Exit Room
"Caleb······?"
Yernil glanced at me sideways.
"Wh-Why······ why are you refusing?"
"You don't want to join our party?"
The dwarf frowned.
"Yes. The exit gate can only let four people pass, right?"
"Hmm."
At that, all three of them swallowed as if they'd been hit with a crucial point.
"He's right."
The exit gate is extremely unstable. Once a single person passes through it, it collapses and disappears within five minutes. And since the collapse accelerates with every person who passes, the maximum number who can go through at once is four.
When the gate disappears, a new exit room is created again at a random location on the same floor, and you have to search for it all over again.
"For a slave team, you seem to know the labyrinth pretty well?"
If they hadn't known, after catching the spider the three of them would've gone into the gate first, right? Leaving us behind to fend for ourselves?
Anyway, only the naive get screwed in the labyrinth.
"What's your name?"
The dwarf asked with a grin.
"Caleb."
"Right. Well then, Caleb, my friend. Think about it carefully."
The dwarf switched tactics and tried to persuade me this time.
"What we need isn't an archer, but a single 'mage.'"
That part reminded me of the bald guy.
"Opportunities like this don't come often. A chance to join a proper adventurer party instead of a slave team, and challenge the exit room. You survived one full day here, sure—but how much longer do you think you'll last? It won't be easy to let go of the girlfriend you spent the whole night with, but try to think rationally."
In short, he was telling me to cut ties with Yernil and leave with them.
"······."
Yernil's eyes doubled in size as she grasped the situation.
Ah, sounds great! Of course I want to get out of here right now too!
Sweet temptation blooms before my eyes, and delusions start playing in my head.
Sorry, Yernil. Our adventure ends here. You're an insanely talented archer, but I was actually just an ordinary office worker. Risking my life fighting in a labyrinth was never my thing! I'm the kind of person who should be lying on a soft mattress in a warm house! So yeah, I want out right now. Sorry. But don't feel too wronged, okay? If you were in my position, you'd cut me loose too, right?
I defeat the Venomic Spider together with the dwarf party, Yernil is left behind crying her eyes out, and I escape this hell first!
Oh! Unbelievable! I can actually leave this damn labyrinth where death could come at any moment! This refreshing air! This warm sunlight! This is life!
'How about a drink of return liquor!'
At the dwarf's hearty suggestion, we head to a tavern together.
'Free booze? I won't say no!'
And just as I'm chugging beer and getting absorbed in some random game the dwarf likes—
Suddenly, assistants from the magic academy show up and grab me by the shoulders.
'Sorry, but you're still a slave. You haven't paid off your price yet. The magic stones you gathered are pocket change.'
Oh shit.
Escaping the labyrinth right now wasn't the real problem.
There was a much bigger problem.
'You'll have to go back into the labyrinth.'
And this time, I fail the party gacha roll.
Getting an archer like Yernil in the first place was a miracle.
Now I'm stuck struggling alone with cowardly, stupid, jack-of-all-trades stat-distributed trash archers, warriors, and rogues.
Why the hell does no one notice the slave mage team sneaking up behind us?
Why does no one know how to intercept enemies hidden in steam? Catch even one!
Does no one have sound mapping or anything? Huh? Why is your special ability Glutton? Even if your strength goes up, you're still an archer! You'll just burn through more food!
Why is this so-called warrior scared to stand in front with a shield, you lunatic bastards! I'm going insane!
The guy I knew voluntarily tried to hold a shield for the team despite his weak strength!
Just when these trolls are really starting to get on my nerves, I come across a corpse lying on the road.
I look to see who it is—and oh no.
Yernil!
There was no archer like you.
Only after the flowers fell did I realize it was spring······.
After indulging in that brief, madness-filled fantasy, I somehow feel pale.
"I don't want to switch teams."
"Huh?"
The dwarf, the beastman, and the priest all looked shocked. They must have assumed I'd obviously take the offer. That's about how much trust people have in criminal slaves from the magic academy.
"Huh."
As a bonus, Yernil also stared at me in shock.
Feels like I just became some insanely loyal macho man.
"How about this instead?"
If escaping alone just means getting thrown straight back into the labyrinth anyway, then let's rip out the root of the problem right now.
This is actually a jackpot opportunity.
"You hire us."
"H-Hire?"
The three of them blinked in unison.
"Pwahahaha!"
Suddenly, the dwarf slapped his knee and burst out laughing.
"So you're saying you won't covet the exit gate, just want payment for killing the spider? That we should formally hire your slave team?"
"That's right."
"Kahahaha! You're an interesting one. Fine—how much do you want?"
"Ten thousand gold."
Apparently the amount wasn't interesting. The dwarf's grin vanished instantly.
"Keh!"
A strange noise came from Yernil. Her pupils were shaking violently as she stared at me.
"Caleb! Th-That's······ ten thousand gold!? Do you know how much ten thousand gold is!?"
If we sold off every magic stone we'd gathered on the first floor of the labyrinth over a full day—including Abison's backpack and all other valuables—we might expect around 2,000 gold.
I'd heard that both Yernil's and my ransom prices, mortgaged to the magic academy, were 3,000 gold each.
So 10,000 gold was a huge sum. That's why the dwarf's face twisted into that of a sulky goblin. But if we succeeded, it meant wiping out our slave status—so unless we volunteered, we wouldn't be thrown back into the labyrinth again. Probably.
And this was a price worth trying against those guys.
Reason one: that party is highly experienced and financially well-off, to the point of bringing along a priest notorious for an exorbitant ransom price. They can afford 10,000 gold.
Reason two: judging by their conversation and appearance, the three of them are already exhausted. They want to escape the labyrinth as soon as possible.
Reason three—and this is the important one—they placed a soul preservation spell on Abison. They need to return and find him before the corpse deteriorates too badly in order to resurrect him, so they're short on time.
Finally, a safety lock.
"If the priest swears to this in the name of the goddess Nathaniel, we'll help."
From the fact that they used soul preservation magic, and from the cross pattern on her necklace, I could guess her sect. They absolutely cannot break oaths sworn in their goddess's name.
"Hmm······."
The dwarf fell into thought.
"What's there to think about? There's no other mage anyway."
The beastman rogue said.
"Nine thousand gold."
Got him.
The dwarf started haggling.
"Nine thousand five hundred."
"Nine thousand three hundred."
"Nine thousand five hundred."
"Tch. What was your name again?"
"Caleb."
"In all my life, this is the first time I've seen a slave mage demand ten thousand gold as an entry fee. Nine thousand five hundred just to set the ceiling on fire a bit? That's a markup so big even a troll could wear it on his head. We're taking a massive loss here, you know."
He hoisted his two-handed axe high and slung it over his shoulder.
"Fine. Can't be helped. You're confident in your Fireball magic, right?"
"Of course."
"Then let's get this oath over with."
The dwarf shot a sidelong glance at the priest. She clasped her hands together and, as if in prayer, proclaimed the terms to everyone.
"From this moment forth, in the name of the goddess Nathaniel, I, Priest Emma, swear an oath. The three members of our party—Virtanen, Jikal, and Emma—promise to hire the party of Caleb and Yernil for 9,500 gold. The condition for completion of this contract is that the Virtanen party escapes through the gate, and it shall be rendered void if either party is completely annihilated. During the execution of this contract, we swear that neither party shall cause harm to the other. Representatives: Virtanen, Caleb."
"I acknowledge the above terms and swear solemnly."
The dwarf placed a hand over his chest as he spoke.
"I swear."
I echoed him. To someone like me who didn't believe in the goddess Nathaniel, the oath itself held no real meaning—but it clearly mattered to them.
"Good."
The dwarf grasped the door handle.
"Ready?"
"Let's go."
Click!
The door to the exit room opened.
The moment I step inside, I analyze the exit room's internal structure, the target's location, and the terrain.
The room looked about 15 meters wide, 15 meters long, and at least 10 meters high. The ceiling soared tremendously, like a Gothic cathedral.
It was dim overall, and thick layers of spiderwebs plastered the ceiling, walls, and floor, making it hard to distinguish objects.
An atrociously old abandoned house.
That was my first impression.
Dust filled the air, making it dry and stuffy. A musty, rotten stench lingered.
'I can't see it.'
The target, the Venomic Spider, hadn't been spotted yet. It had to be hiding somewhere among the webs on the ceiling.
Damn game design—its body color was painted the same dark brown as the ceiling, making its natural camouflage absurdly effective.
'Neutral objects?'
I strained my eyes, scanning desperately. In one corner of the room, I spotted several barrels.
A red bomb icon.
Explosives inside.
"Be careful not to step on the webs on the floor."
The dwarf warned.
"Once you step on them, it's hard to pull your foot free."
In-game, stepping on spiderwebs inflicted the Slow status effect.
Step twice, and you were bound.
"We need to find the spider."
I said to the dwarf. We can't start attacking without finding it, right?
But the dwarf shook his head.
"Your job is to burn all the webs on the ceiling. No need to bother finding the spider—"
"Kiieeek!"
Found it.
A monstrous screech rang out from one side of the ceiling. Everyone's gaze snapped in that direction.
Sssshrrrk!
······followed by a sound like squeezing cream out of a piping bag.
Unfortunately, what came flying wasn't anything sweet.
"Snap out of it!"
Slash!
The dwarf swung his two-handed axe with all his might, cutting away the web.
If this were a game, a Super Save message would've popped up.
"Burn all the webs on the ceiling, now! We have to force that thing down to the floor!"
"Kiiieeek!"
After throwing a web net at me, the Venomic Spider began repositioning at an insane speed.
Spitting once and running away was annoying enough in the game—experiencing it in real life was downright infuriating.
'But I've got its position.'
The ceiling webs trembled. Beyond them, a writhing black silhouette was clearly visible.
I raised my wand.
[It is your turn.]
[Action Points: ■■■■]
The Venomic Spider is fast, but if you confirm its direction and snipe it, you can hit it.
Boss monsters have massive health pools, so it's best to deal as much damage as possible in a single turn.
Back when this was just a game, I'd buff the mage with fire-boosting potions like Alchemist's Flame—but I don't have those now.
'But I do have the hourglass.'
In the game, cooldowns didn't tick during a single turn, so this kind of thing wasn't possible.
"Fireball."
[Action Points: ■■■□]
Here, cooldowns do tick.
I wait five seconds, then cast again.
"Fireball."
[Action Points: ■■□□]
[It is your turn. Remaining time: 50 seconds]
Another five seconds.
"Fireball."
[Action Points: ■□□□]
[It is your turn. Remaining time: 45 seconds]
Final five seconds.
"Fireball."
[All Action Points have been consumed.]
[Ending turn.]
[The hourglass has been flipped again. Cooldown: 60 seconds]
Honestly, if I were the dwarf, I'd be so pissed I wouldn't sleep at night, paying 9,500 gold just to set the ceiling on fire.
But don't feel too wronged.
For the sake of my reputation in the Labyrinth City going forward, I intend to pull my full weight in this raid.
Like this.
Boom! KRA-BOOOM!
Four Fireballs from a wisdom-stacked mage fired like a machine gun.