Labyrinth Day 47.
I’ve put the Vending Machine Tracking Ticket on hold.
There’s no way I could carelessly use such a precious opportunity to find the vending machine.
What if I got there and it was just stuffed with expensive tickets?
And then, I wouldn’t have enough coins to buy what I need—shudder!
To prevent such disasters, I decided to save up a hefty sum of coins before using the tracking ticket, and until then, I would just explore and hope to stumble upon any vending machines along the way.
Rize has been regularly and steadily supporting me with coins.
Thanks to him, I have now accumulated 200,000 coins.
That’s nearly 2 billion Korean won!
I wonder if I’ll be able to exchange this amount back when I return to Earth.
At this rate, I really felt that someday I might actually be able to get that Lustrous Evolution Ticket.
“Thanks a lot. What would I have done without you? But you’re not pulling money from the national treasury, are you?”
“That’s a relief then.”
If it’s Terio and Ayula’s money, I’m okay with it.
They’ve received help from me too.
As long as Rize isn’t extorting it from them, I’m fine.
I double-checked my coin balance.
Then I stepped out of the crystal home and looked around.
While doing so, I noticed some guys dancing their hearts out.
［Dance happily! Doo Doom Bar!］
“Doo Doom Bar!”
“Doo, Doo Doom….”
It was the Hedgehog Summoner’s dance class in full swing.
The instructor was, of course, a hedgehog.
And the students were Merino Ula and Iara Un.
［Merino! Shake your butt more passionately!］
“Doom Bar! Doo Doom Bar!”
［Iara! Your moves are stiff! Swing your waist more!］
“Doo Doom….”
Iara Un stayed behind without returning.
Considering the circumstances, it’s likely that the six drifters who died yesterday were her party members, but there’s still no way to be completely certain.
That wasn’t wrong.
Before the drifters went from 6 to 5, there had been a total of 11 drifters drifting in the labyrinth yesterday.
Two of them were Iara Un and Merino Ula.
Six were Iara Un’s party members.
Three were other drifters.
Though the chance was quite slim,
We couldn’t completely rule out the possibility that Iara Un’s three party members and the other three drifters might have died simultaneously in different locations.
There were also other possible scenarios.
Perhaps 2 and 4, or 1 and 5, had each died respectively.
In theory, it meant that Iara’s party could have as many as 3 members still alive.
Of course.
That was just wishful thinking.
As previously mentioned, I considered the probability of Iara’s party surviving to be incredibly low.
‘Well, if both groups had united and faced a monster attack together, the odds might increase a bit.’
And to be honest, Iara herself didn’t seem to have high hopes.
She had already come to accept the likely deaths of her party members.
Yet, the reason she stayed in the labyrinth was to confirm things definitely before heading back.
After all, the chance of her party being completely dead wasn’t zero.
For reference, unlike Iara, who held onto small hope, I had already concluded that the other three drifters couldn’t possibly be from Iara’s party.
Because that was the more realistic conclusion.
‘By the way, what the heck are those other three drifters up to?’
I suddenly became curious.
These three had survived longer than expected.
If they could have lasted this long in such a dangerous world, they probably weren’t ordinary folks.
*
Meeting one of the other drifters was truly a coincidence.
I hadn’t used a tracker, and wasn’t actively looking for anyone.
I just happened to spot a guy with the word ‘Drifter’ floating above his head while I was heading to a pond to wash up.
“Whoa! This dude is really strong!”
A charred monster lay dead.
The man was snapping photos of the corpse nonstop.
“Almost got dead there! But I feel like my strength suddenly dropped… Dunno, first let’s take some pics.”
Just as I expected.
This other drifter was no ordinary human.
Their survival until now wasn’t just a matter of luck.
“Eh? Who are you guys?”
The man sensed our presence and quickly turned to look at us.
He was on guard, slowly aiming the flamethrower-like device strapped to his back at us.
His danger level was B-rank.
But his actual danger level was S-Class.
There were no other drifters in sight.
Suddenly, why am I being dragged into this…
Anyway.
The man looked ready to attack at any moment.
I thought about trying to talk to him since he’s a drifter too, but with that attitude, he was no different from a monster.
Then—
“Wait a minute… You there…?”
Suddenly, the man’s eyebrows twitched.
He hesitated for a moment and fixed his gaze on Azelas next to me.
He seemed quite surprised.
“Halfwit Azelas?”
The name slipped out of his mouth.
Huh? How does he know Azelas?
“Hahaha! Almost didn’t recognize you with that terrible look! What are those things on your head? Disgusting as hell! Fits perfectly with a lowly girl like you!”
“Were you also sucked into that Dark Portal? I thought you’d kicked the bucket somewhere! Judging by your survival in this ancient labyrinth, I see you have some luck, trash!”
I glanced at Azelas nearby.
He met my gaze, then turned back to the man and tilted his head.
“…Who are you?”
“What?”
“Who, are you… asking?”
“Don’t joke! How dare you not remember me!”
“…”
“…”
“Oh. I remembered… the wannabe God of Destruction, Ignis Ashbringer…”
As Azelas uttered the name, Ignis furrowed his brow and shouted.
“I’m not a wannabe! I’m a recognized God of Destruction now!”
“…”
“Remember this, trash! I am now styled the Conductor of Flames, a proper God of Destruction! I’ve become a being you can’t even look in the eyes of, you worthless trash! Hahaha!”
“Hm… these days, anyone can claim to be a God of Destruction, can’t they…”
Azelas turned his gaze away from Ignis.
Then he looked back at me and quickly summarized the situation concerning Ignis.
Name: Ignis Ashbringer.
He was someone who aspired to be a God of Destruction, like Azelas.
And from what Ignis says,
He now claims to be a legitimate God of Destruction, with a preposterous title of Conductor of Flames.
Additionally,
Ignis said it would be better to kill him at all costs.
He told me he’s a trash who slaughters weaker beings without reason.
“If you’re envious, just admit it, trash Azelas!”
“…Not, envious.”
“Hahaha! From your inability to speak properly since a while ago, you seem quite bitter!”
“…”
“By the way, what’s with the monsters you have? You aren’t saying you’ve become an explorer, are you?”
“I’m no longer an explorer… the explorer is that Gauntlet over there.”
“What do you mean, no longer an explorer? And that Gauntlet is…”
Only then did Ignis focus his interest on me.
Until now, he’d been ignoring me like I was a nobody.
“Hey, muscle head. Are you the explorer?”
“Yeah.”
I replied while sketching Ignis in my notebook.
Seeing that his attitude reeked of arrogance, I figured it’d be less work to just kill him and then talk later.
It’s easier to have a conversation after killing him anyway.
“You dare to ignore me when I directly address you?! You are an insolent punk!”
“Eh.”
“You… kidding me?”
“Nope.”
“…”
“…”
“Muscle head. Did you, by any chance, weaken my powers?”
“Sure did.”
“I figured as much.”
Ignis wore a sudden smirk.
Then he turned away and muttered softly.
“Well, even in this state, it’d be easy to kill a punk like you… but with all the monsters around, I might struggle, so I’ll hold off on killing you for now.”
I’ll just bring in a couple of other guys and have them take care of you.
Then I’ll kill all the explorers, including you, and we shall be the next explorers.
Hehe. Trying to run away now, huh, Ignis.
He didn’t even scream.
He met his end at the hands of a Black Magma Slime that was hanging from the ceiling.
No, seriously.
Will I just let the guy, who promised to come back and kill me, off the hook?
If he was going to run away, he should at least have zipped his mouth.
What a real idiot.
“Guess he was famously known for being stupid…”
［Swooosh. Trash.］
“Puppetmaster. Make him a puppet.”
［Got it.］
Watching the Necro Puppetmaster turn Ignis, the celestial being, into a puppet, I slowly closed the notebook I was working in.
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