Ch.7575. Legion

Not long after passing the collapsed Association building.

-Guuuung!

I felt the vibration of mana from a distance.

A strong wave powerful enough for even someone like me, who isn’t skilled at mana detection, to feel.

“Looks like there’s a battle going on over there. Seems to be about the size of one company?”

Seirai pointed in the exact direction with a faint smile.

We hurried toward that location.

“Warriors, get over there quickly and block them!”

I heard the urgent voice of a man.

Dozens of explorers were gathered together, maintaining the front line.

And.

On that front line, countless monsters were swarming in—probably numbering in the thousands.

An overwhelming quantity that instilled fear.

Arks, humanity’s last hope, had already transformed into a battlefield.

The terribly pervasive Demonic Blood.

‘Did the monsters gather because they sensed the Demonic Blood?’

Monsters tended to be drawn to intense Demonic Blood.

This wasn’t even the Labyrinth—was it possible for such a large quantity to gather in an open environment like this?

What a horrific sight.

“Let’s join them.”

Just as I suggested to everyone.

-Kwaaang!

A massive fireball exploded over the clustered monsters.

Dozens of monsters were incinerated in an instant.

“I thought everyone would rush in, so I fired preemptively, but it looks like I acted alone. Sorry.”

It was Seirai.

“…No. It doesn’t matter much.”

The guild leader who responded to her drew her weapon.

“I’ll go first, Adel follow me, and Kyle, escort the priests and mages. Don’t forget to take good care of the princess too.”

For reference, though it wasn’t mentioned, Kyle was carrying the princess on his back.

-Kuung!

After giving brief orders, the guild leader immediately charged toward the monsters.

‘There’s definitely a reason why the city was destroyed.’

I followed her while surveying the surroundings.

Sand spiders, vampire wolves, sand spirits, and more.

Most of the monsters were upper 4th-grade to lower 3rd-grade.

Even upper 4th-grade monsters could be sliced through by decent explorers, but hundreds or thousands of them gathered together?

This was nothing short of a disaster.

But.

“Flash.”

-Kwaaang!

A blue flash exploded in the middle of the battlefield.

Dozens of monsters were incinerated by that single strike.

“Kieeek-!”

Most of the monsters affected by the shock began charging toward the guild leader.

“…The monsters are targeting someone else! We can’t miss this opportunity! Chase after them and take out as many as possible!”

The sturdy-looking man who appeared to be the leader of that group shouted.

The guild leader created chaos among the monsters, and in that opening, the explorers reduced their numbers.

‘Looks like I don’t even need to step in.’

But right now, I had a mission to fulfill.

To somehow draw out the power of the Constellation through battle.

“Grrrr!”

A vampire wolf spotted me and charged.

With a light swing of my sword, its head was severed.

It seemed easier than I expected, but.

The creature continued charging at me even with its head cut off.

“!”

-Kaang!

I reflexively raised my shield to block it.

Even with a shield made of top-grade materials, I felt a considerable impact.

The creature died immediately upon hitting the shield, but the problem was that dozens more like it were charging at me.

‘This is a bad matchup.’

It was nearly impossible to defeat an enemy that wouldn’t die even when decapitated using just a sword.

No choice.

‘Instantaneous Hardening.’

I applied hardening to my right hand and.

Swung it at the first creature that lunged at me.

-Kuung!

Its head caved in, and it stopped moving instantly.

‘Cutting off its head didn’t kill it, but crushing it works.’

Without stopping, I hunted as many monsters as possible during the 2 seconds the hardening lasted.

In total, I took down 6 of them that way.

There were still about 20 vampire wolves surrounding me.

“…”

Somehow, I managed to defeat them all.

***

Not even thirty minutes after the battle began, all the monsters were cleared.

“Haa, haa.”

I looked around while catching my breath. All I could see was red blood everywhere.

Half of it was essentially the guild leader’s share.

‘I wonder how many hundreds I killed.’

After slashing, dodging, deflecting, crushing, and rolling, I had taken down quite a number.

Of course, compared to the guild leader who constantly unleashed area attacks, it was just a drop in the bucket.

“Thank you so much for your help. If it weren’t for all of you, we would have died long ago.”

The man who had led the battle expressed his gratitude.

As if they had planned it beforehand, the dozens of explorers behind him bowed in unison.

‘I thought they would be wary of us, but not at all.’

For reference, we were all currently wanted criminals.

Charged with attempting to overthrow the state under the princess’s leadership.

So I was prepared to be attacked when starting the conversation, but.

“The royal family? Why would anyone trust those bastards anymore?”

Explorers were the quickest to change their attitudes.

They were already full of complaints about the terrible management, and now monsters were crawling into the Labyrinth city?

It was a situation that made people doubt the royal family’s power.

“I never liked the royal family to begin with. They put up one barrier and expect so much. Sigh.”

…This person seemed to have more reasons than just that.

Anyway.

With the situation as it was, and faith in the royal family shattered.

They didn’t know if the accusations of attempting to overthrow the state were true, and even if they were, their attitude was basically “who cares anymore?”

“Anyway, thank you so much again.”

He was about to bow once more when.

“…?”

He hesitated momentarily after making eye contact with someone.

“…Actually, I’d like to retract part of what I just said. It’s not that I never liked the royal family, but rather that I disliked how they branded the princess a traitor.”

Ah.

“…You seem to know something.”

“Thank you.”

To maintain such composure even in this situation.

It was truly explorer-like to prepare for all variables.

Anyway.

“Once again, thank you all. If it weren’t for you, and the princess’s benevolence, we would all be dead by now.”

“Yeah. You all would have died without us.”

Seeing this, the guild leader showed a faint smile as if feeling satisfied.

I turned away from her and asked the explorers a question.

“By the way, how did all of you end up gathering like this? Have you been together since everything started?”

“Hmm… I suppose you could say we were gathered. We were all near the Association when we joined forces.”

…!

“You were near the Association building?!”

I grabbed his shoulders and asked urgently.

“Ah, yes, that’s right. We were there when monsters started pouring out, so the explorers in the area banded together to rescue civilians while moving.”

The content of his answer wasn’t important. What I really wanted to ask was.

“Was there a pink-haired woman near the Association building? Someone who worked at the Association.”

“I’m not sure about that person. Everything was so chaotic that I couldn’t see clearly.”

“…I see.”

I thought I might be able to find Sherry’s whereabouts.

As gloomy emotions began to overwhelm me.

“Excuse me, are you talking about the pink-haired receptionist…?”

A woman stepped forward and spoke.

“Yes, that’s right. The branch director’s daughter.”

“Th-that person was right next to the Association building the whole time… And after the monsters appeared, I was knocked down so I couldn’t see well… but she suddenly collapsed too, and some knight tried to protect her…”

She avoided my gaze and said briefly.

“I think they were thrown into the building and crushed under the debris…”

“…”

“Ah, no, I might have seen wrong! It was probably just my imagination…!”

The woman speaking had an expression like she was facing something terrifying.

I can guess why.

My expression must be obvious even without seeing it.

“…Shit.”

My arms started trembling.

My breathing became rapid.

Even though the person in front of me had done nothing wrong.

My face kept wanting to contort.

‘I saw it.’

The building right next to the Association.

The dead knight.

The collapsed debris.

“Guild leader.”

I want to go right now.

I know it’s meaningless to go now.

But I still want to go.

I need to go.

“…Adel.”

The guild leader faced me with a serious expression.

“Don’t regret it. By then, it was already too late.”

“…”

Even Shiro, who knew her mana, and Seirai, who was practically the best mage in the Labyrinth city.

No one could sense Sherry’s mana.

She was already dead by the time we arrived there.

But.

“May I go there just once?”

“…Haah.”

The guild leader let out a short sigh.

“I don’t mind. No, it might not be a bad choice. Right now, gaining battle experience is important for you.”

However.

“Risking your life to find another woman, one who’s likely already dead… wouldn’t your girlfriend mind?”

“…I see.”

My thinking was shallow.

What’s important for us right now is to quickly clear the monsters spread throughout the central area and rescue people.

Rationally speaking, what I wanted to do would be a significant loss.

At that moment.

“Adel.”

Shiro, who had slipped between the guild leader and me, looked up at me.

“…Let’s go.”

Shiro’s voice trembled subtly.

“I… couldn’t find her.”

Her eyes were filled with guilt.

***

Me, Shiro, and Kyle as well.

The three of us returned to where the Association was located.

Originally, I planned to go with just Shiro, but the guild leader decided Kyle should come along in case of unexpected situations.

So, we stood in front of the place where blood-stained armor was dented.

The debris of the terribly collapsed building. A dreadful aura of Demonic Blood was emanating from inside.

It seemed impossible that anyone could still be alive.

“I’ll dig through it.”

I carefully climbed onto the debris and one by one.

One by one, one by one.

I tried to face the truth.

And.

“…sir.”

I discovered eyes buried underneath.

A tiny voice leaked through the numerous fragments.

“Adel… sir…”

Sherry was alive.

“Sherry!”

I moved the debris as quickly as possible without hurting her.

“Shiro! Kyle! She’s still alive! Please help quickly!”

“…!”

Everyone moved frantically to rescue her, buried several meters below.

Terrible Demonic Blood was rising. It was a level of energy that even decent explorers would struggle to endure.

How many hours had Sherry endured in there?

After just a few minutes.

We succeeded in rescuing her.

Her reddened eyes were unfocused. Her entire skin was contaminated with Demonic Blood as if burned.

“Adel… sir…”

“…I’m sorry, Sherry. Please hold on just a little longer.”

We needed to hurry to Deneb for treatment.

Just as I was about to move.

-Kuung.

A powerful resonance traveled through the ground.

“Kyle, what’s—”

-Kuuung!

The earth trembled.

“…Adel sir. You should leave this to me and escape quickly.”

Right now, this place was permeated with terrible Demonic Blood.

As we dug through the debris, the Demonic Blood that had been trapped with Sherry enveloped the area.

Which meant.

-Kwaaang!

A monster with a massive body that must have been over 10 meters tall.

And behind it, an army of thousands of beasts.

“Hurry and escape to tell the guild leader! An unidentifiable monster has appeared!”

Kyle shouted urgently upon seeing it.

“…”

Kyle described it as an unidentifiable monster, but I knew what that being was.

[Everyone died.]

The Corpse Collector, a lower 2nd-grade monster.

It was a field boss that appeared on the 10th floor.

Despite its overwhelming size, its basic specs were relatively low, but the problem was its special ability.

[Now, friends?]

-Kwadududuk!

The space around it split open, and monster corpses poured out.

It summons the corpses of all monsters that died on that floor and uses them as its minions.

Which means.

‘All the monsters that died throughout the Labyrinth city will be revived around that thing.’

A disaster had appeared.