I Became a Slave Collector in the Labyrinth City

“Multiple killer bugs ahead..!”

“Huh!! They’re coming!”

“Kieeek!”

Just as my thoughts were deepening, Hachi alerted us to the presence of monsters.

Immediately, Rohan swung his sword at the approaching killer bugs, and the killer bugs caught in the sword’s trajectory burst, spilling yellow bodily fluids.

They didn’t get cut, but burst.
It seemed Rohan deliberately struck them with the flat of his sword, as it’s more effective to burst those damn bugs.

As expected of a silver badge adventurer.
He knows very well how to deal with upper-level monsters.

If we move quickly now, we should be able to pass without much trouble…?

“Th-those things.. What are they…! D-disgusting!!! Aaah. Aaaah!!”

“Oh no!! Rien! Calm down! No, calm down!”

Rien started convulsing as large bugs crawled out from all directions.
It’s understandable to fall into panic when such strange-looking bugs come swarming out.

‘But the situation isn’t good right now.’

We need to kill them quickly and leave this place, but Rien has fallen into panic.
Her stress must have exceeded its limit. Even though we walked holding hands, Rien’s mind cracked the moment we entered the 3rd floor.

The situation is rapidly deteriorating. It’s becoming serious. It’s getting tangled up.

There’s no helping it now.
I tightly embraced her and hid behind Hachi.

I hoped Rohan and Hachi could hold out.
If those two can’t hold out until I fix Rien’s mental state.

The party will break.

“Hmm…!”

As I embraced Rien and hid behind him, Hachi immediately clasped his hands together and deployed the ‘Vajra posture’, a monk-exclusive stance.

As an experienced monk, he seemed to have immediately grasped Rien’s condition.
Hachi took on damage to buy time for me to hold Rien’s mental state together.

Soon, Hachi’s hands began to vibrate, emitting shockwaves towards the approaching killer bugs, causing their bodies to burst instantly.

It’s a posture that can’t move and can only counterattack, but it’s that much stronger.
He’ll hold out. From what I’ve seen of him coming down here, he should be able to endure.

“H-hiiik….!”

“Rien. Rien!!!”

“Ah, aah..?”

“Rien, you can’t fall into panic now. Pull yourself together.”

“Ah… yeah.. S-sorry. I’m sorry… sniff.. No, I can’t. It’s impossible. It’s impossible… Those things are impossible…”

“Calm down. Hachi and Rohan will protect us. Silver badge adventurers won’t lose to mere killer bugs. Calm down.”

“Aaah… Ugh. I’m scared. I’m scared, I’m scared.. Aaah….”

Rien burrowed deeper into my arms, breathing heavily.
I stroked her back, trying my best to restore her mental strength.

I can’t blame Rien. She’s already been awake for over 24 hours, continuously entering the labyrinth without a moment’s rest.

Not a veteran adventurer, but someone who had her first labyrinth experience yesterday, she’s been going in and out of the labyrinth several times in a row, experiencing mana poisoning, getting injured, encountering monsters in life-threatening situations, all while grinding herself down with the sole intention of saving her companions.

It would be strange if she hadn’t gone mad. Rien was currently on a labyrinth excursion beyond her limits, surpassing even unreasonableness.

Her stress levels were already close to the maximum.
If we just let this pass, her mental state will burst.

If that happens, she’ll likely show various abnormal symptoms.

Hearing hallucinations.
Running madly into the darkness.
Or attacking companions.

We must stop it.
It’s over if the guide goes crazy.

The priestess and female knight are waiting for us.
To save them, we must somehow fix Rien’s mental state.

“Kuhm…!”

Hachi is pushing himself too hard.
Rohan’s figure was already hidden by the bugs and no longer visible.
Rien’s eyes were still wavering, unable to look straight at her surroundings.

If we continue like this, it’s over.
Three more corpses will be added to the 3rd floor of the sewers.

Absolutely not.
I absolutely cannot die here.

So Rien, Rohan, and Hachi can’t die here either.
No matter what happens, we’ll escape from this fucking labyrinth.

“Rien. Rien.”

“Aaah… Yeah?”

“Rien, isn’t there something you like?”

“S-something I like… I.. I.. S-sweet.. candy… The candy mom gave me.. Candy.. Candy….”

“I see.”

A response like she’s regressed to childhood.
It’s fortunate that she hasn’t gone completely mad.

Her reason remains, albeit very faintly.
There’s a possibility. It’s a chance to bring her back.

“Here, it’s candy. Here, take it, Rien.”

“C-candy..?”

“Yes. When we get outside, let’s go eat dessert together. I know a good place. Let’s eat as much as you want and laugh together. Okay, Rien? We’re all going together. You and me. And the young lady… Rika and Erika too.”

I give her certainty.
The certainty that we can absolutely get out of here.

That certainty that we can survive.
It should bring her back.

“Together.. Together.. sniff.. Together… I want to go together… sob… I want to get out alive..”

“That’s right. Let’s all go together. So, Rien. You need to pull yourself together now. You mustn’t be gripped by fear. Rika and Erika are waiting for us. We need to go save them. Right?”

“Y-you’re right… We need to save them.. We came to save them..”

“That’s right. Now, let’s get up. Rohan and Hachi are working hard. We need to help them now too. It’s time to show the witch’s power.”

“Okay..!”

Light returned to Rien’s eyes.

Thank goodness.
Really… really thank goodness.

It was chilling.
It felt like the labyrinth’s malice was choking me.

But Rien overcame it.
She stood up again.

Without succumbing to fear.
Soon, she shot a beam of light towards the killer bugs covering Rohan.

“Fireball.”

Boom–!

The bugs covering Rohan burst.

Rohan, who had been swinging his sword even while buried under the swarm of bugs, finally jumped out.

“Kuheouk…!!!!”

He coughs up blood.
Immediately, Hachi rushed out and threw Rohan towards us, then shot both hands towards the rushing bugs.

Boom-!

With a vibration, an intense light filled the labyrinth corridor for an instant.

A branch of holy incantation.
The effect should be similar to a flash grenade.

The rushing bugs stopped.
They seemed blinded by the light.

They stopped as if all their senses had gone haywire.
Now’s our chance.

“We must go!”

Hachi carried the fallen Rohan on his back and ran.
Rien and I followed behind.

I tightly grasped Rien’s hand and ran and ran, getting away from the bugs.

“Rohan..! Open your eyes!”

“Wait a moment! I’ll inject the antidote right away.”

Killer bugs are insect-type monsters that appear from the 3rd floor of the sewers onwards.

They’re vicious creatures that rush at adventurers’ torches, and when one is killed, dozens more react and start rampaging.

They also stab with paralyzing poison-coated stingers, and while their bodies are weak, the situation becomes complicated if you fall victim to their paralyzing poison.

“Kuk..!”

Rohan, while dealing with the swarm of killer bugs at the vanguard, was stung all over his body with paralyzing poison.
His veins are bulging, and the stung areas are turning purple.

He was stung too many times.

If we leave him like this, he’ll soon die from convulsions.

It’s only because he has a purification-type ability and the sturdy body of a warrior that he’s enduring like this. If it were an ordinary adventurer, the paralyzing poison would have spread throughout their body instantly, causing them to collapse.

Let’s respond quickly.
Since our team currently has no healer, I must take on that role.
Hachi is a monk, but he said he can only use combat-type incantations.

“Rohan, Rohan! Can you hear me!?”

“Kuhak.. Kuheouk… Fuck.. Fucking bug bastards.. cough..”

After injecting three consecutive shots of antidote into Rohan’s body, he suddenly stood up, spitting out blood and curses simultaneously.

His toughness puts even barbarian warriors to shame.

“You.. You… Tomorrow… You must save our companions.. Got it… If you back out of going to the underground city.. I’ll kill you…”

Rohan warned me with bloodshot eyes, stumbling over his words.
It was a warning that he’d kill me if I backed out after they went to such lengths to help with our companion rescue.

Honestly, I didn’t expect these two to push themselves this hard to help us.
Rohan and Hachi kept their word. If I betray this, I’d have no right to complain even if I get stabbed.

“I won’t lie. Tomorrow, I’ll go with you to the underground city and… bring out all of Rohan’s companions.”

“cough… It’s a promise.. A blood oath..”

Rohan held out his blood-stained hand, and I grasped it.
Soon, Rohan stood up and spoke to Hachi.

“By the way, there are too many monsters in the sewers. I’ve been feeling this for a while.”

“Indeed. From the 1st to the 3rd floor. There are excessively many monsters.”

“Is it because of the Great Shift? Tch.”

Certainly, even in the breeding grounds, an excessive number of monsters were crawling out.
Bopal Rabbits that don’t usually live in groups forming packs, or Hoarding Rabbits coming out in groups of dozens.

“Let’s keep going for now.. We don’t have time to stay like this.”

Rohan, who was injured the most, urged us to move quickly.
He probably wants to finish the rescue operation quickly and rest for tomorrow.

We continued advancing in the direction Rien pointed, without even having time to collect the dead killer bug corpses.

These damn bugs have the truly bug-like habit of gathering towards light, so we need to get away quickly.
We didn’t have time to hunt leisurely. Especially now that their numbers have increased.

“There! There’s a transfer stone ahead!”

Not long after, we discovered the third transfer stone.
When we came to where Rien guided us, there was a transfer stone.

This means the rescue targets are further below.

The female knight and priestess are on the 4th floor.
The worst situation we could anticipate has arrived.

“They’re not on the 3rd floor either… We need to go down to the 4th floor…”

We’ve wasted quite a lot of time getting this far.

Although we came down as fast as we could.
It’s hard to believe the two are still alive.

Did she realize this?
Rien’s expression hardened even more.

Now she looked like she was about to cry.

‘Her hands and legs are trembling too..’

The effect of the tonic seems to be wearing off gradually.
Can Rien endure on the 4th floor?

Above all, Rien has only gone through mana adaptation once.
It’s already amazing that she’s come down this far steadfastly, but if she enters the 4th floor in this state…

Rien might die too.

I asked Rien in front of the transfer stone.
Her hand gripping mine was trembling severely.

“Rien. Can you endure?”

We should endure, if only because it would be a waste to have come this far.
But I couldn’t force her to endure.

Forcing is the worst option.
I had to make her find the will to go down on her own.

“W-well….”

Rien’s eyes wavered.
She couldn’t answer readily.

It must be tough. I know.
I could tell just by looking at her expression.

But she probably can’t give up.

She obtained the ability of search tracking, most suitable for searching for missing persons.
If she can’t save her companions just because it’s tough, she’ll feel immense guilt.

I decided to stimulate that guilt.
It’s unavoidable, because we need to go down.

You can judge me as a cold-hearted person if you want.
But I’d like you to understand this.

This is the labyrinth city where loss directly leads to death.

We can’t return empty-handed after coming down here through all that hardship.
To properly receive the value of coming down, we must save the female knight and priestess even if we die.
We had to bring up at least their corpses.

“Rien. It’s okay to give up. You don’t need to feel guilty. You might get in trouble if you push yourself too hard just because of your ability. Tell me clearly now. Is it okay to go down?”

I grasped Rien’s trembling shoulders and looked her straight in the eyes.
If it’s really too hard, give up here.

It meant that if we’re going down further, a half-hearted mindset won’t do.
Also, by giving her the option to give up before Rien could voice her desire to quit, I emphasized that we needed to go down.

“I can go down. I can still move. It’s okay. I won’t fall into panic anymore. We’ll save everyone.. and go eat dessert together.”

Her eyes no longer wavered.
I can feel a firm resolve.

She’s completely steeled her determination.
Thank goodness. I’m glad she didn’t give up.

“Alright.”

Rien seemed to have finished her mental preparation.
A will to fight settled in her wavering eyes.

Rohan and Hachi also checked their conditions before going down to the 4th floor.

“Hachi. Do you have enough holy power?”

“Sufficient. Even if the White Evil appears.. I should be able to handle it.”

“White Evil… I hope it doesn’t appear, but it doesn’t hurt to be careful. Hey, you two.”

Rohan turned to look at me and Rien in front of the transfer stone leading to the 4th floor.

“There’s a high possibility that the master of the 4th floor is down there. You two prepare for battle as well.”

The master of the sewers.
The boss monster of the 4th floor.

White Evil.

A white man-eating crocodile.
It’s incredibly large in size, and its outer skin is excessively hard.

Unlike other monsters in the sewer area that are generally easy to catch, the White Evil is absurdly tough.

If we’re lucky, there’s a possibility that the rescue team killed it first and went down to the underground city.

But assuming the worst-case scenario, due to the impact of the Great Shift, the spawn probability might have been messed up, and a White Evil might have respawned on the 4th floor.

After all, we’re in a situation where the number of monsters has increased exponentially.

‘This is why I hoped we wouldn’t have to go down to the 4th floor.’

Can those two handle the White Evil?

They’re silver badge adventurers after all.
They should be able to handle it.

However, they’re both quite exhausted from coming down this far.
To begin with, these two also entered the labyrinth almost immediately after escaping, so their condition didn’t look particularly good.

“Rien.”

“Yeah..”

“How many more times do you think you can use magic?”

“Maybe… five times..?”

“I see. Here, take this club.”

“A club…?”

“Yes. A club is good because you can just swing it even if you haven’t learned how to use it specifically. If monsters rush in, kill them by hitting them with the club. If you hit their heads well, you should be able to kill most of them.”

“A mage with a club.. Mm..! I’ll try…!”

I took out a sling and a sword.
There will be situations where we need to fight.

Until now, Rohan and Hachi dealt with most of the monsters, but from now on, Rien and I need to fight too.

The 4th floor of the sewers.
A place where ratmen, slimes, and killer bugs all crawl out.
Moreover, floor division phenomenon would have occurred on the 4th floor too.

When we rescue the female knight and priestess, to go back up, we’ll eventually have to go down below the floor division.

We couldn’t know what would happen then.
The labyrinth always presents the worst situations.

So we must always assume the worst.

“Let’s go. Down.”

After finishing our preparations, we crossed the transfer stone and entered the 4th floor.

Finally, the end of this rescue operation was approaching.