Dragon Sword Sovereign
CRAAACK!
At the same moment, the Supreme Dragon's body began to harden like stone.
Crack. Crumble-crumble-crumble!
The petrified flesh shattered and fell away, piece by piece.
The Supreme Dragon was dying.
It was accepting its death — having realized that its duty as the final seal had come to an end. Satisfied that, in its final moments, it had managed to convey its will, it announced its own demise.
And then—
You have resonated with the Supreme Dragon.
The Dragon Swordsman class is being elevated to the Dragon Knight class.
You have inherited the Dragon Knight class.
Through the Dragon Knight class, the sword mastery limit has been unlocked up to Lv. 28.
Elevation to the Dragon Knight class!
I had completed the inheritance not from Riley, but from the Supreme Dragon itself. In other words, I had secured the Dragon Knight class for certain.
The final seal has been released.
'The One Who Is the Abyss Itself' is being born!
Forced erosion is beginning.
Ziiing.
In an instant, a massive warp tore open. On the other side of the warp lay Earth — a vast city somewhere on the planet.
Kya-kya-kaaak!
But the warp froze in place. Hell had refused the erosion through the warp.
Yet the final trial still remained.
The One Who Is the Abyss Itself.
If I failed to overcome that trial, the erosion would proceed as planned.
"If I was wrong… then prove it."
Before I knew it, Riley stood where the Supreme Dragon had been. His soul had seized control of the body before it could become the Abyss itself. Like the Supreme Dragon, he might still self-destruct — but before that, he wanted to confirm something.
The will of the Supreme Dragon he had learned through their resonance just now. Whether that will was true. Whether he himself had truly been wrong.
"You. What is your name?"
Riley asked for my name.
Right now, I was moving purely according to the Star's Memory. That meant the name I was supposed to answer with was already decided.
"Wilhelm."
"And your title?"
"Knight King."
"Indeed. So that is what they called you!"
Riley laughed heartily, as if everything finally made sense. The martial art I had displayed in that brief span of time was more than worthy of the name Knight King.
Then, forming a Dragon Sword in his right hand just as I had, he spoke.
"Knight King Wilhelm. Sword Saint Riley challenges you to a duel. …Wouldn't it be a shame for both of us to end things here?"
"You ask the obvious."
"As expected! Had we met in the old days, we would have made fine comrades."
"Had we met in the old days, you would have been buried in the earth — not the Abyss."
"Haha! That might have been fine too. So then…"
The hearty smile on Riley's face vanished as if it had never been, replaced by something ice-cold.
"…Let the victor be the one who was right."
A perfectly natural thing to say.
Player Talk flipped in an instant. Public opinion that had been split fifty-fifty completely reversed the moment Phase 5 began.
It was the real Randolph.
Randolph was clearing the labyrinth!
Of course, some negative voices still remained. But the negativity was buried in an instant — because nearly everyone was roaring with cheers.
CLAAANG!
Every time blade met blade, a clear, ringing note sang out.
Two bodies sharing the same power. A pure arena of skill, where only swordsmanship was being tested.
"…I've lost."
But the duel did not last long. Before they had even exchanged a hundred blows, Riley withdrew his sword.
"You never intended to win from the start."
It wasn't over yet. I had no intention of ending it either. But Riley shook his head.
"No. I gave it everything I had. Though it's a shame we couldn't cross blades to the very end, this much is enough for me to know. You are greater than I am."
The moment their swords first clashed — no, from the moment he had faced the Supreme Dragon — Riley had already known.
His own inadequacy.
That what stood before him was not the full measure of Wilhelm!
"You are concealing your true strength. Even while facing the Supreme Dragon and me, you never revealed everything. Proof enough that we were not strong enough to draw out your full power."
…It seemed Riley was under a considerable misunderstanding — that I was holding back because he was weak.
I had given it my all. I simply hadn't been able to draw out the entirety of Wilhelm, that was all.
Riley slowly clenched his fist.
"Though we failed, you — you might well be able to inflict defeat upon Ruin. As the master of the Throne of Light, you are surely a man of honor. From humanity's perspective, that is truly fortunate."
His eyes were filled with a sense of renewed emotion — the face of a man sinking gently into memory. Though he himself had been defeated, he held a hopeful conviction that the man before him might yet succeed.
This is getting awkward.
There was no need to mention that I had already killed the Demon King once. After all, I hadn't truly won yet.
"More than anything… for giving me the chance to end myself before becoming the Abyss itself — for conveying the Supreme Dragon's will — I thank you from the bottom of my heart."
Riley's body began to harden, just as the Supreme Dragon's had. He had chosen self-destruction before becoming the One Who Is the Abyss Itself.
Riley smiled.
"I am glad I met you at the very end of my end. It was an honor to face a warrior of your caliber. If we should meet again someday, then I will surely…"
A voice full of regret. But Riley's words never reached their conclusion.
Crack.
Crumble-crumble!
Everything hardened like stone, shattered, and sank into the Abyss. Erosion had been advancing by the second — there had never been any time to begin with.
Before long, Riley vanished without a trace.
And at the same moment—
You have successfully eliminated 'The One Who Is the Abyss Itself'!
Forced erosion has been terminated.
You have completed a Hidden Quest.
My eyes went wide. My pupils trembled finely.
…A Hidden Class?
The Hidden Class — Dragon Sword Sovereign!
I had seized a qualification that surpassed my expectations by two entire tiers. Through the recognition of both the Supreme Dragon and Riley. Perhaps this was the ultimate class Riley himself should have completed. Across the long span of ages, it had been fully inherited by me.
But that was not the end.
You have cleared the Abyss Labyrinth!
The Abyss Labyrinth is rising into the heavens.
You have become the Ruler of Labyrinth City.
A warp is being generated in Labyrinth City.
The Constellations of the Hall of One Hundred Constellations who had been watching from afar are joining.
All Constellations turn their attention to the myth you have completed.
The completion of a failed myth! They cheer for your deeds that turned falsehood into truth.
All Constellations are greatly satisfied by the gentle rest of the Supreme Dragon and the great Sword Saint Riley.
By unanimous vote, all Constellations have agreed to raise the grade of the reward!
Quest combined rewards will vary according to the Broken Fragment of the Golden Rule used.
Time used: 1,407h 37m
Several Constellations who saw the time used are beginning to panic.
"Mm."
Thud!
"Mmm."
Thud!
"Mmmmm…"
Thud!
Watching Saintess Seia faint over and over, Isaac's expression hardened. Isabella's technique of knocking someone out at the mere flicker of consciousness felt cruelly efficient.
"Even if it's an order… she's still a Saintess…"
Following Randolph's command, they were monitoring Saintess Seia and knocking her unconscious. But Isaac simply could not bring himself to lay a hand on a Saintess.
Saintess Seia. Among all Saintesses, she was the most devoted, the most dignified, the most noble of beings. No matter how much of an uneducated thief Isaac might have been, he knew full well the pure and absolute nature of a Saintess.
The name "Saintess" was something any human would naturally revere. But Isabella acted as if none of that mattered in the slightest.
"…"
She didn't even answer. She simply stared at the Saintess with cold indifference.
Good thing I learned pressure-point techniques back then.
The corner of Isabella's mouth curved up ever so slightly. Seeing that, Isaac felt a chill run through his entire body.
Was she actually taking pleasure in knocking out the Saintess?
When I was little, I hated learning those things so much…
Of course, that wasn't the reason. Isabella was reminiscing about the past.
As a child — when she first came to her senses, she was already in the desert city of Faisalmer. She had opened her eyes in a lightless gutter alongside bare, half-starved children. Countless children competed and died there. To survive, Isabella had been forced to learn every dirty trick imaginable.
She had hated learning them with a burning passion, but there was no other way. She had to catch the eye of that monster — the Desert Queen.
"Aren't you worried?"
"…?"
Isabella tilted her head at Isaac's question.
"About the Successor. From the looks of it, every other challenger has failed."
"No."
"No?"
She nodded firmly and turned her gaze back to the Saintess. An attitude that put the order above any worry. And of course it did — because she truly wasn't worried.
Randolph's victory was, by now, a matter of course for Isabella.
The man who had faced the Desert Queen without a shred of fear — who had instead sneered, looked down on her, and crushed her. The being she had spent her entire life trembling before, never even able to meet her eyes — he had killed her in an instant.
The Desert Queen, the most terrifying existence in Isabella's world. The sovereign who had reigned over the desert like a god.
Watching her, Isaac clicked his tongue softly.
She's become a full-blown fanatic.
In Isaac's eyes, Isabella was turning into a zealot for Randolph. Boundless faith. Blind trust. When her year of service ended and the time came to part ways — what would happen then?
From experience, Isaac knew well that the end of such faith rarely turned out well. For a moment, he felt a twinge of concern.
Who am I to be worrying about anyone?
Then Isaac shook his head. If Randolph truly cleared the Abyss Labyrinth, what would unfold afterward was beyond anything he could even imagine.
How much time had passed since Phase 5 began?
Those who had denied Randolph's appearance had no choice but to clamp their mouths shut.
The word that challenger Randolph had cleared the Abyss Labyrinth.