Chapter 792
Chapter 792: Red Ocean (4)
When people are given any material, they first start imagination. While the scale and method of people’s imaginations may differ, there isn’t anyone who doesn’t have an imagination. In that sense, what I’m imagining now is also valid.
‘Five days over the expected arrival date……’
The mobility between Team 1 and Team 2 isn’t different enough to create such a large time gap. In other words, something must have happened to Team 2 during their exploration. The problem is that I can’t tell what exactly happened……
‘Could it be……’
My subconscious, burdened with a all sorts of misfortunes, naturally started imagining the worst-case scenario. Could they have encountered plunderers? Were there explorers who became overwhelmed by their desires after finding Team 2 operating alone, like the Meiruta Clan we met on the fifth floor?
“……”
What torments me more is that these imaginings aren’t just baseless delusions. Just think about it. The Meiruta Clan ultimately only tried to pass us by because they were cowardly. But would everyone be like them? What if Team 2 was unlucky and encountered more decisive, bold individuals who weren’t afraid of my reputation?
Grind……
This is exactly why I dealt with the Meiruta Clan’s leader so ruthlessly. Because I wanted to eliminate any variables or situations that could threaten myself and my comrades. That’s why I made an example of him. I even instructed the vice-leader of the Meiruta Clan to spread the word about this incident as much as possible as soon as they left the labyrinth.
“B-Bjorn……?”
No, wait. Maybe my imagination has been too narrow. It might not simply be a case of encountering plunderers. There’s other threats like Baekho Lee and Auril Gavis. Or maybe Noark noticed this labyrinth’s opening and secretly sent their own explorers—.
“Bjorn!!”
I snapped back to reality as someone smacked me on the back.
“…Missha?”
“Finally, you’re answering me!!”
Ah, she must have been trying to get my attention.
“What is it?”
Wanting to return to my thoughts, I quickly asked her what she wanted, but Missha gave an unexpected response.
“Please! Stop thinking strange thoughts! Everything will be fine!”
“…How can you be so sure?”
“Because I trust them.”
“……?”
“Emily, Erwen, Ainar, and the rest of them… Well, I’m a bit worried about Mr. Rockrobe, but anyway! They’re all capable of taking care of themselves!”
“It’s not that I don’t trust them—”
“Bjorn, I think you’re seriously misunderstanding something here.”
“……?”
“We’re not your children. We’re your comrades.”
“……I’ll take a moment to clear my head.”
“Yes, yes. Go ahead.”
Following Missha’s concerned advice, I left the portal area to cool my head. But, of course, that didn’t ease my anxiety. It was only natural. The reason I readily followed Missha’s advice was simply because I needed a quiet place to think, and I judged it wasn’t good for me, as their leader, to show such behavior in front of other members—.
“Bjorn!”
I’m not sure how much time passed since I separated from Team 1, but Missha began calling out to me from afar.
“How far did you go to clear your head! I’ve been looking everywhere—.”
“Go back and tell the team members to prepare to leave.”
“…Huh? Prepare to leave?”
Missha tilted her head as if she didn’t understand my words. I then voiced the decision I had reached after some quick but careful consideration.
“As soon as preparations are complete, we’ll go down to the fifth floor. That’s at least better than waiting around indefinitely—.”
“What are you saying! There’s no need for that!!”
“I decide whether it’s necessary or not. I don’t know exactly what situation Team 2 is in, but if they’re being pursued by someone, or hiding somewhere to avoid being found, we should go help them as soon as possible—”
“No, you idiot, Team 2 just arrived a little while ago!!”
“……What?”
For a moment, my mind went blank. Noticing this, Missha quickly explained the part I was most curious about.
“First of all, everyone is safe! They were late because they entered a rift on the fourth floor along the way!!”
“……”
“Come on, didn’t I tell you! That everything would be fine!”
Just as I started feeling relieved that everyone was safe, I felt an indescribable emotion and ran toward the portal area…… Where Team 2 was waiting.
“Huh? Hey, where are you running off to all of a sudden while I’m still talking to you!
As I approached the portal, I could see the members of Team 2 gathered in front of it. Amelia seemed to be calmly explaining the situation to the others, while Ainar stood beside her, apparently bragging about something they had managed to acquire.
Only then did I realize what that indescribable emotion was.
It was a faint sense of irritation.
Though even I couldn’t understand the reason for this feeling.
“Ah, Yandel? You’re here. I heard you were worried because we were late.”
As soon as I arrived, Amelia spoke in a somewhat teasing voice. Erwen joined in as well.
“Hehe, it’s the Mister! Were you really that worried about us?”
Even with hearing these warm, playful remarks, I kept my mouth shut. I felt that if I said even a single word, this emotion would spill out.
No, maybe it already had?
“Emily… why were you so late?”
“Ah… didn’t Karlstein tell you? A rift opened right in front of us on the fourth floor, and our team discussed it, we decided to entered it.”
“……”
“But wasn’t this something we already agreed upon? That we would enter rifts from the fourth floor onward if we found the opportunity.”
Right, that’s true. It was exactly why, even though Team 2 was a few days late, the others had reassured me, saying it was part of the plan.
Honestly, they did what I, as the leader, should have done. However, the problem is……
“Even so… wasn’t it too long of a delay?”
Maybe the problem is me.
“…What?”
“At your level, it shouldn’t have taken 5 days to clear a fourth floor rift, right……?”
“We did take extra time to proceed cautiously. But are you blaming us for that now?”
Amelia furrowed her brow, sharply picking up on the subtle emotion in my question, and only then did I snap to my senses. The problem was clearly with me. No, more precisely……
“Yandel… what exactly is making you so anxious?”
Something was wrong with my head.
***
Day 21 of entering Labyrinth. After arriving at the sixth floor, there were some minor incidents, but we resolved them well and finally launched our ship into the water and set sail. Oh, by the way, we parted ways with the Meiruta Clan here.
“Finally, we’re setting sail……”
“Looks like the royal expedition force is getting ready to leave, as well?”
Along the shoreline, the royal expedition force was just beginning to launch their warships one by one, and watching this gave me a vague sense of unease.
‘By the looks of it, they’ll finish departing by tomorrow.’
Considering the timing, I couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed. Despite moving as fast as we did, we only managed to set sail one day ahead of the slow-moving royal expedition force. In fact, aside from the handful of clan ships, the waters around the island were dominated by royal warships.
“We’re a bit behind schedule, but don’t worry too much. We did a lot of logging, and we cleared a rift too.”
Amelia, noticing my mood, approached me and gave me these words of comfort. But maybe it was because of what happened earlier? There was still a slight awkwardness lingering in the air. Neither Amelia nor I wanted to bring up the earlier incident.
“Yes, exactly! If anything, we gained more than we would have from five days of hunting, right? Don’t worry about it, Mister!”
Hah… Even Erwen was worrying about me. What am I doing? Suddenly feeling pathetic about myself, I realize I needed to pull myself together moving forward. And to do that, I first need to solve the problem with my head.
Shwaaaaaaaa—
I stepped out onto the deck, letting the cool sea breeze wash over me and as I watched the waves parting before the ship, I began to reflect on myself. The way I had acted earlier wasn’t like me at all. No, come to think of it, it started back with the Meiruta Clan. It was as if one of the gears in my head is broken. My emotions were overriding my sense of reason, making me act unnecessarily sensitive and aggressive.
I’m fine most of the time, but when a certain button is pressed, that’s how I become.
‘Am I under too much stress……’
It could be as simple as that, but it wasn’t something to brush off. If the leader loses their composure and starts acting emotionally, the entire group suffers the consequences. It could even lead to someone getting hurt. But how do I fix something like this? It’s not like there’s a psychiatrist here, so should I resort to self-therapy? It was at that moment while I was having those thoughts.
“Yandel.”
“Ah, Emily……”
“It’s okay. It’s only natural.”
It seemed Amelia had roughly figured out what the problem with my head was. Well, she’s always been perceptive.
“……”
“……”
Though silence followed, it didn’t feel awkward like before. And after some time passed like this.
‘Ah, right. There’s still something I haven’t asked.’
Well, after that conversation earlier, things became awkward so I couldn’t bring up the topic. Suddenly recalling the earlier incident, I asked Amelia.
“By the way, what was the rift you entered on the fourth floor?”
“…It was the Doppelganger Forest.”
“……Is that so? Too bad it wasn’t the Golden Ruins.”
“I heard that Raven already said it was the Doppelganger Forest, though?”
She said that because we didn’t expect that our other team were the ones who entered it.
“……”
Hah, is this why they say you should strive to keep a pure heart?
***
Day 29 of entering the labyrinth. It’s already been 9 days since we set sail from Laemia, the Island of Beginnings. Our ship, which had been crossing the sea without stopping at any islands, finally anchored at one. Though I did consider skipping it since we were already 5 days behind schedule……
‘But it would be too much of a waste. It’s right on our path anyway.’
Well, as long as we handle it quickly, it shouldn’t be an issue.
“Ugh… I’d heard about it, but it’s much more eerie than I imagined. An island made entirely of bones……”
“Oooooooh!! It’s the Skull Island! Skull Island!”
“Its official name is Katakoma, Ms. Fenelin.”
Skull Island, Katakoma. It was actually my first time visiting this island in person, but I have a peculiar connection to it. When I first joined Ghost Busters, one of the pieces of intel I sold to earn GP was about this very island, and I also shared information about it at the Round Table……
“Um… Captain?”
Just as I was about to step off the ship, Sven Parav approached me.
“Have you heard? They say if you defeat the boss monster of Skull Island and reach the tenth floor, you can experience some kind of special event……”
Well, as expected of a Round Table member. That’s the information I shared myself. Feigning ignorance, I responded.
“Special event?”
“Yes. I don’t know the details… But according to a reliable source, there’s something like that. Of course, we won’t be going to the tenth floor this time, but I thought you should know about it……”
“Is that so? Well, good to know. Though as you said, we won’t be going to the tenth floor.”
Ending the conversation there, I stepped onto the island. Not long after, Beleg, who had disembarked first, approached to relay some information.
“There are competitors.”
“Competitors……”
It wasn’t entirely unexpected. Right now, every floor of the labyrinth was like a treasure trove. Similar situations were likely happening all over the Great Sea, not just on this island. Where there’s treasure, there’s bound to be competition.
“How many?”
“I can’t say for sure… but at least one clan has arrived before us. Look over there. They’ve even left their clan flag at the entrance.”
“That gives us a rough idea of their character.”
“It seems like an implicit warning not to enter since they came first… What should we do?”
What else can we do? We’ve already taken precious time to anchor here, so we should at least look around. Still, I decided to confirm a few things before heading in recklessly.
“Adnus, is that emblem from the Golden Tree Clan?”
“That’s correct. Their leader is ‘Golden Ghost,’ one of the Seven Powerful.”
I had a hunch when I saw the emblem, and it was true. The Golden Tree Clan was one I knew well. Not only was their leader was a member of the Seven Powerful, the same group Erwen and Ainar were considered to be a part of……
“Huh? Golden Tree? If it’s that clan, then surely……!”
At Missha’s expectant gaze, I nodded.
“That’s right.”
It’s the clan that Mr. Bear belongs to.