Episode 389 Side Story 1 Rapor’s Labyrinth (4)
“They knew each other?”
Sphinx scratched the floor roughly as he watched Baek Woo-jin and Seo In-ah going down to the next floor.
The saying that crazy people get along with each other was true, as the four people knew each other.
‘It’s no longer fun.’
The four of them wanted to fight each other until they died, but an unexpected situation occurred and they became irritated even though the number of slaves increased.
‘How should I handle it…’
In order to attract more humans to the labyrinth, a bait is also needed to receive a reward and leave.
However, I didn’t like those two. Even if it arrived in front of him, he didn’t want to hand over the reward.
‘Even Baphomet won’t be able to stop that guy.’
The next floor’s trial is a battle with Baphomet, the highest-level monster that is the symbol of the Rapport Labyrinth.
However, I didn’t think that sending two Baphomets could stop that man.
“I can’t help it.”
The Sphinx clicked his tongue and raised his head.
‘I have no choice but to do it.’
The final layer of this labyrinth, named Rapport, is where the labyrinth keeper decides everything.
Therefore, he was able to create a law that no one could pass unless he wanted to.
“There was a myth in this world that was perfect to use.”
The Sphinx looked at himself and smiled darkly.
**
As soon as Baek Woo-jin went down to the next floor, he found a stone statue of a monster that remained strongly in his memory even though he had only seen it once.
The statue had long, twisted goat horns and hooves, its upper body was covered with steel-like muscles, and bat wings sprouted from its back.
“Baphomet.”
The stone statue of Baphomet, the top monster he had fought in Regen Area 4 a while ago, was glaring at him.
Coo coo coo coo!
The stone statue of Baphomet holding the great sword radiated fierce energy as if it were alive. It seemed like the actual Baphomet was trapped inside the statue.
“Ah…”
Seo In-ah behind her moaned at the excitement radiating from the statue.
“Are you okay?”
Baek Woo-jin raised his momentum and prevented Baphomet’s spirit from reaching her.
“Thank you.”
“no.”
He smiled slightly, giving warm energy to Seo In-ah, who was shaking her hand.
‘I remember now.’
When I turned my head again and saw the stone statue of Baphomet, I remembered where I had heard the name Rapor’s Labyrinth.
‘It was darkness.’
When fighting Baphomet in Regen Area 4, it was said that Darkness was the monster that should be in Rapor’s Labyrinth.
‘I said it was a labyrinth that goes beyond dimensions.’
It is said that Laport’s Labyrinth creates a labyrinth suitable for the world they arrive at while traveling between dimensions and gives a great reward to those who reach the end of the labyrinth.
However, the labyrinth keeper who controls the labyrinth determines who passes through it according to his taste and uses those who enter the labyrinth as an energy source, so he told them to destroy it as soon as they see it.
[The seventh floor trial Baphomet’s anger begins.]
[Defeat the angry Baphomet and open the entrance to the final floor.]
“Not bad.”
Although others may not know, defeating Baphomet was easier for him than any other level of trials.
[Baphomet’s seal is lifted.]
With the words that the seal was released, the statue shattered and the eyes of Baphomet trapped inside flashed.
As expected, a vivid Baphomet was trapped inside the statue.
However, Baphomet was not the end.
A black hole opened to the right of Baphomet holding the great sword, and Baphomet holding the staff rose out.
Gooooo!
The heads of the two Baphomets turned in this direction. There was deep anger toward themselves and Seo In-ah in their red eyes.
“Coooooooo!”
They let out a powerful roar and raised their respective staffs and great swords.
Slurp!
Baek Woo-jin pulled out his sword and approached Baphomet. Unleashing the hidden energy to your heart’s content.
Coo coo coo coo coo.
With just the manifestation of energy, the entire labyrinth began to vibrate and the air began to distort.
“Keeeeeeek!”
The Baphomets, tired of the powerful energy, wrapped their fighting spirit around their great swords and compressed red energy into their staffs.
“I’m sorry.”
In the past, I would have spent a lot of time dealing with those two, but now I can’t even play with them lightly.
“I don’t have time to play with you.”
With those words, he kicked the ground.
Baphomet, who was holding a staff, cut through the blue fireball launched and struck to the right, raising his sword to strike.
“Kwiik!”
Even in his panic, Baphomet raised his staff filled with fighting spirit, but was unable to stop the Seolyeonggeom.
Kwaaaaang!
A devastating sword strike exploded, and Baphomet’s upper body exploded along with the staff.
With a single blow, Baphomet’s life was cut off.
“Keeeeeeek!”
Baphomet, holding a great sword, rushed in, making a goat-mow sound as if trying to find an opening.
Sigh!
Baek Woo-jin took a step back to the left and lowered his sword towards Baphomet, who was throwing out his great sword.
Quad deuk!
As the black light blooming from the sword body of Seolyeonggeom split the space, the red fierce greatsword and Baphomet split simultaneously.
Slurp.
After swinging the Seolyeongsword and sheathing it, Baphomet, split in half, fell onto the cold ground.
“Wow…”
Seo In-ah opened her mouth with half-fazed eyes.
[….]
Labyrinth’s voice also fell silent, as if it didn’t know that two swings would eliminate the two Baphomets.
[The trial of the eighth floor has ended.]
[The door to the last floor opens.]
As the voice of the labyrinth rang out with a little bit of confusion, Baphomet’s body disappeared and a black hole, the entrance to the next floor, appeared.
“Let’s go.”
“yes!”
Baek Woo-jin held hands with Seo In-ah and jumped into the hole at the same time.
**
“Ah…”
Seo In-ah let out an exclamation. As soon as my feet touched the ground, a completely different scene from the brutality I had seen so far unfolded.
The walls, floor, and ceiling were all made of dark golden bricks, and in the center of the bricks, brilliant jewels were embedded like sesame seeds on bread.
‘These are not ordinary jewels.’
The eye that looks at the material you have reacts not only to jewels but also to the gold spread everywhere. There was nothing ordinary here. They were all ingredients that were more than unique.
[Welcome.]
As I was about to take a proper look, I heard a heavy yet noble female voice coming from behind me.
“Ah…”
When he turned around, he saw a huge beast looking down at him and Baek Woo-jin.
No, it’s not just a beast.
Her body was that of a lion, the king of beasts, her face was a beauty with thin lines, and her tail had the head of a cobra with its tongue lashing out.
“Sphinx!”
The beast that reached up to the ceiling of the room was the Sphinx, the guardian deity in Egyptian mythology.
“Ugh…”
He almost collapsed under the pressure from Sphinx, but Baek Woo-jin blocked his path.
My trembling body calmed down as the friendly energy spread from his body like perfume.
“Hmm…”
Seo In-ah rested her chin as she looked into the blue eyes of the sphinx.
‘Isn’t it strange that we came in through the pyramid?’
The pyramids and the Sphinx are inseparable, so it didn’t make sense for them to be here.
[This is the final floor of Rapor’s Labyrinth.]
The Sphinx raised her chin and opened her mouth. It was the voice I kept hearing from the labyrinth.
[The final layer of trials takes advantage of the unknown of that world. The trial I have chosen in your world is the Sphinx’s problem.]
“The Sphinx’s problem?”
Seo In-ah narrowed her eyes.
‘The Sphinx causing the problem is not Egyptian, but Greek Sphinx…’
There are two types of Sphinx: Egyptian and Greek.
Unlike the Greek Sphinx, which ate people who could not answer a question correctly, the Egyptian Sphinx had the character of a guardian deity.
[If you solve the problem I gave you, you can obtain a treasure that cannot be found anywhere else in the world.]
The Sphinx in the Labyrinth seemed to have confused the two and said that it would give a problem about the Greek Sphinx with the appearance of the Egyptian Sphinx.
I wanted to say something, but I didn’t say anything for fear of causing a strange problem.
[However, if you don’t get the questions right, you will end up like them.]
“Them? “What does that mean?”
[See for yourself.]
When the Sphinx tapped the floor, the wall on the left became transparent.
“Ahh!”
Seo In-ah turned her head and screamed without realizing it.
‘What the hell!’
Beyond the transparent wall, people with wide-eyed expressions were lined up like products on a display shelf.
Everyone was wearing combat uniforms or robes, and looking at the Muyounggaek and Moon Juyoung who had met on the previous floor, it was clear that they were all talented people who came in to conquer the labyrinth.
[They are slaves who will become the energy source of this labyrinth. This is what you guys will look like in a moment.]
“Bae Baek Family Lord!”
“Do not worry. “I will get them all and take them with me.”
When I heard Baek Woo-jin’s calm voice, my worries and tension disappeared like melting snow.
[The momentum is good.]
The Sphinx said and curled the corners of her mouth.
“I will do it first.”
[As you wish.]
Baek Woo-jin came forward and Sphinx nodded.
[This is the first problem. I have two sisters. Who are these sisters who give birth to each other?]
“Ah!”
Seo In-ah clapped her hands softly. It may seem very difficult, but it was a problem as per tradition.
Sphinx did not pose any strange problems, despite his eyes not showing any goodwill.
“The answer is day and night.”
Baek Woo-jin must have known in advance and answered the question as soon as he heard it.
[Correct answer.]
The Sphinx nodded loudly and turned his gaze towards himself.
[This time it’s your turn.]
“Yes.”
I looked into the Sphinx’s eyes and clenched my fists. Looking at the first problem, I thought I could solve it without difficulty.
[The robber is pointing a knife at your mother and husband’s necks. Which of the two will you save?]
“Yes?”
[You can do it another way. If your mother and husband are drowning, who will you save?]
“Ah…”
Seo In-ah widened her eyes. The second question Sphinx posed did not ask about knowledge or concepts.
To be honest, it was a far-fetched problem.
‘Generally speaking, it is socially correct to seek a parent rather than a husband. But that can’t be the right answer.’
I looked at the Sphinx while biting my lip. She looked down at herself with a deep sneer on her lips.
‘It was intentional!’
The monster with a human face was torturing itself with a problem that could not be solved.
‘There is no right answer to a problem like this!’
I felt my back getting wet with cold sweat. I couldn’t think of what to do.
“Uhm….”
Seo In-ah looked back, her eyes fluttering. Baek Woo-jin was quietly watching himself.
‘It’s different from back then.’
It is not a look of trust like when operating the maze navigation. It was as if he was telling me not to worry and to tell him the answer because he would take care of everything.
‘The burden is gone.’
When I saw Baek Woo-jin’s calm eyes, my pounding heart calmed down. The look in the Sphinx’s eyes right in front of me was no longer scary.
“There is no answer to this problem!”
Seo In-ah straightened her back and glared at the Sphinx.
“And the Sphinx causing the problem is not the Egyptian Sphinx, but the Greek Sphinx! If you want to get a legend, you need to know it properly and get it!”
I trusted the man standing behind me and said everything I wanted to say.
[…Wrong answer.]
The sphinx’s eyes began to show ferocity.
[You’re making fun of the snout. I don’t need a slave like you, so I’ll chew and swallow you like this!]
The Sphinx opened its large mouth. The saw-like teeth that sprouted from its mouth gave me goosebumps.
I was scared, but I didn’t scream or close my eyes. Once you believed in something, you had to believe it until the end.
‘Because I said I would protect you.’
As I bit my molars and withstood the pressure of the sphinx, a familiar light appeared before my eyes.
“You spoke well. “It looks like the Sphinx has become senile after solving such a damn problem.”
Baek Woo-jin looked back at himself and smiled.
[There is an answer. The direction I choose is the right answer. Even if it is a problem without an answer, it doesn’t matter. I am the owner of this labyrinth and I am the one who makes the rules.]
The Sphinx drew a murderous smile and unleashed a force that pressed down on the space.
Coo coo coo coo!
An enormous pressure came down and the air became extremely heavy.
[If you stop the execution of the ordeal, I will kill you too!]
“I am tired of enduring this labyrinth and ordeal.”
Baek Woo-jin pulled out his Seolyeong sword and aimed it at Sphinx.
“From now on, I am the rule.”
A black thunderbolt surged from his eyes and pierced the Sphinx.
