Chapter 543: Ghost (1)

Translator: RaidenTL

Chapter 543: Ghost (1)

Maderkin Lilgreams.

I didn't expect it to be him, of all people...

The sight of his face didn't spark any urge to celebrate his survival or interrogate him on how he managed it. The only thing I felt was confusion. "You...were killed by the village chief?"

"Sorry...?" He seemed to have heard my mumbling because he stared at me with confusion of his own. "Killed by the village chief...? What do you mean?"

"We discovered a shortsword with your clan's insignia on it at the village forge," I probed, figuring I might as well dig deeper now that we were on the subject.

"Ah..."

"Why was it there?"

"Well...I don't know. However, before we left the island, some of our clan members traded with the villagers. They handed over the majority of their nonessential items and obtained a large amount of mana stones in return."

His testimony completely aligned with the chief's claims, which only left me more mystified.

The chief really was innocent? Then why did I escape the village? Did I make that huge scene for no reason?

Despite the questions flooding my mind, I quickly shook my head to rid myself of those nagging doubts. I could come to a conclusion after I heard everything he had to say. "Speak. Tell me what you did after you left the island."

"Pardon? Oh...Yes!" His relief at being rescued quickly faded at my cold interrogation. He rushed to answer my questions. "First, we left two days after you left the island, Your Lordship."

There wasn't anything special about his story. He had left the island with his clan because he felt like he needed to do something productive, but after being burned by his experience on Chief Island, fear drove him to set a course for Library Island in the hopes of taking advantage of its relative safety. Just as we were here to do some farming, it seemed he'd decided that he and his clan needed to get stronger as well.

However...

"It was a beast we had never seen before. It had horrid-looking wings attached to it, and its body was similar to that of a slime. However, it had all sorts of disgusting and twisted limbs protruding from all over its body."

They encountered a new monster that even I didn't have in my database.

It had wiped out the Silver Lion Clan entirely, and the boat they had been using was destroyed as well. But after plunging into the water, certain he was done for, Maderkin woke up on Library Island. His gear had snagged on some of the rocks near the shore just in time to save him from drowning.

"After that... Well, I was worried that it was too dangerous for me to stay out in the open, so I came down here. And then...I waited here alone for someone to find this place again..."

He had rationed his food and water as much as possible just in case and hadn't fought any of the monsters, instead sitting here in total isolation and battling only his loneliness. That about summed up his tale.

"I see."

But I didn't find it a particularly sad tale. Reading between the lines, I got the sense that as soon as he concluded that his clan was going to be wiped out, he'd abandoned ship and jumped into the ocean to save himself.

That's what it sounds like, at least.

From what I knew of Maderkin Lilgreams, he was definitely the type of guy to pull something like that.

Anyway, that's enough questions.

I had heard his story, so now it was time to check if it was true.

"Versyl."

I ordered our wizard to cast a verification spell. Unfortunately, due to Lilgream's high Mana Resistance, the verification magic didn't really work. Still, I didn't get hung up on it and instead took out an item from my personal sub-space.

It feels like a bit of a waste to use the last charge here... but no matter how I look at it, this is way too suspicious.

"Maderkin Lilgreams."

"Yes?"

"I am now going to check whether what you said is the truth."

I didn't bother asking for his consent. It wasn't like he had a choice to begin with.

Clack.

I immediately activated Misplaced Trust. With this, even if he was hiding something, all would be revealed.

"All right, let's start with a simple question."

But what was this?

"Tell me. What is your name?"

Just like in Doppelganger Forest, I started with a test question to make sure it was working properly.

And the bastard said absolutely nothing. Why wasn't he able to answer such a simple question?

Tick, tock.

The only sound to be heard was the steady, repetitive snick of the compass needle making its way around Misplaced Trust's disk. As the silence stretched on, the tension in the room began to increase.

This warrior body of mine calmly carried out the actions I needed to take at that moment, even without my input. By the time I realized what was happening, my fingers were closing around the handle of the hammer on my back, driven by some subconscious instinct.

I blew out a breath. If nothing else, having a hand on my weapon served to calm me down a little.

"Speak, Lilgreams," I demanded once more. "What is your name?"

He avoided my gaze. But the way his eyes shifted to the right was beyond strange. A sense of unease and wrongness crept over me.

"I'll ask you one more time." I pulled my hammer out and leveled it at him. "What is your name?"

Once again, he didn't respond.

All right, so he's going to stay silent until the end? In that case, I'll break his arms and legs and try again.

Decision made, I tightened my grip on my hammer and readied a swing.

"...Ah."

But at that moment, he broke his silence and spoke.

"I. Got. Caught."

It was a single, short sentence, yet I immediately got the sense that there was something off about his voice. And that feeling ended up being spot on.

"Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught."

Like a skipping CD, he repeated the same word over and over again, his pupils twitching unnaturally and his voice shrill with anxiety. He was panicking. Terrified.

"Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught—"

"What are you?"

My hand shot out to clamp around his neck and hoist him into the air. As he dangled there, his dialogue changed. "What do I do?"

I hesitated.

"What do? What do? What do? What do? What do? What do? What do? What do?"

This sensation was one I had never experienced before. I was the one holding him up by the neck, so why did I feel so unsettled?

"Versyl."

I ordered our wizard to cast a verification spell. Unfortunately, due to Lilgream's high Mana Resistance, the verification magic didn't really work. Still, I didn't get hung up on it and instead took out an item from my personal sub-space.

It feels like a bit of a waste to use the last charge here... but no matter how I look at it, this is way too suspicious.

"Maderkin Lilgreams."

"Yes?"

"I am now going to check whether what you said is the truth."

I didn't bother asking for his consent. It wasn't like he had a choice to begin with.

Clack.

I immediately activated Misplaced Trust. With this, even if he was hiding something, all would be revealed.

"All right, let's start with a simple question."

But what was this?

"Tell me. What is your name?"

Just like in Doppelganger Forest, I started with a test question to make sure it was working properly.

And the bastard said absolutely nothing. Why wasn't he able to answer such a simple question?

Tick, tock.

The only sound to be heard was the steady, repetitive snick of the compass needle making its way around Misplaced Trust's disk. As the silence stretched on, the tension in the room began to increase.

This warrior body of mine calmly carried out the actions I needed to take at that moment, even without my input. By the time I realized what was happening, my fingers were closing around the handle of the hammer on my back, driven by some subconscious instinct.

I blew out a breath. If nothing else, having a hand on my weapon served to calm me down a little.

"Speak, Lilgreams," I demanded once more. "What is your name?"

He avoided my gaze. But the way his eyes shifted to the right was beyond strange. A sense of unease and wrongness crept over me.

"I'll ask you one more time." I pulled my hammer out and leveled it at him. "What is your name?"

Once again, he didn't respond.

All right, so he's going to stay silent until the end? In that case, I'll break his arms and legs and try again.

Decision made, I tightened my grip on my hammer and readied a swing.

"...Ah."

But at that moment, he broke his silence and spoke.

"I. Got. Caught."

It was a single, short sentence, yet I immediately got the sense that there was something off about his voice. And that feeling ended up being spot on.

"Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught."

Like a skipping CD, he repeated the same word over and over again, his pupils twitching unnaturally and his voice shrill with anxiety. He was panicking. Terrified.

"Caught. Caught. Caught. Caught—"

"What are you?"

My hand shot out to clamp around his neck and hoist him into the air. As he dangled there, his dialogue changed. "What do I do?"

I hesitated.

"What do? What do? What do? What do? What do? What do? What do? What do?"

This sensation was one I had never experienced before. I was the one holding him up by the neck, so why did I feel so unsettled?

"What do? What do? What do—"

And then, he suddenly cut himself off.

"...Ah."

He raised his head to look at me. His pupils, which had been twisted to the right in an unnatural way, had bounced back to the front to meet mine. And slowly, haltingly, he began to speak.

"I know."

He sounded like he'd come to some sort of realization. A fresh wave of unease washed over me as I raised my hammer.

"What I need to do."

Boom!

The body I was holding promptly exploded. The explosion itself wasn't anything to write home about. The hand I had wrapped around his neck stung a bit after, but even that felt less like a wound and more like a regular old rash.

However, that explosion had ripped the stranger's flesh and blood right out of him and sent hundreds of little bone shards scattering across the room.

"A priest...won't do much good here."

The shock of being covered in human remains lasted only a moment before I let out a long sigh.

Damn it, I screwed up.

Although my mind rushed to provide excuses, in the end, I could only chalk up this failure to a lack of foresight on my end. I had always thought of myself as someone who acted with the worst-case scenario in mind at all times, but I hadn't seen this coming at all.

...No, even then, how could I ever have anticipated that?

Even as I reflected on my shortcomings, I couldn't shake that thought away. I would've been hard-pressed to predict that particular outcome, and it wasn't something I would have been able to deal with even if I had known it was coming.

After all, how was I supposed to stop Emergency Escape?

It was a skill that defied all attempts to counter it. After all, unless you were a god, you couldn't bring back the dead. Theoretically, you could call it the best escape skill in the game, but that was only because the cost of the skill was the caster's own life—

Let's stop that useless train of thought there and deal with the immediate problems.

"Yandel...!"

"I'm fine, so don't freak out. Oh, and I need to think this over, so leave me alone for a second."

I reassured my companions who rushed over to me in a panic, and then I replayed the situation again in my mind's eye as I took some time to think.

The past few minutes could pretty much all be summed up in one sentence.

Something was pretending to be Maderkin Lilgreams.

So who was the culprit?

There was only one answer I could come up with.

The village chief. No, to be more precise, someone or something sent by the village chief.

I doubted the village chief would panic like that the moment he got caught.

In any case, with a potential culprit identified, my next step was to tackle the fundamental questions that formed the basis of any good hypothesis.

Why? And how?

For what reason, and with what method did he do this? Many possibilities crossed my mind, but no concrete answers. It was still too much of a mystery.

Was he trying to trick me into thinking that he was innocent? No, maybe he just wanted to keep an eye on me in secret...

It was still unclear what his goal was.

"What do? What do? What do—"

And then, he suddenly cut himself off.

"...Ah."

He raised his head to look at me. His pupils, which had been twisted to the right in an unnatural way, had bounced back to the front to meet mine. And slowly, haltingly, he began to speak.

"I know."

He sounded like he'd come to some sort of realization. A fresh wave of unease washed over me as I raised my hammer.

"What I need to do."

Boom!

The body I was holding promptly exploded. The explosion itself wasn't anything to write home about. The hand I had wrapped around his neck stung a bit after, but even that felt less like a wound and more like a regular old rash.

However, that explosion had ripped the stranger's flesh and blood right out of him and sent hundreds of little bone shards scattering across the room.

"A priest...won't do much good here."

The shock of being covered in human remains lasted only a moment before I let out a long sigh.

Damn it, I screwed up.

Although my mind rushed to provide excuses, in the end, I could only chalk up this failure to a lack of foresight on my end. I had always thought of myself as someone who acted with the worst-case scenario in mind at all times, but I hadn't seen this coming at all.

...No, even then, how could I ever have anticipated that?

Even as I reflected on my shortcomings, I couldn't shake that thought away. I would've been hard-pressed to predict that particular outcome, and it wasn't something I would have been able to deal with even if I had known it was coming.

After all, how was I supposed to stop Emergency Escape?

It was a skill that defied all attempts to counter it. After all, unless you were a god, you couldn't bring back the dead. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Theoretically, you could call it the best escape skill in the game, but that was only because the cost of the skill was the caster's own life—

Let's stop that useless train of thought there and deal with the immediate problems.

"Yandel...!"

"I'm fine, so don't freak out. Oh, and I need to think this over, so leave me alone for a second."

I reassured my companions who rushed over to me in a panic, and then I replayed the situation again in my mind's eye as I took some time to think.

The past few minutes could pretty much all be summed up in one sentence.

Something was pretending to be Maderkin Lilgreams.

So who was the culprit?

There was only one answer I could come up with.

The village chief. No, to be more precise, someone or something sent by the village chief.

I doubted the village chief would panic like that the moment he got caught.

In any case, with a potential culprit identified, my next step was to tackle the fundamental questions that formed the basis of any good hypothesis.

Why? And how?

For what reason, and with what method did he do this? Many possibilities crossed my mind, but no concrete answers. It was still too much of a mystery.

Was he trying to trick me into thinking that he was innocent? No, maybe he just wanted to keep an eye on me in secret...

It was still unclear what his goal was.

And what did he use to pull something like this off?

I couldn't think of any essences that would have helped him do this. There were a few active skills that could steal another person's body, but they didn't fit the bill here. Most of them required the caster to be nearby, for one, and when the body was taken over, there was a string leading from the caster to the target that was visible to the naked eye.

Right. So it's not an essence. Which means...

The thing I saw was probably functionally similar to an evil spirit.

The thought caused a cold sweat to slick my palms.

Still, I ignored the chill and forced myself to keep thinking this over, even asking my allies for their input, but it didn't get me anywhere. All I had was a theory without a lot of supporting evidence.

The chief has a way of stealing other people's bodies like an evil spirit.

Nevertheless, it didn't hurt to be ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠cautious.

***

Once we were done dealing with the fallout of Lilgreams's Emergency Escape, as unsatisfying as it was, I led the group through the library. We immediately noticed two key differences from how we'd left the place.

The books... They're back.

The summoning books we had used last time had restocked. By the time we departed the island, the lower bookshelves were virtually empty, but now even the books that we'd left scattered around had been cleaned up and put back in their proper places.

The stairs were reset too.

The stairs leading to the upper shelves with the books of rank-three monsters had disappeared as well, returning to their original state.

Hmm, then what triggers the reset? Is it time?

If that was the case, it was probably tied to the rainy season in some way, but there was no way to know for sure right now.

"Yandel, this is a good thing if you think about it. This means we'll be able to get essences much more easily."

"Ah... that's true."

As Amelia said, this was ultimately a positive. Although the stairs being reset was a little annoying, this practically confirmed that we could do unlimited, continuous farming here.

Well, that wasn't to say there weren't any downsides.

If it resets while we're still making our way through the stacks, then it'll be tough for us to ever reach the top of the bookshelf with hard work alone.

Library Island, which was already pretty difficult, now had a time limit on it as well. However, it was too early to start grumbling. We could complain later when our goal went from just farming for essences to actually clearing it.

Since we know it'll reset at some point, let's stop wasting time.

I brushed aside any lingering frustration or concern and decided to focus solely on the reason we came here in the first place.

To be honest, games that required grinding were my type of game. Once I got into the zone, it was like all of my thoughts went quiet, leaving me only with a steady sense of progress.

[You have killed a Frost Wolf.]

[You have killed a Stone Golem.]

[You have killed a Hobgoblin.]

[You have killed an Ice Orc Warrior.]

[You have killed a Yeti.]

[You have killed a Luture Talismancer...]

After that, we split our group into two teams: one dedicated to finding books with good prey, and one combat team.

Rank nine, rank eight, rank seven...

As the number of shelves we had climbed increased, so too did the difficulty, and once rank-fours started popping up, we shifted our focus and started looking for specific monsters in the books.

Mana stones were dropped.

Experience was gained.

And...

"An essence!"

Although none of the essences that popped up could be given to members of Anabada, as we accrued multiple essences per day, our group as a whole steadily grew stronger and stronger.

"That's it for today! We'll stop here for the night. Everyone, get some rest!"

On our eighty-fifth day in the labyrinth, the day finally came.

[Your soul has resonated and is being drawn into a different world.]

And what did he use to pull something like this off?

I couldn't think of any essences that would have helped him do this. There were a few active skills that could steal another person's body, but they didn't fit the bill here. Most of them required the caster to be nearby, for one, and when the body was taken over, there was a string leading from the caster to the target that was visible to the naked eye.

Right. So it's not an essence. Which means...

The thing I saw was probably functionally similar to an evil spirit.

The thought caused a cold sweat to slick my palms.

Still, I ignored the chill and forced myself to keep thinking this over, even asking my allies for their input, but it didn't get me anywhere. All I had was a theory without a lot of supporting evidence.

The chief has a way of stealing other people's bodies like an evil spirit.

Nevertheless, it didn't hurt to be cautious.

***

Once we were done dealing with the fallout of Lilgreams's Emergency Escape, as unsatisfying as it was, I led the group through the library. We immediately noticed two key differences from how we'd left the place.

The books... They're back.

The summoning books we had used last time had restocked. By the time we departed the island, the lower bookshelves were virtually empty, but now even the books that we'd left scattered around had been cleaned up and put back in their proper places.

The stairs were reset too.

The stairs leading to the upper shelves with the books of rank-three monsters had disappeared as well, returning to their original state.

Hmm, then what triggers the reset? Is it time?

If that was the case, it was probably tied to the rainy season in some way, but there was no way to know for sure right now.

"Yandel, this is a good thing if you think about it. This means we'll be able to get essences much more easily."

"Ah... that's true."

As Amelia said, this was ultimately a positive. Although the stairs being reset was a little annoying, this practically confirmed that we could do unlimited, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠continuous farming here.

Well, that wasn't to say there weren't any downsides.

If it resets while we're still making our way through the stacks, then it'll be tough for us to ever reach the top of the bookshelf with hard work alone.

Library Island, which was already pretty difficult, now had a time limit on it as well. However, it was too early to start grumbling. We could complain later ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠when our goal went from just farming for essences to actually clearing it.

Since we know it'll reset at some point, let's stop wasting time.

I brushed aside any lingering frustration or concern and decided to focus solely on the reason we came here in the first place.

To be honest, games that required grinding were my type of game. Once I got into the zone, it was like all of my thoughts went quiet, leaving me only with a steady sense of progress.

[You have killed a Frost Wolf.]

[You have killed a Stone Golem.]

[You have killed a Hobgoblin.]

[You have killed an Ice Orc Warrior.]

[You have killed a Yeti.]

[You have killed a Luture Talismancer...]

After that, we split our group into two teams: one dedicated to finding books with good prey, and one combat team.

Rank nine, rank eight, rank seven...

As the number of shelves we had climbed increased, so too did the difficulty, and once rank-fours started popping up, we shifted our focus and started looking for specific monsters in the books.

Mana stones were dropped.

Experience was gained.

And...

"An essence!"

Although none of the essences that popped up could be given to members of Anabada, as we accrued multiple essences per day, our group as a whole steadily grew stronger and stronger.

"That's it for today! We'll stop here for the night. Everyone, get some rest!"

On our eighty-fifth day in the labyrinth, the day finally came.

[Your soul has resonated and is being drawn into a different world.]