A mountain of more than twenty decomposed corpses.
For now, we retraced our steps and explained the situation to Claire and Esta.
There was a mysterious pile of corpses near the exit.
We had identified the source of the stench, and there did not appear to be anything immediately dangerous about it.
All we had to do was pass by.
“Ugh….”
Esta continued dry-heaving.
At the fork in the passage, she could no longer take another step.
Watching her, Beric spoke.
“Why not simply hold your breath for a little while? Climb onto my back. I’ll carry you through in an instant.”
Esta hurriedly shook her head.
Her expression made it look as though she was barely resisting the urge to run away altogether.
Perhaps Dwarves were simply less sensitive, because Beric looked relatively fine.
He probably could not understand what Esta was going through.
‘She must be suffering like hell.’
The stench of rotting corpses was incomparable to any ordinary foul smell.
I had only known that as a piece of knowledge before, but experiencing it firsthand was far worse.
Then what must it be like for Esta, whose sense of smell was several times sharper than a human’s?
If I were her, I would want to turn around immediately too.
What should we do?
After thinking for a moment, I spoke.
“Beric. Claire. Take Esta and move farther away.”
“Hmm? Why all of a sudden?”
“I’m going to burn every corpse over there. We won’t be able to get through otherwise.”
I had not intended to interfere with the pile of corpses.
I had no idea how long they had been there, but the Adventurers who went ahead of us must have encountered the same thing.
They had probably covered their noses and passed by while cursing their rotten luck.
But we could not do that.
“Burning them might make the smell even worse. If Esta passes out, that’ll be troublesome.”
“That is true. Very well, then. We’ll wait farther away.”
“Young Master Allen. I’ll go with you.”
Beric supported Esta and began retracing the path we had come from.
Claire and I covered our noses and walked toward the stench.
Damn it.
I thought I had started getting used to it.
The smell only grew worse, forcing my face into a grimace.
When we reached the pile of corpses, I hurriedly drew up my mana.
『Flame Arrow』
Flaming arrows appeared in the air.
I created twelve in total to burn the corpses.
As the arrows struck different parts of the pile, flames gradually spread across it.
The bodies caught fire vigorously without even needing kindling.
It almost looked like a campfire.
“This is strange. Who could have done something like this?”
“Whoever it was, they weren’t sane.”
I honestly had no idea.
I could not even guess their intention.
The decomposed corpses caught fire faster than I expected.
Fortunately, the original stench diminished considerably.
I carefully examined several of the bodies as they burned.
Judging by their clothing, there was nothing that clearly identified them as Adventurers.
‘Not even a common weapon.’
After some time had passed and the corpses began exposing bone, footsteps came from the darkness in the distance.
Beric and Esta emerged.
Esta looked miserable, but she was doing better than before.
“How is it? Feeling any better?”
“…As if. The smell of rot is still lingering inside my nose. Still, thanks. At least I can breathe now.”
Esta spoke nasally while pinching her nose.
As she passed the burning corpses, she said,
“Let’s get out of here quickly. We won’t even be able to have a proper conversation until we reach the second floor.”
Esta opened the enormous gate and stepped through.
Beric followed behind her.
Personally, I wanted to wait until the corpses had burned completely, but at this rate, that would take quite a while.
Whatever happened afterward was no longer my concern.
With no other choice, Claire and I opened the gate as well.
CREAK.
Beyond it was another staircase.
Unlike when we first entered the Labyrinth, this one led upward.
I could hear the footsteps of the other two moving ahead through the darkness.
After they opened the next door, Claire and I followed them outside.
“Ugh….”
Brilliant sunlight immediately stabbed into my eyes.
I had spent so long in darkness that even closing my eyes did not stop the glare.
Once my eyes adjusted and I opened them again, my entire field of vision was filled with lush greenery.
The air was the complete opposite of the stale, unpleasant atmosphere from moments ago.
Simply breathing it in made me feel refreshed.
This was the Second Layer of the Labyrinth, the ‘Forest of Silence.’
“Haaaah…!”
The moment she emerged, Esta hurriedly leaned against a tree.
She looked like someone who had discovered an oasis in the middle of a desert.
While she caught her breath, Claire and I examined the scenery of the Second Layer.
Trees and thick undergrowth covered everything around us.
The vegetation was so dense that we could barely see beyond the immediate area.
“This is your first time on the second floor, isn’t it? How is it? Doesn’t it feel refreshing after being trapped in that maze?”
“Definitely. I feel like I can finally breathe again.”
Certain sections of the First Layer had been so narrow that we had needed to crouch while moving through them.
Add the humidity and stench, and the environment here was far more pleasant.
After spending quite some time recovering, Esta eventually approached us with a refreshed expression.
“Haa… what exactly were those corpses back there?”
No one had an answer.
It was undeniably bizarre.
That many bodies had been gathered together in an advanced state of decomposition.
There had to be some purpose behind it.
“Come to think of it… I didn’t see any obvious wounds or bloodstains.”
“…Then perhaps they really were corpses that couldn’t be disposed of outside, so someone brought them into the Labyrinth?”
“We can’t be certain. Someone might possess a Skill capable of rapidly decomposing a human body.”
“Either way, whoever did it is clearly insane. Trying to understand a madman seems equally ridiculous.”
“We don’t have enough clues to make any judgment right now anyway. Thinking about it any further is just wasting time.”
After saying that, Esta drew the dagger from her waist.
SWISH!
She slashed diagonally across the center of the tree she had leaned against earlier.
A long scar appeared across the massive trunk.
Claire looked at her in confusion.
“…? Why did you suddenly cut the tree?”
“It’s a marker for finding our way.”
“Can something like this really help us navigate?”
“It’s just a precaution. You never know what might happen. Sometimes primitive methods like this end up being useful.”
Beric had been listening closely to their conversation.
Apparently something occurred to him, because he asked Esta,
“Didn’t Elves revere forests? Aren’t you worried that injuring a tree like that might cause it pain?”
Esta’s expression twisted.
“What an old-fashioned idea. Very Dwarf-like. Trees obviously can’t feel pain. And the forest we revere is the Forest of the World Tree within Elven territory. Don’t compare it to some rootless forest like this.”
“Hmm. I fail to see much of a difference.”
Beric tilted his head.
Esta looked at him with open contempt, then carved another mark into the tree beside her.
She continued repeating the process as she pushed through the undergrowth.
The rest of us followed behind her one after another.
There was a reason this place was called the ‘Forest of Silence.’
It was not because there were no chirping birds or flowing streams.
Those natural sounds existed.
“…!”
Something suddenly emerged from the bushes without the slightest warning.
It looked like a squirrel.
It appeared silently and stared straight at us.
The differences from an ordinary squirrel were its vivid red eyes and a tail twice the size of its entire body.
That was a Rank 8 Monster called a ‘Grumpy.’
“It looks incredibly gentle… Is that really a Monster?”
Fascinated by its cute appearance, Claire asked with an expression full of curiosity.
For once, she looked less like a knight and more like an ordinary young woman.
Esta responded bluntly,
“Obviously. Inside the Labyrinth, everything is either human or Monster.”
The instant she finished speaking, the Grumpy began rapidly approaching us.
Perhaps it sensed Claire’s curiosity, because it moved straight toward her.
The moment it reached a certain distance, its adorable appearance vanished.
“GYAAAAH—!”
RIP!
The corners of its mouth tore apart as its jaws opened wide.
Its mouth had already expanded larger than its entire body.
Hundreds of yellowed teeth filled the inside.
Nothing remained of its earlier cuteness.
“!?”
Claire flinched at the unexpected sight.
I immediately launched the Ice Sword I had prepared.
But before it could arrive, a dagger flew from behind and buried itself between the Grumpy’s brows.
THUD!
The charging Grumpy crashed to the ground.
It soon dissolved into dust, leaving only the dagger behind.
As I slowly recalled my Ice Sword, Esta glanced at me and smiled.
‘Seventeen.’
She had already stolen my attacks that many times.
At first, I thought it was coincidence, but by now she was obviously doing it on purpose.
I had sensed it from the moment we met, but Esta fundamentally distrusted magic itself.
Elves generally looked down on humans, and their contempt for Mages was even worse.
The few human Mages they occasionally encountered were probably half-baked practitioners who could barely complete a proper incantation.
‘Well, it doesn’t matter.’
This was not necessarily a bad thing.
We had already decided how the profits would be divided.
Our combat strength was more than sufficient as it was, so me working harder would not meaningfully increase our speed.
If she was willing to handle the troublesome work without making me spend mana, I could only be grateful.
We continued encountering Monsters afterward.
Most creatures on the Second Layer resembled ordinary animals.
About two hours after we began exploring the forest in earnest, we encountered our first truly unusual Monster.
SWISH!
Esta carved another mark into an enormous tree, then abruptly stopped.
Instead of coming down immediately, she ran her hand along the trunk and slowly circled it.
“…Something’s strange.”
She muttered to herself.
Her words were drowned out by a sudden roar.
RUMBLE!!
At the same moment, the ground shook violently.
Something erupted upward.
WHOOSH!
It was an enormous whip.
A whip sized not for a human, but for a giant.
It closed the distance instantly and came straight for me.
Fast and powerful.
Taking a direct hit would be dangerous.
I was just about to deploy Ice Wall when Beric raised his iron shield and stepped in front of me.
BOOM!
The massive impact slammed into Beric’s shield.
He staggered backward, then immediately shoved me farther behind him.
“Don’t do anything stupid. Stay back!”
His hand was trembling.
Even someone specialized in defense had failed to absorb the entire impact.
A few Ice Walls would never have stopped it.
RUSTLE.
The reddish-brown whip withdrew after its failed attack.
It was connected to an enormous tree.
‘That is….’
There was no mistake.
A Rank 6 Monster, an ‘Ent.’
An extremely rare Monster that appeared only under exceptionally low odds.
More precisely, it was classified as an ‘Elite Monster.’
Compared to ordinary Monsters, Elite Monsters had several times the Relic drop rate, and their rare materials sold for extremely high prices.
Apparently, Esta’s repeated slashing had irritated it.
It was certainly far more difficult to kill than an ordinary Monster.
But considering that only one or two might appear on each floor whenever the Labyrinth opened….
We had stumbled into some unexpected good luck.