Chapter 108: Guild War — Sunlight (1)
Chapter 108: Guild War — Sunlight (1)
Sss—
Through the mark on my chest, the two Arteyns expressed their will simultaneously.
—What in the world are you doing…?
—Hah, this is absurd.
Perhaps because it happened inside the labyrinth rather than reality, they did not seem especially pleased.
But true harmony had not even begun yet.
“O Arteyn of the present and the past, I will soon achieve a magnificent harmony.”
I immediately started running.
“Kar tribe member!”
Brunelda, who had been waiting nearby, quickly turned her back toward me.
The moment I climbed on, the Northern Continent barbarian—who had spent her entire life training—began running at a terrifying speed.
Not toward the tower we had climbed earlier, but toward the silver tower connected to the Moon Battlefield.
SHAAAAA—!!
Just as we were about to arrive, a powerful beam of light shot up from the golden tower.
A mysterious radiance where brightness and darkness intertwined.
The brilliance containing the power of Lumerlan, who once governed the sun and moon, reached the star-filled sky.
KWA—!
The light that touched the night sky began weaving a bridge through the air.
From the sky above the golden tower all the way to the very center of the heavens where the [Orb of Lumerlan] floated.
“So that’s what you meant….”
“That’s correct.”
I turned my gaze back toward the silver tower.
“If you climb the tower aligned with the opposite attribute and shatter the gem left by the divine beast that pulls the chariot of the sun and moon, the path to the sky opens.”
The only method to obtain the [Orb of Lumerlan] without hunting the Light Wyvern.
A so-called shortcut through the sky.
“That is the true value of the divine beast hidden piece.”
Brunelda, running at a speed unbelievable for someone at level 5, spoke.
“You said we must break the divine beast’s gem. That doesn’t sound easy. Could my sword do it?”
“Of course, it cannot be broken through ordinary means.”
Skinfaxi and Hrimfaxi.
The gems left behind by those divine beasts possessed defensive power exceeding most plate armor.
No explorer could break them through strength and Mysteries alone.
There were only two methods to shatter a divine beast’s gem.
A Sacred Relic.
Or a weapon infused with an overwhelmingly massive amount of divine power.
“Kar tribe member! People who possess things like that don’t usually participate in guild wars!”
“That is why the hidden piece remained undiscovered for so long.”
There was a reason why labyrinth researchers who had studied the [Battlefield of Sun and Moon] for years had not fully uncovered the hidden piece.
“But how is that spy planning to break it?”
“I will explain later.”
As we spoke, we had already arrived at the silver tower.
“We’re going up.”
Still carrying me, Brunelda climbed the outer wall with her bare hands and reached the tower roof in an instant.
“Thank you.”
The moment my feet touched the ground, I immediately placed Skinfaxi’s Heart on the floor.
“So how are you planning to break it!”
“Like this.”
Placing both hands on the sun-red gem, I closed my eyes and began murmuring.
“O Solmirran, who burns eternally.”
Creator of the blazing sun.
Goddess of the saving sun and radiant creation.
I offered a prayer to Solmirran.
“I apologize, but could you break this for me?”
There was no need for formalities.
I was neither a priest of the Sun Church nor anything more than a cultist, so my attitude would not influence the Eternal One’s judgment anyway.
“Please, I beg you. From now on, I will diligently sunbathe every noon wearing only my underwear.”
I had never offered a solemn prayer to the sun.
Nor had I practiced the religious discipline of sunbathing for half a day over fifteen days.
I had no right to request the sun’s help.
But—
Even so.
Crack—!
Solmirran answered my request.
Thin lines spread across Skinfaxi’s Heart, splitting it like lightning.
“Thank you.”
“…Does Solmirran usually grant requests whenever someone prays?”
“Probably not.”
Intervening in the world without causal justification consumed tremendous faith.
Naturally, most divine beings ignored prayers from intelligent beings who were not their followers.
Solmirran responded to my plea simply because, despite being a mixed-blood, I was still an elf.
Whooom—
Skinfaxi’s Heart shattered completely, and light erupted like a rainbow.
The brilliance that held both brightness and darkness reached the heavens, drawing a straight line across the star-filled cosmos.
It extended forward until it connected with the bridge that had begun from the opposite side.
Fwaaa—
At the center of the sky, split in two—
The [Orb of Lumerlan] became a dark sphere filled with mysterious radiance.
“…Beautiful.”
Brunelda murmured in a daze.
And it deserved admiration.
An eclipse.
The moon overlapped the sun.
An astronomical phenomenon that once symbolized Lumerlan.
Though different from a true eclipse, it produced the same mystical effect.
—KROOO!
The Light Wyvern, battling many intruders below, looked up at the sky and roared loudly.
Then it spread its wings and ascended.
The final guardian of the ruins was flying toward the Sacred Relic.
As it approached the relic, scales began peeling off its body while gradually glowing.
《:O》
Half of its body emitted blinding light.
The other half radiated a freezing glow.
Heat and cold.
Light and darkness.
Freed from its former form, the wyvern embodied both opposing aspects and roared.
—KRAAAAA!
《Eclipse Wyvern (Level 7)》
《A wyvern that guards the sun and moon. This is the evolved form of the Light Wyvern. Is this really okay? Even if all explorers and ghouls join forces, it will still be an extremely formidable enemy!》
The Eclipse Wyvern spread its now even larger wings and exhaled a breath mixing gold and silver light toward the ground.
KWA—!!
The northern ruins were instantly engulfed in flames and erased.
Its destructive power far exceeded the beam it had used as the Light Wyvern.
Explorers and ghouls watching from the ground stood with their mouths open.
I watched the strengthened wyvern and nodded in satisfaction.
Perfect.
It was complete chaos.
The Schemer, one of the Six Apostles, was crossing the bridge stretching across the star-filled sky.
Constantly glancing downward.
…What in the world is happening?
He was bewildered.
Unexpected events had been occurring one after another.
Golden Crow Kar.
It had started with the half-elf cultist infiltrating with [Transformation] and sowing discord.
How could his ego remain intact after using it for that long…!
He even brought ghouls to provoke battle and lured the wyvern, turning everything into total chaos.
Because the atmosphere had become so abnormal, the hidden piece had to be activated earlier than planned to create the bridge in the sky.
—KRAAA!
Below, explorers and ghouls were still fighting together against the wyvern that had transformed.
Why had it changed like that?
Did activating the hidden pieces with divine beast gems at both towers cause this?
“Gah!”
“Ugh!”
With one sweep of the wyvern’s tail, the Fire Turtle Guild’s shaman and a Slaughterer Ghoul vanished together.
That thing could never be killed.
No matter how many level-5 explorers and ghouls gathered, they would never defeat it.
But it doesn’t matter….
Soon the Sacred Relic would be in his hands.
After running endlessly across the bridge—longer than it appeared—he finally reached the strange black sphere radiating light.
Inside it floated the [Orb of Lumerlan], shaped like the unified sun and moon.
…Finally.
The Schemer smiled brightly without realizing it.
All the hardships since infiltrating the Ashen Wolf Guild five years ago.
And then the frantic preparation after his identity was discovered a month before the guild war.
Recalling everything, he reached out his hand.
Whoosh!
“Ghk!?”
The moment his palm touched the light emitted by the black sphere, it ignited in flames.
The fire vanished when he pulled his hand back.
He tried flame-resistant gloves, but the result was the same.
Don’t tell me…!
After slashing the sphere several times with a dagger, the Schemer gritted his teeth.
He could not touch it.
Access itself was completely blocked.
Having explored labyrinths countless times, he quickly understood the situation.
It’s been enhanced.
Labyrinth Enhancement.
A phenomenon occurring only in B-rank labyrinths or higher, where strategy conditions, monsters, and environments become distorted.
—KROOO!
Most likely the rules had changed so that the upgraded wyvern had to be defeated before the [Orb of Lumerlan] could be obtained.
And—
The cause of the labyrinth enhancement was undoubtedly the blond cultist walking calmly toward him.
“Greetings.”
Golden Crow Kar approached slowly, waving his hand expressionlessly.
“Why do you look so flustered?”
Crash!
—Caw!
The crow flew around smashing nearby crystal spheres.
“A man with grand ambition should not frown over something like this.”
Kar continued speaking.
With an eerily emotionless face.
“You must work hard if you wish to achieve your grand ambition—the extinction of all benevolent and evil gods.”
“……”
For a moment, the Schemer failed to control his expression.
His eyes widened.
How.
How in the world.
How could a mere cultist know the ultimate plan shared only by the Six Apostles?
It was impossible.
A catastrophic breach that should never occur in reality.
“…Who told you?”
The Schemer reversed his grip on the dagger and lowered his stance.
Kar tilted his head innocently.
“I am a cultist of the Twisted Truth. Naturally I heard it from Lady Ridni.”
“Lies! That fallen evil god could barely perceive the identity of great monsters at best!”
Because his mind had grown extremely cold, the Schemer made a swift judgment.
…He’s dangerous.
That cultist had to be eliminated.
Skinfaxi and Hrimfaxi.
The hidden piece involving the two divine beast gems normally allowed explorers to obtain the [Orb of Lumerlan] without killing the Light Wyvern if only one side was activated.
But if both were activated simultaneously?
It becomes far harder.
The Light Wyvern evolved into the far stronger Eclipse Wyvern.
Defeating it became mandatory to conquer the labyrinth.
The labyrinth enhancement of the [Battlefield of Sun and Moon] was triggered by the explorers themselves.
“You must be shocked. I understand. How heartbroken you must feel.”
When I leisurely expressed “sympathy,” the elf beyond the black sphere stiffened.
Pure Mana Sorcerer of the Fire Turtle Guild.
The jewel elf Raenis.
More precisely, the Schemer of the Six Apostles disguised as an ordinary explorer through [Human Skin Garment].
I had known his identity from the start.
“[Human Skin Garment] cannot alter body size. And since the Schemer has a slender build, you were the only possible culprit from the beginning.”
Of course, that deduction was only possible because I already knew the Schemer’s real race and physique.
As usual, the tedious middle steps were skipped.
“To prepare for this operation, you cleverly used two other explorers to rapidly build your achievements, didn’t you? That way suspicion from the Ashen Wolf Guild would be distributed among them as well.”
I continued talking like a detective explaining the case to a murderer.
“You must have wanted to activate the hidden piece while the guild alliance fought the Ashen Wolf Guild and then win calmly and mysteriously. It must be painful that you couldn’t.”
“……”
The Schemer was obsessively attached to maintaining the grand design he had planned.
If even a small deviation occurred, he would rather abandon everything.
That was why he had struggled so hard to force the explorers fighting below to unite according to his plan.
And that was why I had devoted myself to stirring chaos and discord.
“I understand all suffering.”
I deliberately wore the wicked smile of a cultist.
“Even the artifact painstakingly created by another of the ‘Six Apostles’ has been lost. How tragic. Would you like to come into my arms?”
“…I see.”
The Schemer spoke with his true voice, not the voice of Raenis.
His voice carried chilling killing intent.
The murderous aura of someone who had killed countless people.
“So it was all you. The one who revealed Rigobert’s identity… and the one who ruined my ambitious guild war plan…!”
Lowering his body, the Schemer suddenly leapt over the sphere and stabbed at my head with his dagger.
Normally it would have been too fast to follow.
But inside the [Battlefield of Sun and Moon], every explorer’s stats were equalized.
Clang!
The blade was coated with deadly poison.
Rather than letting it strike me, I deflected it by raising earth aura.
Just because I followed the Immortality Cultist build did not mean I enjoyed all kinds of pain.
“I was going to spare you because I felt a sense of kinship… but you crossed the line!”
The Schemer swung his dagger violently.
“The labyrinth’s rules prevent killing you physically, but I’ll kill you mentally!”
“A moment ago you were trying so hard to stop others from fighting….”
A genuine laugh escaped my mouth.
How long had it been since I laughed like this?
“I will give you a warning as well.”
I looked directly into the Schemer’s eyes.
“Today, inside this labyrinth, you will experience something more painful than death.”