Chapter 121 : To the Labyrinth (7)

“……Are you serious?”

“Yes. Considering the purpose of our visit to the labyrinth, I judged that to be correct.”

“Thank you!”

Luna suddenly rushed at me, and then tightly hugged me.

“……Won’t you let go?”

“I don’t want to!”

It was not visible well because it was covered by the plague mask, but perhaps Luna’s face was grinning right now.

“You heard, Lion? He says we can stay longer for the time being!”

“……Th, thank you, really.”

“What thanks. A kid shouldn’t say things like that.”

My accompaniment with Lion was extended.

Prior to that, there was one thing I had to verify.

“Do you feel the monster here too?”

Lion, who closed his eyes and concentrated for a moment, soon shook his head.

“……No. I feel a sense of stability here. I don’t see the monster here.”

“As expected.”

If the anomaly occurred regardless of the safe zone, I would have judged it as something new unrelated to Akiro’s Labyrinth.

However, the fact that it could not reveal its appearance in the safe zone meant that it was an existence being ruled by the laws within Akiro’s Labyrinth, at the very least.

‘At least there was one gain.’

The way to break through Akiro’s Labyrinth is to realize the laws one by one in this manner.

Even if a completely new law that had not appeared until now appeared, I just have to destroy them one by one as I have done so far.

That was also the thing I was best at.

“Why are there so many people?”

As Luna said, perhaps because Akiro’s Labyrinth itself was crowded, there were quite a lot of people in the 1st floor safe zone.

“Because not everyone who seeks the labyrinth wants to break through the labyrinth.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means they might aim for something else by using the safe zone as a base.”

“Huh? Is there something to aim for in the labyrinth other than the labyrinth?”

“There is no need to go far, didn’t we also experience it just a while ago.”

Where people gather, those who harbor different thoughts are bound to emerge inevitably.

“Ah…… That’s right.”

The stability brought by the safe zone corresponds only to what is caused by the laws of Akiro’s Labyrinth.

In other words, despite the name safe zone, power struggles between players existed even inside here.

“Hey, isn’t that bread that was in the safe zone? Don’t tell me you’re trying to hog it all alone?”

“Is there a reason I shouldn’t? I picked it up first.”

“Ha, shouldn’t you have some consideration for the next person?”

“Do you have a complaint? If you do, come in front of me and try saying the same thing.”

“Do you think I can’t go if you say that? You’re dead.”

Unlike the time at the entrance of Akiro’s Labyrinth, although there were many people in the 1st floor safe zone, it wasn’t enough to achieve a balance, so it was chaos itself.

“……Th, I’m asking just in case, until when do we have to stay here?”

No matter how confident Luna was in her skills, this kind of chaos wasn’t very good for mental health, so she shook her head side to side.

“Since food is also sufficient, there will be no need to stay long. It would be better for us to just eat the food we obtained before rather than disposing of it here, and we have one more mouth to feed.”

“Ah, right. There’s Lion.”

“Then let’s eat soon.”

“Huh? Here?”

Luna said while tapping the plague mask.

“I’d prefer if our dining scene wasn’t seen from the outside, since we have to take off the masks anyway.”

“Hmm, okay.”

When Luna gestured lightly, Space Magic was exerted and the space between the outside and where we were was refracted.

It wasn’t a grandiose high-level magic that actually separated the space itself, but magic that refracted light to make it invisible.

As the rough preparation ended like that, Luna and I threw off the stifling plague masks.

“Hoo……”

“I feel like I can live now.”

At that, Lion who was watching us opened his eyes roundly.

“Huh? Why?”

“No…… It’s nothing.”

“You’re cute.”

While Luna stroked Lion’s head, I took out the Fang of Blazing Fire and placed a pot on top of it.

It was sort of a portable induction cooktop.

“Oh, this works too?”

“I don’t know either, since it’s my first time trying.”

“What is that?”

We could have gathered tree branches and started a fire like other people, but to do that, we had to go outside the safe zone again.

Honestly speaking, it was a bit bothersome.

Meal preparation was nothing special.

Boiling water in the pot, putting in the noodles and soup packed in advance, and boiling it, that was it.

“Wait, this is surely……!”

“Yes. It is ramen.”

As I said before, there are quite a few modern foods in the auction house.

To the extent that I wonder if there is a factory somewhere.

“No, there was something like this?! We should have eaten this sooner!”

Until now, while coming to Akiro’s Labyrinth, we resolved most meals by eating stew roughly boiled with beef jerky or at inns.

Because we could have been discovered as players if someone saw our dining scene by any chance.

However, since everyone here was a player, there was no need to hide what we ate like until now.

“You won’t be able to eat it when we return to Winter Castle, so eat up now.”

“……I don’t want to go back.”

“That’s fine too.”

“……Shouldn’t you at least pretend to stop me?”

“Why should I.”

“Sheesh.”

While saying that, Luna thrust her chopsticks first even before the ramen was fully cooked.

“It’s still undercooked.”

“I like firm noodles.”

“That is hard noodles.”

“Same difference.”

It was good that I boiled quite a lot; if I had boiled exactly 3 for the number of people, Luna would have eaten it all alone.

Luna did not forget to look after Lion even while frantically serving ramen into her own bowl.

“You don’t know how to use chopsticks, right? Let’s see, was there a fork……”

“I know how to use them.”

“Huh?”

Luna blinked her eyes.

“You know?”

“Yes.”

Lion held the chopsticks and served ramen into his bowl.

“……It’s real.”

“It, it’s delicious!”

“Uh, um. Right? Eat a lot.”

He knows how to use chopsticks…….

No matter that there is a culture of using chopsticks in some parts of the eastern region of the Lagna Continent, it was clearly strange for Lion, who had the appearance of a typical western origin at a glance, to know it.

More precisely, it was strange that Lion, who seemed to be an existence related to Akiro’s Labyrinth, knew it.

‘There is definitely something.’

While thinking about this and that, the ramen pot revealed its bottom before I knew it.

“Ah, I ate well.”

“…….”

I only got to eat two chopstick-fulls though.

***

Generally, the safe zone is located around the midpoint between the entrance and the exit on each floor of Akiro’s Labyrinth.

Therefore, it didn’t take that long for us, who left the safe zone, to break through the 1st floor of Akiro’s Labyrinth.

Perhaps thanks to moving so quickly, we did not encounter the anomaly on the way to the exit.

Whether we were lucky or there was another reason, it was a good thing.

“It’s the exit.”

At the labyrinth exit, one can choose one of two options.

Whether to leave the labyrinth.

Or to move on to the next floor.

Naturally, our choice was the latter.

[Entering the 2nd floor of Akiro’s Labyrinth.]

As we entered the 2nd floor of the labyrinth, the first thing seen was intense sunlight enough to make eyes sting.

“……Eut. It’s dazzling.”

Endlessly spread sand dunes continued to the horizon.

Sand grains sparkling in gold under the hot sun fluttered in the wind creating complex patterns, and occasional cacti and weeds embedded sparsely added weak energy of life to the desolate landscape.

This was exactly the desert zone that occupied most of the 2nd floor of Akiro’s Labyrinth.

Looking at the desert, Luna spoke in a fed-up voice.

“……There are no walls? Is this the labyrinth? Did we come to the wrong place?”

“The desert zone of the labyrinth’s 2nd floor is not a maze structure. Of course, this vastness alone is enough to call it a maze though.”

“Ha……”

I took out several tools including a compass from the backpack.

“What are you doing now?”

“In the 2nd floor of Akiro’s Labyrinth, setting the initial direction is important. The moment you make a mistake on that, you will never be able to escape the desert and will become a mummy.”

“……That is quite an energizing story. Thanks for telling me.”

The magnetic needles of the tools including the compass changed directions at will.

In the first place, things like that couldn’t work properly on the 2nd floor of Akiro’s Labyrinth, but there is always order even within disorder.

“It’s that way. That way is northeast, so if we go straight, there will be an exit.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, probably.”

“……The last part bothers me a little?”

“There is nothing as dangerous as having certainty in the labyrinth. You must always doubt even your own senses.”

“Kkeung.”

Since we set the direction, the only thing to do from now on was just walking persistently.

Of course, demonic beasts appearing in the desert and the labyrinth’s laws would block us on the way, but walking under this scorching sun was the hardest thing rather than that.

“W, water……”

“Didn’t you drink just a while ago? You must drink sparingly just enough so that dehydration symptoms don’t come.”

Of course, it was possible to create some amount of water by forcibly condensing nearby moisture with the Orb of Water, but since the power of the Orb of Water wasn’t infinite, I had to save it when I could save it.

“Lion, are you okay?”

“I can endure it.”

I knew it, but as expected, Lion was not an ordinary child.

‘Hmm.’

Even while crossing the vastly spread desert, I continuously gazed beyond the horizon.

There are many things to be careful of on the 2nd floor of Akiro’s Labyrinth, but the one I must be especially careful of among them is the man wearing a smiling mask, whom I have mentioned in the manual before.

The man wearing a smiling mask normally possessed strength of level 8 or higher, and that was a level where even Luna could not easily speak of a chance of winning.

Of course, even if we encountered the man wearing a smiling mask, there was no need to necessarily fight, though…….

‘I’m worried if Luna will stay still.’

It would be good if she doesn’t pick a fight with the white mask man for no reason.

“Uh?”

“What’s wrong, Lion?”

“Wait, this is……! We have to run away!”

Along with Lion’s shout, one side of the space began to ripple.

“Ah damn, again?”

“Get ready.”

As the space began to ripple, the appearance of the anomaly began to reveal itself again.

“I’ll try a few experiments on this opportunity.”

“Experiment? What an experiment! Shouldn’t we just blow it away and run away?”

“Unlike the forest zone of the 1st floor, we cannot move fast enough to shake that off in the desert zone. So it is better to find out more about that on this opportunity instead.”

I have thought a lot about the relationship between the Lion and the anomaly until now.

Among the laws appearing in Akiro’s Labyrinth, there is no law that cannot be opposed.

All anomalies and abnormal phenomena definitely have room to be countered.

“Kkeung…… How will you do it?”

“Like this.”

When I approached Lion while holding the Fang of Blazing Fire drawn, Luna was appalled.

“……What are you trying to do now?”

“Didn’t I say, it’s an experiment.”

“Wait─”

Amidst Luna’s shout, I slashed Lion’s shoulder without caring.

Chwaak!

“Ueut!”

“What are you doing right now!”

“Watch closely.”

Lion’s shoulder, where fresh blood should have definitely splattered, rippled along with the surrounding space.

Just like the anomaly did.

‘As expected, was it this?’

What on earth is the relationship between Lion and the anomaly?

Because of what relationship is the anomaly, which did not reveal its appearance to anyone, chasing Lion.

I felt like I knew the answer to that only now.

“What is this……”

Luna could not hide her astonishment.

However, it was too early to be surprised.

“Look there.”

“……Uh?”

It was not only Lion’s shoulder that was rippling.

The shoulder of the anomaly that had revealed its appearance in front of us a little while ago was also rippling together.

Exactly like Lion’s.

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