Genius Engineer in the Labyrinth - Chapter 24



Only Noblemtl

Special Individual (3)

Arriving on the 7th floor, Alan glanced back at the path he had taken. Fortunately, the wolf riders had not chased him down to the lower floors.

‘The knight was a special individual. But it didn’t look like he would leave if we waited for him to disperse.’

Beyond the black fog, red eyes still flashed high above. The riders did not leave for another location, but remained stationed.

‘Should we stall for time until strong explorers come to support us?’

In fact, it was the closest to the correct answer. Would a large corporation or explorer’s group that was trying to uncover even a little bit of the labyrinth’s secrets leave anomalous phenomena or entities alone?

Since it wasn’t even a deep area and the incident occurred in a maze, it was enough to quickly dispatch only moderately strong explorers.

It would take no more than a day for such an explorer to sort them out, but in other words, it meant that Alan had to endure a day.

Alan turned his head as he heard a heavy sound in the black fog.

Now, this was a three-way intersection. Red eyes were gathering one after another in one passageway, as if asking, ‘Do you dare to return alive?’

The first thing that caught my eye was their sharp horns rising upwards. This time, they looked like buffaloes, and they were so big that just standing two of them side by side seemed to fill up the passage.

Of course, if those things rushed at him, there was nowhere for Alan to run. But if he stayed still, he would turn into jerky.

Alan, who always kept his composure, moved without a moment’s hesitation. He tilted the cart, threw off the automaton’s heavy frame, and connected it to the leopard.

Alan, who was on the cart, shouted briefly.

“Run.”

The leopard, which recognized the command, started to run. The leopard that was said to have been caught on the 9th floor was modified by Allen, so it ran quite well even with the cart attached.

Of course, that wasn’t enough. Just because you can run well doesn’t mean you can run faster than a water buffalo.

Alan reached into his backpack and pulled out a few thin strips of metal. The runes etched into the metal gleamed under the light of the headlamp.

‘It’s pretty heavy.’

No matter how thin it is, iron is iron. Compared to other materials, it has quite a bit of mass.

Alan unfolded the iron plate to the side like a trump card. It was Alan’s unique application of runes as a magic engineer and a mana-wielder.

At first glance, it resembles the talismans used by oriental shamans or onmyoji.

The only difference was that the amulet was made of paper, while this one was made of iron. This was because Alan’s ability was still lacking and he couldn’t carve runes on weak materials.

‘The runes all look fine.’

Alan quickly scanned the plate and threw his gaze back. Then he tossed the plate on his finger. Like a slightly heavy card flying easily, the plate flew quite far.

There was no need to worry about the direction. The maze had walls on both sides to begin with, so even if Alan, a non-expert, threw it roughly, it wouldn’t disappear to the wrong place.

The iron plate that had been flying away fell to the floor with a thud.

Knock knock knock!

As the buffalo’s hooves vibrated the floor, the iron plate also began to shake violently.

The rune written on the iron plate was [Magnetism], and since the automaton’s body was made of metal, it was one of the runes that Alan had prepared in advance.

‘I thought I’d use it someday, but I didn’t know I’d use it so soon. I should have just used it against a knight…’

The worries were fleeting. Alan focused on the present situation.

The magical power granted to the iron plate that fell to the ground spread like ink, and as it finally dyed [magnetism], even the buffaloes that ran towards it without hesitation experienced a change.

visor!

Horns meet horns. Then, bodies meet bodies, and legs start to get tangled. Since they can’t use their brains to move their feet like humans, the result is a fall.

Crunch!

And then they were flattened by the hooves of the automatons that followed them. The automatons, completely devoid of any sense of fellow species, were indifferent to the scrap metal lying beneath their feet.

Meanwhile, Alan had carved a new rune into the cart. The word was [Float]. The wheels lifted slightly. The weight was lifted, if not completely, and the panther picked up speed.

After that, while running around here and there to avoid the automatons that appeared excessively.

“Please die!”

The voice of the resisting explorer was heard. As the cart moved forward, a man who had just knocked down an automaton appeared in the center of the intersection.

“There are still some left…”

The man was about to curse at the sight of the leopard, but stopped when he saw Alan on the cart. Or maybe he was startled by the sight of the buffaloes chasing him from behind. In fact, that was the most likely possibility.

The man in the black beanie instinctively reached out to the cart. It was a natural reaction, like a moth flying to a flame.

Alan was worried. If he put a man on the cart, it would slow down. Then it would be easy for the automaton to rush at him like crazy.

The best strategy is to use a man as bait and run away. Death is familiar to Alan, and he will feel no guilt if it comes to a man he has never met.

‘But does it really have to be that way?’

There was Vito who helped me escape from Novak. In fact, his necklace only had a location tracking function, so all I had to do was run far enough for Novak to give up.

Moreover, Vito knew Alan’s constitution. However, even in a situation where it was obvious that Novak would chase Alan if they split up, he stayed together until the end.

Although I did faint at the end.

Anyway, Alan got help from someone, big or small.

It didn’t matter what I gave.

The fact that it was received was important.

The worry didn’t last long.

A cart slowing down to a level where it was easy to climb on, Alan holding out his cane. The man was perceptive.

The man who quickly got on board collapsed on the floor of the cart.

“Thank you. Things don’t look good over there either···.”

“Do you have a means of striking from a distance?”

“Ah, this isn’t the time for small talk. Unfortunately, there isn’t any. When the party died, Ebi was also destroyed. It would have been a great help if it had a magic missile built in that specialized for penetration···.”

“Can you handle mana?”

“It’s small, but there is a Manaheart.”

Alan nodded and gestured to the backpack in the corner.

“There should be a manapistol inside. Don’t touch anything else and just take that out.”

“It’s really small because it hasn’t been that long since Manaheart was made···.”

“Now is not the time to argue. It seems like you’ve had enough rest, so stop complaining and get into a good posture. It’s something that works even if you put a magic stone in it, so you don’t have to worry too much.”

“You’re so calm even in this situation.”

Alan’s mood seemed to have been transferred to the man, and his reddened face regained its color.

The man who took out the manapistol as Alan said crouched on the cart and looked around.

“Should I shoot too?”

“The rear guard is sufficient for now, so just check if the enemy is coming from the front.”

As Alan continued to throw runes at the automaton, they came across another intersection.

The buffaloes, which seemed like they would follow us forever, turned right and disappeared.

“slowly.”

Alan, who had given orders to the leopard, was finally able to catch his breath.

“That’s strange. Why did it suddenly disappear?”

“I heard a small explosion from somewhere. I must have followed it.”

“How do you know?”

Alan looked up and saw the man take off his beanie. Underneath it, black rabbit ears perked up.

“As you can see, your hearing is more sensitive than others. The loud noise is proof that we are not the only explorers fighting in the maze right now. Perhaps reinforcements have arrived?”

“It’s too early to tell.”

When hasty hopes are dashed, they turn into even greater despair.

A floating body. A shattered hull. A vortex that squeezes the body. And bubbles. Alan knew it all too well.

Anyway, it was true that he had some free time, so the man’s face brightened up a little.

“As I said before, you’re incredibly calm. If someone saw you, they’d think you were an android. Is it because of the mask?”

“···.”

“No?”

“He is a normal person.”

“Yes, only humans can manipulate runes in real time.”

A man reached out his hand from inside a slowly moving cart. Then he looked at his soot-covered palm, wiped it on his clothes, and offered to shake hands again.

“My name is Utah. Thanks to you, I survived.”

“This is Alan.”

The cart finally arrived at a place that could be called an empty lot. As I ran, unconsciously avoiding the automatons that were closing in from all sides, I soon found myself at the end of the 7th floor.

There was no sign of people here either. There was no automaton chasing me, so I began to relax.

Alan realized now that his heart was beating hard. Thump thump. It was as clear as if he had put his ear to a stethoscope.

Someone’s stomach was rumbling. The sound of the exhalation through the mouth was also very loud.

And push!

Alan and Utah knew this sound well. It even gave them goosebumps because it came from above their heads. The two of them jumped backwards without saying a word.

Kagagak!

A saw bladed sword flew from the darkness of the ceiling, scraping the floor and spraying sparks. It was a very vivid red light, with even blood mixed in.

Unlike Allen, Utah was not so lucky. His right shoulder was ripped apart as if it had been bitten off. His muscles, bones, blood vessels, and other organs were completely destroyed.

My brain couldn’t handle the shock and I passed out, but I wouldn’t have been able to last long anyway because of the bleeding.

It wasn’t like Alan was in a position to examine his wounds.

The knight, who appeared in good health, turned his attention to Utah and glared at Allen.

‘Is there another article? Or is it the same entity that appeared after repair?’

Alan held the staff in his left hand forward and gently grasped the rune card in his right hand.

Thanks to the red flower, I temporarily became better than a normal person, but facing him head-on was stupid. If he swung his saw-blade sword, I would be cut like Styrofoam.

Even if that weren’t the case, Alan wasn’t confident in close combat. That’s why he uses automatons.

“attack.”

The speed of sound is approximately 340 meters per second. As soon as Alan’s words fell, a leopard crouching in the darkness pounced on the knight’s side.

Crack!

The leopard’s gloves painted with [hardening] didn’t break right away. However, it was only a matter of time, and the result was the same.

The leopard, whose cables were flowing out like intestines, collapsed, and the knight looked at Alan. The automaton’s characteristic red, glowing eyes were rather scary.

Of course, fear never invaded Alan’s mind. His state of mind, befitting the clear-sighted index, was calm.

thud!

The knight moved towards Alan.

Boom! Boom!! Boom!!!

The sound grew louder, but the distance between them did not get any closer. The knight just stood there, kicking his legs hard.

The cause was the rune cards scattered around. [Magnetism], which contained Alan’s mana, followed its master’s will while emitting a faint light.

Wow!

The knight tried to throw his sawtooth sword that was spinning madly. However, the sword slipped out of his hand and stopped not far from the knight.

It was a kind of prison surrounded by [magnetism]. The laws written in the runes pulled the knight from all sides. He was like a condemned man with his limbs and neck tied by ropes pulled by oxen.

Alan aimed his staff at the knight’s chest. The staff, which had no output controller, spat out blue projectiles, and this time the knight did not dodge.

“after···.”

As Alan exhaled, the [Magnet] fire went out. With the runes’ effectiveness wearing off, the knight who had been forcibly held down also knelt down.

‘It’s too early to feel relieved.’

A card with [Flight] written on it was fired from afar. The knight’s body rose and fell to the ground several times.

Alan, relieved, slowly approached the knight and tapped him with his cane. He heard the sound of a can hitting the knight’s body.

“It’s over···.”

At that moment, the knight’s chest, which had been pierced, began to flutter. Something small popped out from inside it.

Bang!

Alan was hit by the cane he swung reflexively and fell to the ground.

“Magpie? Crow?”

It was a bird that seemed to be modeled after one of the two. The part where the tail was was damaged, and a gold-plated magic stone could be seen through the gap.

Alan, who had taken care of the bird, quickly approached the unconscious Utah. His condition was so serious that he didn’t know what to do.

First, Alan sprinkled the styptic he had purchased from Yohwa. To be exact, it was a seed. The seed had seeped into the torn shoulder and turned into a vine, using the pool of blood as nutrients.

As I was putting Utah on the cart, hoping that he would be safe until he reached the ground, a number of lights approached me.

A familiar face stepped forward. It was an elf with a Mohawk style. He looked between Alan and the knight, then smiled wickedly.

“There was a reason why the automatons stopped behaving strangely. Hehe.”

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