Chapter 143
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[Labyrinth of Gluttony]
Welcome to the Labyrinth of Gluttony.
As the name suggests, this place is a labyrinth.
All you have to do is escape.
It’s not that difficult. So let’s make sure to get out.
Those who reach the very end will always be blessed with fortune!
— Ghostwritten by: The Blue Romantic
—
My feet touched the ground.
As the space suddenly darkened, I narrowed my eyes to adjust to the darkness. After waiting a moment, I could at least start to make out rough outlines.
I raised my hand and created a ball of light with magic.
“Did everyone get in?”
When I asked, the two standing behind me answered. Both of them had made it in.
‘It’ll be a different session anyway.’
Since it’s a personal session. If the entry times are different, the sessions start separately. So…
“Let’s move.”
Just as I said that and was about to move, Lee Hoin suddenly turned around. At the rustling sound, I instinctively turned my head as well, and then…
Lee Hoin flew past me as if thrown and slammed into the wall.
“Lee Hoin!”
I shouted quickly, extinguishing the light at the same time and instantly casting a barrier over his body. It shattered the moment he hit the wall from the impact, but it seemed to have softened it somewhat. Lee Hoin immediately sprang off and tried to return.
“There’s someone behind us.”
Kim Taekjin muttered.
Behind us. Someone who entered the same section as us.
‘Entered at the same time?’
Same time, same entrance, same entry.
That means they were right behind us.
‘Is that even possible?’
Just as I tried to turn the light back on, someone shouted.
“Hey!”
A familiar voice. Cha Hyeongseo’s voice. That means…
The flickering light in my hand finally formed into a sphere, illuminating the surroundings. Familiar dead-fish eyes. And behind them, Cha Hyeongseo.
Cha Hyeongseo, looking shocked.
“…You okay?”
Lee Hoin had already drawn his greatsword and stood blocking the front, confronting them.
“Yeah. But…”
Frowning deeply, he spoke.
“That bastard… that’s the same guy from before.”
That bastard from before. I nodded in agreement. I wasn’t sure if Lee Hoin could see it or not.
“Hey, Cha Hyeongseo. You explain. What is this?”
Perhaps judging that he wouldn’t get a proper explanation after already meeting twice, he directed the question at Cha Hyeongseo.
His voice was already full of hostility. There was no way kind words would come out after someone slammed him into a wall the moment they appeared.
I didn’t bother stopping Lee Hoin. There was nothing to gain from stopping him in a situation like this. Cha Hyeongseo, still looking shocked and glancing at Lee Hoin, stammered.
“…Well…”
She started, but in this endless standoff, no proper explanation came out. After all, they attacked first, and we were the ones who got hit.
When Cha Hyeongseo kept failing to answer, Lee Hoin pressed her harshly.
“Speak properly. What the hell is going on?”
“I don’t know either!”
In the end, Cha Hyeongseo shouted that and turned her head toward Sa Jaeheon.
“What were you even thinking? Why are you doing this?”
Throughout all of this, Sa Jaeheon was looking only at me.
With an unbearably burdensome expression… only at me.
Then, as if surveying everything I had built, his gaze swept over Lee Hoin, the light sphere in my hand, and Kim Taekjin. From head to toe.
Anyone could tell. That bastard was scanning us. Measuring us. It was clearly rude and unpleasant.
‘…’
I couldn’t help the sweat running down my back, but Sa Jaeheon shouldn’t have any skill or item right now that could see my traits or abilities. No matter how much of a regressor he was, that kind of explosive growth wasn’t possible.
In the first place, the narrator restricted that kind of explosive growth. That’s why some regressions were skipped in a single line to avoid repetition.
‘Still, with that beast-like instinct of his…’
Having accumulated that much experience, there was no way he wouldn’t notice a lot. Even if not the details.
‘At least the magic…’
He would be able to tell that my items were stacked without canceling each other out. His eyes, examining everything thoroughly, held hostility, caution, and…
Before I could think further, Sa Jaeheon moved his hand and threw a dagger straight at me.
Even though it came in a straight, predictable line…
Lee Hoin instantly pulled me aside, and at the same time, the dagger that had been flying toward me missed and stabbed into something behind.
“That crazy bastard…”
Gripping my arm tightly, Lee Hoin immediately rushed forward with his greatsword.
“Hey, Lee Hoin!”
When he pulled me aside, the light went out, plunging everything into complete darkness. The light kept flickering on and off, so my eyes hadn’t even adjusted yet.
It’s fine to charge. But if he gets hit? If he takes an attack?
I reflexively lit the light again, illuminating the space where Sa Jaeheon had been standing. The sphere of light left my hand and hovered there.
But there was nothing where Sa Jaeheon had been.
The greatsword, about to advance further, suddenly halted, then raised its flat side to block something in a certain direction.
Ting!
With that sound, something was deflected.
I moved the light sphere toward where Lee Hoin was. My mana drained rapidly.
The unstable sphere flickered.
Flicker.
In the brief darkness when the light went out, a loud bang echoed. When the light came back on, Lee Hoin had his greatsword stabbed into the ground. And far away, I saw Sa Jaeheon pushing off the wall to leap again.
The light went out once more.
Flicker.
Whoosh
Thud!
In a space filled only with shock, no one screamed. Only the sounds of the two moving continued. Each time Lee Hoin swung his massive greatsword with force, it cut through the air with a heavy sound.
I couldn’t approach. I might get caught in the attacks.
Lee Hoin used the moments when the light turned on to maintain a proper distance from me, deliberately making large movements to prevent the enemy from getting close.
My mana drained again. Struggling to maintain the sphere, I pulled out a dagger into my palm.
Then, when the light came on, I watched Sa Jaeheon’s movements.
Sa Jaeheon had always used space well. His physical specs were excellent to begin with, and his combat sense was unmatched.
He was someone who had fought for thousands of years through combat alone. Compared to Lee Hoin, who had only been fighting for a few months, the difference in experience was obvious.
Even now, unlike someone who controlled the entire space, Lee Hoin couldn’t fully extend his range of movement because I was behind him.
So…
‘I need to restrict his movement through interference.’
Leaning against the wall, I held the dagger and memorized his movements precisely. Following each one with my eyes.
I know his combat patterns.
Because I’ve read them.
‘Against someone who uses a heavy weapon like a greatsword…’
He deliberately moved at a speed that made it hard to follow. It burdened him too, but it burdened the opponent, who had to keep attacking and defending with heavy movements, even more.
Then, when the opponent’s breathing faltered for a moment, he would quickly close in and land a decisive hit. At a speed far faster than before.
‘Usually, people don’t expect someone who’s been moving that fast to suddenly accelerate even more.’
Regardless of logic, it’s a matter of human stamina. People assume it’s physically impossible.
“I’m tired, so you must be tired too. We’re both too exhausted to take risks.”
He exploits that perception and drives in hard. Even if the hit isn’t decisive, he creates an opening and digs into it, forcing the opponent into panic and excessive movement.
That makes it easier to land additional blows.
So…
‘I won’t follow Sa Jaeheon. I’ll follow Lee Hoin.
In the moment Lee Hoin briefly caught his breath…
In that instant when his strength faltered, and his sword couldn’t advance…
I steadied my breathing.
The moment Lee Hoin finally lowered his sword, before Sa Jaeheon completely disappeared, before he could take another step, I threw the dagger into Lee Hoin’s blind spot.
I turned off the light completely.
Lee Hoin had already stopped anyway.
I threw it.
The dagger left my hand.
In the silent space where only Lee Hoin’s breathing could be heard, the dagger flew into his blind spot.
Did it hit?
Did it fly exactly where I intended?
If Lee Hoin moved even slightly…
‘…I might have stabbed Lee Hoin instead.’
I listened carefully, holding my breath. The dagger had already been thrown. There was nothing more I could do.
And then…
A brief silence fell.
There was no sound of the dagger hitting a wall, nor being deflected.
Drip.
Drip…
The sound of liquid falling to the ground.
The moment that sound broke the silence…
I lit the light.
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