Chapter 325 - Role (5)

Riakis, Lord of Chaos.

Verzak, Abyss Lord.

Like these two, each Floor lord had both a true name and an epithet, and their Essences were usually referred to by those epithets. The Chaos Essence, the Abyss Essence, and so on.

As for the Silence Essence Luhenpraha had absorbed, my assessment was simple.

'All flash, no substance.'

Being a Floor lord's Essence, it had distinctive, powerful abilities, but there were plenty of problems with its underlying concept.

Just look at its Active Skill, [Silent Decree].

An area-of-effect silence that nullified all skills within a thirty-meter radius of the caster when activated. That included Passive Skills, by the way. Even skills used outside its radius vanished the moment they entered the area, making ranged attacks with them impossible...

But that certainly didn't mean it made you invincible. There were reasons I didn't take it.

'Can't dispel magic or Divine Power.'

And its drawbacks didn't end there. [Silent Decree] didn't work on monsters.

In short, the Silence Essence existed almost exclusively for fighting other people...

And its Passive Skill was even more ridiculous.

(P) Silent Control — Disables the skills of all other Essences and doubles the stats gained from Essences.

An extremely high-risk skill that made you give up the skills of every other Essence you'd absorbed in exchange for double the stats.

That was why I hardly ever took this Essence. After all, my goal was always to clear the game. The only reason I'd taken something like this three hundred times in the first place was to try clearing a different route.

["I've heard much of your renown, explorer. What do you say? Would you join us in turning the world upside down?"]

It was a route that sometimes opened up once you gained renown in the game.

Back when I was trying to clear the rebellion route by cooperating with the Ormi Revolutionary Front, I always started by absorbing the Silence Essence. There really wasn't a better Essence for fighting people.

Well, I still never succeeded, though.

After countless death endings, I reached a tentative conclusion: the game's very structure made the rebellion route impossible to clear.

Oh, and of course, I never took it again after that. Around the same time, I'd also realized that the Silence Essence had a fatal weakness.

I tightened my grip on the item I'd prepared in advance—the very key to defeating the Traitor, Luhenpraha.

I'd actually considered using it earlier... but I'd decided looking after Amelia took priority, so I'd saved it.

'Whew. If I'd known she was going to lie about the date, I'd have told her beforehand and given her this.'

I hadn't bothered sharing the information because I'd assumed we'd be sticking together. And really, how could I have predicted she'd put a paralytic in my drink and knock me out?

It wasn't as if I'd thought pulling it out during a crisis would look cooler.

... Really.

The water slid steadily lower, draining faster and faster until its level was dropping by the second.

'It's down to my waist now. He should be able to see again too.'

I gazed down the passage Amelia had left through. Recalling our conversation before she'd gone, I couldn't help chuckling.

["I'll believe."]

["Yeah, believe in me. As for your sister—"]

["I wasn't talking about my sister."]

["... Huh?"]

["Not my sister. I'll believe that you won't die. That was what I meant. So... don't die."]

["Uh, right... Got it..."]

Hearing that to my face had made me feel strangely embarrassed, and I'd looked away. Amelia must have felt much the same, because she'd only said, ["Then I'll go on ahead,"] before leaving—

'There you are.'

The sound of sloshing water reached me from far away. I cleared my mind of distractions and focused on it.

SPLASH, SPLASH.

He was closing in fast. I tensed my body and hunched forward.

Then...

RIIIP.

I tore the item clutched tightly in one hand.

The scroll.

WHOOOOSH.

Glowing particles of mana sank into my skin. Their light was faint, but even that was enough to draw attention in the dark sewer.

SPLASH.

The approaching sounds stopped.

THUMP.

My heart pounded like a child's after getting caught plotting mischief.

"..."

Silence lingered for a short while. Nothing could be heard except the running water.

For about three seconds, anyway.

SPLASH!

The moment I heard him running, I bent down and submerged myself. Then, just as he appeared at the junction—

"...!"

I sprang up and lunged at him.

KRAAASH!

Aura met hammer, and the force of the impact sent water spraying everywhere.

Perhaps because I'd pushed my concentration to its limit, every visual detail registered vividly in my mind. Water scattered into thousands of droplets. His expression, visible between them.

After confirming it was me, he shifted his gaze to the side.

'Looking for Amelia?'

Hey, you're hurting this barbarian's feelings.

As soon as my feet touched the ground, I sprang forward again, closing the distance.

He was already swinging his sword horizontally. Apparently he meant to keep me from coming any closer... which put me right in the middle of its path.

That hardly mattered to me.

I kept charging without stopping.

At this rate, his sword would certainly strike me before my hammer—which had been knocked back behind my shoulder in our first exchange—could reach him...

But so what?

I hadn't been planning to hit him with the hammer anyway.

I reached out a hand. I'd freed it up earlier by putting my shield into subspace, since it was useless against an Aura user.

But perhaps being a swordsman didn't mean he only knew how to use a sword.

He didn't pull his blade back. He simply moved his free hand to knock mine aside.

THWACK!

His hand struck my wrist. Since he was no weaker than me, my arm was pushed aside.

All the while, his sword was still swinging toward my waist, and with both feet off the ground, I couldn't retreat.

Looking at it that way, his judgment certainly wasn't bad.

He'd just been a little careless.

"...!"

Skin touched skin, fulfilling the condition of the scroll I'd torn earlier.

WHOOOOOOSH!

Blue particles of mana burst forth.

If this had been the game, these messages probably would have appeared:

[Your character has been linked to Ricardo Luhenpraha through [Unity].]

[Your character is unaffected by [Silent Decree].]

I immediately recited the commands I'd prepared.

'Transcendence.'

Then—

'Leap.'

The moment I planted my foot against thin air—

WHOOOSH!

My body accelerated in a straight line, scattering water. Not away from the sword's path, but farther inside it.

And while I was at it...

'Gigantification.'

I bulked up my weight too.

Like an eight-ton truck with its accelerator floored.

KRAAAAAASH!

There was nothing more to see.

"Guh...!"

The body slam was spectacularly effective.

* * *

Amelia flinched involuntarily as she raced through the half-flooded sewer. A vibration had reached her through the water.

KRAAAAAASH!

Even from this far away, she faintly heard the thunderous crash. Apparently, the fight had begun back there too...

SPLASH, SPLASH.

Amelia hurriedly collected herself and started moving again.

It had sounded almost as if the sewer had collapsed. What could possibly be happening to make a noise like that? Had something gone wrong?

Questions flooded her mind all at once, but she forced herself to shake them off.

She'd said she would believe in him. In a way, that was a promise too.

If Jandel defeated Luhenpraha, how could Luhenpraha have appeared before the sisters at the end?

She pushed even that contradiction out of her mind.

And...

SPLASH.

She kept moving.

Though the sewer was as complicated as a maze, finding her destination wasn't particularly difficult. Having risen to a considerable position in Noark through her many accomplishments, she'd passed through these passages countless times. Naturally, she'd memorized them all in preparation for today.

'Left here. Then straight until the next three-way junction.'

Amelia kept running, pushing her body—capable of feats far beyond an ordinary person's—to its limits.

How much time had passed?

She came to a stop. At last, she'd reached her destination: a junction with five passages.

Waterlogged corpses floated here and there. Every face was familiar.

Amelia retraced her memories.

["Laura! Amelia! What are you doing? If you're awake, get up and fight!"]

The fighting had still been going on when she'd regained consciousness after being swept away by the water. Back then, Amelia had drawn her weapon to join in as ordered, but her sister had stopped her and pointed.

The explorer formerly with the Melta Trading Company—the only one who knew the way—was fleeing alone with a few pieces of equipment taken from the corpses.

Instead of joining the fight, the sisters had immediately followed him down the passage he'd disappeared into.

And...

'Here.'

Recalling that passage from her memories, Amelia hurried inside. Before long, she found whom she was looking for.

"L-look, I was only trying to get out of the way for a moment..."

The navigator was making excuses, looking frightened.

"Enough. I don't care about you."

The man glaring at him—Derbon—abruptly turned his head.

"You dare betray me and run away?"

Then he slapped her sister across the face.

Her sister endured it without even daring to block the blow, judging that angering him further would be unwise.

Derbon wasn't alone. Ironically, he had joined forces with the very people he'd been fighting with weapons drawn.

'Their numbers have dwindled enough that they must have decided there was no point fighting anymore. The navigator disappearing probably helped too.'

They truly were like beasts.

Even after this, they might betray one another again at the very end and try to loot each other's equipment.

Well, she wouldn't have a chance to find out whether they really would.

Amelia gripped her dagger tightly in her one remaining hand.

"I-it's all my fault."

"So you know you were wrong."

"M-my sister only followed me... Guh!"

"Yes, don't worry. I'll let her follow you this time too!"

Gripping her sister by the throat, the man raised his axe arm to bring it down.

SLASH!

His arm fell into the water, still clutching the axe.

As he screamed and writhed in the agony of losing his arm, the people around him recognized Amelia and recoiled in shock.

"... E-Emily?!"

"H-how did you get all the way here...?"

They weren't worth talking to.

With emotionless eyes, Amelia drove her dagger into their throats one by one.

"Uh, w-wait! I-I know the w-way...!"

The navigator, who tried to argue his usefulness, was no exception. She already knew the route to the city, so there was no reason to spare him.

SLASH!

With everyone neatly disposed of, the Reinweils sisters watched her warily, trembling.

But perhaps there was one thing they wanted to know.

"E-excuse me..."

"Amelia...!"

Ignoring her sister's warning, her younger self asked,

"Wh-what happened to Felik Barker?"

"He's dead."

"R-really? B-but how on earth...?"

"No more questions."

Amelia cut the conversation short.

"We don't have time for this. Hurry and follow me."

The long story was nearing its end.