Chapter 176: The Master of the Abyss
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 176: The Master of the Abyss
Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!
An alarm blared.
It was a security spell set up by Magistrate Irha. Linked to a Watcher, it detected all approaching targets and, if they weren't pre-registered, immediately sounded an alarm.
And the Watcher was located…
‘The White Lion!’
The three Magistrates and Consul Peterson snapped their heads up at the same time.
Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!
The alarm continued to shriek.
It was an emergency.
“Hold your positions!”
The Consul immediately left the scene, his spot quickly filled by Magistrate Delphin.
“Be safe!”
Consul Peterson sprinted toward the Public Security Headquarters main building. He bounded down the underground stairs in a single leap. A Watcher floated from the ceiling.
A sudden, immense sense of dread sent a chill down the Consul’s neck.
‘Something’s wrong.’
He had felt it for a while now.
This strange sense of unease.
It had been there from the moment the war began, and it persisted even after the Magic University’s civil war was settled and the wizards came to support the Public Security Headquarters.
‘Why did they attack like this?’
The question wouldn't leave the Consul's mind.
Compared to past Labyrinth eruptions, this incident was far too bizarre.
The involvement of the Dagger Raptor and the Assembly, the appearance of the Gourmet Whale, and the fact that the monsters emerging from it were guardians of the inter-floor villages, unlike before.
But he set those thoughts aside for now.
There was something even stranger.
‘Why aren't they wreaking havoc on the city?’
The situation the Public Security Headquarters dreaded most during a Labyrinth eruption was monsters running rampant in every direction.
That would lead to massive civilian casualties.
For that reason, the Headquarters would normally deploy mid-tier and lower adventurers throughout the city to handle civilian evacuation and protection.
This time, however, those adventurers had all finished their tasks and were spending their time in peaceful boredom, to the point where they eventually came to the Public Security Headquarters to offer their support.
‘Why are they doing this?’
He recalled the time the White Lion tried to assassinate Dalstream.
What had the White Lion done then?
Wanting to conserve the Labyrinth's power and minimize the eruption, he had tried to disperse the Public Security Headquarters' forces.
He used a civilian woman named Maria to incite a hate crime against slaves, completely deceiving the city and forcing the Headquarters to focus its forces on the back alleys.
And then, didn't he quietly attack the Public Security archives where Dalstream was conducting his research?
Logically, if the Labyrinth was trying to rescue the White Lion, it should have employed a similar method to scatter the Headquarters' forces.
Worried about that exact scenario, Peterson had assigned the entire matter of the Assembly to the Magic University, even offering the unprecedented condition that they didn't need to back up the Headquarters until it was resolved.
But looking back now…
‘Why didn't they tear the city apart?’
The enemy's offensive seemed aimed at nothing more than buying time.
The Gourmet Whale and the monsters that emerged from it were engaged in a foolish, endless battle where neither side could die nor be killed.
What was the purpose of that?
To allow someone to secretly infiltrate the basement of the Public Security Headquarters. To take the White Lion.
Wasn't that what was happening right now?
But even so, a question remained.
‘Who in the world could have infiltrated the basement without being detected, and how?’
Peterson kicked the door to the underground prison with all his might.
The four constables who had been standing guard were dead.
And inside…
A wizard stood there.
His eyes burned with a fiery glint.
He held a magic wand in each hand, and behind him, the White Lion's corpse floated in mid-air.
“What… are you…”
As the Consul aimed his sword, a sudden chill ran down his spine. Cold sweat trickled down his back.
‘What is this?’
The Consul was one of the most knowledgeable people in all of Sohen when it came to the Labyrinth.
He had faced countless monsters in the Deep Layer. And he had slain them all and returned alive more times than he could count.
There was no monster the Consul didn't know of, with the exception of bizarre cases like the Dagger Raptor, the White Lion, and the Gourmet Whale.
He had even thought he was getting used to the Inter-floor Lords.
“You…”
But this was different.
He was clearly different, even compared to the Inter-floor Lords.
He was like the cosmos, a celestial body.
Even if you tilted your head back to see his end, it was something a human's field of vision could never encompass.
A magnificent, sacred power beyond human imagination, something worthy of being recorded not in history, but in myth.
He was like something that transcended infinite time and wisdom.
He felt like the Labyrinth itself.
“Don't tell me… you're…”
The Consul had never seen such a being before.
But he had heard countless rumors.
“The Labyrinth… Master…?”
Even a veteran warrior who had reached the pinnacle of adventuring could feel fear.
His calves trembled.
The unfamiliar emotion made the Consul’s mouth go dry.
Driven by it, he glared, his eyes wide.
“Answer me.”
He held the ultimate responsibility for the security of the entire city. No matter who his opponent was, he could not retreat or be defeated here.
‘Get a grip.’
The Consul watched the enemy's every move—the tip of a finger, the twitch of a toe, the slight quiver of his lips—with sharp focus.
‘I can't miss a single thing.’
He had to capture everything perfectly. If the man started an incantation, he would charge instantly. He would unleash all his best skills at once and end this…
Clang!
Suddenly, the weight on the tip of his sword forced his arm down.
The tip of the blade was melting. The immense weight made it difficult to even hold it straight.
“What… the hell.”
It was magic.
Tier 7 magic, ‘Blade Dissolution’.
But how?
“Without an incantation…”
The Consul quickly threw the sword away and picked up a weapon from among the fallen constables' bodies.
Sizzle.
That sword, axe, and hammer were all melting as well.
“Impossible.”
It was high-speed casting.
And chantless casting.
It was said that some great wizards, upon reaching a sublime level of wisdom and mental power, could ignore incantations and magic cooldowns, casting spells with mere concentration.
Even though he had watched a certain famous individual in Sohen do it for quite some time, facing a similar power as an enemy left him dizzy with bewilderment.
CRASH!
But the Consul's confusion didn't last long. He grabbed a nearby chair and smashed it against the wall with all his might.
He ripped out a single steel frame from the broken chair.
“If you're the Labyrinth Master, all the better. I don't know how you got in here, but that was a big mistake.”
“Consul.”
The Labyrinth Master spoke to him in a low voice.
“The war is over. Gather your troops.”
“Don't give me that crap. You're going to take him and resurrect him, aren't you? Not a chance. He's a criminal who caused two Labyrinth eruptions.”
“Consul.”
The Labyrinth Master raised a wand and rubbed his temple.
“I do not seek the consent of humans.”
“…”
“Taking the White Lion back from you is as simple as taking candy from a child.”
Thwump!
The Consul charged forward. The steel pipe wasn't a sword, so many of his skills were unusable, but…
‘Skull Splitter!’
Nevertheless, the blow, born from his incredible physique, gouged a vertical scar from the ceiling, down the wall, and across the floor.
KRRRRRRAK!
With a sound of grinding metal, the steel frame in the Consul's hand bent, then snapped.
A massive gash was left in the room.
But the Labyrinth Master was no longer there.
“Damn it.”
“I actually thought the enemy would burn the White Lion’s body.”
Inside the Gourmet Whale, in the control room.
The Labyrinth Master spoke as he laid down the White Lion’s corpse.
“If they had, I could have created an exit room inside and brought him back easily.”
At his words, bumpy protrusions rose from the Gourmet Whale’s tongue, swelling to a massive size until they formed a figure as large as a person.
It was a whale.
Floating gently, its body wreathed in the mists of the void.
“You created the exit room at the university, didn't you?”
“Even if I had resurrected the White Lion, he would have just been captured again. I had no choice but to come myself.”
“What should we do now?”
“Let us return to the Abyss.”
“Are you giving up on the Dagger Raptor?”
“It was never an important card.”
The Labyrinth Master started to move toward his seat, then stopped dead.
“I hear a sound from below.”
“A sound?”
“It seems we have an uninvited guest in the whale’s stomach.”
“Caleb!”
“Caleb!”
The moment I stepped through the gate, Blackdog shouted from my left and Neko from my right, both startled.
I expected Blackdog, but Neko, what are you doing here?
“I came to catch the administrator.”
I see.
Sounds incredibly difficult, but noted.
“You… how did you get in here?”
Blackdog looked somewhat surprised.
“With this.”
I showed him the scroll in my hand.
[Stair Scroll]
Let's consider the subtle principles of this scroll.
The Labyrinth is fundamentally filled with countless staircases.
1. Stairs to the next floor.
2. Stairs to the previous floor.
3. Stairs to an inter-floor village.
In principle, using a Stair Scroll drops you at location number 1.
That's why when Yernil shot me with a Stair Scroll on the 3rd floor, I landed in front of the 4th-floor stair room.
However, this principle has one exception: the 10th floor of the Labyrinth.
Can you imagine? Countless 10th-floor adventurers try all sorts of crazy things to find the stairs to the Deep Layer. Do you really think they haven't tried using a Stair Scroll?
Even if they use a scroll, they aren't transported to the Deep Layer stairs.
Instead, they are moved to the nearest staircase, either the one to the 9th floor or the one to the 10.5th floor.
Doesn't the 10.5th floor not exist, you ask?
Correct.
That's why there's a staircase, but no gate beneath it.
But that's not important right now. The point is…
“If there are no stairs to the next floor, you get sent to the stairs of an inter-floor village.”
And right now, there is no 2nd surface floor.
So I figured tearing a Stair Scroll would bring me here.
To be precise, I would arrive in front of the gate Neko discovered, and one step from there would be the Gourmet Whale.
“Waaaaah!”
Yernil burst out of the gate, ran wildly, and slammed into Krom’s shoulder.
“What the hell!”
“Aah! I’m sorry!”
She scurried over to my side.
“I was scared I’d get caught by a monster after tearing the scroll, so…”
I told her if she was worried about that, she should tear the scroll while running forward. It seems she did exactly that.
“Something you'd do in a game,” Blackdog commented.
As expected, he gets it.
In the game, ‘tearing a Stair Scroll while running’ was one of the fastest tricks to get to the next floor.
Every player who played Abyss of the Labyrinth knew it.
In the game, if you recruited a new party member who hadn't unlocked the upper floors of the Labyrinth, they couldn't use the elevator with you, so they'd just tear scrolls and run like mad.
“Damn it, does that mean someone else besides that elf might come running in…”
Cutting off Krom’s words, the Labyrinth gate erupted.
“Whoa!?”
This time, it was a giant, iron-armored Monk who had to weigh at least twice as much as Yernil.
CRASH!
Aimus couldn't slow down in time and slammed into Krom, sending them both tumbling.
“S-Sorry!”
“Damn it.”
After those two separated, Back Attack came through. Thankfully, he landed lightly this time without any commotion.
“Is this a hot spot or something? Why are there so many people?”
“Caleb,” Blackdog asked.
“The original plan was for you to deliver the items through my dimensional gate.”
“Yes.”
“You came yourself because that wasn't possible?”
“That's right.”
“So you brought the items?”
Although we hadn't fought at the university with our backpacks on, all four of us had our belts, pockets, and the insides of our coats stuffed full.
We began pulling out items from all over.
[Monster Summoning Scroll: 4th Floor]
[Monster Summoning Scroll: 5th Floor]
[Monster Summoning Scroll: 5th Floor]
[Monster Summoning Scroll: 7th Floor]
[Monster Summoning Scroll: 3rd Floor]
[Monster Summoning Scroll: 8th Floor]
[Monster Summoning Scroll: 5th Floor]
[Monster Summoning Scroll: 7th Floor]
[Monster Summoning Scroll: 9th Floor]
[Monster Summoning Scroll: 8th Floor]
The inventory piled up in the scroll warehouse was mostly Monster Summoning Scrolls.
“Wh-what is all this?”
As the number of items laid out on the floor grew, the faces of both Neko’s party and Blackdog’s party turned pale.
“How are there so many Monster Summoning Scrolls…”
The quantity was truly immense.
The White Lion was a loyal servant and a good manager(?) who did his best to conserve the Labyrinth's eruption power.
Instead of acting directly, he used monsters to handle trivial tasks, sometimes mimicking a Labyrinth eruption or eliminating targets outside Sohen.
These were likely items he had found useful while carrying out the various missions given to him by the Labyrinth Master.
This time, I planned to use them.
“I’m going to use these to create an artificial monster wave.”