Shatiros's Terror

Lynch, the Demonic Spear of Impurity, was long enough to throw, but it was a one-shot weapon.

Starstrider and the Staff of Original Sin were gear better suited for mages.

That left only one.

Short. And devastating.

It inflicted terror on whoever it struck—and not ordinary terror, either. This was a different breed of fear, packing blindness and a stat drop as free extras. Debuffs of this caliber were almost unheard of. It was on par with a curse-caster pushing their main skill past ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠transcendence. And until the curse broke, you couldn't even check which of your stats had tanked.

True to its name, it was terror itself.

I'll need to raise my Bow Mastery.

The problem was the equip requirement. Bow Mastery. Even stacking Weapon Master and Handicraft only got me to Level 6—two levels short. I wasn't worried, though. With the Hidden Trait Handicraft, hitting Level 8 would take no time at all.

The reward left behind by the Radiant Hero's Constellation.

This was the real last piece. The Radiant Hero's Constellation—the price he had set for removing Will and the Dungeon. The anticipation rivaled the moment you cleared a main quest and waited for the reward list to drop.

"…Is anyone there?"

A knock. Someone was standing outside the door—more than one someone.

"Come in."

At my leave, the door opened and three figures stepped through: Isaac, Isabella, and Serengeti.

"What do the three of you want?"

"Well…"

Flushed faces. Expressions of raw hunger and desire.

Serengeti spoke first.

"Please take us as your disciples."

"…?"

Hold on. What was this now? Disciples? Had I misheard?

"Serengeti. You don't have much time left, do you?"

At most five hours before the Demon King's curse reasserted itself. Barely enough to spend with Marquis Weiser and Hudson—and she was here asking me to take her as a student?

"Fighting Will, when Your Grace moved our bodies, we realized how far we still have to go."

"Please teach us."

"…We beg you."

The hunger to grow stronger was universal among those who lived in Pangenia. And if someone else could use your own body better than you could—well, that was enough to rattle anyone. Still, the request had come out of nowhere. Taking disciples was something I had never even considered.

An Honor quest.

In short, an Honor quest—and a rare chain Honor quest at that. I had been needing Honor for Hell's feed anyway. Perfect timing.

After a brief deliberation, I looked down at the bow in my hand.

Shatiros's Terror.

To use it, I needed Bow Mastery. And here, of their own free will, the perfect training dummies had presented themselves.

No reason to refuse. A golden chance to farm Honor and raise Bow Mastery in one stroke. Who would kick aside honey this sweet?

Why is he smiling?

S-suddenly it's freezing—!

…!

All three shuddered at once, never realizing they had just set foot at the gates of hell.

Four figures, Randolph among them, gathered along the broad outer wall of the lord's castle.

"From now on, one at a time, in rotation—you will dodge ten arrows that I shoot."

An order simple to the point of absurdity. Was this a test?

The three of them stared tensely at the bow in Randolph's hands.

"Serengeti. You first."

Serengeti stepped forward at the call.

Whish—

The trial began at once. An ordinary training bow and practice arrows. At first, dodging was not difficult. Arrows loosed at a leisurely angle were the kind she could avoid with her eyes closed.

He's underestimating me.

Serengeti smiled to herself. How she had trembled the first time she surrendered her body to Randolph in the Chamber of Will. She was a Transcendent who had consumed a Star. A knight who had cut her sleep short to whip herself harder and train further. And still she had been forced to marvel at Randolph's control—movements of impossible precision, seamless combos, skills and repositioning deployed at exactly the right moment. Watching it, she had almost doubted the body was even hers.

I was a frog in a well.

She had preened without even knowing she was a frog. Wilhelm. How frog-like she must have looked to the Knight King. The thought alone was mortifying. From the moment they reached the city, that single realization had filled her head. Time with Hudson mattered, of course, but—

—Hudson. I can't take it anymore.

—Wh-what? What can't you take?

—If this keeps up, I…!

—Serengeti!

—I feel like I'm going to explode!

—Th-then don't hold it in.

—Really? Is that all right?

—It's sudden, but I'm ready. At last, the two of us will become one—

—Thank you. I'll be right back!

—…Huh?

Serengeti had not been able to hold back. She had gone and knocked on his door. The other two, it seemed, had been thinking the same thing. Three of them together, and competitive instinct bloomed on its own. Serengeti stoked her resolve.

His archery is solid enough, but this much is nothing!

Honestly, she had been puzzled at first. Suddenly he wanted to shoot arrows? And yet—she had thought he only excelled with the sword, but he handled a bow decently as well. Compared to that exquisite swordsmanship, though, it was merely "basic competence."

Six… seven!

With keen eyes and lightning speed, Serengeti was dodging every shaft. Ten each, in rotation—that was Randolph's order. She would dodge them all and burn her skill into their minds.

Ten!

She clenched a fist. She had dodged every last one.

"Next."

He moved on at once. Serengeti grinned and looked at Isabella and Isaac—as if to say, Well? Can you do the same?

But Isabella and Isaac also dodged all ten and shrugged their shoulders.

"Next."

…It wasn't over? Not one round—he meant to keep going.

Serengeti took her place against the outer wall of the lord's castle again.

Whish—!

Thud!

An arrow buried itself in the outer wall. Cold sweat broke out. She had dodged it by a hair's breadth.

He's gotten more accurate…?

His skill had suddenly improved. Or perhaps he had been holding back all along.

And so it went for a full three hours. The three of them rotated without rest, taking Randolph's arrows.

"Now we get serious."

After that, Randolph swapped out the training bow. A black longbow that bled a strangely unpleasant aura. Far more powerful than the practice weapon. An arrow from that thing looked like it could kill on contact.

"We'll start with one hit each."

Suddenly they were supposed to take a hit first? The three of them stared in confusion, but the mystery resolved itself quickly.

Thok—

He loosed a short shot from point-blank range, delivering only a light impact. What was the point of that?

<Sssssaaaaah!>

"…!"

In an instant, their vision went dark. Nothing. Their bodies felt sluggish, somehow.

…No. It couldn't be.

"Dodge the arrows in that state."

Only then did the three of them realize something had gone terribly wrong.

Half a day of nonstop shooting had pushed my proficiency all the way to Level 9. I had swapped bows midway because that was the exact moment Bow Mastery hit Level 8. At this pace, Level 10 within a few days looked realistic.

"That's enough for today."

"Hah! Hah! Hah! Kuheeeergh!"

"Haaah! Haaah!"

Isaac and Isabella lay sprawled on the ground like starfish. There was not a spot on their bodies free of wounds—the result of driving themselves to the absolute limit under absolute conditions. Meanwhile Serengeti, when the Demon King's curse reasserted itself, had been dragged back into the lord's castle. She had poured everything she had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠into it right up until the curse took hold. You had to give her credit for pure passion, at least.

The fruits ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of labor were fairly sweet. Thirty Honor in a single day—that was a number you usually needed two solid Honor-farming quests to hit. And for me it hadn't even been real training, just proficiency grinding. Killing two birds with one stone.

I returned to the lord's castle, took a light shower, and went back to my room.

Something popped up in the middle of that, didn't it?

I wiped the water off with a cloth, thinking it over. I had poured every scrap of focus into the bow; there had been no room for anything else. And yet I had the distinct feeling something had appeared mid-session.

A moment later, the words Notice flickered small before my eyes.

A notice?

Had there ever been such a thing? I had never seen a notice since becoming a Player. Even back when I was just a gamer, I didn't think I had looked at one in nearly a year.

I opened it, and the related content unspooled in a cascade.

For a moment I doubted my own eyes. A new labyrinth update. The contents themselves were one thing, but—

Sword Saint Ryleigh?

The instant I confirmed the name of the so-called Labyrinth Sovereign, my brow furrowed on its own. Sword Saint Ryleigh. A name that surfaced now and then whenever Pangenia's lore was explained. Called the First Sword, founder of countless martial arts, and the one swallowed by the Abyss. One of the heroes who laid the foundations of the Arhon Empire—the distant ancestor of the empire currently known as the strongest on the continent, a man even the White King had found troublesome.

And that name was suddenly popping up in the Abyss Labyrinth?

As long as you have a Broken Fragment of the Golden Rule, you can enter. Meaning you don't have to be a Player.

Nowhere did it say only Players could enter. The sole condition was possession of a Broken Fragment of the Golden Rule. In other words, even the monsters of Kramdel could walk in if they wanted to.

Don't tell me the Empire is going to…?

I could only hope I was wrong.