Chapter 319 - Memory (4)

Just how strong had I become?

That question had been on my mind for the past few months. In the game, I could get a rough idea of what these stats amounted to, but numbers alone couldn't make it feel real.

This wasn't just a game, after all.

'In that sense, he might be the perfect opponent.'

Even a regular knight capable of manifesting Aura was considered on par with a sixth-floor explorer, and a cut above one in a fight against another person.

But my own stats were nothing to scoff at, either.

Sure, my Spirit Seal was still only Level 6, and my low level meant I had far fewer Essences than the powerhouses of this era...

But Ogre, Bayon, and Stormgush gave me a whopping three rank-three Essences. And my Essence combination wasn't some haphazard mess; I'd built it for synergy.

Above all, the biggest reason tanks were helpless against knights was their lack of damage, and the Demon Crusher could make up for that.

In other words...

'We're on equal footing.'

One solid hit could send either of us to the grave.

"..."

"..."

An unexpected silence stretched over the dark staircase. Had my aggressive response made him uneasy?

'Did I come on too strong?'

He gauged the distance between us so cautiously that I found myself wondering. But the more cautious he grew, the more sharply I focused.

And just as they said duels between swordsmen of old were decided in a single breath...

"..."

"..."

The fight was decided in an instant.

He moved first, smoothly closing in.

A single step.

The moment he climbed one stair to bridge that final gap...

"Pffft!"

I spat the acidic blood I'd collected by biting my tongue right into his face.

But he didn't dodge. Like a boxer who wouldn't blink even with a fist flying at his face, he held his stance steady and thrust his sword.

This was why the Corpse Golem Essence was so broken.

Nobody knew a damn thing about acidic blood.

He must have figured a little blood splashing over him was nothing to worry about...

HISSSSS!

My acidic blood landed before his sword did.

There was only the sound of flesh dissolving, no scream. But no matter how well trained he was, he was still human. Perfect control of his body was impossible.

His eyes briefly squeezed shut, and his sword tip wavered.

Seizing that opening, I twisted sideways and sprang at him.

TAP!

His sword grazed my flank while I was airborne. It wasn't an injury worth worrying about.

Had he realized that just from the feel transmitted through his sword?

He smoothly raised the shield in his left hand.

With his first move wasted, he'd decided to weather this turn on defense. Judging by the white light gathering on the shield's surface, he seemed to have at least one defensive skill.

But that was his second fatal mistake.

This hammer came with armor penetration.

KRAAAASH!

The instant I brought my hammer down mercilessly...

"Gah!"

His mouth fell open, blood spurting out. His eyes were filled with nothing but bewilderment.

Well, he'd blocked the blow cleanly with his shield. He must not have understood why his body had been wrecked anyway.

But understanding and acceptance were two different things.

TAP!

Accepting the danger he was in, he kicked off the stairs and retreated. He was trying to buy himself time to regroup, however he could.

That was his third fatal mistake.

I had a grab skill, too.

WHOOOOOSH!

Combining [Transcendence] with [Eye of the Storm], I dragged my retreating opponent right back in front of me.

And then...

"N-no...!"

No? Like hell.

CRUNCH! CRUNCH! CRUNCH!

I brought my hammer down again and again until his head was crushed.

* * *

"Whew, I'm sweating."

After delivering a total of three finishing blows to make sure he was dead, I wiped the cold sweat off my forehead. The fight had only lasted a few seconds, but it had taken a considerable mental toll.

Still, at least the rewards were good.

'Damn, even his worst gear is tier four.'

His equipment was pretty good. The lord must have invested a lot in him. I couldn't bear to leave it behind, so I quickly stripped it off and put it into my subspace.

I was a little short on room and had to take out some of the least valuable items, but that couldn't be helped.

Amelia's note suddenly came to mind.

Hadn't she told me to get the Stone Fragment of Records and leave on my own?

'... Leave, my ass. I haven't even found a place to bury this gear yet.'

Exactly. After all the work I'd put into collecting it, how could I just leave it behind?

I wasn't going anywhere until that was settled. Besides, I didn't even know how to use the thing.

'Anyway, this chance won't come again. Let's grab it first.'

Done looting, I left the stripped corpse behind and descended the stairs.

TAP.

The staircase itself was extremely wide, but at the bottom was a passage broad enough for twenty people to walk abreast with room to spare.

At its far end stood an enormous door...

'It's slightly open.'

There was no one in sight nearby, so I approached the door as quietly as I could.

Beyond it, in the huge chamber designed as a shelter, there was just one person.

A crown left bald by the ravages of time. A bulging, flabby belly. Gaudy clothes made from obviously fine fabric, and double eyelids so pronounced they were almost unpleasant to look at.

It was unmistakably the lord, whom I'd once seen from a distance.

"... Sir Omanus?"

Perhaps sensing my presence, the lord called out in a voice full of anxiety.

Hmm. What to do?

After a moment's thought, I simply showed myself.

"You're... Iron Mask?"

The lord flinched at the sight of me.

"Where is Sir Omanus? He said he would check what was happening, so why are you..."

"Omanus is dead."

"..."

"Oh, and just so we're clear, I'm the one who killed him."

"...!"

At my matter-of-fact announcement, the lord's eyes widened, and he began backing away.

What a waste of effort. Did he really think that would let him escape?

"Urgh! Let go! I said let go! Insolence! Do you know who I am? How dare you...!"

I quickly strode over, grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, and hoisted him up. He began flailing in a furious tantrum.

It was a remarkably pathetic sight for the ruler of a city.

Tsk. No matter how secret this panic room was, he should have brought more guards to hide with him.

"Wh-what do you want...! S-stop! Let us talk!"

Holding the lord in one hand, I patted him down for a quick search of his belongings. Before long, I found what I was looking for.

Amelia had said he'd definitely be carrying it on him, and she'd been right. Though I hadn't expected it to be a necklace.

SNAP.

I yanked the necklace off, breaking its chain, then released the lord.

Robbed of his predecessors' treasure right before his eyes, he shouted in a towering rage. But he at least had enough sense not to lunge at me.

'Good, that's secured...'

Concerned that merely touching it might activate it, I held it only by the chain as I put the Stone Fragment of Records into my subspace.

"You wretch...! Do you have any idea what that is?! Give it back at once! I said give it back!"

"You've been making a lot of noise. Want me to pull out a few teeth?"

"..."

Once I'd shut him up, I calmly asked my question.

"Do you know how to use the Stone Fragment of Records?"

"You wretch! So you really were after this... Urgh, mmph!"

"Just answer my questions. It's only you and me here."

"... Do you think I would tell you anything?!"

The lord was surprisingly stubborn. First he raged, then he claimed not to know. Only after I smacked him did he finally spill the story his predecessors had passed down.

"There's no way to use it?"

"A-according to the known records, y-yes... When one called by the age comes near, it releases a light..."

It was information I hadn't expected to get. According to Amelia, even the lord of Noark hadn't known how to use it and had simply kept it in storage.

But it turned out he'd known all along.

'So it isn't an active ability. It triggers automatically when the conditions are met.'

Good thing I'd asked, just in case.

"Now that your question has been answered—"

"Enough. Tell me this instead. If one called by the age wanted to go back, how would they do it?"

"What...? Why on earth would you want to know—"

Apparently he wasn't entirely brainless, because his eyes went wide.

"You don't mean...!"

Well, I'd made it so obvious that he'd have to be an idiot not to get it. I had no intention of hiding it anyway, so I simply nodded.

"It's just what you're thinking. So tell me. How do I return to my original time?"

"N-no wonder... I was wondering how you'd found this place when no one knows of it. So that's how..."

"More things I didn't ask about."

I sucked in a sharp breath through my teeth. His face drained white, and he hurriedly answered.

"I-I heard it works the same way as when you came. Once you've finished everything you have to do here, you can receive the call again..."

"That's a nuisance."

"... May I ask a question, too?"

As I was considering what to do now, the lord spoke up.

"Wh-what sort of person was I in the future?"

His eyes shone so brightly as he asked that it was sickening. Was he expecting to have gone down in history as some kind of hero?

"Why do you ask?"

"M-merely out of curiosity... Now that you've come here, that future will no longer exist... but surely I can still be curious."

Right. This guy really didn't know a thing.

Then again, that would explain the stories about a treasure that let you go back to the past and change history.

"Ah, what happened today? Did we succeed in driving that Orculus scum out of this city?"

"Are you that curious about the future?"

The lord nodded.

"Then close your eyes."

"... They're closed."

"What do you see?"

"I see nothing."

What a relief. Things might have gotten awkward if he'd said he could see something.

"That's your future."

I brought my hammer down with all my might.

* * *

THUD.

A red pool began spreading beneath the lord's lifeless body where it had collapsed.

I turned away, feeling nothing in particular. Even if only half of what I'd seen and heard during my months here was true, he more than deserved to die.

'He was destined to die today anyway.'

For the record, the lord's murder was publicly attributed to Orculus, and Amelia had believed that, too.

But as it had now turned out, the real culprit was me.

'Well, it hardly surprises me anymore.'

Truthfully, I'd debated whether to kill him right up until the end. There was just one reason I'd ultimately brought down my hammer.

Even if I simply left, the lord would most likely be killed by someone else today, completing history.

No, that was unquestionably what would happen.

Unless, by some one-in-a-million chance, all I'd actually killed was a body double, while the real lord escaped to the surface, concealed his identity, and fooled the entire world perfectly for twenty years...

Unless something that absurd happened, the outcome wouldn't change—

"Huh...?"

I stopped in my tracks without realizing it.

"Wait a second."

I thought I understood how that philosopher must have felt when he shouted Eureka.

"... Fool the entire world?"

It felt as though an electric current had run through me from head to toe.