I had prepared in advance, in order to dominate this war.
"Isaac, when the spores burst and the smoke gets thick, put on an act."
"What kind of act do you mean?"
"Scream as painfully as you can."
"Ah."
Isaac realized what he had to do, and nodded.
Isabella asked,
"What should I do?"
"Intensify the confusion, strike fast and pull back before the smoke fully clears."
I had no intention of staying long.
I planned to get only the points I needed, make my purchases, then pull out.
The longer I stayed, the greater the chance an unbeatable enemy would appear.
Before long, people began to show themselves.
"You have massacred more than ten challengers!"
"You have achieved the achievement 'Butcher of the Battlefield'."
"You gain 40 points."
"You have obtained Fragment of the Broken Golden Rule 40h 17m."
"Fragment of the Broken Golden Rule has surpassed 1,000h!"
I had obtained as many points as I needed.
A total of 50 points.
I then bought the items I needed from the vending machine.
"You have purchased 'Detector (10)'."
"Duplicate purchases are not possible."
"You have purchased 'Labyrinth Ticket (1)'."
"All 'Labyrinth Ticket' stock has been sold out."
"You have purchased 'Mirror of Added Conditions (1)'."
"All 'Mirror of Added Conditions' stock has been sold out."
The number inside the parentheses was the remaining stock of each item.
Aside from the detector, I had bought out all the limited one-per-person items.
There were quite a few other items on the list, but nothing especially special.
'The labyrinth merchant will keep appearing.'
I got a sense of it.
Most likely, the list would change depending on which merchant appeared.
The items sold by the merchant who appeared this time were mostly things needed in the early stages.
After quickly leaving the area, I checked over what I had bought.
[Detector]
Detects challengers within a 10 km radius.
The more points they have, the more prominently they appear on the detector.
Can be used 5 times.
[Labyrinth Ticket]
Using the ticket lets you pass through one wall.
Can be used 1 time.
[Mirror of Added Conditions]
Adds one 'behavior condition' to a challenger who has entered the 'Abyss Labyrinth'.
Can be used 1 time.
To use it, you must either reflect the target in the mirror, or call out their name. If the name is not that of a challenger who has entered, the mirror will simply disappear.
They all had limited uses, but their effects were nothing short of absolute.
These were essential tools for breaking through this labyrinth.
'It's a bit of a shame there's no map.'
They were selling a map.
For 1,000 points.
Of course, there was no one who could buy that right now.
I knew that most players' stock of Fragment of the Broken Golden Rule was pathetic.
A player who had saved up over a thousand hours like me?
I was sure you could count them on one hand.
But if you had a thousand points, you were structurally guaranteed to be caught by a detector.
Those who held many points would be targeted.
'Getting out safely comes first.'
They would still be flocking this way.
So getting out of here for sure took priority.
Tiny dots sprang up in clusters above the fist-sized detector.
It was a representation of a 10 km radius with me at the center.
"They're gathering like crazy around us."
As Isaac said, just from the dots shown, there had to be at least four hundred.
About fifty people were currently gathered at the labyrinth merchant.
I didn't know how big the labyrinth was, but four hundred people within a 10 km radius?
I couldn't even guess how many had entered in total.
"······ There's one large dot right in front of us."
Isabella spoke, sounding tense.
My brows furrowed on their own.
Among the roughly four hundred dots, there were two large ones.
And one of them was right in front of us.
I didn't know who it was.
But it was clear they were a strong one who had overwhelmingly slaughtered challengers.
The speed at which they were closing in was abnormally fast as well.
Behind us, the place was packed with people aiming for the labyrinth merchant.
Between a rock and a hard place.
Should I use the ticket to break through a wall and run?
Ding!
I heard the sound of a bell ringing.
Ding-a-ling!
It shook roughly, and in an instant the sound of the bell was right up close.
"Looks like they're not just going to pass by."
Isaac and Isabella gripped their weapons.
I also drew back the bowstring of Terror of Shatiros.
In that instant, the opponent revealed himself.
'······A silver fox mask?'
The newcomer was wearing a silver fox mask.
But that didn't matter.
The level I saw above his head did.
[★★]
Crazy.
I barely held back the curse that was about to burst out.
A 2-star transcendet was standing right in front of me.
Among all the humans I had seen so far, he was the strongest existence.
'Black Bell.'
And at his waist, he had a black bell hanging.
Serengeti's words flashed in my mind.
—I don't know the details either. Just be careful, their obsession and persistence in finding a 'sinner' is said to be beyond imagination. Rumor has it they are the ones who hide a 'black bell' that does not ring in their bosoms.
The black bell was the symbol of the reaper church.
But hadn't they said it was a bell that wouldn't ring?
Ding! Ding! Ding-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling!
·····It was ringing like crazy though?
Empire.
The moment I caught sight of the silver fox mask, he was already in front of me.
His speed went beyond simply being fast.
I lowered my bow.
Seeing that, Isaac and Isabella also put their weapons back into their arms.
The moment I confirmed his level, I realized that if we clashed head-on, we stood no chance.
The silver fox mask was like a living natural disaster.
Letting him know we had no hostility was the best choice we could make.
"······."
However, the silver fox mask continued to stand right in front of me.
Tilting his head.
'What is he doing?'
The black bell was still ringing like mad.
Was it because I was a player?
Or was there some other reason?
Within the 10 km radius, he was the strongest one, the one who had earned the most points. That meant he had cut down everything that got in his way to reach this place.
In other words, if he had decided we were enemies, there was no need to drag this out.
He could simply cut us down and be done with it.
Even so, he was wasting time in front of me.
Judging from his direction, he was clearly headed for the labyrinth merchant.
In a situation where every passing second was precious, there had to be a reason he was standing in front of me.
'He's not looking at me.'
Only then did I realize the 'interest' of the silver fox mask was not directed at me.
Those pure white eyes, their focus was impossible to read, so I was lost at first.
'He's not looking at me, he's looking at Hel.'
Kya kya?
Hel, sensing the gaze upon her, tilted her head along with her scythe.
"······?"
Kya kya kya?
"······."
Kya kya kyak kyak!
"······!!"
·····Don't tell me the two of them are actually talking right now?
At Hel's sharpened reaction, the shoulders of the silver fox mask shook once.
"I greet the patron of the orthodox one."
Then he dropped to one knee in front of me.
··It was one surprise after another.
For a moment I couldn't make sense of what was happening, but then my emotions cooled, and scraps of related knowledge floated up like a drowning man grabbing at straws.
'Rightful Successor.'
It was a title that referred to Hel.
A phrase that had been written alongside Heavenly Spirit.
It meant she was some kind of successor, but I hadn't known the precise meaning.
And now, this swordsman in the silver fox mask had clearly called Hel 'orthodox' and called me the patron of the Rightful Successor.
The silver fox mask knew Hel's true identity.
Then who in the world was the silver fox mask?
"By my mission, I must eliminate the dead of the labyrinth, so I apologize that I cannot personally accompany you."
"······."
Mission.
The dead of the labyrinth.
Only one thing came to mind.
Don't tell me he entered here to eliminate Sword of Stars Riley?
In any case, when nothing is certain, silence is the answer.
They say keeping quiet at least lets you stay in the middle. That saying exists for a reason.
"First, please accept this."
At last, the silver fox mask took out a golden token from his bosom and handed it to me.
A round token shaped like an imperial badge.
'This is······.'
I was inwardly shocked when I saw the picture engraved on the token.
A large pentagram, and at the center of that large pentagram, a small pentagram.
The moment I saw it, I knew what it was.
'Golden Pentagram, the symbol of the Arhon Empire.'
The Arhon Empire!
The strongest nation on the continent, owning more than fifty great cities.
But for gamers, the empire was the hardest place to approach.
Their imperial family was still largely shrouded in mystery.
Even when I operated as Wilhelm, contact had been almost nonexistent.
'A swordsman carrying a token stamped with the emperor's seal.'
What shocked me even more was the emperor's seal stamped on the token.
With this token, you could pass freely into any city of the empire.
Even into the most secret fortress where the royal family lived.
And that wasn't all.
·····If I gave this to players, there'd be a line of people wanting to buy it.
No joke, it would fetch the price of a small city.
And he had just handed that to me.
"Eighty-seven days from now, the main church of the reaper church will host the 'Reaper's Banquet'. Please come wearing a golden goat mask and carrying this token."
After that, the silver fox mask rose from his kneeling position, bowed his head once, and left.
He really did look busy.
In the blink of an eye, the silver fox mask had vanished and was already nearing the labyrinth merchant.
When I checked with the detector, the fifty or so dots at the merchant disappeared in an instant after he arrived.
He had massacred everyone aiming for the merchant.
I recalled the words I hadn't dared to speak out loud.
··So where exactly is the reaper church?
***
Isaac and Isabella's expressions subtly changed.
The moment they faced the silver fox mask, they realized they were no match for him.
A pure difference in rank.
The difference in martial skill was too overwhelming.
"You can definitely reach that level."
Isaac, Isabella.
They were both characters I had raised.
Their potential for growth already had the foundation to go beyond transcendent.
Especially Isabella, at level 10 she possessed the mystery of automatically learning the position of a 'star'.
One of the extremely rare stars that had never been discovered, the transcendent star Jörmungandr.
Isaac too, if I raised his stats a bit more, had a high chance of receiving the guidance of a star. A Star Bearer might appear to him, or he might come to know it naturally.
So.
"I'll make sure you get there."
Don't worry.
Even if you don't want to, I'll make sure you reach it.
When I boasted like that, only then did their expressions relax.
They also looked like they had more questions, but didn't bother to ask. They probably wanted to scratch their tongues asking about my relationship with the reaper church.
The name of the reaper church had only recently begun to spread in Pangaenia.
The rumor that Maxim of the Eight Heroes was a 'sinner', and that was why he had assassinated the duke who followed him.
It was only natural that the name of the reaper church had surged to prominence.
The Eight Heroes had officially expelled Maxim. They were now the Seven Heroes.
Someone among them clearly handled a speaker of that magnitude.
'Highly likely, it's Master.'
Master ran the Interdimensional Community even on Earth.
He was the one who best knew how to handle and exploit a loudspeaker.
He was probably the one who had turned the rest into 'heroes' along with Wilhelm.
In any case.
'This labyrinth is too big.'
I was worried right now.
No matter how I looked at it, this labyrinth was too big.
I had no idea where the ruler of the abyss was.
If you tried to walk through and search the entire labyrinth, it felt like it would take at least a year.
If I lost my way halfway and logged out, the worst-case scenario was a full reset.
But the entry condition had been Fragment of the Broken Golden Rule.
From my experience so far, there was no way anyone would have a year's worth of fragments.
Either this labyrinth was built so it could never be cleared,
Or,
'There must be a shortcut.'
A shortcut.
A hidden space.
Or another warp.
There was definitely something.
This labyrinth was absolutely not one you were meant to clear by just walking.
Then where would it be?
Somewhere hard to see, or in a place no one would ever think of.