A vast hall lay before him.
Ur realized he had reached the deepest level of the labyrinth, his destination. Even without observation, it was obvious due to the blatant “mark” present.
There floated a gigantic crystal in the center of the hall.
Similar to the magic stones obtainable from monsters but different—this crystal emitted a brilliant radiance. This place where Ur stood was the source and driving force behind the labyrinth’s transformation into a labyrinth—what was known as the “Core Magic Stone.”
But in the depths of the labyrinth, before the treasure, there always stood a guardian.
“[B-U-O-O-O-O-O…!]”
Black as needles fur, a protruding nose, terrifying fangs extending from the sides—more than anything, its enormous body spread vertically and horizontally.
“Giant Tusk Boar…”
A Grade Twelve within the “Thirteen Ranks” used to measure monster strength. Just one level above the little imps, but even a single encounter with it posed a significant threat. Perhaps because it guarded the heart of the labyrinth, its body was noticeably larger compared to ordinary ones. It might have been over three meters tall.
“…Akane, YOUR bro might die.”
Ur candidly expressed his impression.
In the Great Sin city-state of Greed, within the labyrinthine mines of Keika…
Managed by the loan sharks of the Golden Phoenix – Greed Branch, who acquired the rights from the Great Sin city-state of Greed, the excavation of large quantities of magic stones was conducted day and night.
Exploiting debtors whose lives were in shambles due to debt, the perilous excavation operations of magic stones had achieved great success. Cutting costs, taking risks, and burdening adventurers, they continued to generate extraordinary wealth.
For the foreman, a dwarf named Lugola, this place was a garden that produced infinite riches.
“What brings you here exactly…?”
However, he was currently cornered.
He knew that an inspection from the headquarters of the Golden Phoenix – Proudia was imminent. Visits were typically unannounced, but he knew through his connections when and at what timing they would arrive.
Yet, they had arrived a month earlier than the information he possessed.
“Surprised? It’s earlier than planned, isn’t it? By about a month?”
Everything was laid bare.
Lugola felt sweat trickling down his back.
This was very, very bad. How much did they know? Could it be everything? No, surely not! He repeated these questions to himself over and over, swallowing hard. With no way to escape this situation, his eyes darted around suspiciously, his behavior becoming erratic.
“Now then, what’s this all about?”
Before him stood a delicate and beautiful golden-haired girl. She resembled a meticulously polished gem, an incongruous sight amidst this gathering of bottom-tier adventurers.
However, her gaze was unnaturally sharp, piercing through Lugola.
“It’s common for discrepancies to exist between the ledgers and actual numbers. It’s human nature.”
She casually flipped through the mine’s ledger. However, this wasn’t the one submitted to the Golden Phoenix headquarters; it was a secretly kept shadow ledger.
“In this place where the divine barrier of the Sun, a crucial protector of humanity by the Celestial King, doesn’t exist, we’re managing to fend off monster attacks with an unreliable magic barrier. Some things might be overlooked.”
“Y-yes, that’s, well, indeed…”
“But there are limits, Lugola.”
She had the evidence, cautiously hidden so only she knew about it. Just this fact alone was enough to make Lugola’s heart feel like it was stopping.
“The Golden Phoenix is a lender exclusively for adventurers. For adventurers who can’t repay their debts, we impose different forms of compensation. Well, we haven’t exactly strayed from that policy…”
It was hopeless. Lugola thought this as he reached into his pocket, extending his hand towards his last resort.
“Engaging the attention of the knights using my foster father’s name is an act that cannot be overlooked—”
Before the girl could finish her statement, Lugola produced his trump card. A scroll engraved with miraculous symbols gleamed. Its light began to envelop him—when suddenly,
“Uuugghh!!!?”
A knife was thrust into the back of his hand.
“Where did you procure a teleportation scroll?”
A female attendant, accompanying the golden-haired girl, stabbed Lugola with a knife. With a dull thud, the scroll stained with his blood fell. She picked it up as Lugola, drenched in sweat from the pain, crawled towards the girl on his knees. The golden-haired girl spoke calmly to him.
“It’s pitiful. Despite having such ambition, you’ve lost your virtue drowning in immediate desires.”
“P-please, spare me!”
The girl’s eyes were cold towards Lugola’s plea for mercy. It didn’t seem like she would listen to his words. However, he knew that if he didn’t say something, it would truly be the end. Lugola desperately shouted,
“I offer you this girl possessed by a spirit! Please!”
At these words, for the first time, a slight change appeared in the cold expression of the golden-haired girl as she raised an eyebrow.
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT LOCALIZERMEERKAT.PAGES.DEV
Meanwhile, in the Small labyrinth, Deepest Level…
“Oh crapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrap I’m done for, this is bad…”
[BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!]
Ur was in serious danger of dying.
The massive circular hall housed the True Core Magic Stone and its guardian, but Ur had no interest in either of them right now. His current goal was to retrieve the hidden treasure of his foreman.
Despite his journey here, he hadn’t found the hidden treasure. If it wasn’t here in the hall, he would be in big trouble. Ur carefully searched for it.
“Got it…”
He found a suspicious door behind the Great Fang Boar—right behind it.
“Why did that damn foreman hide it all the way in the back…”
Ur held his head in frustration. Was that really the hidden treasure vault? He briefly considered this, but if it were in an easier-to-reach place, the foreman would have retrieved it himself, ignoring Ur’s desperate threats. It was highly likely that this door led to the vault.
If that were the case, he needed to check the vault and, if possible, retrieve the treasure without alerting the guardian. Ur decided to move slowly and carefully into the grand hall—
“Ah.”
—when suddenly, an old candelabrum fell over. It shattered into pieces with a loud crash, echoing throughout the hall.
[BOOM]
“Oh no…”
The noise alerted the Great Fang Boar, which locked its bloodshot eyes on Ur, snorting with rage and murder in its eyes. Ur’s stealth operation had failed in zero seconds flat.
And back to the beginning.
[MOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!]
“Ugh!”
A jolt of pain shot through Ur’s head, and he fell to the ground.
Looking up, he saw his helmet, now with a huge hole in it, lying on the ground. He shuddered—if not for the golden girl who had chosen that helmet for him, the hole would have been in his skull.
“What do I do…!!”
Running around, he glanced at the Dragon Tooth Spear in his hand. His trusty partner of many years—was anything but. As he had told the golden girl, it was nothing more than a shoddy, blunt weapon. Along the way, even a club picked up by goblins had proven more useful.
He couldn’t imagine this blunt spear cutting through the Great Fang Boar’s sharp hide to inflict a fatal wound. It was impossible. He had no confidence in it. While his armor was somewhat better, if that tusk struck again, it would surely pierce his body.
He had to abandon the idea of defeating it. There was no feasible way.
He thought about running, but the door was still far away. The distance wasn’t much, but with the boar in between, it felt insurmountable.
Looking around, he searched for something to hide behind on his way to the door. The hall was filled with rubble, but there were few things he could use as a shield or wall.
The door was still far—what to do!?
“The Core…!!”
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the True Core Magic Stone.
The labyrinth’s core. The guardian protected its heart. If the boar was the same, then the core was its heart.
Could it be used as a shield?
Following his intuition, Ur moved.
[GUUUUMOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!]
The boar roared again. A charge was coming.
Terrified, Ur forced his trembling legs to move. He headed for the pedestal where the True Core Magic Stone sat. It might have been a fountain once, but he climbed it desperately.
Blinded by the intense glow of the core, he positioned himself, using the core as a shield against the boar’s charge. It couldn’t attack him here—so he thought.
“What’s going on!?”
[MO!?]
But then, the True Core Magic Stone’s glow intensified. The already bright blue-purple light filled the entire room. The boar, startled, halted its charge and retreated in fear.
Before Ur’s eyes, a crack appeared in the massive core stone.
“Huh?”
The crack rapidly spread across the stone, and in the next moment, it exploded.
“Whaaa!?”
Though the explosion wasn’t hot, it blasted him away. The pedestal he had climbed crumbled, and Ur fell. He grabbed onto something soft and large as he fell.
It was soft and large.
“Gah! !”
He landed on his back, the impact knocking the wind out of him. Struggling to breathe, he opened his eyes to assess the situation.
In front of him was a pair of breasts.
///
///
“Ah, nice to meet you.”
A stunningly beautiful silver-haired girl was straddling Ur, smiling.
She was completely naked.
“Naked!!!”
Ur shouted out exactly what he saw.
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