episode_0086

“…….”

I stared straight ahead.

Clara.

Unlike Veronica, who bore the title of “Saint Proxy,” she was a figure secretly revered within the Church as the true Saint.

‘……Secret within the Church, huh.’

Given that Diago knew the information, it felt like the secrecy was already compromised. But perhaps very few were actually aware of it.

‘Ermé was the one who told me, after all.’

It made sense that others wouldn’t know.

I looked ahead.

Clara was staring at Veronica with trembling eyes. Veronica, in turn, glared back at her with icy coldness.

‘And behind them—’

Knights clad in full plate armor stood guard.

And behind them—

Another priest was visible.

“Greetings, brothers and sisters.”

A man with an easygoing smile, dressed in priestly robes.

“And you are?”

“We are servants of the Goddess of Light. It’s an unwritten rule among explorers in the labyrinth to avoid crossing paths, but… well, that only applies to the lower floors.”

Was that really a thing?

Come to think of it, we had generally avoided running into others. Mostly because some would try to lure monsters toward us or pull some underhanded tricks.

‘…….’

—You really do attract trouble, don’t you?

At the Holy Sword’s remark, I had no response.

But.

‘Why the hell are these guys here?’

I tilted my head slightly, observing them. I’d never seen priests entering the labyrinth before—when did they even get in?

“By the way, I must say I’m impressed. Our team is fairly promising, but we’ve never managed to defeat a floor boss before.”

The man looked at us with what seemed like genuine admiration.

“Truly befitting of the most prominent clan in [Cradle] at the moment.”

“Flattery aside, what brings the Church here?”

Ermé stepped forward, smiling brightly as she inquired about their business.

“Haha, nothing major. We just happened to notice our Saint passing by—”

The man gestured toward Veronica before suddenly falling silent. She was glaring at him with murderous eyes.

‘Smart of him to know not to provoke a rabid dog.’

I revised my assessment of him slightly upward.

“It seems the Saint has grown a bit… sharp lately, given the dangerous times.”

A bit?

‘She looks ready to kill someone on the spot.’

But I kept my mouth shut.

I wasn’t cut out to be a leader, but a leader needed to maintain composure.

“……”

“……”

Clara and Veronica continued to stare at each other.

One, with a razor-sharp hostility.

The other, with something hidden beneath her expression.

‘……The Law of Twin Birth, was it?’

Twins bound by a single fate.

A cruel name, really. One dies, and the other inherits their power.

Even if you don’t outright hate each other for it,

the relationship inevitably becomes strained.

“If you’ve finished your greetings, you should move along.”

“Right. The lower floors are dangerous, after all. We’ll be heading that way.”

Coincidentally, our destinations were different.

Unlike other labyrinths, the Grassland Field had a straightforward path—just keep moving forward, and you’d reach the gate to the next floor.

‘The problem is how absurdly huge it is.’

From what I’d heard, even the 10th floor alone was comparable in size to [Cradle].

And for reference, Cradle was a massive city.

By my past life’s standards—

‘Roughly the size of a metropolitan city.’

An absurd scale, no matter how you looked at it. Even accounting for the medieval setting, a single city being this developed was ridiculous.

At any rate, given the sheer size of this place, we probably wouldn’t run into them again.

—

After parting ways with the Church group,

we focused on hunting.

“Theresa, frontline. Veronica and Rosente, prepare.”

Ever since entering the labyrinth, it had been one hectic day after another.

The new field starting from the 6th floor—

the Grassland Field—was far more brutal than expected.

‘What kind of monsters are these?’

Every creature we’d faced so far seemed to be spawning at once.

Not just in numbers—dozens at a time—

but the intervals between battles were too short.

Even right after finishing a fight, I could already see monsters approaching from a kilometer away.

“Can you identify them clearly from that distance?”

“Yes.”

Thanks to the archer’s vision correction, distinguishing enemies was easy.

The problem was—

‘……There are too many.’

Around a hundred in total.

Normally, that wouldn’t be a big deal. But these included both ground and aerial monsters.

—Screeeech!

The newly added monsters were harpies.

Floating in the air, they disoriented us with sonic attacks before diving down for strikes. Even I found them annoying at times.

I sighed as another wave closed in.

“What a pain.”

“Honestly, we’re in great shape. For monsters to swarm like this and still have this much leeway?”

Ermé grinned as she spoke.

“……?”

This is considered a lot?

Is that why it’s so chaotic?

“It is strange. Monsters don’t usually gather like this.”

“Tch. I was hoping to take it easy.”

Hansen and Veronica, who had experience descending further, shared their thoughts.

“……”

Was all of this really happening because of me?

Hard to believe.

But.

It wasn’t entirely unreasonable.

Every time I entered a labyrinth, something chaotic did seem to happen.

—Normally, monsters don’t gather like this. You must have some kind of… unusual misfortune.

“……Focus on the fight for now.”

—It’s not all bad, though. At least you’ve got the strength to handle them.

‘True.’

Even if I could only maintain it for about eight hours a day.

I stepped back slightly.

Theresa stepped forward, looking exhausted.

Thud.

Her shield slammed into the ground.

And at the same time—

Flash!

A golden barrier, conjured by Rosente and Veronica, expanded outward.

The others began preparing as well.

Then the monsters charged.

BOOOOM!

With an explosive sound, Theresa was pushed back slightly.

I rushed forward immediately. The barrier held, but Theresa was the one sustaining it.

I had to lighten her load, even a little.

—Left and above.

I swung my sword.

A half-troll’s arm was severed mid-swing.

Followed by a series of strikes from the Hero’s orthodox swordsmanship—

three slashes cutting through a leg.

I kicked a hobgoblin lunging from the side and used Shadow Reaper to grab a harpy diving from above.

Countless monsters pressed from the front.

‘Hah.’

I inhaled.

And released my fighting spirit. The surging aura froze the monsters for a split second.

In that opening, Viola’s spell completed, crashing down upon them.

‘Starting to feel the strain?’

Not enough to affect my combat ability yet.

Stamina was running a bit low, but Rosente and Violeta kept healing us, so it was manageable.

By the time half the monsters remained—

Dark Heaven.

Grooooooan!

A towering darkness surged into the sky, binding and crushing the surrounding monsters. The weakest—goblins and hobgoblins—dissolved into black smoke.

“That’s always impressive.”

Glasses adjusted his glasses as he spoke.

If he was making comments like that, the battle was nearly over.

“Hah.”

I let out a sigh of relief.

“So, how does it feel? Being a clan leader and joining the hunt.”

“……It sucks.”

“Most people would want this. You really are different.”

Glasses chuckled, sounding oddly relieved.

He probably had his own story too.

‘But that’s not important right now.’

Ermé and the others began cleaning up the stragglers.

And then—

‘The gate’s coming into view.’

About two kilometers ahead by our pace,

the gate was visible.

The passage to the next floor.

‘……The 11th floor.’

If floors 6 to 10 were the Grassland Field,

from the 11th onward, the environment became fixed.

A cave-like area.

Commonly called the Catacombs.

With ceilings over 100 meters high, aerial monsters still appeared, but—

the real challenge was—

‘Undead.’

Unlike the Eternal Legion or whatever they were called, these guys dropped decent loot.

While regular monsters only gave magic stones,

descending here yielded special materials and rarer stones.

“What’s the plan?”

Ermé asked me.

Proceed downward or not?

The party’s gazes weighed on me.

“What does everyone think?”

“I say we go down.”

Glasses was the first to voice his opinion.

“Frontliners might hate it, but our clan has plenty of mages and elemental swordsmen. We’ll manage.”

“Besides, we’ve got the Saint, don’t we?”

“Huh. Glasses has a decent eye for once.”

“……My name is Marcel.”

“Sure, Glasses.”

“……Whatever.”

Even Glasses knew better than to pick a fight with the rabid dog.

He let it slide.

‘Summarizing…’

They want to proceed to the 11th floor.

I stared at the gate. It didn’t seem suspicious.

“Let’s rest for a day before moving.”

“Agreed.”

—

I looked up at the sky.

A golden barrier enveloped our surroundings.

A power only available to devotees of the Goddess of Light—

one that repelled monsters.

‘No wonder the Church of the Goddess of Light is dominant.’

Seeing it in action, I understood why.

I turned my gaze to the party preparing camp.

Ever since I’d cooked for them before,

I’d been exempt from most chores—keeping watch, setting up sleeping bags, pitching tents.

As I relaxed,

someone approached.

“So, what do you think?”

Veronica grinned crookedly.

I wanted to wipe that smirk off her face, but—

her abilities were undeniably impressive.

‘If not for her—’

we wouldn’t have made it this far so easily.

I could acknowledge skill when I saw it.

The problem was her being an uncontrollable mad dog.

“Not tempted to recruit me yet? It’s about time, don’t you think?”

“More trouble than it’s worth.”

Honestly.

Having Veronica in the clan would be beneficial, sure.

But it’d mean making enemies of the Celestial Slayer or whatever he was called.

And—

‘High chance of antagonizing the Church and Clara too.’

That’s why I didn’t want her joining.

“You’re misunderstanding something. The Church isn’t entirely against me.”

“……What?”

I was genuinely surprised.

With her personality, there were actually factions within the Church that supported her? People who tolerated her bullshit?

‘Ah, so that’s the Church.’

Come to think of it, the Church was supposed to be where devout clergy gathered…

Devout clergy?

…Not quite.

Rosente, who’d been complaining about the battle being tough, was now uncorking a bottle of wine and chugging.

Was the Church of Light really okay with this?

“What’s with that look?”

“So, factions exist?”

“Obviously. What did you take me for?”

A rabid bitch.

I chose a different phrasing.

“A lunatic, obviously.”

“Exactly.”

“……You’ve got no sense of restraint—no, forget it. Arguing over this is exhausting.”

Veronica’s expression darkened slightly as she stared at me.

“What choice will you make?”

“……”

Choice.

A heavy topic.

—Hypothetically. Just hypothetically… If the whole world turned against my sister, what would you do?

Clara’s question resurfaced in my mind.

I’d answered that I’d oppose her.

—Even so. Just once… Couldn’t you reach out to her, even a little?

Clara’s words lingered.

Suddenly.

Just a fleeting thought, but the demon I’d seen in my dreams—

‘Was it Veronica?’

The idea crossed my mind.

“You’re usually so decisive. Now you’re hesitating?”

Veronica smirked.

“Think it over before this expedition ends. Depending on your answer, I’ll decide whether to stay or leave.”

With that, she walked away.

—

The next day.

We headed to the 11th floor.

Unlike the 10th, the 11th was eerily quiet.

No monsters in sight.

—Strange. For there to be none…

The Holy Sword sounded wary.

‘As I thought.’

Even for me, that level of swarming was abnormal.

Maybe it was balancing out…

“……”

The stench of blood hung thick in the air.

At the far end of the wall, a corpse lay mangled—

limbs torn apart, face grotesquely twisted.

“Th-that’s…!”

“……The man we met yesterday.”

The entire clan was visibly shaken.

And then—

Silently.

I could feel Viola’s rage building.

I’d felt this before.

The Necrotic Skeleton.

When it had killed Nation.

The situation was similar.

—Guess it wasn’t balancing out after all.

The Holy Sword let out a hollow laugh.

Quietly, I prepared for battle.