There were no signs that anyone had opened it.
The first challenger.
Although he was the eighth to reach the underground labyrinth, it meant he was the fastest to challenge Sword of Stars Riley.
His heart slowly began to pound.
'I couldn't get the Soul of the Hydragon from the labyrinth merchant, but I will definitely conquer Riley.'
Rumors really couldn't be trusted.
He had searched every labyrinth merchant that appeared in the underground labyrinth, but there had been no Soul of the Hydragon.
However, he would, without fail, be the one to conquer Riley.
Gracia placed his hand on the door.
In that moment.
"Entering the room of "Sword of Stars Riley"."
"Please enter the challenger's name."
"The challenger's name will be shown to all who enter."
A name. A name, huh.
Gracia immediately decided what name to type in.
***
Player Talk became noisy once again.
It was because of the message that popped up before the eyes of those who had entered.
-Sword of Stars vs Sword of Stars? What is this?
-Isn't Gracia the one challenging right now?
-My chest is swelling.
-Who do you think will win?
-Sword of Stars Riley is a hero of the past, and Gracia is a hero of the present.
-Gracia will win.
People predicted Gracia's victory.
Because Gracia had never failed anything he challenged.
He was a perfectionist, he would never rush in unless he was certain he could win.
And the fact that he had challenged this time meant the same thing as saying he was confident of victory.
-Ah, so in the end the labyrinth is going to fall into the hands of the 7 Heroes like this.
-Isn't it at least a relief that it's Gracia?
-Lol, never heard the saying "crayfish sides with the crab"? You see the world way too simply.
-Gracia might have the cleanest image, but your arm still bends inward.
-Seeing how quiet it's been so far, it looks like Randolph really isn't challenging this time.
-If he had, someone would have found it and posted about it.
-If even this labyrinth falls to him, how many cities will Gracia own?
-Officially 4? If you put all 7 Heroes together, they could found a whole kingdom, lol.
-Isn't this seriously just a build-up to founding a country?
-Ha, fine. You guys take everything!
In Pangaenia, there was still no kingdom composed solely of players.
Each of them did rule several cities, but to found a kingdom you needed ten cities, and there could only be a single king.
If this abyss labyrinth fell to Gracia, the cities he officially ruled would become four.
If you combined him with the other heroes, it would truly be enough to found a kingdom.
Even without that, steadily, Gracia was preparing to become a king.
-Oh? Already phase 2?
-Insane...
-Gracia is freaking insane.
-At this speed of attack, there won't be any upsets.
-Wow
***
<2,000,000>
Greed put his hands on his waist and let out a great laugh.
Two million!
Greed's value was displayed as a full two million.
It was more than eight times the 230,000 he had thus far risked in gambles.
-Hahaha! Don't be too disheartened. You never know, do you?
There was no "you never know."
There would be no anomaly.
There was no way some anomaly capable of surpassing a value of two million would appear.
Many had come here, wagering their own value to play the game. Greed had never staked himself, but the reverse case was plentiful.
And among them, not one had ever surpassed one hundred thousand.
Yet now someone would go beyond two million?
His victory was already a foregone conclusion.
Brimming with confidence, Greed looked at the human.
His turn was over, now it was time to judge the human's value.
'One hundred thousand? No, maybe around two hundred thousand?'
Since he had pushed him this far, the result might differ from that of past challengers.
Even then, at best around two hundred thousand.
<1,000,000>
One million!
Honestly, he was surprised. A human with a value of one million!
However, it still did not reach his own value of two million.
-What a shame. If you'd pushed yourself just a little more, you might have won...
It was at that moment.
Suddenly, the leading digit changed.
<2,000,000>
...The same as his?
No, it was still in the middle of judging.
There were too many factors to take into account.
His authority couldn't measure all of them at once.
Once in a while, times like this occurred.
The number could still drop.
So it wasn't decided yet.
Not decided.
<4,000,000>
Why was it still going up?
<8,000,000>
...?
<16,000,000>
...Is it broken?
Why does it keep doubling?
<32,000,000>
What is this?
All right, it's about time to stop.
But it did not stop.
<64,000,000>
............No way?
It's going higher than this?
***
Greed fell flat on his face.
His body trembling all over.
He was scared, because he felt fear.
At a "value" he had never seen or experienced in his entire life.
At the overwhelming existence before his eyes!
"What do I have to do to challenge Sword of Stars Riley?"
-Y, y, you have to collect a thousand tickets.
"Tickets? You mean the tickets that drop from event monsters?"
-Yes. B, but, I do not recommend that method. If you do that, you will meet the worst version of Sword of Stars Riley, together with every kind of "pressure".
"Then? What method do you recommend?"
-Put this ticket into the labyrinth merchant!
Smaaash!
Greed shattered his own crown.
Then, inside it, a golden ticket appeared.
He was telling him to insert this golden ticket into the labyrinth merchant... in other words, into the vending machine.
Greed, his hands trembling, just barely managed to hand the ticket to the human.
He couldn't possibly meet his eyes.
'How could such numbers...'
It wasn't a mistake.
His authority had functioned normally.
And the value that came out for the human,
it was simply astronomical.
Numbers so high that even for a god, it was doubtful such a figure would appear.
Just recalling it made Greed shudder and tremble in fear.
Golden ticket.
Sword of Stars Riley.
He was a muscular old man with a head full of white hair.
Dragging a half-broken iron sword along the floor as he appeared, he was bound by four chains, on his wrists and ankles.
The moment they faced each other, countless phrases popped up before his eyes.
"Due to the effect of "Sword of Star's Intimidation", all stats decrease by 5."
"Due to the effect of "Sword of Star's Intimidation (2)", your field of vision narrows."
"Due to the effect of "Sword of Star's Intimidation (3)", you enter a non-healable state."
"Due to the effect of "Sword of Star's Intimidation (4)", you are placed in a high-fever state..."
An endless parade of debuffs rose up.
Gracia smiled.
"Sword of Stars Riley. You who were once the 'Great Sword' of the old empire."
The Great Sword. It was how Riley was referred to in the history of the old empire.
But the Great Sword had fallen, buried alive here in the abyss, along with the many knights who had followed him.
"As one who continues the same 'lineage of Sword of Stars', I wanted to speak with you, together with your sword."
Fwooosh!
A single sword rose into the air, radiating brilliant light.
It emitted a blue glow, giving the feeling that it did not belong to this world.
It was Blue Radiance, the unique-grade weapon and the sword that had belonged to Sword of Stars Riley.
A successor to the same Sword of Stars lineage. One of the reasons Gracia had inherited the Sword of Stars title was precisely this Blue Radiance.
How would he react?
When he saw his beloved sword of old, when he saw it being used by another.
Seeing that sword, Sword of Stars Riley came to an abrupt halt.
Was it because he recognized his own sword?
-You are... no.
Riley opened his mouth.
But what did he mean, no?
His reaction was strange. Riley's entire body was trembling as if he had chills.
-You are not...!
Whooooom!
Right afterward, black flames burst out from all over Riley's body.
Like wings.
His pupils were dyed red.
Anyone could see he wasn't normal. He was a madman.
"It seems you are not in a state to converse."
Tsk. Clicking his tongue softly, Gracia opened the space of all swords.
A thousand swords floated up into the air.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-bang!!
They fired out like a machine gun.
Each time a sword struck, it exploded, producing a deafening roar.
Attacks that no one could possibly endure, no matter who they were.
When roughly three hundred swords had reached Riley, Gracia raised one hand.
Stop!
After the rain of swords ended.
As the mist cleared, Riley's body appeared perfectly intact.
Clank.
Instead, the shackle on his left foot came loose.
'So it's phase 2.'
Then are there phases up to 5?
It seemed that once he took enough damage for a shackle to be released, he moved on to the next stage.
No matter how much damage you dealt at once, you had to progress step by step, following the pattern.
Patterns like this were more common than you might think.
"How entertaining."
In that case, how far could he endure?
The thousand swords grew stronger toward the end.
Would Riley truly be able to withstand his onslaught until all those shackles were undone?
Gracia stretched out his hand again.
***
-A, are you, trying to challenge Sword of Stars Riley?
Just as he was about to collect all the treasures and leave.
Greed asked.
"I'm considering it."
Frankly, a one-on-one with Sword of Stars Riley in the current situation is absurd.
Even if he used the golden ticket to erase the debuffs and fought in a better situation, it would still be hard to predict victory in a straightforward fight.
Of course, if he added Greed to the mix, it would be a little easier.
Since he was level 12, and Greed too was a ruler of the abyss.
If he also attempted the攻略 together with other party members...
'The chance of winning would be around ten percent.'
That was why he was hesitating.
What he had gained from Greed was in no way lacking compared to what he could gain by conquering Riley.
He would be busy enough just dealing with the treasures he had already obtained.
It might be better to take a step back than to bet on such low odds.
Then Greed spoke, wearing an expression of utmost seriousness.
-I dug into this abyss and watched Sword of Stars Riley for a long time. Because he was too powerful, he sealed himself with four seals.
"Sealed himself? After sinking into the abyss?"
-Do you know about the structure of the abyss?
"Not very well."
The abyss was unknown.
The chances to step into the abyss were limited, and the rulers there were always aggressive, so there was never enough time to properly explore it.
-There are four kinds of rulers in the abyss. Those who have lived in the abyss from the beginning, those who have sunk into the abyss, those who have burrowed into the abyss, and those who are the abyss itself.
Greed was the third case.
One who had burrowed into the abyss.
Ruler of what they called the layered abyss, the lower abyss!
-Sword of Stars Riley is one who has "sunk into the abyss". The problem is that, among those who have sunk, sometimes there appears one who becomes "the abyss itself".
"What's the difference?"
-Once they become the abyss itself, at that very moment they forcibly erode one of the cities in the sky.
"...That's horrific."
I had seen a case of "forced erosion" exactly once.
A perfectly fine city sank into the abyss.
At first, I thought it was a problem with the warp.
Later investigations revealed that erosion had occurred even though the warp was intact, and it had caused an uproar.
Apparently, that had been related to the birth of one who was the abyss itself.
-Once all the seals are undone, Riley will become one who is "the abyss itself". He knows that as well, which is why he sealed himself. Are you truly all right with that?
For Greed, worrying about something like a human was unthinkable.
But his counterpart was a human with "astronomical value".
An existence on a "different level", to the point where one doubted if he really was human.
If he began the攻略 of Sword of Stars Riley, the four sealing spheres would be removed. Then another city in the sky, a human city, would suffer forced erosion.
The humans in a city subjected to forced erosion would be massacred. Not a single one would survive.
That was why he was asking if it was really all right.
"Do you know what determines where 'forced erosion' occurs?"
-One of the cities connected to this "labyrinth".
"Then it's all of them."
Every possibility was open.
And then, I suddenly froze.
'Wait. Cities connected to the labyrinth?'
In Pangaenia, every city was connected to the labyrinth by warps.
And on Earth as well, there were countless warps that connected to the labyrinth.
Honestly, I didn't understand why the warps connecting the labyrinth to Earth came to mind.
After all, only players possessed the Fragment of the Broken Golden Rule, and players just had to head from Pangaenia to the labyrinth.
Only now had the reason why Earth and the labyrinth were connected been revealed.
Forced erosion... if that happened on Earth.
"Is there no way to stop 'forced erosion'?"
-There is none.
A direct answer.
...There's no way?
If Greed said so, it was the truth.
My head throbbed.
Then should I at least interfere so no one can攻略 him?
Kyahaha-haha!
Hel was freely digging through the mountain of treasure piled up like a hill behind me.
Truly a free spirit.
When I watched that guy, it felt like all worries and concerns were washed away.
It was the same now.
"...There might be a way."