Genius Engineer in the Labyrinth - Chapter 337



Only Noblemtl

The niqab, a face covering, covers the face tightly, leaving only the eyes exposed. The white veil worn by the reptilians resembles this.

The eyes that should have been distorted the moment they saw the explorer were calm. Judging by the way his head turned to follow Zion’s movements, it was clear that he recognized him, but there was no aggression at all.

The standoff continued for a while. Under the night sky, the noble reptilian and the otherworldly inspector looked at each other.

[I don’t like it.]

Zion gripped the sword handle tightly and released it repeatedly. It was a signal that Zion was about to attack, like a cat shaking its butt when it spots its prey.

[wait for me.]

[···.]

Normally, he would follow Allen’s instructions without question, but something was strange right now. Of course, Zion was on site, so he could have sensed things that Allen, watching from afar, couldn’t.

[Senior, is there an unpleasant magical energy flowing?]

[That’s not it… I just don’t like it.]

[Like Ms. Larissa?]

[I wish we hadn’t talked about that woman.]

Perhaps Zion’s aggressiveness was due to the lessons he had learned up until then. From the young age of eight, he must have had it engraved in his bones that the monsters in the labyrinth must be killed.

The reptilian fixed his eyes on Zion and walked slowly through the garden, then sat down in a pavilion near the artificial lake.

Zion was calming down, so the leopard moved instead. The grass in the garden lay down and rose again as if the wind had passed by.

The reptilian stared at the leopard. Alan took control of the leopard himself and greeted it in a labyrinthine script.

[hello.]

“···.”

But the response back was silence. It could be that they did not recognize the labyrinthine script, or that they were unable to interact with it.

As the clouds covered the moon, the sky became even darker. The reptilian’s eyes became even brighter. She blinked a few times, and one of her vertical pupils transformed into a blazing sun.

Shiva, who was watching the screen, was so startled that he almost dropped the bottle of holy water he was holding.

“Ouch! I almost spilled the precious holy water.”

“Why are you so surprised?”

“That pupil shape is the symbol of a now forgotten religious order.”

“Come to think of it, the Mother Church doesn’t have any unique patterns. Even the top villains have at least one pattern.”

“How can we, the humble ones, define the form of our mother? Faith must be flexible. I have learned a lot from the cruel acts committed by the old religious orders that were steeped in dogmatism.”

“Religious wars, witch hunts, forced conversions···.”

“Brother, I feel like my beard is going to burn off with shame, so please stop listing my dark past. But why is only one person like that….”

As Shiva said, the reptilian’s left eye was the only one that showed the pattern, while his right eye was cloudy. Like a blind person.

As the moon illuminated her face, the reptilian’s pupils returned to normal. She looked at the lake and then entered the villa.

The reconnaissance revealed that the vast villa was home to a strange reptilian alone. Alan asked his colleagues for their opinions.

“Should we move our base?”

“Brother, it’s good to satisfy your intellectual desires, but in times like this, you have to knock on the stone bridge dozens of times before crossing it…”

“There’s a liquor store in the basement. You can see famous liquors that are up for auction···.”

“I! I will take the lead and become your shield. If you want to save the souls trapped in the labyrinth, you must not be consumed by fear.”

“Here we go again. If you keep doing that, even your brain will turn to alcohol.”

Shiva ignored Taylor and went up first. Alan and his party quietly settled down in the basement of the villa.

“There is no need to settle accounts for this expedition. Instead, I will take care of the alcohol, or rather, the holy water.”

“This kid’s eyes are rolled back. I have a mouth too.”

“Brother, look at this. This is a child that you can’t save even if you have money.”

Unlike the two who were completely immersed in joy, Alan and Nicola investigated the villa. The reptilian, presumed to be the princess, lived alone, and no new reptilians appeared as time passed.

“Nicola, the villa existed originally. Are there any differences in its internal form?”

“The decorations are similar. I thought the wine cellar was originally empty, but it’s strangely filled.”

“If you think about the scene where the princess knight was treated with respect, the ranking would be really high, right?”

“It’s the first time I’ve seen it… Judging from what I see, you’re right. But I didn’t know there wouldn’t be a maid either.”

Actually, it wasn’t necessary. Since I only stayed in the villa, my clothes wouldn’t get dirty, and since I was a creation of the labyrinth, I stopped eating and excreting.

It would be nice if we could communicate, but since that’s not possible, all we can do is just watch quietly.

“The individual name has been decided as Princess. Does anyone know any information about the Princess?”

“···.”

Zion, with a displeased expression, just shook his head.

“There’s no way my brilliant mind could have forgotten that information. I hate to say it, but I don’t know.”

Nicola had a very long tongue.

Any attempts to find special books, tools, or phenomena were in vain. All that was available were the liquor in the cellar and the food ingredients that filled the kitchen.

The princess’s daily routine was ordinary. When she woke up, she washed, pretended to eat, walked around the garden, stayed in the study, and then returned to her bedroom. The princess knight did not appear in the villa after their first meeting.

Alan was enjoying the observation, but the group felt it was hard to stay still. It meant that even though it was hard, their bodies were in sync with Alan’s exploration.

“Shall we go hunting?”

“Okay. Ah… that was the princess knight.”

“What is it?”

“There’s a report on the Fang Special Forces on the rooftop. I didn’t even know they were called Fangs before I entered the Ice Ruins. Anyway, there’s a short description of a certain entity. It doesn’t seem to be an official unit, but it says they give orders. I just remembered.”

“You say you have a brilliant mind.”

“It was in a dormant state for a while because of magical training. There’s no need to wake it up and waste energy if you don’t use it. Right?”

The evaluation of Nicola gradually shifted from narcissistic to braggart.

Taylor, who had been listening quietly, stood up with a solemn expression on his face.

“Let’s handle it.”

It felt like there was an intention to push the mention of the princess knight out of sight.

While scouting the barracks, there was no trace of the princess knight among the canine troops. There was no rule for the appearance and disappearance of special entities. It was as if the labyrinth made decisions on its own.

Instead, I decided to hunt the soldiers. As the commotion grew, they would swarm me from the surroundings, so I had to hit them with maximum firepower and then escape.

The hunting method was simple. Alan would create a barrier to block sound and magic, and Nicola would prepare a magic spell with maximum firepower. It was one that focused on penetration rather than explosion.

“My heart is pounding.”

“Brother Nicola, do you need some encouragement?”

“I’m not scared, I’m just excited. Don’t misunderstand.”

Nicola nodded slightly, indicating that he was ready. As Alan gave the signal, Nicola raised both hands forward, shining brightly.

[The Sun God’s Eyes]

A white beam of light broke through the barrier and pierced the body of a soldier. It was a magic that would have ended like that.

“Keep it up.”

“···.”

Nicola couldn’t answer because he was too focused on his magic. His face grew gaunt in real time as the manaheart emptied.

Alan twisted his palm as he looked at the beam. A black door appeared on the floor, swallowing the beam that was piercing through the ground.

There was a reptilian who recognized this side. Alan caught the soldier with his mouth open. A door opened next to the guy’s head and he let out a beam of light.

Before I could blink, black doors appeared in the barracks. Nicola’s magic connected them together, creating an intricate skein of thread.

Nicola collapsed to the ground. At the same time, soldiers who had lost their heads or had their chests pierced also collapsed.

Nicolas, whose mana heart was empty, trembled like a newborn deer. He would have lost to a child now, but his arrogance was still intact.

“See? This is the extent of my magic. So, take good care of me from now on.”

“In that sense, I will give you a massage.”

“Good. Dwarves have such great strength and dexterity that if you make them into masseuses, a lot of people will come looking for them. Ah!”

Nicola immediately screamed out loud. Shiva punished Nicola for talking nonsense.

Taylor chuckled as he collected the loot.

“I thought I had become more disciplined recently, but I guess I’m showing signs of being a monk.”

“It’s always been that way.”

“Are you going to the king’s palace too?”

“You should try it last.”

It was the most heavily fortified place in the castle, and twenty guards were always on guard, all of them with a depth of 5. They were not just people barely hanging on to their guards, but all skilled.

The labyrinth’s intention to tell the clumsy expedition to retreat was strongly felt.

That was right. If you can’t handle them, you won’t be able to survive below. From the 51st floor onwards, monsters of depth 6 will appear.

Alan and his party fled from the reptilians gathering at the scene of the incident. After repeating the same hunt a few times, a full moon appeared in the sky.

Alan stopped his hands as he prepared for his next hunt.

‘uh?’

The princess acted differently for the first time. It was time to go to bed, but she came out into the garden and knelt down while looking at the lake.

Alan went outside to take a closer look, and his colleagues followed him.

The princess looked up at the full moon and clasped her hands together. Then, the energy of the Mother Goddess flowed out from her left half of her body, and a dull magical energy overflowed from her right half.

Alan recalled Chairman Jake’s explanation.

‘The reptilian assassin horde worships a dragon who controls darkness, and the saint is their leader and an incarnation of a part of their god.’

The magical power of the right half of the body was identical to that of the assassin.

“The princess believes in both the Mother Church and the Assassin’s Cult.”

“Heresy, heresy!”

Shiva got angry. Taylor patted his shoulder. His words were different from his actions, but he was really upset.

“You say there is freedom in faith?”

“Assassins are an exception.”

“Calm down. It’s a creation of the Labyrinth.”

The magical power that was swirling around the princess’s body caused her to crawl along the floor and fall into the lake. Then, the ground shook slightly and the stone structure fell out.

The structure with the water dripping down opened its door with a gurgling sound. A staircase leading down appeared, and the princess went down it lightly.

“Let’s follow.”

If I had just watched from afar, I would have been disqualified as an explorer. I had enough weapons to prepare for the hunt tomorrow.

After descending some fairly deep stairs, a large passageway appeared. Thick stone pillars supported the sides firmly.

“The damp air… There was a facility like this hidden under the lake.”

As we followed the princess through the passage, a very large circular space appeared. There were two other paths besides the one we had entered.

The princess walked to the center. As she touched the floor, a sarcophagus rose from below.

Despite her slender figure, she lifted the lid lightly. Despite her appearance, she was a reptilian with a depth of 5 and physical abilities superior to those of an orc.

A mangled corpse lay in the sarcophagus. Its right eye socket was gaping open.

‘The King of the Unknown···.’

Alan vividly remembered the face he had seen in the Ice Ruins. The king lying there now looked much older than then.

The princess swung her body around the sarcophagus, her movements light, but the magical power flowing around her was becoming heavier and heavier.

Alan caught the princess’s dance and the unidentified structure at a glance.

‘Could the entire building be acting as a magic circle? What are they going to do with the corpses? …Hmm?’

Alan caught a number of sounds. Stone pillars were arranged along the walls of the circular space, their shadows moving.

“What is coming?”

The shadow raised itself and the tightly wrapped reptilians jumped out. They were assassins.

They rushed at the princess, screaming. A hemispherical shield protected the princess and the sarcophagus, but of course, consciousness was lost.

“this···.”

“You were just about to swear?”

“no.”

End