Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Collapse

A backlash erupted along with a huge rupturing sound.

“Uwaaaaagh!!”

Aris flattened herself against the floor so she would not be blown away.

When Aris lifted her head slightly, her eyes widened.

Amid the pouring cloud of dust.

There, Ryu Jin was laughing.

As if something was so entertaining, as if something had made him feel so refreshed, his smile was wide open!

Shudder, shudder, shudder.

She swallowed dryly.

At this moment, she realized once again.

Boss Ryu Jin.

He might be even more deranged than she had thought.

No, he was definitely deranged!

“Hoooo.”

Ryu Jin breathed out.

The dust cloud had not yet settled, but he could tell.

The door had broken.

And the path had opened.

Ding!

[You have chosen the wrong door! According to the rules of the sixth floor of the labyrinth, the status effect ‘Paralysis’ will be granted as a trial!]

That idiot! He really broke it! Now get paralyzed!

Even if he is a newbie, is he not acting way too recklessly?! Will you only come to your senses once your head gets paralyzed?

‘As expected.’

I quietly waited for the status effect to be applied.

Would it go as expected, or would my prediction be wrong?

Before long, a cheerful alarm rang out.

[The rules of the labyrinth will apply the status effect ‘Paralysis’!]

Beep!

[You are an Unselected Individual!]

[Due to the effect of the unique trait ‘Unselected Individual,’ you are immune to status effects!]

[Status effects whose source is the rules of the labyrinth do not work on an Unselected Individual!]

The corners of my lips rose broadly.

I had not been wrong.

It was exactly as expected.

I still could not let my guard down, since status effects caused by monsters, terrain, traps, and the like still existed, but even this alone was a tremendous advantage.

Look at him, unable to move now that he is paralyzed!

Since he has lived his whole life with a normal body, it will be harder to adapt than he thinks!

[The Constellations burst into laughter!]

Information was power.

There was no need to deliberately reveal this advantage.

“Boss! Are you all right!?”

“I am fine. Only my little finger was paralyzed.”

He got lucky! But next time, it will be his head!

‘No, it will not.’

After sneering inwardly, I continued forward.

Aris, who had been about to shout that we should turn back even now, closed her mouth.

She could tell from those faintly deranged eyes.

That human would never stop.

Sure enough.

KRAAANG!! KRAANG!!! KRAAANG!!!

Booming sounds erupted without end.

The stone doors broke one after another.

Accordingly, the Constellations’ reactions changed as well.

At first, they had shouted at me, asking if I intended to die after being completely paralyzed.

Now, they were repeatedly raising question marks, wondering what part of me had been paralyzed for me to still be swinging the hammer.

BOOOOM!!

When I removed one more door, the place indicated by the Great Labyrinth Library finally appeared.

Since it was still before the event’s activation, it was blocked by a high, thick rock wall.

Come to think of it, why did that newbie advance while breaking the wrong doors? There is nothing there.

Right? Does he perhaps enjoy being paralyzed?! He is a total deviant!

Phew! I thought the labyrinth was going to be destroyed again! That newbie brat dares to scare a Constellation!

Coward.

You are going to get slapped! You!

I lowered my gaze and looked at Gulmakdan’s Hammer.

Unique Skill: Pioneering

Conceptually destroys everything that blocks the user’s path!

Pioneer Gulmakdan left these words behind!

The path is blocked? Break it. What is the problem?

I liked those words.

What did it matter if there was a wall in front of me?

If the item I wanted to obtain was beyond it, then I simply had to.

WHOOOOOSH!!!

Break it.

KRAAAAAANG!!

Another tremendous roar erupted.

The Constellations screamed, That lunatic did it again!!

Aris, who had been standing some distance away, reacted the same way.

She had accepted the part where he broke the doors.

But now, after all that, he was going to break the wall that was part of the terrain itself?

As if something like that would break just because he hit it... Ah?

Aris opened her mouth.

Cracks spread at tremendous speed.

What was that insane hammer, really?

And why?

Rumble, rumble, rumble.

Why was Boss Ryu Jin running toward her at a terrifying speed?

“What are you doing?! Run!”

Grab!

“Guhk!”

Ryu Jin grabbed Aris by the head and immediately ran.

Behind him, debris from the collapse came pouring down.

It was not only the wall that had broken.

All the surrounding terrain connected to the wall was collapsing.

“Uh, uhhhh.”

Aris, whose gaze was turned backward, furrowed her brow.

The collapse was drawing closer and closer.

“Boooooss!! Faster! Fasterrrr!! It is coming! It is coming!! It is here! I said it is here!!!”

I clenched my molars and increased my speed.

I had only meant to break the part in front of me, but I had not expected every connected area to shatter as well.

The unique skill Pioneering that Gulmakdan’s Hammer possessed was an even more incredible function than I had thought.

“It is faaaalling!!!”

I threw Aris, who was shrieking, beyond the door first.

“Gweeeeegh!”

Then I kicked off the ground with all my strength.

And before I hit the ground, I performed a breakfall I had once seen on NewTube.

Of course, there was no way it would work properly.

I landed on my shoulder first and ended up rolling several times.

“Hoo! Hoo!”

Breathing roughly, I looked back.

RUMBLEEEEE!!

The rock debris had completely collapsed and was falling far underground.

Cold sweat flowed down my forehead.

I had nearly been crushed by the wall I broke myself.

I needed to be more careful next time.

Ding!

[A wall that must not be opened has been shattered by an Unselected Individual!]

[All connected terrain collapses, and the sixth underground floor of the labyrinth, ‘Trial of Questions and Answers,’ is destroyed!]

[The clear condition is automatically fulfilled!]

[The sixth underground floor will be regenerated, and ownership will be transferred!]

[Player Ryu Jin will become the new owner of the sixth underground floor of the labyrinth!]

[Settlement will begin when you return to the personal lobby!]

I clenched my fist and shouted, Nice, for a moment.

Then I saw a box glittering beyond the gap.

It was the item the Great Labyrinth Library had informed me about, the one that should originally have appeared after the event was activated two days later.

Aris, standing beside me, scratched her head.

“This will not work. The path across is gone. Since there is no other choice, let us give up and... Hm?”

Aris lowered her gaze.

Ryu Jin was taking a rope out of the beginner backpack and tying it around her stomach.

Aris, drawing a hundred question marks in her head, looked up at Ryu Jin.

“Boss?”

“From now on, you are going to fly over there.”

“I cannot fly, though. I do not even have wings.”

“No, you can fly.”

“I do not have the ability to fly!”

“You can still fly. Think positively. If you succeed, I will let you eat a lot of magic stones.”

I lifted Aris in a shot-put stance.

“Uh, uhhhh.”

She wanted to say something more, but it was impossible.

Because Ryu Jin was spinning round and round, and she was getting dizzy.

“Inhaaaaaale!!”

At the edge of the severed path.

After drawing in a breath, Ryu Jin threw Aris with all his strength.

“Gweeeeeeeeeeegh!!”

The path had disappeared, but the width itself was not that great.

Before long, Aris reached the other side.

“Do a breakfall! A breakfall!!”

It seemed she could not hear me.

Aris landed with a splat and rolled away.

Seeing Aris lying motionless, I cautiously opened my mouth.

“A-Aris? Are you okay?”

Since the gap was not that wide, the impact should not have been too great, right?

Did she faint because she was scared?

Just as I was about to call out to her again.

Aris sprang to her feet and looked around sharply.

“Huh, Boss? When did I get here?”

It had the feeling of, Where am I? Who am I?

It seemed she had blacked out while flying.

“Y-Yeah. Since you are there anyway, pick up the box.”

“Yes! I will bring it!”

Aris stood up and scratched her head.

What really happened? Did I teleport?

“Aris. Untie the rope on your body and tie it to the box. Make it tight so it will not come loose!”

“Yes!”

Once she did as instructed, Ryu Jin slowly dragged the box over.

After watching quietly for a moment, the box crossed the cliff and entered Ryu Jin’s hands.

“Boss?”

“Yeah?”

“What about me?”

“Stay there. When we go to the personal lobby, you will follow me out.”

“Ah, that is true.”

Aris scratched the back of her head once again.

He was clearly right, so why did she feel disappointed?

Before she could spend more than a few seconds drawing question marks in her mind, a message appeared before her eyes.

[You will exit the sixth floor of the labyrinth, ‘Trial of Questions and Answers’!]

[You will enter the personal lobby!]

---

[You have entered the labyrinth’s personal lobby!]

[The Legendary weapon Pioneer Gulmakdan’s Hammer will be returned!]

[Settlement for the sixth underground floor of the labyrinth will begin!]

[The First Destruction Bonus will be granted!]

[Player Ryu Jin has leveled up!]

[Player Ryu Jin has leveled up!]

.

.

.

[Player Ryu Jin has leveled up! Current level: 21 achieved!]

I naturally began clapping.

Level 21 on my second exploration.

Excellent. Truly excellent.

[Each stat will increase!]

As soon as my stats rose, my body became light enough for me to feel it immediately.

It was the second time I had experienced it, but it was still a fascinating sensation.

[The recharge time of the Draw Ticket will be reduced to 20 hours!]

Beep!

[The labyrinth has detected abnormal access! Labyrinth Energy will not be generated!]

The sixth floor had been entered by skipping the second through fifth floors through Free Entry, the ability of the unique trait Unselected Individual.

It seemed that to charge Labyrinth Energy, I had to explore in the original order.

[You have obtained 40 lowest-grade magic stones as a clear reward!]

[You will receive 200 more magic stones of the same grade as the First Destruction Bonus!]

A calculator began running in my head.

Two hundred forty multiplied by 30,000 won.

This was insane. It was 7.2 million won.

If calculated as pre-tax annual salary, it was an amount far exceeding 100 million won.

I nodded with an emotional expression.

I was happy. To be a cash farmer.

While I was grinning from ear to ear at the excellent result.

I felt a heated gaze from somewhere.

Aris was staring intently at me from neither too near nor too far away.

More precisely, she was glaring at the bundle of magic stones I had just taken into my hand.

Gulp!!

It made me wonder if this was what the eyes of a bald eagle watching its prey looked like.

I moved 50 magic stones into another pouch and handed it to Aris.

“Thank you!!”

Aris closed the distance in an instant and snatched the pouch away.

Nom, nom!

She sat down with a plop and began picking up magic stones with both hands and eating them.

She ate them as if she were eating steamed buns.

The crunching texture was a little different, but still.

‘She eats ridiculously well.’

Seeing the speed at which she ate, I felt like I knew why 60 stones had disappeared in four minutes last time.

Since she chewed only once and swallowed, it was almost at the level of inhaling them.

‘I should feed her a lot.’

Normally, I would have considered it a waste.

Each and every one of those was money.

But not anymore.

I raised my hand to my eyes.

The unique ability Evil Eye, shared with me by Aris.

While going through the sixth floor this time, I had learned it for certain.

These eyes made no sense.

I did not know what things would be like on later floors, but at least so far, I had not thought of Ariadne at all.

Ding!

[Aris di Carsia, the Demon of the Evil Eye, has consumed magic stones!]

[Aris di Carsia has leveled up!]

[Aris di Carsia has leveled up!]

[Aris di Carsia has leveled up!]

[Level 8 achieved!]

[The level of the unique trait Evil Eye has increased! Current level: LV2]

The additional Evil Eye ability Item Search will be unlocked!

Because the level of the Evil Eye is insufficient, it cannot yet locate items perfectly!

It will probabilistically indicate the locations of hidden items!

A smile formed at the message that appeared.

Even if it was not necessarily through the Great Labyrinth Library, another option for finding items had been added.

This was even a function that Kronos’s Ariadne did not have.

Therefore, Ariadne? I would not use it even if someone handed it to me.

Press.

I entered the Labyrinth tab and set the tax for the sixth underground floor as well. Then I reached toward the box Aris had picked up.

Even in the Great Labyrinth Library, it had only been listed as Epic grade, without showing what the item was.

Let us open it.

Click!