***
《The battle has ended.》
《A total of 36 points will be distributed according to contribution.》
《Randolph 10 points, Isaac 10 points, Isabella 16 points》
《Points can be earned and used in various events.》
《You have obtained Fragment of the Broken Golden Rule 10h 11m.》
When we finally took down the last Barbarian, the points were settled.
“Huff, huff, huhk.”
Sweating all over, Isabella caught her breath.
Soon, a golden wave rose from the corpse of the dead Barbarian, and was absorbed into her.
“Isabella, by how many hours did the Golden Rule increase?”
“Huuup··· it increased by 16 hours and 27 minutes.”
About 16 hours, then.
It seemed there was a relationship between the points and the amount of Golden Rule fragments held.
It also meant, if they killed me, they could instantly get over 900 points.
Saaaah!
Hands stretched out from the wall toward the corpse.
Before long, as I watched all the corpses being absorbed into the wall, I frowned slightly and asked.
“Has the Desert Queen joined the fray as well?”
“······ I do not know. However, since there is a Barbarian here, we cannot rule out the possibility.”
Even among the great warriors of the desert, only a few can become “Barbarians”.
They are the most honorable warriors who guard the Desert Queen.
The ones who should be guarding their queen, are in the labyrinth.
And it even looks like they have been hired for money.
Unless the desert city of Faisalmer has fallen into financial crisis.
‘It could be that being “hired” is just a simple pretext.’
If everyone entered the labyrinth at once, it would only cause greater confusion.
Dividing into groups and infiltrating is advantageous in many ways.
So they are each proceeding with their own raid, in a form that looks like being hired by other entrants.
What does this signify.
Why did they begin their assault on the Abyssal Labyrinth?
‘If the queen herself has joined, avoiding her is the best policy.’
The Desert Queen is a half-human, half-monster. She looks human on the outside, but inside her lives a monster.
And even I do not know what that monster truly is.
No one knows, myself included.
We only speculate she might be one of the high-ranked vampire species, judging from the way she curses and drinks blood.
If we had Serengeti, it would be another story, but for now, avoiding her is the best option.
We cannot fight the queen and multiple Barbarians at the same time.
“Don’t shake your head.”
“Ah······ thank you.”
Isabella almost got forced out of the labyrinth just now.
This is a more troublesome restriction than I thought.
Especially in the middle of a frantic battle, or right after, there is even less room to pay attention.
‘Players, the desert city, the Goddess Church and the Earth God Church, who else has joined?’
And it seems far more factions than I expected have joined this labyrinth war.
We must not let our guard down for even a moment.
It was then.
《A Labyrinth Merchant has appeared.》
《The Labyrinth Merchant sells special items in limited quantities.》
《At set intervals, the Labyrinth Merchant teleports randomly, and their location is shared with all entrants.》
《The Labyrinth Merchant is currently at position 114.447.》
《Your current coordinates are 114.331.》
Not far from here, a Labyrinth Merchant had appeared.
***
Damn it!
The man bit his lip.
It was because every guild member who had come with him, had been slaughtered.
By just one person.
‘What the hell. What the hell is that guy!’
A swordsman wearing a silver fox mask.
Guild members who had even hunted level 10 elite raid boss monsters, were wiped out by that one guy.
And in an instant.
Without even a moment to react.
‘He definitely had a black bell on him.’
The black bell hanging at the man’s waist surfaced in his mind.
Isn’t the black bell the symbol of the Reaper Church?
Then is that silver fox–masked swordsman related to the Reaper Church?
“H-hey!”
Just then.
A woman was walking past in front of him.
The woman, who had been passing by without much thought, turned her head at his voice.
“Are you calling me?”
“Yeah, you! Do you have anything like a potion?”
“A potion?”
“No, wait. You’re a priestess of the Goddess Church. Then heal me, please. I’ll make sure you’re well compensated!”
He could not afford to give up here.
That damned silver fox mask.
He was going to kill that bastard.
Just in time, he was lucky.
The woman was wearing a ring with a golden emblem, one of the symbols of the Goddess Church.
That ring was definitely one only granted to high-ranking priestesses or above in the Goddess Church.
‘I’ve seen that face somewhere······.’
But he soon shook his head.
Hadn’t they said Saintess Seah died during the great expedition?
Either way, if she was a priestess of the Goddess Church, she would not just pass by a wounded man.
Nodding, the woman approached him.
“I’ll heal you.”
“T-thanks.”
The woman placed her hand on the man’s head.
And then,
Crack!
She twisted his head just like that.
As she looked at the man, now dead on the spot, the woman wore a bright, innocent smile.
“I healed you~”
Arena of Contest (3)
114.447
Those were the coordinates where the Labyrinth Merchant had appeared.
114.331
Those were the coordinates where I was currently standing.
Using horizontal and vertical as 기준, and considering that 1 unit was roughly 10 meters, it meant the Labyrinth Merchant was within a few kilometers.
‘It is announced to all entrants.’
The problem was, I was not the only one who had seen this line.
Everyone who had entered could see it. Among the hundreds, the thousands, no one knew how many would dash for the merchant.
It doesn’t matter how many small fries gather, the real obstacle is the strong ones.
Gracia, Master, and the player transcendents.
Powerhouses of Pangaenia like the Desert Queen are surely here as well.
If we bump into them and end up competing, casualties will be inevitable.
Either they die, or we die, one side will be annihilated without fail.
···Right now, the latter possibility is overwhelmingly higher though.
‘By common sense, we should avoid this.’
We do not even know how many points we need, and besides the strong, countless piranhas will swarm in too, that much is obvious.
And even if it seems close, this is still a labyrinth.
Once we start wandering, there is even the chance we fail to reach those coordinates at all.
We do not even know what kind of items they will sell. If it is something I have no use for, it will just be a wasted trip.
Rather, it might be wiser to quickly push forward during that time.
While they are fighting each other tooth and nail to secure the merchant.
We quietly pass by the side and seize the lead.
“What will you do?”
“Run.”
However, life is about going all-in, even if you might not get to eat.
***
······ Gracia shook the blood off his sword, and looked at the message floating in front of him.
‘Labyrinth Merchant.’
He had not expected this to appear so soon.
If it was true that you could obtain things like the Hydragon’s soul, items that cannot be acquired through normal means, from the Labyrinth Merchant.
‘I must be the first to arrive.’
He absolutely had to secure it before anyone else.
Naturally, he would eliminate anyone who tried to block him.
This place is the Arena of Contest, the Abyssal Labyrinth.
Everyone who entered here, came prepared for that.
Guruk, gururuk······!
Among the many corpses, there was still something alive.
A grotesque chimera.
“How troublesome.”
He simply threw his sword, and lodged it between the chimera’s brows.
It died instantly, yet his head tilted slightly to the side.
The Abyssal Labyrinth was not populated by humans alone.
‘Why are chimeras and undead here?’
There are monsters.
Of course, they could be creatures constructed by someone’s skills.
But the quality was far too high for that.
At least level 8.
The higher ones reached level 10.
By Gracia’s knowledge, there were only two people in the world who could create undead of such completeness.
The mad life engineer who created the Hydragon, and the player Mintchocoisdelicious······.
‘Those two never show themselves in public places like this.’
They are thorough about staying hidden.
If it was not those two, then that meant it was a monster.
And there were plenty of monsters who commanded undead of this caliber.
For example, Eldritch, the Dark Lord, the Abyss Patchwork Ghoul, Death King, one of the Four Great Masters, and so on.
Each and every one of them was an incredibly annoying existence to face.
Gracia shook his head.
‘If they block my way, I’ll just cut them down.’
He did not hesitate.
He had no interest in who the enemy was.
His final goal was Sword of Stars, Laila.
The master of the labyrinth and lord of the Abyss, a being who bore the same title of Sword of Stars as himself!
‘I will kill him, prove myself, and become the master of this sector.’
This is the Abyss.
Laili is the master of the Abyss.
And the Abyss, is an old land on the surface of Pangaenia that was never reclaimed in the past.
A dead land, where Laili is imprisoned.
In other words, when Laili dies, this land will rise into the sky and be incorporated into the continent as a city.
It means, the one who kills him becomes the owner of this “labyrinth city”.
Just like the other cities that were once domains of Abyssal rulers, before they were slain and turned into cities.
Anything that stands in the way of that process, he will simply cut down.
Swoosh.
Swoosh.
Swaaaaak.
From behind Gracia, a thousand swords rose into the air.
“Find it.”
Shu-shuk!
Shiiik!
A thousand swords spread out through the labyrinth, illuminating the paths and searching for the Labyrinth Merchant.
***
Countless entrants rushed toward the Labyrinth Merchant.
Only by reaching it as quickly as possible, could they buy the “special items”!
Pop!
That sound was the beginning.
“W-what! Why smoke all of a sudden?”
“Mushroom spores?”
“It’s poison!”
The moment someone stepped on something, spores burst out and darkened their vision.
At the same time, the poison mixed within paralyzed their nerves.
Whoosh!
Thud!
“Aagh!”
Arrows flew through the shroud.
Most who were hit died on the spot, but even those who barely survived were in trouble.
“I-I can’t see in front of me!”
“Save me!”
“M-my body!”
“Aaagh!! It hurts so much!! Just kill me instead, please!!”
Screams burst out everywhere.
Among them were the screams of those in unbearable agony.
They were begging to be killed.
That meant it hurt so much they did not even want to live.
Those screams stirred up terror in the hearts of the other entrants.
‘Who the hell is shooting from where?’
‘This isn’t a normal bow. It definitely has a special effect that adds pain.’
‘They set up traps. Walking in there is suicide!’
They had set up traps, and were just waiting for prey.
Everyone was already one step too late.
If they all attacked from every direction at once, it might be different, but in a situation where everyone is a competitor, there was no way cooperation would happen.
‘Damn it. What do we do?’
‘Do we just give up and wait for the next chance?’
People stood at the boundary and kept agonizing over the decision.
When the smoke finally cleared,
“What the, there’s no one?”
The person who had been shooting arrows from within the smoke was already gone.
Instead, the Labyrinth Merchant.
“A vending machine······?”
Only a single vending machine was left there, standing alone.
What followed after that, was the beginning of war.
“Kill them!”
“Do not let anyone reach it!”
They killed and were killed, all struggling to touch the vending machine.
Meanwhile, someone who had approached unseen under stealth, reached the vending machine, and a smile of rapture spread across their face.
‘Idiots, they have no idea they’re going to get cleaned out while they’re fighting like fools.’
With a pounding heart, they laid their hand on the vending machine, and a list popped up.
And when he saw the items being sold, the man’s expression froze, and he could only frown deeply.
“······Why is the remaining list such crap?”
***
It was an opportunity granted by the gods.
A Labyrinth Merchant had appeared at close range, ignoring it was not in my nature.
I ran as fast as I could, seized the merchant, and scattered the seeds.
‘I don’t have enough points.’
The fact that the merchant had taken the form of a vending machine was unexpected, but the real problem was that I did not have enough points to buy anything.
‘A few people arrived before us, checked the vending machine, and just left.’
We were not the first ones to arrive.
They had only withdrawn early, before the place became crowded, because they too lacked points.
It was as clear as day, that this area would soon become a battlefield.