Exit Room (2)
The scene looked like an inverted carpet bombing.
Four bolts of fire shot upward into the sky, then slammed into the ceiling in succession, detonating one after another.
Burning spiderwebs and fragments of rotten ceiling planks.
They rained down in a torrent, like a waterfall made of fire.
"Wh-What the hell is this······."
"How did he fire four shots at once······?"
"Was I the only one who didn't hear the chant?"
The shocking spectacle left the three members of the dwarf party momentarily frozen.
"And the destructive power is insane!"
Of course it is. Sure, my level might be a bit lower than theirs, but I'd dumped every single point into Wisdom.
In terms of raw damage, it holds up even on the second floor.
And I'd slammed in four shots at once, no less······.
"GRAAAAAH!"
The Venomic Spider let out a scream as it fell.
I shouted at the top of my lungs to match it.
"Everyone, snap out of it!"
When the Venomic Spider takes a massive hit—losing over a third of its HP in one go—it falls from the ceiling.
From experience, dumping burst damage at this moment drastically increases the odds of victory.
So this is not the time to just stand there gawking!
Pyoong!
The first to react—surprisingly—was Yernil.
That talent monster intercepted the falling spider midair with an arrow. The accuracy was certainly applause-worthy, but—
'Like a toothpick.'
A goblin bow and arrows don't deal meaningful damage to a Venomic Spider.
"Yernil, you don't need to fight—wait over there."
I pointed her toward the barrels.
Now that it had hit the ground, the spider was thrashing and shrieking.
Right in the center of the exit room floor.
Flames clinging to the monster's body spread in all directions.
"Priest!"
I shouted to her as well.
"Magic barrier!"
"Y-Yes!"
Now it was the dwarf's and beastman's turn.
"As soon as the barrier's up, charge in! Before it regains its senses!"
"You greenhorn! Don't order me around! I know already!"
The beastman snapped irritably, his pride clearly bruised.
"Under the goddess's palm!"
The priest's incantation rang out.
A bluish protective barrier wrapped around everyone's bodies.
"He's got a bit of a temper, this one."
The dwarf chuckled, pointing at the beastman, then hoisted his axe and charged in.
The beastman's body turned misty as he plunged straight through the flames—Leaping Ambush.
And just as a stimulated Yernil started to run toward the barrels—
"Wait!"
I grabbed her quickly.
The fire hadn't spread toward the barrels yet, and the direct path was still packed with spiderwebs.
"But the barrier!"
Yernil pointed at herself and hopped in place.
She was so rushed she communicated like a five-year-old using single words, but I got the point.
Break through the webs while the barrier's active? Miss the timing and the barrier disappears?
But Yernil—the barrier blocks burns, not spiderwebs.
So······.
"Step on this, Yernil!"
I hurled my backpack straight onto the webs, right in the middle of the straight line between Yernil and the barrels.
A perfect stepping stone.
Thud!
As Yernil bounded over it like a deer, I immediately switched wands—to the fanatic's one.
"Move by the unseen hand."
I lifted the backpack with telekinesis. It's my most valuable possession right now, so I can't just leave it to burn.
But—
'Yeah, figures it won't come off.'
Dozens of strands of spiderweb stretched and clung to the pack like melted cheese being pulled.
Still, that's fine. I just need to keep pulling with telekinesis. Once the fire spreads, they'll snap on their own like cheese strings.
That's taken care of······.
'Now I need to watch the other side.'
The dwarf and beastman were beating the spider down in rhythm.
The timing's about right now.
Of course, there's no HP bar like in-game, so I don't know exactly how much health it has left—but I can estimate.
Crunch!
One of the spider's largest legs was severed clean off by the beastman's cleaving skill.
"It's going to blow!"
At the same time, a fluorescently glowing poison sac on the spider's abdomen began to swell.
"Constellation Shield!"
As if she'd been waiting for it, the priest summoned a shield in front of the dwarf and beastman. The two pressed themselves tightly against it and crouched down.
'So the dwarf party knows this pattern too.'
When the Venomic Spider's HP drops below 30%, it triggers a poison sac explosion.
That's the standard response—but there's a better one.
"Ice Spike!"
What's inside the poison sac is liquid. If an ice spike pierces it, it freezes.
Sure, exit bosses are high-level and can resist freeze status effects—but it's on fire, surrounded, and getting beaten to hell right now, so its resistance should be penalized.
"Kiiieeek!"
A strange groan rippled through the convulsing monster.
White frost settled over the poison sac pierced by ice. The swelling stopped and began to shrink.
Got it!
"It won't explode! Come out!"
The priest's eyes went wide—she clearly didn't know this method.
And I—
"Hurry up and get out!"
Damn it, this is infuriating.
It's not going to explode, you idiots!
"But······."
The beastman and the dwarf were still hesitating behind the shield. This was their first time seeing a poison sac not explode, so they couldn't be sure whether it really was safe.
I'm losing my mind here.
If this were a turn-based fight I fully controlled, it would already be over.
Give it any more time and the spider will shoot webs at the ceiling, climb back up, and escape.
And once it gets away, things get annoying.
[Turn-based hourglass cooldown: 14 seconds]
Fourteen seconds left on the hourglass.
The telekinetic wand is tied up holding my backpack. Ice Spike is on cooldown. Should I cancel that and use Fireball? But if the spider tries to escape with webs, I'll need Fireball to burn it down and knock it off. Better to save it. Then what about Lightning Shock? But what if it escapes while I'm switching wands?
This is seriously frustrating.
"I said the poison sac won't explode! Attack already! Please!"
Then someone attacked.
Yernil.
Pyoong!—a toothpick-like goblin arrow flew in and stuck into the spider's side.
"Not you, Yernil!"
"Aah! I'm sorry!"
No—there's nothing to apologize for.
Anyway, you two—damn rush-hour Olympic-daero traffic jams!
"Get out there and hit it, please!"
"Hraaah!"
Maybe he heard my inner swearing, because the dwarf finally mustered the courage to leap out.
The way he raised his axe reminded me of a skill I knew well.
Axe Technique, Rank 2: Log Splitter.
Crunch!
What split wasn't firewood, but a chitinous shell.
A small groan leaked from the monstrous spider.
Along with the sound of tissue and endoskeleton being crushed.
Viscous fluids splattered. Legs sagged lifelessly.
"W-We······."
The dwarf's face brightened.
"Got it! It's over!"
Judging by him saying that, he clearly didn't know the spider very well.
"W-What is that!? Look up there!"
As the beastman approached the spider's corpse, he suddenly screamed and pointed at the ceiling.
Feline beastmen come with innate darkvision as a racial trait. He'd seen what was happening high up in the gloomy shadows of the ceiling.
"What is it?"
The dwarf couldn't see it.
"What do you see?"
The human priest couldn't see it either.
Of course, I couldn't see it either—I'm human too.
But I knew exactly what it was.
Venomic Spider boss fight, Phase Two.
Hundreds of egg sacs were hatching, baby spiders about to pour out in a swarm.
But don't worry. There's someone else who can figure it out besides the beastman.
A sound-mapping prodigy.
A toothpick-launching specialist.
"U-ugh······."
Yernil trembled violently at the horrifying scene unfolding on the ceiling.
"Yernil! Roll the barrels over here! With all your strength!"
Behind her were oak barrels packed with explosives.
I put you there specifically to use them now.
"Hngh!"
Yernil quickly tipped the barrel over and shoved it with all her might.
By now, the fire on the floor had burned through all the webs and self-extinguished. Over the charred, ashen ground, the barrel rolled clunk-clunk—
"Am I supposed to throw it?"
It came to a stop at the dwarf's feet.
"Yes!"
"But I don't know where to throw it."
The dwarf slung the barrel onto his shoulder as he spoke.
"Over there! Over there!"
The beastman jumped and pointed at the ceiling.
"No, even if you say that, I still—"
"Priest! Weapon Light on Yernil!"
"So it shines even in the dark!"
The priest hastily chanted. Yernil's arrowhead began to sparkle brightly. She immediately understood what I was about to do.
"Mark the direction!"
The glowing goblin arrow flew up toward the ceiling.
The dwarf tracked its trajectory and swung his arm like a shot-put athlete.
"Hraaah!"
The arrow chased the swarm of spiders gathering in front of the egg sacs.
The barrel chased the arrow.
I aimed my Fireball wand right at them.
[It is your turn.]
[Action Points: ■■■■]
I cheated a little.
I'm not a genius archer who can intercept targets midair like Yernil.
"Fireball."
"Fireball."
"Fireball."
Carefully adjusting the angle, I fired only three shots this time.
After the massive explosion, charred baby spider corpses and barrel fragments rained down like volcanic ash.
"Again with instant casting at absurd speed······."
The priest wore a vacant expression.
"It worked."
At the dwarf's feet, well-roasted baby spider corpses crunched like snacks.
I slung my backpack—barely saved with telekinesis during the fight—back over my shoulder.
'Damn. This is comfortable—but frustrating.'
Two conflicting feelings surfaced at once.
When you fight a boss with a slave team in the game, you have to go through hell. But with a skilled party, it's definitely easier.
So what's frustrating?
'These guys don't listen worth a damn!'
I get it, of course. If I were the dwarf or the beastman, I wouldn't listen to orders from a slave mage either.
But going from comfortably controlling everything turn-by-turn in a game to reality—where I can only move my own body—honestly makes my blood boil.
When those two were crouching behind the shield, I seriously wanted to smack them on the back of the head.
If the spider had made it back to the ceiling, who knows how this fight would've turned out. You idiots. It would've hidden up there, regenerated, and cracked open even more egg sacs.
"Hey, rookie. Just what are you, anyway?"
The beastman, blissfully unaware of my inner turmoil, was overflowing with admiration.
"How did you stop the poison sac explosion?"
"If you stab the poison sac with an Ice Spike, it freezes and won't explode."
"I thought you were trying to blow it up and kill all of us!"
"Oh. Didn't think of that. If I had, the gate would be ours."
When I shot back with a joke, the beastman raised both hands.
"Heh. You got me there."
With a much softer expression, he patted my shoulder.
"Sorry for yelling earlier. Someone like you can give orders."
"Honestly, I'm impressed."
The dwarf ran up with a dazed look and pulled me into a tight hug.
"What on earth were you before this?"
I just gave him a bitter smile.
I don't know myself.
"Just a slave of the magic academy."
"Hah. Guess you don't want to talk about it. Fair enough—everyone's got a story."
My story is clicking the New Game button in my underwear while scratching my thigh.
"Hey, look at this!"
The beastman rogue dug into the Venomic Spider's corpse and triumphantly held up a magic stone.
An E-rank crystal, about the size of a palm.
"We'll add forty percent of this stone's sale price to the 9,500 gold and distribute it to you."
The dwarf said this as he slipped the magic stone into his pocket.
"Thank you."
"But still… I never thought we'd take this thing down without anyone dying."
He sounded genuinely impressed.
"To be honest, I only agreed to that contract because I expected the two of you to die."
"······."
Yernil's face went pale, but it was more or less what I'd anticipated.
The beastman and the priest had probably considered it too.
The terms of our contract were that we would not harm each other, not that we would protect each other. They had no obligation to ensure our survival against the exit boss.
A slave mage and archer without proper armor dying in the chaos of a melee was a very real possibility, and that was likely one of the reasons they'd accepted such an absurdly inflated fee.
"Did you factor that into the amount you asked for?"
The dwarf smacked his lips and asked.
"I had it in mind."
Along with the idea that we'd have to protect ourselves.
Honestly, the priest casting a magic barrier on us as well had been unexpected.
After the Fireballs, I'd assumed we'd just be left to fend for ourselves.
"Still, I think we earned our pay."
"Yes. On that, there's no doubt. But this isn't over yet."
"I know."
"What do you mean it's not over? We're at the gate already. Pay us."
At the beastman's complaint, the priest explained why it wasn't over.
"We'll settle in the village."
Yernil's eyes widened as if she sensed something had gone wrong.
"The village…?"
Only the three of them could return to the village right now, couldn't they?
"The contract condition was that our party crosses the exit gate. Until then, the contract is not complete."
The priest stated it firmly.
"B-But the exit gate is right here! You just have to cross it!"
"Correct. However, contracts must be followed precisely. The contract is fulfilled only when all members of our party arrive at the village. We'll settle there."
"And if we can't make it to the village…?"
"If either party is annihilated, the contract becomes void."
"······."
Yernil stared, mouth agape, as if she'd been had.
"S-So you calculated that too when you contracted us…!"
"I had it in mind."
The dwarf shrugged at me.
The chances of a third-rate two-person slave party escaping the labyrinth on its own? Practically zero.
At the dwarf's craftiness, Yernil clapped a hand over her mouth.
"Caleb… you knew?"
She turned to me this time.
"Yes."
"Seriously!?"
"Of course."
Oh, naïve Yernil.
Did you really think earning 10,000 gold would be easy?
There was no way we'd be paid here.
Why?
Because adventurers carrying around 10,000 gold in cash are rare to begin with. Yernil, having no sense of their actual finances, must have thought we'd get paid immediately.
This is the standard—and cruel—rule of high-value contracts inside the labyrinth.
Settlement happens in the village.
Those who don't make it back alive receive no reward.
But conversely, that survival risk is factored into the price, which is why service fees inside the labyrinth can skyrocket to absurd levels like this.
"Huh. So that's how it is?"
The beastman rogue—almost as naïve as Yernil—grinned as he finally grasped the situation.
Judging by his reaction, he must be a labyrinth newbie too.
"I was the one who pushed for it, but I was honestly surprised our miser here accepted 9,500 so easily. Guess there was a reason."
The beastman jerked his chin toward the dwarf.
"I just manage the party's finances diligently!"
The dwarf protested. The beastman patted my shoulder.
"Rookie. Make sure you survive and come back to the village to get paid."
"Yes."
"The money's a shame, sure—but now it'd be a bigger shame to lose a talent like you. Come back and make sure you win the sucker-hunting battle with our dwarf."
"Yes. Bet on me."
"That joke's my style. I really like you."
The beastman ruffled my hair roughly.
"Shall we get going?"
The priest gestured toward the exit gate.
Beyond that gate lay the village.
Not for us, though.
"Wait a moment."
I stopped the three of them.
There was still one last thing to settle.
"This backpack—it belongs to your companion. Abison."