Chapter 188: A Defiance of Common Sense
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 188: A Defiance of Common Sense
‘I-I’m really going to die...!’
Held by the throat, Shuela looked past Yoo Eon at the entirety of the 35th Floor. Dozens of Evil Eyes drifted through the sky, scouring the vast surroundings as if searching for something.
Having found Shuela, the last of their targets, the dozens of Evil Eyes slowly converged on Yoo Eon’s position.
—Crunch!
A massive maw erupted from his back, ruthlessly chewing and swallowing the Evil Eyes. Some of them had been carrying pieces of Yoo Eon’s original, shattered body; since Arachne’s exoskeleton was a precious material, he had made sure to recover his original form completely.
Thud!
Suspended in the air with no footing, Shuela was dropped roughly to the ground, tumbling backward. Though she was a Cobalt-grade explorer, she had been struggling for air while being strangled, and the sudden drop left her gasping and disoriented.
“You twelve... was this the work of the Small and Medium Clan Alliance?”
“N-No! Actually, it was My—”
“My?”
Suddenly, Shuela’s expression twisted in agony. She clutched her throat, and a spray of blood erupted from her mouth.
“Guh... hugh...!!”
“What is this? What’s happening?!”
“D-Don’t...!”
After vomiting a bucketful of blood, Shuela collapsed to the floor, her eyes wide and lifeless. Yoo Eon shook her and checked for a pulse, but there was none.
“She’s dead...?”
Yoo Eon thought to himself. Does a person’s internal organs really rupture just from falling seventy centimeters to the ground?
Of course not. However, in his mind, he was certain this was the work of the Small and Medium Clan Alliance, which was teeming with Cobalt-grade explorers.
Now that all twelve explorers were dead, he had two choices. Despite what had happened, he could continue descending and proceed with the match.
Or, he could head straight to the surface, report the incident, and demand answers from the Small and Medium Clan Alliance.
Regardless of the choice, he had to head toward the stratum portal first. Just as he checked the direction on his Explorer’s Plate and prepared to move toward the portal—
—BOOM!!
Something flew at him with a speed almost too fast for the eye to track. Yoo Eon thought it was a blade and tried to deflect it with his tail, but—
Slice—
‘What now?’
* * *
—Thud!
His severed tail hit the floor, and blood poured from a deep gash in his side. Though the wound was soon erased by the blue flames of the Knight Lord, the real issue was that his body, which shouldn't have been so easily damaged, had been cut.
He turned around, his tail being consumed back into his body as he faced his attacker. Standing there was a woman with long, navy-blue hair, a sword held in her right hand.
“They just keep coming. Or are you just a normal person who mistook me for a monster?”
“....”
“I’m sorry, but I didn’t kill this person. Probably.”
He couldn't be sure. High-grade explorers from other cities had entered the competition, and seeing a dead explorer at his feet, it was a reasonable misunderstanding.
He didn't think a Cobalt-grade explorer would die from a one-meter fall, but he tried to explain himself anyway.
“No answer, huh?”
He showed the Cobalt-grade Explorer’s Plate hanging around his neck, but there was no reaction. She might have thought he was a monster that stole the plate. But from what he could see, this woman had come here with the sole intention of killing him.
“Are you with them?”
“....”
“I can’t know anything if you don’t talk.”
There were too many possibilities. An explorer from outside Calax who mistook him for a monster? An accomplice of the Small and Medium Clan Alliance? Or just a crazy woman? Maybe she was sane once but unfortunately acquired a mental instability skill during the match?
‘I doubt it’s the latter.’
Whatever the case, since communication was impossible, he had no choice but to fight. He opened the eyelids of the Direwolf Alpha’s eyes to check her mana.
‘That’s strange. Why is it so tangled... like she’s a Flesh Golem?’
It was a bizarre mana signature, as if different types of mana had been woven together. Normally, by the time an explorer reached the Cobalt Grade, the mana flowing through their body took on a unique color. But this woman felt off. It was a blue-toned mana overall, but...
‘It’s like similar manas were forcibly stitched together.’
He could tell her mana wasn't in a normal state, but there wasn't much he could do about it.
—Crash!!
‘Her physical strength doesn't seem to match her mana capacity.’
Her mana quantity was a tier above the Cobalt Grades he had fought so far. However, the mana didn't feel settled in her body; it looked as though it had been forcibly injected and was being held there.
Still, she was undeniably strong.
—Boom! Boom! Boom!
Her movements were swift enough to swing a longsword shrouded in aura hundreds of times per minute. Her swordsmanship was precise, yet it lacked flexibility and felt somewhat static. Was it a sword style obtained through a skill?
“Hmph...!”
Whenever his sword was about to reach her, she would scatter like an afterimage and reappear to the side. With his mana-sensing vision, he could see where she was going, but her speed was impressive.
‘She shouldn't be able to use magic, so this must be the effect of a skill.’
—Clang!!
Even when he swung his sword with enough force to blow her away, the weapon would somehow return to her hand. Another skill.
—Bang! Pop!
Blue flame-like attack skills erupted from her left hand. She used another detection skill to block his tail attacking from behind. She had to have at least six active skills engraved on her.
And yet.
—Crackle!
“Ugh...?!”
“Stop this. You must have realized by now that I have no intention of killing you.”
As their blades clashed, he let dozens of opportunities to kill her pass by. Even a barbarian who only knew how to hold a sword should have realized he wasn't trying to harm her after being shown this much mercy.
Actually, thinking normally, wasn't she the one in danger? She had attempted a silent assassination, and if the opponent was stronger, she should have fled.
‘There must be a reason she can’t run.’
It probably wasn't a normal restraint. It felt like something magical. Since magic was suppressed, it was likely a skill-based constraint.
‘I’ve never tried this on a human... but it’s worth a shot.’
After fighting this hard, he wouldn't feel guilty even if he failed. It was the perfect timing.
—Slam! Screech!
In an instant, he knocked the nameless woman’s sword aside and wrapped his tail around her entire body.
—Tighten!
“Kh...!?”
“Excuse me.”
—Thud!
He flared his ribs wide, creating a stomach within his torso, and swallowed the woman whole. He didn't know how the skill restraining her worked, but he hoped this would sever the connection.
He didn't intend to alter her internal structure like he did with Wispie, nor did he plan to tinker with her mana circuits like he did when ripping magic from the Goblin Shaman. The moment she was stored in the subspace via his skill, she would be completely isolated from external influences unless he willed otherwise.
“What the...?”
However, something felt off. Something hadn't been stored properly, leaving a lingering sensation of an obstruction. He spat it out to see what it was.
—Splat...
“Ah.”
The woman’s clothing came tumbling out, soaking wet.
‘They’re white.’
Wait, then when he spits her back out...?
“Oh, man...! I was trying to stop a criminal, but I’m about to become one myself.”
He glanced around, but there were no witnesses. He had already eaten all the Evil Eyes loitering nearby, and once he withdrew the magic suppression from the mid-boss golem, the alarm system began to function intermittently.
That meant people were already entering the 35th Floor.
“Whew, nothing for it.”
Since people were already coming down, heading back up now would only cause a scene. For now, he had to keep going down.
* * *
“Ha, haha...! Isn't it a magnificent skill? Truly!”
“Yes, quite.”
Mad Popenes had watched the entire scene: Siv, whom he had sent to kill Yoo Eon, being utterly defeated and eventually swallowed. Beside him, Mystery Antoinette—disguised with a different face—had also witnessed the event.
It was a bit disappointing, but the explorer possessed incredible combat power. From the perspective of Mystery Antoinette, who worked tirelessly to prevent the emergence of new high-grade explorers, losing ‘Clinging Death’ was painful enough to make her shed tears of blood.
Still, she had to be satisfied with the fact that they had nipped a potential high-grade explorer in the bud. After all, he had some sort of connection with the Mayerbridge Union. She nodded slightly; she only had to wait patiently for his death three months from now.
“My Lady, there is something strange...”
It was Aelmeri, also disguised, who had been observing Yoo Eon by borrowing the skill of another aide.
“Clinging Death... has vanished...”
“...What do you mean by that?”
“To be precise... it couldn't overcome a more powerful spirit and was neutralized.”
“How could such a thing happen? I find it hard to believe there is a spirit that surpasses ‘Clinging Death.’”
It was a one-time artifact purchased for the staggering sum of two thousand gold coins from the black market in the Wikon region, using the capital of the Antonio Brotherhood.
It had the disadvantage of a loud activation involving black fog and a long preparation time, but they had spent the fortune because it was guaranteed to ‘definitely’ kill someone.
And that Clinging Death had been neutralized?
“I heard Clinging Death was a trophy from the 7th Stratum Boss of Hechituk?”
“T-That is correct...”
It was a special reward obtained by perfectly killing the Arch Elder Lich, the ruler of Hechituk’s 7th Stratum, through a specific gimmick.
The 7th Stratum. A distant monster located on the 70th floor. Among the mage-class necro-type entities, it was just below the absolute peak.
“Then, are you saying that man has consumed a necro-type monster from some impossible 8th Stratum?”
“I-I’m sorry... I don’t know either...”
Currently, there were only three Great Labyrinths on the surface that were known to have an 8th Stratum—meaning 80 floors or more.
Hechituk, Roanmarie, and Calax.
And excluding Calax, no one had officially reached the 90th Stratum in the other two, and those who had encountered an 8th Stratum boss were few enough to be named in history books.
“I-It must be for some other reason...!”
“Of course it is. Common sense, right?”
Of course, the Labyrinth City was always full of cases that defied common sense.
Perhaps in the 8th Stratum of a forgotten Great Labyrinth—one that appeared in the Stellika region of the northern polar circle 200 years before Roanmarie and only 100 years after Hechituk—there happened to exist a necro-type boss more powerful than an Arch Elder Lich.
And perhaps, by chance, someone in Calax possessed that boss’s mana core.
And further, if that owner had passed that mana core on to Yoo Eon...
—Clatter
“I-I am truly sorry.”
“No, Aelmeri. Everyone makes mistakes. Besides, this wasn't your fault.”
When Aelmeri’s hands trembled so much she dropped her staff, Mystery Antoinette leaned down, picked it up, and returned it to her.
“Shall we head back?”
“Y-Yes, My Lady...”
Mystery Antoinette flashed a bright smile at Mad Popenes, and he shook his head as if he had no choice, activating a mass-produced teleportation artifact.
“Well, I suppose the Antonio Brotherhood will provide another test subject later?”
“Yes. Of course.”
Since she had been swallowed instantly, Mad Popenes assumed Siv was dead. Ravi Sateria’s report hadn't mentioned anything about him reading memories through the brain or spitting things back out alive.
Unaware of their conversation, Yoo Eon didn't even realize that the Knight Lord’s mana core nestled in his chest had saved him from death.
“This is driving me crazy. If I summon her and she’s naked, I’m going to look like a total creep.”
He was busy worrying about the immediate, awkward future.