episode_0166

166. 2nd layer (11)

After the conversation with Julie, some more time passed and the rest of the companions came out of the tent, we had a light dinner and went to bed.

Because there wasn’t much to do in the damp, damp passageway.

Julie gave me a hint to take it easy today, so I finished by lightly putting a foot in each of Sia and Lauren’s vaginas.

*

*

*

“Still, you have a conscience, I guess.”

“Haha…”

The next morning, Julie sees us and speaks to us with a big smile.

Fortunately, her condition seemed okay.

“Then, shall we go?”

“Yeah.”

After a quick meal, we packed our bags and headed out.

This time, we moved for a long time, and as time went by, I started to feel an uneasy feeling.

“Something. I feel strange.”

“Do you feel the same way, Julie?”

“Ugh.”

“Eeeee~”

“Cain. Isn’t it more chilly than usual?”

It was around the time when not only me and Juri, but even the dull Sia began to feel something strange.

“Stop!”

Julie was the first to react.

“Huh? Why are you like that, Jury…”

Sling-

Phew-! Phew!!

Within seconds, Julie snatched the daggers from my waistband and stabbed herself in both of her thighs.

“Ms. Jury!!”

“Jury!!”

“Sister!!”

“…!”

Everyone froze in place, frozen in place by her actions.

I approached her to check on her condition.

“Don’t come near me!!!”

Juri reacts nervously.

When I looked at her face, something seemed a bit odd.

Her red pupils contracted and relaxed rapidly, and she gritted her teeth as if she was holding back something.

“Juri, what the heck….”

Ppoddeuk-

“Don’t come. This is not a request, it’s a warning.”

As she barely opened her mouth to speak, a stream of blood flowed down the corner of her mouth.

“Siaya!”

“Yeah…! Recovery!!”

Wooow-

I carefully distanced myself and had Sia treat Juri.

Julie opened her eyes wide and screamed as the wound on her thigh began to heal.

“Ugh…! Don’t even recover…!”

Phew!

And then the dagger stabs in again.

“Please explain what the hell is going on.”

“Multi-layered sound…! Kkuluk!!!”

A sound… That sound that can be heard from the 4th floor?

“Then just get back quickly. Don’t harm yourself…!”

“No… Once it’s eroded, it’s meaningless to fall back. The more quirks there are, the more it’s affected.”

I’ve heard of it.

The 3rd tier is also tough, but the 4th tier and above are called mid-tier.

I don’t know the principle, but I started hearing sounds that amplified the negative emotions inside people, which was jarring to my ears.

What starts out as a small hallucination gradually grows larger and begins to affect the mind, and in severe cases, it is said that the party is often turned upside down as the person loses their wits and attacks their colleagues.

That’s why it is said that explorers who explore at mid-level or higher levels do not do long-term exploration for more than a month.

“Juri’s quirk…?”

“I’ve already removed it, but there are so many things and it’s all mental, so the aftereffects still remain.”

“….”

This is the first time I’ve heard that the sound from the middle layer is more vulnerable if you have a lot of eccentricities?

When I look at her with an expression demanding an explanation, Julie sighs and soon begins to tell me about her own quirks.

Five? Sex, rape, drug addiction… and masochism and homicidal impulses.

Lauren and Claude’s expressions darken as they hear of the quirk she has acquired.

There are many quirks that appear out of nowhere, but there are also many quirks that arise depending on what kind of activities you do in the labyrinth.

‘Nice party. You guys.’

At that moment, I remembered what she had said when we were attacking the fountain.

‘I also wonder what it would have been like if I had been with a party like yours, not a guy like you.’

Men, parties, sex, rape, drugs, back alleys, murder.

Only then did I truly understand the emotion in her voice.

What happened in the ten years or even before that when Julie was sweeping up some of the back alleys and black markets?

“Stop.”

Just before her pity for her turned into sympathy, Julie let out a growl.

There was no more words to say, but I nodded, understanding what she meant.

“Will it get better with time?”

“Uh. I let my guard down because it was a class where I couldn’t hear anything, and it’s been a long time since I’ve experienced it, so just wait a minute.”

He kept twisting one of his hands, which seemed to have a stronger urge to kill than the others, and tried to avoid looking at us.

Then he takes a string from his bosom and ties it to his other good hand and the dagger.

Although it looked difficult to tie the rope because the Han Chinese’s hands were twisted, Juri took action by biting the rope with her mouth and pulling it. Then, she let out a deep sigh and spoke to me.

“Mobility has also decreased, and the attack power is lower when holding a blade. Let’s borrow it for a moment.”

“Yes.”

So we watched the bleeding Julie with our hearts in our throats.

After a long time had passed.

“Huh… Si-ah, can you treat me?”

“Yes…Yes…Recovery!!”

Phew-!!!

This time, Sia, with tears welling up in her eyes, uses the Recovery Protection spell on Juri.

Then he checked his own body, untied the dagger tied to his hand, and gave it back to me.

“Well written. Thank you.”

“No, not at all.”

I could see that Julie’s distorted face and cloudy eyes had returned to normal.

Julie approaches us and starts talking quickly.

“Whoa… Is there anyone among you who has a quirk?”

“No, not yet. Oh, I have one.”

“What is it?”

“Theft.”

“Ha! That’s trivial.”

“Yes, so it wasn’t uncomfortable to live there. It wasn’t anything serious.”

Even after I got the quirk, I often felt the urge to do something sneaky, but I forgot about it because I could control it.

“Hoo… Then let’s go.”

“Should I take a break?”

“Huh… Okay, let’s take a rest. Don’t put your luggage down, just sit there and move. ”

“Yes.”

Sia and Lauren approach Julie, who is slumped against the wall of the hallway, seemingly collapsing.

“Jury… Are you okay?”

“Sister…”

“It’s okay. Oh… I’m losing my mind.”

Although it was obvious to anyone that it wasn’t okay, the two couldn’t say anything to Juri, who insisted that it was okay.

Just squat down next to Julie and rub her arms and legs.

But as time passed and Julie’s complexion returned to normal, we prepared to move down the passage again.

“If you start hearing strange noises in your ears or head, tell me right away.”

“Yes.”

Following Julie’s advice, we started moving slowly.

*

*

*

After about an hour of walking, my legs and body started to feel heavy, as if someone was pulling me up from the ground.

“Ugh… I feel like my body is getting weaker and weaker?”

“Okay. Are you okay, Julie?”

Claude, who was in the lead, groaned, and I looked back at Julie, who was standing next to Sia.

“I’m fine. Sia is about to spread.”

“Ugh…”

When I looked at Sia after her words, I saw that she was sweating profusely and having a hard time walking.

“Are you okay, Sia?”

“Heh… Heh… Kaiin…”

He looks at me longingly, unable to say that he is having a hard time for fear of disturbing my exploration.

I also checked the condition of Lauren, who was leading alongside Claude.

“How about Lauren?”

“No problem, Cain.”

Lauren and Julie were in good spirits, Claude and I were a little tired, and Sia was on the verge of collapse.

At that moment, a small sound came to my ear.

‘Kick…’

hmm?

“Jury.”

“Stop.”

It was Juri who reacted to my voice like a ghost.

My other colleagues also look at me with worried eyes, wondering if I will react as extreme as Juri.

“What do you hear?”

“I just heard someone laughing softly.”

“Okay? Let’s take a break again.”

Although I hadn’t moved much, I started to feel like I was losing a lot of energy, as if I was in a mountainous area.

I heard a ‘sound’ in my ears too. I guess I should take a break at this point.

“Everyone, sit down and rest until Sia gets better.”

Sia collapses on the floor as she hears my words, and Juri takes care of her.

I walked over to Claude and Lauren and handed them the canteens.

“Thank you.”

“Thank you. Cain.”

I also opened my water bottle, drank some water, and sat down on the floor.

“The backpack feels too heavy.”

“Yeah… How about Lauren?”

“Hmm. I’m starting to feel a little heavy too. Leader.”

Considering Lauren’s physical abilities, it doesn’t feel like there’s any difference in weight between her backpack and the other colleagues’. I don’t think it’s a physical effect.

Then I heard Julie’s voice.

“It’s like a curse.”

“Yes?”

“If you explore the middle layer for a long time, your body becomes burdened, and you feel like your body is like that even though it is not real.”

“No, it only took an hour?”

“This symptom usually appears after searching for more than 2 weeks…”

I was dumbfounded by the sound of the search difficulty increasing in real time.

But there is still room to escape.

So we took another break and our exploration slowed down further.

Then, until 20 minutes of movement and 20 minutes of rest.

After moving for 6 hours, eating jerky and snacks here and there, we finally saw the end of the passageway in front of us.

Gooo-

The end of the passage. The entrance where the empty space was supposed to be was filled with pitch-black darkness, making it impossible to see the other side.

And the laughter in my ears grew louder, and not only I heard it, but Claude and Laurene heard it too.

Fortunately, Sia didn’t hear anything during that time.

“Wow… I’m so scared.”

“Why? Go back now?”

“No, you have to try it. First, you can go ahead and fight right away, so everyone, get ready.”

I held the potions that Zion had given me for now, while Lauren held the shield and Juri stretched her body by twisting her wrists here and there.

“Sia, just in case, please give me some protection.”

“Yes! Do it!”

Woohoo-!

Sia closed her eyes and gave us a blessing.

Then, as the warm glow lingered over our bodies and disappeared, the sound in our ears also became fainter.

As we walked to the end of the passage, Juri and I made various inferences, but the only conclusion we could come to was that there must be something related to Masin.

So we stepped forward, our tension building up to the max, out of the end of the passage.