Chapter 164
Chapter 164: Easy Pickings (4)
There is always a price for power beyond one's station.
Am I losing right now?
The consciousness of the Possessor who had descended as Mynoghra, a Foreign God from the Cthulhu Mythos, returned.
Because the body he had descended into was collapsing.
The moment he came to his senses.
Truly the Saintess of the Sun God?
He first surveyed the situation he was in.
Zzzing―. Fwoosh!
Thousands of pillars of fire pierced the body that filled the sky.
Most of the body remained in the Other Realm, but because there were so many pillars of fire, some directly struck the parts that had appeared in the Material Plane.
Uoooooooo―
Mynoghra screamed.
He had never imagined that even this vast, cosmos-like body could feel pain……
A searing sensation and terrible agony ran through his entire body.
Because a vicious Divine Power had burrowed into him, riding the heat of the sun.
That must be why my consciousness woke up.
As the price of gaining power, a Black Mage's sense of self grew dull.
In exchange for imitating the Foreign God's instincts and principles of action, he lost his original self.
The reason such a being had regained his sense of self was simple.
I don't want to die.
Namely, survival instinct.
The last remnant of humanity left in the dying body of a Foreign God.
It must have been the will to live that raised his consciousness.
“Tenacious.”
Then the small woman looked at him and left a single remark.
Mynoghra's consciousness grew clearer and clearer, and he could clearly perceive her voice.
Monstrous bitch-.
Mynoghra said something to her, but the sound that came out of his mouth was only the Foreign God's meaningless cry.
Uoooooooo.
And of all things, the Saintess flew into a rage at that.
“Are you trying to insult me?”
The Saintess tilted her head to one side and pointed a finger at him.
The momentum shifted.
I'm already at a disadvantage in the matchup-.
And in the middle of that, the Saintess's power had grown even stronger?
They say I'll revive in the Major Shareholder's embrace even if I die, but……
Perhaps because the last remnant of his consciousness had awakened?
The thought of being revived only felt more frightening to Mynoghra.
The price is that my soul gets worn down, isn't it?
The Major Shareholder's resurrection had a clear side effect.
Unless one possessed a sublime mental strength, one gradually lost oneself……
N-no, I don't want that!
Mynoghra had already lost a considerable part of himself by descending as a Foreign God.
Even so, his survival instinct remained and tried to protect that last remnant of consciousness.
Ka-ka-ka-ka-rumble―.
The Foreign God twisted its body.
It was a struggle to survive.
At that movement, the sky warped grotesquely as if bent.
Moreover, he manipulated his body, which crossed between the Material Plane and the Other Realm, more cleverly and attacked the Saintess.
Even so, it was futile.
The Saintess was strong.
And by a vast margin.
“The wrath of the Sun God burns all and purifies the world-.”
At the reverent prayer, a small sun rose around the Saintess.
Until now, the Saintess had been trying to find the body that had manifested in the Material Plane.
But she stopped doing that.
“I need only burn it all.”
Fwoooosh―.
Scorching heat filled the Labyrinth.
H-hot!
Mynoghra was in agony.
It was a body bound by the restriction that at least part of it must exist in the Material Plane.
Yet that sun was truly affecting the whole of Labyrinth Floor 10.
“I have lived for hundreds of years killing devils like you. Do you think merely hiding your body will do?”
The Saintess asked the Foreign God, which was like a vast sky.
“Die quickly. I have to go and kill that man.”
The Saintess's power seemed to command nature.
It was literally a flame, the intensity of the sun.
The small sun began to rise high into the sky.
Just then.
“This despicable trick again!!!”
Thud-.
A black cube formed around the Saintess.
Isolation again!
It was plainly a [Black Mage] skill, but the one the Saintess was enraged at was Holy Son Erik.
Thanks to his returned consciousness, Mynoghra grasped the situation too.
Why does that fellow keep helping me?
He had assumed the Holy Son of the Astia Religious Order and the Saintess of Lu-Solace would join forces and execute him……
But in reality, it looked as though the Holy Son was stepping forward to obstruct the Saintess.
“Aah-. That coward!!!”
Mynoghra felt Holy Son Erik was like a savior.
And that savior said.
“Nameless One, if you want to find yourself again, stop her.”
A heavy, low voice settled down.
With those words as his last, Holy Son Erik left Floor 10 and disappeared.
Me, who has neither name nor memory……
Mynoghra realized the meaning of those words.
The things he had lost in the descent.
Thinking about it now, he couldn't even remember why he had descended.
Only a faint feeling remained, that he had been terribly happy then.
Finding myself.
Uoooooooo―.
A sense of purpose bloomed within his survival instinct.
The vast cosmos fell upon the small sun.
***
Erik crossed over to Floor 11.
Labyrinth Floor 11 was a place made up of four crude rocky mountains.
The monsters were nothing special.
Only something resembling rocks kept coming out.
Instead, there were several veins where Magic Ore lay dormant, so it was a popular place for every force.
“That one's name was erased too.”
Erik met his party there.
Then he shared the current situation.
[■■■■ / Lv. 1]
[Black Mage]
A Possessor with a Level 1 Black Mage class.
He was similar to the one he had met earlier in the Kitsune and Tanuki incident.
“Boss, then……”
“It means there are more and more pitiful fellows.”
Erik and Jackson grasped the seriousness of the situation.
The nameless Possessor he had kept in the Divine Temple.
While Erik was away training, he had been looked after by the World Tree.
As a result, he had regained his sense of self and begun to function as a person.
“If that Foreign God is saved too, will its body change like an elf's?”
“Let's hope not……”
The nameless Possessor now had a name.
And the World Tree had given him the name Il-a, meaning first child.
[The first child born in your Divine Temple!!!]
Not every elf came about that way, right?
The World Tree's kin were the elves.
He did not want to think that such beings had been born from the rehabilitation of Black Mages who had lost their sense of self.
Recalling that incident, Erik's head throbbed.
At a good moment.
“My, these guys sure saved up thriftily.”
Jang Du-sik brought good news.
It meant they had finished sorting the resources the Black Mages on Floor 11 had hoarded.
“With a Magic Stone mine on Floor 11, the sum should be quite considerable.”
Erik held out a hand and stored the Magic Stones piled up like mountains in his [Inventory].
A fresh smile formed at the corner of his mouth.
In step with that mood, a dazzling radiance rose on its own.
He had been conflicted for a moment, but seeing the heaps of Magic Stones cheered him up.
“Those Black Mage bastards bring in money too, so wouldn't it be good to keep working them as laborers?”
Jang Du-sik pointed the tip of his club at the captured Black Mages.
Erik then brought a knuckle down on his head.
Kwaang―!!!
“Ugk.”
And said―
“Du-sik, no matter how much money they bring in, you must never leave bastards like those alive.”
Even a weak Black Mage having formed at least a single row meant he had offered more than 100 sacrifices.
“The only deal to make with such people is one premised on killing them painlessly.”
Honestly, Erik didn't even want to exchange words with bastards like those.
So he checked the results of Jackson's interrogation first.
“So the Black Mage Group's executives carry out terror attacks outside, while the descended Floor Masters and Foreign Gods and the like clear and guard the Labyrinth.”
It was just past one day outside, and the Labyrinth's entrance was closed.
“Boss, we thinned them out as much as we could, but there seem to be quite a few left outside.”
Erik frowned.
During his training period, he had destroyed well over ten Black Mage Group branch offices.
And he had caught and killed Black Mages numbering in the tens of thousands.
Even so, there seemed to be many collaborators outside.
“They're not even weeds, so where do they keep coming from?”
“Wasn't it the same on Earth? From drugs to murder and kidnapping, crime doesn't disappear just because you punish it, does it?”
“That's true.”
Even so, he couldn't help being angry.
“Not even the Garcian Kingdom, but so many attached to the Allied Nations side.”
The nation furthest from the Empire.
That was why Erik's hand couldn't reach it.
That terror attacks were occurring there, of all places, was no small worry.
Noona will handle it well, won't she?
Deep down, Erik tried to trust Gilman Noona's political skill and ability to read a situation.
Erik was in the Labyrinth and his forces were rooted in the Empire, so there was nothing in particular he could do.
Seeing Kim Su-ho and Yoon Hye-ji moving around, they must have some capacity left.
With the situation settled, Jackson continued with the next report.
“Ah, Boss. And I think we've found the particular group you mentioned.”
He pointed to a Black Mage and said that the man belonged to a bizarre guild called Zhonghua Yitong.
At those words, Erik's face twisted like a fiend's.
“Those bastards are attached to Black Mages?”
“N-no, it doesn't seem so. They say about 30% belong to the Black Mage Group, and all the rest belong to the Adventurer's Guild.”
Erik thought it over carefully.
Those bastards.
Continental Online's eternal second-place guild, [Zhonghua Yitong].
Their goal was to realize a unified China within the game.
In other words, they harbored the dream of turning Continental Online into something like China.
Could the Adventurer King's goal be……?
Erik considered why more than half of them had attached themselves to the Adventurer's Guild.
It felt as though the situation was taking an ominous turn.
“There aren't one or two Possessors but hundreds of thousands, so would it really become that much of a problem?”
Because Erik showed such a grave look, Jackson in turn showed his puzzlement.
Erik twisted his lips and gave him the answer.
“It means the empty dream of finding the Adventurer King's legacy might turn into a realistic, concrete direction called continental unification.”
So.
“We go up for now.”
In the Labyrinth, answers.
The higher you climb, the easier they are to find.
“What shall we do with these ones?”
Before leaving Floor 11.
Jackson asked about disposing of the captured Black Mages.
Erik then asked what kind of obvious question that was and raised his Divine Power.
Fwoooosh―.
The Black Mages burned away, and hazy smoke rose into the sky.
Leaving that behind, Erik's party headed to the next floor.
***
“Oh Lord!!! The Community function is back!”
While they were climbing the Labyrinth.
Nishida Ryo shouted in joy.
“It seems the Black Mages who died earlier were the ones plastering the Community with spam posts!!!”
Nishida proudly announced the fact he had uncovered.
It was plainly good news.
“How did you recognize that right away?”
“Ah, I had so much to brag about but couldn't use the Community, so I was itching and checked it every single day!”
Erik nodded, thinking that guy was as consistent as ever.
Then Nishida and the other Possessors showed a strange reaction at the same time.
“Wow, crazy!”
“They're hitting us with promotion first thing?”
Erik asked for the details, and a detailed explanation came back.
[Possessors! Come to the Empire!]
[Earthtown, where 30,000 Possessors live!
Come to the continent's utopia where Possessors' freedom is guaranteed.
Earthtown's special benefits!
1. Residential-commercial apartments provided.
2. Enjoy the nostalgia of Earth together with 30,000 Possessors.
3. Forget rocket delivery! There's even an Auction House delivery system that sends goods to your [Status Window] the moment you buy!
A dream city where anyone can erase the penalties of Divine Power just by completing the Believer contract!
The dream of owning your own home, supported free of charge!
On top of that, overwhelming convenience!
*This promotion runs only until the last day of next month.]
Earthtown's administrator, Kang Seo-hyun.
It meant she was doing an enormous amount of good work.
“To think they'd hit us with promotion first……”
Seeing the city developing on its own, he had no worries.
Even so, this was a result beyond that.
A promotional piece that contained no exaggeration and wrote only 100% truth.
It's a good advertisement.
In fact, low-rise residential-commercial apartments had gone up in Earthtown.
It was also true that Possessors living together had been made to feel the nostalgia of various regions.
The Auction House delivery system is far better than rocket delivery, though.
When you bought an item at the [Auction House], it was immediately moved to your [Inventory].
It was a truly cheat-like delivery speed.
The photos are well taken too.
The relatable photo materials added here and there made it look like an isekai version of a promotional brochure for a happy new town.
Erik nodded in satisfaction.
Then a question came.
“B-but, didn't they take city photos, oddly more like this world than the modern world?”
“The Possessors have lived here for years, so that would look more natural to them.”
Kang Seo-hyun had lived as a southern noble of the Empire.
“So her field of view is wider.”
Trading one chat after another, they climbed the Labyrinth for a good while.
Floor 12, Floor 13, Floor 14.
Places where they only had to clear appeared over and over.
Has the Saintess stopped following too?
She was a Saintess who had already cleared the Labyrinth up to Floor 30.
She could follow straight up without even clearing the Floor Masters, yet there was no sign of her so far.
Maybe that Cthulhu fellow is doing better than expected, but……
Not only the Saintess, but no force met them on the new floors either.
Naturally, floors one merely passed through were unpopular.
“Collect the rewards diligently.”
Even so, the Floor Master clears continued.
The Floor Master rewards Jang Du-sik and Jackson obtained were [Black Boxes].
The Possessors also got a few [Black Boxes] with low opening counts.
While they were pressing on with the clears at that unstoppable pace.
―Ten humans from the Empire, welcome to Labyrinth Floor 17.
They arrived at the floor that had the notorious name "Newbie Slicer" in the game.
Kuooooooooo―.
It was land where Drakes, a subspecies of the Earth Dragon, lived.
They had strong defense and were beings who spammed [Patterns] that made proper use of the Labyrinth's power.
“The problem is the Floor Master. Damage only goes in if you attack the belly instead of the armor.”
Erik told the Possessors the proper clear method.
“To flip over that body, you can't do it like in the game.”
It was a new clear method Erik had researched with Riferoze and adapted to suit this world.
“I-is that how it works?”
“Right. Since it's much bigger, you just dig in under the belly and pour in the damage.”
That, too, was a method far easier than in the game.
In truth, it's closer to the locals' clear method.
After laying out the clear method, Erik looked at the Floor Master's room.
Three minutes had passed since the believers went in.
It was the longest so far.
This is what the real middle floors are.
Only by passing this point could they meet the sweet rewards.
Floor 18, beyond Floor 17.
The battlefield where guild wars had raged most fiercely.
It was a place where rare monsters from which [Skill Points] and [Stat Points] could be farmed lurked.
For the locals, they were items that raised the size of one's power and sharpened one's senses.
What happens to me if I consume them?
Erik felt real anticipation.
How would they apply to himself, caught between locals and Possessors?
Rrrrrumble-.
The moment Erik finished the thought.
The clear of the Floor Master Needle Drake ended.
A battle of about four minutes.
The believers who came out of it were drenched in blood.
“Good work, everyone.”
They seemed to have taken the tactic of whittling down their bodies to cut the clear time.
It was possible only because they did not fear death.
“Now if Jackson and Du-sik clear it too-.”
Just then.
―Ten humans from the Empire, the Saintess of Lu-Solace. Welcome to Labyrinth Floor 17.
Fwooo-.
Along with a fierce heat, the Labyrinth's announcement rang out.
If Du-sik and Jackson, and even Bel and Pe, are going to clear it-.
Erik planned to clash with the Saintess here once.
“Hey, will you be all right?”
“Don't worry. I'll just say a light hello and come back.”