STGB Episode 533

Escape Plan (6)

My heart is pounding, but my head is calm.

‘Human corpses.’

According to what the village chief told me, these corpses are the biggest secret of this village.

Thump-thump—!

Despite the cold sweat running down my back, I forced myself to remain calm.

If the village chief had wanted to hide this, he wouldn’t have shown it to me in the first place. This likely meant he wasn’t about to suddenly announce that I knew too much and needed to be eliminated.

“What are these corpses?”

“You’re a lot calmer than I expected.”

“You must have had a reason to show them to me.”

Of course, there’s also the possibility that he lured me underground just so he could get rid of me.

But my intuition was telling me that wasn’t the case.

“You’re sharp. As you’ve guessed, , I figured showing you this place might clear up some of your misunderstandings.”

“Msunderstanding… hmm…”

I quickly glanced around the underground chamber again.

Corpses piled high like a mountain.

It’s definitely suspicious.

The numbers don’t add up. Even if they’d killed all the explorers from the Silver Lion Clan, it wouldn’t make this many.

“So who are these people?”

“I don’t know.”

“…What?”

When I gave him a look that said, ‘What kind of bullshit is this?’ the village chief calmly began to speak.

“To be honest, your group isn’t the first to come to this island. There were others before you.”

“But you acted like we were the first. Why?”

“Ah, I need to clear that up first. I wasn’t pretending.”

Is he playing word games now?

“You’re the first living explorers to come here.”

“What do you mean?”

“Exactly what I said. These corpses were already in this state when we first found them. Their bodies were twisted, and their limbs were all still attached when they died. And no matter how much time passed, they showed no sign of decay. As if time had stopped the moment they died.”

“So, you’re saying all these corpses fell during the rainy season, and you collected them?”

“No, that’s not it. ‘Collected’ isn’t the right word…their fall from the sky during the rainy season is not related. And the interval between their fall was very long.”

The chief bent down and grabbed one of the corpses by the head, lifting it up. He stared at the half-rotted skull and spoke in an emotionless tone.

“Sometimes every ten to fifteen years, other times every thirty to forty years, these corpses would fall from the sky. And I suspected it might be related to dimensional collapse.”

“Dimensional collapse?”

“Yes. The intervals roughly matched, and one of the journals we found on these corpses mentioned dimensional collapse.”

As he spoke, the chief pulled out a notebook from his pocket and handed it to me. He said I only needed to read the last page.

The rest was too damaged to read anyway.

I opened the notebook and skimmed the final entry.

[…………The whole world is crumbling and twisting. I think I understand now why so many seniors called it a disaster. Disaster doesn’t do justice to this]

[……Melk is dead. Illya is dead. Lord Swalky is dead, and so is Lady Quiriane. And soon… I probably won’t last much longer either.]

[……No, I must survive and return. I have a duty to pass on their final words.]

The last entry was someone’s desperate determination.

I could see why the chief suspected dimensional collapse. The final words in the journal were suspicious enough.

But that aside…

“So why did you gather these corpses here? Why keep them a secret from us?”

“That’s a longer story.”

The chief waved his hand, and the monster warriors around us quickly withdraw.

Huh? They can’t even talk, so why send them away?

I had my doubts but didn’t press the issue.

“These corpses meant a lot to me. Their existence proved that time still passed outside this place. And occasionally, we’d find records that gave us glimpses of the outside world.”

“And?”

“I started researching them. I thought maybe I could find a clue to escape this godforsaken place. But, as always, my hopes were dashed. I tried everything, but these corpses were just… corpses. Ordinary in every way except that time didn’t affect them.”

He eventually tried sending the bodies into the Labyrinth, hoping somehow the existence of this place might be revealed to the outside. And that was his final experiment, which also failed.

After that, the chief gave up on his research.

He collected the bodies and stored them underground.

He had resigned himself to it, but a part of him still held out hope that they might be useful one day.

But then…

“You and your group arrived. You were my last hope, when I’d nearly given up.”

“So you decided to hide the truth about these corpses?”

“You were already suspicious of our monstrous appearance. If we showed you this as well, I thought it would only increase your suspicion. I wanted to bring it up carefully.”

But then Amelia snuck in and saw everything, so he decided to come clean.

That was the crux of it.

“Does that answer your questions?”

“I guess.”

It’s not a completely unbelievable story.

But something still felt off.

The fact that he hadn’t been surprised when I mentioned the outside world.

That he already knew time was passing out there.

If his story was true, it explained a lot of my doubts, but… it still feels like he’s just piecing together some truths in a neat way.

Come to think of it, it was like this in every world.

The best way to hide the truth was to reveal parts of it.

The biggest question still remained unanswered.

“So you’re saying you had nothing to do with the disappearance of the Silver Lion Clan?”

“That’s right. Why would I have any reason to harm them?”

So, what now?

If he had just attacked me from behind, I could’ve smashed his skull and been done with it.

But things had gotten a bit more complicated.

‘Should I believe him or not?’

I hesitated for a moment, but the answer came quickly.

‘Like hell I’d believe him.’

In this world, the only ones you can trust are your comrades.

Yeah, so…

‘Okay, conclusion reached.’

What I needed to do next was clear.

“Since we’ve been hiding things too, I won’t hold you responsible for your comrade breaking the laws of our village or the ‘mistakes’ you’ve made because of it. How does that sound?”

I smirked at the chief’s attempt to make peace and move on.

“That’s a relief. I’m glad the misunderstanding is cleared up.”

“Good, I’m glad you feel the same… Huh?”

Still smiling, I swung my hammer down.

CRACK—!

The satisfying impact of the hammer sinking into his forehead.

Thick blood oozed from the wound.

The chief displayed an emotion in his detached face for the first time.

“……Why?”

For the first time, the chief displayed an emotion in his detached facade.

Staring into his fish-like eyes filled with confusion, I answered.

There were too many suspicious parts in his story.

It felt like he was stalling for time.

My gut screamed that if I gave him time, he’d eventually stab me in the back.

But I didn’t need to list those illogical reasons.

A single sentence was enough.

“Your eyes piss me off.”

“………?”

“That’s why I hit you. Any problem with that?”

A barbarian does not need any other reason than that.

***

Is the village chief an enemy or an ally?

If he is an enemy, what is he hiding?

What is truth and what is a lie?

Those questions don’t matter anymore.

Because with a single swing of my hammer, the complicated story has become clear.

The chief and I are now irrevocably at odds.

So, I’ll kill him here.

And if I fail…

‘Then we escape this village with my comrades.’

A perfectly clear situation.

However, the chief still did not seem to understand and asked me:

“There was no reason for you to resort to such extreme measures.”

“Oh! Is that so?”

“You care deeply for your comrades. But to recklessly endanger them like this – that is not like you.”

I don’t know how long he’s observed me to say something like that, but it’s not worth listening to.

So—

“BETHEL—RAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!”

I let out a battle cry and swung my hammer down again in a surprise attack.

CRASH—!

Unfortunately, he didn’t panic. He drew his sword and blocked the hammer. Well, I’d made my point – I had no intention of continuing this conversation.

The chief muttered coldly:

“Wrong choices come with consequences.”

C’mon, fish-face, that doesn’t sound cool at all.

Maybe he needs to look at his face in the mirror?

Deciding to do him a favor, I stick out my lips like a fish and mock him:

“Wong choiths come wif conshekwenses.”

For some reason, his response came after a slight delay.

“…You are insane.”

Hmm. Even if he’s praising me, I’m not gonna go easy on him.

CRACK—!

I gripped my hammer with both hands and poured more strength into it. And his sword began to bend under the pressure.

‘Since we’re both using both hands and he’s being pushed back, his strength must be lower than mine.’

Did he come to the same conclusion?

The chief abruptly ended the strength competition, tilting his sword to redirect the momentum of the hammer to the side.

Boom—!

The hammer smashed into the ground with full force.

At the same time, the chief’s sword erupted with a fierce light.

WHOOSH—!

That same technique that took down the Hipramagent in one hit.

It looked similar to aura, but…

‘There’s no way a skill like this is common in the labyrinth.’

I still hadn’t figured out what it was, but that was the least of my worries.

[The character has cast [Iron Fortress].]

[The effect of [Evolved Shell] is increased by 1.5 times].

Well, of course.

[Grants 75% resistance to bladed weapons.]

It’s still just a sword, after all.

BOOM—!

The sword, which had pierced Hipromagent’s head like tofu, was deflected by my shield and sent flying.

The shield’s condition…

‘Just a few scratches, I guess?’

Yeah, they say the scariest enemy is imagination itself.

Now that I’ve experienced it firsthand, it’s more manageable than I thought.

Not that it’s no problem, though.

WHOOSH—!

His agility stat must be far higher than mine, because after the first strike, every single one of my attacks missed.

[The character has activated [Eye of the Storm]

Even with [Eye of the Storm], which is especially effective in tight spaces, my hit rate was stuck at 30%.

THUD—!

And even when I did get a hit, it didn’t do much damage.

‘His resistance seems low, but… his regeneration is pretty strong.’

The wound from my biggest hit had already completely healed.

I quickly reassessed the situation.

‘Killing him 1v1 here is impossible.’

I gave up on soloing the chief and changed tactics.

“Chief, do you happen to know the two best ways to piss someone off?”

First, distract him with a random question—

“…?”

Right as he’s confused by my words—

CRASH—!

I pulled out a Molotov cocktail from my sub space and hurled it at the pile of corpses.

Leaving the blazing flames behind.

THUD!

I sprint up the stairs at full speed.

“BETHEL—RAAAAAAAAH!!!”

The soundproofing must be decent, because there were no monster warriors on the stairs. To make sure the chief couldn’t easily follow, I smashed the ceiling as I ran up.

RUMBLE—! CRASH—!

Whoever built this place must’ve been a terrible architect, because the moment I started breaking things, the underground chamber began to collapse on itself like dominoes.

BOOM—!

I finally burst through the floor door and emerged outside.

In the first-floor living room, my comrades and the monster warriors were in a standoff, waiting for me—

“Something must’ve happened! We need to go down there—!”

[We must confirm the chief’s safety—!]

The two groups stopped talking the moment they saw me, their mouths agape in confusion.

The only one who kept her cool and spoke was Versil.

“Uh… Jandel? What’s going on—?”

I mean, isn’t it obvious?

Sure, I wrecked everything, but the chief bastard would be up here any second. There was no time to explain.

So, instead—

To make sure even a three-year-old could instantly understand the situation—

CRUNCH—!

I smashed the nearest monster warrior’s skull with my hammer and roared:

“We’re escaping this village—NOW!”

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