Memoirs of the Returnee

Maze (2)

…I was calling up the past with my eyes closed.

──News that a ‘Rune Crystals’ has been found in the maze evaluation test modified by the Association.

The Memory of this ‘sound’ is probably news I heard briefly in the hospital before regression.

Of course, I was just lying in bed, but the sound of the TV occasionally came from somewhere, and it was a relatively clear stimulus among the days of Memory that were almost deleted.

──The Rune Crystals were acquired by an Association official at the entrance of the maze and… Tuk-

“What the.”

The news suddenly cut off. I frowned.

──Patient Shion. It’s time for drug treatment.

I hastily ended the recollection.

What follows is probably chemotherapy, which I don’t want to recall again.

“The entrance area…”

Even with the clue of the entrance area, the probability is significantly increased. Because all I have to do is thoroughly search the early part of the maze.

I looked at the contents of the supply backpack.

10 packets of combat rations. 2 hardtacks. Multi-purpose knife. Rope. 2L of drinking water. Smartwatch.

The food itself is enough to eat in a day by my standards, and it’s woefully inadequate even by the standards of other seniors.

They probably mean for us to fend for ourselves.

I put the smartwatch on my wrist.

Ding-

A guidance message popped up on the LCD screen.

[This smartwatch has an emergency teleportation Magic Spell algorithm added. If the wearer is in serious physical danger, they will be forcibly teleported. If you want to give up, operate it manually.]

It was a safety device similar to the one at the ghost hotel.

I looked around the portal again.

The number of seniors had noticeably decreased. Soliette charged in alone as soon as it started, and teams like Gerkhen Kal Doon or Elise entered about 10 minutes ago.

“Huh.”

I also prepared with a deep breath.

One step.

As I stepped into the portal, I closed my eyes.

For a moment, there was a feeling of falling as if up and down were reversed.

“Ah… I’m not used to it.”

I opened my eyes, holding my nauseous chest.

It was indoors.

Should I say it looked like the inside of an abandoned building, or a hospital?

The floor had a tile pattern, the ceiling was made of familiar gypsum board material, and the fluorescent lights were flickering incompletely.

I looked ahead. There was an ordinary door. I went straight to it and opened it.

Suddenly-

─Kyaaaa!

Some dark guy shouted from beyond.

It was a goblin.

He jumped at me like a fly, but I dodged it with a light step. I grabbed him from behind and snapped his neck with a thud.

The goblin was converted into a ‘Top-grade Gray Bead’.

I put the bead in my inventory and looked ahead again.

Now there were three doors.

“Hmm…”

The entrance area mentioned in the news, isn’t it here, this hospital-like building?

“I’ll have to go everywhere.”

I opened the door on the right first.

I walked, memorizing the path.

Even if it was a dead end, I examined it carefully, and even if it was the right way, I went back. Storage room, ventilation shaft, bathroom, operating room, consultation room, etc., I turned everything upside down if it was a space I was going to for the first time.

Thanks to that, I ended up farming for about three hours unintentionally.

Dozens of Mace that could be used as weapons, ingredients and canned food from the food storage, emergency treatment tools, and so on… It seems like I’ve collected quite a lot of items that the association had prepared, which the others had overlooked in their haste to leave.

But I can’t find any Rune Crystals.

“Maybe it’s not here.”

Could they be found in other entrances of this hospital? Then I’ve just wasted my time. Maybe I should prioritize escaping.

As I was scratching the back of my neck and pondering…

─Let’s combine our strength first, okay?

I heard a voice from somewhere.

─No, we can’t even do that. Can we catch the Butcher if we combine our strength?

I walked towards the voice.

It was a spacious corridor.

─Can’t we just find another exit? It seems like there should be one.

─If we get caught by the Butcher, it’s game over.

The large door at the end of the corridor.

I grabbed the doorknob and shook it. It wouldn’t open, as if it was locked.

─Aaargh!

─Who, who is it!

But there was suddenly a commotion inside. Is it that serious?

I switched to knocking.

“I’m Shion.”

─Phew… Okay. I’ll open the door.

After waiting a bit, they opened the door from inside.

It looked like a hospital waiting room. About fifty seniors were sitting on long sofas with pale faces.

“Wait a minute! You’re Shion Ascal, right? The swordsman who defeated Gerkhen Kal Doon!”

The man who opened the door suddenly recognized me.

“I’m Terence. Do you want to join our party?”

“No. What’s the situation here?”

“Ah, it’s a bit hopeless right now. The exit is over there. That’s for sure.”

I walked towards where Terence pointed.

“Look at this.”

It was a metal door that looked like an exit. However, a Magic Spell was engraved next to the keyhole.

A Magic Spell with four connected Magic Formulas. It’s quite a difficult one. It means that you have to solve this to open the door.

“…You’re saying that fifty people can’t do this?”

I was incredulous. No matter how you look at it, we have enough brains here.

“That’s what I’m saying!”

Terence clenched his fist in frustration.

“We want to solve it by segmentation and all, but as soon as we move a bit of magic, the Butcher appears! That damn Butcher!”

“…Butcher?”

“Yes! Butcher!”

Butcher. In Edsilla common language, it means ‘slaughterer’.

A level 4 monster that’s a bit too much for a senior to handle.

First of all, its appearance is horrifying. It’s humanoid, but its flesh is lumpy and its face is quite disfigured.

“Where is this Butcher?”

“I don’t know. It’s wandering around here. As soon as we move a bit of magic, it starts stomping around and going crazy! Then we have to turn off both the lights and the magic.”

Terence sighed.

“The ones who found the exit early have already solved it and left, the ones who want to give up have given up, and we, who arrived late, are the only ones left here. We don’t even dare to look for other passages because of the Butcher…”

Anyway, Terence’s pitiful words explained why they were trapped here.

“Hmm.”

I cautiously eyed the Magic Spell next to the keyhole.

In an instant, the starting point of the spell flashed. From the beginning, the flow of magic surged in blue, soon completely knotting all circuits.

It was the effect of ‘intuition’ visible only to my eyes.

“……Let me try. I’ll do it.”

“Huh? No, no. It’s dangerous. You should be able to do it all at once-”

“I can do it.”

Terence looked pale, but this much was entirely possible. How many Magic Spells are stacked in the 「Notepad」 Database now?

I called upon the magic to my fingertips while staring at the key spell.

Shiiiiii──.

“No, it’s not. Now that’s enough…… Huh?”

A blue fluid formed at the tip of my index finger. It slowly tried to form the surface of the key when-

“Woah, what?!”

It scattered due to Terence’s fuss. I glared at him.

“Quiet. Watch your mouth.”

“Uh, yeah, sorry. Shion really beat Gerkhen Kal Doon……”

Suddenly, the surroundings became noisy.

“You, what are you guys doing?”

“I told you it would break!”

Terence stepped forward to calm the worried guys.

“Guys, don’t worry, you know Shion? Gerkhen Kal Doon’s Shion. Shion seems to be able to open the door?”

……I focused on the Magic Spell again.

I don’t need any analysis, segmentation, or disassembly process. The moment I observe with the naked eye, pure intuition based on the 「Notepad」 Database will operate to calculate the structure of the spell, the flow of magic, and the correct circulation……

Shiiiiiiii──.

The key slowly takes shape from the tip of my finger. It’s quite slow, but I can’t help it because my magic channel is small.

It’s a technique to minimize magic consumption by making the ‘speed’ of the three elements of Magic Spell─ control, speed, power as slow, slow, slow as possible.

Tszuzuzuz……

The magic gathered in the air slowly breaks, and my will stands in the gap. The blue key forms an incomplete entity.

Then, the other seniors who were like sitting on the couch, slowly became glued-

Boom───!

The door of the grand hall shook heavily.

“It’s, it’s breaking!”

“It’s here!”

“Kyaaaaaaak!”

“Hey, guys, calm down! Gerkhen Kal Doon’s Shion is trying to open the door now!”

My concentration itself is already on track. Even amidst the noise, I was engrossed in the completion of the key.

Boom────!

“Give, give up!”

“Give up! Give up!”

Some panicked guys gave up on the evaluation test and made an emergency escape.

“Hey guys! Protect Gerkhen Kal Doon’s Shion! We have to protect Shion! We have to buy time!”

Terence gathered the remaining seniors in front of me.

Boom────!

The door was half-opened. Through the gap, the brute stretched out his pus-filled arm.

Around the same time, the key was completed.

“It’s done.”

I inserted the key into the hole.

Click-!

With a refreshing sound, the exit opened.

Whoooooo……

Outside was a snowscape.

All around was pure white, a road swept by a snowstorm.

Just as I was about to step out into it───

Suddenly.

A question that sent a chill down my spine.

Why were the Rune Crystals found at the entrance of the maze?

According to my auditory memory, the first witness was an association official.

The seniors didn’t find it.

Why?

Even if guys like Gerkhen Kal Doon jumped out too quickly to find it, why didn’t I find it after almost turning the entire hospital upside down?

Simply because the entrance mentioned in the news wasn’t this hospital?

Or…….

I looked back.

Seniors trembling in fear, and the ‘Butcher’ leaning its body, which was almost 5m tall.

A monster.

The seniors could never catch it, no.

There’s no need to catch such a monster.

“───Go!”

I was the first to yell at the seniors. I cleared the way, leaving the exit open.

“Go! Everyone out!”

“Huh, what?”

“What the hell, get out quickly! Everyone out!”

If my thoughts are correct, I need to get everyone out of here first.

“No, you opened it, so you should go first- ugh!”

I grabbed Terence, who was meddling, by the collar and threw him out.

“If I go out, the key will be cut off. Then the door will close. Get out quickly──!”

Only then did the seniors rush out.

Creak────!

The grand hall door was completely torn off, and the Butcher charged like a tank.

“Come out!”

“Uh, uh-uh?!”

I made the last one, a senior whose legs had given out, escape.

“Shion!”

Terence, outside the iron gate, reached out to me.

“You too, hurry up and-”

Swish──!

The Butcher drew a sword in the air. A sword wind was released.

I rolled quickly. At that moment, the key was cut off, and the door closed again.

That pig can use sword wind too.

─……No!

From beyond the iron gate, Terence’s screams and the sounds similar to the cries of several seniors mixed.

We’ve only known each other for 10 minutes, and we’re already in a movie.

─I won’t forget…… Shion who defeated Gerkhen.

Is that really a Lunatic?

“……Phew.”

Again.

I took a deep breath while looking at the Butcher. A slight smile formed at the corners of my mouth.

“You?”

Even if I ask, of course, it can’t answer. In the first place, there’s nothing that should be on a human face on its face. Where eyes, nose, and mouth should be, there are only things like shark teeth glistening.

But, I can be sure.

The Rune Crystals will be looted when it’s defeated.

Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump──!

The Butcher charged straight at me. It was a speed that didn’t match its physique.

Have I met the Butcher about three times in my life?

When dealing with it, it’s important to maintain distance. Because of its ‘Butcher’ characteristic, if your skin even slightly touches its flat sword, you’ll be shredded into pieces.

Fortunately, I have a throwing weapon.

A scalpel.

Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump──!

As I ran in the opposite direction of it, I infused Perion into five scalpels.

Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump──!

He hurled it at the pursuer. The brute didn’t even try to dodge, and all five blades buried themselves in its body. Instead of blood, only grease and pus oozed out.

To put it in a metaphor, like a giant pimple bursting?

“……How do I catch that thing?”

Though I’ve started the fight, the Butcher is a level 4 monster. Moreover, its size and stamina are at level 5, making it nearly impossible for a senior to hunt alone.

Especially problematic is that magical fat layer. Even if you beat it for dozens of hours, its regeneration would likely outpace the damage.

─! ─! ─!

The brute swung its sword, spraying grease. Sharp gusts of wind from the blade came one after another.

As I dodged and twisted my body to avoid the attacks, a thought struck me.

“……Grease?”

Grease.

And in addition to that, the substance currently stored in my 「Notepad」memory.

Mandrake.

Simply put, an incendiary.

Of course, ordinary heat won’t kill the Butcher, but mandrake is a medicine of extreme yang.

A heat that is inherently extreme.

Whisk─!

I threw a scalpel. The brute took it head-on again, nonchalantly, just oozing grease.

“It might work.”

Thanks to the brute’s dullness. It’s worth a shot.

Roar──!

I zigzagged away, provoking the brute’s violent movements. It chased me, spilling grease in heaves.

And so, when its thick flesh was thoroughly soaked in grease and glistening,

I prepared for the operation.

I invoked the ‘property’ of mandrake into a scalpel. On the surface, it looked the same, but my skin felt like it was burning just by gripping the scalpel.

Sizzle-

It was actually burning.

“……”

I stopped in the middle of the hall. The brute charged at me as if it had been waiting.

ThumpThumpThumpThumpThump?!

The wide, flabby blade swung down, its belly jiggling.

In an instant, Perion was secreted throughout my nervous system. The Butcher’s large, steep arm slowed to a crawl.

I ducked and slid under the brute’s blade.

As I slid between its legs, I traced the scalpel across its oil-soaked back-

Boom──────!

An explosion occurred the moment it made contact. It was a blast filled with heat. Caught in the shockwave, I was flung to the far end of the hall.

“Cough!”

I stuck to the wall and looked at the brute.

Roar──!

Its entire body was engulfed in flames.

A muddy, sticky, earth-colored fire.

The brute writhed in agony on the floor, but it was the fire of mandrake. The extreme yang that met the oil wouldn’t go out.

Roar──! Roar───!

The brute screamed in agony for a good five minutes.

But it still didn’t die. There wasn’t even a sign of it dying.

What a tough body.

I threw a second scalpel at the brute.

────!

Another explosion.

This time, the brute’s skin was completely blown off. I quickly hid behind the couch.

SplatSplat-

A disgusting sound echoed. Repulsive things were spewing out all over the hospital.

“……I feel dizzy.”

The stench made my head hurt. I was so tired that I felt like falling asleep, but there was no time for that.

I peered into the still-burning flames with my SZX-9500.

Above the exploded corpse of the Butcher, shimmering characters in the form of crystals floated up.

Rune Crystals──「R-elix」.

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