Chapter 284: Labyrinth of Change: Labyrinthos (13)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 284: Labyrinth of Change: Labyrinthos (13)
Naturally, when I came to my senses, I was inside the Purple Gold Red Gourd—the gourd itself.
“…This is so out of nowhere. Why is a Myth-grade artifact suddenly popping up here?”
The Purple Gold Red Gourd is one of the divine treasures appearing in Journey to the West. Originally, it was a divine tool used by the god Taishang Laojun, but his attendants, Gold Horn and Silver Horn, stole it and fled.
Later, Sun Wukong manages to reclaim it after overcoming various hardships.
Well, if you look into it later, there’s a part where the whole incident was just a play staged by Guanyin to provide a trial for Xuanzang’s party, but that has nothing to do with the artifact’s performance, so let’s move on.
In the original work, it only had a brief setting and never actually appeared, and in the 1st Timeline, that liar bastard never showed it to me.
I have no way of knowing exactly how Seo-ha set it up, but it probably doesn’t differ much from its original function in Journey to the West.
The primary functions of the Purple Gold Red Gourd are shrinking and sucking in objects, and adjusting its own size.
And its most famous ability is, of course, the power to imprison an opponent inside the gourd if they answer when their name is called, regardless of what they actually say.
…So there was a reason the artifact asked for my name.
And well, on a minor note, there’s also the detail that it can use a dissolving liquid to melt its contents…
“…Surely not, right?”
It’s not like it’s going to suddenly start a trial and pour out dissolving liquid, is it?
The Ruyi Jingu Bang appeared in the original work, so its detailed settings were written down, but the gourd never had such a detailed description, so I don’t know for sure.
While I was looking around with such worries, a voice suddenly reached my ears.
“There is no need to worry, O one who possesses the qualifications to be the master of the Purple Gold Red Gourd. It seems you have misunderstood due to my somewhat forceful summons, but I merely invited you because I wished to converse with you for a moment.”
The voice itself felt somewhat familiar, yet it possessed an unfamiliar way of speaking.
When I turned my head, she was looking at me.
It felt as if she had appeared out of thin air, but perhaps she had been there all along and I simply hadn’t noticed.
Brilliant golden hair, a Golden Hoop, and red eyes tinged with gold—she resembled someone I knew well…?
No, wait. She shouldn’t resemble her.
“No, wait a second. Looking at your aura and appearance, you seem to be a residual thought of Sun Wukong as well. Am I right?”
“Indeed. As you suspected, I am also a residual thought of Sun Wukong.”
“Then you should be in the form of a monkey. Why are you in that form? It makes no sense.”
“Hmm? This is not a form I created myself. It is merely a projection of how you perceive the existence known as ‘Sun Wukong.’ It is similar to when I took human form through transformation arts.”
Good grief.
It seemed that, without even realizing it, I had come to think of Sun Wukong’s true form not as a monkey, but as a beautiful girl.
“Hmm, I am not sure why you are so shocked, but can we talk for a bit?”
“And if I say no?”
“I might get a bit angry and act out of spite. I might even keep you imprisoned here a little longer.”
Ah, honestly, I was unsure because the way of speaking was different, but her personality definitely seemed to be that of Sun Wukong.
Everyone will be worried, so I can’t stay tied up here for long. It’s probably better to just answer her.
“First, it seems your incomplete Fiery Eyes and Golden Pupils were created by the lingering attachment of another Sun Wukong. Which fragment did you take? Was it the attachment to martial valor? Or the attachment to memories?”
“I never heard exactly, but since it’s a replica of the Ruyi Jingu Bang, I assume it’s the attachment to martial valor.”
She nodded with a satisfied smile.
“Yes, if it is the Ruyi, then it must be the attachment to martial valor. Hmph, unlike me, who is destined to serve whoever masters the Fiery Eyes and Golden Pupils, that one must have demanded a considerably difficult trial. You did well to pass it.”
…Actually, I passed that trial using a bit of a trick, but I was a bit immature back then since I hadn’t recovered my memories yet.
“…Why are you so restless? Well, no matter. As long as you didn’t pass the trial through sorcery, it is fine. Let me finish my inspection.”
Is it a bit weird to call her… Sun Wukong?
Unlike the residual thought sealed in the Ruyi, the residual thought of the gourd seemed to have a very proactive personality, as she approached me and touched me here and there.
“Hmm, for your age, you are quite solidly built. Your body possesses both elasticity and flexibility. The Ruyi did a good job. I was worried you might have neglected your training after learning the Fiery Eyes and Golden Pupils through some shortcut. Not only your physical body, but your soul is also vast. With this much, you should have no problem handling me.”
Uh, um. This is a bit ticklish.
“…But I do not see the Ruyi itself? Given the Ruyi’s personality, it should have appeared by now and snapped at me to drop this way of speaking.”
Should I honestly say it broke…? Even though they are both residual thoughts of Sun Wukong, they seem to perceive each other as different entities, so I don’t know how to treat them.
“Hmm? It is not that it will not come out, but that it cannot? How did that sturdy thing end up broken?”
What, how did she know?
“What of it? It is only natural that we, who were originally one, can feel each other. Unlike the Golden Hoop or myself, it must have lacked durability since it was left in a replica.”
The Sun Wukong before my eyes chuckled as if something was amusing and moved her hand.
Two small pieces of iron, which had barely begun to join together, were pulled out from my breast pocket.
“Let’s see. I see. This is what happens when you try to withstand death with an incomplete Ruyi. You even consumed your Innate True Qi to forcibly boost the Ruyi’s performance more than once or twice. How foolish.”
…I think I played a part in consuming that Innate True Qi to boost its performance, though.
“It would have taken much longer to self-repair at this rate, but meeting me is a stroke of heavenly luck. Since there are many materials here that might be of help, I shall assist in repairing the Ruyi.”
“What? Really?”
I had been listening quietly because I didn’t have anything specific to say, but the words that came out of her mouth were an unexpectedly pleasant surprise.
“Of course. The thief who stole me without permission used me like his own personal treasury. I tolerated it because he only put in decent treasures, but now a use for them has arisen.”
…Um? Does that mean she’s going to use the things that con artist bastard considers treasures as repair materials?
“Consider it the usage fee for using me all this time without my permission.”
Uh, um. Does it work like that?
Let me look back at my past memories for a moment.
At the time, he just called it a liquor bottle, so I didn’t pay much attention, but even so, I often saw him cherishing this gourd.
He’s a guy who calls artifacts his lovers; isn’t this crossing the line a bit, no matter how I think about it…?
Recalling the memories I had with him, this really didn’t seem right.
— My family? Yes, actually, my younger sister is already dead. It seems I stayed in Labyrinthos longer than I thought.
Even though that bastard would lie at the drop of a hat and make me pay for the drinks he had with Aisha.
— Family… if I had to say, I guess the Captain and those guys are my family now.
Despite calling us comrades with a smiling face, he was the first to run away whenever there was even the slightest danger to his person.
— Captain! Have you lost your mind?! You’re going to use an artifact with a limited number of uses just to save those bastards’ lives?! Absolutely not. Let’s just abandon them!
…Wait? Why do only crappy memories come up the more I trace back my thoughts on this son of a bitch? Do we even have any good memories?
“…Judging by your expression, it seems you weren’t on very good terms?”
“Wait a second. Just give me a moment.”
Tracing back through the countless crappy memories I had with him, I eventually ended up recalling his end, which I didn’t really want to remember.
* * *
It was back when the heroes’ power was still immense.
Aisha was desperately pinning down Lee Yu-na, and the Sword Ghost… that is, Ha-ni, was blocking Cheon Yu-hak.
The other subordinates each had their roles, and I was also fighting against the S-rank heroes.
Normally, I would have handled the heroes without much difficulty, but that day, I met the strongest hero and struggled.
A monster in the guise of a woman who had never stepped down from the number one spot in the official hero rankings.
Seo Ye-hwa.
The strongest hero, with whom I had a small connection in the past, parried all my attacks and backed me into a corner as if she could read my every move.
I knew what talent she possessed, but there was no way to stop it.
— Surrender. Then I will not take your life. This is your last chance.
At the time, I refused, thinking that the bastards who had thrown people into Labyrinthos would hardly leave me alive.
— That… happened because I wasn’t there. Please believe me. As long as I am here…
Ah, and there was one more reason I refused.
I really didn’t like that woman looking at me with pitying eyes.
A woman whose only connection to me was seeing me briefly when I was obsessed with playing with dolls. Why on earth was she pitying me?
Despite being nothing more than a slightly strong doll, despite not saving me even when I begged like that.
How dare she. By what right did she dare to pity me?
Looking back, it was a very twisted anger and inferiority complex, but well, at the time, it felt like my anger wouldn’t be appeased unless I trampled over that woman’s hypocrisy.
So we fought, and I lost.
No, strictly speaking, it wasn’t even a fight. All my attacks missed, so how could you call that a fight?
I was the nightmare of heroes and already called one of the world’s worst disasters at the time, but it seemed even the worst couldn’t reach the strongest; I couldn’t even leave a single scratch on her.
— Ah, this is a bust.
So I thought it was all over, but then, that con artist bastard stepped forward, which was totally out of character for him.
— Captain. I’ll buy you some time, so get out of here.
I thought he was talking nonsense. Even I couldn’t do anything, so what was a guy whose main thing was long-range combat going to do?
— Captain, you still don’t seem to know me very well. Do you think I’d step forward if I didn’t have a way to escape on my own? You know how much I value my own life.
He was right.
He was a guy who always did his best for his own life and his artifacts.
— So get out of here before it’s too late. I’ll follow you soon.
So the problem was rather whether I’d get stabbed in the back if I left my rear to this bastard who betrayed people as easily as breathing.
Yeah, how could I have known?
— A trump card is something you’re supposed to keep hidden so no one knows about it, right?
— …I’ll trust you one last time. If you really stab me in the back, you’re dead.
— Ah, thanks to the Captain, I escaped Labyrinthos, did a lot of things I wanted to do, and saved a lot on drink money.
That goddamn bastard.
— It’s about time I paid you back, isn’t it?
— Who said I’d let you go?
— Ah, I’m trying to look cool here. Where do you think you’re going? Do I look like a nobody to you?
A guy who absolutely didn’t have the skill to block an S-rank hero alone, let alone dozens of them.
— It was fun in its own way. I’ve visited all the dungeons I wanted to, and the Captain let me get revenge on those damn hero bastards. I don’t really have any lingering attachments now.
How could I have predicted he would do something so crazy?
— So, don’t think a single one of you is getting past me.
Self-detonation.
The guy took the heroes with him by overloading the artifacts he possessed, causing a massive explosion.
He even poured in all his remaining mana to set up a mana barrier.
It was so cliché it was absurd.
The bastard who always did nothing but lie ended up dying after telling a sickening lie until the very end.
You said you had a way; was it this?
You said you valued your life; was that a lie too?
How expensive could the drink money be for you to do something like this?
If only.
If only I could have felt even that much despair, would the debt in my heart have been a little lighter?
— …At least that guy was somewhat useful at the end.
The damn brainwashing and defense mechanisms surprisingly treated the death of a subordinate I had been with for years as nothing more than a broken doll.
I hadn’t been able to feel even a shred of sadness.
* * *
…Perhaps because it wasn’t a pleasant memory, I had buried it deep inside.
The ends of the subordinates who had survived for quite a while were all like this.
Either I killed them, or they died for me.
Who asked them to? Why did they do such foolish things? My past self, who couldn’t even grieve, was utterly disgusting.
“…It seems that, looking at it now, the grace you received from him isn’t exactly zero?”
“Yes, so please wait. No matter what, I can’t just steal the things he cherished.”
Honestly, I felt like I wanted to return even the gourd…
“It is already too late, though?”
“…What?”
“You were the one who arbitrarily told me to wait; I never said I would. I am simply taking the price for using me.”
No, I mean. That’s not wrong, but if you do that here, what happens to the build-up I was just doing…?
“I merely used a bit of Dragon Bone and a few elixirs to restore the Divine Iron, so there is no need to worry.”
Dragon Bone… so it’s dragon bone.
Haha, I remember.
That guy bragged to me so much about it.
…He laughed even when his own bones were broken, but he chased down and crushed the hero who caused him to lose that Dragon Bone until the very end.
He won’t forgive me even if I apologize for this, will he?