The Regressor Strays (5)
The Maze King followed me without resistance.
"...Haah."
He ran his hand along a wall overgrown with vines and let out a sigh.
"..."
He looked at a dead spider split in half and let out a soundless lament. He was acting like a textbook example of someone with a heavy past, but asking about it seemed futile, so I decided not to.
How long did the Maze King's short excursion through the maze continue?
"Here. This is it."
I finally stopped in front of the Black Space.
"Let's try going in here."
"..."
The Maze King apparently already knew about this Black Space. His face was deeply wrinkled as he turned back to look at me. He didn't say a word, but his expression practically screamed, 'Are you insane?'
"...How did you find this place?"
"Well, I have my ways. So, you're not going in?"
"I cannot enter."
The Maze King shook his head. A bead of sweat ran down the middle-aged man's pale forehead.
"The Maze King... cannot leave Floor 25. It has been 'determined' so."
"Then this place isn't Floor 25, right?"
"...Similar, yet different. I cannot explain it."
"Hm."
So the Maze King couldn't enter this Black Space.
"What if I force you in? Could you die that way?"
"...You are insane."
"This is the only thing I could think of... I'm sorry."
It was truly regrettable to use my imagination 'for the purpose of killing someone,' but I had no choice if I wanted to escape Floor 25. Right now, this was the only idea that came to mind.
"So, shall I give it a try?"
"..."
The Maze King closed his eyes and clenched his teeth. I moved behind him, then pushed his body toward the Black Space.
-Tssssssssss!
White smoke immediately rose from the Maze King's whole body, and his mouth, which had been stubbornly silent, flew wide open...!!
"GRAAAAAAAGH!!!"
A scream of pure agony erupted from the Maze King! This was the first time I'd ever seen this person shout so loudly!
"I, I can kind of see what's happening, but I'll push a little harder!"
"GRAAAAAAAGH!"
The Maze King screamed himself hoarse! I felt incredibly sorry for him—he'd always said he wanted to die—and to clear this floor I had to kill him. This was the only method I could see right now... I had no other choice!
"S-Sorry!"
"Keuk, keuheuk..."
Like that—one minute. Two minutes. Ten minutes.
Just as my mana was nearly depleted and the Maze King's voice sounded like air leaking from a balloon...
"H-Huh...?"
The Maze King's body, which had been slumped against the boundary of the Black Space, drooling, started twitching bit by bit.
Thinking I'd succeeded at something, I quickly laid him down on the ground.
The Maze King flopped around, arms and legs splayed out.
"Kuhk, keuuhk..."
The handsome middle-aged face slowly shrank. He grew shorter, his back bent, his skin turned rough, his nose deformed...
"...Goblin?"
He looked as if he had stopped somewhere between a goblin and a human.
"...A sword, give me a sword."
Even while groaning on the floor, the Maze King asked me for a sword. He didn't seem to have any intention of harming me, so I calmly handed him one.
"...It appears I have failed. Perhaps there was not enough time."
The Maze King looked at his own face reflected in the smooth blade, then drove the sword deep into his throat. With that, he let out a hollow laugh. He didn't die.
"Wh-What just happened?"
"Through the Tower's power... my 'immortality' has thinned. Thus, what was due to happen has happened. Just like the others."
"..."
There was no detailed explanation, but I understood the whole situation.
The goblins of Floor 25... and the goblins of the Tutorial. They were originally human.
And through some incident, they became goblins—that is, monsters. This Maze King had been enduring through his own ability. Now I understood why there had been that white goblin in the maze. Stories of humans turning into monsters through divine wrath are common in mythology.
But now that I knew it was true, something seemed contradictory.
"...So, did everyone turn into goblins? The people of this world?"
"...A curse that applies only to royalty."
"Ahh."
Now it made sense.
Back during the Tutorial, the Goblin Shaman had said, 'The humans have released the monster of the maze.' But if all the humans had become goblins, then who were the humans who released the monster? If everyone had changed, that would have been strange, but if only the royalty were cursed to become goblins, it fit.
"..."
But the Goblin Shaman in the Tutorial... didn't they say they entered the Tower because God would grant them a chance at revenge? If the entity that turned them into monsters was God... then the goblins had mistaken their nemesis for their benefactor. That left a bitter taste.
Of course, even if the goblins were originally people... it was only unsettling, and a little unpleasant. What I had to do did not change.
When a person turns into a zombie, you don't hesitate to kill the zombie. Choi Ji-won avoids killing 'people' whenever possible, but she cuts down monsters without hesitation. If a monster used to be a person, there's room for debate, but I see it as a monster.
But that did raise the question of what defines the category of 'human.' If something has a human form but its personality has been devoured by a 'Mind-Dominating Monster,' is it human? Or if it's human, yet twisted and corrupted to the point where its humanity is unrecognizable, is that also human? Would killing such a thing be murder?
"Ah."
That pointless mental wrangling ended as my mana hit zero.
There wasn't enough time to fully eliminate the Maze King's 'Undying.'
In the end... this method was a failure too.
[You have taken damage.]
[Regressing to the moment you first entered Floor 25.]
***
"..."
Once again, I stood lost in thought at the starting point.
The Black Space plan I had considered as a last resort had failed. Was there truly no way to kill the Maze King?
Choi Ji-won... might have cleared it just by running really damn fast. Flash Step? Was it Flash Step? Should I practice that too? It's an S-rank skill. What would happen if I used it well?
"King."
The Maze King... resisted God. There were hints he'd done something impious. And as a result, his bloodline was cursed to become goblins. Even those bloodline members were dying off in the Tutorial.
I didn't know the details, but he must have committed some monstrous wrong to suffer eternally like this.
"...King."
I turned the title 'Maze King' over again.
The goblins here were the Maze King's family—his royals.
The Maze King's body was Undying. He cannot be killed. That's why he resisted even God's curse.
But if I brought the designated items and performed the appropriate 'ritual,' his immortality would be removed, and he would degenerate into a mere goblin that could be killed. That was probably the official route to clear this floor.
However, I had no way to eliminate the Maze King's immortality. Performing the legitimate ritual, even forcing him into the Black Space—none gave me enough time. It was impossible.
Was there truly no way? Really? Truly?
"...Maze King."
But is the 'Maze King's' actual name Maze King? No. That's a title.
Perhaps. Maybe it could work.
What I had to kill was... the Maze King.
**
"..."
The king's clouded awareness surfaced. Wilted vegetation, a red carpet, the familiar throne. Yes, it was the Tower.
Since his world was destroyed by 'God' and folded into the Tower, the Maze King's memories were only fragments. It always felt as if he were dead; he frequently watched climbers die, and other times nothing happened at all.
There was only one thing he had to do. Only to watch. To exist. To be alive and breathing.
A life where the sole purpose was 'existence' was hell. The overflowing time provided an unbearable abundance of leisure to ruminate on despair, and even if a climber succeeded and he experienced a brief death... the moment he came to his senses, he was alive again.
This was the punishment given to the Immortal King: to 'be alive.' Though his royal family had turned into insignificant creatures devoid of reason, though his world was destroyed and he himself had become a tool... he still lived on. To drag out that wretched life in total defeat—to him, that was the cruelest punishment of all.
Thoughts of wanting to die crossed his mind hundreds of times. He regretted countless times that he shouldn't have turned a dagger toward God. It was already too late. The deed was already done.
"..."
So he looked at the closed wooden door. Would a climber be able to reach this place this time? It was nothing more than a faint hint of curiosity.
The 'Maze King' had no interest in climbers.
Whether they climbed all the way to the end of the Tower and were saved from destruction, met a gruesome death halfway, or were incorporated into the Tower... it was none of the Maze King's concern.
Because forever, just as he was now, he would wait blankly for death in this place, and awaken once more.
Even when climbers asked him questions, even when they occasionally asked sharp questions that pierced to the essence, the Maze King didn't care. He answered what could be answered, and remained silent for the rest.
Again, he had absolutely no interest in climbers.
"Hey."
"..."
"This white goblin. It used to be a person, right? Royalty, right?"
"..."
He didn't even bother asking how the man knew that. There was clear certainty and a glint of madness in the intruder's eyes.
"They're your family. The country might have fallen, but family doesn't go anywhere. That's what I'm saying."
The Maze King had no interest whatsoever in climbers.
Today.
"So, hand over the throne to this white goblin. Right now."
Until a certain madman showed up.