Conquering the Labyrinth with a Trash-Tier Trait - Chapter 66

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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 66
“Ugh!?”
I instinctively let go of the spear and yanked my arm back, barely stopping it from being severed.
But then.
“Whoa!?”
Crack.
Something slammed into my ribs with crushing force, and my body went flying through the air.
“Hack!?”
In that moment, I saw it.
“Impressive— wait!? What is this spear!?”
The bald man, Candrick, who had been sneering at me just an instant before, now gripped my spear with wide eyes.
“…… Super Rare!? Are you insane!? Ha ha ha ha ha!”
Tap.
Rolling.
‘Damn.’
I released my transformation, let the wind spirit absorb the impact, and landed as Max approached me.
“Brother!? Your hand!”
The centipede monster’s body was collapsing slowly.
Whoosh.
Boom, boom, boom.
Spores erupting from its head, finishing it decisively.
And besides.
Whoooosh.
‘Hmm.’
Crackle.
Even with the spear separated from my body, I could feel healing energy flowing through me.
‘Because the mana I poured into the spear was my own mana?’
The moment I felt my arm’s wound closing rapidly and my health recovering, the system’s voice sounded.
[You have defeated the Jungle Swamp King Horned Centipede.]
[Contribution: 69%]
[You have leveled up once.]
[You have obtained 1 Level-up Point.]
[You have resolved a Hidden Quest.]
[You have obtained 2 Level-up Points.]
[You have obtained a Random Stat Point. Your Stamina increases by 2.]
[An achievement has been created.]
[The Jungle Swamp King Horned Centipede guarantees an Ability Stone drop.]
The level-up and the reward for resolving the Hidden Quest had come through, but I couldn’t fully savor the moment.
The yellow gemstone falling beneath the enormous centipede’s body wasn’t something I could afford to admire either.
My mana was down to a third or less.
“You were the one who lured it here, weren’t you?”
“Pay the price, Trash-Rank.”
“But is Trash-Rank really…… right? This one?”
Three surviving knights approached me and Max.
Honestly, they weren’t the problem.
It was Candrick, examining the spear lodged in the centipede, who concerned me.
3rd Class. High-Rank Knight.
‘Damn it.’
Everything had gotten complicated.
“There was a reason the Royal Palace had me test you. This spear too…… Trash. Got anything you want to say to me?”
“What?”
“Trash Special Properties, only a single Innate Ability Slot—a Trash-Rank piece of garbage like you wouldn’t just find something like this lying around. From what you showed us, you’ve got other Super Rare Artifacts too, don’t you? That transformation state must be an item. Could it be a Unique Item?”
At Candrick’s arbitrary rambling, even the expressions of the approaching knights shifted.
“Is that true, Lord?”
“Commander? Really?”
“How is that…… ?”
Tap.
This lunatic was spouting complete nonsense on his own.
“No, wait—you wouldn’t have enough mana to use a Unique Item anyway. That doesn’t make sense. You must have several more Super Rare pieces, combining them for a synergy effect. That’s it, isn’t it?”
I didn’t bother responding to Candrick’s speculation.
“Behind me, please…….”
“Wait.”
I steadied Max, who was tense and bracing his shield in front of me against the approaching enemies.
There was still one move left.
‘Explosive Annihilation…… If it lands, I can finish them.’
My final gambit—pouring every last drop of mana into a single strike.
With my mana running thin, both the power and the range would diminish, but I still believed I could end this.
If I timed it right.
The problem was.
“You didn’t acquire those items by luck, surely. Tell me how you obtained such artifacts, and I’ll grant you a merciful death, trash.”
The bald one running his mouth—unlike the other knights, he wasn’t rushing toward me.
Then.
“Blind them and strike. Get ready.”
A flinch.
I drove my voice through a spirit of wind straight into Max’s ear canal.
At the same moment, I summoned a water spirit and unleashed Mist Scatter combined with Lethal Spore, followed by the Insecticide Skill.
Whoooosh!
And then.
‘Sound Drain.’
The earring’s option activated as well.
—Ambush.
—Grab him!
Watching the knights lunge at me with their mouths gaping silently, I triggered the earring’s linked option, Decibel Noise.
Shrieeeeeek!
“Ugh!”
“Argh!”
The moment I saw the knights staggering through the mist and prepared to leap backward.
“You!”
Candrick appeared, closing in at terrifying speed.
Over thirty meters of distance vanishing in what felt like an instant.
A fatal mistake—I hadn’t realized the Decibel Noise would scatter part of the mist itself.
‘Can’t escape. Damn it!’
The moment my instinct screamed.
‘Let’s settle this!’
—Should’ve done this from the start! Here goes!
I reflexively poured all my remaining mana into the fire spirit.
—Go to hell! Hahahaha!
‘Explosive Annihilation.’
A flash.
BOOOOOM!
The instant Cheol-woo detonated point-blank, I grabbed Max and threw myself backward.
Crash! Crash! Crash! Crash! Crash!
Even though I’d only poured a third of my remaining mana into it, the scorching heat rolled past my back and overhead for what felt like an eternity.
“Ugh…….”
Did it work?
At least, I felt no killing intent aimed at the back of my head.
Getting to my feet, the scorched landscape came into view.
The centipede monster had wreaked havoc, and now toxic mist and flames twisted upward in a column.
‘That should do it.’
The knights who’d been pressing us down were unmistakably dead.
“……Gone?”
But Candrick was nowhere to be seen.
And my World Tree Spear too.
“This bastard!?”
Even with my mana depleted, rage drove me to my feet.
Fortunately, a hastily summoned elementary wind spirit traced Candrick’s retreating form in the distance.
“Max! We’re going!”
“……What? In this state?”
“We’re going!”
I couldn’t possibly let him escape.
It was this obsession alone that drove him to pursue.
“Ugh…….”
Candrick couldn’t believe the situation he found himself in.
His Rare Grade armor, Regeneration, shattered to save his life, and now he was fleeing for his survival.
‘How—how did that trash-rank pull this off?’
He’d attributed the impossible feats the man displayed to his artifacts.
So he’d thought he was being doubly cautious.
But the man’s methods had gone a step further.
Such tremendous destructive power.
It was nearly indistinguishable from flame magic cast by a 3rd Class mage.
Carefully prepared magic at the highest level, no less.
Thanks to that, the Regeneration’s protective barrier and healing ability had drained his mana in a single instant as he maxed them out to survive.
‘Damn. If only my Innate Ability hadn’t been sealed.’
It was a meaningless thought.
After all, his body was in perfect condition even now.
It was the first time in a decade—ever since he’d sat down and accepted his limits—that he’d experienced such a complete mana depletion, and the shock had made him grab the spoils(?) and flee without hesitation.
Now he was merely making excuses to himself.
Any other valiant knight who witnessed this would find his cowardly escape utterly pathetic.
But Candrick’s mind had focused on other matters to forget his shameful flight.
‘What artifact is it?’
The common sense built up over long years of observation was too solid; even in this situation, no other thought entered his mind.
‘Could there have been a way to make a fortune? There must be, right?’
Even as he fled, the fear that such a bomb might exist elsewhere kindled his greed.
‘Such an artifact can’t be common. I’ll go back, recover, and strike him again. If he went higher up, I’ll chase him no matter what.’
He would wring from that man the reason he’d managed to obtain such a vast wealth of artifacts—or else the method to earn such riches.
“Heh.”
Looking at the Wooden Spear in his hand, a smile naturally spread across his face.
‘Even if I’m expelled from the Royal Palace.’
Catching that man would transform his life entirely—of this he was certain.
But then, in that instant.
‘Whoosh!’
His body reacted reflexively to the sudden killing intent approaching from behind.
Clang.
The moment he saw a translucent dagger that had come without sound bounce away.
He instinctively positioned himself and turned to look behind him.
‘What!?’
He never could have imagined that bouncing dagger would immediately pierce back through.
And the direction it was coming from again was the left.
His reaction with the unfamiliar spear was just slightly too slow.
“Hck!?”
Squelch.
He twisted desperately, but the dagger drove straight into his shoulder.
The moment he dropped the spear involuntarily.
Something round suddenly entered his vision.
“Hyah!”
Crash!
‘Damn.’
Whoosh.
If his mana had been intact, he wouldn’t have budged an inch from a Shield Charge like that—but his body went flying.
Thud-thud-thud.
Even as he did, he managed the Falling Technique and barely pushed himself up.
And there, already standing before him, was that trash-rank holding that spear.
“Where are you running off to so eagerly?”
“Heh. So a pathetic wretch thinks he’s impressive just because he has artifacts. How laughable.”
With that, he assessed the situation.
Fortunately, the man’s mana seemed depleted as well. The short one holding the shield beside him wasn’t worth careful attention.
‘What other artifacts does he have?’
That spear’s attacks and other options were quite remarkable, but they meant nothing if they didn’t land.
As Candrick’s mind worked through what other artifacts Cheol-woo might possess.
“Well. Artifacts are power too.”
A low rumble.
Suddenly, a faint light flickered across the leaves sprouting from the wooden spear.
In that instant, I remembered something I’d seen in the spear’s options—pure fortune.
Pitter-patter-patter-bang.
“Hah!”
Clang-clang-clang.
I struck down five incoming leaves with a sword swung like lightning.
A show of skill born from desperation.
But even so, three leaves slipped through and drove toward my vital points.
Thud-thud.
“Damn it all…….”
As my body went limp, I gnashed my teeth in frustration.
‘Come closer. Come closer.’
Yes, I’d been hit, but I still clung to my last ounce of strength and staggered forward.
“It was unpleasant meeting you. Now let’s end this, Candrick.”
Stomp-stomp.
‘That’s it. Come on.’
I forced my dimming consciousness to stay sharp.
Whoosh.
He advanced a few steps, then hurled another blade at me.
‘You bastard!?’
Clang!
My sword moved on instinct, striking the translucent blade I couldn’t even see.
But the memory of what just happened kept my nerves razor-sharp, hunting for the next one.
‘Where is it!?’
While I focused on that, I noticed too late that a spear was thrusting straight at my face.
“Hah!”
I struggled to block the spear somehow.
Ting.
My blade bounced away uselessly.
It was a desperate stroke, and I’d poured every last bit of strength into it, yet it deflected far too easily.
‘His spearcraft……?’
Only then did I realize that his thrust carried a subtle tremor and rotation to it.
Squelch.
The wooden spear drove deep into Candrick’s throat.
“Kgh…….”
He collapsed.
‘It was never just the equipment.’
As he died, Candrick finally understood that the trash-rank opponent he’d dismissed was no trash-rank at all—
but the realization came far too late.
[You have defeated a High-Rank Knight.]
[Contribution: 95%]
[You have gained vast experience. Level increased.]
“Hah…….”
Only when I’d cut off Candrick’s breath did Cheol-woo finally exhale in relief.
‘Good. Dead and gone, you bastard.’
Settling an old grudge with my own hands felt extraordinarily light.
But I was just as exhausted.
Thump.
“Ah. Really. I don’t want to move a single finger.”
I truly had nothing left.
“Shall I help you up?”
“No. Let’s just rest here a moment.”
“On the jungle floor?”
“Ah, I don’t care. I really can’t move now.”
If I hadn’t noticed from Candrick’s condition that he was in no better shape than I was, I never would have pursued him at all.
‘Damn. Should’ve stocked up on Mana potions.’
I’d reaped such benefits from the Mana-infused dew on the fifth floor, yet I’d never thought to prepare Mana potions.
The truth was, I couldn’t afford the expensive ones while matching my equipment—but that was no excuse for not making it my first priority from the start.
‘All because of my greed for items…….’
And as I was thinking that, Candrick’s sword suddenly came to mind.
‘It was definitely Rare Grade, wasn’t it?’
At that thought, I jumped to my feet.
“Hyung?”
Max, who had been crouching awkwardly, tilted his head in confusion.
“Oh right, I need to collect the spoils.”
The other knights’ artifacts weren’t anything special.
The top-tier shield had been smashed to pieces by us.
Several advanced-grade weapons were caught in the Explosive Annihilation and completely destroyed.
Fortunately, Candrick’s sword remained intact.
[Bartus Royal High-Rank Knight Sword (Rare)]
-Attack Power +30
-Reaction Speed +30
-Mana Efficiency +30
-A high-rank knight’s longsword crafted by Eberdun, the Royal Palace’s master smith.
“Huh…”
I’d heard about this before.
For someone who’d properly learned swordplay and could use Mana Blade and Sword Qi, the Mana Efficiency option was far superior to the Mana Blade option.
‘Top-tier attack power, fundamentally sound options. Two Rare-Grade options attached, and both at the highest level.’
If just one more Rare-Grade option were added besides the attack power, this would be a Super Rare sword.
‘Eberdun, the Royal Palace’s master craftsman?’
The moment the artisan’s name—learned through the additional information function—was engraved in my mind.
The spirit searching through Candrick’s corpse alerted me to the presence of another artifact.
“Huh…?!”
[Kail’s Leather Shoes (Super Rare)]
-Defense +40
-Movement Speed +40
-Stamina +30
-Restraint Resistance +30
Super Rare-Grade shoes, no less.
“Jackpot!”
“Hyung…?”
“Here, take this sword.”
“Huh?”
“In exchange, I’m taking these shoes.”
“But…”
“In return, I’ll Butcher that monster and get you more byproducts.”
I gave Max the sword and took the shoes myself, though I felt a bit guilty about it, so I added a word.
“Am I… really okay taking these?”
“Huh?”
“You pretty much did all of it. I didn’t help much.”
“What are you talking about? You twisted their heads, that was huge. And when we took down this bald bastard, you got a solid hit in.”
“Still…”
This kid’s combat sense is genuinely exceptional—no joke about it.
He jumped in at exactly the right moments with perfect timing.
It wasn’t just talent; his instincts seemed remarkably sharp as well.
‘But why does he only use a shield?’
A question flickered through my mind for a moment, but this didn’t seem like the right time to ask.
“All right, let’s do it that way. I’ll take these shoes?”
“Yes, I’m grateful for everything.”
I smiled at the unexpected gain and tried putting on the shoes.
“Ugh?!”
The shoes were quite small.
That’s when I realized there was no auto-fit function.
‘This is a bit of a problem.’
Since I have fairly large feet, squeezing them in forcefully felt extremely uncomfortable.
Even by standard adult male measurements, these shoes seemed rather small.
‘Well, I can just combine them with my boots.’
Just as I was thinking that comfortably.
The system’s voice rang out.
[You have collected 2 of the Kail Series. (2/5)]
“……Oh?”
Only then did Kail’s Belt—the one in my spatial pouch—come to mind.
‘That’s right. Kail. Set Items.’
But if that were the case.
“……This is going to be a problem.”

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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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