Survive the labyrinth with EX-grade traits

‘I’ll remember all of you who I couldn’t kill just now.’

So, I took out some low-grade and mid-grade potions from my backpack and handed them out to several people.

Thud.

I approached the person who looked to be in the worst condition and poured the only mid-grade potion I had onto their wound.

“Th, thank you. Thank you for saving me!”

I nodded in response and turned to leave, but something caught my eye.

‘What is this… a seal? A mark?’

A small mark in the shape of a jointed doll remained on the wound where the thread had pierced.

And one of the traits that Irmela possessed, which was partially censored, was Puppet □ Shaping.

…Could it be?

As this ominous thought crossed my mind, Irmela raised her voice so that everyone could hear.

“Hmm, it seems the level of the people gathered here is higher than I thought. You’re very persistent. Then…”

“What do you mean? How long do you think you can keep this up?”

“I will end your miserable life with my sword, you enemy of Medea.”

Thud!

Crunch!

From a distance, it seemed that the twins and Asan had already used up most of their magic power during the performance, and were now barely squeezing out what was left.

“Oh, great God of Light. Let this fist be imbued with the light to destroy evil!”

Boom!!!

The monk, the muscular man, was the only one who could continue the offense with the support of the director and the mystical magician. But…

“Tehelrum has commanded me to secure as many sacrifices as possible, so it’s time to move on!”

Boom!!!

Irmela clapped her palms together, summoning a giant tentacle and pushing everyone back with the resulting shockwave.

Her eyes shone with a sinister purple light.

[Irmela casts ‘Puppet Doll Technique’.]

Damn, just as I thought, it’s a trap.

“We’ve been had! Everyone, get away from the injured people!!!”

“What?”

“What’s that?”

Click.

A sinister sound, like the gears of a rusty clockwork device, could be heard as Irmela gestured.

Boom!

The injured people, who were either lying down or sitting and receiving treatment, or those who had lost too much blood and were unconscious, began to stand up like zombies.

“Son?”

“Helen! You’re awake!!!”

“No, get away from them!”

They weren’t waking up because they had been healed, but because they were being controlled. Couldn’t they see the hazy look in their eyes?

Whoosh!!

Crunch!

“Aaahhhh!!!”

“Gasp… why is this happening?”

The injured people, who had lost their sense of self, attacked those closest to them without discrimination.

They bit with their teeth, scratched with their nails, and pierced with their arms, attacking with relentless ferocity. Most people were too shocked to respond.

The man I had healed with my mid-grade potion was no exception.

He was an adventurer, a rogue, and he drew his dagger from his waist and lunged at me.

Thud!

‘Damn, should I just kill him? But he’s being controlled, not intentionally hostile. How can I neutralize him?’

I hesitated for a moment, but since I didn’t know how to subdue him, I had no choice but to try to cut off his breath with my sword.

“Here! If you cut off the skin with the black mark, you can neutralize him!”

“Just knock him out once, and he won’t get up again!”

Surprisingly, some experienced adventurers had come up with a countermeasure in the short time they had regained their senses, and they shouted to let us know.

Good. Let’s do this.

Even without their sense of self, they relentlessly aimed for my neck with their blades.

Hoo!

I dodged the blade by a hair’s breadth and hit his solar plexus with the pommel of my sword, then knocked him out with a few more blows.

Thud.

Similarly, people who had heard the countermeasure were trying to knock out their family and friends, tears in their eyes.

“Aaahh! You said to look forward to it after the performance, and this is what you do?!”

“My brother’s head is broken again, right after I healed him with a potion! Heal, heal!”

Thud. Thud. Thud.

…I couldn’t watch this anymore.

“Everyone, listen up! I’m Balian, a junior instructor of the Swordsmanship Guild! The Guild Master has been contacted, so if we hold out a little longer, we’ll find a way out! So let’s keep going!!!”

“The Guild Master of the Swordsmanship Guild…? If that person comes, we’re sure to win!”

At that moment, a middle-aged man, who was protecting his family, shouted out as everyone was successfully neutralizing the injured people one by one.

‘The Guild Master? I don’t know who it is, but they must be at least a high-level adventurer!’

Everyone seemed to be thinking the same thing, and whether they knew the Guild Master or not, they all nodded in agreement.

“I’ll cast a protective barrier first, and anyone who can use a similar technique, follow my lead! We need to push back all the crazed people at once to neutralize them!”

Whoosh!

“May the holy light protect us all, and bring peace to the wicked!”

[Divine Field]

Boom!

“Oh great dragon of the cold, roar! Scream! Ice Dragon’s Roar!!”

“Wooooo!!!”

[Berthold casts ‘Warrior’s Roar’.]

Kwaaaa!!!

Most of the adventurers gathered here were ordinary low-level adventurers, but there were also a few exceptionally strong adventurers and many others who joined forces to block and push back the injured people who were rushing towards them.

“Now’s the time!”

“Yeah!”

“Instead of knocking them out, just tear off their flesh and let them regenerate!”

They succeeded in knocking out or neutralizing the frozen, fallen, and restrained people by cutting off the black marks.

The barbarian, who was at the forefront, wielded his two-handed weapon and shouted, “Only the weak and those who are likely to die should stay here! The rest, follow me!”

Yes, the only one left was Irmela.

Compared to her, our side had at least several dozen people, excluding the unconscious, the helpless civilians, and the adventurers.

Now that there was nothing to hold us back, we could all rush towards Irmela and stall for time until the Guild Master or whoever arrived. If we were lucky, we might even be able to kill her before then.

I glanced towards the front, and the circus members were also starting to show signs of fatigue. We had to hurry!

“Go!”

As we charged towards the center of the stage, filled with renewed hope, something unexpected happened.

Kwaaaaa!!!

What the hell is this?

[Gregory casts ‘A Pair of Radiant Wings’.]

[Berthold casts ‘Bearskin of Protection’.]

Whoosh!!!

Thud.

“Gasp…”

“Gasp. Cough.”

The paladin, wrapped in large wings of light, and the barbarian, whose skin had turned brown, were at the forefront.

Thanks to the two of them blocking the fierce flames that had been unleashed without warning, everyone was able to survive.

“What the hell is this? A breath attack? Is there another enemy besides Irmela?”

Wait a minute, if it’s a breath attack…

Thud.

Just as an attack suddenly flew in, the battle between the circus members and Irmela in the center came to a standstill…

A person walked into the Colosseum.

“Ahaha! Finally, the consumption is over? I was wondering why it was taking so long!”

“Shu, Shurika?!”

Yes, it was none other than Shurika.

‘Can I still call her Shurika, the first performer of the show?’

Her red bob was dyed purple in places, forming a bridge, and her eyes shone with the same purple light as Irmela’s tentacles.

She had already changed a lot.

Not to mention, the flame breath she had just sent our way was identical to the elemental fusion performance, so it was clear that she had become an enemy for some reason.

“What the hell is this… consumption? What have you done, you damn demon!”

Thud!

The monk wrapped his fist in white divine power and rushed towards Irmela.

“Oh, no.”

“Gasp!”

Shurika muttered and waved her hand, and a fire lion twice as big as the first appeared and pounced on him.

Whoosh!!!

Thud!

“Gasp. Cough.”

The monk was thrown far away by the fire explosion and the massive impact, and Shurika shed black tears as she watched him writhing on the ground, his body burned.

“Please, kill me.”

-Uki-ki.

-Hiiing!

-Pwoo!

Behind Shurika, who was despairing with her mind and body out of sync, the spirits, also shedding black tears, appeared one by one with their cries.

“What, what is that?”

“Do we have to deal with a spirit master now?”

“Damn, is that the problem now! Look at that face, she wants to die right now! It’s clear that she’s being used by the Evil God’s minions!”

Seeing Shurika, who was so confident just a few hours ago, and the spirits, who were happily dancing for the audience, in such a state,

A sense of disgust beyond words rose in everyone’s hearts.

“Gulp.”

Laugh?

“Hahaha! Look at that face. It’s a masterpiece!”

Crunch.

Irmela’s laughter, finding the whole situation hilarious, united us in one mind.

“I, I will definitely catch that bitch.”

“I agree. That is evil. It must be expelled.”

“Then, shall we end this before interference from above?”

[Irmela casts ‘The Legs of Tehelrum’.]

Whoosh!!!

A massive bundle of tentacles and black threads, along with the flames spewed by Shurika’s spirits.

We had to grit our teeth and clash with them, no matter what.

Of course, that was the case.

“This is ridiculous. It’s a mess.”

“…”

Shiver.

A voice that rang a bell in our heads in an instant.

It was like the essence of Evelyn’s anger at the humiliation of Yeriel, and I felt a sense of dizziness, as if I had encountered a fragment of her killing intent.

In the slowed-down world, I barely managed to turn my eyes.

‘Is that an ally? Could that be the Guild Master of the Swordsmanship Guild?’

Suddenly, the figure of someone wearing orange sunglasses and carrying a sword appeared at the front of the stage.

Her presence was so overwhelming that it pushed back the darkness around her, creating the illusion of everything turning white.

Slick.

She placed her hand on the sword hilt at her waist.

“Huff. Phew.”

She stepped forward with her left foot.

[Sena casts ‘Horizontal Slash’.]

She slashes from left to right.

A loud burst of sound. A large movement. Rippling magic power.

None of these applied to her.

Slick.

Just one horizontal slash.

With that one strike, the giant tentacles, black threads, and flames that had covered our vision disappeared without a trace.

‘What just happened?’

“Huh?”

“Huh? Huh?”

“Guild Master!!!”

The middle-aged man who had introduced himself as an instructor earlier waved his arms above his head.

“Hey, sorry! I’m a little late?”

She laughed as if nothing had happened.

“Of course, those Evil God guys, when I tried to contact them, they had already messed up the spell for the 5th district Warp Gate, right? Sneaky bastards. It seems they’re only good at being bad.”

Tap, tap.

“So I couldn’t wait for the restoration work and just ran here from the 4th district! Haha-ha!”

The tense atmosphere was relaxed by her playful laughter.

‘If she’s here, we can do this!’

After that, a flame began to burn in everyone’s hearts.

Huh.

The scene I had just witnessed was so vivid in my mind that I couldn’t help but stare at her and want to see her information.

[The trait Chaos’ eye was negated by Martial Arts God.]

“Huh?”

‘Damn.’

It was the first time that Chaos’ eye not only wasn’t able to read a portion of the status window but was completely negated, revealing my attempt.

“Huff.”

In the blink of an eye, she was standing next to me, and Sena, the Guild Master, grabbed my chin and raised her sunglasses.

How many seconds had passed?

I was sweating coldly as I looked into her eyes, and she laughed and let go.

“Interesting? Cutie. You and I will have a private talk later.”

Slick.

“First, let’s take care of that thing.”

“Has it taken too long? I didn’t expect the interference to come so soon!”

Irmela gritted her teeth at the sight of Sena.

“…”

“Hah! So arrogant. Well, you’re going to be a special offering to Tehelrum! Die!!!”

Whoosh!!!