Survive the labyrinth with EX-grade traits

“Come on, Crib, stop sulking and calm down. You were in the wrong, weren’t you?”

“I know, I know! But wasn’t it a bit much to punch someone in front of another party? How much did those guys laugh at me?”

“Yeah. You should have just talked it out. It was a bit too violent. Let’s just drop it. Okay? We’re only on the first floor, and the atmosphere is already like this.”

Serri tried to calm Crib down and ease the tension in the party.

I couldn’t stand it anymore.

“Wasn’t it a bit much to punch someone? If a fight had broken out, you would have been killed at the very least. I saved your life, you know?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Behind you were two women, one a witch and the other the sister of the Blood Witch. Do you know what that means?”

“The sister of the Blood Witch? Was that the white-haired girl we saw?”

“Yes! I went to the guild and happened to see her. The news must have spread through the people there. Didn’t you hear about it?”

In fact, I was slightly startled by the sudden surge of killing intent that day. Damn. Even now, thinking about it makes me shudder.

“But… even if we fought and they died in the Labyrinth, no one will know who killed them, right?”

Ha. Listening to them, I couldn’t help but sigh.

“What’s the problem with fighting and killing someone? If a fight had broken out, we could have just killed them and fed them to the Labyrinth. That’s all.”

I can’t believe I had this idiot in my party and went on two Labyrinth trips with him.

“Hey, you! Ha. Who knows what kind of devious methods a 27-floor adventurer can come up with.”

“Ah!”

“And I heard that high-ranking nobles have rare items that can resurrect anyone who dies. Don’t you think a deep-level adventurer with a nickname would have something like that?”

I shook my head unconsciously and raised my right hand to my throat.

“What if they come back to life and they tell the Blood Witch we killed them?”

“Hmm… yes.”

I sighed again at the idiot’s expression.

Should I remove him from the party and look for a new scout when we return?

“And most of all, the leader’s eyes bothered me the most.”

“His eyes? They were a bit unusual, shining gold.”

“Yes, yes. They were shining gold and a bit unusual! He was handsome, but his eyes made the atmosphere…”

Hoo, Serri, you too. Everyone is so annoying.

“That’s not what I meant. After Crib made that remark, the leader put his hand on his sword hilt, and his eyes showed absolute confidence as if he could kill us all right there.”

Yes. It was an absolute certainty.

“Unless you’re an idiot, you wouldn’t be so confident unless you’re an overwhelming powerhouse or you can perfectly gauge the difference in strength between yourself and your opponent.”

I shook my head and clicked my tongue.

“If he were an overwhelming powerhouse, he wouldn’t be stuck on the first floor. It’s more likely that he can perfectly gauge the difference in strength between himself and his opponents.”

I shook my head and clicked my tongue.

“I don’t know what traits he has, but I don’t want to fight someone who can read me and prepare accordingly. It’s terrifying.”

I don’t know anything about him except for his appearance, but he knows about me and is prepared? How horrible.

“Now do you understand why you got punched? There’s a saying that you should be careful with your words in the Labyrinth. Please remember that. And remember, let’s move on.”

By the way, their equipment was also excellent.

‘I’ve never been beyond the fifth floor, but in my opinion, that man is not the type to stay on the lower floors.’

After finishing my thoughts, I started walking again, leading the party members.

.

.

.

After passing Luke’s party, we continued smoothly without any issues, following the direction indicated by the curse.

Whenever we encountered other adventurer parties, they would just glance at us and move on, probably because Crib, that idiot beastman, was the problem.

The other parties would briefly look resentful or make grim faces and then silently go their way.

We also encountered monsters, but we were able to defeat them without much trouble.

Just like now.

“Kyaaak!”

“Kyaa!”

Screech. Slash!

“Kyaak.”

“Kyaa…”

I wiped the blood off my sword and said,

“You have to cut off the Ratman’s tail, right?”

“Yes! Goblins’ ears, Ratmen’s tails, and Kobolds’ noses!”

Ratmen are like giant rats that walk on two legs, and like Goblins, they are weak in individual combat.

I cut off their tails and put them in my bag, then continued walking.

As we approached a crossroads, we encountered another party.

It was a party of five men with tattoos and intimidating appearances. Their leader had red hair, and something seemed off about them.

‘This feels suspicious. We need to move quickly to avoid any unnecessary trouble.’

I briefly made eye contact with the red-haired adventurer and tried to pass by without saying anything, but one of the bulky men took out a piece of paper from his bag and whispered into the leader’s ear.

“Hey, stop for a moment, bro.”

Before we had taken a few steps, the red-haired adventurer blocked our way with his arms.

Then he carefully examined us.

“Yes, it’s them. When half of their party was almost wiped out, they managed to get away with these weaklings. What a coincidence! We took a break, and now this is happening.”

What is he talking about? Why are they staring at us?

First, let’s check their information.

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[Gospel]

[Strength: D+] [Agility: C-] [Endurance: D+]
[Stamina: D+] [Mana: D-] [Luck: D]

[Possessed Traits] (Collapse)

Intermediate Dagger Technique
Inherent Madness
Hunting Time
Ankle Slash

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What a crazy guy. C-rank?

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[Inherent Madness (C)] [P]

A man with a congenital defect in his humanity. Inside him lurks a beast of madness, hungry and restless.

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Inflicting damage on hostile entities and seeing blood increases ‘Madness’ stacks. All attacks’ damage increases based on the number of stacks, up to a maximum of 5.

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When damaged by a hostile entity and reduced to a dying state, the character loses consciousness and enters a ‘Frenzy’ state.

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In the ‘Frenzy’ state, all possessed techniques are temporarily converted.

[Hunting Time (D)] [A]

A technique used by a group of human hunters. They are vile and cruel, and whenever they start a new human hunt, they mark their prey with a seal and play with them while chasing them.

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Activation phrase: ‘The hunt begins.’

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Targets with the seal receive additional weak defense-ignoring damage from the user.

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When the user chases a sealed target, their agility increases by one level.

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The seal cannot be applied to targets stronger than the user.

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[Ankle Slash (D)] [A]

A technique used to slash the ankles of prey, reducing their mobility. Depending on the strength and the way the ankles are slashed, it can cause exquisite pain, a cruel attack solely for hunting.

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‘Ankle Slash’ – A technique to quickly slash the ankles of the opponent, causing various status effects such as slow, bleeding, severing, and fear, depending on the user’s skill level.

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When I heard the man whispering to Gospel, I quickly checked the information of the other two men, and they were just like Crib.

Damn. What are the guards doing?

If human hunters are freely roaming the first floor, isn’t the pre-entry inspection pointless? Did they use illegal magic items or something to manipulate the inspection?

‘Yeriel, can you hear me?’

‘Yes, I can hear you.’

It’s a good thing we learned how to communicate with each other using telepathy the day before our entry.

I need to act without them noticing.

“Why are you blocking our way suddenly? Do you have any business with our party?”

‘Don’t move, just listen.ì

‘I checked their traits because I sensed something strange about them.’

“Yes, we do have business. Well… to be precise, it’s something that just came up. Handsome friend.”

‘They’re not an ordinary adventurer party. They’re all human hunters, and that red-haired guy is stronger than me.’

“I don’t want to waste time here, so get to the point. What’s the problem?”

‘They’re blocking our way and wasting time, so they must be planning to kill us. But why? Why did they suddenly target us after letting us go? What’s written on that paper?’

‘It’s probably because of me.’

“Yes! So there’s no need to drag this out.”

Gospel said this and pointed at Yeriell.

“Hand over the sister of the Blood Witch. Then we’ll let you and the witch go. We don’t want any unnecessary trouble since we’re already in the Labyrinth.”

.

.

.

It seems to be because of the incident where Evelyn found and killed a large group of human hunters. Oh, what should I do…

Damn. There are only three people in our party, and they’re asking me to give up one of them.

The other one, what? Should I just hand her over? Will they really let us go if I do?

Grind.

Why do all the people I meet interfere with my relationships?

These bastards. I’ll never give her up. I’ll never let her go.

“I can’t do that. Is someone who abandons their companions to save themselves worthy of entering the Labyrinth? Would you give her up so easily?”

‘Yeriell, if you’re having any strange thoughts, get rid of them right now. No matter how strong he is, I won’t give you up and run away.’

‘Ugh… I understand.’

“Haha, I didn’t expect you to. You’re right. If they were the kind of people who would easily give her up, they wouldn’t be worthy of entering the Labyrinth in the first place.”

Except for the leader, Gospel, the rest are trash.

Although his ability scores are slightly higher than mine, they’re not overwhelmingly different, so I can fight him using my traits.

He smiled, flashing his teeth, as his eyes lit up.

“But if you don’t want to hand her over, you’ll have to die.”

‘Yeriell, use your shield!’

“Divine Shield, protect them!”

[Divine Shield]

Whoosh.

Clang! Clang!

“What? You blocked it?”

Good. The skinny guy behind them threw daggers, but Yeriell blocked them well.

These bastards are determined. It seems like one of us will have to die to end this.

First, I need to neutralize the long-range attacker so that we don’t get into trouble.

I drew my sword and concentrated.

Fizz. Fizzzz—

‘Lightning.’

Kaboom—!

“■■■■!”

“Kyaaak!”

“What the hell, a priest and a black mage can use lightning magic?”

The man hit by the lightning fell to the ground.

I don’t know if he’s dead, but his body is twitching, so he probably won’t be able to get up for a while.

The two men next to him were also holding on parts of his bodies and were shocked by the lightning’s aftermath, groaning in pain.

Zzzzz—

Krrr. I felt a strong headache from the recoil of the lightning.

“Hmm, young man, you have quite a few tricks up your sleeve. I thought you were a swordsman, but it seems you can also use magic.”

Gospel saw my grimace and concluded that I was the one who used the lightning.

“Hmm. If you have more tricks to show, go ahead. I’ll give you time to entertain me before you die.”

Gospel smiled, confident that he could kill me no matter what I did.

“Yes. I’ll do as you wish.”

I gritted my teeth and started pouring mana into the hilt of my sword.

The sword began to glow purple as it vibrated.

[Hard Body Activation]

[All physical stats increase by one level.]

Hoo… Maintaining the opening of Barrak while continuously pouring mana into it was not easy.

It was like drawing different shapes with both hands while doing a tap dance.

Fortunately, my mana was infinitely replenished internally due to my core, so there was no physical problem.

However, Hard Body forced my mind to be highly alert, and I had to separately operate the mana into my right hand…

Damn. This is not the time to complain.

“Oh, I like that sword. It’s not a unique weapon, but it’s at least B-rank, right? How did a newbie like you get your hands on it?”

“If you like it so much, try to take it… Go!”

Clang!

“Ouch, you’re quite fierce. I was going to give you more time, but did you start this?”

“You fucking bastard. Stop talking and fight.”

The battle began with my first strike.