Your Majesty, Dinner Is Ready. Chapter 2 - E-Rank Labyrinth – Hideout of the Lurker Ghouls (1)

Chapter 2 – E-Rank Labyrinth – Hideout of the Lurker Ghouls (1)

 

[Useful Information for You #1: A Lurker Ghoul’s claws are sharp enough to slice a pitiful human body into bite-sized pieces in a single stroke.]

 

I brushed aside the worthless text that kept obstructing the right side of my vision and continued running.

I couldn’t stop, not even for a moment.

The drunken mercenary was unintentionally buying time for the rest of us, but he wouldn’t last long.

At best, ten seconds.

Lurker Ghouls were monsters known for their absurd speed, and there was no way a Cultist and two children could outrun them.

“Intrudeeers–!”

Having apparently finished off the drunken mercenary, the ghouls soon began chasing us at terrifying speed.

The nauseating stench of rot closed in almost instantly.

If they’d started chasing us from the same point, they would’ve caught us long ago and invited us to dinner… as the main course.

I didn’t have the luxury of looking back and simply ran straight ahead, but the changing expressions of the tiger beastkin siblings, who kept glancing behind them, were enough to tell me how quickly the distance was shrinking.

 

[Useful Information for You #2: Human lungs don’t burst that easily, so don’t worry and keep running!]

 

“Huff… R-right… Thanks…!”

Without slowing down, I continued fleeing while scanning the trees around us.

‘Almost there.’

The unnaturally overgrown trees were gradually returning to normal.

That meant we were heading in the right direction.

“…How much longer are we going to keep running?!”

Marlin, the tiger beastkin girl who had overtaken me while running alongside her brother, looked back at me.

“They’re almost on top of us now!”

“Why do we have to keep acting like cowards?!”

Abel shouted at his sister through gritted teeth as he sprinted.

“There are only two ghouls! If all of us attack together, we might be able to beat them!”

“…”

Marlin looked into my eyes.

She seemed to think her brother had a point and silently asked for my opinion.

Can’t we just fight them?

How could anyone suggest facing them head-on after witnessing an orc’s sturdy chest get opened up in a single strike?

Then again…

That fighting spirit was very beastkin-like.

 

[Useful Information for You #3: Accept the proposal of those imitation beasts. It’s not a bad choice if your wish is to become a meal for the ghouls.]

 

Sweeping away the line that could’ve been either mockery or advice, I shook my head.

“No. We can’t beat them.”

“We tiger beastkin aren’t like humans our age!”

“I know. Even so, we can’t.”

“If we keep running like this, eventually we’ll…”

Marlin abruptly stopped speaking, flinched, and turned her attention back ahead.

“Kihihihi….”

“Come here–!”

The two ghouls had already caught up to us until they were practically breathing down our necks.

“Abel! Run faster!”

“…”

The tiger beastkin siblings accelerated to their absolute limit.

The gap between us, already considerable, widened even further.

Those ungrateful little brats.

I smiled in satisfaction.

Children who already knew how to survive in desperate situations at such a young age were unlikely to end up dying pointlessly somewhere.

“Intrudeeers!!”

Naturally, the first target of the charging ghouls was the pitiful, slow-moving Cultist.

[Fatal Attack Incoming: The ghoul’s claws are rushing toward your back.]

The instant the black warning appeared…

I immediately rolled forward.

My clumsy tumble sent me rolling pathetically across the ground as the ghoul’s outstretched arm sliced through empty air just above me.

It had been incredibly close.

Had I reacted even a little later, I’d have been reunited in tears with my two departed companions.

[No need to thank me ;)]

“…It dodged?”

Perhaps its pride had been wounded by the weakest-looking prey avoiding its attack.

The ugly ghoul twisted its hideous face in anger and raised its shoulder for another strike.

The middle of my back, which had slammed into the ground first during my roll, throbbed painfully.

Naturally, I couldn’t evade the follow-up attack by myself.

But that was fine.

I’d rolled this far because I’d already calculated everything.

Crack!

A stone flew in from the front and smashed into the ghoul’s grotesque face.

“Get lost!”

Abel.

The stone, thrown with the natural strength of a tiger beastkin, crushed the ghoul’s nose, sending filthy-colored blood pouring down its face.

Its regenerative abilities were excellent, and the injury healed almost immediately.

But just because the wound disappeared didn’t mean the pain did.

While the two hideous undead recoiled and stumbled backward under the barrage of stones, Marlin rushed over and hoisted me onto her back.

“Are you okay?”

“Why did you come back? You could’ve died.”

“How could I just leave you to die? Even if you’re a Cultist…”

Risking her own life to save someone she’d only just met after doing such a good job escaping.

It was a regrettably kind-hearted decision that completely erased the satisfaction I’d felt moments ago.

She should’ve just run without looking back.

That’s how you grew into a respectable person in this insane world.

“I’ll get moving. We just keep going, right?”

“There’s no need.”

“…You’re telling me to leave you behind?”

“No.”

“We’ve already run far enough.”

I raised my head and looked upward.

The forest that had blanketed the area in darkness had come to an end.

Above us stretched the night sky, illuminated by a brilliant full moon.

“Ghouls are weak against moonlight.”

Crunch!

Another one of Abel’s stones slammed into a ghoul’s chest, twisting its knee.

Normally, an attack like that shouldn’t have affected it at all.

But instead of retaliating, the ghouls merely staggered about in confusion before finally turning and fleeing.

 

[Reference: Ghouls were originally a kind of elf. However, the petty God of the Moon and the Hunt cursed them as punishment for their betrayal.]

[Thus, the pitiful elven race was reduced to undead and became vulnerable to the power of the moon. What more vivid proof could there be that the righteous gods are hypocrites, fools, and petty cowards?]

 

Marlin stared blankly at the retreating ghouls before gently setting me back on the ground.

“…Are we… safe now?”

That was the sort of thing you could only say when you didn’t truly understand the situation.

“Don’t relax.”

“Get ready to move.”

“The real danger hasn’t even begun yet.”

We were inside a Labyrinth.

The core feature of Nightmare Dungeon is that entering one transported you into an entirely separate world, completely isolated from the outside.

If you lost focus for even a moment, even a battle-hardened veteran could die a meaningless death.

And unless you fulfilled the conditions required to clear it, no matter how strong you were, you could never escape.

Marlin’s chin trembled.

“…But you said ghouls are weak against moonlight. Then can’t we just stay here without moving until morning? The Labyrinth priest told us that’s how we could get out.”

The official strategy for [Hideout of the Lurker Ghouls] was simple:

Survive for eight hours without dying.

The objective itself wasn’t particularly difficult.

The environment of the Labyrinth, however, was never on the explorer’s side.

“Morning will arrive soon. The nights in this Labyrinth are absurdly short.”

“…What?”

“Ghouls are only weak to moonlight. Sunlight doesn’t hurt them at all. They even enjoy sunbathing regularly.”

“…”

The young siblings turned deathly pale.

For a while, they merely stood there trying to calm their ragged breathing.

Even though she herself was terrified, Marlin slowly rubbed her brother’s back to comfort him.

“Mister. What do we do now?”

“What else?”

There was only one thing I could tell them.

“We survive.”

No matter how difficult it was, this was still only the tutorial.

Its difficulty was never intended to be impossible.

An E-Rank Labyrinth.

If I couldn’t casually clear something ranked at the very bottom, then the 20,000 hours I’d poured into this game would’ve meant nothing.

“…You’ll help us, right?”

“…I will.”

Marlin nodded.

Abel, though obviously reluctant, copied his sister and gave a small nod as well.

“Then what should we do first?”

There was something we needed before anything else.

“First… We need the corpses of the dead explorers.”

 

***

 

Having received different instructions from me, the young siblings began running across the plains surrounding the forest.

There were about five minutes left until sunrise.

If we hurried, we’d finish all our preparations before the moon clocked out.

‘Just follow the usual routine.’

The route involving the siblings had already been perfected through countless trials and errors.

I could confidently say there wasn’t a safer or more optimized method.

If I truly made up my mind, there were even more reliable ways to survive.

But making up my mind wasn’t exactly an ordinary decision.

I didn’t want to go that far.

 

[Truly Essential Advice: If you sacrifice those two imitation beasts, clearing this Labyrinth will become much easier for you.]

 

“Be quiet.”

 

[If you no longer desire my information, simply cover your right eye with an eyepatch. However, please consider your decision carefully, as I… the Eye That Perceives the Truth… will become very sad.]

 

The text floating through the air was actually a skill with a will of its own.

It talked a little too much and constantly blocked my vision, which was admittedly annoying.

Still, the ability to detect danger and warn me alone made it invaluable.

 

[Information for the weak-hearted you, who wishes to survive without trampling children: If you stab their hearts with the dagger you possess, they’ll at least enjoy a relatively painless death.]

 

“Thanks for the useful advice.”

As I found myself performing the strange spectacle of holding a conversation with my own right eye, footsteps approached from a distance.

“Mister Cultist.”

Marlin hurried over in quick little steps and lowered the things she had been carrying on her shoulders.

Three rotting corpses.

 

[Explorers who died on the plains. By chance, they discovered that ghouls were weak against moonlight, but never learned that sunlight wasn’t their weakness. They were eventually hunted down and killed.]

 

“Just like you said, there were bodies everywhere. They must’ve belonged to explorers who entered before us….”

“Good work.”

 

[Making children look at rotting corpses! Your true identity remains unknown, but you are undoubtedly an exemplary Cultist.]

 

Perhaps because I’d asked her to do something bordering on child abuse, Marlin’s expression looked slightly strained.

Of course, if she’d been an innocent child who knew nothing, I never would’ve asked such a thing.

Holding her nose, Marlin spoke.

“I’ve done a lot of paid work disposing of bodies outside the city, so I know. They aren’t decayed that badly. I guess you could say they’re only moderately rotten.”

She flipped the corpses over one by one while calmly presenting her findings.

She looked more like a professional forensic pathologist than a child.

This was why early education was important.

Learning from a young age, when you absorbed knowledge so quickly, produced this kind of sound analytical ability.

“So what now?”

“First, line them up nicely.”

The corpses of the explorers, each bearing deep stab wounds in their necks, chests, and hearts, were laid side by side neatly on the ground.

“But what are you trying to do?”

“What else would a Cultist need corpses for?”

The alpha and omega of worshipping an evil god.

Essential common knowledge every proper Cultist had to master.

“We’re going to offer them to Lidni.”

It was time for a human sacrifice.