Chapter 381 - Atlante (4)

The Underground Island, Atlante.

This was actually the biggest hurdle in developing a shield barb. I didn't call it my second core Essence for nothing. Normally, by the time you arrived here, your build would consist entirely of Essences of rank four or lower.

Putting together Stormgush's [Origin], Bayon's [Transcendence], and Gacha Bone's [Risk Taking] before coming here was, of course, impossible. That meant clearing it solo like this was out of the question. You had to find suitable companions and come fully prepared.

Only after absorbing the Essence here would your combat power skyrocket, allowing you to start looting rank-three Essences in earnest.

'But somehow, I've done things in reverse.'

Looking back, I think it all started with the Ogre's Essence. I'd gotten lucky and obtained a high-rank Essence early, and from there, my growth had accelerated like a snowball rolling downhill.

Just like this.

「You have slain a Murmel Priest. EXP +6」

「You have slain a Ravitor. EXP +5」

「You have slain an Undersea Guard. EXP +4」

「You have slain a Nagaculos...」

「...」

All I was doing was running forward, drawing the monsters' aggro, yet my EXP kept shooting up. At this point, it practically felt like speedrunning.

Of course, I did have to stop for breaks along the way. Even I didn't have unlimited MP. Especially not here, where the Hyperventilation condition doubled all resource consumption.

“Mister!”

As I took a short break, my companions caught up, collecting magic crystals along the way.

“An Essence dropped back there. What do you want to do with it?”

Huh? An Essence dropped?

I'd been too busy running and getting pummeled to notice.

After a moment's consideration, I answered, “Just leave it.”

An Essence from the rank-four Murmel Priest would have been incredibly valuable, but I'd personally checked that it hadn't dropped one. There was no reason to waste one of our only two test tubes on an unidentified Essence. A rank-five Essence would bring a small profit, while most rank-six ones would mean a loss.

“Schuitz, how far have we come?”

“A little over halfway.”

“We've been moving in a straight line ever since we entered. Is there a particular reason?”

“We can kill the monsters on the outskirts later.”

Erwin cut into my conversation with Amelia.

“Oh, is it because of those potential competitors you mentioned earlier?”

Honestly, that was a little hard to say. I naturally preferred to prioritize the important things first. Still, I couldn't say that possibility had no influence at all.

“Yeah. You never know.”

Atlante wasn't a rupture. Once its portal opened, it remained open until the day the Labyrinth closed, and explorers could freely travel in and out.

“What will you do if we run into them?”

“Who knows?”

I gave my habitual reply before continuing.

“If they attack, I'll fight. Otherwise, we'll just pass them by.”

“I see...”

Amelia nodded at my answer, looking somehow unconvinced. I considered letting it go, but ended up asking.

“You look like you have something to say.”

“I was just... wondering which outcome you'd welcome.”

“What do you mean, which outcome?”

“Exactly what I said.”

“...?”

When I stared at her, asking for a more detailed answer, Amelia cautiously spoke.

“Schuitz, aren't you secretly hoping they'll attack you first?”

Her words struck a chord, and countless reasons to defend myself sprang to mind. But I held them back for now and asked another question.

“What suddenly made you think that?”

“It isn't sudden. I've kept thinking it while watching you all this time.”

Amelia shrugged and glanced at the navigator and mage. I followed her gaze, and the two hastily averted their eyes when they met mine, pretending not to have heard anything for fear of getting caught in the crossfire.

I didn't quite understand.

“Emily, you're the last person I expected to hear that from. Are you saying I should have let those bastards live after they attacked me first?”

My voice came out sharper than I'd intended. Startled, Amelia shook her head.

“That's not what I meant. It's just...”

“Just?”

“... No, forget it. That was a foolish thing to bring up.”

Muttering those words, Amelia ended the conversation and stepped back. I didn't press her.

Not that I wasn't curious. What exactly would she have said after those trailing words? Since I hadn't asked, I had no way of knowing now.

But for some reason...

[“Haven't you ever thought about it, bro? We kill people if they get in our way, kill them if they're suspicious, and whenever we meet someone new, our first thought is whether they'll hurt us. People's lives... start feeling like nothing more than game characters. That makes us complete fucking psychos, doesn't it?”]

An old conversation with Lee Baekho flashed through my mind. I'd related to his words quite a bit even then, but thinking back on them now, they carried a different weight.

Especially the part about people's lives feeling like game characters.

[CRUNCH!]

One swing of a hammer, and a person died. Of course, the target was always someone I'd classified as deserving to die by my standards.

But...

[“I-I was wrong! Please spare me!”]

That man, the first person whose blood had stained my hands.

It hadn't been like this with Hans A. Back then, I'd felt an inner resistance. I'd had to keep convincing myself it was necessary as I swung my weapon. Things had stayed much the same for a while afterward.

My hands no longer hesitated, but the unease had consumed me for some time. Even after I returned to the city. The looks in their eyes and the expressions they'd worn in those moments would come back to me, forcing me to cool myself with cold water and deliberately empty my mind.

Yes, that was definitely how I'd been back then.

But what about now?

'That captain on the ship... what did his face look like?'

Now, I couldn't even remember the face of a man I'd killed only recently. All I could vividly recall was the equipment he'd worn, his expensive valuables, and the intense rush I'd felt when I got my hands on them.

Should I call that getting used to it? Or had I gradually changed until I became what I was now?

“Mister, what's on your mind...?”

“Nothing much. We're resting for about thirty minutes before moving on, so get some rest too.”

Without hesitation, I lay down on the muddy ground and looked up. Beyond the edge of the light surrounding us, the Labyrinth's darkness stretched endlessly.

It was strange.

The seventh floor, eighth, ninth, tenth.

Only four floors remained above us now. Once I made it through them, I could pass through the Gate of Abyss and return to the modern world.

And yet, even though I'd climbed so much higher than when I'd struggled desperately to survive on the first and second floors, that place only felt farther away.

* * *

After resting for about thirty minutes to replenish my MP, we continued clearing the Underground Island using the same method as before. In short, I went ahead and wiped everything out while the others followed, gathering magic crystals.

'If we kill all the monsters outside later too, the magic crystals alone should bring in quite a bit.'

Even as I thought it, I found it strangely funny. No matter how much we earned, it couldn't compare to that recent battle. Three ships, though damaged, and enough high-quality equipment for more than ten people. You could never earn that much on an expedition just by killing monsters.

「Powerful Luck.」

「Reflects 150% of damage taken back at the enemy.」

A great success triggered, and the last monster doggedly following me dissolved into light.

And...

'Already at the boss room.'

I'd reached the heart of Atlante.

A vast clearing lay before me, surrounded by pillars as tall as buildings dozens of stories high. In the middle sat a single enormous egg. A blue egg that looked three or four times bigger than me even with [Gigantification] active.

'It looks just like the egg in the game.'

I was chuckling at that thought when it happened.

「Your character has witnessed a fragment of myth.」

My heart thumped hard, and a sense of fulfillment welled up, as though something were filling me.

「Achievement Accomplished」

Condition: Mythical Discovery (1/5)

Reward: Magic Power permanently increases by +10.

What? Did my MP just increase?

If this was real, the achievement system was working properly too...

'Then I must have already completed quite a few Mental-related achievements, right?'

Changes in Mental weren't particularly obvious, so I'd been unsure. But now, it looked like I'd have to start hunting achievements too. There were some pretty useful ones from the seventh floor onward.

'... Wait. If I'd known, should I have brought the others along?'

The thought suddenly occurred to me, but I decided to check next time. The odds of an Essence dropping on the first try were low anyway. It wouldn't be too late to try when we came back.

Besides, I didn't even know whether achievements applied to the locals.

WHOOOOSH!

As soon as I stepped inside the ring of pillars, a massive whirlpool surrounded them, cutting off my retreat. A pointless effect, as far as I was concerned. The Challenger condition already kept my feet from moving if I tried to flee.

My foot came down as I continued toward the egg in the center. Outside the pillars, the raging whirlpool sent out even stronger vibrations, as though the sea itself were furious.

And then...

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Thunderous sounds rang out at regular intervals, shaking the ground. Those heavy booms were drawing closer, too...

BOOM!

The instant the ground stopped shaking, I looked up. Two cold blue eyes glared down at me from the deep darkness.

A rank-three monster, the Deep-Sea Giant.

Outside the Underground Island of Atlante, you could only encounter these monsters on the ninth floor. Of course, there they roamed in groups like ordinary mobs, and their weaknesses weren't exposed like this, making them several times harder to hunt.

[“Serkima dio merder.”]

Just like in the game, it looked down at me and recited an incomprehensible line. I hadn't been able to tell when I'd only read it as text, but its voice positively dripped with contempt.

So...

“VEHELLLAAAAAA!!”

I activated [Gigantification] and dashed forward, calling on the ancestral god's name for the first time in a while. There was nobody else here, after all, right?

My feet pounded the ground.

Oh, of course, the place I charged toward with that battle cry was the egg in the center. That was the strategy for killing this bastard.

THUMP!

The egg pulsed as though alive. Or should I call it an egg-shaped heart?

BANG!

As I slammed Demon Crusher into the heart with all my might, the giant shrieked and brought its palm crashing down. I quickly stepped back to dodge it.

[Risk Taking] could only reflect skills that consumed resources. There was no reason to take damage from a basic attack I couldn't even reflect.

「Deep-Sea Giant has cast [Blade Torrent].」

The moment its basic attack missed, it cast a skill. Hundreds of streams of water shot straight toward me, tracing sharp trajectories like bullets fired underwater.

This one, I'd just take...

「Powerful Luck.」

「Reflects 150% of damage taken back at the enemy.」

Huh? A great success right from the start?

[“Gachaaa!”]

No sooner had I taken the hits, guarding only my vital spots just in case, than the skeleton's hearty cry rang out behind me.

And...

SPLAAASH!

The streams shot toward the sea giant, tracing far thicker paths than when they'd flown at me.

[“GRAAAAAH!”]

It must have taken a heavy hit, because it swayed feebly, a sight at odds with its enormous bulk. Staggering, it brought down another basic attack.

Normally, dodging it was mandatory, but...

BOOOM!

Was it because I'd come here loaded with rank-three Essences?

'I can just block this much.'

It wasn't more than I could withstand with my shield raised. And thanks to [Origin], even the damage transmitted to my bones healed immediately.

「Deep-Sea Giant has cast [Source of Life].」

To heal the damage to its main body, it drew on the HP stored in its heart. This was one of the Deep-Sea Giant's main skills. The ones encountered on the ninth floor didn't have their hearts exposed like this, allowing them to boast immense regeneration alongside the monstrous strength befitting a rank-three monster.

Well, that didn't mean much here. There was a reason I'd always chosen this thing for my first rank-three Essence.

THUMP.

The heart had shrunk, and its beat was weaker than before.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Now that I didn't even need to dodge its basic attacks, I stayed right beside the heart and swung my hammer relentlessly. It attacked with all sorts of skills to stop me, but those were reflected back, driving more damage into its main body.

And...

「Deep-Sea Giant has cast [Source of Life].」

The vicious cycle repeated. The heart transferred HP to the main body, and its defense dropped in proportion to the amount transferred.

How many times had this happened now?

THUMP.

I brought my hammer down on the heart, now several times smaller than when I'd first seen it.

And immediately afterward...

CRUNCH!

I was met with good news and bad news all at once.

「You have slain a Deep-Sea Giant. EXP +7」

The first piece of good news was that I'd finished hunting a rank-three monster more easily than ever before.

And the second...

WHOOOOSH!

An Essence had dropped on my very first try.

But this was where the bad news started.

'Motherfucker.'

An Essence had dropped, but unfortunately, it wasn't the color I wanted.

Not that it mattered much in the current situation.

I stared beyond where the whirlpool had vanished without a trace the instant I'd slain the Deep-Sea Giant.

“...”

Casual clothes that were hard to believe anyone would wear in the Labyrinth. Pale skin and a slim build that gave off a refined air. And platinum-blond hair slicked neatly back with pomade.

“Whoa, what's with you? Did you really kill that thing alone?”

An unexpected encounter awaited me.