Chapter 173 Playing Dead and Planning Chaos
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
The standstill before the Eighty-Third Floor dragged on, and a full month passed without even a flicker of progress.
What the group managed to figure out during that time was simple: they could absolutely strengthen their Skills by attacking the sheer volume of monsters from within the Safety Area, but that alone wasn’t enough to break through the Langosta swarm. Early on, Yuuri had even considered using Marina’s Holy Armor to shield them while blasting open a path with Luster.
But the moment combat began, every last bug would descend like true locusts, swarming them relentlessly and making it impossible to catch even a single breath back in the Workshop. That would drain Ashley’s magic far too quickly, so the idea had to be abandoned.
And the most crucial thing they couldn’t forget was that this floor was only the warm-up for over a dozen more “volume floors” ahead.
Even if they scraped by this straight-descending floor, it was easy to imagine the next ones throwing in complicated terrain and even worse complications. If that was the case, wasn’t it wiser to stay here at this ideal grinding spot, develop Skills thoroughly, and focus on establishing a method to counter the sheer volume of enemies?
Yuuri trained with that thought in mind, but no matter how ideal the situation was, the Holy Armor—Yuuri’s core defensive strategy—wasn’t going to evolve quickly enough. Since they couldn’t afford to keep wasting their most important asset—time—on a turning point that might never come, they were forced to freeze that strategy for the moment.
—A week had passed since Yuuri shut themself inside the Workshop.
Even though time outside didn’t advance for Yuuri, no solution had emerged.
Still, the drive to clear the Labyrinth couldn’t be allowed to wither, so Yuuri stuck religiously to a daily routine. For the time being, the rule was to maintain strict regularity and replace outdoor training with indoor exercise and technical refinement.
”—Well, aren’t you dedicated?” Marina remarked.
”Yeah. Sorry, but I’m going to keep at this,” Yuuri answered.
While Yuuri was doing strength training on a mat in the lobby, Marina walked over from the dining hall with a drink in hand, having finished her own routine.
A faint flush warmed her skin, and her breathing was just a little ragged from exercise. With her hair tied back to keep it from getting in the way, she looked enticing—enough to briefly captivate Yuuri.
”Nfu-fu. Did that remind you of the lewdness in the gym?” she teased.
”Ugh—H-hey, come on!” Yuuri sputtered.
By chance, Marina was wearing the same gym outfit they had brought back from the separate domain. As a Princess, she usually displayed a strange modesty outside the bedroom, covering her skin more than necessary, but the jersey highlighted her upper body’s appeal without showing bare legs.
What was more, she seemed pleased by Yuuri’s reaction and struck a flexible pose to show off even more. Yuuri struggled to keep composure, but Marina merely circled around, leaning into Yuuri’s field of view no matter how the head turned away.
Resigned, Yuuri dropped into push-ups to redirect attention, but Marina didn’t allow even that. She hopped lightly onto Yuuri’s back.
”W-wait, hold on!” Yuuri gasped.
”Nfu-fu. Adding a weight like me doesn’t matter to Yuuri anymore, right?” she chuckled.
Anyone blessed through Skill growth tended to maintain a healthy body. Only Shelm knew the detailed mechanisms, but if Blessings didn’t conveniently adapt the body to increased capacity, the reduction in physical strain would weaken muscles instead.
Instead, the opposite occurred: the body became stronger, fatigue dulled, and training became more efficient. This was another benefit Yuuri had gained since unlocking Skills.
With Marina seated on Yuuri’s back, legs crossed, Yuuri silently repeated push-ups, doing their best not to think about her soft weight. Yuuri assumed she had come with something to discuss, but she remained silent until the exercise set was finished.
”Ugh… I feel like an idiot for cheering as if I were invincible when the Holy Armor grew,” she sighed.
After a while, when Yuuri lay on the mat to rest, Marina curled up and draped herself across Yuuri’s back. Yuuri wanted to continue the routine, but the Princess—having finally decided to speak—seemed unwilling to move.
”Hey, don’t be greedy. The fact that it doesn’t even flinch after nonstop Langosta charges is still ridiculous. You don’t need to put yourself down,” Yuuri reassured her.
”I know that, but if my movements are sealed, I can’t make use of its strength, even if it completely defends the blows. Considering our future progress, this weakness is fatal,” she whispered.
Her voice was thin and strained, squeezed out as though from the bottom of her throat.
At present, Marina’s Holy Armor was the only thing capable of matching the Eighty-Third Floor’s sheer volume, even in a limited way. That was why they had spent a full day of outside time enduring endless Langosta charges. It was a collective decision; she should not have borne the burden alone.
But failure to meet expectations weighed heavily on Marina, and even Yuuri’s reassurance didn’t ease her worries.
”Solid defense is the prerequisite to countering a rapid succession of charges that not even Suzuri can avoid. I don’t know when the Holy Armor will grow next or what its potential is, but relying on it is far more realistic than taking hits with a bare body protected by minor Blessings,” Yuuri reasoned.
Was investing in the Holy Armor the right move?
It was a valid concern—even Yuuri felt it. But having *any* viable method was already a blessing. Perhaps they should accept extending the one-month deadline.
Yuuri wanted to return before the housing lease’s special clause was violated, but that could not outweigh their survival or the Labyrinth’s conquest.
Ultimately, Marina would have to decide—she was the one directly tied to the political implications. And Yuuri couldn’t believe that the realist Princess would abandon a stable strategy. Yuuri expected her to soon return to outdoor training, but the atmosphere surrounding Marina, who had grown quiet again, was heavier than simple indecision.
”No, no way… But something like that… Still, if that’s the case…” she murmured.
”Huh? What’s up? Did a brilliant idea come to mind?” Yuuri asked.
Her whisper behind Yuuri’s neck was unusually serious—nothing like the listless tone from earlier. It seemed the brilliant Princess had found a breakthrough, yet her attitude lacked the brightness one would expect.
She only gripped Yuuri’s shirt and fell silent again.
What kind of realization could shake the usually composed Marina so deeply? Just as Yuuri tried to look back, hurried footsteps sounded from the dining hall.
”W-w-what are you doing?!” Ashley cried out.
”Nfu-fun. Isn’t this nice~♡” Marina replied with provocative ease.
Yuuri lifted their head at the challenge in her voice. Ashley stood with hands on hips, eyebrows knit, hair damp with sweat—her appearance lent her a strangely captivating charm.
She seemed to have used Purification to remove the sweat from her clothes, but the warm scent lingered. Yuuri stared openly at the beloved girl, but Ashley had no intention of overlooking such a compromising scene in the lobby.
She had been focused on magic training, and stumbling upon her two masters wrapped around each other was impossible to ignore. As Head Servant, she had to reprimand the impropriety; she glared down with flushed indignation.
Marina, however, showed no regret. She sat up again, legs crossed.
”Oh, Yuuri said training went better with me on their back. It was a perk for me, but nothing naughty happened. Right?” she said.
”O-oh, yeah. Load’s important for building muscle, but rest is just as essential. You just happened to see us at that moment—nothing weird was going on,” Yuuri added.
Yuuri wanted to complain that Marina had been *in the way* more than anything, but that would only make things sound worse. Ashley’s fierce glare was already overwhelming—and it was clearly part of Marina’s strategy.
As Yuuri anxiously awaited Ashley’s judgment, Marina delivered another blow.
”It’s true. If you doubt me, you can take my place. It’ll be even better for his training if Ashley rides him,” she teased.
”M-M-M-Marina-san?!” Ashley shrieked.
A chill ran down Yuuri’s spine—perhaps not entirely from Ashley’s dangerously trembling expression. Marina didn’t flinch; her calmness made the tension all the more frightening.
Ashley’s pride as Head Servant bristled, but Marina added that she had a matter of future policy to discuss. Ashley couldn’t refuse a Princess’s request, so she reluctantly sat on the built-in bench.
”—Yuuri. Earlier, you said betting on the Holy Armor’s growth was better than relying on Blessings, right?” Marina asked.
”Huh? …Yeah, I did. And it’s the truth, isn’t it? Blessings strengthen the body, sure, but they can’t compare to Holy Armor. I want everyone to survive, so continuing Holy Armor training—even past the deadline—is what makes sense.”
The one-month surface-time limit was merely an estimate based on expected political unrest. As Princess, Marina disliked delaying beyond that, but survival and the possibility of conquering the Labyrinth had to come first.
Yuuri had assumed Marina was about to suggest spending another day or two—maybe even the extra two weeks that would void their housing lease—but Marina’s tone hinted at yet another idea.
When Yuuri asked, she gently patted their head as though they had answered correctly.
”Exactly. I would agree to continue Holy Armor training if we could afford more time outside. But since that’s not possible, I realized we might have another option,” she said.
Yuuri still couldn’t see her expression, but a heavy tension clung to her calm voice—just as it had earlier.
”I understand why you disregard Blessings against the Langosta. Most people only have two or three Skills at most. No matter how much they develop their Skills and gain Blessings, they’ll never match Holy Armor’s defense. But we have countless Skills bestowed by you, Yuuri. Most of them are practically dead storage. If we developed all of them… could we not endure the Langosta charges with just our bodies?” she asked.
Her voice trembled—unsurprising given the proposal.
Compared to Holy Armor’s uncertain growth, this was a stable, reliable path. And unlike Unique Skills that required enormous refinement, the many simple Skills granted to them were comparatively easy to develop.
—But the road was endless.
True, they could attempt this strategy within the Workshop. It didn’t rely on Holy Armor or Luster. But when would those Blessings finally become strong enough to endure such monstrous charges?
Yuuri wondered how to gently reason with Marina when Ashley—who had kept quiet until then—raised her hand.
”Hime-sama… I understand the possibility, but that is too unrealistic. The initial plan was to set Workshop time to two years at most. That was based on how much temporal deviation we judged acceptable. If we ignore that agreement, then…” Ashley began. Her voice, confident at first, gradually weakened until she stuttered without finishing.
She was trapped between two roles: Head Servant and Princess’s attendant. As the servant who received the most affection from Yuuri, the idea of spending years in accelerated time—risking visible aging—was unacceptable.
But if this was not servant whim but Princess’s policy, she could not object.
Marina understood this perfectly. Rather than criticize Ashley, she gently added:
”Ashley, have you forgotten? Nobility and royalty generally live longer than common folk. The Blessings that come with Skill growth also curb aging. That detestable Marquis Aprelton looks middle-aged despite being over a hundred! …So what about us, who receive multiple Skills from Yuuri every night? By the time we gain the Blessings needed to endure Langosta attacks with our bare bodies, our aging will likely be slowed enough that we won’t have to worry.”
Indeed, Marina’s strategy solved Ashley’s concern as a servant. But was a life stretched unnaturally long—a far cry from humanity’s proper shape—truly acceptable?
Shelm had kept the number of Skill holders low for a reason: Skills were meant to uplift humans *within* mortal limits, which in turn increased the Goddess’s own power.
If humanity lived too long, too strong—would they remain human in mind and spirit?
Even if they conquered the Labyrinth this way, would they still be fit to intervene in human politics?
—The Workshop allowed the strategy. It was feasible. But the cost was far too great.
And Marina, having realized this the moment the idea struck her, could not hold her usual composed tone until the end.
—
Summary:
Yuuri and the party are utterly stuck at the Langosta swarm on the 83rd Floor. Marina, playing a subtle game, first teases Yuuri during his intense training—even sitting on his back to make Ashley jealous. This intimate moment quickly turns serious when Ashley interrupts. Marina reveals her radical, unsettling plan: instead of waiting for Holy Armor, they should exploit the Workshop’s time control to grow hundreds of general-purpose Blessings, effectively making them near-immortal, long before they can age.
—
Character Insight:
Yuuri is a man of simple solutions—hit harder, defend better. He’s easily manipulated by Marina’s playful affection and doesn’t fully grasp the existential cost of her cold, calculating strategy. Marina is a brilliant, ruthless strategist willing to sacrifice her own and her party’s humanity—their ‘normal’ lifespan—to win, seeing the countless skills as a cheat code for time. Ashley’s emotional distress is a core conflict; she is the guardian of Yuuri’s human life, fiercely resisting the monstrous nature of Marina’s proposal.
—
Behind the Scene:
The chapter reveals the true, dark cost of Yuuri’s immense power: the ability to circumvent the most fundamental law of the world, aging. The strategy proposes to ‘farm’ Blessings by spending years inside the Workshop to gain a defense level that Holy Armor can’t promise, sacrificing human time for inhuman power. This is the ultimate test of the group’s priorities: the deadline, the mission, or their humanity.
Notes:
• Marina – First Princess of Restea—needs labyrinth escort.
• Ashley – Count’s daughter, royal attendant, has a crush on Yuuri.
• Shelm – Wicked Goddess, reincarnated Yuuri, manipulative, wants him to use his power.
• Ai – The recently-formed sub-divinity/ego who manages the world’s Skills. Her sudden, intense burst of divine will (‘ki’) almost bleached Yuuri’s wicked thoughts. Called Yuuri ‘Elder Brother’ and declared genuine affection and trust based on his efficiency with her Skills.
• Suzuri – A scout who braved the labyrinth and lured a petrifying monster to protect her friends. Tall, statuesque, flawlessly pale skin, powerfully toned yet soft and feminine, with long, flowing black hair identical to Marina. Her body have muscles but slim. Her breasts are very large, full, high-set, and overtly described as “too big for her frame,”
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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