“Uh, where are you going!”
Everyone was appalled as they watched me, shield raised, charge down the hill at full speed.
But I didn’t care.
The bomb bugs and the shield collided.
Boom! Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwabang!
The bomb bugs that hit the shield exploded in a chain.
Ssszzz!
The moment their acid, touching my body, reached my limit,
‘Heal.’
《You have used Healing Magic.》
《Remaining uses of Healing Magic: 4》
I cast Healing Magic on myself.
Soon, my entire body was completely restored.
I could only use it five times, but with this level of recovery, it was enough.
Before the bomb bugs could even properly climb the hill, I charged madly into their center.
The bomb bugs, gathered and preparing to climb, kept exploding one after another from the shockwave of the explosions in front.
Boom! Kwakwa-kwabang! Boom! Boom!
Explosions burst out as if they would tear eardrums apart.
‘Heal.’
《You have used Healing Magic.》
《Remaining uses of Healing Magic: 3》
I did not stop. Even if my face twisted from the pain, I ran at a fast pace.
I planned to eliminate as many as possible before the bomb bugs climbed the hill.
For that, I threw my whole body into it, burning everything.
“...Huh.”
“...What is that.”
“...”
Isaac, Serengeti, and Isabella, standing on top of the hill, could only stare blankly, dumbfounded, at that unbelievable sight.
***
After eliminating close to 99% of the bomb bugs and using up all my Healing Magic, I raised my hand and switched positions with Serengeti.
After that, Serengeti and Isabella went back up the hill and blocked the entrance, and Isaac wiped out the remaining bomb bugs, completing the trial of the floor.
A method completely different from what was intended.
I had not the slightest thought of moving according to the board the demigod had laid out.
I would use everything I had to smash the board that thing had created.
《Fastest clear time!》
《Honor increases by 30.》
《The trial has been completed.》
《Progress 50%》
《You advance to the next floor.》
A warp opened up in front of my eyes.
Already halfway. I had reached 50% progress.
It was more than twice as fast as when I challenged this place as Wilhelm.
Just then.
《‘Radiant Hero’s Constellation’ applauds at your base.》
《‘Radiant Hero’s Constellation’ grants you a special quest.》
《The ‘Rule Breaker’ quest has arrived.》
《Break all the rules and annihilate the dungeon along with the demigod’s will.》
《If you succeed, ‘Radiant Hero’s Constellation’ will present you with a very special reward.》
《Do you accept?》
The Constellation’s quest appeared before my eyes.
At this first-time phenomenon, I couldn’t help but tilt my head.
A Constellation designating the annihilation of a dungeon as a quest.
And not just simple annihilation, but a command to erase even the dungeon’s will.
‘A very special reward, huh.’
It could very well be referring to a Constellation’s treasure, like Golden Fillet.
An existence that had shown interest from the very start, appearing as soon as I entered the dungeon.
Then what kind of close relationship did Radiant Hero’s Constellation and this dungeon have?
It was at that moment.
《The demigod’s will tries to pierce through you.》
《It has failed.》
《The demigod’s will tries to pierce through you.》
《It has failed.》
《The demigod’s will tries to pierce through you.》
《It has failed.》
《The demigod’s will tries to pierce through you.》
《It has failed.》
《The demigod’s will tries to pierce through you.》
《It has failed.》
...What is it doing?
Rule Breaker
Everything lay upon a well-made board.
Rules that had not changed for an uncountably long time.
But the ‘will’ could not understand the ‘abnormal existence’ that had suddenly appeared.
‘Why does he not follow the rules?’
From the moment he first entered, he arbitrarily deleted one of the four propositions.
Not only that.
He suddenly transformed, then even displayed the madness of using a skill to tame a werewolf.
Despite choosing healer, he picked up a shield only a shield bearer could wield and charged forward, single-handedly smashing a trial that was meant to be endured.
Rule Breaker.
He was distinctly different from all the humans that had challenged this place until now.
‘If you refuse to follow the rules, then I too shall not follow them.’
So the ‘will’ tried to pierce through him.
With his eyes, there was nothing he could not see through, nothing he could not find out.
He planned to discover the man’s weakness and present the hardest trial of all. To make him crash into a trial he could never clear and either fall into despair or die.
‘I will pierce you. Your secrets, your weaknesses, your everything!’
Though this act deviated from the rules of the dungeon, that man was also a Rule Breaker.
The will had admitted that it could not capture that ‘abnormal existence’ through normal means.
Soon, all of the man’s memories and everything about him should have surfaced before its eyes.
He had planned to expose the most tragic, most shocking secret among them and break the man.
But.
‘...What is this?’
The will was flustered.
It was the first time since its creation that a human had made it falter.
There was no other way.
‘You mean I can’t see?’
...It could not see.
It could see absolutely nothing at all.
The moment it tried to pierce the abnormal existence, only pitch-black darkness filled its vision.
Something enormous was blocking it.
But what on earth?
The demigod’s will.
It itself was the transcendent spiritual body derived from a great being.
Moreover, this was the dungeon.
To block his ‘piercing gaze’, which possessed absolute power inside the dungeon, one had to be at least an existence of the same rank.
Then did that mean that human was of the same rank as itself?
‘I cannot accept that.’
The demigod kept trying to pierce through.
It kept failing, but it simply could not accept it.
Only after failing hundreds, thousands of times did the will turn its head.
‘Fine. If I cannot see you, I will pierce through the ones who came with you instead!’
***
‘Should I not have asked that question?’
After passing through the Room of Truth, Isabella clenched and unclenched her fists at the thought that suddenly rose within her.
The question of whether he was really the Star Bearer.
She had been the one to throw that question.
Ever since she first met him in the desert, Randolph had broken her curse.
He let her leave the desert and see the world.
She would never forget the memory of arriving in the golden city of Arcana through warp.
He had even promised that if she served for one year, he would help her find her origin, her bloodline.
‘Yet even so, deep in my heart I was doubting him.’
Was he truly a Star Bearer?
The definition of a Star Bearer she knew was one who chases the stars.
But Randolph was, rather than a Star Bearer, like the star’s owner itself.
A Star Bearer could not be the owner of a star.
They only played the role of helping one find the star’s owner.
Honestly, it didn’t matter.
Even if he wasn’t a Star Bearer.
He had already proven himself through countless crazy feats.
‘I just wanted to know if it was a lie or not.’
She simply wanted to shake off that sliver of doubt.
Star Bearer, successor of the Knight King, the fifth great master acknowledged by the White King... whatever his identity was, she didn’t care.
It was only Isabella’s own problem.
So when she heard his answer, she let out a sigh of relief.
And she was disgusted with herself for sighing in relief.
She had said it didn’t matter, yet she was more concerned than anyone. That self-contradictory self annoyed her.
“Ah...”
Watching Randolph run alone down the hill, Isabella swallowed her breath.
The man who had, amid rough explosions, driven the bomb bugs to the brink of annihilation all by himself.
He had finished what four people were supposed to do, alone.
As if he needed no one’s help.
It wasn’t just today.
‘An indomitable warrior. A reckless challenger who never falls.’
That was the kind of person he was.
The Randolph she’d experienced until now had always challenged, and never once fallen.
Instead, he had proved himself and seized victory.
He had many identities, but in the end, Randolph was Randolph.
At times reckless, at times honorable, and at times cold to the extreme.
If it were her, what would she have done?
Could she have run ahead alone and created the same scene?
The bomb bugs didn’t just explode, they also spewed powerful acid. Even as his flesh melted and bone showed, he had never once let go of the shield in his hand.
A perseverance you could not possibly see as human.
Even while groaning in pain, he never gave up.
‘He is a savior.’
Randolph was a savior spanning an era.
He had saved her, saved the city, broken her curse, and sealed the Gatekeeper of Ruin.
Isabella bit her lip.
‘I have to be of help too.’
She couldn’t just keep receiving help forever.
She had promised to serve him, yet what had she actually done?
She had done nothing but hold on to pathetic doubts.
Shaking her head, she stepped through the warp.
《Swear upon the ‘truth oath’.》
As she went through the warp, the Room of Truth appeared again.
‘Again?’
Isabella tilted her head.
She couldn’t understand why they were repeating a trial that had been cleared almost for free.
Without much suspicion, she made the oath and wrote down her question.
Then, in the room where all party members had gathered again, the questioning began.
《This is the first question given to Isabella.》
《‘Sonora. Why did you kill that poor child?’》
《‘Did you want to become a princess so much that you would kill that child?’》
The moment she saw the question, Isabella’s eyes trembled violently.
***
《This is the first question given to Isaac.》
《‘You buried the mining city and killed countless people. Isn’t it too shameless to cry with joy, saying you purified your evil karma?’》
Isaac too.
《This is the first question given to Serengeti.》
《‘Do you not think of Hudson as your place to run away to? Is it not a tool to escape reality rather than a true love? Didn’t you actually like Wilhelm more?’》
And Serengeti.
Looking at the questions that had come up, they could not help but be flustered.
Who on earth could ask questions like this?
No, from the start there was only one person in existence who could pose questions like this.
Randolph.
These were things only he knew, or could know.
The Star Bearer. His ability to pierce through everything. Only he, who acted as if he knew everything, could come up with questions like these.
All three of them, embarrassed, looked at Randolph.
Receiving everyone’s gaze, he did not even twitch.
Shamelessly.
‘There’s no way we can tell the truth...’
A room where you could only speak the truth.
But what if the truth was something you didn’t want anyone to know?
The questioning eyes turned toward you the moment the question was thrown.
It felt as if everyone was doubting you.
As if they were sneering and mocking, asking if you really were that kind of human trash.
They were afraid.
***
...I was watching that scene from afar.
The images appearing before me.
Like a hologram, the three of them receiving their trials were being projected.
This trial was being carried out separately in three different rooms.
It was completely different from the previous Room of Truth.
It looked as if all the party members were gathered, but except for the person themselves, everyone else was fake. They were illusions created by the ‘will’.
Amid those illusions, they were receiving the questions the will had posed and suffering.
And they were in shock, suspecting that I was the one who had asked the questions.
《The ‘will’ conveys that if it voluntarily withdraws, this trial will be stopped.》
It was an amusing situation.
For the master of the dungeon to suggest withdrawing of its own accord.
Because I had rampaged through the dungeon as I pleased and it could not do anything to me, it was tormenting my party members instead.
It planned to make them doubt me and chip away at their trust.
“The worst.”
In some ways, it was worse than a Demon King.
Who would have thought that the one praised as the great will of the demigod would be this vile.
This dungeon was infamous as a trash heap, but the only trash here was that will.
They were all suffering.
For having to face the truth and answer.
《The questions are three. Even if they endure, the ‘will’ says that your trust will fall off a cliff.》
The problem was that they did not have to answer just that one.
It meant it would throw three questions at them to completely break their minds and turn their trust in me into distrust.
Certainly, even if they cleared this trial, there would be a problem.
Once distrust took root, the trial had been designed so that it could never be cleared.
They could end up resenting me forever.
It might be better to just go clear another dungeon instead.
“All right.”
I nodded.
《The ‘will’ laughs and creates a warp leading to the entrance.》
A path leading to the exit. A warp opened.
Yeah. Now I was sure.
There was nothing that thing could do to me.
And that wasn’t the only thing I had figured out.
“Demigod’s will, so you’re here too.”
A smile hung on my lips.
The place where I was standing now.
This was not some trial ground.
It was the very domain of that thing, close enough that it could directly speak to me.
The ‘will’ was nearby.
If their trials were successfully completed, then at that moment, the will would appear as well.
The will urged me to withdraw.
“This will be the final trial. The end of this dungeon, and of you.”
I truly intended to kill it.
《The ‘will’ sneers.》
《The ‘will’ is confident.》
《It says that they will never be able to tell the truth.》
《That even if they tell the truth, the trial will not be cleared.》