Chapter 26

Chapter 26

Fishing

[Entering Basement Floor 5 of the Labyrinth!]

A gentle breeze blew softly and brushed across my face.

It was an utterly peaceful grassland.

“What is this place? Is this a floor for resting? I don’t see any monsters, and there’s even a lake that looks perfect for playing in the water.”

Aris, who had been looking around, walked toward the lake.

“Boss! The water is really clear! Should we swim here before we go?”

“There might be something inside, so dip your face in.”

“Yes!”

Aris answered brightly and dipped her face in.

And a few seconds later.

“Gieeeek!!”

She let out a bizarre scream and fell on her backside.

Aris turned pale and instantly backed away.

“It’s completely packed with monsters! If we swam... Huh? Boss? Is that why you bought the fishing rod and net? How did you know?”

“There’s a Labyrinth channel on NewTube that I like watching. It has a natural-living concept, and its most popular video is surviving for a week on Floor 5 by fishing.”

“Ugh, you’re saying people eat those? They’re completely hideous!”

“It might have been exaggerated, but according to that NewTuber, they’re incredibly delicious.”

When I saw them in the video, they were dripping with oil.

Since I was here anyway, I thought I might try eating one.

I had to catch one to clear it regardless.

I shifted my gaze and checked the clear condition that had just updated.

[Clear Condition: Capture Sharkrak, Guardian of the Lake!]

Sharkrak is a shark-type monster that has guarded the lake.

The clear condition will be achieved once you fish up Sharkrak and subdue it.

Sharkrak feeds on the monsters living in the lake.

You must first fish up a monster Sharkrak likes and use it as bait.

I did wonder why a shark was living in a lake, but well, it was the Labyrinth.

I shrugged and set down the fishing gear.

Then I scanned the floor with Evil Eye.

As long as we did not enter the water, there did not seem to be any particular danger.

If there was one problem, it was that I could not see the destruction condition either.

It might be under the lake.

Ding, ding, ding.

Uh, uh, uh! It’s the newbie who goes around destroying Labyrinths! Guys!! Come here! He’s finally here!

The Labyrinth Destroyer is here?! Where, where! Move aside!

He hadn’t come for a while, so I thought he was definitely dead?

Looks like he’s fishing today!

Hey, hey! I’ve been waiting!

Perhaps because I had smashed several Labyrinth floors in a row.

It seemed I had become quite famous among the Constellations.

Judging by how they had not recognized me on Floor 100, though, it seemed limited to the lower sections.

But is that really the Labyrinth Destroyer? He looks really well-behaved, doesn’t he? Even now, all he has is fishing gear.

Why doesn’t he have bait? Has he never fished before?

Hahaha! He came here to fish but didn’t bring bait? What a total idiot! You’re screwed for clearing Floor 5 of the Labyrinth today.

Exactly. No matter how I look at him, he’s just an ordinary, stupid player... Huh? Where is he tying that fishing line?

Aris, who had been watching the chat, tilted her head.

“Boss? The Constellations are asking where you’re tying the fishing line. Where are you tying i... Huh?”

An earthquake struck Aris’s pupils.

The fishing line was tied in a neat knot around her round belly.

It had been so stealthy that she had not noticed.

When she looked at him with trembling eyes, Ryu Jin let out a small sigh.

“That’s how it turned out, Aris.”

It was a simple condition where the floor would be cleared if we caught Sharkrak.

Even so, the reason cash farmers avoided Floor 5 of the Labyrinth was because of the bait.

Depending on the day’s weather and temperature, the lake’s condition, and Sharkrak’s mood, the bait Sharkrak wanted to eat changed.

In other words, one had to endlessly fish up bait monsters and swap them out until Sharkrak bit.

So I decided.

I would send Aris, who had Evil Eye, underwater to find Sharkrak, read its status, and figure out which monster we needed to use as bait.

“What do you mean, that’s how it turned out! Untie me right now!”

Instead of untying her, I took the old bulletproof helmet from Aris’s waist.

Then I placed the freshly delivered new bulletproof helmet, which had arrived right before we entered, on her head.

I had even prepared a fluorescent strip so she would be visible from outside the water.

“There. It suits you.”

“Boss? Can the new bulletproof helmet withstand monster attacks too?”

“If you get bitten on the head in just the right way, maybe?”

“It feels like only my head will disappear?!”

“That’s why you have to get bitten properly. But there’s no need to worry. I’ll move you around well so you don’t get bitten. Gently.”

Aris’s eyes shook violently.

‘He isn’t human...!’

The Constellations’ reactions were similar.

He really isn’t called the Labyrinth Destroyer for nothing. He looks ready to destroy even the steamed bun, doesn’t he?

With those puffed-up cheeks, she’ll burst nicely.

“Hey, you there! Don’t run your mouth just because it’s not happening to you!”

Yeah, says the next guy who’s about to be bitten and burst.

“Come down here, you bastard! I’ll beat you up!”

I took the howling Aris and went to the lake.

“Breathe with this. It’s called snorkeling, and it’s roughly like playing in the water.”

“Do people usually play in the water while risking their lives?”

“Pretty much, right? Water has always been dangerous.”

Since it seemed she would keep talking endlessly, I quickly put the child-sized snorkeling gear in her mouth.

“If possible, find the destruction condition too. Water play begins.”

Aris swallowed dryly and walked into the lake.

It was an inhumane method from every angle, but throwing a tantrum and saying she would not do it was not easy.

After all, it was true that this role was necessary for clearing the floor.

When the water reached her waist, she dipped her face in.

For a moment, the question of why she alone had to go in when he also had Evil Eye crossed her mind, but there were so many monsters lined up below that she quickly forgot it.

Bob, bob, bob, bob.

After floating around the lake with her face dipped in for a while.

The corners of Aris’s mouth twitched.

Contrary to expectations, the monsters did not care about her at all.

Perhaps because of that, her tension gradually loosened, and she began to have fun.

The water was clear, giving her an open view all the way down, and the fishing rod moved her around on its own without her even having to swim.

This snorkeling thing was extremely fun.

Rustle.

‘!?’

Aris, who had been enjoying her drift, frowned.

For an instant, a blue light brushed across her vision.

Based on previous experience, it was usually the light indicating the clear condition.

‘That bastard must be Sharkrak!’

She raised her hand outside the water and indicated the direction.

The fishing rod gently pulled Aris in response.

Before long, Sharkrak was caught in Aris’s Evil Eye.

Sharkrak’s information was quickly listed.

That included the bait it wanted to eat today.

She stuck her thumb out of the water.

Now they just had to go back and tell the seal what monster they needed...

Gurgle!!

A shadow flashed across her vision at tremendous speed.

It had only been for a fleeting instant, but she had clearly seen it.

An aura dyed crimson.

The Labyrinth’s destruction condition.

Gulp.

She swallowed dryly and quickly waved the hand she had stuck out of the water.

It was a signal that she was on the verge of dying from fear, so he had to pull her out immediately.

Stop.

Was it because she had waved her hand too roughly?

The swimming monsters stopped moving all at once.

And a few seconds later, she began to see them clearly through Evil Eye.

The eyes of hundreds of monsters watching her from the pitch-black water.

Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle, gurgle!!!

“Pull me out! Hurry!! They’re coming! They’re coming!! Right below meee!!!”

Because the situation was far too urgent, she skipped polite speech.

Thanks to that, Ryu Jin, who understood the urgency of the situation, quickly reeled in the fishing rod.

Aris, who had been floating, rose into the air.

And following behind her, an enormous number of fish monsters revealed themselves.

“Kyaaaaaaaaaak!!!”

She was already outside the water, but the monsters did not seem to have any intention of giving up.

The army of fish leaped to bite Aris, opening their jaws violently.

“They’re biting me!!! They’re biting me!!”

At the monster jumping toward her rear, Aris’s eyes grew so wide they seemed ready to pop out.

At that moment.

CRACK!!

With a thunderous roar, the monsters that had leaped up were sent flying backward.

“Duuuu...!”

“You lousy seeeaaal!! I believed in you!!”

She stuck out her thumb and pointed to one side of the lake.

“The destruction condition is right under there! Forget fishing or whatever, just chase it down and beat it up!”

“Understood, du! This humble one, du, is the King of the Sea, du! A shark is nothing but a single punch, du!”

“Huh? The destruction condition isn’t a shark, though?”

I quickly said it, but I was one step too late.

Poporu had stuck out his plump thumb and dived under.

Well, since he was the King of the Sea, he would handle it on his own, right?

Poof!

Ryu Jin, who caught Aris, smiled.

“Well done, Aris. What was the destruction condition?”

“It passed by really fast, so I didn’t see it clearly, but it was definitely red!”

“How big was it?”

“Hmm, roughly from here to there?”

I moved my gaze along Aris’s hands.

That big? It was too big, wasn’t it? It was not as if a blue whale lived in the lake. Was that size even possible?

“Rest for a bit.”

After seating Aris in a chair, I went to the lake and dipped my face in.

I still could not see anything.

Instead, a strange vibration was transmitted through the water.

It felt as if the entire lake were humming.

By the way, where had all those monster swarms disappeared to?

I could not see even one.

DING!

[Sharkrak has died, and the Labyrinth clear condition has been achieved!]

I clenched my fist.

It seemed Poporu had caught it.

But how far down had he gone that I could not see him?

...Aaaah... Aaaagh!

At the vibration ringing in my ears, I turned my head.

Something was rising from far away at tremendous speed.

It was Poporu.

Dduaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!!!

For some reason, his face was full of terror.

He was rising at maximum speed like a water rocket.

And a moment later.

The silhouette of the pursuer chasing Poporu began to appear.

‘You have got to be kidding me.’

Aris had not seen wrong.

It still looked quite far away, yet it filled my vision. It was absurdly huge.

“Dduak! My lord, duuuu!”

There was no need to hear more.

The moment I grabbed Poporu as he came out of the water, I ran with everything I had.

“Huh, Boss? Why are you running? Didn’t the seal catch the shark and come back?”

There was no time to explain.

I tucked Aris, who was scratching her head, under my arm.

“No, why are you in such a hur—Waaaaaaaah!!!”

The destruction condition leaped out of the lake and revealed itself in the air.

DING!

[Megalok, the sleeping Lord of the Lake, reveals itself!]

[The aura of the Labyrinth Destroyer has awakened Megalok from its sleep!]

[Megalok, Predator of the Lake, will chase the Destroyer to the end!]

Waaaaaaaaah!! What is that!?

It’s a giant tunaaaaaa!!

What tuna? It’s an ancient shark!!

It’s a whaaaale!!

CRUNCH, CRUNCH, CRUNCH!

Megalok did not fall back into the lake.

Megalok drove its head straight into the ground where we had just been standing.

“Puhahaha! It’s only big. It’s a total idi—Huh?”

Megalok’s head did not break.

The ground was what shattered.

Basically, this place was a small island floating on top of the lake.

The fact that it had broken through the ground and gone in meant, conversely, that it could also break through the ground and come out.

I quickly drew a weapon.

[Using a Draw Ticket!]

[Tremendous luck activates! A weapon suited to the current situation has been drawn!]

[You have drawn a Legendary Grade weapon!]

[It is a weapon imbued with a unique function!]

[Thunder Bait / Grade: S+]

It is the bait used by the legendary fisherman Haemuk!

With this bait, any fish can be subdued!

Unique Skill: Lightning Explosion

The moment the opponent bites the bait, it generates an electric shock!

The Unique Skill activates only when connected to a fishing rod!

Fisherman Haemuk left behind these words!

Just make it bite somehow. Thunder Bait will take care of the rest.

Shiiit!!!

Something weird came out.