Antipus’s party broke through every dungeon as though they had become a single spear.
「Entering the fourteenth dungeon.」
And so, before they knew it, they had reached the fourteenth dungeon.
“This is seriously insane.”
“So this is why he’s Antipus…….”
“At this rate, he’s going to set an all-time record.”
The transmigrators muttered among themselves.
They had so much leeway that they could afford to chat idly while dealing with the enemies halfheartedly.
How many skills were pouring out together with Antipus’s aura, which surged forth without the slightest obstruction?
“He seems way stronger than what we heard.”
“For now…… it’s basically guaranteed that we’ll arrive first, right?”
“I guarantee it. That’s absolutely certain.”
“Still, there’s the Supreme Heavenly Demon.”
“Come on, surely not…….”
At those words, the transmigrators recalled the Supreme Heavenly Demon they had seen a few months ago on the Infinite Floor.
In the middle of the endlessly piled-up Abyss monsters, nameless skills had rained down indiscriminately alongside a gray reaper.
The scene had been cleared in an instant. That overwhelming violence.
“Mm…….”
“Tsk…….”
They recalled that, then looked back at Antipus ahead of them.
Kwaaaang—!
This time, within a domain of frost, he froze the bodies of most of the monsters, and what he swung over them was a sword of flame. Crimson aura.
With a single swing, four or five Abyss monsters were sliced apart.
In that brief moment, Antipus’s back had already moved far ahead of them.
It was hard to imagine a monster like that falling behind, but if the competition was against the Supreme Heavenly Demon, they could not make any rash guarantees.
“If the Supreme Heavenly Demon really puts his mind to it…… who knows.”
“Honestly, I can’t say for sure…….”
「You have cleared the fourteenth dungeon.」
“Come on, still. There’s no way he can be faster than this.”
“Right……?”
No matter what, just look at this absurd speed.
Antipus devoted himself solely to breaking through.
That ghost-possessed behavior… even the Supreme Heavenly Demon would have no choice but to fall behind it.
No matter who he was, he would surely not be breaking through with such desperate effort.
「Entering the fifteenth dungeon.」
This time, Antipus would undoubtedly stand ahead of the Supreme Heavenly Demon.
* * *
「Pioneer — ‘Hio Pavlenko’ has been confirmed to have entered.」
「Entering the third dungeon.」
What came into view upon entering the third dungeon was, once again, a continuation of the previous scene.
No, rather, it was a scene from slightly later.
The abyss that had swallowed the light had reached right before them.
— A-aaargh! Run!
— It’s the Aberration! The Aberration! The Aberration!
— S-save me!
— Th-the mages! Where is Tetradia!
The densely packed refugees were thrown into utter panic, but where was there to run?
Where had the mages who were supposed to protect them gone? Where had Tetradia gone?
Amid that chaos, the lone remaining mage raised his long staff and struck the ground with a thud.
In time with it, pale green ripples spread out.
— Do not worry! I still remain!
Ren Hank, a 5th-Circle mage of the Druid School.
His magic spread, taking control of the surrounding area.
— What do you think it means that I remain here! The mages of Tetradia will soon return! So do not be too afraid!
The pale green ripples became magic and enveloped every area where people had gathered.
— M-Mage……!
— Gather where the mage is!
— Save…… please save us!
From the outskirts of the vast area, green vines began to grow rapidly.
Thick, massive vines intertwined with one another, quickly enclosing the wide space.
A green barrier formed into a hemisphere, as though protecting every person gathered within.
— Be at ease! It is safe inside here, so if you hold out like this, the mages will come!
Once inside, they could no longer see it.
The oncoming abyss, the shadow of death that had drawn so near, was hidden by the plants.
And so the people felt relieved.
Even if they did not want to believe, they found themselves believing.
— Th-that’s right. There’s no way Tetradia disappeared.
— If we wait like the mage said, the other mages will take care of it!
They believed that this green shield would truly block the Aberration, and that if they held out like that, the mages of Tetradia would drive those things away.
— Th-thank you.
It was a futile act.
Hio, too, had reached the realm of a 5th-Circle mage, so he knew better than anyone.
A barrier of this level would not last even a few seconds against the surging abyss.
Even if every bit of mana he had were poured into it, it would be pierced in an instant, and because they were all huddled together inside it, every last one of them would be stained by the abyss.
— Save your thanks…… until after you have survived.
It was impossible to stop the rushing abyss alone.
Nor was there any chance that Tetradia, the city itself having vanished through spatial magic, would return immediately.
The only certain thing was that their despair would be brief.
Their pain would last only an instant, and until then they could dream a vain hope, a false dream.
That was why Ren Hank shouted until his throat split, comforting the people.
He continued to breathe into them a hope that could never come true.
— Once you enter Tetradia, you will be given a residence, but it will not be very spacious! Even families may end up separated if they are not careful, so make sure to stay close together!
Was there truly any meaning in an action carried out despite knowing that everyone would soon die?
He did not know.
He truly did not know.
But he could tell how this would end.
The thick, deep abyss would soon touch the green barrier, and the plant barrier, grown only with mana and without any divine power, would be pierced far too vainly.
Everyone trapped inside it would be dyed by the abyss without even being able to offer any real resistance.
Without ever realizing that they had been abandoned by the mages they had trusted.
Before the hope they had held until the very end could even shatter, they would become entirely different lifeforms.
That was why he was even more curious.
“……Abelard Pavlenko.”
What exactly had the greatest mages of that era, including him, planned that they could leave behind so many lives without hesitation?
Had there truly been no other way, as Ren Hank said?
— There are quite a few strict rules in Tetradia. So before entering, you must learn them well and do your utmost not to break them.
The darkness had drawn right up to them.
It touched the barrier made of plants.
Even then, the people inside, though anxious, were listening closely to Ren Hank’s words and thinking of the future.
What came after…… he did not want to see.
If only he could do something, as he had in the Space of Ordeal.
Though this was already a memory of the past, he wished he could at least make some small act of defiance.
But all Hio could do was watch.
He simply wanted this horrific scene to pass quickly, and then to see Abelard’s memories, to see Tetradia.
That was what Hio was thinking.
He stood there, hoping the terrible scene would end quickly so he could see the mages.
Hoping he could find some justification in their decision.
It was at that moment that the anomaly began.
— Be at ease and wait! Just…… hold…… on a little…… longer……!
Ren Hank’s voice began to crackle and split.
And that was not all.
— Right…… there’s…… no way Tetradia would abandon…… this many…… people…….
— You must…… hold hands…… tightly…….
All the noise around them cracked and tore apart.
Like a video caught buffering, it repeatedly froze and moved, until at last—
【□□□□—!】
A bizarre sound rang out.
Space distorted.
Ren Hank’s loudly shouting figure and the refugees who were barely calming down both warped and split apart.
The green barrier, and even the darkness battering against it, stopped in place and vanished.
Space tore apart in a chaotic mess, as though someone had shredded a picture book to pieces.
The third dungeon, where Hio and Claire stood.
The space itself was being ripped apart.
What could be seen through the torn gaps was darkness.
Or perhaps the abyss.
【Found you.】
The bizarre sound soon transformed into human language and lodged itself in Hio and Claire’s ears.
Space scattered into pieces.
The blue sky fell away, and the abyss took its place between the fragments.
【Hope of Ripue.】
Before they knew it, a colossal eye was looking down at the two of them.
* * *
【Pitiful.】
The dungeon shattered.
As space fragmented and collapsed, a voice resounded.
The abyss spread.
The Eye of the Watcher hovered overhead.
【Your tricks are pitiful…… and your struggles are pitiful as well.】
The images of the refugees, Ren Hank’s hardened face,
the blue sky and even the darkness that had been rushing in to devour it, all shattered.
The abyss had surged in, destroying the memories this space had shown and preserved.
【Supreme Heavenly Demon.】
Thud.
Right behind him came the sound of someone collapsing as strength left their body.
It had to be Claire.
【Hio Pavlenko.】
The Eye of the Watcher, whose mere sight caused one to be eroded by the abyss.
Beside it, something began to move.
Something enormous and horrific writhed.
Unlike when he had encountered it in the labyrinth before, this time it was not only the Eye of the Watcher.
Something else of the abyss was there with it.
【The last hope of Ripue.】
As the dungeon space shattered, Hio’s body had returned to its original state.
This was not a space where he could not use skills, nor was he in such a condition.
So what he had to do now was defend.
He raised the staff in his hand high and immediately activated a skill.
「Skill — ‘Heaven (天上)’ has been activated.」
The crumbling space and the surging abyss.
A gap opened between them, and golden radiance poured down from high in the sky.
The faintly shining figure of a goddess, and the hand of the goddess beginning from it.
All of this took place within a span of time that could be called an instant.
Space shattered, the Eye of the Watcher appeared in the sky, and the moment Claire collapsed upon facing it, the skill Heaven activated.
Even so, this was different from before.
What he had encountered in the labyrinth had been only the Eye of the Watcher.
What he was facing now was also the Eye of the Watcher, but he was not unaware that something else lay behind it.
He could not describe it, nor did he know what it was, but one thing he could be certain of was that it was an original existence dwelling within the abyss.
It was not a being born after being stained, corrupted, and twisted by the abyss, but an existence that had been together with the abyss from the beginning.
And that meant it possessed power just as great.
That was why a single word from it made his head ring and space tremble.
【A meaningless light.】
That was why, at those words, even the golden radiance shrank back.
Heaven, a highest-grade defensive skill.
Even the hand of the goddess, saturated with divinity, gradually diminished and surrendered its territory to the darkness.
Heaven being pushed back by the abyss.
It was something that had never once happened before, and something that should never happen.
But he could not simply stand there in shock.
「Skill — ‘Thunder Emperor (雷帝)’ has been activated.」
Hio’s body was enveloped in white radiance.
Lightning stormed ceaselessly in both his eyes.
「Skill — ‘Blue Flame (靑炎)’ has been activated.」
The blue flame became a small sun and coveted the sky.
Carrying Hio’s emotions in full, it spewed hot fire toward the Eye of the Watcher and the existence beyond it.
Even so, not a single tiny ray of light reached beyond the Eye of the Watcher.
It was truly the abyss.
Something that could be called the abyss itself.
【Did you believe something would change if memories were passed on?】
The space of Heaven rapidly shrank.
Through the fragments of collapsing space, the viscous abyss surged in.
Devouring the light, it approached swiftly as though reaching out a hand, as though it would seize Hio whole.
At that, just as Hio was about to respond by combining lightning and blue flame—
「An abnormality has been detected.」
「The dungeon will be forcibly terminated.」
Messages that only Hio could see quickly appeared.
「You have cleared the third dungeon.」
「You have cleared the fourth dungeon.」
「You have cleared the fifth dungeon.」
「You have cleared the sixth dungeon.」
……
「You have cleared the seventeenth dungeon.」
At the same time, his vision receded into the distance.
It felt as though something had seized his soul and hurled it far away.
Even as the crumbling dungeon space, the Eye of the Watcher, and the existence beyond it all grew impossibly distant—
【The day we reclaim our land is not far.】
Only that bizarre voice shaking space rang out clearly, as though it were right beside him.
【The light will sink, and the darkness will rise.】
「You have successfully cleared all dungeons.」
「Entering the final shared space.」
【When that time comes, you shall be the abyss.】
At those final words, a chill ran down his spine for some reason.