Witch Taming System-Chapter 25: Labyrinth Dive [7]
∎ Subjugate 50 Labyrinth Dwellers (28/50)
Even so, Lancel had not forgotten the objective.
As the wave of labyrinth dwellers surged toward them, Lancel took the lead. Despite his role as a scout, he moved to the very front of the formation.
"Fall in behind me," he said. "Keep moving and don’t stop."
The creatures poured out from the corridor ahead. Lancel tightened his grip around the dagger.
Then he moved.
Slash——!
The blade cut across the first creature’s throat as it lunged toward him. Its body collapsed, sliding across the ground as Lancel stepped past it without breaking stride.
"Don’t get surrounded!" someone shouted.
"I know."
Another dweller leapt from the side wall. Lancel drove the dagger upward into its jaw. The force of the impact sent the creature recoiling before it dropped lifelessly to the ground.
∎ Subjugate 50 Labyrinth Dwellers (31/50)
The numbers kept climbing.
He could feel it.
The thrill of the moment, just as similarly as the battlefield he had left behind.
Behind him, the others struggled to keep formation. Shields clashed against claws while blades swung in frantic arcs to keep the swarm at bay.
"Push forward!" Mael shouted. "Don’t slow down!"
The corridor was too narrow for the creatures to fully surround them, but it was also too narrow for them to escape easily.
It was a do-or-die situation. And stopping meant death.
But nevertheless, the swarm itself was not the true problem. These were A-rank adventurers who had survived countless battles and built their reputations through blood and experience.
Faced with monsters alone, they were more than capable of fighting back and forcing a path forward through sheer skill and coordination.
The real issue was the threads. An unpredictable variable that none of them could properly account for.
"...!"
Lancel’s gaze instinctively turned toward the ceiling. From the darkness above, strands of silk began to descend one by one, swaying as they searched for movement.
———!
Lancel shifted his footing and stepped aside at the last possible moment. The thread grazed past where he had been standing just a second earlier.
But the silk latched onto something else.
A labyrinth dweller charging from behind let out a cry as the thread wrapped around its torso. Before it could even struggle, the line snapped taut and yanked it off the ground.
In the next instant, the creature was dragged upward, disappearing into the darkness above.
"Derrek!"
"Yvonne!"
"Sasha!"
Shouts rang out one after another as three figures were suddenly yanked off the ground.
Threads wrapped around their bodies before anyone could react, dragging them upward into the darkness above.
Most of the group had managed to avoid the descending silk, but not all.
From the original twenty-four, they were now down to nineteen.
"Wait—"
Lancel reached out as he noticed one of the adventurers breaking formation. The man had turned back, reaching upward in a desperate attempt to grab one of the dangling threads.
"Don’t stop moving—"
But he was too late.
The moment the man stopped moving, a thread shot down and wrapped around him.
"Ah—"
His cry was cut short as he was ripped off the ground and dragged upward just like the others.
Gone in an instant. They were now eighteen.
And the number was still dropping.
Slash——!
∎ Subjugate 50 Labyrinth Dwellers (39/50)
Even as Lancel’s kill count continued to rise, the waves showed no sign of stopping. The creatures pressed in from every direction they could manage.
It was only natural.
With this much noise and bloodshed, every nearby labyrinth dweller had already been drawn toward them.
"Ukh...!"
A claw grazed across Lancel’s shoulder. It hurt, but he didn’t stop and drove his dagger forward, ending the creature before it could follow through with another strike.
Behind him, the formation began to falter.
"Watch the left!"
A sudden surge of dwellers broke through a weak point in the line. One of the adventurers was caught off guard as multiple creatures lunged at him at once, dragging him to the ground.
"Get off me!"
The man struggled. But Mael immediately intercepted, slamming her shield down between the swam, forcing the creatures back with sheer force.
"Stay behind me!" she shouted.
For a brief moment, it seemed to be working.
...But that moment cost them.
From above, the threads descended again.
Lancel’s eyes widened.
"Mael, move!"
She looked up too late.
Several strands shot downward in an instant, wrapping tightly around both her and the adventurer she had just protected. The shield slipped from her grasp as the threads pulled taut.
"Fuck!"
Her feet left the ground. The other man screamed as he was dragged up alongside her. In the next moment, both of them were swallowed into the darkness above.
They were losing people too fast.
And the swarm... was only getting worse.
"We’re all going to die!"
The shout broke whatever composure the group had left as panic spread like wildfire.
Formation broke completely as voices overlapped one after another in a desperate attempt to regain control. Movements lost all coordination as they pushed forward in a desperate attempt to survive, disregarding their comrades’ lives.
That was all it took.
One by one, they fell.
Dragged upward, overwhelmed by the swarm, pulled down by claws before they could even scream, all hell broke loose. A few tried to fight back, only to be caught the moment their footing broke.
The corridor became a slaughter, and before Lancel realized it, they were down to nine.
"M-Mister Lancel!"
Someone called out to him from below.
Lancel glanced down. It was a woman, though he couldn’t recall her name.
She had fallen to the ground at some point, and now she was clinging tightly to his leg.
"L-Let’s all die together, okay?!"
"What the hell are you doing?! Let go—"
He couldn’t even finish.
A thread shot down from above and latched onto his shoulder.
———!
His body was lifted off the ground in the next moment. The woman’s grip broke as he was dragged upward.
But even as he was being hoisted, Lancel noticed something.
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[Special Objective Completed!]
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Condition:
∎ Subjugate 50 Labyrinth Dwellers (50/50)
Rewards Obtained:
∎ Attribute Points +1.0 (Attribute Allocation Privilege)
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In that moment, Lancel directed the reward into a single stat.
────────────
[Strength: 3.5 → 4.5]
────────────
A surge ran through his body.
At that exact moment, he leveled up.
────────────
Host: Lancel
Rank: Novice Witch
Level: 5
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Primary Attributes
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Strength: 4.5
Vitality: 3.5
Mana: 2.1
Agility: 4.9
Endurance: 4.1
Resonance: 1.1
────────────
The change was immediate.
It wasn’t just strength.
As his level increased, the rest of his body followed.
