Chapter 69

Spoils of War (1)

My stats had risen beyond dramatically. They had skyrocketed.

Now that I was out of the Infinite Labyrinth, the effects of my <Ruler of the North> title were working properly again, sending my stats to truly insane heights.

My Agility alone had reached a staggering 84.5, bringing an enormous increase in my reaction speed.

"Kai, swing your sword at me without warning. Whenever you like."

"Pardon? What brought this on all of a—"

SWISH!

... The bastard hadn't hesitated for a second.

Then again, Kai knew about my Regeneration[B+]. There was no need to hesitate when I could use Regeneration[B+] to heal any injuries.

I supposed not using aura was his way of being considerate.

I instantly twisted aside, and his sword barely grazed my shoulder.

"...!"

Kai's eyes widened.

He might not have used aura, but he had swung without any warning. And Kai was no ordinary human.

He possessed the absurdly powerful Adoptive Muscle Memory[A-]. No human could rival him in sheer physical ability. Add to that the finely honed senses he had developed while advancing toward the rank of Master, and he should have sliced through my shoulder before I could even react.

But I had reacted and dodged, using nothing but my biological reaction speed, without any power from mana whatsoever.

"... Did you predict that?"

His surprise was only natural.

Still, I hadn't evaded it completely. The blade had grazed me. That put me just slightly ahead of Kai without his aura.

'About 20 ms, then?'

That seemed about right. In other words, I could react to any stimulus within 0.02 seconds.

What if I used Metabolic Overdrive[U] on top of that?

Assuming I burned 50,000 kcal, my Agility would soar to 126.75. And if I raised it further through leveling up?

I could go beyond 0 ms to -1 ms, stepping into the realm of "precognition."

That might sound impossible, but I had seen it with my own eyes.

'Ian could do it.'

Ian had reached that very realm of precognition.

He reacted before his opponent even moved, as though he already knew when and how they would act.

At first, I had thought he actually possessed precognition. But that wasn't it. Back then, he had told me:

["It's simple. Watch the tiny movements of your opponent's muscles and figure out what they're going to do."]

Ian had added that taking it further would allow one to reach "Lumen Pax."

Lumen Pax, the ultimate state in which mind and senses were perfectly aligned, allowing one to perceive every aspect of the surrounding environment, including one's opponent, with absolute clarity.

But that was easier said than done. I had wondered how it was even possible.

Exceptional reflexes alone weren't enough. It required pushing every neurological faculty, including the ability to track moving objects, to its limit, along with the strength, stamina, and other physical abilities needed to act on those reactions. Mental training was essential as well.

Even my Predation[S+] hadn't been enough to achieve that.

But with Ian's abilities, I Alone Level Up[EX] and Player's Will[EX]?

I didn't know what his stats had been back then, but...

'I can do it.'

If Ian had done it, so could I.

The Strength and Stamina supporting my Agility had also risen in balance, to 87.4 and 93.6 respectively.

I could feel that tremendous strength and stamina throughout my body. I had grown incomparably stronger than I had been before entering the Infinite Labyrinth.

'At this rate, I'll catch up to my previous life soon.'

With just a little more growth, I felt I could match my combat prowess from my days as Predator.

That made this quite a disappointment.

If I had stayed in the Infinite Labyrinth for just another year or so, I could have surpassed my former combat prowess. And if another ten years had passed after that?

Perhaps I might have grown strong enough to stand shoulder to shoulder with Ian.

Time outside wasn't passing anyway. With Player's Will[EX], my mental fortitude was infinite, too.

It would have been nice to train endlessly, whether for ten years or a hundred, but...

<Hee, heesh... heh...!>

Unfortunately, Avarus's mind hadn't held out.

He seemed completely devoid of awareness, as though his mind had simply left him. All traces of the ominous, grotesque Rulebook he had been at first were gone. Now he was nothing more than a talking lump of flesh, a crudely formed mass of meat.

Still, you never knew. If he came to his senses, perhaps he could activate the Infinite Labyrinth again.

I approached Avarus and slapped his flesh a few times.

"Hey. Get your mind back in gear."

<Miiind?>

"Yes. Get it back in gear."

"Not cherry. Get your mind back in gear."

<Cherries... yummy.>

... He'd completely lost it.

<I'm breaaad. The big loaf.>

He said he was bread.

The big loaf.

At this point, it wasn't just a matter of losing his marbles. His mind had collapsed.

A full 241 days of pain and torture had broken him. Unlike mine, his mental fortitude wasn't infinite. And while my Regeneration[B+] could block pain, his infinite stamina could not.

In any case, Avarus was as good as dead. His stamina and mana were infinite, however, so his body hadn't died.

'The Absolute Rules must be why the Infinite Labyrinth disappeared despite that.'

Rule 2 of the Infinite Labyrinth's [Absolute Rules]:

The Infinite Labyrinth must have an [Administrator].

But when [Administrator] Avarus's mind collapsed completely, the Infinite Labyrinth determined that he could no longer fulfill his duties as [Administrator]. It ceased to recognize him as one.

The Infinite Labyrinth was fused with Avarus, not just with his body, but with his consciousness as well.

Thus, when the self known as Avarus collapsed, his identity as [Administrator] vanished along with it. I could surmise that, having lost its [Administrator], the Infinite Labyrinth had ceased to exist in accordance with Rule 5 of the [Absolute Rules].

The onion was hungry.

How the hell was he supposed to administer anything in that state?

In other words, Avarus, as both an identity and a being, had effectively met a definite "death."

◆You have cleared the Sudden Quest [A Surprise Attack Is Supposed to Be Sudden!]!

That fulfilled the Sudden Quest's completion requirement: assassination.

◆WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOO!!!!

And, as always, the wildly overexcited messages appeared.

This time, their enthusiasm was anything but ordinary.

◆Pay the price for setting your sights on my darling little sister!!!!

Somehow, it was going far beyond excessive.

◆You didn't stop at killing—smash!—the punk who tried to steal your little sister, the apple of your eye, too precious for words! You wiped out his entire house!!!

... The hysterics were approaching outright insanity.

◆Of course, the real House Veneron had been wiped out long before.

◆Which means you weren't fooled!

◆Aha, a fake Viscount Veneron!! Boing, boing! A case for Captain Gobsmacked!!

◆You uncovered Viscount Veneron's true identity in a flash!

◆Smashed Avarus to smithereens!

◆Crunched your way through the Infinite Labyrinth!

◆And even uncovered all that information about the Dark Merchant Company!

◆That's insane! You are out of your mind!

◆Your incredible achievements are peak astonishment!

◆Eyes popping! Boing! Boing!

◆You, whose deeds are peak astonishment!

◆A reward of equally peak astonishment awaits you!

◆Now, get ready!

◆Heart pumping, pulse thumping, biceps bulging! The grand reveal!!

"..."

What the fuck was this supposed to be?

The messages had gone beyond overexcitement, beyond insanity, and straight into a full-blown fucking fit.

But that aside...

◆You have gained 3,373,800 quest experience!

... The experience reward was staggering.

A whopping 3.37 million experience. What I had gained from the lycanthrope couldn't even compare.

So the "large amount of experience" listed among the quest rewards hadn't been an empty promise...

◆You have leveled up! x20

An incredible twenty levels.

'That's insane.'

I couldn't help calling it insane. To be honest, I had wondered how much a "large amount of experience" could really be...

'They didn't call it a large amount for nothing.'

And if I added the stats I had gained through training in the Infinite Labyrinth?

This quest alone had effectively netted me 133 levels.

My growth wasn't merely explosive. It was running wild. Now I really wasn't far from surpassing the Predator of my previous life.

Just then, Kai abruptly called to me.

"Lord Adrian."

I barely had time to wonder what he wanted.

"I survived thanks to you. Thank you."

Had Kai just bowed his head to me?

"... What?"

"What do you mean, my lord?"

"Didn't you hate me?"

"I won't deny it."

"Then why are you thanking me?"

"My dislike of you and the fact that I survived thanks to you are separate matters, are they not?"

Well, when he put it that way, he wasn't wrong.

"Do you doubt my gratitude?"

"It doesn't feel particularly good."

"Then I withdraw my thanks. However..."

"However?"

"You have my sincere gratitude for taking action for Lady Seraphia and the county."

It happened just as Kai bowed his head to me again.

◆Kai's affinity toward you is increasing!

A message announcing the increase in Kai's affinity suddenly appeared before my eyes.

◆Kai's affinity toward you is in the [Trust] state.

◆A person in the [Trust] state believes in and relies on you completely, following your lead in all things.

◆Kai will willingly suffer personal losses for your sake.

Somehow, his affinity had reached [Trust].

It was hard to believe this was the same guy who had started at [Hatred].

Anyway, I hadn't been paying any attention to Kai's affinity, so I didn't bother dwelling on it.

In truth, I was too mentally exhausted to question every little thing.

Those 241 days in the Infinite Labyrinth.

Only a single day had passed in reality, but I had undoubtedly experienced 241. And I had spent them training relentlessly without a wink of sleep.

Player's Will[EX] had kept me from going insane, but mental fatigue was a slightly different issue. Without my experience in the allied army, I would have been the one to break.

I waved a hand dismissively, scattering the affinity messages.

At that very moment...

<8... 7... 6...>

Avarus suddenly began counting backward.

<5... 4...>

It looked like some kind of self-destruct countdown, apparently set to activate automatically when he was in danger.

Come to think of it, Avarus had designed his Shield spells to activate automatically even while he was using Transmog. It was entirely plausible that he had prepared for an emergency like this.

<3... 2...>

It was too late to escape.

Kai would be able to endure it with Immortal Link[E]. I had Regeneration[B+], but I couldn't rely on that alone. It would be useless if my heart and head burst, killing me instantly.

I had to withstand it with Dragon's Skin[U].

But Dragon's Skin[U] lasted only five seconds. I couldn't activate it prematurely. I had to time it to the exact moment of the explosion.

I quickly invested all twenty stat points from my level-ups into Agility.

My Agility soared in an instant. Hormones surged explosively through my endocrine system, and my entire body pulsed in time with my pounding heart.

My nervous system went into overdrive, firing up so my body could respond instantly to any stimulus.

<1...>

And then, just as the countdown finally ended...

<0... 9... not heeere...>

Zero and nine weren't there.

Zero-nine. Yeong-gu. "Yeong-gu's not here."

I had wondered why he'd started at eight.

... For fuck's sake.

<Heh-heh-hee...>

Avarus had simply lost his mind.

It had collapsed so completely that I doubted it would ever return. The quest's assassination requirement hadn't been fulfilled for nothing.

At any rate, that was a relief, if nothing else. Kai also let out a relieved sigh.

The identity and existence known as Avarus had been utterly extinguished.

What writhed before me now was merely a lump of flesh. Yet I felt no pity or sympathy whatsoever.

Avarus was a mad alchemist.

He had cut off people's limbs and stitched them back onto the wrong places in the name of experimenting with artificial mutations. He had removed their eyes, ears, tongues, and noses, then observed them in the name of sensory experiments.

He had forcibly injected them with hallucinogens and toxic drugs, forcibly impregnated women and subjected them to repeated abortions to study changes in their reproductive organs, and more.

He had performed human experiments too horrific even to imagine, without the slightest hesitation.

Countless people, including my comrades in the allied army, had fallen victim to him. In terms of victims and suffering alone, Avarus was worse than the lycanthrope, the Legion Commander of Beasts.

Though those events now belonged to the past, to my previous life, things were no different in the present.

This madman had turned every inhabitant of Veneron viscounty into a homunculus. Considering all the people sacrificed to synthesize his homunculi, I felt not a shred of sympathy for him, nor any inclination toward mercy.

And if I took what he'd done in my previous life into account as well?

Even devouring him alive right now wouldn't be enough.

With that in mind, I immediately got to work.

Kai asked, looking utterly puzzled:

"... What are you doing?"

"There's something I still need to finish eating."

"Finish eat... Pardon?"

Kai's face twisted spectacularly.

"You still have something to eat?"

"That's right."

"You've been eating nonstop for 241 days."

"I have."

"And you're going to eat again?"

"When you're served a full-course meal, shouldn't you finish it before leaving?"

"A full-course meal? Are you saying there's still dessert?"

"Who knows? I'll have to taste it to tell whether it's dessert or the main course."

"Paaardon...?"

Kai gave me a strange look, apparently dumbfounded, but I ignored him and examined Avarus's flesh closely.

Both in appearance and in mind...

'He's like an entirely different lifeform.'

Was that why?

'I can't see a heart, either.'

Even with Predatory Instincts[S] and Find Weakness[U], I couldn't detect one at all.

'Has his body been reconstructed through the Sovereign of the Abyss's Authority?'

In other words, Avarus was no longer human. He was effectively an entirely new species, or a monster.

That meant using Predation[S+] on him would grant me abilities to match.

I felt I could now confidently call him the "main course."

An extraordinary main course that could only be eaten after a full 241 days of appetizers.

In any case, since I couldn't detect anything resembling a heart...

'I'll just eat the whole thing.'

As I opened my mouth wide toward the lump of flesh, Kai's cry rang out behind me.

"Wait, surely you aren't going to eat tha—!"

CRUNCH!

The chewy texture of tough flesh filled my mouth.

Then a translucent message appeared before my eyes.

◆Kai's affinity toward you has boarded an express carriage straight into the abyss!!

Kai's affinity plummeted in an instant.

◆Kai's affinity toward you has entered the [Friendliness] state!

◆A person in the [Friendliness] state has a warm and positive attitude toward you.

◆This person is eager to offer you help or cooperation. You can receive their support in combat or specific situations and ask them for help in a crisis.

His affinity had dropped a full tier straight from [Trust] back to [Friendliness].

Honestly, make up your mind.

But he did this every time I used Predation[S+].

'Is it really that revolting to watch?'

◆DO YOU EVEN HAVE TO AAAAAASK—!!

... What was wrong with this thing now?

I ignored them both and continued eating the flesh.

◆ARE YOU ACTUALLY SAAAAANE!!!

A translucent message appeared before me, now practically fainting in horror. Then...

◆You have consumed the genetic material of the entity 'Z’thulonak' through Predation!

Just as I had expected, the name that appeared wasn't the human name Avarus, but the name of a different entity.

End of Chapter 69