86. Pacification Ritual (12)

Monsters from the 16th Floor had crossed over to the 15th Floor.

As one went deeper into the Labyrinth, such incidents were common.

Monsters with clear intentions, like the offspring of Black Dragons or monsters born from interbreeding with humans, sometimes strayed from their territories.

Or there were cases where monsters, expelled from their packs or having lost their homes, ascended to higher floors.

“Kieeeek!”

However, the wyvern that had just appeared before them didn’t seem to possess that level of intelligence.

Nor did it appear weak enough to be merely driven out of a wyvern pack.

For a wyvern, a lesser variant of a dragon, its size was quite considerable.

Jjeoeok.

The creature that suddenly appeared quickly assessed the situation and opened its maw.

To devour the abundant prey spread out before its eyes.

Jjeoeoeoeoeok!!!!

But my reaction speed was faster than the creature could open its mouth and tear into people.

My oversized axe, imbued with sword energy, cleanly bisected the creature as it opened its maw.

Even the wyvern’s tough scales couldn’t prevent the axe blade from piercing through its flesh.

Kwaaaang!

The wyvern was sent crashing into a barricade being set up in the distance by the shockwave accompanying the axe swing.

“…Huh?”

Only after the barricade, struck by the wyvern, was crushed and a cloud of dust rose from it, did people belatedly grasp the situation.

“A-a wyvern?”

“Why are creatures from deep within the 16th Floor here…? No, don’t tell me…!”

Such a wyvern had crossed over to the 15th Floor.

This fact implied only one thing.

“Did monsters from even deeper floors push out the wyverns?”

More powerful monsters than wyverns had displaced the wyverns from their original territory.

The ecosystem of the 15th Floor had already collapsed.

And if even wyverns, which were quite formidable monsters even at the entrance of the middle floors, were being pushed out of their original territory…

Woooong-

Wooooeoong-

Woooong-

Strange vibrations were felt everywhere.

Something began to appear suddenly, raising warning signs within their calm perception range.

Their identity was, of course.

“Monsters!!! A Monster Backflow has erupted!!!”

Twin-headed cobras. Bone jaguars. Wyverns, and so on.

Monsters from the wetlands spanning the 16th to 19th Floors began to be summoned one by one from near the Portal.

Paaaat!

A massive Divinity moved right behind them.

“The merciful hand of the Mother Earth Goddess is here now.”

A warm and comforting Divinity, like the soft skin he had once felt, instantly formed a Barrier.

“The Goddess’s Touch.”

Teong!

A Bone Jaguar, rapidly approaching and baring its fangs, was frozen in mid-air.

“Keong, Keoong!!”

More precisely, its fangs were embedded in the Barrier spread across the air, and it was thrashing in a state of panic.

As expected of the Saintess.

Admiring Serif, who had cast a defensive miracle on everyone in the area at that moment, he swung his axe towards the Bone Jaguar.

Jjeoeoeoeok!

With a single axe swing, he turned the creature into a handful of Soulstones, then expanded his perception range to grasp the surrounding situation.

“Hwaaaak! Wh-why are there monsters in Eden?!”

“Monsters from beyond the 16th Floor have backflowed into Eden through the Portal! Hey! Don’t run away, deal with them first!!!”

“This fucking shit! If it’s like this already, the future is obvious! I’m escaping to the surface!!!”

For the past several years, Eden had been a safe zone where no monsters appeared.

Meaning it was a relatively peaceful place for a Labyrinth.

Naturally, there were many Explorers who had grown complacent in that peace.

And now, monsters began appearing in Eden, not just one, but dozens simultaneously.

Some, in a panic, threw themselves into the 14th Floor Portal to escape.

It was a foolish decision.

Even if they fled in disarray to another floor in this situation, the fate of those who ran without a proper party or equipment was obvious.

And besides, they didn’t need weaklings who ran away the moment they saw a monster.

“Balkan-ssi. It seems we need to clear this area first before proceeding.”

“Master-nim. I’ve deployed all the Mana Threads. They can automatically intercept within a 5m radius.”

“Eung-ae… Magic stock, finished.”

What was needed now were those with quick judgment and swift response capabilities, having crossed many battle lines.

Nodding at his party members’ words, he made his final decision as the leader.

“If monsters are being pushed into Eden to this extent, the 16th Floor must already be filled with monsters from beyond the 20th Floor.”

“……”

“If we carelessly cross the Portal, we’ll likely land right in the middle of a monster horde.”

“Then what will you do, Leader?”

“First, we’ll clear this area, then we go.”

He turned his head and looked at Serif.

Their gazes met, and Serif immediately nodded.

“We are of the same mind.”

The Priests and Paladins of the Order, whom Serif had brought for the Pacification Ritual, also immediately prepared for battle.

But even with this much power, it was slightly insufficient.

The Labyrinth’s Portals were highly random.

Meaning the transfer locations were haphazard.

Perhaps due to the Labyrinth’s original function as a prison for demons, monsters, unlike humans, landed near the Portal, but the range was still quite wide.

It would be difficult for just a few dozen people to cover that entire range.

‘But I’ve taken out insurance.’

After all, the reason he had led the Succubi and persuaded the Clan Leaders last night was for a time like this.

***

“Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it…! Why now of all times…!”

Cassia, the Clan Leader of the Guilty Clan, gritted her teeth as she watched monsters transferring from all directions.

The backflow had erupted faster than expected.

Now that monsters had begun to flood into Eden, a safe zone, the damage was unavoidable.

The key was how much they could minimize the damage.

“No, why should *I* worry about Eden’s damage…!”

Explorers were inherently selfish beings.

And she, a former Advanced Explorer who wasn’t satisfied with that and even founded a clan, was far from altruistic.

Whether the monsters appearing in Eden massacred people, or if key strongholds fell and human territory was lost, what did she care?

My power, my money, my people.

Protecting her own assets came before some nameless person.

However.

‘Because I went through *that* yesterday…!’

Balkan’s threat to unconditionally cooperate in Eden’s crisis.

If it weren’t for that, she would have abandoned Eden!

“Should I just say, ‘fuck it,’ and run…?”

Cassia looked down at her trembling hands.

It wasn’t the situation of monsters invading Eden that scared her.

Rather, something even more terrifying than mindless monsters.

The terrifying pleasure she had experienced last night.

The thought of *that* guy, who had casually commanded three High-ranking Succubi and utterly shattered her 40 years of sexual experience, made Cassia’s entire body tremble with fear.

Cassia was terrified of a pleasure so intense it shook her life’s values.

If she disobeyed his words, she would surely experience something even more horrific than the terrifying pleasure of last night.

“No, not that… anything but that…”

But even now, with the situation having erupted, Cassia was still hesitating a little.

“Clan Leader-nim!”

“Wh-what should we do?! Should we run first? Or join the fight?”

“Whether we run or join those fighting over there, we need to do something right now!”

Clan members, who had approached at some point, shouted.

They, too, posed the same question as Cassia’s inner thoughts.

Her reason told her to abandon Eden and look out for her own interests.

But her instincts screamed that if she didn’t want to experience that terrifying pleasure again, she must never defy his words.

Cassia made a decision.

“First, retreat and-”

“Hey.”

Umjjeul.

At the man’s voice from behind, Cassia’s face turned pale.

“Did I just mishear you?”

Jjirit, Jjirit-

Cassia, once an Advanced Explorer, could instinctively feel it.

The terrifying killing intent emanating from the man standing behind her.

Cassia barely managed to turn her head and look at him.

Onyx Armor drenched in dark red blood.

The blood on that Armor, shimmering like a Black Dragon’s scales, was naturally not his own.

Cassia’s gaze went to the chunk of flesh in Balkan’s hand.

The neck of a wyvern, which had once soared through the sky breathing fire, had been severed by a sharp axe blade, fallen to the ground, and was now displayed in his hand.

“Everyone is fighting.”

Balkan’s armored finger pointed to the area that had instantly transformed into a battlefield.

His party members, the Order’s clergy, and the Explorer Association’s Explorers were all mixed in with the monsters, continuing the battle.

“If we can’t protect Eden, monsters will push through even beyond this point.”

“Beyond this point” didn’t just refer to Eden’s other safe zones.

“Because we can’t just stand by and watch hideous monsters confront and sacrifice our loved ones.”

The surface world.

The place where the families, friends, and loved ones of those wielding swords and fighting monsters here resided.

“That’s why everyone is fighting.”

They were fighting with all their might to prevent the place full of their loved ones from being ravaged by monsters.

“……”

Cheolkeok…

Seureureung…

The clan members listening to Balkan’s words began to raise their Weaponry one by one.

What he said wasn’t just about them.

Why had they joined a high-ranking clan?

Why had they entered this Labyrinth and risked their lives?

Why had they clung to their interests so desperately, why had they listened to the commands of the clan’s higher-ups, and why had they lived so desperately?

The clan members were the same.

To live wealthy and happily with their parents, family, friends, lovers… their loved ones.

“……”

Cassia felt the shift in the clan members’ atmosphere.

No matter what command she gave, they would fight.

Because his cry had ignited a fire in the hearts of those female warriors.

Only then could Cassia make a decision.

“Set up barricades immediately! We must finish this near the Portal! We cannot let the monsters spread everywhere!! We must protect Eden!”

“Yes!!”

The clan members shouted as if they had been waiting, and moved in perfect unison.

They set up barricades to prevent medium and small monsters from infiltrating between buildings, and activated the interception artifacts they had just begun installing today to shoot down monsters.

As hundreds of skilled clan members from the large clan joined the battle, the tide of the fight began to turn.

“You go fight too.”

“Y-yes, sir…!”

After giving the order, Balkan kicked Cassia’s relieved backside and glared up at the sky.

While the interception artifacts, firing magic bullets or stored spells, inflicted considerable damage on medium and small monsters.

Kwaang! Kwaaaang!

“Kieeeeeeek!!!”

The wyverns reigning in the sky and spewing Breath were not easily stopped.

This was because wyvern scales dispersed Mana, and were quite tough on their own.

Seureureung-!

[I shall feast after a long time.]

But no matter how tough they were, they wouldn’t be able to withstand Bernie, who had even cut down a Black Dragon, a superior version of a wyvern.

Just as he was analyzing the battlefield, wondering which wyvern to shoot down first.

“Huh?”

A wyvern with a strangely familiar appearance caught his eye.

Was it a coincidence?

The moment his eyes met with the wyvern that was gleefully spewing Breath at the surrounding buildings.

“Ki-Kieeeek…!!!”

It gulped the fire back down its throat and began desperately flapping its wings, fleeing in the opposite direction.

“That bastard…”

If he wasn’t mistaken.

When he had gone to the 16th Floor with Idelbert, and when he had gone to catch the Elder Lich.

It was *that* wyvern… whose family (?) had been massacred, and which had been used like a slave, becoming an excellent means of transport.

It was alive!

And it had come back to be his ride again!

Balkan gathered a large amount of Mana in his legs, kicked off the building wall, and leaped into the air.

“Hey!! Long time no see!”

“Kieeeek!!!! Kkieeeeeeeeeek!!!!!!!!!!!”

As he landed on the wyvern’s tail and greeted it, the creature shrieked with a desperate expression.