Something Keeps Appearing in My Subspace - Chapter 259

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

259. Twilight Labyrinth (3)
[Twilight constricts you.]
[If you do not leave the Labyrinth within 8 hours, you will be consumed by Twilight.]
What is this…?
If this is how it stands, then I have 8 hours. This has suddenly become a speedrun.
The Previous Previous Master never encountered such a thing. If he had, Chun-bae would have mentioned it. This change was entirely due to this Twilight God’s Mane spear.
Though I was startled, the situation itself wasn’t unfavorable.
‘I suppose it’s similar to the Inferno incident.’
A Hidden dungeon with risk attached. Back then, the Volcano had erupted too. I’d even had to ride Yong-yong to escape it.
Now, to make this spear S-rank, I’ve been given 8 hours to accomplish it.
If anything, this is better. After all, I’ve been given the opportunity to obtain an S-rank spear.
The message must have reached outside—the commotion beyond the walls was audible. Sound traveled through the stone.
“Hye, what’s happening!”
“It’s a Hidden dungeon! Everything’s fine out there, right?”
“For now!”
“Just give me a moment. I’ll investigate here and come right out!”
“The spear!”
Mister called out urgently.
“I’ll tell you once I’m out!”
“…Understood!”
His voice trembled—his expectations were clearly high. The martial arts tournament victory was realistically out of reach now, after all.
I secured the spear in my Subspace and examined my surroundings. A book on the desk in this chamber had caught my eye from the start.
With my universal translation skill, reading it posed no difficulty. If this spear’s owner was this formidable, surely they would have documented information about this Labyrinth.
I quickly scanned the book and recognized it as a diary within moments.
[…The Empire has fallen. While we were away on orders, the Imperial Court crumbled from within.]
[With no path home, we encountered a Priest. The Gods no longer answer, yet this Priest healed us with sacred power. He was the only being capable of communing with the divine.]
[He revealed himself as an Apostle serving the Twilight God—a deity sealed away in ancient times. He claimed to know the path to the Temple.]
I read through the diary rapidly. The context became clear enough. A world consumed by mana corruption. A fallen Empire’s Knight Order, displaced and desperate, had come here.
And the problem arose from there, no doubt.
[Truly, we beheld the Twilight God. He promised to make us stronger.]
[Hope kindled in the hearts of the despairing knights. Perhaps we could survive in this world after all.]
Hmm. Such a terrible choice. The next entry unfolded exactly as I’d anticipated.
[…We were deceived. No—we deceived ourselves. We made a terrible choice. The Twilight God’s words held no falsehood. We became stronger. We simply ceased to be human.]
[Those we saved became beasts without reason. We couldn’t kill them, so we separated them into zones, but it’s far from simple. Even the knights themselves…]
[…Leon lost his reason today. He was such a stalwart one. If even Leon has fallen, our end cannot be far.]
In a properly functioning world, a sealed god always has reasons. Perhaps they were wrongfully imprisoned, but more likely, they were a god incompatible with humanity.
I understood these people, though. They’d grasped at a thread of hope in a dying world. It just happened to be a rotten thread.
[I have made my decision. I will venture outside. The Goddess does not answer, but before I lose my mind, I must meet her.]
[I will confess our sins and pray for the Goddess’s mercy.]
The diary ended there.
The Twilight God must have left behind a weapon, but given the circumstances, this person’s escape plan failed, and they lost consciousness and became trapped.
“I get the gist of it.”
What I needed to do in the Labyrinth hadn’t changed drastically. Still, it was better than moving forward in ignorance.
I leaped out and gave the Guild members a brief explanation of what had transpired inside.
“Oh?”
“Really, for real?”
“Look at this.”
Of course, the Twilight God’s mane drew far more attention than their chatter. Mister’s eyes gleamed as he examined the spear. He’d caught on as well.
“Could it be…?”
“Yes. It’s similar to the scythe Dae-eop was carrying, isn’t it? I think it’ll become something like that once we clear the Labyrinth.”
“Insane.”
Mister’s eyes seemed to shine brighter than ever before.
“So the eight-hour limit is essentially a constraint on acquiring S-rank equipment.”
“But that god has some seriously twisted taste.”
I’d also mentioned the diary I’d seen inside. Min-jae shuddered.
Mister nodded.
“That’s why you have to be careful when dealing with gods. They’re no different from con artists.”
Well, I’d explained everything roughly. Now it was time to do what needed to be done.
“I’ll pick up the pace a bit.”
I knew the path the Previous Previous Master had taken over twenty-four hours of trial and error. I hadn’t been reckless, but I had focused on combat as we advanced.
I needed to grow accustomed to the Iron Wing Cockfight Sword, and Mister and Han Chul needed to gain practical experience as well.
Even when I could have ended things quickly, I’d engaged a bit longer. Now there was no time for that. I had no idea how much more of the Labyrinth lay beyond where the Previous Previous Master had reached.
I gripped Eshirel firmly.
“I’ll reach the point the Previous Previous Master reached as quickly as possible.”
* * *
“Does anyone need rest?”
“I’m fine.”
“Me too!”
“I’m alright as well. You’ve done most of the work, Guild Master.”
With the time limit changed to eight hours, we advanced at rapid pace. Brief rests were essential along the way.
I couldn’t afford for the Guild members to be exhausted when it truly mattered. So I handled most of the combat myself.
We could rest in the Subspace and return refreshed. In just over two hours, we reached the point where the Previous Previous Master had arrived.
Before us stood an enormous door.
-There were sixteen lion-men inside here.
‘So those are the Knight Order.’
It was something I’d learned from Chun-bae. Now I could sense the enemies’ presence through my spatial awareness as well.
Unlike the ones I’d seen earlier, I could feel they were clad in sturdy armor like medieval knights.
“I’ll break through as swiftly as possible with minimal combat. Everyone except Mister, wait in the rear.”
My chosen method was simple. As long as I had spatial awareness, I could use Incineration and Severance on enemies beyond the chamber.
All I needed was minimal preparation.
First, I prepared a spatial severance in front of this door. I distributed a portion of my mana, reserving the rest for what lay beyond.
I gauged the severance and incineration around the bodies of the enemies I could sense. Then came the waiting.
‘Until their movements diminish.’
The wait wasn’t long. There was no need for perfection. I moved my mana when the maximum number had gathered.
—Slash!
—Slash!
The severance cut down approximately seven enemies.
—Whoosh!
Simultaneously, incineration blazed to life inside the far chamber.
“Kyaaah!”
A sharp scream pierced the air. In the same moment, I kicked the door open. The room erupted in flames, and I saw lion-men sprawled across the floor.
Of course, about ten enemies remained standing. They certainly resembled the creature that had appeared in Australia.
But there were differences. The one in Australia had been nearly three meters tall, while these were around two meters. The size difference was striking.
Even their aura felt different at first glance. Still, they seemed stronger than the ones I’d faced before. The enemies, having spotted their target, charged through the flames toward me.
—Crackle!
The fact that they came at me while burning confirmed they had definitely lost their reason. Beings driven by instinct alone.
I didn’t advance. When the enemies entered the lines of severance I’d laid before the door….
—Slash!
—Slash!
Six enemies lost their limbs. Four remained. This was manageable.
“Mister!”
“Got it!”
Mister, who had been waiting, moved to my side. The remaining lion-men weren’t in pristine condition either.
They bore wounds from the severance and their bodies burned from the incineration.
“Ugh!”
Still, Mister let out a groan. This Knight Order was certainly not to be underestimated.
As expected, combining a powerful human with a beast made them proportionally formidable.
‘If I hadn’t launched that preemptive strike, this would’ve been incredibly difficult.’
There had been sixteen of these creatures in this chamber. Agile and powerful ones at that. Even fighting with the door as cover wouldn’t have been easy.
Of course, it was a meaningless hypothetical. With only four enemies left, we broke through without excessive difficulty, though they were certainly troublesome.
“Phew.”
Mister breathed heavily.
“That was intense.”
“Yes. I think I understand now why the level variance is so large.”
We’d been fighting a few horse-men on the way in, and then suddenly we faced sixteen lion-men fully clad in medieval knight armor?
The Gate’s malice was palpable in its composition.
Well, looking at the records from earlier, I suspected this was where the Knight Order’s domain began. They said they’d sent out the ones who’d lost their reason first.
It made sense that the Previous Previous Master had struggled here.
‘Though I had the advantage of knowing the information beforehand.’
If I’d opened the door thinking of the creatures from before, I would’ve found myself in quite a predicament.
What truly worried me lay beyond this point. Past the room engulfed in Blazing Inferno’s flames, another door awaited.
From here onward, I entered uncharted territory—a realm without records.
It was highly probable that whoever left that journal still remained here. I wondered if I’d face them alone.
‘The journal mentioned the Knight Order losing consciousness.’
Based on the records, the order in which they lost consciousness seemed to correlate with their strength. If the zones were divided, the first Knight Order members to fall would be in this section.
Next would be another Knight Order unit—meaning stronger opponents awaited.
‘Hmm.’
I pressed against the door and extended my spatial awareness, but detected nothing inside. However, I could tell the space beyond was far more expansive than I’d imagined.
My sensory range extended 60 meters, yet nothing registered in that direction—a telling sign of vast emptiness.
“No choice then. I’ll have to open it.”
“Understood. Please prepare yourself thoroughly.”
Since this chamber was spacious enough, I summoned Yong-yong before readying for combat. This was a Hidden dungeon offering an S-rank spear. It wouldn’t be easy.
I carefully pushed open the door, which towered over three meters.
-Creak-creak-creak.
The door groaned harshly as it swung wide, as if untouched for ages. So much for a cautious entry.
“Huh?”
What lay beyond made everything I’d seen in the Underground Temple seem trivial by comparison.
A colossal Sanctuary stretched over 100 meters in length. A divine statue gleamed in the distance, and before it stood eleven lion-men in formation.
Even from their armor alone, I could discern they were stronger than their predecessors. Yet they made no move toward us, merely watching.
They stood ready with weapons drawn, as if waiting for something.
“What does this mean?”
“Since we’ve come seeking the Twilight God’s Mane, perhaps some transformation has occurred.”
The lion-men in the center of their formation were noticeably larger—a full head taller than the 2-meter specimens surrounding them.
I suspected that defeating that one would release the divine curse binding the spear, and in that instant—
[Your body pleases me.]
An alien voice reverberated through the chamber. My experience allowed me to recognize the situation immediately.
The Twilight God remained.
A sudden doubt seized me. If the Twilight God still lingered and that creature was its vessel, why would the weapon still radiate such fury?
The Twilight God continued.
[I shall grant you the opportunity to accept my power.]
What nonsense was this?
[Unlike these creatures, I guarantee your mind will remain intact.]
If I believed the words of something that had already transformed humans into beast-men, I’d be insane.
Moreover, even if offered genuine divine power, I had no intention of accepting. It would be meaningless anyway.
“Disappear.”
[…?]
“Get lost.”
I felt the god’s bewilderment at my words. Chun-bae spoke urgently.
-Han Hye. Provoking a god is not advisable.
‘Huh? Why?’
-You can think of it as similar to Gate transformation. It can deviate from its existing settings and act with malice toward Han Hye.
Ah, now that you mention it, I recall when I encountered the Evil God before. I had a bad feeling about it, so I struck it down with my hammer.
…Have I done something terrible?

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