The Floor of Conquest.
Floors that generally take the form of a domain—such as a towering spire or a magnificent castle—and are cleared by defeating the Abyss monster that rules that domain are called Floors of Conquest.
In a sense, they are a type of single boss monster stage.
If there was anything a little unusual about them, it was that they contained structures like castles or towers, and Abyss monsters suited to those characteristics would appear.
There might be traps, and the boss monster reigning at the very top would be especially powerful.
Because of those factors, it was a floor that demanded caution. But conversely, that was all there was to it.
If anything, it was a relief.
The giant island of the previous 51st floor, the labyrinth of the 50th floor, and so on.
On the 51st floor, the inability to log out had brought out the weakness of the possessors, and on the 50th floor, the labyrinth had dragged Daphne and Hio into the abyss when they were completely unprepared.
Compared to those bundles of variables, this one ended once they conquered the castle and killed the monster ruling it, so in one sense it was fortunate.
“……It’s huge.”
Of course, that did not mean it would be easy by any means.
The castle walls were so impossibly high that even Silbert found them sickening. A majestic sight that any human would naturally feel crushed beneath.
When would one ever see castle walls that reached the end of the sky?
He had seen them through a game monitor, so he had known there would be a tall tower or an enormous castle, but seeing it in person meant being overwhelmed by its grandeur.
Even beneath such walls, Antiphus gave orders without the slightest change in expression.
“Move out and find the entrance.”
At that, the Awakened split into two groups along the castle wall and moved in perfect order.
As high as the walls were, stretching beyond sight, they were also thick and vast.
Destroying such walls was impossible. Using Silbert’s telekinesis to carry everyone over them was impossible as well. So first, they had to find the entrance—and that was the problem from the start.
Depending on where they had entered, it could take more than a full day just to find the entrance. That was how vast this space was.
Once they found the entrance, it would begin.
If the castle walls were this high, the castle within would surely be just as vast and tall.
They had no way of knowing what kind of Abyss monsters were lurking there, so they had to proceed with the utmost caution.
“Hurry. We must never fall behind the Empire.”
However, Antiphus felt not the slightest fear toward such monsters.
What he wanted was only one thing.
To show an overwhelming experience, an overwhelming gap.
A man named Antiphus Praman had to be that way.
He had lived his entire life like that.
He had always reigned above the heads of others.
To always be ahead was, to him, more than an obligation; it was an utterly natural part of daily life.
Of course, exceptions always existed, and in his life there had been only one.
“Supreme Heavenly Demon.”
The man who had always reigned over the head of Antiphus, who had always had to win at everything and move ahead no matter what he did.
The man who had made him so absorbed in a game he had begun lightly, out of mere curiosity.
The only one he had never managed to defeat, no matter how close he had seemed to come.
“No matter what it takes, I will conquer this floor before he does.”
As Antiphus murmured, a brown madness flickered in his eyes.
* * *
Fortunately, the castle entrance was close.
“We’ve found the entrance!”
It could have taken more than a full day if things went badly, but they had discovered it in only a few hours.
“Good. We move at once.”
They gathered the scattered Awakened and immediately set out toward the entrance they had found.
Compared to the Empire’s side, they were a small group of about fifty, so their movement was even faster.
And so they arrived at the castle entrance.
The towering castle gate was slightly open, yet the gap was wide enough for everyone to pass through in a single line.
Beyond that enormous gate.
There—
“……Is this hell?”
As someone muttered, it was a scene like hell itself.
Inside the castle walls, a pitch-black aura flowed like fog.
Within that darkness, there were no fewer than hundreds of gleaming eyes.
“To think we’re being welcomed like this from the entrance……”
They had not even entered the main castle yet. This was merely the gate in the outer wall, and yet there were already this many enemies, this much presence.
As everyone swallowed hard and tensed, the first to step forward was, as expected, Antiphus.
He held his massive greatsword lightly in one hand and advanced without the slightest hesitation.
It was the stride of a man certain he would never fall on a floor of this level.
Watching Antiphus’s back, the other Awakened also began to move.
They, too, were people who had chosen to remain until the end and continue the攻略.
Beyond the enormous castle gate.
They walked into the dense darkness.
* * *
The Imperial camp led by Sword Saint Vitalianus.
The atmosphere here was starkly different from that of the possessors’ camp.
Unlike the possessors, who had begun moving busily the moment they arrived, they first raised tents, established their formation, and slowly adapted and prepared.
From their perspective, it was only natural.
Wasn’t building a base and setting up command before entering a war the most basic of basics?
Moreover, their numbers far exceeded the possessors’ side, so they also had to pay attention to supplies.
Inside the command tent they had established, a small disturbance was taking place.
Ailaitz had coolly removed her hood, revealing a beauty that stood out even among elves.
“First, we have to find the castle entrance.”
At the beautiful voice she spoke so calmly with, the interior began to stir.
Perhaps this much commotion was only natural.
It was surprising enough that such beauty had been hidden beneath that gloomy hood, but an elf, of all things?
Did that mysterious other race, said to appear only in legends and stories, truly exist?
And naturally, elves were usually described as a gentle, nature-loving, courteous race……
“How long are you going to keep whispering with those stupid looks on your faces? Because you’re all so incompetent, I haven’t even seen Hio’s face in days, and here I am.”
Unlike her pure and elegant beauty, her expression looked as if she had bitten into something foul, and the way she spat out informal speech from the very first meeting was completely different from the image of elves in their minds.
On top of that, the priests of the Holy Kingdom seemed so accustomed to this behavior that they were skillfully ignoring the elf altogether.
“S-sorry……?”
Some among the leadership were overwhelmed by Ailaitz’s presence and, before they knew it, scratched their heads and apologized.
Why was it that even with such an ill-mannered way of speaking, they felt strangely little resistance?
There was no need to say it twice. It was because she was beautiful.
Beauty that transcended common sense, the mystique and unfamiliarity carried by the name elf.
And the faint crimson aura spreading subtly around Ailaitz, whether they realized it or not.
All of it combined, and before long, Ailaitz had become the center of the tent.
They flinched and paid attention to each of her small movements, each expression, each trivial gesture.
It was proof that Ailaitz’s charm was spreading without her even realizing it.
Of course.
“Yes. As expected, you are worthy of being the magician’s companion.”
At Vitalianus’s low, resonant words, everyone’s minds were forcibly awakened.
Vitalianus’s gaze swept once across the leadership inside the tent.
The commanders of the Empire’s main knight orders, excluding the First Knight Order.
The leader of the skill-user unit, high-ranking priests of the Holy Kingdom, and the leaders of various other units had all gathered here.
His gaze made a circuit and finally landed on Ailaitz.
Who in the world was this woman, who had seized control of such people in such a short time?
The sweet scent and faint crimson aura that naturally emanated from her, even though she did not intend it.
He knew it felt somehow familiar, but he could not guess who she was.
“You said your name was Ailaitz?”
“Yeah.”
“Very well. After we find the castle entrance?”
“After that, it’s simple. We climb the castle and defeat the Conqueror, and that’s the clear.”
“Simple indeed.”
“Even if you’re the Sword Saint, it won’t be easy.”
“I can feel that well enough. There are more monsters than I expected.”
“Still, as long as we kill the Conqueror, the clear will naturally be completed and the floor will collapse, so you don’t need to worry about anything else. Of course, there’ll be endless battles on the way up the castle.”
Ailaitz spoke coldly with that pretty face.
Her behavior and answer only deepened his doubts.
Vitalianus was someone who knew of the possessors’ existence, along with Sylvia, so it was all the more strange to him.
The powerful people from that other world.
In other words, those called possessors, had one defining trait: they had no souls. Yet before the expedition, Sylvia had personally confirmed there was no one like that here.
That meant this woman named Ailaitz was not a person from that world…… So how did she know so much in such detail?
As if she had experienced it herself.
“I see. You know quite a lot of information.”
“Hmph. I’m telling you in advance so you won’t bother Hio later.”
He did have such questions, but in truth, they were not particularly important.
Was she not a companion of the magician Hio Pavlenko?
Considering how close they seemed to be, he might have told her.
“Then, as you said, we shall detach troops to search for the entrance. The remaining forces will establish camp and rest.”
Having made his decision, Vitalianus turned his gaze straight ahead, beyond the entrance of the tent.
To where the castle walls could be seen. To the sinister and enormous presence felt beyond them.
“A great battle is likely to unfold, so make sure to get sufficient rest.”
It was clear that from the moment they found the entrance, there would not be even a moment to breathe.
* * *
“……I really have to go now.”
Hio rose from his seat, placing all the magic books he had yet to finish reading into his subspace pouch.
— If you had a little more time, you might have managed to learn at least one.
“I know. Why did I have to pick Blink, of all things……”
The name had tempted him.
When one thought of a magician, one thought of Blink.
And when one thought of Blink, wasn’t it naturally a magician?
A space-type spell that allowed one to leap through a short distance.
What he had overlooked was that, due to the nature of space-type magic, it was absurdly difficult to learn.
At least, because he had once studied the magic circle that summoned Ariel in Arilleiya, there were some symbols familiar to his eyes.
Thanks to that, it had been much easier, yet he still had not been able to cast it perfectly.
— Are you planning to take those magic books with you?
“It’d be a shame not to. I feel like I could get it with just a little more work.”
— Even so, will you have time to study? You are going to fight the Abyss.
“Just in case…… I’m taking them for now.”
Indeed, Fifth Circle magic was attractive.
Both its difficulty and its effects.
That was why he wanted to learn it as soon as possible, but circumstances were not favorable.
— ……Well, do as you like.
Using the portal, he headed to Imenia.
He had already been told which gate the expedition would begin from, so he rode Phantom Steed and moved there at once. Soon, a black gate began to come into view.
The Imperial knights who recognized Hio tensed sharply and saluted him, and he passed them by, entering the gate immediately.
His first攻略.
It was also his first time entering a gate, but there was no awkwardness.
Only a bit of irritation rose in him, because he began to feel the cursed aura of the Abyss.
And the moment he entered the 52nd floor, what came into view was a black-red sky, enormous castle walls, and the Imperial knights’ camp spread out beneath them.
The castle walls soared to the edge of the sky like a fortress where giants might live, and the Imperial flags fluttered below.
It was quite a spectacle, one that should have captured the eye, but Hio’s gaze did not linger on it.
Before he even had time to reflect on the fact that he had entered the Abyss in person, an all too familiar energy came thickly from within the castle walls.
It was—
“……Death energy?”
A dense, profound aura of death.
The power of undead beings, already dead, wandering as they mimicked the living.
The power created by thousands, tens of thousands…… no, perhaps even more undead, gathered together, flowed out from within the gigantic castle walls.
Furnell, who felt the same thing and saw the same thing as Hio, also spoke in a thin, trembling voice.
— Don’t tell me……
Death energy, overflowing to the point that it seemed to flow like a thick liquid.
The presence of countless undead felt from deep within.
A massive castle, wholly stained by the abyss.
That was the true identity of this place, the 52nd floor of the Abyss.
— Necropolis……
It was a city of the dead.