The Golden Abyss

Even so, an unspoken rule held firm: never say anything that might reveal your identity. Speakers had planted spies throughout the community, and those informants were always watching.

The mood shifted in an instant.

A survival bonus. Just lasting twenty-four hours was enough to earn a reward — and from the way people were talking, it sounded like a damn good one.

Plenty of players were already thinking about giving it another shot when the next wave of messages hit.

Thunder Emperor Drakestar. One of the Seven Heroes, known as the fastest human alive. A high-ranker with almost no equals outside of Master and Gracia.

And that man was fighting the Death King.

The Death King was a monster of infamous renown in his own right — a Super Elite Raid Boss. The King of Corpses. An Absolute who reigned over all things dead.

If the Death King had appeared in the labyrinth, this was no ordinary crisis. He was famous even among Players. If Thunder Emperor Drakestar had been reduced to a plaything, anyone weaker than him had no business setting foot inside.

A rematch was out of the question. They couldn't even dream of it.

Everyone assumed Randolph would stay clear of the Abyss Labyrinth. Challenging it would blow his cover in seconds. With so many Players packed into one arena, hiding an identity was simply impossible.

…

Right now, I was monopolizing every Golden Goblin in the underground labyrinth.

Ten of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠them in total. Three hundred points. Ancient Empire coin alone came to forty-four million gold. Factor in the golden statues and other treasures, and the haul easily cleared sixty million.

Useful talismans and gear dropped here and there as well.

A golden warp gate leading downward materialized right in front of me. Jump through, and I'd reach the Golden Abyss.

Golden Abyss?

I'd never heard the name. Then again, no one had ever been able to hunt ten Golden Goblins solo in the first place. They only spawned in the choicest hunting grounds, and even there, finding more than ten was rare. Tracking every last one down and killing them alone was supposed to be impossible.

Without Hell and the Abyss Knight's soul, I couldn't have done it either.

There was nothing to think about. I jumped in without hesitation.

And when the vast mountain of gold unfolded before my eyes—

…Jackpot.

This must be how a wild-ginseng hunter felt stumbling onto a whole thicket of mountain ginseng. The treasure piled in front of me wrenched a stunned noise from my throat. And nestled among those riches were things whose value couldn't be measured in gold coins alone.

Essence of Gold. The Vessel of Greed…!

Those two in particular snagged my eye — and for good reason. Both were materials for Unique-grade equipment.

While everyone else was clawing over each other in the labyrinth, I was down here alone, sifting through treasure.

Rumble!

Something buried in the mountain of gold rose to its feet.

…A Golden Goblin the size of a giant.

Rewards, Rewards, Endless Rewards

An Abyss Within the Abyss

A place called an overlapping abyss — or a sub-abyss. The pattern showed up from time to time, but this Golden Abyss was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a first for me.

Still, it was an abyss. To leave, you either killed the Ruler or received the Ruler's permission to go. The latter almost never happened, which meant a confrontation was inevitable.

The problem was the goblin's level. A creature named Greed itself — and the level lived up to the name. A straight one-on-one fight was impossible from the start.

But then—

"It's been a long time since a bold little invader walked into my treasure vault."

The massive Golden Goblin — Greed — spoke. Unlike the others, this one was intelligent enough for conversation. Compared to most Abyss Rulers, who attacked intruders without a word, its temperament was almost generous.

"Combat or gamble. Choose."

It even offered options. Greed closed in until it loomed over me, stroking its chin as it studied me with open interest. Whichever I picked, it clearly believed it would win.

"Gamble."

"Haha! Excellent. From this moment, everything you and I possess will be assigned a value. We will wager that value in a game."

Whoosh!

My vision lurched hard. Greed had rearranged the space itself. Numbers began appearing over every treasure laid out before me.

Roughly ten thousand gold coins equaled one point of value. The Essence of Gold and the Vessel of Greed alone were worth thirty thousand each. All the coin and treasure combined had to be worth at least two hundred thousand.

Everything I owned, on the other hand, barely scraped seven thousand.

Crush me with overwhelming value, is that it?

Greed had every reason to be confident. The sheer volume of value on its side was on another scale. Even if I went all-in again and again, it would cost Greed less than a fleck of dirt under a claw.

From the start, this was a game I could never win — fight or gamble. This place existed to bleed dry the fools who got cocky after killing ten Golden Goblins.

"Kahaha! Come, then. Let's play. First game: odd or even."

Rooooooar!

A tidal wave of gold coins surged upward, splitting into two sides as tens — hundreds — of thousands of coins tumbled and mixed together. It was breathtaking. Just watching was enough to overwhelm the senses.

Greed grinned, flashing golden teeth.

"Well? Odd, or even?"

Gracia clicked his tongue softly.

Finally found the path.

So the surface labyrinth had been bait from the beginning. The real clue was using a labyrinth ticket to punch through the walls and find the way underground.

…Eighth?

Gracia's face naturally twisted into a scowl. Apparently others had cracked this trick faster than he had. But it raised questions. The other heroes had a monopoly on the labyrinth merchants — so when had those people gotten their tickets? When had they even entered?

Seven people had reached the underground labyrinth ahead of him.

If it hadn't been for the Death King, I would have gotten here sooner.

Thunder Emperor Drakestar. The bastard had sent out an SOS — claimed he'd run into the Death King, one of the four lords of the northern fortress city of Kramdel, and that the Death King's undead legion had pinned him down.

So Gracia had cut him a path. He hadn't wanted to, but it put Drakestar in his debt. Besides, he was curious why a being of the Death King's caliber had entered the Abyss Labyrinth in the first place.

Are the northern monsters trying to expand their territory?

In the end, he never got to ask. He hadn't met the Death King face-to-face. But he could make an educated guess. Recent intelligence said Kramdel's power was swelling at a frightening rate. Powerful monsters were flocking there in numbers the city and its four lords couldn't possibly contain.

Which meant they might have set their sights on the Abyss Labyrinth.

Land valuable enough for the Death King to covet. Another reason I have to claim it.

What kind of ground drew the eyes of the Death King and so many of Pangenia's strongest? One thing was certain — it was no ordinary land.

If the underground labyrinth is the real game, then Sword Saint Ryleigh has to be somewhere in here.

He could concede everything else. That one prize, he would not. Sword Saint Ryleigh was his prey.

Gracia's eyes gleamed with a cold light.

But only for a moment.

"You…?"

A woman passed in front of him, and Gracia opened his mouth in disbelief. At first he thought he'd misseen her — thought she was a ghost. But the woman who had just drifted past him was unmistakably—

"Saintess Sea?"

She stopped short, turned her head, and smiled brightly.

"Oh my. Do you know me?"

Isaac and Isabella crossed paths mid-leap, a tactic designed to scramble an opponent's vision and sow confusion. The golden-eyed rabbit surrendered its life without a fight.

"We've got pretty good chemistry, don't we?"

Isaac held out his hand. Isabella ignored it and collected the rabbit's corpse. He awkwardly cleared his throat and lowered the offered hand.

Tough customer.

Training and fighting side by side had built real coordination between them, but Isabella was still hard for Isaac to read. Rather than sit around waiting for Randolph — who had vanished through a golden warp — they'd decided it was better to stay productive in the meantime.

A short while later, after Isabella recovered a ticket from the rabbit's body, Isaac spoke.

"Event monsters drop tickets when you kill them."

"If we gather enough of these, it looks like a path to Sword Saint Ryleigh opens up."

"Tch. Going by the description, don't we need a thousand of them?"

Event monsters were hard enough to find. The ticket drop rate was random on top of that. Their Golden Rule fragments would run dry long before they ever hit a thousand tickets.

Still, they had no better options for now.

They spent a long stretch roaming the underground labyrinth, hunting event monsters — until they stepped into one particular zone and both froze at the same time.

"Did a war break out here or something?"

"…!"

An entire space had been reduced to a wasteland, as if a battle had torn through it. The terrain itself had been reshaped by the fighting, and the reek of fire hung thick in the air.

At the center of it all, a woman lay collapsed on the ground.

Shing.

Isabella drew a dagger. Everyone they'd met in the labyrinth so far had been an enemy. If this woman was alive, Isabella intended to finish her.

"Wait. Don't kill her. This woman…!"

"…?"

Isaac moved closer, checked the woman's face, and went pale with shock. Isabella had lived her whole life in the desert, so her ignorance was understandable — but ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠still.

"That's Saintess Sea! Wasn't she dead?"

Just to be sure, he listened for a heartbeat. She was breathing. Her heart was beating. She was alive.

But it made no sense. Saintess Sea had been officially declared dead during the Great Expedition. Even living in Kramdel, Isaac had known that much — the Great Expedition had been a major topic among the monsters as well.

So why was Saintess Sea alone in the underground labyrinth, collapsed and on the brink of death? Who had she been fighting?

"Let's get out of here first. This place doesn't look safe either."

Isaac hoisted ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Saintess Sea onto his back. Whoever had fought her might come back. Getting clear of this zone took priority.