Those Who Live Without the Law

Chapter 94

Finding the Exit

Kairus handed over the decision at the crossroads to Tanya. Ironically, Tanya, the one granted the authority, didn’t look too eager about it.

From experience, it wasn’t enough to say Tanya was favored by the gods—her luck surpassed that.

Judging from past experiences, Tanya’s fortune existed solely to look after her.

On the battlefield, Tanya Lysand always survived and never got hurt.

As if it didn’t matter how miserable everyone else ended up, so long as she remained safe.

Some called it luck, while Tanya called it her father—some unknown force that, as it had always done, might bring about a similar result this time as well.

Tanya was worried about that.

“I think the left side might be better.”

Either way, now that the baton had been passed to her, Tanya continued to make the choices at the crossroads.

There was no way to be sure whether they were heading in the direction Kairus wanted.

But it was clear that this exploration was progressing in a direction favorable to her. Tanya was certain of that.

“…Feels like something’s changed around us.”

They had gone down two floors and then up three. During the exploration, Kairus had felt hunger eight times.

“We’re heading downward, slowly, in a large spiral.”

Kairus said this briefly as he chewed on a nutrition block.

“A spiral? But we went down two flights of stairs and up three, right?”

Irena tilted her head and asked.

Just by the numbers, they had gone up one floor. What Kairus said about spiraling downward wasn’t easy to grasp intuitively.

Instead of answering, Kairus placed the pen he used for notes on the floor.

The pen rolled and gently tapped the tip of Irena’s foot where she sat.

Irena took a moment to process Kairus’s action, then flinched and looked at him.

“It’s tilted.”

“Very subtly.”

But undeniably, the maze had a slope.

“We’re descending underground in a spiral. But you know what’s interesting?”

After a brief pause, Kairus looked at Tanya and walked over to where she was sitting.

Tanya sat directly opposite him.

Kairus brought the pen up to her nose, then let it go again.

Once more, the pen rolled and touched Irena’s heel.

“The slope.”

Irena realized something and looked surprised. Kairus gave a small nod.

“Irena, the place you're standing on is the center.”

The floor of this maze was vast and gently cone-shaped. And every cone, ultimately, had a single point where everything converged.

The spot where Irena was standing was precisely that location.

“If you were to dig straight down, vertically, from where you’re standing…”

At Kairus’s words, Melvin suddenly jumped to his feet.

“There’s a high chance that’s where the entrance to Pontus is!”

At Melvin’s outburst, Irena let out a small hum.

“So basically, I’m standing on the entrance to Pontus.”

The location was accurate, but the elevation was different. The entrance to Pontus lay beneath where Irena stood.

The problem was, they had no idea how much further down they needed to go.

“With the battle gear Kairus has…!”

Melvin, clearly excited, turned to Kairus.

“Calm down. We’ve figured out how to crack the maze, but it’s not as easy as you think.”

If there was another maze layer directly beneath the floor they were on, then using Flicker to erase the floor and descend could work.

But if there wasn’t another maze underneath their feet, using Flicker would be pointless. They’d just be digging into solid ground.

‘I’ve got the coordinates.’

Simply put, they had arrived at the spot marked with an X on a treasure map.

The only catch was—they didn’t know how deeply the treasure was buried.

And now that he had the coordinates, Kairus wouldn’t forget this location no matter how deep underground he went.

“I plan to keep going down as much as I can without straying far from here.”

Blindly using Flicker to dig and hoping for the best came with practical limitations.

“Still, it was definitely helpful. Maybe I should consider religion after all.”

Kairus looked at Tanya with a curious expression. Tanya immediately laughed at his words.

“You’re always welcome.”

“It was just a polite way of saying thank you, nothing more.”

Tanya looked disappointed right away. Kairus didn’t mind—disappointment was her problem.

As they had been wandering the maze, hoping for something to fall into their lap, a concrete and promising goal had finally emerged.

Even if the meals were meager and their bodies weary, just seeing a glimmer of possibility was enough to bring back some vigor.

While Kairus’s team picked up the pace with their newfound clue, Nora Galatea finally succeeded in smashing down the door.

“That did the trick. That door was a lot tougher than I thought.”

It had taken so much force that the output of three surrendered battle gears had been completely drained in the process.

“Sorry for draining you. But it’ll recharge if you wait, right? Anyway, I’m off.”

With those words, Nora stepped through the shattered door and bid farewell.

By letting them live, she had kept her promise. The three who were left behind by the broken door just stared at one another blankly.

“So… what now?”

At Lea’s words, Dublin looked at his own hands and muttered.

“What else is there to do?”

If they returned after failing the job, there’d be no more high-paying gigs like this.

It was easy for someone poor to adjust to a wealthy lifestyle—it didn’t even take a month.

But for someone who had grown used to wealth, going back to poverty was almost impossible. Even after years, they couldn’t forget the glory days of the past.

“I’ll die here if I have to. I’m not going to rot away alive.”

In Dublin’s case, money was even more vital.

Due to the reckless procedures he had undergone all over his body, if he didn’t regularly consume extremely expensive stabilizers, the side effects would cause his body to rot away.

If he couldn’t maintain his current income, he was as good as dead anyway.

“Me too.”

The other two had their own circumstances and absolutely needed to maintain their current earnings.

Living in the city was like riding a runaway train.

The only ways to stop were either being unable to handle the speed and derailing or crashing headfirst into a wall and shattering.

They waited until the battle gear finished charging, then got up and entered the Dimensional Maze.

“That little brat can’t be beaten.”

At Dublin’s words, the Scarecrow nodded in agreement.

“The ones with the best odds are the group traveling with the archaeologist.”

Although the twisted, pedophilic hunchback had died, they still had three combatants on this side, while Kairus’s group had only two.

Plus, during their first encounter, the Scarecrow had managed to make decent progress.

“All we have to do is kill the rest, capture the archaeologist, and make him find the way.”

At Lea’s remark, Dublin nodded. It was likely that Kairus’s group had been wandering the Dimensional Maze and gathering data.

If they could steal that too, it would be perfect.

“Think you can track them?”

“No matter how hard they try, they can’t hide every trace.”

Dublin tapped his nose lightly as he spoke. Among the enhancements he received was the sense of smell of a bear.

It was a procedure directly linked to the brain, and to use it actively, he had to consume large amounts of stabilizer—which was the main drawback.

But stabilizers were something his employer supplied in abundance. For the fencing group at Areumdri Pawnshop, acquiring what Dublin needed was no trouble at all.

“If not now, when would I ever use this?”

Dublin pulled out a vial, downed the stabilizer, and flared his nostrils.

“Follow me.”

But then, faced with an unexpected environment, Dublin found himself at a complete loss.

“What the fuck… what the hell is this?!”

The lights flickering on and off periodically—those he could handle. He could tolerate that.

But the smell.

The strong, piercing smells kept shifting in kind, robbing Dublin of his senses.

His overwhelmingly keen sense of smell had turned into a trap, making him dizzy.

"...."

Lea looked at Dublin with a displeased expression.

“Fix your face, bitch. I can still track them. Just a little dizzy, that’s all.”

“That’s a relief. I was worried about you.”

Of course, Lea had never worried about Dublin. There was no such thing as camaraderie between them to begin with.

She was merely judging whether he was still useful or not. Naturally, the Scarecrow, who remained silent nearby, was thinking the same.

“Follow me.”

Dublin soon regained his composure and took the lead.

When someone up front knows exactly where they’re going, those following can move faster. All they had to do was trace the same path.

Their objective was clear: quickly catch up to Kairus’s group, secure Melvin, and eliminate the rest.

They were even using battle gear output to speed up their pursuit. It was only a matter of time before they caught up.

“Well, look who it is—the Scarecrow. We’ve met before.”

Kairus, taking a short break, frowned deeply as he looked at the three who had successfully tracked them.

“Think we can talk this out peacefully?”

“That works too. Hand over Dr. Melvin Istovan, and you all kill yourselves.”

At Lea’s words, Kairus smacked his lips.

“I see you know how shameless you are—wearing a mask just to cover that face.”

Instead of replying, Lea took out a rusty anchor from her pocket and expanded it.

“Yeah, I may be shameless, but I’ve got skills.”

They assumed if the three of them charged in, they could clean things up fast and secure Melvin Istovan.

Lea, the Scarecrow, and Dublin were acting based on that calculation.

“Hm, is that so.”

Kairus’s mind spun rapidly. If their only target was Melvin Istovan, then ironically, his safety was assured.

But one thing still bugged him. Why had they suddenly changed tactics from “kill everyone” to “secure Melvin Istovan”?

A thought flashed through Kairus’s head.

“Did they run into the Lunaseeker?”

But Kairus brushed the thought aside.

“Bullshit.”

If they had run into the Lunaseeker in this environment, there’s no way they’d still be alive.

For them to have survived, it would mean the Lunaseeker had spared them…

“I’d sooner believe a man got pregnant than believe the Lunaseeker let an enemy live.”

That was how Kairus saw the Lunaseeker.

The most efficient way for the Lunaseeker to complete the mission was to kill everyone.

So then why had these people suddenly changed their approach…?

“Were the ones hired by the Lantern Gang really that strong?”

“What are you talking about? We never even met them.”

At Dublin’s response, Kairus was thrown into deeper confusion.

Did they really encounter the Lunaseeker… and survive?

“There’s no way you guys are strong enough to survive an encounter with the Lunaseeker.”

At Kairus’s words, the trio visibly flinched. That reaction told Kairus everything he needed to know.

“No fucking way. You’re saying a Lunaseeker agent actually let you live? What the hell is going on…”

Today, Kairus had met a pregnant man. That’s how shocking and unbelievable the situation was to him.