Chapter 172
Chapter 172: The Real And The Fake (1)
“You……. What in the world are you?”
Park Ji-hun's eyes went wide with astonishment. At that, Erik asked him a question.
“What do I look like to you?”
The holographic light stopped. The effect of the [Possessor Appearance Change Ticket] had come to an end. And so, Erik's true form was revealed.
“Y-you're!”
Park Ji-hun could only express his shock over and over. Erik smirked and took a bold step toward Park Ji-hun.
“Even when I was startled during my Park Ji-hun days, I never made a foolish face like yours.”
Park Ji-hun looked somewhat bizarre. His eyes had gone round like Jang Du-sik's, and his mouth hung open slack-jawed like a frightened Nishida Ryo's.
“Refrain from such unsightly displays while wearing my appearance.”
Once Erik finished speaking, Park Ji-hun's face returned to its expressionless state. It was as if he'd instantly regained his composure, as though nothing had happened at all.
“Are you saying you've truly established your own identity?”
The Nameless One, in the form of Park Ji-hun, posed the question. Once the effect of the [Possessor Appearance Change Ticket] ended, the Erik that emerged looked exactly as he always did.
“The 15 years I lived as Erik held more density than the 30 years Park Ji-hun lived.”
Erik shrugged his shoulders. Getting startled over something this trivial? That was the feeling he had.
“E-even so, to just tear it up without any certainty!!!”
Once again, Park Ji-hun's expressionless mask cracked. He must be quite shocked, huh? Erik wore a sardonic smile.
A guy who's obsessed with appearances.
No matter how much he thought about it, he still couldn't figure out what this thing's true nature was.
“You appeared in the form of Park Ji-hun, but you are not Park Ji-hun. Much less are you me.”
Erik took another bold step toward Park Ji-hun. And then he asked.
“Who are you?”
Erik had expected a long pause before an answer came. But the thing wearing Park Ji-hun's form gave its answer immediately, contrary to expectation.
“I do not know myself.”
He did not know himself. He had no name, and he didn't know what he'd done or how he'd lived. He'd simply come to his senses deep within the Labyrinth, and in those depths, he had lived as the king of beings similar to himself.
“In the floor where the Nameless dwell, there is only one form of entertainment.”
A mirror that could show the sights of the world. The Nameless lived their lives observing the surface where Erik dwelled, through that mirror.
“Even watching it, I couldn't tell who we were.” “Unlike you, I know myself quite well.”
Erik stepped forward until he was right in front of Park Ji-hun's face. His towering frame, over two meters tall, loomed over the East Asian man.
“Right, so what else are you curious about?” “You said you live deep in the Labyrinth? Which floor do you live on?”
The Nameless One tilted his head. Hmm…….
“I don't know precisely. All I can recall is that it's an extremely deep and dark place, and that on the way up, I passed through a floor filled with divinity.” “Deeper than the 66th floor.”
Even from that vague answer, Erik managed to extract useful information.
Divinity has never appeared up to the 65th floor before.
It was clear that there existed a place deeper than the topmost floor within the game. What was contained in the Nameless One's words was rather good information.
- There exists something beyond the 66th floor of the Labyrinth.
- Deeper than the 66th floor, there exists a floor filled with divinity.
- Below the floor of divinity lies an extremely deep and dark floor—the kingdom of the Nameless.
Erik was pleased that the Nameless One's attitude had changed. At the start, the being had kept poking at him with words, but right after the [Appearance Change Ticket]'s effect ended, he'd turned remarkably friendly.
“Is that so? I only ever said I don't know…….”
Unlike the pleased Erik, the Nameless One took a step back with a sour look on his face. At that, Erik took another bold step forward.
“C-can you stop doing that?” “Does it make you uncomfortable?”
Park Ji-hun shook his head side to side.
“Erik, I understand well that you use that overwhelming build of yours to press down on your opponents this way. J-just don't do it to me.” “Why not?”
“It's uncomfortable being on the receiving end of something I've only ever watched happen to others.”
Erik obligingly took a step back. Then he drew out his sword.
“W-wait, that's not what I meant, I wasn't asking you to fight.” “There's something I'm curious about. Are you strong?”
As far as Erik knew, this world operated according to a single, lofty logic. Everything, without exception, comes down to power.
The requirements for founding a nation are the same way.
What is a nation, fundamentally? A nation is something that only comes into being when there are citizens, territory, and sovereignty. But in this world, it was different. A nation is a place where whoever holds the power to defend it exists as its master.
“Calling yourself the king of the Nameless, you must hold power to match, no?”
When Erik asked this, the Nameless One, in Park Ji-hun's form, nodded.
“Hmm, I suppose I should regard you as truly belonging to this world.”
Following the logic of power. It was a brutal way of putting it, but it was the absolute rule of this world that held without exception.
“Are you different?” “Not necessarily. Hmm, honestly, I'm not so sure myself.”
The Nameless One shrugged.
“I feel like I might have been strong, no wait, I was strong once.”
He had been strong, yet he had been weak.
“Erik, know this much at least. You don't necessarily have to follow the logic of power.”
Something too rigid is bound to snap. You need to know how to bend just the right amount, too. With those final words, Park Ji-hun's body scattered like dust.
Shhhhh—.
“Let's meet again someday.”
Amid the scattering dust, a black mass appeared. It soon seeped into the pure white floor of the Trial Corridor and vanished. And then, a voice spoke.
—Human, the trial has ended.
—You have been granted the power to surpass your limits and advance to greater heights.
—Ep. 36: The Real and the Fake
“The voice of the Labyrinth, huh—.”
After finishing the trial. Erik sank into deep thought. The Labyrinth had originally carried a strong sense of mystery, but the Labyrinth of now had turned into something oddly aggravating.
It sets up a match and then just blasts out an announcement to the whole map about who's arrived.
Its intentions were far too malicious.
“Still, I can't bring myself to hate it entirely.”
But now, having finished this Trial Corridor, Erik found the Labyrinth's voice pleasant to hear once again.
[Limit Break]
Because the new power he'd gained from this was truly tremendous.
I thought my limit was being able to see 5th Tier…….
The Trial Corridor had opened up a new possibility for Erik. And it was a tremendous possibility, at that.
Deathwing, Rudrick, and on top of that, the Saintess of Lu-Solace.
With the power Erik currently held, the level of these enemies was simply too immense. The condition to unlock 5th Tier was clearing the 30th floor, which made overcoming this all the more difficult.
But—.
Flash—!
[You have obtained a Stat.]
Erik had gained a new possibility. Just like the Possessors, he had obtained [Stats].
Though mine seem to be a bit different…….
Erik's stats were strange.
[Sun: 0]
[Moon: 0(+999)]
[Earth: 0(+999)]
[Gem: 0]
[Darkness: 0]
[Available Stat Points: 10]
It felt as though the world's symbols had been gathered together and turned into stats. Erik focused his consciousness and examined the Moon and Earth stats in detail.
Then.
Flash—!
[The Moon's Companion favors you immensely. +999 Moon Stat is added.]
[The Earth Mother Goddess shows you the utmost faith and love. +999 Earth Stat is added.]
The meaning was clear.
The Emperor isn't actually into men, right?
The Moon's Companion referred to the Emperor. The favor of the Earth Mother Goddess, the World Tree, made sense, but hearing that the Emperor favored him to the same degree left him feeling uneasy.
The Sun must refer to Lu-Solace, and the Gem is probably the Almanism Church. But…….
The rest were all simple and intuitive in form, but there was one problem.
Darkness?
Black Mages, the darkness of the Labyrinth, and so on. The things that darkness symbolized weren't positive in meaning. And yet darkness existed as a stat.
I don't quite understand it, but there'll probably be a use for it someday.
Darkness might not necessarily carry a bad meaning.
The place where the Nameless One lives is connected to darkness too.
In the end, the answer was simple. He'd find the answer as he continued climbing the Labyrinth. To do that, he needed to step out of the Trial Corridor and sort out the problems on the outside.
The battlefield of the five Floor Masters and the Saintess. His intention was to intervene there.
“The Saintess should be about at her limit by now.”
Erik had left instructions to drain the Saintess's strength as much as possible. By now, wouldn't she be gasping for breath?
And if Erik showed up at that moment and casually lent her a hand?
The Sun stat should get a boost too.
There was no one else who could stand in for Lu-Solace besides the Saintess. If he made good use of her, it would prove useful not just for the [Sun] stat, but for the overall war effort as well.
Rumble—.
Erik approached the wall of the corridor. Then the pure white wall split open.
And the sight that appeared before him—.
“H-hey, bro!!! Why'd it take you so long? And why weren't you answering your calls!!!”
Jang Du-sik, drenched head to toe in blood, was running around in front of the corridor.
And further off in the distance, Jackson could be seen struggling desperately against two Floor Masters, having drawn out his [Guardian's Barrier].
“Du-sik, what's going on?”
Erik checked the [Guild Chat] first. Since there had been no contact at all, he'd simply assumed nothing was wrong……
Did the guild system just stop working during my trial?
Erik narrowed his eyes as he looked at the countless messages piled up in the guild chat.
Scroll—.
[Nishida Ryo: My God!!!! The Saintess has gone completely silent.]
[Kang Pung-ho: This is bad!!! The Floor Masters keep chasing after us!!!]
[Park Chang-ho: I collected all the items as instructed, but some of them were Bind-on-Acquire, so I couldn't touch them!!!]
There had been all sorts of problems.
The Saintess isn't one to underestimate either.
***
Fwoooosh—.
A pale, hazy heat drifted somewhere on the 25th floor. The Saintess had transformed into flame to protect herself. She had entered a kind of invincible state.
[231,103]
The situation where the power gained from the restriction no longer increased. On top of that, she had already faced three Floor Masters entirely on her own.
Do you think I'll keep being dragged around by you forever?
In her flame state, the Saintess looked down upon Erik's party. Quite some time had passed since Erik entered the Trial Corridor, and the Possessors were no longer managing to resurrect.
Jang Du-sik and Jackson, was it?
The two remaining subordinates were doing their best, but in the end, even those two wouldn't be able to handle the Floor Masters.
What does he plan to do if I do this?
The flames that made up the Saintess flickered.
It was a sneer. She watched the battlefield of Jang Du-sik and Jackson with immense satisfaction.
Just you wait, damn bastard, once you finish that trial.
This time, the Saintess intended to strike back at Erik from behind. Thinking of everything she'd suffered at his hands, she felt like she could grind her own teeth to dust and it still wouldn't be enough.
Starting with that foreign god bastard…….
Every single thing Erik had dumped on her had been tricky and powerful. They were monsters that not only drained an enormous amount of her power, but deepened her mental exhaustion as well. In particular, the unpleasant sensation she'd felt when her body was dragged into another world still left the Saintess in a foul mood.
You should suffer a bit too.
The Saintess finished preparing to unleash her flame power at any moment.
And she watched for an opening on the battlefield below……
W-why?
The battlefield unfolding around the Trial Corridor. The sight was strange, bordering on bizarre.
“Damn it!!!”
Jang Du-sik and Jackson were leading the Floor Masters around. The thug-like man would smash apart the power of instant death with ghostly club strikes, then instantly escape the spot with a burst of magical divine power.
And in the spot Jang Du-sik left behind, Guardian Knight Jackson would appear and deploy an overwhelming barrier, taking on the aggro of the Floor Masters single-handedly.
They're moving like machines.
The Saintess was stunned by the two men's movements. Two humans, facing off against those massive monsters?
And doing so without even a hint of fatigue, stalling for time for quite a while.
Should I intervene now?
The Saintess wavered.
No, I should properly stab that bastard Erik in the back once he emerges.
Just then, the Trial Corridor split open, and Erik appeared, wielding a massive and radiant glow.
Looking at him, the Saintess felt a strange energy.
Real fire power?
A presence similar to the flame of the Sun God felt within Lu-Solace's temple was emanating from Erik. Its scale was faint, but it was undeniably the same power.
What trick is this now—.
Since there was a possibility it was a relic of Lu-Solace, the Saintess didn't act rashly. Instead, she smiled, thinking things had turned out well. From here on, the subjugation of the Floor Masters would proceed under Erik's direct command and control.
The Saintess had been given her chance to sabotage it.
“Taking down three of them—that's quite the achievement.”
Erik praised his party members and prepared to face the two remaining Floor Masters. Every single word that reached her ears in the process scraped at the Saintess's nerves.
“Seems the Saintess of Lu-Solace turned out to be more useful than I expected.”
Erik mentioned the three Floor Masters the Saintess had killed. The rewards from them were said to be truly tremendous, weren't they?
“Apparently there were some Bind-on-Acquire items that Park Chang-ho couldn't manage to grab.”
“Over there!”
Jang Du-sik, as if he'd memorized the spot, guided Erik to the pile of the Floor Master's remains.
“A rare item dropped by the Explosion Bug, huh.”
Erik swung the Sword of Creation to sweep away the Floor Master's remains. What appeared then was the shape of a massive stake.
“What's so good about that thing?” “You see, this is a stake that's essential for use in large-scale raids.”
Erik went on to describe just how excellent the stake's performance was.
“It prevents surrounding field effects, and further, it acts as a sort of safety device that lets you avoid a Floor Master's ground-target skills.”
The larger the battlefield, the trickier a Floor Master's power becomes. But since this was a Floor Master with a known strategy, it followed that using items like this well would make it possible to win with ease.
Th-that's the one I killed—.
Hearing that infuriating voice, the Saintess felt as though her blood were boiling over.
Still, there's still a chance for revenge.
The Saintess felt an intense urge to kill. But she exercised the utmost patience and held herself back.
It was only possible because the Saintess possessed patience deep enough to seal even herself away—.
“Saintess, how long do you plan to just watch?”
Erik pulled the stake out and looked up at the sky. There, a very faintly flickering ember could be seen.
D-did he see me?
The Saintess was half in disbelief. At that, Erik kindled a flame at his fingertips and asked again.
“Do you plan to keep hiding even after seeing this fire?”
The Saintess was stunned. That was unmistakably the power of Lu-Solace. It was on an entirely different level of depth from the flame Erik had merely imitated before.
The real divinity of Lu-Solace?
And it was the very same power as that of a god who had departed this world, now manifested at Erik's fingertips.