Survive the labyrinth with EX-grade traits

Save you?

“Huh⋯.”

The dying adventurer on the floor begged for his life.

All I could do was laugh at his plea.

‘What reason do we have to save you?’

Yeah. He must have been desperate to survive and run away.

Our party was just unlucky enough to get caught up in this.

‘But⋯ If you were just trying to survive and ran away, and in the process, you had no ill intentions towards others. Does that mean you’re not guilty even though you put us in a life-threatening situation?’

If I were a typical adventurer, I would have been crushed by the golem’s fist.

I would have been desperate to save my own life, but the fact that we were almost killed because of this bastard doesn’t change.

‘So, you want to survive? What a shameless bastard.’

And to begin with, if I recall the golem’s behavior earlier, it was the man who brought this upon himself.

The golem was so eager to get its hands on the item that it was blinded by greed and stole it from here.

‘I’m not the kind of person who will save anyone just because they’re dying in front of me. Especially if they’ve caused a lot of trouble for me.’

I have no reason to waste a potion or healing spell on this bastard.

Assessment.

I impulsively summoned my sword, but then calmed down and turned around.

Anyway, he’s going to die if I leave him. No need to dirty my hands.

“Because of this bastard, we could have all died. So, let’s just ignore him and go─.”

“─Treasure!!!”

“Hey?”

I turned around at the loud shout and saw the man, with the light of death in his eyes, screaming.

“I know where our party was farming and left a treasure chest! Please save me! I won’t betray you!!”

“Why should we trust you?”

“If I lie, you’ll either kill me or just leave me here. So, I have no choice but to tell the truth⋯ Please believe me. I, kuh, kuh, uweek.”

The man couldn’t finish his sentence and vomited blood.

Damn, I glanced at Yeriel and Lumia.

“Let’s just listen to him. If it’s not good, we can just leave him then.”

“Yeah! I understand. I’ll use a healing spell right away.”

Nod.

“Can you drink it? Open your mouth if you want to live.”

The man looked like he was about to choke, so I quickly took out an extra low-grade potion, opened the lid, and put the bottle to his mouth.

“May the light heal you.”

Hwaak!

A gentle light enveloped Yeriel’s staff, soothing the wounds.

As the light reached the man, the internal injuries caused by the golem’s fist began to heal.

Chiik─

The effect of the potion also began to show, as a sizzling sound could be heard.

Pong.

“Huh, huh. I’m alive.”

The man spat out the potion bottle he had been holding in his mouth.

He couldn’t believe he had survived, so he gasped for breath and wiped his face.

This is a good time to gather information.

─────

[Jacob]

[Strength: E] [Agility: D-] [Endurance: E-] [Health: E+] [Magic: E-] [Luck: D-]

[Acquired Traits] (Collapse)

Beginner Dagger Technique

Beginner Dismantling Technique E

avesdrop

Light Footsteps

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[Eavesdrop (D)] [A]

A technique learned from the thief guild in the port city.

It lightly blocks the user’s presence, making them less noticeable.

• The probability of attracting attention before attacking is significantly reduced for enemies weaker than the user.
•
• The probability of being discovered when escaping from the enemy’s field of vision is reduced.
•
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[Light Footsteps (D)] [P]

Learned the basics of footwork from the instructor.

The user, who has talent in agility, approached the learning with enthusiasm, and as a result, acquired a trait one level higher than what they would have normally learned.

• If agility is D-rating or lower, it increases by two levels.
•
• Footsteps are slightly reduced.
•
• A weak adjustment to all evasive movements.
•
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A typical thief.

“Are you feeling better?”

“Neh, neh. Thank you for saving me! And, I’m sorry for getting you involved. I was just desperate to survive, so I don’t have anything to say!”

“Just make it quick, and is everything you said true?”

“Of course! Anyway, if I’m lying, you’ll either kill me or just leave me here. So, I have no choice but to tell the truth⋯ Please believe me. I, kuh, kuh, uweek.”

So, you ran away alone, not the others?

“The others are dead? What happened to you?”

“That⋯ When I picked up a few items from two of the four boxes, the golem was crouched in the corner without moving.”

He sighed.

“But when I touched the bead that was placed conspicuously among the boxes, the golem’s eyes lit up with a bright red light and slaughtered the party members.”

“But you still picked up the bead and ran away?”

“Damn, I would have just run away or died with my teammates right there!”

Jacob’s eyes teared up, and he rubbed them.

“But I couldn’t just leave them, even though it was a temporary party and we didn’t have much affection for each other. I couldn’t just stand by and watch them all die at the hands of that monster.”

Jacob slumped his shoulders and continued.

“So I decided to give that bastard a taste of his own medicine and ran off with the item he cherished.”

And this is the result.

Indeed, the Great Labyrinth is full of unpredictable events.

If he had just picked up the bead and left the items, I would have been able to return and make a lot of money by now. This bastard.

“Can you guide us right now?”

“Yes, yep! I marked the path every hour, so if we go back the way we came and keep going forward, we’ll arrive in a day or two.”

Good, then let’s go to the fork in the road first.

I gave Jacob time to organize his backpack, which had been emptied by the golem.

“Then, follow me!”

I followed Jacob, who confidently took the lead.

.

.

.

“Here it is!”

“Shh. Quiet.”

“Ah, I’m sorry.”

After walking with Jacob for a day, we finally reached our destination.

Fortunately, the monsters we encountered along the way were just two groups of Cave Goblins and a swarm of giant bats, which were no longer a threat.

We were able to increase our speed by killing them as we encountered them.

“Here?”

What should I call this place?

This fork in the road seemed to be a dead end, with no path leading further.

Let’s see. The golem was crouched in the corner of the dead-end wall, motionless.

There were already two open boxes and two remaining boxes.

Now that I think about it, he said that he had picked up a few items from two of the boxes before touching the bead.

“Yeah. Where are the two?”

The boxes weren’t locked.

Clunk.

I saw two potions of different colors and a pair of gauntlets.

One was a mid-grade potion, and the other was⋯ Earth’s Steadfastness?

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[Earth’s Steadfastness] (C)

The condensed earth energy in the bottle enhances the user’s defense abilities for a short time.

Those who drink this will feel as solid as a deeply rooted tree or an unbreakable rock.

• When consumed, strong resistance to being pushed is applied for 30 minutes.
•
• When consumed, a weak increase in defense is applied for 30 minutes.
•
• When consumed, damage from piercing attacks is halved for 30 minutes.
•
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[Darkness-Stained Stone Gauntlets] (D)

The ordinary sturdy gauntlets were stained with the darkness of the cave.

The wearer must be prepared to suffer from darkness during combat as a trade-off for the power.

• When worn, a large amount of magical power is consumed to use ‘Rock Smashing’
•
• When worn, a weak adjustment is applied to close combat damage.
•
• When worn, a weak reduction in close combat damage is applied.
•
• After wearing, until removed, a random abnormal status is occasionally applied during combat.
•

Indeed, it was worth coming this far.

The potion is good for me, and the gauntlets can be disposed of when the time comes, even if martial artists aren’t common.

There’s a critical penalty of abnormal status, and I didn’t want to use the gauntlets in close combat anyway.

“How is it? Did something good come out?”

Yeriel approached with a smile and asked.

“Yeah. It was worth the effort coming this far. Since the first box was this good, I’m excited to see what’s in the remaining one.”

I said as I approached the last remaining box.

⋯Huh?

[Chaos detects the darkness flowing from Chaos and discovers the hidden space.]

A black point glowing on the wall near the box.

What should I do, should I touch it?

I crossed my arms and thought, then called the two girls.

“My trait is telling me that there’s a hidden space behind this wall. It says to press this point.”

I looked at them and asked.

“We don’t know what’s inside, but should we just leave it and be satisfied with this?”

“Hmm. I think it’s worth taking one more step forward.”

Yeah?

“That’s because, once we get out of here, we’ll return to the village and use the portal to go back to the city⋯ If we want to have a similar opportunity like today, we don’t know how many times we’ll have to enter the labyrinth and spend time.”

Indeed, it makes sense.

“I agree. It seems too good to pass up an opportunity like this just because of the risk.”

[Chaos agrees with the two of them, whispering.]

[Chaos says that adventurers can’t always make safe choices.]

Yeah. I carefully considered the party’s safety, but I made a decision.

Let’s go in, whether we die or live.

As I pressed my hand against the black point on the wall, it suddenly sank in, even though I didn’t press it hard.

As if there was some kind of mechanism attached to the wall, it moved with a creaking sound.

Clunk.

Ggrr─

“Jee, what are you touching right now? A hidden space in a place like this?”

I ignored Jacob’s shocked voice and stared at the slowly opening wall.

Kugung.

Finally, the hidden space behind the fully opened wall.

I shone a torch into the pitch-black space.

‘It’s bigger than I thought.’

It didn’t look narrow compared to the dead-end room we were in.

“Hoo.”

I took a deep breath and entered the space, which looked like a bug’s nest.

A cocoon?

Is this a space related to spiders, following the giant centipedes and giant bats?

That’s not all.

‘The size of the cocoons is abnormally large. Does it eat these monsters as food? Or, is it⋯’

Yeah. There were cocoons the size of an adult, about the size of a person, scattered around the room.

I don’t know what’s inside them⋯ Damn, I hope it’s not what I just thought.

I ignored the creepy feeling and swung my sword at the nearest cocoon.

Zzzzzzz.

“Ugh.”

“Uuk⋯Uweek─.”

“Ugh. How can this be.”

“It looks like a dead body was brought here and put into the cocoon.”

I looked at the dead body in detail, ignoring Lumia’s calm analysis.

The adventurer with curly brown hair. Her face was filled with terrible despair and fear, even in death.

I looked down and saw that her skin was horribly dripping all over her body, as if she had been poisoned or something.

‘What kind of monster did this disgusting thing?’

“How could something so horrible⋯! Did a monster make these cocoons to use adventurers as food?”

“No, that’s not it. It’s not for food, but for some other purpose. Look here.”

Lumia, who was observing the body nearby.

She pointed to the back of the neck, where the head was connected, refuting Yeriel’s angry words.

‘A hole. Did it pierce with its fangs?’

There was a hole the size of my palm.

Did it inject some kind of flesh-dissolving poison?

Or did it suck something out of the body instead?

“If I look closely, this body is⋯ It’s Mendel! He was the archer in my party!”

Jacob screamed in horror, covering his mouth as if he was about to throw up.

I had a bad feeling. I needed to quickly search the area and leave.

As I was about to give the order to search the surroundings, not to get too far from me, something happened.

[Chaos says to look straight ahead.]

“Kkeuk. Little mice have snuck in. How did you get in?”

“⋯!”

A goblin that can speak?

No, it’s not just an ordinary goblin.

Zzzz.

“Kkuk.”

As I looked at the creature walking out of the deep darkness, Chaos reacted.

[Named entity detected.]

[Limited information is retrieved.]

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[Memory Devourer Grillops]

A mutant born with an intelligence beyond that of a typical goblin.

Because of the creepiness and dampness that came from its high intelligence, it was eventually kicked out of the tribe.

It instinctively felt that it would die at the hands of adventurers if it wandered around alone, so it desperately hid in the nearby cave.

One day, while desperately surviving among the Cave Goblins. It discovered a hidden space in the cave, led by a great pull.

In the deep darkness, there was an ancient parchment written with ancient knowledge that devoured knowledge and experience through corpses.

For some reason, the parchment could be read without any obstacles, and after acquiring the forbidden knowledge, he is now walking the path of a cruel alchemist that no one can stop.

[Acquired Traits] (Locked)

Intelligence

Memory Devour

Intimidation

Earth Strike

Rapid Regeneration

Crouch

Quickstep

Flexible

Body Magic Affinity

Flame Proficiency

Divine Ray

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What the fuck. A budget version of Ephusio?

“Stupid adventurer bastards. The prey has walked right into my lair. The heavens are helping me!”

Jjeojjeok. Jjeok. Chwaak─

Along with Grillops’ vile laughter, a horrible sound was coming from the transformation of its body.