Druid Ren Hank.
Ren Hank himself never broke past the limits of the 5th Circle until the day he died, but he did not mind.
For he had one disciple.
He was the teacher who first taught magic to Abelard Pavlenko, the great archmage who became a Tower Master at the youngest age in all of Tetradia’s history.
Even so, while he rejoiced, he always advised Abelard to be wary of himself.
He had been like that from the start. That was the kind of person he was.
The mage called Ren Hank.
A teacher who always taught how to be human before he taught magic.
A mage who did not turn away from the deaths of tens of thousands that had already been ordained.
One who gladly threw away his own life, wishing that they would die thinking not of despair and pain, but of hope and the future.
He cries out with all his might.
—Kiyeeeeeeeeeek!
His soul had sunk into the Abyss. His entire body was dyed black. Twisted and deformed, not a trace of his living appearance remained.
Even so, there was something that had not changed.
Even though a thousand years had passed, even though his soul was stained and his body twisted, there was something that had not changed.
—Kieeeek!
It was a cry.
The cry of an old mage who had shouted of hope until his throat burst.
Even if that hope was stained with lies.
Even if what awaited them in the end was a gruesome, wretched end.
Even if it was a false hope that would only glitter for a few minutes at most.
—Kiyeeeeek! Kieeeek!
A cry of hope shouted with all the strength of one near death.
So what if it was a false hope?
So what if it was an inflated, fake hope that would soon burst and vanish?
He was human.
Tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of lives, floundering in despair as they died.
Though he knew it would happen, he was an ordinary, utterly ordinary human who did not turn away with the simple words that it could not be helped, with the foolish words that the chances were low.
Before he was a mage of the 5th Circle, he was human.
A human.
How could a human pretend not to know the suffering of fellow humans?
How could he leave them be, knowing that tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands would die in pain and despair?
……A human.
—Kiek! Kiyeeeek!
And so he had stepped forward.
Though his ability was lacking, though his strength was lacking and he could not save them, was there not still something he had built over the course of his life?
Did he not have his position, and the magic of the 5th Circle?
If he used those, then at the very least, he could ensure they did not die in despair and pain.
Of course, there had certainly been those who said it was meaningless.
His disciple Abelard had said so, and so had the druids of the same school.
Were they not people who would die anyway?
Was it not the same in the end, if he could not save them?
What meaning was there, whether such people died in hope or died in despair?
Then Ren Hank would ask in return.
—Kieeeeeeeek!
What great meaning did all of you carry as you lived?
Even if you prolonged your lives by a day, a month, a year, was there truly a meaning greater than this?
Was it truly so valuable that you could turn away from their despair?
Was that the kind of life you lived?
When he did, no one could give any answer.
They would lower their eyes and remain motionless, as if they had become stone statues.
In that way, Ren Hank had stood before the refugees.
In that way, Ren Hank had been crying out until his throat burst.
—Kiyeeeek! Kiyeek!
Even now, a thousand years later.
“……Enough.”
And so Hio moved.
At the sight of him taking a step forward, at the quiet word telling them to stop, all attacks came to a halt.
“Enough.”
Even so, Hio told him to stop.
「Congratulations! You have achieved the target value of the hidden trait ‘Violence Is Not Okay!’ A hidden reward for the hidden trait will be granted.」
But those words did not reach him, who had become a monster of the Abyss.
—Kieeeek! Kiek!
The cries continued to ring out.
「Please select one of your possessed skills.」
「You have selected Skill - ‘Space Creation.’」
「Analyzing the effects of the skill linked to the trait - ‘Space Creation.’」
Even though a thousand years had passed.
Even though his soul had been cursed and his flesh had become a monster, his unchanging conviction seeped out through that towering cry.
It was heavy.
What was contained in that cry was so heavy and sublime that it was painful to listen to.
「Analysis complete.」
「The hidden trait reward - ‘Patience Is Bitter, but Its Fruit Is Sweet!’ is applied to Skill - ‘Space Creation.’」
「The rank of Skill - ‘Space Creation’ has been enhanced to the highest tier.」
「The name of Skill - ‘Space Creation’ has been changed to Skill - ‘Domain of Emptiness.’」
A barrier of flowers dyed black.
A hemispherical curtain that did nothing but block, without any attack or counterattack.
He stood before it.
When he placed his hand upon it and quietly closed his eyes, the cries continued to ring out.
A false hope he might have continued to shout even when the Abyss rushed in, even as the Abyss devoured him.
What was a hero, really?
He had already been a hero.
He had been so just before he died, and he was so even now, after becoming a monster.
“Now…… you may stop.”
So now, could he not truly stop?
Could he not cease that desperate cry and finally enter rest?
「Skill - ‘Domain of Emptiness’ is activated.」
Thuuum—a sound as though hundreds, thousands of vibrations had been compressed into one.
Together with it, a momentary wave spread outward.
The instant the skill was activated, this place had already become a domain that was utterly empty, a domain where that was possible.
「Do you wish to remove it?」
Tightening the hand he had placed there into a fist, he opened his closed eyes.
「Removing.」
And what he saw then was.
“…….”
Nothing at all.
Space itself, torn and crumpled like a scrap of paper until it had vanished entirely.
The black plants, and the boss monster that had created them.
The very space where they had existed had become empty.
The Domain of Emptiness.
Within it.
「You have successfully cleared the Abyss.」
The old mage’s cry could no longer be heard.
* * *
Kwaaang—!
The ranged skill users’ attacks poured down.
In their aftermath, dust rose, black flowers flew through the air, and the cavern floor shook.
Kwaaaang—!
Yet the barrier made of plants was so solid that it did not break despite the continued skill attacks.
And that was not all.
—Kiyeeeek!
—Kieeeeeeeek!
The boss monster hiding within it was so noisy.
“Tch, irritating.”
Antiphus twisted his face into a deep scowl.
“Even cursed trash like that feels fear?”
How terrified did it have to be, hiding itself away so tightly and doing nothing but shrieking?
It did not even seem to have any intention of attacking, and its ceaseless screams were so loud that his irritation was about to boil over.
For something called a boss monster, it had only defensive abilities and did not attack at all.
It only let out those annoying screams.
In that case, there was no need to watch any longer.
He would step forward, split apart the black-flower barrier, and personally cut off that giant head.
Just as Antiphus was about to move.
“……Enough.”
Someone began walking a step ahead of him.
The voice was small, but those gathered here were not ordinary humans; they were people drawing close to superhuman.
They heard that voice, confirmed who it was, and immediately all attacks stopped.
“Enough.”
That person was, of course, the Supreme Heavenly Demon, Hio Pavlenko.
“Now you may stop.”
At his single word, all attacks had already ceased.
The gazes of everyone gathered naturally turned only toward Hio Pavlenko.
……That could not be allowed.
Had Antiphus not only just grasped that the boss monster’s defensive ability was exceptional, but that it did not attack?
Hio Pavlenko had surely moved because he was certain of it as well.
To draw everyone’s attention and raise his fame.
“I won’t let that happen.”
He could not simply stand by and watch.
On the last Floor of Infinity, he had failed to act because of the aftereffects of the agonizing trial of pain, but he could not entrust even this floor’s most important finishing blow to him.
He had not yet fully grasped the boss monster’s pattern.
However, something of this level could be crushed with his own martial power.
And so Antiphus placed his hand on the hilt of his sword and stepped forward to move out.
But.
“……Please don’t go.”
Someone suddenly cut into his path.
“…….”
It was a woman he had never seen before.
Brilliant red hair and ruby-like crimson eyes.
She was someone who did not exist in his memories.
The light armor she wore was made of the high-grade materials unique to imperial armaments, and engraved on the left breast was the golden lion symbolizing the Royal Knights.
……The Royal Knights?
Even when he had been in the imperial palace, he had never seen a woman this young.
Especially not one with such conspicuous red hair and dazzling beauty.
But more than the fact that she was a new Royal Knight he did not know, what bewildered Antiphus was.
“Just…… please stay where you are.”
The droplets hanging precariously from those pretty eyes.
The red-haired woman was crying.
Crying as she blocked his path.
And in the way she looked at him with those wet eyes, he could see even a trace of resentment.
“What……?”
Antiphus, unusually, found himself flustered.
“And please take back what you said about cursed trash.”
“What are you…….”
While that happened, Hio Pavlenko had already reached the black-flower barrier spread out by the boss monster.
“……Move.”
Having confirmed this, Antiphus ignored the woman before him and passed by.
What was she crying about?
Why had she blocked his way, and why was she glaring at him like that?
Leaving that aside, who was she in the first place?
He had many questions, but more important than any of them was preventing things from going the Supreme Heavenly Demon’s way.
He could no longer allow Hio Pavlenko’s existence to be engraved in everyone’s minds.
For the path of a ruler was to engrave himself there, not him.
He tried to move quickly.
Thuuum—
Had that brief hesitation already made him too late?
……
What spread outward together with the sound of the air being crushed was an entrancing sight.
From the place where Hio Pavlenko stood, a mystical spectacle of violet light rapidly spread out.
Space changed.
Not a flower field stained black, but a universe filled with violet light.
Not a cavern drowned in darkness, but the very center of the cosmos where stars stretched faintly into the distance.
……There was no way.
This could not be.
As far as he knew, no such skill that transformed space itself existed, nor was it possible.
Therefore, this was an illusion.
It was surely an illusion deceiving everyone’s eyes.
No, it had to be.
Because Antiphus was filled with that conviction, he could see it.
The instant Hio Pavlenko clenched the hand he had placed upon the black-flower curtain, space crumpled.
And along with it, the boss monster vanished without leaving even a trace.
That hollow power, which made it simply disappear as if it had never existed, without any warning at all.
Having seen that, he had no choice but to realize.
“…….”
The master of this space was Hio Pavlenko.
The moment he defied him, that would become his own future.
“Ha…… hahahaha…….”
While everyone except a very small few of the powerful stood entranced by the dazzling scenery.
While they looked around blankly at the phenomenon that was like magic.
「You have successfully cleared the Abyss.」
「Floor -54 sinks into an unfathomably deep Abyss.」
「The floor is collapsing.」
And so the clearing of Abyss Floor 54, the Floor of Breakthrough, came to an end.