Survive the labyrinth with EX-grade traits

The group of three adventurers suddenly encountered a horde of monsters.

Perhaps because it was only a second-floor monster, the gap in strength was evident, and most of the aggro was focused on Veronica due to the built-in taunt of the ‘Echoing Resonance’.

They might have been momentarily startled, but since they had been in a state of crisis from the moment of their transfer until now, their judgment was swift.

“Lumia, cast Bind on those monsters first!”

The three adventurers, who had been running away from the monsters, seemed to think they were safe and were about to pass by us with joyful expressions on their faces.

[Chaos condemns them as shameless humans.]

Grrr.

I couldn’t help but grit my teeth.

If they had cried for help or shown even the slightest sign of wanting to fight together, I wouldn’t have been so angry.

‘Damn bastards. They’re trying to pull off a large number of monsters and leave us to die. That’s not gonna fly.’

“Grasping Black Hands of the Night.”

[Rugen’s Grip]

As Lumia finished her incantation, a large black hand appeared in the air.

Yes, not just one hand, but multiple hands.

In the month that had passed, Lumia had also grown in the art of dark magic, as she managed to summon three hands, matching the number of enemies.

“Ugh!”

“Aaah!”

“Damn it! Let go of me! Shit!”

The three adventurers were caught by the black hands, their bodies held tightly, as they screamed and struggled.

‘I need to help Veronica, who’s tanking alone.’

“Lumia, keep the magic going. Yeriel, stay back and watch. If you see any signs of the Bind weakening, don’t hesitate to shoot a Holy Arrow.”

“I’ll keep a close eye on them!”

With the fleeing adventurers restrained, I no longer had to worry about them.

“How dare you.”

Thud! Swish!

Veronica was already in front, calmly slashing and pushing away the flying beetles with her sword.

I switched to a greatsword and infused my feet with mana.

“Huff!”

I stomped the ground with mana and swung my greatsword horizontally, sweeping the area in front of me.

Whoosh—

Crack!

Beetles with prominent wing veins flew towards me, while giant grubs crawled slowly, spitting out acidic liquid.

Regardless of what they were, I slashed and tore through everything that came into contact with my sword.

“Chirp!”

“Kyaaak!”

Leaving Veronica to deal with the beetles, I pushed deeper into the horde.

The sharp horns on their heads and the acidic liquid they spat out were certainly dangerous attacks that could cause serious harm if I let my guard down.

But I was no longer the weak adventurer who had to rely on the trajectory of my enemy’s attacks to dodge them while wearing a Hard Leather Armor and a low-grade greave.

I was now a B-rank armored swordsman.

No, I was a killing machine.

Ding, ding!

The enraged monsters attacked me from all sides, but thanks to my armor and shield, I only had to be cautious of my face.

The acidic liquid? It didn’t even leave a scratch on the surface of my armor.

It was too low-level an attack to damage the masterpiece of Hutton.

My greatsword, infused with mana, sliced through the bugs, cutting down three or four at a time.

“Gurgle…”

Splat.

A pool of dozens of corpses, liquid, and blood.

In the relentless onslaught of sword strikes, not a single monster remained near me.

The only ones still alive were those who had been affected by the taunt and were desperately trying to get to Veronica.

As I rushed to finish them off, Veronica tapped her shield twice with her sword hand.

Thud! Thud—

[The sound of vengeance reverberates with two strikes.]

[The damage received from enemies taunted by the sound of taunt is released.]

A blue aura began to emanate from Veronica’s entire body.

Ssss—

“Disappear.”

With those few words,

—Kaboom!!!

A powerful shockwave of mana, like a raging fire, swept through the area around Veronica.

Despite the intense visual effect, the range was not that wide, but it was enough to instantly burst the monsters that couldn’t withstand the accumulated damage.

‘Damn… Most of the corpses I just killed were blown away.’

It’s all good, but… The shockwave’s mana turned the corpses of the monsters affected by the sound of vengeance into mush.

Oh well. I killed most of them anyway, so there’s plenty of loot to farm.

With the battle over, I could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

“Veronica, are you hurt?”

“Don’t worry. I’m not weak enough to get hurt by these monsters.”

“Good. Let’s go to the back and deal with those guys first.”

“I think we should just kill them… But whatever decision you make, I’ll follow your lead. Oh, just a moment.”

Thud! Thud! Thud!

[The sound of absorption reverberates with three strikes.]

[Absorb a small amount of mana from the enemies killed by the sound of vengeance.]

[The ‘Echoing Resonance’ ends.]

What an incredible trait. It’s the perfect trait for a tank, with such a well-connected skill.

Even though it’s conditional, the fact that it continuously absorbs mana, along with the mana returned after the battle, means it has incredible sustainability.

“Let’s go.”

After finishing absorbing the mana, we returned to the back.

“You’re here?”

I saw the adventurers tied up by the black hands, Lumia concentrating on maintaining the magic, and Yeriel with her staff, biting her lip.

“Pee.”

El, who was tearing through the adventurers with her tiny body, was an added bonus.

Seeing us covered in blood, the three adventurers realized that the battle was over and began to beg for their lives with disgusting faces.

“Please spare us!”

“We’re also victims! We’ve already lost a comrade, and it was just a coincidence that our escape route overlapped with yours!”

“What did we do wrong, other than running for our lives? Please, just let us go this once… I’m sorry for raising my voice. Please, just let us go.”

“Huh.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at their audacity. I was an idiot for even considering letting them go for money or goods.

Claiming to be victims, didn’t they use us as bait when they found us?

At the very least, they should have asked for help and fought alongside us, even if it was just one hand. Isn’t that right?

I clearly saw the ugly smiles on these three bastards’ faces, and they had the nerve to be so shameless.

If it weren’t for Veronica, or if I hadn’t been able to get my armor and had to settle for whatever I could find,

I would have been in another intense battle, struggling to cover the dozens of enemies on my own.

In that case, the culprits would have escaped, and we would have been dragged into a drawn-out fight, exhausted by the constant pressure. We would have survived, but it would have been a close call.

‘Spare our lives? Let’s think about this slowly.’

I placed various thoughts on both sides of the scale in my mind.

The benefits of sparing them.

The possibility of backlash if I kill them.

The reaction of the other party members if I kill them and loot their equipment.

Things like that.

I slowly examined each of their status windows, one by one.

They were average E-rank adventurers with only two or three traits, not even worth looking at.

‘No matter how I think about it, killing them is the right choice.’

If I let them go and they cause trouble later, it could be a problem.

If these bastards survive and spread rumors about us at the Adventurer’s Guild, it could create another issue.

The truth doesn’t matter. The problem is that if I, as a person, get tarnished, my master will also be dragged down with me. That’s the real issue.

I made eye contact with each of my party members.

Nod.

Veronica, who thought it was right to kill them, and Lumia, who was calm and collected, of course, agreed.

Even Yeriel, with her bright and innocent demeanor, gave them a cold stare.

Seeing me and Veronica covered in blood, Yeriel seemed to be enraged by the fact that these unrelated people had put us in danger.

“You… You!”

Thud!

Yeriel, who had come to my side and held my hand, couldn’t hold back her anger.

“You filthy rats! You were so happy to abandon us and run for your lives! Didn’t the Adventurer’s Guild teach you not to do that? Did you fill your heads with filth instead of knowledge during your mandatory education? How dare you, you brainless bastards, do something so despicable and uneducated!”

It had been a while since she had gotten so worked up.

“Well, it’s no wonder you’re stuck on the second floor with such low-level skills. Spare your lives? It’s not you who should be spared, but your parents who will lament your deaths!!! No, they’re not even human! You filthy goblins and whores— Ugh! Ugh!”

[Chaos shakes her head in disappointment at Yeriel’s outburst.]

“Alright, calm down. There’s no need to get worked up over these bastards.”

I patted Yeriel on the shoulder to calm her down. Her shoulders were shaking, and she was breathing heavily.

Everyone was left speechless, their mouths agape. After a while, when things seemed to have calmed down, I removed my hand from her shoulder.

“Huff— I’m calm now. Sorry for getting so worked up…”

“No, it’s fine. You’ve made me feel much better. Good job.”

“Heh. Hehe.”

I let out a sigh of relief as I watched Yeriel’s embarrassed smile.

“You have an unexpected side to you. I’ve rarely been so surprised in my life.”

Lumia had experienced this before when she was about to spar with Isaac, but it was Veronica’s first time, so she was understandably shocked.

I awkwardly laughed off her surprised reaction and gripped my sword.

Then, after stating that she would follow my decision, Veronica stepped forward, having been waiting quietly.

“I’ll take care of it.”

Sling.

She drew her sword, stating that it was her duty as a knight to stain her sword with their lowly blood.

Soon after, she swung her sword three times, executing them like a headsman chopping off heads.

“Heartless…”

“You bitch—”

Slash!

Before they could say another word, their necks were severed, spraying blood as their heads rolled on the ground.

‘Hmm… Yes. There are more bad adventurers than good ones in this industry.’

It wasn’t the time to make a dramatic statement about killing anyone who stood in my way.

Adventurers, no matter what anyone said, were the most difficult enemies to deal with in the dungeon.

‘This is not a good start. Let’s quickly farm and move on to the next floor.’

Ugh. It was awkward to move to another area, and I wanted to get out of this shabby place as soon as possible.

.

.

.

The second floor, where the party entered through the layer portal.

The most infamous of the three zones, the bug zone.

True to its name, various bug-type monsters appeared, and the floor was covered with a mixture of liquid and molted skin, causing a sense of disgust.

Chirr—

The sound of insects chirping from somewhere was equally unpleasant.

“Ugh. Is there any way to block this physiological disgust? I really hate it, even though it’s the second time…”

“You’ll get used to it. Still, thanks to your purification, Yeriel, it’s much better.”

“Heh. Really?”

Yeriel and Veronica seemed to have become closer after showing their unexpected sides.

“Be careful not to touch the cocoons.”

According to Lumia’s knowledge from her Explorer class, if the cocoons were damaged beyond a certain point, the Radiant Spider, a higher-level species, would appear.

It was a large spider monster with a glowing body.

Its exoskeleton was as hard as iron, and the threads it occasionally spat out could cause hallucinations or blindness, making it dangerous unless you were specifically hunting for it.

‘I didn’t realize there was such a gimmick hidden in this zone. I knew that higher-level giant venomous centipedes randomly appeared, but I didn’t know about this.’

No wonder many novice adventurers died in the bug zone.

Following Lumia’s lead, we carefully avoided the poison pools and cleverly hidden cocoons.

When I checked the time, it was already 10 PM.

Although it didn’t feel like it due to the dark ceiling above, I decided it was time for a break.

On the second floor, there was a shelter in the space between the walls where monsters couldn’t reach, so we set up a familiar and took turns on watch.

.

.

.

After the first day on the second floor, we were able to break through with ease, as if the difficulty had suddenly changed.

We cautiously passed by other parties we encountered.

“Kyaaak!”

After easily slicing through the monsters blocking our path, we increased our speed.

Five days later, on the fifth day,

‘Huh? Is it really this easy?’

As if by a miracle, we reached the portal without any problems.