Chapter 135 - Orculus (1)

Guardian of Balance.

We had already reached a conclusion about this field effect: it distributed the stats of everyone who entered the maze evenly among them. After receiving several hints from me, Rotmiller had proposed that theory, and everyone on the team had accepted it.

So there was no need for unnecessary explanations.

"Perhaps other explorers have entered this maze."

"Other explorers? But you can't encounter other explorers in the Sky Tower, can you?"

The dwarf muttered in confusion, but...

"Murad, surely you realize that our present circumstances are anything but ordinary."

The fourth floor's Sky Tower was an isolated space. Unless multiple teams entered together at the start, they could wander all they liked without encountering another team.

But this was a place unknown to the outside world.

"Nothing that happens here should surprise us."

The unknown.

A word for what we did not yet know. It meant that every possibility remained open.

And so...

"I understand what you're saying. But couldn't our theory be wrong? Perhaps entering this chamber simply caused some other rule to take effect—"

I firmly dismissed the alternative the dwarf offered.

"That seems like too much of a leap."

Because this place wasn't unknown to me.

Rather than wasting time, it made more sense to settle the matter quickly and move on.

"I think Rotmiller is right. Dwalki, what about you?"

"... I find that explanation more plausible as well."

"So you agree. Misha, you?"

"Uh... I'll just stay out of this, nyah."

Misha abstained. But we already had three votes for a majority, so I didn't press her to choose.

"Good. That's settled, then. For now, we'll act on the assumption that Rotmiller is right. If anyone objects, speak now."

"... No objections."

With a dejected nod from the dwarf, our figurehead team leader, I swiftly summed up the situation.

Other explorers had entered the maze. And they were stronger than us.

My stats felt at least twice as high as before, so these had to be explorers who operated on at least the sixth floor. And as a team, not a clan.

What should we do now?

The others offered their opinions on the question I'd posed, and while they talked, I fulfilled the condition for summoning the miniboss.

「The demon of the Labyrinth detects blood.」

Okay, now I just needed to wait a little longer.

"Hmm, does it really matter, nyah? It might even be good to work together to find a way out..."

"We don't know what sort of people they are. Why not simply stay here? There's no guarantee we'll be trapped when the Labyrinth closes."

"Haha! My friend, why worry so much? They may be stronger than us, but these are special circumstances. Even if we encounter them, they won't be able to do much to us easily. Let's just carry on as we were."

"Hmm. Still, to be safe, I think we should avoid them as much as possible while looking for a way out."

I smiled bitterly.

I'd listened closely while waiting, hoping they might offer something useful, but collective intelligence hadn't helped much after all. Rotmiller was better than the rest, but he was mostly taking precautions, not considering the worst-case scenario.

"Bjorn, what do you think?"

At his question, everyone's eyes turned to me. I gathered my thoughts one last time and spoke.

"I don't think this can be a coincidence."

"If not a coincidence, then what?"

"Explorers that powerful were on the fourth floor at this point in the expedition? Isn't it more reasonable to assume they were roaming around with some purpose in mind?"

"You mean this place may have been their objective all along."

"Yes. And if so, they've probably realized we're here by now too."

Dwalki protested.

"Oh, surely th-that can't be true? Knowing about this place in advance?"

The dwarf laughed it off as well.

"Haha, even if that were true, you make it sound as if they're already proven plunderers!"

Rotmiller asked another serious question.

"Then what do you think we should do?"

I answered.

They were unknowns. That meant they held every possibility. This new variable could prove a stroke of luck, or it could lead to my death.

So even if my companions found my behavior strange...

"We need to leave this place at once."

I had to assume the worst.

THUMP!

Never ignoring the foreboding in my chest.

That was how I'd managed to survive.

* * *

「Defeated Baphomet. EXP +5」

「Advanced Mutant variety kill bonus. EXP +1」

* * *

We were sprinting through the maze.

Not wandering aimlessly, but heading straight for our destination.

"This way!"

Rotmiller followed close behind me, a map clutched in his hand. Not the one he'd worked so hard to draw, but a map detailing every passage in this labyrinth.

Naturally, the boss room's location was marked too. It was loot we'd obtained from killing the miniboss, Baphomet.

'I didn't expect it to be that easy to kill.'

Baphomet had appeared just as I finished speaking. Normally, we would have barely managed to kill it by exploiting its weaknesses, but the battle had lasted less than a minute.

We'd simply overwhelmed it with damage.

Though, given the circumstances, I couldn't exactly call that good news.

'Just how strong are these bastards normally?'

Our unidentified, uninvited guests.

For the record, I'd long since discarded the idea that it might be one person. There were limits to how powerful any individual could be.

PATTER-PATTER-PATTER!

I cleared my mind and picked up speed. Everyone seemed to be keeping up well, so I judged it safe.

Indeed, a glance behind me showed even the dwarf, who had always lacked Endurance, running along just fine with Dwalki on his back.

No need to worry about that anymore.

["BAAAH!!!"]

I smashed my mace into the head of a Vykundurth that sprang out ahead of us. Naturally, it only staggered violently rather than dying in one blow.

But I ran past it without slowing down. Misha had agreed to handle the trash mobs.

SLICE!

A spray of light scattered with the sound of flesh being cut. But I didn't hear a magic crystal hit the floor.

Misha must have caught it in midair again.

"Turn left!"

I turned at Rotmiller's direction, revealing four Vykundurths in the distance.

By now, Misha, Rotmiller, and I could probably take them down on our own, but... every second saved counted.

"Dwalki!"

At my shout, Dwalki climbed off the dwarf's back and cast a spell.

WHOOOOSH!

[Cold Tempest].

A rank-seven offensive spell that dealt low single-target damage over a wide area. Normally, he'd only used it against rank-eight or rank-nine trash mobs, or to set up combinations with Misha.

["Baa... ah?"]

A hail-like blizzard shot down the corridor, freezing all four Vykundurths solid.

A single spell had inflicted not merely Frostbite but Frozen on rank-six monsters.

However, that status would wear off in a few seconds, so...

CRASH!

I hurriedly smashed them apart with my mace, and we resumed moving.

Whenever I judged that we needed a rest, we sprawled in the corridor for a moment to catch our breath. We repeated that process as time passed, until our third break.

"Huff, huff... Bjorn, aren't we rushing too much? No matter how I look at it, I don't think there's any need for this much haste..."

Panting heavily, the dwarf cautiously voiced the complaint he'd been holding back.

I'd expected this to some extent.

["I keep getting this bad feeling. So I'm asking you. Just this once, trust me."]

It had been my first request of them, and they'd all gone along with my unreasonable demands.

But...

["... Well, your instincts tend to be good."]

["I-I don't mind. And Bjorn, don't think this means I've repaid my debt. I intend to repay you properly later."]

As time passed, doubts must have crept in.

"I-I think this is enough too. The idea that they knew about this place in advance seems like a leap to begin with..."

Wasn't it more likely they'd stumbled into this place, just like us?

No, even if they hadn't...

"If you're worried about the marks we left behind, surely we can slow down now. Even plunderers wouldn't be able to find us in a place like this."

Were they even plunderers in the first place?

Thinking they'd go out of their way to find and hurt us—wasn't that practically paranoia?

"Honestly, I don't even understand why you're so certain we'll find a way out if we go here."

Above all, what guarantee was there that the boss room... no, that a place not even labeled as a boss room would offer a way out?

"Umm, I'm not complaining, nyah. You know that, right? I mean it, nyah. Okay, nyah?"

They were all reasonable doubts. These people hadn't experienced what I had.

Hidden pieces weren't all that special. Just look at Jenssia, whom we'd met in the Glacial Cavern not long ago. She'd used a hidden piece mechanic to open a rupture.

And every month, information was exchanged in Ghost Busters, spreading knowledge of hidden pieces.

"Bjorn, you're really not yourself today. Even if everything you say is true, can't we simply stand and fight?"

The dwarf spoke persuasively, but that was precisely the biggest problem.

Guardian of Balance was active?

That didn't change anything. It merely turned a situation where we'd get utterly fucking crushed into one where we'd get crushed normally.

That was about it.

Even with identical stats, the ranks and number of skills granted by our Essences would differ. Factor in items, and the gap would only widen.

'If we fight, we lose. No question.'

That was the source of my anxiety.

THUMP!

A lion could look at a rabbit and think nothing of it.

But what about the rabbit?

"We don't have time for this. If you're rested, let's move."

When you encountered a lion, you had to run.

* * *

A stone chamber with passages leading in four directions.

Standing in its center, a man murmured,

"Larukaz' Maze..."

He pulled back the hood concealing his face and approached the wall. He gently ran his hand down its surface.

"Finally made it in."

The corners of his mouth twisted upward, distorting his burn-scarred skin.

Yet anyone could have recognized that expression.

"O God, why do you grant wings to one so wicked...!"

An old man in black priestly robes closed his eyes in lament.

Was this truly Your will?

Casting a futile question into the air and sighing was all the old man could do.

"Old man, want me to rip out your tongue?"

"Why should I fear that? Mere bodily pain—"

"Oh, I meant your grandson's tongue, of course."

"..."

As the old man clamped his mouth shut, the man snickered and looked down at the floor.

There lay a middle-aged Scout, curled up like a shrimp. Cold sweat drenched his forehead, and his parted lips trembled as he moaned in agony.

"Uuurgh, hngh, ghhh..."

"All this fuss over losing one arm."

The man smirked at the Scout's severed shoulder.

Who could have known?

There had been such an easy way to enter this place he'd spent a year failing to find.

"Handing over the route just because I offered up a rank-five Scout's arm. That evil god's a real funny bastard."

"Wasn't he... your companion?"

"Companion, my ass. I only kept him around because he was useful. Hey, how about getting up now? We got here late, and we're short on time."

He planted a foot on the Scout's waist and shook him, making the old man's brow crease deeply.

"Stop it. Part of his body was sacrificed to an evil god. The pain must be beyond imagination—"

"Old man, that's enough."

The old man flinched at his icy voice. His clenched fists shook, unable to hide his fury, but that was all.

He was disgusted by his own cowardice, forced to stand by and watch such evil.

But he had something he needed to protect. The Scout probably did too.

"I'm... all right, High Priest..."

Clutching the empty space at his shoulder, the Scout struggled to his feet. The man nodded in apparent satisfaction.

Then, as though belatedly noticing something, he scowled and repeatedly clenched and unclenched his hand, squeezing it tight.

He knew about Guardian of Balance. But even accounting for that, the change in his body made no sense.

"Old man, has anything changed? Your divine power, for instance."

"... It has decreased a little."

"Decreased? Not increased? Are you sure?"

"Quite sure."

The man whipped his head around to stare at the Scout.

"Scout, what about you?"

"My... physical abilities have decreased... across the board, includ... ing my Magic Power..."

"Is that so."

The man stared into the corridor with a cruel smile.

The old man was a former high priest, so his case was understandable. But even a rank-five Scout had grown weaker?

"Some little rats got here before us."

Lit by the flickering torches, his eyes now gleamed coldly.