Chapter 299 - Evil Spirit (3)

Barbarian naming conventions are incredibly straightforward. A son takes his biological father's name as his surname, while a daughter takes her biological mother's. As a result, there are no real family houses within the tribe, and all barbarians regard one another as family.

Not that any of that mattered right now.

'Jandel Jarku.'

The odds of this being someone else with the same name were extremely low. After all, how many people could be “Jandel, third son of Jarku”? It was safe to say he was this body's biological father.

But...

“Hahaha! How long are you going to leave my hand hanging?”

Right. First, I needed to pull myself together. My biological father? So what? Sure, I could be surprised and flustered, but there was no reason to stand here completely dazed. It wasn't as if I was the real Bjorn Jandel.

“Ah, my mind wandered for a moment.”

I shook his hand and stepped back. That concluded the introductions. With an awkward smile, Kalton moved on to business—the first thing explorers from different groups ought to address when they met inside a rupture.

“Haha, that's enough introductions. Since we'll be traveling together from here on, let's discuss how to divide the loot.”

The moment loot distribution came up, Amelia grabbed my wrist and pulled me back.

“Give me a moment to discuss this with my companion.”

Huh? Discuss what?

Puzzled, I nevertheless followed without protest. Once we were alone, I asked quietly, “Why did you suddenly say we needed to talk? We already decided how to handle the loot earlier.”

“I didn't bring you over because of the loot.”

“Then why?”

Amelia responded with a cautious question of her own.

“Are you all right...?”

Only then did I understand why she'd pulled me aside. Of course she would know why I'd frozen up.

“I'm fine. It was a bit of a shock, but I won't cause the kind of trouble you're worried about.”

“That's not why I was asking...”

Huh? Then what was it?

As I stared at her, Amelia trailed off.

“Never mind. If you're fine, then it's none of my concern. Let's go back. I'll handle the distribution as we agreed earlier.”

Pretending we'd finished our discussion, we returned to the center and got down to negotiating the loot. It was settled quickly, without any real disputes. After all, we weren't here to absorb Essences.

“Are you really all right with just the magic crystals...?”

We agreed to let them have all the Essences that dropped in exchange for everything else.

“Not just the magic crystals. That includes Numbered items and Rupture Stones.”

“But we don't even know whether we can defeat the Guardian, do we?”

“That's our problem to handle. Don't worry about it.”

“Hmm, if you say so.”

Kalton looked bewildered by terms that so overwhelmingly favored his group, but offered no further comment. That settled the loot issue.

“... Jandel, come over here!”

Whew. I really couldn't get used to that. Every time someone called his name, I flinched for no reason.

“Huh? I wanted to talk to them a little more...”

“You can do that later. I noticed your axe was getting dull. Go sharpen it with your whetstone.”

“Huh? It seems fine to me... All right!”

Anyway, as soon as the discussion of loot ended, Jandel Jarku was called away by his companion, and we made no particular effort to approach them either. An awkward stretch of time passed with both groups keeping their distance.

“What are they talking about over there?”

“They're speculating about why we don't want the Essences.”

“Speculating?”

It seemed like a needless thing to worry about, but on reflection, perhaps it was only natural from their perspective. Our refusal of the Essences could mean we were strong enough not to need anything from a third-floor rupture. Not knowing what sort of people we were must make them uneasy—

“Bjorn, what are your parents like?”

Amelia suddenly asked me that out of nowhere. Her intention was so obvious that I chuckled. Parents, my ass.

“Curious about my biological father?”

“A little.”

“Then I'm afraid I can't help you. I don't really know much about him myself, other than that he died in the Labyrinth when I was very young.”

That wasn't something I'd made up. It wasn't just because I was an evil spirit; even this body's original owner had known almost nothing about his father. It was common in barbarian society. With ninety-nine percent of the race making a living exploring the Labyrinth, the mortality rate was bound to be high.

“Let's leave it at that.”

At my firm tone, Amelia stopped prying and leaned against the wall to chew on some jerky.

How much time passed like that?

RUMBLE.

The tightly shut door ahead began to open.

“Looks like all the other portals have closed too.”

It was time to begin exploring the rupture.

* * *

The White Temple is a competitive rupture. Only one team can enter the boss room, and that privilege is determined on a first-come, first-served basis.

In that respect, we were off to a good start. Since our five-person entry limit had filled up quickly, we'd been able to settle things like loot distribution in advance—

“Well, let's get going. Oh, but who will take the lead?”

Come on. If we were going to waste time on formations, we should've done it earlier.

“I'll go first.”

“Ah! Then I'll stand beside—”

“Jandel!”

“...?”

“Come over here. Monsters could come from behind us too.”

“Ah, all right!”

Once I took the lead, our combat formation fell into place naturally, with Jarku at the very rear and the other three in the middle. Not that formations meant much to us. This was only a third-floor rupture, after all, and one balanced for five people at that.

'Let's clear this and get out before anything troublesome happens.'

With that single goal in mind, I stepped through the door into a stone chamber laid out just like the temple we'd been in before. It was about the same size, but there was only one statue.

And...

WHOOOOSH.

Light flowing from the blue gem in the statue's hand filled the room like mist.

'A boss-type room right off the bat.'

Having checked the color to identify the room's defining feature, I loosened my neck and strode into the luminous mist. Kalton called out a warning in alarm.

“H-hey! We don't even know what's going to come out...”

Ah, right. They didn't know the details. Since they'd known about the competitive structure, I'd wondered if they might. But apparently they'd only heard a little about what the White Temple was like.

THUD.

Just then, an enormous silhouette appeared beyond the mist. It walked on two legs and stood nearly five meters tall.

A Blue-Armored Colossus.

A miniboss-type enemy that would normally take a team of five third- or fourth-floor explorers to defeat.

Still, it was only a monster from a third-floor rupture. In terms of EXP, it was merely rank six...

'And its combat strength is below rank five too.'

Miniboss or not, it was no match for rank-five monsters like trolls.

So...

“Be—”

Oh, right. Couldn't do that here.

“Ugaaaaaah!!”

Letting out a primitive roar, I dashed forward.

“Wait! We need to fight togeth...”

Kalton said something behind me, but I had no reason to listen. Openly displaying our strength would make things easier for everyone than hiding it would.

'Gigantification.'

First, I matched my opponent's size.

'Leap.'

I leaped up, closing the distance in an instant.

And then...

'Swing.'

A full swing with everything I had.

CRUNCH!

That basic combo bent the blue-silver-armored colossus's neck into a grotesque angle.

“Wh-what strength...!”

The newbies behind me showered me with praise, but it left a rather bitter taste in my mouth. Was this the sorrow of being a tank? Even with my current Strength, I couldn't one-shot it. How embarrassing. I should've just left it to the damage dealer.

“Emily!”

The instant I called for my damage dealer, I sensed movement behind me.

And then...

THUNK.

A dagger rippling with Aura pierced the colossus's heart.

CRUNCH!

The colossus dissolved into light, and the mist filling the room vanished. The fight had ended just three seconds after it began.

“A-Aura...?”

“Why are people like this on the third floor...?”

The newbies from twenty years ago began making newbie noises. Apparently, they'd finally realized it.

“What are you doing? Aren't you coming?”

“Ah, y-yes, we're coming...!”

They'd boarded the express carry.

* * *

The third-floor rupture is structured in stages. Clearing one room opens the next, and only the team that finishes them fastest earns the right to enter the boss room.

CRUNCH!

Even after clearing the first room in three seconds, Amelia and I continued using our full strength to blitz through the rooms. Still, we rarely finished everything in a matter of seconds as we had in the first stage. Alongside boss-type rooms, there were also wave-type rooms.

“Ugaaaaaaah!!”

Some rooms poured out monsters for a set duration; others featured traps or mobs that unleashed mental Abilities. As we passed through rooms with all sorts of themes, the stages grew progressively harder. That was one of the White Temple's defining features.

Each time you clear a stage here, it either inflicts a status ailment on your character or grants a permanent buff to the monsters that appear in subsequent stages. That's why people normally don't charge ahead blindly like this.

“Wait! I've heard about that symbol before. There's supposed to be something hidden here that can lift the curse on us...”

As Kalton's advice suggested, the standard strategy was to activate the hidden features in each room. The rooms all had obvious clues to begin with. At forks, you could also follow the symbols to find rooms that would remove curses.

But...

“Forget it. I'm not in the mood.”

“Not in the mood? What kind of absurd—”

“You talk too much. Just follow me.”

“...”

I skipped anything that took even a little time. My judgment was that the increased difficulty wouldn't pose any real obstacle to clearing the rupture.

We were tearing through it like mad when...

“Emily, why won't this door open?”

“It's a feature of the gold room. I don't know why, but you have to wait about three hours before it opens.”

“Oh, is that so?”

Having reached the rupture's midpoint, we finally gathered in one place to rest.

“You're going to rest here?”

I meant to ask whether they'd be more comfortable keeping their distance like before. Kalton smiled sheepishly.

“There's no point in that anyway, is there?”

Well, that was true. Still, I hadn't expected him to be so honest. As I chuckled, Kalton offered an apology.

“I owe you an apology. We were suspicious of you at first. We thought you might stab us in the back.”

“But not anymore?”

“That's right.”

“Why?”

“If you had any ill intentions, we'd have been dead long ago. Even without the three of us, you two are more than capable of clearing this rupture.”

Having given that logical explanation, Kalton continued.

“More importantly, you don't look like the sort of people who would do that.”

“A gut feeling?”

“Yes. Not mine, though. His.”

At the end of Kalton's gaze sat a barbarian warrior noisily chewing jerky. Now that I looked, his profile did seem a little like mine.

“Get some rest.”

Ending my brief conversation with Kalton, I stood and walked over to Jarku.

“Oh, what brings you over here? Ah, want some?”

As soon as I approached, Jarku offered me jerky with an innocent smile. I accepted it and put it in my mouth. For the record, I didn't need to remove my helmet. I'd had it made with a mouthpiece that could be raised and lowered for just this sort of occasion.

“Isn't that uncomfortable? I'd feel so cooped up, I don't think I'd last a day.”

“It's fine once you get used to it.”

“Haha! That human adaptability everyone's always talking about!”

Jarku laughed heartily, then lay down on the floor with his backpack beneath him. Then he asked an unexpected question.

“Bjorn, do you have any children?”

“... No.”

“No? I do.”

“What's the name?”

“Bjorn. Bjorn, son of none other than me, Jandel.”

So you really are this body's biological father.

Faced with the clearest proof possible, I felt a fresh tightness in my chest.

“What do you think? A pretty good name, isn't it?”

“... I think so.”

After that, Jarku chattered away for quite some time while I merely listened. Most of it was about his child, and I paid quiet attention to every word.

Then it happened.

THUMP.

As I watched him speak in an ever-brighter voice, at some point I found I could no longer meet his eyes. So I looked away. And there, in the distance, I saw Amelia watching me with something like pity in her eyes.

That was how I recognized the emotion lodged in my chest.

“Hehe, he'll become a great warrior, I'm sure of it. With my blood and hers in his veins—”

“Enough!”

“Huh?”

“Enough. I'll be going now...”

It was guilt.