At the far end of a dark, gloomy labyrinth, a man was chewing on a strip of jerky.
Only the torches spaced at regular intervals illuminated the darkness before him.
‘I’m bored to death….’
Garen sighed as he leaned against the wall with his arms crossed.
Hunting novices who entered the labyrinth alone.
For a first-year adventurer like him, it was both a pastime and a side business.
‘...Someone’s here.’
Right on cue, a man appeared at the entrance.
He looked to be twenty at most.
Garen immediately approached him and asked,
“Hey, did you come alone?”
“Why do you ask?”
The man answered curtly in a cold tone.
With his refined features, he looked every bit like the pampered son of a noble family.
His eyes were unusually composed for someone his age.
But what stood out most of all was his hair.
It was a peculiar color Garen had never seen before.
‘Platinum blond?’
He suddenly remembered hearing that one of the high-ranking nobles in the North had platinum-blond hair.
‘No way.’
Garen quickly dismissed the ridiculous notion.
Why would a noble ever bother entering a labyrinth?
They already possessed all the wealth and fame one could gain from a place like this.
“You look like this is your first time here. How about traveling with me?”
At Garen’s question, the man silently regarded him with cold eyes.
There was an inexplicable air of pressure about him.
Still, Garen could not stop now.
“I’m Garen. This is only my second time in here.”
Convincing him was not difficult.
“I’ve heard more than a few people have died after wandering around alone and taking an arrow through the leg. What do you say? Want to join forces?”
“How do we split the profits?”
“Exactly fifty-fifty.”
The man narrowed his eyes and considered it for a moment before making his decision.
“Fine. We’ll do that.”
“Ha ha. Then we might as well exchange names. What’s yours?”
“Allen.”
‘Allen….’
It was a name Garen felt as though he had heard somewhere before.
Then again, it was not particularly rare, so there was nothing strange about that.
Garen gestured toward the greatsword he was carrying.
“As you can see, I’m a warrior. If there’s one thing I’m confident in, it’s my strength. What about you?”
“I’m a mage.”
“...A mage?”
Garen’s expression instantly stiffened.
“Is there a problem?”
“No... Nothing.”
What an unexpected windfall.
This was better luck than he could have imagined.
‘A mage!’
Mages.
Highly skilled individuals belonging to an extremely small minority.
Most of them worked at the royal palace or the Mage Tower.
They were valuable enough that they rarely entered labyrinths alone... so what was one doing here?
No, that did not really matter.
His belongings were no longer important.
It was already an open secret that a mage’s brain and heart fetched exorbitant prices on the black market.
“Well, this is something. I’ve never actually seen a mage in person before. What brings you to the labyrinth?”
“You’re asking the obvious. I came to make money.”
“Money?”
Mages were rare enough that employment was practically guaranteed.
Garen wondered why a mage would ever need to come to a labyrinth for money, but that was hardly important.
“You must know all sorts of tricks if you’re a mage. Can you show me some magic?”
“I refuse. It would be a waste of mana.”
“…….”
What kind of damned bastard was this?
Garen decided he had heard enough and began the expedition.
Strangely enough, despite claiming that this was his first visit, Allen was the one who suggested their destination.
The Altar of the Twin Gods, a place long forgotten and no longer visited by anyone.
Since Garen did not care about their destination in the first place, he readily agreed.
‘Now, then….’
As they walked, he began considering what he should do next.
Using a trap would be better than getting his own hands dirty.
It would make cleaning up afterward much easier as well.
Before long, they reached a fork in the path that Garen knew well.
‘Here.’
It was one of his favorite spots.
A concealed arrow trap should be coming up shortly.
Claiming that he had heard something behind them, Garen had Allen take the lead.
Then he smiled from behind and began counting down.
‘Three….’
‘Two….’
‘One….’
WHOOSH!
Right on cue, an arrow shot out from the wall on the right.
In an instant, it hurtled toward Allen’s temple.
Just as Garen pictured the familiar sight that would follow,
“!?”
Allen stumbled and went rolling across the floor.
The arrow sliced uselessly through empty air.
Garen swallowed a curse and rushed toward Allen.
“Damn! I forgot there was a trap here! Are you all right?”
“I’m fine. Let’s keep moving.”
Allen stood and brushed the dust from his knees.
He got up as calmly as though nothing had happened.
As Garen watched his back disappear into the darkness, a strange sense of unease came over him.
‘How did he dodge that?’
Allen’s behavior had undoubtedly been that of a novice.
There had been the look in his eyes when he first encountered a monster, along with those subtle, wary movements.
But that trap just now was not something one could simply dodge.
‘Did he know about it?’
A rumor that had been circulating recently suddenly came to mind.
Rumors about Marauder Hunters.
It was supposedly a policy of that damned Adventurer’s Guild.
To catch marauders, they disguised high-ranking adventurers as novices.
‘Surely not….’
Garen suddenly felt uneasy.
Was Allen even really a mage?
Fortunately, he soon received an opportunity to confirm it.
“BARK-!!”
A pack of hulking black dogs appeared around the corner.
They were Black Hounds, a common sight on the first floor.
Garen cut off the head of the one charging at the front, and the darkness beside him suddenly brightened.
A brilliant flame had appeared in Allen’s hand without Garen noticing.
The moment Garen saw it, a thought crossed his mind.
‘That looks smaller than I expected….’
The tiny flame pushed back the darkness only slightly.
As the pack of Black Hounds came into view, Allen hurled the flame in his hand.
FWOOSH!
“YELP—”
The small flame clung to one of the Black Hounds.
The creature flinched slightly from the heat before quickly shaking itself off.
Garen watched while cutting the others down one by one.
By the time they had fought several more battles on their way to their destination, he had made up his mind.
‘Kill him.’
Marauder Hunter, his ass.
Garen had handled practically every fight so far.
Every one of Allen’s actions also screamed novice.
The only magic he had demonstrated was throwing small flames around.
Even their power was pathetic.
‘Should I just cut him down from behind?’
No.
There was no harm in being careful.
He could keep Allen around a little longer and catch him off guard in the middle of a battle.
Was luck truly on his side?
The opportunity came sooner than he expected.
RUMBLE!
The ground ahead began shaking violently.
There was only one monster on this floor that made an entrance like that.
The Death Worm, notorious for being the most troublesome monster on the first floor.
The ground ahead split apart, and a gigantic worm burst upward.
“SKREEE—!”
The Death Worm immediately opened its maw.
Its outer hide was as hard as steel.
FWOOSH!
Allen conjured a flame and lowered his stance.
A little flame like that would barely warm the creature’s hide.
‘Throw it already!’
The moment Allen did, Garen would have his chance to stab him in the back.
Contrary to Garen’s wishes, however, Allen simply stood there with the flame in his hand.
Hundreds of teeth filled the Death Worm’s open maw.
Just as those teeth were about to tear into Allen, he hurled the flame straight into its mouth.
“SKREE—!”
The Death Worm swallowed the flames, then crashed to the ground with a THUD!
It writhed in agony, its mouth opening and closing helplessly.
Allen did not miss the opportunity and immediately began preparing another spell.
Garen used that moment to draw his sword.
WHOOSH!
The greatsword swept through the air in a wide arc.
Its blade went straight for Allen’s neck.
He could not afford to make a mistake.
If he accidentally struck the head, the corpse would lose its value.
Just as Garen imagined the blade slicing cleanly through Allen’s neck, Allen vanished from before his eyes.
“Urgh!”
CLANG!
The greatsword struck the wall.
The impact numbed Garen’s hands, causing him to drop the weapon.
The instant it fell, he spotted Allen some distance away, chanting a spell.
“Wait...!”
Something was wrong.
This was nothing like the flames Garen had seen until now.
What had once been no larger than the flame of a torch swelled until it illuminated the entire passage.
‘This is insane…!’
Garen scrambled toward his greatsword.
It took him three hurried steps before he finally managed to grab it.
By then, the flames were already engulfing his entire body.
“Aaaaaagh!!”
The enormous blaze wrapped around him in an instant.
It burned through his skin, melted his muscles, and seared his bones.
Just before the pain of even his brain burning away robbed him of consciousness,
‘Marauder Hunter….’
Garen realized that his judgment had been wrong.
The flames burned the man named Garen.
I pinched my nose at the unpleasant smell, disturbingly similar to roasting meat.
‘I wasn’t completely sure….’
To think he really was a marauder.
They were bastards who robbed people rather than monsters, both inside and outside the labyrinth.
What made them frightening was that they usually played the part of ordinary adventurers or common citizens.
That bastard just now had been so good at acting that there was no way this had only been his first or second time.
‘What an ill-mannered bastard.’
Who attacked someone in the middle of an incantation?
He had even thrown basic professional courtesy out the window.
Damned bastard.
‘I nearly died….’
Good thing I had brought an Incantation Shortening Scroll just in case.
Otherwise, I might have ended up in the afterlife.
I had been so nervous that I had noticed the trap late, too.
“Haa... Haa....”
Why was I so out of breath?
Was it because this was my first time?
My first kill, and I had burned someone alive.
It was fine.
I had still managed to do it.
‘Good thing I conserved my mana.’
I had poured as much of my remaining mana into the spell as I could.
More than necessary, in fact, because I had panicked.
“Phew….”
I was less shaken than I had expected.
Was it because he had tried to kill me?
Or perhaps I had simply grown accustomed to this world.
At least, I did not feel any immediate guilt.
“What kind of marauder carries a bag this pathetic?”
Aside from the items we had picked up together, there was practically nothing in it.
Had he seriously been robbing people just to make ends meet?
Even if that was the case, I still resented the bastard for attacking me from behind.
“Huh?”
I found something tucked away deep inside the bag.
A pocket watch small enough to fit in one hand.
Its design was somewhat unusual.
There was no minute hand or second hand.
It had only a single hour hand.
Even at a glance, I could tell that it was valuable.
‘I’ll take it for now.’
Whether it was an ordinary keepsake or some kind of relic, I could not check at the moment because I had exhausted my mana.
Besides, there was something else I needed to do quickly.
“Well... I should get going.”
As my excitement died down, my nerves returned.
Fortunately, I was already close to my destination.
Since this was my first trip into the labyrinth, I had never expected to make it this far.
I supposed I had the dead Garen to thank for that.
It would have been even better if he had not been a marauder.
“SCREECH—!”
Only after roasting three goblins whole did I finally reach my destination.
The Altar of the Twin Gods stood at the very center of the vast labyrinth.
On the left was a statue of a newborn baby.
On the right was a statue of an old man who looked as though he might breathe his last at any moment.
From left to right, they were El, the First God, and Om, the Last God.
Gods who respectively governed beginnings and endings.
They had long since been forgotten by the people of this world.
‘All this trouble because of these bastards….’
Calm down.
I could curse them as much as I wanted after the ritual was over.
There was no point risking bad luck by insulting them beforehand.
‘I finally made it.’
This was something I had desperately longed for.
The opportunity to turn my life around, an opportunity I had believed would come only once.
At last, it was right in front of me.
‘Let’s see….’
Two flat stones rested before the statue of the baby.
Two identical stones also rested before the statue of the old man.
They were offering daises meant to hold sacrifices.
A long ceremonial cup stood to the right of each pair.
‘First, give them a thorough cleaning….’
I began taking out the items I had prepared and placing them on the daises one by one.
On the left dais before the baby statue, I placed Slime Mucus, a drop item from the weakest Rank-10 monster in the labyrinth.
On the left dais before the old man statue, I placed an Ancient Dragon Fang, a drop item from the rarest Rank-1 monster in the labyrinth.
Then, on the right dais before the baby statue, I placed Fireball, the most insignificant spell in the Inferno School.
Finally, on the right dais before the old man statue, I placed a brand-new book with nothing written inside it.
‘This feels like I’m preparing an ancestral rite.’
No.
Even performing an ancestral rite a hundred times would not be this much trouble.
I had spent every last coin I owned to obtain the Ancient Dragon Fang.
If this failed, I was going to smash those statues to pieces and become a heretic.
SLASH!
Using the ritual dagger I had prepared, I cut my left arm three times.
Bright red blood streamed from the wounds.
I gathered the blood in my cupped hand, then filled both ceremonial cups to the brim.
DRIP.
I lowered my hand once they were filled almost to overflowing.
In the game, that was all there was to the ritual.
‘One... two... three... four... five….’
I counted for no particular reason.
I was anxious.
If this was not going to work, I wished they would tell me already.
Then I could tear down the entire damned altar.
[Offerings are being presented at the Altar of El and Om.]
A smile soon spread across my face.
[The conditions for El’s offering have been fulfilled.]
With a soft SLURP, the Slime Mucus slowly disappeared.
Then the blood I had poured into the ceremonial cup before the baby statue began to drain away until the bottom of the cup was visible.
[The conditions for Om’s offering have been fulfilled.]
The Ancient Dragon Fang I had struggled so hard to obtain vanished as well.
The blood in the old man’s ceremonial cup disappeared as though someone had drunk it.
[You have discovered the Hidden Piece ‘Reversion’.]
There was not even the slightest breeze inside the chamber, yet the grimoire of Flame I had placed on the left began flipping from its first page to its last.
[El acquires the Inferno School grimoire ‘Flame’.]
As the final page fell shut, the book I had placed on the right began flipping open as well.
A faint scratching sound filled the air as unknown writing appeared across the previously blank pages.
[Om bestows the legendary-grade relic ‘Word Magic’.]
After its pages fluttered for a long while, the book finally closed.
“…….”
Were there six winning numbers in the lottery?
Was this what it felt like to match five of them and wait for the final number to be announced?
I forced down the excitement that threatened to stop my breathing and approached the baby statue.
Carefully, I opened the grimoire of Flame resting on the dais.
“Phew….”
Every letter that had once filled its pages had been erased.
It had literally become a completely new, blank book.
The moment I closed it, the book crumbled into powder.
I turned and approached the book I had placed before the old man.
Afraid that even my breath might scatter it, I carefully picked it up and opened it.
The once-blank pages were now densely covered in a language I could not recognize.
I slowly turned through the pages one by one.
When I finally closed the book, it too crumbled into powder and disappeared.
[You have obtained the Legendary Magic ‘Word Magic’.]
Fuck.
Finally.
Before I could even shout in exhilaration, a tidal wave of knowledge crashed into me.
Mysteries beyond the limits of comprehension poured into my mind.
I willingly accepted them all.
[You have learned the Legendary Magic ‘Word Magic’.]
I had finally obtained it.
The crowning piece.
Word Magic, said to be the most versatile of the Four Great Legendary Magics.
A supreme relic that had already vanished from the world and survived only in legend.
A cheat code that allowed me to wield every form of magic through language itself was finally mine.
Which also meant my life was about to change.
“Ah... fuck.”
It had already been two months since I was dragged into this damned game.
I had suffered humiliations I could hardly bring myself to speak of.
“Just you wait, you sons of bitches!!”
It felt as though I were finally being repaid for everything I had endured.
I would not have to hold myself back anymore.
Word Magic was only the beginning.
With this as my foundation, I should be able to obtain the other Great Legendary Magics as well.
‘I’m finally turning my life around!’
And suddenly, I began to remember.
That day when I first arrived in this damned world.
The day I became a half-baked nobody inside a game.