Chapter 230: Deep Beneath the Fountain
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 230: Deep Beneath the Fountain
It hurts.
The hole in my side.
How much vitality do I have left?
I’m probably in a ‘Combat Incapacitation’ state.
Yernil was like this once, after taking a hit from the White Lion. The Neko party came and rescued her then.
Normally, I should have 0 Action Points, but the Hourglass secured 2 for me.
I just used 1 of those points on Yernil.
‘Take the vortex back to the 1st floor.’
But she’s likely to refuse this command.
I’m not a mind controller, after all.
Driving them mad and controlling the party as I please is beyond my abilities.
A command that goes against Yernil’s nature can be refused.
So I’ll make it so my command becomes a rational choice for her as well.
“Hoo…”
I take a deep breath.
Slowly, I turn my wand to face myself.
“I’m going to die now, Yernil. So give up on me.”
It’s a slim chance, but I’ll bet on it.
“Lightning Shock.”
A single Tier 1 spell, cast on my own incapacitated body.
[All Action Points have been consumed.]
[Ending turn.]
It was a method of suicide I’d considered for a while.
Though I never thought I’d have to use it without any safety net.
Back when Dalstream died, I killed myself in Sohen and reached the Ethereal Galaxy.
I met Wizus there.
What would happen if I did something similar in the Labyrinth?
‘Those who die in the Labyrinth are devoured by the Labyrinth.’
It was symbolic that the Compass of Greed showed me the Gumiho’s fox marble to help me regain my memories.
What lies behind that fox marble?
Where is the Gumiho?
Just as I experimented countless times on Bearhim in the game, no healing magic, conversation with the dead, or necromancy works on the corpse of a dead god.
Its soul was devoured by the Labyrinth.
It became a part of the Labyrinth, drifting through its waterworks.
‘Inside the fountain.’
Right?
The Compass of Greed was originally yours, and you gifted it to the God of Gifts.
You manipulated it to make me find the fox marble.
Why?
Because you hoped that through the marble, I would realize this place existed and enter it by committing a turn-based suicide inside the Labyrinth.
There was no other way for us to meet again.
Was there?
‘God-King.’
In the endless water, neither the Ethereal Galaxy nor the Void Waterfall, but the deepest part of the Sea of Time.
They appear before my sinking consciousness.
The ones behind all my adventures.
Those excluded from the confrontation between Wizus and the Labyrinth Master. Those watching the game from the outside.
But also those who still have a chance to intervene.
“Our wizard has come.”
The goddess I met in the waters of time had a smile as radiant as a dandelion in spring.
The Goddess of Gifts and Scrolls.
Beside her, the King of Fungi.
Though his body was left behind in the garden on the 6th floor, his soul shines hotly even in the waters of time.
Behind him, the Guide of the Specters.
His wings were now completely soaked, but he was the god who flew highest and fastest in the age of myths.
And the God of Naval Cannons.
The sniper for the Ethereal Galaxy’s faction during the first Great Labyrinth Eruption.
And countless other gods besides them.
Devoured by the Labyrinth Master, unable to remain in the Ethereal Galaxy.
But here, they are the last resistance, plotting a final reversal.
“We have been waiting.”
A colossal divine statue stands among them.
He was the father of all gods, the one who guided the Labyrinth Master to this world.
The God-King.
“Have your memories returned?”
“…”
I slowly raised my head.
Everything is clear now.
“Yes.”
How many times did I have to restart the game to beat it on Turn-Based Master difficulty?
It’s highly unlikely to clear a high-difficulty game in one go.
Even more so on Developer difficulty.
I have failed once before.
This is my second playthrough.
‘I’m fucked. Royally fucked. More fucked than the time my screw-up junior in the army fired a shell toward the North, and they started broadcasting a response.’
The first scene of my first possession was the magic university throwing slaves they’d bought for cheap into the Labyrinth.
The only difference was…
“Assistant Instructor Caleb. Take the slaves to the Adventurer’s Guild.”
I wasn’t one of the slaves; I was a university assistant instructor.
“This way.”
I took the slaves and sent them into the Labyrinth.
Checking the survivors, I found an archer of considerable talent.
“Yernil is transferring to the Adventurer’s Guild, right?”
Though she couldn’t clear her slave status on her first Labyrinth expedition.
“I’ll go to the Adventurer’s Guild and hire Yernil.”
I have to be careful not to reveal that I’m a possessor. No standing out too much. Just gather some decent people and explore the Labyrinth slowly.
But I couldn’t pass up someone like the Iron Staff Monk.
“I was in a party with a rogue named Back Attack, but we got separated on the 1st floor.”
I got that information from the monk, Aimus.
He probably turned into an exit boss. Should we hunt him? He seems useful. If we turn him into an undead and bring back his ossuary, we can resurrect him.
“Professor. About that research paper on ossuaries…”
As it happened, Isilof was hard at work on related research. I wasn’t a freshman but a graduate student in Isilof’s lab.
“I’ll look for that ossuary.”
Back then, I formed the same four-person party as now.
At a much slower pace than now, but steadily. Without drawing too much attention.
Slowly, but surely.
We steadily built our skills, diving into the Labyrinth at two-week intervals.
I met friends similar to the ones I have now.
The Dwarf Birtanen’s four-person party.
The Paladin Bernard’s four-person party.
The Constable Neko’s four-person party.
The Wizard Clorence’s four-person party.
The Berten estate, Isel, Consul Peterson and the magistrates, Cardinal Servan and the priests of the Nathaniel Temple.
Isilof, Meldini, and Dalstream. The university professors.
Blackdog, Krom, Nimue, Rococo.
Chihuahua, Yeti, Broccoli. The Assembly members.
Bipa and Mugol. The Wyndham duo.
And I foresaw the possibility of a Great Labyrinth Eruption.
“I will convene a general assembly of the Labyrinth Union.”
Even in the first playthrough, the Consul gathered military forces from all over the world.
“We will subjugate the Labyrinth Master and stop the Labyrinth’s eruption!”
The well-organized army was powerful, but not enough to stop the Deep Layer’s eruption.
In an instant, the surface became a sea of fire.
Looking down at the Deep Layer adventurers dying one by one, Wizus thought the state of the war wasn’t bad.
The time spent watching from the throne of the gods is infinitely long. From the age of myths until now, in those tens of thousands of years, the lives of adventurers are but a fleeting moment.
Things would recover soon enough with time.
‘If only we can stop the Labyrinth Master.’
In the age of the Nine Kings, he caused a great eruption but failed to reach the Ethereal Galaxy.
This is the latter half of the great game.
We have to catch the Labyrinth Master here.
“Are you ready?”
There was one who had climbed the tower that shot up with the Labyrinth’s great eruption before the Labyrinth Master did.
“Caleb.”
The wizard’s Deep Layer party was the best force Wizus had assembled.
“Not even I can defeat the Labyrinth Master. That’s why I chose a tactician as wise as myself.”
Wizus brought a hunter for the Labyrinth Master from a world beyond the Ethereal Galaxy.
That magic was a portal between two worlds.
A replica and a summary of this world.
And a kind of training program to turn a trainee into a veteran soldier.
It was designed to cultivate the ultimate party tactician by gradually raising the difficulty from low to high.
Since Wizus created it, the highest level of difficulty is equivalent to Wizus himself.
“Turn-Based Master.”
Wizus summoned the tactician who had cleared that difficulty to this place.
“Are you ready to hunt the Labyrinth Master?”
“Yes.”
Caleb calmly nodded.
And when he saw the enemy ascending the stairs, Wizus’s expression hardened.
“Gumiho…?”
Just as Wizus had chosen Caleb as his most important piece, the Labyrinth Master had also prepared a joker card.
The one who assassinated Bearhim in the age of myths.
“Sorry, Wizus. I think the Labyrinth Master is right.”
Nine tails swayed.
The Labyrinth Master knew that the Turn-Based Wizard was here.
The Labyrinth Master had been watching him for a long time.
He even knew that the Turn-Based Wizard’s vanguard was the Iron Monk.
“If I melt the vanguard, I win.”
“Monk!”
Wizus shouted urgently.
“You must conserve your Steel Veins! You can’t melt in the Labyrinth Master’s active volcano!”
The Iron Monk has high resistance to heat. He can withstand an incineration barrage from the God of Main Cannons, but that defense is temporary.
“Aimus!”
But the wizard’s sudden action was something no one could have predicted.
Not Wizus, and not the Labyrinth Master.
“Open the parasol!”
The magic parasol and the Steel Veins.
The monk controlled an area, buying time.
“Let’s go!”
And then, a barrage of fire.
The pouring magic arrows were surprisingly aimed at Wizus.
“What…?”
The Iron Cavalry of Darkness, the Gunner Shark, the White Lion.
Wizus, Sanfriel, Nathaniel.
Before the eyes of all the floor lords, gods, and the Labyrinth Master, the greatest piece Wizus had chosen dashed toward the Hourglass.
“Catch him!” the Labyrinth Master yelled.
“He’s going to seize the Hourglass!” Wizus yelled as well.
‘Ethereal Blink!’
Caleb closed the distance with a blink.
‘Shadow Leap!’
Back Attack carried him forward again.
To the front of the God-King’s final legacy, the colossal Hourglass.
Swoosh!
Sanfriel flew in. The God of Challenging Spirit grabbed Caleb and threw him to the ground.
“You can’t use the Hourglass anyway!” Wizus shouted.
“…”
“…”
In the next instant.
The two who stood at the pinnacle of tactics realized what was happening.
“And both of you will forget everything.”
Caleb reached for the Hourglass.
“Because you cannot control time.”
Thud!
Back Attack jumped onto the Hourglass.
He reached out toward Caleb.
‘Plunder.’
He snatched the magic wand and placed it on the Hourglass.
The wizard’s hand clenched into a fist.
Fwip!
When the wand spun in mid-air and aimed at the Hourglass, everyone understood with certainty.
That wizard was a ranged wand controller.
“Damn it.”
Wizus and the Labyrinth Master could only let out a sigh.
Crack!
A crack appeared on the giant Hourglass.
“So you didn’t come here as a Turn-Based Master.” Wizus ground his teeth.
“So there were three knights in our great game.” The Labyrinth Master gave a bitter smile.
“God-King…!”
Neither Wizus nor the Labyrinth Master had properly inherited the throne of the gods.
There was another who held the legitimate right to this world.
“The God-King.”
Caleb had met him in the latter half of his first playthrough.
—Wizus can never stop the Labyrinth Master.
The God-King taught him about the fate of this world.
—Wizus is merely a usurper. His wisdom is great, but unless you side with him, he can never win.
“I don’t want to be Wizus’s piece.”
—Correct. But you cannot side with the Labyrinth Master either. Because the Labyrinth Master will never obtain the Hourglass.
Wizus would rather destroy the Hourglass himself than let the Labyrinth Master take it.
The Labyrinth’s great eruption can never reach its desired goal.
—The end of this world is already decided. Wizus will be killed by the Labyrinth Master, and the Labyrinth Master will not obtain the Hourglass. The erupting Labyrinth will create nothing new; it will only destroy.
In the deepest part of the Labyrinth, in the Sea of Time, the God-King squeezed out his last bit of strength to interfere with Wizus’s magic.
He tampered with the possession portal Wizus had created to the otherworld.
Turn-Based Master.
The one who clears that difficulty and deletes the game is possessed into the Labyrinth’s Abyss.
But the God-King added the next step.
One that Wizus could not reach.
A route that only the true creator, the true master of this world—the world’s developer—could create.
[Developer Difficulty]
—All the possessors in this world were summoned by Wizus, but not you.
The irregular card, beyond the sight and predictions of both the Labyrinth Master and Wizus, was never Wizus’s piece to begin with.
And he completed the first playthrough perfectly.
“I turned everything upside down.”
The Hourglass mastery skill, ‘Paradoxical Time Trader’.
It consumes one hourglass to regress time by 60 seconds.
That applies to the hourglasses given to the Turn-Based Wizard, but it can also be used on the God-King’s Hourglass. If only one can get close to it.
“I turned it back three years.”
Before the point of possession.
The wizard Caleb arrived in the west.
“What will you do now?”
To the God-King’s question, he headed east.
“I’m going to kill the Gumiho first.”
Because I knew the Labyrinth Master would use the Gumiho, I would start my attack from that point.