Genius Engineer in the Labyrinth - Chapter 23



Only Noblemtl

Special Individual (2)

The light emanating from the forehead of the person hit Alan’s face directly. It was an extremely rude action, but he didn’t seem to have any reservations about it.

“Are you alone?”

“As you can see.”

Alan answered the elf’s question with a cold tone, as if he could sense it, since his tone was so calm.

“You’re leading an automaton through a maze···.”

The elf chatted with his companions for a moment, then asked the question again.

“Wasn’t the road here difficult?”

“No, that wasn’t the case. Is there a problem that you’re asking about?”

The elf ignored Alan’s question and disappeared into the darkness with his companions.

Although I tried my best to keep it a secret, Alan could easily guess the intention behind my question.

It was a party that came to find the cause of the rumor that the old man had been talking about at the campsite at the end of the fifth floor.

If it’s a lie, they’ll be in for a rude awakening, but if it’s the truth, they’ll be well paid.

Because big companies always buy new discoveries at high prices, regardless of whether they are goods or knowledge.

‘Then shall we go over there?’

Although Alan doesn’t believe in physiognomy, he chooses a different path because he doesn’t want to be around people who have a consistently bad attitude and impression.

This was the 6th floor now. It was true that I had to be careful because of the old man’s warning, but I couldn’t change my original plan because of a rumor that I couldn’t tell if it was true or not.

Actually, hunting on the 5th floor was stable.

‘For now, it’s safe, and I’ll have enough money to buy some discounted red flowers.’

If Alan’s goal was a peaceful life, then he could have done that. No, if that was really the case, he would have stayed away from the labyrinth explorer, gotten a job at a workshop, and lived as an ordinary magic engineer.

But a life without stimulation was not to Alan’s liking. Why had he been searching through garbage dumps since he was a child, looking for newspapers and books?

It was because of my endless curiosity and longing for the outside world.

In that sense, Maze City, and even more so, the Labyrinth, was the perfect place to satisfy Alan’s desires. He endlessly fed firewood into the furnace named Alan.

Desire for something is the driving force of life.

That’s why people move. The janitor who cleans the city every day, the barista who pours coffee beans at a cafe, and the college student who studies by connecting to the internet all have their own desires.

Whether you want to eat delicious food, make better-smelling coffee, or get a higher grade to get a scholarship.

Even though the direction is different, the fact of desire has not changed. Driven by a driving force that can be expressed in other words such as dreams and wishes, Alan descends. And explores.

Alan took out a small magic stone from the inside pocket of his dark blue jacket. Its surface sparkled with light from the headlamp.

‘The lower down you meet the enemy, the better the loot.’

Magic Stones contain more mana, the foggy input window for Soul Stones has been expanded, and the probability of Magic Stones appearing has also increased.

‘You should collect magic stones for your eyes too.’

Two of them are kept in the backpack in case of an unexpected outburst, and the rest are left in Breaker’s safe.

Alan cast his gaze forward again. He chose one of the paths leading to the seventh floor and continued on. There was only one entrance and one exit, but there were several paths connecting the two.

‘This area is mostly narrow, straight passageways, making it ideal for controlling automatons and fighting. It’s also good for preventing intrusions.’

The labyrinth was like a plate licked of sauce, so it was easy to find a map. It was spread throughout the universe, so it was safe to say that there was no one who did not know about it.

Of course, coming down with courage is a separate thing.

Just then, the manhole in front of Allen opened silently and disappeared. In that brief moment, the wolf rider who had escaped outside sensed the enemy and emitted a red glow in his eyes.

“Sheep, forward. Pig, stop.”

Alan drew attention by leading a crippled ibex. It limped along, but the sight of its horns replaced by sharply rotating saw blades was quite menacing.

Perhaps because the being outside the labyrinth had written the star characters with the mana they possessed, the rider recognized the sheep as his enemy and swung his spear. The body was pierced in one breath, and the spear shaft was firmly embedded.

“Pig. Charge.”

The boar charged forward, thumping. The rider, who had just turned his body to stab the mountain goat, easily gave in to its flank.

Kyaang!

This time, a clear sound was heard and the rider’s body was lifted high. As the boar tried to ram the falling rider again, Alan took out his laser pointer.

As soon as a red dot appeared on the wolf’s neck, the leopard leapt out.

“Ask gently.”

I wondered if he would understand this order, but fortunately the wolf’s neck was not torn off.

While the leopard restrained the wolf with his mouth and body weight, Alan quickly approached and tapped the wolf’s body with his cane.

Then, he quickly tore off the iron plate with unusually strong repulsion, thrust his arm deep inside, and pulled out the soul stone inside in one breath.

‘The quality of the loot is definitely good.’

The energy emitted by the magic stone has become stronger, and the air currents flowing within the soul stone have also become thicker.

The rider completely disassembled the goat and took only the valuable parts, and the wolf was caught without any injuries, so he planned to abandon the damaged mountain goat and make it his own.

Alan sat down on the goat and began manipulating the soul stone.

At first, when I applied it to the leopard, it took more than a day to fix the errors, but eventually, as I got used to it because I only had to use the same characters, the speed gradually increased.

After a little over an hour of busy fingers, the soul stone was covered in new asterisks.

The special characters in charge of battle differ depending on the shape of the automaton, and there was no need to touch them since they were well-organized from the beginning.

Alan tapped the goat’s body with his finger as he watched the wolf approach from the side.

‘It takes a lot of time and energy to input each character individually every time I modify something. Isn’t there another way?’

It was a question that suddenly occurred to me. Since I couldn’t solve it here, I took out a notebook from the inside pocket of my jacket in front of my heart and wrote down the contents.

A new phrase was written at the very bottom of the page, which was densely filled with the usual thoughts and questions.

Alan put his notebook in his pocket and stretched his stiff body while looking at the soul stone.

And then we moved forward again. Today’s goal was to get to the entrance of the 7th floor, or if we had time left, to clear the 7th floor as well.

The maze was filled with rocks, and the only enemies were automatons, so there wasn’t much loot to be had. In particular, there was nothing for Alan to research.

The loot becomes more diverse once you reach the underground city that appears from the 11th floor beyond the maze.

The passage was quiet. The only sounds were the footsteps of Alan and his men and the turning of the cart wheels.

‘Strangely, the automaton is not visible.’

I recalled the old man’s words and raised my alertness, but somehow no battle broke out, so I was able to quickly arrive at the entrance to the 7th floor.

Arriving earlier than expected, Alan was about to head to the next floor when he suddenly stopped and looked around.

There was no one.

According to the information on the Labyrinth Explorers, it was normal for there to be one or two parties at the campsite in the maze. Although the maze was the smallest of the entire labyrinth, it had the most people coming and going.

Alan took a deep breath. The damp, cold air of the labyrinth was refreshingly filtered through the mask the demon had given him.

‘A body that is temporarily healthy thanks to the leopard, wild boar, wolf and red flower.’

The objective power was stronger than when I was with Carlson and Aung. Still, I was worried because I kept encountering rare phenomena.

Now it was time to choose. Should we continue the exploration as originally planned, or should we return with a strengthened automaton?

At times like this, I liked being alone. There was no need to exchange opinions, so there was no hindrance in the decision-making process.

But Alan couldn’t make up his mind. It wasn’t that he was indecisive, but that he saw something before he could even think of it.

Ahead of the point where the headlamp’s light reaches, something walks out from what looks like black fog.

‘person?’

It had a human form like a rider, but instead of having a slender body like a mannequin, it resembled a knight wearing full plate armor. In addition, it did not have the characteristic glow in its eyes that is characteristic of automatons.

‘There is no lantern.’

To overcome the darkness of the maze, a light source was absolutely necessary. This was the same for both great magicians and superhumans who wielded strong energy.

Alan raised his voice.

“Is the lantern broken?”

There was no answer. Alan, sensing something suspicious, was in the middle of breathing magic into his staff.

Wow!

The knight silently drew the greatsword on his back. The saw blade spun roughly along the blade, filling the entire space with a creepy noise.

The knight, approaching with a creaking sound, raised his greatsword above his head. His movements were full of hostility.

“Pig. Charge.”

At Alan’s command, the boar ran. The fighting machine had no fear, not even the fear that a living creature should have.

And the greatsword falling vertically. If left alone, the boar would be torn in half, but Alan had a plan.

The magical power gathered in the staff was converted into a bullet and shot towards the knight’s wrist.

puck!

The wrist flexed, but the knight’s greatsword did not stop.

Crap!

The head of the boar, which had been crushing the automaton with its strong forehead until now, was torn off in an instant. Sparks flew out like drops of blood.

It was a shame that the boar was ruined, but the battle was not over. Now was the chance, as the blade of the greatsword was caught in the cables and parts inside.

“wolf!”

There was a red dot on the knight’s ankle. Since the armor was too thick elsewhere, I was planning to target the thinner part to take away his mobility.

The wolf, with its body lowered, quickly approached. The moment it was about to pass by the boar.

The knight swung the greatsword with the boar still stuck in it. The wolf staggered after being hit by the blunt weapon.

The knight moved his foot to the side and brought his greatsword down again. The wolf, flattened by the weight of the boar and the greatsword, tried to raise itself.

Wow!

The saw blade spun again. The blade that had cut the boar in two reached the wolf. The wolf was smaller than the boar and was easily cut down.

The knight, having dealt with the two rushing towards him, turned his head to Alan. However, the place was filled with only blue light pushing away the darkness.

The moment Alan met the knight’s eyes, he released the magical power that was running wild in his staff. The magical bullet with the output controller removed flew away like a shell. It also seemed like a beam of light was flying.

Alan, aiming his staff like a rifle, stared beyond the red-hot tip.

A knight with his left arm and part of his upper body missing was looking straight at me.

Wow!

Unfortunately, the saw blade did not stop working, perhaps because the power source was damaged.

Still, the winner was decided. The knight would not be able to move properly, and Alan planned to wait safely until the staff had cooled down.

Five minutes at most, but it felt much longer, and Alan aimed his staff again. The knight wouldn’t be able to dodge like before.

But the bullet only pierced the air.

“What is this?”

Alan opened his mouth without realizing it.

The automaton that originally emerged from the manhole was unable to get back in.

But the wounded knight, as if trying to mock the widely spread information, escaped through a manhole created in the ground.

This was a new discovery. Or someone knew about it but was keeping it a secret.

Unfortunately, Alan had no time to celebrate.

On the other side of the passage, red eyes began to multiply rapidly. There were only four wolf riders standing in the front row. There was no need to look beyond them.

‘The pig and the wolf were completely destroyed. The leopard was fine, but···.’

It was a number that couldn’t be dealt with now. I glanced back at Alan and thought of other information.

Automatons cannot move to other floors.

‘Even the information in manholes is changing···.’

Suspicion was rising, but there was no way out now. Alan ran down to the seventh floor with the leopard.

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