Chapter 29 - Smile and Good Fortune Will Come
After that, we steadily traversed the labyrinth.
And that too.
Quite comfortably without hitting the time limit.
Today’s MVP is Tinya.
“Right!”
“Are you serious?”
“Hmm… Honestly, it feels like left…”
“Then let’s go right.”
It was truly a disastrous predictive power.
Adding a spoonful of exaggeration.
If you were to pick 39 out of 45 lottery numbers.
The accuracy is enough to win first place if you buy just the remaining 6 numbers that weren’t picked!
Of course, occasionally her ‘self that wants to be properly praised’ would pop out.
And she would unnecessarily say her judgment in reverse.
But it’s all obvious from her expression from the start.
When Tinya lies.
A slightly mischievous smile curls at the corners of her mouth.
At first, she was an annoying little brat.
But the more I look at her, there’s no one cuter or luckier.
Okay. It’s service time.
“Upsy-daisy.”
I used the killer move for playing with kids.
I gave her a piggyback ride.
“Kyaruruk, kyaruruk…!”
Tinya’s satisfaction was incredible!
…Of course, no matter how accurately we can find the path.
Still, the labyrinth is inside the tower.
Naturally, it wasn’t all peaceful.
“Kyaak!”
“Spiders. Coming from the front. Four of them.”
As soon as we let our guard down even a little.
Spiders crawl out swish swish and shoot spider webs.
Moreover.
“Ungh…!”
Sometimes if you get hit by the spit the spiders occasionally shoot, poison── hallucinations immediately start creeping up.
If it was a newbie party’s first time, they would have been covered in poison and collapsed, but.
Who am I?
Swish──
“Thank you, Ark.”
An incarnated veteran.
Of course I was prepared for this much.
Our No.1 alchemist’s No.1 job was making antidotes.
Yawn… You’re energetic from the morning…
This dawn, when I went out for a walk, I woke up Elise who was sleeping in bed wearing only underwear, mhmm, and took her out.
Then I stuffed her in the alchemy workshop and ordered mass production of antidotes.
Without pay.
There’s a saying, isn’t there?
Labor shall set you free…
No.
Let’s pretend there’s no such saying.
It feels like a mustache will grow on my philtrum.
Then, give birth as much as you die…?
Ahem, ahem. Not this either.
Anyway, thanks to that.
Our party was able to have an appropriate response to poison thanks to the post-exposure antidotes.
“Ark! Dodge!”
Ugh.
Wow… One boob… Two boobs…
Baaang… Swoosh… Nooo…
“Hehe… Uuu… Gooood…”
“Ark? I’ll open the cap for you. Here, don’t spill it.”
Mama… It’s mama… Uuu… Mamaa…
“Hic.”
Ugh, damn.
The poison trip is crazy.
The drug trip is crazy too.
For a moment my brain was completely paralyzed and I became an idiot.
Thanks to Yohena’s timely first aid, I was able to return to normal.
“Be careful, Ark. Fortunately, it’s not the type of poison that causes damage.”
“Woof! Master, be careful woof!”
Occasionally, even if just one drop splashes like this, the poison immediately rises.
Even just going near the venom gland, you quickly feel tipsy and your mind becomes hazy.
It’s not the kind that hurts or stings, um.
Really, indescribable hallucinations appear, um.
…I think I understand why people do drugs, um.
Ahem. Anyway.
“Heuuung… Kuuh…”
“Oh no, Ari!”
Just now Ari got a bit dazed.
I hurriedly shoved a potion in her mouth.
“Cough, cough, keck──! Ugh, really…”
Ari whined.
I wanted to ask what kind of hallucination she saw, but.
I endured with superhuman self-control.
Like getting sleep anesthesia before an endoscopy.
It seems like she’s blurting out anything in a hazy unconsciousness.
“We need to come up with a countermeasure.”
I need to farm materials intensively and craft anti-poison artifacts.
For my sake too.
…But it’s equipment item.
Does it apply to me too? It should apply, right?
Honestly, the poison isn’t threatening.
What’s more threatening is that I might slip up and say something when intoxicated.
“Eek…! Arachne… that petty spider woman…!”
“Tut-tut. Use proper and polite language.”
As we entered deeper zones.
Tinya’s spiritual pressure was gradually weakening.
Of course, her performance was still certain until now, but.
As if someone was watching us break through and spewing spider webs in real-time──
“Ark, watch out!”
──Like this.
Without a moment to let our guard down.
They mainly target my ankles and approach stealthily.
“How dare you aim for my master! Outrageous nya!”
“Outrageous woof!”
Is it that the heroes dodge with their physique, or are they really only targeting me?
It’s really uncomfortable.
Earlier I almost twisted my ankle because I let my guard down.
The fierce life of a sunfish.
If I don’t stay sharp, a killer tackle could come at any time.
“But, it really feels uncomfortable…”
I completely agree with Yohena’s words.
As if we’re inside some giant tentacle, the spider webs block the path whenever they feel like wriggling.
I just want to set it on fire…
…
…?
Fire?
Why didn’t I think of that until now?
It’s common sense.
“Saha?”
“Yes, Ark. What is it?”
“Is it possible to do a fiery hammer fall even without enemies?”
“…? You mean to draw out the power of flames?”
“Yes.”
“Of course it’s possible.”
As soon as Saha lightly tapped the hammer on the ground.
Beautiful flames flared up.
I already knew from several battles together that the flames Saha raised didn’t harm me at all, but.
Slap!
“…Ark. Don’t do that.”
Yohena hit the back of my hand as I was about to put my fist into the fire.
Hmph.
But how can I resist flame fists.
I’m just vicariously satisfying myself like this because I’m powerless.
Anyway.
“Saha, can you set that spider web on fire with maximum output?”
As soon as I finished speaking.
Everyone had an exclamation mark pop up over their heads, ding!
You got the feeling, heroes?
Saha gripped the hammer handle straight, then smashed the hammer on the spider web that had just come down to block our path.
Whoosh!
“Beautiful…!”
Tinya’s eyes sparkled.
She’s at the age to like such things.
Eventually.
Sizzle sizzle──
Along with the smell of burning hair.
That thick spider web started melting.
“Oh…!”
“Ark! You’re smart!”
“Master! You’re the best woof!”
Ah.
Spider webs burn in fire.
It’s common sense.
…Such obvious common sense.
Including me, all six of us here.
Aren’t we idiots?
Burying such reasonable doubt in my heart for a moment.
“Tinya, just point the direction. Up? Down?”
“Hmm… Up?”
“Right? Left?”
“Umm… Left!”
“Saha.”
“Understood.”
If there’s no path, make one.
The labyrinth arsonist is coming through.
“Kyahihik, kyaruru, kya, kyahuuung…!”
Somewhere on the 15th floor.
In Arachne’s domain, laughter that seemed about to die was constantly bursting out.
The identity of the spider webs that filled the great labyrinth ‘Labyrinth’.
And occasionally wriggling as if alive to hinder the hero party.
Naturally, it was something Arachne had painstakingly created── a part of her body.
Compared to the mental damage of seeing her well-crafted masterpiece burn and melt.
The sensation Arachne felt as the spider webs burned was at most like being bitten by a mosquito.
That’s right.
The sensation of being bitten by a mosquito.
“Kyaruru, kyahaaa, kyahuuung…! Ple, pleaaase…! Kyaru, kyaruruhung…!”
In human terms.
An overwhelming itchiness that could only be felt if you put just your foot in a sealed space with hundreds of mosquitoes!
Arachne was flipped over on the ground for a while.
Unable to get up, she just twisted her body trembling and was subjected to forced laughter therapy.
“Kyahuu… Fi, fire…! Kyaru, kyahaak…! They’re, setting…”
Still, one fortunate thing.
Although she had no idea how they were finding it.
Except for the spaces blocked by indestructible walls.
The heroes were always breaking through in a straight line towards the exit of the labyrinth.
So Arachne rather earnestly prayed.
For the heroes to pass through the zone quickly.
And please end this itchiness.
[11th floor Zone 4 has been breached.]
“Hauu…, hauu…, heuu…”
Did that prayer reach the goddess, no, the demon lord?
Finally freed from the itchiness.
Regaining the leisure to breathe.
The leisure to think.
Arachne shuddered as she recalled that terrible sensation.
Finally righting her overturned body, she staggered and forcibly regained balance.
And.
“This is… cheating…! Impossible…!”
She vented her frustration.
Of course.
Among all parallel dimensions──
The ones who came up with and executed the extremely ‘nonsensical’ and crude option of ‘burning spider webs’.
Were only the heroes of this dimension.
Originally, it was the law of the tower that such ‘nonsense’ wouldn’t work.
In other words.
It could be interpreted as a clear ‘violation of rules’.
“Outside… assumption… Demon Lord… petition…”
The moment Arachne reached out to manipulate the panel.
[An enemy has entered Zone 5 of the 11th floor.]
“Ah… Nooo…!”
Arachne made a tearful face at the chill that brushed past her nape, but.
An unavoidable fate.
“Kyaru, kyahuu… Kyahahahaaak…!”
Arachne’s laughter dam properly burst again at the hot fire show that was carried out once more.