Labyrinth Exploration 101 - Chapter 156
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Labyrinth Exploration 101 Episode 156
Spear Ghost(19)
At the peak of Imgak Mountain, a tree that has grown tall and proud while bearing the weight of time. It is not merely a giant tree. It is a natural being that has awakened to intelligence, one that suits the personal pronoun ‘he’ so perfectly.
Please… please…
A spiritual being that gained self-awareness through the accumulation of magic power over long years and the hearts and love of the residents.
Please… let me find my child…
How many wishes has he heard?
Please… protect my wife…
How many hopes have passed by?
Please punish that bastard… I… I no longer have the will to live…
And how much resentment has hung itself from these tree branches?
The one who bound the souls to the ground was the Sacred Tree of Imgak Mountain.
He pitied the sorrow of the dead residents and the living, built a village of souls above the night of reality, and captured the Shaman.
To punish him.
“…O source of darkness and father of chaos who overturns the principles of all things. Awaken from the nameless abyss and cast your shadow upon this defiled land.”
The target of that punishment now attempts a mad ritual before me. He glares at me with greedy eyes and recites twisted scriptures.
Magic power with an evil source. From the impure epicenter, tentacles whose forms are difficult to discern writhe disgustingly. They are heterogeneous masses of flesh, black as tar and grotesquely squishy.
“O sleepless eye beneath the earth. I announce your arrival with the cry of a starving demon.”
They form shamanic magic. They cling to each other, slip, and multiply infinitely.
“Though meager, I have prepared a sincere offering. I willingly offer mortal flesh, the resentment dwelling within, and hatred toward that arrogant one. Please accept and partake of it…”
An army of death spirits bubbling up from beneath his feet, piling up like a mountain.
“Come, master of black waves. Come and seize that foolish one’s throat in your grasp!”
They charge forward with gaping maws.
And the world slows down.
Sequence.
The circuits in my brain ignite, and my entire nervous system burns hot like a fireball.
My magic power rides the night wind. I tune and control it like fingers.
No medium is needed. Every part of my magic power will be a gun barrel, artillery fire that will burn him.
──-!
Countless bullets were fired, drawing blue trajectories.
Swoooosh──-
Precision beyond aimed shots. Not a single shot went astray. I severed the spines of tentacles, crushed heads, and cut through torsos.
I crushed them all.
A tsunami of bullets swallowed the wave of tentacles and flowed back toward him.
Psssssst!
Bizarre forms swelled like tumors from his body. Dark red masses of flesh. Bullets buried themselves in them. Maniacal laughter burst from within the shell-like exterior.
“Hahahaha! Your arrogance will be crushed like mud beneath his blasphemous feet!”
I also smiled.
As expected.
There’s no way it could be a god.
What you serve is not a god or anything like that.
Its official name is ‘Magic Power Parasite.’
The main body is a tumor-shaped mass of magic power, but instead of giving the host powerful strength, it plants hallucinations and amplifies the host’s will.
Simply put, this murder and madness are all manifestations of the disgusting humanity underlying him.
“So you were just a parasite’s host.”
“…Destroy the boundary between the living and the dead, raise your army with rotting, festering flesh, surround him and surely gnaw away his hope.”
He doesn’t even try to listen to my words.
He’s become completely like a chrysalis, isolating himself from inside and outside.
“O sacred chaos, use this offering as a medium to unfold your power and eternally subdue his arrogance in darkness…!”
With the cry, shamanic magic unfolded.
Underground. Tentacles are trying to pierce passages underground to come here.
I won’t let that happen.
I immediately sent part of my magic power to blast the ground beneath my feet.
Boooooom───-!
Earthquake-like vibrations. Fragmented soil floats, and I draw up magic power again.
This time I condensed magic power like crystal. Glass, or mirror fragments. Those transparent white shards floated around and moved toward the flesh.
Slow.
It doesn’t need to be fast. It just needs to reach.
This is the worst substance that even soldiers like me hesitate to use. Called the devil’s fire─ white phosphorus.
─Chaaeng!
White phosphorus manifested through magic power touched him.
Pure white flash bloomed. Snowflake-like flames instantly covered the surface of the flesh.
“Hahahahahaha…”
The laughter stopped.
It’s white phosphorus created with magic power. Flames that won’t die down even in bitter cold.
If just one drop flows between his flesh.
It will burn his whole body.
“Kuh, kuaaaak!”
The flesh swells madly and begins to melt. It looks like coding with an error.
“Kuaaaak! You, you bastard! You bastaaard──!”
He painfully prepares his final struggle. The parasite’s flesh proliferates unstably, and demonic energy surges to its limit.
Kuguguguk─ Kuguguguk─
Squelch squelch, the sound of flesh sprouting from flesh.
He seems intent on blowing this entire area away, but there’s nothing to worry about.
I’m familiar with this kind of mutual destruction.
He’s perfectly copying the thought patterns and behavioral patterns of the villains I’ve faced.
From the beginning, I’m not alone.
Tadadadadada───!
Somewhere on the mountain, there’s a man racing across a peak. A swordsman who leaps up gripping long swords in both hands and descends with killing intent.
He cuts what he wants to cut. He breaks what he wants to break. He stabs what he wants to stab.
In the end, he kills what he wants to kill.
A sword solely for that purpose.
A sword that has eliminated, or rather lost, the very purpose of protection─ a seemingly cruel and sad sword.
Whoosh───-!
A brief battle cry echoes.
Pazzzuk!
The sharp sword force pierced deep into the flesh clinging to Baek-rin. It struck precisely where the parasite’s core and the shaman’s main body were located.
Swoooosh─ Kwaaaaang─!
Like a balloon bursting, the extremely swollen flesh scattered in a chain reaction. The disgusting tumor mass vanished in an instant.
Thud.
Watching Lee Jun-ho land like a butterfly on top of that filth, I chuckled.
“Phew!”
Lee Jun-ho slung his long sword over his shoulder and wiggled his eyebrows smugly. Finally, as if he had stolen the ‘spotlight.’
That’s when it happened.
Squirm. Squirm.
In the wreckage of the explosion, something wriggled. A small dark red worm-like thing, resembling burnt flesh, was crawling desperately.
A magic parasite.
Thump!
I struck it down with my walking stick and crushed it completely.
“Cough, cough…!”
Suddenly the shaman coughed. Lee Jun-ho flinched and looked in that direction.
She was still alive. Her wounds were even healing.
“…Persistent. Should I kill her?”
“No.”
I chuckled.
“The Sacred Tree is keeping her alive.”
“…What? Why?”
Jun-ho asked back as if he couldn’t understand.
“Because we need to leave the finale to the people of this village.”
Hehehehehe
Just then, the Dokkaebi Fire flew in. It perched on a branch of the Sacred Tree, and a gentle purple light spread out.
That mystical backlight illuminated the shadows of Imgak Mountain so beautifully.
“Hyung. But who do you think that is?”
Lee Jun-ho seemed curious about the Dokkaebi Fire’s identity.
I chuckled softly.
“I told you before.”
Dokkaebi Fire. I didn’t know at first either, but through repeated suspicions, I naturally came to understand.
‘Too shallow in resentment to be a vengeful spirit, and lacking a proper form to be a soul.’
Looking deeply into that clue, again and again.
“A child who couldn’t become a vengeful spirit, nor even a soul.”
Then Lee Jun-ho’s eyes gradually widened. As if realizing something, he whipped his head around.
“…So-yeon.”
I nodded. Lee Jun-ho smiled brightly. Again, he called out to the Dokkaebi Fire.
“So-yeon!”
Hehehehehe
The Dokkaebi Fire laughed and came down, settling on Lee Jun-ho’s outstretched palm.
“Is it really you? You were the one helping us?”
When Lee Jun-ho poked at it, the little thing giggled and shook its body.
I cleared my throat awkwardly.
“…I feel bad for no reason. I was a bit harsh with my words at first.”
Did I tell it to shut up?
Well, I didn’t know back then.
“Jun-ho! Ha-woon hyung!”
Just then, a familiar shout rang out. Both of us turned to look. It was Kang Hyeon.
“Master~”
“Ah shit. You’ve already finished everything.”
Im Hae-jun and Seo Ji-woo were there too. Not just them, but all the surviving explorers and villagers had gathered in this place.
Hehehehehe
The Dokkaebi Fire left Lee Jun-ho’s hand and flew toward a woman in the crowd.
Teacher Lee Se-eun, who had somehow become a soul. She tearfully embraced the child in her arms.
Suddenly, light purple petals fluttered down from the Sacred Tree. Gently floating. Beautiful falling flowers embroidered the sky.
The souls who had endured long years, the explorers worn down by fatigue, all gazed at that scenery together.
* * *
[I am a murderer.]
[I will accept your judgment.]
The shaman, circling the village with shameful words hanging on her chest.
Smack!
A raw egg hit her head. The shaman glared in that direction, but this time a sweet potato flew over and struck her eye.
“How dare you glare like that?!”
“You have to walk 999,999 times every day without rest, you bastard!”
“Ugh, should we just cut off her arms and reattach them?!”
Like this, the shaman wouldn’t be able to die peacefully. Someday she’d probably beg and plead to be killed.
Of course, she had her own story too. She had grown up as a test subject because of her talent.
But still, not everyone with such circumstances kills hundreds of people.
Besides, she was only confined for one year in childhood. The rest was outpatient treatment.
“When will you be leaving, Grandmother?”
I asked the grandmother from the used bookstore. Grandmother watched the shaman with a grinning smile.
“I don’t know~ I was going to leave originally. But it’s fun, you see. I have to torment her all I want before I go.”
Until all these spirits’ hearts are satisfied, the shaman will be tormented.
“Then, may I really take these shamanic books?”
There were many shamanic reference books in the used bookstore, and grandmother had personally brought over a dozen more from her home.
“Of course~ You bought everything when you bought the used bookstore.”
Shamanic magic and formulas are separate forms, but they’re also another horizon. Knowledge that broadens my thinking is always welcome.
“Um… discount…”
From somewhere, a negotiating sound creeping in like a mosquito.
“Could you give me one?”
It’s Kate.
Having escaped from the Death Temple after all the vengeful spirits were purified, she seems to be short a few coins, fidgeting anxiously in front of a kettle.
“Sure. I’m in a good mood. I’ll take off 5 nyang!”
Kate smiled happily at the shopkeeper’s generous agreement.
“Thank you.”
Holding the kettle to her chest and turning around, she saw me and quickly hardened her expression.
“Master!”
Just then Im Hae-jun came running over cheerfully.
“I bought this with the money I earned!”
He proudly held something out.
“…What is that.”
It’s some kind of feather. My walking stick has a feather attached too.
“Ah, don’t you know, Master? This is a bow accessory, and if you attach this, the bow becomes stronger. Lighter too. You have one attached too, Master.”
It seems to be an enhancement-type accessory.
Lee Jun-ho, visible over Im Hae-jun’s shoulder, is also grinning. The loot in his hand is a whetstone.
Meanwhile, Kang Hyeon….
“What did you buy?”
He came trudging over empty-handed.
“I didn’t buy anything.”
“Don’t you have any yeop-jeon?”
“I had some, but I gave it to Jun-ho. Jun-ho said he was broke as hell.”
“Are you okay with that?”
“Yes. I learned something more important.”
Kang Hyeon looked at me and smiled.
“Jun-ho is real.”
Words that seemed genuinely pleased, but whose true meaning I couldn’t clearly understand.
What did he mean by ‘real’?
“That’s a relief.”
I still couldn’t tell.
It wasn’t a bad sign though. Kang Hyeon was also starting to reveal himself now.
“Ah~ it’s almost ten o’clock.”
“Right. What a shame.”
Seo Ji-woo appeared together with Yoon Hwa-rim. Yoon Hwa-rim’s loot was a straw hat and hand mirror, while Seo Ji-woo had all sorts of things stuffed in her arms.
I was dumbfounded. I had worked like an ox.
“You… bought a lot, I see? How is that even possible?”
“Ah~ I got a treasure chest full of yeop-jeon in the cave. So I just bought everything that caught my eye. They even gave me some for free?”
“….”
I had searched the entire village with Truck.
Seo Ji-woo looked at Kang Hyeon.
“What? You didn’t buy anything?”
“Yeah. No money.”
“Aw. I’m feeling generous, big sis will give you one!”
Just as Seo Ji-woo threw some jokduri to Kang Hyeon.
Ding-
A bell rang.
The signal announcing ten o’clock and.
〔Terminating the Labyrinth.〕
〔Please prepare for return.〕
The status window announcing the end.
Everyone wore bittersweet smiles. I tried to look closely at Kang Hyeon’s face, but he turned toward the sun as if hiding his expression.
Yoon Hwa-rim took a deep breath. She shouted to all the residents of this place.
“Everyone, thank you for your hard work~!!!”
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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