"Killer Bugs! A whole swarm of them!"
"Hah! Here they come!"
Skreeee!
Just as my mind began to wander, Hachi's shout snapped me back to reality.
Rohan immediately swung his sword at the encroaching tide. The bugs caught in his arc didn't just get cut—they disintegrated, exploding into a mess of yellow ichor.
He was deliberately striking them with the flat of his blade. Against these damn pests, crushing force was far more effective than a clean edge.
He truly was a Silver-plate adventurer. He knew exactly how to handle the monstrosities on the upper floors.
If we moved fast, we could probably break through without much trouble, but...
"Th-those things... what are they?! They're disgusting! Ugh... Gah!"
"Whoa! Rien! Calm down! Look at me, stay calm!"
Rien was spiraling. As the massive insects crawled out from every crack and crevice, she began to hyperventilate. It was a natural reaction; anyone would panic when swarmed by grotesque, man-sized bugs.
But we don't have the luxury of a panic attack right now.
We needed to kill them and move, but Rien was paralyzed. Her stress had finally redlined. We'd been holding hands to keep her steady, but the moment we stepped onto the third floor, her psyche had fractured.
The situation was deteriorating fast. Everything was becoming a tangled mess.
There was only one thing I could do.
I pulled her into a tight embrace and ducked behind Hachi. I had to trust that Rohan and Hachi could hold the line. If they couldn't buy me enough time to stabilize Rien's mind...
The party would shatter.
"Hmph...!"
The moment I shielded Rien behind him, Hachi clasped his hands together. He dropped into a specialized monk stance: the 'Explosive Palm.'
As a veteran, he had clearly realized Rien's condition instantly. He was willing to tank the damage to give me the window I needed.
Hachi's hands began to hum, emitting localized shockwaves. Every bug that lunged at him was instantly pulverized by the vibrations. It was a purely defensive stance—he couldn't move an inch while maintaining it—but the raw power was staggering.
He would hold. If the Hachi I'd seen so far was any indication, he could endure this.
"H-heeek...!"
"Rien. Rien!"
"Ah... ah...?"
"Rien, look at me. You can't panic now. Pull yourself together."
"Ah... Ugh... I-I'm sorry. I'm so sorry... hic... No, I can't do it. It's too much. Those things... they're too much..."
"Calm down. Hachi and Rohan are protecting us. A Silver-plate isn't going to lose to mere Killer Bugs. Just breathe."
"Ugh... Gah. I'm scared. I'm so scared..."
Rien gasped for air, burying her face in my chest. I stroked her back, doing everything in my power to ground her.
I couldn't blame her. She had been awake for over twenty-four hours, thrust into the Labyrinth without a second of rest. She wasn't a veteran; yesterday had been her first time inside. Since then, she'd been in and out repeatedly, suffered Mana Adaptation sickness, sustained injuries, and faced life-threatening horrors—all driven by the desperate hope of saving her friends.
It was a miracle she hadn't completely snapped already. She was pushing far beyond the limits of human endurance.
But if I let this continue, her mind would break. She'd start hallucinating, or worse—she'd sprint blindly into the darkness or turn her magic on us.
I had to stop it. If the guide goes mad, we're all dead.
The priestess and the knightess were still waiting. To save them, I had to bring Rien back from the brink.
"Kuh...!"
Hachi was reaching his limit. Rohan was already buried under a mountain of chitinous bodies, lost to sight. Rien's eyes were still unfocused, darting around at shadows.
If this kept up, it was over. Three more corpses would be added to the Sewer's tally.
Never.
I refused to die here. And that meant Rien, Rohan, and Hachi weren't allowed to die either. We were getting out of this hellhole, no matter what.
"Rien. Rien."
"Ugh... Huh?"
"Rien, tell me something you like. Anything."
"S-something I like...? I... I... sweets... candy... the candy my Mom used to give me... candy... candy..."
"I see."
She was regressing—clinging to childhood memories to escape the present. It was actually a relief; it meant a spark of her reason was still intact. There was a chance to pull her back.
"Here, have some candy. Come on, take it, Rien."
"C-candy...?"
"Yes. When we get out of here, let's go get dessert. I know a great shop. We'll eat until we're stuffed and just laugh about all this. Okay? We're all going together. You, me, Lady Rika, and Erika too."
I gave her certainty. The absolute conviction that we would survive. That was the only thing that could anchor her.
"Together... hic... together... I want to go together... I want to get out... alive..."
"Yes. We're all going home. So, Rien, you need to stand up. Don't let the fear win. Rika and Erika are waiting for us. We have to save them, right?"
"Th-that's right... We have to save them... that's why we're here..."
"Exactly. Now, get up. Rohan and Hachi are struggling. It's time for us to do our part. Show them the power of a Witch."
"Mhm!"
The light returned to her eyes.
Thank god. Truly... thank god.
My blood had been running cold, the Labyrinth's malice feeling like a physical weight on my throat. But Rien had overcome it. She stood tall, her fear mastered.
She leveled her staff at the swarm engulfing Rohan.
"Fireball!"
CRASH!
The explosion scattered the bugs. Rohan, who had been swinging his sword even while buried, finally managed to leap clear of the swarm.
"Kuh-heok...!"
He spat a mouthful of blood. Hachi immediately lunged forward, grabbed Rohan, and threw him back toward us. Then, the monk thrust both palms out at the charging horde.
BOOM!
A blinding shockwave of light filled the tunnel—a divine blessing. It acted like a flashbang, freezing the bugs in their tracks. Their senses were fried, leaving them paralyzed and twitching.
This was our window.
"Move! Now!"
Hachi hoisted the battered Rohan onto his back and sprinted. Rien and I were right on his heels. I gripped her hand tight, running until we had put significant distance between us and the swarm.
*
"Rohan! Open your eyes!"
"Wait! I'm injecting the antidote!"
Killer Bugs were the scourge of the Sewer's third floor. They were vicious, light-sensitive predators that swarmed in response to the death of their kin. Worse, they carried stingers coated in a potent paralytic venom. Individually weak, but a single sting could end a run.
"Kugh...!"
Rohan had taken the brunt of it. He was covered in stings, his veins bulging and the skin turning a sickly purple. He'd been hit too many times. Without intervention, he'd be dead from respiratory failure within minutes.
He was only conscious because of his sheer physical grit and his purification-type Inung. A lesser adventurer would have been a corpse already.
I had to move. We didn't have a healer, so the responsibility fell to me. Hachi was a monk, but his blessings were strictly for combat.
"Rohan! Stay with me!"
"Kuh-heok... cough... Fuck... those goddamn bugs..."
I slammed three syringes of antidote into his thigh in rapid succession. He coughed up a mixture of blood and curses before staggering to his feet. His toughness made a barbarian look like a pampered noble.
"You... listen to me..." Rohan's eyes were bloodshot as he glared at me. "Tomorrow... you must save our comrades. Understand? If you try to back out of the Underground City after this... I'll kill you myself."
It was a desperate, bloody warning. They had pushed themselves to the brink of death to help us; if I betrayed that trust, I'd deserve the blade.
"I don't lie, Rohan. Tomorrow, I'm going to the Underground City with you, and we're bringing everyone back."
"Cough... A promise... A blood promise."
He held out a gore-stained hand, and I shook it firmly. Rohan turned to Hachi, his voice raspy.
"The Sewer is crawling. There are way too many monsters down here."
"Agreed," Hachi replied. "From the first floor to the third... the density is abnormal."
"Is it the Great Upheaval? Tch."
It wasn't just here. Even in the Breeding Woods, things were wrong. Vorpal Rabbits were packing together, and Hording Rabbits were appearing by the dozens.
"Let's keep moving. We're burning daylight."
Rohan, despite being the most injured, was the one pushing the pace. He wanted to finish this rescue so he could rest before tomorrow's descent. We didn't even stop to loot the bugs; we just followed Rien's lead. Those things loved light, and more would be coming soon.
"Look! The transference stone!"
We found it—the third stone. Rien's guidance was perfect, but the location of the stone meant one thing: our targets were deeper.
The knightess and the priestess were on the fourth floor. The worst-case scenario.
"They aren't on the third... we have to go to the fourth..."
We had moved as fast as humanly possible. It was becoming harder and harder to believe they were still alive. Rien realized it too; her face was pale, her expression bordering on tears.
Her hands and legs were shaking. The effects of the tonic were wearing off.
Could she handle the fourth floor? She'd only undergone Mana Adaptation once. Pushing this deep in her state... it could kill her.
I stopped in front of the stone and looked at her. Her hand in mine was trembling violently.
"Rien. Can you do this?"
I needed her to continue, but I couldn't force her. If I dragged her down against her will, she'd break, and we'd all die. She had to find the resolve herself.
"I... I..."
Her eyes wavered. She couldn't find the words.
I knew it was hard. I could see the terror in her eyes. But I also knew she couldn't live with herself if she gave up now. She had the 'Search and Track' Inung—the perfect tool for this. If she quit and her friends died, the guilt would destroy her.
I decided to lean into that guilt. It was cold, but we had to go down. People might call me heartless, but this was the Labyrinth City. Failure meant death. We hadn't crawled through this hell just to go home empty-handed. Even if they were dead, we had to bring back the bodies.
"Rien. It's okay to stop. No one will blame you. If you push your Inung too far, something terrible might happen to you. Tell me now. Are you okay with going down?"
I gripped her shoulders and forced her to look at me. By giving her the "out" before she could ask for it, I was forcing her to confront the necessity of the mission.
"I can go," she said, her voice gaining strength. "I can still move. I'm okay. I won't panic again. I'll save them... and then we're going to get that dessert."
The wavering in her eyes vanished. She had steeled herself.
"Understood."
She was ready. Rohan and Hachi took a final moment to check their gear.
"Hachi. How's your divine power?"
"Sufficient. Even if the White Crocodile shows up... we can handle it."
"The White Crocodile... let's hope it stays hidden. But stay sharp, you two."
Rohan looked at Rien and me.
"There's a high chance the Floor Master is active down there. Get ready for a real fight."
The Master of the Sewers. The fourth-floor boss.
The White Crocodile.
It was a massive, man-eating monstrosity with a hide like reinforced steel. Unlike the other pests in the Sewer, the Crocodile was a genuine threat. If we were lucky, the previous rescue team had killed it. But with the Great Upheaval twisting the spawn rates, we had to assume it was waiting for us.
'This is exactly why I didn't want to hit the fourth floor.'
Could these two take it? They were Silver-plates, so theoretically, yes. But they were exhausted and wounded.
"Rien."
"Mhm?"
"How many spells do you have left?"
"Maybe... five?"
"Right. Take this club."
"A club...?"
"Yes. You don't need training to swing a stick. If they get close, bash their heads in. Aim for the eyes or the skull."
"A mage with a club... okay! I'll try!"
I drew my sling and my sword. The time for watching from the sidelines was over. Rohan and Hachi had carried us this far, but on the fourth floor, everyone had to fight.
The fourth floor was a nightmare of Ratmen, Slimes, and Killer Bugs. And with the 'Floor Division' phenomenon likely in effect, we'd eventually have to descend even further to get back up.
The Labyrinth always gives you the worst-case scenario. You just have to be ready for it.
"Let's go. Down we go."
We stepped onto the transference stone and vanished into the fourth floor. The end of the line was finally in sight.