NOVEL WEB Chapter 97
Crack – I stomped on a crawling bug and clicked my tongue.
“Ugh, damn it.”
“Ugh…!”
It’s been wandering in the labyrinth for what feels like four hours.
Four hours…? It’s not exact, but since we’ve swapped places about twice, I guess four hours sounds about right.
“Ugh… Huh… Hey, aren’t you disgusted?”
Stella, who has already vomited four times, staggered while making groaning sounds.
“Not really.”
“You don’t seem to be in your right mind either… Ugh!”
I said it wasn’t particularly gross, but it is gross. No, it feels dirty more than anything.
It’s all because of the bugs crawling on the labyrinth floor.
If they were ordinary bugs, I wouldn’t feel so dirty, but these guys are different.
First of all, they’re huge.
With the body of a watermelon-sized grasshopper, it has a human head… well, a head that mimics a human head.
Eyes, nose, mouth, ears—all of it, just a head.
They can’t talk, but they make weird sounds like gurgle, slurp, and the sound of clatter as their teeth click together.
And they can even express emotions.
When they spot us, they smile brightly as if they’ve encountered their fellow humans, but when I try to kill them, they charge at my ankles with looks of sheer terror.
Their blood is a dark red. The smell is awful. It overcomes Stella’s purification magic. That’s why Stella has now vomited for the fourth, no, fifth time.
They’re called Human-Faced Bugs.
Creatures that only appear in the labyrinth, conjured by the Labyrinth’s hands.
Their purpose is to mess with the sanity of humans who enter the labyrinth, just like they’re doing now.
In fact, the sounds they make have the power to affect human minds. So I told Stella not to listen to the sounds the Human-Faced Bugs make when we encounter them.
Thanks to that, both Stella and I are only slightly disgusted, and our minds are still perfectly intact.
“Ugh… ugh… ugh…!”
Wait, am I the only one who’s intact?
When I turned to peek at Stella, I saw her eyelids were red. I couldn’t tell if it was tears from her nausea or if she was crying for real.
“Even if you want to go back now, it’s too late.”
I handed her some tissues and chuckled.
“Ugh… I know…”
“See? You should listen when an adult talks.”
“What are you talking about? Who’s the adult? You’re older than me by just a little!”
“Living time is different for you and me.”
“What nonsense are you saying, stuck at home all the time…”
Tch Stella sighed weakly, wiped her tears with her sleeves, and took a deep breath.
“I have no idea which direction to go… do you?”
“Me neither.”
“But aren’t we a bit too relaxed about this?”
“I’m walking with purpose.”
“No… Pina is in danger. How can we just keep walking without knowing where to go?”
“It’s fine. Those things can’t kill Pina.”
“…How do you know that?”
“Because I read a lot of books.”
“If you don’t want to tell me, just say so instead of giving me that half-hearted answer!”
“If I say I don’t want to, you’ll just keep pestering me.”
“Pestering? When did I pester you?!”
Leaving behind a Stella who doesn’t even realize how much she’s pestering, I continued walking.
Even after walking for a while.
The wind isn’t blowing. The flow of magic is thin, and the flow of mana is stagnant. The only smells are the foul stench of sewage and the awful fishy odor emitted by the Human-Faced Bugs.
There are no hints to find the path in the labyrinth.
Still, it’s as if the path we’re taking isn’t wrong, as the number of Human-Faced Bugs hindering our way increases the further we go.
What used to pop up one by one began appearing in twos and threes.
Now even a whole family seems to crawl out.
Grandma, Grandpa, Dad, Mom, Son, Daughter.
A Human-Faced Bug family with incredibly cheerful faces crawls out.
Stella, upon seeing this gruesome family of bugs for the first time, hesitated to kill them. So, I took care of it instead.
Thanks to that, I still have the blood of the Human-Faced Bug family smeared on my legs.
“So… can’t you finally tell me why we came to a place like this to find Pina?”
“What do you mean?”
“Why did a stranger give me that information about you? What are you going to do about Shivria? And who is at the end of this labyrinth?”
“I have a lot of questions too.”
“It’s because you’re not explaining anything! How can you not share a single thing? And right now, we are… uh? We’re companions in the labyrinth!”
After saying companion, Stella’s face turned a deep shade of red.
“You should speak properly. I was going to tell you the moment I entered the labyrinth, but you immediately threw up all the food you ate earlier—”
“Ah! No! Don’t say that!!!”
Stella’s flushed cheeks turned bright red, and she shouted while covering my mouth with her hands.
I immediately swatted her hand away and grimaced.
“Ugh, don’t touch me with your hands that just threw up.”
“W-w-w-what?! No! It’s clean! Look! It doesn’t smell! I used Cleanse Magic to wash it off!!”
“Is cleaning it with Cleanse enough? You need to scrub and wash it properly with soap for it to be clean.”
As I said that, the strong scent of Stella’s body odor from earlier resurfaced in my mind.
No way…
“Hey, you… you don’t just use Cleanse to wash only, do you? You usually don’t bathe?”
Stella’s expression froze stiff.
“…No?”
“Yeah, right. How often do you wash?”
“E-every day, okay?!”
“Every three days?”
Stella averted her gaze.
“Every four days?”
Oh my god.
“W-well… you know… it’s not a big deal if I don’t bathe… With Cleanse, I’m fine. My clothes get washed every three days, and of course, if I sweat, I wash them immediately… so…”
“Oh wow. You really wash every four days…?”
Stella’s body flinched.
I pinched my nose with my thumb and index finger.
“…Gross.”
“AHHH!!! I’m not gross!! I’m clean! It doesn’t smell, and I change my underwear every day! It’s just… yeah! It’s a habit from being in Gebihenum, I can’t help it!!”
“I get it, so just don’t stick to me.”
“I’m not gross!! I’m not!!!”
With a face flushed bright red, Stella flailed her arms around.
“Magicians belonging to the Magic Tower can’t help but wash with Cleanse due to research! And those who operate on the front lines in Gebihenum are probably the same! So I’m not dirty…”
“Just wash properly. Change your underwear on time. Don’t wear your bra for an extra day just because it doesn’t smell! I saw your laundry; your panties and bras didn’t match.”
“AHHHH! W-when did you see that?!”
If I tease her a little more, I think Stella’s head will explode. I couldn’t help but snicker, so I decided to stop teasing and stretched my tired body.
Haaah- Ugh… Are you feeling relaxed now?
“No, I wasn’t tense from the start!”
“Wow, that’s impressive.”
“Ugh! Stop teasing me! Is this really the situation we’re in?!”
“I was just trying to help you relax since you looked so tense. Thanks to me, your nausea is probably calming down.”
Stella, raising her eyebrows, rubbed her chest a few times and nodded her head very slightly.
“I guess…? The smell isn’t as bad now?”
“Once your mind is settled, the flow of mana becomes more refined, making it easier to maintain purification magic.”
“Ugh… I know that too! I was just talking to myself!”
“Right. You’re the best.”
“I really can’t stand you. You’re annoying. The worst.”
“I don’t like you either.”
I shrugged my shoulders and tightened the bandages wrapped around my hands, twisting my stiff waist to start stretching.
“Do you have enough mana?”
“Yeah, it’s filled to the brim.”
“Can you proficiently use up to the 4th circle of magic?”
Stella narrowed her eyes.
“Of course.”
“Be honest. If you’re surprised or anxious, you might make a mistake, right?”
“…Honest?”
“Yeah.”
“W-well, maybe a little? In a desperate battle, I’m still not confident. But that’s just how it is! I haven’t even been a 4-circle magic user for a week… If it was another magician, they’d probably struggle for a month!”
“What if I keep them off you completely?”
“Uhh…?”
I loosened my stiff neck and rotated my shoulders. Damn period pains aren’t helping my body relax at all.
“…Then, it should be fine. No, it is fine.”
“Good.”
“Why are you asking that all of a sudden…?”
I finished stretching. Reaching into my pocket, I handed Stella a mint candy and spoke softly.
“Prepare the strongest one. In… 30 seconds.”
“What…?”
Leaving Stella with a blank expression behind, I turned my back. I took a breath and sharpened my mana.
The mana flowing through the Blood Path felt dignified.
In a windless labyrinth, cherry blossom-colored hair fluttered.
And then.
[KRrr…]
A sound like hundreds of needles piercing vocal cords echoed from deep within the labyrinth.
“…Huh? I recognize that sound…”
It wasn’t the pathetic bugs we had seen up till now; a real monster was approaching us.
I could smell that familiar awful stench again.
A mix of fishy water and the reptilian odor.
“Reminds me of the entrance exam. Right?”
“Those… don’t seem like ordinary Lizardmen…”
“Exactly. Starting from the top tier. There are… five of them? Classic.”
Stella held her breath.
The staff hung behind her back as her trembling hand gripped it tightly.
“Twenty seconds left.”
“W-what should we do?”
“What do you mean what should we do? I told you to prepare the strongest one, didn’t I?”
“Do you think I can take out elite enemies with just 4th circle spells…? They’re nothing like the Lizardmen from the entrance exam.”
“Who said anything about taking them out in one go? If I can’t kill them in one shot, then twice, thrice, four times. Just keep firing until they die.”
“…But.”
I clenched my fists and took a big step forward.
“Just like in the entrance exam, those things can’t touch you.”
“…Yeah.”
As soon as I finished speaking, Stella’s mana burst forth from behind me. The concentrated mana enveloped my nape.
Simultaneously, twang!—it sounded like a bowstring being released. This was no ordinary bowstring. It was a great bow. Startled by the sound, Stella gasped, her concentration breaking as her purple mana became erratic.
“Focus.”
I stood in front of Stella, lifting my right arm lightly. Powerful magic circled my fist. Clenching my fist, I exhaled sharply.
KABOOM—!
The power clinging to my fist erupted. The immense sound shook the ground. An arrow from the great bow, alarmingly massive and nearly spear-like, struck the ground at my feet.
I was going to smash it.
Tsk, I clicked my tongue as I assessed Stella’s condition.
She was pale, eyes tightly shut, but her mana was gradually stabilizing. It seemed like her magic would be ready right on cue.
Calming my numbed arms, I looked straight ahead.
The figures of the monsters entered my sight.
Intelligent-looking, bright yellow reptilian eyes stared back at me.
The power radiating from them was comparable to that of the Basilisk I had faced during the entrance exam.
Five of them in total.
[KKKKKRRRRRRRaaa—!]
“It’s definitely different from the entrance exam.”
Hearing that unpleasant cry, I wrapped my whole body in magic again.