Chapter 68. Infinite vs. Infinite (2)
Adrian continued exercising in a manner that was not merely extraordinary, but downright grotesque.
Kai stared at him in disbelief for a moment.
Thud-thud-thud-thud!
Tentacles surged toward Adrian, completely filling the surrounding space.
There did not appear to be anywhere he could dodge.
Amazingly, however, Adrian evaded every last one.
Using his extraordinary senses and reflexes, he perceived and reacted to every tentacle pouring toward him.
Admiration naturally appeared on Kai’s previously bewildered face.
Adrian never stopped moving for even a single moment as he dodged, tore apart, and devoured the tentacles.
His movements could not possibly be considered human.
Separate from his earlier grotesque behavior, it was an awe-inspiring sight.
As both a knight and a martial artist, Kai could not help feeling respect for him.
What if Kai were in Adrian’s position?
Could he accomplish the same thing?
Kai could answer with certainty.
....He could not.
Even with a Master’s senses, he could not perceive every tentacle of flesh.
Naturally, he could not react to all of them either.
Yet Adrian was doing precisely that.
He individually perceived hundreds of masses of flesh, calculated every trajectory along which they were fired, and then evaded, tore apart, and devoured them.
Even more astonishingly—
‘He’s becoming stronger.’
Adrian continued growing stronger as time passed.
Whenever Adrian evaded Avarus’s attacks, his muscles tore and his breathing became ragged.
As a human, he inevitably reached his limit as time passed.
Whenever that happened, however—
Crunch!
Adrian bit into one of the tentacles surging toward him.
He chewed and swallowed the flesh while continuing to fight.
His torn muscles reformed into denser bundles, and his ragged breathing immediately stabilized.
Adrian repeated that process—again—again—and infinitely—growing infinitely stronger.
Now—
“The efficiency of increasing my stats is insane!”
To Adrian, this place was no longer the Infinite Labyrinth.
It had become the “Infinite Trial Grounds”, where he could grow without limit.
“Hey, Avarus! Make them move a little faster!”
<You insane bastard! Do you think I’ll obey just because you told me to—?!>
“You won’t? What about now?”
Crush—!
<Aaaaaaaaaagh!! Fine! I’ll do it! I said I’ll do it!!>
Kai finally abandoned any attempt to understand the situation.
The sixty-eighth day after becoming trapped within the Infinite Trial Grounds.
<S-Stop...! Please stop, you lunatic...!!>
After enduring seemingly eternal torture that was not technically torture, Avarus finally broke first.
Adrian’s prediction had been correct.
Although Avarus possessed infinite Stamina and Mana, his mental strength was not infinite.
Moreover, Adrian continued growing stronger with every passing day.
He did not even sleep.
More precisely, he no longer needed to sleep.
After training and growing without limit, Adrian had become a genuine “monster”.
He was a monster on another level entirely from the monster known as Avarus.
A predator that devoured monsters.
Even from Kai’s perspective, continuing the battle was now meaningless.
Avarus might have been called a lunatic or an Alchemist consumed by madness, but—
“What? Is it over already?”
He could not defeat genuine madness.
To be honest, even Kai was growing sick of it.
In that sense, surviving for sixty-eight days was quite an accomplishment.
<I-I surrender....>
Avarus’s voice weakened as though he were declaring Unconditional Surrender.
<I’ll let you leave this place…. S-So get out….>
The flesh on one side opened with a gurgle.
A bright cluster of light could be seen beyond it.
With that, the infinite battle ended in Adrian’s victory.
At long last, they had reached the final destination of this seemingly endless fight—
“I don’t want to.”
....
What was he talking about now?
<W-What?!>
“I’m not leaving.”
<What do you mean...?>
“Who gave you permission to throw me out?”
<That’s obviously—!>
“You brought me inside as you pleased, but you don’t get to decide when I leave.”
Wasn’t that backward?
Wasn’t that supposed to be Avarus’s line?
Or perhaps not?
Kai no longer knew. Nor did he particularly want to know.
“Besides, what guarantee do we have that this is actually an exit?”
That was a fair point.
The Rulebook’s rules had also claimed that no exits existed in this place.
<I-It’s real! That is the real exit! I stake everything I possess on it! No, I swear upon the Great One that it is a genuine exit leading outside!>
Judging from his reaction, it did appear to be genuine.
“Forget it. I’m not leaving. Where else could I find a training ground this good?”
Adrian did not appear to have the slightest intention of leaving.
“I’m not leaving until I reach 9,999, so keep that in mind.”
Kai had no idea what Adrian intended to raise to 9,999.
“What are you doing? Start again.”
And so—
<Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeam!!!>
The Infinite Trial Grounds continued without end.
The eighty-ninth day after becoming trapped within the Infinite Trial Grounds.
<P-Please…. Please leave….>
Avarus began begging desperately.
Tentacles of flesh filled every direction, but they were no longer being used to attack Adrian.
<I’m begging you...! Please…. Please leave....! All right?!>
Rub, rub, rub, rub.
Although he was an enemy, he looked remarkably pitiful.
However—
“The people you mercilessly experimented on suffered far more than this. Compared to their pain, this is nothing.”
After hearing Adrian’s words, Kai no longer pitied Avarus in the slightest.
The one-hundred-and-twenty-fourth day after becoming trapped within the Infinite Trial Grounds.
<Kill me!! Just kill me, you insane bastard!!!>
Avarus finally gave up on life.
That was understandable.
His body—in other words, the surrounding flesh—had been ruined by the repeated cycle of incomprehensible pain and ceaseless regeneration.
His will had completely collapsed.
He no longer appeared to possess even the desire to continue living.
Perhaps his mind had entirely broken. Or perhaps he had simply gone completely insane.
Avarus tore apart the labyrinth’s walls, ceiling, and floor himself.
As though that were not enough, he violently smashed his tentacles in every direction.
<Kill me!! Please kill me!! I want to die!! Please!!!>
Hundreds of tentacles hanging throughout the space paired up and began rubbing together as though begging.
They did more than merely beg. They pleaded desperately. They rubbed together so furiously that they would have put flies to shame.
They moved so quickly that the resulting friction caused chunks of flesh to fall from the tentacles.
It was an extraordinarily grotesque scene.
Avarus screamed and cried as he begged for death, but—
Gurgle!
His torn wounds immediately regenerated.
<Aaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!!>
That only doubled his suffering.
* * *
The one-hundred-and-eighty-seventh day after becoming trapped within the Infinite Trial Grounds.
<A-Ask me anything! I’ll answer every question you have!!>
Avarus changed his strategy.
He decided to cooperate with Adrian.
If he could not escape the pain either way, he chose the option that would allow him to suffer slightly less.
“First, that Elixir you consumed. Was it the Elixir you claimed could cure Seraphia?”
<Y-Yes! It was an Elixir called the Elixir of Infinity. It grants infinite power to the person who consumes it!>
“Infinite power?”
<Yes, yes! As you can see from my current condition, it genuinely grants infinite power!>
“How is that possible?”
<Because it was forged using the Great One’s authority!>
Kai did not know who Avarus meant by the Great One.
Adrian, however, appeared to know something.
“Hmm....”
Adrian thought for a moment before asking another question.
“Then why were you planning to give it to Seraphia?”
<Pardon? Wh-What...?>
“If it’s such an absurdly powerful Elixir that grants infinite strength, why would you give it to Seraphia instead of consuming it yourself?”
<I….already consumed it.>
“You consumed it only because you were about to die during our fight and had no other choice.”
<Th-That is....>
“Judging from the way you’re racking your brain, it appears you still have no intention of cooperating properly.”
Fwoooooooooosh!!!
Avarus recoiled in horror.
<N-No! I’ll tell you! I’ll tell you everything right now—!>
However—
Rooooooooooooar—!!
The ferocious dragon had already awakened within Adrian’s arms.
<Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeam!!!>
The Inferno of Eternity erupted throughout Adrian’s body.
The one-hundred-and-eighty-eighth day after becoming trapped within the Infinite Trial Grounds.
Avarus had completely lost consciousness beneath yesterday’s blazing flames.
He regained his senses only after an entire day had passed.
<It was the Order’s command!!>
The moment he regained consciousness, Avarus began confessing without being asked.
“When you say the Order, do you mean the Devotees of the Fallen Souls?”
<H-How do you know about them...?!>
Avarus’s eyes opened wide.
Since the previous day, Kai had been completely unable to understand their conversation.
Adrian, however, appeared to know something.
.....
The one-hundred-and-ninetieth day after becoming trapped within the Infinite Trial Grounds.
Over two days, Avarus revealed everything he knew to Adrian.
More precisely, it had been a two-day “Confession” during which he repeatedly lost and regained consciousness.
Regardless—
“That’s enough. I’ll end the questions here.”
After two days of interrogation, Adrian appeared to have extracted every piece of information Avarus possessed.
<Then….w-will you finally kill me?!>
Avarus no longer even asked Adrian to leave. That was how mentally devastated he had become.
Adrian, however, tilted his head as though Avarus had said something incomprehensible.
“Kill you? Why would I do that?”
<Didn’t you say you would kill me if I told you everything I knew?>
“When did I make that promise?”
<Wh-What?>
“I never promised you anything.”
That was true.
Unable to endure the pain, Avarus had arbitrarily offered to cooperate.
As far as Kai had witnessed, Adrian had never promised him anything.
“More importantly, I still don’t know how to kill you.”
<What in the world does that—?!>
“What are you doing? It’s time to resume training.”
Crush—!
<Aaaaaaaaaaaaagh!!>
The two-hundred-and-eleventh day after becoming trapped within the Infinite Trial Grounds.
<Sob...! Hic...!>
Avarus began crying.
Each time he sobbed, the labyrinth’s flesh and tentacles undulated grotesquely.
The sight was truly—
“That’s disgusting. Stop crying.”
Fwoooooooooosh—!
<Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeam!!>
The two-hundred-and-forty-first day after becoming trapped within the Infinite Trial Grounds.
Avarus’s screams could no longer be heard.
The walls of flesh had also disappeared from Kai’s sight.
A bright full moon shone through the wide-open ceiling.
Broken stones and pieces of timber lay scattered throughout the surroundings.
“This place is….”
It was the manor in Venenon Viscounty.
In other words, it was the same place where Kai had stood before becoming trapped within the Infinite Trial Grounds—no, the Infinite Labyrinth.
They had finally escaped the Infinite Labyrinth.
<He-heheness... Mehe...!>
And the completely insane Avarus had emerged with them.
The surrounding flesh had abruptly disappeared at some point.
When they looked around, the ruined interior of the manor came into view.
“Are we outside?”
“It appears so.”
Kai answered immediately.
“How long were we inside?”
“Approximately 241 days.”
“Two hundred and forty-one days....”
That was more than eight months.
“Fortunately, it appears that no time passed outside.”
Kai released an immensely relieved sigh.
I agreed with his assessment.
According to Rule 6, the Infinite Labyrinth was a separate dimension disconnected from reality.
No matter how much time passed within the labyrinth, it was possible that no time would pass outside.
The scattered ruins of the manor filling my vision proved it.
If 241 days had also passed outside, there would have been no reason for the manor’s wreckage to remain scattered like this.
Someone would have arrived and cleared it away long ago.
The fact that the wreckage remained untouched meant that no one had visited since our attack.
Then there was the bright full moon illuminating the night sky.
It indicated that not even a full day had passed since we attacked the viscounty.
It appeared that time here had stopped from the moment we became trapped within the Infinite Labyrinth.
Nevertheless, I had unquestionably spent 241 long days training inside it.
Strength: +43
Stamina: +59
Agility: +12
The stats I had raised were equivalent to gaining an astonishing +113 levels.
‘Then what are my current stats...?’
I opened the “Player Information” window.
== “Player Information” ==
[Name] = Adrian White Wolf
[Title] = Ruler of the North
[Level] = Level 53
[HP] = 9,460
[MP] = 0
[Stats] = Strength: 87.4 (+11.4), Agility: 84.5 (+19.5), Stamina: 93.6 (+19.6), Mana: 6.9 (+0.9)
[Experience] = 55.8%
‘....This is insane.’
The numbers were so extraordinary that “insane” was the only word that came to mind.
No comments yet. Be the first to leave a review!