Chapter 16. The Drifters
After closing the Monster Encyclopedia.
Why was the slime just now ranked B?
I belatedly answered Pururu’s question.
Explaining the slime’s rank.
And even the fact that the threat level of labyrinth monsters was being suppressed.
【Pururu】─So, you’re saying all the monsters have been nerfed?
【Mysticism】─😦
“Yeah. I’m not entirely sure, but the probability is very high.”
【Pururu】─Then all the monsters we’ve seen so far must be Demon Kings. ㄷㄷ
【003】─What is a Demon King?
【Pururu】─ㄱㄷ I’ll post the ranking chart Geon shared last time, just a sec.
Pururu posted the ranking chart in the chat.
It seemed they had copied the chart I had drawn on the ground yesterday.
Thanks to that, I didn’t have to explain it again.
In the future, if a new Assistant comes along, I’ll let Pururu handle the explanations.
【003】─Ah, so the ranking works like this? S-rank monsters are either Demon Lords or Demon Kings…
【003】─What’s the difference between a Demon Lord and a Demon King?
【Pururu】─I don’t know that either.
【003】─Hmm. Could it be an intelligence difference? Like, if it’s more intelligent, it’s a Demon Lord, and if it’s less intelligent, it’s a Demon King?
“No, intelligence doesn’t matter.”
Intelligence was irrelevant.
If it was humanoid, it was a Demon Lord. Anything else was a Demon King.
I gave this explanation as we approached Passage No. 6.
<Passage No. 6>
○Fire Slime Habitat.
And just as I finished making a note of it.
『Drifter Appeared!』
『Drifter Appeared!』
『Drifter Appeared!』
“Huh?”
『Three mortals have crossed dimensions and stepped into the Ancient Labyrinth.』
Text appeared before my eyes.
Drifters referred to outsiders who came from outside the labyrinth.
【Pururu】─What’s wrong?
“A Drifter has appeared?”
【Pururu】─What’s a Drifter?
“Roughly speaking, it’s like an uninvited guest in this labyrinth.”
Before I became an explorer, I was the only Drifter in this labyrinth.
Even though I was summoned, Min Hyeong-seok, the one who had called me, died.
【Pururu】─So, humans have shown up?
It wasn’t certain if they were humans.
Drifters were referred to as mortals, after all.
【Pururu】─Are you going to meet them?
【003】─I recommend not meeting them. You don’t know who they are. They could be dangerous.
【Pururu】─That’s true. Wherever you go, humans are the most dangerous. Humans are scarier than ghosts.
【Pururu】─Just ignore them and don’t meet up.
“Either way, I don’t know where they are, so even if I wanted to meet them, I can’t.”
【Pururu】─ㅋㅋ ㅇㅋ
【Mysticism】─😌
I decided not to care about the Drifters.
There was no way to find out their location, and there was no reason to meet them.
***
Somewhere in the Ancient Labyrinth.
The forms of three people slowly appeared.
“This place is…”
A woman muttered quietly, surveying the surroundings.
“…Could this be the secret space the heroes have been hiding?”
“Seems like it.”
The man standing next to her responded.
They were Drifters who had just crossed over into the labyrinth through the Dark Portal.
The woman turned around and looked at an elderly man.
“Master of Darkness.”
Master of Darkness.
It was the title they used to address the old man.
“The dimensional gate we passed through seems to have disappeared. It looks like our way back is blocked. What should we do?”
The world they had come from was a place where justice and evil clashed endlessly.
It was a world where heroes and villains were constantly in conflict.
And these three belonged to the forces of evil.
They had been infiltrating the heroes’ stronghold, aiming to eliminate the top-ranked hero.
But an unexpected variable had arisen.
The infiltration had been successful, but they were suddenly swept up by a Dark Portal and dropped into an unfamiliar space.
“Hmm…”
The old man, called the Master of Darkness, scanned his surroundings with cold eyes.
He was exceptionally calm.
“For now, let’s take a slow look around. We need to figure out what this place is.”
At the old man’s words, the man and woman nodded.
As the three villains moved through the cave,
[Hmmm~]
A strange creature appeared before their eyes.
The being, entirely made of flames, was humming as it approached them.
It was the Fire Slime that had clashed with the Labyrinth Explorer, Kang Geon.
“What is that monster?”
“It looks like a special life form the heroes are secretly creating.”
“They’ve been making something like this in secret, huh…”
The man and woman assumed combat stances.
If they were ordinary humans, they would have been frightened right away.
But they were far from ordinary.
The woman and man were villains of a nation-destroying caliber.
The old man, leader of their villain organization, was a renowned figure, labeled as a world-ending villain.
Of course.
That was in their own world.
Each world has a different measure of strength.
Someone considered the strongest in one world could be average in another, while someone seen as weak in one world could reign as an absolute power in another.
In other words, the definition of strength and the abilities of those at the pinnacle varied dramatically between worlds.
The old man and the two others.
If judged by Kang Geon’s standards of danger, the old man would be considered A-rank, and the man and woman B-rank.
However, they were like frogs in a well.
Believing themselves to be the strongest, they arrogantly assumed they could easily defeat the creature before them.
“Master of Darkness, shall we kill it?”
“It seems to have research value, so prioritize capturing it. If it resists too much, you may kill it. There are likely other creatures as well.”
They were arrogant.
Though they had no chance of defeating the creature, they couldn’t gauge the difference in power.
The Fire Slime was no longer suppressed as it had been when in the same area as Kang Geon.
It could now use its full power.
[Hmmm?]
The Fire Slime noticed the villains.
Currently, the slime had been tamed by Kang Geon.
Since it now considered Kang Geon its friend, it didn’t show any hostility towards humans who looked similar to him.
So, it planned to simply pass by.
However, the humans attacked first.
[Hmm…?]
Naturally, none of their attacks worked.
While the villains were taken aback,
The Fire Slime paused and stared at them intently.
Why are they attacking?
The Explorer and I are friends now.
Wouldn’t that mean these humans, who are the same species, are also friends?
The Fire Slime pondered this.
It quickly came to a conclusion.
Oh, right!
Just because they’re the same species doesn’t mean they’re all friends. There are bad slimes that prey on their own kind, too!
These humans must be the same.
They could be a threat to its friend, the Explorer.
With that judgment, the Fire Slime made a decision.
These are enemies, so let’s kill them.
The Fire Slime expanded its body and began radiating intense heat.
In an instant, the temperature skyrocketed, and the air inside the cave became scorching hot.
The heat was so overwhelming that it became difficult to breathe, turning the cave into something akin to a furnace.
“Huff!”
“I-I can’t breathe…”
The man and woman began to shake violently.
They clutched their throats, writhing in pain, and eventually collapsed to their knees.
Their eyes were filled with fear, showing only the whites, and white foam started bubbling at the corners of their mouths.
Their skin turned red, as if heated by flames.
Like metal forged in a fire.
“Master of Darkness, save, me…”
Burns rapidly spread across their bodies, their skin melting and revealing white bones beneath.
Soon, even the bones began to dissolve.
Their bodies slowly lost their original forms.
“What is this…”
The old man was still alive.
True to his reputation as the leader of villains, he stubbornly held on even as his body melted.
And only then did he realize.
That creature was far beyond their league.
They couldn’t win.
They had to escape.
Throwing away his pride and dignity, the old man turned and fled in a cowardly manner.
But he didn’t get far.
Thud!
He collided with something and fell to the ground.
Looking ahead, he saw a transparent barrier blocking his path.
“W-What is this?!”
His escape route was cut off.
Panicked, the old man struck the cave wall with his fist.
It was a desperate attempt to break through the wall and escape.
But the solid cave wall didn’t even crack.
Behind the despairing old man, the Fire Slime began expanding its body once again.
Its massive, red form filled the entire cave, then suddenly separated into countless small flames.
Each flame, as if acting with its own will, swiftly rushed toward the old man.
The flames wrapped around his body.
They merged into one, forming a massive pillar of fire, and within it, the old man’s body turned to ash in an instant.
The pillar of fire subsided.
There wasn’t a single trace left of where the old man had stood.
The villain leader, Master of Darkness, who had once terrorized a world, met his end in such a futile manner.
***
『Drifters Remaining: 0』
The number of mortals from outside had dropped from 3 to 0.
‘Did they die?’
They had been here for only a few minutes, and yet they were already dead.
I didn’t know who the Drifters were or what they looked like, but I offered them a silent, respectful tribute in my heart.
As I did, I applied some ointment to my left hand.
It was a supply Missi had just sent, concerned about my burn.
【Pururu】─Ah, I missed my chance. I was going to send that. ㅡㅡ
【Mysticism】─😁
【003】─So, when you get supplies, they just pop! right in front of you like that? That’s amazing. I wonder how it works…
Just as I finished applying the ointment, Passage No. 6 brightened up.
Squinting, I saw that the Fire Slime was standing at the entrance.
By the way, I had already successfully tamed the Fire Slime.
【003】─Huh? It came on its own?
【Pururu】─It doesn’t have feet.
【Mysticism】─😦
That saved me some trouble.
I had planned to go get it after applying the ointment, but I hadn’t expected it to come to me.
The Fire Slime cautiously glanced around before slowly approaching me.
【Pururu】─It’s really tamed, right?
【003】─Just in case, be careful.
The Fire Slime had approached close enough.
I cautiously extended my hand and touched its surface.
A soft sensation spread across my palm.
It felt calming.
【Pururu】─Not hot?
“No.”
It wasn’t hot.
It was just warm.
【Pururu】─Seems like it doesn’t harm those it doesn’t see as enemies.
【003】─A fire that only harms certain targets… That doesn’t make any sense.
“That’s because this slime’s fire isn’t an ordinary flame.”
I slowly petted the Fire Slime.
As I did, its body relaxed, and it started emitting a gentle vibration, like a cat purring.
【Mysticism】─🫠
【Pururu】─It’s kind of cute. ㅋㅋ
【003】─Is it… cute?
In just two days, I had successfully tamed three monsters.
***
I temporarily released Poison Apple from its restraints.
Then, I stimulated it, prompting it to summon its familiars.
Once about eight familiars had been summoned,
The Dog Spider quickly re-restrained Poison Apple.
【Pururu】─It seems kind of pitiful.
【003】─Are we going to eat that apple?
【Pururu】─ㅇㅇ It’s supposed to be tasty.
【003】─I see…
【Mysticism】─🤢
I distributed the summoned apples.
Two for each of us.
As we gathered and ate with the monsters,
“Oh, right.”
【Pururu】─Wrong.
I suddenly remembered something I had forgotten.
It was the request I wanted to make once Pururu arrived this morning.
“Hey, Ruru.”
【Pururu】─ㅇㅇ?
“I have a favor to ask.”
【Pururu】─What is it?
“Do you think you could stop by my house real quick?”
【Pururu】─?
The reason for the request was simple.
I needed to bring my belongings and money from home to this place.
Naturally, the money would be exchanged for coins.