TM-Chapter 60

< Large-Scale Annihilation (2) >

Below the snowy mountain of the 3rd floor of the labyrinth.

A rogue was running together with a three-headed, six-armed rag zombie.

“Keueueu······!”

“5th floor? 5th floor? 5th floor?”

“Antonelli······.”

Rag zombies are powerful but slow.

Of course, Mister Backstab’s speed was also greatly reduced in the snowfield because his feet kept sinking deep into the snow, but the same problem applied to the rag zombie as well.

That monster wasn’t made from native creatures like snow wolves after all.

“How leisurely.”

The former greatest adventurer of the 1st floor, and the super rookie who received countless love calls on the 2nd floor.

The talent that Caleb scouted and the Labyrinth Master coveted.

The only man among adventurers who could write ‘labyrinth exit boss‘ on his resume.

Mister Backstab of the rogue.

“Come here!”

He clapped his palms together to draw the rag zombie’s attention.

“Graaaaah!”

“That’s right.”

When the distance between the rag zombie and Mister Backstab widened to about 30 meters, or after chasing for about 100 meters, it try to return to the snowy mountain.

‘Is it instinctively trying to guard the Lich’s side?’

That might be the case.

But he absolutely couldn’t let it return. This monster’s power was beyond imagination.

‘Big brother Caleb had it withdrawn because it would interfere with the strategy.’

It was a very important mission. Defeating the rag zombie alone – an opponent that wouldn’t be easy even if an entire 3rd floor party attacked it together.

A difficult mission that a rookie like that Elf Ranger Hosoin who only sends messages from safe places wouldn’t dare attempt.

“Don’t worry, big brother. I’ll finish it cleanly.”

Mister Backstab threw a stone at the rag zombie to draw its aggro again.

Somehow he had to drag it to the target location.

‘Oil pit.’

Caleb had shouted at him ‘Go to the oil trap!’

Mister Backstab understood what that meant immediately.

Others might not know, but a rogue with excellent perception could sense it.

There was an oil pit trap right ahead.

If you fall into it, the oil is so slippery you can’t climb out. The Frost Hunters would capture adventurers caught like that and eat them alive as sashimi.

“Come here. Here, here, here!”

Mister Backstab jumped over the trap and then clapped toward the rag zombie.

However.

“Grrrrrrr······.”

The rag zombie had been following well but began hesitating again in front of the trap.

The monster glanced at the snowy mountain.

And then finally······.

“Hey, where are you going!”

It turned 180 degrees and began heading toward the snowy mountain.

Smack!

He threw a stone, but the rag zombie just ignored it.

“Ah, seriously. Can’t be helped.”

Mister Backstab decided to cast the forbidden technique to draw that monster’s aggro.

Mister Backstab’s greatest secret technique that had made countless thugs’ minds go blank while growing up in the back alleys.

“Your mother!”

“······.”

The monster glanced back.

“Must have had a hard time. Right? If she had to deal with an Elf, an orc, and a Beastman at the same time-.”

“Graaaaah!”

That’s right! This kind of thing would make anyone go crazy!

“Looking at it, there seems to be undead mixed in too, so the shares are divided by race as quarters?”

“An······Tonelli······!”

“Is she the main wife?”

It couldn’t have actually understood with intelligence, but the rag zombie rushed at Mister Backstab again.

Kwagwang! 

The floor collapsed and it fell into the oil pit.

“Mission complete, big brother!”

Mister Backstab threw a throwing knife into the oil pit.

That flame-enchanted magic dagger ignites whatever it collides with. In an oil-slicked pit like this, the monster would be directly grilled.

-Graaaaaaaaah!

The zombie’s scream echoing from the pit. Flames shooting up like a campfire.

“Nice and warm.”

Mister Backstab put his hands near the fire and warmed himself briefly.

“Just need to confirm it’s dead and then go back. Everyone should be safe, right?”

Right then.

A group of people began rushing toward where Mister Backstab was.

They were 3rd floor survivors.

They looked terrible.

“P-please save us······.”

After numerous parties were crushed, these were the ragtag remnants that had randomly merged together.

Their number was as many as fifteen, but their cold protection measures were inadequate.

Because they had lost the cold protection wizards, priests, or magical equipment from their respective parties.

Some were even experiencing delirium.

“Fire!”

“Go to the fire!”

“Uuuuu······.”

Patients who already had frostbite and were beginning to suffer necrosis from the frozen tips of their limbs ran frantically on trembling legs to the front of the oil pit.

“Warm your bodies!”

Actually, the cold of the 3rd floor is a curse and magic that the labyrinth directly casts on adventurers, so lighting some fire won’t solve it.

It only delays it a bit.

However, they actually began to gradually recover from their frozen state.

Along with the delirium.

Only then did some realize the reason.

“Is that a Torch Helmet?!”

The Elf wizard recognized the helmet Mister Backstab was wearing and his eyes lit up.

“That’s right.”

It was truly like a ray of salvation.

Intense hope bloomed on the adventurers’ faces.

“P-please. Could you travel with us?”

“We’ll behave quietly, please travel with us!”

“Wouldn’t it be dangerous for you alone too? How about moving together with us?”

“Please save us. Please.”

Persuasion, coaxing, and begging poured out simultaneously. Some even knelt down and rubbed their hands together desperately.

“We have no cold protection measures.”

“If you just help us, we’ll reward you greatly!”

These survivors suffering from serious injuries absolutely couldn’t let go of the Torch Helmet they had discovered by chance while desperately struggling to survive.

Mister Backstab scratched his cheek and answered.

“But I’m going back to the snowy mountain.”

Then everyone’s faces hardened.

“You mean to the monument?”

“Are you crazy! That place has been occupied by monsters!”

“It’s no different from going to die!”

“Whoa. Whoa.”

Mister Backstab calmed the people down.

“I’m not going to die. There are people trying to activate the monument on the snowy mountain.”

Mister Backstab briefly summarized and explained the situation.

“The gate to the 2nd floor is already blocked, the exit room probably is too, going down to the 4th floor is just as dangerous, want to gamble on the monument with me?”

“Is this bastard crazy······.”

However, the 3rd floor adventurers didn’t listen to Mister Backstab.

“No one has ever solved the 3rd floor monument’s password until now, what kind of nonsense are you······.”

“Even if they solved it, it’s already been occupied by monsters, so how can they activate it?”

“Who came up with that strategy?”

“Caleb?”

“Who is Caleb?”

The adventurers began chattering noisily all at once.

“He’s an adventurer who made quite a name for himself on the 1st floor recently.”

“But why is he on the 3rd floor?”

“Seems like he skipped the 2nd floor.”

“Isn’t he crazy?”

“No, you crazy bastards! Do you think the labyrinth is a joke?”

“Right now the only way to survive is to wait for the Adventurer’s Guild rescue team!”

Right when criticism was pouring out.

“Look at that!”

Someone pointed to the peak of the snowy mountain and shouted.

From there, a white foam-like magical aura was gushing out.

It was similar to an avalanche, but not threatening to adventurers.

“Oh my god······.”

Despite the considerable distance, wizards and priests shuddered at that magical power.

“It’s monument magic.”

“Monument!”

Everyone was shocked and lost for words.

“Could it be······.”

Did that wizard on his 3rd labyrinth attempt, who came to the 3rd floor for the first time today, really pull it off?

What on earth happened at the peak of the snowy mountain?

Kugugugugung!

The ground trembles.

The momentum of that magic rushing down from the mountain to the ground at tremendous speed and spreading like a storm was also similar to an avalanche.

But the range was on a different dimension.

10th-tier magic contained in monuments basically covers all accessible areas of that floor when activated.

Passing the oil pit below the snowy mountain, the treasure room with opened doors, the nearby exit room, the gate connecting to the 2nd floor, in front of the stairs connecting to the 4th floor, the new Monster Wave going to occupy that place, and the adventurers fleeing from the wave, the survivors hiding while holding their breath in every corner of the labyrinth.

Without leaving out a single space classified as ‘3rd floor’, the monument magic swept everything away.

***

Smoke rose wherever the magic trampled and passed. It was the remnants of the monsters that had been annihilated.

Snow wolves and Frost Hunters exposed to the Large-Scale Annihilation evaporated without leaving even a single hair.

Like a scene where a forest fire had been extinguished, only smoke rises from the peak of the snowy mountain. As if no monsters had ever been there from the beginning.

Large-Scale Annihilation erased the very existence of monsters.

Across the entire field, it was as if dust had been wiped away with ‘cleaning’ magic.

What remained at the peak afterward was the calm after the storm passed.

Something like the lonely silence left in ruins after a tsunami swept through.

“Keu…… Is it over?”

The Gatpa, who had been lying face down in terror, slowly raised his head.

His vision cleared. Because the magic had swept away even the thigh Femur Barrier.

To leave nothing related to monsters behind.

“It’s over.”

Caleb was facing beyond that, toward the rising smoke.

“Let’s go.”

Now they had to kill the Lich.

***

If the labyrinth is a giant demon’s intestines, and the Monster Wave is a massive inflammatory response that erupted when something went wrong on the 3rd floor, then monument magic is like a powerful disinfectant.

It’s similar to applying Albocil to canker sores and burning everything away.

The entire 3rd floor was ‘annihilated’ like a sterilized operating table.

Nevertheless, there are still two monsters remaining.

‘The mad adventurer Antonelli and Gildal.’

Even in the game, those guys strangely weren’t affected by monument magic.

Why is that?

No matter how powerful they are, they’re only 3rd floor boss level.

With the power of 10th-tier magic, it should easily turn about 100 3rd floor bosses into powder.

But how do they endure it?

‘Probably because the monument was created by inter-floor village residents.’

Those people aren’t monsters.

Rather, they’re closer to adventurers who were devoured by the labyrinth.

As evidence, the monument tried to prevent itself from being occupied by monsters by causing avalanches on its own.

Monuments were created by the original residents of inter-floor villages to defend themselves from monsters.

Then from their perspective, what about ‘mad adventurers’?

Would the monument creators consider them monsters? Or would they judge them as adventurers?

The answer is the latter.

I can guess the reason too.

‘The original residents of inter-floor villages were also caught in madness.’

People who could create 10th-tier magic – the Labyrinth Master wouldn’t have failed to covet them.

Organizations like the Black Iron Knights or Silver Dagger Alliance that appear in the deep layers have sufficiently human appearances and use plenty of ‘adventurer-like’ skills.

Even when playing the game, various theories circulated because of their unclear identity.

Maybe those guys are from inter-floor villages.

So monuments don’t touch adventurers caught in madness, just in case they might destroy their own masters.

Of course, it’s all speculation, but anyway, thanks to that, both Antonelli and Gildal remain.

No.

‘Gildal is…… Almost on the verge of death.’

When we returned to the first entrance, a somewhat bitter scene unfolded.

I liked that the Lich’s laughter had completely disappeared due to panic over all its undead subordinates disappearing.

“Krrrr…..”

Gildal was on the verge of death.

He was leaning against an ice wall with an enormous number of arrows and ice spikes stuck in his body.

Apparently, while Hijikata, Aimus, Gadozumi, and Soyul had reason and could fight while gauging distance and situation, Gildal didn’t.

Moreover, with his enormously large build and naturally aggressive personality, he seemed to have absorbed almost all the monsters’ attacks with his body at the front lines.

‘Good work. Rest there for a bit.’

Right now it would be good for Gildal to drop out of combat.

Since all the undead minions have disappeared, we can sufficiently catch Antonelli among ourselves.

“Caleb!”

People like Aimus and Hijikata were in a standoff including Gildal because it was awkward to attack the Lich floating in the air.

“That bastard won’t come down from the air!”

Aimus shouted.

As he said, the Lich was just floating in the air watching the situation.

‘He’s waiting for Gildal to die.’

And since raising him as undead would allow him to kill us all instead, he’s conserving magic and waiting rather than attacking recklessly.

Certainly, floating like that, at most only Soyul could attack him, and he couldn’t be killed with Fox Fire alone.

The same goes for me and Yernil.

The reason is that Liches have the ‘Undead Regeneration’ trait. Unless they receive burst damage in one turn that exceeds that regeneration and get pulverized, they quickly regenerate no matter how much damage they take.

“Everyone listen carefully.”

But there’s one way to stop that regeneration.

“Liches have something called a Life Vessel, a soul container.”

It’s a standard Lich trait that appears in numerous D&D-derived fantasy works. Abyss of the Labyrinth is the same.

“It’s probably inside that bastard’s body.”

If you break that, the regeneration stops.

And due to fatal injuries, it would probably crash to the ground.

Then we can easily catch it.

The problem is that a Lich’s soul container is only about the size of two finger joints, and you can’t tell where in the body it’s located from the outside.

But we have a way to find it.

“Soyul.”

A very cruel method.

“Track Gildal’s soul.”

“······.”

Everyone’s expressions hardened.

They all realized.

What would happen if we burst that.

When Antonelli’s soul is annihilated the Lich will die, but Gildal’s soul will also be annihilated.

Then Gildal can never return to being human.

He’ll die from blood loss as he is, and that will be the end.

He can’t even be resurrected.

Just like how Abisson can’t be resurrected when severe body damage releases soul preservation.

Even if we somehow heal the body’s wounds, there’s no answer for soul loss.

“Caleb…..”

Yernil’s voice became choked with emotion.

“That’s the only way.”

Soul containers, unlike urns, don’t safely contain souls.

Gildal’s soul inside it is already irreversible.

I’m feeling it again.

I really fell into a shitty world.

skills like Wall Walking, Invisibility, or Careful Steps?”

Lichification [This is a characteristic that particularly often occurs when necromancers become exit bosses.]