Ch.6464. Secret

Airi was hiding her power.

Having reached that conclusion, I immediately moved my body.

-Kaang!

I swung my sword and shield repeatedly, accumulating damage.

Airi’s barrier perfectly nullified the golem’s attacks, while Shiro was pushing back against the pursuer.

‘Can we win?’

Shiro was engaged in an intense battle with the creature.

Whenever smoke swirled, Shiro reacted instantly, moving her body and clashing swords with the enemy, revealing its form.

A man wrapped in a black robe.

While Shiro seemed to dominate the frontal battle…

‘No effective hits.

Though she appeared to overwhelm him in physical ability, she was at a disadvantage in terms of utility.

That’s why only Shiro was sustaining injuries.

The wounds healed immediately after being inflicted, so they seemed meaningless. But there would eventually be a limit.

I needed to uncover the secret of his ability.

‘He keeps teleporting.’

Two purple footprints visible on the ground.

The enemy freely left those footprints, and occasionally teleported to their locations.

Moreover, his form was concealed right after teleporting.

He could escape one-sidedly while making his position difficult to track, and whenever I looked away even briefly, he would use stealth again and launch blade attacks from a distance.

…What ridiculous abilities.

‘What kind of setting is this?’

Two footprints, teleportation, purple blade energy.

How could such an unreasonable setting exist?

If I could just figure out what it was, I might discover a weakness.

‘I don’t know.’

This was originally a game about climbing the Labyrinth, and unless someone was a pervert, there’d be no reason to create PVP settings.

-Kuuung!

‘Anyway, let me focus on what I can do.’

My best option now was to deal with the golem.

Having taken several of Shiro’s spells, the golem’s health was probably nearly depleted.

Moreover, the “Divine Barrier” that Airi deployed had reflection damage.

-Kuung!

I kicked off the ground and confidently shouted.

“Ms. Airi! Thirty more seconds should do it!”

I’d quickly deal burst damage and then join Shiro.

‘Hardening’s cooldown has about 4 seconds left.’

I counted the time as I closed the distance with the golem.

An attack came down as if to crush my head.

‘I’ll dive deeper.’

Following the standard strategy, I entered the space between its arm and torso.

-Kaang! Kang!

I continued pummeling it with my fists, accumulating damage.

Of course, maintaining close distance meant it might swing its arms, but…

I trusted Airi.

-Buuuung!

After several seconds passed, a sound like a massive train moving echoed.

It meant the golem’s attack was ready.

The sound pattern moved from the torso toward the head.

‘It’s coming from the left.’

This was a pattern I’d learned from countless encounters with this creature in the game.

An attack that only triggers when health drops below 10 percent and various other conditions are met.

Normally, hearing this sound meant certain death, but…

Right now, I wasn’t alone.

“Ms. Airi! An attack is coming from the left soon!”

I shouted to her, as she likely didn’t have a clear view.

Simultaneously, I used “Instantaneous Hardening” on my arm and swung it toward the incoming attack.

-Jjeojeojeojek!

With a familiar sound, a golden barrier enveloped my arm.

It stopped the golem’s arm, but my attack hadn’t ceased.

-Kwaaaaang!

With a tremendous boom, my body rose from the recoil, and cracks formed on the golem’s arm.

‘I’ll destroy it in one go.’

Without controlling my airborne body, I climbed onto its arm.

The golem’s movement would still be restricted from the shock.

I climbed its body toward the core in its chest, and just as I was about to plunge my sword in…

“Spirit’s blessing, acceleration.”

A man’s voice echoed from afar.

-Kuuuung!

A sound like air shattering gradually spread.

No, more precisely, something much faster than my perception was approaching.

Whatever arrived beside me with that sound was wrapped in a black robe.

“—–.”

Just as a normal human cannot perceive a raindrop falling…

He quickly passed by me.

“…!”

After he disappeared from my sight.

Just one second passed.

-Puuuuk!

Blood began pouring from my neck.

“Adel!”

Shiro was the quickest to grasp what had happened.

She was running toward me with eyes full of despair.

“…”

I wanted to shout something to her.

But my body wouldn’t move, and time flowed agonizingly slowly.

‘It must be a Source ability.’

He approached me with overwhelming speed.

I couldn’t hear clearly, but he said something about a spirit’s blessing.

There’s only one Source with that kind of activation phrase for acceleration.

The Wind Spirit’s Source, a monster Source ranked as high as 2nd grade.

Cooldown: 3 minutes.

‘It’s just a 1-second acceleration, but…’

With the right combination, it could rival a 1st-grade Source in power.

“Ah-“

Only after that long train of thought could I let out a short groan.

Time feels slow.

Is it because I’m dying?

‘Since my throat was cut, that makes sense.’

It’s a miracle I didn’t die instantly from an attack at that speed.

Probably thanks to his mistake.

…Hmm.

If I’m going to die anyway, I should at least pass on information about the Source ability, but my mouth wouldn’t move.

“—.”

Ah, it moved.

But what came out could hardly be called human speech.

Did my vocal organs get damaged when my throat was stabbed?

‘Hmm.’

Now that I’m actually facing death, it doesn’t feel real somehow.

I always struggled when facing death before.

…Why?

‘Why don’t I feel anything?’

I felt strange.

I’m sure I wanted to live.

But now that I’m about to die, I don’t feel particularly sad.

What was my reason for wanting to live in the first place?

To return home.

…That’s what I thought, but now I’m not sure that was the goal.

Then what was it?

Why did I want to live so desperately?

Was I just struggling meaninglessly?

What was so important to me-

“-Adel!”

I heard Shiro’s voice.

‘….’

I was about to die, so hearing her voice wouldn’t change anything.

It would all become meaningless.

My entire life would be negated.

…Thinking that way made my heart ache terribly.

[This is the guild! You want to work as a receptionist, right?]

Actually, at first I thought it didn’t matter.

I just survived compulsively.

[Ah, a porter… really? You’re going to do that job?]

I tried to survive.

The reason didn’t matter.

In truth, I kept reminding myself of a goal I didn’t really want.

While claiming my goal was to return, I created reasons to live somehow.

Looking back now, it seems I hid behind the goal of survival after constantly running from reality.

[…Adel.]

In truth, I lived without any meaning.

But.

[Are you busy this evening?]

At some point, someone gradually approached me.

[Then, what’s your favorite food?]

What I thought would be a brief connection gradually filled my life.

[…That’s good then. Thanks to you, I feel a bit better.]

Even the noble lady who I thought would be a terrible connection.

[I want to be your concubine.]

…Even now she’s still somewhat terrible, and could still be called a bad connection.

Now, my life is full of something.

‘I don’t want to die.’

It’s not about returning to my original world or some grand reason.

Simply.

I want to be alive.

These feelings I have, these connections, this life right now.

I never want to lose them.

‘It hurts.’

It hurts.

The thought of dying now makes me feel like I’ll go insane from the pain.

Only when faced with imminent death did I truly find my reason for wanting to live.

I felt such regret, but then…

-Jiiiing!

A holy light began to envelop me.

Twelve crosses appeared and slowly rotated in a circle.

‘…Regeneration?’

A healing spell that only high-level priests, at least floor 8-9 level, could use.

I’d received it once from a Polaris priest.

Which means…

‘Airi was that priest.’

I had vaguely thought she wasn’t an ordinary mid-level priest.

At first, I thought she had connections with the guild master, and increasingly that she was hiding some ability.

But I never expected she was the one who could use this magic.

“…Ah.”

When I came to my senses, Shiro was carrying me on her back.

Most importantly, all the wounds on my body were disappearing in real time.

“Ms. Shiro… be careful of… ambushes.”

I cautioned her as she set me down on the ground.

Leaving the priest to come protect me was certainly a dangerous move.

If the pursuer had attacked us just now, we would have been helpless.

‘But why didn’t he attack?’

I was feeling my body recover when…

“Ah, Lord Adel. You don’t need to worry about ambushes right now. I’ve deployed a barrier scroll, so they won’t be able to enter for the next 5 minutes.”

“…A scroll, you say?”

Hearing her words, I looked around.

Indeed, a blue barrier completely sealed off the surroundings.

“A 1st-grade scroll, I see.”

“Yes. I was carrying it for emergencies… and this was the perfect situation. Though it would have been better if we didn’t need it at all.”

She showed a faint smile.

It was similar to her usual one, but something felt awkward about it.

“…Ms. Airi.”

“Yes.”

“Until now I’ve let things slide, but I’ve been thinking something was strange all along.”

I asked her quietly.

The noble lady and Shiro also focused their attention on her.

“Who are you really, Ms. Airi?”

“…”

She smiled silently.

I thought she might not want to answer, but…

“Hmm… I suppose I can tell you now.”

She bowed her head briefly, and a moment of silence passed.

Then.

“I am Deneb Westia, a member of the Polaris Guild’s 9th floor entry party.”

“…”

“I’m sorry for deceiving you until now. And I’d like you to hear more of my story until this barrier disappears.

Airi, no, Deneb spoke with a serious expression.

“As you may already know, the person pursuing us is likely connected to Ms. Shiro. And furthermore-“

“-directly related to the imperial family, that’s what our guild master suspects.”

“…Wait, what are you saying?”

I blurted out in bewilderment.

“You knew? That it was related to Ms. Shiro.”

“I wasn’t certain… but I knew a little. The organization entangled with Ms. Shiro is likely the same group we’re investigating.”

I had many questions.

I hadn’t even told her Shiro’s story, so how did she know?

“…Sigh.”

My head hurts.

“I have many questions, but I suppose we should talk slowly.”

“Yes. We can talk after finishing this battle.”

We prioritized our tasks and prepared for battle before the barrier disappeared.

However.

“…What are you two talking about? Am I the only one who doesn’t understand?”

The noble lady was simply confused, having no connection to the matter.