Conquering the Labyrinth with a Trash-Tier Trait - Chapter 22

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 22
Flash.
The moment a world bleached white begins to reclaim its colors, standing in this strange place no longer feels strange.
Yes. It had to be this way.
Yet.
“Char. What are you doing? Hurry up!”
A blond-haired boy with blue eyes suddenly gestured at me with startling familiarity—far more than the usual situation called for.
Moreover, the words he spoke differed sharply from the common tongue I’d learned until now, and yet somehow I understood them.
And more than that.
“Young Master Bartus, if you carry on like this we’ll be in serious trouble! We’re in the middle of deciding whether to go to war with Green Skin or not.”
My mouth moved of its own accord, speaking words I hadn’t chosen.
“What’s the matter? The war hasn’t started yet. I’m just going to the Back Mountain for a bit.”
“Brother! Brother! Me too!”
“I want to go!”
Two younger children, resembling the boy, clung to him, and his expression grew even more confident.
“Can’t you see? Even my brothers are bored. I’m just going to get some fresh air.”
“The timing is delicate, I’m afraid. Young Master.”
“That’s why Char will protect us, right?”
A sigh escaped my lips of its own volition, and when my head nodded in agreement, the boy broke into a radiant smile and headed toward a hole in the castle wall.
‘What in the world is happening?’
My mind raced frantically even as my body spoke and moved without my consent, but only one thought crystallized.
‘Could I have been… possessed?’
A so-called Role-Playing Quest.
When adventurers conducted ascension quests in the upper levels, I’d heard that a small number of them would sometimes conduct Role-Playing Quests, inhabiting the bodies of other people from the past.
That is to say. In the Deep Floors.
‘This is the 5th floor! The novice section!’
Normally the 5th floor was supposed to feature a labyrinth.
From what I understood, the typical 5th floor involved navigating through various labyrinths and traps before hunting down Elite Monsters.
That’s why I’d recalled Klinsman’s Panties in preparation for various status ailments.
But then.
‘What is this!?’
Regardless of my bewilderment, events continued to unfold.
The boy Bartus and his siblings, despite their young age, sprinted from the castle with surprising speed, running like the wind itself.
“Ahahaha!”
“Brother. Come with me!”
“Brother!”
This was no exaggeration—they were literally bending the wind around themselves as they ran.
‘A spirit?’
Even Bartus, who appeared to be the oldest, looked barely ten years old.
Yet his younger siblings, who looked even smaller, deftly wove the Wind Spirit around themselves and effortlessly bounded along the mountain path.
In half a day they had crossed not merely one Back Mountain, but the peaks beyond it as well.
‘So that’s how the technique is meant to be applied.’
My eyes widened as I watched, learning from children.
Suddenly my consciousness surged upward from my possessed body, soaring into the sky.
As though surveying all the surrounding landscape with the mountain where the Bartus brothers ran at its center.
And far across the plains toward which they were heading, my vision caught sight of an enormous green tide advancing slowly across the fields.
‘What!?’
From the smallest goblins, to orcs and trolls, and even the largest ogres.
Humanoid green-skinned creatures were forming an army and marching forward.
Most critically, hundreds of units from Green Skin were climbing the mountain directly behind the one where Bartus and his brothers were running.
The instant I perceived them, my field of vision expanded, showing me the form of these Green Skin detachments.
“Lactus!”
“Yes!”
A towering orc clad in full plate armor, mounted upon a giant wolf, swinging an axe that flickered with a brilliant blue light.
The oppressive aura emanating from him was felt even from a distance.
‘He seems even stronger than that chieftain.’
Surrounding him were dozens of wolf-mounted orc cavalry units and hundreds of goblin warriors.
The moment I confirmed their presence.
The system’s voice rang out.

[You have entered Labyrinth Floor 5.]
[Floor 5 Quest]
[Return Bartus and his brothers safely.]
[Bartus 0/1]
[Baltazar 0/1]
[Cartus 0/1]
‘Great. A possession quest, for real.’
I exhaled, and in that moment my vision narrowed sharply, snapping back to the perspective of the children running ahead of me.
I shouted at once.
“Young masters! Wait!”
Only then did the words come from my own will, fully formed.
It was a language I’d never heard before, but perhaps because this was a quest, it felt as though the system automatically translated it for me.
“What!?”
“It’s dangerous!”
Grabbing hold of the bewildered children, I activated the quest window that materialized before my eyes.
‘Please, no impossible quest. Please.’
An ill feeling crept over me.
And sure enough.
[Perfect Clear Condition]
[Green Skin Special Force — Complete Annihilation]
[Orc Warlord Grash 0/1]
[Orc Warrior 0/30]
[Goblin Warrior 0/213]
[Success Condition: Eliminate 70% or more, including Special Force Commander Grash]
[Failure Condition: Death of Bartus and his brothers]
“Ah. Damn it all!”
The worst possible quest had landed on me.
A possession quest on Floor 5 wasn’t enough — now I was expected to wage a war single-handedly just to achieve a perfect clear.
As I stood there sighing, Bartus approached with a tilted head.
“Char, what’s wrong?”
So that was it.
‘This is the legendary hero Bartus, then?’
The name of the city I called home, and the royal house itself — its founding hero.
One of the heroes who saved humanity, and according to legend, he ascended to heaven and became a god.
But regrettably, that was all I knew about him.
Just a scrap of information someone had shared about the city’s namesake.
‘Damn. I should have learned more about Bartus.’
The regret came, but it changed nothing.
“What’s wrong, I asked?”
“Uncle Char, why?”
“Why, sir?”
Only when I saw the younger siblings — the children I presumed to be Baltazar and Cartus — gazing at me with curious eyes did I pull myself free from idle speculation.
“The Orc Warlord and his special force are crossing that mountain as we speak. You must return at once.”
I’d hoped they would take it seriously, but instead Bartus and his brothers’ eyes lit up.
“What!? Enemies, you say?”
“A battle!?”
“Wow!”
Seeing them show no sense of urgency whatsoever at the word “battle,” my chest tightened with frustration.
“But how did you know that!?”
“I, the spirits told me…….”
“Oh, then we’ll look too!”
“……No, you’re not going to look!”
I barked sharply, and only then did the children flinch.
“Go back at once. I will hold off the Green Skin forces so they cannot pursue you young masters.”
My plan was to send away the liability and figure out how to deal with the enemy myself.
But then—
“I want to fight too!”
“Me too!”
“Brother, me too!”
The reckless children made me clutch the back of my neck in despair.
“No, you can’t be serious—war isn’t some kind of game to you!?”
The shout tore from my throat before I could stop it.
A wail.
An alien cry echoed across the distance.
My head snapped around of its own accord, and beyond the ridge of the nearby hill, I saw a green goblin pointing directly at us, shrieking.
Behind it came the sight of Orc Riders—orcs mounted on wolves—charging down the mountainside.
“Damn it! Run!”
Pounding footsteps erupted all around.
Fortunately, the children obeyed this time without question.
Perhaps the threat they could see with their own eyes made the difference.
“Run!”
“Yes!”
At Bartus’s command, the children threw themselves into a sprint.
‘Like this, perhaps?’
Mimicking the way they wrapped the Wind Spirit around themselves as they ran, I felt the Volante Footwork surge forward with unmistakable speed.
But there was no time to celebrate the unexpected growth.
“Kuratcha!”
One of the Orc Riders—faster than the rest—had already crested the ridge and was charging toward us at a terrifying speed.
The one who glanced back at me was equipped, if not quite at the commander’s level, with gleaming iron weapons.
Even at a glance, it was clearly in a different class from anything I’d faced so far.
Not the leader itself, but one of its subordinates—that much was certain.
An Elite Monster.
‘This can’t be happening on the fifth level!’
I screamed inwardly, but reality didn’t bend to my will.
“Keep running!”
I bellowed the command, then stopped in my tracks.
From slightly elevated ground, I resolved to take down the one pursuing us first.
‘One opponent alone……’
Shouldn’t be beyond my reach.
Thinking that, I spun around and braced myself.
The sun suddenly vanished.
‘What—!?’
The wolf that had bounded into the air from far away shot up until its body eclipsed the sky above my head.
Then.
Clang!
“Kracho!”
The giant wolf’s claws raked downward while the orc atop it thrust its spear simultaneously, the combined assault carrying a lethal edge.
‘Breath!’
A quick step.
I instinctively recoiled hard, putting distance between myself and their range.
The moment the wolf touched ground, I used the opening to charge forward and spring upward.
A sharp stomp.
Gathering both the force of my leap and the vibrating power of my spear, I aimed a single devastating thrust at the orc warrior’s neck.
‘Got him—’
I saw the orc’s eyes widen as it realized its own spear was still extended, unable to retract.
But then.
Crack.
A sudden impact to my lower body sent me spinning through the air.
The moment I recognized it was the wolf’s front paw that had struck me—
—the orc warrior reset its stance and drove its spear forward again.
‘Damn—’
Twisting my body, I tried to evade using the Wind Spirit to its fullest, but I had no choice but to brace for a heavy blow.
‘Just me, is it—you think I’m taking this lying down!?’
I wrenched my body around and thrust my spear back at the orc.
Edeline’s Long Spear with +9 Attack Power—in other words, a spear that delivered a minimum of nine strength worth of force even with a glancing jab, and I trusted it entirely.
But in that instant—
A deep hum.
A powerful gust of wind spiraled around the orc’s spear, binding it.
At the same moment, a phantom foothold materialized beneath me, anchoring my stance with sudden strength.
A surge of wind.
My wavering spear straightened and shot forward, piercing clean through the orc warrior’s neck.
“Ugh……?”
The question in the orc warrior’s eyes mirrored my own confusion.
“Kyaaaah!”
Boom!
The wolf’s face convulsed at its rider’s death, and flames erupted across its snout.
Watching the earth clamp down on its paws, I understood the reason at once.
‘Thank you!’
Click.
Whoooosh.
I landed and drove my spear into the wolf’s neck, and only then did the system’s voice reach my ears.
[Orc Rider and Giant Wolf eliminated.]
[Contribution Rating 70%]
[Experience increased.]
[Level increased.]
[Obtained 1 Level-Up Point.]
‘Elite Monsters, sure enough.’
I spun around without time to savor the thrill of leveling, and there they were—the children cheering in the distance, just as I’d feared.
“Run!”
I couldn’t blame them for not fleeing when they’d needed my help.
I could only hope they’d put distance between us while I kept my mouth shut.
So we charged down the mountain path like madness itself, drawing on the Wind Spirit’s power to carry us forward.
But then.
Yelp!
Yelp-yelp!
Howwwwl!
The wolf’s cry behind us only grew closer—there was nothing to be done about it.
I glanced back. Three Orc Riders now pursued us.
‘This won’t work.’
I’d sensed it when I first saw the quest, but now that we’d fought, I knew for certain.
This wasn’t a quest you could win through direct combat.
So then.
“Into the forest!”
I shouted and herded the children off the path and into the trackless woods.
Once I’d hidden them deep in the brush where the sunlight barely reached,
“Don’t make a sound! And when they’re gone, you know what to do, right?”
I left them with those instructions, then bolted back out alone.
“Char! Take this!”
I caught sight of Bartus making an urgent gesture, slipping something swiftly into my chest pack.
But there was no time to dwell on it.
“Over here, you beasts!”
I cut hard to the side, steering my legs toward where the reinforcements were coming from—a wide, deliberate turn.
Yelp!
Watching the Orc Riders pivot toward me brought relief, though I couldn’t say whether it came from the quest or my own conscience.
Either way, the choice was made. Now there was nothing left but to see it through.
‘If I can’t run, I’ll hide in the depths.’
Lucky for me, I had the Concealment Cloak that Kim Hyun-sik had (?) given me.
The plan was embarrassingly simple, and success seemed far from guaranteed.
‘Hide and strike.’
It was the only way I could see to achieve a Perfect Clear.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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