Chapter 39 – Volume 2 – Prologue Abnormality

A dark, cave-like place surrounded by rocks, the labyrinth’s upper-layer.

「Hahh- hahh-」

In the deep part of the upper-layer before the lower-layer, the so-called middle-layer of the labyrinth, inside one of the narrow passage, a male adventurer was running away from something.
Equipped with thin leather armor, the adventurer’s running speed was far from normal, indicating he had a physical strengthening skill focused on speed.
At that speed, nevermind the monsters at the upper-layer, he could even easily outran the monsters from middle-layer.
Looking at his fatigue, it was clear he had been running for a long time, even if he was chased by something, it was no surprise if he already outran that something.

「Damn! Damn it!」

…Still, the adventurer didn’t slow down his legs.

There was no fatal injury on his body, but he had a deep wound on his arm. Every step he took, fresh blood spilled from his wound.
In this situation, it was just a matter of time until the adventurer couldn’t run anymore due to anemia.
It was showing on his unshaven face that turned pale.

「Hahh- hahh-」

Even so, he didn’t slow down.
Even though he was near his limit, he kept running.

……As if trying to run away from an invisible illusion.

「How… did this happen…」

What was shown on the running adventurer’s face as he desperately running, was fear.

「I’m… a middle-layer adventurer!」

As he ran, like he was trying to distract himself from the fear, he yelled.
However, his yell didn’t produce the effect he wanted.

「………!」

…Because of his own words, the adventurer was reminded once again of the certain abnormal existence that attacked his party and killed his comrades.

At that moment, the mental strain that came from his instinct to run away interrupted, various thoughts and emotions were mixed up in his head.

The sorrow that his comrades were killed.

The loss of confidence as a middle-layer adventurer.

The pain from his wound that until now had been dulled by his adrenaline.

——— And the fear of the monster who single-handedly trampled over them, middle-layer adventurer party.

Those emotions erupted all at once, and the adventurer whose mind was preoccupied with those thoughts lost his attention to the surrounding.

「Gakh!」

And the next moment, the adventurer tumbled hard after getting his foot caught on a protrusion.
His feet hit the hard stone ground and because of the momentum of his full running speed, he injured his bones and felt intense pain from it.

「Gh!」

……The moment the adventurer realized he couldn’t walk well because of the pain, color drained from his face.

I won’t be able to make it like this, such was the adventurer’s thought, alas, there was nothing he could do.
As an adventurer who didn’t bring magic potion anymore because he had a healer in his party, he didn’t have any way to fix his feet at the moment.

The adventurer’s face was dyed by despair.

「T-That is-!」

It was then he realized there was a transfer formation near him.
The feeling of despair disappeared from his face, it was replaced by hope.
It may take time, but I can still return to the ground.

Then I can tell the adventurer’s guild what is happening.

The relieved adventurer crawled with such thought to move towards the transfer formation.

「Gigi」

「………Huh?」

………But the next moment, his action was stopped by the green hand that came from his side.

When he was stopped, the adventurer seemed to not know what happened at first.
However, the moment he saw the green hand that grabbed him, he realized the existence of the thing that stopped him, he despaired.

「Gi, Gaga-」

As he timidly looked back, what entered his eyes was the sight of an upper-layer monster that twisted its mouth as if scorning him, a hobgoblin.
Scorn, emotional expression that a monster supposed to never do, the adventurer finally understood how abnormal this monster was.

……The hobgoblin that grabbed his shoulder was the same one that killed his comrades.

「Who ar-AAAAAAAAAAA, HELPPPPPPPP!」

At that moment, the adventurer screamed desperately.
Hobgoblin was a monster that could be defeated easily by common adventurers.
However, the adventurer aware that the hobgoblin in front of him was an exception.

———After all, this hobgoblin had the ability to destroy a middle-layer party easily.

The adventurer raised his voice in desperation.

…Unfortunately, his voice didn’t reach anyone.

「Aaaaaaa!」

The voice that asked for help from someone slowly getting farther away.

………And in the end, it suddenly stopped.

Sorry for overextending my vacation and thank you for patiently waiting, I am back now

On a side note, if this is the prologue of volume 1, I wonder how many people would think this is goblin slayer v2

Also, where is goblin slayer when he is needed