Something Keeps Appearing in My Subspace - Chapter 258

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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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258. Twilight Labyrinth (2)
“The traps themselves aren’t anything special?”
“Yes. Well, since they’re mechanical devices, they’re easy to avoid.”
With Chun-bae’s guidance making our passage effortless, and considering the Labyrinth’s traps weren’t particularly sophisticated, I found myself moving through with relative ease.
Blades falling from the ceiling, arrows firing from corners—they were crude, physical killing traps at best.
“And something about them feels hastily constructed.”
Moreover, the traps hadn’t been built into the structure from the beginning; they’d been installed externally. The quality of the traps themselves wasn’t particularly high either.
Mister narrowed his eyes as he surveyed the destroyed traps.
“Was there some urgent reason to build them quickly?”
“The structure itself doesn’t feel like a Labyrinth either.”
Despite its name, the interior was nothing like a labyrinth. It was spacious and dignified. I could see pillars.
How should I put it—more like a massive Temple than a Labyrinth?
-Affirmative. When I came here with the Previous Princess, I also thought it was a massive Underground Temple… a place of worship.
That was Chun-bae speaking. Indeed, with the sanctity permeating this place, calling it an Underground Temple rather than a Labyrinth seemed more fitting.
‘So the Underground Temple became a Labyrinth for some reason?’
-That appears to be the most likely scenario.
‘Then why does the sanctity remain?’
Typically in such cases, places are named Temple or Ruins, not Labyrinth. Chun-bae resolved my confusion.
-Gods do not necessarily perform only good deeds by human standards.
‘Is this different from the evil god I encountered before?’
-An evil god’s power is also divine in nature.
‘It felt somewhat different back then.’
-There are worlds where the aura differs slightly, but the essence remains the same.
I was beginning to understand. Humans typically distinguish between gods, and the standards between gods and humans differ.
However, since the Previous Princess hadn’t ventured deep enough into this Labyrinth, no clear answers emerged.
‘Regardless, I’ll need to venture deeper to find out.’
And as we progressed further, we finally encountered the enemies Chun-bae had mentioned.
“That is…”
“I’ve never seen creatures like these before.”
“They look like beastmen.”
In a cavern within the Underground Temple, we faced three enemies.
“Two that look like horses and… is that a pig?”
The visuals were quite shocking. Two creatures that appeared to be human-horse hybrids. And one that seemed to be a human-pig hybrid.
All three walked on two legs and wielded crude weapons. Their legs were distinctly those of their respective animals.
Their arms, which held weapons, were similar, though they still retained a roughly human hand shape.
Their skin resembled their respective animals. The horse-like ones especially had manes that extended down to their waists.
“…”
Their heads were a mixture of animal and human features, yet they made no sound. Their eyes fixed on us with predatory intensity.
The atmosphere shifted instantly. Like that of wild beasts.
“They’re coming!”
Because I had prepared in advance, my response was not delayed. However, the enemies’ speed was quite remarkable. Especially those two creatures resembling horses.
With legs like a horse’s, they bounded forward with spring-like elasticity.
“Mister!”
“Got it!”
Mister blocked the one on the left while I intercepted the one on the right.
-Clang!
The moment our blades collided, I was taken aback. Not because the enemy was strong, but because it was easier than expected.
‘Hm?’
I spotted openings that would be rare to see in a Gate of this caliber. For a moment, I wondered if they were intentional gaps, but… that wasn’t it either.
Without needing to employ the subtleties of the Iron Wing Thrust Technique, my blade simply pierced through.
“Neigh!”
A cry like a horse’s whinny erupted. However, it didn’t fall from that alone. Perhaps its vitality was remarkably tenacious.
I pivoted my body and severed its neck in one motion. Mister finished his opponent slightly later.
“Squeal!”
The pig-human that rushed in afterward, I dealt with as well. Its hide was tougher than expected, but there was no major difficulty in cutting it with Eshirel.
My eyes met Mister’s. He seemed to be thinking the same thing.
“These creatures…”
“They’re weak.”
I had heard details about the interior of the Gate from Chun-bae, but I deliberately avoided learning about the enemies’ actual strength and level.
After all, I tend to learn more when facing unfamiliar opponents. But now that I was facing them directly, their level was somewhat lower than anticipated.
“Is it because they’re horses and pigs?”
“That could be it. Beasts like that lion-human seem like they’d be formidable.”
Han Chul nodded at Mister’s words. It was a reasonable deduction.
“True. We’re at the early stages of the Labyrinth. These are probably creatures that got pushed out.”
“Yes. We can’t afford to be careless.”
Just because these creatures were weak didn’t mean I could let my guard down. I had learned something from that brief battle.
The pig-human had nothing particularly distinctive, but the horse-human possessed remarkable speed.
“The stronger the animal a human is combined with, the stronger they’ll be.”
That meant beast-humans would gain both speed and strength.
“And if you combine a strong human with a beast, it becomes even more formidable.”
The lion-human that appeared in Australia, nearly three meters tall, would be the form we were concerned about. If so, the fifteen-level spread of this Gate made sense.
It likely stemmed from the difference in strength between pig-humans and beast-humans.
* * *
-Explore the Labyrinth. Remaining time: 18 hours 21 minutes.
Despite moving for over five hours, I still hadn’t fully explored this Underground Temple. It meant it was far more massive than I had imagined.
The fortunate part was that the Previous Princess had already gone through trial and error.
Following Chun-bae’s guidance, I was retracing where the Previous Princess had gone. If I had taken a wrong path, it would have cost me more time.
Chun-bae truly was a good senior to me, regardless of his feelings toward the Previous Princess.
“If someone built something like this underground, how impressive must they have been?”
“I’m not sure. I don’t know much about architecture. Perhaps they used divine power?”
“I see.”
“Back then, even Arachne created a Labyrinth using spider webs. This place is far more difficult than that.”
We conversed casually, but my mind remained sharp and focused. I needed to stay more vigilant than ever.
I’d encountered enemies multiple times already. There were bat-men lurking in the shadows, and dog-men as well.
‘They weren’t as cute as the beast-men I’d imagined.’
They resembled a grotesque fusion of ferocious hounds and humans, which made them all the more unsettling. One thing was certain—the deeper I went, the stronger they became.
Through these encounters, I’d learned something valuable: an animal’s form didn’t necessarily dictate its strength.
There was even a mantis-man who wielded his scythe-like arms with surprising dexterity, as if he’d trained extensively in swordplay.
He’d been quite troublesome to face.
‘What matters most is the strength of the core body.’
Perhaps the strongest combination would be a powerful human paired with a powerful beast. The more I progressed, the more it felt like I’d stumbled into some chimera research facility.
It was during this exploration that something caught my attention.
-You may proceed forward.
Chun-bae’s navigation mode had grown somewhat tedious, so he’d returned to his normal speech pattern. That’s when something tugged at my spatial awareness.
‘Wait. I’m sensing something over there.’
-Pardon? That’s a location the Previous Princess never discovered.
That was possible.
‘What was the Previous Princess’s Subspace level back then?’
-Ah, it was lower than yours, Han Hye.
Of course it was—the sensation barely grazed the edge of my Subspace range. At first glance, it appeared to be a Dead End, but I could sense a hidden space beyond it.
If the Previous Princess had possessed a lower Subspace level than mine, she might never have detected it. Her spatial perception would have only registered the Dead End itself.
-I apologize.
‘There’s nothing for you to apologize for.’
I’d known for some time that Chun-bae’s guidance wasn’t infallible. Hadn’t I discovered a hidden area in the Snow Field that even he’d missed before?
Moreover, this Gate was one Chun-bae himself had never fully explored. That’s precisely why I’d maintained such intense focus throughout.
“What is it? Did you find something?”
As I paused to consult with Chun-bae, the guild members seemed to sense the shift in the situation.
“Yes. I think I’ve discovered a hidden area.”
“Of course.”
“With Hye around, we basically get free rewards.”
“Right. The only time Hye misses something is when even a monkey falls out of a tree.”
Mister and Min-jae chuckled at the thought that I’d found a hidden area.
“Still, we should check it out. It might not be anything significant.”
My hesitation stemmed from the possibility that it wasn’t a hidden area at all. Depending on the Labyrinth’s structure, I might have simply sensed a passage.
“Let’s go take a look.”
But as we approached, I could confirm it was indeed a hidden area. It was literally a concealed chamber.
There were no other connections leading backward. The moment I sensed something suspended within, I tapped Mister on the shoulder.
“Mister.”
“Hmm?”
“I don’t think you need to worry too much about the martial arts tournament.”
“Why?”
Mister tilted his head in confusion before his eyes suddenly widened.
“Wait… could it be…!”
“There’s a spear inside.”
“Insane!”
Mister, who had been about to cry out in excitement, quickly hardened his expression.
“Not yet, not yet.”
“Right. That’s why I said it could work out.”
Mister and I had faced an evil god before. The spear we obtained then was utterly useless for hunters.
After I shattered my lingering doubts, Mister used it for a while, but…
There was no guarantee it would work this time either. In any case, weapons obtained from a Labyrinth of this level were likely to be exceptional.
Starting from at least B-rank, if this was a hidden reward, it could begin at A-rank and even reach S-rank.
“But how do we get past this?”
“I’m not sure.”
However, I felt nothing unusual about the Dead End wall. If there had been a keyhole, I would have used my remaining Caduceus key.
“Don’t you feel any mechanism? Isn’t it about pressing the wall? Like last time?”
“No. I can’t sense anything.”
If this were a place that opened by pressing a wall, I should have felt a faint seam, but there was none.
“Should I jump over and come back?”
“That would be better.”
My Subspace contained various items for different purposes, so I could destroy the wall, but it would take time.
It was better for me to cross over and return. I could come back with the spear.
‘If it’s the kind that can’t be moved, I’ll have no choice but to destroy it.’
For instance, if touching it caused problems like when I obtained Conflagration, I’d have to postpone this for later.
-Pop!
I leaped over to check first.
.
.
.
The interior matched what my spatial sense had detected.
A spear lay in the center of a spacious chamber, and beyond it stood a throne-like chair.
Seeing a desk, chair, and bed beside it, I got the impression that someone had lived here.
The spear resting there was clearly no ordinary weapon. I could sense divinity from it. I examined the spear first.
[Twilight Mane (A-rank)]
-A spear refined in twilight’s light. The wearer’s physical abilities are enhanced at the boundary between night and day.
-When killing an enemy, the wearer absorbs that power for a time, strengthening the body.
-The weapon’s abilities are currently restricted due to a certain god’s wrath toward the weapon’s former owner.
As a strange sense of déjà vu washed over me, I felt a twinge of disappointment. It was A-rank, not S-rank.
Still, possibilities remained.
‘A certain god’s wrath toward the weapon’s former owner.’
The weapon’s owner is likely the boss of this Labyrinth. If I kill that creature, perhaps the weapon will regain its original power and become S-rank.
Wait. S-rank? A memory suddenly flickered through my mind.
The Twilight Sickle.
It was one of the S-rank equipment pieces that the Daeup Guild possessed. It had a similar description to this spear.
‘The specs were absurd, but will this spear become like that too?’
I suspected the Twilight Sickle might also bear the touch of the God’s hand, connected to this spear somehow… but I had doubts.
That sickle didn’t emanate this kind of divinity.
-The weapon is similar, but the divinity felt here is purely constraining the weapon itself.
‘Can it be extracted?’
-Since the divinity is intertwined with the weapon itself, if I extract it using my method, the spear will lose that power.
Hmm. I couldn’t consume a spear that would become S-rank in such a way. Even without obtaining the divinity, clearing the Labyrinth boss seemed the better choice.
I’d give it to Mister first. The moment I grasped the spear.
-Whoosh!
The twilight light that illuminated the interior of the Temple even without fire grew deeper. And a message appeared.
[Twilight constricts you.]
[If you do not leave the Labyrinth within 8 hours, you will be consumed by twilight.]
What is this…?

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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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