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Crying Girl, Headless Black Reaper, Black Sword, a man dying who suddenly appeared.

The moment I saw this scene, I realized it was an illusion.

Perhaps it was an illusion created because it read my heart that said, “I want to go on an adventure!”

While my goal was to have an exciting and fun adventure, I didn’t expect it to be this spectacular…

I want an adventure filled with nothing but the joy and pleasures, devoid of hardships and struggles from classic adventure tales!

Yet, the illusion unfolding before my eyes was disappointing.

Even excluding the unpleasant scenes, it was still disappointing.

The middle-aged man I had seen at the entrance of the labyrinth popping up suddenly was something I could accept.

He might have entered the labyrinth after following me.

Cutting off the neck of the Black Reaper, boasting physical immunity-like resilience, could also happen.

There might be spatial cutting traps or monsters in the labyrinth.

But having both a Black Sword and a Black Reaper at the same time? That’s just weird.

The Black Sword is held in the girl’s hand, yet there’s another Black Reaper?

Why are there two Black Reapers?

That’s so strange!

Just as I thought that, the scenery before my eyes began to warp slightly.

The once realistic landscape started to feel increasingly flimsy.

And the moment that flimsy feeling crossed a certain threshold, the world began to collapse.

What appeared after the world crumbled was thick fog and a girl standing in front of me, looking concerned.

“Are you okay?”

The girl, who had felt somewhat apprehensive towards me, was now tightly holding my hands with a worried expression.

And strangely, I naturally understood the Japanese she was speaking.

The moment I heard that Japanese, it occurred to me.

Ah, I’m still in an illusion.

Realizing that I was still in an illusion, I used the power of the Golden Tree to look beyond the illusion and clearly understood the current state.

On a fog-covered floor, a girl lay unconscious on a bed transformed by the Black Reaper.

Next to her, I saw my own self lying miserably on the ice-cold floor.

Why don’t I have a bed!

I felt a little sad that my treatment regarding my mom was so poor.

Moreover, the Black Reapers that made up my armor had returned to Mini Reaper forms and were poking at my cheeks.

The Black Reapers were slapping my cheeks with expressions of “Wake up quickly!”

Somehow, seeing that expression made me less inclined to wake up.

It didn’t seem like an emergency, so it should be okay to wake slowly.

It’s definitely not because there’s no bed!

Anyway, that wasn’t it.

As I ended the power of the Golden Tree and lifted my head, the girl tugged at my hand and smiled brightly.

“Let’s go. Let’s hurry and have an adventure!”

To me, who already knew it was an illusion, that sounded like she had prepared a thrilling adventure.

Hehe.

*

The sound of sparrows chirping.

The warmth of a cozy bed.

The enticing aroma of delicious toast.

Those were always things the girl had dreamed of.

The girl was gradually waking up from her sleep, but to hold onto this happy warmth and dream a little longer, she was forcing herself to stay asleep.

Yet, despite her efforts, the sunlight streaming through the curtains made her open her eyes.

“Huh?”

She had thought she would return to the cold labyrinth upon waking, but there was no trace of the labyrinth.

What was visible was the scene she had always dreamed of.

Home.

Turning her head to look at the calendar, it was the day after she had been sucked into the labyrinth.

“Everyone, it was a dream….”

The girl shed tears, feeling somewhat complicated.

The Dog Meat Man, the ramen shop lady, and all the other kind people to her were just dreams.

Well, that would be natural.

Being swept up in such an extraordinary object wouldn’t suit an ordinary girl like her.

The girl wiped her tears with her arm and forced a smile.

“Hurry down!”

Just then, she heard her mom calling from downstairs.

“Yes!”

The girl tried to push away her lingering feelings of regret and responded cheerfully.

It was the beginning of an ordinary and happy daily life.

*

Following the girl’s lead, we kept walking, and the fog gradually dissipated to reveal an unfamiliar landscape.

It was now an open scenery unlike anything before.

A cliff with cold winds blowing like blades, and below, a cold winter sea roaring with rough waves.

On that cliff stood a gigantic bridge endlessly leading to the opposite cliff.

And there, on the other side of the bridge, was a vibrant spring city.

Even from afar, the city on the other side was alive with green grass and colorful wildflowers.

The sky rose, and the barren winter trees were in a completely different atmosphere from the city.

“Wow, I never knew there was a place like this in the labyrinth!”

The girl leading me also had her eyes shining with curiosity and was admiring this first sight.

As we walked slowly across the bridge and approached the city, the weather began to change.

The weather that seemed cold enough to freeze the sea was turning milder.

The biting cold wind that scraped against the skin transformed into a gentle breeze.

Each step forward on the bridge felt like a step closer to spring.

As we stepped into the city of spring, an unexpected scene unfolded.

The weeds on the roadside swayed in the gentle breeze, and warm spring sunlight poured down on the white buildings.

In this city blooming with spring, countless people were bustling about without a trace of hiding their laughter.

If one were to call it ordinary, it could be described as a typical medieval fantasy city.

However, there were certainly parts that stood out as exotic.

First of all, the people here were peculiar.

“Adventurer! Have you decided on an inn? There’s a really quiet and clean tavern; how about it?”

Even the people hawking to me felt strange.

Everyone in this city was extremely short, resembling children.

No matter how I looked around, I only saw people either slightly shorter or slightly taller than me.

Thanks to that, my height of about 1 meter looked ordinary.

But it wasn’t just their appearance that was odd.

The language they used was strange.

Korean, Japanese, English, German, French…

All sorts of languages poured forth, from languages I could understand to ones I couldn’t, but for some weird reason, I could hear and understand everything.

Understanding what people meant through emotions was far more comfortable.

Being dragged along by the woman hawking for the tavern, I couldn’t help but smile at the prospect of an interesting adventure.

*

An arrow shot through the sky like it was going to pierce it and struck the body of a white-striped Tyrannosaurus.

At that moment, the T-Rex let out a painful cry, hunching over and lowering its head.

“Now’s the time!”

An elf archer, with sharp ears and about 120cm tall, raised her voice towards me.

Hearing those words, I leaped high and plunged my twin swords right into the center of the T-Rex’s head.

In that instant, the T-Rex, having spent all its energy, collapsed to the ground.

The labyrinth’s 97th floor boss, the white-striped Tyrannosaurus, was thus slain.

Before I knew it, I had traversed through the 97th floor of the illusionary labyrinth.

This world within the illusion was filled with things I really liked.

I, who hadn’t spoken a single word, became famous as the “Silent Twin Swordmaster.”

In the city, a statue modeled after me, the “Silent Twin Swordmaster,” was erected.

In restaurants throughout the city, only pudding, marshmallows, and delicious things like pudding were served.

The boss monsters that appeared were the T-Rex, which I loved and were objectively the coolest.

The companions who shared adventures with me trusted me enough to follow my commands without question.

They put up with my daily pranks of pulling out chairs or tripping them too.

“Mom!”

It was truly an ideal labyrinth…

“Mom!!”

It was genuinely an ideal and happily perfect labyrinth…

“Mom, wake up!”

I heard the urgent cry of the Black Reaper.

Without even thinking about wiping away the tears that flowed, I simply raised my hands to the sky.

“What’s wrong?”

Our party’s mage, the smallest at 80cm, looked at me with a worried expression.

“Goodbye, my happy Tyrannosaurus adventure.”

I grasped the air and tore it apart.

The happy dream crumbled, and before my eyes stood not a T-Rex, but the labyrinth boss.

*

Papapapapak!

Black arrows fell from the sky like a terrifying force faster than the speed of sound.

The hard stone floor exploded as if it had been hit by bombs.

Beeep!

However, from the black arrows came a frantic “Beep!” sound.

Despite having enough power to pierce without physical immunity, it was utterly useless since it didn’t hit anything.

The enormous body of a giant spider made of ice, clearer than glass without a particle of dust.

Hanging from that spider’s body was a human upper body with skin whiter than pure snow.

White tendrils grotesquely penetrated the spider’s body, extending from the human physique.

Ding.

A clear ringing sound echoed from the staff held by the spider-human.

A sound that could cast illusions on both objects and humans.

Some of the Black Reapers facing the spider-human, with fierce expressions, stumbled and collapsed.

My mom was dragged into the fake Reaper garden, where there was no more playfulness, only boundless kindness.

The already insufficient number of Black Reapers to confront the spider-human was further diminished.

No more could the Black Reapers stop that spider-human!

The Black Reapers turned to look toward where my mom was.

Tappa tappa.

One Black Reaper called out desperately while tapping at my mom, but she did not wake up.

[Cannot awaken.]

[Ten years have passed in the dream.]

[One who has become so deeply intoxicated in a peaceful illusion can never return.]

The spider-human ominously mocked the Black Reapers without even opening its mouth, sending out waves of magic.

[And even if they awaken, a master loyal to their desires like you can never defeat me.]

Despite such mockery, the Black Reaper simply stood its ground, maintaining its position to protect the girl.

At that moment, the sky of the labyrinth suddenly split, revealing a wall formed of sand behind it.

Of course, that trace disappeared in an instant, but for a moment, the space that had been maintaining the second layer of the labyrinth was torn.

[A space created by the power of the eye?]

The spider-human, surprised, looked in the direction of the Gray Reaper, where the Gray Reaper lay on the ground, reaching its hand towards the sky.

As that hand began to turn increasingly black, a very ominous aura began to spread from around the Gray Reaper.

Anyone touching this aura would be swept away by an overpowering storm of overwhelmingly sad and regrettable emotions.

Before long, its entire body turned pitch black, and a monster, like a firewood burning red, began to rise slowly from the ground.

Seeing the truly horrifying atmosphere surrounding the monster, which would terrify anyone, the spider-human quickly shook its bell.

Ding ding. Ding ding. Ding ding.

But it had no effect on the monster, which wore a halo above its head and was shedding red flames like tears.

[W-what?]

The spider-human, covered in white flames all over, was immensely flustered as it swung its bell wildly, but the black monster continued to approach, step by step.

Ding ding ding ding ding ding ding.

Then, it was compressed into a small Tyrannosaurus shape by the enraged monster.