Ch.6666. Arrest

The wind blew as brilliant light covered the entire area.

Golden vitality bloomed between the barren rocks.

-Zing, zing.

The sound of church bells echoed through the ground and air.

‘The light is spreading.’

The brilliant light devoured my vision, consuming this entire area.

Then my gradually closing eyes suddenly opened wide.

Thanks to that, I could see light filling the wounds on my body.

‘Everything is returning.’

I couldn’t help but tremble.

The blood that had spilled onto the floor flowed back into my body. New flesh grew, and my shattered armor was restored.

My entire body was filled with magical power.

“…How is it?”

A circular space with a radius of 15 meters unfolded.

Holiness dwelled here. The power of the constellation dwelled here.

The blue power of the constellation coexisted with golden wind, and now his concealment was useless.

Because the eye of God cannot be deceived by anyone.

“…”

He glared at me for a moment.

A silver-haired man with black eyes, one eye covered by an eyepatch.

“Priests are indeed troublesome.”

-Boom!

He kicked off the ground and charged.

I raised my shield to block the front.

-Boom!

He kicked the shield and slipped to the side.

‘He’s still not visible to the eye.’

His speed was incomparably faster than mine.

If he was charging from a distance, it wouldn’t matter, but in close combat, it was a different story.

‘I need to predict.’

Now that the distance had narrowed, it would be too late to react after seeing his movements.

Below the shield, left, right, or above.

I had to guess which of the four main directions the attack would come from.

I had already sheathed my sword and ran forward with my freed hand protecting the back of my neck.

And after about ‘0.2 seconds’ had passed.

-Stab!

He pierced through my hand and stabbed at my neck.

It should have been a fatal wound to be stabbed in the nape, but.

“Hup-!”

God was watching over me.

My pierced hand healed instantly, and before he could pull out his dagger, it was trapped in flesh.

A momentary opening.

I grabbed the dagger and twisted my body-

“-Kheuk!”

I slammed his body to the ground.

That was the maximum counterattack I could manage, and-

-Whoosh.

His body disappeared from my sight.

‘Teleportation.’

His position.

“-!”

It was above my shield.

-Clang!

I barely managed to swing my arm and block the attack with my vambrace.

Given the awkward angle of the block, the vambrace should have been dented, but.

The effect of the Brilliant Gem, which guarantees successful defense against blocked attacks, activated.

‘I was hoping to use it at a more critical moment.’

Since it was an attack I hadn’t anticipated, I used it by mistake.

He was now floating in the air, pushed back by the impact.

‘I need to counter his teleportation in this brief moment.’

If I could just figure out the Source of this ability, I could exploit its weakness.

But for now, I lacked evidence to guess the Source.

‘No choice then.’

As I prepared for the next attack.

I noticed something attached to the sole of his boot.

‘A thin blade.’

Too thin and weak to be used as a weapon.

Since it was hidden inside the sole of the boot, it seemed the blade wouldn’t normally be exposed.

Then why have a blade at all?

‘….’

And then a thought occurred to me.

Could his ability to leave footprints on the floor at will be related to that blade?

‘There was definitely a Source that could cut through space with a blade.’

It was the Source of the Void Spirit, a hidden monster from the 7th floor.

The first ability was Sword Energy, a technique that could attack distant opponents by transcending space.

And the most important second ability was.

The ability to cut space with a blade or something similar, and teleport there.

‘I finally realized it.’

Since it was a Source only used in PVP, I couldn’t recall it earlier.

“Haah.”

I exhaled and examined my vambrace.

There was no trace of space being cut.

Therefore.

‘I’ll use this.’

Now that I knew what Source he possessed, it was time to exploit its weakness.

He was about to land on the ground.

The distance between us was about 4 meters.

As I prepared to charge, I focused on his boots,

and saw a purple light swirling on the floor.

-Bo-om!

I threw my shield forward and kicked off the ground to advance.

Normally, he would have reacted by slicing me easily, but.

‘Cutting space always causes a delay.’

A number flashed in my mind as I recalled the Source’s name.

15.

In the game, using ‘Space Cut’ caused exactly 15 frames of delay.

In a 60-frame game, that meant a 0.25-second delay in real life.

‘You can’t react!’

In that brief moment, confusion appeared on his face.

He probably let his guard down because it made no sense to charge at this timing.

“Hup-!”

I raised my sword and brought it down.

As his delay ended, he tried to move quickly.

I was still 50cm short, but.

That was fine.

‘The blade on his boot is still stuck in the ground.’

If he retreated, my sword would reach him before he could dodge.

Nor could he hastily pull his foot out.

The blade on his boot would break against the holy-power-infused hard rock, making teleportation difficult.

The only escape route left was to jump vertically.

So he jumped high, and.

‘I’ve already thrown my shield.’

Throwing my shield wasn’t just to reduce my weight.

-Clang!

The mythril shield crushed the face of the desperately rising man.

Stealth, speed, and the setup for space cutting required a total of 4 Sources.

He had not a single Source related to durability.

‘The possibility of him having 5 Sources is extremely low.’

Considering this, he was likely to suffer critical damage from even a slight hit.

Moreover, he had built for speed, yet crashed his face into a mythril shield at that tremendous velocity?

“Ugh… urk.”

He lay on the ground, clutching his slightly crushed face.

I quickly took his sword and cut his ankle to prevent movement.

Blood poured out, but I didn’t bother to stop the bleeding.

Since he could use magic, he’d probably survive somehow.

“Let me ask you something.”

I asked while stepping on his torso.

“Uwa, aak. Aaa.”

“…Not answering?”

He kept moaning, seemingly unable to speak due to his facial injuries.

‘Where’s a potion…’

After searching my pockets, I found two low-grade potions.

I must have bought them ages ago, yet I still had them.

-Hiss.

I poured a low-grade potion on the face of the man who was still moaning.

Then.

“Ah, aaaah! Aaa, aaah!”

Now he started writhing and screaming wildly.

“My, such exaggeration.”

I poured the remaining low-grade potion on his face.

“Aak! Ah, aak! Kill me! Pleeeease!”

His resistance grew stronger.

Low-grade potions do hurt, but enough to cause that reaction?

“Hmm.”

I decided to wait until his fit subsided, and.

-Whoosh.

I saw the brilliant light that had covered the area receding.

“Adel!”

“Lord Adel!”

Deneb and the noble lady who had been outside the Sanctuary.

“…You.”

And even Shiro.

Everyone was coming toward me.

“Ah…”

Only now did I feel the sense of victory.

“Phew.”

My legs gave out and I sat down.

“Aak!”

“Oh right.”

I moved away from the man I had been stepping on.

“…”

I looked around at everyone for a moment.

The noble lady wore a faint smile, and Shiro was carrying Deneb on his back.

“Ms. Deneb, did you collapse after deploying the Sanctuary?”

“Ah… yes. Since it’s a miracle that uses a bit too much power, I end up like this after using it.”

Deneb answered in a drooping voice.

It was only natural given the power of such a technique.

“…”

A moment of silence.

We turned our heads to look at each other.

We had realized so many things through this incident.

Although the absolute time of battle was short, what we felt couldn’t be conveyed in brief conversation.

So.

“Thank you all.”

I could only utter those short words.

***

The incident was concluded.

[Aaaaargh!]

After torturing the pursuer, we obtained information about the organization he belonged to.

We entered the hidden room, prepared a Source for Shiro, and caught the Lesser Griffin.

If the Lesser Griffin had been summoned from far away, Deneb’s condition would have been a problem, but fortunately, the summoning location was nearby.

[Lesser Griffin Soul Source.]

It was a Grade 2 Source that greatly increased speed, mana sensitivity, and mana capacity itself.

Moreover, the power of “Gust Rush,” the Source’s unique wind magic, was also quite decent.

‘She’s grown tremendously.’

Now Shiro was essentially a 7th-8th floor level explorer.

She had filled all three slots with powerful Sources that synergized well, not just mediocre ones.

Moreover, she had exceptional talent in basic magic and swordsmanship.

Now she just needed to increase her maximum number of Sources on the 7th floor and synthesize a Grade 1 Source to complete her build.

Anyway.

We caught the Lesser Griffin and escaped the boss room.

‘Now we head outside.’

Time flows differently in the Lesser Griffin’s room, and clearing it always results in 2 weeks passing outside.

Therefore.

[Theme: ‘Summer’ 3rd cycle is ending.]

We were enveloped in pure white light.

***

When I opened my eyes, I saw the usual plaza.

I looked around while carrying Deneb, who had been collapsed for a week.

The sunlight embraced us, and numerous explorers were in various situations.

But.

“By order of the Imperial Family! All explorers who have emerged from the Labyrinth must cease all activities and follow the orders of the Imperial Knights!”

A shout was heard.

“…?”

Looking around, everyone seemed to have a similar reaction to mine.

A feeling of “what nonsense is this all of a sudden.”

‘They really are knights though.’

Holy knights with the imperial emblem on their shoulders stood surrounding the plaza.

I wondered what could be happening, when.

“What is this about! Why are you taking me away!”

“…”

Explorers began to be dragged away one by one by the holy knights.

‘What is this?’

Since each holy knight was skilled enough to rival upper-floor explorers, almost everyone was dragged away without being able to resist.

“Adel, do you have any idea what’s going on?”

“No, Ms. Shiro, I don’t know either…”

It was a headache-inducing situation.

‘It’s already overwhelming to think about the organization Shiro is involved with. Why is this happening too?’

The information obtained from the pursuer was limited, so it only made things more complicated.

It seemed he didn’t know much about the group he belonged to either.

Moreover.

‘Most people in the group are Possessors.’

That fact filled my head.

Deneb said she would explain the details once she recovered, so I shouldn’t worry too much, but.

‘Still, it bothers me-‘

“-Explorer Adel! Explorer Shiro!”

Huh?

I turned around as someone grabbed my arm, and several holy knights were surrounding us.

“We are arresting you on charges of participating in an organization that has committed treason against the state!”

“…What?”

This was truly bewildering.