Chapter 301: Chapter 301: Evil Spirit (5)

“Bjorn! I just watched from the back, but it was a fun exploration! Let’s meet again if we have the chance!”

“……Okay.”

After a brief farewell, Kalton’s group left the rift. So it was time for us to focus on what we had to do.

“Let’s go. We don’t know what else there is!”

“……You’re planning to just wander around and search?”

No, I was planning to pretend to wander around and find everything I wanted.

“Follow me. I know a few things.”

Oh, if you say so.

I followed Amelia, the experienced player, and we moved in reverse order, exiting the boss room.

And we found two hidden elements.

‘Fragment of Earth’, which increased Earth Resistance and Physical Resistance by 1.

And ‘Book of Souls’, which gave 3 additional experience points.

For reference, Amelia had already taken them when she came here before, so I took them all, and that was the end of our hidden piece exploration in the Hundred Colors Temple.

Because those were the only useful potions.

The rest had to be ‘distorted’ to be taken out and sold.

‘Then we got everything…’

“Amelia, how about we stay here for a bit before leaving?”

“Why?”

“Honestly, I’m tired after sleeping for only three hours every day. How about we take a nap here?”

“…….”

Amelia looked at me with a dissatisfied expression.

I knew what she was thinking.

It was already late, and the labyrinth would be closing tomorrow, so why did we have to rest now?

‘Tsk, we already achieved our goal, why is she so greedy?’

But complaining wasn’t my style, so I gave her a rational reason.

“My head is a mess, so I need some time to think.”

“Ah……”

Amelia seemed to understand and then readily agreed.

“Alright. I’ll rest and then we’ll leave, so tell me when you’re ready.”

She’s kind in this aspect.

“Thank you, Amelia.”

“…Just rest.”

Amelia then took out her sleeping bag and lay down, and I sat down about three meters away from her.

And I started calculating.

‘Let’s see…’

I had gained 156 experience points from first-time kills in the Hundred Colors Temple.

And if I added the High-Grade Variant kill bonus of 1, the Guardian kill bonus of 3, and the 3 from the Book of Souls, it was a total of 163.

Of course, it was still far from level 7.

But…

‘I might even reach level 7 in the mid to late stages of the 6th floor.’

There was no denying that my character was nearing completion.

I had also obtained the Demon Crusher.

‘How can I take this back…?’

I was thinking about that when…

“Yandel, I have a question.”

“Ah! You’re talking about that Numbered Item? I, I don’t know what it is, but I like the weight, so I’m going to use it—”

“It’s a different question.”

Oh, it’s not that?

I was worried she was going to suggest splitting the profits.

“Don’t you… want to change it?”

“What do you mean?”

“Yandel Jarku, your father.”

Ah, that…

Damn it, I was trying not to think about it.

“We might be able to save him.”

“How can we save him when we don’t even know how he died or when he died? We only know that he died when I was young.”

“If you want, I can go up to the city and help after I’m done here—”

“No.”

I cut Amelia off and said firmly,

“I don’t want that.”

“…Why?”

Amelia asked, genuinely curious.

Well, I must seem strange to her.

She didn’t know I was an evil spirit.

And…

“If it could be changed that easily, it would have already changed when we met here.”

The future doesn’t change.

It seemed like Amelia also felt that to some extent.

But the weight of that realization was different for me, who had heard it from Auril Gabis and confirmed it with Raven and Dwarkey.

“What do you mean it doesn’t change?”

Amelia sat up and asked.

I hesitated for a moment and then told her honestly.

About how I had tried to change Dwarkey and Raven’s futures, but failed.

“There’s no way…”

Amelia bit her lip and tried to deny it, and I just asked her directly.

“Amelia, you also knew, didn’t you?”

“Knew…?”

“What else could it be? You were surprised when you saw ‘Nibels Enche’s’ name, and you had that look in your eyes when I came here wearing this helmet.”

“That’s…”

“You knew, didn’t you? That the past wouldn’t change no matter what we did. No, that it happened that way because we were there.”

“…….”

Amelia didn’t answer.

She just clenched her fists and endured something.

She finally spoke after a moment of silence.

“…So you’re giving up? Even though you might be able to save your family.”

Her tone was the same as usual, but there was a hint of aggression in her voice.

So did I respond a bit defensively?

“He’s a father I’ve never even met.”

“So you’re saying you don’t care enough?”

“…Yes.”

“I see.”

Amelia seemed to understand, but she clicked her tongue.

She seemed disappointed in me.

Damn it, I shouldn’t have brought this up.

I thought we were getting closer, but I ruined it all.

“…….”

“…….”

We then rested in silence.

And after about five hours…

…I woke up from a nap and suggested we leave. It would be better to do something than to just lie here on pins and needles.

But…

“Wait, can we stop by that place?”

“Do what you want.”

I approached the hut behind us after returning to the boss room to use the portal.

It was out of pure curiosity.

In the game, it was just a background object that you couldn’t enter…

‘Oh, the door opens.’

…but I entered the hut.

And I felt a strong sense of familiarity.

A bookshelf, a table, a carpet, a fireplace.

There was nothing special about the interior.

It was just an ordinary hut.

But the size, the structure, the arrangement of furniture…

‘It’s exactly the same…’

One place came to mind without even having to look around.

The Witch’s Hut, the only safe zone in the 3rd-floor Witch’s Forest.

The place where I had rested with Misha and offered a human sacrifice, which led to the summoning of the Lord of Chaos.

“You can search if you want, but we didn’t find anything like Gavrilius’ Arrangement when we searched it before.”

I quickly came out after briefly checking the books on the bookshelf.

Ah, they were all blank.

The titles were written in the ancient language, so I couldn’t read them.

Hmm, would Raven be able to find something if I brought her here later?

“Let’s go if you’re ready.”

“Ah, just in case, I’ll go first.”

“…….”

We then stood in front of the portal.

It would take us back to the place where we first entered the rift.

Thud.

I stepped into the portal first, as the tank.

Swaaaaaaaaaa.

The portal’s light enveloped me, and my vision flashed.

And my vision slowly returned.

But what the hell is this?

“Phew! You’re finally out!”

A group of explorers were standing there.

As if they had been waiting for us.

“Yeah, a Numbered Item dropped—”

We both flinched as we saw each other.

“Huh? Iron Mask?”

It was Bek’s team, the looters who were part of the Lord’s faction.

“Ha, this is interesting. I didn’t expect you guys to be the ones who met those three inside.”

“Three…?”

I unconsciously followed Bek’s gaze and froze.

Beeeeeeeep.

I could hear a ringing in my ears.

__________________________

What is this?

My mind went blank for a moment, but my brain quickly processed the visual information.

Kalton Drek.

Aimburn Berta Garcia.

And Yandel, the third son of Jarku.

The bodies of those three, who had left through the portal a few hours ago, were lying on the ground.

And it wasn’t just those three.

There were two more bodies.

I could guess who they were.

[This is bad! Lemud and Hans didn’t get in!!]

They were probably the two who were waiting outside.

Then how did this happen?

“…Bjorn.”

Amelia, who had also come out, grabbed my wrist, as if sensing the situation.

Is she telling me to hold back?

Hmm, it seemed like it…

Beeeeeeeep.

Ugh, it’s so loud.

I closed my eyes tightly and then opened them again, trying to regain my composure.

Everything was still there.

“It seems like we’re fated, meeting for the second time during this expedition!”

Bek got up from the corpse he had been sitting on.

Amelia asked him,

“…Why are you here?”

“Well, we were looking around after the rift opened, and then we saw these two.”

Bek nudged the bodies of Lemud and Hans with his foot and continued,

“We caught them and asked them some questions, and they said their three companions had gone inside. So we waited, and then those three came out.”

He shrugged, omitting the rest, and Amelia didn’t ask any further questions.

It was obvious.

They killed those three and extracted the information they needed.

Like how the Guardian dropped a ‘Numbered Item’ at the end.

Beeeeeeeep.

Amelia and Bek were talking.

I couldn’t hear them properly because it was so noisy.

So I just thought blankly.

[Ah, is it difficult for humans? Just call me Yandel Jarku!]

I knew he would die.

But I didn’t know it would be because of me.

‘If it weren’t for me…’

Yandel Jarku would have entered the rift with his teammates.

So they wouldn’t have been waiting outside and caught by these bastards.

And as a result…

He…

No, they wouldn’t have died.

They would have continued their journey.

And maybe…

[Huhu, he’ll definitely become a great warrior. The child who inherited my and her blood—]

…he would have been able to see his son grow up. No, maybe he would have even entered the labyrinth with him after he became an adult.

‘If it weren’t for me…’

Bjorn Yandel wouldn’t have been possessed by an evil spirit.

Beeeeeeeep.

The ringing in my ears intensified.

It was a kind of defense mechanism.

To help me ignore the voice inside my head.

A coward’s sound.

Clench.

My hand clenched into a fist, but I felt blood rushing to my head.

Beeeeeeeep.

‘If it weren’t for me…’

Dwarkey wouldn’t have died.

Even if he became an explorer, he wouldn’t have gone to that dangerous place on the 4th floor.

Beeeeeeeep.

‘If I hadn’t come here…’

Dwarkey’s love might have come true.

Maybe they would have met as companions and healed each other.

‘I…’

Maybe.

What if.

Yeah, if it weren’t for me.

Beeeeeeeep.

My ears, no, my head was throbbing.

“Hey, why is Iron Mask so quiet?”

“Bjorn.”

Like a homework assignment I had been putting off.

That emotions are just emotions.

“Bjorn, snap out of it.”

Countless emotions, which I had been suppressing and ignoring, overwhelmed me.

I had to do something.

For myself, not for anyone else, because I knew it was just hypocrisy.

I opened my mouth.

“Amelia.”

Her real name, not her alias, ‘Emily’.

Did she understand?

“They’re from the Lord’s faction. Endure it.”

Amelia’s grip on my wrist tightened.

But it was meaningless.

Thud.

You’re an agility character.

“Bjorn…”

I shook Amelia off and stepped forward, and Bek chuckled.

“Huhu, it seems like Iron Mask is angry. Did I even ask for it? I just wanted to see what you got. We waited for a long time.”

I didn’t hear their conversation properly, but I understood the context.

Right, you’re curious about this?

Clank.

I took out the hammer from my subspace pocket.

No. 87 Kraul’s Demon Crusher.

“A hammer? There’s something like this among Numbered Items…?”

Bek trailed off.

And his expression changed.

“Wa, wait a minute. Can I see it closer? I think I know what that is.”

“Go ahead.”

I took a step closer, and Bek also cautiously took a step forward.

And when we were at a suitable distance…

“It, it really is that item! Did that really drop?”

“Yes.”

I’m glad your curiosity is satisfied.

Thwack!

Now die.