Chapter 81
Chapter 81
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 81
Chapter Title: Bergarf Raizegang
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‘Just do a little better from now on.’
Take a bit more care with everything.
After sorting out his thoughts moderately, Park Cheon-ho strolled around the fortress with Mitra, as if taking a walk.
It was a massive fortress.
The walls were tall and thick, and the level of the guarding soldiers was high as well.
[The soldiers seem to have grown stronger under the influence of the Great Labyrinth too.]
This was the mid-layers, not the lower ones.
Moreover, leveling up wasn't a privilege exclusive to heroes. Every existence within the Great Labyrinth was affected by the system.
After a light lap around, they returned to the room, where Lucille was sitting on the bed half-asleep.
Park Cheon-ho prepared wash water for Lucille as well, then gathered the group for breakfast together.
And it was just as the meal ended.
“The fortress commander is summoning the hero.”
A young officer approached Park Cheon-ho and bowed politely.
The fortress commander was Lucas, so there was no reason to refuse, but it was a bit odd. They'd already talked quite a bit yesterday.
[Still, let's go see him quickly.]
[Lucas isn't the type to summon people frivolously.]
Nodding, Park Cheon-ho headed to Lucas's office.
As he opened the door, Lucas, who was as hyper as Mitra, welcomed Park Cheon-ho—or more precisely, Mitra.
“I called you because I have something to give.”
Lucas truly was a good man.
He was someone worthy of being the hero's first companion.
“Since Mitra doesn't seem to have recovered her strength yet, I prepared this in a hurry yesterday.”
Smiling affably, Lucas unwrapped the bundle on the office desk.
By its length, it was clearly a sword.
“The cursed demonic sword Black Lotus. It grants immense power to its wielder, but at the cost of draining their life force. I've heard at least dozens have lost their lives using this thing.”
It was truly a cursed demonic sword.
Even sealed in a scabbard engraved with holy runes, black demonic energy was seeping out faintly.
“But it seemed a waste to destroy it, so we'd been storing it in the fortress church's warehouse. A good decision, it turns out. The day has come to use it.”
Wearing gloves presumed to be holy relics, Lucas carefully separated the scabbard from the sword.
It was a longsword shrouded in pitch-black demonic energy, screaming cursed artifact at first glance.
“Uh… Is it safe to eat?”
Mitra had already devoured three demonic swords used by the assassin of the Plague God—or whatever he was—but this one was different.
The previous three were just demonic swords, but this one harbored powerful curse energy.
[Hmm, I'm not thrilled either, but it should be fine.]
[During adventures with Leon, she absorbed even worse things.]
“Mitra is the strongest holy sword in our world. A curse like this won't even faze her.”
Mitra and Lucas each said.
With the person herself and an experienced witness saying so, it should be fine.
“Alright, then let's eat it.”
Park Cheon-ho maneuvered his hand so that Mitra's blade lay across Black Lotus's blade.
The moment it touched the black energy, Mitra let out a small groan, but only briefly. Soon, she emitted a golden flash that overwhelmed the black energy.
[Aah, aahh!]
Mitra suddenly raised her voice. Park Cheon-ho trembled lightly as well.
He could feel Mitra's growth, just like when she absorbed Rug's holy sword Ernasa.
Life Drain. A magic that stole life force, true to its name.
“Ooh… A combat skill has been acquired.”
Unlike the ones learned so far, this was truly aggressive.
[Most of the skills acquired so far are aggressive ones, though.]
It was just used oddly.
The heat of the heat dagger, the sharpness of the sharpness sword, and so on.
[But still, this one is special.]
[It might even be possible to recover you using the absorbed life force.]
“It feels… really demonic somehow.”
[Hmm.]
[But listen, my wielder. Beyond the skill, I've undergone a change.]
Mitra suddenly chuckled, then spoke in a bright voice again.
[It seems I've grown a step further. I'm tougher now, and my holy power is stronger. And that's not all. If you look in the mental world, my appearance has probably changed quite a bit.]
It was a voice brimming with eagerness to show Park Cheon-ho right away.
‘Did she get some color?’
Or maybe grown a bit from a childlike form.
Remembering the woman with golden eyes he'd seen when using the hero's sword, Park Cheon-ho swallowed once.
His heart pounded a little.
How had Mitra's appearance changed? Was Mitra truly that woman with golden eyes?
“Hmm, so what's the reaction? How's Mitra doing?”
Just then, Lucas, who had been left out, spoke up.
Park Cheon-ho cleared his throat and replied.
“She's thrilled, says her power has grown stronger.”
“Good. But she still can't project her voice outward…?”
With Leon, she could transmit her voice outside fairly quickly.
Was there some other cause?
[Hmm, it might need checking.]
[In the mental world, that is.]
It was somewhat important and serious talk, but it felt like the prior content was just an excuse.
‘How much has she changed to act like this?’
It was the first time Mitra was this impatient.
Park Cheon-ho wanted to enter the mental world quickly too.
“Count Lucas, thank you for your assistance. If I may be so bold, I'd like to withdraw and check on Mitra's condition.”
“Hmm, understood. Let me know if there's any issue.”
“I will.”
[See you later, Lucas.]
[Thank you so much for preparing the demonic sword.]
Even though her voice didn't reach, Mitra greeted sincerely, then tried to urge Park Cheon-ho again.
But before that, a massive bell toll rang out.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Not a clear, pure tone, but a deafening clamor from frantic ringing.
Soldiers' loud voices followed in succession.
“Enemy attack!”
“Enemy attack!”
“The enemy is assaulting!”
[Hah! Why now of all times!]
Mitra vented frustration momentarily, but only briefly. She soon shouted to Park Cheon-ho.
[My wielder, hurry!]
“I'll head up first!”
Shouting to Lucas, Park Cheon-ho broke into a run. Reaching the ramparts, he saw combat angels led by Saschiell.
“Hero!”
Lucille flapped her wings and approached. Park Cheon-ho nodded to her, then went to the rampart's edge and looked into the distance. Unlike yesterday, no blizzard obscured vision, making it all the clearer—and unavoidable.
A black wave covering the white snowfield.
Tens of thousands of undead hordes were surging toward the fortress.
It was the same situation as yesterday.
But not exactly identical. Something had changed.
The angels sensed it instinctively. Park Cheon-ho and Mitra knew intuitively.
In the center of the approaching black wave, amid the undead horde.
There existed a being with divinity.
* * *
Countless gods dwelled within the Great Labyrinth.
The benevolent gods of the Labyrinth World, led by the five goddesses.
The malevolent gods under the Demon God, who had existed in the Great Labyrinth from the beginning.
But they weren't all.
Newly born gods also existed in the Great Labyrinth.
Angels who had risen in rank to claim lesser godhood.
Otherworldly heroes who had ascended to demigod realms.
The Great Labyrinth's denizens were the same.
Monsters could repeatedly grow and ultimately acquire divinity.
Beings of the Labyrinth World could absorb the Great Labyrinth's power and be reborn as malevolent gods.
Such newly born gods typically lingered in the mid-layers.
One such existence was amid the undead horde.
As if greeting Park Cheon-ho's group, who had recognized its presence, a vortex of purple demonic energy erupted from the undead ranks.
And a colossal being appeared.
An undead clad in near-black purple robes.
Its hood concealed a head without a face. Where a white skull and eyes should be, only glowing red ghostfire shone.
In one hand, it held a sword that summoned blizzards.
In the other, a grimoire that commanded specters.
A lich.
A mage who feared death and became one with death itself.
But not a mere lich.
It possessed divinity.
Dozens of skeletons piled atop one another to form a massive throne.
Dullahan riders on phantom steeds lined up around the throne, while wailing banshees circled it.
The being with divinity seated itself upon the throne.
Then the world transformed.
Not to the extent of the gods of healing and plague descending on the 4th floor, but the same phenomenon occurred.
The snow blanketing the ground melted instantly. The muddy, soaked earth withered, and the sky darkened.
Its divinity had manifested.
It didn't reach the ramparts. But the miracle before their eyes plunged the soldiers into fear.
“Bergarf… So it was you after all.”
Lucas, arriving late, squeezed out the words.
Mitra cried out in shock at that moment.
She had no choice.
Bergarf Raizegang.
He had been Leon's second companion.
[Your holy sword has acquired Life Drain Lv1.]
[Life Drain has reached Lv4.]
Leon had countless companions.
From first rising in the Silphian Highlands to defeating the Demon King and founding the empire.
The young shepherd became a youth, and the youth a middle-aged man.
In his journey to topple the Demon King, Leon forged bonds with countless people.
The number who fought alongside him reached thousands, even tens of thousands, and those worthy of being called companions exceeded thirty.
But their multitude didn't make any less precious.
Because of them, Leon pressed on, ultimately defeating even the Demon King.
Mitra remembered each and every one.
Including the first companion Lucas, she cherished them all as precious comrades.
Bergarf Raizegang.
He was a young mage from an unnamed plain right beside the Silphian Highlands.
After a chance meeting in a tavern on a rainy day, he became Leon's companion. True to being a tavern mage, he was a heavy drinker who loved frivolous jokes and had a cheerful personality.
Like Lucas, he didn't stay until the end.
But Leon never forgot him, granting him a title after the empire's founding, just as with Lucas.
Even in old age, Bergarf remained jovial.
Proud of once being the hero's mage, he spent his later years that way and passed in his hometown.
[bergarf is already dead. I even attended his funeral with Leon.]
Mitra spoke in a bewildered voice.
Lucas couldn't hear her, but he understood the situation. Staring ahead, he spoke quickly.
“Due to the Great Labyrinth's demonic energy, massive numbers of monsters have spawned naturally. Though dead for centuries, Bergarf has revived as an undead monster.”
At first, it was merely a vengeful spirit.
A low-grade wraith that couldn't even properly remember itself as Bergarf.
But he had once been the hero's mage.
Though he lost his reason, the strength of his soul didn't fade.
Bergarf devoured other vengeful spirits, growing ever stronger, until he merged with a lesser malevolent god wandering the mid-layers, becoming what he was now.
“He's no longer the Bergarf we knew. Just a monster born from Bergarf as its base.”
It wasn't corruption.
No remnant of Bergarf's will lingered in the monster before them.
It was closer to a malevolent god of the Great Labyrinth wielding Bergarf's memories and flesh.
But even so.
Mitra gasped for breath.
She swallowed her anguish.
It wasn't just because she had to fight Bergarf.
The empire's fall anew, this world incorporated into the Great Labyrinth—it cut to the bone.
There had been sky and earth. Though fragmented, people lived within it.
But this place was ultimately inside the Great Labyrinth.
No true world.
A lance of light appeared. The quest's content soothed Mitra's heart somewhat.
At that moment, Eizel shot her hand up.
“Th-that, but!”
All eyes turned to Eizel. She shrugged slightly, then quickly asked Lucas.
“Wh-how do you know that so well?”
Though a lesser one, it clearly possessed divinity.
Commanding tens of thousands of undead was possible only because it was a malevolent god with divinity, not a mere lich.
“We'd been tracking its existence for years. It just wandered north of the pillar to the 9th floor, so we never clashed.”
Lucas was puzzled why it had suddenly begun moving south.
But the reason for its southward march wasn't important now.
“It's coming.”
Aurael said lowly. Everyone looked ahead. Despite the distance, it felt like their eyes met the lich—Bergarf—seated on the skull throne.
Park Cheon-ho met its gaze too.
Bergarf's red ghostfire eyed Park Cheon-ho's golden eyes greedily.
It eyed the holy sword Mitra in Park Cheon-ho's hand like a jewel.
It rose from the throne. It swung the blizzard-summoning sword and raised high the specter-commanding grimoire.
Wails shook the entire battlefield. The zombies and skeletons comprising most of the undead horde charged forward eagerly.
And it didn't stop there.
As a mage, Bergarf valued efficiency. Instead of blindly charging the siege-weapon-less undead, he maneuvered his forces.
“Kiaaa!”
Phantom steeds roared. Dullahan chased past zombies and skeletons, galloping toward the ramparts.
Banshees flew through the air. Zombie wyverns carrying skeleton knights began flapping.
High-grade troops to breach the gates.
To crumble the ramparts.
Bergarf stepped forward. Far from spectating from the rear, it soared with black gales toward the fortress.
For it was the strongest in the undead horde.
A lich with an immortal body.
No reason to watch.
Leading the vanguard to tear enemies apart was only natural.
It was the advance of a god.
Even as dullahan charged, the soldiers stood frozen in daze.
Crushed by the aura emanating from Bergarf's entire body, they couldn't think straight.