Gacha Addict in a Matriarchal World

Catastrophe.

There is a need to pause and address this part.

Fundamentally, they are grotesque entities born amidst the twisted rules by the mighty powers of the gods at the end of the War of the Fallen Gods.

Among them, they are collectively referred to as those that cannot be dealt with by mortal strength.

Sometimes they are simple phenomena, but existing sentient beings can mutate, or entities can awaken from nothingness.

Well. Just because they possess self-awareness and intelligence doesn’t automatically make them more dangerous or evil.

In any case, Catastrophes born from distortion are troublesome entities that even gods find difficult to handle carelessly.

Thus, after the War of the Fallen Gods ended, the remaining gods chose to seal the Catastrophes within the Labyrinth instead of subjugating them together.

Catastrophes, in the end, are troublesome entities that even gods find difficult to handle, let alone mortals, which is perhaps a small blessing as their numbers are not many.

However, each of these was split into two and sealed, meaning that the Catastrophes are sealed across a total of eight layers.

Unlike the monsters or Floor Guardians of the Labyrinth, they are not meant to be taken down, and thus are sealed in places inaccessible by ordinary means.

As Benny said, the idea that a Catastrophe has mutated or that its influence has leaked outside the seal is fundamentally impossible.

…Of course, seals are meant to be broken.

Among villains, there are those who aim to unleash such Catastrophes.

The One Who Devours the Twilight claim they will prove the greatness of the Goddess of Love by subjugating the calamity, but ends up causing a Catastrophe by unlocking a hidden seal.

Or a certain great alchemist, unable to resist his curiosity, experiments with this and that, only to cause an accident.

Or perhaps it’s just some insane person worshiping the calamity.

There are plenty of prepared plot devices! It’s just irritating that I have to stop them all!

“Sigh.”

With a name like Gear Doppelganger, and the fact that it’s readily accepted as a fragment of a corrupted Catastrophe, something must have happened on the 3rd Floor long ago. ɽâŊՕ₿ÊⱾ

If it’s just a misunderstanding due to insufficient research of the Labyrinth, that’s fortunate, but…

If my settings are wrong, or if someone is deceiving everyone, the problem grows larger.

“Sighhh.”

It seems like a bigger problem awaits with each Floor I climb.

“Ah, I wish I could just coast through life…”

“What are you saying? You’re already halfway doing that.”

Despite being holed up in a hotel for a week under the guise of ‘self-canning’, Benny makes a bizarre expression as if she had just binge-watched a week’s worth of VTuber videos.

Tsk. It pains my heart.

“What do you mean I’m coasting, Benny?”

“Are you asking because you don’t know? How many people do you think have two high-ranking adventurers as their bodyguards?”

“Hmm. Well, if you look hard enough, I’m sure there’s someone out there like that, right?”

“There isn’t! You’d have to be the daughter of a major clan leader or the lady or princess of a great nation to even mention such a thing!”

“To that extent?”

“Hey! You might not realize how amazing high-level adventurers are because Lydia and I, and even Ellie are always around you, but…at this level, assuming a normal strategy, we can safely handle up to the 5th Floor, you know? Not the 1st or 2nd, but the 5th Floor!”

“…When you put it that way, it does sound impressive.”

The Labyrinth has a total of 12 Floors, and they are currently tackling the 7th Floor.

In the midst of that, the 5th Floor? It means they can guarantee safety nearly halfway through, and just two levels below the forefront.

If you were to convert such an opportunity into money, it would truly be an enormous amount.

For high-level adventurers, it’s not about money but pride, so they wouldn’t easily accept simple escort missions.

Maybe, as Benny said, I’ve become too accustomed and momentarily forgot to be grateful.

As I nodded, Benny seemed rather flustered.

“What, what? Why are you admitting it so easily? Just so you know, it’s only half, okay? I’m not saying you took everything for granted, Jonah. We only helped when it was dangerous, but you basically fought on your own. You’re not denying that, are you?”

“Why are you acting like that all of a sudden, Benny? Someone might think I’m sulking and causing trouble.”

“…You aren’t? Whew.”

I took a step toward Benny, who sighed in relief, and grasped her small, soft hand. Firmly, so she couldn’t pull away.

“Ah! You really are sulking!”

“Oh, come on. I told you it’s not like that. Sure, I have certain struggles Benny doesn’t know about, but objectively speaking, I am kind of taking it easy, aren’t I?”

I whispered softly into Benny’s ear.

“So, I was thinking. I want to do something for Benny to show my appreciation. What would be good?”

“Don’t…blow into my ear like that…”

Just a slight breath mixed in, and Benny becomes all wobbly in an instant. Of course, stopping here is not an option.

“Let’s see. What can I do for Benny? I don’t have any money. I’m already helping with Shadow’s research, so all I have left is my body… Ah, is that what you were after? How lewd.”

“No way! I know what Ellie would do to me…”

“Ellie, Ellie… Of course, I really like Ellie too, but aren’t you worrying too much? Benny. The person right in front of you is none other than me. Not Ellie.”

“…!”

Now Benny can’t even breathe properly. I hugged her abruptly.

“Hic!”

“So, this should be fine.”

Benny stiffened, swallowing her breath. I grabbed her wandering hand and placed it on my waist, then continued speaking.

“This is all I can do for you. How is it? Are you somewhat satisfied?”

“……”

Benny rolled her eyes while receiving my embrace.

Perhaps because of the dress clinging to her body, her soft skin was clearly felt.

…And what I feel means Benny feels it too.

Did she realize that her flat chest allowed for closer contact? Benny subtly rubbed her stomach against mine. It’s truly insidious.

Well, this much doesn’t matter.

Unlike Lydia, who received something from Ellie, Benny is helping me out of loyalty and goodwill.

If you’re going to work for passion, you should receive a reward that maintains that passion.

After giving Benny a long hug, I finally let her go.

Then I saw Lydia and Shadow waiting in line behind.

“…Miss Lydia and Shadow too?”

“Is that not okay?”

-Grrr…

“No, it’s not that it’s not okay, I was just surprised.”

I gave both of them a light hug in turn.

Honestly, I wanted to bury my face in Lydia’s chest…but I held back, thinking it wouldn’t end in just a moment.

Shadow felt like some kind of waterbed, which was satisfactorily pleasant.

I know it’s not a great idea to dawdle in the Labyrinth, but as Benny said, with two high-ranking adventurers here, what’s there to be afraid of?

And initially, there weren’t even any monsters worth mentioning.

Gear Doppelganger. If its main body was in the corpse of the female adventurer, then what was that giant geared golem following behind?

It’s simple. A puppet made by piecing together parts of dolls accumulated at the bottom of the moat.

No wonder there were only dolls barely crawling around in ruins or broken ones unable to move scattered about.

Until we passed through the Gear Doppelganger’s territory, there wouldn’t be any notable monsters appearing.

How many times did we walk with ease like that?

The mire at the moat’s bottom gradually turned into solid ground, the dolls with only upper bodies crawling around diminished, and just as we became desensitized to the stinging stench.

We finally encountered a monster truly worthy of being called a monster at the bottom of the moat.

I don’t know if I should consider this fortunate, but it was a monster I was familiar with.

Cogwheel Straggler.

Its overall appearance closely resembles a human, but its entire body is decaying, and between the disintegrated flesh, mechanical devices made of metal can be seen instead of bones.

If a Human Golem is created by transferring the brain of someone who has just died or is on the verge of death into the body of a golem…

In the case of the Straggler, it can be said to be the fate of soldiers who were not recovered.

It’s a bizarre existence where the person who should be moving the mechanized body has long since died and is rotting away, but only the machine continues to operate.

Could it be because they unleashed the madness they had been suppressing until now, thanks to the aid of the God of Machinery, right before their death?

The half-machine body, which should have ceased activity, was faithfully executing its owner’s final mad ramblings.

The Cogwheel Straggler moves its body even after death solely to annihilate the ‘enemy’.

Forgetting what that enemy even was, even now, a thousand years after the War ended.

-Creak. Creak, creak.

Perhaps because its vocal cords have long since rotted away. The chilling sound of rusted and corroded metal scraping against each other echoes from it.

I took a stance against the pitiful Straggler.

With my Wrist Crossbow aimed at the opponent and a dagger hidden behind my back, making it hard to predict when or how it will be swung.

Screech-!

I flashed a grin at the creature raising a large stake, spewing out a rotten-smelling vapor.

“It’s time to be discharged.”

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