Chapter 3

Chapter 3 The Guild Leader’s Confusion 1 After the minotaur awoke and drank from the lake, a human appeared in the boss room. “It’s here.” The human was small of stature and wearing light armor with a short bow on his back. He was a scout. The minotaur looked over its shoulder and then stood. It held an ax in each hand. “Of course it’s here. There’s no way the boss of a floor could leave its boss room and start strolling around the corridors. That’s nonsense,” said a young woman who had just appeared behind him. She was holding in her right hand a short staff, a weapon used to cast magic. “Yeah, you’re not wrong. But Marco was the one who reported that he saw it near the staircase to the ninth floor. He’s not the kind of guy who would just make something up. Also, it’s undeniable that potions and silver coins are being left all over the tenth floor. We just picked some up ourselves on the way here.” A third person entered the room, a large and solidly built man holding a broad longsword. Metal plate armor covered his chest, shoulders, arms, forehead, and more, so it looked like his defense was quite high. “So what are we gonna do? Are we leaving? Or are we gonna kill it?” “Something about this minotaur doesn’t feel right,” the sorceress said in response to the scout. She wrinkled her forehead and spoke as if trying to spit out all her thoughts at once. “Why is it just standing there watching us? Why isn’t it letting out its Warcry? Why isn’t it charging at us? Why is it just standing there all high and mighty, like it’s evaluating us? This one is definitely weird.” “Now that you mention it, you’re right. I’ve only fought a minotaur once before, but this one seems totally different.” “Let’s take it out. If it drops that blessed bastard sword, it’s mine. You two can take whatever else it drops.” “Nah, there’s no way it’s gonna drop that. That weapon is extremely rare. I had someone tell me once that they’ve killed around fifty minotaurs, hoping for the bastard sword, and it didn’t drop a single time.” “That was me. I’ve killed forty-nine of these. I feel like this is the one.” “Ah, that was you. Wait, did you kill all those by yourself? That’s impressive. But if you’re so intent on hogging the boss to yourself, be my guest. Fight it alone. I don’t want to go anywhere near that thing.” “No, you can’t back out! I usually fight minotaurs alone, too. But not this time. I have a really bad feeling about this one. We need to fight it together. Paja, we’ll move on your command.” “Fine, fine. All right, battle formation!” They quickly moved from their exploration formation to their battle formation. The swordsman stood in the front, the sorceress a distance behind him, and the scout positioned himself farther back and off to the side. This was a temporary party, but they had made sure to review one another’s specialties and skills beforehand. “Shar, prepare to restrict its movement. Ray, advance on the enemy while she’s working on that. When you reach it, prioritize defense, and do your best to distract it. Shar, once you finish binding it, use quick-cast offensive spells in rapid succession. Once I fire an Aikros, start to prepare a powerful spell.” Just like that, the three of them advanced on the strange monster. Man, it really is huge. Raystrand, who was the tallest of the trio by far, came up to only the boss’s shoulder. This is definitely the biggest minotaur I’ve seen. It’s certainly intimidating. But it was Raystrand’s role as the vanguard to fight it up close and draw its attention. Sharlia’s spell should have come at any moment. “Earthbind!” she called out. The minotaur was advancing on Raystrand, but it suddenly came to a stop as what looked like black tree roots sprouted from the ground and coiled around its legs. While the minotaur was looking down, distracted, Raystrand planted his left foot forward, pulled his sword back to the right, and swung it with ample speed into the side of the minotaur’s torso. Minotaurs had thick, armor-like muscle, but a blade could pass easily through that spot. The sword was unexpectedly repelled by its muscle, but Raystrand did at least manage to injure it. Knowing he had attracted the monster’s attention, he began attacking with a flurry of quick strikes. The minotaur swung its left ax at him. Raystrand decided he wasn’t going to be able to dodge because of the heavy weight behind the attack, so he lifted his longsword overhead to deflect its swing. Next, the minotaur’s right ax whooshed through the air as it came at him. He was tied up parrying the left ax with his longsword, so he couldn’t block it. He stepped back, just barely managing to twist his body out of the weapon’s path. “Gods… Th-that was close.” This minotaur was definitely different than the ones Raystrand was used to fighting. Paja couldn’t believe his eyes. Did that minotaur just use a feint? … No, don’t be stupid. That was my imagination. But Paja was a superb scout, and he’d realized from the moment he saw it that this was no ordinary minotaur. Even while making light of the situation before, he couldn’t help but feel uneasy. Deciding to use Aikros Arrows, which were very expensive poison arrows, during this fight was due to his sense as a scout. “Ice Knife!” Sharlia shot a shard of ice at the minotaur. “Ice Knife!” “Ice Knife!” “Ice Knife!” “Ice Knife!” She fired four more at the minotaur in quick succession. This spell was useful because of its short casting time and because it could be utilized multiple times depending on the sorcerer’s magic power and skill. Releasing five consecutively in that short span showcased her talent as a sorceress. The first Ice Knife was aimed for its head, the other four for its chest. The minotaur raised its left ax to its face and blocked the first shot. Oh, come on—it blocked it? That’s okay, though. This is our key to victory. All monsters, regardless of type, disliked attacks to their face. While it was focusing on blocking the first attack, it was unable to dodge the other four as they pierced its chest. The plan was for Paja to shoot a poison arrow at the minotaur while it was caught off guard by the pain from the ice shards. The minotaur would probably notice the arrow and try to dodge it but would have trouble doing so because its feet were tied up. Aikros Arrows were imbued with strong paralysis-inducing poison and a blessing that made it difficult for them to miss their target. Once Paja hit the minotaur with one of these, their victory would be all but assured. Paja nocked the arrow, drew it back, and released it without a sound. The minotaur, paying no mind to the Ice Knives, knocked away the poison arrow with its left ax. Three of the four Ice Knives had pierced the minotaur’s abdomen and chest, and the other was sticking out of its left arm. But the beast did not falter. It immediately swung at the swordsman with its right ax, ensuring he had no chance to attack. Paja was dumbfounded. Did it single out and block the poison arrow? …No, that’s impossible. Whether or not the minotaur blocking it was a coincidence, misfiring with an Aikros Arrow was a heavy loss. Aikros Arrows were made at a temple by way of a special ritual and were very expensive. Firing just one consumed all your magic power, rendering you unable to shoot a second. He had accepted this request on the promise of putting the guild in his debt, turning a blind eye to the cheap reward. The three adventurers had agreed to split the costs of consumables equally among them. Dammit! This thing better drop some valuable items! Raystrand and Sharlia were thinking the same thing. 2 The minotaur was getting irritated. The sorceress had cast the binding spell again. Flanked by the swordsman on its right and the scout on its left, it was having a difficult time dealing with the relentless sword attacks and the wide-ranging projectiles. The sorceress’s individual Ice Knives were not very strong, but they were steadily increasing the number of its injuries. The minotaur was bleeding in multiple places, and a puddle of blood was forming at its feet. Annoying. Annoying. Annoying. These humans were not particularly strong individually, but when they fought together, they became very difficult to deal with. The humans had full control of the battle, and the minotaur was furious with itself for allowing that to happen. 3 The three adventurers were starting to panic. It wasn’t supposed to go this way. The minotaur was definitely a strong boss monster for this floor—strong enough that if a D-rank adventurer defeated it solo, they were promoted to rank C without question. But the minotaur fought with brute strength and specialized only in close combat, so a group of C-rank adventurers should have had no trouble taking it down. Despite that, though, they couldn’t land any clean hits. It deflected the poison arrow and had evaded all the other arrows the scout had loosed. The sorceress was steadily piling on injuries with her Ice Knives, but the minotaur was clever enough to protect the center of its body. She had yet to hit a vital point. It had lost a great deal of blood, but its movement had not slowed in the slightest. It was as if it possessed unlimited stamina. They were able to keep the fight to a stalemate because of Earthbind, but they had no clue how long they would have to hold on to win. Usually when Raystrand fought a minotaur, he would aggravate it and then search for holes in its defense and try to cut off its limbs, eventually delivering the finishing blow by beheading it. This minotaur, however, was not giving him the chance he needed to employ his usual strategy. Sharlia usually restricted the minotaur’s movement and then hit it with spells in quick succession until it dropped its weapons, after which she would finish it off with a Fireball. It didn’t seem as if this minotaur would be dropping its weapons anytime soon, though. Fireball’s incantation was quite long, so she couldn’t afford to cast it and risk being hit by an ax. Paja had never fought the minotaur solo. It was not a good matchup for him. Even so, alongside Sharlia and Raystrand, victory should have been guaranteed. The adventurers were barely maintaining the strength to fight by regularly drinking red and blue potions to recover stamina and mana, respectively. But their resources were limited. Every time Sharlia cast Earthbind, she had to drink another blue potion, but she was running low. Paja’s short bow was a drop he’d obtained from the boss of the twentieth floor. It could fire an unlimited number of normal arrows in exchange for mana. He didn’t have many blue potions left, either. Their concentration, however, could not be replenished with potions. They were becoming increasingly fatigued, and it wouldn’t be too much longer before the battle turned in the minotaur’s favor. How long they continued like this, none of them was sure. The minotaur’s frustration reached its peak. It suddenly broke its defensive stance, screwed up its face, and took a deep breath. “Shit, that’s bad. Get a yellow potion ready! It’s about to use Warcry!” GROOOOOAAAAAAARRRRRR!! The three of them were seized by the effects of Warcry. They drank their potions without delay, lifting their status ailments and restoring their freedom of movement. “We’ve got no choice. I’m using another Aikros.” At Paja’s yell, Sharlia and Raystrand felt a rush of relief. Using a second poison arrow would put them deeper in the red, but at this point, none of them cared about that. They just wanted out of this deadlock. Then, something unexpected happened. GROAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRR!! “Huh?” “What?” “You can’t be—” The minotaur let loose a second Warcry. None of them saw this coming. After using Warcry, the minotaur was supposed to require a long cooldown period before it could employ the move again, effectively limiting it to a single use per battle. This attack should have been impossible. None of them could have ever imagined that the minotaur had ranked up its skill as a result of leveling up. All three of them tried desperately to reach for a yellow potion, but their movements had been hindered. Sharlia crammed the tip of her staff into her mouth and bit down. The staff had been given to her by her father and was supposedly made by elves out of the wood of an ash tree. It worked as a charm to ward off spells and also raised the user’s mana. There were no longer any elves in this land, so this was a very rare item. The staff lifted her status ailment. Now able to move, Sharlia started the incantation for Fireball as a last-ditch effort. I don’t care how strong this thing is—it shouldn’t be able to take a direct hit from Fireball unscathed. But the minotaur noticed she was up to something as she muttered the incantation for her spell. The minotaur spun its right ax around and then slammed it into the rock at its feet. The stone shattered, and the pieces shot toward Sharlia, piercing her in the face, chest, stomach, and legs. Her incantation was interrupted. And then, something even more unbelievable happened. The minotaur bellowed ferociously and broke free of Sharlia’s Earthbind. The sound of the spell shattering echoed throughout the room as its restraints disappeared. Sharlia, in a daze from the pain, looked at the monster with fear in her eyes. There was no way it should’ve been able to break out of Earthbind with its own strength. But now, the minotaur had regained its freedom of movement, and the three adventurers had lost theirs. First, it beheaded Raystrand. Then, it sliced Paja clean in half. Finally, it beat Sharlia into a bloody paste. Thus, the battle came to an end. The three adventurers’ corpses disappeared, leaving behind the items they’d had in their possession. 4 The minotaur discovered a new function. After the fight, it took interest in the two-handed sword the swordsman had used. It moved to set down its axes and pick up the sword. But for some reason, it placed its right ax casually against its left shoulder instead. The ax disappeared into thin air. It was surprised by this disappearance but no more so than for having made this gesture in the first place. After some experimentation, it came to realize that the space above its left shoulder functioned as an invisible storage in which it could keep items. Everything it tried was successfully stored, including the sword, the staff, potions, and the silver coins. It seemed like there was a limit on the number of things it could store, but for now, it had plenty of space. All it had to do to pull something out of storage was think about the item it wanted and touch its left shoulder. It would then be holding the item. This was the function that adventurers called a Bag. It was a magical ability bestowed unto adventurers when they received their holy occupation at a temple and could even be used outside of labyrinths. Knights were given a storage system called a Treasury, and merchants’ were called Cargo, but Bags were much easier to handle. The downside to Bags was that they had less storage space, but that increased with level-ups, and adventurers leveled up quickly. The minotaur used its newly acquired storage space to keep the spoils from its victory. It liked the idea of holding on to the rewards after a good battle. The minotaur leveled up again after defeating the three adventurers. But it was a bitter experience. The battle had taught the minotaur that it still did not truly know how to fight. It decided it should go up the staircase in search of new enemies. When it stepped into the stairwell, a strange feeling swept through its body. Doing its best to ignore this, it climbed the stairs. When it reached the ninth floor, it heard the sound of swords clashing. There was a small cave near the staircase. The sound was coming from there. The minotaur walked through the entrance to the cave, and the interior turned into a wide room. Five humans were fighting against monsters with porcine faces. The monsters were also five in number. Each wielded a different weapon: a longsword, a lance, a shortsword, an iron rod, and a thick club. Humans called these creatures “orcs.” Among the humans, there were three men wielding swords, a robed woman using a staff, and another woman holding a book of prayer open with both hands. The humans did not notice the minotaur behind them. Three swordsmen in the advance guard were holding off the five orcs with impressive movements. The staff-wielding woman was muttering incantations. She screamed “Lightning!” and pointed her staff at an orc. A bolt of light flew from the staff and hit its target directly, blowing off an arm. Without missing a beat, the swordsman on the right drove his sword through the orc’s chest. The monster vomited blood and collapsed. The sorceress started chanting under her breath again. “Lightning!” This time, she shot a hole through the abdomen of the orc struggling with the swordsman in the middle. The swordsman on the right was fighting two opponents. He knocked the shortsword away from one but failed to avoid its partner’s attack as it swung its club down onto his shoulder. “Hey, I need healing!” the injured swordsman yelled. “Cure!” chanted the priestess. The prayer book glowed with green light. The light enveloped the injured swordsman, then disappeared. “Thanks!” The middle swordsman stabbed the orc that had been wounded by the sorceress through its stomach and kicked it with a boot. In the same moment, the club-wielding orc fighting the swordsman on the left was raising its bludgeon overhead, poised to attack. The orc that had been kicked collided with the club-wielding orc from behind, throwing it off balance. The middle swordsman jumped forward and beheaded it. His injury healed, the left swordsman switched places with his companion in the middle and blocked a jab from the lance-wielding orc. The enemy dropped its lance. A bolt of lightning grazed the swordsman’s side as it shot at an orc, dealing a fatal wound. “Hey, that was dangerous! You could’ve really hurt me there!” “It’s fine—I know what I’m doing. I was aiming directly at you.” “What the hell are you doing aiming at me?” “I knew that if you happened to dodge, it would strike the orc directly.” Joking around with the sorceress now that their victory was all but assured, the swordsman turned. He then noticed the monster standing behind them. His jaw dropped, and his eyes widened in shock. “M-M-M-M…” “Aw, do you want your mommy? Are you gonna tell on me?” “M-M-M-M…” “Poor Rolf. He doesn’t stand a chance against Karen’s teasing.” “Yeah, she’s in rare form today.” The other two swordsmen finished off the remaining orcs and turned around, all smiles. Then they, too, noticed the minotaur and went deathly pale. Seeing their reactions, the two women also turned. Karen fainted, and Rolf reached out to catch her before she hit the ground. The priestess, Jona, lost strength in her legs and collapsed. The other two swordsmen looked at the minotaur, dumbfounded, as if they had lost the willpower to even raise their weapons. The members of this young party of five had just been promoted to rank E a few days earlier. An E-rank adventurer had the strength to defeat the monsters on the sixth floor one-on-one. Their great chemistry in battle allowed them to take on five monsters on the ninth floor without much difficulty as long as they fought together, but most of them would die with one hit from the minotaur. To make matters worse, they had just finished a challenging fight, which probably made the minotaur look like the grim reaper to them. The minotaur, on the other hand, had been thinking that they might make for a fun brawl, given how well they fought together. But their fighting spirit had totally vanished. Now viewing them as lackluster opponents, the minotaur lost interest, turned, and left the room. Orcs appeared on the ninth floor. They were considered weaker individually than gray wolves, but they always acted in packs. They used a variety of weapons. They were clumsy with edged weapons but, because of their strength, could do a surprising amount of damage with blunt instruments like clubs. The minotaur extracted some entertainment fighting orcs if they were in a group of at least fourteen, but it soon grew bored of that as well. Orcs did not work together in battle. Their movements were simple and predictable, and they relied solely on brute force for their attacks. However, their strength was insufficient to hurt the minotaur. The minotaur ended up wandering into the floor’s boss room. The ninth-floor boss was a giant orc, but it was small in stature compared to the minotaur. It used a sword, but its attacks were unsophisticated. The minotaur beheaded it easily. The giant orc dropped a longsword and some silver coins. The minotaur left the room without even picking them up and searched for a staircase. 5 Logan couldn’t believe what he was hearing. A D-rank adventurer had reported seeing a minotaur by the staircase connecting the ninth and tenth floors of the Sazardon Labyrinth. As everyone knew, the minotaur was the boss of the tenth floor. Boss monsters were supposed to be incapable of leaving their boss rooms. That was a fundamental rule taught to all adventurers during their first training session, and it didn’t just apply to the Sazardon Labyrinth but to all labyrinths across the land. For that reason, the receptionist, who was the first to receive the report, had assumed the adventurer must have been seeing things and treated it as a low-priority matter. Not three days later, a rumor had spread that silver coins and potions were being left all over the tenth floor. The tenth floor had always been an unpopular area. For adventurers who didn’t explore the labyrinth but instead made a living by taking on odd jobs such as guard duty, subjugation, or harvesting work, being able to advance to rank C simply by defeating the minotaur solo was a very attractive prospect. Doing so would allow them to take on more work, but they almost always avoided the wolves on the way to the boss room. Despite the unpopularity of the wolves, some eccentric was going around slaughtering them and leaving their drops on the ground. Logan ordered the employees at the guild to gather information relating to the tenth floor. Soon after, he received a report that the medal of a female adventurer named Erina and her remaining items had been found directly in front of the boss room. A person being defeated by a boss and then using the last of their strength to escape the boss room only to perish right outside of it was something that happened from time to time, so that alone wasn’t anything unusual. But if Marco actually had seen the minotaur outside its lair, that most definitely qualified. “Could the minotaur be the one killing the gray wolves?” He couldn’t imagine how the minotaur could have left its boss room. Maybe it would be possible for someone to use a powerful possession spell to make it attack the wolves. If this minotaur was truly wandering around the labyrinth freely, he had to do something about it. I’ll call for an investigation. Logan wrote a request for a search. The client was himself, the leader of the guild. The required rank to accept was C or above. The assignment was to survey the tenth floor in order to confirm the whereabouts and status of the minotaur and to kill it if it seemed unusual in any way. Logan descended to the first floor where the adventurers gathered. Many were gathered in front of the request board. Paja was among them. He was an elite scout and perfect for this job. “Paja.” “Ah, hello, Mr. Logan.” “You’re just who I wanted to see. Could you take this on for me?” “Let me see… Huh? Why do you need to investigate the minotaur?” Logan filled him in on the details. “I see. I understand the situation, but isn’t this reward a little cheap?” “If the minotaur is in its boss room and there’s nothing unusual about it, then all you have to do is report that. We haven’t yet confirmed this as a genuine problem, so I can’t set a higher reward. Would having me in your debt be enough for you?” “Hmm, now that doesn’t sound half-bad. All right, I accept.” “Could we get in on that?” The sorceress Sharlia walked up to them, wedging herself into the conversation. The swordsman Raystrand was standing behind her. They were C-rank adventurers on the brink of becoming B-rank. “Wha—? Oh, hey, Shar. Don’t be ridiculous. If we split this reward between two people, we’ll end up losing money.” “It’s three people. Ray is coming, too. You can keep the reward for yourself. We’ll split the drops evenly. Mr. Logan’s debt is enough for us. In exchange, we’ll leave the report to you. After we kill the minotaur, we’ll be descending deeper into the labyrinth.” “Ah, I see. So were you planning on heading down anyway?” “That’s right. Ray and I are going hunting on the thirty-second floor. We were unsure of whether or not we should use the transport service. It’s expensive, you know. We’ll stop by the tenth floor to take care of this job, then keep going down from there. Sound good, Mr. Logan?” No, that didn’t sound good. Sharlia and Raystrand were both capable of defeating the minotaur alone. Though if they accompanied Paja, he wouldn’t have to buy as many poison arrows… Now that he thought about it, Logan felt like he’d heard that Raystrand had been going after the minotaur’s rare drop. Which meant they’d probably been planning on killing it anyway. If he left the investigation to just Sharlia and Raystrand, Paja would worry for the accuracy of the report. He had no choice but to go along with the three of them taking on the task together. “Of course. I’m counting on you.” “Glad to hear it. Paja, let’s do our best. Oh, and let’s split the cost of consumables.” The three of them left to enter the labyrinth. 6 As Logan was feeling an increasing sense of dread after half a day passed without Paja’s return, Gil Linx showed up at the guild. Gil Linx was a great sorcerer. Born on one of the surrounding islands, he’d made a name for himself on a number of adventures. He was eventually accepted into the Baldemost Kingdom’s institute for magic, where he became an influential figure. According to the stories, he had sealed away a devil, subjugated an ancient dragon, wiped out a group of people who had rebelled against the heavens, and more. These stories had likely been embellished, but they were spoken of as if true. He was a household name on the northern part of the continent, and if you had to cite any great sorcerer from the children’s fairy tales told in Baldemost Kingdom, he would be the first to come to mind. Despite being such a legendary character, though, there was not a hint of arrogance in his demeanor. He could live as luxuriously as he wanted but had no taste for wealth or political power, instead devoting his all to maintaining the peace and happiness of the realm. He had a calm and introspective personality, and though his primary focus in life was research, when he was needed, he had the courage to rise up and calmly deal with any challenge. To Logan, he was a dear friend with whom he had gone on adventures when he was young and a veteran who had taught Logan everything he knew as an adventurer. Logan didn’t know why, but Gil had the unwavering trust of the king of Baldemost. He also worked as a consultant for the guild. “Gil, long time no see.” “Indeed. I helped out at the magic research facility in Mazulu through a request from the royal palace. I visited the palace for my return report, and it turned out the king has some things he wants to talk about over dinner. I came here straightaway to show my old face at the guild and say hello. I would say you look great, but something appears to be troubling you.” “Is it that obvious? To tell you the truth…” He explained the situation. “Sharlia is a relative of Eisel, isn’t she?” “She’s his daughter. Oh yeah, wasn’t Eisel a pupil of yours?” “That’s right. Well, I’m going to take a look at the tenth floor,” said Gil, and he disappeared. He used teleportation magic. Very few sorcerers had the aptitude to learn this discipline. In most cases, those who could use teleportation couldn’t learn many other spells. The guild employed two sorcerers to specialize in transporting adventurers via teleportation magic, but both were useless in combat. By contrast, in addition to being able to use teleportation magic and a spell that allowed him to search multiple floors at once, Gil could also employ powerful offensive magic, enchant magic that was very helpful when fighting with a party, and all kinds of elite support magic. Apparently, he even knew a spell that instantly healed all friendly targets within range back to full health. He really is a great sorcerer. But you’d never know it from the carefree way he carries himself. When Gil vanished to investigate the minotaur situation, Logan felt as if a huge weight had been lifted off his chest. But that sensation of relief lasted only a brief moment. Before Logan could finish even a single cup of tea, Gil returned and handed Logan three adventurer medals. Medals belonging to Paja, Sharlia, and Raystrand. 7 “These three medals and several pieces of equipment were abandoned in the tenth-floor boss room. The minotaur was nowhere to be seen.” It was difficult to imagine a scenario where this didn’t mean they were dead. But where in the world was the minotaur? Could it have died with the adventurers? If that was the case, it would reappear soon enough. “Is Eisel currently in Micaene?” asked Gil as he took the items the adventurers had dropped out of his Bag. “Hmm, I’m not sure. I’ll have someone look into it.” After an employee checked for Eisel’s whereabouts, they learned he had departed for the Padanel Wetlands on a request. It looked like he wouldn’t return for a few weeks at least. “Well, I need to go meet with the king. I recommend you handle this case with care.” “Understood. Thanks for your help.” “Of course. Until next time.” 8 After Gil left, Logan fell deep into thought. I need information first. I’ll put forth a request for an investigation. As he was thinking, the manager walked into his office. “Mr. Logan, we have multiple eyewitnesses claiming that the minotaur was on the ninth floor.” “What?” “It was a group of five young adventurers. They’re downstairs now.” “I’ll go talk to them.” Making their way to the first floor, Logan and the manager found that the eyewitnesses were a group of young adventurers with whom Logan was familiar. They had all just become adventurers this year, but as a crew, they were very well-balanced and exhibited great teamwork. They were all enthusiastic and ambitious, and Logan was privately looking forward to seeing what they would accomplish in the future. The five of them were sulking because they hadn’t been properly greeted after coming all the way to the guild to deliver important information. Now that the guild leader was showing interest in what they had to say, though, their moods quickly improved. According to their report, the minotaur could have easily killed them all but chose not to attack. “And you’re sure it was the ninth floor?” Logan hoped there had been some misunderstanding, but with five eyewitnesses, that was unlikely. There didn’t seem to be anything wrong with their memories or their manner of speech. This confirmed that there was something peculiar about this minotaur. There was no way a denizen of the labyrinth should have been able to traverse a staircase and leave its floor. First of all, monsters were incapable of perceiving the stairwells connecting the floors. They couldn’t comprehend the concept of moving between floors, much less put it into practice. An apt analogy might be the heavens and the underworld for humans. Monsters couldn’t even see the staircases, and if an adventurer went into one right before the beast’s eyes, all it would see was a human disappearing. Even if you tried to force a monster into a stairwell, it would die when you pushed it through. Technically, even humans, by nature, could not perceive the staircases. Anyone could enter the first floor of a labyrinth, but they would be unable to see the second floor. Only after receiving a holy occupation such as knight or adventurer did someone gain the ability to see and enter the stairwells. So if a monster enters the stairwells and moves freely around the labyrinth… …then would that mean it’s…a monster adventurer?