Chapter 107: Guild War — Moonlight (4)
Chapter 107: Guild War — Moonlight (4)
“Put the mirror down first.”
Raenis of the Fire Turtle Guild drew a sharp beam of light from his hand and warned Eradra, the guild master of the White Jade Hand Guild.
“You must not do this. Only if everyone works together can we defeat Targon and the Ashen Wolf Guild.”
“I know.”
Eradra grasped the handle of the hand mirror and spun it lightly.
“That’s exactly why I’m planning to start by making everyone my ally. That still counts as everyone working together, doesn’t it? Even if the effect is amplified, it only means one command becomes two. So relax.”
“That’s….”
“That’s enough, Raenis.”
Luphrite, the Fire Turtle Guild Master, shook his head slightly and hardened his gaze.
—Uoooo!
A gigantic turtle silhouette appeared above Luphrite’s body.
The Fire Earth Turtle.
An eighth-level monster and the reason the middle-aged monster warrior carried the nickname “Impenetrable Fortress.”
Soon, an enormous and sturdy shell enveloped Luphrite and the explorers of the Fire Turtle Guild.
“I won’t tolerate this any longer either, Eradra. As long as we have that artifact, it won’t matter even if our numbers decrease a little.”
“…Guild Master, please don’t. We must join forces no matter what.”
Raenis pleaded, but the heated guild master no longer heard him.
Before long, Heavyclaw, the guild master of the Great Warrior Guild, pulled out two morningstars.
“So we’re fighting now? That suits me just fine!”
“I also welcome battle….”
Kukus the Wise Ogre martial artist of the Great Warrior Guild also raised his fighting spirit alongside his guild master.
The atmosphere that had barely calmed down flared up again.
“Wow.”
Beldora of the Eyes-Eyes-Bear-Love Guild openly expressed admiration.
Boom!
Heavyclaw slammed his morningstar into the ground.
“Since it’s come to this, I’ll knock every one of you down!”
Raenis of the Fire Turtle Guild panicked at those words.
“If even one of us falls, we cannot guarantee victory against the Ashen Wolf Guild!”
“Why should I care!”
Just as Heavyclaw seemed ready to smash the heads of the other explorers, he suddenly turned his head.
“…Though I want to say that and fight, something about this is unpleasant.”
The enormous bear beastman suddenly stared at Tilda.
Tilda, who had been freed from her restraints amid the chaos, flinched and quickly hid behind the wood elf Rael.
“Now that I think about it, something feels too suspicious.”
Thump. Thump.
Heavyclaw slowly stepped forward.
“If you knew about the dragonblood’s unique martial Mystery, you should have mentioned it when the mirror was first being crafted. Why keep silent until now?”
The bear beastman grinned as he stopped before the explorers of the Eyes-Eyes-Bear-Love Guild.
The difference in size was so overwhelming it felt like a wall rising before them.
“You kept quiet and brought it up at the perfect moment to deliberately worsen the atmosphere. Isn’t that right, Tilda Ires?”
Heavyclaw spoke quietly, then corrected himself.
“No… ‘Golden Crow’ Kar.”
“……”
Tilda pressed her lips shut.
Her older sister, Beldora of the Eyes-Eyes-Bear-Love Guild, stepped forward.
“This Tilda is not a fake. I’m certain.”
“How do you know?”
Raenis, who had been watching the situation closely, frowned slightly and asked cautiously.
Beldora straightened her shoulders confidently.
“Because Tilda is Tilda!”
“Wow! Sister, that’s logical!”
“Right?”
“……”
A dry laugh formed on the lips of the other explorers.
Only Heavyclaw remained expressionless as he pointed to the side.
“Move aside. That one is the cultist.”
“And if we refuse?”
“Then I’ll have to ‘persuade’ you.”
Heavyclaw nodded and lowered his morningstar.
At that moment, Kukus the Wise Ogre suddenly vanished.
Rustle!
In an instant, Kukus appeared behind them and struck Tilda.
[Super Strike].
A simple but powerful Mystery capable of shattering an explorer’s entire body with a single blow.
“Graaah!”
Tilda was sent flying and slammed into the wall before collapsing to the ground.
Blood flowed over her entire body, and her limbs twisted grotesquely.
“Tilda!”
Rael of the Eyes-Eyes-Bear-Love Guild gasped and tried to rush over, but froze.
Heavyclaw seized the small-framed Tilda in one massive hand.
“Dragonblood. Come check whether this one is the cultist or not. If you try to reflect the mirror on me, I’ll crush your head immediately.”
“…Understood.”
Eradra carefully approached Heavyclaw while holding the hand mirror.
“Ugh….”
Tilda, now in a miserable state, only groaned weakly.
Her reflection appeared in the mirror.
Immediately, her pupils clouded.
Eradra’s complexion darkened rapidly as the artifact’s side effects struck him. He asked solemnly,
“State who you are.”
“……”
Tilda opened her mouth blankly and answered.
“Tilda Ires. The cute second daughter of the Ires family. A level-6 infiltrator. My specialty is ambush, my hobby is raising eye-eye bears. My most frequently used Mystery is [Leap].”
“……”
All eyes turned toward Rael and Beldora of the Eyes-Eyes-Bear-Love Guild.
Rael spoke first.
“What’s going on? Honestly, I was suspicious too, but every answer matches Tilda’s identity perfectly. There’s nothing that sounds like that cultist.”
Beldora nodded emphatically.
“Everything she said is something only Tilda herself would say. Didn’t I tell you? Tilda is Tilda!”
“…Is that so?”
Eradra adjusted his glasses and asked again.
“Answer truthfully. Are you ‘Golden Crow’ Kar?”
“No. I’m not Kar. I’m Tilda Ires.”
She firmly denied being the cultist Kar.
An answer the cultist Kar could never have given if he were using [Transformation].
Which meant Tilda Ires was indeed herself.
“That’s what she says.”
“……”
Heavyclaw scratched his head silently and avoided the explorers’ sharp gazes.
Even Kukus, a member of his own guild, stared coldly at his guild master.
“Honestly, you seem more suspicious to me.”
Eradra suddenly gestured.
The green orc bard of the White Jade Hand Guild began playing a flute.
A vile melody spread quickly through the air.
A song that temporarily disoriented the listener’s senses.
[Demonic Banquet].
Under normal circumstances, even a surprise attack would not work.
But inside this labyrinth, even high-level explorers could not help hesitating for a moment.
While the explorers covered their ears and faltered, Eradra thrust the mirror toward Heavyclaw.
“…What are you doing!”
Heavyclaw squeezed his eyes shut and swung his arm instinctively.
Eradra dodged, and the blow accidentally struck Kukus, sending him flying.
“Stay still.”
Eradra leapt swiftly onto Heavyclaw’s shoulder and tried to reflect his face in the mirror.
“I refuse.”
Heavyclaw suddenly opened his eyes and twisted his body violently, throwing Eradra away.
Boom!
Just before crashing into the wall, countless tools burst out of the dragonblood’s horn-ornament subspace to protect their master.
“…Too bad. Your beastman recovery speed is impressive.”
“Eradra. You seem to have a death wish.”
Heavyclaw approached the White Jade Hand Guild explorers together with Kukus.
Meanwhile, the Fire Turtle Guild waited inside their protective shell for an opportunity to intervene.
The interior had become chaotic in an instant.
“…What a mess.”
“Seriously.”
While everyone else descended into chaos, only the Eyes-Eyes-Bear-Love Guild searched for a chance to escape.
“Play it again.”
“Yes.”
At Eradra’s command, the green orc bard raised the flute again.
Boom!
“…Ghk?”
An invisible force suddenly descended from the air and knocked the bard down.
At the same time, Eradra’s wrist was struck.
The mirror slipped from his hand and flew naturally into Kukus’s grasp.
“…You were hiding such a Mystery?”
“Doesn’t everyone have at least one Mystery they keep hidden?”
Heavyclaw laughed triumphantly and slapped Kukus on the shoulder.
“…Please stop this conflict!”
Raenis of the Fire Turtle Guild pleaded desperately.
But it was useless.
Even his own guild members were beginning to look at him reproachfully.
“It’s already too late.”
“Indeed, Raenis. It would be better to eliminate everyone.”
“…Guild Master! We must unite!”
“Be quiet, Raenis. If you think about it, all of this happened because you failed to complete that artifact before the guild war.”
“……”
Raenis buried his head in his hands.
Meanwhile, everyone prepared for battle.
The explorers who failed to achieve unity began openly opposing each other.
“…Let’s run.”
“Yes!”
Rael of the Eyes-Eyes-Bear-Love Guild slowly backed away with Beldora.
“I’ll knock everyone down!”
Just as Heavyclaw prepared to charge—
—Heeheehee!
—Yaaah!
—So fun!
Suddenly, a swarm of Naiads rushed in from all directions, danced wildly, and then flew back outside.
“…Guild Master, Rai’s spirits.”
Raenis quickly scanned the surroundings.
Then—
From the direction the spirits had come, terrifying presences began approaching simultaneously.
“So this is where everyone gathered…?”
“Kihihi!”
“Kill them all!”
Soon monsters poured in through the main entrance and the hole in the wall.
A group of Slaughterer Ghouls.
All thirteen ghouls that had advanced to the depths—excluding those killed earlier—had assembled.
“…I see.”
The Fire Turtle Guild Master pressed his hand to his forehead.
“Kill them!”
At the command of the most ferocious ghoul, the entire pack charged forward.
“…Damn it! Deal with them first!”
Heavyclaw shouted while sending a Slaughterer Ghoul flying with his morningstar.
The other explorers had already begun fighting together.
“Let’s go.”
“Bye!”
Except for the two explorers of the Eyes-Eyes-Bear-Love Guild.
They even abandoned the badly injured Tilda.
Watching them from the floor, Tilda chuckled bitterly.
“Seriously, no loyalty.”
“Hide behind me for now, human!”
While smashing ghouls aside, Heavyclaw and Kukus stood before Tilda.
“I apologize for the misunderstanding! Just don’t get eliminated before the battle with the Ashen Wolf Guild!”
“…That apology came pretty late.”
Tilda grumbled but hid behind the two large explorers.
And then—
Whoosh!
She set both of them on fire.
“Aaagh!”
Heavyclaw suppressed the flames slightly with a shout and turned around.
Tilda Ires of the Eyes-Eyes-Bear-Love Guild had already become a blond half-elf.
“…Golden Crow?”
“Yes. I’m that resourceful cultist.”
—Caw!
A blind crow suddenly appeared and snatched the mirror artifact from Kukus’s burning hands.
Heavyclaw frowned despite being engulfed in flames.
What was going on?
When ordered by the mirror, hadn’t she denied being Kar and claimed to be Tilda Ires?
“…How did you do it? How did you perfectly impersonate Tilda Ires?”
Kar, now transformed into a Slaughterer Ghoul, raised his index finger to his lips.
“Trade secret.”
《At times like this, the fact that you’re insane is incredibly helpful!》
My mind was perfectly clear, so what nonsense was that?
In any case, I had disrupted the guild alliance’s unity and obtained the [Consciousness Usurper].
Both actions severely derailed the Schemer’s plan.
Schemer, how does it feel?
I could roughly imagine his state of mind.
After all, the “one explorer” who had been present here until moments ago had vanished without a trace.
Now in the form of a ghoul, I walked out calmly without being attacked.
—KROOOO!
In the middle of the fierce battle, a thunderous roar descended from the sky and shook the ground.
Finally.
That took long enough.
“…No.”
“Damn…!”
The Light Wyvern.
The labyrinth’s boss, lured here by Yallen, descended instantly.
BOOOOM!
“AAAAAH!”
Screams mixed with the thunderous collapse of buildings and roads.
《It is the location where your partner’s illusion had been.》
When I immediately recalled it, everything the [Eye That Whispers Falsehood] had witnessed while acting as “Beldora” flowed into my mind.
In the final moment of the memory, the wood elf Rael—who had fled earlier—was struck by the wyvern’s claws and scattered into several pieces.
“Oh dear.”
—KRAAA!
Apparently unsatisfied with just one victim, the wyvern rampaged wildly.
The ground shook violently, and buildings collapsed around it.
Explorers and ghouls alike stopped fighting and rushed outside.
—Kro?
The wyvern, about to take flight again, spotted the group gathered below and flew toward them.
The Light Wyvern could never be defeated by just one or two people.
And certainly not while fighting each other.
“…Ghouls.”
“Vampires.”
Facing the approaching Light Wyvern, the Fire Turtle Guild Master and the leader of the Slaughterer Ghouls exchanged glances.
Surprisingly, they reached the same conclusion.
“Let’s cooperate for a moment.”
“Ridiculous, but it’s the best option…!”
Vampires and ghouls.
Ancient enemies of a thousand years had achieved miraculous cooperation in the face of danger.
“O Guardian of All, I have succeeded once again.”
Surely Arteyn would smile down from the heavens at such a glorious development.