Chapter 67. Infinite vs. Infinite (1)
Kai’s body stiffened as though his entire form had turned into a stone statue.
He felt as though the Aura circulating through his entire body had suddenly become blocked all at once.
‘This is...’
Dragon Fear.
The overwhelming pressure of confronting a dragon—the mightiest being that reigned over all creation.
However, the being reflected in Kai’s eyes was not a dragon.
It was a single human.
Adrian.
His visible form and outward appearance were unquestionably human, yet Kai saw the figure of a dragon within Adrian.
It was the same thing he had witnessed back then.
The Inferno of Eternity that had annihilated an entire monster legion at once.
It was about to be reproduced once again within the Infinite Labyrinth.
A ferocious dragon had been suppressed to its absolute limit.
And now—it finally achieved its horrific liberation.
Rooooooooooooar—!!!
Scorching heat spread through the surroundings in an instant.
Crimson flames incinerated every mass of flesh in every direction.
The pitch-black darkness was driven away in an instant.
The flesh covering the floor and walls rapidly sizzled and burned. The tissues soaked in mucus and blood boiled before bursting apart.
Kai had once suffered a direct hit from that Inferno of Eternity.
<Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeam!!!>
Therefore, he knew better than anyone how agonizing it was.
As though the entire labyrinth were suffocating, it released an agonized scream.
The flesh engulfed in flames writhed in pain, repeatedly contracting and expanding like a beating heart.
Chunks of flesh melted into damp piles of ash, while evaporated liquids spread through the air like a pale mist.
Smoldering embers rapidly spread.
They continued burning throughout the labyrinth.
<Aaaaaagh! Aaaaaaaaaagh!>
They once again inflicted horrific burning pain upon Avarus.
The Flesh Labyrinth hurriedly moved its walls in an attempt to prevent the fire from spreading any farther.
However, the flames had already penetrated deeply inside, burning every exposed nerve and blood vessel within the labyrinth.
“S-Stooooooop!!!”
His desperate, pain-filled screams continued without pause.
The stench of burning protein mixed with the rising steam, creating a grotesque scene.
Amid it all, Adrian lay sprawled across the ground, reduced to a pitch-black, ash-covered figure as though he had just emerged from a blazing furnace.
Most noticeably, both his arms had disappeared entirely.
His body had been hollowed out all the way to the shoulders as though it had been seared away by fire, creating an extraordinarily grotesque sight.
At a glance, he did not look remotely alive.
No human could have survived in that condition.
However—
“Hey, Kai.”
An extremely faint voice reached him.
Kai’s eyes immediately turned toward Adrian again.
Then—he saw it.
“Cut off some flesh and shove it into my mouth.”
….The corpse was speaking.
Worse still, the armless corpse was writhing around on the ground.
It was an extraordinarily bizarre sight.
Even so, Kai did not lose consciousness.
The situation was utterly absurd, but—Kai followed Adrian’s instructions and used his sword to cut a suitable amount of flesh from the floor.
Avarus did not react.
Compared to the relentless burning pain tormenting him at every moment, the pain of a minor cut was insignificant.
Slash.
Chew, chew.
“It’s actually not too bad when it’s cooked.”
And so—the first day inside the Infinite Labyrinth passed.
Kai cut the removed flesh into bite-sized pieces.
When he brought one to Adrian’s mouth—
Chomp.
Adrian bit into the flesh like a baby bird accepting food.
Chew, chew.
He ate so enthusiastically that the lump of flesh disappeared almost instantly.
Before long, Adrian’s incinerated arms regenerated.
From that point onward, he could handle everything himself.
Adrian sharpened his regenerated claws, tore away large pieces of cooked flesh, brought them to his mouth, and chewed.
* * *
The second day after becoming trapped within the Infinite Labyrinth.
In truth, their perception of time had been distorted, so they could not know whether it was actually the second day.
However, that was how it felt to Kai.
Just as before, the battle between Adrian and Avarus continued throughout the second day.
Avarus had been temporarily caught off guard by Adrian’s flames on the first day.
However, he did not simply allow himself to be attacked.
He used the Infinite Labyrinth to attack Adrian, resulting in a ferocious hand-to-hand combat.
<You bastard!!!>
Avarus roared furiously as he manipulated the labyrinth’s flesh.
The tentacles gradually transformed into increasingly complex shapes, moving according to Avarus’s will.
Tissues resembling claws and teeth were intertwined throughout them.
They attacked Adrian like sharp thorns and the jaws of monstrous beasts.
However—
“You think that’ll stop me from eating them?”
Adrian devoured even those without hesitation.
His jaws and teeth ceaselessly chewed through and swallowed the muscles and tissues of the flesh.
By doing so, Adrian instantly regenerated his wounds and continued fighting without pause.
Avarus’s torn tentacles likewise regenerated, and his damaged tissues were restored.
However—
<Aaaaaaaaaaaaagh!!!>
That regeneration was accompanied by equivalent pain.
The seventh day after becoming trapped within the Infinite Labyrinth.
They had already been trapped inside this mass of flesh for an entire week.
<Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeam!!!>
As usual, the day began energetically with Avarus’s screams.
More precisely, his screams had not stopped once throughout those seven days, but that was beside the point.
Today, Adrian had once again unleashed the Inferno of Eternity.
Perhaps Avarus had become exhausted after seven days of hand-to-hand combat and exposed a brief opening.
Adrian did not miss that momentary opportunity.
Flames consequently erupted in every direction.
<Aaaaaagh—! Aaaaaaaaaaagh—!!>
Avarus’s desperate screams echoed throughout the entire labyrinth.
Adrian writhed on the ground as both his arms burned away.
Tentacles extended toward the defenseless Adrian, but—
Slash—!
Kai swung his sword and severed them all.
He then cut the tentacles into edible pieces and placed them directly into Adrian’s mouth.
As always, Adrian eagerly accepted them like a baby bird.
Chew, chew.
Had he not grown tired of them after eating them for seven consecutive days?
The pieces of flesh disappeared in the blink of an eye.
As Kai quietly watched him—
“Does that taste good?”
“Why? Do you want some?”
“That isn’t necessarily what I meant, but....”
“If you’re curious, try it.”
Chew, chew.
“This part isn’t great, but the cooked flesh is reasonably edible.”
Having already regenerated both arms, Adrian pointed toward a piece of flesh that was sizzling and boiling.
However, no matter how Kai looked at it—it did not resemble anything a human should eat.
Yet he could not shake off his sudden curiosity.
More importantly, even if he sustained himself with Aura, going seven days without eating anything inevitably left him hungry.
Unable to resist both his curiosity and hunger, Kai eventually cut off a small piece of flesh.
He carefully placed it inside his mouth and began chewing.
“Urgh—!”
Without the slightest exaggeration, it tasted like “moldy refuse”.
The juices bursting throughout his mouth were especially revolting.
They tasted like “broth brewed from a foul-smelling swamp.”
“Bleeergh—!”
Kai developed a newfound respect for Adrian.
The twelfth day after becoming trapped within the Infinite Labyrinth.
<Aaaaaagh—! Aaaaaaaaaaagh—!!>
Once again, Avarus’s desperate screams echoed throughout the labyrinth.
Adrian lay sprawled across the floor after losing both arms.
As always, Kai began cutting away flesh to feed him.
However—
“Phew!”
Adrian abruptly sprang to his feet without assistance.
Even his arms had already regenerated.
“What happened?”
“What do you mean?”
“How did you regenerate by yourself?”
“Huh? Oh, I ate the floor.”
“The floor?”
Kai lowered his gaze.
The area where Adrian had just been lying was deeply hollowed out.
“This entire space is made of flesh.”
“So....”
“I chewed up and ate the floor.”
And so—on the twelfth day, Kai lost his job.
“Even without arms, I still have a mouth.”
Adrian was now capable of regenerating entirely on his own.
‘If the Archmage saw this, she would probably faint and accuse me of directly contradicting the Second Law of Thermodynamics.’
The thirty-fifth day after becoming trapped within the Infinite Labyrinth.
“What’s this? Why aren’t you regenerating?”
At some point, the chunks of flesh that had been torn away stopped regenerating.
Had the claim about infinite stamina and mana been a lie?
“What are you going to do if you refuse to regenerate?”
Fwoooooosh!
Then again, perhaps Adrian was simply insane.
“Exercise Equipment.”
“Pardon?”
He began exercising with the flesh.
* * *
The fifty-first day after becoming trapped within the Infinite Labyrinth.
<Screeeech! Aaaaaaaaaagh!!>
As always, Avarus’s screams echoed throughout the labyrinth.
“....What is that?”
Kai found himself confronting yet another absurd sight.
“What?”
“I’m referring to that mass of flesh across your shoulders.”
“Oh, this?”
Adrian answered as though it were nothing noteworthy.
What kind of insanity was this supposed to be?
“These chunks of flesh are quite heavy.”
“And so...?”
“I modified them into Exercise Equipment.”
“.......”
Kai was rendered speechless.
He genuinely had no idea what to say.
Ignoring the dumbfounded Kai, I wove several tentacles together to create Training Ropes.
I separately tore away and bundled together particularly heavy chunks of flesh, turning them into Barbells and Dumbbells.
Perhaps because this flesh consisted of muscles separately created through Alchemy, it was considerably heavy.
Its high calorie content was not without reason.
It was also extraordinarily tough.
Without Dragon’s Claw [A], tearing it apart would have been difficult.
That was probably why it tasted so horrible, but it was ideal for use as training equipment.
And so, I completed a Flesh Barbell.
‘I’ve been neglecting my physical training lately.’
More precisely, I had not possessed enough time for it.
I had been busy traveling to Freche for commercial business, annihilating a legion, hunting the Lycanthrope, gathering medicinal ingredients, and handling countless other matters.
My current stats were—
== “Player Information” ==
[Name] – Adrian White Wolf
[Title] – Ruler of the North
[Level] – Level 53
[HP] – 2,550
[MP] – 0
[Stats] – Strength: 33, Agility: 60.95 (+7.95), Stamina: 24.15 (+3.15), Mana: 6
[Experience] – 55.8%
Compared to my Agility, my Strength and Stamina were somewhat lacking.
I intended to invest every stat point gained from leveling up into Agility, so that disparity would only continue growing.
Maintaining a balance between one’s stats was important in combat.
The attack power used to strike an opponent was proportional to Strength.
Meanwhile, the ability to withstand an opponent’s attacks and continue fighting was proportional to Stamina.
I lifted the Flesh Barbell.
The Flesh Barbell released a grotesque cry and pulsated like a heartbeat.
As though it were still alive and resisting me, it altered its own weight.
Gurgle—! Grrrrgle!
Controlling the writhing muscles of flesh was extremely difficult with a Strength stat of only 33.
My muscle tissues were consequently overloaded and torn apart.
When I restored the damaged muscles with Regeneration [B+], the ruptured muscles reformed into denser clusters.
However, because the floor of this space was also composed of flesh, it was not solid.
The sticky muscular layer undulated as though it were breathing, forcing me to consume a considerable amount of Stamina.
Running, jumping, and throwing my body around required approximately two to three times more Stamina than usual.
My breathing quickly became ragged.
When I restored that exhaustion through Regeneration [B+]—
◆Muscle Fiber Tissue has surpassed its limit!
◆Muscle Fibers are being reconstructed!
◆Strength has increased by +4!
◆Stamina has surpassed its limit!
◆Stamina has increased by +3!
My Strength increased.
‘This is efficient.’
Holding the heavy Flesh Barbell, I began moving in a Lunge Stance.
My Stamina increased.
‘The efficiency is insane.’
Being able to raise both Strength and Stamina simultaneously made the efficiency utterly absurd.
Perhaps because I had used Regeneration [B+] excessively—
◆You feel extreme hunger due to massive nutrient consumption!
After chewing through and devouring an entire Flesh Barbell—
Grooooooowl...!!!
A thunderous noise erupted from my stomach.
My Stamina had recovered, but the extreme hunger caused a wave of dizzying vertigo.
My inventory remained sealed, but that was not a serious problem.
Crunch!
◆Surplus Calories: 100,000 kcal
As I chewed and swallowed the Flesh Barbell, my calories were replenished instantly.
“No, what you’re doing right now is....”
Kai froze, staring at me as though he were witnessing an inconceivable life-form.
He appeared to find me even more grotesque than Avarus.
Chew, chew.
What did he expect me to do?
I had reached my maximum storage capacity of one hundred thousand calories.
At that very moment—
<You insane bastard!!!>
Unable to tolerate the sight any longer—or rather, having finally regained his senses through the pain—Avarus erupted in rage and released enormous tentacles all at once.
Hundreds of writhing tentacles of flesh emerged from the floor, ceiling, and gaps within the walls.
They surrounded me from every direction and attempted to entangle and constrict my body.
I stared at the wave of tentacles surging toward me.
◆Activating the Combination Skill “Metabolic Overdrive [U]”!
◆Calories consumed: 100,000 kcal
◆All the player’s stats will increase by [+100%] for [1,000 seconds]!
I spectacularly burned through all one hundred thousand calories.
After all, calories were overflowing throughout my surroundings.
No, they were more than merely abundant.
They were “infinite”.
Every tentacle currently extending toward me was itself a source of calories.
My nervous system’s capabilities increased to the extreme, allowing me to perceive each of the hundreds of tentacles individually.
I first deflected the tentacle descending from the ceiling and used the resulting momentum to leap upward.
I twisted my body and evaded another tentacle reaching for my ankle.
Then I rotated in midair.
When another tentacle extended toward me, I tore it apart with Dragon’s Claw [A].
◆Neural Transmission Ability has surpassed its limit!
◆Agility has increased by +1!
◆Y-You are completely insane!!!
Ignoring the translucent message appearing before me, I launched myself forward.
With the current [+100%] amplification, my Agility had reached 121.9.
‘My Agility can increase too?’
My eyes lit up.
Calories were infinite in this place.
Regeneration [B+] was also infinite.
Therefore—
‘Does that mean I can grow infinitely?’
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