Conquering the Labyrinth with a Trash-Tier Trait - Chapter 46

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

Episode 46
Crack!
The thorned whip lashed straight across Kirk’s massive frame.
His enormous bulk went flying a good thirty feet from that single strike, crashing to the ground hard.
Setting aside the raw force contained in the blow, the whip itself—shimmering with crimson energy—was clearly no ordinary weapon.
And now it didn’t even need to make contact.
‘I see.’
—Whoosh!
Poong Cheol-woo, the “Lesser Spirit” who’d answered with casual humor, moved in a blur and became nothing but a gust of wind, brushing past the whip and toward Cha Hye-ryeon.
[Name: Cha Hye-ryeon]
[Rose Wipper (3rd Tier) Lv.37]
[Ability 3/4]
—Whip. Gluttony. Enchantment
[Summoner of Bartus]
[Trait: Magical Power Affinity]
As expected, a Special Class—but.
‘Third Tier? Damn.’
Higher than I’d anticipated.
And on top of that.
‘Gluttony. Enchantment? What is this?’
The ability names themselves were suspicious to say the least.
[Rose Vine Whip (Super Rare)]
—Attack Power +40
—Bleeding (Rare)
—Poison (Rare)
—Accuracy Correction
—Length Correction
The weapon’s options were vicious—as if she’d deliberately chosen a whip that matched her nature.
What surprised me, though, was that aside from the whip itself, I saw almost no other combat-oriented items, only convenience pieces.
The Dress-Form Armor she wore was top-tier quality.
Even her Leather Boots were just the female version of the aristocratic convenience boots I used to wear.
‘No funds? No, that can’t be right.’
I’d seen how the Royal Palace treated Cha Hye-ryeon—someone with 4 Slots and an A-grade Trait.
And if she was already Third Tier, they would’ve increased her support further, not withdrawn it.
‘She said she wasn’t the type to provoke someone just to squeeze equipment or money out of them.’
Then there was only one possibility.
She’d poured her substantial funding elsewhere.
There was only one thing that came to mind.
‘Ability Stones?’
If she’d upgraded three green (Rare) Ability Stones to match her Third Tier Class, that would account for it all.
Crack!
Thud-crash.
“Wow. He’s no match. Yet he’s getting back up again?”
“Most people would give up by now. This young friend’s got real grit, doesn’t he?”
“Tsk. That’s exactly why he’s going to get hurt worse. He should stay down.”
Damn.
My thoughts had stretched too long, and Kirk looked even more beaten now.
True to her Third Tier Class, Cha Hye-ryeon’s whip moved so fast I could barely track it with my eyes—
But there was a way.
‘The Elf Item is already activating Forest Guardian.’
More than that, I had a trump card.
‘Now’s the time to use it. Come on. Spirit Fusion.’
—Okay!
Poong Cheol-woo, the wind spirit who’d been observing the situation, was suddenly sucked into my body in that instant.
At the same moment.
Crunch.
Something shifted—my bones, muscles, and the very quality of my mana all transforming in a heartbeat.
My senses sharpened dramatically, and I felt my body accelerate.
Mana was being consumed steadily, but the sensation wasn’t unpleasant.
No.
A smirk crossed my face.
“I’m in a good mood.”
Laughter bubbled up unbidden.
“You……?”
The people around me sensed something—their forms parted left and right—but I paid them no mind.
Whoooosh.
Snap.
Kirk was slipping into danger by the second.
Boom.
I deployed the Volante Movement Technique at full throttle and charged straight into the fray.
Thump-thump-thump.
The path of Cha Hye-ryeon’s whip became visible to my eyes—different from before.
In a sensation where all the world moved a shade slower,
even the way she turned her head toward me unfolded in languorous detail.
For some reason, I wanted to offer her a warm greeting.
“Good to see you! You damned brat.”
Crack.
I swung the spear in one fluid motion and struck the bastard square across the face with the shaft.
“Ugh!?”
Caught off guard, he flew backward.
‘What a satisfying hit.’
Riding that exhilaration, I had every intention of landing a few more blows.
-Stop. You lack justification.
‘What?’
Who was speaking?
I wanted to ignore it, but something told me I shouldn’t.
-Show restraint.
“Tch!”
The moment I lowered my spear.
“What are you!?”
Boom.
The whip tore through the air and came screaming at me.
‘Ah, I saw this coming.’
That’s why I should’ve gone wild when I had the opening.
-Fall back.
Now, though, I was beginning to understand what this meant.
Clang!
I flicked the whip’s end away with the spear blade in a flourish, then slid backward smoothly; Cha Hye-ryeon pursued me, whip lashing.
“What are you!?”
“I’m me!”
-Stop playing around…….
“Are you insane!?”
Slash-slash-slash-slash.
-……Let some of it through and take the blows.
The inner voice(?) provoked a fierce resistance in me.
Yet somehow, the reason I had to do exactly that became clear.
‘Damn.’
Twang.
I stepped back, struck the whip’s tip to sap its force, and as it lost momentum and thrashed, I eased my armor into its path.
The strike landed against the coiled length of the whip.
Crack.
“Ahhhhh!?”
Three full somersaults through the air, then I deployed my Falling Technique.
Thud.
“Ugh…….”
Murmurs rippled through the crowd around me.
“That was rough.”
“Who is that?”
“Strange-looking, too.”
As expected.
Isn’t that a perfect ten for acting?
Stop joking around. Geez…
I heard the voice in my heart and simply got to my feet with a slight smirk.
“…I took a hit too. So we’re even now, right?”
“Who do you think you are, stepping in like that!?”
“Your friend was about to get the short end of the stick, so I jumped in. We’ve both taken a hit and landed one—call it even. Unless you want to keep going with me?”
I leveled my spear at her with a grin, and Cha Hye-ryeon glared at me with a hardened expression.
“You look like a 1st Class, but how in the world…?”
Similar murmurs rippled through the crowd watching nearby.
Ah. Did I show too much of my strength?
“…There’s nothing to know. So, want to keep going?”
At those words, Cha Hye-ryeon gritted her teeth and retracted her drooping whip.
Swish.
“You. What’s your name?”
Huh?
You don’t know me?
I thought she was joking, but her expression was serious.
So I decided to mess with her.
“Scrap Iron.”
“What?”
“Char, to be precise.”
“Char?”
She didn’t get the joke, and that irritated me.
‘Why doesn’t she… wait?’
As I frowned, my heightened senses caught something off.
My reflection in Cha Hye-ryeon’s dark eyes looked slightly strange.
‘White hair? Eyebrows too?’
It was as if all the body hair on me had turned white.
And around my body, a pure white gust of wind was beginning to swirl faintly.
‘Oh. A transformation? That’s cool. Why not lean into it and create a whole new identity?’
Mischief tugged at me as another smirk threatened to break through.
-No more of this. Cancel.
I heard a voice in my heart—or rather, I felt the spirit inside me, or myself, withdraw.
Crack.
“I’m Char. Cha Hye-ryeon.”
“What!? You, you, you—what was that!? Just now!?”
Cha Hye-ryeon’s face twisted in shock.
As Poong Cheol-woo, the wind spirit, withdrew from within me, my form seemed to return to its original state.
“Char!?”
“Easy, Kirk. Just tend to your wounds.”
“No, but—what in the world was that…?”
I gestured to Kirk to calm him down, then checked my own condition first.
‘I didn’t expect a side effect like that.’
The change in appearance was secondary.
When I used Spirit Fusion, the personality of the spirit—another self, in a sense—surfaced and took control.
It wasn’t an unpleasant feeling, but it was an unforeseen variable that made things awkward.
And my mana consumption was greater than I’d anticipated.
“What just happened!?”
“…Like I said, I was helping out a friend. So let’s call it here and step back, yeah?”
“Ha. As if I’d let you decide!”
Swoosh.
The woman who’d moments ago shown signs of backing off suddenly unfurled her whip again.
But.
“There’s already rumors going around that you target beginners and beat them to a pulp. If word spreads more, things will get messy for you. Still want to keep this up?”
My voice carried across the gathered crowd, and those watching began to whisper among themselves. She faltered.
“Ha. Char. Quite the mysterious talent you’ve picked up. What rotten luck.”
What do “mysterious” and “talent” even mean in this context?
“Just got lucky.”
I held back a laugh and answered flatly.
The woman frowned again.
“Made quite a bit of money, I hear—is that where all this comes from?”
I’d taken a huge gamble to save Kirk, so I’m grateful he’s underestimating my gear like this.
“Of course! You should see the quality of items I’m using.”
The less attention I draw, the better.
But then.
“Just now. Was that a Skill?”
“Maybe?”
“A first-Class ability with that kind of output…….”
“Could be an item.”
“I see…….”
The whispers around us never stopped.
“Tch…….”
Cha Hye-ryeon’s fingers trembled slightly as she fixed me with a sharp stare, clearly dissatisfied with my reaction.
‘She seems conflicted.’
After glancing around quickly, she stared at me once more before tucking the whip away.
Whoosh.
“Fine. That’ll do for today. And tell this idiot to watch his eyes around me.”
“Talking nonsense even now? You should probably stop doing this sort of thing.”
“……Looks like someone’s gotten bold in my absence. Cheap trash.”
“My nerves have always been solid.”
Despite appearances, I’ve never had a single drop of alcohol—a body as pure as they come.
There was never time for it; I was always working.
Ah.
A joke had suddenly surfaced an old, bitter memory.
“……Right. See you later, Char.”
Only after Cha Hye-ryeon turned away with that icy gaze did the tension finally drain from my shoulders.
Of course, I couldn’t simply let “see you later” pass.
From the moment she’d first interrupted us, I’d been recording the voice patterns of our entire exchange through the Earring I was wearing.
[Target designated.]
At least my most basic insurance had begun to activate.
And then.
“Screeeee!”
A mass latched onto me.
“Hey. Come on. Let go!”
“What’s going on!? It’s been over a hundred days, hasn’t it!?”
“I don’t know how it happened. Damn it, let go already!? You’re getting blood all over me! Aren’t you going to heal this!?”
“Ah, this much heals up with a little spit.”
“Is your spit a Potion or something!?”
Dodging the clingy mass and Kirk’s bickering, along with the stares that followed, I made my way to the 9th District.
“Honestly. So you’re saying you were in Prison for four months?”
Faced with Kirk’s remarkable ability to reduce my entire epic ordeal into a single, pitiful sentence, I found myself speechless.
“So to break through that trap…….”
“Yes, you’ve been through a lot.”
“……Yeah.”
What’s this?
I’d filtered through the mountain of important details as best I could and given him an explanation.
But somehow I felt wronged.
“Still, you’ve gotten incredibly strong, so at least you got something out of it. I’m standing before the 20th Floor, but you seem stronger than me now.”
“Ah, that. It’s just temporary—won’t last long since it’s more like a Skill.”
“Even so. What kind of Class did you even acquire……?”
“Hey, man. Didn’t I tell you not to ask about that?”
“……But you told me before?”
“That’s why, man!”
“Oh. We’re here.”
And there it was—the main gate of the Jeorik Martial Arts School.
“The Master was worried about you. He said he believed you were alive, but lately he hasn’t seemed to have much drive.”
Creak-eeeeak.
As I pushed open the gate and stepped inside, I spotted Jeorik’s back in the distance, sweeping a corner of the courtyard.
With his senses, he should have noticed us entering through the gate.
Yet his stillness struck me as somehow forlorn.
“Master!”
The moment I cried out, Jeorik startled and turned toward me.
His face was a shade more haggard than I remembered, and I found myself hesitating before I could help it.
Then I saw his eyes widen.
“Char! You—!”
“Yes. I’ve returned, sir!”
I made my greeting deliberately loud, and a brilliant smile bloomed across Jeorik’s face.
“Where in the world have you been all this time! You reckless fool! Do you have any idea how worried I’ve been?”
“There’s quite a bit to explain, Master.”
“All right, all right. Take your time. There are no classes today anyway…….”
Looking at him, I repeated the same story I’d told Kirk.
But strangely, none of it felt tedious.

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