Chapter 177 : Chapter 177
Chapter 177 : Lv.6 Weapon
Among the contents checked in the Notices, there were some similar to the facts I knew earlier, and some that completely overlapped.
If there was one thing certain, it was the intention of the person who wrote the Notices.
‘I don't know who wrote the Notices, but they are hoping for the door to open.’
It was just like the sight that appeared after absorbing the Ascension Stone Fragment.
If there was one strange point, it was that if they wanted the door to open, the entity who wrote the Notices could just open the door themselves, but they weren't doing so.
As if there was some reason they couldn't.
‘Cannot...... Is it a constraint?’
Otherwise, it wouldn't make sense for an entity capable of writing Notices from beyond the Ascension Stone Fragment to resort to such tricks just because they couldn't open a single door.
One fact that could be certain from this.
‘I don't know who on earth it is, but that entity is also ruled by the laws of this world.’
Everything has a price.
That is an absolute principle ruling this world and simultaneously The Golden Rule that even transcendent existences like demons cannot surpass.
If the entity beyond the Ascension Stone Fragment existed above the laws of this world, they would have opened the door directly without needing to urge so blatantly for the door to be opened in the first place.
Then what should I do now?
Should I open the door as the opponent intends, or should I close the door to smash that extremely suspicious intention?
Naturally, I haven't made a choice about that yet.
I just felt the necessity to collect Ascension Stone Fragments to obtain the opportunity to make a choice.
‘Hmm.’
I also checked other posts on the Notices Bulletin Board.
-The sky opened imperfectly.
-The Great Heaven awaits you.
-Protect The Golden Rule.
Every single one was a title that couldn't just be passed over, but unfortunately, there were no posts that seemed to be immediately helpful to me or contain clues about the secrets harbored by the Ascension Stone Fragments.
Of course, I haven't checked all the contents yet, so I can't conclude there won't be necessary information, but the feeling from the titles was like that for now.
‘I can look more into the Notices later when I have time.’
For now, the most urgent task for me is collecting Ascension Stone Fragments.
After all, everything was bound to lead to that.
Therefore, rather than spending more time on something unknown right now, I decided to spend time checking the newly obtained ability.
The next thing to check was about the newly acquired Lv.6 Weapon.
What kind of weapon will come out this time?
Honestly speaking, it was a part I was quite looking forward to.
‘I'll know if I use it myself.’
I activated Weapon Summon.
[Activating ‘Weapon Summon(??)’.]
[Summoning ‘Lv.6’ Weapon.]
[Summoning Tactical Weapon, ‘Napalm Bombardment Request Terminal’.]
What newly revealed itself along with a blue halo of light was a small terminal reminiscent of a smartphone.
“......Mm?”
Something is different from before.
First of all, starting from the notation about the summoned weapon, it was not an ordinary weapon like before, but a tactical weapon.
I examined the terminal.
[Input Coordinates]
[Direct Input of Bombardment Point]
There are two menus to choose from.
Putting aside Input Coordinates since I don't know the coordinates right now, I pressed the second one, Direct Input of Bombardment Point.
[Inputting Bombardment Point directly.]
Along with that, the screen of the terminal changed like a camera shooting.
Feeling a strange sense of déjà vu for some reason, I filmed over there as if shooting with a smartphone camera.
To be exact, I assumed it was filming.
[Bombardment Point has been set.]
[Commencing Napalm Bombardment on the corresponding location.]
“......Huh?”
I simply set the bombardment point, but unexpectedly, something started.
Along with that, something appeared with a blue halo of light from beyond that sky, and began to fall as it was.
Kwa-aaaa-ang───!!!
Kwang! Kwa-kwa-kwang!!!
Mid-slope of the mountain not too far from here.
Acrid black smoke rose amidst the hugely echoing explosion sound and vibration.
Watching the massive pillar of fire unfolding before my eyes shortly after, I was lost for words.
“.......”
By the looks of it, I think I caused an accident.
***
Yuliana had a complicated mind.
It was no coincidence that the Supreme King, an existence who unified the Eastern Union no less, disappeared.
The Supreme King died at the hands of Vell Blackwood.
Then what kind of man is this Vell Blackwood who killed even the Supreme King?
Yuliana could not make a complete judgment about him yet.
‘For now, as we give him Bellerophon's work and get to know him, we will come to know what kind of person Vell Blackwood is. There is no need to rush.’
Clumsy urgency ruins things.
Yuliana was a person who knew that fact very well, and felt the need to be cautious in relationships between people as well.
It was then.
Kwa-aaaa-ang!!!
Along with a suddenly echoing explosion sound, a massive explosion occurred at the mid-slope of the mountain over there.
“Wh-what?”
An explosion of that scale makes people instinctively flinch.
That was the same for Yuliana, so Yuliana could not hide her astonishment amidst the sudden explosion.
“......Magic of Blazing Fire?”
Right now, that was the only cause of the explosion Yuliana could think of.
Then, it also means that a Mage of Blazing Fire capable of causing that level of Magic of Blazing Fire appeared over there.
‘I don't know what happened, but it's clear something unusual occurred.’
Yuliana made a judgment.
“Royer!”
“I got it!”
Yuliana hurriedly turned her steps toward the place where the explosion occurred together with Royer.
When they arrived at the place where the explosion occurred, acrid black smoke was rising thickly with the momentum to burn everything around.
“Damn...... Why is it like this here? Who did this crazy thing? Commander, do you see anything?”
Yuliana's Insight scanned the place where the explosion occurred, but unfortunately, the information she could obtain was limited.
“......For now, there are no traces of a fight.”
“Not a fight? Then which crazy mage did this?”
“It seems like they experimented with the power of magic...... but it's not certain.”
It had to be so, because magic always demands a fitting price.
Even if the price paid by Mages of Blazing Fire is not paid by themselves directly, that price cannot be simple.
It meant that no matter how crazy a mage is, there is no reason to do this on bare ground without a purpose.
“......Let's put out the fire first.”
If left like this, it was obvious the flames would reach the forest of the mountain and a forest fire would spread greatly, so Yuliana felt the necessity to clean up.
“We should.”
“What are you doing, not moving?”
“Ah.”
Since the knight members were stationed at the foot of the mountain, the only ones who could move in this spot were Yuliana and Royer.
“......If you were going to do this, why didn't you bring the members? Why did you make them wait?”
“Knowing what might happen, how could I carelessly bring the members?”
“Just like a mother.”
Royer grumbled but drew boundaries on the ground where the fire might spread with his sword so the flames wouldn't spread further.
Meanwhile, watching the embers still burning on the ground, Yuliana could not hide her seriousness.
“.......”
Yuliana did not know this kind of Magic of Blazing Fire.
No, even any mage would not know.
The explosion remaining in this spot was that heterogeneous, unlike the existing Magic of Blazing Fire.
‘Besides, this smell seems like the smell of oil....... Did someone pour oil and set fire? But can flames soar like this just by simply setting fire?’
If Yuliana had knowledge about modern weapon systems, she would have figured out that what happened here was due to the explosion of a modern weapon, but unfortunately, Yuliana had no such knowledge.
No, even if she had such knowledge, it was not easy to think of the existence of weapons from Earth in this world.
Therefore, Yuliana's thoughts focused on the cause-and-effect relationship before and after this explosion rather than the explosion itself.
‘Is it a coincidence?’
What does it mean that such an explosion happened in this spot right after the meeting with Vell Blackwood?
‘Don't tell me what Vell Blackwood did?’
Even if so, what reason would Vell Blackwood have to set fire to a perfectly fine mountain?
Yuliana soon shook her head.
‘Probably not.’
Above all, if Vell Blackwood tried to achieve some purpose by setting fire here, he should have been in this spot, but he isn't, right?
She didn't even think at all that Vell Blackwood might have opened his eyes to unseasonable playing with fire, set fire here, and ran away.
Although what Yuliana knew about Vell Blackwood wasn't much, at least he didn't seem like a person who would do such silly things.
“Commander, I think it's roughly cleaned up? The flames will go out on their own if left alone.”
“Really? Okay.”
Thanks to Yuliana and Royer's handling, it seemed fortunately the flames wouldn't spread further.
“.......”
Yuliana stared blankly at the burning embers and soon moved her steps.
Not knowing what exactly happened, there were too many things Yuliana faced to care about such an explosion one by one.
So, as always, it was best to leave annoying tasks to subordinates.
“Investigate this explosion. Let me know immediately if anything comes up.”
“Damn. Is it me again?”
“Just do it if told.”
“I got it.”
Of course, even if Royer investigated, it didn't seem likely he would find anything out, but she couldn't just let go completely.
Because it was a clear fact that this explosion was somewhat unusual.
‘Why is there so much work......’
Yuliana's sigh deepened.
***
‘They went.’
I hid my body with Spirit Magic near the place where the napalm bomb explosion occurred, and moved only after Yuliana and Royer appeared and cleaned up the aftermath.
Just in case they didn't come, I was thinking of cleaning up, but thanks to them coming as I thought, I saved some trouble.
‘I should be careful next time.’
I never knew the newly obtained Lv.6 Weapon would be something like this.
A tactical weapon......
Of course, since the Lv.4 Weapon was a grenade launcher and the Lv.5 Weapon was a minigun, I could understand a weapon of this power coming out in the next level, Lv.6 Weapon, but anyway, it was beyond my thoughts.
‘At this rate, I'm also quite curious about what the special effect added to each weapon might be.’
Well, I can find out about that gradually.
Since I had quite some time.
***
After the negotiation with Yuliana ended, I stayed at an inn in the Imperial Capital and looked into the special effects of the newly obtained Lv.6 Weapon and Weapon Mastery ability.
And the special effect in the Weapon Mastery ability was truly beyond what I imagined.
‘This...... is incredible.’
Even the 200% increase in weapon power in the Weapon Mastery ability looked ordinary compared to the special effects attached to each weapon.
As I spent time experimenting with this and that about the new ability, physical growth due to the Guardian of the Labyrinth effect naturally came.
[You are a guardian who protects the laws of Akiro's Labyrinth.]
[Synchronization with the Guardian's Phantom is in progress.]
[Current Phantom's Floor Level : 4th Floor]
Before I knew it, the floor level where the Phantom stays reached the 4th floor.
When the Phantom goes up to the 5th floor or higher, it is considered to have fulfilled its duty and naturally disappears.
It meant this honey-like benefit given to me until now would also disappear.
‘Well, generally when reaching the 5th floor, the player also reaches Level 7 to Level 8, so there's nothing to be regretful about.’
Being selected as a Guardian of the Labyrinth was that much of a fraudulent perk, and the growth effect from it was certain.
[Stamina increases. (+1)]
[8 → 9]
[Strength increases. (+1)]
[8 → 9]
With this, both Stamina and Strength stats reached 9.
It meant I finally reached a level where I wouldn't be outdone anywhere even with physical abilities in this world.
‘Level 7 will be soon too.’
In the World of Justice, from Level 7 onwards is finally classified as high-level.
Of course, considering what I have now, I could face not only general Level 7s but even Level 8s, but having basic strength backing me up was important.
‘I'm getting stronger, even a little more.’
When I was devoting myself to research and training like that, a familiar face came to find me.
It was Royer of the Griffin Knights.
“Vell Blackwood, the Commander is looking for you.”
By the looks of it, Bellerophon's work had arrived.