblin heads that were hit by the mace exploded like fireworks, and the shocked hobgoblins ran away without looking back.

One day. Two days. Three days. Four days.

The party went straight ahead without hesitation and arrived at the 5th floor, Ingreve.

As if the top party had already swept through it once, the Ingreve area was cleanly cleaned.

The torn and shattered corpses of high-ranking hobgoblins were rolling around on the street floor.

“Hmm?”

Jeong Yu-shin’s steps stopped.

A group wearing black robes was walking from the other side of the street.

Usually a party would have a maximum of 4 to 5 people, but there were at least 20 people.

The party members also stopped in their places.

“Who are those guys…”

Delia’s sullen voice flowed out.

“Why? Do you know those guys?”

In response to Jeong Yu-shin’s question, Karin stepped in instead.

“They’re a clan staying in the eastern district. ‘Night of Death’ was it?”

-That’s right.

Barion confirmed Karin’s answer with a gesture.

“Is it a clan we should be wary of?”

Delia shook her head.

“They look a bit gloomy, but not to the point where we should be wary of them. They’re just guys muttering crazy things about overcoming death. I heard they haven’t harmed anyone.”

“Is that so?”

Is it just my imagination that they seem to be going in a similar direction?

‘I have enough on my plate. Let’s not pay attention to strange things.’

He shook his head and erased his thoughts.

The party left the black-robed group alone and walked straight through the streets of Ingreve to reach the central district.

Karin stopped.

“It would be good to take a rest here and move on to the Corridor Zone.”

“Let’s do that.”

Following Karin’s guidance, they found a shelter in the alleyway and went inside.

A dusty house.

They tidied up the place, found a brazier, lit a fire, and sat around it.

Delia took off her helmet and stroked her stomach.

“I’m hungry.”

She started talking about being hungry as soon as she sat down, her appetite must be really rising.

Delia immediately rummaged through her backpack and took out food.

It was a black energy bar, and Delia grinned and munched on it.

A special energy bar made by Ann and Tarman for Delia.

It was a clever plan because it was impossible to handle Delia’s calorie consumption with jerky or dried bread.

Thanks to this, they were able to dramatically reduce the weight of the backpack. It cost quite a bit, but they decided to think of it as an investment.

Starting with Delia, the party members each took out food from their backpacks and started eating.

There was no separate conversation.

It wasn’t an awkward atmosphere. They just had nothing to say.

Barion was in charge of the night watch.

This was because the need for food and sleep had disappeared since he had obtained the Engraving of the Spirit of Steel.

Thanks to Barion, they were able to break through the maze relatively comfortably for the past few days without a night watch.

Jeong Yu-shin leaned against the wall and closed his eyes.

He was immersed in familiar darkness.

* * *

Someone grabbed his shoulder and shook him.

“Ska, wake up.”

Jeong Yu-shin’s eyes flashed open. It was Delia.

“How long have I been sleeping?”

“About 6 hours. You were sleeping really well?”

Jeong Yu-shin nodded inwardly.

He kept the minimum sleeping time.

That is.

It meant that he had become somewhat adapted to the maze.

The party members finished their meal and packed their luggage.

They left the shelter and walked straight ahead.

When they arrived at the central district, they saw another castle.

A castle inside a castle.

An inner castle.

Antique sculptures were engraved on the castle walls. I don’t know what kind of city it is, but it seemed like high-ranking people used to live there.

They passed through the castle gates and reached the garden.

In fact, it was difficult to judge it as a garden at a glance.

Because it was a dead land with nothing but dust, let alone grass.

Only the dried-up lake and the decaying gazebo told the fact that this place was once a garden.

After passing through the garden, a corridor appeared.

A long, musty-smelling road.

There was nothing left, probably because the explorers had already taken all the valuable decorations.

They passed through the straight corridor and entered the common room.

The ceiling was surrounded by a round dome, and there was a stone chair underneath it.

It looked like a place where kings of the Middle Ages stayed.

There was a transition stone in front of the chair.

Jeong Yu-shin slowly approached and placed his hand on the transition stone.

Whoa.

A blue portal and a red portal were created.

‘If you pass through this portal, it’s the Corridor Zone.’

His heart was pounding.

Jeong Yu-shin turned his head and looked at the party members.

“Are you ready?”

In response to Jeong Yu-shin’s question, the party members each nodded.

Delia opened her mouth with a laughing voice.

“Ska, don’t be too nervous. Nothing will happen.”

“…”

He felt suffocated.

Why is she suddenly planting a flag here?

Jeong Yu-shin glared at Delia.

“Delia, don’t say that.”

“Ah, I understand.”

He took a deep breath and stepped into the portal. After passing through the red glow, he felt a sense of floating.

Darkness obscured his vision.