Chapter 631 – #128_Labyrinth(2)
#631
1.
-Thump!
The anomaly began with a tremor.
A deep, heavy vibration of magical power.
A familiar sense of unease as another world was overlaid upon this one.
“Prepare! Prepare!”
“Yay! It’s finally here!”
The witches, who had been idly passing the time with complaints, each grabbed their wands, staffs, and ceremonial attire, preparing for battle.
Their eyes gleamed like they were waiting for the starting gun of a 100-meter dash.
It was clear they were all determined to be the first to subdue the homunculus and claim its legacy.
Siwoo also took up his Red Branch, and Eloa drew her contract sword from the void.
Eloa was primarily there to act as a judge, but she was also prepared to intervene in case of a violent clash.
At the same time, a labyrinth began to cover the dry, hot sands of the desert.
In truth, the Labyrinth Demon was not recorded as having particularly strong combat abilities.
The reason it had survived long enough to gain a name was because of the labyrinth’s unusually complex structure.
Many witches who had attempted to subdue it had given up after getting lost and wandering aimlessly.
“Siwoo, don’t be too hasty, take it slow.”
Eloa, who was about to advise Siwoo inside the labyrinth that was forming with a hazy shape, realized that he, who had been right next to her, had disappeared like a mirage.
“Siwoo?”
The Labyrinth Demon had not only created a maze, but had also scattered those trapped inside to random locations.
This was not a tactic the Labyrinth Demon had originally used.
It was clearly a step or two more advanced.
Of course, the Labyrinth Demon was a homunculus that only appeared once every few hundred years.
It was possible that its abilities had improved slightly in the meantime.
Nevertheless, Eloa felt a sudden surge of unease and activated her observation magic, the Eye of Truth, which could see through all falsehoods and lies.
“That can’t be…”
But the ability that could read books tens of kilometers away, the magic that could see through the inner and outer layers of the barrier, was blocked as if by a wall.
It was the same no matter where she looked, up, down, left, or right.
Eloa had not expected that it could create such a perfectly isolated space.
“What…?”
Eloa, who was flustered, felt a series of ominous signs.
She had given Siwoo one of her twelve contracts, a Guardian Contract.
It was a contract that could pinpoint the user’s location and, in some cases, share sight and hearing without permission.
It was the contract that had inadvertently allowed her to witness Periwrinkle’s rough intercourse.
But even the insurance she had put in place for the worst-case scenario was cut off in vain.
There was no way Siwoo could have been defeated so quickly.
Nor was there any way Eloa’s contract could have been broken so easily.
At this point, Eloa was certain that a third party had intervened, something she had been vaguely considering.
To break a 23rd-tier witch’s magic, the intervening witch must also possess abilities of a similar level.
“Tiferet, the time for resolution has come.”
As if to support that assumption, a witch emerged from the darkness.
Black hair and eyes that swirled with a sticky, oily killing intent.
The blade of the greatsword she held at an angle, reaching down to her toes, swayed languidly.
The surge of magical power rippling over her shoulder was dense and befitting of the high 22nd tier.
“Samael.”
Eloa, realizing that things had gone terribly wrong, gripped her sword and quietly called out her name.
The Sword Witch, Linne Samael.
As her title suggested, she was a rare public enemy from Qliphoth who used a sword as her main weapon, and she had an unconventional way of thinking for a witch.
All she craved was overwhelming power.
Magic and business operations were merely means to an end for her own strength.
If she were the protagonist of a shonen manga, her personality and goals would be quite fitting, but reality was different.
The way she pursued strength was by cutting down opponents stronger than herself.
She was nothing more than a serial killer who walked a path of blood, wielding her sword all over the world.
In fact, the number of those who had fallen to her was officially in the double digits.
Her individual strength was that threatening.
Eloa had tried to subdue her several times in the past, but had always had to let her go without a resolution.
“Were you targeting me from the start?”
Paradoxically, Eloa felt a sense of relief.
The Sword Witch was a twisted madwoman, but in a way, she was an extremely honest opponent.
All she trusted and pursued was strength.
Unlike other public enemies, she didn’t resort to tricks or schemes, but confronted her opponents head-on.
In other words, she could put aside worries like, ‘Then what about Siwoo?’ that she would have felt if another public enemy were in front of her… or so she thought.
That was until she saw the two witches who appeared next to Linne.
“Wow, look at her eyes. She’s really scary.”
“If you want to back out, do it now.”
“No way, where else would I get such a good opportunity?”
They were the witches who had been quietly staying at the exiles’ camp until just a moment ago.
The faces of the two witches who had appeared changed into those of completely different people.
They had been disguised and mixed in with the group from the start.
Eloa, who knew the names and faces of all the major public enemies, recognized their identities at a glance.
The ‘Corpse Witch’ and the ‘Silent Witch’.
Both were 20th-tier great witches from Qliphoth who had participated in the attack on Gehenna in the past.
They were also public enemies whose whereabouts had been unclear recently due to their decades of hiding.
The reason they had reappeared now, especially with the Sword Witch, seemed obvious.
To eliminate Eloa through a combined attack.
Since Keter had become unable to move, Eloa had been taking on that role.
She had been subduing public enemies who had caused trouble and calming the chaos.
However, unlike Keter, who was an absolute being that could not be resisted, Eloa had her limits, and it was enough for the public enemies to harbor the desire, ‘If only that bitch wasn’t here….’
“Acting unbecomingly.”
“……”
It was a problem she had expected to face someday.
But she never thought that the Sword Witch, of all people, would participate in such a plan. That was the only surprise.
It was the first time in a long time that she had felt a sense of crisis.
If it were just two 20th-tier witches, it wouldn’t be much of a threat to Eloa.
There was a vast gap between the 23rd tier and the 20th tier.
However, if the Sword Witch, who could stop Eloa’s overwhelming power, was at the front, and the other two were providing support from the rear, it would be a different story.
Even she couldn’t easily predict her chances of victory.
The three of them alone were enough to easily take down any ordinary waypoint.
But Eloa had survived on countless battlefields.
She calmly assessed the situation without wavering.
Even if the Guardian Contract was broken, the chances of Siwoo being in danger were very low.
At this point in time, Qliphoth was not as solid a group as it once was.
It had lost its leader, and had become virtually defunct due to internal conflicts and disintegration.
In that sense, it was right to assume that these three were the best they could muster.
Considering that factor, even if there were extra forces to threaten Siwoo, it would be normal for them to join in attacking Eloa.
Also, Eloa trusted Siwoo’s abilities.
If those who had planned this had sent a mediocre witch to him, they would become prey instead.
Then, all that was left was to subdue these three and safely return to Siwoo.
“I contract.”
With Eloa’s incantation, a pink magical reflection radiated from her eyes.
2.
About ten minutes had passed since the labyrinth had unfolded and the Guardian Contract had been broken, but Siwoo didn’t feel any particular sense of crisis.
In fact, Siwoo didn’t know as much about ‘contracts’ as Eloa did.
He didn’t fully understand how solid the connection was.
Nor did he fully grasp how high a level of witch’s interference was needed to break it.
Therefore, even though he had been thrown into the labyrinth alone and the contract had been broken, he didn’t feel any particular sense of crisis, but rather had the impression that ‘I guess this is how labyrinths work.’
The labyrinth that the Labyrinth Demon had summoned was truly wondrous.
An otherworld barrier with its own unique rules, like a ‘fish tank’, was quite different from the scenes commonly associated with the word ‘labyrinth’.
In other words, it wasn’t a winding maze of dry plaster walls, reminiscent of Pac-Man.
Instead, it was like being invited into a huge castle.
The space, made up of interconnected rooms, corridors, and staircases, served its purpose as a maze.
“This is kind of amazing.”
After wandering around for a while, he found another staircase standing vertically.
If you climbed this staircase, which seemed to be poorly designed at first glance, the direction of gravity would change as if by magic, allowing you to walk straight up.
Also, on the ceiling connected to the vertical staircase, there was a view of the castle hanging upside down, and it could be seen that the structure of the rooms and corridors was being rearranged and transformed in real time.
In other words, it was a maze with a three-dimensional structure, not a flat one.
Siwoo could understand why so many witches had failed to subdue the Labyrinth Demon so far.
If you were determined to hide in such a space, it would be impossible to search for you with ordinary magic.
“It’s damn big.”
Siwoo didn’t have any clever methods, so all he could do was wander around aimlessly.
He wasn’t exactly lacking in combat power, but if it was just a treasure hunt, it would be a different story.
A certain amount of luck would be involved.
“Is my dream of repaying my debts going to disappear like this….”
As he hurried his search and reached a space as large as a ballroom, Siwoo stopped in his tracks, sensing an ominous presence.
There was nothing in particular that he could sense.
But the intuition he had developed from traversing countless battlefields was telling him that something was wrong.
“I know you’re hiding there, so come out.”
Just in case, he shouted loudly, like he would when entering an empty house alone.
“……”
There was no reply.
Well, even if there was someone hiding, there was no way they would come out to such a clumsy provocation….
“How did you notice? I hid so carefully.”
“It’s probably because your magic is terrible, witch.”
“Shut up, Malisha. Alice, that’s not true, is it?”
They actually came out.
While he was dumbfounded, he quickly identified them.
“For a witch, you’ve got some tricks up your sleeve, huh?”
Three in total.
Alice, the ‘Mercury Witch’ who had represented the exiles and spoken with his teacher, and two of her goons.
They came down the stairs and approached Siwoo without hesitation.
Unlike outside, this was a completely isolated labyrinth.
There was no need to worry about outside eyes.
So it was no mistake that their footsteps felt like those of hunters who had found their prey.
“He’s cute. Can I play with him later, sis?”
“Don’t you lower your eyes? You’re getting cocky because you trust your teacher.”
The two goons surrounded Siwoo as soon as they reached the first floor.
They weren’t just here to shake him down, were they?
“Sigh.”
Siwoo sighed.
