* Entering the Labyrinth. *
* Current location: 1st Layer. *
The moment I regained consciousness, I quickly sank down on the spot.
In the pitch-black darkness, there was nothing to see, so I had to rely on touch as I rummaged through my backpack.
The only thing I could take out in advance was the torch shaft, which was treated as a weapon.
Since I had practiced it several times beforehand, the process of taking out the cloth I had soaked in oil, wrapping it around the end of the shaft, and lighting it was not all that difficult.
The utterly tenebrous darkness was driven away in an instant, and the flame began to flicker and burn.
Only then did the breathing of the two mercenaries reach my ears.
With the help of the light, I took them into my sight, and an unfamiliar yet familiar interface unfolded before my eyes.
I had expected as much, but it was Tombstone’s.
[Ray Gladstone]
[Gauntlet and Longsword]: Front-line placement, Speed Dice 1, Power Dice 2
[Chainmail]: Life Tokens 35, Defense Dice 1
[Valerie McBain]
[Flintlock Pistol and Dagger]: Front-line/Mid-line/Rear-line placement, Speed Dice 4, Power Dice 3
[Cowhide Jacket]: Life Tokens 20, Evasion Dice 2
“No presence.”
“Seems that way.”
When Valerie spoke briefly, Ray quietly agreed.
Slightly surprised by the air of the two, whose senses had been honed sharp, I tidied up my backpack and rose to my feet again.
The scenery inside the Labyrinth was similar to what I had spent thousands of hours seeing in the game.
Fragments of stone structures were visible here and there, and before us lay a path winding like an anthill.
But bizarre objects clung all over the walls of the tunnel, making it impossible to think of this as any ordinary cave.
Grotesque things resembling flesh, blood, and muscle.
On top of that, a strangely fishy smell kept irritating my nose.
Even though things a modern person’s senses would rarely ever encounter were right before my eyes, perhaps because I was in such a hurry, I had no time to care about any of that.
“Let’s go.”
Fortunately, we had avoided the worst-case scenario for now.
I would be lying if I said I hadn’t been complacently thinking, There’s no way they’d fuck me over with that kind of bullshit right from the start, but if we had been hit with that nonsense from the very beginning, it really could have been over the moment it began.
We were already a weak early-stage party, and in an irregular situation with only two of them, overcoming a Doom encounter would be truly—since it’s important, I’ll say it again—truly not easy.
Since we had safely passed the part I was most worried about, from here on, it was a contest of skill.
As we had decided in advance, Ray began striding ahead in the front line.
Valerie followed behind her in the mid-line.
I consciously kept myself aligned with Valerie as I slowly advanced.
“Hold.”
Ray, who had been walking ahead, came to a dead stop and muttered in a low voice, placing her hand on the hilt of her longsword.
While I, growing tense along with her, swallowed hard, Valerie, like the experienced mercenary she was, drew her flintlock and aimed it forward, making a sound as if she were scraping her throat.
“You hear that?”
“Yeah. Three… no, two maybe.”
“I’ll go in first.”
A brief exchange of information passed between the two of them.
There was no particular place for me to cut in, so I gripped the torch tightly.
Immediately after that, Ray leapt.
Whoosh, bang.
Sounds like that circled my ears.
At the same time I registered them, I suddenly felt as if time inside my head had slowed.
* Ray’s [Mort]: 2d6=7 > 1d6=2: Hound’s Evasion *
* 7 Life Tokens removed from the large Hound. Remaining Life Tokens: 3. *
* Judgment Dice 1d20=7 1d6=1(-1)=0: Hound’s Evasion *
* 8 Life Tokens removed from the large Hound. Remaining Life Tokens: 0. *
* The large Hound has died. *
* Valerie advanced to the front line. *
Valerie rushed forward like a lightning bolt and swung the dagger she held in a reverse grip.
A vivid red wound instantly appeared on the neck of the creature, which had already been unable to recover from the shock, and it soon collapsed, spilling blood.
The important thing was to ensure that when Valerie took the first turn, she suppressed the enemy decisively and did not hand the enemy an opportunity.
Ray had 1 Speed Die, while the Hound had 2 Speed Dice.
There was a very high chance the Hound would move when this turn ended, so it was advantageous to reduce their numbers before then.
* The sharp-toothed Hound acts. *
* Hound’s [Bite]: 2d6=7 > 2d6=5: Valerie’s Evasion *
* 7 Life Tokens removed from Valerie. Remaining Life Tokens: 13. *
* Valerie’s Desire has increased by 2d10=11. Current Desire: 11/100. *
“Kh…!”
The Hound might have been a low-ranking one, but it was still a monster of the Labyrinth.
A creature that had lost its reason was not going to be frightened and flee just because its companion had been taken down.
Valerie, whose shoulder had been bitten by the Hound that charged in madly, knocked it away with a swift movement and let out a groan.
Some degree of damage was inevitable, but this was a heavier blow than expected.
Because she had charged in just now to finish off the other one, Valerie had stepped a few paces farther forward than Ray, who had originally been in the front line.
That must have made her the target.
As I was slightly frowning, Valerie’s gaze turned toward me.
“Just now, what did you—”
Before she could finish speaking, time stretched out like taffy once more.
It was Ray’s turn to move.
Pushing Valerie’s question aside for the moment, I first had to choose.
* Ray acts. *
* Ray’s [Unter]: 2d6=9 > 1d6=3: Hound’s Evasion *
* 9 Life Tokens removed from the sharp-toothed Hound. Remaining Life Tokens: 1. *
* Ray’s [Scheitel]: 2d6=6 > 1d6=5(-1)=4: Hound’s Evasion *
* 6 Life Tokens removed from the sharp-toothed Hound. Remaining Life Tokens: 0. *
* The sharp-toothed Hound has died. *
Ray’s longsword swung upward from below and struck the creature’s jaw.
The fangs it must have been so proud of snapped and went flying with a shrieking crack.
Then Ray brought down the sword she had raised high, as if pressing it into the creature.
Fresh blood burst from its grayish-white hide.
That was the end of its short life.
Valerie, who had cleanly chopped the Hound apart at the same time as Ray’s strike, let out the breath she had been holding in a short burst.
She had taken a bit of damage just now, but she looked more or less fine.
There was a little blood seeping out, but her jacket was still intact without being torn, so it was probably not a deep wound.
“Master. What was that just now?”
My gaze, which had been checking her condition, soon met Valerie’s gray eyes head-on.
At the same time, she asked without holding back.
There was no time for a long explanation, so I feigned ignorance.
“What was what?”
“No, earlier, something… Tch.”
When I looked bewildered, wearing an expression that said I knew nothing, Valerie, who had been about to press me, suddenly grabbed her shoulder and clicked her tongue.
“Are you all right?”
“I’m not all right, damn it. To end up like this after getting hit by trash like that.”
When she irritably kicked the corpse of the dead dog, the Hound’s body burst apart and then dissolved into the air.
“These things really are energy-based.”
“Looks that way. I saw more than enough of them in that damned huge dungeon.”
Ray clicked her tongue.
When we had talked on the way here yesterday, she had said she had participated in a large-scale dungeon expedition, so that was probably what she meant.
“So, my lord. Are we supposed to just keep going forward like this? Or do you know some specific direction we’re supposed to go?”
Valerie asked.
I shook my head.
“I don’t know anything else either. We have no choice but to try going somewhere.”
Since both the structure of the Labyrinth and the point of entry changed every time one entered, mapping was meaningless anyway. But one thing I could guarantee was that our target was definitely somewhere on this layer.
Honestly, we had no choice but to wander around as best we could.
If we encountered it before our torchlight and food ran out, and killed it, we won.
If not… well, there was no need to think about that case right now.
“No helping it.”
Ray let out a sigh and began moving again.
She seemed somewhat dissatisfied with the fact that there was no method other than advancing blindly like this.
But it would not become the aimless expedition she imagined.
As long as this game was Tombstone, the size of the Labyrinth was absolutely fixed.
And since this was the 1st Layer, it was practically a tutorial map. There might be differences in the details, but it was by no means large.
There was a high chance we would face the layer boss sooner than we expected.
Of course, if we took heavy damage or ran short on supplies, we would have to plan a withdrawal, but it would be far cleaner to use the portal that opened after dealing with the layer boss to return.
The fact that there were only two party members was a bit worrying, but the difficulty of the 1st Layer could hardly be called high even as an empty compliment.
Besides, both Valerie and Ray had considerable damage potential, so if we went for a short decisive battle, it was not impossible to take it down.