– Volume 9, Episode 4,
204. 51 A forest where mysterious things live. (1)
asked Taesan, who was looking around the city.
“Who made this?”
No matter how you look at it, it was a very proper village because it was made by adventurers. the ghost answered.
[We are not. Before I came in and Einzhar. It was there before the inspiration.]
“Then…
[It was created by a wizard. The reason for making it is not difficult to find out.]
An In-young approached Tae-san as he was talking.
“Are you a new adventurer?”
A man wearing shabby armor approached. The man’s face was full of annoyance.
The man stretched out his hand toward Mount Tai.
“It’s annoying to death, but… I have to work. My name is Darien.”
Taesan held hands and looked at him.
When I met NPCs so far, a system window appeared to inform them.
But Darien didn’t see any system windows appearing.
It meant one.
Noticing Taesan’s gaze, Darien shrugged.
“As you might have guessed, I am not the one bound by the labyrinth. I am an adventurer like you.”
“Are you still here?”
the Ghost looked at Darien and said. Darien’s face brightened when he saw the ghost.
“Warrior? Does your being here mean that you are dead?”
[So here it is. Are you quarreling?]
“No, no.”
Darien suppressed a laugh. The fact that the hero had died and appeared in front of him as a ghost was a face that looked happy.
“I want to guide you quickly and rest, so follow me.”
Darien walked down the road. Taesan looked around again.
It was a landscape that I couldn’t really believe was a labyrinth. numerous buildings. And broken but paved roads.
And a vast space that looks beyond the village.
This place was more like a world than a labyrinth.
“As you can see at a glance, this place is different from before. will you go further Or will you be stuck here like us?”
“we?”
“Everyone here is an adventurer. It was, to be exact.”
As he said, I saw a lot of people, but no system window appeared.
“Looks like you’ve lived quite a long time.”
Looking at the time they stayed at the building or the shape of the village, it was clear that they hadn’t stayed here for a long time.
Darien smiled bitterly.
“This is such a place. It is a place where broken hearts gather.”
Darien moved on.
“There are three types of adventurers in the labyrinth. One is the adventurers who die while going down the labyrinth. It is the most common and the most numerous.”
The difficulty level of the labyrinth is close to extreme. No matter how outstanding and talented a person is, there are many cases where he dies because of a moment’s carelessness.
Simply put, hundreds of thousands of people on Earth chose Alone Mode, but it was clear that Lee Tae-yeon was the only one who survived.
There must have been talented and outstanding among them, but
they did not survive.
“And one is an adventurer who has gone all the way down the labyrinth. I don’t know if this actually exists. Even the hero is dead like this.”
[It would have been possible if only the back of the head hadn’t been hit, but dead means dead.]
That part made me a little curious.
Apart from Taeyeon Lee, has anyone cleared the labyrinth?
“Has anyone actually cleared it?”
“I don’t know. I’ve heard rumors that it exists, but I’ve never actually seen it. Even the leaders of the guides can’t go down,
so do we know that?”
Darien said lightly.
“The other one is us. They are broken-hearted.”
Those who gave up on the attack and took their place in the labyrinth due to the difficulty that gets harder as you go down.
Similar to NPCs, but unlike them, those who are not bound by contracts.
The 51st floor was where such people gathered.
‘It’s as Lee Tae-yeon said.’ Those who have been living on the 51st floor
for a very long time,
even before the guides of sin settled down.
They were people for whom time stopped.
And the demon said that the guides of sin are waiting on the 51st floor.
Taesan expanded his senses and listened to Darien’s guidance.
“This is a residential area. If you work hard to save money, you can live here.”
There were numerous detached houses there. Although they formed the shape of a house, they
were on the verge of demolition. The people of the earth that was perishing also lived in better houses than me.
“This is a bar. When you want to eat, you can come here.”
Inside the bar, a woman was drinking. She glanced at Tae San and Darien and said.
“Are you a new adventurer?”
“okay.”
“Then you are a new resident. Because you’ll be stuck here anyway. Nice to meet you.”
“It won’t be like that.”
“no. It will be.”
The woman laughed at Taesan.
“We all went to the other side confidently like you, but we were all stuck here. So do you.”
Darien said nothing, as if he thought she was right.
Through a series of conversations, Taishan was able to find out.
Taesan and their values were essentially different.
Perhaps the story will never progress this way.
Leaving the woman behind, Darien continued to guide the village.
“This is a cathedral. Those who want to pray come here and pray.”
The exterior of the church was also demolished, revealing the interior.
“No one prays.”
“I’m going to sleep and go see God.”
Taesan smiled.
‘It’s just like the story.’
Taeyeon Lee said. The 51st floor is where the brokenhearted live. So she believed she could rest here.
However, the moment I properly grasped the 51st floor, I realized that it was a futile dream.
This is a labyrinth.
The labyrinth gives nothing to those who do not go down the labyrinth.
And these are the ones whose hearts are broken and do not descend the labyrinth.
Such people build villages. There could never be enough supplies to pack food and repair buildings.
The item itself may be available from the shop owner.
But collecting the money itself was a problem.
If they teamed up to catch monsters, they would be able to supply and demand the gold itself, but the amount was not that great. They were the ones whose hearts were broken in the first place. There was no way I wanted to do a job where I risked my life to fight.
That’s why the 51st floor is always short of food
and all the buildings are collapsing.
And the brokenhearted were jealous of those who advanced.
“You’re a complete idiot.”
“If you stay here for hundreds of years, you will be like that.”
“well.”
Even Lee Tae-yeon felt like she would go crazy if she stayed here, so she quickly left.
“What are you guys doing here?”
“nothing.”
Darien replied calmly.
“We do nothing. I’m the only one who was asked by the manager of the labyrinth to serve as a guide, but I’ll have to give up on that as well. I’m going to die of annoyance.”
Those who despaired at the difficulty of the labyrinth. That’s why those who gave up and sat down.
They were literally buried in a feeling of helplessness.
‘More than guides.’
Or maybe these
were the future selves of the guides.
those who have lost their way.
That was the adventurers on the 51st floor.
“It’s really annoying…but I still have to finish my guide.”
Darien
pointed to the edge of the village with his finger.
There was a forest that could not be counted even an inch ahead.
“Do you want to go down here?”
Taesan nodded.
“I don’t think I can, but I will tell you first. Somewhere at the end of the plain is a unicorn with a blue horn. If you kill it and get the horn, you will be able to escape the 51st floor.”
Taeyeon Lee said The 51st floor is a very unique floor, so you will be able to see something completely different from before.
As she said, it was very unique. Looking for a unicorn in a wide plain, not in the form of a labyrinth, is clearing the floor.
“I’ll tell you just in case, warrior. You can’t tell me.”
[I know. I have no intention of telling the road itself. The invasion of the labyrinth is only with one’s own strength, without anyone’s help. … Well, it’s already broken.]
Lee Tae-yeon thought that Tae-san was in Easy Mode and boasted all the information about Alone Mode. The contents of that were in Taesan’s head.
“If you tell me in advance, you can go anywhere in the house and sleep. If you want to eat, you have to go up to the labyrinth and get something. It might be blocked because of the penalty, but if you work hard, you can get a small amount of gold. You can ask the store owner for it.”
It was as if Taesan would surely fail and come back here. Taesan shook his head.
“I have no intention of returning.”
“No, you will come back.”
Darien twisted his lips.
“I was just like you. You came down the labyrinth faster than anyone else. I was full of confidence that I could go to the end like this and clear it. But I just got stuck here. Not just me, but everyone here.”
Darien raised a finger and pointed beyond the forest.
“Those who can cross over there are those who have the support of the guides, or the species themselves are different, like dragons. okay. Just like the demons that passed by before. Otherwise, no one can get over it.”
Darien spoke as if his firm thoughts were the truth.
“The same goes for the hero next to you. I went down the labyrinth, but in the end I died without being able to clear it.”
[That’s it… It’s true, so I won’t say anything, but it’s too ugly for you to mention it.]
Darien ignored it as if he couldn’t hear him and continued.
“So are you. Think about coming back and adapting here.”
“I’m sorry, but I’m different from you.”
Taesan shook his head.
“I’m stuck on the floor like you and I can’t scratch the floor. Otherwise, you will die on the way down.”
“…you.”
Darien’s face contorted for a moment. He shot at me with a face wounded by pride.
“okay. Wherever you go, prove it.”
“I think so.”
Taesan went into the forest.
Very colorful colors
filled the field of view.
What I realized the moment I entered the forest was that the air was different.
“poison?”
Taesan stopped breathing for a moment. Taesan, who grasped the texture and properties of the air, was able to understand it.
“It’s not poison… Hallucinogen.”
[Challucination in progress…]
[Judgment successful!]
The judgment comes in as scary as you think. It was successful without any problems, but the judgment did not stop and came in periodically.
Taesan looked over the forest.
The forest was very colorful.
Orange, green, red, purple, all of them mixed together to make the human mind itself bewildered.
[You better be careful. The guys from here are very mischievous.]
Taesan moved forward slowly.
And I could tell.
“The forest is moving.”
Taesan turned his back. The trees and bushes in the forest were moving stealthily, blocking the path they had passed.
When Taesan looked at them, they paused for a moment, then moved again and finished their work.
Taesan walked forward with an empty smile.
A corpse caught his eye in Taesan’s field of vision.
All of them were rotten skeletons. You might think it was the corpse of an adventurer who had advanced, but Taesan clicked his tongue.
“I don’t know who it is, but it’s a bad taste.”
[Did you see through?] “
You see a rotting corpse right in front of me at such good timing ?
Even in this labyrinth? Could it be that?”
Descending the labyrinth, no body was found. It probably meant that there was someone who disposed of the corpse, whether it was an administrator.
If that’s the case, it’s safe to say that the skull was intentionally made and brought there by someone else.
follow up
Scary to grasp, the skeleton rose. Taesan
threw a fist at the skeleton that rushed at him with both hands wildly swinging.
Kwajik.
The skeleton collapsed and never moved again.
At the same time, I could hear giggling laughter.
Laughter came from all directions.
It was a high-pitched laugh like a child’s, but I could feel the deep murderous intention inside.
Taesan kicked his feet with the momentary feeling of murderous intent.
Keying.
A white light pierced the tree and pierced the place where Tai Mountain used to be. Taesan quickly ran to where the light came from, but there was nothing there.
[Dodged.]
[Dodged.]
A voice filled with small laughter rang out.
[Shall we avoid this too?]
Keying.
Light flies in succession. two on the left. one on the right. and
two from the front.
Taesan drew his sword.
[You activate Shedding.]
Keying.
The light collides with the sword and moves. Then, twist your body to dodge the unspoken light with your sword.
Koo Goo Goo Palace.
light penetrates the tree
Taesan focused his mind.
But I didn’t feel anything.
The fairy’s voice was startled.
[I also avoided this.]
“It sounds interesting.”
Taesan murmured.
The light just now was an attack that would literally put your life in danger if you were an ordinary adventurer on the 51st floor, not Taesan.
Lee Tae-yeon said that the difficulty suddenly rises from the 51st floor, and the extent of the increase is incomparable. A place where
mystical things live and
seek to kill outsiders.
This was the starting point of a new hierarchy.
Level up with skill
