Chapter 65 - Field Boss (1)

I slept soundly for twelve straight hours.

And when I woke up, for some reason, Misha was once again sleeping with her head on my stomach, drooling.

"..."

Anyway, we still had plenty of time, so I sorted through the loot. I checked the contents of their backpacks and stripped the equipment off the other two men, then put everything into our Expanded Backpacks.

Good thing Misha owned an Expanded Backpack too. We'd crammed in so much gear that they were getting pretty heavy despite the weight-reduction enchantment.

'Does this count as ample compensation for everything we've been through?'

Leaving Misha to sleep, I took out some jerky and chewed on it. Well, she'd get herself something to eat if she woke up hungry.

WHOOSH!

After finishing my meal, I dampened a cloth and gave myself a quick wash. Oh, and I shaved for the first time in a while too.

'Now I look human again.'

Once I'd put all the remaining firewood in the fireplace, there wasn't much left to do. So I went outside and sat in the rocking chair.

The once-peaceful lawn smelled faintly of blood. As I basked in the sunshine, letting my thoughts drift, my eyes slowly closed.

The religious nut whose head I'd smashed while he slept suddenly came to mind, but...

'The entrance should be closed already, so I don't need to worry about that.'

It was peaceful.

At least while I was here, I was safe.

Yes, that was enough.

"Bjorn, wake up, nyah. You need to eat before you go back to sleep, or you'll upset your stomach, nyah!"

When I opened my eyes, Misha was shaking my shoulder. I checked the clock. Another fourteen hours had passed since I'd last looked.

"Here, eat something even if you're not hungry, nyah. Hurry, nyah!"

Misha broke off pieces of jerky and bread and held them to my mouth. I'd already gotten up and eaten earlier, but I was hungry again, so I obediently accepted the food.

"Are you going to sleep some more, Bjorn, nyah?"

"No."

"Hmm, I see, nyah. Oh, right, nyah! How did you know putting people in the fire would let us stay here longer, nyah?"

"I read it in a book."

"... Do you happen to like smart women, Bjorn, nyah?"

"Yes."

After finishing my meal while giving her questions perfunctory answers, I checked the fireplace. Judging by the flames, it looked like we had less than an hour left...

CLICK.

I closed the clock and tucked it securely inside my clothes. Then I began getting ready to leave, stretching my body after its long sleep.

It was still too early to celebrate, but a strange swell of emotion filled my chest.

'This day really did come at last.'

Day fifteen would begin soon. In other words, if we could just survive today, we could escape this goddamn forest and return to the city.

So...

「Witch's Hut has closed.」

「Moving character to Witch's Forest.」

Let's stay focused to the very end.

As always.

"B-Bjorn! What's going on, nyah?"

"Fuck..."

Because it wasn't over until it was over.

* * *

「A fifth sacrifice has been offered to the hut.」

「A sixth sacrifice has been offered to the hut.」

「A seventh sacrifice has been offered to the hut...」

「Special condition fulfilled: Seven Sacrifices.」

「Riakis, Lord of Chaos, begins roaming the floor.」

* * *

The moment we leave the hut, I feel the changes in the forest with every part of my body.

「Field effect: Witch's Forest has been removed.」

I can see properly. The auditory hallucinations and hallucinations are gone. And it's bright enough to see far into the distance without a torch.

"B-Bjorn... nyah?"

The ceiling emits an ominous, bloodred light. The spirit-type monsters that used to fill the forest everywhere we went have vanished without a trace.

"..."

For the first time since entering Witch's Forest, we're met with silence.

I bend down and touch the ground. A faint tremor travels through my fingertips.

There's no need to check any further, or to struggle to deny what's happening.

I know what's causing this.

"... It's a Floor lord."

A Floor lord.

A monster that serves as a sort of field boss. In the game, they were designated by the proper term "Floor Master," and each floor had one lord with a different epithet.

Except for a few floors, most were summoned when a trigger was activated...

"A F-Floor lord? D-don't tease me, nyah. I heard there wasn't a Floor lord on the third floor, nyah!!"

"It's not that there isn't one. The summoning method has simply been kept secret."

In the case of the first floor's Crystal Cave, it was common knowledge that traveling in a group of five or more after day three gave it a certain chance of appearing.

But the third floor's Floor lord was different. The royal family and the Guild kept the summoning method top secret, and had even enacted a law imposing severe punishment on anyone who summoned it without prior notice.

According to the book, that had been about 150 years ago.

"The Guild kept it secret, nyah? Why on earth, nyah?"

"Because if some lunatic summons it, it won't end with just a few deaths."

The first floor's Floor lord disappears after killing only the explorers who activated its trigger.

But the third floor's Floor lord is different.

Riakis, Lord of Chaos.

「Corruption begins. All monsters on the floor vanish into chaos.」

「The creatures of chaos awaken from their slumber.」

Not only does this thing affect the entire third floor...

「Riakis, Lord of Chaos, begins roaming the floor.」

Once summoned, it roams the Labyrinth, slaughtering people until it dies.

To make matters worse, travel between floors is blocked too.

「Portals are temporarily deactivated due to corruption.」

Meaning we can't even escape to another floor.

When I explained this, Misha's face turned white.

"Th-then what's going on, nyah? I-if it was kept secret, why has a Floor lord appeared now, nyah!"

Ah, uh, hmm...

Should I tell her the truth or not?

I hesitated briefly, but the decision wasn't difficult.

"It's probably because of us."

Better to make her an accomplice here. Benefactor or not, that would be more effective at keeping her quiet.

"B-because of us, nyah? I-I don't understand, nyah..."

"We burned corpses in the hut's fireplace, remember? That's one of the conditions."

I kindly explained it to her, and her reaction came after a short delay.

"... Th-that was how you summon it?! Bjorn! What have you done, nyah!!"

Hey, I didn't know this would happen either. Even the book I read at the library said hardly anyone knew about it.

Hadn't it said the last summoning was over ten years ago?

So I'd figured burning three or so wouldn't cause any trouble.

'Fuck, how was I supposed to know someone had already burned four...?'

The staggering coincidence made me swear. But who could I blame? In the end, the fault lay with me for failing to consider the worst of the worst.

So, on that note...

"Misha, will you make me a promise?"

"A promise, nyah?"

"You must never tell anyone that we summoned the Lord of Chaos."

This wasn't a summoning carried out by a major clan after thorough preparations. Countless explorers were bound to die.

And if people found out we were responsible...

'They'll make us take responsibility and pay for it, one way or another.'

Was she finally beginning to grasp our situation?

"W-we? What do you mean? You're the one who burned the corpses!"

Misha firmly distanced herself from me. She was so frantic that even the endings of her words, usually slurred, came out perfectly clear.

Somehow, that hurt. And here she'd said she'd honor me as her benefactor and spend the rest of her life repaying me.

Anyway, if that was how she wanted to play it, I had no choice. I'd have to put a little pressure on her.

"Do you think the Guild will believe that? No, even if they do, the outcome will be the same. The more scapegoats they have to appease everyone's anger, the better."

"Ugh..."

Hmm. Judging by that reaction, I probably didn't need to go as far as threatening to drag her down with me through false testimony.

"If you understand, get your head together. We'll have to be lucky even to make it back to the city to die."

"... All right, nyah. Then what do we do now, nyah?"

The answer was simple.

"Run."

First, we needed to get as far away from here as possible. I'd never imagined we'd leave this place under these circumstances, but...

'Heading there should be the safest option for now.'

It was time to leave Witch's Forest.

* * *

Getting out of this godforsaken forest is simple. With the [Directional Dyslexia] status ailment gone, we just need to follow a compass and keep moving in one direction.

The problem, of course, is that the entire third floor is crawling with a new kind of monster.

"Bjorn! Something's following us, nyah!"

"It's a Chaos Spirit."

For the record, they have no grade. They don't drop magic crystals or Essences either.

But...

"We'll have to deal with it before we move on."

Chaos Spirits are aggressive monsters, and once you draw their aggro, they follow you to the bitter end.

"... Can we kill it by ourselves, nyah?"

Misha looked uneasy at the sight of a monster she'd never encountered before. Fair enough. Here, ignorance is death. I learned that through countless deaths in the game too.

"Its attack power is fairly high, but that's all it has going for it. One elemental attack should probably finish it, so don't worry."

"... Are you sure about that information, nyah?"

"Yes. I read it in a book."

"All right, nyah."

Reassured by my explanation of its traits, Misha adjusted her grip on her holy-water-enchanted spear. Then she thrust it at the Chaos Spirit slowly trailing us.

POP!

The Chaos Spirit burst with a single spear thrust. Something like slime soaked the ground, staining it black.

「A Chaos Spirit has been destroyed.」

「Corruption spreads to the affected location.」

Stepping onto that patch of ground now would inflict continuous chaos damage, but there's no need to worry about it. We're not hunting the Floor lord here, and it hasn't even been a day since it was summoned.

'The Labyrinth will close after today, so I can just ignore the corruption rate.'

That's one positive, at least.

A Floor lord may have been summoned out of nowhere, but...

[00 : 01]

Day fifteen has begun.

We just have to survive another twenty-four hours, and we can return to the ci—

"H-hey, you there! H-help me!!"

Just as we're about to leave, an explorer comes running toward us from the distance. There are no companions in sight.

But I don't wonder why he's alone. The dozens of Chaos Spirits chasing him explain his situation well enough.

"B-Bjorn, nyah?"

"What are you hesitating for? Run."

Grabbing the startled Misha by the wrist, I run in the opposite direction from the man calling for help.

It'll mean taking a bit of a detour, but what else can we do? It's better than having those things switch their aggro to us.

"Ah, aaagh!"

Had he already reached the limits of his stamina?

I look back at the short scream and see the explorer sprawled on the ground.

"S-save m—!"

Damn it. Our eyes meet.

"B-Bjorn... nyah?"

"Don't look back."

Tugging Misha's wrist, I turn forward again and run.

"No! D-don't go!"

His despairing screams fade beneath the rush of wind past my ears.

I mutter a few words, as if repeating them to myself.

"Harden your heart. Do you think he'd have helped us if our positions were reversed?"

"But...! Isn't it our fault the third floor ended up like this, nyah!"

Well, when she puts it that way, I have no answer.

'Fuck...'

I feel like shit. As if every facet of who I am has been laid bare.

But when I look back on this someday, this too will be nothing more than a fleeting emotion.

... Let's do what needs to be done.

'This should be far enough.'

After heading south for quite a while, we turn east again. Patches of corrupted ground and the corpses of explorers dot the forest.

The more I see, the harder I run, looking only ahead.

POP!

After about an hour of traveling like that, bursting the Chaos Spirits that followed us, the forest ends.

A wide-open plain stretches into view.

'I thought it would take at least seven hours...'

Had we been near the forest's eastern edge? We've escaped the woods much sooner than expected.

'That was lucky.'

We quickly cross the plain and enter the Orc Habitat.

Some time later...

"Come now, everyone, stay calm and follow instructions!"

Just as expected, the place is swarming with people.