Chapter 298: Transmission
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 298: Transmission
Inside the spacious conference hall, the gazes of the high-ranking clan officials seated along the long table converged on a single point.
"Lady Justitia. Is that truly the case?"
"Why would I bother telling such a lie?"
The three great clans of Roanmarie:
Stratos.
Megingjord.
"Our Avalon Clan will significantly increase our deployment for this Hollow Breeze."
"But… Ashuras Vidhyarti has already declined the request for dispatch. This Hollow Breeze raid… it is bound to end in failure."
"Even the heads of the Page of Arcana are talking. They say the movements of this Hollow Breeze are unusual. If failure is inevitable, the right decision would be to minimize losses by reducing personnel."
Ashuras Vidhyarti, one of the four great clans based in Hechituk, was pulling out of this Hollow Breeze raid.
The reason was that all the candidate sites for the Hollow Breeze's origin—as estimated by the headquarters of the Page of Arcana in Roanmarie—were far from Hechituk.
It had been nearly three years since they began resolving the issue by traveling to various suspected origin points.
There had been many candidates, but thanks to the efforts of personnel dispatched from nearby labyrinth cities, only four remained.
All these candidates were located in the North, far from Hechituk, meaning they no longer had a direct reason to participate in the Hollow Breeze raid.
Originally, eight large clans from the three great labyrinth cities participated in the Hollow Breeze. One from Calax, three from Roanmarie, and four from Hechituk.
While Wispales was not technically one of the three great labyrinth cities, it possessed one more large clan with an Orichalcum-grade explorer, bringing the total number of major clans to nine.
Of course, it wasn't just these nine; clans of significant size from smaller cities also dispatched personnel to some extent.
"With Ashuras Vidhyarti pulling out, our combat power has been drastically reduced. Above all… didn't Adelaide Margarita of the Guild Headquarters also say she couldn't participate in this Hollow Breeze?"
To some extent, this could be seen as a move to keep rivals in check. Relations between Roanmarie and Hechituk had never been particularly good, and by unilaterally withdrawing their forces, the one to suffer would be Roanmarie, which was closer to the Hollow Breeze's origin.
"If this continues… we will see the first 'raid failure' of the Hollow Breeze in decades. We must minimize our bleeding and wait for the next opportunity. By staying on the outskirts of Roanmarie to mitigate damage to the city, we can at least suppress public criticism."
Since the first successful subjugation in the distant past, the Hollow Breeze raids had succeeded almost every year, barring a few exceptions caused by major blunders or sabotage.
This was partly because the quality and quantity of explorers had improved significantly. More importantly, the Page of Arcana speculated that—though the exact cause was unknown—successfully completing a Hollow Breeze raid seemed to weaken the next one.
Thus, successful subjugations had continued for decades.
But now, using the northern location of the origin as an excuse, Ashuras Vidhyarti—a major force from Hechituk—had backed out.
While Avalon was expected to further reduce its numbers to minimize losses, Skaeda Justitia, the clan leader of Avalon, was alone in arguing for an increase in their deployment.
"If this Hollow Breeze ends in failure, Avalon will take a hit. Naturally, public condemnation will be directed at Ashuras Vidhyarti. Even if we reduce our numbers, the backlash against us won't be that strong."
Skaeda Justitia had reached the Orichalcum Grade at a young age through unprecedentedly rapid growth.
Her foundation was a powerful magical talent, and the engine that kept her moving was a miraculous combination of skills.
She reached the Orichalcum Grade at the young age of twenty-four. Just one year after that, and in her sixth year with the clan, she became the leader of Avalon.
Though her tenure had been relatively short, she had performed her duties as Avalon's leader perfectly. However, her current judgment was incomprehensible to the other elders in the room.
"…No, I don't think that will happen."
"You don't think so? What do you mean by that?"
"I mean this Hollow Breeze. I don't think it will fail."
It was quite unusual for an entire large clan to pull out. It wasn't that it had never happened before, but precedents were rare.
Even if the actual difference in combat power was marginal, humans were driven by 'morale.' The mere fact that a major clan had withdrawn, reducing their total strength, was expected to plummet the morale of many explorers.
"Do you have a reason for thinking so?"
Skaeda Justitia stared at the deployment list for a moment, recalling a memory from not long ago.
Skaeda had business at a social gathering held in Veritas. Coincidentally, the day before, the Guild Headquarters had summoned an explorer for a meeting.
It was the first candidate for promotion to the 'Orichalcum' grade since herself. Considering her current age of twenty-eight, the candidate was twenty-one—much younger than she had been. Since it was the first candidate to appear in four years, she had been interested.
Using her authority as an Orichalcum-grade explorer, she had been able to step into that meeting room.
"Whew… Haaa…."
"Lady Justitia?"
"Ah, the… the reason. Yes, I have a reason."
Normally, the Guild Headquarters did not publicly announce the birth of an Orichalcum-grade explorer. It was news that spread through word of mouth among officials, slowly trickling down from the high-ranking positions.
"A new Orichalcum-grade explorer has been born. This is the first time I'm mentioning it here."
"Is—is that true?!"
"Who is it?! Is it Kaihen? Did that fellow finally…!"
"No, it's not. It's not an explorer from Roanmarie. I heard he belongs to Calax."
"From… Calax?"
As Skaeda Justitia nodded, shadows of concern fell over the faces of the officials in the room. There was only one large clan in Calax: the Mayerbridge Union.
Though small in scale, because it included one Orichalcum-grade explorer, it was a clan that could not be easily underestimated.
But for another Orichalcum-grade explorer to emerge from Calax… it meant the rare situation of two Orichalcum-grade explorers existing in the same clan might occur.
However, there was a more pressing matter at hand, so no one voiced that concern.
"The existence of an Orichalcum-grade explorer is significant. But that alone isn't a reason for us to increase our personnel, is it?"
"Ashuras Vidhyarti has two 8-star explorers who are equivalent to Orichalcum Grade. I don't believe the existence of one new Orichalcum-grade explorer is enough reason for us to increase our dispatch."
"In other words, a new Orichalcum-grade explorer doesn't necessarily decrease the probability of failure."
Skaeda shook her head.
"It will succeed."
Upon hearing the news about Ashuras Vidhyarti, Justitia herself had initially thought they should reduce their numbers. If the raid was destined to fail, the wise choice was to cut losses.
The public forgets easily. If the Avalon Clan, having suffered minimal losses, then actively helped with Roanmarie's maintenance afterward, it could even generate positive public opinion.
The Guild Headquarters and Ashuras Vidhyarti had withdrawn a combined force equivalent to three Orichalcum-grade explorers. Additionally, the latter had about fifteen more explorers equivalent to Titanium Grade (7-6 stars).
With such a massive reduction in force, there was no reason for the profit-driven Avalon to increase its numbers while risking further losses.
"He… is not just an Orichalcum-grade explorer."
* * *
:: Kirik… ::
"You really went out of your way to be a pain in the ass."
I had sacrificed quite a few high-grade organs just to catch the Large Flame Puppet. At this rate, the cost-benefit analysis wasn't looking great.
"Whoa, it's disappearing…!"
The puppet was rapidly incinerating into nothingness. Don't tell me the Emperor of Sinew designed this puppet so it couldn't be consumed…!
—Crunch!!
I quickly extended the Megido Serpent's maw and absorbed the creature's body. Half of the corpse had already burned away, and the dissolution was so rapid that only one of the three mana cores remained.
"I only managed to save one."
The mana core that generated the puppet's incredibly tough barrier had burned up. The one connected to the wings, which was high-performance enough to teleport its massive body without warning, was also lost.
"Only the offensive mana core is left."
It couldn't pierce the Knight Lord's aura, but it was an offensive mana core capable of slicing through the reinforced Queen Arachne's exoskeleton like tofu. Even this much was a significant harvest, but…
"Ha, I'm so frustrated my hands are shaking."
I could have gotten two more powerful mana cores. It was truly a shame.
"The puppet fell!"
"Amazing! So strong!"
"Yeah, were you watching?"
The Large White Flame didn't seem particularly bothered, even though its puppet had been destroyed.
"I broke your puppet. Is that okay?"
"It's okay! Another one will appear!"
"…How do you know that?"
"I don't know! But they keep appearing!"
Labyrinth bosses respawn roughly every month. However, I never got the impression that the creatures inside the labyrinth were aware of that.
"Who makes them again?"
"I'm not sure! I just know they come back!"
"Hmm…."
It seemed they didn't know the principle behind it either. Regardless… this meant I had subjugated the 7th Stratum boss.
"I see. For now… shall we go do what we came here for?"
"Yes! This way!"
"The throne is here!"
After defeating the Large Flame Puppet, I picked up the Small Flame Puppet again and headed toward the place they called the throne. I expected something grand, but it wasn't quite like that.
"This place is all in ruins, too."
"But the throne is here!"
"What a relief!"
In the center of a collapsed ruin stood the chair they called the throne. It looked like a fancy chair, though I couldn't tell why it was considered a throne.
"I just need to sit it here, right?"
"Yes! That's right!"
"Hurry! Quickly!"
"Alright, stop nagging."
As I placed the Small Flame Puppet on the throne, the dark clouds parted, and moonlight shone down into the ruins.
"Wow! It's a success!"
"Can you control this puppet now?"
"Yes!"
The two flames began to flit around the puppet seated on the throne, giggling and chatting.
"Thank you! Now I can tell the human!"
"Tell me what?"
"You don't know? But it's what the human is looking for!"
"What I'm looking for?"
The Small White Flame burrowed into the puppet's chest and vanished inside. Before long, the puppet containing the flame opened its eyes while seated in the chair and pointed in one direction.
"It's over there."
"Over there? What is?"
The voice had changed to a slightly husky female voice. I figured it was just following the puppet's vocal cords. The atmosphere felt different, though.
"The exit of this world."
"…A portal."
"Thank you. For helping."
At the half-broken exit that led into the ruins, a portal to the next floor appeared.
"I'll give this to you."
"This is…."
The small puppet handed me something.
"You won't be able to use it now. But keep it. You'll need it."
"Ah, well… thanks?"
It was a red liquid contained in a glass vial. No matter how I looked at it, it looked like blood. What did she mean by saying I couldn't use it now?
"Farewell. Successor."
"Wait, how do you—"
"That is a part of the power the Emperor possessed. Do not try to control it recklessly. You will be the one consumed instead."
Just as I was about to ask about my doubts.
—Swoooosh…!!
"Hey, wait…!"
Flash—!!
* * *
"Kyaaa?! Y-Yoo Eon?!"
"Sera…?"
I had been teleported into Sera's room while she was changing.