Genius Engineer in the Labyrinth - Chapter 29



Only Noblemtl

Eyes (4)

The goalkeeper I encountered after passing the intersection and moving a little further. The passage on the 10th floor was wider than the other floors, but it gave me a feeling of oppression as if the left and right sides were blocked.

Even though the goalkeeper was slowly approaching, the feet of Alan, who was standing at the very back, were shaking.

It was evidence of how heavy the enemy they had to deal with was, and the fact that the combat weapon was heavy meant that it had a lot of weapons.

The red eye has captured its target.

There was no need for conversation between the maze explorer and the gatekeeper.

The gatekeeper was a being who guarded a labyrinth whose creator was unknown, and the labyrinth explorer was a person fascinated by the treasure or secret at the end.

Their presence is nothing but a distraction. The simplest and most certain way to remove the distraction is to eliminate it.

The goalkeeper raised his hammer. The hammer head looked exactly like a revolver magazine, and inside the six holes were concentrated red lights.

“Hammer pattern! Use shield!”

At Dennis’ shout, who had his prosthetic leg replaced with a reverse joint, the three magic users put their hands forward.

Blue lines began to form on the surface of the helmet, the most basic form of Ebi, and then they spread out along the arms and into the palms, creating a honeycomb-shaped defensive barrier in front of the explorers.

A hammer striking the floor at the same time.

Boom!

A red beam of light flashed around like a flash grenade. A loud crackling noise struck Alan as if lightning had struck right before his eyes.

The rock that formed the floor of the maze was shattered by the force of the explosion, and the ensuing wind carried the body away, creating a fog of dust.

In principle, the maze was indestructible and would soon recover, but the distinct red glow in its eyes alone among the floating dust was quite ominous.

A broken shield and an empty magazine hammer. With a fair exchange in hand, Dennis crouched down and slid forward.

“Spray water quickly!”

The three magic users, including Kakda, poured out a lot of the water they had brought onto the floor of the maze.

“Ready the grenades while Dennis is distracted!”

The adventurers in charge of the vanguard each fiddled with their waists. They took out a round object and pulled out a pin.

The name of the item is Mana Pulse Grenade. If it explodes close by, the explosive power is enough to turn the bones of an ordinary person into dust, but its main function is to shake up the magic circuit.

A being like a gatekeeper has not only a metal frame, but also a body filled with magical power. Having a lot of magical power meant having strong magical resistance.

The reason for lowering magic resistance was, of course, because of magic users. They took advantage of the short-range connection function equipped on Evie and prepared a combination magic with strong penetrating power, waiting for an opportunity.

“Yay!”

Dennis, who had caught the goalkeeper’s attention, jumped high with a shout and went over the goalkeeper’s body, avoiding the hammer and arms being swung around like a pole vaulter.

Now was the time, with the goalkeeper exposing his side to the main force. Three mana pulse grenades flew out like fastballs, hitting the goalkeeper in the chest, torso, and thighs.

pop!

The sound wasn’t very loud. The grenade shell split open like an inflated balloon bursting, releasing a blue electric current.

The greedy blue snakes poked their heads through the gaps in the guardian’s armor. Some were burned by the magic resistance, but more than half of them penetrated inside.

“Now is the time!”

The magic users who responded to someone’s shout completed the combination magic.

The water extracted from the originally damp and cold air of the maze and the water sprinkled on the floor met and froze cold.

[Piercing Ice Spear]

The spear, which was dripping with pure white cold air, was shot straight out and was about to be embedded in the goalkeeper’s torso.

Even at the impact of the mana pulse grenade, the goalkeeper who was chasing Dennis turned his head 180 degrees. If he were a human, it would be a bizarre sight with his neck and chest facing the opposite direction.

The goalkeeper sensed the magic flying towards him, and this time he only turned his body. At the same time, the hammer with added rotational force struck the ice spear.

White powder was flying. It was quite a beautiful sight thanks to the magic stone lantern that had been thrown next to the wall just before the battle. It would have been the same if there had been no battle.

“Kissik!”

Kakda let out the lizardman’s signature sound between his teeth.

“What a waste.”

“If you knock, the door will open.”

“That’s right. The battle is still stable.”

Kakda agreed with Alan’s words and prepared the next spell.

When this side spends mana for firepower, the other side also spends mana for defense.

This is obvious. As evidence, only three lights remained on the goalkeeper’s hammer. Two magical powers that could have been used for attack were used to block the ice spear.

But that didn’t mean he could be at ease. The goalkeeper’s body had a lot of energy, so it was difficult to be at ease just because he had reduced the power contained in the hammer.

Alan’s eyes stared into the goalkeeper’s one eye.

The light became brighter than before. If it weren’t for the stone lantern, the maze would have been brightened by the goalkeeper’s gaze alone.

‘There’s not much time left until the next pattern.’

When the goalkeeper is shocked, his eyes become more and more intense. When it reaches its limit, he fires a red beam of light from his eyes, and its power is terrifying.

‘The maze is wide and narrow, so it’s hard to avoid. Plus, if you move your head slightly, the light in your eyes moves quickly.’

Alan examined the magical tools the vanguards were pulling out. They were familiar objects.

It was a shield generator used to fire magic grenades at the floating Nobak on the ship escaping from Lanka.

That was also a disposable item, so the magic circuit was damaged immediately after use.

Of course, now I’m more interested in the eye rays that can be blocked by using a shield generator and a magic user’s defensive magic together than the vicious sales tactics of magic towers or large corporations.

While Alan was observing with bated breath, he heard a ‘beep!’ sound in his ear. The epicenter was Kakda’s waist. The alarm device placed at the intersection they had just passed was notifying them that something was coming this way.

The surprised Kakda looked back. Alan also turned his head to follow his gaze, in the pitch-black darkness.

Booooooo!

I heard the sound of a helicopter. It must have been an automaton, since there was no real helicopter underground.

The brown scales of the cacao tree appeared to have turned completely white.

“I’ve definitely made a big circle around this area to make sure there are no enemies…”

“I guess you’re unlucky enough to have come across a manhole. What are you going to do?”

“We have to take down the goalkeeper here. He’ll have a light pattern soon, so if you show your back, you’ll all die.”

“What about the group approaching now? It’ll be the same if they catch up anyway.”

“Ugh···.”

Kakda was in a dilemma. He was making strange noises and shaking his scales as if he had been under a lot of stress in a short period of time.

“Kissishit!!!”

“Calm down.”

Kakda opened his mouth, his startled heart slightly calming down at Alan’s calm voice.

“The eye beam is almost charged, so I can’t avoid it. I need to deploy a shield to block it to prevent injury or death···.”

“What about the vanguard?”

“If we get exhausted, we have to defend and attack the goalkeeper!”

He was so desperate that he spat out the situation like a machine gun.

Alan knew that if he could just get past that pattern, he would be able to move on to the fast-charging phase, which would give him some breathing room.

Since the eye beam consumes as much magical power as it is powerful, the goalkeeper enters a defensive crouching and rapid charging pattern.

If the gatekeeper was under the control of the underground people because of the shortcomings, he would use the light more cleverly, but for now, the battle logic of the automaton in the maze had its limits.

Alan looked out over the party as chaos spread.

It was a disadvantage of the gears. Normally they couldn’t be better, but if one wheel came off, it would creak. That was if you were lucky, usually it was broken.

Alan, who had been watching comfortably until now, tapped the prone leopard with his cane.

“I’ll try to stop it.”

“Is it possible…?”

“We met at the entrance on the 9th floor.”

“Ah, you used to go alone. ······I’ll come help you right away.”

Kakda did not refuse. There was no time to waste on pointless exchanges of opinions, and more than anything, the goalkeeper’s gaze was growing stronger.

Alan drove the cart backwards. The leopard strode along so fast that it seemed as if it were riding in a chariot.

When I looked back for a moment, the light from the stone lantern disappeared and only darkness filled the room. This was also the mystery of the labyrinth. At the same time, it was also a device that was eating away at the spirit of the explorers who entered the labyrinth.

Boooow!

The growing noise blew away Alan’s distracting thoughts. The light from the headlamp illuminated the straight passage. Something burst out of the darkness.

The shape of the automaton is a wasp. The number is ten.

As soon as the wasps saw Alan, they thrust their tails forward and aimed their hooked stingers, or rather spears if you look at their size.

It was a cruel weapon with hooks and thorns that would dig into the flesh once embedded in the body and could not be removed.

Alan stopped the cart, hid behind it, and threw the [Magnet] card.

The wasps flying along the card’s trajectory stumbled a little, but only for a moment. The 10th-floor automaton, which had a fair amount of magic resistance, easily withstood it.

“rush.”

At the silent master’s command, the leopard stepped forward. It leaped up, blocking the tail spears fired by its outer armor with [Hardening].

Crunch!

Like a volleyball caught in the palm of a volleyball player’s hand, the wasp that was hit by the front leg had to compete with the ground to see who was firmer.

Naturally, the winner was the bottom of the maze. However, the automaton’s durability was no joke, and even while its body was twisted, its jaws, like a cutting machine, were clicking.

Even if the leopard catches another wasp, there are still eight enemies left.

They ignored the leopard, which seemed to have a different algorithm than the automaton upstairs, and flapped its wings towards Alan behind it.

It was a situation that was literally on the brink of collapse. But Alan’s eyes were calm as usual.

The same was true of my mind. What I experienced after escaping from Lanka left deep scars on my mind, but at the same time it also gave me strength.

A state of mind that could be expressed as cold reason or immovableness was imbued in Alan. It was the best ability for one who could handle magic and give concrete form to cloud-like mysteries.

Alan opened his left eye. His eyelid had been raised to begin with, so it was more likely that he had used his magic to manifest his ability.

The emitted blue light spread out like a net. The moment the wasp touched the net.

‘It’s visible.’

Alan looked at the Milky Way. The magical power contained in the net seeped into the automaton’s soul stone, revealing star characters engraved within it.

Interference with the soul stone. Right now, it’s not like they’re changing the letters at all, but rather they’re just summoning black fog to obscure the light.

‘It’s just calling out the bad sector and temporarily breaking it down.’

It was only for a moment that the automaton’s movements were suppressed. Even the wasps, who had some resistance to the rune cards, could not ignore it this time.

Empty, empty, empty!

The wasps that had been flying in a flock fell to the ground one by one. A minor malfunction was when their wings were completely bent, and in severe cases, their heads were even shattered.

Then, Alan didn’t even have to do anything. The leopard, having spotted the enemy, ran over and crushed the wasp with its paw.

It was difficult to compare it to the cats’ kukukuku. The leopard was so big that it could be mistaken for a tiger, and at the same time, its outer armor and frame were made of metal.

‘It’ll just be over 200kg.’

As I was attaching parts here and there, I wasn’t sure.

Anyway, the wasp that was stepped on by the leopard’s paw was flattened. The air combat automaton was very easily broken because its armor was thin for flight.

Normally, I would just apply pressure with the leopard and let the wasp move around to take it easy, but isn’t the goalkeeper waiting right now?

Alan got on board, roughly throwing the soulstones and magic stones that the leopard had in its mouth onto the cart.

As we walked back a little way, Kakda emerged from the darkness. He was coming to help as promised.

Her hands and legs were shaking so much that she looked pitiful. They said she was exhausted, but they weren’t joking.

Kakda asked with difficulty, his eyes half-closed.

“How many? How much is there?”

“It was ten.”

“Are you retreating by any chance?”

“No. Not anymore.”

Kakda opened his mouth when he realized that he had destroyed everything by himself. Allen’s usually calm voice reached his ear.

“Is the eye light pattern finished? I wanted to see it, but it’s too bad.”

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