Chapter 812: Hidden Story (4)
The Guildmaster’s hair had been annihilated. Every bit of it, sideburns and all. His scalp was so smooth and shiny it almost gleamed.
‘...Well, that’s convenient.’
I forced myself to look away and focus on the positive. You know how it is — some people look at a cup half full and think there’s less left, while others think there’s still that much remaining. In the long run, the latter mindset wins. And this time, “convenient” really was the right word.
‘Looks a little ridiculous... but if it ends with just losing hair, that’s a huge win.’
It was definitely better than losing equipment, or having part of an essence’s skill or stats removed. °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° Hair could just grow back.
Still, I had no intention of ever becoming bald myself...
‘Behell—raaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!!’
I roared and charged forward. The others couldn’t hear me anyway, but at least that thing would.
[——————————————!!!!]
Sure enough, the Beast opened its jaws wide and bellowed back, answering my roar. Not that I could hear it.
‘Ugh, the spit...’
I’d always found spit more unpleasant than blood. I didn’t have the time to wipe my face, so it just dripped down as I barreled in.
Kwaaaaaaaang—!!!
I blocked a normal strike from the creature — several times bigger than me — with my shield.
“Character has used [Aegis Dragon Scale].”
I triggered the armor’s active effect, an armor I’d earned outside the labyrinth’s walls.
——————————————!!
The creature’s pupils dilated instantly. Understandable — it wasn’t enough that a Viking warrior bigger than itself appeared in front of it, now...
———————————————————————!!!
...could it have imagined I’d bring my greatsword down on its skull?
‘Hope it likes it.’
The Dragon Scale’s reflected damage was proportional to the damage I’d spent the last eighteen minutes soaking up.
“Reflecting accumulated damage.”
I was just giving back what I’d taken.
***
It didn’t take long to finish the Beast after that. Once the reflected damage left it on the brink of death, we poured every ounce of firepower into it for three minutes, and it collapsed.
There was, however, one more thing worth noting before it died.
“The Ancient Beast casts ‘Authority of Mutation.’”
Right before death, it managed to get one more Authority off. And unbelievably...
“...!!!”
The Guildmaster was targeted again. Unlike the first time, this was a random selection — and yet...
‘...How is this possible?’
Getting picked twice was strange enough, but the effect...
‘...It turned him into a woman.’
The bald Guildmaster’s frame thinned, and every physical trait of the female sex took form. In short, Ilia Adnus had become... Ilia Adnusoon.
“—————? ———————!!!”
I was curious about what he was saying, but...
Sssk, sssk.
I signaled, and Raven understood enough to cancel the magic affecting everyone.
“Wh-what is going on here...?! Ah, ah, my head earlier, and now my, my, my chest—!!!”
“That’s not the only thing that’s changed.”
She looked in a mirror at my words, and promptly fainted. But there was no time to comfort her.
“Calm down. Hair grows back.”
“That’s not the problem...!!”
“Are you discriminating against women?”
“No, this isn’t discrimination—!!”
“Don’t worry. You’ll revert with time.”
“...Really?”
“Yes. I swear it on a warrior’s honor.”
I considered messing with her, but left it — otherwise she’d pester me the whole expedition. And there were things to do after the hunt.
“Oh, I can hear again!!”
“But... is it really over?”
“It doesn’t seem to be moving...”
“More importantly... Guildmaster...”
“Don’t talk about it. I can hear you...”
Some members eyed the fallen Beast suspiciously, a few uneasy. Understandable.
“You can stand down. It’s over.”
“But why... isn’t the body disappearing?”
Ah, that. Simple.
For some reason, this “Beast” was classified as unranked. In the game, killing it didn’t grant experience, and the body never vanished unless it spat out an essence — not even if you used distortion magic.
“Oh... so no essence dropped...”
Misha clicked her tongue in disappointment. I couldn’t say I wasn’t disappointed myself — the Beast’s essence could have been her graduation essence.
‘If it had dropped, I could’ve fed it a linked essence right away...’
Not that I planned to return multiple times to farm it. That would take too long, and since the dual ice swordsman build was central to my strategy, there were multiple viable types.
Type A — Beast essence as the core.
Type B — another essence as the core.
Type C — possible, but with a lower ceiling, so better as a last resort.
With drop rates so low, you needed multiple combinations ready if you wanted to reach the Gate of the Abyss.
‘It’s disappointing... but not a total loss.’
Even without an essence, the corpse had value. For example...
“What are you all doing? Start skinning it!”
Its hide was as good as Grade 4 drake leather over the entire body.
“D-drake leather? The one that’s insanely expensive...?”
“Even drakes only use back hide for that. This whole monster’s hide is on par...”
“How much would that be worth...?”
If we sold it all, probably enough for one or two Grade 3 essences. But that wasn’t all.
“Be careful with the head hide — that’s ogre leather quality.”
“Gasp...! Grade 5 material?”
“And keep the skull. Forged into a blade, it’ll be as hard as adamantium.”
“...This thing really was a treasure.”
It was far too big to butcher with one or two people, but with a truckload of seasoned explorers, looting didn’t take long.
Skull bone.
Hide.
Heart and other byproducts Raven wanted to study.
When everything useful had been taken, I noticed Arta watching the whole process silently.
‘Ah, right, he’s still here.’
His expression was odd, so I went over.
“Something wrong?”
“...It’s strange.”
“What is?”
“If this Beast were truly the cause of the apocalypse, you should all have died here. Or at least failed. I came to witness that process, to find clues to stop the end.”
So he’d been watching the whole time expecting us to die?
“...And your point?”
“...That it’s far too strange. My research was on conceptualizing time to calculate coordinates. It succeeded, and I came to what should be the ‘Last Day’ — today.”
“Get to the point.”
“If you’ve won... why is today still the Last Day?”
He spoke with certainty, not doubt.
“I’m sorry, but the Beast you just killed... is not the cause of the apocalypse.”
Hm. Curious. The Mechanical Behemoth Arta at the secret base across the sea said this was the cause. Now this Arta, with the same name, says it isn’t.
“Then what is?”
“I need to find out now.”
“How?”
“That powerful mana wave I mentioned earlier... I thought it was from your ‘Beast.’ But even with it dead, the wave remains.”
“So you want to go check it out?”
“Yes. I don’t have much time—”
“Got it. We leave now.”
No reason to hesitate — I’d expected something hidden after killing the Beast anyway. And it looked like he already knew where to take us.
“How much time do we have left?”
It was tighter than expected.
“After the Beast appeared, the time suddenly dropped...”
Ah, because of [Song of the Apocalypse]. Next time, maybe I’d send him far away during the raid. Then again, I wasn’t sure I’d ever trigger this hidden piece again — I still didn’t know the conditions.
So...
“I know it’s tough, but hang in there. We’re moving at full speed.”
We packed up the loot quickly and headed in the direction Arta indicated.
And then...
“This is it...?”
“Yes. The mana wave is coming from here. Let’s go in!”
To my surprise, it was a cave with a portal.
‘There shouldn’t be anything hidden here...’
I tilted my head — I’d combed this cave thoroughly in the game.
“It’s here...! Just a bit farther.”
Arta said we were almost there, and I tilted my head again.
“Here, really...?”
The “hidden spot” he led us to was the portal itself.
“Go on in!”
Well, we’d come this far. I followed Arta toward the portal.
Fwooooooong—!!
Soon, the ominously crimson portal came into view.
“Eh...?”
Arta froze at the sight.
“...A portal? Why is there a portal here...? How? What’s wrong? This can’t be...”
He looked utterly confused, muttering to himself like he was in a panic.
“W-wait...”
He even started backing away like a frightened man. I stepped in.
“What’s the problem? It’s just a portal.”
At that, his expression twisted further — then his eyes went wide with sudden realization.
“...Let me ask you one thing.”
His voice was calmer now.
“Is this place I’m in... a labyrinth?”
I was left speechless.
What the hell was going on now?