As we walk towards our destination, with the pathway being illuminated with blue mana crystals on the walls, in defeating the final Beast, I’ve been spared from pulling the more loaded bandwagon. Of course I feel obligated to do so not because I feel physically tired, which I've yet to feel that way today, but because the two archer Slayers keep on insisting that I take a break from weightlifting. Regardless whether their help offer is due to their urge to present themselves as gentlemen or because they wanna look cool in front of the few women present here, I want to fully focus on reassessing my current profile in the Guideline.
It's hard to pay attention to it if I were to keep on pulling the bandwagon on my own; hence, that's the reason why I accept their help though it's another story if they were S-rank to begin with. As I check my overall profile, including the storage that has the Sigbins' body parts, from the Guideline, a familiar voice interrupts my focus and I've to shut down the blue screen from my sight to focus talking with that person.
“Hey. Were you the one who threw that rock?”
I give Slayer Ban a nonchalant look while pretending not to know what she's actually asking about; my hands place inside the pockets of my hoodie again. She's not even an S-rank, but her instinct to sense something abnormal really proves the strength of her subclass’ powers. I almost mistaken her for having the same one as Slayer Shin who's of the berserker subclass. Hopefully I'm able to keep my secret safe from the likes of her.
“You're really talkative today, Slayer Ban.”
“And you seem to change more than I initially thought. It's not just your physical appearance, but the way you notice that Sigbin…”
“I hope you've got a good reason to get your pay today. Otherwise, I don't understand why you can't apply to work at a Slayers’ guild.”
“...”
Good thing I'm able to distract her with this kind of remark…
“I could say the same to you, Kang Joo-yeon. How come an F-rank like you keeps coming back to join a raid team?”
I stay silent when she makes that comeback at me. It's at this moment that Mr Seo suddenly tells us to take a break for ten minutes before we venture deeper into the Labyrinth. Each of us takes a lunch box that's been provided by Mr Seo who placed them inside the bandwagon. Once I finish eating my lunch, I'm tempted to grab the last lunch box, but it's already been taken by one of Mr Seo's assistants who looks around Ga-young’s age.
Ever since I've been assigned with my daily task of the Guideline, I always made sure I ate a two-person meal, which includes this morning before Uncle Seung-min left for work. It's a bad habit that I mustn't subconsciously become a glutton even though my eating consumption has a plausible reason for doing so.
“That's an expensive grimoire you got there.”
I look to see a few of Mr Seo's assistants admiring and praising the teal-colored item the wizard Slayer has. Upon a closer look now, he seems to be around Uncle Seung-min’s age and sort of reminds me of him seeing the wizard’s body figure being the same as his. The wizard has spiky black hair and brown eyes. I can feel a friendly and humble demeanor coming from him unlike Old Man Amergin who still exudes the opposite vibe when he telepathically talked to me today.
“I’m flattered that y’all can tell its fine quality. This D-rank item is actually a hand-me-down from a fallen comrade of mine.”
“Oh…”
“Y’all don't need to feel sorry. It should be expected that raiding, even for the same rank, Labyrinths is a dangerous job. But, I plan to retire and start a restaurant business with my wife and teenage son after this raid is done.”
“You’re right, mister!”
“Good to know. Then, we better check and make sure our equipment from Maorga is still functioning well.”
“Oh, please! Go ahead.”
As they move on to check their equipment, which were temporarily placed back in the bandwagon, the wizard Slayer somehow starts a conversation with me though I admit I was staring at his grimoire that has some beautiful markings on its cover.
“Do you like it, Slayer Kang?”
“Oh. It's just that's a beautifully-made grimoire you owned there.”
“I guess it's beautiful that even my little girl wishes she ‘gets chosen’ as a Slayer and inherits this item from me.”
“Is she your youngest child?”
“Yeah.”
“I hope she doesn't get disappointed that only the mage subclass can use a grimoire.”
“Haha. I hope so too. But I'm more worried that she'll be disappointed when she finds out a Slayer's world isn't what she expected it to be…”
He stops his sentence midway, but I can tell what he means by that. I used to think like his young daughter that if I tolerate and work hard enough to earn a huge income from the raids, I'll feel good about being chosen as a Slayer. That shattered my naïve expectations when rankism, and sometimes classism, was and is still normalized amongst Slayers, and nobody of the lower ranks can question if this discrimination was necessary.
As for the three leading figures with undisclosed identities at the Alliance, I speculate they can't interfere since many of their sponsors, who mostly are chaebol people, always support the rankism being normalized. Even though I remember one of them, whose name is Yoo Kyung-hwa, coming from the same social class, she proclaimed in one of her interviews that she refused to receive assistance from her filthy rich family. I guess the rumor of her turning her family mansion into an ice castle shouldn't be surprising if that were to be proven true.
“Alright, everyone! It's time to move one!”
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
The young father and I look to see Mr Seo talking words of encouragement in an assertive-like voice while he claps his hands as an alert call to us Slayer-applicants. The young father also says encouraging words, but more directly to me.
“Let's get ourselves home safely, Slayer Kang.”
I nod in agreement at what he just said to me. As we get up from our resting spots, I notice something is shining from my right side afar. I squint my eyes to see an egg-shaped device that's hiding between two rocks. I notice that the device is half-opened from the middle. There's a shiny gem that's a burnt sienna color inside of it, which makes me so curious that I subconsciously walk towards it.
Someone suddenly grabs my left wrist. I turn my head around to see the ponytailed woman reminding me to not get separated from the team while smiling at me. Somehow that smile is making me feel uncomfortable that I can't help, but reluctantly nod in agreement. She lets go of my wrist. Both of us proceed to walk to our intended destination whilst I look behind for a few moments to see the shiny device looking out of place in this D-rank Labyrinth.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
[You have stored 20 Amethyst Mushrooms.]
It’s a stroke of luck that I'm able to collect and store this kind of mana-absorbed mushroom without anyone noticing the blue light swallowing them into the ground. I'm glad that, in comparison to all the Sigbins' bodies being at one whole spot, each mushroom is separated along this pathway; most of their height is towered over by large rocks surrounding them. That's the reason why everyone on this team keeps on walking even though one of them has noticed the mushrooms a bit earlier on.
“Man~ if only we had a sorceress Slayer here to collect these poisonous mushrooms…”
[...]
“Now, now~ let's not get discouraged. Our main mission is to collect as many mana crystals as we can get and put them into the bandwagon.”
“Sorry, Mr Seo. But these Amethyst Mushrooms can be sold at a very high price…”
[You have the required ingredients to make a low-grade Cleansing Potion.]
[1. Windblume]
[2. Sage - Replicated Form]
[3. Amethyst Mushroom]
[4. Mistletoe]
“It would've been good if your daughter joined this raid we're in now,” one of Mr Seo’s assistants says with his hands holding the back of his head.
“I didn't know Mr Seo's daughter is a Slayer,” one of the archer Slayers says with an astonished look on his face.
I speculate that all Mr Seo’s six assistants know about her as I listen to each of them take turns to talk about her current whereabouts and recent activity which Mr Seo politely gives ambiguous answers regarding such private information. Meanwhile, I'm busy focusing on my decision to craft this new kind of potion.
[The current amount of these ingredients are enough to craft for 6 bottles.]
[Crafting of 6 low-grade Cleansing Potions’ duration: 30 minutes]
[Would you like to proceed crafting them?]
[Yes]
The archer Slayers are being nosy in wanting to know about Mr Seo's daughter. The young father and Slayer Ban just keep quiet, only listening to this so-called exciting conversation.
“Wait…are you implying she's a sorceress? Since only that subgroup can store necessities in some space-like storage…”
“If Mr Seo isn't denying it, it's the truth.”
“If that's true, how many can she carry this kind of dangerous ingredient?”
“You kids wanna know, huh? Let's see…she's an S-rank so at least five thousand?”
As soon as I close my ‘Window Status’, I look at Mr Seo smiling as he somehow brags about his daughter, whom he has yet to say her name, being able to clear three S-rank Labyrinths on the same day. There's something about him talking about his daughter that makes me think he might be related to what Ms Han was warning me during a past raid of ours.
What's more unsettling is that my {Memory Reader} was activated on its own when the ponytailed woman grabbed me earlier on. And what I saw in a memory she was thinking about involves a burning house and that I could feel her making a wicked smile while staring at it.
“Is that our destination?”
“It should be. It’s shining violet over there.”
“That color…could it be those mana crystals…”
As all of us pass through the entrance of this tunnel, we look in awe at the sight of the violet-colored scenery in this cave chamber we're standing inside now. Upon a closer look, we see every violet crystal has a runic alphabet that's shaped like the letter ‘B’.
“If I'm not mistaken, all of these are Bhrath Crystals.
Indeed they are Bhrath Crystals, which are the special mana crystals the Alliance’s detection tool and the current mana orb use to catch the Hidden Rankers and uncover any Distorted Labyrinth. Apparently, South Korea is the one of the few countries with the most findings, besides having the most S-rank Slayers, of this special item.
Exporting such items to any countries who have active Slayers has helped generate the country's economic growth at a fast rate. And the country continues to do so without any signs of slowing down its export of Bhrath Crystals.
“How much can we mine and put inside this bandwagon, Mr Seo?”, one of the archer Slayers asks as he and the other archer put down the handle of the bandwagon, letting the moving storage be at a stationary position.
“Oh~~,” Mr Seo replies with an astonished tone. I guess nobody else would be like me who still has a stoic face even though in my mind, this is impressive to look at the huge amount of Bhrath Crystals in a single chamber. Then, Mr Seo turns around to face us Slayers with a smile on his face.
“We shall mine as many as we can, young man. Do remember not to overload the bandwagon. Otherwise, we can't leave without you pulling it back in one piece.”
“In that case, we archers will start mining first. I think you and your assistants deserve some rest!”
“Oh no~ no~ How can my team possibly let you mine all by yourselves?”
My team? Why would he say that?...
“Mr Seo, did you forget that Slayers have way more endurance energy than Nons?”
“That’s true. I suppose…if you insist then… we'll listen to your advice. After all, my team has yet to fully recover from that Sigbin fight.”
“Great! Alright! You three! We Slayers should be doing our duty to help generous civilians like Mr Seo and his team here!”
“Yeah, let's mine immediately!”
“You guys can't be serious…”
“Come on, Slayer Ban. It makes sense that we do most of the work for a ten million pay.”
As Slayer Ban start to sort of quarrel with the archers that it's ridiculous that five Slayers would mine a large amount of Bhrath Crystals, I begin to wonder why Mr Seo would pay each of the Slayers ten million, especially me for I was told with insistence to just focus being a porter. In fact, I'm quite famous for being the weakest healer in the history of Slayers. Before we went inside this Labyrinth, I confessed to Mr Seo that my healing magic is too weak for anyone who'll get hurt with major injuries. The words he said to me surprised me greatly.
“Yes, I'm aware of that. One of my assistants told me about your sudden recruitment. Hearing your name quite surprised me a bit. But rest assured that I’m not one to care about ranks among Slayers. In fact, I'm told that you're a lucky charm in many of your previous raids.”
“Is that so? Then, I'm in your care, Mr Seo Tae-ho.”
“Hoho~ I feel convinced that we'll make a lot of profits today, Ms Kang Joo-yeon. You can trust me and my team to have your backs.”
Back to my current position of standing still inside this vast chamber cave, I’ve managed to remember Ms Han’s advice and an important conversation to me during my previous raids with her.
“I can't believe this team still admires Slayer Seo as if she's a savior to them…”
“Do you have something against Slayer Seo, Ms Han?”
“Not exactly, Slayer Kang. It's just that…I heard a rumor that the reason why she's protecting her private life so much…is because of her father.”
“What about her father, Ms Han?”
“I might be wrong, but there's no harm in being cautious.”
“???”
“I heard through a close junior of mine that Slayer Seo’s father is a corrupt businessman, making lucrative deals at the black market.”
“!!!”
“Also, he often recruits low-ranking Slayers to do raids with him and his assistants. It doesn't make sense that Nons like him are allowed to lead a raid with Slayers being the applicants.”
“Why isn't the Alliance doing anything, Ms Han?”
“Because the Alliance's major sponsors have a close partnership with him. They care about profits more than a low-ranked Slayer’s life. There's nothing we can do, but hopefully my junior will figure out how to stop him soon. Otherwise…more innocent Slayers will die in his schemes.”
Suddenly, a rumbling has pulled me away from my flashback of Ms Han. The ground is shaking with several Bhrath Crystals plummet from the ceiling and walls, surrounding us five Slayers. I can see frightened looks on the four of them. The continuous rumbling reminds me of that Painting Labyrinth creating an earthquake to kill me back then.
“Hey! Something's coming out of the ground!”
I turn to look at the spot one of the archer Slayers points towards it. With a huge burst of crystal, rock, and soil, each of us cover our eyes for protection against the debris raining down on us. Then, we open our eyes to see an enormous Beast appear in front of us. It looks obvious that it's the one who made the rumblings and that huge hole behind itself. This creature has a rhino’s face, an elephant’s trunk, a tiger’s stripes, a bull’s tail, and a bear’s paws. Its skin looks all metallic in a golden color.
This is... theFinal Beast…The Bulgasari!