Chapter 102: Maze (2)

“Spirits die if their heads are cut off, right?”

“Heeuugh…!”

Benny shivered and let out a stifled moan.

No, don’t get ticklish from a whisper in the ear. It’s kinda weird.

When I looked at Benny silently, she shook her head as if making an excuse.

“N-no! It’s not like that…!”

“Benny. Do you really have to act like this before a battle?”

“I was just ticklish, that’s all?!”

“Haa. This is why women are… All they think about all day is naughty stuff, right?”

“I’m telling you, it’s not like that! I’m just very ticklish! D-do you want to touch my side? I’ll definitely be ticklish there too!”

Benny, demonstrating an unnecessarily remarkable skill of screaming quietly so the spirits wouldn’t hear.

She turned her body sideways, offering her side towards me.

Was it because she bent her body too much? Her tight dress faintly revealed the outline of her ribs.

“Oh…”

I had a theory for a long time. The theory that a flat-chested heroine must have beautiful ribs…!

In that sense, Benny passed.

I reached out toward Benny’s side to stamp the approval.

Swoosh.

“Eek?!”

Benny flinched violently even though I just brushed her lightly. I traced my fingertips carefully along her side.

“Ugh…ah!”

Making a sound that could be perceived as suggestive, Benny trembled. I finished by lightly tapping her ribs as if playing a piano.

Any more than this, and we might get discovered before the fight even starts.

“At least we know Benny is very ticklish.”

“Th-that’s right? Then let’s start the battle…”

“But actually, you might just be pretending to explain to make me touch your side…”

“Hey, you…!”

“…I thought you might not know, surely there’s no way Benny would do that. Anyway, so do spirits die if their heads are cut off?”

I was about to tease Benny a bit more but decided to turn around. If I keep bothering her here, she might really get angry.

Benny, who was making hissing sounds by herself, barely calmed down and dropped her shoulders.

“Haa… Don’t mess around in the Labyrinth. We’re not here for fun. And in the case of spirits, their vital points are a bit different from other creatures. There are some that die from having their necks cut, but…”

“The fundamental vital point is in a different place, right?”

“Yeah. That’s right.”

When I was planning the novel, I tended to set things up as roughly as possible. The same went for spirits.

How they were born, how strong they are, whether they can be summoned or not. I’ve never thought about their weaknesses.

Ah, but there is that. Like how fire spirits and water spirits are deadly to each other, or how lightning spirits’ power doesn’t do much damage to earth spirits.

I’ve thought about elemental affinities to some extent. Though in this situation, it’s completely useless information.

Earth spirits might lack attack power, but they have excellent resistance and durability.

For reference, that’s also why the God of Earth is the only one among the elemental gods who survived until the end.

As I waited eagerly for Benny’s words, my stare seemed burdensome, and Benny, pulling her neck back, spoke in a hesitant voice.

“The usual weakness of spirits is their opposing attribute. However, since earth spirits don’t have a specific opposing attribute, you just have to keep smashing them until they break.”

“What the heck…”

I think I understand why it survived the war.

Seeing my dumbfounded expression, Benny chuckled and added.

“But the one we’re dealing with isn’t an ordinary spirit, it’s a corrupted spirit, right? Then there’s a very simple answer.”

“Oh! What is it?”

“The core.”

“…???”

“I mean the Magic Stone.”

“Oh.”

The Magic Stone is like an anchor that keeps the monsters bound to this Labyrinth, a pin that fixes them in their own time.

Because they are tied to the Magic Stone, the monsters cannot leave the Labyrinth, and even if they die, they can continuously be reborn.

In other words, if the core of any monster is broken or separated from their body, they will be detached from the current timeline and disappear into the storm of time and space.

When you extract the Magic Stone from the corpse, the body disappears just like that.

Well, it doesn’t completely vanish, but it will regenerate in the Labyrinth of another timeline.

Anyway, the important thing is that if you break the Magic Stone, the monster disappears entirely. That’s all you need to know.

“…Just out of curiosity, if I hunt it down by breaking its core, what drops would be left?”

“None? If I had to say, maybe the mineral ore that guy is holding onto dearly.”

“……”

The mineral ore would surely be worth money. But that’s that, and it’s too sad that there are no drops.

Benny pats my depressed shoulder and adds.

“Don’t worry too much. Originally, spirits don’t have significant drops other than Spirit Stones. And Spirit Stones are…”

“Cheap, right.”

“That’s right. So don’t hesitate and just get rid of it swiftly!”

In this world, quite a number of spirits exist. What does the death of all the elemental gods, except for the God of Earth, during the War of the Fallen Gods mean?

It means they fought fiercely. Naturally, many traces were left behind, and countless spirits were born from their corpses.

In ancient times, spirits were rare beings, but in today’s era, they have established themselves as a race, even forming nations.

However, just because their numbers are large does not mean they have become a familiar race.

Due to the nature of spirits, it is difficult for them to leave their domain unless they form a contract.

In addition, there are issues such as the correlation between strength and intelligence, the need to spend time in their domain to increase power but having too many entities leaving no room, their immensely long lifespans that only long-lived races like elves are willing to make contracts with, and their nature of spirit-like presence that prefers to stay in one place.

Due to these various issues, they have always been a rare species to encounter.

“Hoo. Got it. I’ll be off now.”

“Okay. If it looks dangerous, I’ll step in then.”

-Grr.

Shadow responded to Benny’s words by peeking out with its eyes.

Finally, I turned off the lantern strapped to my waist and placed my whole body under my senses.

A momentary feeling as if the world was bypassing me. Controlling each action as if cut off by an invisible wall, I drastically minimized my presence.

Sound-Eating Footsteps. Along with that, I activated the Invisibility Cloak.

Unlike the kobold, the corrupted earth spirits’ vision had not deteriorated.

A dimly lit cavern with only bluish moss growing on the walls for illumination.

I moved quietly through it like a ghost. I was definitely running, but not a single sound of footsteps could be heard.

Even when climbing over a pile of ore, there was not a single small clatter. It was careful to move that way, but still surprising.

Smirking, I thrust the Unicorn Dagger into the back of the corrupted earth spirit that was sitting idly. And then.

-This, human.

The creature, turning its head 180 degrees, said in a clumsy voice.

“What!”

To my surprise, I let out a shout, breaking my concealment…but it’s fine. My hand hasn’t stopped.

This is the fastest thrust I can manage right now. A strike so swift that even my eyes can barely keep up shoots toward the corrupted earth spirit’s chest.

Though it doesn’t have a heart, there’s a Magic Stone where a heart should be, so it makes no difference.

At the moment the dazzling white dagger touches the corrupted earth spirit’s back.

-Intruder…thief!

Suddenly, the earth on its back bulged up. Precisely where my dagger was touching.

Squelch!

The blade sunk in to the hilt. But it couldn’t reach the Magic Stone, which was blocked by more earth.

“Click.”

I don’t know how I was discovered, but the ambush had failed. For now, I’ll have to create some distance and slowly chip away at it, waiting for the chance to destroy the Magic Stone.

Clicking my tongue, I pulled out the embedded dagger roughly. As if trying to cling to my weapon, it bit down hard on the blade, but even that was cut off as the dagger was withdrawn.

At that moment, I made a great leap backward.

-Do, dododo! Doooooo…!

“…???”

The corrupted earth spirit twisted its body like a pretzel, stuttering alone as if it were bugged.

Pususuk.

And not long after, it crumbled on its own. Leaving behind only a single Magic Stone.

“Uh?”

It was absurd, yet at the same time, a sense of déjà vu hit me.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Hobgoblin?”

It was a similar reaction to the hobgoblin that had died in agony as if poisoned by a virginity-special attack, just from being grazed by the Dagger.

Unbelievable. So, that meant someone actually pounded that short, human-like thing? Or rather, it might have been the other way around.

Shivering at the unwanted truth, I dropped the Stone and ran to Benny.

“Benny!!!”

“Huh?! What, what is it!”

“Benny! BeniBeni! Beninininit!”

“That’s a little cute, but at least call my name properly!”

Benny’s reaction was ambiguous, unclear if she liked it or not. I thrust the Unicorn Dagger toward her.

“Hiya!”

The blade touched Benny’s forearm. The dagger shone brightly in pure white.

“Whew.”

Only then did I feel a bit more at ease.