Chapter 177 – The Space-Warping Labyrinth

“I guess he wasn’t caught, he was being chased! You Jammin bitch!”
“Actually, that’s the correct answer! From now on, I’ll follow the tempo of Mr. Dream!!”

Ally, who was said to follow the tempo, quickly rolled over and stood next to me. If you look down, you can see the crown of the halfling’s head, which is optimized for feeding honey chestnuts. I wanted to throw her fists at her, but I had to deal with the rushing ghouls first.

A total of five ghouls appeared at the entrance of the labyrinth.
They should not be treated on the same level as goblins. A ghoul’s monstrous strength is extraordinary, and it can dismantle a human’s limbs with just its strength. If I allowed them to attack, as a mage I would be mortally wounded.

ㅡ Guwaaaaah!!

A horrifying cry that would lower your San value just by listening to it!
The ghouls sprinting at full speed were so powerful that the ground thumped whenever they jumped. They are monsters that quickly take their stance and run after being bounced off by a wave.

“Liquid ring!”

He summoned another wave of magic and attacked the ghouls. The moment a wave of 2m in diameter hit the ghouls, I swung my staff. Of course, hitting with a staff is not a ghoul. It was the end of a long wave that stretched right near me.

With a splash-!

“Hagalaz! Freeze!”

Great! The moment [Quick Freeze] Was activated, the wave that touched the staff froze at high speed. The ghouls who were swept away by the waves and floundered had to freeze their entire bodies.

This is a link between the Liquid Ring spell and [Quick Freeze].
A skill that freezes the waves of magic and freezes enemies in a wide area. It can be said to be a high-kill range weapon, but it is not a skill that can be used carelessly.

Liquid Ring and [Quick Freeze] Both require a high degree of mental concentration. Calculating two complex magic formulas with only one brain would inevitably be burdensome. The moment I activated two overlapping spells, my head felt like it was going to burn.

“Keuuuuugh-!”

However, the ghouls were suffering as well. Waves of thick ice swallowed the bodies of the ghouls. The ghouls struggled to see themselves turning into frozen ghouls while still alive.

ㅡKooooo!!
ㅁKuiyiyiyiik-!!

The five ghouls and I were fighting a power showdown with magic. The strength of the ghouls, who could pull out trees and throw them, had to be suppressed with pure magic. It was certainly not an easy task, so some guys who escaped appeared before their bodies froze.

Bang! A ghoul broke through the frozen waves and jumped out. The ghouls that were chasing Hanna and the others immediately changed their targets and aimed at me.

“Kuk!”

The ghoul swung her arm at me. I quickly rolled to the ground and dodged. The stone floor that the ghoul’s arm swung down on was shattered terribly. It’s a confrontational situation, but my role ends here. There is a party member, but there is no need to do everything alone.

“Got it!”

Rebecca appeared silently and slashed the ghoul’s neck. Although the ghoul’s senses were sensitive, Mu-in has an excellent ability to hide her presence. The head and body of the ghoul that was beheaded unexpectedly were separated. The hideously mangled head rolled across the floor.

“Have you done it?!”
“Don’t be so ominous! Rebecca sister!”

However, the life force of the ghoul was not normal. His head was severed, but his body was still moving and he tried to pounce on people. Like a scene from a horror movie, the skeletal monster swung her arm at Rebecca. It was a desperate act right before death.

“Holy Barrier!”

Bang! Fortunately, Kate, who jumped out in time, opened the barrier. The translucent barrier blocked the ghoul’s swing, but she was dented. The ghoul’s body, which struck the barrier several more times, finally collapsed as if it were dead.

Rebecca looked at the collapsed body and put on a puzzled expression.

“What the hell is this corpse monster? You cut off your head, but does it make sense that your body is moving?
“Ghouls are monsters classified as undead. Even if their bodies are damaged, they can move relentlessly. Sister, have you never met an undead in your life?”
“This is the first time we’ve met in person. It looks really creepy!”
“Unni, her body smells dirty right now-.”

Rebecca’s body smelled like a dirty newbie. As a newbie adventurer seeing the undead for the first time, the reaction was great. I see Rebecca stabbing the body of a ghoul that has already stopped breathing.

“Dead? Dead?”

Kate and I took a deep breath at the same time, letting the scent of the newbie wafting through the air deep into our lungs.

“Whoa.”
“Suck-.”

The sudden battle calmed the beating heart. It’s a dirty smell that makes the deceased feel happy.
A newbie adventurer is so damn good. If this was a house, not a labyrinth, I would have eaten it right away.

As we were sniffing her, Hannah’s group approached us. Among them, the lizardman spearman Brute was also mixed. I didn’t see it earlier, but it arrived late while we were dealing with the ghouls.

“Greetings wizard! Strong and strong morning!”
“It’s been a while, Mr. Brute. Is the labyrinth worth exploring?”
“If you ask me, this is a hell party! Fucking halflings! Take all the aggro!”
“You are suffering.”

We exchanged greetings for a while, but Brute looked very upset. The Lizardman’s glaring eyes were fixed on Allie. She cringed at the Brute, as if Allie knew at least that she was wrong.

“I-I’m sorry that my tempo was too fast, Mr. Lizardman! I’ll lower the tension a bit now-!!”
“Gal! If you get ahead one more time, I’ll catch you and eat you.”
“Heehee profit.”

After staring at the two bickering adventurers for a while, I spoke to Hannah. Hannah was sighing as if her head hurt as she looked at her own party.

“Hanna-san is also exploring the labyrinth, right? Aren’t you moving after receiving orders from Bella-noona? You’re thinking of breaking the quest and getting the love potion.”
“You know well. Thanks to that, I quit my secretary job and went on an adventure for a while. But the party members are in a bit of a serious condition.”

I asked Hanna what I was curious about.

“Why did you accept Ally as a party member? She’s a flawed halfling to work with.”
“Even though there are problems with her personality, she is an amazing halfling with her ability to detect signs. Ally-sama can detect anything within a radius of 20M. She can be said to be a talented person in labyrinth exploration.”

Allie is a halfling with excellent detection abilities.
Even during promotion battles, she quickly noticed monsters running from a distance. You could say she’s a biometric detector that looks like Jam Min. If you keep your mouth shut and don’t run amok, you’ll be a favored adventurer wherever you go.

“There is a condition to accepting an exploration quest. The condition is that only adventurers with third-rate skills or higher come.”
“The guild has judged that Ally’s detection ability is third-rate. She can be said to be a special type of halfling. Although she is a talented person who struggles to become a party member.”

I didn’t know that there was a special halfling selection, not a special selection for farming and fishing villages!
Well, it’s a labyrinth because her detection ability is so highly regarded. If Hannah, the head of the party, can control it well, she will be a good talent.

“So, thanks to the halflings, did her exploration get some results?”
“Not yet. The ghoul attacks are so frequent that we can’t move forward. At best, we’ve just walked around the entrance to the labyrinth.”
“Maybe you can’t get the love potion. Hanna-san’s party doesn’t seem to have enough dealers. Isn’t it hard to properly break through the ghouls?”
“…That’s right.”

At my question, Hannah let out a sigh and nodded her head. Hanna’s party didn’t have enough deals to break through the ghouls. Brute is a tank, Ally is just a detector, and Hanna, a third-class wizard, is the only one who takes on the dealing.

It is not easy to explore the labyrinth with such a ruined combination.
You don’t have to worry about losing your exploration results.

The exchange of greetings was over. I was thinking of breaking up with Hannah like this. I have no reason to help these people. The option to accompany Hannah and the others was excluded from the beginning.

“Hanna-san, take note!”
“What are you referring to? Are there any books that will help you explore?”
“Take note, do it. Have the patience to endure the trolling.”
“No.”

I was trying to advise you to be patient.
But I guess I took my temper without even realizing it. Hannah, who had always been expressionless, let out a painful moan as she grabbed the back of her neck. I hurriedly took her lovers and tried to get out of here, but I couldn’t.

Took!
Hannah grabbed my wrist.
She grabbed me with a desperate expression as I was about to leave coolly.

“Please don’t go. Lady Bella told me to complete the quest with this combination. You can’t go out and change party members. We need companions!”

I saw Hannah begging for help so honestly.
To think there would be a penalty for not being able to swap party members. If you’re like me, you’ve given up on the quest long ago.
Hannah also seemed to resent the boss who pushed her.

“Why do I have to work as an adventurer in the first place? I hate Miss Bella so much. I’m Doumbella, who thinks of me as an all-around worker who will do anything she tells me to do-. I can’t beat my secretary job, haaaaa!”

A deep sigh escaped Hannah’s lips. I was taken aback by the way Hanna secretly revealed her true feelings in front of me. What did you just say? Is it true that she calls her boss Doom Bella?

“Doo, Doumbella?”
“What’s up? Right now, there’s no lady next to me, so I can swear. The adventurer’s guild is ruined!”

Hannah raised her arms and cursed at her Bella. Because of her boss’ order, she seems to hate having to explore the labyrinth. Still, she didn’t have the option of giving up on her quest altogether, or of ending it without a hitch.
She was going to get her love potion by somehow making it work.

“Luke-sama. Please save my ruined party. There are tank Lizardmen, and there are just detectors. I will also support you with magic.”
“That detector is running amok? A troll is scarier than a monster.”
“Please. We’ll pay you back, so please be our ‘coach’!”

Coachman-!

I was surprised by such a snobbish remark. A coachman is a slang word in the adventurer industry, meaning an adventurer who carries out quests alone.
Adventurers often describe being carried by a coachman as ‘riding a carriage’. It means that the quest was completed as comfortably as riding a wagon.

“Gee, are you asking me to ride the wagon?”
“That’s right! Luke-sama is a rune mage who can single-handedly deal with ghouls. He freezes them to death, so he doesn’t even give the ghouls a chance to fight. Now, Luke-sama is fulfilling the conditions to become the ‘coach’ of the labyrinth.”

My freeze magic was excellent at dealing with ghouls. In fact, the four ghouls that were frozen earlier died without even making a fuss.
I felt a little better when I heard the word ‘coach’ from the arrogant female secretary.

‘Coachman? I’m a coachman?’

When I was an adventurer, I always dreamed of it. It is a dream to someday become a coachman, carry quests, and collect money from adventurers.
In the adventurer industry, there is a custom of offering money to an adventurer who is equivalent to a coachman. Money given instead of carrying quests.
I am now the coachman I dreamed so much of when I was a newbie.

“Luke, no, coachman. We’ll give you 30% of the reward we receive from clearing the quest. Is that enough?”

I replied with a satisfied smile.

“Ah, that’s enough.”
“Thank you very much. Coachman.”