The Path of an S-Rank Adventurer: The Boy Who Was Expelled from His Party Awakens to His True Power [Weapon Master] and Eventually Becomes the World’s Strongest

Forbidden Sixth Labyrinths – Haise’s Journey 4

Seventy days had passed since Haise entered the Infinite Labyrinth of Dermadrome.

“……Tch.”

He threw aside his empty assault rifle, which disintegrated into particles.

Immediately readying his grenade launcher, he fired at the SS-rate magical beast Iaia-Hastur, a massive jellyfish-like creature riddled with holes, that fell to the ground.

Its viscous bodily fluids, not blood, dripped from its wounds as Haise launched a grenade.

With a loud explosion, Iaia-Hastur was obliterated.

“Ugh… ouch.”

Haise rubbed his eyes.

The jellyfish hadn’t injured him; it was his overgrown bangs irritating his eyes.

His hair and beard had grown considerably.

Even his jet-black coat, crafted from dragon materials, remained undamaged but was now stained with grime.

Seventy days.

Relentless progress without a single day’s rest.

Haise crafted two shotguns, slinging one over his shoulder and gripping the other in his right hand as he resumed walking.

“Seventy days today, huh?”

He pulled out a wooden tag from his pocket.

Each day, he etched a mark. Fourteen sets of “正” indicated seventy days had passed.

The depths of Dermadrome’s labyrinth were still out of sight.

What once felt like strolling through a city now had Haise traversing a vast, high-ceilinged corridor.

Having descended over 500 floors, Haise had learned a few things.

“Five hundred and twenty… getting close, huh?”

Every five floors, he found what resembled a “rest hut”.

A sturdy, square building with one window and one door, indestructible even with Haise’s weapons. Inscribed on it in Isekai characters was the word “Container”.

Inside, it was empty.

However, magical beasts ignored it entirely, passing by without entering.

While he couldn’t make a campfire inside, Haise’s well-equipped camping gear made it a minor issue.

As he progressed to the next floor, he finally saw it.

“There it is.”

A brick-colored, square container.

Entering it, Haise stretched deeply.

He set up a tent, chair, table, and lamp. Then, for the first time in seventy days, he retrieved the mirror he had brought.

“Whoa, my hair’s gotten long…”

His hair and beard had grown wild.

Haise chuckled wryly and began shaving with a knife.

He haphazardly trimmed his bangs and tied the back of his hair with a string, unwilling to risk cutting it and accidentally injuring himself.

After a brief pause, he made up his mind.

“Alright!”

Haise decided.

First, he unpacked seventy days’ worth of underwear and clothes.

Using one barrel, he started washing them.

“Today’s a rest day! The journey’s far from over, and I need to get organized!”

Seventy pairs of underwear, seventy shirts, seventy pairs of socks… an overwhelming amount.

He set up poles outside, threaded them with lines, and hung everything to dry. Half the day passed just doing that.

With leftover barrel water, he boiled a large amount of hot water and filled the barrel again, creating a makeshift bath.

Stripping down, he plunged into the barrel.

“Ahhh… this feels amazing.”

Though magical beasts lurked outside, the relief outweighed the risk.

After seventy days in the dungeon, even Haise needed stress relief.

Merely wiping himself clean didn’t compare to this sensation.

“……”

Feeling relaxed, his thoughts wandered.

“…I wonder if she’s mad at me.”

The first person to come to mind was Presea.

To Haise, Presea was a “mystifying elf”.

Why did she follow him? What about him interested her? He didn’t understand.

Still… sharing meals with her wasn’t unpleasant.

Next, he thought of Sasha.

“The Great Salt Lake of Dilolomans, wasn’t it? She should’ve entered it by now. How far has she progressed? Reynold’s group is with her, so they should be fine, but…”

She might have even surpassed him.

Shaking his head vigorously, Haise splashed water onto his face.

He scrubbed his hair until the water turned black with grime.

After drying off in the container, donning fresh underwear, and lying in his tent, exhaustion overtook him.

“…Well, for now, it’s all about clearing the dungeon.”

Haise closed his eyes and slept soundly for about ten hours.

◇◇◇◇◇

When he woke, his body felt lighter, and his mind was refreshed.

Stepping outside the container, he gathered the laundry, folded it neatly, and stored it in his item box.

After a breakfast of vegetable sandwiches and some light stretches, Haise felt rejuvenated.

“Alright! Let’s keep moving!”

Leaving the container, he pressed onward.

The path looked as monotonous as ever, but Haise didn’t stop.

Armed with an assault rifle, he descended further.

Haise remained unaware—he was the first adventurer to reach the 550th floor of Dermadrome’s labyrinth.

Ten days later, he arrived at the 600th floor… where the scenery completely changed.

“Huh…?”

Upon exiting the rest floor into the 601st level, he was stunned.

Before him lay a residential area.

The houses were built in an unfamiliar style, but Haise somehow understood they belonged to the Isekai people.

Simple two-story homes, single-story houses, garages for vehicles, doghouses, paved roads, utility poles, and even motorcycles.

Haise pulled out an ancient text and flipped through its pages.

“This…”

There, Nobunaga had drawn a sketch with accompanying notes:

[My homeland looked something like this. Roads lined with houses, garages, utility poles, family cars, and motorcycles… ordinary Japanese neighborhoods. There were also apartments and condos. I don’t remember it well anymore, but I miss it…]

Haise was convinced.

The Dermadrome labyrinth—this place—was:

“Could this be… Isekai?”

Nobunaga was a person from Isekai.

Perhaps this entire area had been transported from Isekai.

Haise shook his head.

“Ridiculous. Makes no sense… This is the Dermadrome labyrinth, one of the Forbidden Six.”

Approaching a relatively new car, Haise peered inside.

“Ugh…”

Inside was a skeleton seated in the driver’s seat, wearing a shirt with a chest pocket.

Noticing something in the pocket, Haise reached through the half-open window and retrieved a leather case.

Inside was a card.

“Driver’s… license? This picture… is it this skeleton?”

A “highly detailed drawing” of a young man was printed on the card.

Thanks to his study of ancient texts, Haise could decipher it somewhat.

“‘Wada Yuji’… Is this his name? Cause of death… there’s a hole in his shirt. The windshield’s also pierced, so something must’ve struck his chest and killed him.”

Glancing into the backseat, Haise spotted a slender metal rod.

Then… his eyes narrowed sharply.

“I see.”

Raising his assault rifle, Haise turned forward.

On the rooftops of the houses, a group of figures awaited.

They were humanoid goblins… the apex of goblin-type magical beasts: Chaos Goblins.

[Heh heh heh, a fresh morsel at last—!]

Bang!

A Chaos Goblin’s head exploded, leaving the rest stunned.

Haise was already firing his assault rifle in a frenzy, slaughtering them one after another.

Magical beasts could talk?

Why were they here?

Did they have anything to do with the skeleton?

Haise didn’t care.

His only goal was clearing the dungeon—nothing else mattered.

Within two minutes, the Chaos Goblins were nearly wiped out.

Only one, missing its right arm, scrambled backward in fear.

Haise aimed his Desert Eagle at it.

[W-wait! Listen to me, adventurer!]

“I don’t care about anything but clearing this place.”

[I have information! Listen to me!]

“…”

Lowering his pistol, Haise stared at the Chaos Goblin, which trembled violently.

It couldn’t believe such a human had appeared in their hunting ground.