In the labyrinth city of Heimvig, those who die usually fall into three categories.
They either die to monsters.
They die to humans.
Or they die because of their own stupidity.
“Damn it.”
Hans muttered a quiet curse as he dangled from the edge of a cliff.
The rope tied around his waist was sturdy, but the situation was far from hopeful.
When he lifted his head to look up.
“Grrr! Woof, woof!”
The monstrous, dog-like creatures howled warmly in response to his gaze.
He could climb back up using the thick rope.
With his experience surviving in the labyrinth, he could even take down a few of them.
But if he fought against that many, there wouldn’t even be bones left to retrieve.
Fortunately, Hans had one last option.
He could cut the rope and let himself fall into the depths below.
He never should have escaped down a path with no retreat.
Regret always comes too late.
“…Sigh.”
Should he climb up and engage in a literal dogfight?
Or should he choose a painless death of his own making?
As he hesitated, his eyes met those of a drooling beast.
“…Hmm.”
No matter how wretched and miserable his life was, he at least didn’t want it to end as a wild dog’s meal.
Slice.
The lifeline was severed, and Hans’ body plummeted into the bottomless abyss.
With a groan, Hans opened his eyes.
Pain coursed through his entire body a terrible sensation, yet undeniable proof that he was still alive.
No, his condition wasn’t as bad as expected.
Considering the height from which he had fallen, he was relatively fine.
He could feel bones broken in multiple places, but at least he could move.
He stabbed his sword into the ground and pushed himself upright.
Schlurk.“……?”
The blade sank into the ground far too easily.
Frowning at the unsettling sensation traveling up the hilt, Hans examined the ground more closely.
And his face twisted even more than before.
“Ugh.”
Corpses.
So desiccated they had shriveled into husks, piled up like a mound at his feet.
He had seen enough horrors in the labyrinth to consider himself desensitized, but even he found this sight nauseating.
Had it been darker, or had his body not been wracked with pain, he might have vomited on the spot.
“Whew.”
Forcing himself to swallow whatever threatened to rise, Hans averted his gaze.
Whether he recoiled in disgust or shuddered in horror, that could come later.
For now, survival was his priority.
Judging by the state of the corpses, whatever predator had done this was either gone or absent.
But one could never be sure.
“Urgh.”
Despite moving carefully, groans of pain escaped involuntarily.
He had survived, but if he didn’t find a way out of this place, he would soon join the mountain of corpses.
Even if he did find an exit…Right now, he could walk, but he was far from being in good shape.
Infection, disease, exhaustion death was watching him from all directions.
As it always did in the labyrinth.
“Huh…?”
Hans halted suddenly.
For a moment, he thought the sound had come from himself, but no.
His voice wasn’t that high or fragile.
“Another person?”
Was someone else alive in this place?
Hans turned and limped toward the source of the sound.
Not out of some soft-hearted kindness to help an injured person.
For clues, for information, or for anything else.
The city at least had some semblance of law and order, but inside the labyrinth, it was a lawless zone.
Monsters didn’t abide by human laws.
And, to be fair, neither did humans.
Why waste time talking when you had a blade in your hand?
“Haa… ahh…”Of course, negotiations and persuasion didn’t always work.
When his vision adjusted to the darkness, Hans found himself speechless.
Leaning against the wall was something that resembled a beautiful girl.
An inhuman beauty.
Though the darkness obscured some details, her stark-white body was devoid of even a single thread of clothing.
Yet he felt no desire.
There was a gaping hole in the middle of her chest.
Right where a human’s heart should have been.
And humans couldn’t live without a heart.
“Of…”
Sensing his presence, the girl weakly lifted her head.
Even in the darkness, her amber eyes gleamed.
A color too vivid for any human.
Like compound eyes, the reflections within them wavered, refracted, and split apart.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
His heartbeat pounded, screaming like an alarm.
Not in excitement, but in sheer terror.
Run.
Kill.
Or do something anything.
The girl’s condition seemed dire, with a hole where her heart should be.
But Hans wasn’t in much better shape either.
His grip on his sword tightened, the hilt soaked in cold sweat.
There were stories one would inevitably hear after spending enough time in the labyrinth.
Stories too absurd to be real, yet too vivid to dismiss as mere fiction.
Things one must always remember.
And things one must never believe.
One such story was about the [Mimic Monsters].
Unlike most monsters, which had grotesque forms, these creatures were indistinguishable from humans.
The terrifying part was their nature.
Mimic Monsters devoured humans.
That wasn’t particularly special.
But they stole everything from their prey.
Their face, their memories, their abilities.
They lived hidden among people, perfectly mimicking their victims, until they found their next target.
Eating, stealing, repeating.
A Mimic Monster that had consumed hundreds would essentially be hundreds of people in one body an unstoppable creature.
It was an absurd story, one Hans had scoffed at when he first heard it.
But now, he had no choice but to believe.
Because the undeniable proof stood right before him.
“…Ah.”
Still with a gaping hole in her chest, the girl wobbled to her feet.
Her movements were clumsy and weak.
Yet Hans felt the same bone-chilling terror he had when encountering a high-tier monster.
Instinctively, he stumbled backward, his feet tangling.
“Huh?”
Before he realized it, the world was tilting.
Thud!How many times had he lost consciousness today?
He had the worst luck imaginable.
Stirring up a horde of dog monsters, falling off a cliff, and then.
And then.
“Gah!”
Hans frantically patted his body.
Why was he still alive?
The sharp motion sent fresh pain searing through him, but at least it reminded him he was still breathing.
He couldn’t understand.
Where had the Mimic Monster gone—?
“…Ah.”
“…Huh?”
His darting gaze locked onto something.
The girl was still there.
Still standing, still with a hole in her chest.
Her amber eyes were staring straight at him.
She had been watching him for a long time, unmoving.
Realizing that sent a shiver down his spine, and Hans scrambled backward.
“Wh-what the hell?! You monster!”
His sword?
Where was his sword?
He must have dropped it when he fell.
Feeling utterly pathetic, he clenched his fists.
Even if it was futile, at least he would land a hit before he died.
But the girl didn’t react.
She neither attacked nor ran, only staring at him.
As his rationality slowly returned, Hans reassessed the situation.
If she meant him harm, she could have done so while he was unconscious.
Her gaze held no hostility or hunger.
If anything, it conveyed… something else.
His shouted accusation faded into silence.
The girl puffed out her cheeks, an unmistakably human gesture.
Then, with lips pink like flower petals, she spoke.
“I’m… not a monster.”
“…What?”
“I’m not… a monster.”
Her voice was crystal-clear, like the sound of shattering glass.
And far too fluent in human language.