Beyond the 10th Floor
After collecting every last reward from the 10th floor, Jun returned to the surface exactly as he had promised his wives, bringing the adventure to an end.
“Huh? Adventurer Jun?”
The guild staffer waiting at the Sanctuary—the teleportation plaza—gaped in surprise at the sight of him and his wives.
The shock lasted only a moment. After the recent incident in which another staffer had carelessly leaked achievements, Carol had drilled them so thoroughly that the man immediately asked them to wait, pulled out a communication crystal, and contacted her.
Carol came running the instant she received the call, her face every bit as exhausted as it had been before they set out. Yet the moment her eyes flicked over Jun and his wives and confirmed they were unharmed, relief bloomed into a bright smile as she welcomed them.
“Welcome back, everyone. This adventure ended rather early.”
“We picked up some pretty decent-looking items through an Easter egg. I wanted them appraised right away, so we just came out through the statue.”
While delivering the false reason for their return that he had prepared in advance, Jun swept the surroundings with his radar. The words had barely left his mouth when he spotted an adventurer who had been pretending not to listen while clearly eavesdropping; the man was already striding quickly out of the Sanctuary.
As expected, there was one.
Jun had found the spy watching their movements, yet he made no move to catch him. Through that spy, everything he had just said would be reported intact to the mastermind behind this incident—and that was precisely what Jun wanted.
The later the deaths of the two parties and the three black-clad figures came to light, the better for him. The longer the delay, the longer the mastermind who had goaded those parties and supported the black-clad trio would wait before sending the next assassins.
Honestly, they had only cleared this ambush so cleanly because luck had been on their side. If they had failed to kill one of the black-clad with the Railgun at the very outset, the fight would have been precarious even if it never quite reached a desperate struggle. That black-clad could have transformed into a Yellow-rank monster as well.
If luck had been worse, I would have had to use Fusion.
The forces committed to this ambush had been anything but weak. Without Fortuna and Dohwa able to use Human Mode, the enemy would have been more than capable of crushing them.
That was grim news. It meant the mastermind was truly serious about killing them. Once the failure of the ambush became known, they would certainly throw even stronger forces at the next attempt. Even now the fight had been razor-thin without Fusion; if something stronger came…
No choice. I’ll just have to run without looking back.
But he could not keep running forever. So he needed to delay discovery of the ambush’s failure as long as possible and grow stronger in the meantime. The false return story and the deliberate decision to leave the spy alone were pieces of that plan.
“Oh my, congratulations. Shall I appraise them right away?”
Carol clapped her hands in cheerful agreement. Look closely, though, and her mouth was smiling while her eyes remained grave. She had clearly sensed that the reason was a lie—that something had happened. Of course she had; she knew perfectly well they were not short on money or items, so the excuse must have sounded odd.
“Yes!”
Jun agreed with a smile so any remaining spies would not grow suspicious.
“Is an appraisal room free? And the certificates? Yes, please prepare them. We’ll be right there. Jun, they say one room is available. Let’s go at once.”
The moment he consented, Carol pulled a communication crystal from her handbag, contacted the office, and, upon receiving a satisfactory answer, hurried ahead to lead the way. She ushered Jun and his wives into one of the appraisal rooms, shut the door firmly, activated every security device, and only then asked him:
“Jun, could you teleport everyone here—including me—to the Guild Master’s office?”
The reason for the request was obvious, so Jun did not bother asking and simply weighed the possibility.
“If it isn’t wrapped in protective magic, yes.”
“I thought as much, so I already contacted them. Please check whether it’s possible.”
“Got it.”
Jun closed his eyes and focused on his radar. Having visited a few times before, he located the Guild Master’s office at once. As a critical guild facility it should normally have been sealed by protective magic, yet just as Carol had said, the wards were currently down.
“It’s possible.”
“Then I’ll leave it to you.”
After speaking, Carol shyly hesitated, half-reaching out and half-drawing back. She clearly knew that an instantaneous teleport without a magic circle required physical contact with the caster for others to travel along.
Having learned from the ambush never to give a woman unnecessary openings, Jun acted before her hand could fully extend.
Snap!
He flicked his fingers and triggered the teleport. The scenery around them changed in the blink of an eye.
Whew∼
“You really teleported without a single marker.”
“...Haa∼. And we moved together even without physical contact. If other mages ever learn of this, they’ll flip from pure shock.”
The Guild Master, who had been lounging on the sofa in the center of the office, whistled in admiration at their sudden appearance. Carol’s face briefly settled into resignation before she let out a long sigh and joined the praise.
“Huh? Wait a second.”
The Guild Master, who had been giggling and playfully jabbing Carol’s side, abruptly turned serious and fixed Jun with an unblinking stare.
“Guild Master? Why the sudden change?”
“...”
Carol asked in confusion, but the Guild Master’s gaze never left Jun. Guessing the reason, Jun grinned and raised the output of his Triple Core by the barest fraction. The faint remnants of energy left after summoning Fortuna and Dohwa rippled inside each core. The moment lasted only an instant, yet the Guild Master noticed: his aura had grown unmistakably denser than before.
“...Brat, what the hell happened out there.”
“I came here to tell you anyway, so stop glaring at me like that.”
Instead of the half-admiring, half-disgusted “monster brat” teasing he had expected, the Guild Master huffed with genuine anger. Sensing that any boastful request for praise would only earn him a scolding, Jun immediately recounted everything that had occurred in the boss room. As a bonus he opened Dowonhyang, withdrew the Observers Dohwa had swiftly collected from the fallen adventurers, and set them on the table.
“Those bastards! If they’re going to self-destruct they should do it quietly among themselves—why drag innocent adventurers into it!”
“The Demon King’s Mark. I’ve seen it in the Church’s old records. If memory serves, during the last great war it created countless degenerates, granted them monster power, and inflicted enormous damage on humanity.”
The Guild Master seethed over the deaths of the innocent adventurers; Carol fretted over the reappearance of a mark that had once devastated mankind. Jun and his wives waited in silence while the two women mastered their emotions.
After a time the Guild Master exhaled a heavy sigh.
“Hoo∼. Anyway, good work, brat. And congratulations—on facing the Wall of the Transcendent.”
“It’s fine. Nothing that special.”
“Hehe. Sulking because big sis didn’t cheer right away? Cute kid. Come here—big sis will give you a hug.”
Grinning, she spread her arms wide in invitation. The gesture naturally emphasized her generous bosom, and Jun half-rose from the sofa as if entranced.
Jun! Don’t you dare!
My lord! Snap out of it!
Darling! Have you forgotten the Guild Master’s age!
Midway through lifting the rest of himself, the wives’ cries through the soul bond froze him in place.
Ugh∼
Jun wrestled with the dilemma. At a glance the Guild Master looked like a fully ripened, voluptuous beauty in her mid-to-late thirties, yet she was actually of the same generation as Leonard—old enough that grandchildren Jun’s age would not have been strange. Her breasts rivaled Rebecca’s in magnificence, but lusting after the chest of a woman who had lived several times longer than him felt…
Is there really anything to hesitate over?
He glanced sideways at his wives. The youngest among them had already lived half a century longer than the Guild Master, and the oldest…
Our Junie, what exactly are you thinking right now? Hmm?
My lord, if you continue that thought any further, both you and this humble one will die.
S-Sorry!
At the razor-edged voices and pure fury flooding the soul bond, Jun hastily apologized and dropped back onto the sofa. He was not ready to die yet.
“What, not coming?”
“...Yes.”
“Hehe. You say yes, yet that face looks so wronged. Looking at it now, you’re completely under their thumb.”
“During the day. At night, I win.”
He answered with deliberate nonchalance. The Guild Master shot a sidelong glance at Rebecca. Rebecca merely coughed and averted her eyes, offering no denial.
“Oh! Our brat—face as gentle as a herbivore, but the lower half as fierce as a beast, eh? This won’t do. Big sis will just have to check for herself…”
“Guild Master!”
“Kidding, kidding. Was the joke a bit too spicy for a virgin?”
The Guild Master’s sly grin made Carol’s face flush scarlet; she huffed and puffed but could not manage a retort. Apparently she really was a virgin. Carol’s age was not exactly young either…
“Jun, what are you thinking right now? Hmm?”
“...I’m sorry.”
Jun prostrated himself of his own free will.
“Haa∼. Fine. More importantly—is it true what the Guild Master said about facing the Wall of the Transcendent?”
“Yes, it is.”
“Absorb three Yellow-rank monsters and two Green-rank adventurers and somehow not face it? Considering your age, it’s enough to make anyone’s jaw drop.”
The Wall of the Transcendent.
The term described the limit one confronted just before a core’s grade rose from Green to Yellow. That limit carried two meanings: the ceiling of power a human could possess, and the ceiling of talent itself.
When a core advanced to Yellow, an ability user’s power underwent growth incomparable to anything that had come before—like a bird cracking the shell that had confined it and stretching its wings into the wider world. From that moment the ability user was called a Transcendent who had shed the human shell.
Yet the sweeter the fruit, the fewer who could taste it. Countless people had faltered, raged, and despaired before the Wall of the Transcendent. Up to Green rank, effort, money, and time alone could carry anyone forward; to reach Yellow required only one thing—talent, pure and absolute talent, and not mediocre talent either, but enough to cast off humanity itself.
“In that regard, brat, you have nothing to worry about. I guarantee your talent is equal to the Hero’s—or greater. Rebecca, you’ll be on the same level.”
“Then I’m relieved.”
“Hmph! Stating the obvious.”
The Guild Master’s assurance let both Jun and Rebecca breathe easier. For Rebecca, who had stood before the Wall of the Transcendent for nearly ten years, the relief ran even deeper.
“All right! I’ve heard everything from the brat, so let’s end the talk here. Brat, hurry home. You just finished a fight—you must be exhausted. Countermeasures for the next ambush and everything that happened outside while you were adventuring can wait until next time. For now, just rest well.”
This big sis doesn’t look the type, yet she takes surprisingly good care of people.
“Got it. Ah—before that.”
Jun opened Dowonhyang and pulled out the Hunter Party he had taken prisoner. The existence of Dowonhyang was naturally exposed, but he did not care; months earlier, when he had brought chickens and pigs inside, Carol had already discovered it.
“These the ones?”
“How should we cook them?”
Exactly as expected, neither Carol nor the Guild Master showed the slightest surprise at people emerging from a subspace that should not have been able to hold them. They simply began considering how to punish the Hunter Party that had murdered innocent adventurers.
Twitch! Twitch!
Perhaps some instinct had already whispered what fate awaited them. Even unconscious, the captives trembled.