Chapter 169
Chapter 169: Who Are You? (1)
“No, how am I supposed to break this?”
Santo Akiko, the insect-type Floor Master of Floor 63, was at a loss.
“There's no answer even with a Possessor's knowledge?”
“I can't find a way to break the Invincibility Skill.”
The Black Mages who had descended as Floor Masters had run into a roadblock.
“They say overcoming yourself is the hardest thing of all, but…….”
The old saying was not wrong in the least.
Even with the knowledge of Santo Akiko, who had run at the top of the rankings in Continental Online, overcoming herself was an extraordinarily difficult task.
The same went for the other Floor Masters who had heard her strategy.
“To think you can only deal damage by bursting every small spore that has formed on the body.”
Bodies dozens of meters tall.
Monsters that fired wide-area instant-kill beams were unable to do anything about themselves.
It was because the doppelgänger of themselves that appeared as the trial was far too powerful.
“Let's keep repeating it for now. Some kind of answer might come out.”
The Trial Corridor.
It was hidden in a secluded corner of Floor 25.
A dome-shaped building, large enough for two Floor Masters to face each other and fight.
“Even with Skills, there's no answer?”
“Yes, Black Mage Skills aren't good at single-target damage to begin with.”
A being who had descended as a Floor Master but could even handle a Possessor's Status Window.
That was Santo Akiko.
Even she could not overcome herself.
The floor clears were going smoothly, but…….
She had never imagined she would be blocked at a mere Floor 25, and moreover not by a Floor Master clear, but by the Trial Corridor.
Then should they skip it?
That would be insane too.
If they went on to the next floor without passing through here, they would lose their eligibility to participate.
It meant they would be unable to use the Corridor even when they entered the Labyrinth next time.
Bzzzzzzz-.
Santo Akiko squeezed her eyes shut.
Thousands of compound eyes closed, and her giant wings vibrated at tremendous speed as if airing her anxiety.
“Everyone has a plausible plan, but in reality different results tend to show up, they say.”
Was it because they had cleared the Labyrinth together as Floor Masters?
A huge, muscular giant patted the insect's back.
He had recognized her feelings.
“……Good words.”
“Wasn't that something Director Thomas used to say?”
“Ah, that poor man.”
Thomas had left behind so many things in the company.
Thomas had been captured, but his legacy lived on.
During the years trapped in the Labyrinth, countless Black Mages had been helped by what Thomas left behind.
And now that such a Thomas was gone.
“It's no wonder Representative Ma fell apart.”
“Yes…….”
Makia had descended as Hades, who was said to possess godhood.
She was half out of her mind.
They did not know how she would be once she got outside.
“She might shake off Mongma and raid the Astia Religious Order alone, saying she'll find Thomas.”
“That won't happen.”
Representative Ma was someone who knew the weight of the title of Representative.
Santo Akiko believed in her.
If they produced results here, it would certainly become her strength.
“Let's try a little harder so the Representative can keep hold of her mind!”
Once more, the huge Floor Masters challenged the Corridor.
After a few repetitions, they realized something.
“Summons being met with summons and the instant-kill patterns being spammed are a problem in themselves, but…….”
What is a raid, originally?
A raid is clearing a Floor Master by deriving an efficient strategy from a combination of various Classes.
Those who had descended as Floor Masters realized that they could not clear themselves.
“When they go into an invincible state to refill their HP, the basic move is to use a Skill that inflicts a recovery-weakening penalty, you know?”
A strategy is a kind of law.
Either a Possessor's [Skill].
Or, in the locals' way, forcing something like a magic circle or the lingering echo of Aura into the wound to disrupt recovery.
“……Which means we don't have that kind of power.”
“That's right.”
“What if the Adventurers we sent ahead steal the new floor's clearance from us?”
Their worries grew.
Originally, they had assumed they would finish a mere Corridor in no time, so they had sent the Adventurer's Guild up first.
Yet they were still stuck like this.
“Don't worry about that. They won't be able to clear Floor 33 in one go because they don't know the strategy.”
In the first place, even that prince of the Empire had taken a long time just to clear Floor 32.
Since one had to make a map in a vast field, judge the various hazards, and then find the Floor Master, the limits were clear for a mere human body.
“There were quite a few Adventurers, so their aim is probably to collect items through repeat clears.”
The Labyrinth had changed.
Floor Masters respawned right away.
Which meant it had become easier to collect [Set Items], the Floor Master clear rewards, from now on.
“Besides, they aren't so stupid as to defy us after seeing our power, are they?”
“True enough.”
The Floor Masters looked at one another and nodded.
“More importantly, what was that yellow Possessor who suddenly showed up earlier?”
“A scout sent by the Empire, something like that, perhaps?”
Just then.
―Five humans of the Demon Realm, nine humans of the Empire. Welcome to Floor 25.
The Labyrinth announced the intrusion of uninvited guests.
At once, the Floor Masters in the Corridor shifted position.
“Holy Son, Erik. It must be that bastard.”
The appearance of the top-priority target for purging.
The one the Major Shareholder had ordered them to kill by any means necessary.
He had walked into them on his own feet.
―Ep. 35 Who Are You?
“Gasp!”
“Th-that's the guy!!! The one who hit me with the instant-kill beam!”
“Grr!!”
The Possessors had followed Erik over to Floor 25.
Right after, they were stunned at the sight spread before their eyes.
Monsters the size of landmarks were thumping closer.
“O God, grant me my revenge!!!”
Nishida Ryo, who had come back once Erik reached Floor 25.
He tried begging God for revenge.
But Erik did not budge.
“Insects and giants in harmony, how interesting.”
Erik smacked his lips, looking at the Floor Masters from Floor 60 and above.
Weren't the beings who dropped the items known as end-game specs in the game showing up on Floor 25 on their own?
“Deathwing, it's even more disgusting now that it's grown huge.”
An insect-shaped monster with thousands of giant compound eyes, a body resembling a praying mantis, and enormous wings buzzing behind its back.
The Floor 63 Floor Master, Deathwing.
“Hey, what's that mass of muscle?”
A gray giant molded out of overwhelming muscle.
It was the master of Floor 30 that had appeared in the earlier Demon Realm, the one who commanded Rudrick's Knight.
A being who wielded Giant Soldiers and was called the King of Giants.
“That's Rudrick, the Floor 60 Floor Master.”
It was quite a familiar name in this world.
At present, the most useful gear was the [Rudrick's Giant Soldier Set] or the [Rudrick's Knight Set] items.
“It seems slapdash, yet there's an unexpected connection.”
Erik narrowed his eyes.
Every Floor Master except Rudrick of Floor 60 was not in human form.
The beings from Floor 61 onward had no connection to the floors below.
In other words, it meant the floors ahead might be connected to insects like those.
“There are many others besides.”
Erik looked at the remaining three Floor Masters.
The Floor 62 Floor Master, the Magic Armor Bug.
A peculiar bug that wore a hard exterior and spammed magic power.
The Floor 64 Floor Master, the Dark Poison Bug.
A vicious bug that wielded the power of darkness and poison and turned the field into a poison zone.
The Floor 65 Floor Master, the Explosion Bug.
A bug that wielded explosive power and summoned countless minions to trouble the users.
“Aren't they just bug bastards in the end?”
“Right, you can think of them as extremely big bugs.”
Though he said so, Erik's expression was serious.
What if those bastards form an alliance?
Wielding the power of instant kill was basic, and they spammed all kinds of Arts to suit each Floor Master's unique concept.
The insect-type Floor Masters were particularly high in difficulty.
It's because they pull out an enormous number of summons.
On top of that, five of them were bunched together as one, so the difficulty was nearly impossible to even estimate.
But that was fine.
“For catching bugs, nothing beats fire.”
Because the Saintess would fight in their place.
Rumble-.
The vast field, Floor 25, was almost as large as a nation.
Yet the ground had begun to shake as if the Floor Masters had already come right up in front of them.
“Park Chang-ho, Kang Pung-ho, Cha Ye-rin, Yoo Han-na.”
Erik called out four Possessors.
“You all know at least the basic clearing strategy, right?”
The four of them blinked wide-eyed, then nodded.
Then Erik continued at leisure.
What he said was:
“When you apply damage reduction or disrupt regeneration, tell the Saintess to plant Divine Power. Even in an invincible state, the recovery power takes damage.”
They were Floor Masters that originally had to be handled with attribute attacks from [Skills].
But reality was different.
“Most of it will be settled with Divine Power.”
Erik's words continued up to this point.
Then Nishida Ryo shot up his hand and asked.
“Um, w-why not me?”
“Didn't you say the highest floor you cleared was 44?”
Nishida Ryo.
A being who had been cursed in the flesh and could not press a keyboard and mouse.
And even that, having gotten a carry, he had only climbed to Floor 44.
“I'll open a path to the Divine Temple over there, so everyone tells the Saintess the clearing strategy.”
The brains of five Possessors and the power of the Saintess of Lu-Solace.
As Erik saw it, this seemed sufficient.
“Everyone, hide well.”
Erik hid the Possessors and sent the two children back to the Divine Temple.
From here on, he could not guarantee Bel and Pe's safety.
―Five humans of the Demon Realm, ten humans of the Empire, the Saintess of Lu-Solace. Welcome to Floor 25.
Wasn't this, no less, the battlefield of the Saintess and the Floor Masters?
Erik looked at the Saintess who had appeared at the floor entrance.
She's grown stronger.
The Saintess's power had grown even more intense.
It had gone beyond flames and blazed like lava.
***
The Saintess of Lu-Solace.
Right after arriving on Floor 25, she scanned the energy around her.
The first thing she saw was Erik, who had drawn out his six wings and soared high into the sky.
“Saintess, you're late.”
At those words, the Saintess frowned.
“Running about like a rat and now trying to provoke me again?”
Saying so, the Saintess forged flames into the shape of a long spear.
It was a spear made in an instant, yet its power was as fierce as a Sacred Spear refined over years in a sanctuary.
Squeeze.
The Saintess gripped the spear and took aim at Erik.
The moment she was about to hurl the spear.
Boom―!
She felt the ground shake, and a strange monster appeared behind Erik.
Vwooooooom.
It was an eerie sound of beating wings.
Beneath the wings was the head of an insect with thousands of eyeballs.
Yet its size was bigger than any dragon.
“Holy Son Erik, just what have you made?”
When the Saintess asked Erik, he shrugged as if exasperated.
“It's a calamity you created, so how long do you plan to blame me?”
“What we created is-.”
“That's one of Makia Jangche's masterpieces.”
And-.
“One of the culprits who killed your brother Ray Solace.”
In the short span of these few words, Erik had been surrounded.
The Black Mage Group's Clear Squad, five Floor Masters from Floor 60 and above, had joined forces to kill one man.
Whoom-. Bang!
The Saintess hurled the spear.
Its direction was Deathwing, the insect-type Floor Master closest to Erik.
Skreeeek-.
The insect-shaped Floor Master, pierced by the spear, let out an eerie sneer and gained altitude.
“It took that power and suffered no damage at all?”
The Saintess was flustered.
Then Erik smiled.
“There's a separate way to deal with them.”
“Holy Son Erik, do you know that way?”
Then Erik pointed behind the Saintess.
The air split open, and a person of an unusual race with bright yellow skin appeared.
“Who are these people, and why are you holding that earring?”
The Saintess looked at Erik with a bewildered face.
Not again?
That was the feeling.
After being tricked several times, it seemed she had even developed a sense for it.
“They'll tell you the clearing strategy.”
Flash!
Saying so, Erik vanished with the light that surged from the earring.
“You madman-.”
The Saintess ground her teeth with a crunch.
Before her were five Floor Masters of overwhelming size.
Behind her was a yellow human with wide, blinking eyes.
“I sense an alien aura. A Possessor?”
When the Saintess asked the yellow human, he nodded.
“You're completely unmoved by the sight of me?”
The Saintess was a Latin beauty.
And a peerless one at that.
She was an enchanting woman with bronze skin and passionate curves that stood out.
Do these people feel nothing at all about me?
Yet a man, and what appeared to be a Possessor at that, had not even blushed at the sight of her and merely lowered his head slightly as if unmoved.
“Insolent.”
Whoosh-.
Thinking it was one of Erik's tricks, the Saintess burned the Possessor.
The Empire's Holy Son and the Saintess of Lu-Solace have joined forces!!!
Then a huge giant shouted as if roaring.
It was the Black Mage who had descended as Rudrick.
The Saintess was in a somewhat unjust position, but she was not a human who had fallen so low as to converse with such trash.
And so-.
Whoom-. Ting!
She hurled another spear of flame.
But the spear vanished the moment it touched the giant's skin.
Hah!! What do you mean to do with a mere human body?
The giant Rudrick scoffed at the Saintess with all he had.
Die.
Then the giant aimed a finger at the Saintess.
Kaboooom―!!!
A giant beam surged from the giant's fingertip and shattered the ground.
At its end was the Saintess, but.
Whoosh-.
The Saintess changed her body into flame and avoided the power.
“Did you think a Black Mage like you became something just because you gained power?”
The Saintess drew out the power of the sun.
The sunlight that rose over Floor 25 tried to drive back the Floor Masters' power, but-.
Vwoooooooom-.
As the huge insect, emitting an eerie buzz, swung its arm, the sun split in half.
“The power of Lu-Solace……?”
Looking closely, a gray film covered the scythe-shaped arm.
It was the Floor Master power called the Invincibility Skill.
The Saintess stopped for a moment, flustered.
Then a strange voice came from behind her.
“Th-that……. That's not how you do it.”
The Saintess turned her head with wide eyes.
“Y-you certainly are!”
Wasn't it the one she had burned to death a moment ago, back with his original appearance restored?
“W-who are you?”