How to Survive as a Dungeon Manager in Another World

Episode 8 – Labyrinth Tarzan (1)

Special Ops Commander Derek Baldwin could not comprehend the present situation.

He exhaled in disbelief, asking again.

“Concealed her strength, you say?”

“Yes, Captain.”

“Are you certain? You haven’t mistaken anything?”

“Certain, I am.”

Derrick Baldwin was rendered speechless.

At first, it was curiosity.

Blackmoor, a place the Imperial Family themselves had neglected for decades, yet a mere low-ranking official managed it alone – such tidings had aroused his doubts.

Thus, he had immediately raised objections to His Excellency the Chancellor.

—*If* the fellow were truly a ‘plain’ official, that is.

The Chancellor had subtly offered him information.

Luke Richter was no ordinary underling—, along with that single, fragmented piece of knowledge.

Honestly, it was difficult to believe.

Even he, the leader of the Imperial Special Task Force, dealing with information and secrets, knew *nothing* about this man, Luke Richter.

And so, he had issued the directive, solely to verify the truth.

“Black Wolf, Celestial Claw, Sentinel, Blood Fang, Revenant…all of them were found dead in front of his office?”

“Yes, each and every one was a demonic beast of ‘monster’ grade or higher.”

“Bisected with a single stroke? You expect me to believe that?”

“But we found no other wounds, save for the clean-cut cross-sections.”

“…”

Silence descended.

The cleanly severed sections of the demonic beasts were merely the marks of Rudin’s unilateral slaughter, but there was no way they could know of Rudin’s existence.

Thus, with misunderstandings compounding upon misunderstandings, the Special Task Force Captain, after silently staring at the man, finally answered curtly.

“…There’s something to him.”

A corner of his lips quirked upwards at that moment.

Honestly, he hadn’t had much expectation, but upon closer inspection, there was more than one or two suspicious aspects.

To the point where he couldn’t even begin to guess *what* he was hiding, or from *where* to *where*.

He needed assurance.

Assurance that he was a useful card to play.

While satisfying his own curiosity on the side, of course.

“Security?”

“No issues.”

Nod.

He waved a hand dismissively, replying with a cursory air.

“This matter… we’ll shelve it for the time being.”

“Understood.”

“You may leave now.”

That was that.

The man, his report concluded, bowed stiffly and departed through the door, leaving Derrick alone in the office. A chilly smile played on his lips.

“The Richter Barony, is it…”

A smirk.

Gazing out the window, he muttered in a voice laced with amusement.

“Let’s start by shaking *them* down, shall we?”

Meanwhile.

“Hmm.”

I gently clutched the stone in my hand.

It was a stone etched with a Rune of Time, given to me by Adina.

“Just so you know, I don’t know how to use it either.”

Adina, proudly laying the groundwork for failure right from the start.

I lightly dismissed it.

Because I already knew a thing or two about using Runes.

“Rudine.”

“Yes?”

“Stand back a moment.”

I created some distance between Rudine and myself.

Then, intending to absorb the Rune, I slowly drew up what little magical power I possessed.

A low hum vibrated as the waves of magic began to circulate, gradually being drawn into the Rune stone clutched in my grip.

‘This is the crucial part.’

Runes, instead of granting instantaneous abilities, are generally impossible to absorb.

To absorb an ancient language imbued with divine power into the flesh of a mortal… it inevitably violates the very causality of the world.

‘I have to twist it.’

Gooo!

A strange sensation, as if blood were reversing its flow, accompanied the writhing of mana.

A sophisticated suggestion, encompassing all mana, bloomed from my fingertips.

It was Karma.

The forgotten deity’s original sin began to twist causality through the medium of language.

The myriad phenomena of all creation melted into my deepest consciousness.

At the very moment my intrinsic heart-image reacted to the world’s will.

“I absorb Karma.”

I whispered the predetermined activation phrase.

In that instant, the space was dyed with a brilliant white dawn, like ink spreading across water.

Everything moved slowly within the immense pressure of time.

A moment later.

[ Pilgrim burdened with Karma, offer the price of sin. ]

A voice, as if tearing, pierced my eardrums.

It resonated within my mind, as if whispering directly into my brain.

‘It has begun.’

The language of the beginning, the Rune.

The language of the beginning, capable of containing the dignity of a forgotten, great god—or so the setting went, perhaps.

Regardless, to absorb this, a corresponding price is required.

The price.

“I relinquish mana.”

I uttered the predetermined response without hesitation.

The reason I specifically chose mana as the price was simple.

Relinquishing mana as the cost for absorbing the Rune results in the fewest side effects.

‘It’s not like I had a lot of mana to begin with.’

If one were born with abundant mana, it might feel unjust, but I, who possessed a mana reservoir the size of a rat’s tail since birth, was an exception.

Furthermore, absorbing the Rune would inevitably create a unique resource called Heart-Image.

There was no reason to stubbornly cling to mana.

And, a moment later.

As my vision, which had been dyed pure white, gradually returned, I realized that Rudine and Adina were staring at me with astonished eyes.

The rune, thrashing in my palm, was absorbed into my flesh.

And there, beneath my right eye.

Like a tattoo, the rune’s sigil was etched.

Cheep, cheep, cheep!

I lifted my head, spotting a sparrow flitting through the empty sky.

To verify the result, I reached a hand towards the heavens.

Instead of the hollow void of magic, an indescribable *ki* coalesced at my fingertips.

A pathetic, insignificant wisp of energy.

Even my meager magic had been more substantial than this *ki*.

But.

“Accelerate.”

The moment I uttered the activation phrase, the condensed *ki* spiraled outwards, piercing the sparrow.

“Reverse.”

It stopped.

Or, more accurately, slowed.

Slowed to the point of near-immobility.

Not just the sparrow, either.

Falling leaves, floating dust motes, the swirling wind… literally everything that came into contact with the concentrated *ki* was crushed beneath a colossal pressure of time, slowing to a crawl.

‘The radius is…limited.’

Certainly, the ability was ridiculously powerful, but the radius was far too short.

And, naturally, the duration was brief.

While the potential for application was boundless, I clicked my tongue in disappointment.

“Just now, what in the world…”

“…”

A spectacle that defied phenomena, that flouted natural law.

The eyes of the two girls who witnessed it filled with astonishment.

After absorbing the rune.

“Um, excuse me…?”

Adina, who had been following behind, tugged at my sleeve.

And with a voice tight with anxiousness, she inquired,

“I’m… part of your company now, aren’t I?”

“Well, yes, that’s so.”

“Then, might I trouble you with a question?”

A moment of deliberation passed.

But, after all, it was thanks to her that I obtained the precious relic, so I readily nodded.

“What is it?”

“What… exactly are you?”

“My… identity?”

She perked up her ears, nodding her head insistently.

It was already suspicious enough for a human to reside within such a demonic boundary, but more than that, the skill he had just demonstrated was something no ordinary mortal could possess.

Thus, in celebration of becoming companions, she asked.

“A Gwanin.”

“Pardon?”

Adina’s brow furrowed at the reply.

“You… were a hound of the Imperial Court?”

“Now, now, that’s hardly a pleasant thing to hear, being compared to some mutt.”

“Why would a Gwanin be in a place like this?”

“Why, because I’m the administrator here.”

“…Administrator?”

Naturally, Adina tilted her head, a picture of confusion.

“There was an administrator for a place like this?”

“It was only recently established.”

“Then what is that monster?”

“Monster?”

Adina pointed a finger at Rudene.

“It’s odd, isn’t it? How could a human aura be so… savage?”

A rather unexpected observation, that was.

Rudene, hearing this, scowled.

“I think a fox that speaks human words is far stranger.”

“Well, yes… what was that?”

A pause.

Adina, who had been prancing along, halted abruptly.

She glared at Rudin, her silvery tail, which had been swaying gently, now stood rigidly upright.

“Did you just say all you needed to say?”

“Look at this. The fox is far too human-like, isn’t she? And so easily frightened.”

That was true enough.

As I nodded in agreement, her face flushed crimson.

“Coward.”

“…”

“Scaredy-cat.”

“…”

“Petty thief.”

“Eek…!”

It was quite the childish war of nerves, drawn out as it was.

Though my heart longed to watch it play out a little longer.

“Enough.”

I brought them to a halt.

For just beyond the forest, nestled a small cave, the entrance to the labyrinth Tartazan, our destination, had been reached.

“…Is this the destination?”

Adina, hiding behind my back, perked up her ears as she asked.

I gave a curt nod and continued onward.

“Some sort of energy…”

Just as she muttered, an unusual, chilling aura enveloped the cave.

Unlike the vibrant world outside, the inside of the cave was eerily dark and unnerving.

A place that looked suspicious at a single glance, but…

“Follow me.”

“Okay.”

“Ugh….”

We have no time to waste here.

With a brisk expedition concluded, the thought was to return to the office, penning the necessary report.

Flipping on the lamp I’d brought, the cave, before swallowed whole by inky black, brightened, anchored around the light.

“…”

No immediate dangers presented themselves.

Save for the suffocating dark, the bone-chilling cold, and the space itself, ripe for driving a man mad.

I continued onward, thinking this, when something began to coalesce from beyond the swirling gloom.

“Found it.”

It was an altar.

Inscribed with patterns that looked as though they were carved in blood, there was no doubt – this was a deliberately constructed altar.

Seeing something I’d only read of in novels, here, before my very eyes… it sends a chill crawling up the spine.

But there was no stopping now. I continued to advance.

Just then, Rudine pointed.

“…A book?”

At the very heart of the altar.

There stood a stone pedestal, and upon it rested a worn, unassuming book.

What startled, however, was the book’s cover…

“…Human Skin.”

No matter how I looked at it, it was undeniably human skin.

Utterly repulsive, truly, yet I knew of its existence.

‘The Pindal Tome.’

Known as a forbidden text, it’s a grimoire brimming with madness.

A cursed volume whose pages, once read, corrupt the soul, unveiling the most base and hideous nature within.

Under normal circumstances, it’s best left untouched, but to breach the labyrinth’s deepest reaches, it must be read.

But there’s a hitch.

To read the Pindal Tome, one needs a high-ranking sorcerer capable of manipulating the art of Haeju.

However.

“Rudine.”

“Yes?”

“Go and read it.”

“Okay!”

I’ve no need for such things.

Rudine’s soul, born under the cursed star of the Heavenly Killer, was already twisted beyond repair; one more damned grimoire couldn’t possibly make a difference.

Just as I thought.

“I’ve finished reading.”

As she closed the tome after her completion.

“!!!”

Kugugugung!

The earth trembled, and the sealed entrance revealed itself.