Chapter 32

Chapter 032

Engraving Stone.

A special Mana Stone that could be harvested from the summoning stone monument in a Boss Room.

It could be used as it was, but its true use was as the Trigger item for a boss’s “Hidden Event.”

The activation method was to defeat the boss, then pour Mana into the Engraving Stone in front of its corpse.

Then, the “Hidden Event” would activate, and the “Second Battle” with the boss would begin.

“Keuhuk…… Wh…… at…….”

Jakol’s face filled with bewilderment after his chest was pierced out of nowhere.

“You know the penalty effect of 「Ambush」, do you not?”

“……!”

「Ambush」 filled Health and Mana to 100% the moment it activated, but it also applied the “Softening” penalty, which increased damage received by 300% for three minutes.

And for some reason, the current Vormir was several times stronger than usual.

On top of that……

“A boss revived by an Engraving Stone becomes twice as strong.”

The Engraving Stone version of Vormir was treated as Hard Mode, so he became far stronger than the original.

And these kinds of calculations were usually applied multiplicatively, were they not?

In other words, the current Vormir was more than six times stronger than usual. If one took a hit to a vital point from that sort of bastard, and in a Softened state at that……

“Farewell.”

SHAAAK!!

Vormir tore Jakol’s body apart from left to right.

Along with blood that burst out like a fountain, the torn body was flung to the floor with a wet thud.

“Keuhaa…… kk…… haa……!”

Jakol, split in half like an ice pop snapped down the middle, foamed blood at the mouth.

He tried to stir his Mana somehow in order to survive, but anyone could see there was no hope.

Honestly, the fact that he had not died in one blow was more impressive.

“This…… goddamn…….”

Only then did Jakol confirm Vormir’s appearance, and he let out a hollow laugh.

The bastard no longer looked human.

His body had grown several times larger, his flesh was covered in white fur, and his head had become entirely that of a wolf.

It was Vormir’s true form: a “Lycanthrope.”

“So that…… was an Engraving Stone……!”

“Oh. You seem to know about this?”

The people here did not know about Engraving Stones, but perhaps because this was an organization connected to a Possessor, they knew about them.

Not only the name, either. He seemed to know all of its detailed effects as well.

“Why…… me……? The one who activated the Engraving Stone…… should have been you…….”

Jakol murmured as though he could not understand it.

‘Looks like he does not know this part.’

The name of the Hidden Event activated through the Engraving Stone was “Sacred Duel.”

The revived boss would fight one-on-one against the Engraving Stone user, and would enter an immune state where it could not be damaged by any other enemies.

But this “user” was not based on the moment Mana was poured into the stone, but on the moment the boss revived. So if one handed it over to someone else right after activating it, the target could be switched to that person.

‘Originally, it was a bug used to bring in a high-Level NPC and make them fight by proxy.’

THUD- THUD- Vormir’s massive body arrived in front of Jakol.

“O great…… Downfall…….”

CRUNCH!

That was Jakol’s end.

With Vormir stepping on the bastard’s head and bursting it apart, Jakol finally met his death.

Vormir stared at the limp corpse for a moment, then turned his head and looked at us.

“Haa…… It looks like we are ruined.”

The mage bastard, whose Mana had long since run dry, sighed as though he had reached enlightenment.

Even if he did not know about Engraving Stones, he had sensed from the situation that things had gone wrong.

“Wh-What do we do? What do we do, what do we do……!?”

Persica’s complexion had gone beyond pale; she had fallen into an outright panic.

“Th-That thing…… If the activator dies…… it is over……!”

“Oh, you know too?”

“Do you think an Ortanis would not know this?”

Persica also knew about Engraving Stones.

In that case, it was not hard to understand why she was making such a fuss.

“Normally, this would mean the strategy had failed.” 

The right to one-on-one combat was not transferred in any particular way, so if the user died in the duel, Vormir became completely invincible from that point onward.

Then the strategy failed. 

Since the Boss Room had also been sealed, all that remained was annihilation.

“W-Wait…… Among monsters…… there are some you can talk to, right…… Somehow…….”

“That bastard is the type who cannot speak, though.”

“Aaaagh!”

The mage bastard thrust cold reality at Persica, who was desperately burning her hope circuit.

He was right.

There were certainly monsters one could communicate with in the dungeon, but Vormir was not included among them.

Persica looked as though she might cry.

“We-We are going to die…… I cannot believe…… I would die this meaninglessly…….”

“Do not worry. Why would we die?”

“Vormir is invincible right now! How are we supposed to deal with something protected by Providence……!”

“Providence is not ‘absolute,’ is it?”

“What……?”

I patted Persica’s trembling shoulder.

If Providence was protecting that bastard,

then all I had to do was use a power that could distort even Providence itself.

“Everything will be all right.”

To her, who turned to look at me in confusion, I responded with a faint smile.

“Leave it to me.”

Vormir approached us.

Matching him, I also took one step forward.

“This is my first time seeing you in person like this, doggy.”

I faced Vormir, who bared his teeth and growled.

My skin tingled under the hostility that confronted me head-on. An unfamiliar fear, one that made me want to flee at once, seemed to carve through every nerve.

I was afraid.

I wanted to run away.

Accepting the emotions that surged up within me, I gripped the sword in my hand tightly.

“……You must have always felt the same way.”

I thought of her, who had stood here alone for more than three thousand times.

You must have been afraid too.

You must have held your sword while carrying the same fear as I did, and in the end, you must have overcome it.

And now, in your place, I stood here.

“Ishara.”

Though I could not converse with you,

in this moment, I wished for you to stand on the battlefield together with me.

“Let’s go together.”

THUMP─ My “Unique Ability” activated, and my sword and heart pulsed as though resonating.

Our powers connected, and a strength that transcended time dwelled within me.

A sense of omnipotence, as though I could do anything.

The power of one who had once seen the end of the world, an existence that could be called invincible, was now held in this hand.

─KRAAAAAH!!

Vormir’s form shot forward with a great roar.

The floor broke under the force of his stride, and a speed that far surpassed the realm of perception rushed in.

It was a speed that the usual me would not have even been able to react to.

But now, I could see it.

No, beyond seeing it, my body could keep up with the speed of my perception!

BOOOOOM──!!!

A violet flash erupted, and the air throughout the Boss Room rang thunderously.

The claws that had aimed for the nape of my neck were cleanly deflected by a flawless Parry.

The next one too. And the one after that.

Without even a hair’s breadth of error, I struck away the following fierce assault without hesitation.

CRAAANG! CRA-CRA-CLANG! CRA-CLANG!!

Vormir’s strength after transforming into a Lycanthrope was certainly powerful.

It was enough power to make Aragos seem like “nothing.”

However, the current me was not pushed back against him in the slightest.

“One minute.”

I took my stance.

I assumed a sword method I did not know, one that did not exist in my memories.

A world “above” that was not yet permitted to me.

I stepped into the realm of “Ishara Ethrana.”

“I will end it within that time.”

BOOM!

I kicked off the ground toward Vormir.

Claws and sword collided, unleashing a tearing sound through the air.

‘I can see it.’

Line and line, trajectory and trajectory collided, giving birth to sound and bursting with light.

‘This is the world I must reach.’

In my immature world, this was something difficult to even perceive.

If I entered a brief awakened state, perhaps this would have appeared as sword and claws.

But beyond even that.

From a far-off realm, what I saw was no longer bound by shape or form.

It was the world of lines and trajectories.

My Thought-Force.

The opponent’s hostility.

A world that transcended flesh and weapon, where interlocking wills formed lines and became trajectories that embroidered the air.

In the world “above,” combat was exactly that: a clash between will and will.

CRUNCH……!

My bones and muscles began to break.

My body, collapsing as the price for holding power that far exceeded its limits, screamed.

Internal organs, limbs, and fingertips.

In every part of my body that sensation could reach, agony rose as though heated stakes were being driven into me.

The maddening pain heated my brain.

“Ha……!”

And yet I was happy.

The realm I had to climb to was high, and the will I had to catch up to was distant.

There was so much to see, hear, and feel. How could I not be happy?

This was a star beyond the vanishing point that lit the path.

It was a moon that swept away the vast darkness.

It was a sun that illuminated the broad world.

With the talent of an ordinary person, it would be difficult to even walk across a speck of dust in this vast world.

But if it were me, I could surely do it.

If it were me, who had been handed the most dazzling talent in the world, then someday I would be able to place all of this beneath my feet!

“That is…….”

“……Impossible.”

Voices of utter shock came from behind me.

Before I knew it, I was overwhelming Vormir.

I knocked away every high-speed attack and landed every strike I thrust into his openings.

“You cannot just fight blindly!”

Persica’s voice was urgent.

Since she was especially outstanding at judging situations, she must have known.

She must have understood that there was no way I could display such power without paying any price.

“Blindly, you say…….”

It was true that the time I could maintain my Unique Ability was limited to one minute.

I had to settle the matter within one minute, but now that Jakol was dead, Vormir was in a damage-immune state.

No matter how much damage I forced in, I could not inflict even a speck of a wound.

‘But there is a blind spot here too.’

I could not deal damage.

However, if it was the “Groggy Gauge,” that was a different story.

Whether it was a character or a monster, if attacks and Guards succeeded continuously, the Groggy Gauge would build up, and once it was full, the target would be left defenseless for a brief period of time.

Just like when Jakol’s defense had briefly been neutralized before, a guaranteed attack opportunity would be given.

‘It does not matter even if he is immune to damage.’

Even if he was wrapped in a power that nullified all damage, that too was ultimately only a part of the Providence acting upon this world.

Then all I had to do was pierce through even that Providence.

CRAAANG! CLACK-CLACK!

It hurt.

It felt as though my body was being destroyed.

But the more I moved, the deeper I sank into joy.

The pulsing sword, the power flowing into me, told me that I was not alone.

Even if we could not converse, I was connected to her as memory.

We were perfect because we were two.

Therefore.

The current me was “perfect.”

CLA-CLA-CLANG!!

─KRAAAAH……!

At some point, Vormir’s posture collapsed greatly after his attack was deflected.

He staggered, exposing a brief defenseless state.

The Groggy had opened.

“I win.”

I would win.

I would win and win again, until I reached the end of the world, the place you had arrived at.

“Because I am the strongest.”

A dazzling radiance surged up from the sword I raised high.

It was called the power to distort Providence.

A blade sharpened by senses brought to their limit, the sharpest blade in the world.

Aura.

The brilliant flash pierced Vormir’s head.

***

THUD……!

The gigantic Lycan fell to his knees.

When I pulled out the sword that had pierced through his skull, his massive body slowly turned into light and began to crumble.

I had won.

“Haa…… Haa…….”

It felt as though my head were splitting open.

My vision was blurred, and I could not hear properly either.

Because my entire body was screaming in agony, even clinging to my consciousness as it tried to faint felt like it would kill me.

“Now…… the first one.”

Today, I would surpass the first floor.

I was taking the first step of a long journey.

To fasten that first button, I reached my hand toward the disappearing Vormir.

“Reward…… Hand it over.”

There was a reason for deliberately using an Engraving Stone to do the one-on-one Hard Mode.

A strengthened enemy was supposed to spit out an even more strengthened reward.

If one defeated the revived boss, one could obtain an Engraving Stone whose effect was far stronger than before.

‘If I absorb it, I should be able to endure the second floor to some extent.’

It would be difficult to rise straight to 3-star, but at the very least, it should be possible to overcome part of the second-floor side effects.

So, hurry up and hand it over before I faint.

As I looked at him with those eyes, a strange sound suddenly came from inside the bastard’s corpse.

CRACK-

“……Huh?”

The massive body of the Lycanthrope broke apart, and from inside, a human form popped out.

It was Vormir’s human appearance, the one we had defeated before.

‘Why is he coming out?’

Was not the pattern supposed to end with him disappearing like this?

Why was his human form suddenly……

─At last…… you have come.

In that instant, my eyes widened at the voice echoing inside my head.

The boss.

Vormir was speaking to me.

─I have waited…… for a very, very long time……Vormir could not speak.

He was a Druid who had lost his reason and forgotten human speech, but now he was speaking to me with clear pronunciation.

Although it was not a conversation, but a one-sided message……─To you……He placed his hand over my outstretched hand.

─To you…… I offer this……After delivering the message, Vormir disappeared.

Below the empty space where he had scattered away, something emitting a bright radiance rested in my hand.

It was an object I was seeing for the first time.

However, instinctively, I could tell that this possessed value incomparable to that of an ordinary Engraving Stone.

“……Ah.”

And then, I recalled a certain phrase I had seen in the Boss Room before.

A message someone had left long ago, written in the language of my homeland.

─Sunan. I offer this to you, who will come here someday.

Somehow…… I felt as though I finally understood the true meaning of that phrase.

It had not meant giving me the Engraving Stone embedded in the stone monument.

It had meant giving me “this,” the thing now held in my hand.

─Please, reach the end.

Along with Vormir’s voice scattering into the distance, the thing in my hand emitted light.

Feeling my vision turn pure white, I finally surrendered my body to the sleepiness that came pouring over me.

***

“……The provision of the first floor has been released.”

Somewhere deep within the dungeon.

A human silhouette raised its head and gazed at the anomaly in the distance.

“It begins now.”

He had come.

The time had arrived for stagnant history to flow again.

“Things are going to get busy from here on.”

The silhouette gave a faint smile, then vanished into the deep darkness of the dungeon.