"Young Lady. Wake up."
"Ugh... Huh? Slurp. Ah."
The Young Lady wiped the drool from her lip, blinking as she looked around.
How could she sleep so soundly in a place like this?
"Are we still in the Labyrinth?"
"Yes. We're still here."
"Damn it."
Did she really expect to open her eyes and be back home?
Unfortunately, there was no chauffeur waiting for her here. If she wanted to leave, she had to do it on her own two feet.
"Young Lady, I'm going to get some sleep too. You see this hourglass?"
"Yeah. How long does it last?"
"About four hours. Wake me up when the sand runs out."
"Alright. Um..."
"Yes?"
"Can we... stay like this?"
She doesn't want to move. It'll be freezing the moment she lets go.
"Yeah, do as you please."
It's warmer for me if I'm holding her anyway, so I decided not to overthink it.
Now, time for a few winks.
"Are you asleep?"
"..."
"He's out."
Leah felt the heavy weight of the man leaning against her back. Sion was fast asleep.
'How can he sleep so soundly in a situation like this?'
Despite having just woken up with drool on her face, Leah found herself chiding Sion for his carefree attitude.
'By the way... what happened to the others?'
As her drowsiness faded and her mind cleared, the question finally surfaced.
What had happened to Rika the knight, Rien the witch, and Erika the priestess? Where had they disappeared to? Perhaps they had been thrown into the deeper levels of the Labyrinth.
If so...
'They're already...'
...dead.
If someone who hadn't properly undergone Mana Adaptation was suddenly dragged into the lower floors, their chances of survival were slim. Dizziness, nausea, tremors, and severe anemia would set in. Breathing would become a struggle, eventually leading to death by respiratory failure. Suffocation in a world without water—that was the most common cause of death for novices who fell to the 5th floor or below without preparation.
'No, it can't be. They aren't the type to die so easily.'
Even if her knowledge of monsters was lacking, Rika's martial skill was top-tier. Rien was quick-witted, and Erika's mental fortitude was unshakable. As long as they hadn't fallen past the 5th floor, they had to be alive. That's what Leah told herself.
Yet, a seed of anxiety remained.
'But they don't have a porter.'
If they had a porter, their chances would be exponentially higher. After all, it was their porter who was currently dragging Leah—someone practically useless in combat—through this hellhole. A porter, with their encyclopedic knowledge of the Labyrinth and a bag full of essential items, was a "cheat code" that multiplied a party's survival rate just by existing.
Without one, could the others truly make it out alive?
Her worries deepened, and dark thoughts began to cloud her mind. This wasn't helping. Leah shook her head vigorously to clear the gloom. She could only pray for their safety.
'Please, let everyone be okay.'
They weren't just teammates; to her, they were childhood friends.
*
"Cough! Hack!"
Rien the witch forced her eyes open.
Caught in the Great Upheaval, she had been flung alone into the Cemetery district. The porter had grabbed Leah, and Rika had managed to snag Erika, but Rien had been left spinning into the dark alone.
The only mercy was that she had landed on the 1st floor.
"Wh-where is everyone...?"
No matter where she looked, she couldn't sense a single soul. The Labyrinth was eerily silent, populated only by the mindless undead.
"Ugh..."
"Eek! Gross! It stinks!"
A half-rotted zombie, reeking of ancient decay, shambled toward her. Zombies were the most basic monsters of the Cemetery. They were easy to handle, but as undead, they felt neither pain nor fear. They would keep coming until their heads were pulverized. If you let your guard down, they would corner you, and once surrounded, you were as good as dead.
"Get back!"
Rien immediately cast a Fireball. Her most reliable spell streaked through the air, slamming into the zombie's head.
Whoosh!
"Ughhh!"
With its head engulfed in flames, the zombie flailed its arms wildly before collapsing. Its weak point had been incinerated; it died without further resistance.
"What? That was easier than I thought."
Rien let out a shaky smile as she looked at the corpse. The enemy had fallen too easily.
"This might actually be... an easy win?"
Rien, usually an "extroverted loner" who struggled to fit in, felt a sudden surge of confidence. She realized that despite their terrifying appearance, these things died to a single spell.
"Well, well... the Labyrinth isn't so tough after all!"
She had been terrified after being separated from the group, but seeing the zombie sprawled on the floor emboldened her. It was a baseless confidence—the dangerous optimism of the inexperienced. Perhaps it was a defense mechanism, a desperate attempt to drown out her own terror.
Regardless, the Labyrinth was not a place where a novice could kill one zombie and relax. The moment you overestimated yourself and thought the Labyrinth was "nothing special"...
...that was when the real crisis began.
"Oh no! My mana!"
Mana was not infinite. This was common sense, a rule every mage lived by. Yet, people often forgot the obvious when blinded by tension or arrogance.
Rien had been far more tense than she realized. She had overused her magic on the zombies, and after her torch burned out, she had wasted even more mana maintaining a light spell. Now, her reserves were bone-dry. All she had left was her staff.
Another zombie approached. It didn't wait for her to recover. It simply did what it was made to do: bite and kill the living.
"Ugh...!"
The zombie lunged. If she didn't end this quickly, the noise would draw a horde.
"D-die!"
With no spells left, she swung her staff. It was a precious cypress staff she had received from her master, but she had no choice. She brought it down on the zombie's skull.
Crunch.
It was a sensation she had never felt before. The feeling of bone and flesh yielding under her hands was sickening. Having to beat a creature to death manually after comfortably burning them from a distance felt repulsive. To make matters worse, her cherished staff was now coated in foul, black blood.
"Ugh, it's filthy!"
Rien's hatred for the Labyrinth flared anew. She was suffering in a place she never would have entered if not for Leah. She wanted to leave immediately, but the teleportation stone was nowhere to be found.
"I need to find the stone... quickly..."
Desperate to escape this hell, Rien wandered aimlessly. But instead of an exit, she found a shambling... skeleton.
"Huh?"
Skeletons didn't belong on the 1st floor of the Cemetery. This was the shallowest level, meant only for weak zombies. Yet, a skeleton—a monster that usually appeared from the 2nd floor onward—now stood before her.
She had no vanguard to protect her. No mana to cast spells. And her staff was already splintered from smashing zombie heads.
She had nothing left.
"Ah."
Death was closing in.
The skeleton swung a rusty sword. Rien tried to dodge, but a clumsy mage stood no chance against a seasoned undead warrior.
Slash!
The blade tore through her robes, carving a jagged wound into her arm. Without a blessing of purification and healing, the infection would kill her even if the skeleton didn't.
"It hurts! It hurts, it hurts, it hurts!"
The physical pain was bad, but the mental toll was worse. She had never been wounded like this. For seven hours, she had wandered the dark, smelling rot and fighting for her life. She was hungry, exhausted, and terrified.
Panic took hold. Overwhelmed by the "Death Aura" of the undead, she began to thrash. It felt like she was sinking into a swamp—a swamp of death gripping her ankles, dragging her into the depths. The Labyrinth was passing judgment on the young witch who had treated it like a game.
"Ah... Ugh."
Nausea surged, but her stomach was empty. She could only dry-heave.
'What do I do? What do I do? Someone, please...'
There was no answer. Her mind was a blank slate of terror. There was no one to lead her. She had to break through alone, or die.
'Ah. Ahh.'
As the skeleton raised its blade for a decapitating strike, a memory flickered in Rien's mind. It was something the porter had said.
"Did you know? Whether a corpse can be resurrected depends on its condition."
Even if a body was recovered, if the damage was too severe, resurrection was impossible. And the Cemetery was notorious for the way its denizens mutilated their prey.
If she died here, it was over. Forever.
Was this it? Was she going to give up her life because of a single wound and a bit of fear?
["You may give up. Die and become fodder for the Labyrinth. You pathetic wench."]
A voice seemed to sneer in her ear.
In that instant, a spark of pure, rebellious spite pulled her out of her panic. She scrambled backward, narrowly avoiding the blade. The skeleton pursued her relentlessly. As they danced their grim duet, the noise began to attract more zombies, drawing them in like flies to a carcass.
Death was still whispering in her ear. A single mistake, a moment of carelessness, and the Grim Reaper's scythe would fall.
"Kyaa!"
Her foot caught on the leg of a fallen adventurer, and she tripped. The rusty sword slammed into the dirt inches from her head.
This was it. The desperate struggle of the novice was about to end in failure—
"There!"
A shout pierced the air. An arrow followed, shattering the skeleton's skull in an explosion of bone.
Pop!
The skeleton collapsed into a heap of lifeless calcium. Rien, her legs shaking too hard to stand, looked up at her saviors.
"Hey, Young Lady. Are you alright?"
An adventurer stood over her, a massive greatsword strapped to his back. A gold plate hung from his neck—a rank high enough to traverse the 5th-floor Underground City or deeper.
"She's wounded. Arm and back."
"Apply first aid. Hey, kid. Did you see anyone else? Are you alone?"
"Ah, well..."
Seven hours after the Great Upheaval, the city had finally organized a rescue operation. High-ranked veterans had been flooded into the upper floors to recover survivors.
"Ah... Young Lady Leah..." Rien stammered.
"What? Lady Leah?"
"Wait, Captain. Could she be...?"
"Hey, speak up! Are you talking about Leah Lionel?"
"Y-yes! That's right!"
"Where is she?"
"I... I don't know..."
Rien had no answers. Disappointed, the leader turned to his team.
"Take her to the surface. The rest of us are going deeper."
Rien was hoisted onto the back of a swordsman and carried out. When they finally emerged, she saw a moonlit sky. It was still hours until dawn.
"Haa... Haa..."
The cold night air felt like a miracle in her lungs. Only then did she truly believe she had survived. But as the relief washed over her, a sharp, throbbing pain erupted in her mind. It wasn't from her wounds. It was Mana Adaptation.
"Ugh... it hurts...!"
The process was rewriting her body. Her physical strength and mana capacity ticked upward; her senses sharpened. But then, a powerful shock struck her brain. Information was being forcibly etched into her consciousness. It was a Trait.
"Clue Tracking..."
The ability to pinpoint a target's location using an item they owned. Rien gritted her teeth. The timing was too perfect, as if the Labyrinth itself was mocking her, telling her to go back inside. Was it a coincidence, or the Labyrinth's lingering malice?
The entrance to the Cemetery loomed behind her like the maw of a beast, silently asking: Now that you have the power to find them, will you still run away?
"Damn it."
She couldn't ignore it. She was Leah Lionel's escort, after all.
Rien took Leah's discarded headband and gripped it tight. The Trait activated.
West.
Leah's aura flickered from the western edge of the Labyrinth City. It was the entrance to the Breeding Ground.