The Villainess VTuber Rips People Apart-Chapter 139: Exploration

But since Son Nalim is on a different team, is it okay for us to play together?

The teams are competing for gold, after all. But is it really fine for members of different teams to cooperate like this?

"Oh, that's fine. Not long ago, Cerberus and Behemoth were playing Dungeon Seeker together," Mero said.

Now that I think about it, the Fantasy League is a competition where teams race through the Labyrinth, but it’s also a social event where various V-Tubers interact.

In fact, it might be more in line with the Fantasy League’s planning that V-Tubers from different teams get along with each other.

So, as long as the gold distribution is clear, it’s fine for us to play Dungeon Seeker together, as Mero and the viewers said.

"We're two, and you're one. Would it be okay to split the gold 2-to-1?"

"Yes! That’s fine!"

Son Nalim nodded.

Thus, Mero, Son Nalim, and I began the Dungeon Seeker broadcast together in the early hours of the morning.

As was written in the email I received from Deadlous earlier, Dungeon Seeker is an expansion of the Labyrinth and was developed to enhance the story elements.

The hidden backstories of characters from the original Labyrinth are revealed through Dungeon Seeker.

In the Occult Research Department of the Academy, the stories of the Paladin, Gunner, and Saint are being revealed.

On the Adventurer's Guild side, the stories of the Assassin and Wizard from the Magic Tower are being uncovered.

And our team, Leviathan, is responsible for the Holy Church.

【So it was the witch’s doing, after all.

Hear this, white crows. There are several signs suggesting that the priestess, who received the dragon’s oracle, had a decisive battle with the witch.

You must uncover the heretic’s darkness and trace the priestess’s whereabouts. - A letter from the Pope】

"Witch? Was there such a character in Labyrinth?"

"Oh, Mero. Don’t you know?"

The important part isn’t the ‘witch’ part, but the line ‘received the dragon’s oracle.’

There’s only one profession related to dragons in Labyrinth.

"Wow! Dragon Knight!"

Son Nalim shouted.

The Dragon Knight is Son Nalim’s main character, after all.

That makes this story all the more special for her.

The Heretic Pursuit Squad, known as the "White Crows."

It is an organization made up of ‘Holy Thieves,’ whatever that means.

A Holy Thief is a mix between a thief and a priest.

In fact, it’s a complicated setup, but since explaining it would take too long, let’s skip the explanation for now.

Anyway, within the Church, there is a ‘Witch,’ a highly ranked figure, almost as high as the Saint.

The Priestess chosen by the Dragon (i.e., the Dragon Knight) is normally a very high-ranking person, but she has a strong tendency for wandering.

She’s an extremely righteous person, unable to tolerate injustice.

That’s why she roams around solving dungeons or gates, or even single-handedly wiping out bandit groups stationed deep in mountains, or saving villages attacked by monsters.

She’s the kind of hero that doesn’t exist in reality, but from the Church’s perspective, it’s a troublesome matter.

It’s like if the President’s daughter went to the battlefield or into a fire site, or even wiped out a mafia to save people. Son Nalim thought.

Since they couldn’t just leave her alone, the Church sent the Holy Thieves to meet her.

And the Holy Thieves, who were tracking the Dragon Knight’s traces, ended up getting involved in a dungeon and were investigating it while searching for the Dragon Knight.

"Hey, newbie! Should I share the map with you or not?"

"...Thanks for sharing the map, but please call me by my name."

"But your name is hard to say."

Mero grumbled but shared the mapping information.

Son Nalim’s name is a bit tricky for Japanese speakers. Japanese people typically don’t pronounce the final ‘m’ sound well.

So, Son Nalim is often called ‘Narin’ or ‘Narimu’ by her friends. Sometimes, she’s teased as ‘Sonna’ by viewers. Sonna baka.

Anyway, since Son Nalim’s name was hard to say,

"Hey, Son! Why aren’t you moving faster? Our lady is waiting here!"

She was being called like a construction worker.

...What’s with that attitude? This is the first time meeting her.

But from Son Nalim’s perspective, she couldn’t complain.

Mero, though light as a feather, was actually a senior V-Tuber who debuted in 2019.

She had an interesting career path. She started as an indie V-Tuber and was later recruited by the newly established Blizzard Spot office.

It wasn’t uncommon for companies to recruit indie V-Tubers.

There were always copyright issues and various debates to consider, so it wasn’t something that happened too often, but now, with companies accumulating some know-how, it seemed that a manual for recruiting indie V-Tubers had been established.

And Mero had been active long before such a manual existed.

So, Mero was a V-Tuber with a lot of experience.

‘...It’s strange that Laura treats someone like that,’ Son Nalim thought.

Mero was on par with other top-tier V-Tubers like Hanabane Rui, who debuted in 2018, and Rinco from EYEAI, who had the longest career there.

Laura only calls Kaiser ‘Hyung,’ even teasing him with it. It’s hard to believe that he’s only been around for less than half a year.

Anyway, unable to resist Mero’s persistence, Son Nalim moved to the front.

Being in the lead was somewhat like straying away from the pack in Labyrinth.

Laura was trailing far behind, with Mero sticking close by to protect her. Only Son Nalim was isolated from the rest of the group.

It was because Son Nalim’s class was ‘Explorer.’

When people stick together, efficiency tends to drop.

An ‘Explorer’ class specializes in understanding the structure of dungeons.

They can distinguish between danger zones and safe zones and detect hidden secret passages.

Additionally, they have another ability. Sometimes, when entering a dangerous area is unavoidable, an Explorer has better survival chances in those zones than other classes.

It’s the Explorer’s job to rush into dangerous areas first so that the rest of the team can easily follow.

However, unlike the ‘Tracker’ class, their detection ability isn’t as high. So, they can’t always anticipate every danger.

Still, if you're going solo, it’s common to choose either ‘Tracker,’ ‘Explorer,’ or ‘Survival,’ and since Griffon has many busy people, Son Nalim often does Dungeon Seeker solo and chose ‘Explorer’ for this reason.

"...?"

As she walked ahead, Son Nalim unconsciously stopped.

She thought she heard a voice.

[Why did you stop?]

It was dark, so it «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» was hard to see, but had someone checked her movements?

Laura’s voice came through the radio.

"I think I heard a voice... a woman’s voice..."

[Which direction?]

"It’s the direction we’re going now..."

[Ignore it.]

"Huh?"

Son Nalim blinked.

[Ignore it. There’s no one but the three of us here.]

Laura said in a confident voice.

Son Nalim nodded. Of course, Laura couldn’t see her through the radio.

As they moved forward, the voice grew louder.

"Is anyone there? Help me...!"

"There’s someone trapped here...!"

"The witch... the witch is trying to kill me...!"

It was a woman’s voice.

Since it was a voice she hadn’t heard before, it wasn’t one of the Fantasy League participants. Could it be an NPC trapped in the dungeon?

As she thought this, Son Nalim saw something.

"Ugh..."

There was a giant spider.

It looked like a massively enlarged tarantula. It was about 5 meters large.

And the woman was buried on its back.

At first glance, it looked like the woman was lying on the tarantula’s back.

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But on closer inspection, she noticed the woman didn’t have arms, and her lower half was completely missing. Her eye sockets were empty.

It was as though the tarantula and the woman had been forced together.

[Status Effect: Fear Lv.1]

[You’ve witnessed a shocking sight while exploring the dungeon.]

[You’re feeling short of breath due to fear, and your vision narrows.]

"What are you doing?"

Laura approached the dazed Son Nalim.

Son Nalim pointed at the giant tarantula.

"That... over there... there’s a spider with a person..."

"A chimera."

"Chimera?"

"Yeah."

Laura nodded.

"Many women sought eternal youth and undying beauty. But no human can escape the passage of time, and no matter how beautiful they are, they must kneel before time."

As she said this, Laura casually touched Son Nalim’s face.

And they locked eyes again.

Ah, her eyes are beautiful.

Son Nalim thought absentmindedly.

"But some women, those with power, tried to defy time. Some tried to do it with wealth, others with magic. Some even conducted unethical human experiments."

"...What are you talking about?"

"I’m talking about witches. Looks like you’ve caught the status effect, huh?"

As Laura checked Son Nalim’s condition, she placed her hand on her forehead.

A gentle light emanated from her palm.

It was one of Laura’s skills, <Mental Healing>.

"The witch kidnapped young women. She would soak them in poison or combine them with monsters, turning them into chimera. She did this to find a way to achieve eternal youth."

"...So, the monster too, was an experiment of the witch?"

"Yeah."

She probably thought that by merging a human with a monster, she could gain eternal youth.

Of course, I can’t understand a witch’s reasoning.

And honestly, I don’t want to understand or need to.

"Ironically, the witch never achieved eternal youth. Instead, her technology for creating monsters only improved."

As she said this, Laura took her hand away.

By now, the status effect had disappeared.

"This dungeon must have been a large-scale human experiment conducted by a witch. But it seems like, for some reason, the dungeon turned into a dungeon fight."

"...Laura, you're surprisingly knowledgeable about the lore."

"Lore? Oh, right. I’ve played the first series of Labyrinth. That’s why I know so much."

Laura said.

It was a reasonable explanation. The first Labyrinth series was an action RPG for PC, if I remember correctly.

I hadn’t played it, but I heard it was a very large, package game.

Knowing the lore so well, I guess Laura must have been a seasoned player of the first series. She was known to love PC games.

‘...It feels a bit strange how she speaks, like she’s lived in the Labyrinth world.’

I’d felt this way since we first met. Laura’s tone was so peculiar, and Son Nalim had thought this before.

"By the way, are you going to keep standing there?"

"Oh, sorry... But can’t we save that person?"

"We can’t. She’s already as good as dead."

From what I heard, the woman calling for help wasn’t doing it because she had a sense of self but was acting like a lure to attract more victims... Laura explained.

"The lore is pretty dark..."

"It wouldn’t be Labyrinth without it."

Laura said with a smirk.