Chapter 69

It was the same for Oliver.

Oliver was such a fervent fan of Phantom that he was willing to chase after his adventures, adversities, and everything.

‘Don’t be nervous. Act like when you were Hudson.’

Oliver tried to steady his breath as much as possible.

He didn’t want to look like he was in pain.

He didn’t want them to worry about his health.

If they did, it might even ruin Serengeti’s engagement to Pangani.

He hadn’t yet told Serengeti that he didn’t know when he would die and that he wasn’t actually a human from Pangani.

He couldn’t have.

Fortunately, Phantom didn’t seem to have noticed his condition yet.

‘As normally as possible.’

But what does ‘normal’ mean?

He had forgotten how to act normally because he hadn’t met people from the outside for a long time.

But, it wasn’t a bad feeling.

Meeting someone he had fervently followed in real life.

Even though he tried not to be nervous, he kept getting nervous. His whole body was trembling.

It felt like a dream.

He couldn’t believe that Phantom was still right in front of his eyes.

‘I will help him. I will burn everything I have for him!’

How many years had it been since he felt this much enthusiasm in reality?

Oliver had only received help from him all this time.

Phantom was the one who broke the egg that had trapped him.

If it hadn’t been for him, he wouldn’t have been able to meet Serengeti again and would have died with only regrets.

Seeing the hope in obtaining a spirit, witnessing his overwhelming presence, and being inspired by his perseverance to never give up—all of it was as vivid as if it had happened yesterday.

The hero's appearance, charging forward without hesitation or retreat.

He wanted to emulate that.

He wished he had the same indomitable will.

So now it was his turn to help.

Enthusiasm spread in Oliver’s eyes.

*

《Your Archery Proficiency has increased to 10Lv (max).》

《To achieve a higher proficiency level, the corresponding class is required.》

《The level of ‘Rapid Growth’ has been upgraded to 2.》

《The abilities of ‘Disciples’ have significantly improved overall.》

《Your reputation has increased by 50.》

For several days, he stayed in the castle, repeatedly traveling to Pangani.

All to prepare for the Labyrinth.

He didn’t forget to practice with Isaac and Isabella.

Finally, when all preparations were complete.

《The ‘Abyss Labyrinth’ has opened.》

《The ‘Abyss Labyrinth’ is connected to all warps.》

《To enter, 1h of Broken Golden Rule fragments will be consumed.》

Finally, the Abyss Labyrinth opened.

At the same time, ‘warps’ were created in various places on Earth.

In Pangani, they were forcibly connected to the existing warps.

To ensure that everyone could head to the ‘Abyss Labyrinth’ from any warp.

With many challengers, including myself, ready.

There was no time to waste.

《1h of Broken Golden Rule fragments will be consumed.》

《Remaining time is 968h 38m.》

《Entering the ‘Abyss Labyrinth’.》

《Upon entering the ‘Abyss Labyrinth’, a random ‘Action Condition’ has been added.》

《If you bow for more than 5 seconds, you will be forcibly ejected from the labyrinth.》

《‘Action Conditions’ change daily.》

A condition given to everyone entering the labyrinth!

‘Tough.’

It might seem easy at first glance, but it was likely that you would be ejected if you didn’t consciously correct your actions.

Moreover, in a labyrinth where you never knew what might jump out, having more things to be cautious about was a huge penalty.

Especially since the conditions changed daily, and if they placed restrictions on really minor actions, it could lead to an impossible situation.

‘Actually, it’s good.’

But, he wasn’t worried.

No, it was actually good.

Because he had a countermeasure.

《‘Heart of the Eternal Sovereign’ deletes one random condition in the Abyss Labyrinth.》

《The ‘Action Condition’ has been deleted.》

Let’s start by deleting one.

Labyrinth Merchant

A floor slick with rotten water.

A foul smell of something decaying.

Whoosh! He lit a torch and looked around.

“······!”

Isaac’s eyes were filled with doubt.

Isabella and I felt the same.

The Abyss Labyrinth.

We had anticipated it wouldn’t be easy, given its name, but not to this extent.

‘This place... is the abyss itself.’

Huge walls that seemed to have no end blocked the surroundings.

And on those walls, countless ‘hands’ of various species were attached.

The hands were alive, moving, and pulling everything they grabbed towards the wall.

Additionally, the floor was crowded with bodies that had been torn apart while resisting the hands.

A grand and bizarre scene. However, there was no time to linger.

“What are your ‘Action Conditions’?”

“You can’t hold hands for more than 3 seconds.”

“Don’t shake your head...”

Indeed, tough.

Fortunately, the good part was that there were no restrictions on walking.

“What is your condition, Heir?”

“None.”

“Can it be none?”

Isaac’s eyes showed confusion.

“But, I will act as if I have one.”

“Ah, to cause confusion?”

He nodded.

Action Conditions. Most of them were of the type ‘Do not do ~’.

His condition had been deleted by the ‘Heart of the Eternal Sovereign’, but others didn’t know that.

Then, he could use this to cause confusion.

After a moment of thought, he spoke.

“Do not swing your right hand consecutively. Let’s go with this for today.”

The moment he added a self-imposed action condition.

*

Endless walls.

We walked through the muck between them.

Swoosh!

Thud!

An arrow flew and embedded itself in my side.

‘Choke!’

I almost screamed.

“Heir...”

“Shh.”

But I silenced them by putting my finger to my nose.

The side that had been pierced was excruciatingly painful, but dealing with the situation was more important now.

I heard the sound of an arrow flying through the air.

At a speed that could pierce my side before I could react.

If I hadn’t turned my body instinctively upon hearing the sound, I would have been shot in the heart.

‘Trap.’

It wasn’t shot by a person.

It was a trap.

Looking at the direction the arrow came from, I saw a crossbow installed on the wall.

Whoever had the nerve to install a crossbow on that wall.

That trap was unexpected even to me.

“There’s a Trapper ahead of us. And a pretty high level one.”

Trapper.

This was definitely set up by a person.

It didn’t have a rapid-fire function but was designed to shoot the heart of anyone who entered its range.

Splash!

I pulled out the arrow and drank the potion I had prepared in advance.

The blood that was gushing out stopped, and new flesh began to grow over the wound.

“How could they get ahead of us?”

Isabella asked while bandaging the wound.

We thought we would be the first to enter as soon as it opened.

But there was someone ahead of us, setting traps.

Someone with the skill to deceive all of our senses.

“Unless their entry point was in front of ours or they had a mount...”

Isaac answered.

The entry point in the labyrinth is random.

Of course, it wouldn’t be in the center, but there could be slight differences.

‘This is troublesome.’

Trappers are one of the most annoying classes to deal with.

Especially in such a confined space, they exert absolute power.

A high-level Trapper could set up traps that attack with a time delay, not just by stepping on a certain area.

“Isabella, watch the rear. Isaac, watch the front.”

“Yes.”

“Yes.”

*

There are many traps.

However, once you are aware of them, they don’t threaten your life.

They were relying on quantity rather than careful placement.

In other words, they knew we were catching up.

The speed at which they were setting traps was much slower than the speed at which we were breaking through them, so they were setting them hastily to slow us down.

‘Got them.’

A group in the distance.

We finally caught up.

Two Trappers who kept setting traps and a Warrior protecting them.

“Already caught up?”

“What, those guys!”

The two Trappers exclaimed in surprise.

They must have already noticed that their traps were being dismantled, so their reaction was natural.

“Setting traps haphazardly leads to this. Trust me.”

A Warrior with tanned skin, his shirt off, his hair in a straight line, and a battle axe in hand—undoubtedly a Barbarian.

【Lv.9】

A strong opponent with a high level.

But from his hairstyle, he was clearly a Desert Great Warrior.

If his hair was in a straight line, it meant he was a bodyguard of the Desert Queen’s inner circle.

They called them Barbarians.

“...Hmm, wait. I see a familiar face.”

The Barbarian’s gaze lingered on one person.

Isabella.

The Barbarian, now certain, burst out laughing.

“Hahaha! Snake Princess, the fugitive is here!”

“Executioner Yagumo...”

“After your eyes met with that guy who calls himself a Holy Horn, you finally ran away to here?”

“Why are you here?”

Isabella asked coldly.

But she couldn’t understand.

Why was a Barbarian, who should be protecting the Queen in the desert, in the Abyss Labyrinth?

“This is your grave, Snake Princess. You, a traitor to the Queen!”

There was no room for discussion.

Seeing the Barbarian charge like a bulldozer, Isabella said,

“I will handle him.”

“Go ahead.”

The same level 9.

If it were in the past, I would have stopped her, but she had grown.

“Snake Princess! You couldn’t beat me in the desert, and you think the result will be different now?”

“I am not the Snake Princess. You are trash.”

While the two were facing off, Isaac and I simultaneously dashed past the Barbarian.

The Barbarian didn’t care about us.

The two Trappers were surprised when the Barbarian didn’t protect them.

“What, what!”

“Yagumo! If you were hired for a lot of money, you should do your job!”

“FUCK! Logout!”

“Logout!”

They were trying to use the rule that logging out would force them to leave the labyrinth.

This meant that, unlike the Barbarian, these two were players.

Their appearances then overlapped.

The images of the people from Pangani and Earth alternated.

At the same time, a warp appeared behind them.

The warp tried to suck them in.

Kyaa?

Helle, who was sitting on my shoulder, tilted her head.

Then, the smoke surrounding Helle turned red.

Snap!

Suddenly, the warp that was sucking them in stopped.

“What, what? Why can’t I log out?”

“What, what! Are you kidding me?”

It was strange.

Logging out should normally force you to leave the labyrinth.

The warp created behind them was supposed to transport them back to their original location.

But the two were still crawling on the floor in the form of Trappers.

‘Helle has the ability to manipulate warps within her range.’

This was now confirmed.

Helle not only could cut off warps but also had the ability to deny and allow them.

However, she couldn’t cut off any warp.

From several experiments, it was found that Helle could cut off ‘ownerless warps’.

But if a warp manifested within her range, she could manipulate it.

Just like now.

Helle had ‘denied’ the two from using the warp.

‘In the Abyss, you can’t log out unless you use a warp.’

And he gained one more piece of information.

This place is the Abyss.

Unlike the usual continents, it was a place where the goddess’s influence didn’t reach much.

If you didn’t use a warp to move your body back to the continent, a proper logout wouldn’t occur.

That’s why a warp is automatically created when you try to log out.

Thud.

Thud.

As I approached slowly, fear filled the eyes of the two Trappers.

“S, save us!”

“What the hell...!”