Chapter 162
Chapter 162 – Easy Pickings (2)
"All forces, halt! Hold until the flames die down."
The Empire's unstoppable advance ground to a halt. The appearance of the Solar Sacred Kingdom's Saint. That alone was enough to stop the march of a hundred thousand troops.
"Why did she only appear now?"
2nd Prince Fellian was full of questions. The capital of the Solar Sacred Kingdom, the Solar Holy City. Right beside it lay the Duchy. With the capital practically within reach, Lu-Solace's Saint had suddenly appeared. Her power was overwhelming. Threatening enough to make the Empire halt its advance.
"What was the reason she appeared only to vanish into the Labyrinth?"
The flames the Saint had laid down burned everything in the world. In the process, a great number of Imperial soldiers who had surrounded the walls of the Ducal Castle were burned to death.
Yet even more had died than that, they were the Solar Sacred Kingdom's own Solar soldiers.
"Archduke, is it truly confirmed that she disappeared into the Labyrinth?"
The prince turned his head. The massive Northern Archduke was staring at the Labyrinth entrance in the middle of the desert with ferocious eyes.
"Yes, Your Highness. The Saint clearly vanished into the Labyrinth."
The Northern Archduke's role had been to kill Lu-Solace's Saint. Yet that Saint had laid a trail of flames stretching from the capital all the way to the Labyrinth entrance, then simply disappeared inside, as if fleeing.
"Could there be some kind of intent behind it?"
"Rather than intent, it may well have been the Saint acting on her own."
The prince's question was answered by his advisor. The Archduke seemed to agree, giving a nod.
"Are you truly saying that the greatest power in an entire kingdom acted on her own and vanished into the Labyrinth?"
The prince stared at the Labyrinth entrance with a look of disbelief. Just then, the massive Archduke took a step forward and knelt before the 2nd Prince.
Thud! The earth shook.
"Your Highness, what matters now is that I am free to wield my strength as I please, is it not?"
"Indeed, Archduke. The board has changed."
2nd Prince and supreme commander of the war, Fellian Rofen Arman. He too understood clearly what the Saint's absence meant. In other words—
"Archduke, suppress the flames and clear a path for the army to advance."
It was time to begin the full-scale assault on the capital.
"The seven flames of Lu-Solace shall be dealt with by the generals of the Continental Unification Army! The Northern Archduke will handle the Solar Sacred Kingdom's royalty, and I will personally hunt down and kill the Pope!"
Their enemy's joker had left of her own accord, so the Empire had no reason to hesitate any longer.
"All forces!!! Advance!"
The Northern Archduke stepped onto the battlefield. He unleashed his power and neutralized the flames the Saint had created. His massive and ferocious grey aura began devouring the crimson flames.
That Saint's power is vicious.
Erasing those flames, the Archduke freshly realized just how fearsome a being the Saint was. They say power reflects a person's nature. From the Saint's flames, he felt a ruthless obsession.
And the Saint is mad.
He also realized that the direction of her power was quite twisted. The Northern Archduke was a powerful man. His discernment was high enough that crossing blades alone could reveal another's entire life. It was also possible for him to grasp the Saint's nature through the power she had left behind.
The reason a Saint like that went into the Labyrinth must be…
The Archduke narrowed his eyes. In his mind, a single figure surfaced. The Empire's rising star, Erik. The child of God who received the Emperor's favor, and moreover, a being rising as the idol of the Empire's people.
"If he cannot resolve even this trial, there is no future for the continent."
The Archduke soon thought he'd handle it on his own, and headed to the battlefield.
"Hehehe"
Flesh and steel ran rampant. A vision of hell unfolded in the mortal realm. The Imperial Army pushed back the Solar Sacred Kingdom's forces defending the walls.
The Kingdom's soldiers draped in white cloth were dyed red, and soon the path to the castle walls was thrown wide open. The Archduke surveyed that hellscape and grinned widely.
"Do you intend to make this land a battlefield?"
The Archduke looked up at the top of the walls. A general of the Solar Sacred Kingdom, a member of the Sacred King's lineage, had personally arrived. In war, armies had their own fights, and the powerful who led them ought to have their own, yet,
"Return to the embrace of God."
In the Solar Sacred Kingdom, such conventions did not apply. The member of the Sacred King's lineage unleashed fierce flames.
That power burned not only the Imperial soldiers below the walls but the Solar Sacred Kingdom's own soldiers as well. The meaning was clear.
"Hehehe"
In this battlefield, the battle among the powerful— was fought by trampling over the weak. What was the Solar Sacred Kingdom trying to convey through this? They were forcing a binary choice: make the soldiers' lives the battlefield, or retreat. It was a poor move.
"Bwahahahaha!!!"
The path toward the castle walls. The Archduke's smile deepened.
"Before the North was the Empire, I fought the undead by chewing through the flesh and blood of my own kin."
Fire and steel screamed, and the thick scent of blood filled every direction. Amid that fierce battlefield, the Archduke's voice rang out.
"I have lived atop a mountain built from the corpses of my kin. Had it not been for His Majesty the Emperor's salvation, the tribes of the North would have been as good as destroyed."
Boom!
The Archduke stopped before the castle walls.
"Now, my kin is the Empire. And every soldier on this battlefield is no different from my brother."
The Archduke drew his massive greatsword and aimed it at the top of the walls. And he declared:
"Die for the Empire!!! I too shall do so with joy!"
***
Labyrinth, 9th Floor. The terrain made of rock had transformed. Lava flowed from the cracked earth, and scorching winds capable of burning everything swept through the air.
Boom—. Erik erected a Divine Barrier. On top of that, he wielded all manner of Sacred Relics such as Alman's Fortress and Alman's Bell to fortify his defenses. Even so, the heat was palpable.
"That is one of the peaks of this continent."
Lu-Solace's Saintess—she was a monster. Without unleashing any power at all, simply by existing… The terrain had changed. And that was the Labyrinth's terrain, no less.
She's worse than a Floor Master that triggers field effects.
Lu-Solace's Saint steadily advanced toward Erik. The earth melted with each step she took. The earthworms surging from the ground all seemed to have been obliterated, not even their presence could be sensed. Let alone the golems, which melted like liquid the moment they were spawned.
"Are you Erik?"
The Saint posed her question from an enormous distance. A woman cloaked in flames as if they were her garments. Bronze skin and flame-red hair the color of the sun. Her appearance brought to mind a passionate desert dancer.
She's requesting a conversation?
She had stopped, so Erik responded in kind, soaring high into the sky. And he said:
"I am Erik. What exactly is your purpose in seeking me out?"
At that, the Saint raised both hands above her. Was she about to surrender outright? That was what it looked like.
"I want to talk."
At the Saint's words, Erik tilted his head. It was quite strange that someone who had turned everything into a blazing inferno was asking for a conversation.
"What kind of conversation—"
Just as Erik began to reply to the Saint—
Shwooooosh!
The Saint brought down the hands she had raised. Something long and rod-like was fired at tremendous speed.
Thud! Thud!
"Urk"
Erik instantly twisted his body. What the Saint had done was clearly an ambush. And of an especially vicious kind.
She strikes in the gap when I'm answering after she starts the conversation?
Erik swiftly counterattacked. He scattered Meteors and activated [Judgment]. After that, he triggered the Divine Spell Circles he had laid in advance.
Kaboooom!!!
A massive explosion erupted where the Saint had been.
"What the, is that woman insane?"
Jang Du-sik reacted a bit late, seething with rage. Just as Du-sik raised his club and moved to intervene.
"Du-sik, step out of here and you die."
Erik stopped him. It meant to stay within the range of the Sacred Relic, Alman's Fortress. Without it, Erik might have died from that single strike.
She was aiming precisely for the heart and the head.
The Sacred Relic's power creates a translucent golden barrier. It was an object with formidable defensive capability.
The Fortress blocked a fraction of the Saint's power, and thanks to that, Erik had gained just enough time to react and twist his body. And what had the result been?
"The hole won't close up."
Holes had been punched through Erik's shoulder and side. And the recovery was slow on top of that.
Sizzle—. The flesh kept burning away as fast as it regenerated. It felt similar to his teacher Riferoze's power.
"Looks like that one's dead." "No, she's alive."
Erik wielded divine power. Where the greatsword of Judgment had been planted, the Saint's bisected body was visible. However, that body was blazing and smoldering as it merged back into one. The Saint's head took shape first. While her body was reconnecting, the Saint began to speak.
"You haven't been completed yet. How fortunate."
The moment she finished speaking, her body of flames fused back into one. She raised both hands again.
"Once more, let us have a conversation."
By this point, Erik understood the Saint's logic.
How very Lu-Solace.
The Solar Sacred Kingdom that deploys itspunitive soldiers. The Saint had taken on that same twisted method herself.
A powerhouse of that caliber strikes while the words are still in the air?
A vicious method. And yet—
"Vel, Pe."
Erik had no intention of falling behind. The two girls activated [Isolation]. That power confined the Saint.
Krrrumble!!! Trapped inside a massive grey cube, the Saint brought her hand down.
Boom——! The grey cube shuddered. With a single strike, cracks ran through the walls of the Isolation.
As expected, she can't do anything against Black Mage skills.
Even so, this would be sufficient.
"We're going up."
Erik moved on to the Labyrinth's 10th Floor. It was possible because the entire party had cleared the 9th Floor's Floor Master while waiting for the Saint.
—Five humans from the Empire, one human from the Demon Realm. Welcome to the 10th Floor.
Swish! Kaboom——!!! The moment Erik crossed into the floor, an enormous mass of tentacles came crashing down overhead. A form similar to a giant shadow. Translucent yet deep grey tentacles hammered against [Alman's Barrier].
Was it called the Outer God Krullu?
Erik recalled Nishida's words. That power was distinctly alien. It fell short of something that had achieved Divine Status, yet was strange to call it simply a power.
"Let's move on for now."
Wrapped in [Sacred Relics] and having crossed floors, he had blocked the ambush with ease. Furthermore, Erik had absolutely no intention of dealing with some monster called an Outer God or whatever.
Hum—. The two girls used a Portal. It connected to a point far in the distance, and Erik's party moved through the portal to a corner of the 10th Floor.
"So this is the sky of the Labyrinth—"
Jang Du-sik looked up at the sky in admiration.
"Pretty!" "Beautiful!"
The two children were moved as well. They had said that from the 10th Floor onward, the floors gradually transform to resemble an actual world — and truly, those words felt fitting. Clusters of stars drifting across a night sky. It was as if the Milky Way itself were dancing, and mysterious grey currents flowed all around. At the sight, Erik smiled faintly.
"That is the Outer God." "Wait… you mean that sky?"
Erik calmly murmured that the original background of the Labyrinth's 10th Floor was supposed to be a meadow beneath a clear sky. And the monsters that appeared in the field were Orcs.
"So you're saying the 10th Floor is originally about fighting Orcs in grassland, and the sky is supposed to be clear blue?"
Even after hearing the explanation, Jang Du-sik blinked as if he couldn't quite accept it. Right now there wasn't a single living creature on the field — let alone Orcs.
Oooooo——.
Enormous tentacles making eerie sounds filled the field. And what appeared to be the Milky Way in the night sky was that alien being called the Outer God.
"S-so what are you going to do?"
Usually, beating something to death is all it takes. That was practically Jang Du-sik's creed. But he had no idea what to beat that sky-like monster with. And on top of that, the sky and the tentacles were moving toward Erik, who had come through the portal. Watching that, Erik drew a bright smile.
"We observe." "What do you—"
At that moment, the Labyrinth's announcement suddenly rang out.
—Five humans from the Empire, one human from the Demon Realm, the Saint of Lu-Solace. Welcome to the 10th Floor.
"Shouldn't a monster like that be killed by a similar monster?"
Hearing the Labyrinth's announcement, Erik once again felt the weight of the Saint's power.
The Labyrinth referring to her as the Saint means she's that powerful, I suppose.
Erik stood atop a hill, looking toward the floor entrance. With a sturdy barrier surrounding them on all sides, plus Alman's Fortress erected as well, it was nothing short of a perfect observation deck. And then,
Swish! Kaboooom!!!
Dozens of tentacles came crashing down on the Saint as she crossed into the floor.
Does that Outer God thing have no ego?
Erik measured the power. The Saint, caught by the tentacles, had her body torn into dozens of pieces. However, her body transformed into flames and began merging back together, and she swung both hands to unleash a massive torrent of flames toward the tentacles.
Roooooar!
The battle between the Outer God Krullu, who had turned the field into a cosmos, and the Saint had begun.
Erik used this opportunity to open a path to the Divine Temple and summon the Possessors.
"Fi-finally!"
Five Possessors faced Erik with elated expressions.
"Did you, um, kill those monsters?"
Park Chang-ho stared at Erik with trembling eyes. The enormous tentacle monsters that had killed him had come to mind,
"H-huh?"
Park Chang-ho was shocked by the sight visible behind Erik. The things he hadn't been able to see properly after being eliminated at the entrance were now coming into vivid focus.
"W-what on earth is"
The cosmos was fighting the sun. A massive darkness that filled the sky drew out long tentacles, and Lu-Solace's Saint, shining like the sun, was waging a fierce war as she incinerated the cosmos.
That Saint glanced in Erik's direction while fighting. And she shouted.
"How petty of you!"
Her face was twisted with fury, she was genuinely enraged. Watching that Saint, Erik smiled thinly.
"You're the one who struck mid-conversation, and now you're seething because you got a taste of the same?"
Even amid the fierce battle, Erik's voice carried clearly. As evidence,
May the Sun God be with you.
The Saint began to recite a prayer. Her body transformed more and more into a raging flame. With that, the cosmos began to be pushed back.
"Hey, what are you planning to do, big brother?"
Watching that transcendent spectacle, Jang Du-sik scratched his head. Watching was fine enough, but he couldn't figure out what the end goal was. Then came a bizarre statement.
"We hinder whichever side is winning."
"Wait, you're going to what?"
The battle between the Saint and the manifested Outer God. The one visibly winning was clearly the Saint. This wasn't about helping the Saint to kill the Outer God, he was saying they'd help the Outer God?
"What do you mean by—"
Even the normally stoic Janson couldn't help but voice his confusion. Yet, as if to prove it was no empty claim, Erik unlocked his power.
Boom!
The battlefield between the Outer God and the Sun God's Saint. A massive, radiant golden light intervened between them. That power brought forth a great [Judgment] greatsword, and Erik's full-force power bloomed clouds above the sky.
Thwump!!!
The massive greatsword plunged into the Saint's body. And a moment later—
Krrrumble!!!
The atmosphere trembled, and lightning struck down between the divine clouds.
Clang!
The Outer God's cosmos that filled the sky was instantly dyed platinum white. That was how fierce the power was. That power,
"He, he broke the Saint into pieces?"
Had shattered the Saint, who had been shining like the sun, into chunks of flame.
"B-Boss, why on earth?"
Janson simply couldn't believe the situation. Was it really right to leave alone the Black Mage's manifested form that deserved to be killed, and attack the Saint first? He couldn't shake that doubt.
"Janson, there'll be more of this going forward."
Erik met Janson's eyes with his usual smile.
"Ah, going forward means"
"This is just how it's done in the Labyrinth."
"How did you even come up with that idea?"
Using the enemy against the enemy. It was a method Erik had used often in the game. The reason was obvious enough.
"Continental Online, where a hundred million people competed over the Labyrinth. It's a survival lesson I picked up there."