＜ 23. Test (4) ＞
“Kuh, huh.”
The challenger groaned while clutching his half-torn arm. At least he was lucky. The other challengers around me had turned into meat paste without even a chance to groan.
But that luck seemed to end there. Hearing the moans, Mimic turned his head this way.
“Kurrr.!”
“aaagh! Do not come!”
I was frightened as if I would go black at any moment. I tried to walk backwards, pouring out all my tears, but it was impossible to escape at that speed.
The Mimic’s teeth came right in front of my eyes. Blood-stained bladed teeth revealed when the mouth was wide open. death was imminent The challenger closed his eyes tightly in fear.
“Stop it, Mimic. until there.”
“Kreuk?”
Just before Mimic bit the challenger, Andrea came over and stopped Mimic. Mimick made a strange noise and acted as if he would go on a rampage again at any moment, but came to his senses later when Andrea pounded his leg vigorously.
“Kreuk, Ugh, Ugh…”
“Go back and rest for a while. Calm down now.”
“Kureuk, kkeueuk, ah, I understand, master.”
Seeing the mimic pull away, the tension melted away. A challenger who barely endures the dizziness that shakes his vision.
Andrea looked down at him and frowned. While wondering why, the challenger realized belatedly that the crotch of his pants had become warm.
“You were going to pee like this, but what did you believe in back then and stood out so confidently?”
The challenger was the one who first shouted to the other challengers not to be scared.
His limbs trembled, then he fell flat on the floor and bowed his head.
“We are sorry for not knowing the fraction. I will do anything if you just spare my life.”
Andrea spat, looking at the challenger with a heavy face.
“A sincere apology is something that can only be done before being squeezed by the other person. Even after being beaten and apologizing, it only seems like an act to beg for one’s life. If you were stronger than Mimic and could have beaten me, would you have apologized to me like that?”
“No, of course. Of course you would!”
“…You bastard without even the slightest conscience, this.”
A challenger who trembles under contemptuous accusations. Instead of continuing to deal with this scumbag, Andrea decided to finish the business quickly.
“It’s done, so who is the ringleader? Seeing that he can create portals, he must be a magician, but none of them are among the dead.”
“It was a man named Jericho! Just look for a man with black hair and a beard like a goat!”
“Jericho? Did he go upstairs?”
“Yes, yes, that’s right. Stealing the mark, scattering it, it’s all his plan! So please, at least your life…”
Andrea clicked her tongue briefly. If it was Jericho, it was an NPC that could be seen in the game.
Jericho, the strongest troll in the 90th floor test. This damn illusionist, who has been challenging the test many times, has always been somehow entangled in the events taking place in the lower levels.
As the ringleader of a dastardly scheme, as an aid to an outrageous plan, or as a trickster who stirs up a wedge between challengers…
‘Before entering the lower floors, I should have looked around to see if there were any familiar faces…’
It must have been a mistake to think that as long as you show your strength, no one will be able to touch you. A weak-willed guy like Jericho must have been seen as something to be kept in check.
Just the fact that Jericho was the culprit made it clear what had happened so far. This is because it was exactly the same situation as the strategy Jericho uses when there is a too strong challenger.
Once through this layer, there was no problem. After the Mimic slaughtered the challengers, at first glance there were more than thirty Marks of Courage scattered on the floor. Even if they picked up that roughly, there was no problem with Andrea and the others passing through the lower layer.
Then all that was left was the question of how to f*ck Jericho upstairs.
The upper floor is a duel between challengers, and only the winner can go up, but there was no guarantee that he could fight Jericho because the matching method was random. Besides, speaking only on the 90th floor, Jericho is quite strong, so if he meets an enemy other than Andrea’s party, he should be able to go up to the 100th floor without difficulty.
‘I can’t see anything like that.’
It didn’t suit Andrea’s temper to be put on hold like this. A person who casually f*cks others must be prepared to be f*cked too. Andrea was determined to stop Jericho from reaching the 100th floor at all costs.
Fortunately, Andrea knew a way.
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No matter how many times Jericho climbed to the 90th floor, it was not even five or six times due to the setting. It was empirically incomparable to Andrea, who had climbed to the 90th floor over hundreds of times.
However, in order to realize the method, one preparation was required. A large amount of ‘Marks of Courage’. There was no option for the amount of falling on the floor right now.
Andrea first stole all the marks of the challenger in front of her. Now the challenger would have to re-climb from the first floor, but it was not Andrea’s business.
I counted all of them, including those that fell on the floor, and there were 34 in total. Andrea first called the party together and gave them 5 each.
“Tricia, Emilia. You guys get out first and wait upstairs. I have some work left to do, so I’m mimicking and I’ll go up later.”
“what? What’s going on? Can’t we go together?”
Emilia also seemed to agree with Tricia’s words. However, Andrea firmly shook her head.
“Time is running out. There’s probably less than 30 minutes left in the time limit, but it would be faster for me to go alone. I will go with Mimic just in case of an unexpected situation, so the two of you can safely go up.”
Even after hearing that, Emilia was still hesitant, but Trisha nodded as if she understood.
“···okay. Let’s go up, Emilia.”
“Yes? Yes, but…”
“Andrea would have an idea if she said that. It might help if you go quickly.”
“…”
“Well, I can’t match you here, but… But be careful, just in case, Andrea.”
Andrea nodded. Trisha quickly led Emilia to the exit.
“Okay then, let’s go too, Mimic.”
“Keureuk, I understand.”
Andrea re-entered the labyrinth with the out of breath Mimic.
Almost no monsters could be found in the labyrinth. It was a natural result as the challengers in the labyrinth would hunt monsters diligently while other people gathered at the entrance. Even the ones I found so far were nothing more than minnows, so even if I tried to catch them, the signs didn’t come out well.
Twenty minutes had passed, and they gathered little by little, but it was too little. Andrea was starting to get a bit nervous. There are 23 tokens of courage that have been collected so far. Compared to the target of 50, it was a disappointing amount.
‘I should have brought Emilia.’
If Emilia had hit all the last hits, she probably would have gotten twice as many tokens as she has now.
However, if Emilia had come with her, she wouldn’t be able to move through the labyrinth as quickly as she did with Mimic. Considering that he would meet fewer monsters, it was doggingaegin.
“I’d like to meet some boss monsters… You’ve completely dried up.”
“Keureuk, what should I do, Master?”
Andrea is seriously thinking about whether she should just go back like this. I couldn’t afford to run over the time limit while running around to f*ck Jericho.
‘But it’s too sad to just go…’
But then, vibrations and noises came from beyond the wall.
A sound as if fighting something with a large body, and a roaring scream. Andrea intuitively noticed. Among the monsters in the labyrinth, there was only one guy who could make that noise.
Balrog, the strongest monster in the Great Labyrinth.
If he catches him, he should be able to make up for the lack of marks.
“Mimic, go over there. Get ready.”
“Ah, I see.”
bang – !
Andrea pierced the wall and went straight ahead. However, he was soon confronted with a disappointing sight.
The sound I had just heard was the scream of death from the Balrog. A heavily armed man in full-body armor stood on top of the fallen balrog’s corpse.
Judging by the dents and blood on his armor, it seemed that he was fighting the Balrog with all his might. If the Balrog wasn’t dead yet, I was thinking of helping him and getting a mark, but since the battle was already over, I ate it.
If he was a bad guy, he would have thought of stealing the mark, but he couldn’t bear to take away the mark of a challenger who fought so hard. The ‘Mark of Courage’ was definitely deserved to be obtained by such a person, not by challengers who were terrified and instigated at the entrance.
“Let’s go, Mimic. Let’s find another guy.”
But the moment I turned around, a heavily armed challenger suddenly called Andrea.
“Me, over there!”
“…?”
“Aren’t you…then he?”
Andrea took a close look at the challenger. Come to think of it, that equipment could only be worn by the Crusader class.
And there was only one crusader that Andrea encountered while climbing the dungeon.
“… Johanna-sama?”
“Yes Yes! that’s right.”
Johanna, a playable character in ‘Dungeon of Infinity’ and a crusader who met Andrea in the arena.
Johanna took off her helmet and ran towards Andrea with a very happy face.
“Oh my God, here we meet again! How have you been?”
“Thanks to you, I had a good time. But are you going alone now?”
In the arena, Johanna was accompanied by Verdin and a wizard named Parma. Verdin knew that Andrea was not with her because she met her at the Temple of the Earth, but she didn’t know that she was separated from the magician Parma and went alone.
Johanna smiled brightly and nodded her head.
“Yes Yes. At that time… that… I’m sorry, but what’s your name?”
“Andrea.”
“Yes! At that time, I listened to Andrea-sama’s advice and thought about it. Advice to believe in yourself and move forward without rest. I soon realized that I couldn’t achieve true growth if I depended on others. So, of course, I broke up with that bastard in Verdin… I also broke up with Parma, and I’m going around alone!”
“That’s really good.”
Certainly, Johanna seemed to have become stronger than when they met in the arena. If it was enough to defeat the Balrog, the strongest monster in the labyrinth, alone.
Since it was a playable character in the first place, it was only natural that it had more potential than other challengers.
“Also, following Andrea-sama’s advice, I strengthened ‘Blessing of Radiance’ first and then bought ‘Light’s Reckoning,’ and my deck became incredibly strong! Thank you very much. Without Andrea-sama’s advice, I wouldn’t have come this far!”
Johanna approached with burdensome eyes shining. Andrea held out her palm as if in trouble and took a step back.
“You’re welcome. It’s all thanks to Johanna-sama’s hard work. But since I haven’t seen you in such a long time, I’d like to talk a little bit… I have to collect some ‘Signs of Courage’ right now. There’s not much time left, so I guess we’ll have to talk later.”
“A sign of courage? You still haven’t collected 5?”
“It’s not like that, but there are some circumstances and I need it a lot.”
“Then take all mine!”
Johanna took out several handfuls of the tokens of courage from her pocket in subspace. Even at a cursory count, it was easily over thirty.
It’s nice to have an unexpected windfall, but Johanna handed over all the tokens without even leaving her share. Andrea tilted her head in bewilderment.
“Hey, Johanna. Can I leave five of them?”
“Nope! I heard that if the time limit is exceeded, you will return to the first floor? I’m planning to climb the dungeon again from the first floor anyway!”
“···Yes?”
While Andrea was dumbfounded by the unexpected remark, Johanna added an explanation.
“I didn’t come up alone until I passed the 60th floor, but I suddenly felt ashamed of the fact that I had relied on someone else’s help before that. So, I plan to climb the dungeon once again with my own strength, so that I can stand in front of Helios without any shame. Collecting the tokens was just a test of how strong I am.”
Andrea nodded. It was a thought like Johanna’s with strong pride and conviction. When I was playing the game, I had to go through a few frustrating events because of that, but seeing him keep that belief right in front of me made me feel special.
Andrea bowed her head and accepted the sign.
“Then I will be grateful. When the opportunity arises, I will make sure to repay this favor.”
“No, you don’t have to pay me back. The advice Andrea gave me was tens of thousands of times more valuable than the advice I gave. May Andrea’s journey be filled with the blessings of Helios, the lord of the unfading sun.”
“…May Johanna be blessed on the way she advances.”
Johanna watched for a long time as Andrea and Mimick left through the hole in the wall. I always wanted to meet her someday to repay the favor, but the fact that I could be of any help like this gave her heart full of satisfaction.
Meanwhile, Andrea counted the number of signs as she made her way towards the entrance and exit.
30, 40, 50… a total of 68. That was enough.
“Oh, by the way, Master. Why did you collect so many tickets?”
Andrea answers Mimic’s question with a smile.
“It’s because I’m going to kill a bastard who’s doing some silly tricks with my own hands.”
Andrea exited the exit with the Mimic shaking the cover as if not understanding why.