Labyrinth Exploration 101 - Chapter 229

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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 229

Lonely(7)

Clack!

The sound of stones colliding, breaking the peaceful silence of the night.

Clack!

I opened my eyes. I stepped on the creaking floorboards and came outside.

The sky had cleared at some point, with a frost-like moon rising. The scent of incense mixed in the cold night air brushed past my nose.

Clack!

In the middle of the temple courtyard, a monk and an acolyte sat facing each other. Stone tablets were placed in front of them.

It seemed they were playing stone toppling.

“Child.”

“Yes, monk.”

The monk pointed at the stones and spoke.

“If you wish to topple a stone tablet, you must not focus on the tablet you wish to topple.”

“Then what should I focus on?”

“You must focus on the stone in your hand. Just as the only thing you can change in this world is your own heart…”

At that moment, the monk and acolyte’s gazes quietly flowed. They looked at me. I quietly pressed my palms together and approached them.

Tap. Tap. The sound of my staff tapping the dirt ground was unusually clear.

“Good evening.”

The monk spoke with a gentle smile. His voice was as calm as a grassland.

“Did you spend the night comfortably?”

“Yes.”

I nodded briefly. The monk’s gaze turned to my leg.

“Your walking seems quite uncomfortable.”

On my left knee was a cast materialized with experience points. It was an item designed to prevent magic power from accumulating like poison in my knee.

“Yes.”

“Don’t you find it resentful or inconvenient?”

“Rather, I consider it my evidence.”

Evidence that my life was not false. All the pain I once felt, all my brokenness, was the foundation that made up who I am now.

I looked at the stone tablets placed at the acolyte’s feet.

The monk asked me.

“What are you wandering in search of?”

Suddenly a piece of cloud cleared and moonlight poured over the monk’s face. Blunt black horns sprouted on either side of his forehead, and his pupils turned red.

I faced him and answered.

“I am not wandering.”

A smile spread across the monk’s entire face. Shark-like teeth writhed beyond his lips that seemed ready to tear.

“I am simply moving forward.”

When the moonlight was obscured, the monk returned to human form again.

“Be careful.”

However, his tone was distorted. It was eerie, as if human and beast sounds were mixed.

“They will come.”

Lick. Lick.

I opened my eyes once more.

Lick. Lick.

A fox was licking my cheek. I could hear the camel’s yawning sound.

I was on the temple’s floorboards.

It was a dream, yet not a dream.

In the middle of the temple courtyard, there was a gate that hadn’t been there before I fell asleep.

[5th Zone Entrance Reincarnation Gate : Opens 444 minutes after knocking]

Opens 444 minutes after knocking.

The principle is obvious. This is the mission I’m most confident about.

“Camel.”

I called the camel and climbed onto its back. Walking around all sides of this temple, I scattered magic power and experience point orbs around the perimeter. I constructed a formula based on them.

Snap.

I flicked my fingers.

Viewers sometimes misunderstand, but this isn’t just showing off.

It’s a technique of instantly spreading magic power particles concentrated in my fingers to ignite the formula.

Krrrrrumble—!

The ground at the temple’s edge shook and rose up. Solid rocks interlocked with each other to form the outer walls of a fortress.

I climbed onto the castle wall and installed scarecrows.

“It’s been a while.”

Yoonsooabi and Kesooabi reappear.

I also densely placed turrets that fire magic power stakes in all directions. Through sequences, I synchronized the firing angles and artificial intelligence.

“…”

Meanwhile, the camel seemed bored. I also attached a stake launcher to its saddle.

Now it had become a mobile artillery platform. The camel seemed satisfied with its weapon and spun around like it was doing ballet.

All preparations were complete.

I got down from the camel and approached the gate. All sorts of monsters were carved like sculptures around the stone gate’s border.

Knock knock.

I knocked on the gate.

Boom—!

The road surface vibrated and the shape of space changed. The sky turned purple, and clouds and moon became distorted like dead trees.

[Time Remaining 444 : 44 : 44]

[They are coming…]

* * *

Meanwhile, Yoon Hwa-rim’s party discovered an oasis just before dying of thirst.

Gulp gulp gulp gulp.

They all drank water together.

“Ah!”

When their bellies swelled up like tadpoles, Yoon Hwa-rim’s hair stood on end.

“I heard you die if you just drink oasis water?!”

Shock! Aah! She screamed and placed her palms on both cheeks.

“It should be fine.”

Jo Woon pointed somewhere. There was a magic machine like a purification device.

A pump repeatedly sucked in and spat out water with thumping sounds.

“A machine… is this also Mal-ol-haem?”

When it comes to machines, it’s Je Mal-ol. That ridiculous mage who uses military systems as mental visualization.

“Let’s go in for now. There’s a dwelling over there too.”

Jo Woon pointed to a cabin.

“Yes, let’s go!”

The moment they all entered together, their bodies collapsed.

Because it was so cool.

“Wow…”

“…Ah.”

They lay down like bedbugs and blankly enjoyed the cool breeze,

“I didn’t expect him to leave this much behind.”

Jo Woon smiled faintly.

“I guess he left it because destroying this wouldn’t be efficient either…”

“Sister. But why is it cool here?”

Kim Woo-hyeon tilted his head.

“It’s probably because of that.”

Yoon Hwa-rim pointed to the ice core in the corner of the cabin.

“…Oh, but there wouldn’t be any bad guys among our explorers who’d steal this, right?”

Yoon Hwa-rim reached out toward the ice core just in case.

“Kyaak!”

Pazzt! Sparks flew. Kim Woo-hyeon chuckled in admiration.

“Wow. Mal-ol-haem set up a barrier.”

A fairly difficult barrier was installed near the core. Yoon Hwa-rim peered at it closely.

“I can see the structure… but I can’t dismantle it either.”

Seol Ha-woon trusts the explorers while not trusting them. What a peculiar person.

“Where did Mal-ol-haem learn such theories?”

“Seol Ha-woon always works hard. I go to the library quite often too, and he’s always there whenever I go.”

It was Ryu Yeon-hwa. He stood up while smoothing his white hair.

“Everyone. Let’s get water first and rest.”

FM Ryu Yeon-hwa always prefers to finish work first. Yoon Hwa-rim and Jo Woon are the same.

“Let’s do that.”

They scooped up water and loaded it onto Yoon Hwa-rim’s cart.

* * *

Lee Jun-ho tries to express the sound of the sun spitting out sunlight with onomatopoeia.

“Jjaeaeeeeeng──- Jjaeaeeeeeeeng───-“

“…Jun-ho. Are you okay?”

Kang Hyeon asked with a worried expression. Lee Jun-ho whipped his head around.

“No. I don’t think I’m okay.”

Sometimes there are moments like this. When he wants to smash the sun. When he gets angry at nature.

This desert is that ridiculous.

It’s too hot. A mage is needed. A mage keeps circling in Lee Jun-ho’s head.

Mage. Mage. He should have brought a Labyrinth People mage instead of an explorer.

Please, someone block this sunlight above his head.

Suddenly, someone flickers in the desert mirage. A familiar face. A student who looks much younger than his actual age.

“…Isn’t that Woo-hyeon?!”

“No. It’s a hallucination. Keep walking.”

Kang Hyeon forcibly grabbed Lee Jun-ho’s arm.

The group walked on the sandy ground again. Their lips were parched dry. Their whole bodies were soaked with sweat. Even a swimming pool wouldn’t be this bad.

But they couldn’t stop. If they stopped, it would become even harder.

That’s when cacti began appearing nearby.

“Why are there cacti… Huh?!”

Lee Jong-soo pointed ahead.

“It’s camels!”

There was no oasis, but there were many camels munching on cacti.

And beyond that─

“Over there! Over there! It’s a shelter!”

A small cabin where someone had stayed.

There was no need to think about who that ‘someone’ was. They just moved forward with gratitude.

Everyone ran toward it.

The moment they threw open the door, they let out involuntary exclamations at the cold air that burst out.

Everyone lay down on the shelter floor. They rolled back and forth, cooling their entire bodies.

“Haah…”

“…Is this heaven.”

“Whew…”

Kang Hyeon raised his upper body and counted the number of camels outside.

“Not too many. Let’s rest a bit, then two of us can ride one camel, and the remaining person can ride with the luggage.”

One per person was too much. Even for the sake of other follow-up teams that would come later.

“I don’t care about anything.”

“Anything… as long as it’s cool… anything is fine…”

Jun-ho and Jong-su had already half lost their minds.

Kang Hyeon looked at them and tilted his head slightly.

Suddenly, all expression disappeared from his face. The previous warmth sank bleakly, and his eyes turned cold.

Ticket.

Kang Hyeon fingered the return ticket in his chest.

“…Guys. I’ll tame those first.”

“Huh? Oh. Then we’re grateful.”

Kang Hyeon went outside. He took out water and spilled a little on the ground. Clop clop. Exactly two camels approached.

Kang Hyeon created saddles with experience points and placed them on the two camels.

“Come in.”

He brought the two camels he had lured into the room.

“Huh, what. What!”

Lee Jong-soo and Lee Jun-ho were flustered, but Kang Hyeon casually seated the camels on both sides.

“You need to get used to it.”

Lee Jun-ho looked at Kang Hyeon and let out a hollow laugh.

“Wow… I feel a bit weird saying this, but you’re really crazy too…”

“We’re the same type, Jun-ho.”

“…Include me too! It’s the Kang Jun-su party.”

Lee Jong-soo raised his hand brightly.

* * *

On the castle wall of the fortified monastery.

I closed my eyes while mounted on a camel. I perceived through intuition the energy flowing in mixed with the west wind.

Scrape scrape. Scrape scrape.

The grass field sways as if being scraped with a blade. The footsteps are filthy. Ominous and vile.

Their resonance grows louder as time passes, soon shaking the entire forest like a tsunami.

Kieeeeeek─!

Finally, the demons came flooding in.

Beasts with grotesquely mixed human limbs, giant centipedes with eyeballs embedded all over their bodies, forms that looked like clumps of rotting corpses. A hideous horde mixed with malice and resentment toward humans marched toward the temple.

I fired stakes at them.

Actually, they were shells.

155mm artillery shells aren’t much different from stakes in size and appearance.

No, they’re actually larger than stakes.

Dozens of stakes I formed, the same magic bullets, are fired in an arc.

──!

They burst the body of the demon in the lead, crush the demon behind it, penetrate several more times while advancing, destroying all demons in a straight line.

──!

Dozens die from just one shot, and the automatic turrets and scarecrows on the castle wall also pour out attacks.

They don’t stop. They trample the corpses of their kind and charge forward.

They are all the origin of hungry ghosts and part of the rakshasas.

In that case.

I flowed magic power to the castle wall. It wasn’t simple emission. It was the process of deploying the concept of ‘combustion’ on the ground, using crude oil stone as a catalyst.

The blue liquid stuck to the ground and slowly spread across the battlefield.

Magic power covering the four sides of the temple, the ground.

The moment the demons stepped on it─ it ignited.

Whoooooosh──!

Blue flames blazed up.

A phenomenon that transcended the laws of physics coiled around them.

Monsters are beings where magic power and flesh are intertwined. However, this demonic fire is oil forged from magic power.

Therefore, it clings to their spiritual bodies and burns them. It will never be extinguished by water or moisture.

Flames that devour everything that approaches.

The monsters engulfed in fire scream and writhe. Death throes filled with resentment fill the sky.

But the fire does not go out. Rather, it only grows fiercer, feeding on the monsters’ magic power.

Kraaaaa──!

Of course, there are high-ranking monsters that ignore the fire and charge forward.

They’re merely premium targets.

I specially launch multiple stakes to pierce them all over their bodies.

──!

The house-sized monster’s entire body was pierced through. It glared at me with its single eye before collapsing.

Tudududu──!

The turrets on the castle wall continuously shoot stakes, and the camel also fires stakes frequently.

It’s an intelligent friend.

Well, to survive in the desert, one would need intelligence above a certain level.

Kwaaaaaa──

Defense is easy.

Numerical superiority is meaningless before firepower. Just as one missile can kill hundreds of people, the same applies to monsters.

No matter how tough they are, they die if you keep pounding them.

That’s the essence of modern warfare.

…

At some point, the forest was dyed in silence. The monsters’ footsteps ceased.

There are still many remaining. Time is likewise abundant.

Yet they no longer approach.

[220 : 12 : 15]

Beyond the blue flame wall, in the darkness of the mountain, there’s a human-like monster glaring at me.

A clever one.

A Demon King perhaps?

Whatever it is, monsters as a species don’t match well with me in terms of compatibility.

Monsters are beings that have lived while being hostile to not only humans but almost all life forms. The resentment of the sacrificed humans also affects me.

That causes my magic power to bloom another layer.

■ Karma Cleansing: When fighting targets whose karma is ‘evil’, refinement grade increases by 2.

Even with just 3rd stage refinement, my vision changed and the dimension of my world perception heightened.

Now there’s no need to even mention it.

I looked down at the monsters while keeping my back straight.

This level of perspective suits me.

Just then, the camel raised its head. It looked down at the burning monsters with a very arrogant expression.

Ptui.

It even spat.

Pihihi.

The Arctic Fox on my shoulder also swished its tail and mocked them.

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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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