LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 30 - Hidden Elements
Even after entering Zone 5.
With Tinya radar and Saha flamethrower, beep beep, whoosh.
We could literally run straight to the exit.
But.
“Myong…”
“Lumi? What’s wrong?”
“Myong… I don’t know woof.”
In the process of breaking through Zone 5.
Lumi had been sniffing restlessly the whole time.
Even while beating up spiders, she would suddenly turn her head and stare at empty space.
Even as we progressed on the ‘right path’ pointed out by Tinya, she kept wagging her tail and trying to run off to side paths.
…They say when a dog stares intently at empty space, it’s seeing a ghost.
“Lumi, can you see ghosts?”
Shake shake.
Phew.
I let out a sigh of relief.
Come to think of it.
Even if there were, wouldn’t Yohena exorcise them?
“…Um, there really aren’t any, right…?”
Excuse me?
Saint-nim?
“W-well, I don’t believe in ghosts, but I’m a bit scared…”
If the saint is afraid of ghosts, who on earth is going to do the exorcism?
“Kyahaha! Yohena. Scared of ghosts? Tinya’s not scared at all nyaaak!”
Bonk!
Tinya, who had been poking Yohena’s side thinking this was her chance, had her crown dented.
“…I’m not afraid of demons!”
Well, of course you wouldn’t be.
Even I can see Tinya’s not scary.
“Waaah…! Master, the saint hit me…!”
“That’s what you get for teasing people. I’m scared of ghosts too.”
A real man’s specialty.
Honestly admitting it.
Even until we finished purifying Zone 5, Lumi was still circling around, seemingly uncomfortable about something.
…I shouldn’t say the bad words that she looks like a dog looking for a place to pee, right?
“Lumi, what’s wrong? Do you need to pee-aaak! Kyaang!”
But Tinya, who thoughtlessly said those bad words out loud, was.
Subjected to the punishment of having her cheeks slapped.
Is it a reward?
Tinya looked at me desperately, but.
I turned away from Tinya.
Why are you asking for punishment twice?
There are things you should and shouldn’t say.
“Ark. Lumi’s strange behavior surely has a reason. I feel something strange too.”
“Even Saha?”
…Hmm.
To be really honest.
I wanted to get through the labyrinth zone as quickly as possible.
We can’t produce antidotes indefinitely.
Because it’s a narrow area, there are too many factors threatening my life.
But still.
“Okay. Then let’s try breaking through Zone 5 one more time. We can give up and exit in the middle anyway.”
I decided to trust Lumi’s sudden behavior.
No, her intuition.
Originally, when a dog does something it doesn’t usually do, it means something unusual is happening.
Therefore.
“Woof!”
This time, Lumi took the lead, using her dog intuition to guide us.
“Myong!”
She would occasionally punch the spiders that popped out with her woof woof fists.
“Woof, woof woof!”
If it seemed like too many were pouring out, she would switch to autonomous robo-Lumi mode and use taunts in the right places to draw attention.
“Tinya woof!”
“Lumi nya!”
When Lumi threw a spider in the air.
Tinya would shoot magic bullets to finish it off, showing a combo show.
“…Um, how long do we have to keep doing this?”
“Until the tide… no, until the danger is gone.”
I.
Was enjoying the cold metal texture of the armor all over my body while being princess carried in Saha’s arms.
“You were just about to say ‘until satisfied’, weren’t you.”
“No, you misunderstood.”
Hmm.
Is it my oversensitivity?
When she says “No” with a serious face in her unique cold expression, I feel really embarrassed…
Anyway.
As I was pointed out that if I keep my feet on the ground, I might get caught by spider webs that approach like tentacles and get dragged away.
I ended up in this shameful situation.
At least the armor…
Saha in a suit… wait a little longer…
Then.
“Woof! Woof! There’s something woof!”
“Ooh!”
Lumi finally found something.
Hopping out of Saha’s arms with an “upsy-daisy”, I went closer to look.
There was one tightly locked giant iron door.
“Saha?”
Saha approached silently, step by step.
Kwang!
Creak.
She struck it with her hammer.
The door dented inwards.
…I really shouldn’t mess with her. Whew.
Like that.
Kwang!
Kwaaang!
Clang!
The iron door (that used to be) opened, and.
“Whoa…”
“This is…”
“Wow, Arachne, what bad taste…”
“Oh goddess…”
“Ugh, too much, this is…!”
There were cocoons made of spider webs thicker than what had been blocking our path so far, here and there.
Inside the cocoons.
There was one person tied up in each.
As if entranced, I approached and put my finger under their noses.
Fortunately.
They were breathing.
“Does anyone have a blade, something sharp? Ari, even an arrowhead. Yohena, please check their condition and heal them.”
Instinctively.
I thought we should save them first.
“Evil thing!”
Occasionally, a few spider web strands would flap like a seizure and aim at us, but Saha would raise flames and burn them without harming the cocoons.
After burning them like that, it would stay quiet for a while.
Like that.
We worked hard to save the people in the cocoons as intact as possible, not noticing the time passing.
“Haa, haa.”
Although I had a weak body.
Still, I did my best to hold onto a cocoon and carefully peel it off.
As much as I was slow.
Lumi sharpened her claws and went cha-jjak.
Ari used her hunting dagger she always carried and went swish swish.
Tinya was melting them safely little by little with magic power, though less than the flames.
Buwaaak!
Saha maintained vigilance and occasionally tore one apart with her hands.
…
That’s some powerful force.
Like that, we rescued people from the cocoons.
Using our accumulated know-how, we made the unconscious people gulp down antidotes.
“Uh, uuh…”
One by one, they started waking up staggering.
…Really.
Thank goodness.
Like that, the awakened people eventually came to their senses and joined in the rescue work.
The moment we saved everyone.
[Tower of Wishes 11th Floor – Great Labyrinth Labyrinth Entrance Zone 5 Hidden Clear!]
[★★★★ : Destroy Arachne’s storage.]
[Hidden condition achieved! A hidden quest occurs.]
“Haa.”
Normally.
The gaming thought process of “Oh, there’s such a hidden route”──
Would have come first, but.
“Sniff, I was so scared…”
“Thank you, thank you!”
“Now I can go back…”
Like when we saved the villagers in Zone 9 of the 6th floor.
Something welled up in my chest.
After savoring the emotion.
I checked the quest that occurred.
Hidden Quest ▶ Arachne’s Storage
※ Destroy all of Arachne’s storage. (1/3)
※ Reward: 5,000 Points / 3 Magic Random Boxes
“…?”
Putting aside the very generous points.
I wonder what Magic Random Boxes are.
Somehow.
It smells like money.
And a very strong one at that…!
On top of the satisfaction.
Contentment overlapped, and the corners of my mouth bloomed perfectly.
Lumi…!
This lucky dog…!
I’ll forgive you even if you lick my face while I’m sleeping and run away!
Fortunately.
Like the villagers we saved on the 6th floor.
The people we saved on the 11th floor were also, hmm, yes, close to NPCs created by the tower.
But what does that matter?
They’re people anyway.
As I watched people scattering one by one, adding joy of survival and worry as they headed to the tower’s exit first.
I wondered if another dimension might continue from where those people exited.
It could be.
But I decided not to think that far.
The worldview becomes too complicated.
If it’s not an immediate problem, keep it simple.
“Woof!”
Lumi sends sparkling eyes wanting praise.
Pat pat.
“Kyauuu.”
Hmm, cute…
Tinya was hopping next to me, but.
One affection at a time.
If you slip up even a little, getting nice boated is the industry practice.
“We’re out of antidotes too, so let’s stop exploring the labyrinth for today. We have some sta… no, entry attempts left. Let’s finish those on the 10th floor.”
Like that, we secured clues for the hidden quest.
We saved people and felt good.
We also secured quite a lot of alchemy materials by tearing apart spider corpses.
I could self-evaluate today as a good day too.
Our heroes said their bodies got sticky and went straight to the guild house for showers.
I headed to the shop with Tinya, our future shop manager.
“Oh my, you’re back? But, sniff sniff, what’s this smell. The spider smell is overwhelming? Here, here.”
Spritz spritz.
Elise sprayed something like Fe*reeze.
“What’s this?”
“It’s a perfume that removes bad smells. It’s essential in the demon world where it’s hard to bathe often.”
The demon world, it’s not a good place to live…
Anyway, after removing the smell a bit like that, I poured out the materials I had crammed into my inventory.
While the future shop manager was grumbling and organizing, I gathered a few materials and requested alchemy from Elise.
[Ring of Poison Resistance (RANK 4)]
[A common iron ring imbued with alchemical energy, gaining special abilities. Increases the wearer’s poison resistance.]
[Gain immunity to level 2 or lower poisons]
The completed ring──
I put it on my finger.
Fortunately, it fit on my finger without any problem.
…It seems I’m not affected by rank restrictions.
Then it’s time to test its performance.
Tinya, who wasn’t affected by poison at all because she’s a demon race.
The venom she collected in a flask while making an ugh, disgusted expression.
“Elise? If I get in a bad state, feed me this.”
“Huhuhu…”
What’s with that ominous smile?
Anyway, since Tinya is here too, there shouldn’t be any problem even if something happens.
Carefully opening the lid, I sniffed.
…
Drip, drop.
…
There was no reaction even when it touched my skin.
“Thank goodness…”
I was a bit worried that I might live my whole life as a cursed, weak, and frail baggage carrier who couldn’t even benefit from item effects.
Although I can’t wear the heroes’ equipment because it’s too heavy and for women.
At least I can share accessories and get the minimum benefits.
With a lightened heart.
“Elise? I need plenty of antidotes by tomorrow lunch, hmm, about 200 bottles? Please.”
I outsourced the work.
Elise was disgusted by the workload worthy of a sweatshop, but.
Originally, traitors need to work harder to be recognized.
And I checked another reward I had been looking forward to with anticipation.
The additional function of the shop newly opened after clearing the 10th floor.
It was only expressed as ‘???’ in the previous UI.
So what is its identity!
It’s!
“…?”
[Additional Function: Secret Workshop]
[Not constructed.]
[Construction Conditions: Clear Tower 10th Floor / 2,000 Points]
What’s a Secret Workshop?
Is today like, hidden paradise or something?
And why does it cost so many points?