Guardian of the Orthodox

I had prepared thoroughly in advance, determined to dominate this war.

"Isaac, once the spores burst and the smoke thickens, start acting."

"What kind of act, sir?"

"Scream as if you're in as much agony as possible."

"Ah."

Isaac grasped his role at once and nodded.

Isabella asked,

"What should I do?"

"Amplify the chaos. Strike hard and pull out before the smoke fully clears."

I had no intention of lingering. Get the points I needed, make my purchases, and get out. The longer we stayed, the greater the chance an unbeatable enemy would show up.

Before long, people began to appear.

I had the points I needed. Fifty in total.

After that, I bought what I required from the vending machine.

The numbers in parentheses indicated remaining stock. Aside from the Detector, I had bought out every limited item sold one at a time. The rest of the list was fairly long, but nothing especially remarkable stood out.

Labyrinth Merchants keep appearing.

I was starting to get a feel for it. The inventory likely changed depending on which merchant showed up. The goods this one was selling were mostly things useful in the early stages.

After putting distance between us and the site, I checked what I'd purchased.

All of them had limited uses, but their effects were absolute. Essential tools for cutting through this labyrinth.

Not having a map is a bit of a shame.

They did sell maps — for 1,000 points. Of course, no one could buy one right now. I already knew most players' holdings of Broken Fragments of the Golden Rule were pathetic. A player who'd stockpiled over a thousand hours like me? I was certain you could count them on one hand.

But holding a thousand points also meant you were guaranteed to light up on every Detector. High scores made you a target.

Getting out safely comes first.

People would still be flooding in from every direction. Escaping this area cleanly was the priority.

Tiny dots bloomed across the fist-sized Detector, mapping a ten-kilometer radius with me at the center.

"They're gathering in enormous numbers," Isaac said.

He wasn't wrong — the displayed dots alone looked like they easily numbered four hundred. About fifty were currently clustered around the Labyrinth Merchant. I had no idea how vast the labyrinth truly was, but four hundred people within a ten-kilometer radius? I couldn't even begin to estimate the total number of entrants.

"…There's a large dot right in front of us."

Isabella's voice was tight with tension. My brow furrowed on its own. Among those roughly four hundred dots, two were oversized — and one of them was directly ahead.

I didn't know who it was. But it was clearly a powerhouse who had slaughtered challengers on an overwhelming scale. Their closing speed was unnaturally fast as well. Behind us, the area was packed with people still hunting the Labyrinth Merchant.

Caught between a rock and a hard place. Should I burn the ticket and punch through a wall to escape?

Ding!

A bell rang out.

Ding-a-ling!

It shook violently, the sound racing toward us in an instant until it was right on top of us.

"Looks like they won't just pass us by."

Isaac and Isabella gripped their weapons. I drew the bowstring of Shatyros's Terror taut as well.

In that split second, the figure revealed itself.

…A silver fox mask?

The one who appeared wore a silver fox mask. But that hardly mattered. What floated above their head was the level.

Insane.

I barely swallowed the curse that tried to claw its way out. A 2-Star Transcendent stood right in front of me — the strongest human being I had ever laid eyes on.

A black bell.

And hanging at their waist was a black bell. Serengeti's words suddenly surfaced in my mind.

—I don't know the details myself. But be careful. Their obsession and tenacity in hunting down "sinners" is said to defy imagination. Rumor has it they conceal a "black bell" that never rings, hidden close to their hearts.

The black bell was the symbol of the Death God Religion. But hadn't she said it was a bell that never rang?

Ding! Ding! Ding-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling!

…It was ringing like mad.

The Empire.

The moment I registered the silver fox mask, the figure was already standing before me. Speed that went far beyond merely "fast."

I lowered my bow. Isaac and Isabella tucked their weapons away as well. The instant we'd confirmed the level, we'd understood that a frontal clash left us with zero chance of winning. The silver fox mask was a living natural disaster. Signaling that we held no hostility was the best option available.

"…"

And yet the silver fox mask simply stood there in front of me, head tilted.

What is this guy doing?

The black bell was still ringing itself into a frenzy. Was it because I was a Player? Or something else?

This was the strongest score-holder within a ten-kilometer radius — someone who had cut down everything in their path to get here. In other words, if they'd classified me as an enemy, there was no reason to waste time. Just cut me down and be done with it. And yet they were burning seconds standing in front of me. Judging by their trajectory, they were clearly headed for the Labyrinth Merchant. In a situation where every minute and second counted, there had to be a reason they were deliberately stopping here.

They're not looking at me.

Only then did I realize the silver fox mask's interest wasn't directed at me at all. Those pure white eyes — I couldn't tell where the focus lay, which was why I'd been so confused.

They're not looking at me. They're looking at ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Hell.

Kya?

Hell, sensing the gaze fixed on him, tilted his head along with his scythe.

"…?"

Kya kya?

"…"

Kya kya kya!

"…!!"

…Were those two actually having a conversation right now?

At Hell's sharp reaction, the silver fox mask's shoulders gave a single shake.

"I present myself before the Guardian of the Orthodox."

And then they dropped to one knee in front of me.

…One shock after another. For a moment I couldn't process what was happening, but then my emotions went cold and sharp, and related knowledge surfaced like a drowning man grabbing at straws.

Legitimate successor. Orthodox.

That was a title for Hell. The phrase written alongside the Heavenly Spirit. It meant successor to something, though I'd never known the precise meaning. And now, this silver-fox-masked swordsman had called Hell "Orthodox" with perfect accuracy and named me the Guardian of the Orthodox.

The silver fox mask knew Hell's true identity. So then — who was the silver fox mask?

"By my sacred duty, I am bound to eliminate the Dead of the labyrinth, and so I offer my apologies for being unable to accompany you directly."

"…"

Sacred duty. The Dead of the labyrinth. Only one thing came to mind. Had they entered to eliminate Sword Saint Ryleigh?

Either way, when nothing was certain, silence was the answer. There's a reason people say that if you just stay quiet, you'll at least come out somewhere in the middle.

"First, please accept this."

The silver fox mask then drew a golden plaque from their robes and held it out to me. A circular token shaped like a magistrate's seal.

This is…

Looking at the design engraved on the plaque, I was quietly stunned. A large pentagram, with a smaller pentagram nested at its center. I recognized it the moment I saw it.

The Golden Pentagram. The symbol of the Arhon Empire.

The Arhon Empire! The strongest nation on the continent, holding more than fifty great cities. And yet, as a gamer, it had always been the hardest place to approach. Their imperial family remained almost entirely unrevealed. Even during my time operating as Wilhelm, contact had been nearly nonexistent.

A swordsman carrying a plaque stamped with the Emperor's seal…

And what was even more astonishing was that imperial seal pressed into the plaque. With this alone, you could enter any city in the Empire on a free pass — even the most secretive castles where the imperial bloodline resided. And that wasn't all. …If you put this up for sale among Players, there'd be a line around the block. I wasn't joking — it would easily fetch the price of an entire small city. And they had just handed it to me.

"Eighty-seven days from now, the Sashin's Banquet will be held at the main temple of the Death God Religion. Come wearing the Golden Goat's mask, and bring this plaque with you."

The silver fox mask then rose from their knee, bowed once, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and departed. They certainly looked busy. In the blink of an eye the silver fox mask was gone, already reaching the vicinity of the Labyrinth Merchant. Checking the Detector, I watched as some fifty dots vanished the moment they arrived. They had slaughtered every last person who'd been targeting the merchant.

I finally thought the words I hadn't been able to voice.

…So where exactly is the Death God Religion?

Isaac and Isabella's expressions had shifted into something complicated. The moment they'd faced the silver fox mask, they'd realized they were no match. A pure difference in caliber. The gap in martial prowess had been far too vast.

"You can reach that level."

Isaac. Isabella. Both were characters I had raised. Their growth potential alone had a foundation solid enough to transcend. Isabella especially — once she hit Level 10, she would automatically learn the location of a Star through a mysterious gift. One of the vanishingly few Stars never discovered by anyone: the Transcendent Star, Jormungandr. Isaac, too, had a high chance of receiving a Star's guidance once his stats were filled out a little more. A Saint would appear, or he'd come to know it naturally.

So.

"I'll make sure of it."

Don't worry. Whether you like it or not, I'll get you there.

At my bold declaration, their expressions finally eased. They still looked like they had questions, but they didn't ask. Probably itching to know about my connection to the Death God Religion.

Even in Pangenia, the name of the Death God Religion had only recently begun to spread. Maxim of the Eight Heroes — word had gotten out that he was a "sinner," and that he'd assassinated the duke who followed him because of it. The Death God Religion's sudden rise in notoriety was only natural. The Eight Heroes had officially expelled Maxim. Now they were the Seven Heroes. Someone among them clearly knew how to work a loudspeaker that big.

High odds it's Master.

Master was running the Other-dimensional Community even on Earth. He understood better than anyone how to handle and exploit a platform. Turning the rest of them into heroes alongside Wilhelm had almost certainly been his doing as well.

Anyway.

This labyrinth is far too large.

I was wrestling with a problem. No matter how I looked at it, this labyrinth was simply too big. I had no idea where the Abyss's ruler even was. Walking the entire thing would take a year at least. If I got lost midway and logged out, the worst-case scenario was a full reset.

But the entry condition had been Broken Fragments of the Golden Rule. Based on everything I'd experienced so far, there was no way anyone held a full year's worth of fragments. Either this labyrinth had been designed so that no one was meant to clear it at all…

There's definitely a shortcut.

A shortcut. A hidden space. Or another warp. Something had to exist. This labyrinth was absolutely not meant to be traversed on foot.

So where would it be?

Somewhere hard to see — or a place no one would ever think to look.