Chapter 129

Fox Orb Kiss

The memory transfer is complete.

Slowly, our lips separate from each other.

I have passed the fox orb to Hyedam.

Hmm.

My review is as follows.

The me from before the possession, surprisingly quite a smooth operator.

“Coming out of Fox Pass back then was the best thing I ever did in my life.”

Hyedam swallowed the fox orb gulp.

“We were happy after that, weren’t we? We got engaged in Windham, lived together in the newlywed support housing, I became a labyrinth adventurer to earn money, and Caleb stayed home doing housework.”

I see.

I was a full-time househusband.

“I miss those times.”

Hyedam still doesn’t suspect me at all.

Uncharacteristically lucky for me.

Honestly, I didn’t expect Hyedam to unfold our past story so smoothly in such a good atmosphere.

I thought it might be dangerous, but I haven’t been suspected yet.

I can be certain.

Because her trust level in me is still 100%.

Perhaps it’s because I haven’t done anything suspicious so far, or maybe because she heard through Bipa and Mugol that I’m not a possessor.

Or maybe it’s because the pre-possession Caleb was quite the smooth operator.

Anyway, since the current situation is good, let me try to induce her to talk a bit more.

Hmm.

‘Should I just enslave her with the hourglass and give orders?’

That would be much more convenient, but it’s also a waste. I’m not going to go on labyrinth adventures with Hyedam together…

“Caleb. Want to go on labyrinth adventures with me?”

Just then, Hyedam brought up that topic.

“What?”

“I can’t leave the labyrinth anymore.”

She smiled bitterly.

“Because I’m possessed. I’m in a state like having a split personality. But if I go outside the labyrinth, the possessor will gradually gain strength and completely take over my body. However, if I stay inside the labyrinth, I can suppress it.”

That’s possible?

“Right now it changes two or three times a day. The person who takes over my body is a woman named Hyoin, she’s quite a unique person. She’s not a bad kid.”

Hyedam cleared away the empty bowl and came back.

“So, let’s live here together. The two of us going down the labyrinth floor by floor starting from the 3rd floor and adventuring. If needed, we can include Bipa and Mugol too.”

“No… That’s…”

“And Hyoin might come out soon. So I don’t have much time, you know? Before that, right now… Want to?”

“Do what?”

“We…”

Hyedam’s eyes became slightly seductive.

“We had decided to have a baby.”

What?

“It’s similar to building a family in Windham and earning money in the labyrinth. We can supply everything we need here too. Let’s have a baby and live here together!”

Don’t tell me you sent Bipa and Mugol away for this reason?

***

Fog Cliff is a magical zone that disturbs the five senses of those who enter.

Finding proper directions after entering is not easy, but fortunately, Yernil, Backstab, and Aimus barely got lost.

Because the Security Headquarters forces had completely occupied Fog Cliff.

“The elevator? It’s over there.”

Following their guidance, they reached Ingelam and Rilwid’s simple elevator.

“Caleb went down here?”

Yernil asked the Orc Security Officer Urgash.

“Which floor did he go to?”

“The target point that Bipa and Mugol set was the 3rd floor first. But we don’t know where they went from there.”

“…Ugh.”

Yernil courageously jumped into the elevator.

“Yernil. But do we really need to go this far?”

Aimus is quite worried about this situation.

Both the purpose and possibilities are all unclear.

“Caleb went on his own, right?”

And beside Caleb were Bipa and Mugol, a duo of deep-layer adventurers.

With such members, there’s virtually no possibility of Caleb being in danger on the 3rd floor. If a crisis occurs, it would be because of that Windham duo, in which case Aimus’s team going wouldn’t help at all. Against a deep-layer duo, the odds of winning are slim.

“Besides, it won’t be easy for us to track Caleb either.”

Finding Caleb on that vast 3rd floor? No matter how good Yernil’s ears are, as long as she’s Elf, isn’t the range she can track limited?

And a bigger problem.

“We don’t have any means to resist confusion or cold right now.”

The cold and confusion of the 3rd floor. The volcanic ash, debris, and lava mounds of the 4th floor.

It was always Caleb who prepared for the dangerous elements that occurred throughout the entire layer.

When they went to the 3rd floor before, Caleb borrowed a Torch Helmet from the university, but it was returned long ago.

When they were looking for the 4th floor stairs, Caleb used the magic ‘Tranquil Mind’ and ‘Warming Potion’ to block confusion and cold.

“We have nothing now.”

“Hmm…”

“How about we just trust Caleb and wait outside?”

“Ugh…”

Aimus’s point is absolutely right. But.

“That Windham duo are people who almost killed Caleb. They attacked the dormitory.”

Yernil finds them suspicious and unsettling.

“Caleb may have gone on his own, but we don’t know… He might have been threatened.”

“Mm.”

“It’s also strange to go to the labyrinth to meet an old lover.”

Backstab interjected. Unusually, he took Yernil’s side.

“If she’s a decent woman, wouldn’t it be normal for her to come visit Caleb lying in the temple herself? Calling someone who died and was resurrected just a few days ago to meet in the labyrinth is definitely not sane no matter how you look at it. Based on my deep and extensive experience with women, it might be quite dangerous.”

“Ri… Right!”

Yernil agreed enthusiastically.

“Right! That’s also a problem.”

“But we physically have no way to enter. We have no means to resist cold and confusion.”

“…”

“…”

Yernil bit her lips gnaw gnaw and fell into deep thought.

Just then.

“Do you want to enter the 3rd floor?”

Lizard Paladin Bernard from Nataniel Temple suddenly interjected.

“Yes! But we have no means to resist confusion and cold!”

“Shall I help you?”

While Caleb’s party was going down to the 4th floor, Paladin Bernard wasn’t just staying on the 2nd floor either.

He had already cleared the 3rd floor with Halfling crossbow user Remus, Dwarf wizard Austin, and Barbarian warrior Greg.

And their method of resisting confusion and cold was…

“Here’s a Torch Helmet!”

It was the shining helmet of a certain bald monk who had become legendary among Guild Village adventurers.

“This isn’t borrowed from the Magic University, of course. We pooled our money and got it from the east.”

“You’re lending us this?”

Considering the rarity and occupancy value of magical equipment, lending it out so suddenly doesn’t make sense, but Bernard had his reasons.

“I’m also suspicious about Caleb following that duo down. Maybe the university professors will also search the labyrinth 3rd floor soon.”

“…”

“I want to go immediately myself, but as a security officer, I must guard near this elevator and cannot abandon my assigned post… If you could understand my position…”

“Give us the helmet!”

Yernil quickly received the helmet and put it on Aimus’s head.

“We’re going to the 3rd floor!”

Still, a problem remains.

The problem of how to find Caleb on that vast 3rd floor.

No, they don’t even know if he’s really on the 3rd floor.

He might have gone to the 3.5th floor.

Or maybe 3rd floor was a fake setting to deceive the Security Headquarters watching from outside, and he actually went to the 4th or 2nd floor through stairs.

The search range is practically the entire labyrinth.

Still, Yernil felt a groundless confidence.

That she could find him.

Because…

‘I found him in the annex ventilation shaft too!’

***

I’m reminded of a girl I had a fling with during my naive freshman year of college.

She was a senior in my department, two years older than me, and I once took her home when she was drunk.

Her room was on the 3rd floor of a one-room building without an elevator, and she asked me to support her because she couldn’t climb the stairs alone.

Looking back, that was part of her scheme from the beginning.

When we reached her door, she entered the password, went in, and flopped down on her bed.

You come here too.

She patted the spot next to her on the bed and called me over.

Telling me to sober up before leaving.

Thinking about it again, it was truly a cunning premeditated crime. Back then, my birthday hadn’t passed yet, so when I tapped my card on the bus, the youth fare came out – I was an adult only in name.

When I lay down next to her, that senior started covering me with kisses on my forehead, cheeks, and lips.

Of course, I also had feelings for her, and being a man, I was naturally excited, but I didn’t want my first experience to be like that, and I was too flustered, so I ran out like I was escaping.

“Wa, wait a minute…”

I’m just as flustered now as I was then.

Suddenly Hyedam brought me to the bedroom, laid me down, and started unbuttoning my shirt.

“Why?”

I need to get my head straight!

If I get enchanted by this fox who seems like she’ll suck out people’s souls and livers, I might cross a river I can’t return from.

Honestly speaking, as a man, I’m quite tempted, but this isn’t right.

‘Hyedam doesn’t know I’m possessed!’

But if I take advantage of Hyedam’s misunderstanding and do something this big, it’s not only morally problematic, but I don’t have confidence to handle the aftermath.

What if Hyedam finds out my identity later?

In the worst case, it might escalate to a deep-layer adventurer targeting my life.

“Wa, wait a minute. I’m…”

I pushed Hyedam away and barely managed to speak.

“I don’t have any strength in my body since I was resurrected not long ago…!”

It’s ultimately just saying I’m tired, so it’s quite a clichéd excuse.

But it didn’t seem that way to Hyedam.

“…”

She flinched and stepped back.

“You responded when we kissed during the memory transfer earlier.”

“What?”

“That’s our code between us…”

When doing memory transfer, the fox orb just needs to be held together in hands.

There’s actually no need to pass it from mouth to mouth like passing candy.

Then why did Hyedam do it that way?

“When I come back from the labyrinth and kiss while showing labyrinth adventures with the orb, we would…”

So that was like a signal couples give each other by adjusting the direction of mandarin duck figurines on their TV stand?

Shit.

How was I supposed to know that?

[The Hourglass’s domination ability has expanded.]

[Please select a person to enslave.]

1. Aimus (Trust level: 100%)

2. Backstab (Trust level: 100%)

3. Izel (Trust level: 100%)

4. Neko (Trust level: 100%)

5. Bernard (Trust level: 100%)

※ Hyedam (Trust level: 99%): Can be enslaved when it reaches 100%.

The trust level dropped!

“Bipa!”

Suddenly Hyedam burst open the front door and ran out.

“Come here.”

“What’s wrong?”

The banished Bipa and Mugol were wandering around the village and headed back toward the house.

“Is it true that Caleb testified he wasn’t a possessor against lie prevention magic?”

“It’s real, I tell you. I saw it clearly with my own eyes.”

“The magic didn’t fail?”

“Wouldn’t I be able to sense that much? Meldini’s magic worked properly.”

“Why are you suddenly asking this?”

Mugol appeared next to Bipa.

Beast eyes gleamed sparkle. Looking toward where I am.

“Caleb is… Somehow… Different.”

Hyedam looked at me with a very confused expression.

“We felt that too. Hyedam. But Caleb also seems to have been through life-and-death situations several times after coming to Soren, so wouldn’t it make sense for his personality to change?”

“No! It’s not that level! That’s… That’s something I could never forget…”

Hyedam bit her lip snap.

“Then.”

Mugol said.

“Either look into it with soul tracking.”

The Yoho tribe’s unique ability, ‘Soul Tracking’, can track the texture or shape of souls.

When far away, it indiscriminately finds unspecified multiple souls like a screen shot with thermal imaging camera, but when looking closely up close, individual discrimination becomes possible.

Accurate enough that Soyul could distinguish Gildal’s soul mixed in the Lich Antonelli’s Life Vessel.

“That would work. Go ahead and check directly.”

“…”

Hyedam strode toward me stomp stomp.

I gripped the Stair Scroll tightly in my pocket.