BXBX NOVEL Chapter 25 – Uncharted Dungeon (3)
Chapter 25 – Uncharted Dungeon (3)
Chapter 25 – Uncharted Dungeon (3)
Kasan revised his evaluation of the Barbarian.
Despite his appearance, he was sensible, but in some aspects, he was just downright crazy.
Ketal continued to prepare.
He shopped for about an hour and even bought expensive ropes.
“It’s expensive, but it’s cheaper than the cost of our lives. This should suffice.”
“Is, is that so?” The priest’s face showed signs of exhaustion. After being dragged around for about an hour, it was understandable.
Ketal picked up the purchased items. T
he thing was larger than a person’s torso and felt as light as a balloon filled with air.
“All preparations are complete. Let’s proceed.”
“Yes…”
They returned to the dungeon.
The ghost, appearing once again, spoke in a slightly bewildered tone.
[You’ve returned. …And you’ve prepared diligently.]
“No one has returned from the maze. It’s not bad to be thorough in your preparations.”
[Is that so?]
That’s not barbarian like
The ghost’s gaze held such emotions.
The party silently empathized.
[It doesn’t matter. So, will you challenge the maze, or retreat once again?]
“We’ll challenge it,”
Ketal said.
The other party members also quietly agreed.
“We accept.”
“Darn it. We’ll challenge it.”
“We will challenge it.”
[Very well.]
Swish!
The ghost waved its hand in approval.
The dungeon began to emit strange sounds and started to warp.
[Come forth. To the Finite Maze. If you succeed in conquering the maze, you shall be rewarded with everything it holds.]
“Are those words true?”
Ketal revealed his skepticism.
For a moment, the ghost got shivers down his spine, but he chose to ignore it and continued with his task.
Clang!
A loud noise erupted.
The dungeon began to collapse.
No, it wasn’t a collapse; it was more like the illusionary facade was finally revealing its true form.
Walls opened up, and the floor disappeared.
The scene resembled the world crumbling down, sending the party into a panic.
And Ketal smiled brightly.
“Ho ho!”
The dungeon transformed.
Its structure melded and shifted with magic, turning into a fantastical scene.
Ketal focused intently, not missing a single detail of the change.
Everything crumbled.
The party either covered their heads or hastily moved to places that hadn’t collapsed yet.
Only Ketal remained, standing alone.
It was a sight seemingly detached from the world.
The ghost stared blankly at the scene for a moment.
And then, all the transformations ceased.
In an instant, the world expanded, and they found themselves in the maze.
“This is it.”
This was the maze.
Ketal laughed in satisfaction, while the party members, feeling the solid ground beneath them, sighed in relief.
“Ugh…”
“I-I think I’m feeling nauseous…”
The world’s transformation had caused the ground to shake momentarily, inducing nausea.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes, I think I’ll feel better if I rest for a bit.”
“Rest. I’ll scout the surroundings.”
Ketal glanced around.
Smooth iron walls completely enclosed them on both sides.
The gap between the walls was approximately 5 meters, enough space to move without much trouble.
The ceiling was about 10 meters high.
Dim torches, barely illuminating the darkness, served as landmarks.
‘A maze.’
A typical maze.
He couldn’t help but laugh.
A maze.
He had arrived at a maze.
He struggled to contain his laughter.
A maze, a maze…
“Ugh…”
“Damn it. If the ground was going to collapse, they should have warned us.”
The party members checked their surroundings, their faces pale with despair and fear.
The priest’s face turned pale.
“Oh, no… That thing.”
The faces of the other party members, as they followed her gaze, turned equally pale.
There was a corpse there.
How long had it been?
It was a perfect skeleton with not a shred of flesh left.
On the ground, there was a single word.
{Abandon hope.}
“Ugh…”
They felt as if it was showing them their future.
The party members were terrified.
But only Ketal approached the corpse with a nonchalant expression.
After inspecting the corpse, he said.
“It’s a fake.”
“What?”
“If it had turned into a skeleton, it would mean the body has been there for at least a few months. If this place is as sealed as it seems, it could have been here much longer. Has this dungeon been around that long? And where are the clothes?”
“Ah.”
Only then did they realize.
The skeleton was not wearing any clothes.
The warrior cautiously opened its mouth.
“There’s a possibility it stripped in despair at its final moments…”
“In that case, the clothes should be somewhere nearby. And since the floor here is made of iron, it must have had a weapon to scratch the message.”
As Ketal continued to examine the corpse, he kept speaking.
“And the skeleton is too clean. There are no signs of broken bones or gold coating. It’s as if it’s a model.”
The priest murmured as she realized what Ketal meant.
“…Is this some kind of device to scare us?”
“I’m not sure, but it’s highly likely. Well, no need to worry. Nevertheless, if it really is a corpse, let’s offer our condolences.”
Ketal closed his eyes as if in prayer.
At that moment, the party members realized once again what kind of person Ketal was.
This Barbarian was strong, but not ignorant.
He could calmly assess situations and see through things to their core.
With him, they could escape even a maze.
Their despair began to slowly fade away.
“…Facing life-threatening situations has happened many times during our missions. There’s nothing new about it now.”
They were mercenaries, adventurers who roamed the world.
As the warrior said, they had faced life-threatening situations many times before.
“Even if we get teleported into the abyss, we can survive as long as we keep our wits about us. Isn’t that right?”
“Is that a common saying here?”
Ketal murmured as if it were funny.
As the warrior began to slowly explore the maze, the priest exclaimed in panic.
“Wait! You can’t just move around recklessly!”
“Uh, huh?”
The warrior abruptly stopped, turning around with a puzzled expression.
“This is a maze. Since we don’t know what kind it is, we need to ascertain its layout first!”
“R-right. My mistake.”
The warrior returned hesitantly.
Normally, the thief would have mocked him for his actions, but not now.
If the warrior hadn’t moved, the thief would have been the first to do so.
The party members began to survey the area within their line of sight.
Ketal also inspected the walls.
‘Solid.’
The iron walls were as sturdy as they appeared.
As he tapped on them, a solid sound echoed, indicating their considerable thickness.
Ketal closed his eyes and expanded his senses.
Many pieces of information beyond his line of sight were felt by his senses.
Despite expanding his senses considerably, he couldn’t see an exit.
‘It’s vast.’
He withdrew his extended senses.
It would take quite some time to confirm it by walking normally.
A space of this size, made within such a small dungeon.
‘Is this also the power of magic?’
What is a dungeon?
What lies at its end?
He felt a surge of curiosity.
Amidst this, the party members discovered some writing on the wall.
“K-Ketal, come see this.”
“Oh? An explanation?”
Ketal looked at the wall with interest.
[1. This maze is finite.]
[2. This place is the center of the maze.]
[3. This maze is in the shape of a square.]
[4. This maze consists of one floor.]
[5. The exit of this maze exists at the edge.]
[6. There is no time limit.]
[7. There are no riddles or special methods to escape the maze.]
[8. This maze does not change.]
[9. There are no elements in this maze that directly threaten adventurers.]
“R-really a maze.”
They painstakingly deciphered each word in an attempt to gain some information.
The priest muttered.
“S-so, this is the center of the maze, and the exit is at the edge? It’s not a multi-story structure.”
They racked their brains, trying to figure out any hints they could gather.
But in the end, they gave up.
The warrior spoke up.
“…This is too little information.”
“I wish there were more hints at least…”
“Hm? Isn’t this enough?”
And amidst their murmurs, Ketal intervened.
He looked at the party members with a puzzled expression.
“…Is this not enough?”
“Based on the writings here, this maze doesn’t change, and there are no riddles or special methods. It means it’s a very typical maze.”
“T-That’s right.”
“Then, it means we just have to use conventional methods to conquer the maze. No need to overthink it.”
“Conventional… methods?”
What are conventional methods?
They were just simple, ignorant mercenaries.
They didn’t know how to tackle a maze.
But suddenly, the priest seemed to have a realization.
“I… I know.”
“What? You do?”
“I’ve learned about this before.”
She was a priest.
A woman who had received education in the teachings of God.
As she was about to embark on her mission, she received substantial education.
Among them, there were stories about mazes.
She hesitantly placed her hand on the iron wall.
“You just have to move along the maze walls like this.”
“…Huh?”
“That’s the method? I don’t understand.”
The warrior and the thief had faces of incomprehension.
Merely placing a hand on the wall was the method?
It didn’t make sense to them logically.
But Ketal nodded as if he understood.
“Left-hand rule and right-hand rule?”
“Oh, you know about it.”
“It’s not a very difficult concept.”
No, it wasn’t.
When the priest first heard about it, she couldn’t understand it properly and spent hours agonizing over it.
Yet this Barbarian seemed to understand it perfectly.
After a brief surprise, the priest cleared her throat and began to explain.
“Think about it. The shape of the maze is ultimately connected.”
“Connected…?”
“Um…”
It was hard to explain verbally, so the priest picked up a dagger.
She was planning to draw the shape of the maze on the ground.
But clink!
“Huh, what?”
However, the iron floor didn’t even scratch under the dagger.
Despite several attempts, it remained intact.
Watching quietly, Ketal picked up an axe.
“Let me try.”
“Oh, please. The shape…”
The priest was about to say more, but Ketal started drawing on the floor with the axe.
Unlike her dagger, where the axe met the ground, it started to split smoothly like clay.
“I-I should explain how to draw it…”
The priest’s voice gradually faded.
The shape of the maze was drawn from the end of Ketal’s axe.
It was a truly typical maze.
There were no contradictions, and the structure was neat.