episode_0153

There are more explorers who die in the labyrinth than one might think, but it’s not easy to see them die on such a large scale.

Usually, explorers die most often in battles with monsters.

At most, about one or two parties die like that.

Cases where large clans die in droves like this are impossible unless a field-boss level monster appears, like the last Leviathan.

But there is one other case.

Disputes with necromancers or external forces.

Cases we experienced on the 7th and 2nd floors.

It doesn’t happen often, but it’s not something that can be entirely ruled out either.

Well, anyway, as we were quickly approaching to assess the situation.

Suddenly, Jack shouted.

“Someone is still alive!!”

I don’t know how he sensed that from this distance.

Hearing Jack’s voice, we ran faster.

Just then, Grace sniffed.

“I found a survivor!!!”

We quickly ran towards one human.

Among the countless corpses, one human whose figure was still slightly trembling could be seen from a distance.

Grace, who had taken out a potion at some point, began to feed it to the survivor.

“……Is it the Green Rose Clan.”

Jack said, looking around further.

The Green Rose emblem on the explorers’ bodies.

It’s a fairly famous clan. To the extent that even I had heard the name.

But why would such a clan…?

“There’s another clan too. The Gray Bear Clan. But are there no survivors among them?”

“Look for survivors!!!”

At my words, the rest of the party members scattered in all directions to search for survivors, but unfortunately, there were no other survivors.

I immediately began examining the dead explorers.

Scars as if stabbed by a knife. And arrows stuck in their backs. Slightly scorched burn marks.

“No matter how I look at it, it doesn’t seem like they ended up like this fighting monsters.”

What on earth happened?

Such an absurd thing as two large clans being annihilated simultaneously.

Just then, Grace’s voice rang out.

“Mr. Ivan!!! A potion won’t be enough!!!”

“…I already switched.”

『Deck switched.』

『Current Deck: Paladin’s Deck』

『Time until next switch: 0:59:59』

『Until next draw: 60.』

I quickly set the Joker card.

“Will they be able to hold on for a minute?”

“I don’t know.”

“…….”

Immediately, after putting a little mana into the staff I was holding, I took out a goblin from the subspace bracelet.

And *stab* –

In an instant, one goblin lost its life.

『[Butcher’s Gauntlet] consumes blood.』

『Energy increases by 1, draws 1 card.』

But because the battle ended before a card was drawn.

『Confirm card rewards.』

The reward window pops up.

Since there was no way a useful reward would come from something like a goblin, I quickly skipped the rewards.

Draw 5 cards from the deck.

*Thwip thwip thwip thwip thwip*.

[Wave of Light (3)] [Baptism (1)] [Penance (0)] [Hyper Heal (3)] + [Resurrection (6)]

Actually, I hesitated a bit because it could be a big problem if an energy card didn’t appear on the first turn. It was a good thing I took the risk.

Immediately, I use a card.

[Penance] – Consume HP and gain 3 Energy.

Momentarily, fatigue washed over me, but the energy slots in the deck filled up, reaching 8.

Immediately, I use the next card.

[Resurrection] – Infuses life, preventing passage across the river of death.

Just by the name, it might seem ambiguous, but in reality, it’s a powerful recovery magic.

Immediately, a swarm of white light bloomed from my body, and then was sucked into the survivor’s body.

“……Ugh.”

The mana in my body, no, the divine power, was sucked into the survivor.

An inefficient card that uses my power like a Power Card, even though it’s a regular card.

Cold sweat flowed, and I stumbled, feeling dizzy for a moment.

Nevertheless, I began to see the survivor’s wounds heal and their body stabilize.

“……So this isn’t a priest, but a magician.”

Ignoring Jack’s muttering from behind, I continued to pour all my concentration.

And 1 minute.

As soon as the magic ended, I collapsed from immense fatigue.

“Are you okay?!!”

“Swe- sweat is…!!”

“It wasn’t this bad last time.”

Slowly, I got up, signaling that I was okay to everyone who had returned to take care of me at some point.

“…Grace.”

Grace, who was checking the survivor’s condition, then nodded and smiled.

“They’re alive!!”

At those words, I could rest assured and collapse.

By the time I woke up again, I was under a cool shade.

However, the smell of blood lingering at my nostrils was not pleasant.

As soon as I lifted my head and got up, Luca, who was next to me, gently touched my forehead.

“Yeah. You’re alive.”

“…Yeah. It’s just that my mana bottomed out.”

“The survivor is awake too. And….”

Luca pointed to the clearing.

Turning my head immediately, I saw that the corpses had all been cleared away at some point.

And more than anything.

“Knights… have arrived.”

“Yeah.”

The knight order in charge of the 8th floor was controlling the area.

*

The Knight Order of the 8th Floor.

They were certainly large in scale, to the extent that they couldn’t help but be compared to the 7th floor.

To the extent that one could feel like the 7th floor was being discriminated against.

However, I was able to quickly realize the reason.

“…Ultimately, they ended up causing trouble.”

“But there’s no reason for them to fight to the extent of annihilating each other, is there?”

“That’s true.”

Since conflicts between large clans happen countless times anyway, it feels like there’s a lot of support for the Knight Order managing the labyrinth.

But since even such knights feel something is strange.

What on earth could have happened?

The answer will likely depend on the testimony of that survivor who hasn’t come to their senses yet.

As it was, there were the most people around the survivor.

Just then, Grace approached after seeing me wake up.

“Are you feeling okay?”

“Uh, I think I have a general idea of what’s going on. Can you tell me roughly what happened?”

“After Mr. Ivan saved that person, it was about an hour…?”

“Wait.”

An hour.

Then I was collapsed for longer than I thought?

“Sorry, keep talking.”

“Yes. The knights came about an hour later. I heard that someone had [Far Sight].”

“Then do they know everything?”

“Unfortunately, they say having Far Sight doesn’t mean they know everything. It’s more like dots appearing on a slightly large canvas.”

If so, it seems like a power similar to a minimap, not Far Sight.

Just then, a knight spotted me and approached.

“We rushed here as soon as we saw two clans suddenly clash, but since they were disappearing one by one in the middle, we thought something terrible had happened.”

“I see.”

“Pleased to meet you, disciple of the Tower Master. Ivan Arcana. I am Kaiser, in charge of the 8th floor this quarter.”

Kaiser extended his hand.

I immediately got up and returned the handshake.

“I heard you saved the survivor’s life. Can the disciple of the Tower Master do things that priests can do as well?”

“…That is correct.”

“I thank you for your efforts. Can you assist with the investigation moving forward?”

“…I will do my best.”

After exchanging brief greetings, the knight headed back towards the survivor.

The survivor had held onto their life, but it seemed they hadn’t regained consciousness yet.

“For now, it’s been decided as a battle between clans. Because there were no signs of monsters at all. However….”

“Is something wrong?”

“Several bodies that appeared to have committed suicide were found. And all those bodies belonged to the Gray Bear Clan.”

“…….”

It’s already uncommon for clans to fight to the death, but after killing everyone like that, the survivors committed suicide?

Just looking at it, a really fishy feeling came over me.

“This doesn’t seem like a normal occurrence.”

“Yes. The survivor is from the Green Rose Clan. It seems they had an artifact among their possessions that puts you into a state of suspended animation. Thanks to that, it seems they narrowly saved their life.”

“They were lucky.”

“…Yes. If there hadn’t been a survivor, this incident might have fallen into mystery.”

Even for me, countless possibilities come to mind, but guessing which one is correct without any information would have been difficult.

Just then, sudden fatigue washed over me.

Is it the backlash from using Resurrection.

“…First, I’ll rest a bit more.”

“Okay.”

I immediately sat down in a suitable spot and began to rest.

Corpses were piled up before my eyes, and the smell of blood permeated the air, but it wasn’t particularly difficult or bothersome.

I must have gotten used to it to some extent.

“Ivan.”

Turning my head at Noah’s voice, I saw that she had sat down next to me at some point.

“Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like the necromancers did it.”

“…Really?”

Actually, if you were to pick the cause for most things that happen in the labyrinth, picking a necromancer would often be right, but conversely, the opposite case happens often as well.

“Is it a monster that controls minds?”

“Monsters that can exert such power on 8th-floor explorers, let alone large clans, can only be seen in the deeper levels, perhaps?”

“Is it the possibility of a deep-level monster descending here?”

The fact that such monsters actually exist is creepy, but surely a deep-level monster didn’t descend here.

“As a result of observing with [Far Sight], it is judged that there was no monster intervention.”

Raising my head at the voice that was heard again, I saw that one of the knights had appeared before me at some point.

However, upon closer inspection of his appearance, it wasn’t a mere member, but someone bearing the knight’s emblem. Could it be that it wasn’t a knight order member but a knight? Just as I wondered, the helmet slid up. A familiar face was visible.

“It’s been hard to see your face even once since you became the Tower Master’s disciple. Didn’t you get promoted higher than me?”

Knight, Karin.

The knight I met when I first entered the labyrinth was before my eyes.

“I recently became a full knight. And like a newcomer, I was dragged to the 8th floor of the labyrinth.”

Seeing that Karin, a full knight, is here and doesn’t seem to have a particularly high rank. As expected, it’s not just one knight in the knight order like on other floors, but quite a few, perhaps.

“…I saw you from a distance during the District 11 incident.”

“Me too. We were so busy back then that we couldn’t even properly greet each other. I wasn’t a full knight back then either.”

After exchanging light greetings, Karin’s gaze turned towards Grace, who was nearby.

“Looks like you’re still together. You’ve already reached the 8th floor. It seems like not catching you back then was the right choice?”

“I am always grateful.”

Karin, who had been smiling, suddenly her expression hardened in an instant, and then.

She quietly began to speak.

“The Knight Order is currently pursuing an unidentified entity operating on the 8th floor.”

“……?”

“He’s probably the one who caused this. It’ll be dangerous. Leave the labyrinth by next midnight.”

My companions and I looked at Karin with bewildered expressions, but Karin continued speaking.

“…I can’t say anything more. Anyway, make sure to leave. This isn’t something you 8th-floor explorers should get involved in.”

Saying that, Karin left.

Watching her retreating back, I quietly fell into thought.

“…What are you going to do?”

“First, since there’s still time, I should listen to the survivor’s story.”

“It looks like you have some idea.”

“Yeah.”

Quietly, I sorted through various hypotheses in my mind while waiting for the time.

Time was steadily passing.

And night, ready to usher in a change, descended.

Just then, as the wind began to blow slightly.

“They’re, they’re awake!!!”

The sole survivor woke up.

But.

“Kuaaak!!!”

The survivor immediately began attacking a knight using an invisible sword.

Completely having lost their reason.