Chapter 68

"Now, I guess I'll start by finding the plunderers' hideout on the map..."

Arriving in our labyrinth vacation home via teleportation, I met up with Satou, who had already transformed himself into his Kuro disguises. He has already completed his search for the location of the plunderers and found they have four major bases and more than ten smaller ones. Adjacent to the location where we apprehended Ludaman, there was an area housing the captured women. Based on their arrangement, it seemed likely that we would need to confront the nearby plunderers prior to rescuing them.

"Looks like trouble."

Satou muttered before explaining the base turned out to be more intricate than initially anticipated, featuring paths that were challenging to access but simple to retreat from. The landscape comprised slopes and ledges that allowed for effortless descents, while infiltration would necessitate arduous uphill traversals.

Given the complexity and defensibility of the plunderers' hideouts, it's understandable why the labyrinth army has struggled to apprehend all of them. Direct confrontations would prove futile, resembling attempts to breach an impenetrable stronghold. The plunderers can effortlessly deploy expendable minions to divert attention while dispersing through a maze of escape routes, making seizing them exceedingly arduous. That doesn't matter to us, though, since we could fly.

We used 'Return' to teleport to the closest seal slate to the hideout. It was a corner of a partially underwater area where I'd planned on levelling up everyone next. The swiftest path ahead would involve retracing our steps through the areas where we previously saved the Labyrinth army soldiers. As we journey, we strive to bypass and disregard any creatures we encounter along the way.

Proceeding through the second zone, my curiosity sparked at the sight of unknown monsters. However, fuelled by the need to stay on track, I resolutely resisted any temptation to interact with them and continued my advance.

"Ooh, a natural golem."

It looks like I am not the only one getting distracted. But the golem wasn't interested in Satou. Its surface, smooth as a billiard ball, bore no hint of articulation. Yet, with sinister malice, it propelled itself towards me, its fist poised menacingly to strike. But the golem wasn't that strong compared to me, and its body shattered after I dodged the fist and sent a kick into its stomach.

Still, I couldn't help but admire the golems as I ran away with Satou. Numerous golems were predominantly crafted from earth or rock, while others appeared as if they could be transformed into bronze or iron. A few were even constructed from crystal, though none were found in silver or gold. I wonder if Satou could find some like that later.

"We should be in the plunderer area soon..." Satou said once we cleared the golem area.

Avoiding the slopes and cracks with "Skyrunning," we arrived at the point of the plunderers' lookout. Using all our stealth and spying skills, we warped soundlessly through the passages. We tried to find a plunderer lookout but couldn't see him anywhere.

"Oh, over there," I whispered.

The plunderer was perfectly camouflaged against the wall. I used "Warp" to land directly in front of him and knocked him out before he even noticed I was there. This seemed to deactivate the camouflage, revealing almost greyish skin. He was totally naked, too. I guess the camouflage didn't work on clothes.

I wasn't particularly keen on witnessing a naked man, so I draped him in some cloth and bound him. I could hear Satou grumble about it not being a beautiful woman, but I feigned ignorance. His face resembled a chameleon monster, likely due to demonic concoctions similar to Ludaman's. I used Magic Hand to lift the captured looter and proceeded, knowing I could have left him, but I didn't want to return to a half-eaten corpse courtesy of some beast.

"Ooh, so this is the trap level?"

As Satou muttered my keen 'Trap Detection' skill whispered of impending hazards. Beyond lay an array of insidious traps, while in their shadow, a slumbering plunderer, his defences down, lay sprawled across the narrow passage. Or is he bait for another trap? Before him loomed a translucent creature, dubbed a 'wall slime,' which seemed to have been tamed by the plunderer.

"All right, we can't be wasting time here," Satou said, and I nodded.

Satou used Magic Hand to push the plunderer from behind, sending him right into the wall slime. Obviously, he panicked and started flailing around inside the creature's goo. In the meantime, we crossed over the traps with "Skyrunning," then Satou used a pebble to shoot out the oil slime's core right as it extended a tendril toward him. Subsequently, I retrieved a Thunder Rod from my inventory. I employed it to shock the plunderer within the slime's residue, effectively paralysing him.

"...Ew."

I couldn't help the sound that escaped me. The man twitching on the ground was sticky with slime. If I touched him, I would definitely get some on me. With no other option, I used Magic Hand to strike the chameleon plunderer's head against his, then tied him up with the same spell.

"This one's face is warped, too..." Satou said, looking closer.

The upper half of the man's face was covered in murky blue crystals. It looked like more people had been transfigured by demonic potion than I realised.

Stealthily, we traversed a corridor guarded by a formidable areamaster-class monster and swiftly employed 'Warp' to navigate a treacherous passage teeming with venomous bugs and ethereal shadow monsters. Finally, our arduous journey culminated as we reached the perimeter of the plunderers' first base.

"Looks like the real fight starts here," I said, and Satou nodded.

There were two lookouts armed with bows and oblivous to Satou and me approaching them. According to Satou's information, there are ten plunderers at the outpost; one was in the 30s, but the rest were all level 10 and below. Our plan of attack was simple. Once we deal with the lookouts, Satou will deal with the plunderer with skills like "Sprinting" and "Off-Road Running" before he escapes while I take out the boss.

I put down the two plunderers I was carrying with Magic Hand in a nearby hole, and then Satou and I landed right in front of the two guards with "Flashrunning."

"Wh-?"

"Ү"

Before they could complete a word, we knocked them out with a few swift punches.

With no apparent walls, the outpost afforded a clear view of the scattered plunderers. An eagle-eyed plunderer detected our presence and fled in earnest. But before he can get far, Satou acts. He intercepted the plunderers with 'Warp,' swiftly dispatching the rabbitfolk with 'Sprinting.'

"What the?"

As the remaining plunderers drew their arms, our nimble movements orchestrated their demise. One by one, we felled them with precision strikes. When I hit one of them, he emitted a red light, a special side effect of overdosing on demonic potion.

"Boss!"

Among the plunderers, whom I initially believed Satou had incapacitated, one was rising and shouting. Satou delivered another strike to the surprisingly resilient assailant, ensuring he was knocked out for real this time.

"Never seen you before. Are you two garnet-badge explorers?"

A man in his thirties, clad only in minimal attire, emerged confidently from the darkness, exuding an air of self-importance.

"Your Wolfsbane, comrade."

A fully naked individual appeared from behind the barely undressed figure, extending a spear with a dark, black-hued blade. The name of this enchanted weapon, it seems, is 'Wolfsbane.'

"Think you can just show up and interrupt my fun? I'll be killin' you slowly, lass," He stares at me before glancing at Satou. "Your friend, though, will be entertaining me tonight before I kill him."

The half-naked man swallowed what appeared to be a demonic potion. Red magic circles glowed on his body for a moment, then disappeared as jet-black scales grew over his arms.

"Demon Armor-Black Scales."

As he uttered what must have been an activation phrase, a pair of bumps on his forehead grew into two horns.

"Bwa-ha-ha, cower in fear! For he is none other than the right-hand man of Plunderer King Ludaman: Demon Warrior Kurse!" The naked man sneered as he introduced the half-naked warrior.

"So he's just as weak as that crybaby," I sigh, stepping forward.

"Keep talking bitch," Kurse spat. "Come at me, user of the black arts! But paralytic poison won't work on the likes of me!" I take a step forward, cracking my knuckles. "I'm going to make sure this hurts!"

Kurse brandished his Magic Spear and bucked his horns intimidatingly. It's stupid. Even Liza was more intimidating than this when we first met. I'm sure she would have a field day with this guy. I can tell he lacks the skill with a spear despite not using one myself.

I sighed and stepped in reach of his spear, but he wasn't attacking me for some reason. Does he have some kind of defensive skill? With my curiosity piqued, I decided to discover that skill. I'm sure Satou will step in if it is something deadly.

I haven't had to move so slowly in a while, but I managed to trigger that skill Kurse was counting on. It seems to be an automatic counterattack skill.

"Bad move, lass! Demon Wolf's Fang!"

Shouting some kind of attack name, the man unleashed a counterattack. Black mist whirled around his spear, spinning like a drill as it zoomed toward me. But he's too slow. I duck under his spear and deliver an uppercut, causing Kurse to hit the ground a few meters away. The red light around the man's body disappeared, and I acquired the 'Counterattack' skill. It seems useful so I quickly max out the skill.

"Guuuuuh!"

Kurse unleashed an animalistic yell as he picked himself up. I thought that attack would knock him out, but he was tougher than I thought. He thrusts his spear towards me, but no matter how many times or how fast he attacks, I dodge every thrust while stepping forward and forcing Kurse back. Eventually, his back hits the wall.

"Looks like you're out of room to run," I smile, placing a hand on Kurse's shoulder.

"I will ki…"

I cut the man off with a punch to the gut, sending him crashing into the wall, causing the stone to crack and shatter. I wondered if I should have held back, but it wasn't enough to take him out. This is going to be annoying. I delivered several more punches rapidly, causing his body to sink deeper into the wall.

"B... Bwuh..."

Desperately attempting to convey a message, his words were stifled by a relentless barrage of blows pounding against his cheeks. The force of the assault gradually drained him, and as his ability to communicate waned, his consciousness succumbed to oblivion.

"Let go of him!"

The naked man raised a scimitar and charged at me. It looks like he is the last plunderer, and Satou is almost finished tying up the others. At least this guy was easy to deal with, which is likely why Satou left him alone. With one swift movement, I knock his weapon out of his hand, and another strike knocks this naked dude unconscious. My new skill made it much easier to judge the timing of my attacks.

"It would be a pain to carry all these guys around..." Satou said once we had gathered everyone up.

A sliver of bare earth caught my eye in the labyrinth's confines. However, The labyrinth's design rendered a traditional pit trap impractical. So we decided to make a temporary jail. We disarmed the men and collected them all on the patch of earth. Just as Satou was about to use the Earth Magic spell 'Wall', I heard a battle cry from one of the plunderers.

"My slime is the strongeeeeest!"

A sinister realisation dawned on me as my gaze shifted to the vanquished slime plunderer. He had somehow freed himself from our bindings, his body writhing in renewed vigour. A crimson glow enveloped him, indicating a potent elixir coursing through his veins. The claws on his fingers, now sharp and crystalline, had sliced through the ropes easily, a testament to the demonic enhancements he had gained. Slimy tentacles sprouted from his mouth and nose, startling me into making a strange noise.

I didn't want a hand-to-hand fight with this sticky weirdo, so I repeatedly used my 'Remote Stun' spell until the plunderer was out cold again.

"You're not getting away!"

The chameleon man tried to escape while I was dealing with the slime man, but Satou swiftly used a stone spear from Storage to pin him to the wall.

"Kwaaaaeo!"

Satou hit the chameleon man harder than before to knock him out, propped him up next to the other plunderers, and started making a prison with 'Wall' to trap them in. Even these superhuman freaks shouldn't be able to bust through a fifteen-foot-thick earth wall. Kurse was already recovering, and I heard him cursing through the small air hole. But Satou and I left the plunderer outpost behind without giving him much thought.

We finally arrived at the main hideout after taking down several more lookout posts. It took about a half hour, but at least no one noticed what we were up to. I have heard that security is one's greatest enemy. As the guard on duty at the main hideout yawned, I stealthily approached him from behind and rendered him unconscious.

But this is where Satou and I split up. Satou blocked off escape routes while taking care of the lookouts outside the base. Meanwhile, I was wandering around the base, attacking plunderers as they slept and tying them up.

"Wh-what the?!"

"Those labyrinth bastards are serious this time!"

"A wall?!"

It looks like they finally noticed. But their panic only works to my advantage as I use "Flashrunning" to take out the plunderers one by one.