Chapter 176
Chapter 176: Toward 5th Tier (2)
"Hmm hmm. What luck!"
Ruelle headed for the Northern Great Mountain Range together with Riferoze. Ruelle hummed continuously over the desolate, barren wilderness. The sound was extremely lively.
"Ruelle, are you really that happy?" "Of course! The Emperor showed us mercy, didn't he? Honestly, I thought we'd been a little too rude, but……"
Ruelle looked behind her with a strange expression. The Empire's capital, surrounded by enormous walls, came into view. Seeing it stirred up complicated feelings.
"I never thought the price for forgiving our rudeness would be looking after the First Prince, who's fighting the undead."
Riferoze had accused the Emperor of being a man who lusts after men. On top of that, she had even resorted to actual force.
To think she'd be this composed……
Ruelle glanced at Riferoze. She seemed to have no thoughts at all, merely walking toward the Northern Great Mountain Range while swaying her greatsword.
Honestly, that was worthy of an immediate execution.
She had committed the rudeness of pointing a sword at the Emperor. And the outrage of half-destroying the Audience Hall. Yet the Emperor had magnanimously forgiven the two of them.
"Hmm. Ruelle, you seem lost in thought."
Riferoze sensed Ruelle's gaze and turned her head. Her pure white pupils met turquoise eyes.
"Ah! W-well……. It was a serious matter, after all."
The conversation continued naturally.
"The Emperor's temperament has softened considerably. In the old days, he would have thrown a fit and vowed to kill me……" "Well, thanks to that, we're certain about the Emperor now, aren't we?"
The suspicion that the Emperor was a man who lusts after men had been cleared. Riferoze's conjecture had missed the mark. The chance of the Emperor being one was close to zero.
"Had he kept on raging, I would have been convinced the Emperor was one." "True. Even while he was dumbfounded, he didn't get any angrier than that, so it really seems he isn't."
Ruelle agreed with this as well. The basis for it was.
"If someone truly did wrong, the one who did wrong always gets angrier."
Those were words Erik always had on his lips.
"This is a fact that was also proven through Du-sik."
Jang Du-sik had committed countless wrongs before he became human-like. Every time Erik interrogated him, he would claim he was wronged and shout back in a loud uproar. The Emperor, however, was different.
"That composure was real."
Mm-hmm. Ruelle nodded. Then, gazing at the distant sky, she murmured as if reciting.
"I wonder if Erik is doing well." "Erik would surely be doing well, wouldn't he?"
The two women thought of one man. The enormous man who had declared he would enter the Labyrinth alone, unlock the 5th Tier, and return.
"Whose disciple do you think he is." "I'm the one who raised him! Hmph!"
For a moment sparks flew between their eyes, and then laughter burst out.
"Ha. What a strange world this is." "That's what I keep saying."
The two had chosen to coexist with each other. So being together had become natural too.
"Two people joining forces for one man……" "Ruelle, stop saying embarrassing things."
Riferoze's cheeks reddened. Given her age, she was clumsy at this sort of conversation.
"That must be the Northern Great Mountain Range, right?"
Chatting away in low voices, the two soon arrived near the Northern Great Mountain Range. A mountain shrouded in deep purple mist.
Wooooooooo. A funeral dirge echoed along the mountain range. It was the curse of the dead who hated the living. Just then, Riferoze's eyes narrowed.
"Ruelle, someone got here before us."
With those words, whoosh! Ruelle's body vanished. Riferoze's eyes were fixed on something that should not have been in the Northern Great Mountain Range. It was the kind of thing that should not exist in this world.
"Three bear-like heads, a body as huge as a Great Earth Dragon, and a tail spewing flames."
Riferoze tilted her head slightly. Her long white hair flowed down smoothly.
"Surely the name is……. Cerberus! You are the loyal hound of Hades!"
It was well known that Makia Jangche had descended as Hades. That was why a countermeasure had been prepared. It had been possible because Nishida Ryo's intelligence network had shared everything about Hades, from his traits to his hidden powers.
"With the old man around, you couldn't encircle the Empire with the river, and yet you were too afraid to come in person?"
Riferoze approached Cerberus with a refreshing smile.
Grrrrrl. Woof! Woof! Grrrrr!
The three heads displayed a threatening aura, but.
"A dog is barking."
Riferoze kept closing the distance, unfazed. Holding her enormous greatsword, she leapt forward with all her strength.
Bark! Clang! The dog barked, and a pure white afterimage was drawn. Then Riferoze's sword stopped in mid-air.
"Oh." Deep interest settled into her pure white pupils. Curiosity had been born about the being that had blocked her sword strike with its teeth.
"So the rumors that Hades possesses divinity were true. Is such an Art possible?"
The white-haired girl drew out a deep smile. It was a bright smile that gave one goosebumps.
Then.
Crunch! The second head bit into Riferoze's shoulder. And at the moment the third head was about to crush her skull.
Thud. Riferoze let go of her sword. Then she raised both hands and ripped Cerberus's jaws apart.
Rrrip. "Even if you block my sword by biting it, my two hands remain free. Why do you see only one and not the two?"
Hurling away the head torn in half, Riferoze asked her question. But the opponent was the three-headed hound Cerberus. There was no way it would answer.
"You have no fear at all, for a dog."
Riferoze twisted her body. Since her shoulder was still clamped in its teeth, the whole arm was torn off. Her pure white robe was stained with blood. However, the sublime Divine Power blooming from her body wiped away all the filth. Before long, even the torn arm had regenerated.
"An ability that blocks the power of one as strong as I. Truly mysterious. But that is all it is."
Riferoze aimed her sword again. Cerberus wielded a power similar to the authority of the Black Mages.
My sword cuts everything.
In this moment, she held only one resolve: to cut Cerberus down. When that sublime concentration was unleashed. A woman appeared from the middle of the mountain.
"At last."
A woman in a black dress, wearing a black crown that shone like obsidian. It was Makia Jangche. She had vowed to take revenge by killing the woman of the Holy Son, Erik. And the chance had come.
Grip. Makia tightened her grip. The sacred artifact called Bident, the two-pronged spear, held a pitch-black energy, and at the moment she was about to fire it.
"Y-you, who are you!"
Makia sensed a strange presence behind her. She hurriedly turned her head. What she saw was.
A goddess-like face and pure turquoise-white eyes……. And that seductive figure in contrast to them.
It was Ruelle, called the Saintess of the Empire and the woman of the Holy Son. Makia tried to turn the spear around. But faster than that.
"Take this!"
With Ruelle's shout, an enormous beam burst from her fingertips, and, Boom―! Struck by high-density divinity fired at point-blank range, Makia vanished without leaving even a shape behind.
***
"I'll give you a chance to go through the Escape Monument. If you want, you may go on to the next floor."
Erik had finished taking control of Floor 30. With only twelve people, he had subdued 388 Adventurers.
"Possessors and Adventurers below A-rank, all of you get out."
The Adventurers made the best move available. Their intention was to send the low-ranking Adventurers and Possessors out of the Labyrinth, then gather only the S-rank Adventurers and push through the upper Floors. The Adventurers left Floor 30 in an instant, just as they had when leaving the Empire. Watching that scene, Jang Du-sik scratched his head.
"Say, those guys were worth fighting, weren't they?" "There's a risk in exchange." "Isn't running off and abandoning everything the biggest risk?" "No. Those guys are planning to clear Floor 33 and screw us over."
The Adventurers' scheme was far too easy to see through. For Erik in particular, it was even easier to notice. The Labyrinth had changed since the Great Cataclysm. If the top Floor was cleared, all Floors would be sealed immediately and escape would become possible.
"Didn't we escape like that too?"
Thanks to Riferoze clearing Floor 32, Erik had been able to rescue Jang Du-sik and escape the Labyrinth.
"Then what those guys are aiming for……" "That's right."
The Adventurers' aim was simple. While Erik was farming Floor 30, they would clear the top Floor and shut down the Labyrinth itself.
"Boss, isn't clearing the top Floor too much of a stretch, though?" "No. Since the Possessors attached themselves to the Adventurers, it's possible."
Floors 31 and 32 weren't even a problem. The S-rank Adventurers had been the ones knocking on the top Floor's door in the first place, so they would likely resolve them easily.
"Shouldn't we hurry too?" "It's fine."
But Floor 33 was different. The top Floor as of now was Floor 33. It had been a fairly complicated place even in the game, so in reality it went without saying.
Those guys will never clear it.
It was impossible with game knowledge alone. Unless they used the native-style strategy that Erik had refined, struggling was only natural.
Flying species appear on Floor 33, after all.
The ones flying in the sky would surely be bigger and fly higher. Even with the [Taunt] skill, the range wouldn't reach, and it would surely take the natives an awfully long time. So.
"Isn't it enough for us to leisurely clean up Floor 30 and follow after?"
Erik was confident. Yet, no matter how he looked at it, Jang Du-sik couldn't understand Erik's moves.
"Isn't it a pain? Killing them all seems easier……"
Erik's reason for keeping the Adventurers alive was simple.
"Then who's going to do the farming?" "Hmm……."
Jang Du-sik let out a low groan and looked at the middle of Floor 30. Supplies plundered from the Adventurers were piled up like mountains.
"Nishida! Quit slacking off and work!!!" "Ji-na noona, please don't be like that just because I looked away for a second."
Erik had opened the path to the Divine Temple. The Possessors and the Saintess of Lu-Solace were all carrying supplies to the Divine Temple together.
"The reason the Empire could sound victorious so quickly……"
The Saintess of Lu-Solace, Nia Solace, watched Erik's party with a shocked face. The Empire was consuming an enormous amount of supplies in the war, and the spoils obtained this time alone could cover a fair portion of it. Soon, the Saintess's gaze came to rest on Erik, standing in the middle of Floor 30. With a cold smile on his face, he was giving his party a lengthy speech. The Saintess listened closely too.
"We don't do farming or any such thing."
That was how Erik had always been. Back in his Park Ji-hun days, the Park&Yoon Guild had obtained everything it needed by controlling the Labyrinth. That was why it could focus purely on clearing and remain Rank 1 forever.
"It's the same in reality."
Erik smiled brightly and looked at the Saintess.
"You will become like that too."
Erik's final words were clearly directed at the Saintess. The Saintess bowed her head to hide her cheeks, which had turned red again.
After finishing the transport of supplies to the Divine Temple, Erik cleaned up the field. Leaving the path to the Divine Temple open, he told them with a serious face to run away if things went wrong.
"Boss, this is the first time I've heard the word run come out of your mouth." "Isn't Rudrick's Knight a small fry?"
Everyone raised doubts. It made no sense for Erik to tell them to run. Then Erik answered gravely.
"The condition for unlocking the 5th Tier is clearing Floor 30."
Since it involved the power of a god, there was no telling what might happen.
"Then wouldn't going by the Escape Monument be safer?"
When Jang Du-sik grumbled, Erik gazed at him steadily. Why doesn't this bastard ever change? That was the look in his eyes.
"Du-sik, even if you run, I'll be the one to end up handling it if things go wrong, so don't you have to be able to come back?"
Ah! Jang Du-sik nodded.
"Big Brother, you're sharp-witted too! Isn't this a real free ride?"
Leaving through the Escape Monument would send you out of the Labyrinth. Then the phases would be split. Even if you went to the Divine Temple again, you couldn't come to the Labyrinth.
"As expected! The will of God!"
Nishida Ryo, who had been listening intently, cried out in admiration as well. Erik looked at Nishida with a sour expression.
Even though he's that hateful, he turns out to be more useful than I thought.
A being who reminded him of Kim Su-ho. That was Nishida Ryo.
Is that why I've kept him alive until now?
Suddenly he recalled why Nishida had come along this far. The Park&Yoon Guild's Taunt specialist, and the authority on tanking and PVP, had been Kim Su-ho. Unlike his rotten conduct in reality, he had been extremely capable in the game.
Anyway, Leaving his party waiting in front of the dimensional gate leading to the Divine Temple, Erik advanced alone toward the Floor Master.
Rrrrumble. The enormous citadel opened its gate on its own and welcomed Erik. Then the entire field began to turn red, and.
"Soldiers of Rudrick! Rise!!!"
Before he knew it, countless soldiers appeared across the entire field.
When did they get to be this many?
Their number reached tens of thousands.
"Waaaaaaaaah!!!"
Erik looked around in bewilderment. He had found it odd that the Floor Master had begun to act before he even entered the citadel, but.
"Why do you smell of our lord's blood?"
That Floor Master came out of the citadel by itself and began approaching Erik. Yet something about its appearance was off.
Has the Floor Master shrunk?
The Rudrick of Floor 60 was originally a giant a hundred meters tall, and his subordinate, Rudrick's Knight, the Floor Master of Floor 30, had a colossal body of dozens of meters. Yet the Rudrick's Knight that appeared now was only about 3.5 meters tall.
"What are you?"
Erik tilted his head at the shrunken Rudrick's Knight and the soldiers.
Thud. At that question, Rudrick's Knight stamped his foot. And declared.
"Questions are not tolerated from one who has stained my lord's blood."
Wash that blood away with blood alone. Pay the price for raising your sword against my lord.
"All units. Chaaaarge!!!"
Erik drew his sword with an absurd expression. Even in the middle of an army of tens of thousands, he seemed at ease.
"Come."
That there was no need for conversation was, if anything, good news for Erik.
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