NOVPUBJung Yu-shin looked around at the people who were screaming in shock.
Isn’t this a phenomenon that is quite understandable?
The monsters are moving together.
This is exactly the phenomenon before the Eldritch Wave spread.
It was a bit strange to see them already playing exclusionary play, as if their minds were set.
“Who are you?”
Dark elf Huris said while looking at Jung Yu-shin.
But the answer came from someone else. A human man named Matt, who had been fighting on Jung Yu-shin’s right wing, stepped forward.
“This man is the man called Barbaroi of the Labyrinth City.”
Dark elf scratched his chin.
“I think I’ve heard of him before. Are you sure?”
“At least that’s what I saw when I saw him fight.”
Jung Yu-shin took off his helmet because the dark elf continued to look suspicious.
His black hair, soaked in sweat, flowed down.
“It really was Barbaroi. Judging by his small body, is he a half-blood?”
“That’s not important. From what I can see, this phenomenon is just before the Eldritch Wave.”
The dark elf’s expression crumpled at Jung Yu-shin’s assertion.
“What’s your evidence? I heard he’s a rookie explorer, so don’t show off and just stay quiet. This isn’t a place for a rookie explorer.”
‘What the heck?’
Jung Yu-shin turned his head and looked at Iron Mask.
The story we have to tell now is related to the party’s request.
The moment he speaks without the leader’s permission, Iron Mask’s position will be damaged. He couldn’t do that.
Iron Mask nodded slightly, understanding the meaning of Jung Yu-shin’s gaze.
He was incredibly quick to notice, perhaps because he was a former crown prince.
Jung Yu-shin opened his mouth, brushing his hair back.
“We have a request.”
Dark elves, and human eyes were concentrated in the mouth of the center, and they could be inferred to the seventh. "How do I get caught?" There were some people who were fighting with each other. The female dwarf turned her head and looked at the male elf wizard standing behind her.
The elf’s robe was covered in blood, having just recovered the body of his comrade.
“Charis, what should we do? You’re from the Magic Tower, so you must know something. Wasn’t the Magic Tower the first organization to name this phenomenon?”
The male elf named Charis rubbed his forehead.
“It’s possible. The Magic Tower and the church wouldn’t have made such a request for nothing. Of course, they didn’t anticipate this phenomenon and make the request.”
The elf sighed and shook his head.
“Whew. If a black portal had been created from the 6th floor teleportation stone, we would have been more certain, but there’s no way to find out.”
Matt stroked his chin.
“Let’s say it’s a precursor symptom of the Eldritch Wave. There must be a fundamental reason why he revealed the request to us, right?”
Jeong Yu-shin crossed his arms and looked around at the people around him.
I don’t know when I came, but everyone was already gathered and looking at me.
“Help me bury the relic.”
“I knew it. But where should I bury it? We don’t know the place.”
“Mars.”
Mars staggered out and unfolded the map in his arms.
The 7th floor district was roughly marked on the worn paper.
Mars pointed to three places marked with stars on the paper.
“There’s one near here, south. There’s one in the northwest. The last place is north, along the central district.”
Dark Elf Huris looked at the map and clicked his tongue.
“Tch. It’s too far? Isn’t it faster to just escape the labyrinth? And is there any guarantee that the magic power will dissipate if you bury the relic? No. Why would you bury such an expensive relic on the floor of the labyrinth in the first place?”
“It’s a request from the Temple of the Wind. It’s experimental, but I don’t think it’s something to be ignored.”
“You’re a beginner explorer, so I understand why you blindly believe in the cult. But you’re so naive.”
‘This kid.’
The dark elf kept nagging at me, and I got angry.
I’ll hold on one more time.
I made a mental promise and continued talking.
“If you don’t believe me, go somewhere nearby and bury the relic. If you succeed, you can stop the Eldritch Wave. You can also prevent a large number of monsters from attacking.”
Everyone nodded in agreement with Jeong Yu-shin’s words.
It was a story that would have been ignored, but for those who were exhausted from the death of their comrades, they needed a goal right in front of them.
Everyone got up from their seats and packed their belongings. They had no choice but to leave the corpse where it was.
It was too heavy to carry.
Following Mars’s guidance, all the explorers moved south.
The Iron Mask Party was in the lead, followed by the Matt Party, the Dwarf Party, and finally the Dark Elf Party.
They passed through a dense and dark forest and arrived at another open space.
All the party members felt it.
A chillingly cold magic wave swept through the open space.
Jung Yu-shin also felt it.
‘Is this the magic coming from the abyss of the labyrinth?’
I simply thought that the temperature of the labyrinth was low, but ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) I thought that it might not be like that.
Matt approached.
“Is there an exact location?”
“I heard that you can bury it nearby.”
Jung Yu-shin took out an iron box from his bag.
Since the Magic Tower Wizard was nearby, he had something to ask.
“Can you read the letters written on the outside of this box?”
The elf wizard narrowed his eyes and stared at the letters for a while.
For a moment, the elf’s eyebrows twitched.
“···No. I don’t know.”
“They said it was ancient text?”
“Similar, but no.”
“You can’t read it, right?”
The elf rubbed his forehead.
“If I had to say, it looks like a code. Don’t tease the Labyrinth Wizard too much. They’re people who spend more time thinking about how to kill efficiently than sitting and reading books.”
‘It’s scary.’
Jeong Yu-shin, who was stung by the chilling warning, closed his mouth.
Several people came out with shovels and dug the ground.
They didn’t know how deep to dig, so they dug just thigh-deep and buried the box.
They waited for a moment.
“...”
Silence passed for a moment.
Dark elf Huris couldn’t stand it any longer and let out a deep sigh.
“Whew. What the hell is this. Half-blood Barbaroi, you punk. Don’t waste your time...”
The dark elf stopped talking and closed his mouth.
A huge magical power stirred once.
Kurururung!!!
An unprecedented magical power swept up like a storm centered around the box and began to rise upward.
Kwaaaaaaah!!!
A powerful flow of magical power pulled people in. It was strong enough to drag them into the sky if they were not careful.
“Stay on the ground!”
“Hold hands!”
“Hey!!! I’m going up!”
The shocked explorers immediately stuck to the ground and struggled to keep their bodies from floating in the air.
About 3 minutes passed?
The concentrated magical power dispersed and slowly sank.
The disheveled people raised their heads one by one and stared blankly at the sky.
It was still a dark brown, but the ominous atmosphere seemed to have dissipated a little.
Jung Yu-shin got up from his seat and glared at the dark elf.
He missed the timing because of the magic storm, but he felt like he could feel better if he said what he had to say.
“You little black brat. What did you just say? You said let’s see. You can’t even see in the dark. Please don’t show your dark heart on your skin.”
Urgh!!!
The dark elf glared at Jung Yu-shin with bloodshot eyes.
“Scar, you’re being harsh.”
The iron mask stepped forward.
“I’m sorry. I lost my senses for a moment. I’m not the type of person to discriminate against people based on their skin color. I guess I said something out of the blue.”
Jung Yu-shin returned to his calm expression and apologized.
As a civilized person in the 21st century who stands at the forefront of PC, I blurted out words that I could not bring myself to say.
‘Ha. The darkness of the labyrinth again.’
Jung Yu-shin corrected his politically incorrect thoughts.
“···It really was.”
Matt muttered with a blank expression.
“Are you saying that it was really a precursor to the Eldritch Wave?”
Jung Yu-shin looked around at the people.
‘No matter what you say, I’ll believe you.’
He cleverly covered up the loss caused by the death of his comrades with the sole goal of surviving, and he could see them trying to follow him wherever he went.
Furthermore, there was evidence that Jung Yu-shin’s hypothesis was correct.
He realized that even he could not stop them.
No.
There was no need to stop them. You can mourn outside the labyrinth city.
Jung Yu-shin clapped his hands to focus the people’s attention.
“Okay, everyone. Mars will mark the location on the map you have. Go dig the ground and bury the sacred object.”
The people nodded enthusiastically.
The female dwarf stepped forward.
“It’s inefficient to move all at once. We don’t have time. It would be better to reorganize into two parties.”
“Let’s do that.”
Matt and Huris’s party combined to form a seven-person party.
Iron Mask and the dwarf party combined to form a six-person party.
Unsurprisingly, the dark elf Huris was the guide. Mars approached and marked the location on Huris’s map.
It was quite a distance to the north.
Huris knew, but didn’t say much. At least his party was fine and there was one more person.
Plus, if it was to the north, it was close to the transfer stone. If anything, he could use Matt’s party as bait to escape.
Iron Mask took the relic out of his backpack and handed it to Matt.
“Please.”
Matt carefully took the relic and put it in his backpack.
“Leave it to me. It’ll definitely work.”
The two men paused for a moment and exchanged glances.
‘Whew. I want to join too.’
Human warriors in heavy armor were interacting.
A sudden urge to poke his face into that place arose.
Jung Yu-shin immediately shook his head.
This is not the time. It’s time to prepare and go.
The Huris party quickly packed their bags and left the open space.
Mars, who took his eyes off the departing party, looked at the map.
“We fell on the southern outskirts from the beginning. The next place to bury the relic is the open space northwest of here. Fortunately, it’s close.”
“Let’s go.”
Iron Mask said, draping his greatsword over his shoulder. 𝖓𝔬𝔳𝖕𝖚𝖇.𝖈𝔬𝔪
Mars led the party.
The people continued to push through the grass without stopping.
They walked for a full seven hours.
Nevertheless, the people did not try to sit down and rest.
Because they knew that if they took a deep breath and felt comfortable, they would naturally think of the dead.
They ran as if they were abusing themselves, sweating profusely.
Whether it was good luck or bad luck, they did not encounter any monsters.
The Iron Mask and the Dwarf Party kept going and arrived at another empty lot.
They took the holy relic out of Mars’s luggage and buried it in the ground.
They did not feel the rapid flow of magic power like last time.
“Now it seems that only the Huris Party needs to bury the holy relic.”
“Let’s move north and join up. At least we need to check if they failed or succeeded.”
The people gathered their opinions and continued north.
They walked for about two days.
The people were silent.
If the Huris Party had succeeded, the monsters should have dispersed and met normally, but there were no monsters anywhere.
An eerie and uneasy feeling rose up and weighed on the shoulders of the party members.
Day 3.
Arrived right in front of the empty lot where the Huris party was supposed to be.
“Why can’t I hear anything?”
Mars muttered and covered his nose.
“Ugh!!! What the hell is this stink!!!”
Jung Yu-shin also swallowed his breath.
The smell of rotten eggs and fish mixed together. Nausea rose up in his throat.
No way.
The words that the cat Su-in had said flashed through his mind.
‘They say there’s a forest troll wandering around the 7th floor.’
Damn.
Jung Yu-shin lowered his posture and carefully stuck his face out between the bushes.
And the sight that was revealed.
Something like a giant was sitting with its back exposed.
Jung Yu-shin’s eyes widened.
He was holding a human woman in his hand.
‘That person?’
Isn’t he the archer in charge of long-range at the Huris party?
The woman opened her mouth as if she was alive, but her body was shaking without moving.
The giant lifted the woman high with both hands and grabbed her legs.
And slowly opened them. As if enjoying it.
The woman shook her head vigorously, shedding tears. But not a single sound came out of her mouth.
As the troll put strength into his hands.
Tsssssss!!!
The woman was torn in half, including her legs.
Thudsss!!!
As the internal organs in her body flowed out with blood, the giant opened his mouth and ate them as if he were eating a delicacy.
“Fuck.”
A curse came out of Jeong Yu-shin’s mouth.
There was no denying it.
A huge, distracting mass.
A stench that stung the nose.
Mushrooms on her back.
It was a forest troll.
