The Throne of Radiant Light

But the Silver Fox Mask had said that by its 'mission,' the Dead of the Labyrinth had to be eliminated. If the Abyss that blanketed Laily could be called a 'Dead,' then stripping it away must have been the mission all along.

I shook my head.

That wasn't what mattered right now.

"Laily. O pure and great Sword Saint."

On the off chance, I called out to him.

Among the messages that had appeared when I crossed the Gate of the Golden Rule was one that read, the soul has returned.

If that was true, then Laily — once called the great Sword Saint — might have recovered his mind.

The fact that he hadn't attacked immediately made it seem possible enough.

Peace.

What a fine word that was.

A peaceful resolution — that was the watchword of the twenty-first century.

Kyaaaaaaah—!

The Supreme Dragon unfurled its wings.

As it spread them in a display of overwhelming presence, an enormous number of mana orbs began to condense in the air.

The peace talks had been rejected.

"…So that's how you want to play it."

Boom!

Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwang!

Kwa-rrrrung!

Something was off.

Kim Hana couldn't help but tilt her head.

Just to be sure, she scoured every SNS platform and YouTube channel she could think of — and the results only made things stranger.

"Every single Warrior has stopped operating…?"

"What are you talking about, Kim?"

At Seo Jeong-ah's question from the next desk over, Kim Hana chewed her thumbnail once and opened her mouth.

"There's not a single Warrior currently active."

"Come on, you're imagining things. Just a second ago on KakaoTalk———— wait, nobody's answering?"

Seo Jeong-ah opened her phone, checked, and furrowed her brow.

The people she'd been chatting with nonstop until moments ago had suddenly gone silent.

In exchange for 'a cup of coffee with Kim Hana,' Seo Jeong-ah had cultivated close ties with Korea's male Warriors.

And every last one of them — the ones who'd been scrambling to reply — had cut off conversation in the same instant.

Have these guys lost their minds?

Of course Kim Hana knew nothing about that arrangement, but for Seo Jeong-ah, who did, it was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠genuinely bizarre.

Guys who'd been answering in real time had all dropped off at once.

It shouldn't have been possible.

"I think they're concentrating on something with extreme intensity."

"Concentrating? On what?"

"Warriors always seem to know about special situations in advance. Almost as if someone tips them off."

"Yeah, that rumor's been around."

"What if something so huge is happening somewhere that every Warrior has to focus their full attention on it?"

"Like the last Invasion?"

Kim Hana nodded.

Every Warrior she knew had stopped operating as if by prior agreement.

Something similar had happened exactly once before — at the moment of the Invasion.

But back then, quite a few Warriors had kept their live streams running.

In the end the Invasion never came, yet the consensus was that every Warrior had known about it ahead of time.

Kim Hana raised one more question.

"Why did Gracia leave Korea?"

"The Invasion was over, so he went back to his home country, right?"

"Gracia overshadowed it, but a considerable number of Warriors left Korea all at the same time. Doesn't that strike you as strange?"

"Hmm…"

"If they'd just left, that would be one thing — but every single one of them has gone ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠dark."

The ones who left.

The heroes, Gracia included.

All of them had vanished without a trace.

And Kim Hana wasn't the only one who'd sensed something wrong.

A Google search brought up a cascade of related articles.

They hadn't made the major outlets, but plenty of overseas reporters had written articles without hiding their questions.

And that wasn't all.

I definitely saw Park Hyunmyung at the airport.

There was no way she'd been mistaken.

Park Hyunmyung. She had clearly watched him leave the airport.

He'd even gone into SGBAC with Gracia.

SGBAC was the departure lounge for VIP private jets.

Unless Park Hyunmyung was the secret son of some chaebol family, that simply shouldn't have been possible.

Just what is Park Hyunmyung's real identity?

She couldn't get a handle on it at all.

Hadn't he been an ordinary civilian who'd quit his job?

And now that same man was boarding a private jet?

Maybe he was far more extraordinary than she'd thought.

And so Gracia, Park Hyunmyung, and countless Warriors had all headed overseas — simultaneously, as if by prior arrangement.

Why?

Thud!

Kim Hana stood up from her seat and gathered her bag.

"Let's go find out."

"Find out what?"

"Warriors. I need to ask them directly."

"Is there a Warrior who'd give us a straight answer?"

"There is. Definitely. But not one who belongs to a group. An individual. We have to find a thorough individual."

"Do people like that even exist…?"

They did.

Just like the someone who had secretly written her a note saying the heroes were fakes.

There were people who wanted to speak but couldn't.

She had to find them.

The recluses.

The ones who belonged nowhere, hiding in the shadows.

Master re-entered the Labyrinth.

Randolph. That bastard challenged Laily?

He couldn't stand it.

There was a chance it was some other person who happened to share the name Randolph — but if they'd challenged Sword Saint Ryleigh, it had to be Phantom.

That bastard had cost him his blades.

The swords he'd honed. The schemes he'd kept hidden. All of them had been buried in the Abyss and slaughtered.

But this was Pangenia.

"Strip the Labyrinth Merchants of everything we need."

"Yes, sir."

"As you command, Master."

The knights moved out.

They circled the Labyrinth and purchased a special item from the Labyrinth Merchants.

The Mirror of Additional Conditions.

If you know the target's name and they're inside the Labyrinth, you can use the mirror.

Most of the challengers who'd already entered the Labyrinth had logged out by now.

Labyrinth Merchants were overflowing everywhere.

They hunted them down and bought every last Mirror of Additional Conditions.

And when ten of them had been gathered—

Use ten mirrors. Add ten conditions.

If they all hit at once, that bastard would have no choice but to fail.

It was Phantom's own blunder for writing his name down.

Arrogant bastard.

Master smiled as he spoke.

"Randolph."

Ah!

Just as expected. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠He was there.

If he was still inside, it could only be Phantom — still challenging Sword Saint Ryleigh!

Master's smile deepened further.

"……."

Master's smile vanished in an instant.

The surroundings detonated.

Explosions tore through without pause, flipping the ground itself.

But the Supreme Dragon's attacks couldn't land a single direct hit on me.

The Throne of Radiant Light!

From the ring on my finger, brilliant light flickered and took the shape of a throne.

I sat upon it and calmly watched the Supreme Dragon.

A Radiant Unique-grade piece of equipment. Everything I had poured out had gone into making this very ring.

Its abilities changed depending on the prefix attached to it.

Total attack nullification!

As long as I sat on the throne, even the Supreme Dragon couldn't deal me a single point of damage.

The diameter was only about two meters, but it was an invincibility tool fixed in place.

Still, I couldn't just sit there forever.

Even now, the corrosion was continuing to advance.

Guoooooh—!

The Supreme Dragon condensed mana in its maw.

Then it unleashed a breath — but still, it didn't reach me.

"Is that all? Did you really think something that pathetic would touch me?"

I taunted the Supreme Dragon.

I needed to drain its strength.

But when even the breath failed to land, the Supreme Dragon stopped.

Then it rose into the air.

Swaaaaah.

Swaaaaaaah!

In an instant, 'hands' erupted from every inch of the ground.

Hands of the Abyss.

The specters of the Abyss that absorbed all things!

Hands beyond counting surged toward the throne at terrifying speed.

But they couldn't reach it.

Blocked by the veil of light, they couldn't get through.

I can't see a thing.

The problem was visibility.

Surrounded by the hands of the Abyss, my field of view was completely blocked.

I had no way of knowing what the Supreme Dragon was doing up there in the sky.

At this rate, the plan to study its patterns is dead.

I clicked my tongue softly.

The plan had been to sit on the Throne of Light, confirm every one of its patterns, and then re-challenge.

I wanted to fire an arrow, but I'd already sacrificed every last one of Shatiros's bows as material.

All for the sake of drawing the best possible prefix.

Radiant Brilliance.

And so I'd obtained Radiant Brilliance.

Beyond the fact that it was a Level 20 skill, I had no idea what it actually did.

I knew what the Throne of Light was, but the abilities tied to each prefix were undetermined.

A one-time skill that destroyed the Radiant prefix the moment it was used.

Should I use it?

Just stalling for time like this was inefficient.

The Supreme Dragon had no intention of showing me its patterns.

In that case—

So that was it. Only after using it did I understand what the skill actually was.

The radiant heroes of the past.

It was a skill that summoned the soul of one among them to fight.

I still didn't know exactly how it would function, but if it summoned them to the throne, it would probably take the form of a descent upon me as I sat here.

The most radiant. The most glorious being.

In that instant, countless names flashed through my mind.

Supreme and great — the strongest beings who had forged countless myths and legends!

Whose name should I call?

Whom should I summon to break this situation?

The ranks were different.

What came to mind first were the old heroes connected to Laily.

Those who, alongside Sword Saint Ryleigh, had been called the 'Six' and had once dominated the world.

If it were one of them, there was a chance.

But a chance was all it was.

Stories about them had been passed down by word of mouth alone. Without solid combat data, it was no better than a gamble.

If I'm looking for the one whose data I have the most certainty about…

There was one.

Someone who could seize victory more surely than anyone else in the world.

Myself.

……Knight King Wilhelm.

If it was Knight King Wilhelm, it was possible.

The Supreme Dragon — and whatever lay beyond it.

Wilhelm's soul, huh.

But did Knight King Wilhelm even have a soul?

Just as with Isaac and Isabella, I had always wondered.

Did the characters I played — or that every player had played — possess souls?

Or were they just something like artificial intelligence?

And if they did have souls, then where was the soul of this body — of 'Randolph'?

There's only one way to find out.

If I summoned him, I'd know.

If the Throne of Radiant Light truly operated on a mechanism that summoned the souls of the dead, then whether the summoning succeeded or failed would confirm the existence of a soul.

Hoarding it until it turns to shit is just stupid anyway.

The Pangenia I played was a game where you had to use things when you could use them.

If you died while hoarding, everything reset and vanished.

There was probably no other game where the phrase "hoard it and it turns to shit" fit so perfectly.

And if the summoning succeeded, I could clear it.

The Abyss Labyrinth.

The conquest of this Labyrinth that Gracia, Mint Choco, and even the Empire had all failed at!

"Wilhelm."

Seated upon the Throne of Light, I slowly opened my mouth.

And then—

The short sentence that followed made my brow furrow of its own accord.