... It wouldn't matter if I died here.
That thought crossed my mind the moment you leveled your sword at me. It was no lie; my body had become so defiled that I could not even bring myself to end my own life. If my fate were to perish at your hands specifically, it would be a blessed conclusion.
Even if I died as a "monster," I would feel no regret—as long as the face I saw in my final moments was that of a "Hero."
...And how deeply satisfied I would be if your heart shattered the moment you revealed my identity and saw my face after I was gone.
Ah, but ──.
●○●○●
The armor of the defiled spirit shattered under the roar of holy flames. The emerald flesh burned and purified within the radiance of the sacred fire. These destructive blazes reduced Revis's flesh to charcoal, and the pungent stench of burning meat filled the air.
Yet, it was not a fatal wound. The green biomass covering Revis's body immediately began to regenerate, struggling to sustain her life, though the charred gashes refused to close. Al's concentrated strike of holy fire had incinerated and utterly annihilated every spirit cell forming her flesh armor.
It was the sacred flame that suppresses evil and severs darkness. The technique's name was the "Holy Hero-Flame Cutter." A flash of divine fire bearing the name of the King of Heroes, who was said to have once repelled the King of Monsters, the Black Dragon.
Just as the young man had once been pierced by a great sword, it was now Revis's turn to be impaled. The searing blade, hotter than molten steel, sliced through the air and rent space itself as it surged toward her.
Lightning erupted behind Al. The barrier of thunder vanished, and the brilliance of the holy fire briefly illuminated Al's form.
In the next heartbeat, Revis's shoulder exploded in a spray of blood. The blade severed her shoulder diagonally, and blood erupted from a wound that looked like a deep fissure. Her right arm fell along with the shoulder, and Revis collapsed onto one knee. She staggered, only then feeling a sharp sensation carving through her chest.
When she realized a vertical gash had been etched into the center of her chest, crimson stained her vision. The dark purple crystal embedded deep within her chest cracked with a soft, snapping sound.
"Damn it... Aaaagh!!"
Excruciating pain surged through Revis's entire body—a pain unlike any she had ever known. She did not die instantly, but the scales had already tipped. As a "Creature," Revis would die if her magic stone shattered, just like any monster. With her stone cracked, she no longer possessed the strength to continue the fight.
While Revis lay fallen, Al directed his gaze and his sword toward the remaining foe, Ein.
"── Now, it's your turn."
●○●○●
Ais, sidelined from the clash between "Monster" and "Hero" and deemed a burden by the boy, ran with fixed resolve.
She felt shame, helplessness, and weakness. The truth squeezed her chest, nearly choking the breath from her lungs.
(But, despite that, I ─────!!)
Even so, she would not surrender. Her will to do whatever she could, no matter how desperate, supported her nearly broken heart. There had to be something Al could not do that she could.
"Breathe!!"
The enemy of Ais and the Loki Familia was this artificial labyrinth itself. Thus, what Ais could do here was summon the winds. To defeat the labyrinth, Ais used her wind. Though the Rea Phoenix raiment had healed her, she had recently suffered fatal wounds; her body was far from its ideal state.
Her mental energy neared its limit, and her body screamed for rest, yet she pushed herself beyond her capacity.
"Breathe!!!!"
Blood began to seep from wounds that had previously closed, and Ais's limbs felt as heavy as a clay statue. She ignored the pain and continued to unleash her magic. Due to the excessive use of magic, a relentless headache thrashed her skull and her vision blurred, but she squeezed out every drop of her spiritual strength to command the great winds.
"Rage!!!!"
With three successive cries, Ais summoned a violent storm. It was no ordinary gale; it was a hurricane too vast for a single hall. It swept through even the magic-resistant stone walls, twisting and turning according to her will.
A storm of brute force surged around Ais. The raging winds, which nearly swallowed the entire chamber, spiraled around her, their intensity steadily growing. These winds were not for destruction; they were a torrent intended to open a "path." The winds thundering under Ais's command did not move aimlessly; they raged only to fulfill their mission.
The spiraling winds eventually transformed into a single corridor with Ais at its center. She sent powerful gusts into the surrounding passageways, gathering her strength to advance and overcome the labyrinth. Ais lashed her exhausted body, using magic beyond her limits. Sweat poured from her forehead like pearls, and she looked as though she might collapse at any moment.
But she stood firm. She endured and resisted until the very end, and then ──.
●○●○●
"Miss Tiona, Arcos is..."
".... This is truly bad."
Within the artificial labyrinth where evil and death intertwined, Tiona and her companions were utterly drained by successive battles and traps full of malice. Arcos, the male member struck by the incurable venom of the "Poison Worms," writhed in agony, his body covered in a cold sweat.
They wanted to treat him, but no antidote existed, and no healer present could use magic powerful enough to neutralize such lethal venom.
With Tiona and Bache, both first-tier adventurers (Level 6), combat strength was not the issue. However, this artificial labyrinth contained countless traps that had nothing to do with fighting.
In addition to the endless battles with colored monsters that appeared without pause, some had completely exhausted their physical energy. While Tiona encouraged her comrades, she could not hide her own fatigue. Tiona, who had been exposed to more venom than Arcos, remained standing thanks to her abnormal status resistance skill, but that did not mean she was unaffected.
Her face was pale, and her breathing grew ragged. Because she insisted on always staying at the front lines, she pushed herself through sheer willpower, but the damage was steadily and surely accumulating. The accumulated damage had become impossible to ignore, and it showed clearly on her features.
Everyone was battered, and the situation threatened total annihilation at any moment. The malicious structure of the artificial labyrinth offered no exit, and the psychological pressure of being trapped pushed everyone to their absolute physical and mental limits. In this extreme situation without rest or supplies, Tiona and her companions were cornered—isolated without aid, without hope of rescue, as despair nearly closed in on them.
Just as everyone was about to drown in despair, Tiona's senses as a first-tier adventurer picked up "something."
"Something is coming...?"
That something drew closer, growing larger. Tiona felt confused by a presence that seemed somehow warm. The others appeared to share her confusion, as everyone turned their gaze in that direction the moment she spoke.
The wind changed; the airflow shifted. Once they realized it, the flow did not stop. A powerful wind swept through the hall as if it possessed its own will, erupting with a deafening roar.
"W-what is this?!"
"I don't know! But this wind is...!!"
The raging, spiraling winds began to calm gradually, turning into a gentle breeze. A warm, kind wind blew, brushing over the wounded as if bandaging their injuries.
"── It's Ais!! Ais is calling us!!"
●○●○●
"Yes...!! Ais is calling us to her!!"
Elsewhere, Tione, who was fighting assassins after joining Argana, felt Ais's wind and let out a cry of joy. Ais was still alive. She was still fighting. Her voice, calling out to them, had reached them through the wind.
Therefore, they had to respond. What kind of companions would they be if they didn't answer Ais's call? The spirit wind traveled through the artificial labyrinth itself. Ais's wind tried to tell them her location and where the companions were gathering. It was a move that turned the tables on the complex and bizarre mechanics of the labyrinth—a move that restored hope from the heart of defeat.
The wind blew to carry Ais's will. Guided by her gale, the fire of battle reignited in their eyes.
"Let's go!!"
"Yes!!"
●○●○●
"Mr. Bete, this wind..."
"... Yeah, it's Ais's wind."
The wind reached the others as well. Ais's voice, carried upon the breeze, trembled slightly, but her will was clearly present. She was calling them. Ais was fighting alone now, trying to hold on until her companions arrived to save her.
Bete and Airmid, who had defeated the "Raging Beast," and the familia members freed from the curse, understood Ais's intent through the wind's message.
"Move it, you bastards!! To where Ais is!!"
Bete growled as he urged his comrades. He, too, felt Ais's resolve. To fulfill that will, Bete and the rest launched themselves forward with lightning speed. They ran, following the guidance of the wind.
●○●○●
"I don't believe this...!!"
At the deepest point of the artificial labyrinth, Knossos, within the control room where traps and doors were managed through "Eyes" scattered everywhere, Barca, the master of the labyrinth, muttered in shock.
As the master of the labyrinth, he held the authority to control all its functions. Therefore, he could not comprehend the scene unfolding before him. The water surveillance mirrors showed the members of the Loki Familia crossing the corridors one after another, rushing toward the main hall.
One girl's magic—the raging spirit wind—was redrawing the features of the labyrinth.
"Has one girl's magic overcome my clan's thousand-year-old persistence?"
No matter how many doors were made of the hardest manufactured metals, they could not block the path of the tyrannical winds. The pressure generated by the wind easily flushed the stagnant air from the corridors. The winds roaming the labyrinth created a "path," and Tiona and her companions followed it to advance.
"Was the wind... leading everything?"
The raging winds began to calm gradually. As if they had a mind of their own, they found the correct path and guided the companions toward it. The artificial labyrinth was a complex and mysterious maze, and only its master, Barca, knew every detail of its operation.
Yet, even in Knossos, this art of chaos, there was "order." The only official path.
Namely, "Ariadne's Thread."
The spirit wind continued to illuminate the true path, leading the companions toward the girl who was exhausting her body to summon the winds, in order to defeat the monsters lurking in the depths of the artificial labyrinth.
Still, the labyrinth remained rigged with countless ambushes. Even if they knew the true path, malicious traps refused to let them pass. But the adventurers, having regained their fighting spirit, shattered them all.
The great twin blades wielded by Tiona, Tione's knives, and Bete's silver boots harvested the attacking monsters one by one. Bete crushed them with his kicks, Tiona split them apart, and Tione tore them to pieces.
"The Sword Princess... no, they are gathering around the Sword Saint, the Loki Familia...!!"
●○●○●
"── Now, it's your turn."
The sound of many footsteps echoed from the corridor behind Al, who was brandishing his sword. Behind her mask, Ein's eyes narrowed. The sound of footsteps drew closer, as if they were swarming around Al.
While her gaze remained fixed on Al, Ein ground her teeth, annoyed by the presence of several people approaching from behind.
From the shadow-drenched corridor, a silver glint appeared first.
"── Hello."
The wolf-man led by the spirit wind. With a stride full of raging anger, Bete advanced while Airmid stood behind him, treating Ais.
"Die!!"
"...... The wolf-man."
Bete lunged like a great hurricane after wrapping his metal boots in Ais's wind magic (Ariel). With unusual speed and power, far exceeding Ein's expectations, Bete headed straight for her. Ein met his punch with the two gauntlets she wore on her arms.
The sound of metal clashing rang out, and a shockwave surged through the hall from the collision between Ein and Bete. Ein's balance faltered slightly, and in that gap, a shadow loomed over her head. A leg descended toward her skull like a guillotine blade.
"It seems you dared to hurt our Ais quite a bit."
Tione's kick surged forward immediately as Bete retreated. Tione launched a series of rapid kicks, showering Ein with a barrage of blows before continuing her assault.
Bete's punch and Tione's successive attacks—Ein blocked this double assault with her gauntlets and spirit armor, but she could not entirely deflect the violent attack of two first-tier adventurers and was forced to retreat. Ein took a powerful roundhouse kick from Tione, and the shock pushed her back. In that moment, a shadow leaped toward Ein's chest.
"I will show you no mercy."
Tiona, who had circled behind Ein unnoticed, gripped her great twin blades with both hands and launched a full-strength strike. A blow capable of easily splitting a great dragon was rushing toward Ein.
"Take this!!"
"Tch ──"
Ein blocked the strike of the massive blade using her "branches," which she had hardened into armor in a split second, but Tiona's blow was so heavy it sent Ein flying. Before hitting the wall, Ein used the surface as a platform to change direction and landed on the ground, clicking her tongue in annoyance.
While she felt a slight pain in her arms, the surprise attacks did not stop. A dark-skinned warrior ran, sliding across the floor like a crawling snake. Without wasting a heartbeat, Ein received double punches this time. The fists of the leader of the warrior nation struck Ein's body with force.
"Annoying, they keep coming one after another..."
Despite receiving surprise attacks from first-tier adventurers, Ein, the strongest monster, remained uninjured. All she felt was pure annoyance. Ein's body, covered in spirit armor just like Revis's, did not bear a single scratch.
The adventurers gathered, watching Ein cautiously, standing back-to-back with weapons drawn.
"Everyone, report the situation immediately!!"
Led by Finn, who had regained his strength after his injury, Tiona raised her blade, and Lefiya held her staff in a combat stance, while Bete and Tione leveled their weapons. Al, too, kept his sword raised without moving a step. After ensuring everyone was ready for battle, Finn spoke while casting a sharp look toward Ein.
"Finn!! Arcos and the others have been poisoned by Poison Worm venom!!"
"I'll treat them; Miss Tiona, come here as well!!"
Information was exchanged with lightning speed. As if proving that teamwork is the essence of adventurers, they immediately formed an offensive formation surrounding Ein. Ein looked at them from behind her mask as if looking at annoying flying insects.
"...... What are Thanatos's followers doing?"
At that moment, a voice dripping with cold murderous intent was heard. Revis, covered entirely in blood, was trying to stand. Revis was regenerating her missing arm while donning new flesh armor as she stood. The monster, who had suffered deep wounds at Al's hands, had not lost her desire to fight despite her torn body.
"It's fine. I'll wipe out all these annoying insects right here and now. Let's go, Ein....... Ein?"
"Hey, do you really want to face this many?"
Despite facing this mighty monster exuding indescribable pressure, Tione wore a bold smile, though cold sweat poured from her forehead. She was doing her best not to be swallowed by the immense aura and pressure emanating from these two monsters, tightening her grip on her knives.
"Enough talk. You, battered as you are, pose no threat."
All the adventurers gathered here had fallen into the traps of the artificial labyrinth and had their strength drained. The only "healthy" person in the Loki Familia was Al, whose wounds had completely closed thanks to fortification magic.
However, if asked whether there was a chance for victory, the answer would be "Yes."
"Give me the spare spear."
"Y-yes, sir."
Raul acted on Finn's command, tossing him a spear that had been prepared as a backup weapon. Finn caught the spear and cast a quick glance toward his comrades. There was no doubt the enemy was strong, but victory was possible; such was his calm judgment based on the combat power analysis he had refined over years as an adventurer.
Yet, despite that, he could not shake a bad feeling. It was a sensation that could only be described as a sixth sense. He felt a nagging worry, as if they were being driven toward a desperate situation with no exit.
(My thumb hurts...)
The pain reached the depths of his chest, as if he could hear alarm bells in his mind. But now, there was no time to hesitate.
── We will win.
Clinging to the faith in his heart, Finn stared forward.
In that moment.
Revis's chest was pierced from behind by a purple hand strike, as sharp as a blade.
Ein's eyes reflected the image of the "comrades" gathered around the "Hero" and the "Princess," just as the "monster's" reflection shimmered on the blade of Al's sword.
In the heartbeat that followed, she plunged her hand into the other "monster's" body—deep into Revis's chest.
Blood gushed out in a relentless torrent. Revis's body spasmed violently. Before the pain could even register, her eyes bulged in shock, and her beautiful features contorted in horror.
"W—what do you intend to do, Ein──!!"
As strength drained from her limbs, she stared at Ein. By the time she realized the gravity of the situation, it was already too late.
Black claws, sprouting from Ein's fingertips, gripped Revis's magic stone and tore it free.
"You consumed Olivus Act's magic stone as well, didn't you? I am merely doing the same. ......................... I didn't hate you, Revis."
Just as Revis had done to Olivus Act long ago, Ein now ripped the stone from Revis.
As the reality of the act dawned on Revis, all emotion vanished from her face. she turned her hollow eyes toward the ceiling.
Deprived of her power, the monster collapsed in Ein's arms and slumped onto the floor.
"───────────────── So, this is how it ends."
Creatures die if they lose their magic stones, just like ordinary monsters. The dying monster placed her hand over her chest, as if trying to touch the wound, and muttered in a faint voice, clearly aware of her approaching end.
Ein offered no reply, watching the monster in silence. As Revis began to crumble into ash, her lips finally relaxed into a smile.
Her dying face looked strangely satisfied.
Soon, the monster's body vanished entirely, leaving behind nothing but ash and a cracked magic stone.
Ein picked up the stone and swallowed it through the opening of her mask.
"The time for pretending is over."
────── And so, the "strongest monster" in the truest sense of the word emerged from its shell.
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