The 31st Piece Overturns the Game Board

As Seol learned how to see through the darkness of the labyrinth, Shin Hyun just told him ‘good job’ and left the annex.

Seol returned to the annex and, for the first time in a while, stretched out his arms and legs and lay down.

Suddenly, he was overwhelmed with exhaustion.

Swoosh…

It started to rain.

Opening his eyes in the labyrinth brought more discomfort than waking up underwater. His eyes would feel like they would pop out whenever he opened them.

'It's a good omen.'

It might have caused him annoyance if it were just a simple pain, but Seol could guess that wasn't the case.

'The evolution of Eyes of Foresight is imminent.'

His growing eyes would most likely transform into better ones once given the right conditions.

Moreover, the hard-earned Eyes of Foresight hadn't been very useful recently. So this opportunity had come just in time.

Seol felt a sense of peace for the first time in a while.

Although he had been training fiercely every day, no sense of crisis came to him. He wasn't being followed by any ugly lizard, nor was there a fight that would determine the fate of a tribe.

Right now, Seol was just Seol.

Until now, he had always grown by throwing himself into the pit of despair. Not only because it was fast and efficient but also because he wasn't confident in persevering and focusing on something for long.

However, as he finally opened the lid, this side wasn't too bad either.

Of course, regardless of what he thought, he still had a long way to go.

'For now, the only thing I can do is see. I still have a long way to go.'

He had come here to do shadow-related training.

He shouldn't get overly confident just because he learned how to see through the darkness of the labyrinth.

"Hmm..."

He heard footsteps outside the door.

Since Shin Hyun always moved without making a sound, the footsteps were deliberate for sure.

"Come in."

"I think it would be better if you came out."

Wondering why Shin Hyun had come all the way here, Seol stepped outside the annex.

"Ugh…"

"Hihihi… What's wrong?"

Shin Hyun had piled up night beasts in one corner of the annex's courtyard. They were all corpses, and their number exceeded ten.

"This is all…"

"They are night beast corpses that were hunted nearby. The souls' insides have all been extinguished."

In other words, they were just empty shells.

'Why did he bring them to me?'

Noticing Seol's doubts, Shin Hyun went straight to the point.

"What you need to do now is to deal with the remnants of the night beasts. In other words, handle the shadow shells."

"What…?

- Yes?

- Did I hear wrong?

- Dhw?

"Why are you surprised? Do you think it's useless?"

"No, I was just curious about the reason."

"Hmm… The spirits here don't disappear just by being beheaded or pulling out their insides. In other words, these guys are like mushrooms. They're shadows that parasitize on souls."

"Hmm…"

"Once all of the souls inside disappear, these things become mushy and then disappear."

"They disappear…?"

"Yes, they get reabsorbed into the labyrinth. Then, they cling to other souls again. In other words, it's an eternal fight that won't end just by cutting them down."

He roughly understood what Shin Hyun was saying.

It seemed that Shin Rip and Shin Hyun had learned how the labyrinth’s ecosystem worked after staying in it for so long.

"Fortunately, there's a way. After scraping out the remnants of the souls inside and burning them, most of them disappear. Otherwise, they will always ultimately win. After all, the Darkness will return to the labyrinth. I will entrust this glorious task to you from now on. That's all for the explanation. Any questions?"

- Summary) I'm too lazy to do this, so I want you to do it instead.

- It's a necessary task for the world. And that task is now, of course, yours.

- Are you annoyed? What will you do about it?

- So this kind of thing also happens inside labyrinths…

- I'm more and more convinced that he needs to leave this labyrinth…

"No."

"…?"

Seol nodded and walked toward the corpses.

Shin Hyun looked at Seol for a moment and then left.

It seemed that this was the second trial Seol needed to go through, although the lesson was far from pleasant.

'Well, Shin Rip and Shin Hyun are legendary swordsmen. So I guess it wouldn't be bad to learn swordsmanship.'

If he dedicated ten years to swordsmanship… he might be able to become better than Shin Rip or Shin Hyun.

However, he wasn't sure if that was the appropriate thing to do.

'I came here for the shadows.'

He found himself worrying about unnecessary things after having met a master who awkwardly stood between the line of shadow and swordsmanship.

After all, being a summoner didn't inherently carry penalties regarding weapon usage. No—to be more precise, there were penalties.

If a summoner holds a heavy weapon, their overall stats are reduced; the same goes for heavy armor.

He wasn't inside a murim novel. And Pandea wasn't an easy place to live in, where one could face monsters with only a simple piece of clothing.

Of course, the clothes Seol wore boasted a lot of defense, but generally speaking, that's how it was.

'It would be great if I get a grasp of swordsmanship. But if not, that's okay too. First, I must get rid of these annoying shadows.'

However, he couldn't understand why he was given this task very well.

To think he would be scraping up corpses instead of fighting.

'Well, he probably didn't ask me to do this for no reason…'

A disciple often couldn't see the master's big picture.

But still, he planned to do as he was told.

Swoosh…

These guys had been hunted down today.

Although they had stopped breathing, the shadows hadn't dispersed. No particular souls could be seen inside them.

'There must be some remnants left.'

However, Shin Hyun hadn't taught him how to eliminate the remnants.

'Well… I guess this should do.'

He transformed Agony into a dagger and stuck it into the chest of the night beast.

Crack—!

'Yes, this is just a shell.'

If the Night Crow's shadow was its skin, the night beasts' shadow was their shell—its hard carapace.

Seol swung Agony upside down.

Crack—!

Along with a strange sound, it split open.

- Officer Bob has entered.

- Prosecutor Bob has also entered.

- If you mix a bowl of rice and eat it… Oof, this is what I call Hell!

Seol split open the chest of the corpse.

Crack…

The shell was empty, hollow inside like a bun.

'Where are remnants of the soul?'

He was scanning the shell when something caught his sight.

A black thread connected to something that looked like flesh, faintly glowing with a soft light. It was definitely the light of a soul.

'Found it.'

Seol scraped off the flesh and inspected it.

'So this is how it's controlling it.'

There was a thread digging into the flesh.

The flesh had darkened due to something that had been injected from the thread.

"What a cruel technique."

He suddenly wondered how a remnant of a soul smelled and what its texture was like.

Seol even brought it to his nose and looked at it closely.

- Shin Hyun: What is this guy doing?

- I asked him to burn the trash. But maybe I should burn him along with it.

- I came from the National Recognition Association. This person is a pervert.

"So this is how they bind the souls and exploit them for nutrients."

Darkness, which had the power to bind, might be the true enemy of the Pitch Black Labyrinth.

'Okay, then…'

Now that all the remnants had been removed, there was nothing to worry about. The shadow should soon collapse.

Drip…

The shadow flowed down.

Seol burned it with a fire he had lit beforehand. He was worried about what would happen if the fire didn't properly ignite, but it went surprisingly well.

What was fascinating was that although fire existed, it was helpless against the Darkness of the Pitch Black Labyrinth.

'That's if I hadn't created eyes.'

About half a month had passed since he had been doing that when…

Drip…

Seol had been repeating the process of observing and burning the shadows when something special happened to him.

He tried to bring the flame close to a shadow whose form had collapsed when the shadow wriggled and fled toward Seol as if it had life.

'Huh? This guy…'

It even climbed up his opposite arm.

A ridiculous situation arose where shadows were clinging to Seol instead of the souls.

'Do these guys have intelligence? Or is this possible because they have no intelligence at all?'

He thought the shadows had taken the souls due to having been influenced by someone's will. But that didn’t seem to be the case. It was similar to the principle of the ocean being full of water.

Just by existing in that place, they created an ecosystem.

'So that means they have no will, no purpose. Just… Hmm?'

Seol started to understand the nature of the shadows when he fell into thought for a moment.

'No will… No will… Then, what would happen if I implant will? For example…'

Whir…

Seol tilted the palm of his hand as if intending to suck in the shadow crawling up his arm.

He then used his power. And as he did…

Whir—!

The shadow was sucked into the middle of his palm.

"Huh?"

And a message, which he now could see, popped up.

[The shadow has reacted to Passive: Sticky Shadows.]

[The shadow has been absorbed.]

[Shadow Space increases by 30.]

[The Darkness' grace has descended.]

[Awakening! You have awakened a new skill.]

[You have learned Passive: Friendly Shadow.]

…

【What's wrong?】

Agony approached and climbed up Seol's shoulder. Then it looked into his eyes.

"Huh?"

Seol's pupils were flickering.

* * *

"Is that guy doing this properly without scheming?"

"He was so engrossed that he was even humming a tune, unlike at the beginning when he had no motivation."

"It's a good thing. Now that we've shared work, the number of night beasts nearby has significantly decreased."

"Hihihi… Now I just have to cut them down without worrying."

"Understanding those beasts is important. That guy still isn't strong enough to fight them. He needs to go step by step."

"Well, I guess he will eventually improve."

"But to think he would do grunt work for two months without complaining. That's commendable."

Night beasts weren't only the things they had to fight, but they were very similar to Seol's current situation.

Therefore, they had him handle the night beasts' corpses so he could understand how they moved, why they were strong, and uncover their secrets.

"Hmm…"

However, unlike Shin Rip, who praised Seol, Shin Hyun was stroking his beard.

"What's wrong?"

"It seems that guy has some strange personality trait. He had been asking me if there were any bigger ones."

"Hmm… Well, he does need to see how the Darkness has consumed the bigger ones."

"And… Hmm… This…"

"If you have something to say, just say it."

Shin Hyun scratched his head.

"His energy has become… strange."

"Strange?"

"How should I say it? It became heavier."

"Did he do some training at midnight?"

"I don't go to the annex outside the schedule, so I don't know. But it has definitely become heavier."

"How strange. Perhaps I should go and check…"

It was at that moment.

Someone came walking from the annex.

It was Seol, who hadn't left the annex in almost five months.

Seol, who hadn't left the annex for such a long time, had come out on his own to meet Shin Rip and Shin Hyun.

Rather than happy, Shin Rip and Shin Hyun were worried. Usually, there's a reason when someone does something they don't normally do. And it was usually something bad.

Seol's energy was conveyed with every step.

Shin Rip and Shin Hyun could sense the energy of others just from their steps.

Shin Rip's eyes narrowed.

"Hyun, you were right."

"It's strange, right?"

Before they noticed, Seol had come close to them.

"What brings you here?"

"I have a request."

"Say it."

"Instead of corpses, I want to see live night beasts."

"Hmm…?"

Seol politely asked the brothers.

"Please, take me on a hunt."

"You aren't ready yet for a hunt."n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

"I won't hunt. I just want to see them up close.

"Then why…?"

Shin Rip waited for the answer.

Soon, Seol gave his reply.

"There's something I need to check."