Chapter 3. Assistance
I roughly understood what the ability called *Calling for Assistance* entailed.
First of all, an *Assistant* wasn’t someone who would come to the labyrinth with their physical body like a *Summoned Companion*.
『Broadcasting Live!』
When I saw that phrase.
It was clear that they were a being who would leisurely observe and assist me from a safe place.
‘It’s like some kind of personal internet broadcast…’
I was at a loss.
Support from an Assistant wasn’t mandatory.
In other words, I had to win the Assistant’s favor to receive their support.
Should I flatter them to request their help?
No, that didn’t seem right.
I didn’t have the knack for fawning over others.
And it wasn’t like I could threaten the Assistant, either.
They would be watching me from a place beyond my reach.
…Hmm. I decided not to worry about it just yet.
Getting support wouldn’t be easy, but if I persuaded the Assistant or made a sincere request, I might manage somehow.
‘More importantly, how does this support work?’
This time, I tried to speculate on the method of support.
It was unlikely they would gift me with some magical, special ability.
The Assistants who would help me were undoubtedly not special beings but ordinary humans.
How did I know they were ordinary humans?
There was no way I couldn’t know. I had sent the Assistant request to the people in my contacts.
‘Could it be something like sending supplies necessary for survival?’
That was about as much as I could think of.
Of course, even that would be welcomed with open arms.
Modern-day supply support was not something to be underestimated, after all.
‘…Well, I guess I’ll find out once the Assistant arrives. For now, I’ll just keep waiting.’
I sat down in a proper position on the cold ground and waited endlessly.
Honestly, I didn’t have high expectations, but I still hoped that at least one person would click on the invitation message out of curiosity.
***
I had 155 contacts saved.
Compared to so-called *insiders*, it was an embarrassingly small number.
About a hundred were old classmates with whom I had exchanged numbers purely because we were in the same class.
The rest were people I had met during my military service or part-time jobs.
It was only natural that I had few social connections.
I had spent half of my twenties in another world.
‘It’s a relief that I hadn’t cleaned out my phonebook all this time…’
Most of the people saved in my contacts were… No, nearly all of them were ghost friends.
I had their numbers, but we never contacted each other.
In other words, even calling them acquaintances was a stretch.
‘Even if we were close, they might hesitate to click on such a message, but since I sent a strange message to people I hadn’t contacted in ages, there’s no way they’d check it.’
It had been roughly two hours since the text was sent.
Even so, there was still no word from anyone.
Of course, it was too early to be disappointed.
There were still 22 hours left before the invitation message would lose its effect. I had plenty of time.
During the remaining time.
I could only pin my hopes on the three people with whom I occasionally exchanged messages.
‘Let’s do something while I wait.’
Brushing off the dirt from my pants, I stood up.
I slowly walked around, examining the scattered stones on the ground. Among them, I spotted a stone with a rather sharp edge and picked it up.
‘Now, let’s see… The path I came through…’
Out of the eight passageways.
I approached the narrowest one.
Then, using the stone in my hand, I carved letters into the wall beside the passageway.
< Passageway 1 >
Afterward.
I continued to move to the right, marking each passageway in turn, from 2 to 8.
The reason I made these marks.
It was to prevent any possible confusion.
With eight passageways, it was essential to have clear identifiers to distinguish them.
‘The shapes and sizes of the passageways vary, so they’re not hard to tell apart, but it doesn’t hurt to assign numbers to each passageway. It’s much easier to remember them simply by numbers than by their shapes.’
I walked back to the first passageway from the eighth.
And beneath the mark, I carved a note.
< Passageway 1 >
○ The path I first took.
○ High probability that the giant skeleton monster and the monster controlled by Min Hyeong-seok are still here, so avoid it for now.
***
How much time had passed?
About four hours?
No, five hours?
It might have been even longer.
I felt my sense of time gradually numbing.
It was a natural phenomenon.
This was a cave where not a single ray of sunlight penetrated.
A place where day and night were indistinguishable.
‘I’ll have to find something to keep track of time later.’
Lying on the ground with my arms and legs spread out, I blankly stared at the stalactites.
Luminous stones that emitted their own light.
It was fortunate that these were evenly distributed throughout the cave, instead of sunlight seeping in.
Without the light, it would have been despairing.
By the way, *luminous stone* wasn’t its official name.
I had just made it up on the spot.
Whether it was the stalactites hanging from the ceiling, rocks, or stones.
If they emitted light, I decided to call them luminous stones.
In any case, luminous stones were an indispensable resource here.
To navigate through the unchanging darkness, I had to rely solely on the luminous stones.
‘But…’
I finished resting and sat up.
Then I slowly looked around the cavern.
‘Can’t monsters come here? There are so many passageways, but not a single one has appeared so far.’
Could it be that all the other passageways, except for the first one, were dead ends?
I needed to check.
Since I had made this place my base, I had to know where each passageway led.
‘Let’s check it out now.’
I slowly got to my feet.
Sooner or later, I’d have to do it anyway.
So I decided to take action right away.
I didn’t bother deliberating over which passageway to choose.
I didn’t have the ability to discern which place was less dangerous.
How could I judge based solely on the shape and size of the passageways?
So I just decided to explore them in numerical order.
I approached the second passageway.
Unlike the first passageway, which naturally opened with organic curves, the second passageway had a refined, artificial shape. It was a perfectly square passageway.
‘I’m getting a little nervous.’
I took a deep breath and swallowed hard.
Then I clenched my sweaty hands.
‘…For now, if I encounter a monster, I’ll run away without putting up a fight.’
Right now, I was just an ordinary person.
There weren’t many monsters that an average adult male could handle.
No matter how small a monster was, I had to be cautious and on guard.
Monsters were creatures that wielded strange powers.
They weren’t like the ordinary animals that were scattered across the Earth.
‘I’m mentally prepared… Let’s get going.’
Maintaining an appropriate level of tension.
I stepped into the second passageway.
***
As I continued down the second passageway.
[Shhh, shhh!]
[Shhh!]
I heard a noise that pierced my ears.
The source of the noise was just around the corner ahead.
Instead of turning the corner, I pressed my back against the wall and cautiously peeked around with just my head.
[Shhhh.]
[Shhh?]
Spider-type monsters came into view.
They were about the size of small dogs.
Their appearance was so gentle and innocent that they looked like something out of a children’s animation.
‘Why are they so cute for spiders?’
I had seen many spider-type monsters before.
But these were entirely new to me.
They were unknown monsters that weren’t even listed in the monster encyclopedia I had read thoroughly in the other world.
At a glance, they seemed docile and tame.
Moreover, they even appeared to be weak and harmless.
However, despite their appearance, I could tell that they were quite strong monsters.
I had a special ability, after all.
‘They’re about B-rank, I’d say.’
An ability that allowed me to gauge the difference between myself and the opponent.
A skill that helped me estimate how strong the opponent was.
It was closer to an instinct for survival than an ability.
It wasn’t something I gained in the other world, but an innate instinct I had possessed since birth.
Of course, it wasn’t always perfectly accurate, but still.
Anyway, according to my instincts, those spiders were monsters on par with B-rank.
‘This is troublesome. Why is the labyrinth’s difficulty so high? B-rank monsters are for high-level adventurers, so with my current body, I wouldn’t stand a chance.’
Thinking that, I carefully observed the spider monsters.
Then I noticed something unusual.
‘…Huh? A spot?’
The three spiders in sight.
Each of them had a strange, red, circular spot on their bodies.
Perhaps it was due to the new ability I had acquired today.
I instinctively knew what it was.
Those spots were undoubtedly the *specific areas* I had to touch to tame the monsters.
The spots were randomly placed, with one on the back, one on the face, and one on the side.
It seemed that even within the same species, the location of the spots varied. Additionally, the sizes of the spots were different too.
‘So, I just need to touch those spots…’
I had no intention of trying it right away.
First, I would return to my hideout and think of a way to touch the spiders.
There was no way they would easily accept my touch.
‘Monsters like those often turn out to have unexpectedly fierce temperaments, so I need to act cautiously.’
So, that was it for the exploration of the second passageway.
Now that I had confirmed there were monsters, I decided to turn back.
Just as I was about to do so.
‘Wait, hold on.’
I caught sight of something I hadn’t noticed before—spider eggs tucked away in a corner.
Turning back, I squinted my eyes to get a better look at the eggs.
The eggs were slightly larger than a chicken egg, around twenty in total.
Among those eggs.
Only one had a spot on it.
Why did only that one have a spot?
Was it because it was about to hatch?
I didn’t care about the reason.
What mattered now was that the egg had a spot on it.
‘I could tame that egg more safely than the other monsters, couldn’t I?’
Right now, it was wise to target a monster that couldn’t resist, like the egg.
I still didn’t know how long it would take to tame a monster. It might not be a matter of seconds but rather minutes.
Of course, taming an egg still involved some risk.
I had to sneak the egg away without the spiders noticing.
Anyway, I decided to abandon the idea of returning to my hideout.
Instead, I planned to wait here and seize the opportunity.
‘Even if they go out to hunt, some of them will stay behind to guard their eggs.’
There was only one opportunity I could think of.
And that was when the spiders were asleep.
‘I just have to hope these spiders aren’t organized enough to post guards while they sleep.’
I also had to hope they were monsters with low intelligence.
While I was silently waiting for the right moment.
*Paat!*
『RED-rank Assistant “Unknown – 001” has flown in like a comet and is watching over you.』
【001】─?
Suddenly, letters appeared before my eyes.
【001】─What is this? Is this some kind of stream?